There are a lot of back-and-forths today about the Gospel. We know there is bad news behind the Good News. But do we know there is Good News behind the bad news behind the Good News? This understanding of the Gospel will remake how you engage your Christian faith.
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Go Further -- The Good News behind the bad news
There's a lot of talk about the Gospel today. “We have to get back to the Gospel!”
Often it's a correction to some extreme teaching, like a hyper-prosperity take on the Gospel, a Social Gospel, or something else. Maybe some woo-woo ideas from the New Age with a veneer of Christianity over it.
Those who seek to emphasize the authentic Gospel will say that we are sinful, Jesus came to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead. There may be a little more, but basically, that’s the framework. See 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
Dallas Willard referred to it as a “Gospel of sin management.”
But let's not "bury the lede." Far and away, The 'Gospel of the Kingdom' was the central motif of Jesus’ teaching and modeling. He began by saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near to you.”
Resources
The Kingdom of Heaven Has Come Near to You -- Jesus Espresso (Ep 235 Jesus Smart podcast)
New Kingdom Ways of Seeing, Understanding, and Speaking (Jesus Smart article)
The Good News behind the bad news -- scripture for meditation, prayer, and proclamation
Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28 NASB
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Colossians 1:13-15 NASB
From personal experience, I find your statement, "The young need an image of Christ big enough to carry them through the decade of decision (18 to 28 years old)," to be a PROFOUND TRUTH!
Me too, Jeff! And I see it all around me. We all need those strong horizons or we drift and get off track.