Everyone likes to hear good news. It gives us hope and encouragement. But what to do when the good news is wrapped up in a baby lying in a manger and a savior hanging on the cross, what do we do with that kind of good news? During Christ’s time on earth, many found his message offensive. They were looking for a powerful messiah to set things right and bring justice to earth right then and there. Jesus was born of a virgin, from a small town in Nazareth. The scriptures tell us he was not particularly good looking. He was hardly the powerful ruler they were expecting, and yet Jesus’ appearance on earth change the world. Today, we see parallels to the time of Christ when persecution was valued, and human life and dignity diminished. We long for hope…we long for someone to rescue us from the darkness and evil that we see around us. The good news is that Jesus is able to bring us out of that darkness, just as He did for those that have gone before. The bad news is that our Savior’s message isn’t packaged the way people want it to be. In order, to receive His Good News, we need to surrender our right to control our own lives and we need to acknowledge that we are sinners…without those two conditions there is no place for Jesus in our lives. We surrender our life for His. “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” I John 5:5-10 NLT ”Now brothers and sisters, let me remind you [once again] of the good news [of salvation] which I preached to you, which you welcomed and accepted and on which you stand [by faith]. By this faith you are saved [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain [just superficially and without complete commitment]. “For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold], and that He was buried, and that He was [bodily] raised on the third day according to [that which] the Scriptures” [foretold], and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the [a]Twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep [in death]. I Corinthians 15: 1-6 Amplified Bible Friends, I encourage you to join Dave and me on the mountain at Mt. Gilead this Easter at 6 am and stay for breakfast afterwards in the dining hall. Come bring your friends that need The Good News. We would love to see you and celebrate the resurrection of Christ together!
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