My wife recently made a decision to help improve the quality of her life. She decided to stop watching the 10:00 PM news. She made this decision not because she dislikes Kelly Ogle or does not care about tomorrow’s forecast. She made this decision because so much of the news reported at 10PM is bad news. “A murder in the 700 block of South Walker.” “A recall of defective airbags in 500,000 automobiles.” “Wars and rumors of wars in the Middle East.” These stories (and more) make the average newscast a prelude to counting blood pressure pills, not sheep. We can handle the news on our own timetable, but at bedtime we need a break!
Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever uttered the phrase “I just wish there was more GOOD NEWS?”
Well, believe it or not, there is GOOD NEWS that we can read about every night. In fact, this Good News is really GREAT NEWS for the following reasons:
- It is relevant. Sure, occasionally you hear about someone winning the lottery or some team winning the championship . . . but most of the time that is not you! Wouldn’t it be great to regularly hear good news that is directly relevant in your life?
- It is radical. We live in world that is heavily marketed. Most things around us are presented to us by people who are trying to make their product seem better than it really is. This good news, however, is truly radical. It is spectacular.
- It is revolutionary. In a dark and dying world, we are accustomed to “good tries in losing efforts.” A lot of what we normally think of as “good news” is merely a temporary moral victory at best. This good news, however, is world changing and everlasting.
- It is real. This good news is not just a fortune cookie comment or a wish upon a falling star. This is something that is really happening and really delivering results.
What is this Good News? It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This news is so great because it reveals how utterly broken and breaking people can be made whole again by the God who loves them.
Paul wrote of this Good News in Romans 1:16-17 when he said, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘the righteous shall live by faith.’” This good news is relevant (“for everyone who believes”), radical (“the power of God”), revolutionary (“for salvation”), and real (“revealed from faith for faith”).
To say it another way, because of the love of God for you, He wants to revolutionize your life and radically alter your future. Really. Now that is GOOD NEWS.
Over the next 7 weeks, you are invited to join us in a study through the first three chapters of Paul’s great letter to the Romans. This epic theological treatise was given by God to us so that we might understand what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. We hope you won’t turn the channel. This study brings peace to anxious hearts as we tune in to the Greatest News ever told.
This study mirrors a 7 week sermon series at Wildwood Community Church that will run from August 16-September 27, 2015.
To access the “Good News” study, click here.
