Good Newsis For Sharing

Good News is for Sharing

I Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”

II Kings 7

Fear strikes at the heart of anyone who goes for a yearly check-up and hears the dreaded news that he or she has Cancer. Cancer attacks all parts of the human body. The very word “cancer” carries with it fear and dread.

What if you were a research scientist who had for years been studying the cause and effects of cancer cells. You finally discovered a cure for cancer that included diet, natural and synthetic medicine and you’ve seen it work to bring healing to all types of cancer cells. What would you do?

Would you say, “I’ve found the cure so only my family will get to use the cure and no one else.” You have made an historic discovery. You have good news. What will you do with good news that can help millions of people?

There is a similar story in 2 Kings 7. Samaria is surrounded by the Army of Benhadad of Aram. Ben-Hadad had apparently decided to starve the Samaritan army rather than attack them inside the city wall. The people of Samaria were desperate. They were running out of food and water. People were so hungry two neighbor families agreed to eat their sons. (2 Kings 2:28-29).

The prophet Elisha predicted that the famine would end and the people could have plenty of food to eat.

A page is turned in the story and we read about 4 Lepers sitting outside the gate of the city of Samaria. They were hungry and weak. Lepers were outcasts of the society. They were not allowed to live inside the walled city. Lepers were required to go bareheaded and to warn all who came near by calling out, “Unclean! Unclean! Lepers lived a shameful, segregated and separated life.

The four lepers decided to take their chances and go to the Aramean army to beg for mercy and get food to eat from their enemy. They said, “If they receive us we’ll live, if they kill us we will die. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

After the sun went down they crept into the Aramean Camp To their surprise not a person could be found in the camp. The Lord God of Creation had caused the army of Aram to hear the sound of horses and a mighty army on the march. They reasoned that the King of Israel hired King of the Hittites and the King of Egypt to attack. The Armeans panicked and ran for their lives, leaving behind all their food, horses, donkeys, tents and clothes.

The four lepers went into a tent and found silver, gold, food and clothes. They stuffed themselves until they could eat and drink no more. It was now the middle of the night and they said to each other: “We shouldn’t be doing this! This is a day of good news and we’re making it into a private party.” “Let’s go tell the news to the kings’ palace. While it was still dark they went back to the city of Samaria and ventured into the city. They told the gatekeeper the good news. The gate keeper woke up the king and told him the leper’s story. The King was suspicious and believed it might be a trick of the enemy. He thought, “If we go out they may ambush us.” The king finally sent five men to check out the story. The scouts saw for themselves all the food and supplies left behind.

When the news got out the people of the city, they went out in mass and filled their carts with all the food, clothes, and supplies then could carry.

The lepers by their sharing the good news made the day for an entire city of hungry people. Good News Is For Sharing.

Do you have good news? A missionary statesman defined good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

Do people in our community need good news? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news.

I. People need Good News Because of the Fact of Sin.

Everyone needs good news because everyone has sinned. Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Because of sin everyone faces death. Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death…”

Last Sunday I explained in my message the origin of sin. Adam and Eve, representing all humanity, disobeyed God and yielded to temptation and sinned. The created perfect world became an imperfect world. From that point on of history, sinful humanity needed a Savior. Romans 5:12, “Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”