I've Got Good News And Bad News

1. Good News/Bad News

I recently ran across a “good news” “bad news” joke for preachers:

Good News: You baptized four people down at the river last Sunday

Bad News: You lost 2 others to the river’s current

Good news: The Ladies Unity Group voted to send you a get-well card.

Bad news: The vote passed 21-20.

Good news: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.

Bad news: You were on vacation.

Good News: The elders just unanimously accepted the job description just the way you wrote it.

Bad News: They also formed a search committee to find someone to fill the position.

2. Last week we had a hard Sunday in dealing with the sin in a sinful situation

3. It is always right to confront sin in a Christ-like manner – Galatians 6:1-5

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.5 For each will have to bear his own load.

4. But wait, there’s more than the bad news of sin, there is the good news of hope in the gospel

5. Verses on Hope:

• Jeremiah 29:11 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

• Lamentations 3:22-24

22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

• 1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

6. We have good news and bad news

I. First the Bad News

A. Bad News Helps Us Appreciate the Good News

B. Sin and Its Consequences are Bad News

1. Jeremiah 20:8

For whenever I speak, I cry out,

I shout, “Violence and destruction!”

For the word of the LORD has become for me

a reproach and derision all day long.

2. Romans 3:23; 6:23

3. “Immanuel” can be BAD News

4. Acts 17:30-31 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

II. Now the Good News -- Hope

A. Hope is Connected to Our God – Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

B. Hope is Connected to Our Faith – Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

C. Hope is Connected to Our Resurrection – Acts 23:6

6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

D. Hope is Connected to Our Sharing Faith – 1 Peter 3:15

. . .in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

1. Like faith and love, hope is ACTION

2. If we really believe the Bible; if we are really committed to the God of Hope who has redeemed us and will resurrect us, we share our Hope with the hopless

1. Linus and Lucy

Peanut’s cartoon: Lucy and Linus were sitting in front of the television set when Lucy said to Linus, "Go get me a glass of water." Linus looked surprised, "Why should I do anything for you? You never do anything for me." "On you 75th birthday," Lucy promised, "I’ll make you a cake." Linus got up, headed to the kitchen and said, "Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to."

2. We can place hope in many things

• The future

• Career

• Material wealth

• Family

• Our Country

• Health

• God

3. Placing hope anywhere other than God will disappoint