Is The Good News Good News For You? Series

Just a couple weeks ago we received an incredible praise report in our weekly Sunday afternoon prayer meeting.

It was on a Communication Card, and it came from our precious Denise Miller. If you don’t know it, Denise works as the secretary of Esther Bennet Elementary School in Sun Valley, where Jeanie worked for years as a first and second grade teacher.

The principal at Esther Bennett Elementary is a born again believer. Her family is originally from Mexico, and her, born in Mexico lives here in the U.S. Her mother, a native of Mexico who is in her 80's has also come to saving faith in Jesus. She has been very concerned for the family members she left behind in that remote part of Mexico. Finally, after years of praying for the salvation of her family back in Mexico, she began to insist that her family here take her back to Mexico so she could personally share the Gospel with these members of her family there.

Now her family members live in a part of Mexico that is controlled by the drug cartels. So it was an especially dangerous journey for anyone, but especially for someone in her 80's. She was particularly concerned that family member who was a devout Roman Catholic wouldn't welcome the message. But guess what happened! All six of her family members trusted in Jesus as their Savior, were born again and assured of eternal life, and the person she was concerned might reject the message, was one of them, and had the most dramatic response at hearing the good news. When she heard the message she just cried and cried and cried--I suspect--tears of joy. She was simply someone who didn't know any better, and was doing her best to be right with God when she discovered God had already taken care of that for her through Christ's death on the cross. Al she needed to do was believe.

All six of these people are now engaged in follow-up, being discipled to be followers of Jesus through Zoom and they have found a nearby Bible-teaching church within walking distance. So I want to say, Hallelujah! And that's what is happening in heaven, a celebration that these six who once walk in darkness and were isolated from the Gospel, have heard, and are guaranteed heaven as a result.

And the passage that immediately comes to mind, is Romans 10:13-15: "For 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'” 14 How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? 15 But how are they to preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who [a]bring good news of good things!”

This 80-year old had become the one whose feet were beautiful, because she brought the message of good news to people she loved who were about to perish in the darkness of this world. Wow! And if she could do it, who of us cannot?

But there's an odd phenomenon going on among Christians in the U.S. It's the notion that the Gospel is not good news, and we have no business sharing it with people who aren't believers in the hope that they will become believers.

In 2019, a survey by the Barna Group in 2019 found that nearly half of Millennials who claim to be born again Christians believe that it's wrong to share their faith with another person with the hope that they will become Christians! And another survey done by Lifeway in 2022 found that 44% of all U.S. Christians don't think it's very important to encourage non-Christians to trust in Jesus as their Savior.

Now, I have to confess, I am appalled. I want to ask, are these so-called believers living on another planet or something?! How could they ever come to such an unbiblical conclusion about the purpose and direction of their lives as followers of Christ.

And so, I have a question for you this morning. Is the Gospel Good News for You? Or have you allowed the world to influence and determine for you whether the Gospel of Jesus Christ is such good news for everyone that's it's worthy of sharing it with others?

My contention this morning is this: If you understand what Jesus is all about, then you'll understand that sharing the Good News of Jesus is an essential part of following Jesus. And if you don't understand that, then you have allowed yourself to be influenced not by the Word of God and Jesus, but by the World. And, as a result, you're not following Jesus.