The Shepherds Vs. The Wise Men: The Report Goes Out To Working Men, Elites, And Political Leaders

Recently I received some information, a report that was very good. Chelsey, and Karen, and my mom, and others had gone out for the Stuff a Blue Goose event, for the first time at Meijer, and with the help of MSP they had raised over $1,000 in donations and 300 toys. That is what you would call good news, yes?

Additionally, they even applied for an internal grant to get us more toys. Similarly Home Depot in the area has reached out and is going to support us with coats and winter gear for those in need, Also, Nelson House funeral home is doing a toy drive for us. This is all good news. Information, shared with me, that is encouraging.

I also received some bad news, and bad reports recently, at the parsonage, the basement flooded with sewage. We had to get it fixed. Then the furnace in the basement of the corps here failed. We got it fixed. Then the drain in the kitchen at the corps flooded with sewage as well. Crazy stuff!

Good news and bad news. That’s what we’re talking about today.

When we think about how we respond to things that happen in our lives, it’s just basic to human life. Some days we get good news, some days we get bad news. And life becomes very often how we respond to the information we’re receiving. Good or bad, our response tends to dictate how things will play out.

And when you look at the word gospel, you’re looking at the formula by which we find our eternal hope. We find everything we need in the gospel.

But baked into the gospel message there is both good news and bad news.

The good news is of course that Jesus came to save us. But is that enough to understand? Well, the big question remains, what is Jesus saving us from? That’s the bad news. The bad news of the gospel is, that we’re dead in our sins and trespasses and justly open to the wrath of God.

For me reading the bible early on, it was a hard book to read, because it tells you the hard part about yourself, and the sin problem, something that is internal to me and you.

Good News, Jesus’ offers grace. Bad news, you have to admit you’re a sinner, and also be willing to stop sinning by the power of the Holy Spirit, to repent, and embrace a new way.

I know for me when examining the life of Jesus, I didn’t want the gospel at first because I knew I would have to change my behavior. I would have to stop living for myself first. I’d have to stop getting drunk and doing drugs and smoking, and chasing girls. I would have to live a different life in light of what Jesus had done.

That was bad news. But the good news is, Jesus offers a perfect way, where we find our true destiny, and we come to find who we truly are, and what we were always meant to be.

But it’s all about how we respond. For me what seemed mostly bad news, is now today something I understand as almost entirely good news.

But if you boil it down to it, it’s information. The gospel is information we receive and then decide what we’re going to do with it. We read this map, these directions saying, you’re a sinner, you deserve hell, you will go there without Jesus, but here’s what you do, come to Jesus and receive Him as your savior, and you’ll be born again and set on a course for a new world, a new paradise free from sin.

It's a map showing you how to come to Jesus Christ, and how to receive Him as your savior personally. Have you made him your personal savior yet? It’s not enough to just hear it and say oh yes I agree with that.

What if I pulled out a map and looked at it and said oh yes, that’s quite correct. Have I gotten anywhere? No. I have to get in my car, follow the directions on the map, and then I’ll end up where I belong. Say I’m traveling to traverse city. I look at the map here in Owosso and say oh yes I agree that’s how to get there. You go up this highway then get onto another.

And I say to you alright I’m in traverse city. You would say no you’re not you haven’t moved.

And I’m worried today that some of you might be looking at the gospel, the map about how to receive Jesus and saying oh yes I agree with that. But you haven’t actually made Jesus Christ your personal savior and given your heart and your life to Him. You’re just agreeing that you like the idea of it.