Good News?

Friday, September 8, 2023

And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?  That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”  But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”  So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.  But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message?  Yes, they have:  “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.”  But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand?  Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, “I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation.           I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.”  And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying, “I was found by people who were not looking for me.       I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.”  But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”  Romans 10:15-21

At times obeying God’s commandments and calling can bring puzzling results, especially if you’re talking about preaching.  A wise philosopher named Forrest Gump said his momma told him life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.  It’s like that with some sermons.  One time I prayed over, and prepared diligently, a sermon that I thought would be a turning point for the congregation I was serving.  I imagined Billy Graham hearing it and stealing it for his next crusade.  I was wrong…it only made several members of my congregation angry…the rest probably never thought more about it than the fried chicken dinner they had after worship was over.  Fast-forward to another congregation, there was that Sunday evening service where I preached a sermon I hadn’t prepared well.  It was all over the place, from Genesis to Revelation, prophets, Moses, apostles, and even a digression into the Song of Solomon; when the invitation was given, the altar was full of weeping Christians.  So, who knew?

In today’s Scripture Apostle Paul makes the point that God had given Israel such Good News about God’s love and promised salvation, and given them the job of spreading that Good News to the world – including the nations of Gentiles – but Israel just dropped the ball.  Not the reaction you’d expect from people rescued from being slaves in Egypt, protected by a God who would let them escape Pharaoh’s army by walking on dry land through the Red Sea, fed by manna, wearing clothes that didn’t wear-out for forty years, and supernaturally blessed to possess the Promised Land.  If that isn’t strange enough, how about the best response to the Good News of God’s love coming from the “lost heathens”…the Gentile nations!  In the end, Forrest Gump’s momma was right…you never know.

For You Today 

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not tame news.  That’s because our God is no tamed pet; He is the LORD, creator of all we can see and know, and much more.  God’s plans are not predictable, but they are certain.  Our “job” as those who follow Him is to proclaim that Good News, and leave the results to God’s keeping.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Images:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Never Ending

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Today’s post is a message of hope written by Anna Murdock.

Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?  Seven times?”  “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!”  Matthew 18:21-22

I saw an older man

dressed in torn and dirty clothes.

He was in need of a shave

and surely a hot shower

would have felt good to him.

This man, walking along my route,

was mumbling to himself

and counting his fingers –

touching each finger to his thumb;

   first the right hand -

   one, two, three, four …

   then his left hand -

   one, two, three, four …

   then back to his right hand -

   one, two, three, four.

And so it went,

on and on

and on and on.

The counting seemed

to never end …

   from right hand to left,

   from finger to finger

   to finger to finger.

What was so important

to this man of the streets?

What words were needing

to come out and be spoken?

Was he just “another one of those”

who mumbled quietly

as they walked along

the roads of our lives?

As I continued my drive to work,

weary from the day before,

angry from two days before,

feeling very alone

from the week so far,

I too began to mumble

and count the ways

   to weariness,

   to anger,

   to aloneness.

How many times

am I to forgive

(both myself and others)?

From right hand to left,

from left hand to right,

and back to the right hand

again…

   from finger to finger

   to finger to finger …

   the counting seems

   to never end.

How many times and ways

are the words “Be not afraid”

whispered, written,

        shouted to all who fear …

               (and don’t we all fear)?

From right hand to left,

from left hand to right,

and back to the right hand

again…

   from finger to finger

   to finger to finger …

   the counting seems

   to never end.

And what about God’s Love?

How many times is this Love

   seen, felt, whispered,

    promised, given, and received?

From right hand to left,

from left hand to right,

and back to the right hand

again…

   from finger to finger

   to finger to finger …

   the counting seems

   to never end.

If this man is “one of those”,

who mumble and count,

then I am one as well …

one of those

who cannot fathom

  such forgiveness,

  such assurance,

  such Love ...

  for it is all

NEVER-ENDING.

                                      ©2011 anna murdock

For You Today 

Our last word today is how my friend Anna introduced this image…of us…

Jesus says, "Seventy-seven times. It is never-ending...this forgiveness."  May we see no end to forgiveness, no end to God's assurance, and no end to the Great Love that binds us together.  May the One who is without limits send us out to share this 'never-ending' good news with others.  This is the community of faith that we are called to be.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:    ©2011 Anna Murdock original work

Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Cornerstone!

Monday, April 10, 2023

The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.  This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.  This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  

Psalm 118:22-24

When something good happens we tend to bask in the good feelings it brings.  When something really good happens, life-changing good, we walk around in something of a blessed shock for awhile.  When a dead man gets out of the tomb, walks around, and we see the nailprints and scars where the thorns and whips pierced his flesh on the back and brow…and he’s now smiling and eating a fish breakfast with us by the seashore, our lives will never be the same.

The Psalmist was writing about one of those moments.  Looking down the corridors of time, he saw God’s Messiah, coming to rule, and being rejected.  The builders (religious leaders, priests…all the movers and shakers in Jerusalem) turning a blind eye to God.  What they didn’t imagine was their decision being reversed by a higher court! 

This is where Luke picked up the story following the resurrection:

For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’  Acts 4:11

A cornerstone is the most important part of constructing a building.  As the first block, it sets the direction for whatever follows.  If the cornerstone is not level and square, the building will eventually crumble, no matter what praise it gets from cultural standards, or changing opinions.

God’s Son, Jesus, was (and is) the cornerstone of salvation and all that is holy.  He is also the Lord, Heaven’s glory, and coming King of the Universe.  All that breathes will be under His rule.  And, according to Apostle Peter, those who, in stubborn pride reject Him still, will find themselves without a corner to hold-to as the Cornerstone becomes a stumbling stone:

As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,  chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”  Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him.  But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”  And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.”  

1 Peter 2:6-8

For those who accept Christ, there is nothing but good news.  To be part of His forever family means we’re in a household that will stand straight forever, righteous and blessed in communion with the Heavenly Father.

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.  And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.  Ephesians 2:20

For You Today 

I’ve never built anything that was totally level or plumb.  There’s always a crooked angle here, or leaning-over there.  I’m thankful God gave me a chance to accept Christ’s offer of salvation, built on the sure and square cornerstone of His loving gift of blood on Calvary’s cross.  That blood will never lose its’ power!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Cornerstone or Inconvenient Truth and  Cornerstone    

Title Image:  Norbert Schnitzer via Wikimedia Commons   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

When the Scales Dropped

Monday, March 20, 2023

Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.  When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.  But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.  Psalm 146:3-6

So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight.  Then he got up and was baptized.  Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.  Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days.  And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”  Acts 9:17-20

Saul (who was later renamed Paul) was a somebody, who, like Moses, raised in the household of Pharaoh as a prince, learned to be a nobody.  And once Saul found out the truth, that placing your trust and pinning your hopes on powerful people is useless, like Moses, Paul went on to become one of God’s most useful servants to proclaim the Good News that Christ is Lord.

Saul’s conversion backstory is that he was extremely well-educated, and quite powerfully-connected to the powers that be.  He was close enough to the movers and shakers in Jerusalem to be entrusted with leading the charge against the new sect of heretics…the Christians.  He was persecuting the church with a vengeance. 

Then came that blinding light on the Road to Damascus.  That light was Jesus.

Saul had been (as Scripture indicates) …uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[1]  Suddenly the entire focus of Saul’s life and purpose turned around…180°!  Now his mouth ceased threatening to kill Jesus’ followers, and began inviting those who had been lost to have their eyes opened.  The “scales” covering Saul’s eyes, had fallen away to reveal Paul…the great apostle, whose hand God used to give us one-third of the New Testament Scriptures.  Paul had thought he was a somebody when he was persecuting the nobodies.  When Ananias, one of those nobodies, prayed for Saul, the scales fell off his eyes, and Paul not only saw his errant ways…he began to do something about it. 

I was converted at a young age, and did next-to-nothing about telling the Good News.  In fact, I ran from it, becoming self-centered and anything but a good witness.  It took a Damascus Road event in my life to turn me around.  If there is a regret to my life, it is that I did not share Christ with nearly as many people as God gave me opportunity.  One of my constant prayers is now: 

O God, open my mouth like Paul!

For You Today 

According to the last two sentences in today’s Scripture text, Paul only waited two days to begin preaching.  A Damascus Road face-to-face meeting with Jesus will do that…make an urgency in you to proclaim the Good News. 

Three suggestions about that:

1.    You can have one of those face-to-face moments with Jesus…just ask Him.

2.    Don’t resist the urgency to share the Good News…ever! 

3.    Let the scales drop, my friend…let ‘em drop!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  The Patience of God with Spiritual Blindness  and I Think I'm Having Stress 

Title Image: Pietro da Cortona, via Wikimedia Commons    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] See Acts 9:1

Passing the Baton

Monday, January 9, 2023

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.  Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.  Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Ephesians 3:14-19

Paul is writing final letters to his dear friends.  His days as a prisoner were coming to an end, and it was not to be a parole; Paul was under a sentence of death.  One of the purposes of the letter was to absolve from any guilt this  group of believers in Ephesus whom he loved deeply, and doing so, to draw them more deeply into Christ’s love.  Paul’s singular charge from God was to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles.  He had developed a reptutation as a heretic among the Jews, a traitor for saying God’s love was for everyone.[1]  The Jewish leaders pulled every string they could to silence the apostle.

This letter was a last testament of his love for his Ephesian family.  And in this text Paul’s prayer for them is for spiritual insight, that God would reveal the scope of God’s love to them, developing in that body of believers the kind of fullness of the Christian life they would need to carry-on the work Paul had begun with them.  The apostle was passing the baton to the next generation!

Mentors do that.  There are many people who influence your life, folks who reveal important things.  But, truth be told, there are fewer mentors, people who go out of their way to befriend, teach, counsel, and inspire.  This is passing the Good News baton to the next generation. 

Being a mentor, a passer of the baton, means several things are in place: 

First, some valuable learning must have taken hold in your life, if you’re going to pass along truth.  If you don’t have a baton to pass on, your leg of the race is worthless.  And before you just give up because you judge your ministry…that’s not up to you…that’s God’s prerogative.   

Second, there must be a longing beyond your reach.  As effective a missionary as Paul was, his most lasting dynamic was his willingness to leave it all on the field for someone else to pick up.

Third, you must be willing to let go of the reins.  Let’s face it…nobody drives like anybody else.  If you won’t trust God to work in the life of someone who looks up to you as mentor, you didn’t have a ministry, you had an agenda.

Most of us will not have to face the executioner’s axe, like Paul did, to realize the time of passing the baton was at hand.  Letting go to trust God’s hand is the supreme act of faith. 

For You Today  

To move into being a mentor for the next generation takes some experience, much vision, and a heart that is willing to reach the finish line.  Let’s give Paul the last word on that today:

I focus on this one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  Philippians 3:13b-14

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Understanding the Danger of Peanut Butter  and  Measuring the Love of God

Images:  Title Wikimedia Commons - public domain   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] See Galatians 3:28

Getting the Good News

 

Thursday, January 20, 2022

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.  He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.  To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.  In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.  They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago.  They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.  Foreigners will be your servants.  They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.  You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God.  You will feed on the treasures of the nations and boast in their riches.  Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor.  You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.                     Isaiah 61:1-7

It’s safe to say everyone on planet earth is waiting for a bit of good news these days.  With pandemic the last couple of years, economic struggles, international tensions, isolation woes, restrictions-by-the-truckload, and a million other reasons, it’s like the good news train has been derailed in the night by a tsunami of whatever-can-go-wrong.  For a change, we want to hear a little good news!

The story of Israel in the millennial time before Jesus’ birth is the backdrop.  From the time God’s special people escaped captivity in Egypt and entered the land flowing with milk and honey ^{(Exodus 3:8)} they were the human poster child of what part of good news didn’t we understand!  God’s blessings were always forgotten within a few years, or a few generations.  They forgot their vows of allegiance to Jehovah and began chasing the rainbows of success and power.  Like the church today, hopping on political bandwagons of conservatism or progressiveness, they forgot who they were.  God would take them to the woodshed for discipline; they’d repent and cry-out for another Exodus kind of deliverance; God would hear and answer, and they’d do it all over again!

Then came Jesus with the final solution – good news that won’t ever be forgotten by posterity’s laziness, and won’t be forsaken by a righteous God who refuses to be forgotten.  The good news is that this kingdom, promised by Jesus’ word, and secured by Jesus’ death and resurrection, is now written on hearts. 

For You Today

No matter what social scientists, pandemiologists, and politicians may say about the present woes, or predictions about future disaster, the redeeming work of Christ is set in better than stone – it’s written on streets of gold in a temple built without hands.  It’s time the people of God get back to “getting” that Good News, and living by it every day.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©