What is so good about the good news?

[Brakelite]

God IS love. Don't doubt His motives in calling you. Don't leave Him at the door knocking. Don't break His heart by turning Him away. Like any good Husband, He wants only that which is for your good. He will never abuse you, hurt you, let you down, disappoint you, dishonor you, or be unfaithful. Whatever your needs are, He will meet them. Whatever endangers you, He will remove. He will never take away that which is good for you, nor give anything that which will hurt you.
He already knows everything there is to be known concerning who you are, where you have been, all you have done. And He still loves you. In Him there is no condemnation, no shame, no embarrassment. Whatever debt you feel you owe God for whatever transgressions you may have made, that debt is paid for. In full. There is no interest to be paid...no further deposits to be made...no more installments necessary to make up the price of your ransom. The Son of God has already paid the full price of your redemption in the name of His Father, therefore you are His. Wholly His, lock, stock, and barrel. Let Him now take charge of that which He has purchased with His own blood, and begin a new life; an abundant life; a life free from sin, addiction, worry, fear.
Let today be the first day of eternity.

 

[Matthias]

The good news is the gospel that Jesus preached. The words which he spoke are spirit and life (John 6:63).

 

[civic]

God IS love. Don't doubt His motives in calling you. Don't leave Him at the door knocking. Don't break His heart by turning Him away. Like any good Husband, He wants only that which is for your good. He will never abuse you, hurt you, let you down, disappoint you, dishonor you, or be unfaithful. Whatever your needs are, He will meet them. Whatever endangers you, He will remove. He will never take away that which is good for you, nor give anything that which will hurt you.
He already knows everything there is to be known concerning who you are, where you have been, all you have done. And He still loves you. In Him there is no condemnation, no shame, no embarrassment. Whatever debt you feel you owe God for whatever transgressions you may have made, that debt is paid for. In full. There is no interest to be paid...no further deposits to be made...no more installments necessary to make up the price of your ransom. The Son of God has already paid the full price of your redemption in the name of His Father, therefore you are His. Wholly His, lock, stock, and barrel. Let Him now take charge of that which He has purchased with His own blood, and begin a new life; an abundant life; a life free from sin, addiction, worry, fear.
Let today be the first day of eternity.

Amen my friend !!!

 

[Matthias]

What is so good about the gospel? SHURF -> see, hear, understand, repent and be forgiven.

Repenting in response to the words of Jesus brings forgiveness and the life of the age to come.

The devil doesn’t want people to see, hear and understand the gospel. The devil doesn’t want people to repent. The devil doesn’t want human beings to be forgiven. The devil doesn’t want people to have the life of the coming age. The devil wants people to close their eyes, their ears, their minds to what Jesus preached. The devil wants people to perish.

God and the Messiah want people to live.

Believe the gospel and live.

 

[civic]

What is so good about the gospel? SHURF -> see, hear, understand, repent and be forgiven.

Repenting in response to the words of Jesus brings forgiveness and the life of the age to come.

The devil doesn’t want people to see, hear and understand the gospel. The devil doesn’t want people to repent. The devil doesn’t want human beings to be forgiven. The devil doesn’t want people to have the life of the coming age. The devil wants people to perish.

God and the Messiah want people to live.

Believe the gospel and live.

What is the gospel ?

 

[Matthias]

Think for a moment about what the devil does.

It has been said that the devil has only one trick.

And what is that trick? -> To separate Jesus from his word.

 

[Redeemed]

What is so good about the good news?​

It will take all eternity to answer that question.

One I like is... If we take heed of it and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior then.... we're no longer slaves to sin and death, we've been set free. That's some good news right there.

 

[Redeemed]

Think for a moment about what the devil does.

It has been said that the devil has only one trick.

And what is that trick? -> To separate Jesus from his word.

Exactly!

Good news is... he's a defeated foe.

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry… And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” LUKE 4:1-2, 8

Jesus defeated Satan, but how? He did not defeat Satan as God, though He is God. He defeated Satan as a man should defeat Satan—as a man. Jesus in the wilderness temptation did not pull rank on us. He used the two weapons that were available to us today: the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

So don't fall for the trick and let Satan separate you from the word of God or the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Matthias]

One day when I was a student a professor gave the class an interesting exercise before delivering a lecture on the gospel. He gave us three minutes to come up with a title for a sermon on the gospel, using 7 words or less. The title I came up with -> “I Was Billy Graham’s Parrot”.

The professor selected a couple of the sermon titles and used them for class discussion. Mine captured his attention (as did two or three others) and was selected for discussion.

 

[Soyeong]

God IS love. Don't doubt His motives in calling you. Don't leave Him at the door knocking. Don't break His heart by turning Him away. Like any good Husband, He wants only that which is for your good. He will never abuse you, hurt you, let you down, disappoint you, dishonor you, or be unfaithful. Whatever your needs are, He will meet them. Whatever endangers you, He will remove. He will never take away that which is good for you, nor give anything that which will hurt you.
He already knows everything there is to be known concerning who you are, where you have been, all you have done. And He still loves you. In Him there is no condemnation, no shame, no embarrassment. Whatever debt you feel you owe God for whatever transgressions you may have made, that debt is paid for. In full. There is no interest to be paid...no further deposits to be made...no more installments necessary to make up the price of your ransom. The Son of God has already paid the full price of your redemption in the name of His Father, therefore you are His. Wholly His, lock, stock, and barrel. Let Him now take charge of that which He has purchased with His own blood, and begin a new life; an abundant life; a life free from sin, addiction, worry, fear.
Let today be the first day of eternity.

In Matthew 4:15-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Good News to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, which was a light to the nations, and the Mosaic Law was how his audience knew what sin is (Romans 3:20), so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Good News. If we believe that the Psalms are Scripture and therefore share the same view of Mosaic Law that they express, then we will consider that to be very good news. Likewise, in Deuteronomy 6:24 and 10:12-13, the Mosaic Law was given for our own good, and indeed, God will never take that away from us.

 

[Wrangler]

Don't leave Him at the door knocking.

Can anyone resist?

 

[Brakelite]

Can anyone resist?

Only with deliberate effort.

 

[Matthias]

One day when I was a student a professor gave the class an interesting exercise before delivering a lecture on the gospel. He gave us three minutes to come up with a title for a sermon on the gospel, using 7 words or less. The title I came up with -> “I Was Billy Graham’s Parrot”.

The professor selected a couple of the sermon titles and used them for class discussion. Mine captured his attention (as did two or three others) and was selected for discussion.

“Jesus came to do three days work, to die, to be buried and raised. He came not to preach the gospel but rather that there might be a gospel to preach.” - Billy Graham (paraphrased from memory)

This is what I was taught and this is what I taught others. That’s why I came up with the title “I Was Billy Graham’s Parrot”.

But it doesn’t align with what Jesus himself said. (See Luke 4:43.)

 

[Brakelite]

What is the gospel ?

The good news is that God is good. Very good. And He loves you. With a passion. And nothing you can do or say will ever change that. That's the good news to a world that believes God to be an overbearing tyrannical control freak. A world that has been informed by a church that God is angry, looking for any excuse to punish, and is only held back from destroying everyone by the love and intercession of Jesus. But God was in Christ redeeming the world to Himself. That's good news. That's the gospel.

 

[Brakelite]

Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor. He reached the people where they were. He brought plain, simple truth to their comprehension. How simple His language! Even the poorest, the unlearned and ignorant, could understand Him. Not one needed go to a dictionary to obtain the meaning of the high-sounding titles or words that fell from the lips of the greatest Teacher the world ever knew. While the priests, the rulers, and the expounders of the law were considering themselves as the only teachers of the people, He told these learned rabbis that they were both ignorant of the Scriptures and of the power of God.
The scriptures and the power that is inherent in the word of God is just as readily understandable and acceptable today as it was when Jesus demonstrated God's love for mankind.

 

[Matthias]

“The epistles are for the most part the earliest Christian documents we possess. The Gospels came later. They are not ‘the Gospel,’ the statement of the Christian belief …” - C.S. Lewis

Lewis bypasses the gospel according to Jesus.

 

[Brakelite]

Likewise, in Deuteronomy 6:24 and 10:12-13, the Mosaic Law was given for our own good, and indeed, God will never take that away from us.

Indeed. That includes the health laws and those on diet. He gave those counsels because He loves us. They aren't arbitrary, they are there for our good. They are the Manufacturer's instructions. But most would rather put petrol in their gas tanks despite knowing they have diesel motors. And they blame God for being uncaring when they suffer from diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and blood disorders.

 

[Matthias]

Jesus and the apostles proclaimed the gospel of salvation. It is the gospel about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:14,15; Luke 4:43; Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31.) The death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah are essential elements of the gospel but they are not the entirety of the gospel.

 

[Matthias]

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in the heart. “

(Matthew 13:19)

”These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.”

(Mark 4:15)

”Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.”

(Luke 8:12)

It’s the gospel that Jesus preached which the devil comes and takes away so that people will not be saved.

 

[Matthias]

“The Christian faith is not centered in Jesus’ teaching and preaching but in his person“ -> echos of countless numbers of preachers.

Faith in a person is faith in what a person says and in what a person does. Those things must not be separated from the person.

Faith in the Messiah is faith in what Jesus of Nazareth preached and in what he did. (As well as in what he is doing now and what he will do in the future when he returns.)