Good News Weekly Message

Jesus doesn’t help us out of life’s messes by offering advice or even lending a helping hand. His footprints prove he’s walked through the worst of life’s messes for us. Those same footprints have paved our path out. Tonight we see Jesus’ footsteps reach a threshold of sorts. On the night of his betrayal, he stood at the end of the reign of the old covenant with its shortcomings and curses. At the same time, he stood at the start of his work of establishing a new covenant, one that delivers forgiveness and salvation unconditionally. That new covenant is established by his death, its blessings are delivered in a new meal, and it is accompanied by the Savior’s new command: love one another.

Jesus doesn’t help us out of life’s messes by offering advice or even lending a helping hand. His footprints prove he’s walked through the worst of life’s messes for us. Those same footprints have paved our path out. This week we see how Jesus makes the terrain that is closest to home familiar to him. While we like to set up walls to keep God out of certain areas of our life, Jesus steps up to the doors in those walls and is determined to come in. He comes to us expecting to be our king. However, he wins his crown in the most unexpected of ways: he surrenders to his enemies rather than crushing them.

Jesus doesn’t help us out of life’s messes by offering advice or even lending a helping hand. His footprints prove he’s walked through the worst of life’s messes for us. Those same footprints have paved our path out. This week we see how Jesus is willing to step into the place where the mess is the deepest and its pain is the sharpest. Jesus footprints lead all the way to the grave where he rescues us from death and brings us the gift of life.

Jesus doesn’t help us out of life’s messes by offering advice or even lending a helping hand. His footprints prove he’s walked through the worst of life’s messes for us. Those same footprints have paved our path out. This week we see how Jesus steps into our natural assumptions about how God will operate in our lives. It’s natural to think that in order receive divine favor or blessing, we must earn it. We must pull the right divine levers or push the right divine buttons, so to speak. However, Jesus came to demonstrate how God does his greatest through what seems to be smallest. He doesn’t want us to work for his blessing. He wants us to trust that he will freely give it.

Jesus doesn’t help us out of life’s messes by offering advice or even lending a helping hand. His footprints prove he’s walked through the worst of life’s messes for us. Those same footprints have paved our path out. This week we see how sin creates in us a spiritual thirst. It leaves us with longings that this world cannot possibly satisfy. Thankfully, Jesus steps into a world that can only leave us thirsty with the only water that satisfies. He promises living water to satisfy our souls so that they will never thirst again.

Jesus doesn’t help us out of life’s messes by offering advice or even lending a helping hand. His footprints prove he’s walked through the worst of life’s messes for us. Those same footprints have paved our path out. This week we see how our mess—and God’s willingness to step into it—all started. When our first parents brought our race under the control of sin and its curse, God stepped in with unfailing love and a promise to send a Savior. Eventually, Jesus came to be that Savior who stepped onto the field of battle in our place to bring perfect righteousness back to a world of sin.

The need for approval explains so much of human behavior. On Ash Wednesday, we acknowledge that the approval we need can't come from ourselves and can't come from others. Thankfully, our baptism unites us with Jesus in his death and resurrection. As a result, we have the same Father he has and receive the same approval he does.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how the light of God’s Word is a light that he puts at our disposal. The light that has the power to open our eyes and transform our lives is a light that we have the ability shine into our hearts and the hearts of others whenever we want. We do not have to wait for some rare, supernatural revelation of that light. God puts the light at our disposal by tying it to his Word.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how the light of God’s Word directs the lives who are eager to serve God. Just like you would not go running at full speed through a dark woods without a flashlight, so also those who desire to serve God with their lives benefit from the direction his light provides.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how light attracts people to its source. Just like the glow of a fire attracts people on a dark night in the woods, so also the light that shines forth from Christians attracts people to its source: Christ. God gives Christians time and opportunity to let their lights shine that others would see it and join them in giving glory to God.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how light exposes what God is really up to in our world. The world looks to power, wealth, and force to make things happen. God promises to make use of weakness, poverty, and humility. What the light exposes seems like foolishness to the world. God’s wisdom, however, has been demonstrated in Christ.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how light and darkness cannot coexist. As the light of the gospel shines on a person’s heart, it expels the darkness of gloom, guilt, and doubt. It enables us to walk through life joyfully and confidently.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how the light of the gospel clarifies the purpose for which Jesus sent into the world. Far from him coming to serve as inspirational or motivational leader who helps us climb our way to God, he came to take our sins on himself. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how the light of the gospel identifies those God has chosen for his special purposes. Though outward appearances may suggest otherwise, God uses baptism to identify his chosen children. If we’re looking for a healthy and stable identity, baptism helps us find it.

When God speaks, he does more than convey information. He changes reality. That was true when he pierced the world’s natural darkness with light in the beginning. It remains true as he speaks to us the good news about Jesus, the light of the world. Through that message he brings us light and enables us to see life as he sees it. This week we see how the light of the gospel draws people from all nations to Jesus. Because it offers free forgiveness and salvation, the gospel transcends differences between race, culture, wealth, and power. The Christ child born in Bethlehem established a kingdom that reaches to the ends of the earth.

More than any other holiday, Christmas is predictable: the food, the lights, the music, even the date. But maybe another predictable part of Christmas is that it predictably lets us down. After it’s over, nothing is different; nothing is better. Thankfully, God delivers something completely unpredictable at Christmas. This week we see the unpredictable change of status that Christmas bring - both for us and for Jesus. Immediately following his birth, Jesus endures the consequences of his arrival on earth. Earthly rulers seek his death and an earthly father is his only protection. As a result, however, our status changes too. We who by right are slaves of sin and death are redeemed and made daughters and sons.

More than any other holiday, Christmas is predictable: the food, the lights, the music, even the date. But maybe another predictable part of Christmas is that it predictably lets us down. After it’s over, nothing is different; nothing is better. Thankfully, God delivers something completely unpredictable at Christmas. Today we see the unpredictable way in which God reveals himself to us. At Christmas, we unwrap presents in order to reveal what’s inside. God does just the opposite at Christmas. He reveals himself by wrapping his deity in human flesh. No one can see the unbridled glory of God and live. However, Jesus Christ, the Word wrapped in flesh, we have seen God’s glory, full of grace and truth.

More than any other holiday, Christmas is predictable: the food, the lights, the music, even the date. But maybe another predictable part of Christmas is that it predictably lets us down. After it’s over, nothing is different; nothing is better. Thankfully, God delivers something completely unpredictable at Christmas. In the least likely of ways and in the least likely of places, he delivers the gift of his Son. Along with him, he delivers to all mankind the peace, joy, and hope they need. Because God delivers his greatest gift in the most unpredictable way, that gift is ours for the taking. There will always be room for us at the side of the manger. The gifts from the Christ child are all labeled: To you! When we see the unpredictable thing God does at Christmas, we’ll say with the shepherds, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened!”

More than any other holiday, Christmas is predictable: the food, the lights, the music, even the date. If we imagined an unpredictable Christmas, we’d assume everything went wrong. But an unpredictable Christmas is exactly what God wants us to have. The gifts he delivers are so great that, no matter what we’re anticipating, we can count on being surprised. This week we see how Christmas offers us a miracle that’s more than just myth. Christmas stories often include miracles. The idea that something unexpected and supernatural could happen in our lives captivates our imagination. Yet, we often live as though such miracles are nothing more than wishful thinking. Christmas proves God is capable of the miraculous. The truth asserted about Jesus at his birth was proven at his resurrection. The miracle of Jesus’ birth shows us the kind of God we have.