Good News Weekly Message

So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. As we wrap up the season of Lent and prepare our hearts for Holy Week, we see the resolution with which Jesus was willing to make the exchange God planned for. He rode into Jerusalem, knowing certain death awaited, for the joy it brought him to save us from sin. Therefore, we join with the Palm Sunday crowd in hailing him as our Savior and king.

So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. This week, we hear Jesus remind us that salvation for the world comes from an unexpected place. Just as a seed must first fall to the ground before it can produce a great tree, so Jesus’ had to die in order to bring life to mankind.

So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. This week, we see the exchange that is the hardest of all to believe. God removes works from the equation of our relationship with God and replaces it entirely with faith. God’s approval and a spot in heaven are dependent on faith in God’s love and Christ’s work alone.

So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. This week, we see how Jesus took concepts that were foolish and offensive to many in the world and made them the heart and core of the Christian faith. The beauty of this approach is that those central truths, while objectionable to some, are accessible to all.

So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. This week, we see a seemingly impossible exchange. God takes something that is an object of shame and makes it a reason to boast. That object is a cross. Through Jesus’ deaths, the cross has become a symbol of our reconciliation with God. As we carry our crosses, we can be just as confident that God will use them to work amazing good.

So often the impression is given that our relationship with God is mainly about all the ways in which we need to change and that salvation is dependent upon self-improvement. Thankfully, God has provided a substitute for self-improvement. Rather than change, he offers an exchange: our sin, guilt, and death for his holiness, innocence, and life. This week, we marvel at the love it takes for a Father to offer up his son as a sacrifice. Given the choice between sparing us and sparing his Son, God chose to spare us by offering Christ as our substitute. If he was willing to do that for us, what could possibly separate us from his love?

Ash Wednesday is a day that vividly and powerfully reminds us of our mortality. Dust we are and to dust we shall return. As we begin our midweek series, "Perfect Ten," Ash Wednesday reminds us that just as our exercise regimen and healthy diet cannot save us from death, neither can our obedience to God's Ten Commandments. History has only had one "perfect ten," the life of Jesus Christ. His life - ours through baptism - is our certain hope of eternal life.

It’s been said that Jesus was always humble but never modest. Although he never sought glory or recognition for selfish reasons, he never shied away from clearly proclaiming himself to be God’s Son, the promised Messiah, and the Savior of the world. This week, we see Jesus give the very first evidence of his divinity. This miracle, like all of Jesus' miracles, was much more than a cool party trick done to impress others. Rather, it was a sign. It pointed to a greater reality: the reality of his identity as the Son of God and the eternal celebration he came to bring us to.

It’s been said that Jesus was always humble but never modest. Although he never sought glory or recognition for selfish reasons, he never shied away from clearly proclaiming himself to be God’s Son, the promised Messiah, and the Savior of the world. This week, we see Jesus assert is identity as the Messiah both as he calls people to follow him and sends people out to call others to him. In both cases – the summoning and the sending – Jesus points to himself as mankind’s only hope for salvation.

It’s been said that Jesus was always humble but never modest. Although he never sought glory or recognition for selfish reasons, he never shied away from clearly proclaiming himself to be God’s Son, the promised Messiah, and the Savior of the world. This week, we see how Jesus’ signaled the start of his public ministry and work at his baptism in the Jordan River. In ancient times, kings, priests, and other rulers were designated for their office by being anointed. At his baptism, Jesus was set apart as the promised Messiah by being anointed by the Holy Spirit. We also rejoice that his baptism gives power and purpose to ours.

Every gift - and every child - needs to be delivered. Only one gift - one child - can possibly deliver. On Christmas, we celebrate the fact that God delivered our Deliverer, Jesus Christ. This week we conclude this series by asking, “How does it work?” Many people consider Jesus their Savior, but what exactly does that mean? How does he save us? Today we hear the wonderful news that Jesus came to live obediently under the law for us. He faced every temptation as our brother so that we could be members of God’s eternal family.

Every gift - and every child - needs to be delivered. Only one gift - one child -can possibly deliver. On Christmas, we celebrate the fact that God delivered our Deliverer, Jesus Christ. This week we consider the question, "Whom is it for?" Normally gifts come with tags that name their recipients. Already on Christmas, the angels said, "A Savior has been born to you." However, it is human nature to ask, "Does this really include me?" God's Word assures us that, regardless of who we are, the gift delivered at Christmas is for us.

Every gift - and every child - needs to be delivered. Only one gift - one child - can possibly deliver. Today we consider a question people often ask after opening a gift: “What does it do?” Many people realize that a relationship with Jesus is important. But why is it important? Thankfully, when it comes to God’s Christmas gift, the name says it all. On the eighth day of his life he was named Jesus, the name the angel had told his parents to name him, the name that lets us know what he came to do, to save his people from their sins.

Every gift - and every child - needs to be delivered. Only one gift - one child - can possibly deliver. On Christmas, we celebrate the fact that God delivered our Deliverer, Jesus Christ. In order for that gift - like any gift - to be appreciated and utilized properly, it needs to be understood. God tells us that the gift he gives us at Christmas is his own Son incarnate - wrapped in human flesh and blood. While the full humanity and full divinity of Jesus cannot be understood, the implications of forgiveness and eternal life cause it to be a mystery at which we marvel and offer God our praise.

Every gift - and every child - needs to be delivered. Only one gift - one child - can possibly deliver. Christmas isn’t just about the birth of a baby. That happens all the time. And this baby’s birth would have long been forgotten among the billions of others if not for who he was and what he came to do. Even as we remember his birth, we do so with an eye to his entire mission on earth: to crush the devil for us with his suffering and death on the cross. Christmas is worth remembering not only because a baby was delivered, but because this one baby is our deliverer.

While the world around us becomes obsessed with what's "in stores,” the Christian Church turns its attention to what God has "in store" for the world and its people. By revealing to us everything about the future that he wants us to know, God also helps us get ready for what he has planned. This week we reach the end of our Advent preparation and get ready to see what God gives us at Christmas. Through ancient prophecy, angelic announcement, and apostolic witness, God "unwraps" the gift he's prepared. His gift to us at Christmas is none other than his own eternal Son, wrapped in human flesh for us.

While the world around us becomes obsessed with what's "in stores,” the Christian Church turns its attention to what God has "in store" for the world and its people. By revealing to us everything about the future that he wants us to know, God also helps us get ready for what he has planned. This week God's Word leads us to compare two important lists: the list of things God wants for us and the list of things we want from God. Very often we make demands of God the way we do when we make our wish lists at Christmas. However, when we realize what God wants for us, which is much greater than anything we could ask or imagine, we realize that he's already given us all we need in Christ.

While the world around us becomes obsessed with what's "in stores,” the Christian Church turns its attention to what God has "in store" for the world and its people. By revealing to us everything about the future that he wants us to know, God also helps us get ready for what he has planned. This week God's Word points us ahead to the day when Jesus will return in power. Since that day is surely coming, Christians count down the days by watchful preparation. We listen to the same urgent plea God sent John the Baptist to make: Repent for the kingdom of God is near!

While the world around us becomes obsessed with what's "in stores,” the Christian Church turns its attention to what God has "in store" for the world and its people. By revealing to us everything about the future that he wants us to know, God also helps us get ready for what he has planned. This week we begin a new church year by remembering that God has provided the only answer to our greatest need. In our fallen condition, all we can do is turn to God and beg, "Save us!" By sending his Son to live and die among us in great weakness and lowliness, that prayer has been answered.

While the world around us becomes obsessed with what's "in stores,” the Christian Church turns its attention to what God has "in store" for the world and its people. By revealing to us everything about the future that he wants us to know, God also helps us get ready for what he has planned. This week we focus on Christ's rule as king, a rule that is somewhat confusing. During his life on earth and during the last days of this world, his rule is gentle and submissive. However, on the last day, he will surely trample his enemies. May we always welcome him as our king now so that we don't get trampled by him later.