...CommentsThe Pastor's Vision
February 13, 2000
What Good Is The Gospel?
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty tot he captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim th e acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Isa 61:1-3 (NKJV)
For a brief moment I want to revisit some ground Antioch has already covered. In 1997 our theme was 'On Our Way to Heaven Restoring a Spirit of Rejoicing' and it was taken from the text above. Our concentration was pointed toward praise. As I consider this text in light of today, it speaks fresh insight to me. One last week we considered powerless Christians, "we are powerless because we do not yield to the work of God in our lives." The fresh insight is that we do not yield because we do not know of what good the gospel is to us. The Church needs to come back to the ground that the gospel is good news. If the gospel is good news then it must be a response to some bad news.
The bad news is that there are things happening in our lives that are detrimental to our well being. When I use the term 'well being' I am referring to our right relationship to God. I keep coming back to several things. The high rates of divorces among Christians. The number of parents who are not raising their children. The bad blood between many Christians. The expression of class elitism, I am better than you mentality. The failure to raise the standard for adults and children in behavior. The performance of our children in the learning environment. I could go on and on, but that would only be more bad news. We have the antidote to all these woes.
We have been anointed to preach the good news (the gospel). Just think of it. Contained in the scriptures are the answers to our needs. We must redouble our efforts in keeping the Word of God. Here is my simple application. WHE RE GOD HAS PUT A PERIOD LET US NOT REPLACE IT WITH A COMMA. WHEN GOE IS CLEAR LET US NOT SAY 'BUT' . The gospel is good news, and it is good for our instruction.