Daily Devotions based the Sermon from January 24, 2021
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: A Mission-Minded Person Is Excited about Their Message!
“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
Ever been asked this?
Which do you tend to want first?
Subconsciously when someone presents this to me, I am HOPING the good news overshadows the bad news.
Don’t we all?
We want good news to be better and more often than any bad news we may here.
We want news like, “I was laid off…but I got hired for my dream job the next week.” Or “I got COVID, but I had no symptoms.”
We want good news to overcome bad news.
That’s what the good news Jesus brings does…every time. With Jesus it is always good news!
Mark 1:14 starts this way, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.”
John the Baptist being put into prison was not going to end well. John had confronted Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee for divorcing his wife and taking his brother’s wife as his own. John would eventually be beheaded. It was not good news.
But the good news Jesus proclaimed overcame the bad news of John’s imprisonment. John was in prison, but he knew he had carried out the purpose God had given him – point people to Jesus – and he had confidence Jesus was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” including his own. John was safe in the good news.
So Jesus doesn’t get stuck on the bad news, he continues “proclaiming the good news of God.”
As long as sin is in the world, bad news will come our way. We will experience evil. We will cry over loss. We will have disappointments and plans that fall apart.
But the good news Jesus proclaims will always overcome the bad news.
Jesus could approach us and ask, “I have bad news and good news. Which do you want first?”
There is both. Jesus said to his disciples the night before he went to the cross (bad news?): “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
No matter what the news of the day, the news that you are loved, forgiven, child of God will always be better than the bad news. The good news of Jesus ALWAYS overcomes bad news.
Apply: What is the bad news you are living with today? How does the fact you are a loved, forgiven child of God change your perspective on that news?
PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for the good news you give us each day. We know there is bad news in the world, help us to remember you have overcome the world! AMEN.
Passage and Prayer for the Ministry of Cross & Crown
Tuesday – January 26 – Titus 3:5-8 “He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”
PRAYER: God, help us remember where we’ve come from. You saved us not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of Your mercy and grace. Thank you for the power and renewal we receive through Your Holy Spirit. Fill us with joy, peace and hope, confident of the promises You have made to us through Christ.