MINISTRY NOTES

Week of September 6, 2009

Hi Everyone,

Recently there was medical study from another country that claimed that people who had heart attacks recovered better by exercise than from a popular procedure of cleaning out the arteries. Also recently some person who is considered important stated that the only way to avoid swine flu is by vaccine. When you are making decisions it is good to consider God's desires. An additional guideline can be to consider how we were created. Yes, medical procedures and vaccines and cars and planes, etc. are wonderful things. But we were created to eat healthy and live healthy physically. It is never too late to start. Unlike some shortsighted manufacturers' products, are bodies are not made to self-destruct.

Message:

Good News

Jesus said, …"I must preach the Good News about the Kingdom of God … because that is what God sent Me to do."1 What is the Good News of the Kingdom of God? (notice He did not say the Kingdom of Jesus) It could begin with Jesus' birth2. That was definitely good news. And after Jesus' crucifixion, He is risen from the dead or is alive again3. Jesus being alive is definitely good news but being executed on a cross, as good news, is confusing to most people, including secular Jews. Although many Jews in Jesus day such as John the baptizer and Paul seem to understand4, the concept of a sacrifice for our sins is not easily understood. Jesus said it this way, "The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends."5 This may be one of those times that we need to remember that God's ways are not always easy to understand6.

Some Christians have made up doctrines concerning Jesus after He ascended to heaven. Over 50 years later, John revealed that both Jesus and God were present in the book of Revelations7. It appears sometimes in religious teachings that Christians skip from Jesus birth to His crucifixion/resurrection. Jesus' teachings for three years are a key purpose to why God sent Him1. And it is good to remember that Jesus makes it very clear that His words will out last the earth8.

What Jesus teaches about forgiveness of other people being necessary for our forgiveness from God is still valid and a part of the Good News9. A key aspect of the Good News is eternal life. Jesus makes it very clear that obedience to God, which includes the commandments, is essential for eternal life10. It would almost appear that Jesus anticipated some popular religious doctrines in Christianity, when He made it clear that the law (the 10 Commandments) will never go away11. Jesus did make the "thou shall not's" of the 10 Commandments more positive, when He connected two scriptures from the Old Testament. When Jesus mentioned we should love God with all we have and that we should love our neighbors, He summarized the 10 Commandments in a very positive way12. Consider that you would not misuse God's name if you love Him completely or that you would not steal from your neighbor, if you love him.

Another facet of the Good News is that Jesus teaches us that we can trust God for everything and not worry13. This was a message that God's children spend 40 years in the wilderness experiencing and still didn't retain the message. Back in the 80's God allowed my family and I to experience this for over two years while I was getting my Master degree. At first it terrified me that God said neither my wife or I were supposed to work but then I figured out that, when we ran out of money in a few weeks we could go get jobs. We didn't run out of money the whole time I worked on my degree and it was a blessing to finish school debt free.

Perhaps the most awesome Good News Jesus gives us is that we can have eternal life now14. This is very clear in Jesus' teachings and yet it does not seem to be acknowledged in Christian history or in most of Christianity today. When our physical body dies we can keep on living into eternity15. Yes, this means we will not have to face judgment or risk the second death because we will have already entered into eternal life16.

God, help us to live the Good News that Jesus teaches us. Helps us to obey You and trust You in every way. Thank You for helping us to enter eternal life now, thank You in Jesus name, amen.

1. Luke 4:43 (TEV)

2. Luke 2:10-11

3. Mark 16:11

4. John 1:29; Romans 3:25

5. John 15:13 (ICB)

6. Isaiah 55:9

7. Revelations 6:16; 7:10; 21:22-23

8. Mark 13:31

9. Matthew 6:14-15

10. Matthew 7:21; Mark 10:17,19

11. Matthew 5:17-18

12. Mark 12:29-31

13. Matthew 6:25-34

14. John 3:16

15. John 8:51; 11:25-26

16. John 11:25-26; Revelations 2:10-11; 20:6