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Good News

The Anointing Part 2

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“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… . “
(Isaiah 61:1 NIV)  

In part 1 of this dose we looked at the importance of proclaiming the good news. Today I’d like to look at the other essential component within this verse. The verse states that the Lord had anointed Isaiah to preach, to go, to proclaim and to release. But what was the driving force behind carrying out those actions? The Spirit of the Lord! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and have Him living in you to carry out the commission of the Lord upon your life (Eph 1:13; 2 Cor 1:22). All of us have unique callings upon our lives, but we all have the same commission to proclaim the good news. In Matthew 28, Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples, promising to be with them always. Too many Christians believe this to be a great suggestion and not a great command  (don’t worry, if you are sitting in the seat of conviction right now I am there beside you!). So I would encourage you today to take a few moments to take stock of your relationships. Do you have any unbelieving friends that you are sharing Christ with? If not, do you need to be intentional about seeking some out? Broken hearts will not be bound up and captives will not experience freedom until they experience Jesus. And through the power of the Holy Spirit in you, you have the boldness to preach that good news. So go preach it, friend! And the Lord is with you as you do.

Be blessed,

Noree

 

 

Photo Credit: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/olil-1568642

He is Risen! No Fooling!

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“…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

1 Corinthians 15:2-3 NASB
This is the first time I can ever recall Easter falling on April 1st – April Fool’s Day. That’s because the last time it happened was 1956 and I wasn’t even a year old. Oh, the great April Fool’s Day jokes we play to see if anyone will be crazy enough to fall for them!

As you celebrate Easter this year, please take time to read the moving accounts of Jesus’s cruel, yet sacrificial death, His humble burial, and His lifegiving resurrection in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  But for today’s dose, I want to point us to the gospel message proclaimed by the apostle Paul found in his first letter to the Corinthians. Many considered his message of the cross to be utter foolishness.  Let’s look at these verses found in 1 Corinthians 1 (NASB, emphasis mine):

Vs. 18 – For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Vs. 21 – For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

Vs. 23 – but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.

Vs. 25 – Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men.

Vs. 27 – But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

The Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ – looks like foolishness to the world. It appears as Nonsense. Useless. Unnecessary. Stupidity. That’s because the Easter message is about the greatest display of Love that can only be found and experienced in Jesus. He loved us enough – regardless of what we’ve done – to give His life so that we could live forever with Him. We deserve death, but He freely gives us LIFE. It is our choice to accept or refuse His gift.

Proverbs 19:3 states that “the foolishness of man ruins his way, and his heart rages against the Lord.” As Easter approaches, my prayer is that if you do not know the true message of Jesus Christ, you will find and receive it today! God asks that you humbly admit and turn from your wrongdoings, realize you can’t live without Him, and yield your heart and will to Him. Do not let what appears to be foolish keep you from experiencing the greatest gift ever – the gift of eternal life. It will be the wisest and best decision you ever make. No fooling!

[Digging deeper – Isaiah 53; John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 15:1-20; Ephesians 2: 4-10; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18. Please feel free to email me if you have questions about the Good News of Jesus.]

Blessed Resurrection Day,

Beverly<><

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Photo by Beverly Lussi

Hidden Motives

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“So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.” 

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4, NLT

Hidden_Agenda_Pic“I invited five ladies to our Bible group, this month. I got them all saved, had them join the church, and even got them to sign-up for donations to our new Reach-a-Sister-Fund! I’m pretty sure I’ll be moved up to group leader and featured in the church bulletin soon! Go God!”

“We need to pray about all those sad, poor people I visited on our recent missions trip! Honestly, having to live like that! They are so blessed that we could come to them! How else would they know the love of Christ, without us? We’re all they have to hold onto, you know! Bless their little hearts! God is good!”

“Ladies, we want to thank our sister for inviting three new ladies to our Bible study group, and encourage them each to keep coming back! Let’s all give God the praise and our sister a round of applause!”

Which scenario reminds you of godly women carrying the Good News to others with pure motives? I hope it wasn’t the first two!

Sometimes, the people we attempt to reach with the Gospel message suspect our motives. They’ve literally and figuratively shut doors in my face and the faces of countless number of Christians, believing our motives to be those of Sister Self-Promoting and Sister Self-Righteous, above!

The truth is we really can have hidden motives when we reach out to others in sharing the message of Jesus Christ. When we place importance upon anything (how many; people we’ve impressed with our “sainthood”, people “we’ve gotten saved”, people we’ve invited to church, or financial pledges we’ve secured) above our genuine compassion and love for unsaved people, we are operating out of hidden motives.

Each time we profess to have saved someone, we misrepresent the power of God, whose message we claim to spread! We don’t have the power to save anybody; only God does.

“For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.” (John 6:44)

Before we connect with others, let’s examine our motives, and ask God, the Holy Spirit, who guides us, to empower us to make the necessary corrections that will keep our motives godly.

To effectively reach others with the Good News, we must share it from godly, loving, open motives, rather than from loveless, hidden ones.  This pleases God.

By grace through faith,

Rita