Thought for the day
Good news/bad news for a preacher:
Good News: You baptized seven people today in the river.
Bad News: You lost two of them in the swift current.
Good News: The Ladies Bible Class voted to send you a get-well card.
Bad News: The vote passed by 31-30.
Good News: The elders accepted your job description the way you wrote it.
Bad News: They were so inspired by it, they also formed a search committee to find somebody capable of filling the position.
Good News: Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons.
Bad News: Mrs. Jones is also wild about "The Gong Show," "The Jerry Springer Show" and "Texas Chain Saw Massacre."
Good News: The building committee finally voted to add more church parking.
Bad News: They are going to blacktop your front lawn.
Good News: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.
Bad News: You were on vacation.
Good News: Your elders want to send you to the "Holy Land".
Bad News: They are stalling until the next war.
Good News: The youth in your church come to your house for a surprise visit.
Bad News: It's in the middle of the night and they are armed with toilet paper and shaving cream to "decorate" your house.
Life is filled with good news and bad news. So is the Bible. The good news is: Christ took our place on the cross and died for our sins. The bad news is: not everyone has chosen to respond to that act of love in an obedient faith.
"As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!' But they have not all obeyed the gospel."(Romans 10:15b-16a)
Father, thank you for the good news that you have shared with us. As excited as we are about your love and grace, it grieves us when those we share it with are sometimes not even interested. We pray for open doors and open hearts as we exercise our "beautiful feet". In Jesus name, amen.
Verses
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Isaiah 53:5
But he was wounded and bruised for [our] sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed--and we were healed!
Deuteronomy 6:24
`And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.
Mark 11:24
That is why I tell you, whatever it may be you pray for or ask for, believe that you will obtain it and you will have it.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I will never fully comprehend the depth of Your sacrificial death where we see man at his worst and God at His best. In my place You took my guilt and shame as You became the guilt offering pouring out Your life unto death and taking on my iniquity. You gave all so that I could be forgiven. Though my sins were as scarlet they were washed white as snow, cleansed by the saving blood of the sinless Lamb. You turned my hopeless condition into a life full of hope for this life and glorious anticipation for eternal life beyond the grave. Nothing in all of history will ever compare to the Divine Exchange where my sins were exchanged for Your pardon. I walk in newness of life and in the power of the resurrected Savior. Praise Your name, Lord Jesus! You are risen, You are risen indeed! Amen.
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