The Gospel is stil good news! (Pt. 2)

(Part 2 of 2)

“Just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”

This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”-Mark 1:2-8

What makes the Good News good is Jesus! It is the revelation and introduction of Jesus init a person’s life. That never gets old! People being saved from the clutches of hell, never gets old. People’s lives being transformed never gets old. 

In Mark 1, John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus. He is introducing him to a group of people who were not familiar with Him. He told them in vs.7-8 that there was one coming greater than he, so much greater he was not able to even stoop down and tie His sandals. 

Later on after John is arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News:

“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”-Mark 1:14-15

Jesus picked up where John had left off. Then Jesus instructed the disciples to pick up where He left off. He instructed them in Luke 24:46-48:

“Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”-Luke 24:46-48

The good news was that Jesus, their Messiah, would suffer and die and be raised from the dead on the third day; also the forgiveness and repentance would be preached to all nations. 

The message is still timely and good, we don’t have a message problem, we have a delivery problem. That is why Paul wrote this in Romans 10:13-15: 

“For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”-Romans 10:13-15

Has the newness of the gospel worn off for you? Is it still not the best news ever for those who are lost and hurting? God has called each of us to carry the good news of Jesus to those around us. Our job isn’t to make the news, but to deliver it. Get it into the hands of those who have never heard it, but desperately need it. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

The Gospel is still good news! (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2)

“This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.”-Mark 1:1

Is the gospel still newsworthy? There are some people out there that would like for the world to believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is fake news. That it is propaganda and none of it really happened or is simply an outright lie. There are some that would like for you to believe that it is old news and that the gospel is antiquated and that we have evolved past it or enlightened beyond it. 

Some would argue whether it is news at all. They claim that it is a story that has been circulating for generation. It certainly isn’t news. Isn’t that what makes news, well news? One definition of news is: newly received or noteworthy information especially about recent or important events. If that is the case, then the gospel may be good information, but in their minds is hardly news. 

Yet at the very end of the book of Mark, Jesus command His disciples to:

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”-Mark 16:15

Truth of the matter is, it is going to take a while to preach the Good News to everyone. So it wasn’t the latest news for sure by the time it gets to some, but it was still going to be good news. News can also be defined as information not previously known to someone. For those who have never heard the gospel message, it would certainly be good news. Still today, there are those who have never heard the gospel fo Jesus preached. So we are still operating under the mandate to preach the Good News to everyone. 

So with over 2,000 years passed and the explosion of technology, and thousands upon thousands of missionaries, churches and Christians spanning the good, why hasn’t the whole world heard yet? Has the gospel lost its goodness?

Who loves the smell of a new car? So many people like that smell, they have tried to create air fresheners that smell like a new car to give you that feeling long after the newness has worn off. However, just because the newness has worn off doesn’t make the vehicle ineffective. We don’t abandon it for another one, once the newness wears off. 

For many people, the newness of the gospel has worn off and along with it so has their passion for it. Nevertheless, just because the newness has worn off, doesn’t mean that the gospel itself is still not good, effective, full of purpose, and able to transform lives. To those who are hearing it for the very first time it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). It is life transforming. 

In Luke 4, Jesus quoted this passage from Isaiah 61:1-2: 

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.”

It may seem like yesterday’s headline to you, but it is good news to the poor; it is a comfort to the brokenhearted; it is freedom for those held captive; and it is hope for those who are mourning. They are experiencing in the moment what many of us have archived away along time ago. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

All things new! (Pt.2)

(Part 2 of 2)

"And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.”-Revelation 21:5-6 

When Jesus went into the grave He went in with a frail, human body but He came out with a transformed body. It was new. Although it bore the visible evidence of what he went through, it was not the same body he once was. God didn’t simply polish up his old broken body and send him back out. He gave him a new body.

When we talk about being restored, we are talking about how Jesus restored us back into right relationship with God. He did not, however, come to restore us to our old way of life. I think that a lot of people would be satisfied if Jesus just cleaned them up a little bit. They are not looking for a new life because, although this old life has sin has caused them nothing but trouble, they still are having a hard time letting go of it. However, it doesn’t make any sense that Jesus would die to set us free from the power of sin only to restore us to a sinful life. 

Jesus didn’t promise us a better version of our sinful life. He promised us a new life in him. 

What if I told you that if you bring me your old car that I’ll give you a new car?  Then I took your old car and had it detailed and brought back to you, handed you the keys, and pronounced “Here is your new car!” That would simply be a lie. That is just a cleaned up version of your old car. Although it may look better, under the hood it’s just the same old car.

That is why Paul said in Ephesians 6:21-24:

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”

Throw off the old and put on the new! I am going to say it again, “Until you are finished with the old way of life, you can’t enjoy the new life God has for you.

Are you finished with sin? Finished with the old way of living? Jesus rose from the dead to give you a new life. However, he can’t pour the new life he has for you into an old life that can’t contain it. Jesus compared it to trying to pour new wine into an old wine skin:

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”-Mark 2:22

New wine was always put into new skins, because as it fermented, it would expand stretching the wineskin. A brand new wineskins would be flexible and able to stretch, but an old one that had already been stretched, couldn’t stretch any further. To put new wine into an old wine skin would cause it to burst. 

A cleaned up versing of your old sinful life cannot contain the amazing life God has for you. You have to let go of it, throw it off, and embrace the new life that Jesus has secured for your through His death, burial and resurrection. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

All things new! (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2)

“Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.”  A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”-John 19:28-30

Jesus knowing that his mission was complete, just before bowing his head and giving up his spirit, declared, “It is finished.” What was that mission? According to Luke 19:10:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Sin had separated us from God. The Bible tells us that the wages fo those sins sins is death. Each of us had a debt that could not be paid. A sin debt that kept us isolated from God, but Jesus through his sacrifice on the cross paid our ransom in full. His suffering at Calvary’s cross restored and reconciled us to God. 

However, having our sin’s forgiven was not the end of the story, just as Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story. Jesus’ declaration “It is finished” was to announce the closing of one chapter and the opening of a new one. The old life filled with sin, death, and destruction was finished, but a new life was on the horizon. Three days after his crucifixion life would burst forth from a borrowed grave. 

The cross was about restoration (reconciling a broken, sinful humanity back to God), but the resurrection is about transformation. That is the overriding message of Christ’s resurrection. Your old life is gone and a new life has begun:

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”-2 Corinthians 5:17

Jesus is in the business of making all things new! That is not just an observation, Jesus declared it:

"And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.”-Revelation 21:5-6 

He who said that he is making everything new also declared, “It is finished.” Why? Because before you can pursue a new life, you have to be willing to be finished with the old one. Until you are finished with your old life, you can’t enjoy the new life God has for you. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church