1. News That Gives Hope
Notes
Transcript
Me:
Me:
Welcome to the launch of a new series entitled: Guide to Greatness. In this five part series we will be looking at five core verses from the NT book of Mark. In it we will discover Jesus’ definition of what greatness is all about. This is also a great journey that will help prepare us for Good Friday and Easter!
Just a reminder, you can always stay in the loop even if you are not available on Sunday morning. On YouTube, look for Iowa City Church and subscribe to watch our service anytime or anywhere. If you are a podcast person, use your favorite podcast app and search for the Iowa City Church Podcast.
This week marks one year of being in a Covid pandemic. In fact, next Sunday, the 21st will be exactly one year of having an online service of some time. I know Chris Coker has something planned for you to see about how it all started and our adventrous journey of learning how to do an online service.
As I think back over the last year, the one thing I will always trying to find was good news. News that maybe this covid thing wasn’t as serious, or that it might clear up in the summer. Instead of hearing good news, it got to the point where every time you looked at the news headlines it was bad news. It was about this time last year when athletic events, March Madness, the nationals for wrestling were called off. The NBA paused their season. Everything started going into lock down…and it was just bad news after bad news.
After this last year of bad news, I didn’t realize how much I long for good news.
You:
You:
Here’s the problem, when you don’t get good news or it feels like everything is bad news, it really starts to get to you. It’s been well documented how poorly our countries mental and emotional health is. Listen, when it feels like it’s only bad news, and then you lose a loved one or get sick yourself, it really starts to weigh on you. So because of the bad news cycle many people have eaten too much, drank to much, picked up other bad habits, or harmful addictions. Relationships have been strained. Maybe that describes where you are today…just tired of bad news…looking for some good news.
One of the movies Suzi and I watched during this last year of pandemic is the movie 33. I highly recomend it! The movie is based off of the true story of 33 miners trapped deep inside the San Jose Mine in Chile for 69 days. One of the crucial moments in the movie takes place days after the explosion that trapped the miners. As their families rallied togther, holding out hope it started to look hopeless. Government officials, experts began to slowly give up…believing that there was no way anyone was still alive. Thankfully there was a company that came in an agreed to drill down to see if they could someone make contact with any possible survivors. In a truly remarkable moment they drilled the hole all the way down and connected with these 33 miners. When the miner’s families heard this good news, everything changed for them. In fact in changed for everyone involved. You see, because of the good news they had hope.
Isn’t that exactly what each of us need? Good news. I don’t know what your struggling with today. I don’t know what obstacles seem to be in your way. Maybe you find yourself buried deep under weight of guilt, shame or regret. Do you know what can turn things around for you today? We all long for good news because good news gives us hope.
Let me show you what I’m talking about.
God:
God:
If you have a Bible or device, I want you to find Mark chapter one. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, look in the bottom right hand corner for the word “More”. Click on it and in the new menu look for “Events”. Iowa City Church should pop up. You will find all the Scriptures, sermon notes and other helpful tools there.
Let me tell you just a little bit about the author and his context for writing this account of Jesus. The author is a Jewish man named John Mark. His main sources for writing this book about Jesus comes from his experiences, but mostly comes from one of Jesus’ disciples, Simon or Peter. Chronologically speaking, this was probably the first written account about Jesus of Nazareth, and ironically it was writen while Mark and Peter were in Rome. Why do I say ironically? Let me explain. The Roman Empire was the world superpower of the first century. Their empire and influence was so great that the ripple effects of its legacy are still around today. And at the top of the food chain in Rome was Caesar. Listen to some of these titles given to Casesar. He was referred to as the king of kings and the lord of lords, was also referred to as the Son of God. Do any of those sound familiar? Oh it was a power play to maintain control…for sure. Here’s another little nugget of information you might find interesting. When Caesar did something of significance, like won a major battle or got married or had a child, he would send out heralds to the far reaches of the empire with a gospel message. Yes, that’s right a gospel message…because you see the word gospel literally means: good news.
So the herald would show up in the town square and announce this good news to let the people know that things were all fine and good with Caesar. He was still on the throne ruling. He was still defeating his enemies. He has a child and the family line is safe. The idea was to convince people that everything was fine. However, in most cases it wasn’t. It was a cover up, a shame…but that is how the system works. This is why it is so fascinating how Mark opens up his account about the life of Jesus. Here’s his opening statement.
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,
Mark is making a bold, dare I say political, treasonist statement in his opeing line. Mark is acting as a herald, proclaiming the good news (some of your translations make actually say gospel) about Jesus…and here’s where they get really interesting. Messiah can also be translated Christ. This was a Jewish statement about who is king. Mark is saying, in Rome, Jesus is King no Casear. Oh, and it gets better. He adds on a phrase that the Roman folks would recognize, Casear isn’t the Son of God…Jesus is.
Now, here is what is so remarkable and why this whole series is about about a guide to greatness. Jesus became King, not by raising money, or a powerful army. Jesus became King by loving people, dying on the cross for their sins, and offering them a new life through his resurrection from the dead. That is true greatness…and that is the gospel.
Here’s a simple summary of the good news about Jesus:
There’s a new king and a new kingdom available for anyone who commits their life to the crucified and resurrected Jesus.
It’s something that Casear couldn’t give. That’s essentially what Mark is doing in this opening line…he’s calling out the fake news of the Caesar’s messangers as well as calling out Caesar as a fake king. Here’s why he’s doing it: Caesar takes from his people. Jesus gives hope to his people. The same is true today. The kings of our culture, influencers, cultural icons, leaders, or politicians…they are in the business of taking. The kingdoms of our culture want your money, want your time and want you to follow on social media. The good news about Jesus is that he is a good king because he lays down his life to save us, and his kingdom gives to us because it provides a new way to live life! That’s what the good news about Jesus is all about: It gives hope.
With the time we have left, I want to show you how the good news about Jesus can give you hope for today:
The Good News Tells You Who Is In Control - This is about kingship and it’s important. Every incluencer, political party, advertiser is positioning itself to be king of your life. Listen, personally we think we are kings of of our own lives. We need to honestly ask ourselves this question: How’s it going? The Good News tells me that Jesus is king and he is in control. That gives us hope!
The Good News Tells You How You Are Saved - We know that we have problems. We’ve rebelled against God. We’ve hurt people, in some cases done some really evil things. We’ve found ourselves caught up in habit and addictive behaviors that fill us with shame. The regrets, sin, and hurts feel like a weight separating us from God and from others. Listen to what the apostle Paul says about the good news about Jesus.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
The gospel of Jesus tells me that there is a solution for the weight of guilt, shame, sin and regrets…it tells me that Jesus died an atoning death on the cross so that I could be forgiven and given a new life. That is good news! The power to save you comes from the good news. That’s the kind of news that gives hope!
3. The Good News Gives You Peace - Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we think it should go. Sickness, loss, death, hearthache, that are all apart of the human experience. Whether it’s God working out a plan we don’t understand or it’s sometype of spiritual attack going on behind the scenes, according to the apostle Paul the good news provides us peace. Here’s what he writes.
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
No matter what happens today or tomorrow that gospel gives us the peace of mind to carry on…and any time we have peace that gives us hope!
4. The Good News Provides You With A Mission - When you believe the good news, you actually join the team of messengers who are enlisted in sharing the good news to others. Last week we talked about living on mission, well our mission of making disciples is pretty straightforward…it’s all about telling other people good news! Who doesn’t like to share good news? Here’s how the apostle Paul describes it.
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
What’s ironic about what Paul writes is that the messenger being referred to in that verse probably had bloody, beat up feet from the long, hard journey of bringing the good news to the people in desperate need of hope. So though they are beaten and bloody, they are beautful. You may not think that you are much or that you know what to say or that you look or act the part…trust me that’s not what living on a mission of sharing the gospel is all about. In fact here is my favorite description of sharing the good news about Jesus: It’s one blind, beggar telling another blind, beggar where they found bread. That’s all I am in front of you today, a blind, beggar, who was lost and starving until I found some Good News. I found the bread of life…and I’m just telling you where I found it. If we can catch on to the simplisty of this mission…oh that gives me hope!
Here’s what you need to take away from this morning: When you believe in the good news about Jesus you find strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
You:
You:
If you are looking for some hope in your life, here are some steps you should consider about this Good News:
Are You Ready To Believe The Good News? When it’s said like that, how can you not? To know that your sins have been forgiven, that you can have a new life, and purupse, surrounded by a family who is on the same journey. Are you ready to believe the good news about Jesus? I would love to talk with you about what that looks like in your life. One of those steps comes by publically declaring your faith in the good news and being baptized. If you have never done that we are planning on doing baptisms following the worship serive o March 28th. We already have some folks signed up and ready…would you like to join them? Talk with me after the service or send me and email and let me help you prepare for that next step,
Do You Believe, But Have Lost Hope? Sometimes life can really beat us up…especially a year in a pandemic. Maybe you feel like you are in deep and you can’t get out of the hole you’ve dug yourself. Let us help! That’s what the church is all about! We are all a bunch of blind beggars who found some bread....and sometimes we need help. We have resources for you, whether it’s prayer, counsel or professional counseling, we want to help. Let us walk into the good news again together and rediscover the hope.
Who Needs To Hear This Good News In Your Life? If we are truly living our life on mission, then God is putting people in our lives who need to hear some good news. So who is it? Who is your one that you are praying for, working on that needs to hear some good news? Your job is to share it with them.
Here’s why this is so essential.
We:
We:
One year ago today, there was no vaccine for the Covid-19 virus. Now we have four or more around the world! Now imagine what it would have been like if you were on one of the teams that engineered one of these vaccines. When you discoverd that the vaccine was effective at protecting people, your whole team started celebrating and cheering. Wow, what an accomplishment! But what if, you then pulled your group together and said, “Okay, let’s just keep this to ourselves. We will vaccinate each other, and our families, but that’s it. The secret stays with us.”
Listen, the rest of the world would be appalled! To something that could change the world, give lifem, peace and provide hope, how could anyone ever keep such good news to themselves? Yet that is exactly what we do when we keep the Good News about Jesus to ourselves! We have a world lost in confusion, darkness and sin. A world hurting and content to hurt one another. We are surrounded by people looking for good news…and hope…and as of right now, everyone of us knows about it. So what are you going to do about it?
When you believe in the good news about Jesus you find strength for today and hope for tomorrow.