The Good News

The Lord’s Table: Bible Study/Prayer meeting

(Every Wednesday 6-7 pm in the Chapel)

St Paul’s Church

The Anglican Church of Canada

14 December 2011

Opening Prayer                                                                                                    

Theme: The Good News

Topic: The Good News

Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; ² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³ to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. ⁴ They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. ⁸ For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing;^* I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹ Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed. ¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Introduction

For the next several weeks, we shall turn our attention to the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, studying this theme will grant us a fresh and deeper understanding of how the good news has become reality in our lives. When we hear good news, some of the things that may come to mind are: exciting information, ridiculous rumor, unbelievable hearsay and so on and so forth. And truly the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ can only be described as exciting and I dare say unbelievable to the human mind. Does receiving the good news really grant freedom, peace, love, acceptance, forgiveness, healing, blessings and lots more? Yes it does, and even far more than we can ever imagine or comprehend. No wonder the prophets of old were quite fascinated as to the nature of the promise- there is nothing to compare to it, prior to and after its fulfilment. That God sent His only begotten Son to die for us. That the Creator will wear flesh and dwell among His creatures and creation. That is how much He loves all of His creation, and His name is Emmanuel- God with us, and that is the good news.

Questions/Discussion

1. What comes to your mind when you hear someone mention ‘the gospel or good news’?

 Isaiah 52:5-10, 61:1

⁵Now therefore, what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore on that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I. ⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ ⁸ Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹ Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. ⁶¹The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;

2. Why is the gospel of Christ described as good news?

Luke 1:1-4

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, ²just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, ³I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first,^* to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life,^* and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.^{* 10} He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own,^* and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^* full of grace and truth.

Acts 1:1

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning

3. How do we apply the ‘good news’ in our lives and what are the benefits?

Psalm 126:1-4

¹ When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,^*
   we were like those who dream. ² Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
   ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ ³ The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced.

⁴ Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb.

Matthew 7:24-29

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. ²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’ ²⁸ Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, ²⁹for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Luke 6:45-49

The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. ⁴⁶ ‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. ⁴⁸That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.^{* 49}But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.’

Romans 10:4-21

⁴For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ⁵ Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that ‘the person who does these things will live by them.’ ⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷‘or “Who will descend into the abyss?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because^* if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ ¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ¹⁴ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ ¹⁶But not all have obeyed the good news;^* for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ ¹⁷So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.^{* 18} But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ ¹⁹Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ ²⁰Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me;    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ ²¹But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’

4. Are there challenges to receiving the good news?

Matthew 13:24-30

He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. ²⁷And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” ²⁸He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” ²⁹But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’

Luke 8:5-16

‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. ⁷Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ ⁹ Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets^* of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak^* in parables, so that “looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.” ¹¹ ‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. ¹⁴As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. ¹⁶ ‘No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Intercession

Conclusion

The good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ is that God loves us and have paid the price for our sins and has granted us freedom, peace, righteousness, healing, love, hope and acceptance. Let us live our lives confident that we are His redeemed, the children of the Most High.

Closing Prayer

Lord we are eternally grateful for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ who came and died that we may live. Grant us Your grace to live as Your children everyday of our lives through Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.