Gtcotr/ss102509
Luke 1:19 And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.
Luke 8:1 ¶ Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,
Acts 13:32 "And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers.
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"
Once I heard a story about a man who was approached by some Christians who felt like he needed to change. They began to confront him about his sin and impending eternal damnation. Throughout the course of their witness, the conversations became more and more confrontational. Soon it was evident that both sides were angry, not over the truth, but as a result of the delivery.
Finally when the man could take no more rudeness from his guests, he demanded they leave and never come back. “What”, they exclaimed. “Don’t you want to spend eternity in heaven?”
The man pushed them out in and as he slammed the door he replied, “Not if it’s with a bunch of people like you I don’t!”
Believe me when I tell you: It is not only what you say about God, but also how you say it that makes the difference. I do not mean to infer that there is no room for stern rebuke however, even in the rare times when stern rebuke is appropriate, judging and condemning are never appropriate.
I continue to encourage preachers everywhere that when they preach on the realities of hell, preach with a tear in their eye and not judgment in their hearts. We should never be satisfied that one person will miss heaven.
In the scriptures we read earlier we see a definite pattern.
Luke 1:19 Angels did it …
Luke 8:1 Jesus did it …
Acts 13:32 The Apostles did it …
Romans 10:15 We are told to do it …
Do what? Speak glad tidings of good things --- not sad tidings of bad things. Although both may be the truth, we are commissioned but for one.
Have you ever read the scripture:
Psalms 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD."
Well, are you glad this morning? Would you want to go to church where you never heard anything to be glad about? Or worse yet, to go to church where you never heard the truth because the preacher did not know how to put the truth in a positive way and since he did not want to run you off, just preached good things instead of God things.
1 Kings 6 tells us that when King Solomon was building the House of the Lord for the Ark of the Covenant, he gave strict orders that no sound of the hammer was to be heard in the sanctuary.
Luke 4 records Jesus’ first message after being baptized and anointed to begin His ministry. It was a six point message and each point was phrased to be a glad tiding of a good thing God had provided for His children. Beginning Luke 4:18 … The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …
Point 1 – There is good news for poor people.
Point 2 – Healing for the broken hearted.
Point 3 – Deliverance for those held captive.
Point 4 – Recovery of sight for the blind.
Point 5 – Freedom from oppression, depression, worry and anxiety.
Point 6 – It is the set time for God to favor you.
The message of the Gospel is clear … it is glad tidings of good things.
Yet we still have two ways we can approach the truth of the message of the Gospel: The negative way and the positive way.
The negative way says that you are going to go to hell if you don’t accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The positive way says that you will get to go to heaven if your will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
It seems like the same message but the delivery is such, that one is the Good News and the other is the Bad News.
We can either tell people: Stop sinning and acting like the devil! Or we can say: Be holy, because the Lord is holy, let’s imitate God as His dear children. How we say what we say is completely up to us.
However, I have found that many times, even when a truth is stated in otherwise neutral terms, people make up their own minds as to whether or not they hear it in a positive way or a negative way. Truth heard in a negative way may still be truth but it has the tendency to put us off and does not always motivate us to change.
Fussing and complaining, even when we are right, is a roadblock to effective communication and often fails to accomplish our desired results.
The bible says that it is the goodness of God which leads men to change.
Let me give you a list of Five Life Lessons that are finite truth. I am going to share each truth by way of a neutral statement. Whether or not you hear these truths in a negative or a positive connotation will be purely up to you. Take note as to how you hear these truths, for how you hear them may be the way you will repeat them to others later.
Five Lessons of Life
1. What you say will be said.
Luke 12: 3 "Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”
2. What you do will be found out.
Luke 12:2 "For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.”
Matthew 6:4 "that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”
3. What you believe will be tested.
James 1
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
4. What you compromise to keep you will lose.
Matthew 16:25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
5. What you do unto others will be done unto you.
Ephesians 6:8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
Proverbs 26:27 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.
The truth of the Gospel is not meant to be a curse, but a blessing. How can you turn these truths into continual blessings for you and others?
