Rev. Gil Killam

The Good News

The news in the media is not "good" news! I think we can all agree to that.  It seems that the only news that gets air time these days is "bad news".  We hear news about the pandemic, wars, famine, massacres and conflicts in so many parts of the globe.  It's not an uplifting experience to watch the news on TV before going to bed because we are exposed to all the troubles of a world that has lost its way.  We hear of problems to which there seem to be no answers.

However, there is good news: it is that our sins can be forgiven and we can be cleansed from its defilement.  That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about.  God sent his Son to this world to show God's great love for us individually, and for the whole world.  He calls each of us to come to him and be saved from our sin, but more than that, he will give us eternal life because he died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, was buried and rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father representing us there.  We can become his children forever, adopted into the family of God.

More good news is that this is for everyone who will receive him as their Savior and Lord.  The scripture says, "Yet to all who received him to those who believed on  his name,  he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:12, 13 NIV)  Jesus called it the "new birth" and that is why he said to Nicodemus when he was here on earth, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."(John 3:3 NIV)  It is a spiritual rebirth in which we are born from above.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17 (NIV)