Proverbs 15:30 World English Bible (WEB)
30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news gives health to the bones.
Proverbs 25:25 World English Bible (WEB)
25 Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
If you didn’t notice a theme in those two verses, it is “Good News.” I’ve been thinking about Good News this week. Especially when the governor back-peddled from phase 2 of opening things up to phase 1.5 for opening businesses up. Tomorrow would have been the start of phase 2. Phase 2 allows gatherings of 30. Phase 1.5 keeps the limit at ten. Well you may wonder how we are gathering today with more than ten.
Well it’s because the governor quit specifically giving instructions to churches, after she was taken to court, and lost. The court cases were brought by some churches who reasonably asked, “How can you allow other businesses to have larger numbers of people, but not a church?”
So now, if you read the latest phase, it says nothing about churches, but it says that you can eat at a restaurant in groups limited to 10, and groups separated 10 feet.
So welcome to the Parkview Soul Food restaurant where you can receive Spiritual sustenance for your immortal soul. For our appetizer today we provide all the Bread of life that you can consume.
“Hey! Is anyone thirsty, Come to the waters; And if who have no money, Come, buy and eat. come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
Our chef is the Lord Jesus Christ and He offers Himself.
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
I hope that everything is good because Jesus said,
Matthew 5:6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
I was considering what my message should be for today as I was cleaning out my emails this last week. And I was amazed at the number of announcements and blurbs about Covid-19. Everybody and their dog was letting me know how they are responding to the Coronavirus. Office Depot and Petsmart were letting me know how they were responding to the Coronavirus. And it seemed like every email I read began in the same way, “As we navigate these difficult times…” It was all bad news. Death statistics. Dumb people. Government overreach. Shutdowns. Unemployment. Business bankruptcy. Who has symptoms and what do they look like. It was somewhat cathartic to delete those emails one at a time. I kept hitting the delete button harder and harder after each successive email.
I even read an email that described a new phenomenon; Zoom fatigue. For those of you who don’t know, Zoom is an online computer program that has been used a lot over the last two months to have virtual meetings. We used it once or twice for school before we changed to a different platform. You sit in front of your computer and have a meeting with 10 or so little tiny people. Anyway, the article described how hour after hour of that can leave you fatigued. Too much sitting. Limited facial interaction. And most of all, you are deprived of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone released from the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland. It is called the cuddle or love hormone. It is released when people cuddle up or bond socially. In many cases, it makes you feel more affectionate toward another person. Well we all knew that there was a reason going to church was important. I hope you’ve gotten some surge of oxytocin this morning.
But, for two months, it has been nothing but bad news. So, I thought that this morning we needed some good news. We are people of the Good News” aren’t we? So I searched the Scriptures for all the places that talk about Good News. And that search reminded me of some very important and encouraging truths.
But before we look at them, we’re here to sing, and share, and enjoy this day that the Lord has made. let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father, You have always been the God of Good News. You created the world, and us, and You looked at it all and said, “It is very good.” Even out of our sin and rebellion, and the resulting death, You promised the Good news of life and salvation. Refresh our hearts today Lord, after months of isolation, let your Good news “give health to our bones” and be like “cold water to a thirsty soul” as it promises in the book of Proverbs. Thank you Lord for this opportunity to get back to gathering with Your people. And we pray all this in the name of our Precious Lord Jesus, Amen.
Well this morning, I just want to kind of share with you a narrative, a story about good news. We’re not plumbing the depths of some passage of Scripture. I’ll not be translating any words from the Greek language…somebody say amen! I just looked at Scripture where the words “good” and “news” were together and discovered some refreshing stories and wanted to share them with you.
It’s kind of amazing, there are only 4 stories in the old testament that talk about “Good News.” We all know that the New Testament talks about “Good News.” 4 stories, And 3 of them had some encouraging truths for us, in this discouraging time.
The Number 1 Good News, the Battle is over
The first comes out of the book of second Samuel, chapter 18, verse 27.
2 Samuel 18:27 World English Bible (WEB)
27 The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.”
The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”
Now let me tell you a little about the story behind this statement. The story comes out of the life of King David.
Two of these stories are out of the life of David, and all of these “Good News” stories, come out of some very bad times. You might remember that David struggled with a number of enemies throughout his reign. But none were so distressing to him as the enemy that came from his own home. His son Absalom led in a coup to take the throne from his own father.
And David was so grieved over it, that he just abandoned the capital city of Jerusalem, with his men, and hid from Absalom. Well it was inevitable that they would meet in battle, but because of David’s age, his people would not allow him to go out to battle with them. He sent his commander Joab, to oversee the battle.
So that meant that David stayed in the stronghold city of Mahanaim, while his army went out to fight Absalom’s forces.
Think about this, see if you relate to this…David can do nothing but wait for news about how the battle has gone. He can only wait to hear if he has held on to his kingdom, if if his own death is imminent. He has been commanded to “socially isolate” if you will, and hope that things will turn out.
So, here David is, sitting outside the city gates of Mahanaim, and he has a watchman up on the wall over him. The day has worn on, hour after hour with no news. But after some time, the watchman sees a lone figure in the distance, running toward the city. It says in 2 Samuel 18:24
24 Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. 25 The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer.
And as it turns out, there are two runners, and the second runner outran the first. And the watchman recognized the faster runner.
27 The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.”
The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”
You see, the impression I get from this story, is that certain individuals had the job of carrying word back to the king. And the chief element of their job description was that they be fast runners. But they also had another quality. It’s implied in another part of this text, that some runners were “bad news runners” and others were “good news runners.” David recognizes here that faster runner here, Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, is a “good news runner.” David says, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”
And he does bring good news. The good news was, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!”
Do you know what the good news was? “The battle was won.” “The victory is ours.” “God has conquered.”
And something about that story struck a chord with me. We wait around all day for news. We can ring our hands, worrying about what the future holds. We can be overwrought with casualty counts. But after all that, we need to remember the good news, “The battle was won.” “The victory is ours.” “God has conquered.”
Regardless of what happens in this world, or in our country, God has already won the battle! You remember the song?
The second “Good News Story”; The Rightful King is on the throne (on screen)
And this good news comes out of some dark times as well.
1 Kings 1:42 World English Bible (WEB)
42 While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.”
This second story comes out of a time after David has died. David reigned as king over Israel for 40 years. He dies at the age of 70 after preparing for his son Solomon to be his successor on the throne. He even began making preparations for Solomon to build the first permanent temple for God in Jerusalem.
David got all the building materials ready for Soloman, the lumber, the gold, the stones. Everything was in place for a smooth transition. But David was becoming sick and frail.
And another of his sons saw an opportunity in his father’s weakened state, to seize the throne before his father’s passing. That son’s name was Adonijah.
It tells us about him in 1 Kings 1.
5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6 His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom. 7 He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest; and they followed Adonijah and helped him. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. 9 Adonijah killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants; 10 but he didn’t call Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother.
Here’s what happened. Adonijah held a coronation feast for himself. “Come to my party and join in crowning me the new king of Israel.” But of course he doesn’t invite anyone who would oppose him, and he sure doesn’t invite Solomon, the brother who David said would be king,
Well, the news of this coronation party made its way to Nathan the prophet, and to Solomon’s mother.
Now this is where this story spoke to me. Soloman group had a choice. They could have sat back and bemoaned the fact that the wrong person was moving on to the throne. They could have lamented the fact that David wasn’t doing anything about Adonijah. They could have considered that all was lost for the future.
They could have complained that the government was going to pot. That the future was bleak. They could have wrung their hands considering these questions;
What would happen to Solomon the promised king? What would happen to them because they were loyal to Solomon? Would the temple be built according to the instructions that David left Solomon?
They could do all of that, or they could take the bull by the horns and take action. Which they did.
Both Bathsheba and Nathan went to David, and asked him to publicly crown Solomon king. And this is David’s response, he said yes.
32 King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” They came before the king. 33 The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. 34 Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live king Solomon!’ 35 Then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah.”
36 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, “Amen. May Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, say so. 37 As Yahweh has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.”
38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”
40 All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.
The nation came together in a party.
Now this story sets us up for the Scripture we read earlier, back to Adonijah’ coronation party
41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it
(the commotion) as they had finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?”
42 While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.”
And it was good news, but not for Adonijah
43 Jonathan answered Adonijah, “Most certainly our lord king David has made Solomon king.
And this is what struck a chord with me as I read all the bad news this week.
You see, despite all the political maneuverings, all the subterfuge, all the conniving of Adonijah to take the throne from its rightful heir, Solomon still ended up on the throne. God’s ordained sovereign ended up ruling over Israel.
And we can get so downhearted about the power plays, and manipulation that happens at the national and state level, that we become discouraged about the future. We look at the idiocy and downward spiral of our society and we say, like a quote from my favorite movie, “What can men do against such reckless hate.”
But we forget that behind the dark cloud of bad news, is the eternal blazing light of good news, The Rightful King has already been crowned. And He will sit on the throne despite the musings and tinkering of men.
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.
The eternal Son of David has set down at the right hand of God.
For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
God has sent us a man bringing good news, the King has been anointed, and is sitting on His throne.
Number 3
2 Kings 7:9 World English Bible (WEB)
9 Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.”
Now this is an interesting story. The capital city of Samaria in the Northern Kingdom of Israel was surrounded by the invading army of Benhadad king of Syria. As in all siege conditions, the invading army encircled the city and did not allow any food to go in to the city. It was not long before the food supply of the city was exhausted and people became desperate in their starvation. They were starving.
They weren’t just short toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The Bible describes that desperation, that starvation.
24 After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab[a] of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
27 He said, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From of the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” 28 The king said to her, “What is your problem?”
She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him;’ and she has hidden her son.”
Just pause for a moment, how revolting, disturbing and desperate.
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body. 31 Then he said, “God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
The king of Israel was an ungodly man, and placed the blame for the state of the city at the feet of Elisha, God’s prophet. Instead of turning to God and begging for forgiveness and help, he was in essence, casting accusations at God by means of God’s prophet Elisha.
Elisha was the announcer of God’s judgment against Samaria, so the king wanted to kill the messenger.
So the king sent an officer from his army to get Elisha. But when they arrived to take him, Elisha had a message for the king.
Elisha had good news.
2 Kings 7 World English Bible (WEB)7 Elisha said, “Hear Yahweh’s word. Yahweh says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah[a] (almost 2 gallons) of fine flour will be sold for a shekel,[b] (a small coin) and two seahs of barley (about 4 gallons) for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’”
In other words, Elisha was saying that the siege was going to be over, the enemy was going to be gone and the severe lack of food was going to be over. But the officer scoffed at the idea that such a thing could happen.
He said, “if God should open the windows of heaven, could such a thing happen?”
And this is the good news that spoke to my heart this week. You know, we become so accustomed to evil winning, that we ascribe to it more credit than it is due. We think that trying to be good and right is fruitless, it’s like putting perfume on a pile of manure.
We think the power of evil is unbeatable. We look around us and we see people starving, not for food, but as Amos said, in chapter 8 verse 11,
Behold, the days come,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing Yahweh’s words.
Soon there is coming a day when Messiah will return and
Isaiah 49
8 Thus says the Lord:
“In an acceptable[g] time I
have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will [h]preserve
You and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate [i]heritages;
9 That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go
forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show
yourselves.’
“They shall feed along the
roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate
heights.
10 They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
Let me make a side note here. Do you know why it is so difficult for us to believe good news? Because we have filled our minds with all the bad news. I have seen all kinds of articles about “what the new normal” is going to be. What school will be like next year. What employment is going to be, milk and egg production, politics, whether churches will survive, and on and on ad nausea. My friends, nobody but God knows the future. So we need to quit worrying about it. I like what Jesus said; “Don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” There is enough bad stuff to work on for today, without wringing our hands over tomorrow.
So, the good news, in this story about Elisha was that God took care of the enemy, and ended the famine in one day. How did that happen?
2 Kings 7
3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” 5 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. 6 For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” 7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. 8 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some [b]punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” 11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.
12 So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to [c]hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.’ ”
13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see.” 14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” 15 And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
My friends, the battle is over, Christ is on the throne, and He is coming back to feed this spiritually starving world.
Number 4
The last bit of good news for this morning, is we are the people of the good news.
Mark 16:15 World English Bible (WEB)
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.
We need to be the good news people. People, we cannot join the bad news people. They have too many people on their team already. We are outnumbered as far as people are concerned. We are good news people.
We are people who proclaim healing.
Matthew 9:35 World English Bible (WEB)
35 Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
Jesus not only healed physical diseases, He healed the spiritual disease of sin. And we get to proclaim that healing.
We are people who proclaim liberty, freedom.
Isaiah 61:1 World English Bible (WEB)
61 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me,
because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good
news to the humble.
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to those who are bound,[a]
Jesus came to open the prison doors. Jesus has declared the sin lockdown to be over for those who will believe. We are not the allstate good hands people, we are the good feet people
How beautiful on the
mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace,
who brings good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
My friends, as these days unfold before us, there has been a realization that many in the world have come to. It is the realization that their hearts are empty. And I hope, that many Christians have used this time to shore up their spirits. That means, that as we leave our homes, as we will have more opportunities to reflect on this, to talk about it. our conversation shouldn’t primarily be about politics, and how we were deprived, but how God filled our hearts, even in isolation. As we go out, we need to go with our feet shod with the preparation of the good news of peace.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, We just thank for the blessing of being able to walk out into the sunshine. We thank you for stores that are stocked with food. We thank you for being able to see people we love. We are thankful for work to do. We are thankful that you have deepened some of our relationships. We are thankful for the time we have been able to spend in your Word. And we’re thankful that no matter how dark things may become, there is always good news. The King is crowned, the famine is over, the battle is won, Jesus is Lord, He is our Lord, Savior, and Friend. We thank you that we have the privilege of bearing the good news. We just thank you Lord. And the people said, amen