Pastor Terry Lema's Daily Devotions
  • Home
  • Past Devotions
  • Support
  • Contact
Tag:

Good News

Nothing of Importance Has Changed!

by TerryLema June 28, 2023

I went by the old “The Way” property the other day. It has certainly changed in appearance. The paint is a different color, concrete has been poured around it. The old sign (that I hated) is gone. There are concrete planters in front that will soon be filled with shrubbery. It is still a work in progress, but there is the beginning of a new design around the building (and one going on inside that I hope to see soon).

It is becoming Christian Faith Center (CFC) Middleton and will soon bear that name on the outside.

I realize some will love the new design and some will want to return to the old, but as I thought about it, God reminded me of something that we need to keep in mind. The building may be getting a face-lift and becoming something a bit different than what it was, but the message that will flow through it is the same Good News that has always been preached there. That is not changing.

I always determined to preach the Gospel at The Way – the Good News of God’s salvation for all. I was determined to preach truth, from the Scriptures, not my own opinion. (I probably failed at times, but hopefully succeeded far more often). After spending months now listening to the messages at CFC, I see that same determination to be faithful to the true Word of God.

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight.” [Romans 1:16 NLT]

That old building may be changing in appearance, those who meet there may know it by a different name, but, BUT, the Good News that will be proclaimed there is the same Good News about Christ Jesus that has always been proclaimed! Nothing of importance has changed.  Hallelujah.

June 28, 2023 0 comment
FacebookEmail

Good News! At What Cost?

by TerryLema May 7, 2023

The word “Gospel” means good news. That good news is for everyone. Everyone means every one, all, none left out. It does not matter the condition of the “every one.” It only matters the totality of the Gospel.

Charles Spurgeon summarized what this Gospel [good news] is, “The heart of the gospel is redemption and the essence of redemption, is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ” (1886).

“He made the One [Christ Jesus] who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” [2 Corinthians 5:21 HCSB]

We are the recipient of God’s good news. We rejoice in that. We acknowledge that God loves us. We celebrate His love. But we must never forget at what cost that love came to us. It came by God sacrificing His Son for us. It is the death of Christ Jesus that brought us life.

The Gospel is good news for every one of us. That means that no one is beyond the Gospel. No one is beyond its reach. No sin is too big (if repented of) to be forgiven.

Read it again, treasure it eternally … “[God the Father] made [Christ Jesus] who did not know sin to be sin for [me], so that [I] might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Praise His Holy Name!

May 7, 2023 0 comment
FacebookEmail

Good News

by TerryLema March 10, 2023

I was reading an online article by the Idaho Stateman on food prices for 2023. It began with “Looking ahead, there is good news and bad news for 2023.”

Then it told us both the good news and the bad news. “The good news: Food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 than in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bad news: Food prices are still expected to rise above historical average rates in 2023. The Department of Agriculture expects food prices to increase by 7.9% by the end of the year.”

I do not think the good news is all that good. The bottom line is food prices are still rising. I knew that just from watching the cost of my typical grocery order. And while we did get a social security increase, it did not cover what we lost over the past year. And if we get another one next year, it likely won’t cover what we lose this year.

The world has far more bad news than good. And that has always been so. But God … don’t you just love all the “But God” thoughts in Scripture! … But God has always had Good News.

When Adam and Eve blew it in the garden and brought sin and death into the human race, God provided a covering for them.

When God called Abraham’s people out of Egypt and made them into a great nation, God provided that nation with the sacrificial system to cover sin so that they could maintain their relationship with Him.

And then, the highest “But God” came to all when He sent His Son to die for us. “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” [Romans 5:8 HCSB My favorite “But God” Scripture!]

And the greatest irony of all? … that Good News came to us while we were still His enemies!

March 10, 2023 0 comment
FacebookEmail

The First Evangelists?

by TerryLema December 7, 2022

The last story is one of my favorites. It is found in Luke 2, and it is the story of the first evangelists found in the New Testament. The word evangelist has a bunch of meanings, but to me it is simply a person who passes on the Good News they received to another person.

“When the angels had left [the shepherds] and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” [Luke 2:15-18 HCSB]

The Good News brought to those shepherds that night was “of great joy that will be for all the people:  Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.” [2:10-11 HCSB]

The Shepherds left their sheep and hurried off to find Mary and Joseph and this marvelous baby who would be Savior. Then after seeing the Baby, they told everyone they could find about Him.

These Shepherds were uneducated, hard-working men. Yet, God chose them to be the first evangelists in the New Testament, telling everyone they could about the Savior who was born. (On a side note, God chose women to be the evangelists to spread the news about this same Savior who was resurrected after being crucified.)

We don’t need to be a Bible Scholar or have a profound education to be a good evangelist. We just have to have received the Good News and have the desire to share it with others.

December 7, 2022 0 comment
FacebookEmail

Good News!

by TerryLema January 5, 2022

Recently Dr. Fauci said, “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House’s C_V_D-19 Response Teams said: “For the unvacc__ed, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.”

Newfoundland & Labrador’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald declared, “C_V_D-19 will be with us forever.”

Well, that was not very encouraging news—and if we depend only on the world for our “news,” we are going to be continually discouraged. Discouragement, however, is not to be the atmosphere of children of God!

Instead, Jesus came and brought us Good News and He did not hesitate to spread that Good News wherever He went. “Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.” [Matthew 9:35 HCSB]

So, Good News it is! “For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” [Romans 8:38-39 HCSB]

Is there any better news than that! Nothing has the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our LORD! (No matter what the world asserts!)

I’m tired of the world’s news, so let’s spread that Good News of the Kingdom everywhere we go!

January 5, 2022 0 comment
FacebookEmail

Really?

by TerryLema February 16, 2021

When I got up Saturday morning the world around me was white! It had been snowing for a couple days and staying cold, so snow blanketed the ground, the road, the trees, and shrubs. Beautiful!  I do like the snow, especially when I can spend the day inside looking at it outside.

When I opened my computer to send out and post the devotions and check my email, my online local news source had this headline, “Ice Melt Selling Quickly as Snow Moves into the Region.”

My response was, “Really? That’s news?” When else would ice melt sell quickly? In July? There are times when I worry about the intelligence of people who decide what is newsworthy.

Well, I have something “newsworthy.”  It happened about 2000 years ago and is still relevant for today. God, who so loved the world, sent His Son to seek and save the lost. His Son, Christ Jesus our LORD brought Good News!

“After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of God: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!’” [Mark 1:14-15 HCSB]

Good News! The Kingdom of God has come near!  The door to God’s Presence has been flung wide and all who accept God’s invitation of salvation, all those who repent and believe may now enter!  Peace has been restored. Everything has changed!

Now that’s newsworthy! Amen & Amen

February 16, 2021 0 comment
FacebookEmail

Do We Really Want Good News …

by TerryLema August 15, 2020

I receive two news updates in my email inbox each day, one from a local source and another national. I would be lying if I talked about all the “good news” they send. Each day lately, it seems the news gets worse. Recent news talked about how a warming world affects people across different continents with hunger, how the virus endangers at-risk children, the challenges of rural policing, and the adjusted upward estimate for destructive hurricanes this year. None of which I would call good news.

Still, there is good news. It comes from a different source. “The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.” [Isaiah 61:1 HCSB]

Our Savior and LORD, Christ Jesus, brought to us the Spirit of the Living God. He came anointed with good news for the poor (and before God we are ALL poor). He brought healing to those who are brokenhearted, liberty to those held captive by sin, shame and guilt, and freedom to those in bondage to bitterness, addictions, hatred, and distress.

If there was ever a green pasture to refresh us during all this bad news, it is the Good News of our rescue. We have been set free. The Good News, the anointing of the Spirit of the LORD God has come and is available to us – if we want it. If we remain in bondage to anything, it is our own choice to do so.

I realize that is a difficult, even a hard statement – that remaining in bondage is by our choice. As difficult as it is, it is also true. Freedom is offered to us, but it is not forced upon us. We can choose to be free, or we can choose to remain as we are. Of course, I also know that it is not always easy to choose freedom, liberty, good news; we must work with the Spirit of the Living God for that freedom. But those things that are the most difficult are usually the most valuable.

Do we want to be free? Do we want to lie down in those green pastures of Good News? Or would we prefer to remain in the barren wasteland of brokenness?  The choice really is ours.

August 15, 2020 0 comment
FacebookEmail

Comment notes:

We have disabled comments on the blog, but invite you to join our Facebook page and share your comments.

Pastor Terry Lema

Pastor Terry Lema has been married for 53 years, and has 3 children and 3 grandsons. Terry graduated from Trinity Bible College, and and recently retired as Lead Pastor at The Way Church in Middleton, Idaho.

  • Facebook
  • Email

@2022 Pastor Terry Lema. All Right Reserved. By: Rodli Web Strategies


Back To Top
Pastor Terry Lema's Daily Devotions
  • Home
  • Past Devotions
  • Support
  • Contact