You’ve Got Good News

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing all right today? Well, I trust so. Me? I feel fine. Thank you for asking. Praise the Lord. I’m just so happy in the Lord and glad to be alive and feeling great. It’s an overcast day where I am. A friend of mine says it’s so cloudy that even the birds are walking. [chuckle] And where we live, just outside of Tannersville up in the mountains, I’m halfway up a mountain and that would be, I suppose, around 1,200 or 1,500 feet altitude, and sometimes the clouds get lost and bump into the mountainside. But it’s a great setting. I enjoy it. These mountain roads are great to ride around and see the deer and the bear, and the other critters. I love the out-of-doors, don’t you?

Well, I trust things are going well for you, and I want to invite you now to stay with me for these next few moments while we look at the last few phrases in 1 Timothy 3:16: “Great is the mystery of Godliness, the quality of God in your life, God manifest in the flesh. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ took on Himself a human body in what we call the incarnation, and was born of the Virgin Mary, so God the Holy Spirit clothes Himself with you and with me.” Filled with the Spirit of God, the net result is God manifest in our lives.

And so if somebody’s writing the story of your life, believer, and let’s say your name is, oh, what shall it be? Hazel? Or John? Or Mary? Or Herb? And you’d read it this way: The mystery of Godliness. God manifested in Herb. God manifested in Mary. That’s what he’s talking about. The mystery of Godliness is a Person living in you, revealing Himself by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

The last time we got together we were talking about the angels and their ministry to us. Then the mystery of Godliness goes on. He says, “Preached unto the Gentiles.” Preached unto to the Gentiles. Why include this in the mystery of Godliness? Simply this: That the mystery of Godliness is that God includes everybody, not just some special people, in His offer of salvation. Preached among the nations is a way you might put it. Preached among the nations. Now, how does that affect you and me? We’re talking about Godliness as a personal characteristic, aren’t we? A personal characteristic.

And so, if it is, it has to apply to our lives. “Seen of angels, preached among the nations. Believed on in the world and received up into Glory.” Well, this word “preach” means proclaim, “Kerusso” is the verb, among the nations. It’s our word from which we get the word, the English word “ethnic”. Nations is “ethnos” here in your Greek New Testament. And so you have the idea of proclaiming the message of life in Christ among all the nations. Godliness, now watch this for your own sake, Godliness involves a process by which you, believer, become part of the spreading of the Good News.” The mystery of Godliness is that Godly people are proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ among the nations. That is to say, wherever they go.

Now, could you say that that’s true of you and of me? Are we, as a matter of actual fact now, just real honest about it, are we proclaiming, are we sharing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with people wherever we go? Some of you travel quite widely. Today you’ll be in your hometown, but tomorrow you may very well be in Cairo, and the next day in Calcutta, and the next day in Switzerland, and the next day in London, and the next day, home. I know some of you are really travelers, because I know you and others of you have written to me.

Now, let me ask you something. When you’re traveling, do you pray that God will put you next to somebody on the airplane to whom you can speak of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or do you secretly hope for somebody that isn’t going to bother you by talking to you all the time so you can get some sleep? [chuckle] Well, I agree that there is no one quite so annoying as a person who insists on talking with you over a period of four hours while you’re making an airplane trip when you would dearly love to take a nap. I know, I’ve been there. [chuckle]

But let me ask you, do you pray that God will put you next to somebody to whom you can minister and toward whom you can just spill over the Good News of your life in Christ? Preached unto the nations. And that word “preach” means proclaim like a herald, telling people the Good News. Well, we’ve talked about world travelers, but let’s talk about the rest of us. Most of us just stay pretty close to home. And for us, it’s get up, get dressed, go to work, do the shopping, ferry the children back and forth to cub scouts and piano lessons and so on, and get dinner and serve the family and clear up the dishes and watch TV and go to bed. An ordinary day for ordinary family in America.

Have you shared the Lord Jesus Christ with anybody in your particular universe of interest? Let’s grant that it may be limited. Let’s grant that you only went from your home to the supermarket to school to the laundry or the dry cleaner to home. Not much moving about in terms of grand travel plans, but you did meet people. You were among folk in society. You did talk to folk, didn’t you? Well, did you share your blessed Lord Jesus with anybody? Oh, you say you can’t just talk religion. No, I didn’t say that. You don’t start by talking religion, do you? You find, under the guidance of the blessed Spirit of God who indwells the believer, you find that heart that’s ready to receive Christ. God leads you to that person, and then you have the joy of speaking of your Savior.

I like the rule that Dr. Trumbull established many years ago. His book, Taking Men Alive, is now out of print. I haven’t seen a copy of it in years. But I remember reading it and seeing the words, “Whenever I am justified in choosing the subject of the conversation, I will speak of my blessed Lord and attempt to win my friend to Christ”.

There are some times when you have no right to intrude upon the conversation. That is so. But under the guidance of the Spirit of God, you will be led into situations where you have every right to share your joy in Christ, and you and I then should do it. Do you follow me in that? Godliness involves sharing Jesus. And the more you share Him, the more Godly you’re going to be. I mean really share him. Not just talking. I don’t mean professional verbiage. I don’t mean going through the motions. Anybody can learn to be a religious parrot and just show off words and phrases. I’m not talking about that. I mean really, really loving your Lord and sharing that love with others. The more you share Jesus that way, the more your life will be filled with the Presence of God, what the Bible calls “Godliness”. Isn’t that quite a concept?

Then the next phrase in this discussion of Godliness- now remember, it starts with a Person, God manifest in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ living in you. It continues with the ministry of the blessed Holy Spirit of God. We talked about that. You, by faith, can open every room in your heart house to the blessed Holy Spirit of God so that He will fill your life and give to you those gifts and experiences and opportunities which He sovereignly decides are for you. And then the idea of the ministry of the angels comes in here, and we talked about that. Then we talked about sharing, proclaiming your joy in Christ to everybody in your particular world, whatever that may be. Then, he said, “Believed on in the world”. Believed on in the world, accepted by people everywhere. Accepted by people everywhere.

Is there ever a place where you may not speak of the Lord Jesus? The answer is, “Of course not.” Accepted by people everywhere. How do you start living that kind of a concept? I think it has to do with the basic perspective which views the whole process of living as a series of opportunities to speak of your Lord and share Him with others. Everywhere you go, there will be somebody whom God has prepared to hear the Gospel message.

Now, I’ve traveled widely, as you know, under the gracious provision of God, through the years. And I can testify to the fact that as I pray at the beginning of a day, “Oh, God, lead me today to those whom you have prepared for the Word of Life in Christ.” When I pray and ask God to lead me, I can tell you that during that particular day, God does lead me, has done it again and again in ways quite surprising to yours truly. You cannot predict how God will lead you and how God will set you up with people, but He does it. Now, this is the principle I want you to get hold of for yourself, beloved.

Start living with the expectation that God will have somebody prepared for the Gospel wherever you happen to go. God’s Holy Spirit is working in this world, and He will have people prepared for you to share Christ with them as you pray and trust and obey Him in your daily life. Would you take that up as a way of life? Would you begin to apply this truth that part of the experience of Godliness is the experience of seeing that people are ready for Christ? God gets them ready, then uses you by, His Holy Spirit.

Dear Father today, lead us to those whom thou hast prepared for the Good News of the Gospel. I ask in Jesus’s name, amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!