March 2013
June 2012
GOOD & BAD
By Seth Halpern Editor
Y
ou probably have heard the joke about The lawyer telling his client he has good news and bad news. His client asks “What’s the bad news?”. “They found your blood at the crime scene” “Oh No! What’s the good news?” replies the client. “Your cholesterol went down to 130!” We often hear news that has more than one part to it and it changes our perspective when we hear the whole thing. The Gospel is like the Good News/ Bad News scenario. But it is far from a joke. We often hear the “Good News” proclaimed. Our society is fairly used to the term and so it has much less meaning than it should. The Good News is that God, the Creator of all, sent His Beloved Son, to be born as a human baby, grow up doing only right and never wrong (sin) and then be used as the only perfect sacrifice to pay the debt of our offense to God. That way the Holy and Just God the Father would
NEWS
be able to forgive the sin of each of us human beings. The Good News is that Jesus obeyed Father God and allowed Himself to be sacrificed for us so that we can be reconciled to God and live with Him forever. The Bad News is our sinful state that separates us from God. This is usually much less talked about than the Good News. We want to hear about God’s love for us and His promises for us. We want to feel good about those things. The truth is, however, there is no GOOD news without first a full understanding of the Bad News- our sin. Until we understand how offensive, how horrible, how disgusting our sin is to God, we cannot begin to fully understand the mercy, grace and love that he shows us by His sacrifice. We don’t need to be Bible scholars to understand the theology of this gracious act. Jesus explains it clearly through His parables in the Gospels. It is critical to know, acknowl-
edge and even regularly ponder how wretched our sin is to the Holy God. His Grace has been cheapened and watered down so much by our “All about ME” culture. It amazes me how many people in this nation have heard about “Jesus dying on the cross for their sins” but don’t have any understanding of how that connects to their sin personally. Do you? Because the bad news of our sin is so hideous, it makes the grace of the Good News all the more Amazing! For more Good News, check out the articles inside. On page 5 you can read about how the Good News transformed Ricky, a long-time meth addict. On page 16, you can thank God for His good news by helping a child who has suffered the consequence of others’ sin. There is much, much more to read, ponder and respond to inside this issue. I pray that the Holy Spirit of God will touch and transform you as you read.
Christ-Centered Education The Better Choice For Learning
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Local Dad/Husband Freed From Addiction!
p. 5
Singer Carman Diagnosed with Cancer p. 7
Children stolen for muslum Jihad p.8
Ambassador Prayer Calendar p. 15
Ce Pul nter Pag l-out e9
The Ambassador
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