Today @ The Gathering we continued with part two of our present series, “We Don’t Do Fear,” with an installment entitled, “Let’s Get Our Story Straight.”You can’t talk about the Good News until you first talk about the bad news. Because good news is only good in relation to just how tragic the bad news is.
I’ll just simply say it this way, you are personally more sinful and broken, and indebted to God than you ever dare imagine. It’s not just that we smoke, or chew, or curse, or go to R-rated movies.
We are deeply damaged and broken. We are head-over-heels in a moral deficit; one that we can’t get out of by our good works, and even our best religious efforts.Until you understand that we’re all moving toward a day of personal reckoning; we will stand before a just God who demands, not retribution, but simple justice. We simply don’t have the moral capacity to save ourselves against that awful day. That’s how bad the bad news is. And when the bad news reigns, the world suffers and groans, waiting for her full redemption.
Up against that is this Good News Movement. It started the day that Jesus Christ defeated our last enemy: Death. Think of it. Think of the radical revolution that started and continues to this day. When you have a group of people who have been redeemed, restored in their relationship to God, being renewed each and every day in their mind and spirit, waiting for the day of bodily resurrection, not fearing man, nor death, a fearless, bold, courageous army; yet humble and under orders to serve the good.
This Good News Movement deals in grace, joy, and new beginnings; not fear, dread, anger or manipulation. We’re not legalists or long-list judgmental Pharisees. We’re common people, ordinary people; your friends, neighbors, co-workers who have found hope, real hope that the future indeed will be better, much better.
This week we saw a lot of new faces and enjoyed the privilege of being able to enter in through the front lobby of this huge theatre building. It’s hard to believe how just a little change has made such a big difference out in the lobby where we can put our tables, our café, and greet and talk and connect to people around the Good News.
These are incredibly great days at The Gathering. I can’t wait to see what God’s going to do next!