Today's Good News

APRIL 3 – GUILTY

4/3 Isaiah 53:1-6
Who has believed our message? To whom will the LORD reveal his saving power? 2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! 5 But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! 6 All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
GUILTY
Jesus accepted my sin, I was guilty and He suffered and died for me and for you. He bore our sin. He paid our price. As a result of His sacrifice we can be set free. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive your sin. He will.

APRIL 2 – CHOOSE

4/2 Isaiah 52:8-15
The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the LORD bringing his people home to Jerusalem. 9 Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD will demonstrate his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. The ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 11 Go now, leave your bonds and slavery. Put Babylon behind you, with everything it represents, for it is unclean to you. You are the LORD’s holy people. Purify yourselves, you who carry home the vessels of the LORD. 12 You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the LORD will go ahead of you, and the God of Israel will protect you from behind. 13 See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. 14 Many were amazed when they saw him — beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know he was a person. 15 And he will again startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not previously been told about; they will understand what they had not heard about.
CHOOSE
Will you take counsel of your fears? Will you let that great deceiver Satan cause you to lose hope in your future? Trust God. Live today. Give Christ tomorrow. The Lord will take care of you. The Lord loves you. Accept His love and trust His guidance. Live today for Christ.

APRIL 1 – ACTIVE

4/1 Isaiah 52:1-7
Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourselves with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will no longer enter your gates. 2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Remove the slave bands from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For this is what the LORD says: “When I sold you into exile, I received no payment. Now I can redeem you without paying for you.” 4 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Long ago my people went to live as resident foreigners in Egypt. Now they have been oppressed without cause by Assyria. 5 And now, what is this?” asks the LORD. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is being blasphemed all day long. 6 But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that it is I who speaks to them.” 7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!
ACTIVE
We serve and alert, active God. The Lord God Almighty is knowledgeable about His creation. He knows us. He wants to be involved in our life. If we are to grow we will spend time with Him. He knows what we need and seeks to give it to us.

MARCH 31 – TRUST

3/31 Genesis 12:14-20
14 And sure enough, when they arrived in Egypt, everyone spoke of her beauty. 15 When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to their king, the pharaoh, and she was taken into his harem. 16 Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her — sheep, cattle, donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the LORD sent a terrible plague upon Pharaoh’s household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called for Abram and accused him sharply. “What is this you have done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why were you willing to let me marry her, saying she was your sister? Here is your wife! Take her and be gone!” 20 Pharaoh then sent them out of the country under armed escort — Abram and his wife, with all their household and belongings.
TRUST
You do not have to lie or cheat to accomplish God’s plan for your life. Listen to what the Lord says. Be faithful and ready to respond to His direction. Trust the Lord to see you through the difficult days of your life.

MARCH 30 – TRUST

3/30 Genesis 12:8-13
8 After that, Abram traveled southward and set up camp in the hill country between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar and worshiped the LORD. 9 Then Abram traveled south by stages toward the Negev. 10 At that time there was a severe famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to wait it out. 11 As he was approaching the borders of Egypt, Abram said to Sarai, “You are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ 13 But if you say you are my sister, then the Egyptians will treat me well because of their interest in you, and they will spare my life.”
TRUST
Trust the Lord. You do not have to make complicated and risky plans for you life. The Lord will guide your path and you can walk in His strength and wisdom. Humility and love are by-products of a closer walk with the Lord.

MARCH 29 – FOLLOW

3/29 Genesis 12:4-7
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth — his livestock and all the people who had joined his household at Haran — and finally arrived in Canaan. 6 Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I am going to give this land to your offspring. ” And Abram built an altar there to commemorate the LORD’s visit.
FOLLOW
Follow the Lord. He will guide you carefully through the pitfalls of life. Follow the Lord and He will not let you down. You follow the Lord.

MARCH 28 – PROMISE

3/28 Genesis 12:1-3
1 Then the LORD told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
PROMISE
God’s children are the people of promise. The Lord promises to take care of you from this point on until forever. He will not leave you nor forsake you. He loves you beyond your ability to comprehend. If you have asked Christ to come into your life and save you, you now have a Father who loves you and is always seeking your best good.

MARCH 27 – OBEY

3/27 Deuteronomy 8:1-3
1 “Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the LORD.
OBEY
Problems come and go but this never changes: God’s Word is true and life giving. Read His Word and apply it to your life. The Living Word will be used by the Lord to change you.

MARCH 26 – HEALER

3/26 Matthew 9:18-25
18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers — Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew — fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and went with him. 21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. 23 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues, preaching everywhere the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed people who had every kind of sickness and disease. 24 News about him spread far beyond the borders of Galilee so that the sick were soon coming to be healed from as far away as Syria. And whatever their illness and pain, or if they were possessed by demons, or were epileptics, or were paralyzed — he healed them all. 25 Large crowds followed him wherever he went — people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.
HEALER
Jesus is the healer of mankind. He can fix the thing that is wrong with us-sin. He shed His blood on the cross for us and His blood redeems us from slavery to sin. Christ forgives us of our sin and gives us His righteousness.

MARCH 25 – LIGHT

3/25 Matthew 4:9-17
9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will only kneel down and worship me.” 10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.’ ” 11 Then the Devil went away, and angels came and cared for Jesus. 12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 13 But instead of going to Nazareth, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: 15 “In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River — in Galilee where so many Gentiles live — 16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.” 17 From then on, Jesus began to preach, “Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near. ”
LIGHT
Jesus is the LIGHT of the world. In Him is life and His light guides us to Him and into living a Christ like life in the world. His light shows us the way. His light equips us to survive in a dark sin stained world. Jesus is Lord.