March 27, 2004	Read Philippians 1: 6
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
WE LOVE TO TELL THE STORY Paul also writes, “Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  The word “gospel” means Good News. Just how do we share with others the Good News, the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Jesus himself is the Good News.  In Luke 4, Jesus reads from the book of Israel:  “…the spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.  Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  Jesus is saying, “I am the Messiah, the one who can do this for you, any of you and all of you.”  Jesus is the revolutionary new message, the Good News -- amnesty, sight, liberty to the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed.  Not four different groups of people, but four descriptions of the same group – the “poor.”  But who are they?  The economically poor, the unacceptable of the culture, tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, shepherds, those who were excluded members of certain despised occupations.  To these outcasts, the message came:  The Good News is for you!  The outsiders now will be insiders, the excluded are to be included, the unacceptable are now accepted by Jesus. But how do WE share the Good News?  Don’t we tell everyone if we find a good restaurant, a new doctor, a good vacation spot, a good deal on a new car?  We tell everyone.  Shouldn’t we feel the same way about sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ?  Shouldn’t we invite everyone to come and see, to hear the Good News proclaimed, and to see the gospel lived out in the lives of God’s people? Oh, God, anoint us with the power of your Spirit that we, too, may bring the Good News to the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed. LARRY FRANK

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