There's the Good News and the Bad News // Reaping the Harvest of Righteousness, Part 3

<p>You know for years before I met Jesus, I’d hear Christians rabbiting on about the Good news of Jesus. Give me a break. But it wasn’t until I heard the bad news that I realised how fantastic the Good News really was!</p> <p> </p> <h4><span style="color: #ff9900; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>The Bad News</strong></span></h4> <p>Now depending on whether you enjoy your job or not, Monday is either good news or bad news. And the statistics tells us that around two thirds of people don’t enjoy their jobs. That’s a tragedy! So for them, for these two thirds – there is every chance that you are one of them – this work thing is a bunch of bad news.</p> <p>Now you and I, we would rather have good news than bad news. I would and I’m sure you would too. And so when it comes to thinking about God, well, that has to be good news, doesn’t it? I mean, that’s what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. That word <em>"Gospel"</em> literally means, not <em>"truth"</em> as many people think it does, although it is the truth. No, word <em>"Gospel"</em> means <em>"Good News and glad tidings"</em>. That’s why the angel who spoke to the shepherds on the night of Jesus birth said to them:</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em style= "font-size: inherit;">Don’t be afraid; for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: to you is born this day in the city of David, a saviour who is the Messiah, the Lord.</em></p> <p>Ahaa! There it was! Good News! Hallelujah! But sad to say, before we talk about the good news, which we are going to do later in the programme, first … first we have to talk about the bad news.</p> <p>How many times have we heard that line, "There’s good news and there’s bad news, which one do you want to hear first – right?" And inevitably, there are two sides to each coin. And if all I ever talked about on this programme was the good news side of God, then yours truly simply would not be doing his job. But as much as sometimes I would rather ignore it, there is a side to God which, quite frankly, is bad n