Watch the trailer for the Sermon Series entitled "Always Good News".

We all need to hear a different kind of good news, one that can they transcend all the bad news in this world and put every bit of it into a hope filled framework. That good news is the Gospel of Jesus.

We live in a bad news world filled with relentlessly disturbing headlines–war and crime, poverty and pandemics, racism and oppression, mass murder and disaster. And we all experience discouragement in our personal lives as well–temptation and regret, pain and suffering, failure and disappointment, decline and death. Though the world is overflowing with bad news, the message of Jesus is bigger and brighter than all of it, giving us hope in the midst of every negative experience of our lives. Romans 1:1-7 has five descriptions of the Gospel as good news.

Humanity’s attempts to rule planet Earth have been devastating. Likewise, our individuals’ efforts to control our little worlds have been quite destructive at times. We are all responsible to some degree for the bad news world that we live in. Yet, there is good news about the reign of Jesus. Psalm 2 contains three headlines that reveal him to be the one true Lord of the world, as well as the only human response that these headlines compel.

Sin is not a well-known or popular idea. For a long while, Apple’s virtual assistant Siri didn’t know what sin was. Similarly, if you asked the open AI chatbot ChatGPT what sin is when it first went online, it described the mathematical concept of sine, as in sine, cosine, and tangent. What is sin? The Bible defines it as what is wrong within us, the wrong that comes out of us, and the wrong caused in the world as a result. The good news is Jesus is putting all of it right. Revelation 21:1-8 describes three ways he is doing that.

In a recent survey of 2,000 U.S. residents, 81% indicated that they believe humanity is inherently good, 75% said they themselves are fundamentally a good person and 46% went a step further, they’re “better” than everyone else they know. Evil runs rampant on the planet, and yet, humans think there isn’t anything wrong with us humans. The truth is we are sinners need a savior, and Galatians 1:1-5, describes the three ways that Jesus is the only Savior of sinners.

It is common to believe that Heaven is for people who deserve to be there, like it is based on what we do for God, an eternal payment for a life well lived. Some people even think it’s the default mode of our destiny. That is, we are going there, unless we do something really bad here. But the Bible teaches something different, namely that, Jesus is saving sinners by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:1-10 contains five truths that elaborate on Christian salvation.

When operating a moving vehicle of any sort, it is really important to have accurate information about where you are going and how you are getting there. If the windshield of your car is full of fog, you don’t want to be driving because you could crash. The consequences could be devastating. The same is true about the content of the good news about Jesus. It is vital to have accuracy about the headlines. Galatians 1:6-12 contains six reasons why we need to get the Gospel right.

The Gospel of Jesus is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe, and the influence of the Lord upon people proceeds from simply presenting this good news. That means that God can use anyone of us to unleash his power into the world at any time in any place with any person. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 articulates five ways the power of God is NOT displayed, so that we are clear that the power of God is displayed by being clear about the Gospel.

An atheist once told a British pastor, “If I believed what you Christians say you believe about Jesus, I would crawl on my bare knees on crushed glass all over London, warning men, night and day, to repent of their sin and turn to Jesus Christ who is their only place of refuge.” He recognized that, if the Gospel was true, there is an urgency to spread it. It is the most pressing matter on the plane, the highest priority in the world. Romans 10:9-15 explains the five steps to being saved from finish to start, so that we feel this urgency.

When Mary Ann, 4, was asked, “What does love mean?” she replied, “Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” What is love? How would you define it? How would you explain it to people? And what does it have to do with the good news about Jesus? Romans 5:1-11 has three insights into the relationship between the Gospel and God’s love.