You are currently browsing the Good News Journal weblog archives for September, 2009.
September 29, 2009 by Sal Termini.
A tweet is a message with a maximum of 140 characters that is sent to others using Twitter (Twitter.com). I would love to have a church service where we each read a tweet we think God would send to someone who does not know Him.
I wrote my tweet, a combination of scriptures I combined and simplified to meet the criteria of a tweet. I left the scripture references in, just to show those reading this newsletter what I did.
(John 1:1) Jesus, the word eternally existed, and was facing God, and was God.
(John 1:10, 12) He came into the world and all who believed in Him and and his message, He gave the power to become children of God.
It is very difficult to put the gospel into so few words and convey its meaning. The gospel is about God coming into the world in the person of Jesus to give us power to become children of God. The scriptures convey something we are not, and something we can become. It conveys something we cannot do for ourselves that only God can do. it conveys the power that is in His message to accept Him as the one who has this power and ability to make us children of God. Create your tweet and send it to our blog.
-Pastor Sal
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September 9, 2009 by Sal Termini.
The following is from a NY Times Article by John Tierney, August 24th:
Guilt in its many varieties - Puritan, Catholic, Jewish, etc. - has often gotten a bad rap, but psychologists keep finding evidence of its usefulness. Too little guilt clearly has a downside - most obviously in sociopaths who feel no remorse, but also in kindergartners who smack other children and snatch their toys. In Dr. Kochanska’s latest studies, published in the August issue of The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, she and colleagues found that 2-year-olds who showed more chagrin during a broken-toy experiment went on to have fewer behavioral problems over the next five years. That was true even for the ones who scored low on tests measuring their ability to focus on tasks and suppress strong desires to act impulsively. “The key element is the difference between shame and guilt,” Dr. Tangney says. Shame, the feeling that you’re a bad person because of bad behavior, has repeatedly been found to be unhealthy, she says, whereas guilty feelings focused on the behavior itself can be productive. She recommends focusing not just on the bad deed, but more important, on how to make amends. “Both children and adults can be surprisingly clueless about whether and how to make things right,” Dr. Tangney said. “Little kids are overwhelmed by the spilled mess of milk on the floor. Parents can teach and support them to say ‘I’m sorry’ and to clean it up, maybe leaving the kitchen a little cleaner than it was before.” That was the same atonement strategy, by the way, followed by the experimenters in Iowa who tricked the children with the broken toy.
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Two initial things stood out when I read this article. One was the word “atonement,” a very biblical word. Atonement is the act of making something right again. The second was that most people were clueless as how to make things right again and if things had to be made right. There is a great lack of spiritual understanding in our world today because a fundamental truth about God is that He demands we make things right. I believe I have some answers for those who are searching to make things right in their lives.
Science is revealing to us that we need standards of right and wrong, where people can learn from their mistakes and live better lives. Those who fail to recognize when something is wrong go on to greater insensitivity to right and wrong, hurting themselves and others. Imagine a world with people who have no conscience. Or worse yet, a world were everyones’ conscience saw good and evil different from one another. The end result is a disordered society, moral chaos, with no cohesive understanding of right and wrong. Well dear friends, this is the world we were living in right now.
The reason Jesus came was to put a higher moral order in place.
Our consciences can rule us by shame because we cannot find forgiveness, or betray us into thinking all our evil actions will be whitewashed by an unjust benevolent God. Jesus came as a bridge showing that no sin will go unpunished, yet how we can be forgiven and make things right. He came to reveal an accountability for every thought, word, and deed. Yet He came to bring relief and direction by satisfying God’s justice and brining us forgiveness. He came also to change our hearts to know what is right. Jesus’ ultimate weapon was thta by His Spirit, He would give us the power to do what is right. Jesus words were written so we would leave the realm of opinion, and really know what is wrong and right.
Let me give an illustration. You were given a very powerful credit card with unlimited resources. You spent it with abandon. Your conscience warned you, your friends warned you, God warned you. The thrill you got from spending and doing all the things you wanted was insatiable. One day you receive a letter from the court. You must pay back the debt. The court says its 1 billion dollars. You laugh — there is no way I could have spent that much in a lifetime, neither can I pay it back. We all try and deny our evil deeds and then run from accountability. Running is a very human reaction, but there is a better way to face it and be free.
Jesus taught that evil is called sin. It is debt to God and to society we cannot pay back. It is a debt because it caused bad consequences to happen to you, others and God’s kingdom. It is a debt for all the things you wanted to do that were insatiable — a term that means your desires suppressed your conscience. A real moral debt was incurred, and a bill to pay it back will come due. God’s message in the gospels is like the letter from the court reminding us we must pay and that the judge will enforce it.
You appear before the judge and he asks you if you ran up these debts. It all seems so surreal. Why give me a card with so much free will to choose the right or wrong use of that card. You explain you are really a good person. You used some of the money to help friends. Once you gave money for a good charity. You explain you did not mean it, so it should just all be forgotten. This is how most people deal with religious truth to appease their conscience. We are angry with the responsibility of free will given us by God. Then reality sinks in; life is not a game and suddenly we realize we are are all responsible and accountable.
The judge says the debt owed is 1 billion dollars; are you ready and able to pay it back? If you are not, you are looking at a lifetime of imprisonment. You cannot believe you deserve this; after all I tried to be a good person. I did not realize it would be this much debt. It all seems so unfair but is it? I did run up the debt knowing I could never or would never pay it back. In the end you realize its all true and their is no way out according to the standards of reality and the court that you could ever satisfy the debt.
The judge raises his gavel and is about to pronounce life long imprisonment when a person says, “excuse me your honor.” Please state your name and your bearing on this case. The person comes forward and says, “my name is Jesus Christ. I came to pay the debt.” The judge asks how will you do that. “I will take his place in prison. The law and justice will be satisfied and punishment served.” You look with astonishment. Is he crazy? He walks up to you and says, “I am doing this because I love you. Love me in return and seek to create no more debts.” They put the handcuffs on Jesus and put him in jail and you are free.
Jesus is more than a moral teacher or guide. He came for your atonement. Jesus came to make it right with God, His law and the consequences we’ve unleashed on His world by our actions. He came to take your place by taking your punishment. No religious leader in any religion has demonstrated so great a love. He did this for the whole human race. He was able to do it for every person ever created because, being God, he was of infinite value. His life was worth more than the creation itself, but he gave it for you. All you have to do is ask Him.
-Pastor Sal
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September 2, 2009 by Sal Termini.
It is a pretty well-known and established fact that if you love someone you will spend time with them. We all have from time to time invited a friend over to our house to spend time with them. We have also gone over to a friends house to see them.
We visit grandma and other relatives and enjoy their presence because we love them. It is not uncommon to go to someone’s house and eat together and to talk about the wonderful things we have in common. In many families there is a giving and sharing of one another by helping one another.
It is a well-known fact that the Bible calls the church the family of God. It is obvious it is not a building but a group of people. The way we visit our friends is to go over to their house. The way we visit our relatives is to go over their house. It is in the intimacy of our homes that we love, give, share, and interact. Now I will get to the heart of the matter. The reason the churches, the houses of God, are empty is because people no longer love God the way that they should. It was once considered an honor to come to the house of God to honor, love, serve, and be with the people of God.
What has replaced church is sports events, shopping, relaxation, and hobbies, just to name a few. We have replaced God and considered Him of little value, to come and visit him and spend time with him. I hear the wheels turning in many minds, “I can visit with God anywhere.” The Scriptures are quite plain on the matter. In both Testaments, God had tabernacles, places to assemble, gathering places for believers to worship together. God likes when his family comes together. God enjoys the interaction of family members. Apostle Paul taught us, “let’s not forsake assembling together.” Jesus said, “where two or more or gathered in my name I will be in the midst of them.” Got established that the church would have ministers that would help them live better lives. God placed in the church pastors for accountability, teachers for instruction, prophets for encouragement, evangelists to share the good news of Jesus Christ, and apostles to establish local places of worship. We should not break God’s pattern of proper worship.
Have we grown so hard of heart that we are unable to recognize the obvious? Our love for God and for spiritual things has grown cold. Our responsibility to raise our children in the things of God has become lax. We no longer teach our children to honor God by bringing them to his house to be instructed in to worship as a family. As a pastor I have heard every excuse possible under the sun over the years. But it boils down to one thing — people do not love God the way they should.
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