Hey, I want to give you some good news. Really, the best news ever.

But first I want to explain why there is so much bad news in the world. Because everywhere we turn we see evil, sickness, disaster.

It hasn’t always been like this. In the beginning, God created everything good.

Everything got along with each other. He made man and woman, and He put them in charge of His creation.

And He gave them a command–He said if you obey Me, you’ll live–but if you disobey, you’ll die.

Well, that first man and woman disobeyed God–they sinned against Him, and when they did, disease and destruction and death entered the world.

And every single person since then has sinned as well, so we’ve all contributed.

And the real problem for us is that that Creator God–the One who made us–He’s a just and righteous God.

Which is good in a way, because we all long for justice–we want the bad guys to get caught, we want the record to be set straight.

But it’s also bad for us, because we’ve all broken God’s Law–we’ve lied, we’ve lusted, we haven’t loved Him or other people like we should

And as a Good Judge He can’t just sweep that under the rug. He has to punish sin, He has to punish evil. So on our own, we don’t stand a chance in God’s judgment. We can’t do enough good or avoid enough bad to tip the scales in our favor.

If you break the temporary law of a temporary country, you get a temporary punishment. But if you break the eternal law of an eternal God your punishment is eternal. His justice demands it.

But that’s where the Good News comes in.

Because this Creator God is so kind and merciful and gracious and loving, He sent His own Son–God the Son took on flesh and became a man named Jesus.

And He perfectly obeyed God’s law in a way that we never could. He lived a totally sinless life–a life that we could never live.

But then He willingly laid down His life. He died on a cross, and when He died on that cross, He took on all of the punishment that we deserve for our sins.

He took the judgment and He died the death that we deserve.

But then on the third day He rose from the grave, proving that He had defeated sin, He had overcome death for us.

So that if we want to be forgiven, if we want to have a relationship with this Creator God who loves us more than we can imagine, if we want to have everlasting life, all we do is turn from our sins–lay down our weapons–stop fighting against Him.

And believe in Him. Ask Him to forgive us, not based on anything we’ve done, but because of what He did for us on the cross.

And He tells us that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved.

And that’s Great News, because one day He’ll come back. And He’ll make everything new. No more sickness, no more suffering, no more struggles, even death itself will be done away with. There will be no more bad news.

Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus. Because He’s won the battle for you and He offers you a free gift of eternal life and a relationship with God your Creator. 

What better news could there be?