Have you heard the news ……….. (Thought for March 14)

We often hear it said that good news travels fast and in these days of instant messaging and social media it sometimes appears that there are no longer any secrets – everyone knows something about
everybody else.

Recently my household became a ‘viewing centre’ for the 2014 winter Olympics and at times I found it difficult to prise my daughter Sara who was visiting us and Gill away from the TV even with the promise of coffee and cakes at Costa. It only became possible with the promise of regular updates via my phone as to exactly how the Curling Teams were faring in their quests for Olympic Medals. Curling became the hot topic in our household that week!

Some events are compulsive, and so it was for many of the people who met face to face to with
Jesus. Take the Samaritan woman who met with Jesus at the well where he asked her for a drink. As
he spoke to her she became amazed at the power in his speech and what he knew about her life and she realised that this man was the promised Messiah, her infectious enthusiasm caused her to abandon her water jar and go back to the town to tell all the people about Jesus and through this we read that ‘many more became believers’ (John 4:41).

Then there was a man who was possessed by demons and lived like a wild animal in the wilderness. No one wanted to mix with him, previous attempts to subdue him by chaining him up had failed and yet after their encounter where Jesus spectacularly drove the demons into a herd of pigs who rushed down the mountain into the lake and were drowned there was this man sitting dressed and in his right mind. He wanted to follow Jesus but Jesus said ’Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you. And that is exactly what he did. (Mark 5:19-20)

Paul as he begins his letter to the Romans starts by saying how much he has been praying for them, and of how much he longs to see them so that he might strengthen them through the preaching of the gospel. In 1:16 he says ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for
everyone who believes first for the Jew then for the Gentiles ‘ When we meet up with a friend
whom we have not seen for a while what do we talk about ? Do we feel along with Paul an obligation to speak of the gospel or are we ashamed of it? What a difference we could make if we were to introduce the gospel into every conversation we have.

As we look forward to Easter the surely the most compulsive event in our calendar there is so much
gospel good news for us to share with our friends and family. Around the country at this time the 40
or so evangelists working with Outreach UK are busy working on 1 to 1 relationships with people
who have not heard or rejected the gospel but they alone cannot reach out to all areas. In Horsham
presently we have no OUK evangelist and so what an opportunity there is for all of us within the
churches of Horsham to become gospel advocates and evangelists. Just as many people were recently talking about Curling, Slope Style and Speed Skating wouldn’t it be good if through us they were soon talking about Jesus as Lord!

Stuart