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You can sign up all of your teachers by emailing me their email addresses: josh@joshhunt.com Survey: |
I heard a sermon recently, so typical of so many sermons these days, a sermon I would call, "The gospel of good news and bad news." This is the problem with the church today. It is not a methodolical problem. It is a theological problem. We desperately need to teach a gospel of good news, good news, and more good news. When I went to Sunday School, I heard the same thing, the gospel of good news and bad news. "I know God loves us and all that, but you still have to be obedient." Good news and bad news. We are suffering today of the gospel of good news and bad news. The gospel of good news and bad news is killing us. People will not dedicate themselves, no matter how much we press them to do so, to a gospel of good news and bad news. It is just not all that exciting. Only the gospel of good news, good news and more good news is exciting. Only the gospel of good news, good news and more good news is worth dying for, and worth living for. We justify the preaching of a good news and bad news gospel because it is not all bad news. It is not like those pulpit-pounding, hang-them-over-hell, scream and stomp and shout and spit and "you are sinning and you need to quit" crowd. "We preach a balanced gospel," we like to console ourselves. You know the gospel I speak of, the gospel of good news and bad news. You have heard this gospel many times. We have good news and bad news. The good news is God loves us very much. The bad news is, He wants us to behave and insists that we do so. The good news is that God will forgive us of all of our sins. The bad news is that He commands that we turn our backs on sin. The good news is God is a God of love and mercy. The bad news is, God is a God of holiness. The good news is all about grace. The bad news is all about justice. The good news is "Neither do I condemn you." The bad news is, "Go and sin no more." I am not saying that what is presented as bad news in these sayings is not true. They are true. They just are not bad news. They are part of the good news, good news and more good news. It is good news that God asks us to go and sin no more. Sin always destroys. God shows us the way to live life and live it to the full. (John 10.10) It is always the way of righteousness. It is good news that God is a God of justice. Justice is a good thing. Thank God for his justice. Holiness is a good thing. Truth is a good thing. Righteousness is a good thing. It is all good. All good. Good news, good news and more good news. Who would want to live in a universe without righteousness, justice, and holiness? Justice implies that sin is punished. It implies that there is a judge who has all the information needed to execute justice and has the power to carry out the sentence. We have that kind of God. It is a good thing. A lot of preaching in this generation makes about this much sense. Suppose I said to my child, "I really love you, Son, but in spite of the fact that I really love you, I will not let you play ball in the street." It is true that I love my son. And it it true that I will not let him play ball in the street. But, the relationship between these two is a little confused. I don't prevent him from playing ball in the street in spite of the fact the I love him. I prevent him from playing ball in the street because I love him. From his viewpoint, it is good news, good news and more good news. He has a dad who loves him and he has a dad who knows how to keep him from danger. In a similar way, God does not say to us, "Go and sin no more" because he is half loving and half mean. He says to us "go and sin no more" because He is all loving and sin is always destructive. It always hurts, always destroys, always causes more harm than good. Sin is tricky because it always appears it will make life better. It never does. It always makes life worse, in the long run. Sometimes the long run is not until eternity, but it always in our best interest to live the Christian life. Throughout eternity, we will be glad for every obedience and sorry for every transgression. The most dramatic example of this dynamic is Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemene. It clearly seemed, from that perspective that going through with the cross would be excruciating pain and calling 10,000 angels would be a huge relief. But, Jesus could see "the joy set before him." (Hebrews 12.2) He could see His own joy set before Him. He did the math. It was a half a day of excruciating pain and all eternity of greater pleasure. That perspective motivated Jesus to go through with the cross. He has always been glad He did. And we will always be glad when we do things God's way. Always. It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life. Always. That is why, the gospel is a gospel of good news, good news and more good news. It is not a gospel of good news and bad news. It is all good news. There is no part of the gospel that is not good news. The gospel of good news, good news and more good news is this. God loves us. He will forgive us all of our sins. He will cleanse us of all unrighteousness. In addition, because he loves us, he wants to make life better for us. So, he has given us some instructions for how to live life on planet earth. The instructions do not necessarily make life easy in the short run. Still, we will never regret following God. | How to Motivate Your Teachers to Attend a Double Your Class ConferenceI have over 40 conferences scheduled for the fall. Perhaps some of them are not too far from you. If you would like to motivate the teachers in your church to attend, I would like to suggest two things. Both of these things are based on a simple premise. The big barrier in promoting almost anything is familiarity. People who don't like country music will go to a country music concert if they are familiar with the artist. People like to see people they are familiar with. Conversely, if you try to persuade people that someone they have never heard of is really worthy of giving up and evening to listen to, it is a bit of a sell. People think they are in the know. They assume if someone were any good, they would have heard of them. Both of these strategies, therefore, are based on building familiarity. The first thing you can do is add your teachers to this list. If people get this email each week, it will build the kind of familiarity that will warm them to want to attend a conference. You can add them directly at this address, or email me a list to josh@joshhunt.com. Even if all your teachers are not on Email, it will help to get the ones who are. They will become familiar and will tell their friends. This list is easy to get on and easy to get off. The unsubscribe button on the bottom of each E-mail really does work. Still, if you are uncomfortable adding them to the list, forward your copy. The second thing you can do to build familiarity is to pass out the lessons that I produce each week. They are available for free and correspond to Lifeway's Explore the Bible Series and Family Bible Series. The best case scenario is to actually make copies and give them to your teachers each week. When I go to churches that do these two things consistently several months before the conference, attendance is never a problem.
People with a big view of God have small problems. People with a small view of God have big problems. We are fighting today for a people who have a big view of God. People who have a big view of God do great things for God. They have great joy in God and great energy for God. The great need of the hour is a people whose hearts are full with a big, big view of God. The God We Enjoy is a 13 week Interactive Video designed to enlarge people's view of God. In this video, we highlight 13 attributes of God and concentrate on how we can enjoy Him through each of these 13 attributes.
The #1 predictor of the growth of any class is the teaching ability of the teacher. This 13 part video teaches your teachers how to make disciples through the Sunday School.
Robert E. Logan Jeannette Buller The Cell Church Planter's Guide provides practical, step-by-step instructions to guide you as you establish a vision, gather a team, start your first cell groups, and launch your first celebration. Through a seven-stage church planting process, Logan and Buller will help you shape your journey to become a thriving cell church. As your church moves through these stages, you will find yourself returning to the hands-on tools provided to help you as you grow. This kit comes with ten cassette tapes and a notebook.
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