In Pastor Brad's message on Sunday, he focused on our responsibility to take the Good News to the world.  His take home point was:  When we know, we must go!  He offered many biblical statements regarding God's love and plan for us, starting with John 3:16, perhaps the best known single verse in the entire Bible:  For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life!

Mark Geppert, our great friend and missionary often says, "Two thirds of GOD is GO!"  John 3:16 reminds us that God's love caused Him to GO, specifically, to send His Son from the perfection of heaven to the earth, so we may experience His love, life and salvation.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that our world is a mess these days.  Watch any news cast, or just take a look around and it's easy to see that things are not going the way God intended.  Sin and death seems to be winning all around us.  They aren't!  The Good News is there is a God, who has a Son, who loves us and CAME HERE to the earth to prove it!  When we love we go.  When we KNOW God's love we must go!  Where?  Where must we go?  That's a question only God can answer in your life.  For me, so far it's meant going to my next door neighbors in the communities of Gipsy (PA), Indiana (PA), Creekside (PA), Princeton (NJ), West Chester (Cincinnati, OH), Valencia (PA), Saxonburg (PA), and Cabot (PA) for periods of months or years.  It has meant taking specific missions trips to North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, various places in Mexico, China, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Cuba.  I've been asked how someone from Gipsy, Pennsylvania has ended up in all those places.  The short answer is, "I knew, so I went."

How can we keep the BEST NEWS ever from others? I've had people go on for hours about their new baby, their latest sports victory, their new car, their new diet, and dozens of other good things in their lives.  These ARE all good news, and folks like to share good news.  Most of the folks who have shared these items of good news with me would say they are Christians, and yet many of them have never told me anything about the BEST NEWS ever in their lives--the salvation God has given them in Jesus Christ.  Being that I'm a pastor, I'm a rather safe person to share the BEST NEWS with, because I'm totally on board.  I won't laugh, or reject what's offered.  In fact, I'll encourage and affirm anyone who tells me what God has done, is doing or wants to do in their lives.  So, why are we so willing to share the good news in our lives, but not the BEST news?   More on that tomorrow.  For today, let me leave you with this challenge:  Go somewhere--even if it's only to your kitchen or living room, and tell someone what God has done or is doing through Jesus in your life. It can be someone who is already a believer, or better yet, someone who has not yet trusted Jesus as their Savior and Lord.  If you know....

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us the best news ever in the coming of Your Son Jesus to save us from sin and death!  Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us to tell others of that best news ever.  Fill us anew right now, that we may be bold and compassionate to tell others the best news ever--starting with the next person we see.  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.