   Jesus lived on earth about 30 years with an active ministry of three years. Yet he was so busy the conclusion to the Gospel of John (21:25) says, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” And depending on your count, the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—record 250 unique episodes from the life of Jesus.
In the Gospels you encounter Jesus teaching in parables, confounding everyone, welcoming the unwelcome, loving children, healing people with disabilities, confronting religious leaders, raising the dead, preaching powerfully and forgiving many of their sins. Of course, he died and rose again as well.
   What one thing do all these stories of Jesus have in common, however? Other than the fact that they are about Jesus, the one thing is the Gospel message itself—the good news—of God’s love for humanity. God loves you. Good news.
   The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Good news.
   No matter who you are or where you come from, what you’ve done, or what’s been done to you, God so loved you! And if you trust Jesus as your Savior, you will have eternal life! That is, indeed, good news.
   The Bible says, however, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” in Romans 3:23. Sin is breaking God’s law. Sin is doing things our way. And all means all. We have all sinned. That’s not good news. But that is the truth.
   Of those sins that all of us have committed, the Bible says, “But your iniquities (fancy word for sins) have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
   Our sin separates us from God. God is perfect and holy; he can not have anything to do with sin. Again, bad news. But, again, the truth. That is why we don’t have hope, we struggle with fear and anxiety, and may even feel lost and alone in the world. All these things are symptoms of our sin that separate us from the God who made us.
   That is where Jesus comes in. That is why we portray This Day of Resurrection for you. Each story we’ve portrayed is to carry the message, God loves you. That is good news.
   Consider Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love to us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus died. That is hard to portray. Hard to watch. Hard to imagine. Yet, Jesus died to save all of us from our own sins. That is good news.
   Many of us have heard and welcomed the good news of Jesus already. At some point in our past we prayed to God, admitting we have sinned, stating our belief that Jesus is God’s one and only son, and confessing our faith in Jesus as the Savior of our sins and Lord of our lives.

If you have not already become a follower of Jesus, you can do that right now.
Pray a simple prayer like this, “God, I know I have sinned. Please forgive me. I believe Jesus is your son. I commit my life to follow him as my personal Savior and Lord. Amen.”
If you just made this decision for the first time, or if you have any questions about the good news of Jesus, please contact me.

(Note: This post was originally delivered as a Gospel invitation at Southview Baptist Church's 2018 Easter drama, This Day of Resurrection.)