Paul E. Penno
Preached in Hayward, CA : Sabbath, February 6, 2010
How to put the pieces of your life back together after you have lost a love, a job, your dreams—or whatever. So you’ve lost something or someone very dear to you.
When you lost whatever it was that you had set your heart on, you felt a sinking feeling deep inside. You didn’t want to eat; you couldn’t smile. You couldn’t even walk as fast as you usually do; you felt as though the end of your world had come. How do you handle this despair?
Tired of carrying guilt? Dead-end life? Amusement surfeit? Feeling like a human discard? Needing a drink or a fix so you can cope? There’s a life-giving Savior very near you: Already your Savior, if you don’t stop Him, He has already redeemed you. He has a right to do that; He loved you. He has Himself died as the payment for your sins—the real death.
Has already given you the gift of salvation, not merely offered it. Not sure? Just consider that you are breathing and alive; you wouldn’t be, if He had not already died that real death, your second death. Your present life is proof that He has plans for you to find peace now, and eternal life as well.
Jesus, the all-powerful, divine Son of God is someone to take notice of. You can say “no” to Him and beat Him off; He must honor your choice. But if you don’t stop Him, He takes the initiative to lead you all the way to happiness here and now, and on to heaven and eternal life.
Too good to be true? Be careful before you turn away. He paid a tremendous price to make it true—the price of His blood.
I have shocking, but very Good News for you: Believers have recently been making discoveries in the Bible. It’s like a dense fog has finally lifted and the bright sun is shining through again. This is not about musty manuscripts found in a desert cave or dug out of the sands of Egypt, but about discoveries in the Bible itself, very Good News better than most people have thought it can be.
Enormous progress has been made in scientific discoveries on all levels. Why shouldn’t there be equally marvelous progress in understanding the Good News of God? It brings such joy to human lives.
The reason? God is alive! He is more “with it” than the Internet or tomorrow’s newscast. He is like a personal Father to everybody willing to let Him be that a Father who can be trusted. He is infinite, and so He treats every one as if he/she were the only person on earth. And He has nothing but good will for undeserving people who desire a better life but don’t know how to find it.
The Good News is what the Savior has done, is doing, and will finish doing, for us (and in us). Not what He might do, maybe, perhaps, or if. He became the world’s Savior, not merely wanting to be provided we do the impossible. He “is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.”
Actually, we humans don’t know how to get out of the mess that sin has made in our lives. The Savior has stepped in and taken the initiative to make things right for us.
For a long time most people have thought that after His resurrection Jesus went to heaven to relax on an extended vacation. He did His part a long time ago, now we