So... What is the Good News
Jim & Sue Raines
It is "...the message
God
sent... telling the Good
News of peace
through Jesus Christ,
who
is Lord of all." (Acts
10.36) "Go into all
the world and preach the
good news..." (Mark
16.15) The Bible tells
the story of manís
journey away from God,
and Godís answer to
bring us
back into relationship
with Him, culminating in
the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus
Christ. In fact, the
word
"gospel" means "Good
News". The first people
to follow the gospel of
Jesus Christ were his
disciples, and from
their
testimony sprang the
early church.
All business, churches,
etc.. agreee with this
statement of faith.
The disciples were
called
"Christians" first at
Antioch. A Christian
is one who has put his
trust in Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior and
has turned from willful
sin, (Rom. 10:9-10),
recognizing that Jesus
is
the "Son" of the
Trinity:
Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, three yet one.
A Christian believes
that
Jesus came to redeem
mankind from sin and
death through the
shedding of His own
sinless blood on the
cross at
Calvary, that He was
born
of a virgin, lived a
sinless life, and gave
His life for us
willingly
on the cross. He was
dead
and buried, was
raised from the dead,
ascended into heaven,
exalted and glorified.
He
continually intercedes
for us and will come
again for all those who
have put their trust in
him.God reveals all this
in His word,the Holy
Bible, written by God
Himself through man. Put
your trust in God’s
only son Jesus Christ
today and ask him to
come
in to your life... He
will begin a new work in
you!
How Good News
Started
By Jim and Sue
Raines
One evening in 1986, I
was praying. I had made
a
promise to myself
that I would not stop
praying until I had an
answer. I desperately
wanted God to give me
some way to spread the
gospel and support my
family of six modestly.
After about 3 hours had
passed, it seemed that
I was all alone in my
living room. My prayers
bounced off the ceiling.
But I was determined to
pray until I had an
answer. A lot had
happened
the last few years. We
lived in the Houston
area
and we had hadthree
small car lots, a big
house in Nassau Bay and
my sons were in private
school. Now we were in a
house rent free in
Spring
that a friend of
ours couldn''t sell. But
I was much richer now. I
had met the creator
of the universe, been
born again and He had
changed my whole life.
This evening though, my
friend was not speaking.
I didn''t understand
then that you can serve
God through any job or
position. After another
hour I heard in my
spirit
2 words: Christian
Newspaper. I didn''t
know
what He meant. But you
know, when you know,
that
you know, but you
don''t know why. Well, I
justknew it was God. The
next day I called
everybody I knew to see
if they knew anything
about a Christian
newspaper. I couldn''t
find anyone who knew
anything about one. Two
days later Sue and I
went
to the grocery store
together. When we were
leaving I felt that I
should pick up this free
paper by the exit. I
asked God if He wanted
me
to read it. He said no,
just put it in the
car. On the way home He
showed me all about the
Christian paper He
wanted me to do. He
showed me the name and
that it was to be full
of
true stories from people
from all denominations.
Through the paper He
was going to promote
unity between churches,
encourage believers to
really believe, and the
paper would also show
how
good and faithful HE
is. A couple of hours
later I was in the
bedroom praying. I still
had
no idea how to do a
newspaper. I didn''t
have
any money, didn''t own a
computer (at the time I
didn''t even know that I
needed one). All I
had was a friendship
with
the One who knows
everything. I went into
the living room. Sue was
reading the newspaper
that I had picked up at
the store. Sue said,
"Jim
look here, the owner of
this paper is looking
for someone to learn
typesetting and do ad
sales for his paper.
Maybe
you could go to work for
him and learn how to
start your own paper."
Looking back I should
have been rejoicing but
I
wasn''t. I wanted to
work in ministry now.
Not
a year from now after
working at a secular
job saving my money and
learning how to do what
He was calling me to
do. But what Sue said
made sense. Monday
morning I called the
paper
and set up an
appointment
for the next day. The
paper''s office was in
Humble, and I can''t
tell
you how long the trip
seemed to me. It was
the last thing I wanted
to do. Call me to be a
pastor, work with the
homeless, be a
missionary. But to work
in a secular job for a
year or
more, at the time seemed
awfu to mel. I really am
a spoiled child of
the king. When I got to
their building, the
owner
took me to his
office. His first
question after looking
at
my resume was why I
wanted
the job. I didn''t know
what he believed but I
decided to be painfully
honest. I said,"God told
me to do a Christian
Newspaper and so I want
to work for you until I
learn how, and then I am
going to start the
Christian newspaper He
told me to start." His
mouth fell open. I was
expecting anything, from
all out laughter to
treating me like I was a
nut case that had
escaped
from the loony bin.
Instead it was worse. He
called his wife in and
said, "Tell her what you
told me." Well I
figured I had gone this
far... so I said, "God
told me to start a
Christian newspaper and
I
want this job so I can
learn how so I can
obey Him." Well, her
reaction was not what I
expected. She turned to
her husband and said,
"You told him." He said,
"I didn''t tell him
anything." Well, come to
find out they were both
Christians and God
had told him on two days
earlier that He wanted
them to help start a
Christian newspaper.
They
had said yes to God, but
told God He would
have to send someone. So
that''s how Good News
began. I worked with
them for the next two
months. We put out the
first issue of Good News
about six weeks after
our
first meeting. That was
20 years ago. Praise
God!!!
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