News Worth Celebrating

Welcome to today s encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The reading for today, titled News Worth Celebrating, was written by Matt Lucas. For more than two centuries, the hymn placed first in the Methodist hymnbook was Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, written by Charles Wesley and originally titled, For the anniversary day of one s conversion, the song was composed to commemorate the radical renewal sparked by his faith in Jesus. It has 18 stanzas proclaiming the glory of God s goodness to those who repent and follow Christ. Such faith is worth celebrating and worth sharing. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul encourages Timothy to remain steadfast in his faith and to persevere in sharing it. He noted, This is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.

Rather than second guess his choices, Paul reminds Timothy to remember the good news message. Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, came not to rule but to serve and ultimately to die for the sins of the world so that we may have peace with God. Death didn t win.

Jesus rose from the grave. And just as it set free those who believe, the message itself isn t bound. God s word is not chained, said Paul, not even from places where death seems to have won prison cells, hospital beds, gravesides. In Christ, there s hope for all people.

And that s news worth celebrating. Today s Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from the Epistle of 2 Timothy 2, verses 8-13. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.

But God s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying, If we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us.

If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself. Now let s pray. Father, thank you so much for saving us and also for giving us opportunities to share the good news with everyone. Please lead us to someone today who needs to hear your good news and give us boldness to share the truth of the gospel with them. Thank you, Lord. It s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Thanks so much for listening today. My name is Wes Ward, and today s encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.