Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing: a biblical, faith-filled vision for your life. May you see your sin as Jesus does. First, He sees it. In all its life-robbing ugliness, he sees it to the depths. But such knowledge is not despairing, it's reassuring to every child of God.
Because drink in these delicious words from J.I. Packer. There is tremendous relief in knowing his love to me is utterly realistic. based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery can disillusion him about me and quench his determination to bless me. He sees your sin, all of it, then through his own atoning work, He sees your sin not at all.
He remembers your sins no more, Isaiah 43, 25. Eleven? I bless you today. To see your sin as Jesus does, to see it. deeply with raw honesty, And then to see it no more.
for there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. None. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. If you ever want to know how it is that God wants you to speak, Here it is. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, No Worries, as presented at Ronalda Church in North Carolina.
If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. You can learn more about it. Contact us at pastorallen.org.
That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-446. 4860. More on all of this later in the program.
But now. Let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. Yeah. Mm.
Are you ready for some good news? You're not chicken little, the sky's not falling, Christianity isn't failing, evil isn't winning, and the gospel is as powerful as it ever has been. I want to talk about some answers for an anxious, anxious world. Proverbs twelve, verse twenty five. Just one verse for us today.
Anxiety in a man's heart. weighs him down. But a good word Makes them glad. We have a good word. for an anxious world.
A good word. It's funny, it's like, you know, whenever there's good news, the bad news seems to overwhelm it. Uh, it's like those good news, bad news jokes. I saw a couple funny ones this week. Art dealer, an art gallery owner who called up one of his artists and said, I got good news and bad news.
He said, The good news is that a customer came in here yesterday. and asked if after you die will the price of your paintings go up. And when I told him that it most certainly would, he bought every one of your paintings. The artist said, Well, it wasn't bad news. He said, It was your doctor.
Makes sense that you can't. Uh as they uh There was a lawyer that liked to try to be as kind and considerate to his clients as possible. And so he told his client accused of murder, he said, I got. bad news and good news.
So the bad news is Turns out your blood was on everything, so they found your DNA on the victim, the murder weapon, and the getaway car. And uh criminals said, Well, what could possibly be the The good news, he said.
Well, the good news is it looks like your cholesterol is down to about 140 now. That's what I said. You know, it's funny, it's like even in the media, when they try to give us the good news, sometimes it doesn't come across that way. These are real images from headlines. This criminal's good news.
Might not be good news for the lawyer. Man accused of killing lawyer. receives a new attorney. I don't know if I want to be that one or not. I don't even know what to do with this next headline.
I don't even know what to even say about it. Miracle cure kills fifth patient. That doesn't even make sense. Even in a good news economy, there can be bad news. Have you ever noticed that?
There are times where it's like. I've seen things like the job report came in good and the stock market went down. It doesn't even make sense sometimes. I don't even understand. But this one doesn't make sense.
Picking on the animals now. Cows lose their job if milk prices drop. Poor cows. We can even take the cutest. Sweetest little thing on earth, the little baby, turned the infant into the culprit.
State population to double by 2040. Babies to blame. Those darn babies. Always messing things up. Yeah.
Even if the police are doing a good job, it doesn't come across very good sometimes. This unfortunate headline: police arrest everyone on February 22nd. Just going to cover our bases, just arrest them all. And uh My favorite. I think the medical care, you know, whole deal, I think it's advancing.
But this one kind of calls a question. Hospitals resort to hiring doctors. You know, these auto mechanics are just not working out very well in the operating room. We've got, you know, what do you got an idea? Why don't we hire some doctors?
It's an interesting world, isn't it? We are just 24-7. Covered up. with bad news. And The scripture has a very, very clear picture.
about how Christians are to speak. In the midst of an environment where there is so much negative and corrupt talk. It's very clear from The proverbs. 1821, death and life are in the power of the tongue. And Paul was explicit.
In Ephesians 4, if you ever want to know how it is that God wants you to speak, Here it is. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths. but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion. that it may give grace to those who Who here?
I want to share with you today About the good word that we have, not just for individuals, but for the world. And I want to say some things today that reflect Well, in some ways, almost a paradigm shift that is related to some of my studies. And it might rock some of your thinking as well. But ultimately, I think what you're going to see is that we have so much good news in the midst of a bad news world. And the whole world needs to hear it.
This word that is used here to describe how the heart. gets heavy when we have anxiety. Anxiety makes a person's heart heavy, the proverb says. That word literally means to stoop.
So it's an image, it's a metaphor, but it's like the image of if you get a burden on your shoulders. And then you have to carry it, you start stooping, and then you get another burden, you stoop more, more burden until you're just stooped over. And so this is your posture. And what the proverb is saying, this is what anxiety does to the heart. It makes it as if your heart is stooped over.
And what a good word does, it can liberate the burden.
So that then it's like the heart can stand back up and be free. That's what the proverb is talking about. There's a good word that is available for those that have a stooped heart. heart or a stooped soul that is heavily, heavily burdened. This was so important to the message of Jesus, and it's why he was so frustrated with the Pharisees.
Remember, he was just not critical of really any people other than the religious. Leaders because they were making life so heavy. He put it this way in Matthew 23. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. He said it even more pointedly at verse 15: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
For you travel across sea and land. To make a single proselyte a convert. And when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. What he's saying is that by all of their nuances and additions of legalism to all the law of God, that what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and the scribes had done Is essentially put more and more burden onto people's shoulders. like a heavy yoke.
that you have to carry. And Jesus is saying the gospel is actually the opposite of that. See, what happens when you live under the weight of condemnation? It's like your whole heart gets stooped. Why?
Because if you know that you're supposed to try to live up to a standard that you can't live up to. The more you fail, the more condemned you feel. but also the more anxious you feel about your inadequacy to actually measure up. And people get very, very anxious. When they feel like they have to measure up to a standard that they can't measure up to.
And it's like just, if you can envision, it's like just burden after burden. And this is what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees: you just put burdens on people. You're not really bringing a good word. And he said, this is why when you search the world over, you do everything you can to try to get a convert, but then when you get one, you just make them feel like they're under this massive weight of condemnation. And he came to say something that's entirely different than that.
Jesus said, come to me in Matthew 11, 28, all who labor and are heavy laden. If you're under the heavy yoke of law and condemnation, Because you're trying to measure up and you can't. Come to me. and I'll give you rest. Yeah.
That That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. The life-changing message of good news has been taught over radio from Alan Wright Ministries for quite some time now. We have assembled the most powerful, best-love messages from each year of the first 10 and put them together in one special album. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we want to give you Alan Wright's top 10 CD album or digital download. Are you ready for some good news?
Make your gift today and discover God's grace afresh with Alan Wright's top 10 of the first decade. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. or come to our website, pastorallen.
org. Um Today's teaching now continues. Here once again. Is Alan Wright. He said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Ask the nature of The gospel.
So Jesus has a good word. But the word of the religious aristocracy was not a good word. It was adding to anxiety. God has a plan for his people. to be able to speak in such a way in the midst of bad news and corrupt talk, that we can speak in such a way that actually helps Lift anxiety.
and cause the heart to become light. There is a thing called encouragement where you just speak a kind word to someone and you can help encourage them, literally put courage into them. There are times where you can just pay a compliment to somebody, and we certainly can just have positive speech. But when we speak ultimately about a good word in the scriptures, I think God is pointing to this mystical concept of blessing. The idea of blessing is on my mind 24 hours a day, seven days a week right now, because I'm writing a book on the subject, and I just find myself more enthralled, if anything.
That in the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, but before He really. Released them into their productivity and dominion in the earth, the Bible said he blessed them. He blessed them and then he said, be fruitful and multiply. He brought A good word to them, and we don't know what he said when he blessed them. But he was affirming of who they were.
of their identity and their destiny in the world. To bless someone is really to speak An impartational positive vision full of faith in accord with God's word. It's like releasing All of your benevolent desire towards someone. It's so interesting that Blessing is is displayed in the scripture. Is almost an invisible, not magic.
but almost like it has an invisible force to it. One of the most compelling examples of this is in the story of Isaac, who had two twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the older, and he was the one who stood in line to get his father's special blessing that would be spoken near the father Isaac's death. But Jacob, the younger, who so desperately wanted to have his father's blessing. He pretended to be Esau.
And he came in And Isaac is nearly blind. And Jacob lies and says, I'm Esau. He's put on Esau's clothes. He smells like Esau. He's trying to talk like Esau.
And finally, Isaac gets convinced that it's Esau, and so he blesses him with a firstborn blessing.
Well, when he blesses him, Jacob leaves. the conniver and deceiver, and in comes Esau, the deserving firstborn. And when Isaac realizes that he blessed the wrong son, You'd think he would say, well, no big deal. I'll just undo that and I'll bless you. But instead, there's a very interesting scripture.
It says, Isaac trembled violently. He shuddered in horror at what had happened. And he said to Esau of Jacob, I have blessed him. And indeed he will be blessed. When I first read that, Somewhere around 30 years ago, really focusing on it, it changed my life.
Because I realized that there's an irrevocable force to this power called blessing. That there's something that is imparted that has a life-giving Sense of force to it that's hard to describe any other way except to say it's not magic, it's not like just. Recounting certain words, but it has an impartational value. Have you ever had a time in your life Where you just love somebody so much. And you just wanted good for them so much.
that you just wish you could just somehow give it to them. It's the way I felt when our children were little. And I'd go in and check on them before going to bed and just go in over their crib. And being careful not to make the rookie mistake of waking a sleeping child. Lay my hands as gently as I could on those children.
And I remember the feeling I had I still have the feeling. But it was this feeling. of their whole life in front of him. And everything within me wanted only good for them. I wanted good for them so much I could taste it.
I wanted to just give it to him. But you can't just control somebody's life, and you can't fix all the problems they're going to face, and you have limits of what you can just impart to them. And I knew we would be committed to trying to raise them as best we could, but there was something that I felt more than that. When you felt that, And I'm sure all of us have felt that for somebody. I think God has given us blessing.
is the means by which he says this is why you're going to release it.
Well, he released Adam and Eve into the world with a good word. Because God doesn't want His people or anyone living with anxiety. It makes the heart stoop over. And it takes away our life and our energy. And God loves you infinitely.
And he came in the person of Jesus Christ to die for you.
so that he could release you from those burdens. And instead, Bless you so much. That Paul in sort of the grand crescendo of his theology in Ephesians. describes the Christian's life. as one that's been chosen in Christ.
and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. It's who you are. And so the whole focus for Christians is on the blessing of God. And it's not just for us to bless individuals' lives. But I believe That God has given to us and entrusted to us the capacity to bless the world.
You do understand, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God doesn't Hate the world? He hates sin. He hates everything that tears up people's lives, but he loves the world. He made this world.
He's caring for this world. He made everybody, and he loves everybody, and he loves everybody infinitely. His desire is to bless the whole world. And so for the Christian, it's our desire as well. We can't fix all the problems, and we can't make people believe, and we're not called to try to control people.
But we are here to bless this world. And it means that it changes everything about the way we think about the world. You know, it's been very interesting, a couple weeks of study for me, that I would just about say has shifted a paradigm of thought for me. Because I can get discouraged like anyone else about the signs of evil around us in our culture. I can get discouraged about some of the reports we get about church attendance around the nation.
I can get discouraged about abortion and the decline of a biblical understanding of marriage. I get discouraged about all of that. But beloved Uh The world that God loves and he made. If you look at the overall picture, And it's going to rock some of your thinking, but I want to show it to you. It's not getting worse, it's getting better.
Now Steven Pinker is one of the world's most influential intellectuals. He taught in the Department of Brain Science at MIT until 2003. and now is a psychology professor at Harvard. He is renowned in his field. and radical in what he says enough that he's drawn criticism, of course.
But If you're interested in this, he has a TED talk that 4 million people have seen and he's written books. I don't know how dense the books are, but these are just statistics. And I think it's important as Christians that we walk in the light as Christ Himself is the light. which means in the truth. And I want to show you the truth of this.
Here's some U.S. statistics over the last 30 years. In 1988, the homicide rate was 8,500 per 100,000. The poverty rate in the United States 30 years ago was 12%. The pollution that we put into the environment was measured as 35 million tons of particulate matter.
I do not know what particulate matter is, but I assume it's not good for breathing. Alan Wright. And we'll place a bookmark here and pick up again on our next broadcast of Sharing the Light in the teaching blessing and anxious world in the series, No Worries. Hey, stick with us. Alan is back here in the studio with a final good news thought for the day.
The life-changing message of good news has been taught over radio from Alan Wright Ministries for quite some time now, and God has used every one of those messages. But some broadcasts have really hit home in special ways. In gratitude of more than a decade of radio, we have assembled the most powerful, best-loved messages from each year of the first 10 and put them together in one special album. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we want to give you Alan Wright's top 10 CD album or digital download. Are you ready for some good news?
Make your gift today and discover God's grace afresh with Alan Wright's top 10 of the first decade. When you give to day, we will send you to day's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allan Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Alan, it makes me wonder if any grandparent from any previous generation, or even we could use preacher, any preacher throughout time has ever looked and says, I believe the world is not quite as anxious as it used to be. Yeah, right. It just seems like every year, every decade, it seems to get a little more tense, a little more worrisome. What's so fascinating, you make a good point, Daniel, is that while we seem like we worry more and more, that what we're seeing in this radical message that we're sharing today and tomorrow is the world's getting better by most of the standards of what we have.
So it's really, really important that we see where God is at work and give glory to God for that and rejoice in that and not be duped by just everything that we see around us that is sort of designed to promote our worries. There's a lot of hope. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallan.org.
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