HERE I AM, SEND ME: SHARE THE GOOD NEWS!

It is easy for us to get overwhelmed by the bad news of our time. It seems at every turn there is an increasing threat to our peace, to our togetherness, and even to our faith. If we are not careful, we can become so focused on the darkness, the fear, and the conflicts that it puts us into a pit of despair and hopelessness. In our series Here I am, Send me, the sermon this week is Share the Good News! As believers, we should exhibit the best good news that anyone can receive. God has done great things for us through Jesus Christ. Yet, we find ourselves being drawn into the downward loop of a joyless existence and feeling exhausted by the struggles of our lives! How do we begin to find the good news, much less share it? We turn to 2 Kings 7:1-9 and four lepers who have reached a point of despair and desperation. In this moment of desperation, their actions end up fulfilling the Word of the Lord spoken by the prophet Elisha and saving the city of Samaria. This is a marvelous story of hope that comes out of absolute uncertainty and desperation. Yet, it also teaches every believer the power of sharing the good news, especially the good news of what Jesus has done for us. As you read how God uses these four unlikely characters to create an unimaginable victory for Samaria, we pray that you will be lifted by God’s good news to you! We also pray you will sense the power of God’s grace to you and you will be filled with an overflowing joy that you want to share with others.

2 Kings 7:1-9 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” ² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!” ³ Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’– the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.” ⁵ At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, ⁶ for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” ⁷ So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. ⁸ The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. ⁹ Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.” (NIV)