The False Good News

00:00

Have you ever heard the good news about Jesus and the kingdom of God? You think you have, but maybe you haven’t. Find out at the next More Faith, more Life podcast. Hello everyone, and welcome to another More Faith, more Life podcast.

00:12

Today we’re going to talk about what is the good news, what it is, what it is not. Have you ever really heard the good news? You may have thought you have. Many are preaching good news. You know what? It would be great, wouldn’t it, if we could just go survey 100 pastors, leaders, church leaders, and say what is the good news and see what they come up with. Well, most of them will come up with the wrong answer, and so I’m going a little bit against the grain here. I may upset a few people along the way, but the good news is not If you die today, you’ll go to heaven. Now, that’s the way it’s presented. It’s been presented that way for many, many years, and this is just my personal opinion, if you don’t mind me giving my opinion. I think that presentation of the good news has done more damage than the bad news, because the good news is not about dying. The good news is not about going away. The good news is not. If you were to die today, do you know you’d go to heaven? But not. Hundreds, thousands, thousands of people in this very day will be doing evangelism and presenting the good news and approach people and say if you were to die today, do you know where you’d go? Do you know you’d go to heaven? Do you know you’d go to heaven? Do you know you’d go to hell? And so what happens is people take what is called the good news and turn it into self-preservation. Isn’t that what it is? How much does it take? How spiritual do you have to be, how much brain do you have to have to say, well, okay, you mean, if I say something right and just make a decision right now about somebody, about somebody else Jesus, that I won’t be tortured in hell for eternity, you go, yeah, that’s yeah. You can go to heaven when you die. And then. So you need to decide right now do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to go to hell? Do you know you’re a sinner? And so all think, think, think. The whole discussion is about you, the whole discussion is about us, the whole discussion is about the person, and so that’s the way we get people to make decisions for Jesus, supposedly. But they’re not making a decision for Jesus. They’re making a decision for themselves, aren’t they Right? You’re making a decision. You may have done it too. Now somebody will argue and say, yeah, but they got saved anyway. Really Okay.

02:39

So you’re standing outside a bar and some drunk comes out and you say do you know you’re going to heaven? Hell. Do you know you’re going to go to your sins? Do you know you’re a sinner? All the routine they go through and that mumbles out yes, do you believe? Do you accept Jesus as your savior? Yes, do you confess your sins? Yeah, do you know you’re a sinner? All the things they do. And then we say what Bye-bye. And where’s that person? Tomorrow night? In the bar again, yeah, are you going to see them in church? Are you going to see them in the kingdom? Are you going to see them? Rarely, rarely, rarely. Even if they’re not coming out of the bar, even if they’re just walking down the street. You meet them at work, whatever, whatever, whatever.

03:17

Because that good news is the wrong news. It’s okay news. Let’s just call it what it is. It’s okay news Because is there a heaven when you die? Yes, is there a hell when? Yes, that’s all there.

03:28

But let’s go back in history where the people who spent time with Jesus evangelized For instance, Matthew and John in the Bible. And John lived to be very old and he was very revered because he had actually been with Jesus. He actually thinks of this. Think about it. Jesus died, Jesus was crucified, he rose from the dead, then he ascended to heaven. But there’s a guy named John who actually the Bible says he rested his head on the shoulder of Jesus.

04:03

Now that be, if I couldn’t talk to Jesus, I’d talk to him, and through the first century, as he started these churches, the good news was not anything. You can go back and study yourself. You can get mad at me if you want to, but they did not approach it. Do you know you’re going to go to heaven? Do you know you’re a sinner? Are you going to save yourself from hell? Because that is self-preservation gospel. And the self-preservation gospel is about you or about me, or about us, about humanity, but the real gospel, the true gospel, obviously, is about Jesus. And so the early Christians and including John and all the people that spent time with Jesus that then passed it along to other people began to understand. Here’s the good news. The good news is here. It is you listening right now.

04:55

You can become a new creation or be a part of the new creation, of the new creation. So when Jesus died and then he rose from the dead, right he did, and then he ascended into heaven. What happened was, when Jesus died and was resurrected, God loosed the future power of the kingdom of God, which is eternity, salvation forever into the earth. Okay, it’s not loosed in your life when you die, it’s loosed when you believe, when you believe in Jesus. Now, by believing in Jesus, we can’t believe that he just was or that he existed, but you have to believe everything he said about himself, everything the Bible says about him. You have to acknowledge him. All right, acknowledging him that he existed is different than acknowledging that everything he said about himself is true and everything everybody else in the Bible says about him is true. So God loosed the power of the new creation. So when you believe in Jesus, then you are accepting not just who he is, but you need to accept who. Now you are a new, at least a part. You may not be totally the new creation, in actuality, like you got a lot of work to do on yourself right, but the system kicks in of the new creation. System kicks in that you can now begin to walk in the new creation that was established by Jesus, and it started then at the resurrection of Jesus, the new creation.

06:38

So what is God up to? Is God up to saying, well, I just want to get people into heaven? I was told that, as a matter of fact, I said what’s the good news? Well, the good news is Jesus wants to get you into heaven and now you can go to heaven. I even had one person pastor tell me when I was Maybe I wasn’t even in Christianity, I wasn’t even saved, born again Say well, god is lonely. God is lonely, as crowded as heaven already is. God is lonely and he wants to get more people into heaven. And so it was all about me. And if I were to die today, do you know you’d go to heaven. And I didn’t die that day. I continue oh, here, sorry, I made my producer laugh, which is good. I didn’t die that day. I’m still. I’ve been around many, many years since then. And so what do I do with myself if I don’t die today and I continue to live? And so the power of the new creation begins to set in.

07:39

And what happened when Jesus was resurrected from the dead is that God began to say I am now at the point I’m going to recreate, I’m going to restore creation. Creation got pretty messed up, right? So when God created everything, what did he say? Creation is good, God created this, that, and it’s good, right, created humans. It’s good. But it didn’t stay good because sin entered the world through humanity. Sin did not enter through God, it entered through humans and through that humanity. Sin entered the world and then death entered the world. Corruption entered the world, and I was sharing with someone the other day it was not corruption that just affects humanity, it affected the animals, it affected the earth and it affected everything.

08:28

And so God then, when the good news is, when Jesus was raised from the dead, a new system was kicked in, and God then is beginning at least beginning then and still is recreating. He’s going to recreate and he’s going to restore humanity. Right, and humanity, to be restored, would have to be restored spiritually, mentally, spiritually, but we also have to be restored bodily. Well, that’s what happened to Jesus. Right, he was restored. Obviously, he came back to life, but he was restored. Obviously, he came back to life. But he was restored, his body came back to life. So he’s spirit, soul, body. It’s a glorified body, but nevertheless it’s a body and the Bible calls it, and he’s restored right. And at that point then, the hope comes in that God is in the business now. He is going to restore the earth, he’s going to restore heaven. He’s going to restore because whoa, whoa, whoa let’s back up there a minute, wait a minute Restore heaven.

09:30

Why does heaven have to be restored? Why do we need a new heaven? Can you answer that, Zion? Why do we need a new heaven? Well, because Lucifer, who became Satan the devil. Well, because Lucifer, who became Satan the devil, rebelled. He brought rebellion into heaven and one-third of the angels rebelled against God and that had to be horrible, right, and how stupid is that and were thrown out of heaven. So heaven’s got the mark, the mark of rebellion from past, of course. But so God says you know what? I’m going to make a new heaven, eventually. I’m going to make a new earth. Why? Because sin happened in the garden, a garden of Eden, with Adam, you know, and Eve. And I’m going to make a new heaven, I’m going to make a new earth and I’m going to put them together in a new heaven and a new earth.

10:19

And so the power of restoring has begun with the resurrection of Jesus, because he restored a body. The power of God, the spirit of God, restored a body that was dead. Now it’s resurrected, it’s been restored, and there’s a sign that that’s what started. Now that’s what’s going on. Has it been completed? Obviously not. When Jesus returns, everything will be restored right, and you probably know that much, that death will be gone, there won’t be any death, there won’t be any tears, there won’t be any disease, sickness, there won’t be a need for a hospital, etc. Etc. But that’s at the very, very end. In the meantime, though, there is still the resurrection power of Jesus, the new creation, the power of restoration is in effect right this minute.

11:12

That’s the good news, because you want to get Jesus in your life, not for an event that will happen after you die, but an event that will happen right now, right today, that the power of the resurrection, the restoration power begins to happen in your life. And now is it going to happen all at once? No, you’ll need some faith. You’re going to need some faith as we talk today, more faith, and more faith produces more life, but the restoration power begins. That’s why I can tell you so you get Jesus in your life, you receive Jesus, you really believe, but you’re not just believing in something that’s gonna happen after you die, but something that’s gonna happen today and now, begin to believe in the restoration that he’s gonna start restoring your humanity. So, whatever happened to you in the past, whether you did wrong, right hurts good bad to restore start restoring your humanity. So, whatever happened to you in the past, what you did wrong, right hurts good bad. Your marriage needs some help, your kids are going crazy. Your finances are not good.

12:11

I heard a guy yesterday or the day before online. He was really wrecking something called the prosperity gospel. Oh, the prosperity gospel, it’s all about getting rich. And I don’t know, maybe, but you’re not going to get that from me. The prosperity gospel oh the prosperity gospel it’s all about getting rich. I don’t know, maybe, but you’re not going to get that from me. The prosperity gospel is prosperity in every area of your life, including your finances, because he wants to restore what has been robbed. The thief comes to steal and to kill and destroy, and the thief is not just the devil. The thief is people, people and the doctrines of people and the ways of people, and if you listen to those ways, you’ll lose, because it’s not set up to make you win.

12:54

Okay, so we want to now begin to believe in Jesus, the good news. But the good news is, Jesus was raised from the dead and the power of the resurrection and the power of recreation is now in the earth. Are you going to get it? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not, but if you want to get it, you can. And now we start and we begin to get restoration of our mind, our mind, our will, our emotions. They’re starting to be restored. And then we spill that over, hopefully, into our relationships, if you’re married, or your friendships, or your roommate or whatever, your kids, your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your aunts, your uncles, and God begins to invite us.

13:40

Would you like to be a part of the restoration process? In other words, I’m going to start restoring what you need to have restored in your life. Restore it and wait, wait. Let’s back up, not restore it to what you think. Restore it to the original idea that God had for humanity that allows you to be fully human, fully, so you don’t live by fear. Right, you don’t live by fear. You’re not obsessed with certain things or addicted, or you know you can’t get rid of some habit, or you’re obsessed with this or that, or you’re, you know, offended at everybody. You can’t forgive any, you know. Come on, that’s not a way to live. That’ll eat you up. And, by the way, unforgiveness and offense, being offended doesn’t affect anybody but you. It robs you of life, and so this frees you of that, so you can see other things and be other things and you can be part of the new creation. And so that’s.

14:45

The good news is there is a recreation going on Now. The earth is not recreated yet, so we still live in earthly earth, right, worldly world, and there’s still wars, there’s still sickness, there’s still disease, there’s still tragedies, there’s still trouble. But that will go. But we can then begin to escape the effects of it and separate ourselves from it as much as possible. Yes, yes, yes, you can, by the grace of God and the favor of God, be separated from trouble. The only trouble you can’t be separated from is persecution, because the spirit of the Antichrist, the worldly spirit that hates Jesus, is going to come against you and even these invisible spirits that we can’t see that are on the side of the devil. Yeah, they’re not gonna like you, they will oppose you, they will try to upset the apple cart, so to speak. But the end says no matter what happens, you’re going to win, because even if they take your life away, even if they were to kill you, even if which unfortunately people today in the world are still being killed by believing in Jesus. Not in our country, if they are, we don’t know about it. You know, we’re not aware of it as much, but around the world there are people being killed for their faith. Yes, but they’re not. They’re not going to die permanently, they’ll go to heaven when they die. Yes, we still believe in heaven, but they’re going to come back to the earth and they’re going to be what Resurrected. You cannot kill us, all right.

16:30

So here’s the deal I told the other day is about this parable, and there’s more than one in the Bible that kind of reflects this. I’ll just paraphrase it Several parables that say a man who had a vineyard, or a rich man, ruler, king, whoever and he has a vineyard, he has some land and he puts people in charge of it and he goes away on a journey and says I’m going to come back someday, but in the meantime you take care of it and you give me the fruit of it and I’ll make money, so to speak, off of my land while I’m gone. I’ll make money, so to speak, off of my land while I’m gone. And so he does. He goes away and he sends his other servants or his ambassador or whatever go check out my land and get some of the fruit, some of the harvest from that land. Now, that doesn’t mean the workers didn’t get any of it, but he got some of it. They got some of it.

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But some of the parables say so. He sent his ambassadors or his servants or whatever, and they go and they killed them. Instead of giving them part of the fruit or the part of the harvest, they beat him up, they send another, they beat him up, they send another, they beat him up and finally he says I know what I’ll do. I’ll send my son, who’s supposed to walk in my authority, and then they’ll listen to him. Now, does that give you the reflection of actually what happened? Yeah, did God do that and sent his son into the world? And what did they do? In this parable, he sends his son and they kill him and they say let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours, this will all be ours. So they do, they kill him, which is a reflection, obviously, in the story of what happened to Jesus. And so then what will he do? Well, the owner comes back and they get kicked out and they get killed. But the idea is, what happens after that? All right, so yeah, so he got killed, but in the meantime then we know in our minds that it’s not going to work. Okay, so they say, let’s kill him, and then this will all be ours.

18:29

The only problem is the son cannot be killed, isn’t that right? They killed Jesus, but he can’t be killed. They crucified Jesus, but he can’t be crucified permanently, he can’t be thrown. He can’t die permanently, Jesus, but he can’t be crucified permanently. He can’t be thrown, he can’t die permanently. What they did not know is yes, you can kill the earthly side of him, because he was born of a woman. Therefore, he’s got flesh, he had had flesh like I do, you do, we do. And so they killed him. Right, but he can’t be killed, and that’s because he was also born from above. He can’t be killed. So since he can’t be killed.

19:05

Then they try to kill him, but surprise, he can’t be killed, he comes back to life. He can’t be destroyed, he comes back to life. He can’t be snuffed out, he comes back to life. And now he comes back and of course, he has a glorified body. But that gives us a sign what’s going to happen to you. You’re going to do the same thing. You can’t be killed either, right?

19:25

So they may persecute Christians today, they may put them to death, but Christians can’t be killed, at least not permanently, because all of them, if they’re true believers and they do this the right way, the good news way they’re going to come back to life. Are they going to go to heaven when they die? Yes, but they’re going to come back to the earth. Because we need to complete this story. We can’t let earth be full of sin through Adam and Eve and then desert it and forget it. Be full of sin through Adam and Eve and then desert it and forget it, and people will say, okay, do you know you’re going to spend eternity in heaven? And I answer no. 99% of the people that go to church will say yes, that’s not true. No, no.

20:10

Abandoning earth is God abandoning his creation. That’d be like a deadbeat dad leaving home. Leave the kids, leave the home. You guys worry about the rent, you guys worry about paying. Make house payments. I’m leaving, I’m not paying one more utility, all right.

20:29

But God doesn’t do that and Jesus doesn’t do that. He said I’m coming back, I’m going to establish on the earth my kingdom forever, to win this thing forever, and there’ll be no sin and there’ll be no death and there’ll be no disease and there’ll be no defeat, because these people cannot be killed. So the idea if you’re going to kill a Christian, a true Christian, is a waste of time. Yeah, they will be put in the grave, they’ll be dead and they’ll go to heaven, but they’re coming back and then everyone who believes will be raised from the dead. Okay, they’ll be raised from the dead and they’ll be alive again with a glorified body, just like the body of Jesus. John said in the Bible.

21:11

We don’t know what, exactly how that works, Jesus, because it’s a lot of fun to study. You can’t figure it out because you know Jesus is on the shore and he’s eating fish. Ok, I hope you like fish. All right, Jesus is eating fish on the shore after he was crucified. How does that work, I don’t know. And then they see him later and he walks through, the doors locked, and he walks right through it. How does that work, I don’t know, but he had a body.

21:41

He could be recognized. It’s kind of interesting, isn’t it, that he could be, shall use, unrecognized, because sometimes they didn’t know it was him and then they’d say a word and all of a sudden, bang, they’d know it was him. I mean, like he’s in control, he reveals himself or whatever. But now they know it’s him. So recognized, unrecognized. Wow, I don’t know. We don’t need to worry about that because whatever it is, we’re going to be it if we’re believers. So the good news needs to be clarified and remember this. It needs to be clarified and remember this.

22:15

And first of all, the Bible, the New Testament, is very slim on talking about heaven and hell. It does mention, but very slim, it’s us. We put it in, we interpret it right. What the first century Christians who walked with Jesus and then those that walked and met Jesus and then, you know, passed it on to other people, they pass it on was the power of the resurrection. They preached the resurrection. The good news was God has started recreation. So I went back a little bit I don’t know, it’s been a few years and studied even the Jews before Jesus, 100 years before Jesus, and tried to figure out what are they thinking? Well, obviously I don’t know what they were thinking, but I can study things that they wrote. And the Jewish hope was restoration.

23:16

Today, if you go and I have been, excuse me, many times to Israel, spent time with just Jewish people, you know they don’t believe some do, but they don’t believe in Jesus. But they do believe. I mean, their faith is high and they spend days and days and days just reading the Bible, studying scriptures, searching out truth about God. And if you visit with them and get the point of where are they going in their faith is God is going to restore Israel. I was over there in Israel and I went to have.

23:55

I went to a luncheon is a private luncheon, uh, there weren’t a lot of people there, 20, 30 people there and I I was their guest, but they didn’t treat me like a guest. We just had a, you know, a luncheon and we sat around a big table, not separate, a big, big banquet table, and we sat around and then then at the end, I got to share a little bit, but I wasn’t there to preach or teach, I just share a little bit. And there’s a guy right to my right. I never met him before, you know, he had a yarmulke, you know, you know what that is on his head. And he had a beard, you know, obvious, you know, like many of them do. And he had a Bible, you know, and not the New Testament, just the old. And he had a Bible.

24:38

And he’s sitting there and I’m sharing and I said listen, number one, I’m not here to become Jewish, so I’m a Gentile, I’m not Jewish. I believe in the Bible, but I’m not here to become Jewish. You’re Jewish, I’m non-Jewish. Non-jews should stay non-Jews. Jews shouldn’t be Jews. They like that a lot because they don’t want me to be Jewish. They’re Jewish, let them be Jewish. They don’t want me to try to pretend. You know I’m not.

25:07

And then I said and here’s what I believe God’s going to do. God is going to restore Israel. Oh, they jumped up and down, they screamed, they hollered, he yelled at me. He said that’s what we believe. That’s what we believe. You know what? They never heard. A non-Jewish person Christian, I guess, call me. That knew that. That said that, right in their midst, he’s going to restore Israel.

25:38

Well, I come back and I start sharing my story. And the Jews loved it and Christians hated it. Because what? What are you talking about? What does it mean to restore Israel? Does it mean they’re all going to be saved? Are they going to go to heaven when they die? I’m going. Where are you coming from? He’s going to restore Israel.

25:51

The promise is there that Israel is going to be restored with the glory of God. Now, wait, wait, wait. That’s the promise. But you know what? I don’t. That doesn’t bother me, because I already have. I’m already restored. I’m already restored through Jesus. All right.

26:07

So they start saying well, do you mean Jesus? They don’t even believe in Jesus. How’s he going to restore the glory of God? And I told him, I said well, read your Bible. And the Bible says who is the king of glory? Right, it’s the Lord, strong and mighty. That’s Jesus the Lord. Isn’t he the Lord? So that’s for them to figure out.

26:28

But the good news to Jewish people is restoration. I want to preach good news. They say go over and preach good news. And they go over to Israel and they preach if you were to die today? Do you know you’re going? And then so they asked me. They said do you believe we’re all going to hell? Do you believe my children and these are devout people who love God but they don’t know Jesus but do you believe my children are going to go to hell? And I go? They cornered me because that’s all they know and I say no, we’re all going to be restored, lit up. That’s what we believe. That’s what we believe for 2,000 years, that’s what they believe for 4,000 years. 4,000 years. God is going to restore his people. And now we’re on the same page, now we can talk. So to you I want to say do you know the good news?

27:19

The good news is God wants to restore you, not just your life as it is, but just restore you as a person. And that means, yes, if you die, yes, you’ll go to heaven, but you’re coming back restored and resurrected and everything’s restored spirit, soul, body. You’ll go to heaven, but you’re coming back restored and resurrected and everything’s restored spirit, soul, body, glorified body. But not only is the earth and a new heaven new earth, but the restoration power is the good news. Now, it will not be completed until your body is restored right Until your body is restored, resurrected, the chapters can’t be finished. It has to be that because death came in through a man and now the man Jesus has brought us, he’s all God, he’s all man, but he has brought us resurrection power. So that has to happen to finish the complete story. But the power of the resurrection is in the earth. It was loosed in the earth. The recreation power is loosed in the earth now. So that means you can start praying, believing, use your faith, more faith, more life.

28:27

For finances, yes, and I feel bad for those people who preach against prosperity. I understand there’s some people that probably go too far with prosperity. It’s all about money, but still, finances are an important part of your life. How do you restore your life if we don’t hit your finances? How to restore your life, relationships? None of them would argue and say he’ll restore your relationships or your marriage or whatever, and then he’ll restore your finances. Oh, that’s a false gospel. No, so for you, the new creation has already begun. Believe in Jesus right now and restoration, the new creation, could begin in your life right now. I want to invite you to remember to buy the book. If you only knew, go do it. Or go get my CD. Can I sing? I don’t know. You’re never going to know if you don’t buy this CD. So great that we could talk about this today. Get the new creation power going in your life today. Until next time, bye-bye.