The very first time one of the apostles stood up and publicly addressed a crowd about the good news of Jesus, he wanted to make it crystal-clear that what he was proclaiming was for everyone.
The New Testament book of Acts tells us that this happened on the day of Pentecost—an annual Jewish feast. The promised Holy Spirit had come and indwelt the believers in Jesus, filling them with God’s presence and power (Acts 2:1-11). Peter, who only weeks before had lied and denied that he knew Jesus on the night He was arrested (Mark 14:66-72), found himself standing up with his fellow disciples before a huge crowd, explaining the amazing events that had recently taken Jerusalem by storm (Acts 2:14).
The now-bold apostle announced to them that something quite radical had happened through Jesus’ death and resurrection that had changed the whole world for good. A new age had begun and the Maker of heaven and earth was doing a new thing. Forgiveness, restoration, and new life were opening up for all people to turn and receive.
Peter went on to stress to the crowd that what God was doing wasn’t just for those who happened to be in Jerusalem that day. Nor was it just for a privileged few. He said, “This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:39).
The good news of God’s grace and new life through Jesus is for everyone. It’s for you, your family, your next-door neighbor, that rude co-worker, the person waiting on your table at the restaurant, the child who’s yet to be born, and for those living on the other side of the world. May we proclaim the good news today!
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Mark 14:26-52
More:
Read Acts 16:25-34 and consider what happened when a jailer heard the good news.
Next:
Are there people you are tempted to think of as beyond God’s grace? What can you do to proclaim the good news more effectively to “everyone”?
pjp on September 20, 2014 at 6:22 am
Very nice, good news indeed.
Gary Shultz on September 20, 2014 at 6:41 am
It is good news! I find in my country sharing it is like the picture for today. You have to cross a lot of cold barren places before you find any interest in something that may cramp their style. Fortunately it doesn’t change the value of the news. Thanks, but tundra pictures? well…..
Winn Collier on October 1, 2014 at 4:33 pm
I think this wide-open way of the gospel is the very heart of good news. I wonder why so often the way we live it (or at least the way people heart it and perceive it) seems so stingy and small?