Why are we "Good News Junkies"? Part 2

A long time ago I tried to answer this question: Why are we GOOD NEWS JUNKIES? The first reason (in the first post) we are "Good News Junkies" is because Jesus removed all of the barriers to us coming to Him by dying on the cross. Because we are sinners, we now can come to God by faith. The reasons we are so crazy about the Good News is because we are sinners who can now come to God. We depend on the GRACE of JESUS. We have FORGIVENESS! We are cleansed and righteous before God! EVERYDAY, we live off of this good news! ONLY JESUS can bring us to God.

The second reason why we are Good News Junkies is because we seek PLEASURE IN JESUS. We are sinners because we prefer the pleasures of sin over the pleasures of God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because we love __________. Fill in the blank. We love our selves, we love power, we love food, we love being appreciated, we love being loved by others, we love our possessions. We sin because we are all PLEASURE SEEKERS. What comes to mind when you think of JUNKIES? I think of an addict. I think of a pleasure seeker. We are all pleasure seekers. We are all junkies. What are you crazy about? Family, friends, football? Power, sex, money? ONLY JESUS CAN SATISFY THE LONGINGS OF OUR HEART! Just listen to HIM....

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

John 4:14 "Jesus said to [the woman at the well], “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

I long to be like Peter who said.... “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"

I long to be like David who wrote.... "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." and "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Ps. 73:25 and Ps. 16:11)

I long to be like Paul who wrote "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:7-8)

I pray that Jesus will keep me as a good news junkie! That I will never want to go away from Jesus because he is my joy.

We are far too easily pleased when we love other things more than Jesus. Only Jesus can satisfy!

This is a wonderful quote from C.S. Lewis...
If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

More Great Times in Minneapolis

Picnicking at Minnehaha.

GO SOUTHWEST!!!!!!

The winner of the balance challenge is... keep reading...

...MOM...

Reading Louie La'mour AND watching football!!

The book is upside down!

Great Times in Minneapolis

Keeping warm South Asia style...

Grandma and Grandpa lookin' good in jammies!!

Young Thomas trying to keep up with "old" Tom (love you dad!)

Thomas' latest aspiration is to run J.V.

An October snow in Mpls. Thank you LORD for the treat!

Enjoying Minnehaha before it freezes.

A Trip to our Nation's Capitol

We were shocked that Pres. Obama failed to keep our scheduled lunch appointment at his lovely home.

The future of our country!

We tried to find our president at the other end of the WH with no luck.

At the Library of Congress... so many books... so little time..

Our new pet, Samson the Preying Mantus

Samson

Thank you for "preying" for us!


Psalm 145
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

A Boy's Dream....

Thanks, Papa Bill, for making a great memory!

On the Road....