{"id":697,"date":"2014-09-25T19:47:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T19:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=697"},"modified":"2020-12-02T02:09:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T02:09:45","slug":"good-to-know-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/good-to-know-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Good to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matthew 16:21-28<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 25, 2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devotional Message shared at the ABC Mission Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of things in the world that is \u201cgood to know.\u201d We say, \u201cFor independent-thinking Baptists, it\u2019s important for them to work together in the same building even when they seem to be going around in circles!\u201d That\u2019s good to know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an average 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents every day. Good to know. Are you sure your children are really yours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that in the 1830s, ketchup was sold as medicine? That\u2019s good to know. I believe the Chinese invented it and the word, \u201cketchup\u201d originally meant \u201cfermented fish sauce.\u201d I read that on NPR News. Good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every night before I go to sleep, I have besides my bed, AARP magazines and newsletters because I like to read potentially useful facts and insights now that I am a senior citizen. Lots of little facts that are good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that coconuts kill more people every year than sharks do? Good to know since we are far away from the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that the original architectural plans for the ABC headquarters include a chapel in the middle of the circle? But American Baptists didn\u2019t raise enough money for it and it was not until 19__ that this prayer room was finally added to this building. Good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us collect these quirky facts and strange bits of information and use them to spark up a struggling conversation at a dinner party or maybe when we play along with the contestants in Jeopardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture, as well, is full of \u201cgood to know\u201d truths\u2014insights that we\u2019re certain to have some value for our lives but not necessarily obvious. Take the book of Proverbs for example. \u201cWhoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing (Proverb 27:14). In other words, wait until your neighbor has showered and eaten a bagel before you shout blessings over the fence. Good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 Insights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 words to his disciples in Matthew 16<\/a> are packed full of \u201cgood to know\u201d insights. His words are filled with truth that we can\u2019t ignore them. And we cannot help but sense they\u2019ll come in handy sometime soon. They are good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Jesus is not surprised by his suffering, death and resurrection. He saved us with his eyes wide open. In verse 21, Jesus saw the path of righteousness as marked with suffering on the cross. He embraced this truth and pursued it on our behalf. This is good to know.<\/li>
  2. Jesus doesn\u2019t need us to protect him or defend him, but to follow him. We\u2019re his disciples, not members of his entourage. You know how a celebrity is the star of attention and when members of the entourage encircle the celebrity, they also live off his or her awesomeness. Peter was trying to talk Jesus out of the cross so that it would be a shinier path for Jesus\u2014and therefore a shinier path for his entourage. But Jesus reminds Peter, and us, that our task is not to protect Jesus, but to follow him. Good to know.<\/li>
  3. To \u201cfind\u201d ourselves, we must be willing to \u201close\u201d ourselves. In verses 24-25, Jesus tells us that discipleship is counter-intuitive. In the same way that we don\u2019t protect Jesus from his path, we must not protect ourselves from it either. In this broken world, everything is backward. We will only discover the greatness of God when we know and experience our very human limits. We fight against this in a thousand different ways\u2014in our living, in our attempts to get ahead. And yet, we must temper ourselves with the truth that God\u2019s grace is located at the end of the rope, not the top of it.<\/li>
  4. There will be a reward in the end when Christ returns. In verse 27, Jesus says there will be some kind of justice in the end. We don\u2019t know what it will be but Jesus has proven himself to be trustworthy through his resurrection. We may not know what the \u201creward\u201d will look like but we can be absolutely certain that there will be one. This is good to know.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    These four insights are good to know as we commit ourselves to following Jesus as his disciples and as coworkers striving to contribute our small but valuable work to advancing Christ\u2019s kingdom on earth. Each one of you is a treasure in God\u2019s eyes and God knows you by your own name. This is good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If your picture of Jesus is safe and secure, it\u2019s good to know that Jesus in following his Father\u2019s will chooses to suffer in order to save us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you are striving hard to be successful in the eyes of the world and maybe struggling to serve God by following Jesus, it\u2019s good to know that we\u2019ll only find ourselves when we are willing to lose ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If someone here is at a particularly low point in life or that you are fighting for breath and wondering if life has all been worth it, it is good to know that a reward is secured and soon in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Did you know that there are 336 dimples on a golf ball? You know that a plastic bag is not a toy. Did you know that Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital? Good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    All these obscure facts might be remotely useful but how much more are the words of Jesus to take up space in our brains and hearts. You never know when you\u2019ll need to access such truths but we can begin today as we share these truths with our families, friends and in your work at the ABC Mission Center to proclaim Good News in the world. All of this is good to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Great and loving God, we thank you for the teachings and life of Jesus Christ through whom we come to know you. We acknowledge that sometimes what we learn from him is difficult. We are not readily given to self-denial or cross bearing, so we ask for faith and courage to follow in the ways of Jesus. Give us bolder vision of who we can be in you. Grant us deeper compassion for others that our selfishness might not overwhelm us. Inspire us to love and give to others as a thankful response to your love and gifts for us. For the sake of Christ, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Matthew 16:21-28 September 25, 2014 Devotional Message shared at the ABC Mission Center There are lots of things in the world that is \u201cgood to know.\u201d We say, \u201cFor independent-thinkingContinue readingGood to Know<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[82,12],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermons","tag-abc-mission-center","tag-matthew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2132,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/2132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}