Have you ever heard a sermon, speech, or lecture so apt, so fitting, that you wanted to tell the world about it? The speaker was Rod Rutherford and his lesson was: “A Day of Good News.”

Here’s my summary from an outline of the sermon:

Back in the days of the prophet Elisha, Syria besieged Samaria resulting in a severe famine. Four starving lepers were talking outside the city gate. One said, “Why should we sit here, waiting to die? Let’s sneak over to the Syrian army camp and surrender. They might kill us, but they might not.”

Before the lepers could reach the camp, Syrian soldiers thought they heard the roar of a huge cavalry. They quickly fled leaving everything behind them. So finding the camp empty, the lepers ate and drank their fill. But while celebrating their good fortune, it occurred to them: “This is a day of good news, and we shouldn’t keep it to ourselves. If we wait until morning, we will be punished. Let’s go to the king’s palace right now and tell the good news.” (2 Kings 7:3-9)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16) reminds us that we too have Good News. Christ died for our sins and has conquered death. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) We have forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope in him. What better news could we hope for?

Unlike the four lepers, most of us today sit on our Good News. We don’t tell our neighbors, friends, or relatives. Instead, we sit in our building wondering why the world doesn’t come to Christ.

It wasn’t always that way. In fact, history shows the church has gone through three great periods of growth. Luke records the first period in the book of Acts. Beginning on the day of Pentecost with 3,000 conversions (Acts 2:41), the church was soon up to 5,000. (Acts 4:4) Later, Luke tells us: “Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” (Acts 5:14) In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he claimed: “The Good News has been preached all over the world.” (Colossians 1:23)

What is now called the Restoration marked the second period of growth. The church, which abandoned denominationalism for New Testament Christianity, reached 225,000 members according to the 1860 census. Churches of Christ became the fastest growing religion and the seventh largest religious body in the United States.

But it was not to last. Forty years later the church divided, and those who remained faithful to New Testament Christianity were a small minority.

From 1945-1965, the church experienced its third growth period. The Lord’s church double in size, and again became the fastest growing religion. Mission work around the world expanded rapidly.

All of that is past history. Yes, the church is still growing — but barely. A recent study on churches of Christ revealed an annual growth rate of 1.6% from 1980-2000. The world’s population grew 32% during this same period. So what happened? Why isn’t the church growing as it once did?

Our modern culture is partly to blame. Certainly, people aren’t as receptive as they once were. Today, the public wants entertainment. Reason and logic has long since been replaced by emotion and excitement in both public discourse and worship services. If you have any doubt, look at the religious broadcasts on television. There was a time when such programs was roundly criticized as “holy roller” emotionalism. Now it’s mainstream.

During the times of church expansion, Christianity was God centered. That’s no longer the case. It’s become man centered. For many, the question isn’t does a particular congregation teach the truth? But rather what benefits does that church offer me?

Furthermore, respect for authority at all levels has diminished and that even includes respect for the Scriptures.

However, the church itself is primarily to blame for our sagging growth. The Lord’s church no longer regards itself as distinctive. Many inside the church believe we are just another denomination. Oh, maybe we are right on a minor point here or there, and the other churches are mistaken. But nothing critical.

Those who take such a view are woefully ignorant of the very purpose of the church. Churches of Christ are not trying to be the only right denomination; in fact, we not trying to be a denomination at all. We’re trying to replicate the church we read about in the New Testament, the one Christ established — Scriptural in worship, organization, and practice. That is a church without human creeds, traditions, manuals, or hierarchies.

Other problems with the church include: We make fewer demands on our members. Knowledge of the Bible, which was once widely acclaimed, is no longer emphasized in our congregations. Likewise, personal evangelism is no longer stressed. We don’t even invite our friends, relatives, and neighbors to worship.

Somehow we expect people to come, but our Lord said, “Go.” (Mark 16:15)

How the church has changed over the past fifty years! We have traded Gospel Meetings for lectureships, sermons for seminars, and outreach for entertainment. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s we had city-wide evangelistic campaigns. Jule Miller’s “Visualized Bible Study Series” filmstrips were used to convert thousands. And each Christian was a personal evangelist. (Acts 8:4) But none of that is true any more.

Okay, Rod Rutherford, I believe most of us will agree that’s a fair statement about condition of the church in the early twenty-first century. So what can we do about it?

Rutherford issues a church-wide challenge: We must develop a sense of urgency. Why? Because all of those outside of Christ will be lost. “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7)

The Gospel is the only power to save. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)

The Gospel must be preached. “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mark 15:16)

Moreover, we need committed leadership. The church will never rise above its leadership! Elders must be personally involved with the program of personal evangelism. And preachers must “do the work of an evangelist.” (2 Timothy 4:5)

Rod Rutherford concluded his sermon telling us there are 6,749,140,950 souls alive today. Only our generation can reach those souls. The fields are “ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35) This is a day of good news; let us not be silent!

His sermon made an impression on me. How about you? Will churches of Christ rise to the occasion to spread the Good News of Jesus and a return to New Testament Christianity? Surely, we will account to God for everything we do and everything we do not do.

For those who want to know more about churches of Christ, I recommend Mack Lyon’s In Search of the Lord’s Way television program on Sunday mornings on the Inspirational Network. Check for time and channel in your area. On the internet, thebible.net/searchingfortruth/ John Moore narrates a six part video introduction. It’s all free. Check it out.

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From just about any type of information that is available today through the media and from online sources, boxing news is the best way to stay on top of the happenings in the wide and varied world of professional and amateur boxing.
It is interesting to note that professional boxing has evolved into one of the very few sports that has definitely been instrumental in the development of what is now known as sports entertainment. And in some cases, the boxing news reports and media hype is partly entertainment in and of itself as well.
Just a quick look at the amount of attention and hype that swirls around any major professional event of this sport makes it clear that this is a powerful and popular spectator sport franchise. And, the boxing news helps to keep the interest high with its own versions of hype and gossip.
Interestingly, this professional sport is one of the sports that enjoys some of the most intense coverage. And, with an array of colorful characters, intriguing anecdotes and bazaar incidents, this sport news rarely lacks in sensationalism.
And, it seems the sports fans of this professional sport just cannot get enough of the boxing related trivia and other interesting tidbits. They love to read and watch anything they can get from the boxing news.
Not only that, but it seems that many professional boxers choose to live life to the fullest and often are in this sport news, not just for their accomplishments in the boxing ring but also for other reasons that cross over into their personal lives in many instances. It often seems the althetes actually seek out things they can do to bring this extra attention to them.
For fans who want to know the full inside scoop about their favorite professional boxer, match-ups, bouts, its history or statistics, there is a wide range of news publications such as boxing magazines, that are available in the marketplace.
Such magazines delve into the personal lives of the boxers in addition to the extensive coverage they give to the sport and events. They also cover much of the day-to-day happenings in the sport and are also quick to cover any available gossip about the individual boxers, especially those most popular at the moment.
Some of the boxing news magazines are primarily devoted to those fans who are most interested in keeping up-to-date on the upcoming fights, results of recent matches and the current ratings for the various fighters and their statistical information.
Other focused magazines on this sport provide more news regarding trends in the sport, reviews of different venues and professional boxer interviews, sometimes going into great depth.
Still, other magazines concentrate more on the analysis aspect after the fights, boxing trivia and on introducing the new personalities who are emerging into the sport.
Regardless of what kind of boxing news you are most interested in, you will no doubt be able to find just the right magazine or internet web site that can supply you with the information you most want to delve into.

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The advent and fruits of technology has everyone getting into the Internet as a means of expanding their businesses with the help of the technology age. Among the leading businesses that have adopted this methodology is that of newspapers and publication, offering an online counterpart of the actual publications that most people are used to buying at their nearby newsstands or delivered directly at the doorsteps.
With the advent of technology, people simply need to type the URL address of their preferred newspaper, and they will actually see similar news and information that they get from reading actual newspapers. Such has been the case for local newspapers, such as Manila Bulletin and The Daily Inquirer in the Philippines. The only advantage of the online access is that they can be easily updated and are more advanced before the actual publication is gotten hold off.
At first glance, there are minimal differences and advantages to be seen. For one, the navigation of the pages is much easier using the web based version, since it can be read immediately with a single click. Unlike in the newsprint version, where a person would have to find the relevant section and locate the article they would want to read on. Access and navigation beats the troubles of having to go over a number of sections to pinpoint the actual news or information contained in newsprints. For example, by merely clicking on the sports section will show summaries of the top stories for this category and the user can immediately read on the latest news of their choice.
Another aspect is that of a detailed summary of sections. Some online news groups would choose to publish only selected and important news items, relegating short news briefs towards the newsprint version. For newsprints, they cover all the information needed and do not leave out the minor ones. Most of the time, people would leave out announcements and news tidbits to save on space, something that can be properly sectioned in newsprint publications.
One other aspect is the fact that online publications can go as far as providing exclusive video coverage through the technology of real media files, actually showing footage of important news alerts through streaming media. This can be done via the Internet, something that newsprints cannot provide considering they are only the text version of the said news story.
The Trend towards Technology of Online News Publications
In conclusion, the shifts towards maximizing cyberspace and allowing it to reach various places and target markets of ethnic origins have offered an abundance of possibilities. People wanting to find out about pertinent information from a certain area, or for some people who reside in other countries can find out what the latest happenings are in their hometown, negating the need to have specialized copies of their preferred newsprint publications which originate from home.
The availability of current information, national and other news items can be accessed by the web, making it a whole lot more convenient for the people wherever they may be. Technology has provided a new dimension towards passing of information, and with the aggressive and tactical strategies that most companies such as public affairs and mass communication strategies, such has become both beneficial towards the consumer and the people passing on the information especially for current events.

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