Good News Vessels

Jun 14, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Paul Looked Intently at the Man Who’d Never Walked

A crippled man sat in a crowded place his whole life, seen but unseen. Paul’s gaze pierced through the noise, not just noticing but truly seeing him. In that moment, Paul recognized faith where others saw only brokenness. The man’s healing began with being engaged as a person, not a project. His leap of joy revealed the power of intentional presence. True engagement starts when we stop glancing and start seeing. [45:30]

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.
(Acts 14:8-10, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your daily rhythms is “always there but never seen”? What would it look like to look at them with Paul’s intentionality this week?

Day 2: Cracked Tupperware and the Light That Leaks Out

God chooses cracked jars—not pristine containers—to carry His light. A flawless vessel would keep the light hidden, but brokenness creates openings for glory to spill into the world. Paul called himself a “mere man,” yet his cracks magnified Christ’s power. Our weaknesses aren’t obstacles to ministry—they’re the very channels through which grace flows. [56:28]

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
(2 Corinthians 4:6-7, ESV)

Reflection: What specific “crack” in your life have you tried to hide that God might want to use as a light-dispenser today?

Day 3: “We’re Merely Men” – Humility With a Purpose

Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes when mistaken for gods, insisting, “We’re just like you.” Their humility wasn’t self-deprecation but laser-focused stewardship—they existed to point beyond themselves. Like a coach shifting from transactional drills to transformational mentorship, they knew their role: redirect awe to its proper recipient. [50:42]

“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”
(Acts 14:15, ESV)

Reflection: Where might you be subtly claiming credit for God’s work? How could you redirect that attention today?

Day 4: The King Who Chose the Cracked Jar

Jesus didn’t just use broken vessels—He became one. The King of Heaven traded divine prerogatives for human limitations, his “equality with God” swapped for a cross. His ultimate engagement—stepping into our darkness—redefined power. Now every bent knee confesses what that choice revealed: true glory bleeds. [01:00:50]

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:6-8, ESV)

Reflection: What comfort do you find in knowing the King you follow chose fragility? How does His choice challenge your view of “success”?

Day 5: Praying on the Field After the Last Out

The championship-winning coach didn’t celebrate first—he gathered his team to pray. The player who’d avoided prayers all season joined, weeping. Lasting transformation happens when engagement outlives the initial miracle. Like Paul returning to Lystra despite nearly being worshiped then stoned, faithfulness means showing up—win or lose. [39:47]

Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
(Acts 14:18, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been tempted to disengage after a “win”? What ongoing commitment is God asking you to make in that area?

Sermon Summary

Engage, equip, and empower sets the frame: engagement comes first, or nothing else sticks. Huddles and chapels show what that looks like on the ground as the gospel meets students and coaches where they actually live, and real response follows. Transformational coaching replaces transactional exchange when the aim shifts from wins to souls, and bold, simple practices like open Bibles, open prayer, and honest presence open doors no playbook could script.

Paul and Barnabas put that order on display in Acts 14. The man “crippled from birth” sits in the common place everyone passes and nobody really sees. Paul “looked intently at him,” saw more than the condition, and could read “that he had faith to be made well.” The command lands like a snap count, and the man doesn’t take a timid first step; he “sprang up.” Joy breaks out because good news doesn’t just inform, it engages and heals.

The crowd mislabels the messengers as Zeus and Hermes, but humility keeps the mission clear. “We are also men,” they say. Nothing special in them, everything saving in the message. Their identity is simple and settled: “We bring you good news.” That is what a “good news vessel” sounds like.

Fragile clay jars give that identity its shape. Second Corinthians 4 says the treasure is the light of Christ and the jar is cracked on purpose. Perfect containers trap the glow; broken ones leak it. God chooses chipped Tupperware, not museum pieces, so the power is obviously his, not theirs. The point is not polish. The point is light through the cracks.

Jesus embodies the pattern in Philippians 2. Equality with God is his by right, yet he empties himself, takes the servant’s form, and turns the light on in a dark room no one could brighten by shouting at it. His engagement is costly and chosen. His obedience runs all the way to a cross, and God exalts him so every knee bows and every tongue says the true thing about him.

The disciple’s job description sits right there: be a good news vessel in a bad news world. Engage first. Carry humility with a clear purpose. Let the film of life show faith that actually trusts God to do what only God can do. Make disciples, not fans, by letting the light of Jesus shine through the places that prove the vessel is human and the treasure is divine.

Key Takeaways

1. Engage before equip and empower The order matters because presence earns the right for truth to land and stick. Engagement sees people, not projects, and it sets up real equipping and real sending. Paul’s move was not a program but a person-to-person gaze that opened the door for power. Jesus follows the same pattern with sinners and sufferers. [41:03]
2. Look intently; see faith, not labels The crowd only glances and moves on; Paul stares and discerns faith. That kind of attention dignifies a person who has lived in the blind spot of his city. The “film” of a life gets read in small moments like this, where faith shows up on the face before words are said. Deep seeing is often the first miracle. [45:30]
3. Broken vessels leak Jesus’ light Fragile jars are not ministry liabilities; they are God’s chosen delivery system. Cracks become channels where the treasure shines out, proving the power is his. Efforts to look pristine can actually smother the glow, while honest weakness gives the gospel room. The goal is not to hold everything together but to carry the light. [56:56]
4. Humility with a clear purpose “Merely men” is not self-loathing; it is mission clarity. Humility keeps the messenger from stealing the spotlight, and purpose keeps the messenger from losing the plot. The call is plain: bring the good news as a vessel, not the source. That posture travels well in locker rooms, classrooms, and crowds. [52:38]
5. Joy is the reflex of grace When the good news truly engages, the body can’t help itself. The man leaps before he learns to walk because grace outruns instruction. Joy is not a performance; it is the overflow of being seen, healed, and called by Christ. Expect that reflex when Jesus is near. [48:43]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[30:57] - Baseball slides and intro
[31:46] - Roadmap and FCA huddles
[33:00] - Gospel decisions at schools
[35:47] - Coaching transformed, not transactional
[39:11] - Postgame prayer on the field
[40:41] - E3: Engage, Equip, Empower
[41:58] - Acts 14:8-18 reading
[45:30] - Paul looks intently and sees faith
[46:30] - The film of your life
[53:39] - Treasure in fragile jars
[56:56] - Light through cracks
[60:21] - Jesus empties himself
[61:54] - Turn the light on
[63:58] - Called to be good news vessels

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Acts 14:8-18 (ESV)
[Paul heals a crippled man and redirects worship to God]
- 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (ESV)
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
- Philippians 2:6-11 (ESV)
[Christ’s humility and exaltation]

Observation Questions

In Acts 14:9, Paul “looked intently” at the crippled man. What specific details in the passage show how this act of engagement led to transformation?
How did the crowd in Acts 14:11-13 misunderstand Paul and Barnabas, and how did they correct that misunderstanding? [50:15]
According to 2 Corinthians 4:7, why does God place His treasure in “jars of clay”? What contrast does this create?

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think Paul emphasized “we are also men of like nature with you” (Acts 14:15) instead of accepting the crowd’s praise? How does this connect to the idea of humility with purpose?
The sermon compared “cracked Tupperware” to fragile clay jars. How does brokenness actually help the light of Christ shine rather than hinder it? [56:56]
In Philippians 2:7, Jesus “emptied himself” to serve. How does His example redefine what it means to be a “good news vessel” in a world focused on status or perfection?

Application Questions

The crippled man in Acts 14 had been overlooked his entire life. Who in your daily routine (work, school, neighborhood) might feel similarly unseen? What would it look like to “look intently” at them this week?
The sermon mentioned praying with a team after a championship game. [39:11] Where could you create intentional moments of prayer or vulnerability in your own relationships to reflect Christ’s light?
What’s one area of your life where you try to hide your “cracks” (weaknesses, mistakes, or struggles)? How could embracing that brokenness actually help others see Jesus more clearly?
The crowd mislabeled Paul and Barnabas as gods. When have you felt tempted to take credit for God’s work in your life? What practical step could you take to redirect that attention to Him?
Joy was described as the “reflex of grace” when the crippled man leaped up. [48:43] What recent experience of God’s grace has stirred joy in you? How could you share that story with someone this week?

Sermon Clips

43s

#LightThroughCracks

“When I read that, that doesn't make sense to me. Why why would you do that? Right? If I'm putting leftovers away, I'm not choosing the cracked Tupperware. I'm not choosing that. It's gonna leak out. But hear me on this. God doesn't make mistakes. It says we have the light of Jesus, the good news in our hearts. Right? If I'm a vessel who is perfect, there's no cracks, there's no holes, there's no dents. If I were to put a candle in my perfect jar and I put a lid on it, there is no possible way that that light can shine and leak out. It's impossible.”

41s

#CarvedToShine

“Kinda like it makes me think of Halloween when you're carving pumpkins. Right? If you put a candle in the pumpkin, but you don't carve the outside of it, the light can't shine out. And so what Paul is saying here is that, yes, you're broken, but that's the only possible way that the light of Jesus can shine through you. It's impossible every other way. And so when when I talk about a good news vessel, when Paul in Acts says we are merely what he's saying here is I am broken, and that is how it's supposed to be because, otherwise, the light of Jesus cannot shine through me.”

45s

#KingWhoServed

“Jesus had equality with God, which, first of all, that's crazy. He had equality with God, and he said, as he sat and he looked at a bad news world, he said, I know that there is only one way. I know what it takes. I know the cost. I know what it's gonna require of me, and I willingly am gonna do it. my wife and I attend Grace Community Church in Tempe, and our pastor there says this all the time. He says, you can't shout at a dark room and say, stop being dark. You have to go in and turn the light on, right?”

55s

#ClayJarTruth

“He's using us today. You wanna talk about a king who engages with his people? Look no more than Philippians two. What king engages with his people the way Jesus did? No king does that. No king gives up his throne. That's wild. You wanna talk about something that's uncivilized? That's insane. A king willingly gave up his throne. He had equality with God, and he didn't consider it something to hold on to. That's wild. But he did it for you, and he does it every single day. Our job is to be a good news vessel in a bad news world. Jesus engaged with us not because he had to. He engages with us because he wants to.”

36s

#MakeDisciples

“Now, good news vessel, what is that? It comes from second Corinthians four. Second Corinthians four, it talks about the good or the broken vessels, clay jars, fragile clay jars. That's what second Corinthians four talks about. Now, I grew up in the church, and so I'd I'd heard of this often, but I never really knew what it meant. I never really understood the true meaning of, like, hey, what is a what is a broken, fragile clay jar? I don't understand what that means. But I realized what it meant. Well, I didn't I was I learned what it meant.”

48s

#LeapForJoy

“Our jobs as followers of Christ is to be a disciple. Well, the defining characteristic of a disciple is you make other disciples. A disciple makes other disciples. If you're a disciple who's just keeping it right here, and I'm not making other disciples, you're not a disciple. A disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus, is someone who makes more followers of Jesus. Our job is to make heaven crowded, and you do that by being a good news vessel where God uses your brokenness. And Paul understands this. When Paul has a humility with a clear purpose, he is understanding, and he is telling these people, I am a broken vessel, but my job is to bring the good news.”

44s

#SeenWithIntent

“And I love that it says here, it says, that the man, in some translations, it says leap. Some some, it says he sprang up. He jumped. And why I love that, because this man doesn't know how to jump. He he's he's never walked before in his life. He doesn't know how to use his legs. But his response to someone finally engaging with him for the very first time, somebody engaging with him with the good news of Jesus, his response is he leaps for joy. all throughout scriptures, you see that when people are engaged with the good news of Jesus, their response is joy, because that's what Jesus brings.”

40s

#GodChoosesBroken

“This man who had been crippled from birth was sitting in an area where people often passed by, but he was often ignored. And it says that as Paul is speaking, he had to shout. Right? So again, I'm gonna assume that it's probably a very large crowd. It's probably a very large and open area. And as Paul is speaking, it says something here that I I just love. It says Paul looked intently at him. Intently at him. For the first time in this man's life, somebody actually saw him.”

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Boulder Mountain Community Church This sermon · AI assistant

What does being a good news vessel mean?

Why does God choose broken fragile clay jars?

Why must engage precede equip and empower?

Good News Vessels

Devotional

Day 1: When Paul Looked Intently at the Man Who’d Never Walked

Day 2: Cracked Tupperware and the Light That Leaks Out

Day 3: “We’re Merely Men” – Humility With a Purpose

Day 4: The King Who Chose the Cracked Jar

Day 5: Praying on the Field After the Last Out

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Good News Vessels

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