From Sunday: July 24th

This Sunday morning, we looked at 1 John 3:19-24. Here the Apostle teaches us about assurance. As we face the daunting commands given to love as Christ loved, we are met with our own constant failures. How can we be assured that God is working within us? John provides three aspects of our assurance. First, our confidence is in Christ, whom we have grasped hold of through faith. Second, the Christ who saves is the Christ who transforms - so as we grow in grace and come to resemble our elder brother in desires and actions we see God's work within us as evidence of our faith. Third, we must recognize that both faith and works are a product of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. By these three aspects: our Spirit-wrought faith, our Spirit-inspired works and the inner testimony of the Spirit that we are children now, we can have confidence before God.

This Sunday evening, we looked at Deuteronomy 19:1-13 (no audio yet), where Moses provides instruction on the cities of refuge. These cities show us the nature of God: that he loves mercy and that he loved justice. We also saw how the cross of Christ most magnificently shows forth both the mercy and the justice of Christ, as each "kiss" upon the cross - God's mercy for sinners and his justice for sin.