Jesus Invites...

This week we looked at the message of the Gospel as preached by Jesus.   As Jesus preached the Gospel He was offering citizenship in the Kingdom of God to wretched, rebellious, enemies of God.  If that is not the evidence of God's great grace and mercy, I not sure what else would convince you.  Maybe the fact that in order for our citizenship to authorized Jesus had to exchange His life for ours.  We become citizens, Jesus takes the punishment for our rebellious crimes.  

I think that the greatest impact on my thus far in our series in Mark has been the reminder of the magnitude of God's grace.  Humanity receives large quantities of God's common grace every day.  I imagine that your mind probably begins to question, but what about... the earthquakes, hurricanes, diseases, human trafficking, and the countless other horrific things that happen in our world.  Is that what God's grace looks like?  No, sadly all of that is the result of the sin cursed world we live in.  In fact because the end result of sin is so destructive the potential of worse is beyond our comprehension.  Honestly this is the point where I have been overwhelmed by God's grace.  You see if there were no grace then the sin cursed world under the authority of Satan would truly be hell on earth, disease would be widespread with no relief, natural disasters would be constant and catastrophic, and human harm due to immorality would be intolerable.  

​The fact that we have moments of peace or we discover cures for human diseases or we have the intelligence to design early warning systems to preserve human life from natural disasters are all a result of the Grace of God.  Sinners do not deserve this kind of treatment from a holy, righteous, and just God.  Instead we are given His grace and mercy on daily basis.  Then to top it all off God offers citizenship and adoption in His Kingdom and Family through the belief in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Amazing Grace that saves a wretch like me.  Celebrate the moments of grace you receive and seek God during the moments when the curse of sin seems to overwhelm you.
Pastor D.