Christian Living, Part 1

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil.

God’s gracious purpose from eternity was to “to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory” starting with humanity. Christ lived and died and rose again so that we might not only be forgiven the guilt of all our sin, but free from its bondage. It couldn’t be much clearer than these words Paul wrote to Titus.

“The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11–14)

We’ve been saved from lawlessness to godliness. Jesus said, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)

This Sunday, Fred Sanders will be preaching on our eighth statement of faith, Christian Living, Part 1 and Kenny Clark will lead our sung worship. Would you pray for each as they prepare this week?

Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church is a great prompt for us to pray in preparation for our Sunday together.

Father, fill us with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so we might walk in a manner worthy of You, fully pleasing to You: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You.” (Colossians 1:9–10)

If you hadn’t seen the announcement, due to extreme heat predicted for Sunday, we have decided to postpone our all-church Taco Dinner to a later date this fall.

Evening Baptism Service | 6pm

But please plan to join us for our evening baptism service. Five people will enter the waters of baptism to publicly profess their faith alone in Christ alone and as we bear witness, we proclaim to them with our presence that they are not only united to Christ,  but to his body (that’s us!). We would love to fill every chair for this important moment in their lives.

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry!