Today we are serv­ing along­side Liv­ing Hope and Liv­ing Hope – Bryan to min­is­ter to our com­mu­nity.  We are meet­ing at St. Michael’s Acad­emy (where Liv­ing Hope – Bryan meets on Sat­ur­day evenings for wor­ship) at 8 a.m. and should be leav­ing for our var­i­ous projects around 9 a.m.

If you just found out about the work­day or acci­den­tally over­slept, that’s ok!  Please con­tact Liv­ing Hope — Bryan at 979–209-9900 or a friend at the work­day and find out where you can plug in.

We hope you’ll join us in serv­ing the greater Bryan/College Sta­tion Community!

Please join us as we serve along­side Liv­ing Hope and Liv­ing Hope – Bryan to min­is­ter to our com­mu­nity.  We will meet at St. Michael’s Acad­emy (where Liv­ing Hope – Bryan meets on Sat­ur­day evenings for wor­ship) tomor­row at 8 a.m.  We will divide into work groups and then leave from St. Michael’s to serve the com­mu­nity.  There are projects for every skill level (begin­ner to super-construction-worker-person) and oppor­tu­ni­ties to serve for a short time or even for the full day.  We hope to see you there!

Chap­ter five of Liv­ing the Cross Cen­tered Life is called, “The Divine Res­cue:  Why Only Jesus Christ Could Save Us.”  Mahaney draws our atten­tion back to 1 Tim­o­thy 2:5–6, which says, “For there is one God, and there is one medi­a­tor between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave him­self as a ran­som for all, which is the tes­ti­mony given at the proper time.”  We were in des­per­ate need of a Medi­a­tor, some­one to stand in the gap between us and God.  Our sin had not only sep­a­rated us from God’s pres­ence, but also placed us under his right­eous wrath.  How would sin­ful man ever atone for his sin before a holy God?

In answer to this ques­tion, Mahaney quotes R.C. Sproul, who says, “The glory of the gospel is this:  The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who has saved us.”  That is indeed the Good News.  In God’s per­fect plan, he is the right­eous judge, but also the mer­ci­ful Sav­ior of all who believe.  Here are some ques­tions for fur­ther thought and discussion:

1. In the last chap­ter, “the divine dilemma” was iden­ti­fied as the prob­lem God faced when he decided to save unde­serv­ing sin­ners.  Being mer­ci­ful, He desired to for­give, but being just, He could not allow sin to go unpun­ished.  How does Paul explain God’s solu­tion in Romans 3:21–26?

2. Mahaney opens chap­ter five with the account of a young woman who cut her arms when upset with her­self or with oth­ers over their offenses.  What does this story teach you about your own need for Christ’s work on the cross?

3. Mahaney argues that a “unique man” would be needed to secure sal­va­tion for sin­ful man (pp. 70–73).  In what ways did this Medi­a­tor need to be unique and why?

4. On page 73, Mahaney out­lines what Christ’s death means for us.  Which truths does he iden­tify, and how should they impact your life on a daily basis?

5. Because Jesus stood con­demned in our place, we are no longer under con­dem­na­tion. Still, many believ­ers do not prac­tice this truth.   When do you tend to strug­gle with con­dem­na­tion, and what action should you take to fight against it?  How do you deter­mine the dif­fer­ence between con­vic­tion and condemnation?

Next week, we will con­sider chap­ter six, “Star­ing into the Cup:  The Shock of Gethsemane.”

We’d like to invite all ladies aged 12 and older to Life­Givers, a spe­cial event for women, this evening from 7–9 pm.  This will be a great oppor­tu­nity for women to wor­ship, learn, fel­low­ship, and grow together.  The mes­sage will focus on the life­giv­ing woman from 1 Tim­o­thy 2:1–15.  Child­care is pro­vided for sin­gle moms and any ladies whose hus­bands are unavail­able. Drinks and desserts will also be provided.

The church build­ing is being used by the local gov­ern­ment as a polling place (don’t for­get to vote!), so please park in the back of the build­ing and use the rear entrance when you come.  We hope to see you this evening!

Last night we explored Matthew 7:21–23 and learned the hard truth that not every­one who calls Jesus “Lord” will be saved.  So many Amer­i­cans attend church reg­u­larly, live good lives in com­par­i­son to oth­ers, and even tell oth­ers about Jesus.  But all of those actions mean noth­ing if they are not born out of faith in Christ.  Con­sider these verses from last night’s message:

“If any­one else thinks he has rea­son for con­fi­dence in the flesh, I have more: cir­cum­cised on the eighth day, of the peo­ple of Israel, of the tribe of Ben­jamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Phar­isee; as to zeal, a per­se­cu­tor of the church; as to right­eous­ness under the law, blame­less. But what­ever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count every­thing as loss because of the sur­pass­ing worth of know­ing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suf­fered the loss of all things and count them as rub­bish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not hav­ing a right­eous­ness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the right­eous­ness from God that depends on faith” (Philip­pi­ans 4b-9).

“By faith Abel offered to God a more accept­able sac­ri­fice than Cain, through which he was com­mended as right­eous, God com­mend­ing him by accept­ing his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was com­mended as hav­ing pleased God. And with­out faith it is impos­si­ble to please him, for who­ever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:4–6).

These verses tell us that you can say and do all the right things and still not be known by Christ.  God desires to reveal him­self to unde­serv­ing sin­ners like you and me.  Have you come to him by repen­tance and faith?