Grace’s Latest Messages
Formed Into the Image (1 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
1 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
I’m looking forward to sharing with you this Sunday!
As we’ve been learning in our series, we are created to represent and reflect the image of God, and this Sunday we’ll discover and be reminded that there's also a transformation occurring within us as believers.
The sin-behavior habits of our hearts and our disordered loves mar the image of God that we were designed to live into, but there is a trail to restoration. There is a way back - or, a path forward really - a way to recapture the image - and it is found in Christ. This is a long journey, a slow process, the adventure of a lifetime. This is our challenge, our invitation; to take a journey of transformation toward Christlikeness.
Imitating Christ in every area of our lives will never happen this side of heaven. He is perfect and we are not. But we can begin the journey of transformation into Christlikeness from “one degree of glory to another.” And, the good news for us today is that “this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Jesus, who went before us to make a way to God, paid the ultimate price so that the image of God designed in each of us could be recaptured. His Spirit provides the guidance and direction and power for us to walk with Christ and become like Him - finding the freedom and wholeness that we were destined for. Let’s embark on the adventure together!
See you Sunday!
Justin
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
-1 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
The Hope of Glory (1 Peter 5:8-11)
1 Peter 5:8-11
I’m looking forward to encouraging you this Sunday with one of the last passages in 1 Peter.
Do you relate to this quote from the movie The Matrix; “What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life—that there’s something wrong with the world…” Well, if so, you’re not alone!
This Sunday, we’ll see how God uses Peter’s letter to pull back the curtain on the reality of our situation and show us the truth. It’s a vivid, sobering picture, though…are you ready? Again, from The Matrix: “This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends; you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. All I’m offering is the truth, nothing more.”
Get ready to hear Peter's “wake up call”, the truth from the Word of God, and how we can respond well to the challenge! See you Sunday!
Justin
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
-1 Peter 5:8-11
Welcome Home, With Purpose (1 Peter 2:4-10)
1 Peter 2:4-10
I’m grateful for the hope and encouragement we’re finding in 1 Peter during this series. I’m grateful also to be back and recovered from COVID, healthy and thankful for your prayers and God’s healing! Because I had planned to share in our service several weeks ago before my quarantine, we get to jump back to chapter 2 for another encouraging reflection on the hope we find in Christ.
In fact, this week, we’ll see how Jesus is the “cornerstone” of our faith - how He holds His church together and how He sets our lives on level ground. Join us as we let God’s word remind us who we are and who’s we are, together.
See you Sunday!
Justin
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
-1 Peter 2:4-10
