Life

The Christian life is defined by Jesus, centred on Jesus, and it even begins to look like Jesus, in all his loveliness and goodness. It is not your own life, but his life being worked out in you. It is this way from day one, and will be this way right to the day when your race has been won. And it will never stop feeling like kneeling at the cross in worship and wonder.

I receive the abundant-life-giving coming of Jesus as I know and am known in my local church. Local church matters because knowing and being known matter.

There is no distance Christ is unwilling to go. There is no job beneath him that he will not joyfully complete in love. And now he is risen in glory, with holes in his hands and standing as a Lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:6). This is what greatness looks like. This is what glory looks like. This is what true leadership looks like.

It is here, and only here where we find our everlasting comfort. Our everlasting beauty. Our everlasting life. 

Here lies the secret of boldness. Not found in our own strength but in his steadfast love. This is the truth and promise that makes us bold, to take risks for Christ Jesus, to overcome insecurity, to fight temptation, to stand up for what is right, to wait patiently in the face of suffering, to love with our whole hearts. It is the assurance of his love for us in the present brokenness.

The church has long recognized the priority of worship, acknowledging that we are redeemed in order to become faithful worshipers of the one true God. In this message, Dr. Michael Reeves asserts that worship is the end for which we are created and saved.

How do Christians grow? How does change happen? And if Christians are those who have been accepted by God once and for all because of what Jesus has done, then why bother?

King David introduces himself through the careful placement of some psalms that connect him, his kingly office and his life with our lives as readers and with the expectation of the ultimate King and Son of God.