Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do...Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise...Woman, behold, your son!...Behold, your mother! These first three sayings of Christ from the cross have been a delight for me to study, meditate upon, and finally preach from. I greatly look forward to the remaining four. To be able to chew on much shorter passages of Scripture has been wonderful, especially passages that highlight the person and work of Christ. Here are a few insights from my study.
- Christ's beauty of character to pray for those who were beating, mocking, and killing him. What a God we worship who instead of automatically destroying his enemies actually died for them!
- Christ's role as priest. He prayed as he was on the Cross, but now he is at the right hand of the Father continually making intercession. (Hebrews 7:25)
- God is a God of great love. It is only because he loved us and died for us that we can be forgiven of our constant rebellion. (Romans 5:8)
- In many ways, though we obviously are guilty as sinners, we are also tremendously blessed, because it is for sinners that Christ died.
- Christ died not simply to provide the means of salvation, but ultimately to bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18)
- The church is a beautiful place full of family. (Luke 8:19-21) It is a place where we love and care for one another in the love of Christ.
There is much more that I learned and prayerfully will take to heart. I pray that as I now am preaching weekly that the Lord will sink his Word deeper and deeper into my own heart, to change me, to mold me, to conform me more and more into the image of his Son. What a privilege to have a calling that's main purpose is two-fold - prayer and the ministry of the Word! (Acts 6:4) Oh that I would see the worth of that privilege daily and that the grace of God would fill my soul so completely that there is no room for anything less worthy.
If you would like to hear any of the sermons you can do so
here.
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