Listen: Offering: Christmas Version
Read: Hebrews 4:1-16
It’s only by your blood
And its only through your mercy
Lord, I come
The gospel was preached to me as well as many others. Not all who heard the gospel have been transformed by it. Yet, I have been. I am a recipient of God’s amazing grace through faith. That is not an invitation to boast, but a reality meant to cause me to bow in humble reverence. There is rest now for me. Jesus finished His redeeming work upon the cross. Now I rest in the assurance of being His child. However, my rest isn’t lazy. I am actively pursuing Christ through faith. What does pursuing Jesus look like? Pursuing God by faith is another way of saying pursuing Him in morality, in thought, in language, in attitude, in perspective, in all circumstances, in all relationships, in all things. To succinctly describe what it means to pursue God by faith is to say, “I worship God.”
Is this your testimony? It should be. This should be the story of our lives, but we do fall short. Where do we go when we fall short? We go to the throne of grace. The problem of misunderstanding the gospel and the character of God is seen in how a Christian person might run from God when they experience guilt rather than running to God. Our reading in Hebrews is telling us that all things are open and naked unto God. Why does that matter? Because you and I can’t run away from God. We can try, and we will be as successful as Adam, Jonah, and Peter. God is calling His children to think rightly about who He is and what He has accomplished and promised for us. He tells his child to worship Him – to come to His throne of grace by the blood of Christ and through His mercy! This is the worship and honor due Him. It is through giving your life to Jesus that you find it. “Lord I come.”
Aaron Irlbacher 