It hardly seems like 9 weeks ago that we started this journey!  I hope that you are feeling as blessed by the experience as I am.  Each time I read scripture I find God’s message for me.  Sometimes the message is one of learning from the lessons of a nation lost in their own wills and without any guidance.  Sometimes the lesson is a comforting and encouraging reminder from the voice of one after God’s own heart.  And sometimes the message is directly to me – written over 1,000 years ago but speaking directly to my heart.

God’s message for me this week came last Sunday in the reading from 1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News – and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.”  Reading these words, I felt a great conviction to preach, not in such a way that brings me compliments and makes people feel good, but in a way that draws people to Christ.  My job isn’t to add to the numbers of the church rolls, but to tell people of the good news of Jesus and the salvation that is freely available to them.  This is my charge and my soul’s passion.

So let me put this simply – there is only one way to fulfill the emptiness of your life and that is through the greatness of God.  But this greatness is not something that we can earn – in fact our selfish hearts keep us from connecting with God.  But God loved us enough that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place for our sinful, selfish nature that we can have the abundant life that God intends for us.  This is all God’s free grace offered to us through faith.  Our true life can only be had through faith in Jesus Christ. It is when we trust in Christ as our Savior and turn over our will to His as our Lord that we have the life that God intends for us.  And God promises that when we live in this faith, we will live with him forever.  Without this faith, we will die in our sins and be forever separated from God.

Friends, more than scripture, I hope that you are discovering Christ as we read together.  May He continue to be revealed to you as we seek His Word!