Not only is Jesus our focus in all things as our Lord and Saviour, but we continually return to our need for grace. We still struggle with sin, and we still need rescue. This isn't just something we needed when we first came to Jesus, it's what we need every day.
At EBC we have a decision to make each and every day. Are we going to be a church about the glory of Jesus Christ? Or a church tossed to and from by whatever cultural whim catches our fancy? One of those churches has a future and the other does not.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds the church of what he calls “of first importance” — the gospel. Not as a slogan. Not as a theme. But as the defining reality in which they stand and by which they are being saved.
But what do we mean by “gospel”?
On July 9, 1958 at 10:15pm, a gigantic earthquake registering a magnitude 7.8 caused a rockslide of roughly 40 million cubic yards in the Gilbert Inlet of Alaska. The result was a megatsunami, and the biggest wave ever recorded, measuring an incredible (and nightmarish) 524 metres.
In spiritual terms, this is Paul’s letter to the Romans. In its wake has come a massive wave of theological study and spiritual power rippling throughout church history to this very day. It has upended the world, transforming countless lives from the first day it was read until now.
Yesterday marked the start of our dedicated month of prayer, where we are calling the church in a season of focused and resolute prayer. The constant refrain I would love for you to have turning over in your mind is this question: "what is it that only God can do?". Let's not set the bar so low that we can effectively control the outcome of our prayers by ourselves. That kind of prayer is valid in part, but it hardly requires an exercise of faith, and so neither glorifies God no blesses us.
There are things that we are utterly powerless to control. Let's go after those things together.
Having spilt some ink over the reasons why we are jumping into Exodus recently, we are now going to ask the question: OK, so what do I need to know?
This will be a brief introduction to the book, followed by some great recommendations for further study.
