David - This session on sacrifice and atonement really provides, I think, a good  opportunity to take a pause in a sense, or to come back to the essentials of the  gospel, you know, one of the things we talked about a good church of pastors is  

reminding yourself of the gospel, and in a sense, preaching the gospel to  yourself on a daily basis, just waking up in the morning and saying, Okay,  there's nothing I can do to earn greater status. For God's favor with God, today,  it's already been done for me in the cross of Christ, he has paid the price. His  sacrifice once for all is good. And so I can live out of the joy and overflow of that. And so amidst all these things, as we're teaching people to obey Christ as  you're teaching people to obey the commands of Christ, how to live this out, to  constantly bring them back to this is the overflow of a place of rest in the  sacrifice. So all that we're doing is the overflow of resting and what hasn't been  done.  

Francis - I mean, that was the idea of the Day of Atonement was as an animal  was take it, you know, they weren't earning their forgiveness. They just saw this  animal, take it pay for pay for their crime, and there's no, there's no making up.  And so it's a great time to have this discussion. Because we're all I think we're  all somewhat conditioned toward works. Because there's nothing else like this in life, we're just used to working or earning. Parents just give you everything but  you know, for the most part, a lot of us is just like, I had to earn this. I just  scraped by this. And so to just rest and get in their mindset of they understood,  nothing I can do to make up for my sin. To see that animal have to take it, you  know, and obviously, we apply it to the cross now, it was a picture of that  beautiful picture of it, but it would be a good time to maybe have discussion of,  you know, okay, let's, let's be honest here, there are times when you trying to  make up for something you did, or maybe feel the guilt a little bit longer to show  God, you're really sorry. Or maybe you have a you know, a track record. Okay,  now, it's really good. Now we can approach God, because I, you know, took  some time and made up for it. And the thing that helped me with all of that is  realizing that when I get in that mode of trying to make up for my sin, the  attention is on me, look what I did, Lord, I know, I've looked but what did I do the next two weeks, what I do next three weeks, you know, who we looking at,  versus I blew it, someone else, Jesus took that for me, like all the focus. And  that's what God wants for all of eternity. Everyone looking at the lamb and going, he did it. He did it. He did it. And maybe you spend some time this week just in  thanksgiving, just just ending your time with with your disciple. Like, you know,  maybe you take communion. You know, like Jesus commanded that I think that's part of communion was, he wanted us to remember that. And so just to take  some time, and just remember, this is not about us, here's what it's about. 

David - That's why we in the church I pastor take communion every week. And  I'm not saying that every church should do that. But it's, it's a needed reminder  for us every week, okay? God's pleasure in me, is not based on my performance for him, but on Christ performance. For me, that's a needed reminder. And a  needed reminder for the people you're walking through. It needs to sound like  relationships, and then to think about, Okay, how are people around? How do I  see people around me trying to overcome their sin? How do I see people around me trying to make themselves better? That is the name of the game today, self  improvement, Do this, do this, do this and everything. And we have a message  that is the complete opposite, like, Jesus has paid the price, and he will make  you new from the inside out. And so let even this reminder of the grace of Christ  just be further motivation for sharing the gospel and coming back rather than  question, who can you share this with? Like, this is not just for us, who this week to ask the people your discipling, who can you share with this week? And then  when you come back together next week, or whenever you get back together,  say, Alright, how'd it go? And so to really build in, and we want to intense this,  this news of a sacrifice of Christ of Christ, He has made it possible for us to be  one with God. We've got to make this known. We can't just talk about this over  breakfast.  

Francis - They have to understand that atonement because we live in a world  where so many people believe that they're going to be forgiven, because they're good people, and that they've done more good than bad and that somehow  made up for it. So you've got to stress, that understanding of what was that day  of atonement or What did that what happened there and this is not about me it's  about that sacrifice so worship, thank God for it and just rest in His Atonement  this week



Last modified: Monday, July 24, 2023, 10:13 AM