Dear Family at Christ Community,

     We will begin a new sermon series on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John this Sunday. As part of our beholding of the Lamb and Son of God in and through our worship, we will partake of the Lord’s Table. The broken bread and abundant cup, though common elements, make visible in the power of the Holy Spirit the redemptive work of Christ. In the broken bread, the Spirit reveals to us the sacrificial work of the Lamb of God who takes away our shame, guilt, and penalty for our sin against God. In the abundant cup, the Spirit grants us the eyes to see the redemptive possibilities available to us now as we walk in newness of life in God through the Son of God. This all serves to remind us of the ongoing reconciling work of Christ in our lives through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Frederick Dale Bruner makes this observation in The Gospel of John: A Commentary concerning the present and ongoing nature of the redemptive work of the Lamb of God described by John the Baptist in John 1:29: 

The proclamation of this Lamb’s once-for-all Sin-Removal fact continues the ongoing Sin-Removing experience. John’s present-tense participle is to encourage the Church to keep on telling this truth of truths, and as she does, men and women everywhere are being moved to believe and to experience the Great Relief of guilt’s removal; and to pass on that forgiveness in their daily living. Wherever believed afresh, sin is experientially taken away now, just as it was taken away historically from the face of God in about the year 30 at the Cross. The Lord’s supper continues celebrating this Relief in its super-simple way (“this is my Body, given for you, for the forgiveness of sins; take, eat, and be grateful”), as do all faithful preaching, teaching, talking, thinking and living.

     Pray for the Holy Spirit to grant you a fresh view of the redeeming work of the Lamb of God and the renewing work of the Son of God! Ask the Spirit to show you how the continuous and ongoing reconciling work of Christ is currently at work in your life. Seek the opportunity to share this truth of truths with someone who desperately needs to experience the Great Relief of the removal of guilt, shame, and the penalty of sin. Offer the forgiveness that has so gloriously set you free in Christ to those who have offended or sinned against you. Come boldly to worship on Sunday into the presence of God knowing that whether your stand or fall that it is in the grace that God provides alone in Christ alone through faith alone effectually applied by the Holy Spirit!

In Christ,
Cameron