Grace Sagola Church

The Apostle John's emphasis to his readers centers around our Christian commitment to the family of God. The unity of the body is under attack - Jesus has taught us and shown us how to preserve that unity with love. 

The action of confession of sins is quite varied in today's Christianity. In John's first epistle he focuses on confession as the central ingredient for a discipleship that has eternal life. 

The world around us is fixated on self-promotion, self-posting, and selfies! Wherever there is someone to impress we'll find a temptation to pursue worldly strategies and strength. The Bible shows us another way... 

The follower of Jesus must find the fullness of their identity in Jesus. When this is our desire, we will find a corresponding growth in our discipleship as we are shaped by our efforts to rest in Christ Jesus. 

Sometimes well-meaning evangelists will make our faith sound too easy. They will offer promises without cost, and blessings without sacrifice. Jesus routinely spoke of Kingdom disciples having to "count the cost". We will see that keeping our eyes on Jesus is the answer to the question: "Is Christianity easy or hard?"

The miracle of salvation is that it is offered to sinners. When we were still enemies with God, Jesus died for us. It is His grace in salvation that moves us towards good works for His glory and praise. 

Our relationship with God will determine the characteristics of "dead" and "alive" in our lives.  According to our identity in Christ, we are united with him as presently "dead to sin" - and this reality, grounded in the facts of Jesus' resurrection, will result in new life now!

The dual nature of the person of Jesus is critical in our salvation and discipleship.  To be established in a full understanding of who our Savior is, will lead us into the discipleship resource of worship, that we might train our hearts according to the balanced truth. 

The Bible presents a picture of humanity that transforms throughout the unfolding of history. We will see that it is our standing in the Lord Jesus Christ that determines our truest identity. 

The goodness of God is everlasting. When we fail to ground our worship of God in His nature we will be like a boat tossed about by the waves. But when we anchor our worship of God to the rock of his being we will find praise and thanksgiving in abundance. 

The manifold nature of God's all-mighty access to us must be the main resource in our confidence in His justice. Not only does He know us fully, and not only is His judgment good, but He leads and loves us as well.

God has designed to work through us in this broken world by first working through His Son Jesus. God didn't stay far off and removed from creation, rather, He entered into the creation, suffered, and died. It is only the Christian God who is intimately engaged in our broken world.

God has designed us as creatures with an innate response to the transcendent. It is our goal to capture a biblical expression of this attribute of God for application in our lives as we seek to follow and obey the purpose and plan of the Almighty. 

The character of God is found most acutely in His justice. When we step back and take a look at how God treats us, it reveals a God who is unlike our most reactionary impulses. God has built this unique love into His promises to us and our children. 

The Doctrine of the Trinity is the single most essential teaching that makes Christianity "Christian". And a rejection of the Trinity has been characteristically plagued with further false teachings and missing God's design for worship. We must rediscover that the gospel itself is wholly and thoroughly Trinitarian. 

The attribute of God's patience is displayed throughout the scriptures, and made most clear through the person of Jesus Christ. Without God's long-suffering, forbearance, and patience we would perish. The expression of God's patience is designed that sinners, like you and me, would repent.

God's doesn't have "holiness" - He is the definition of Holiness. When we encounter God's holiness, we cannot help but also encounter our sinfulness. It is through the undeserved atonement of Jesus, that we become useful in service to God. 

The attributes of God that we can have a share in are brought to full expression in God's Son, Jesus.  Not only does Jesus contain all the fullness of deity, but through Jesus we are invited into the divine nature - that we too would express the characteristics of our God. 

Repeatedly through the scriptures, God is defined as the One who made the heavens and the earth.  He is unconfined by His creation; our ability to relate to Him must begin with an acknowledgment of the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. 

One of the enduring mysteries that the scriptures report concerns the return of Jesus. By God’s design we are only revealed enough to develop a trust in the God who fulfills His promises. 

God's plan, sometimes referred to as a mystery, is the revelation of His glory as executed through the church. This means that we must take seriously our participation in His purposes, and shape our worship around those characteristics that lead to the unfolding of His glory. 

Our response to the gospel is one of surrendering our entire life over to God's design, authority, and glory.  The wonder of God’s love is that He is the one who enables us to do this! 

The mystery of advent speaks to God's full plan in the giving of His one and only Son, Jesus. He is our older brother in God's family, that gives us access to our loving Heavenly Father!

The mystery of Jesus' advent goes far beyond just His birth. We are offered immeasurable blessings in God's provision for our reconciliation by the giving of His Son Jesus. 

God's plan for saving the world would flow through a submissive young woman: Mary.  Her response to God's call provides us with an example of a humble, trusting, and yielded spirit - willing to follow where God' leads.