Chapter 2, Part 2 Recap

Here's what we talked about, in a nutshell, last Wednesday night. I apologize for the lateness of the post!

We spent the first part of the evening going over the "homework" from last time, which was to meditate on this question:

"Has the Gospel slipped from the top of your list of priorities? How will you make it foremost in your thinking again?" 

We all agreed that it is easy to lose our focus on the Gospel, and shared ideas for making it the top priority in our lives again--I hope to be sharing some of those ideas in the next post.

This week we dug DEEP into God's Word to find out our identity as Christians. 

1) In Genesis 1-3 we find that we are created in God's image, and entrusted to care for his Creation. With the Fall, we find the explanation for the total depravity of all humankind: the entrance of sin into the world. We are sinful from conception. But God has promised us salvation, even as early as Genesis 3--when he promises that the offspring of the woman will crush the serpent's head.

2) In Romans 3:23 we see that nothing we can do can make us right with God. We are ALL sinful.

3) In Romans 6:23, we are reminded that we are inherently sinful and therefore deserve only death. BUT! GOOD NEWS!!!! God has given us a FREE GIFT--"eternal life in Christ Jesus Our Lord."

4) In John 1:12 we see that if we believe in what the Gospel tells us is true--that Jesus, the Son of God, died to save us from our sins, we are adopted into the FAMILY OF GOD. We aren't just made okay with him, but we are his CHILDREN.

5) Ephesians 4-5 are filled with instructions for what our Christian life should look like--in our homes and in our church family and community. We are to be different from the world, and reading through Ephesians tells us how; we spent some time talking about the importance of speaking in humility and gentleness.

So, as Christians, we are made in God's image, sinful from birth, but redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus. Because we belong to him, we are made right in God's eyes and are his children. Because we are his children, we MUST live differently than the world. 

We are encouraged by Colossians 3:17 and 2 Peter 1:3 to remember that the world looks to us for an example of Christ, but that we are given the Holy Spirit to help us because we are UNABLE to do it on our own.

Encouraging words! If you weren't able to make it to the lesson, I would heartily recommend going through these passages on your own time.