Forgiveness (8)
  1. Isaiah speaks to our time. He speaks to our rejoicing now and an anticipated joy-filled future. Christ’s coming, Christmas, brings them both.
  2. The Holy Spirit is sent, not to talk about himself, but to point us to Jesus.
  3. The accent of Scripture emphasized that Christ is for you. Yes, you. He’s not for the perfect people of our imaginations. He’s not just for Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, or Paul. Christ is also for you.
  4. This petition is proof that the Christian life is not a practice in perfectionism. Rather, it is a life of dying and rising, lived under the cross of Christ, in the continual forgiveness of our sins.
  5. What then does this sequence of stories teach us? It teaches us a pertinent lesson about the Christian life.
  6. He calls us to suffer as Christ suffered. That is, we are to suffer in service to our neighbor even if they caused the injustice.
  7. The Holy Spirit gathers us together and keeps the church in the true faith, and He does it all by way of the Gospel.
  8. It’s been my experience that All Saints’ Day, celebrated on November 1st and observed on the first Sunday following, gets overshadowed by the celebration of Reformation Day.