Word by Mail

Everything we are as Christians is bound up in the cross and in the resurrection.

Jesus Christ took our place: First, on the cross, where He paid the full penalty due for our sin, on our behalf! Then, in the resurrection, where He conquered death and the grave, again on our behalf! He became our substitute, our stand-in. He did it in our place.

Then, through the God-designed miracle of identification by faith, when we put our full faith in Christ and His work, we become so identified with Him that what He did, becomes what we did. His full payment for sin becomes our full payment for sin, and His resurrection from the dead becomes our resurrection from the dead.

THAT is what Christianity is all about. Jesus Christ taking our place, so we can share His place. That’s the crux of it, and the pinnacle. Some of the other stuff we get focused on as Christians is good stuff. But nothing should ever come close in priority as this good news: Jesus did what we could never do, to freely give us what we could never earn. That is the NEW LIFE.

Our hope is in the New Life. Not fixing, or improving, this life. Our hope is in a brand new life. A life that only Jesus could acquire on our behalf. In the Greek, this New Life is called ZOE. The word ZOE is defined as “Life as God has it.” It’s so much more than this life, improved. It’s a completely new life. It's God's Life.

At the end of Jn 3:16, when God promises that “whoever believes in Jesus Christ will have eternal LIFE.” That word life, is ZOE life. Life as God has it. We don’t want just more of this life that we already have. We need, an entirely NEW Life, and we need that new life for eternity. THAT is what Jesus Christ went to the cross and rose from the dead to give us, as a free gift. Praise the Lord.

Thank you for being part of the Word-By-Family, and thank you for your continued prayers and support. We can’t do it without you.

Praise the Lord!

Pastor Dave

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