2026-01-25: Pastor Mark Quist – Discipleship: Salvation – Redeemed and Reconciled Part 1: Our Need for Jesus
I awoke today with overwhelming gratitude for the cosmic nature of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, that includes me, and includes you. God, the Creator of the cosmos, the heavens and the earth, also, created me – created you. I’m in awe of the Word of God, revealing God’s love for the world, and for me – reminded of the stunning reality that the cosmos and the world belong to God, thus, I too, (you too) belong to God. From the opening words of Scripture (creation), to its telos (end), telling a story of God’s love in and through Jesus Christ for the world, for all of us, for me, for you. And this fills life with purpose and wonder.
As we continue to understand the love of God for us through what the Bible reveals as justification, atonement, redemption, and reconciliation, and the like, we further understand the purpose of our lives. As we are grounded in God’s truth about his world, about us, his children, of God’s plan for his world and for us, realizing the depth of his love for us in Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, we understand who we are, whose we are… and our lives come into meaningful and purposeful focus.
Scripture for Sunday: Job 9:33 and John 4:1-26. We need a Mediator between God and us. We are in need of ‘redeeming and reconciling’. And Jesus is the One who achieves it. Job expresses our need clearly for a Mediator. And in Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, he reveals and demonstrates who he is, the Divine Mediator between us and God.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Mark