The Gospel in Chairs.  When we turn away from God, God always turns towards us. God is always turned toward us, always for us, always pursuing us to save us from the ravages of sin and death.

The question we need to ask as we come to the end of this series:  If our view of God has changed, then do we need to make some corresponding adjustments to the message we are supposed to proclaim to the world?

Previously we looked at seven metaphors, or images, that the New Testament writers used to describe Jesus' work of atonement and salvation that was accomplished on the cross. Today we revisit one more: Justification, which is probably the most famous of all in the Protestant tradition, and also in Paul's letter.

The story of The Prodigal Son is one of the most important texts in all of the Bible, and easily one of the most memorable parables Jesus told, because it addresses one of the most important questions we can ask:  What is God like?  Your answer will shape your image, not just of God, but of yourself, as well as all of life.

In Lamentations 2, Jeremiah portrays God as a destroyer, burning with anger, pouring out death and destruction. How in the world can we reconcile such horrors with the self-giving, radically forgiving, mercy lavishing God revealed by and through Jesus Christ?

The impetus behind this whole series is a single question: What is God really like? Our contention is that "God looks like Jesus, exactly like Jesus." Let's unpack this idea a little more today by returning to a word we usualy associate with Christmas.

What is God really like? That is the question we're exploring in this series. And it's a very important question because our image of God shapes who we become. There are probably as many ideas of God as there are people, but they all boil down to two primary images.

Summer REfresh: revisiting themes from the series God Looks Like Jesus. God cannot and should not be a reflection of my imagination, a false conception of God that I've created and worshiped, deceiving myself into believeing it is the one true God.

A More Beautiful Gospel.  Whenever we turn away from God, he always comes after us, always pursues us.

The question we need to ask as we come to the end of this sermon series: If our view of God has changed, then do we need to make some corresponding adjustments to the message we are supposed to proclaim to the world?