Grace & Peace PGH

“Mary was a mere Palestinian peasant girl, but God chose her as an agent through whom the divine promise would be fulfilled in the person of Jesus, the Son of God… She is blessed, not because she is pregnant, or because of any intrinsic holiness or merit but because God’s salvific purposes are being accomplished through her. Mary thus becomes one in a long line of recipients of God’s grace and mercy in salvation history.” – C.J. Martin, “Mary’s Song” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 525-526.

“Christmas highlights for us the failures and the futility of all our kings, all our heroes, and even our own lives; which would make for a sad holiday if it weren't about the coming of a greater King, a greater David, Jesus Christ the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings; everything David should have been and was not.” – Joshua Reitano

“The forward-looking character of faith lends solidness to the realm of Christian hope. Faith celebrates now the reality of future blessings which are certain because they are grounded in the promise of God. For the Christian it is the future, not the past, that molds the present.” – William L. Lane, Hebrews: A Call to Commitment, 158-159.

“Despite the vicissitudes of history, God is keeping his promise to provide a seed to destroy the serpent.” – Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis, 101.

“The final verses of the book tell us that the mark of those who have been immersed in the grace of God is compassion and love, not contempt, for people who aren’t like them. God challenges Jonah for confronting profane, ungodly people without weeping and compassion. Certainly error and evil must be denounced. However, God is both just and loving, and he rebukes Jonah for preaching to the city without loving the city.” – Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet, 224.

“A Jonah lurks in every Christian heart, whimpering his insidious message of smug prejudice, empty traditionalism, and exclusive solidarity. He that has ears to hear, let him hear and allow the saving love of God which has been outpoured in his own heart to remold his thinking and social orientation.” – Leslie C. Allen, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, 234.

This is a sermon from guest preacher, Gavin Breeden.

Sunday's open discussion.

“Man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit for the grace of Christ. The proper preparation for the grace and goodness of Christ is the awareness that I need them.” – Martin Luther

“Jonah had come face-to-face with death, had experienced God’s grace toward an obstinate rebel, and had affirmed that ‘salvation comes from the LORD.’ Yet he still had the audacity to deny certain groups,… faced with the same reality of death, that same mercy. Thus chapter 2 plays a vital role in the author’s characterization of Jonah by showing, in the larger context of the book, just how inconsistent his double standards really made him.” – Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 126.