Forgiveness and reconciliation come when we place others sins on Gods Account.  Each of us lives at the center of a web of broken or strained relationships and it is only through the hard work of reconciliation, repentance and forgiveness that these relationships will be heald. This is the real work of Christian community. 

The church is the Gospel made visible. Our lives within the church are a testimony to the people outside of the church. 

Christ has made  each of us holy through his sacrifice and now he wants us to be unified in Joy and sanctified in the truth.

Christs primary motivation is not personnel gain, comfort, health or even victory over his enemies, it is the glory of God.  

We have hoped in wealth, or politicians, we have sought to ignore God or to approach him on our own terms. Every one of these things will fail, and when they do we will be left alone and hopeless adrift in a sea of darkness and regret. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Jesus is our great high priest, our only hope and the anchor of our wayward souls. Jesus is our great high priest, our only hope and the anchor of our wayward souls. 

Jesus wants the disciples to rest in the peace of his full and final victory over all that they will face as they struggle . In this life we will have tribulation but be at peace because Christ has overcome the world.

Year after year we promise ourselves that this year is going to be different. Every year we end up doing the same things we always did. Because we are trying to change the outside without tackling the inside. If we really want to change we must do it from the inside out. We must die to who we used to be so we can live the lives that God has for us. It is not enough just to become better versions of who we used to be if we want to become better we must become new creations. 

Matthew wants his readers to see that the birth of Jesus was marked by the same patterns of a rejection and acceptance that would play out in his life and ministry. 

Where do you abide, what do you seek for comfort and identify and security? Each of us has been called to glorify God by bearing fruit through our abiding relationship with Christ.

The yolk of Jesus is easy but the mission he has called us to is hard and at times it can feel like we are all alone. The Gospel of John reminds us that we are not. Each of us has the spirt of the living God empowering us, comforting us, and guiding us as we fulfill God's mission to the world.