Randall Church Podcast

3. Better Together - We Are Adopted [Ephesians 51 - 20] - Milo Wilson by Randall Church

Forgiveness can be a difficult subject for many of us. We can find it hard to forgive others for things they have done to us. When it comes to our own past mistakes and failures, we can find it hard to forgive ourselves or to grasp that God forgives us completely. It’s easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said His followers would actually live, and what their new counter-cultural lifestyle would actually look like. We hope that this Series helps you engage and live in freedom as we take a look at what the Bible has to say about radical forgiveness.

We all know life is richer and more meaningful when we're connected yet for centuries tensions exist in society due to terrorist activities, racial divisions, fearful economics, and the seeming futility of "success." Relationships have deteriorated all around us. We believe God has planned more for His people, don’t you? Come with us as we study Ephesians...together!

We all know life is richer and more meaningful when we're connected yet for centuries tensions exist in society due to terrorist activities, racial divisions, fearful economics, and the seeming futility of "success." Relationships have deteriorated all around us. We believe God has planned more for His people, don’t you? Come with us as we study Ephesians...together!

Once we have been forgiven by God, our responsibility is to forgive others as well.

1. Radical Forgiveness - Get It! (Acts 3:11-26) - Pat Galla by Randall Church

So the Preacher’s search for meaning has taken him to God. The search has shown that man can’t find the answers to life on his own, but that the search will peel back the truth that God knows all, and that He has given us life to live and enjoy, and that wisdom is found in Him. The Preacher has indicated that while we don’t know everything indeed, we know enough to be responsible for what we do in light of what we know, and that God will be the judge of our life and the way we live it. And further, the Preacher has indicated that everything is in God’s sight and in His control. So “fear God and keep His commandments.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). And to the Christian who knows now, as the Preacher did not, that Jesus is the Wisdom of God, the lesson of Ecclesiastes is come to Jesus in whom is life and meaning, and we are sure that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38 & 39) Praise the Lord, in Christ we have meaning and purpose!

Life is not meaningless after all. Even while we do not understand everything or how God works, we know that He has provided life for us in Christ, delivered from “the domain of darkness” and transferred into “the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.” (Colossians 1:13 & 14) Praise God that He has given us meaning and purpose!

Can we find meaning in life through collecting power, cheerful activity, and common destiny?

What happens when we seek ultimate meaning outside of relationship with the Creator God? What happens when we’re desperate for the answers to life but can't seem to find any? What happens when our souls get wearied from the constant pursuit of pleasure and possessions? These are enormous questions of life and meaning that Ecclesiastes grapples with in the timeless complexity and messiness of reality. In the end, the ancient philosopher re-calibrates our hearts, minds, and lives to pursue meaning in the Ultimate God because God alone holds the key to the meaning of life.

#TheMeaningOfLife

God is making Himself known to the world through the Church.

We live in a culture that constantly tells us that our identity is found in what we have or have not done; what job we have or what career we are hoping for; how we have succeeded or how we have failed. This however is not God's plan for our lives. The Gospel says that the identity we all need is one that cannot be taken away by our failure or circumstances. The identity that we need is found only in Christ.