This blog article is my intended substitute article for the article of sermon notes that I would normally write after Sunday worship services at my home church Emmanuel. This past Sunday, I was working for hall patrol of the nursery and children’s education rooms for Emmanuel as part of my community group’s hosting of the Sunday worship service at Emmanuel. My pastor Scott Seaton is preaching through the book of Exodus on God’s covenant promises, God’s family-bond promises, for His believers, and our response of worship out of the foundation of Christ to God as our welcoming Father. I plan on resuming the blogging series on Scott’s sermons next week.
I have profited much from reading through the book of Joshua this year. One passage of Joshua sticks out in my mind as a very practical passage for witnessing the Gospel in major metropolitan cities (as Arlington is becoming): the servant leader Joshua’s dispersion of the inherited lands to the tribes of Israel by lot, from the third lot onward. This passage of the book of Joshua got me thinking about Jesus’ priestly grace, and God the Father’s adoptive grace at the cross of Jesus, God the Son, for believers, and how this impacts the church’s relationship with cities.