Lake Merced Church of Christ Lake Merced Church of Christ

In the beginning of Acts 3, Peter and John encounter a beggar at the temple in Jerusalem. What happens next will change the beggar’s life and teach us about faith, trust, and prayer.

Jesus' death and resurrection are the greatest events of all time. Believers are blessed by these events beyond what they fully know. Even still, the greatest work of Jesus on our behalf continues. This very hour, He is taking our prayers and confessions to the Father. At any moment, He will return to take us to be with Him forever!

Jesus is the center of our lives. His teachings are both light and life. His power as the Son of God and sacrifice as the Lamb of God secured what we needed the most. His resurrection secured life throughout all Eternity.

Understanding Jesus is essential to our faith. It is not enough to only believe He existed. One must believe who He is to have life through Him. Today, we will look closely at Jesus as both human and divine.

Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in all four Gospel accounts, but a cursory reading reveals just brief details. Today, we’ll take a closer look a Joseph and see how his life was affected by the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday’s message by John Mulligan was on “God’s nature and character - The God of the Bible”, part 2. The lesson is taken from Psalm 139:1-14.

1) God has three transcendent powers: He is omnipotent (all powerful). He is omniscient (all knowing). He is omnipresent (always present). With these characteristics, He knows and understands us as no one else can. He is our greatest comfort.
2) God consists of three personal beings: God the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. All three of these are with us, and available to us, all the time.
3) God has three challenging characteristics: He is immortal; He has always been here. He is invisible; though we can’t see Him, His fingerprints are everywhere we look. He is light; in Him is no darkness. John 1:4-5 reads, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”.
4) Finally, God has many deeply personal attributes - attributes which He wants us to take on ourselves to share with others. Some of these are compassion, grace, patience, being good, being just, and, of course, love.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 says it all beautifully:
"This is what the Lord says:
'Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,'
declares the Lord."

God loves to show us His light even when we don’t deserve it. Let us strive to do the same with others in our lives, as we share His light and His love.