As I am on this topic of evidences of grace, I would like to talk about one major evidence of grace that I have seen in the past year. Although I am committed to preaching through books of the Bible, this can sometimes prove to be difficult if the book repeats itself (as I have found in Deuteronomy), or if there are a number of difficult passages in a row (as I have found in Deuteronomy), or if it is a long book (as I have found Deuteronomy to be). On this basis it may appear that I am disappointed with our present series, Obey & Conquer, where we are preaching sequentially through the book of Deuteronomy. That is actually opposite of what I have found. Over the past year, I have had numerous positive comments on some of the things that Jesus is doing through the preaching of this great Old Testament book. For me it has helped to do a number of things. 1) It has clearly shown the need for Jesus Christ by showing us the depth of the law and the great grace of Jesus to save us from having to follow the nuances of the various difficult (not the moral law found in the 10 commandments), thereby showing us how great Jesus really is, 2) It has helped to shape the vision for this church in this community at this time, 3) It has touched on issues that I would never choose to preach on until I had more life experience (a.k.a. divorce), 4) It has helped our entire church family get a very real grip on a book of the Old Testament. That all of this has happened simply by preaching through a book has been for me a very real evidence of the grace of Jesus.
