Sunday, October 23, 2016

By the Grace of God...

 We stayed up last night to see the Chicago Cubs win the National League Pennant by beating the SanFrancisco Dodgers 5-0 and winning the series 4-2. The Cubs will open the World Series in Cleveland Tuesday evening against the Indians representing the American League. I saw my first Major League game on September 23, 1948 with the New York Yankees playing the Chicago White Sox in Cominsky Park. The next day we saw the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cubs 4-2 in Wrigley Field. I am presently up-to-date on having seen games in each of the current 30 Major League Parks with Wrigley Field being by far the oldest.
We went to 8:30 Church to hear Rev. Robert Henre give his sermon on “I am a United Methodist... Because I Am a work in Progress.” He went on to tell of John Wesley's distinctive understanding of God's saving grace. This incredible grace flows from God's great love for us and was described by Wesley as being threefold: prevenient grace, jusitifying grace and sanctifying grace. Prevenient grace is God's active presence in our lives and enables us to discern between good and evil and make wise choices. Justifying grace points to the reconciliation, pardon and restoration of our sins being forgiven and our relationship with God restored. The process of salvation involves a change in us and may be sudden and dramatic or gradual and cumulative. Sanctifying Grace is the ongoing experience of God's gracious presence transforming us into whom God intends us to be. Through God's sanctifying grace, we grow and mature in our ability to live as Jesus lived. But, we are to press on with God's help in the continuing path of sanctification toward perfection. (It was a good sermon, but I had to do some additional research. )

No comments:

Post a Comment