April 11, 2024

Dear Central Church,

A few years ago, my family had the chance to go to Philadelphia and tour Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was a reminder of all the great things that accompany living in the United States of America. 

In Independence Hall we learned that this new American experiment would form of government the world had not seen before: a hybrid between a democracy and a republic, what I learned in civics as a Constitutional Federal Republic. In this new arrangement, the dominant symbol of power and authority was no longer the British Crown, but now was an elected President. 

Can you imagine living in one of the 13 original colonies and experiencing this kind of epic shift of power and identity?

In Chapter 5 of Romans, Paul describes an epic/epoch shift. Humanity no longer identifies with the sin and failure of Adam, but now can look to the righteousness of Christ for hope and identity. 

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12, NLT)

Life under the lordship of Jesus is a new way of living like you’ve never experienced before. The grace of God mediated to us through the obedience of Jesus has infinitely more potential for good than the tendency to sin we inherited from the Fall. It’s a new way of living! 

I hope you’ll join us Sunday as we learn more about what this new way of living looks like and how we can experience it for ourselves. The empty tomb demonstrates how God has gone “all in” for us, by his grace, we can go “all in” with him. I hope to see you Sunday at 9 or 10:30am!

Until He’s Finished,
Pastor Mark