ONLINE CHURCH BULLETIN

Permanently Perfect

Hebrews 7.23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

26 Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

When we study the characters of the Bible--from Adam to the apostle John--we see faults and weaknesses. We readily recognize the inconsistencies of those in public life. Parents and children disappoint each other with their blunders. Spouses disappoint each other with their insensitivity and inconsiderate behavior. Employees complain about the mistreatment of employers. Supervisors consider their workers lazy. Official scorers identify the errors of the best major league baseball players...and the players disagree with the umpires’ calls. Faults, foibles, mistakes and errors abound.

We become most painfully aware of our own failures to live our faith.

God requires perfection (Isaiah 59.1-18) but we are chronically inadequate, incomplete and unholy--even if we are unaware ot our condition. Sometimes we are unable to meditate on Him for more than a few seconds. God wants us to have this sense or our complete despair...without Him. However, even as Isaiah painted a dark picture of our sinfulness, he also presented God’s perfection:

Isaiah 59.20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion..."

Consider the completeness of Christ. When we see the death of men, we appreciate His eternal Life--His permanence as our Great High Priest. While we struggle to perfectly perform the simplest task, He is able to completely save those who come to Him in faith. He is always available to intercede.

The Christian’s confidence is based on nothing less than the complete Christ.

"On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand."

It is great to be a Christian, to live with confidence in One who is always able to meet our greatest needs!

Dear Father, we are so grateful for Christ, our Great High Priest. We are amazed by His complete devotion to us, His holiness, His readiness to intercede. We confess our unworthiness and ask for continued cleansing by His blood. Help us to keep our eyes on Him and to follow Him today. Help those who are hurting. We ask this in the name of the Complete One. Amen.

1 John 5.14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Only God can know HOW our prayers WORK but we believe HE answers. Please write me to add names to the prayer list and to report changes in status.

Let us be thankful and prayerful!

Love
Brad Forgy