This week we begin with Question 39 of the New City Catechism, found in Part 3 (questions 36-52), which focuses on the Spirit, restoration, and growing in grace. Question 39: With what attitude should we pray? Answer: With love, perseverance, and gratefulness; in humble submission to God’s will, knowing that, for the sake of Christ, he always hears our prayers. Perseverance in prayer is very important in the Christian life. Although Jesus warned against a kind of prayer that

Question 24: Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die? Answer: Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life. All of history is moving toward a final judgment, the moment when God’s righteousness will be fully revealed as he

Question 23: Why must the Redeemer be truly God? Answer: That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death. Have you ever wondered why God the Son had to become man and submit himself to death for our sake? Would it have been possible for God to make atonement for our sins by some other way? What if, for example, God created a new Ad

Question 19: Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor? Answer: Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. Jesus Christ came as the one Mediator between God and men to satisfy the justice of God. But it would be very wrong for us to imagine that God the Father, for his part, was angry with us, but God the Son loved us and interve

This week we begin with Question 19 of the New City Catechism, found in Part 1 (questions 1-20), which focuses on God, creation and the fall, and the law. Question 19: Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor? Answer: Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. God has commanded us to forgive each other when we sin against each o

Persevering prayer through the ups and downs of life in this world is a sign of enduring faith.

The final judgment is necessary to Christian teaching. How does Jesus' death relate to it? What does it mean for us?

It is only because he is fully God and fully man that Jesus Christ can atone for our sins.

Did the Son's love for us intervene against the Father's wrath for our salvation? Scripture doesn't put it that way.

When we forgive others, we imitate God. But there is one sense in which our forgiveness of others can never be exactly like his toward us.