6-9-2020

 Good Morning All, 

     Romans 5:2; “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

    One of my past times is to watch movies.  I like most kinds, but I really enjoy comedies, westerns, pirate movies, movies about knights, action movies and space movies.  If you can combine two or three of these, I really like them.  One of my favorites is a movie called “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail”.  It is a very absurd comedy that makes fun of the knights of the Roundtable who are searching for the Holy Grail.  It spoofs the entire genre of knight movies.  One part that always made me chuckle was when the knights come to a bridge that they need to cross, and a troll stops them and demands that they answer three questions, or they cannot pass.  The scene ends with the troll being asked to clarify a question, he cannot, so the troupe passes on by.

    There is always a scene in movies like this where to have access to a bridge or a room our hero needs to know the access code.  It might be a test of courage or bravery.  It might take skill and cunning.  It might take possessing a key or some other device but there is usually a major part of the movie that turns on having a way to access an important place.  Without this access our hero will fail and either the pretty girl will die, or the kingdom will fail; one of those dramatic events will occur.  So, having access is crucial.

    Our faith life is just like that.  Sin caused us to have an “access denied” sign flash in front of us.  We could no longer have access to God because we lacked the access code or the key for entrance.  We were no longer perfect; we were sinful being whose sin had cause us to lose the key to God.  We lost it to the point that we could never get access again.

    So, God showed his grace to us by having Jesus pay the price for our sin.  By doing so and by giving us the desire (faith) to trust that promise we now have access to God’s grace.  It is here that we rejoice in hope (certainty) of the glory of God.  God sent Jesus to give you back the access that our sinned took away.  God did this out of love for you.  God continues to do this for us every minute of every day.

    So now we have total access to God.  We can come to him at any time and in any state of trouble or fear.  We can come in any time of joy or celebration.  God invites us to use this free access at all times.  God invites us to use prayer to access him.  He invites us to worship him to hear his Words of forgiveness and acceptance.  God has given you access; use it continually.

Father of all mercy, through your grace we are given access to your love continually.  Give us the wisdom to use this gift often.  Give us the strength to trust in your free access to guide us through life’s struggles.  Be with those who seem to have lost their access to you.  Give them the faith to again access you and your grace.  All this we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret