Our congregation Our nation, military and leaders

Various friends, relatives and co-workers The Stolte’s in Germany

David and Leon in the Navy The Mearns’ are traveling in the east

The Oller’s are traveling to Corpus Christi

6^th - Illisa 13^th - George, Sharnel 17^th - Larry Ross 18^th - Travis Kingg

June 28^th - SYS at Garden Oaks

July 4^th - Independence Day - say a prayer of thanks for our country. There will be no bulletin.

July 5^th - SYS at Watters Road

July 12^th - SYS at Spring Woodlands

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Twila Paris has written a number of popular songs that we sing. One is Lamb of God (Praise Hymns, 1). This song has a number of uses. Among its uses can be as an invitation song or a song for the Lord’s Supper. It gives us the good news message.

"Your only Son no sin to hide, But You have sent Him from Your side." Who is Jesus? He is our High Priest who was without sin (Hebrews 4:15) who came from God who humbly became a man (Philippians 2:6-8). God took the initiative to plan for our salvation from before the world was created and He would withhold nothing to accomplish it. God is holy and yet was willing to come into a world full of sin and disobedience. "To walk upon this guilty sod, And to become the Lamb of God." That says so much. Coming to deal with sin would seem to say that the guilty will be punished. And since all of us are guilty, punishment was a sure thing. We see God’s activity in the Hebrew scriptures when disobedient nations were punished, including His chosen people. But equating the guilty with the Lamb of God is different. Lambs were offered in sacrifice for the guilty. When John the Baptist announced Jesus as the Lamb of God, few would have thought of sacrifice, but that is what it became.

John made it clear in his introduction (John 1:1-18) that the people did not recognize who Jesus was, and that is the purpose of his gospel. "Your gift of love they crucified, They laugh and scorned Him as He died, The humble King they called a fraud And sacrificed the Lamb of God." Out of love God acted. Remember, love is seeking what is best for another even if it means dying for them. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son…" (John 3:16). How could anyone reject a gift given in love? Any number of reasons could be given. Sin blinds people to their need. They think that just being good is good enough. They do not understand love because love is so carelessly used and given. He captures the pain of rejection at the cross when His own people reject Him and everything He stood for, of course not understanding the full picture. Laughing, scorn, and ridicule are used to cause people to doubt who Jesus was. "If you are the Son of God…?" The same is used today as we share in His sufferings (Philippians 3:10-11). People mock and ridicule us as intolerant, extremist, even using fundamental and equating it with terrorists. But should we be surprised?

If the cross was the end, we would not be writing about this. "I was so lost I should have died, But You have brought me to Your side To be led by your staff and rod, and to be called a lamb of God. Till I am just a Lamb of God." The resurrection is so important. For with it, we are then found to be in a redemptive relationship with God, which is His intended purpose. This relationship isn’t for us to do what we want. He will discipline us (Hebrews 12:7-11) as His children and lead us in the right way (see Psalm 23). As such we become a lamb of God. We are his sheep, a termed used of His people throughout scripture.

"O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God. O wash me in His precious blood, My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God". This brings us back to the atonement. We are washed in the blood of Jesus through baptism (1 Peter 3:21) and as we continuously confess our sins and walk in the light, His blood continues to cleanse us (1 John 1:7, 9). As we can see, this song gives us the good news of Jesus Christ Paul defined the gospel as the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Let us love the sweet Lamb of God for what He has done for us.

George B. Mearns