Well, it’s been quite a week.  Dr. Dave is home!  Praise God that bypass surgery was not needed and that the procedure to insert the stents went well!  Please continue to pray for Dave and Joanne as they recover from a stressful and scary ordeal.

And as we prepare our hearts for the sermon this Sunday on Deuteronomy 14, I’d like us to meditate on the idea of Christian distinctiveness.  What are Christians to be known for?  Maybe your mind jumps to John 13:35 where we are told that we will be known by our love for one another.  Perhaps it’s how Christians suffer with joy, which we get from James 1:2-4.  Or maybe the words of 1 Peter 1:13-25 stick in your head as it calls us to be holy as God is holy.

You see, the Israelites were called to be different because of who they are.  They aren’t like everyone else, but rather, they are the children of God, a holy people, and a treasured possession.  That identity changes the way that they live, that they might be distinctive from all others.  The Gospel merely transforms and expands upon that distinctiveness, that initial shadow of holiness.  So, the big question is how the death and resurrection of Jesus make us different.  Hopefully we will see that being united to Jesus changes everything, and that just as with the Israelites, everything turns on being found in Him.  See you Sunday!