As we deal with this challenging topic, it’s important to note that nobody fully trusts in God. There is a distinction between placing the trust of your life in Jesus for your salvation - and the ongoing day to day belief in that trust.

This week we are looking at the trustworthiness of God. Most of us have at least some level of trust in God. Often, we possess a deep trust. And yet, there are always circumstances that come along from day to day that cause us to panic, be filled with worry, and feel the need to try and take control ourselves. We trust in God - but deep down, we really don’t.

This week we are looking at the trustworthiness of God. Most of us believe that God is trustworthy in general - for the big things - down the road. But when it comes to the day to day struggles that are right in front of us, our faith staggers under the weight of uncertainty.

This is our common problem - even as believers, we wonder: “Will God be faithful to me? Will he ever give up on me? Can I count on him when things get tough? Does God really care about this pressure I’m facing right now?” And no matter how much we might believe that God is there and for me, we often feel demoralized and discouraged, beat up by life’s struggles.

This week is Family Sunday. Our service will look much the same, minus the sermon. And our liturgy and music will be more “kid-friendly”. At City Church, we recognize that our kids are the next generation of leaders in our community. I have personally witnessed the growth and development of several of our current elders from their days as kids creating chaos in the church. And there’s nothing more amazing than seeing them take on the faith of their parents and pass it on to the next generation.

So many pictures of who our God is and how he relates to us are given in kid-friendly forms that every member of the family can relate to.

Baptism itself has its roots in the Old Testament, where God made a covenant with Abraham, and gave him a sign of that covenant, circumcision. Remember, we have talked about a covenant as being a legally binding relationship between two parties. It was God’s promise to be our personal, intimate God, and for us to be his treasured people. But his people broke that covenant, unable and unwilling to follow God. And so God issued a certificate of divorce for his people.

This week is our quarterly Family Sunday. And this means we will have a shortened service followed by a lunch together (sign-ups, even if you’re not able to bring anything, are found on the Newsletter page of citychurchbristol.org). On this Family Sunday, we will be baptizing and dedicating babies.

The final thing we see that God’s holiness produces in us is a supernatural change of our character. Our whole world is consumed by self-preservation….finding ways to secure worth and value and significance in the things we do (and the things we don’t do). And having been fully stripped away of everything that hinders our intimacy with God, we are now free to serve in any way he asks…free to fail…free to look the fool…free to be insignificant.

Today we see how his holiness heals us with his grace. We often define the gospel as being far more sinful than you ever imagined and yet far more loved than you ever dared hope. It’s the holiness of God that reveals how much worse we really are than we imagine. And as a result, opens the door to a level of grace we never dreamed possible.