Jesus is a merciful and faithful High Priest.

He is a faithful as well as a merciful high priest in God’s service. It is possible, of course, to suggest here that in His high priestly service Christ is merciful towards man and faithful to God, the twin title reflecting the manward and Godward aspects of His ministry. 

But it is equally true that He is faithful to us. The trustworthy and reliable Christ is the One who comes to our help when we are tempted, not a vacillating, capricious, occasionally unavailable Helper, but One who has proved Himself fully dependable and completely adequate in every experience of life.
 

Raymond Brown, The Message of Hebrews, Bible Speaks Today, IVP, 1982 pg. 72

Three Terrible Questions and One Astounding Answer

Alas and did my Saviour bleed and did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon that tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown and love beyond degree!

A long gestation period before the new birth

God's reward for faithful ministry is beautifully illustrated by the story of Luke Short, converted at the tender age of 103. Mr Short was sitting under a hedge in Virginia when he happened to remember a sermon he had once heard preached by the famous Puritan John Flavel. As he recalled the sermon, he asked God to forgive his sins right then and there, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Short lived for three more years, and when he died, the following words were inscribed on his tombstone, 

"Here lies a babe in grace, aged three years, who died according to nature, aged 106."

Here is the truly remarkable part of the story. The sermon that old Mr. Short remembered had been preached eighty-five years earlier back in England! nearly a century passed between Flavel's sermon and Short's conversion, between the sowing and the reaping. Sooner or later, by the grace of God, faithful work always has it's reward.

Philip Ryken, Entrusted with the Gospel, Crossway Publishing, 2010 page 41

Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

Prayer Requested / Be för mig snälla

Today I am leaving with Rachel, Eoin and Aan-Sofie to the Calvary Chapel Scandinavian Conference in Stockholm. I'll be teaching two of the main sessions;

Thursday night I'll be talking about legalism as the chief enemy of the gospel from 1 Timothy 4, 

and Saturday morning I'll be talking about the work of gospel ministry from 2 Timothy 2.

I hope that I can encourage (and be encouraged by) my Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic brothers and sisters. Your prayers are appreciated.  
Tack så mycket!

O cross, tool of salvation of the Most High! 

O cross, banner of Christ’s victory over all enemies!
St Andrew