A Living Reformation

Aim: To engender a living reformation in and through the church.

Doctrine: The church effects a living reformation through her faith-filled attention to the word of God. Proper knowledge and understanding lead to action that profoundly affects real people.

Exegesis: Faith principles that accompany a living reformation: we joyfully accept God's authority (and reject man's wisdom) (v. 1); we humbly accept God's judgment (trusting Him to take care of us) (v. 2); we obediently accept God's requirements (scorning the world's self-righteousness) (v. 3).

Further application: Why a living reformation calls for courage from the church: because it makes distinctions between people founded on love for Christ, and belief in His gospel of grace.

Key verse: v. 1 ''On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God...''