rumor
noun /ˈruː.mɚ/
an unofficial interesting story or piece of news that might be true or invented, and quickly spreads from person to person

Fantastic accounts came in from far and wide. As rumors do, they spread like wildfire. This wasn’t the first time reports had circulated of a strange Judaean mystic doing and saying strange mystical things. Someone had seen Him walking away from the wharf with a school of fishermen in tow. Others spoke of His taste for fine wines and a good party. Hadn’t He made a bit of a scene in the temple? Now word was coming from Samaria of all places. Why would a Jewish man be traipsing through the Samaritan countryside talking to women at wells?

grace
noun /‘ɡrās/
unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification

He forgives sin, heals the lame and sick, feeds the hungry. He calms the storm, casts out demons and raises the dead. He teaches, weeps, suffers, dies. He rises again in glory, ascends, will come again. In all that He is and does, He pours out grace upon grace; for us and for our redemption. All the whispered stories, the lofty mountain peaks, the patter of rain on magnolia leaves, the salt in the air testify of grace.

A broken world, more than anything else, needs to know “the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true. Everything is going to be okay.” (Dan Van Voorhis)

“…Could this be the Christ?”

Pastor Josh Lake+