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The Bible Study – Our readings for Tuesday, Jan. 30 are Zechariah 9:1-17 & 2nd Timothy 2:1-26. Zechariah describes the Lord’s work of salvation for all people through Christ using Old Testament history. In Chapter 9, verse 9 of Zechariah, we have a prophetic description of Jesus’ triumphal Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem, where He will pay for the sins of the world: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” God reassures us through the prophet: “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” (v. 11) The Lord saves those who would otherwise be consigned to hell because of our sins. Through the blood of the cross Jesus has made a new covenant: through God’s grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, we are saved. In our New Testament reading, Paul encourages young Timothy to be strengthened by the grace that is in Jesus, and to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ. It is in and through our Saviour that we find strength, not within ourselves. The Apostle urges his protégé to be a worker approved by God, explaining that, “the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. . . .” Today we pray for all Pastors and missionaries, that God give them strength, discernment, and patient endurance as they perform the Lord’s work of spreading the Good News. Pastor Tom Steers, Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto http://christlutherantoronto.org/sermons/bible-verses-showing-justification-by-faith-alone