There are many things in life that frighten us: some of them understandable and some not.

 Is it ever okay for a Christian to get mad?  

            As we remember today with thanksgiving our departed brothers and sisters in the faith we have to ask:  "Just what is a saint anyway?"

 "What must I do to be saved?"  This is man's age-old universal question--a question that has been asked countless times by countless individuals ever since sin first appeared on the pages of human history.

            It's been said that "familiarity breeds contempt."  It seems that the more familiar people are with someone, the harder it is for them to accept that person as an authority of any kind. 

As we get older, it can be a frightening thing to look around at our world and come to the realization that it's not the same world that we have known throughout our lives. 

The words of Isaiah that lay before us this morning are the Lord's invitation to sinners like us to receive the joys of salvation free of charge to them because these joys have already been purchased by the Son of God Himself, especially for sinners, by the shedding of His blood on the cross.