Grace
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If God is sovereign (that is, acting in sovereignty—not “could be sovereign but God is so good He doesn’t act on His sovereignty”—which is nowhere taught in scripture)… If God is acting as king and meticulously ruling over all things, then many ask, “How can man be accountable for his actions?” Commonly, it is thought
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Galatians 3:2-3: “Let me ask you only this: ‘Did you receive the Spirit by Works of the Law or by Hearing with Faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun By the Spirit are you now being perfected By the Flesh?’ “Dane Ortland: “But growth in godliness is not generated by conformity to any external code
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What is the law meant to do in the life of the believer? Heidelberg answers well 114. Q. But can those converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? A. No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with earnest purpose they do begin to live not only
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Oh King Uzziah would that you had listened to the good priests when they withstood you at the gates of the temple. For 50 years you served the people of God well. You sought the Lord faithfully. You taught the people rightly to fear the Lord. After all the damage your father did with his
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Grace – grace is stunning when you realize that you have been given something of great value, at great cost, that is not earned or deserved. Here I am sitting in a new and amazing house, surrounded by my family happily (mostly) playing together. Ben, Andrew and I took a walk around our new playground
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I have long appreciated Star Trek and Captain Kirk. As a result, over the years, I have watched or read numerous interviews with William Shatner including this recent one. I have noticed that he frequently brings up the topics of death, the afterlife and God. And I have often thought I would love to talk
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This story keeps on deepening. (If you haven’t followed the story read through the link at the bottom of this article) The latest is a response from a guy whose brother happened to look like the kid from the Catholic school. His name was put on social media and as a result his family and
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Read Daniel 9:1-19 Pray The Story of Israel Abraham – Isaac – Jacob Moses – Exodus – Promised Land Judges – United Kingdom – Divided Kingdom Manasseh – He rebuilt worship centers to false gods His father had destroyed. He burned his son as a human sacrifice to a false god. His reign was full
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NT Wright is a brilliant NT Scholar and a leading teacher on the New Perspective on Paul. A very simplistic summary of one of the tenets of NPP is that there was no issue in scripture around whether law keeping was the means of attaining salvation. Judaism according to Wright already had grace built in
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Romans 9 The Statement “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” WHOOOAAAA God …hates???? That would be unjust!! 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! This must be about something else not about God saving people… 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on
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The bent of Paul’s heart to rage against God is the same bent of every heart apart from awakening grace. The need of Paul to be knocked off his horse by the blinding light of the Lord is not a “Paul” need. God must reveal himself or we perish. The response of faith in Paul
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What is the Gospel? “God is Holy” – God is perfect in all of his attributes – glorious in all that he does. He is set apart – unique – His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. He dwells in pure radiant unapproachable light. Nothing and no one can stand
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I John 2:8 “Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shinning.” There seems to me to be a great chasm between my most holy and righteous works and God’s righteousness. It is a chasm unscalable by my great discipline or willpower or ability. It is infinitely high I cannot get
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You don’t have to have your eyes open very wide to realize there is something horribly wrong in the world. I recently picked up a book given to my oldest son Steven by his teacher – Mrs. Copley. It is titled simply “Night” and the book describes the horrors of a young Jewish boy by
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How to Love God Part 2 John Bunyan: “When God brings sinners into the covenant of grace, he doth first kill them with the covenant of works, which is the moral law, or ten commandments.” To sum up yesterday’s post I argued that the main work of the law is to reveal God’s holiness and
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How to Love God And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
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To the extent the Law of God is made attainable with statements like – do your best and God will do the rest – we not only cheapen what the law says we lose grace in the process. The law clearly says “your best efforts” are not going to be sufficient – more than that
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Here is what I have noticed about every story– there must be a plight. There must be a peril to be rescued from – Kirk must have Klingons endangering the Enterprise or there is no story – there is no glory – there is no rescue. Can you imagine Superman flying at the speed of
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I believe every person who sees the depth of their need and the beauty of Christ will willingly come to Christ I believe that no one is able or willing to see the depths of their sin or the beauty of Christ unless God reveals it to them. I believe God reveals a man’s sin
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If we shine the light too brightly that Christianity is mainly about personal transformation – we create a hierarchy that encourages people’s natural inclination to push their sin underground and pretend to be more than they are. If we, instead, shine the light brightly on the beauty of Jesus – His Holiness – His Compassion
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The law is like a man in a sailboat with a sailing instruction manual. He knows what proper sailing is – He may even possess a lot of technology to aid him in sailing. But his knowledge and tech cannot move him across the water. Only wind can do that. So we must stop preaching
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I had this picture come to mind on Sunday while in church. You remember the scene in the movie Hook with Robin Williams where he has met the Lost Boys and he sits down at the end of a very long day to what he thinks is going to be a glorious meal, but when
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Disclaimer: Christie and I just celebrated 20 years of marriage. It has been good and sweet and difficult and humbling. Please don’t despair from the happy picture, there are many times it has been ugly. The statement below is what I have been convinced of from Scripture. I truly believe that God is able to keep
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Dean Koontz: “Everyone talks about justice, but there can be no justice where there is no truth, and these are times when truth is seldom recognized and often despised.” If you grew up in a conservative Christian culture like I did you probably feel as if the world is coming undone.
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What if church were a place where… …people felt the weight of their own sin more than yours …the undeserved grace of God was experienced so strongly that you were truly loved despite your failures and flaws …you could confess your faults and reveal all the is ugly about yourself with brutal honesty without fear
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1) Jesus is our destination – Knowing Him is our highest good and joy. He is what our souls were designed for and crave. Rom 5:11
Passionate Grace 