Grace over Religion

He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Luke 5:36-39 ESV   There has been a lot of discussion about “Change” lately, especially during the resent presidential campaign and upcoming presidency. A recent Twitterer asked the following   question – “ What is your opinion about change? ” and I quickly answered, “ Change is a necessary element to fullness of life, without it we grow stagnant... ”. As I was pondering my response I decided to see what God would have to say about this discussion.   Here is my conclusion: Change is an absolute! With out it, we will in...

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 2Corinthians 5:1-4 ESV   How are you living? Is your focus only upon the tangible, the stuff that you can grab hold of or are you living with the absolute awareness of a promised future – one that begins in the here and now but goes on into eternity? Are you a sojourner?   Sojourner – 1. a temporary resident 2. a person who resides temporarily in a place – “A TRAVELER”   Paul lived “in” the assurance of his hope… immortal glory. Many don’t like to discuss death; I get that the idea of dying can be s...

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-19 ESV In a nutshell, discipleship is... ·          REPRODUCTION!! – “LIFE giving LIFE” ·          learning and teaching “ Life Principles of the Kingdom ” ·          the empowering of others as God has empowered us The disciple is a learner, open and teachable. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. Proverbs 9:9-10 The disciple seeks to be proficient* ...

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 ESV   To give a little backdrop to this post… Yesterday during our gathering, the question was asked – “If we are free in Christ, does that mean we can do whatever we want…won’t people take advantage of this?” Well let me tell you, this opened up a conversation that lasted the rest of service, it was great! I pondered this topic the rest of the day and on into the evening. In fact, I woke up this morning with the subject still fresh in my thoughts. So I figured it would make a good post…   To you, what does it mean to be free in Christ? We use this term constantly but is using the term enough? Are we living in “freedom” as the Bible means or are we living as we want? There is a difference.   The world would define freedom something like this; to be really free and able to do exactly what ever you want, when ever you want, how ever you want and...

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV An evangelist is one who recognizes how great it is to be reconciled to God and to be in fellowship with Him. He understands that God provided the way for this relationship to exist by making His own Son pay the debt we each owed. He also understands the awesome and privileged responsibility we have of getting this message out to the entire world! Reconciliation restores the fellowship we were created to have with the living, loving God of the universe! Fellowship with God is… companionship - mutual association on equal and friendly terms partnership - joint interest company - a state of being together communion - intimate familiarity God doesn’t need us—He wants to share Himself and His etern...

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 We have all read or heard stories about those who have chosen to die for the glory of God and we think to ourselves “Wow! I wonder if I could stand even in the face of death”. But what about “continuing on” in the face of tragedy or out-of-our-control circumstances? What about trusting God in all things - even when they make not one bit of sense to us? I believe it is easier to choose immediate death for the glory of God than to keep the faith in the wake of life’s turmoil. Remember Todd Beamer, the hero who helped over-through the hijackers during the 9/11 attacks? Many have marveled at his wife Lisa, whose strength and ability to carry on after the tragic loss of her husband, was quite inspiring to say the least. Through it all she has adamantly given all the credit to God for her strength and peace. Several years ago - Lisa ...

Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God. 2Corinthians 5:21 CEV …so that Christ could make us ACCEPTABLE to God! WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW! Those of us, who have given our life to Christ, making Him Lord, now (right now) stand before Him in a state of acceptance. We don’t have to work for it – Christ did it; Hallelujah! Righteousness entitles us – yes, “entitles” – to Kingdom stuff. I know, “entitles” sounds arrogant but it is the truth, Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children---this was his pleasure and purpose. Let us praise God for his glorious gra...

For it is not ourselves that we preach; we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. The God who said, “Out of darkness the light shall shine!” is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ. Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us. We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed. At all times we carry in our mortal bodies the death of Jesus, so that his life also may be seen in our bodies. 2Corinthians 4:5-10 GNB The Story of the Cracked Pot (Author Unknown) A water bearer in India had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it and while the other pot was perfect an...

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, “Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?” Jesus answered them, “How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: ‘These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!’ “You put aside God’s command and obey human teachings.” Matthew 7:5-8 GNB I have been a believer for more than 14 yrs and I have been involved with several mainstream denominations while on this journey. One thing that I have learned so far is that no one movement has all the answers. In fact, the reason we have so many denominations and movements is because leaders come to the conclusion that whatever piece of truth they have come to understand and so they must go off and teach this truth under a...

On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? Isn't he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren't his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him. Mark 6:2-3 GNB Many times throughout the scriptures we see people amazed at the work of God; can you imagine what it would have been like to witness your city walls crumble at God’s command – how about watching a pillar of fire lead a group of people through the dessert or to watch Jesus re-attach the ear of one of your fellow enlisted men. Good news, Jesus is still doing great works in our midst today! In fact, I have experienced first hand His great and marvelous power, for example: in 2005, I was told that I was dying of heart failure and that I desperately need a heart transplant if I was ...

I was talking with a friend yesterday and we got on the subject of prayer and flowing in the Spirit. He said something so simple and yet huge – “When I pray, I try to pray from God’s perspective on the situation…” . Now, you are probably thinking, well duh! But when I first heard him make that statement I didn’t think much about it either but after we unpacked it, the hugeness of that “simple” blurb exploded in my spirit. I began to ponder the day-to-day life of the average Christian from God’s perspective, asking myself “How does God see this and how does God see that” … I realized that all-to-often the prayers of the saints are born from our very limited human perspective, producing VERY limited results. The Bible is full of stories about great works of God taking place when men and women were lined-up with God’s agenda (perspective). If we would take the time to see the situation (whatever it may be) as God sees it and then pray and/or act according to His perspective, WOW! One thin...

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. Matthew 26:30 I hope that I grabbed your attention with the title – Lol! There is great debate regarding this subject, especially here in the south. I have known the Lord for more than 14 yrs. now and I have heard numerous times that the only true offering of worship is in the form of "hymns" meaning, those songs which are found in the "Hymnal". Well, this morning as I was reading in the book of Matthew, I came across the word HYMN – I don’t know why I haven’t seen it before but I saw it today as clear as could be. They sang a hymn … as I looked at the word hymn I realized not only that hymns are Biblical but that they were here way before KJV was even a thought. Then I noticed something even more incredible… Jesus was right there with the disciples singing a hymn to His Father – WOW! Right then and there I realized that I can no longer speak of “hymns” as just some antiquated form of worship and that all “...

I wrote this blog some time ago but in light of my last post, I felt compelled to post it again here... To all survivors of - 9/11; hurricane Katrina; the tsunami; the war on terror; the Amish slayings and most recently, the Carolina beach fire. To the homosexual community. To those whose innocence was stolen while abused at the hand of those who were called to show the way. To those who have been judged instead of supported with grace. To single moms who have been shunned instead of girded. To the many other groups and/or individuals I have not mentioned here by name... I 'M SORRY! Let me explain, I am a Christian leader and I have been very frustrated for some time about comments and protests that have been made "in the name of God" by those of the Christian faith who claim to represent Him in the vocational capacity. I am not going to name any certain group, individual or denomination as that would simply add to the problem. I must also confess that in the past, I too...

When I hear people saying things like "God's wrath or judgment" I get so frigg'n frustrated. I know some of you will get mad at me just for using the word frigg'n - deal with it! The issue at hand is much greater than a simple slang word. I won't reveal the ministry by name as it doesn’t matter, the reality is - we can cut and paste any number of different ministry names into this slot, sadly, we can often paste the name "Christianity" in. Back to my thought - recently this particular ministry released a "word" and this is a sample of what was said: "...the scales of sin and judgment were full – so full that judgment could not be withheld over San Francisco." It seems that every time there is some major event (hurricane, earthquake, fire, flood, etc.) the Church is quick to give God the credit, the problem with that is...God's judgment upon sin has already been handed down at the cross, sin's debt has been covered. Persona...

Other than a few myspace blogs (do they even really count?), this is the my first blog. It won't be long as I have used up my time just setting the thing up - Lol! As I get a feel for blogging, I hope to get my many daily thoughts into brief writings - so it begins... Wag