Grace - More On Forgiveness and Friendship

Let's face it:  without having experienced the love of Christ, the human heart can be very unforgiving.  Even united to Christ, well-meaning Christians do struggle with hurts and pain others have inflicted on them.  We've learned the world's system very well:  extend a token "I forgive you" and then deny any real attempt at reconciliation (definition: the restoration of friendship).  I'm not saying that every damaged friendship can or should be restored, but I do believe that each heart in the matter should desire at least to *attempt* to reconcile with the other.  To say "I forgive you" and not attempt reconciliation is not true forgiveness.  Why?  Because that heart attitude is consistent with the spirit of the world, but not of Christ.  

When someone refuses to truly forgive you and at least attempt reconciliation, what do you do?  How are you released?  You must realize this:  they have not truly seen how Christ has forgiven and appealed to them; therefore, their denial for reconciliation and the ultimate desire to keep you in prison is not a reflection on you, it's a reflection on how they see Jesus.

There's your release:  they're holding Jesus captive to their judgment, not you.  Jesus willingly became a captive so you could be set you free.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

For another post on this, click here:  http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/2013/07/grace-forgiveness-must-extend-potential.html

Grace - Freedom from Rejection

Hello all,

Rejection is "the absence of meaningful love. Being rejected doesn't mean that there's no love involved, but that, for one reason or another, it's not fulfilling or edifying love." ~ Charles Solomon

There are some movements in Christianity which believe the acceptance found in Christ's love frees one from all need for acceptance from others and thus all potential rejection. Whether or not you agree, you must admit that we have been called to love one another. The love I speak of is not love found in the world. Even though love found in the world is powerful, God's love transcends this worldly love, because only His love can descend the depths required to truly touch the human spirit and raise it to heights which surpass the human experience. Christ is the source of love which all humans crave, and those who are united with His Spirit are led by that same Spirit to love with resources beyond their natural means. I define a Christian not as someone who professes a belief, but rather as someone whose life has become united with Christ's. The Spirit of Christ in the Christian leads them to love others, and He will do so by showing how to love others in ways meaningful to them. So, Christian, is the life of Christ in you leading you to love others, or are you withholding that love?

For those who feel rejected: the Spirit of Christ wants you to enjoy union with Him as your Source, but He has also given you others through which He demonstrates His love. He has given you both, and that is proof that you need both. If you feel rejected, it's because you have either looked to those who are not enabled, at least in the moment, to love you through the Spirit of Christ, or you haven't listened to Christ within you. Know that you are loved, and the Spirit is, in some fashion or another, besieging the fortress you have built around yourself to protect you from rejection and pain. Open up your gates and let Him in. He and those He gives you will then lovingly help you demolish your prison fortress. As you begin this process, and it will be painful, you will discover that you were never truly alone: Christ's Spirit has been with you all along, even in your cell of torture and artificial happiness; it's just that your captors hid your eyes from seeing Him.

Grace=Peace,


Jeremy

Grace - Have You Heard of Hyper Hyper-Grace?

A discussion of God's grace has come center-stage in Christianity recently, especially in the last year.  In my ministry experience, I've seen how life-changing and transforming the biblical and Spirit-revealed understanding of grace is.  It frees a person from years of condemnation and bondage to sin and sinful habits and leads them to joyfully and easily share that goodness and kindness of God with others in various ways, both natural and supernatural.  For most, they experience God as a loving Father for the first time.  This grace has certainly brought me out from under much bondage.

Sometimes one's experience of this freedom through grace may take a while to blossom, but if they can take their eyes off themselves long enough and instead consider Jesus and His life in them, they'll get it.  Testimonies to this abound, and I've given websites in previous blogs as evidence.  For those whose faith was in Christ, but previously in Moses, even Paul didn't hesitate to remind them again and again not be performance-minded (flesh-minded).  But as much joy as this administration of grace has brought me, I've also learned the painful lesson (several times!) that this freedom only comes to those actually able to unconditionally and freely receive grace by faith.  I believe that, at best, most people don't naturally trust God and would rather trust in something other than Him, including friends, religious systems, authority figures, and ultimately themselves.

Despite what they may say outwardly, I see that most, if not all, are looking for the string that, in their mind, must be attached to news that is as good as grace is.  They've become so accustomed to the combined teaching of grace/identity and law/performance that it is very difficult to believe God isn't angry at them, or that He doesn't value them more if they do more work or less if they do less, or that Christian maturity is reflected in how well they live or how committed they are to ministry and bringing souls into the Kingdom.  Those are big issues, especially that spiritual maturity is revealed in how successful one is in ministry...or if one even actively reaches out to others in Christ's name at all.  By default, we define spiritual maturity by how much one does for God.  That is not how the Bible defines spiritual maturity.  You want to be spiritually mature?  Trust like a child:  you are loved, highly favored, and in right-standing with your Father.  How much work can a child do without the parent before he becomes weary and worn-out?

The confusion which results from the combination of grace/identity and law/performance is entirely understandable...and I used to teach that way.  But after I have consumed the message that Christ is All for almost six years now, for my part, I must admit I've been very frustrated at times, not believing how such a message, which is both magnificent and simple, can so easily be ignored...and even resisted by well-meaning believers.  I've encountered much resistance and rejection because of God's grace; it took me a while to see that this was the persecution that Jesus was really talking about and that grace must be preached graciously.  Honestly, I'm more wary of believers who want to engage in theological/philosophical debate or who question with suspicion God's kindness, than I am of someone who is "living in the world" and totally away from Christ.  In truth, many believers might better be called "unbelieving believers".  Again, no condemnation--we've all been there.  But, it's really as if the combination of grace/identity and law/performance is The Matrix, from which they must be unplugged in order to truly experience freedom--a freedom in which anything is possible.

Paul thought at first that a simple lecture might convince people to trust Jesus.  Afterward, he saw that the preaching of the Gospel includes signs, miracles, and wonders.  I would add that the Gospel is also best received through relationship, not debate, and certainly not a philosophical argument.  The true work of convincing someone is Holy Spirit's realm of responsibility and expertise; I find myself a seed planter or dropper of gold nuggets at best, who sometimes even gets to see people begin to unwrap the gift of grace.  Like Paul, I have to press forward, even if it is only I who knows the true source of my comfort, because I know this message is the message Paul preached.  With it he brought so many into understanding of sonship and rest, a state in which it is God Who produces fruit (a.k.a, "works") in the life of the believer, not the believer himself.  (For another blog all together would be the truth that the "work" is actually belief.  God's grace produces the fruit of faith...and faith is the work to which we are really called.)

Moreover, I've also seen what happens when people criticize this revelation of biblical grace and call it "New Grace" (their real meaning:  Perverted Grace) or "Hyper-Grace" (their real meaning:  "Christians Gone Wild").  What I find so tragic is how these misunderstandings and arguments rob people from experiencing the freedom for which Christ died.  They just don't get that this is the same grace which forgave them, saved them, sustains them, and has made them blameless (more on that awesome word later) and is the true source of Christian "work" in the Kingdom.  (It is, in fact, Christ living through them.  So, when people criticize this message of grace, what they're really saying is that they don't believe Christ is the life of a believer without the believer first learning and adhering to the "rules".)  And yes, this same grace teaches them to say no to ungodliness.  But what is ungodliness?  It is godlessness:  believing you have no need of God and are your own God.  Does Titus 2:12 (grace) teach us to behave?  No!  It calls on us to focus on the love and grace of God--that we shouldn't try to do things in our own strength, but rather rest in the love of God for us.  Grace forgave, saved, sustains, calls blameless, and reveals itself, not us, as the Source.

That being said, I want you to know that the critics of "Hyper-Grace" didn't go far enough in their criticism.  It's true!

If "Hyper-Grace" is a name penned to speak derogatorily of this grace revolution and lead people away from those who teach "Hyper-Grace", then its creators failed to fully tackle the enormity of what has really happened.  They've revealed their short-sighted view of the true Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ.  I mean no condemnation in that, of course, because we all have yet to fully grasp even the grace God has revealed, much less all that is the person of Jesus.

Allow me to take you on a short journey.  I'd like to show you a few simple verses.  I'm also going to highlight a few words and define them for you:

Romans 5:15 - But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Romans 5:17 - For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:20 - ...where sin increased, grace abounded* all the more. (*The Greek word here is different than the "abound" we see in verse 15; note the difference.)

We truly need to understand the biblical definitions those words I've highlighted.  These definitions are taken from the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary:

abound - perisseia - over and above; to abound richly; a superabundance; an overflowing; something above the ordinary; more than enough; to exceed fullness.

receive - lambano - to accept or receive; to take upon oneself; to take, seize, or lay hold of with force or violence.

abundance - perisseuma - abundance; that which remains over; surplus.

abounded (from verse 20) - huperperisseuo - to be over and above, exceed; to superabound; to abound exceedingly; to "hyper hyper-abound".

So, do you see my point?

Paul literally says here that grace is not just "hyper" (perisseia), but he reveals that it's actually hyper hyper-grace (huperperisseuo).

Paul uses the word perisseia, which already means to super-abound or to be hyper, and then he says that grace actually even goes way more than that.  It super super-abounds!  It's extremely extreme.  It super-exceeds fullness.  It's superly-abounding super-rich!

This amazing word, huperperisseuo, only occurs twice in the Bible.  The other instance is 2 Corinthians 7:4 - ...I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.

I hope that was a blessing to you.  In my next post for you, I'm chewing on something which I believe addresses why some aren't able to freely receive the super-abounding grace of God, but are unwittingly accepting just enough grace to get by in life.  I'll give you a hint:  an example is found in the context of 2 Cor. 7:4, which I showed you just above.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Addressing the Lie that Grace Makes Christians Lazy and Self-involved

Why do I preach grace?  Because Jesus is grace, and that's the truth.

Some of you will not read further than that.  But I hope the rest of you will continue on.

Jesus is grace (Hebrew:  kaná; Greek:  xáris.  They both refer to God freely extending Himself.)

Jesus is truth (John 14:6 - alétheia:  reality, fact, the opposite of illusion).

Those who receive His grace will reign in life (Romans 5:17) and will be as fruitful as Paul, through whom Christ worked (1 Corinthians 15:10 - "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me").

I preach grace because it produces faith.  "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ." (Romans 10:17).

The idea that grace makes people lazy and do nothing for God is lie that is a scheme of the accuser.  It is no new trick; this accusation has been around for a very long time:

Galatians 3:2-3 - "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?"

Galatians 3:5 - "...He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

Galatians 2:17 - "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!"

In Galatians we see that Paul is in part addressing the accusations of the religious Jews against the early Christians.  He's also addressing the wavering belief of the Galatians, who were thinking they should add something from their former religion to their faith in the gospel of the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6).  The religious leaders were accusing the Christians, because the Christians were no longer sacrificing in the temple and adhering to the covenantal ceremonies handed down from Moses.

But I'm not sure that is the thing that really ticked the religious leaders off.  Because here is what happened when Jesus and His grace was preached:

Acts 2:41, 47- "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them....And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

Acts 6:13 - "They put forward false witnesses who said, 'This man [Stephen] incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law.'"

Acts 18:13 - "This man [Paul] persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."

The religious leaders saw how explosively the Christian church grew when Christ was the focus, not Moses or the Law.  Keeping people under Law gives leaders power over them.  But those in Christ are free!

The word of Christ was being preached, calling people to rethink their beliefs about God and thus rest in their persuasion that Christ was the perfect and final sacrifice which secured ALL the blessings!  The religious leaders were jealous, they weren't able to control any longer those who had become Christians, and I believe the fruit of that jealousy continues on in this resistance to grace by those who cite nameless examples of people misusing grace.

On the contrary, the people I know who have accepted and received this grace message are far more active and fruitful than most Christians I know.  In this list of people, I include all of my friends who have traveled with Randy Clark's ministry, Global Awakening, or are/were students at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.  Both ministries move in signs and wonders and those who have participated with them expect the miraculous to happen...and it does.

Why?  Because they rest in grace.  Most other Christian ministries I know do good humanitarian work, but the power of God for healing is mostly absent.  And if signs and wonders do happen, they credit their own holy fervor, their fasting, their hours of prayer and selfless sacrifice to moving God to perform wonders.  That is not the Gospel!  Listen to how Paul describes his "work" for the Gospel:

Romans 5:18,19 - "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient—in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."

As I cited above in 1 Cor. 15:10, Paul said it was GRACE and ONLY grace.  Do we really need anything in our ministries other than Jesus Himself?  I genuinely believe that those who have added their own efforts and sincerity to faith in Christ are offended at us who see only Jesus.  I believe it angers them that the gospel is sooo easy.  But Paul underscores this reality:

Galatians 5:2 - "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you."

What was the need for circumcision?  It was the method through which the blessing of God would be assured in the first covenant.  BUT NOT THE NEW.

Churches today may not require circumcision, but our religious leaders have heaped upon us method upon method, scripture upon scripture taken out of context, to persuade us that through what we do we will be blessed.  They would have us take our eyes off of Jesus.  I, for one, refuse to add anything to Jesus.  And that thrills me, because Jesus is exactly what everyone needs.  Does someone need hope?  Jesus is hope!  Does someone need healing?  Jesus is healing.

As for grace making people lazy:

People buy into this lie that "grace makes people lazy" because they don't understand what true rest is.  True rest is absolute persuasion about Jesus that leads to trust in Him; it is the condition of FAITH.  Faith IS rest (Hebrews 4:9-11).  It is an attitude and condition of the heart, and a spiritual reality, but that does not mean that work never gets done.

Noah, whose very name means "rest", spent as much as 75 years building the ark, through which God saved mankind.  Noah worked, but he was ultimately in a state of rest (salvation in the ark, or the foreshadow of Christ).

Paul, whose name means small or humble, clearly stated that he rested and Christ worked in and through him (See above).

So, if you still believe that the grace message produces lazy people, I suggest that you check out the webpages of Global Awakening (http://globalawakening.com/testimonies) and Bethel Church in Redding, CA (http://www.ibethel.org/testimonies).  For the most part, these two ministries preach grace.  At least certainly that healing and supernatural signs and wonders are still active today because of a loving God Who freely does them through people who actually believe in His name (His essence, the manifestation or revelation of His character, the revelation that flows out of being in His presence).

I've listed these two testimony webpages in my blog before, so if you haven't seen them, look for yourself.  See the number of lives impacted.  But don't do so as a cynic; don't discredit and refuse to believe in these things because you haven't seen them happen around you.

I tell you the truth, God is doing things outside your sphere of experience, and if you knew first-hand these things to be truly happening, you would no longer discredit grace, but your love for people will explode as you realize that God is far more good to us than you have previously known.

(And that sin issue, with which you've been struggling and rededicating your efforts against for so long, will fall away as you realize the grace of Christ has ALREADY given you freedom.  That's why I preach grace!)

I dare you to do the research!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Faith is Difficult!

...well, not exactly!

Charles Spurgeon says:

"If faith seems difficult, it is possible that God the Holy Spirit will enable you to believe if you hear very frequently and earnestly that which you are commanded to believe.  We believe many things because we have heard them so often.  Do you not find it so in common life, that if you hear a thing fifty times a day, at last you come to believe it?  Some men have come to believe very unlikely statements by this process, and therefore I do not wonder that the good Spirit often blesses the method of often hearing the truth, and uses it to work faith concerning that which is to be believed.  It is written, 'Faith cometh by hearing'; therefore hear often.  If I earnestly and attentively hear the gospel, one of these days I shall find myself believing that which I hear, through the blessed operation of the Spirit of God upon my mind.  Only mind you hear the gospel, and do not distract your mind with either hearing or reading that which is designed to stagger you."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Whom Are You Considering?

You may have noticed, but most of my recent posts have been sent to you simply as a link to that post.  I discontinued mailing out the whole post via e-mail, and this is an exception.  Perhaps the best way to receive my posts would be to subscribe via the window "Follow By Email" under the Live Fee window on the right.  I hope you take the time to read these posts.  Feedback is always welcomed and desired!  And now, the post...

Thomas gets a bad rap from people in the area of faith.  He's called "Thomas the Doubter" and has been cited as an example of what we Christians should not be.  Here are recorded conversations Jesus and he had:

John 14:4-6 - "'And where I go you know, and the way you know.'”  Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

And then, after the resurrection:

John 20:27-29 - "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.'  Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'  Jesus said to him, 'Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.'"

If I were to give a critique of Thomas' questions, I would say that in the first instance Thomas wanted to know a process, but Jesus pointed to Himself, a person.  (That sentence deserves its own post, but let me move on!)  I can understand that, because our first tendencies are to want to know the plan, the steps, or the principles to anything important to us in life.  We want things lined up properly.  In fact, the nature of the Old Covenant show us just how attracted we are to a list:

Isaiah 28:13 - So the word of the Lord to them will be, “Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,..."

I always laugh when I hear preachers quote this passage as an example of how to obey God and "grow" in "faith".  Why do I laugh?  Because that verse has nothing to do with the New Covenant.  It is, in fact, a snare for the people...

"...that they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive." (Isaiah 28:13)

Look, there's more! 

Isaiah 28:12 - "He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

The list was given because people refused to rest and trust God.  Read Hebrews 4 for greater understanding about that.  So, I can't fault Thomas at all; in this passage he merely demonstrates how we all want a list, instead of just resting, as we see our Father tells us to do.

As for the second instance found in John 20, I'm not convinced that the normal interpretation of this passage is correct.  We've all heard the subliminal message saying that those who believe without seeing are somehow more blessed than those do believe, but only after seeing.  I believe this passage is referring to something else entirely.  Why do I say this?  Because there is a difference between seeing the promise and the Promiser.

Look at how Abraham and Sarah saw the Promiser and based their faith on Him, not the promise:

Hebrews 11:11 - "By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised."

Hebrews 11:19 - "He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead..."

Paul agrees with this:

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 - "Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God...."

Hebrews 3:1-2 - "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He [Jesus] was faithful to Him [the Father] who appointed Him."

In the four passages above, we can easily see that biblical faith is founded in a person, not an action.  Jesus says that those who don't see and still believe are blessed, but I do not believe He meant to contrast them with Thomas, who did see, as we have come to read this verse.  Moreover, I believe it's wrong to set that precedent and subtly shame people for a "lack of faith", especially when one's understanding of faith itself may quite well be unbiblical.  Faith has nothing to do with how well or earnestly one believes--but more on that later.

How can we honestly read into this passage that it's better to believe without seeing than to see and then believe?  That stealthily puts the burden on us, but hear me:  No one can believe in Jesus without first seeing Him.  For one to have faith in Christ, His grace and reality must be given by revelation, and only Holy Spirit can do that--and He has done that for the whole world!  Man must choose to accept or reject, but only Holy Spirit can reveal.

Isaiah 9:2 - "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them."

John 1:9, 11, 14 - "There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man....  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him....  And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Titus 2:11 - "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men...."

So, what is Jesus talking about when he mentions those who will believe without seeing?  He is referring to all those who would be brought into the Kingdom through His life in the apostles:

John 17:18-21 - "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.  I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."

May this post bless you.  Since we've talked a bit about belief in this post, I'll give you a little teaser for a future post:

There is no such thing as unbelief!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - It Naturally Leads to the Supernatural

"A church that is walking in the revelation of God’s awesome grace will be seeing the the captives freed and the dead raised. The poor may be getting food parcels, but they’ll also be getting the good news preached to them and it will be setting them free. The sick may be getting hospital visits, but they’ll also be getting healed by believers who believe that they have authority to heal in Jesus’ name." - Paul Ellis

To me, there are at least three things in institutionalized Christianity that are severely lacking:

1.  A biblical understanding of the true gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, resulting in continuous, incredible, joyful worship;

2.  A biblical understanding and experience of the spiritual union of the believer and Jesus Christ (i.e., the effect and result of having died and been resurrected to new life in Christ) and freedom from temptation and sin;

3.  The biblical truth and factual experiences in the world which clearly reveal that Christ's Spirit moves regularly in partnership with believers through signs, miracles, and wonders, and that God's grace makes doing such supernatural things easy.

The ministries of ALL the apostles and even those they brought to Jesus show that the greco-roman intellect of man has stifled the three points above.

I pray that you will come to be dissatisfied with the form of Christianity embraced by so many, but which is unable to demonstrate power in each of these points.  If you have never prayed for someone and them experience healing immediately, it's not because the power for that is unavailable to you; it's because you haven't believed in "His name".   

You should ask yourself, "Why hasn't anyone experienced the full range of God's power through me and what can I do to change that?"

People don't need a new church program, intellectual study, conference or retreat, or theological degree.  The world is searching for God's power and we owe them an encounter with God's power.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Two Incredible Videos on Sex Slavery

Hi,

If you saw Darren Wilson's movie "Furious Love" and were affected by
the portions of it that dealt with sex slavery, then you NEED to see
the two documentaries below, available in their full length online.

"Every Day in Cambodia" (CNN's own exposé on a ministry highlighted
in "Furious Love") THIS IS A MUST WATCH. But be warned, if you are a
man and consider yourself a PROTECTOR of women, your blood will boil
as you watch this documentary by CNN. Click here:
http://youtu.be/3oQX1DT71x4

"Nefarious: Merchant of Souls", Click here: http://youtu.be/cv8YC9KGhGE


Sincerely,


Jeremy

Grace - It's Really About Trust

Hello All,

God doesn't love you because you're obedient.  If he did, His love for you would fluctuate on a daily basis.  We've been taught by religion to demonstrate to God how much we love Him so that He will love us in return.  Why is this a problem?  Because it takes our eyes off of Him and His permanent, everlasting love and puts them onto us.  Looking at your performance will drive you insane, because you can never earn God's love or even His blessing, nor can you prove your love of Him to Him by your obedience.  John 16:9 says that He loves you before you ever did anything.  Remain in that love.  And since you will naturally trust someone you know loves you, obedience becomes a fruit, not a root.

The person who has an obedience problem simply hasn't seen that God is good and is the perfect provider.  That means that we never really have an obedience problem, but rather a trust problem.  Action point:  wherever you are not trusting God and therefore having obedience problems, simply ask God to help you see His active love for you in that area.

Distrust says one of two things to God:

1.  "I know better", and then we disregard God; or,

2.  "God, tell me what I have to do to be blessed by you and I'll do it."

In both cases, distrust reveals that the person has more faith in themselves than in God.  Many people search for keys, principles, guidelines, and strategies, but they refuse to see God's goodness right in front of them.  It's as if Jesus never came.  The saddest part, however, is that after a time of playing by the rules so they will be blessed by God, the exhausted person will give up completely and default to option #1 above: "I know better than God", and they shut the door to His ways.

All the while, God remains un-offended because of Jesus' sacrifice and He continues to bless the person while they refuse to acknowledge Him.  Such a being deserves our total trust because of His complete love.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Mark Driscoll

"I have been a pastor for a long time, but have not had a close pastor since college." ~ Mark Driscoll

I haven't listened to a message from Mark Driscoll in a long time because he was becoming a very condemning and legalistic preacher.  However, he's recently written a letter of apology to his church.  His quote above, I think, reveals a big piece as to why he was heading down an unhealthy path.

When church leaders talk about "submitting to leadership", honestly, it's more often about obeying someone else's plans for your life than it is something that brings a healthy relationship into your life.  As Rob Rufus would say, "I believe in liberating leadership."  In Mark's quote, we see that he (and as statistics reveal, most pastors) lack healthy relationships in their ministries.  Traditional Christianity has elevated the pastor/priest to an unhealthy role in which they are expected to do everything and be everything that the flock needs.  The church was never meant to exist in that way.  Christ is our Head, but we serve one another.  The season of "the man of the hour" has come to an end as healthy congregations empower each member to contribute equally to the health of every member and every visitor.

In Mark's quote, I sense a returning to the love and care of a father which we all need; to have someone who is involved, who promotes wisdom and good judgement, and more than anything, has a sacrificial heart which desires that a son would reach his own potential rather than to be a cog in a machine the father figure is building to realize his own dreams and aspirations.  

It's time that pastors stop becoming and remaining a person's mediator with God and instead quickly release them to grow in their own relationship and destiny with their heavenly Father.  A pastor's role should be limited to essentially this:  demonstrate the love of a father and an involved supporter; point the person to Father God has the ultimate reality of that fatherly relationship; share wisdom and experiences when needed; and finally, be an equal to the person and just enjoy life together, loving them as Holy Spirit enables.

Where Mark Driscoll is going with this turn, I can't say.  But I certainly understand how he feels about his years of lack of healthy relationships and support.  Let's hope that this is a turn toward a grace-based ministry.

http://renuemag.com/2014/03/16/an-open-letter-of-apology-from-pastor-mark-driscoll/

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - A Few Thoughts On "Hyper-Grace"

So, I've been reading some writings of those rejecting the message of the good news of God's grace.  Some individuals are well-known, such as Michael Brown and Sid Roth.  Others unfamiliar to me have internet blogs and that sort of thing, but they all seem to suffer from the same pair of foggy glasses.

To make their point, most of the time these well-meaning Christians lift scripture out of context, omitting to whom and of whom the scripture refers, and almost without exception, they place the standard of behavior back onto the Christian (a Christian-focused Christianity).  Well-trained by today's institutional church leaders, they focus on themselves and call every Christian to do the same.  They tend to believe our Father's love is based on one's performance.  They receive Christ's work freely enough, but the flesh is required to maintain and even grow in spirituality and faith.  As a contrast, Judah Smith, in a recent sermon entitled "What Just Happened" makes the strong point that most Christians have an "in me" mentality.  I highly recommend you listen to his sermon if you struggle to feel God's father-love for you (http://thecity.org/message/what_just_happened).

Read any article on "hyper-grace" by Michael Brown, Mike Bickle, or the like.  Rarely, if ever, do they mention biblical faith and the life of Christ in the Christian, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit.  Like the necessity that hydrogen be bonded with oxygen to create water, it would seem that opponents of "hyper-grace" need faith coupled with sinless behavior to produce righteousness and holiness.  Hear the word "faith" from them and it's always in the context of the believer's action toward God, not the response of the total, rest-producing trust in the person of Christ.  Paul rested in Christ:  Romans 15:18.  (If you've wondered by the New Testament writers stressed that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and was an actual man, it was, in part, to get their readers to finally rest in a real, tangible sacrifice.)

Michael Brown has written several articles about "hyper-grace" on Charisma Magazine's website, but in his October 4, 2013 blog, he began in this way:  "The biblical gospel starts with God and tells me what I can do to please Him. The contemporary gospel—which is really no gospel at all—starts with me and tells me what God can do to please me."  First, I've never heard anyone that he later criticizes in his book Hyper-Grace: Exposing the Dangers of the Modern Grace Message say anything close to that, and I believe have read from or listened to all of them.  Second, God does want to impress us.  He loves to show His riches for us, to demonstrate His love for us, and to prove He can and does provide for us with all power and sufficiency.  But my main concern with Brown's quote above is the obsession found in his definition to the biblical gospel:  "...what I can DO to please Him."  As I have said: this is Christian-focused, and his thoughts seem to betray him as such.  Let's look instead at Paul's definition:  

It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

It's obvious that the focus of the gospel is GOD and HIS power and HIS righteousness.  To take our eyes off of Jesus and not see that God is pleased with Him means that we have ignored Jesus as our High Priest and Life.  We forget that we are in Christ and He is in us.  God doesn't look at Jesus in disregard of something that is unpleasing in us.  Rather, we are pleasing to Him and He continually affirms us as His son or daughter and Christ as our righteousness.  The ministry of the law was the agent of a constant reminder of sin, not the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Those who are rejecting grace also tend to focus on producing faith.  However, the existence of faith is impossible without grace having first been witnessed.  Our definition of faith can be tainted by our own self-efforts.  We must move away from focusing on the believer's performance when we hear the word "faith".  God's goodness and graciousness is the central reality--the source--and faith focuses on that.  Faith in Christ is Rest in God.  I trust that Christ has done everything necessary to make me eligible for all the good that comes from the Father.  The revelation of grace doesn't cause me to ask how much I can sin or how much I can get away with.  The revelation of grace stops me in my tracks and causes me to imagine the many ways Christ's life, in union with my new life He gave me after I died and arose with Him, will produce gratitude and thankfulness for God and love for others.  Against that spirit there is no law.

Finally, the writers who oppose "hyper-grace" convey the subtle idea that we'll never be good enough and that we'll always struggle with sin.  They see holiness as an ever ascending hill which we must climb.  However, holiness is not a "better" you, unlike what the hill-climbing, sin-seeking mentality would embrace.  Instead, they heap more To-Do lists on people and take scripture passages which refer to the religious rulers and zealots of Christ's day and present them instead in a twisted fashion, saying that the people who were leading Christ's followers astray were themselves Christians.  They sometimes also make accusations against those who are either rebelling from or just tired of trying to follow rules, saying that those who turn grace into a license to sin and don't obey the Law are the grace preachers.  In Paul's day it was the law-keeping Judaizers who were disobeying by rejecting God's grace.  Scripture clearly says that the Jews sought to have their own righteousness according to the law.  The problem is that that is self-righteousness, not the gift of righteousness that God gives.  For those who have embraced grace, they have seen the full benefit of Jesus and have not sinned and "fallen from grace", but rather fallen "into" grace.

Those who have found true freedom in Christ have stopped striving for holiness.  The Holy Spirit inside them reveals the Father's love for them and because of God's grace, they can rest as sons and at the same time experience the leading of the Holy Spirit as He produces His fruit in and through their lives.

Grace IS hyper.  It is superabounding, overflowing and immeasurable.  The only reason the distractors protest against God's grace and mock it by labeling it as hyper is because they are being provoked to jealousy by those who have been freed from a religious system that can only survive on the backs of slaves.  Those who truly see and trust the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ will find themselves wrapped up in a joyous sense of freedom which produces further acts of love toward God and others.  It does not lead to sin; it just destroys the walls we've built to keep ourselves from sinning, because sin has lost its power and our efforts are no longer needed.  One can either rejoice in the fullness of that truth, or one can choose to double their effort to reinforce the walls.

Lay your weapons down.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - What's in a Church?

Hello!

Christian author Frank Viola recently wrote a description of why he has rejected the "institutional" church setting and embraced what he believes is the biblical model for believers living the Christian life.  It's pretty interesting; you should check it out.  Below are his ten positive points and a link to the article.

As you read the ten points below, I would suggest you ask yourself if these would accurately describe your current church experience:

1. My spiritual instincts were crying out for face-to-face community, mutual sharing, mutual receiving, and mutual submission.

2. I discovered that I can’t live the Christian life by myself (and neither can you).  [Merely] attending an institutional church service isn’t living the Christian life with others in a shared-life context.

3. I saw that God’s Eternal Purpose is bound up with a face-to-face, local, visible, visit-able corporate expression of Christ where every member functions under the Lord’s direct headship (rather than the headship of a man). So God’s ultimate intention is all about His ekklesia.

4. I saw from the New Testament that God’s heart beats for the Body of Christ in every locality to function under the Headship of His Son.  And this insight/revelation/seeing brought me to tears and wrecked me for life.

5. I discovered that when every member of the Body gives Christ to one another, after being equipped on how to do this, the experience is just below the glory of heaven. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a body of believers function under Christ’s headship without any one leading, facilitating, or controlling.

6. I wanted the fullness of Christ. And that’s only found when His Body — together — functions in a given place (1 Cor. 12-14).

7. I was shooting for spiritual depth and reality.

8. I longed for an environment where I could share the riches of Christ that were given to me and receive the riches of Christ that were given to the rest of the Body. (Not just from one or two members.)

9. I was seriously interested in transformation.  And I discovered that hearing sermons and singing worship songs led by a worship team doesn’t transform.  Hebrews 3 and 10 make clear that the antidote for apostasy and a hardened heart is mutual edification. “Exhorting one another. . . ”

10. I wanted to know Christ deeply, and I discovered that we can only comprehend “the breadth, depth, height, and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” when we are “together with all saints.” It’s not an individualistic pursuit, but an intensely corporate (collective) one.

http://frankviola.org/2014/02/18/whyileftchurch/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wordpress%2Fviola+%28Beyond+Evangelical%29

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - The Flesh is Your Effort

"The flesh is really a description of a pattern of relying on and turning to our own abilities and understanding in our lives.

When Christ remade us into a new creation, the option and ability to rely on and turn to ourselves and our efforts remains. We can still turn to a life of striving and performing our way to goodness, godliness, value, and success instead of turning to Jesus and His work on the cross to save us, remake us, and give us life.

Every time we live holding onto guilt and shame, we are turning to the flesh.  Every time we strive to please God through our performance in life, we turn to the flesh.  Every time we believe we are condemned to a life of repeated sin, we turn to the flesh.  Every time we turn to ourselves, our understanding, and our performance instead of Jesus and His performance, we are turning to the flesh.  Every time we allow people, their opinions and behaviors to define and negatively influence ours, we turn to the flesh. Every time we see ourselves any less than Jesus and His righteousness, we turn to the flesh.  Why, because we are focusing on ourselves and our performance, not on Jesus and His.

Behind every sin, insecurity, anxiety, worry, destructive behavior or mindset, etc. is a pattern of the flesh.  This is the essence of the flesh, a pattern of self-effort and reliance that leads to self-destruction.  All self-effort/reliance leads to self-destruction."

Chris Kratzer

http://chriskratzer.com/patterns-flesh/

Grace - Two articles on Hyper-Grace

Hello,

I highly recommend that you follow the two links below and read for yourselves two articles on hyper-grace.

You judge for yourselves which of the two articles is really talking about true grace:

http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/spiritual-growth/18158-8-signs-of-hypergrace-churches

http://escapetoreality.org/2014/02/07/8-signs-of-hyper-grace-churches/

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - False Gospel Preachers and Those Who Reject Grace 2

"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you [in] the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another...." (Galatians 1:6-7a)

"Woe to you [experts in the Mosaic law]! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52)

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."  (Matthew 23:13)

"For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."  (Jude 1:4)

The passage from Jude above has been commonly interpreted to refer to a group of Christians walking on the wild side and twisting the message of grace to allow for their sinning, but when read carefully, one sees that this group of ungodly people denies "our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."  I submit to you that a person who does such a thing is NOT a Christian.  Jude continues to make a distinction between them and authentic believers when he calls them "hidden reefs" at the believers' gatherings.  He states that they have "gone the way of Cain" and are "following after their own lusts."  They "cause divisions", are "worldly minded", and are "devoid of the Spirit."  Perhaps the strongest word Jude uses is "devoid."  In the Greek the word here means "to not have".  It doesn't mean "not led by", but a complete absence of a union between these particular people and the Spirit.  Clearly:  not Christian.

I'm certainly not out to vilify anyone, but we have to properly view these passages to make sure that they are not applied to and used against Christians who have truly found grace.  Paul's major concern was two-part:  1. that non-Christians (Judaizers) would not turn Christians back to the law and, 2., that Christians would continue to have their minds renewed to the reality of grace.  Our situation is similar.  While we don't have non-Christians trying to turn us away from Christ per se, we do have a majority of Christians who, not seeing scripture through the lens of grace and the finished work of Christ, are trying to bring us back to their law mentality.

For this reason, it is imperative that we read and meditate on Paul's writing in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews to see our OWN death and resurrection in Christ Jesus.  As long as we do not understand that we DIED to the Law, we will continue to believe that we are under it.  Moreover, we will be subject not only to the idea that we're still under the Law, but we will also see grace primarily as our enablement by the Spirit to obey the Law.  Sounds nice; not quite scriptural.

Go back and read the scriptures I quoted above.  I hope they will be a key for you to know you entered God's Rest when you believed.

Have a great weekend.  My next few emails will be about "Hyper-Grace!"

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - False Gospel Preachers and Those Who Reject Grace 1

"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you [in] the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another...." (Galatians 1:6-7a)

"Woe to you [experts in the Mosaic law]! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52)

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."  (Matthew 23:13)

"For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."  (Jude 1:4)

There is a lot of talk going around about preachers preaching a false gospel.  To most of us, especially those of us who are interested in hearing and living the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), a new covenant life is relatively new.  Because we've spent most of our lives studying the law covenant, we contend with our thinking--the renewing of our minds.  But a false gospel and the renewal of the mind of someone in Christ is nothing new.  It is, in fact, very old.  It is the very same issue with which Paul himself contended.

In the passage from Galatians above we read about a "different gospel" that Paul opposed.  While he says here that this "different gospel" is not a gospel at all, it follows that there must be a true gospel.  This tells us that we must be careful to find what both scripture and the apostle Paul inspired by Christ declare as the true gospel.
 

This is not always easy.  The passages in Luke and Matthew above bluntly reveal that Jesus accused the religious leaders of hindering people from entering into the Kingdom of heaven.  What is the Kingdom?  It is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit testifies to us that we have been adopted, that we are free from the law and alive in Christ, and that we have been sealed and are secure in Christ, never to be abandoned.  He reveals that we are righteous and holy, and this good news SHOULD produce peace and joy in us.  But some people resist this message vehemently.

My next email will discuss who these people are/were and how we as Christians who espouse the Gospel of Grace should respond to them.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

 

Grace - Terrifying to Some

Each of us contends with a sense of duality:  we want to be independent, even though we know ourselves to be inadequate, and yet we also seek dependence on someone greater than ourselves, upon whose strength we can rest.  We swing between the fear of failure we experience through independence, and the fear we know must be risked by dependence upon another.  Tragically, for most of us, the fear of relying on the goodness and strength of another outweighs the predictable failures of our independence, and so we choose independence.  Moreover, when we are suspicious of something that is too good to be true, we become even more suspicious of those who are able accept and rely upon another.  This, my friend, is why some find it so hard to accept grace.  It terrifies them.  For when under grace, we are not in control and our merits are worthless.  Jesus came to liberate us of the weight of having to make it on our own.  The question is, are you willing to face the terror of relying Another's perfect performance?  It is a freedom you just might find rewarding and refreshing like none other.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - The Life of Grace

Enjoy this short video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3cSxw86nL4&list=FLmOYMqBli7hwE6N7uSzuSSA&index=3

"My view of me is the greatest commentary on my theology."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - 7 Points on One Way Love

I recently read Tullian Tchividjian's newest book One Way Love:  Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World.

Here are some quotes:

1.  The overwhelming focus of the bible is not the work of the redeemed but the work of the Redeemer.  Which means that the Bible is not first a recipe book for Christian living but a revelation book of Jesus who is the answer to our un-Christian living.

2.  Grace doesn't make demands.  It just gives.  And from our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person.  We see this over and over again in the Gospels:  Jesus is always giving to the wrong people--prostitutes, tax collectors, half-breeds.  The most extravagant sinner of Jesus's day receive his most compassionate welcome.

3.  When the chain of quid pro quo is broken, all sorts of wonderful things can happen.  One-way lave has the unique power to inspire generosity, kindness, loyalty, and more love, precisely because it removes any and all requirement to change or produce.

4.  As beautiful and lifesaving as grace can be, we often resist it.  By nature, we are suspicious of promises that seem too good to be true.  We wonder about the ulterior motives of the excessively generous.  We long ago stopped opening those email and letters that tell us what we've "already won."  What's the catch?  What's the fine print?  What's in it for them?

5.  When we spend more time thinking about ourselves and how we're doing than we do about Jesus and what he's done, we shrink into ourselves.  As any gardener will tell you, no seed can grow if it is constantly being dug up to check on its progress.

6.  Bob Godrey, president of Westminster Seminary in California, used to say in class that there have been many antinomian controversies throughout history, but in many cases the legalist won them by default, since the antinomians never showed.  In other words, they're hypothetical in the truest sense.  These claims certainly line up with my nearly twenty years of ministry experience.  I've never actually met anyone who has been truly gripped by God's amazing grace in the Gospel who is then so ungrateful that they don't care about respecting or obeying Him.

7.  I once assumed (along with the vast majority of professing Christians) that the Gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved before advancing to deeper theological waters after their conversion.  I didn't realize that once God rescues sinners, His plan isn't to steer us beyond the Gospel but to move us more deeply into it.  The good newest that Jesus paid it all not only ignited the Christian life but fuels it as well.  As my friend J.D. Greear puts it, "The gospel is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity...it is the pool that we swim in each and every day."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Will You Only Be Loved on Your Own Terms?

The following is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's Return of the Prodigal Son, pp. 102-103

"The elder son's dilemma is to accept or reject that his father's love is beyond comparisons [between him and his younger brother]; to dare to be loved as his father longs to love him or to insist on being loved as he feels he ought to be loved.  The father knows that the choice must be the son's, even while he waits with outstretched hands.  Will the elder son be willing to kneel and be touched by the same hands that touch his younger brother?  Will he be willing to be forgiven and to experience the healing presence of the father who loves him beyond compare?  Luke's story makes it very clear that the father goes out to both of his children."

"In his jealously and bitterness, the elder son can only see that his irresponsible brother is receiving more attention than he himself, and concludes that he is the less loved of the two.  His father's heart, however, is not divided into more or less.  The father's free and spontaneous response to his younger son's return does not involve any comparison with his elder son.  To the contrary, he ardently desires to make his elder son part of his joy.

"This is not easy for me to grasp.  In a world that constantly compares people, ranking them as more or less intelligent, more or less attractive, more or less successful, it is not easy to really believe in a love that does not do the same.  When I hear someone praised, it is hard not to think of myself as less praiseworthy;  when I read about the goodness and kindness of other people, it is hard not to wonder whether I myself am as good and kind as they; and when I see trophies, rewards, and prizes being handed out to special people, I cannot avoid asking myself why that didn't happen to me.

"The world in which I have grown up is a world so full of grades, scores, and statistics that, consciously or unconsciously, I always try to take my measure against all the others.  Much sadness and gladness in my life flows directly from my comparing, and most, if not all, of this comparing is useless and a terrible waste of time and energy.

"Our God, who is both Father and Mother to us, does not compare.  Never.  Even though I know in my head that this is true, it is still very hard to fully accept it with my whole being.  When I hear someone called a favorite son or daughter, my immediate response is that the other children must be less appreciated, or less loved.  I cannot fathom how all of God's children can be favorites.  And still, they are.  When I look from my place in the world in God's Kingdom, I quickly come to think of God as the keeper of some great celestial scoreboard, and I will always be afraid of not making the grade.  But as soon as I look from God's welcoming home into the world, I discover that God loves with a divine love, a love that cedes to all women and men their uniqueness without ever comparing."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy