If you’re not dead then you’re not done.
(Source: mike-foster)
love is not lost
Posts tagged with "Grace"
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| — | Reggie Kidd |
| — | A nobody, trying to love somebody, outside of himself |
My Bible notes probably offend some people. #Grace #Forgiven (Taken with instagram)
All the initiative has been on God’s side; all has been free, unbounded grace. And all will continue to be free, unbounded grace …. Bliss is not for sale, cannot be earned. ‘Works’ have no ‘merit,’ though of course faith, inevitably, even unconsciously, flows out into works of love at once. He [the Christian] is not saved because he does works of love: he does works of love because he is saved. It is faith alone that has saved him: faith bestowed by sheer gift. From this buoyant humility, this farewell to the self with all its good resolutions, anxiety, scruples, and motive scratchings, all the Protestant doctrines originally sprang.
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As I am finishing my fourth year reading through the Bible, I am rejoicing in the fact that nothing has opened my life to the work of the spirit conforming me into his image, more than reading the scriptures everyday. I have great remorse that after 12 years in the ministry, I only began daily scripture reading four years ago.
By his grace as a dialysis patient, my times of suffering became the cause of his greatest work of redemption in my life. We ought to rejoice in our human weakness, for in them we are more open to his Lordship and work, as our idols of ‘self’ go crashing down.
This past year I engaged in the Life Journal Reading Plan, in 2012 I will be doing the ESV Study Bible Plan. Join with me! Nothing is more powerful than reading scripture in community together. It’s why the Bible was written.
I’d like to share my final journal entry of 2011…
DECEMBER 31, 2011 | The Last Words of the New Testament
SCRIPTURE:
He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people. | Revelation 22:20–21 (NLT)
OBSERVATION: God ends the story as he began it-in paradise. This time there is no evil, he’s judged the wicked from the righteous, separated the wheat from the chaff. The story of God ends with his sovereignty, him given evil the power to destroy for a time, then removing that authority and finishing the job. No matter no vast imagery in Revelation the central theme is the same as it is in the entire story of God. The antagonist wins. Jesus is the hero, now and forevermore. John’s last written words should be noted, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.” It is his grace that empowers our witness and our transformation into his image.
APPLICATION: Stay faithful, Jesus is coming back! He will see the obedience we live and will reward it despite the approval or applause from other men.
PRAYER : Lord let me endure this life, holding to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Let me live out my days in obedient surrender, forever seeing you as my hero, and forever reflecting your image to all you put before me. Let me be more like you on December 31, 2012 than I am today.
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It is exceedingly difficult to get into another habit of thinking in which we clearly separate faith and [works of] love…. Even though we are in faith … the heart is always ready to boast of itself before God and say: “After all, I have preached so long and lived so well and done so much, surely he will take this into account.” But it cannot be done. With men you may boast … But when you come before God, leave all that boasting at home and remember to appeal from justice to grace. [But] let anyone try this and he will see and experience how exceedingly hard and bitter it is for a man, who all his life has been mired in his work righteousness, to pull himself out of it and with all his heart rise up through faith in the one Mediator.
I myself have been preaching and cultivating it (grace) for almost twenty years and still I feel the old clinging dirt of wanting to deal so with God that I may contribute something, so that he will have to give me his grace in exchange for my holiness. Still I cannot get it into my head that I should surrender myself completely to sheer grace; yet [I know that] this is what I should and must do.
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Here I am sharing some of my class work with you…
“The best people in the bible required the better work of God.” - Bryan Chapell
Only God is the hero of scriptures, never man. David, Moses, Abraham, Paul, all needed
God’s grace. Without God’s redemptive work in them, then their best works are nothing but filthy rags.
Challenges to holiness without mention of grace force a human-centered religion. People cannot do what they are told to do apart from Christ’s grace (John 15:5; Rom. 8:36). Requirements of holiness by themselves wound people because without provision of divine aid they either will despair of hope or trust in their own righteousness. Thus, if you wound — even unintentionally — you are obligated to heal. We heal by wedding all requirements of holiness to a proper relationship with Him who alone can provide holiness (and showing where and how the Scripture we are interpreting does the same).
Ephesians 6:10 (ESV) 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Colossians 1:29 (ESV) 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
2 Peter 1:3 (ESV) 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
I am thankful for all I have learned through Bryan Chapell. Lord help me be a better preacher for you, to your people from what you’ve used this man to teach me. Help me retain it, live it, and be like Christ, setting people free by your gospel, not adding chains.
View post...“The Bottom line: As a preacher, with whom will they walk out the door? Me, myself and I, or their Savior? To whom will you lead them, and with whom will you leave them?” - Bryan Chapell
I am currently doing a flyover study of Romans. You may have noticed since I blogged yesterday on loveisnotlost.org about Romans 12 and “renewing the mind”. I simply have felt impressed to share my inner commentary today as I went a little further on in Romans…
Romans 9:17–24 (NLT) 17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”* 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
Now we can see Paul speaking of Jews in Chapter 10…
Romans 10:2–4 (NLT) 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.
These phrases and literary structure in Romans have me thinking, “God has appointed, God chooses, Whom he selected, God’s way of making people right…” As I continue my now third year of reading through the scriptures, the evidence is inconclusive, God is a sovereign being. He is Emmanuel, God with us, not far from us, but intimately detailing this life he’s given us. He is running this show, telling us his story, and inviting us, choosing us to be with him.
| — | Dr. Bruce Demarest |
