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Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." Acts 15:10-11
we are saved by grace. pure simple wonderful amazing grace.
and we respond to that grace and salvation by how we live our lives.
i can never earn my salvation.
i can never pay it back.
anything i do for Jesus, do to know Jesus, do to live for Jesus, is a response to His love for me first.
bible study and personal worship – times of discipline – are fuelled by devotion
attending and being involved in church – are fuelled by devotion
sometimes those things don’t feel very inspiring or overflowing from a place of love and connection, but they’re so important
but not if you’re adding a burden to yourself to work out being a good Christian
you are rescued and redeemed, not because of anything we have done, we had done or we can do or could do
but because of the love and grace and power of God
God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son. And God was pleased for him to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God. You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:19-22
God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ to me and his wrath absorbing death on the cross and his resurrection now sees me as perfect and spotless and holy, not because i am but because HE IS ~ Matt Chandler
The good news – the gospel – is that you and I have fallen short, we have worshiped things that are not God, we have belittled and mocked God with either our hearts, mouths or minds and God’s response to that has been to make a way for us to be reconciled to God in the person and work of Jesus Christ – so that the two-fold movement that occurs is that we get Christ’s righteousness and He takes upon Himself our rebellion and sinfulness so that when God then looks at us He sees Christ and deems us as perfect and spotless and blameless ~ Matt Chandler
The commands of God are given, not to rob me of joy, but to lead me into the fullness of joy ~ Matt Chandler
“God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so. He loves you when you don’t feel lovely. He loves you when no one else loves you. While we may theologically and intellectually understand the transaction, motivated by love, that took place at Calvary, the reality must reach our hearts in order to complete its course. We are loved. Let the words linger in our ears. We are loved.” ~ Max Lucado
Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.
‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
‘When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” So he got up and went to his father.
‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.
‘The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
‘But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:11-24
This story is about a runaway son…
and his father that waits, watches and then RUNS to him.
likewise it is the story of our own lives
and how God RUNS to us, to embrace us and love us.
"Grace. This is, perhaps, the best word to summarize what we believe about God as Christians. That we are sinners, but that God is gracious. That unlike other religions, Christianity does not teach that you need to pay God back through reincarnation. Paying off your karmic debt. Going to purgatory. Dying and going to hell. Suffering in this life. That God is a God of grace. That we sin and God convicts us, but as we repent, God is gracious with us, undeserved favour, unmerited love. God is not obligated to us in any way, but he has given grace to us in every way because he is such a great and good God. That our relationship with Jesus is absolutely tethered by grace. That God is a God who gives grace. And what that means is that we are to receive God’s grace humbly and we are to share it gladly. That if you sin against me, and you repent; well, I’ve sinned against God and I repented. How did God respond to me? With grace. You know what that means? You get grace too. That we are grace receivers. That we are grace givers. And, as Christians, grace is the demarcation of how we work." ~ Mark Driscoll
today is an auspicious day.
today i turn 20.
it was 20 years ago today that i stood and went up the front at an easter camp, in a shearing shed, and said YES to Jesus.
it was 20 years ago today that i became a christian.
i grew up in what could be called a semi religious home. my mum took us to the catholic church. i made my first communion and confirmation. my dad stayed at home and cooked amazing roast lunches. i DID really want to know God though and there are several experiences that i know have shaped my faith, expression and relationship with God from childhood but church was boring and irrelevant.
In early teens though i decided that God must not be real, as He didn’t seem to be “there” – so I figured I would live my life without the “hassle” of thinking about Him and “His laws” (very catholic way of thinking) and so did that. i chose to live my own life my own way.
Our family moved quite a bit and when I was 15 we moved from Gore (the 5th place i’d lived already)… where I went from a 300 student co-ed school to Blenheim, where I had to go to a 1000+ all girls school! Talk about freak out! It was major culture shock! one of my new friends then casually asked me during classics class if i would like to go to youth group with her. I went along with her one night for one reason and one reason only. There were boys there! Great reason for going to youth group eh lol!
Anyway on that first night someone PRAYED and I KNEW God was REAL and I knew I wanted to know Him. i had seen people pray my whole life when i went to church with mum – and this was like it was real, and that he was really talking to a real God, that i could know, not far away, but near and personal, and not grumpy and angry, but loving and filled with grace.
i didnt really know what being a christian was and if it was diferent from what i had seen on a sunday growing up, but i felt there must be something more.
I waited until I went to their Easter Camp (about 3 weeks later) and there, not knowing what a Christian was or did, what the expectation was, what my life would be like… anything… yet I became one… I went up the front and responded to God, and encountered Him radically. By that i knew something was different – that i had given my life to God and became His child. sounds like a Christian cliché eh, but very real. i felt clean and new and forgiven. life had purpose and meaning. it was the start of an adventure.
so i went along to easter camp and i think for the first time heard clearly about who Jesus is and why he died on the cross and that you could have peace with God, peace on the inside.
i went forward when they asked if anyone would like to give their lives to God and had what can only be called a supernatural experience. i felt God. i felt a warmth and a heat that couldnt be explained by the room i was in. i felt happy and peace. i felt loved. i knew that i had crossed a line, that 10 minutes before i was not a christian but then all of a sudden i was.
it was more than going to church but about having a connection with God. a connection i have all the time. and that it was more than rules and being a nice person. i pray and spend time with God, in my real life day. i believe He speaks and guides us, supports us, encourages us.
there was a song that played during the camp that really spoke to my heart.
Don’t you know that i formed you, before you were born i knew you, don’t you know that my plans for you are good.
look and see I’ve engraved on the palm of my hand, look and see I’ve engraved you on my hands
Did you know that your name is tattooed on the palm of God’s hands?
Did you know that?
Your name.
My name.
My name is engraved on the palm of the hand of God.
It is for sure engraved on the palms of Jesus’ hands – great big gaping nail hole wounds.
It was all because of love that Jesus died. It was all because of love that God sent Jesus to live and to die on the cross as the sacrifice that pays for our sins.
The Bible is a book all about God’s love for you and for all people. This love was revealed when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world as a human being, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. Because Jesus died, your sins can be forgiven, and because He conquered death you can have eternal life. You can know for sure what will become of you after you die.
You have probably heard the story of God’s love referred to as the “Gospel.” The word Gospel simply means “Good News.” The Gospel is the Good News that, because of what Christ has done, we can be forgiven and can live forever.
The Bible puts it this way… Colossians 1:20-22 And God was pleased for Jesus to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that everyone would be brought back to God. You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.
20 years ago i discovered that God really is real.
and i discovered His love is amazing, everlasting, unchanging.
i discovered freedom, peace, hope.
i was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now i see.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:4-5
the most powerful thing i’ve read
today
perhaps ever
and you know
what strikes me
is i have no problem believing and accepting and receiving the first 7 lines
help me to have faith in line 8, jesus
By His stripes we are healed.
My eyes fail from weeping,
I am in torment within;
my heart is poured out on the ground
because my people are destroyed,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2:11
i was moved by this verse last night… wow it gripped my heart and stirred me to pray… my heart is poured out because children and infants faint from hunger in the streets… people destroyed, people lost, they need truth and life that only Jesus can give… they need salvation and hope.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!” Lamentations 3:21-24
i will pray and i will remember and i will have hope because God is great and good. His salvation is real and powerful. His compassion fails not. He is merciful. Great is His faithfulness. I will have hope in Him, hope in His mercy, hope in His salvation. This is why i pray, this is why i seek Him, this is why i pour my life out.
Stir my heart to pray, O Lord.
Holy Spirit, renew a passion in me for the lost.
Draw me closer, that i may shine for you.
Thank you for your grace, your new mercy, your everlasting love.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
“Man’s Maker was made a man
that the Bread might be hungry,
the Fountain might thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired from the journey;
that Strength might be made weak,
that Life might die.”
-Augustine
You set us up above all the stars
You set us on a high place by where you are
While we were dead you made us your friends
And scattered our debt upon the wind
Glory to One
God’s murdered son
Who paid for my resurrection
Once from the dust, once from the grave
Daughters and sons from the ashes you’ve raised
And hidden our faults even from your own face
And scattered our debt upon the waves
Glory to one
God’s murdered son
Who paid for my resurrection
Glory to One
God’s murdered son
Who paid for my resurrection
Glory to the one who
Who overcame in death
Glory to the one
Who paid for my offenses
Glory to the one
Once from the dust
Once from the grave
Daughters and sons
From the ashes you’ve raised
And hidden our faults
Even from your own face
And scattered our debt upon the waves
And scattered our debt upon the waves
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