Do you know who confessed that, “Pure Americanism can only be secured by confidence in the fact that the Cross of Jesus Christ is the wisest and strongest force in existence.”? Does that sentiment sound right and good to you? It comes straight from a Ku Klux Klan Newspaper. Have we wrestled with the fact […]
3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love (Eph 1:3-4 NASB) If […]
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and [who are] faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph 1:1-2 NASB) Flashing His Badge I have been watching a lot of old […]
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They […]
Special Note: skip down and read the Reflection section. It will change your life, I promise. Then you can read all the other stuff if you want. 15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do […]
So we can stop walking on egg shells wondering if these things are true. Your problem is not that you need to convince God to stop hating you and to start having forgiveness and kindness towards you. You have no idea how high that mountain of majestic kind powerful eternal love for you goes.
15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, […]
Real love for one another is found in belief in group redemption and lavish grace. It means thinking, concerning everyone, that Jesus has died for us. He has loved us together and redeemed all of us with His blood. And this becomes the new way of doing community – belief.
And so He has lavished grace and eternal mercy on all of us who believe. Our mutual sins are lavishly forgiven as a whole. This works because it really is our trespasses which are the problem. My sins were not born in isolation.
So the message is a proclamation of our rescue – “the gospel of your salvation.” It means that you simply wait until it comes to you. The message is not “rescue yourself.” It is “here is your rescue!” And that means, you can’t dress up belief as something more than hearing and saying “that’s right!”