All Christians need to get this firmly nailed down in our minds. God cannot be served by human hands. It is so tempting and enticing to reason thus: God is holy, I am sinful, therefore I must work and work at moral improvement to be able to please him and make myself acceptable in His service. And then God will accept me because I am sincere and hard working. This is the opposite of the good news, but its very tempting and attractive to moral, hard-working, self-sufficient people. (Even Christian vocabulary like "church services" gives the impression that we get together to provide God with something.) Self-sufficient people don't like the idea that God doesn't accept us because of anything we can offer. He only accepts us because of trusting Jesus.
Read moreLaziness, Super-Spirituality or Legalism
Leaders who are busy but not living in grace - or who use busyness as a substitute for living in grace - need to take a serious rain check
Read moreIts All by Grace; Acts 15, Pt 1
There are many issues in church life where it is best to agree to disagree, with a generous spirit. The number of hills on which we should really choose to die is comparatively few. Too many people want to make every minor issue into a primary and divide churches over trivia. But primaries do exist. This is definitely one of those hills to die on.
Read moreThe Message of Grace; Acts 14:1-7
the chief lesson from the narrative is that what was being opposed, and was also being confirmed by God with miraculous signs and wonders was the message of his grace. I take it that "the message of grace" in 14:3 and "the good news" in 14:7 are synonymous. The good news = the message of grace.
Read more9 Observations from Acts 13:13-52
Paul says we can now be justified from everything that could not be justified by the Law of Moses. It is a VITAL point. Let anyone who thinks that Christians now relate to God through the Spirit being given to help us obey the Law of Moses take note - there were things that it never justified. It is now fulfilled and superseded by the forgiveness of sins in Jesus. This is the point of all evangelistic preaching. We don't do it to Gentiles in the same way as to Jews, but the goal is the same - turn to Jesus not religion (or anything else) to get your sins forgiven
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