I am in the middle of reading the book Classic Christianity by Bob George. The book has a way to bring Christianity back to the basis. Right now, I am in the chapter dealing with Condemnation. I believe it would be amazing if we were able to truly realize God's Grace. This page is to good for me to summarize, so I am going to quote it from page 124:
Law and grace is the issue of God's acceptance. In other word, on what basis is a man made acceptable to God? There are only three possible answers. Man is made (or tries to make himself) acceptable to God by law, by grace, or by a third, hybrid means called Galatianism.
1) Law. Man is responsible to make himself acceptable to God by his work. You are accepted by God according to what you do or don't do. You can easily identify law by the presence of a small two-letter word: "if" "If you do this then God will accept you." Obviously, the opposite must also be true: "If you don't, He won't."
2) Grace. God gives to man a standing of total acceptance as a gift through Jesus Christ. Man's work in no way contributes to God's acceptance of him. Once Jesus was asked, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent" (John 6:28,29) By faith and faith alone a man receives the gift of righteousness in Christ.
Ephesians 2:8,9 is as direct a statement as you can find in the Bible: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast."
3) Galatianism. The attempt to mingle law and grace, Galatianism takes many forms, but sooner or later it always ends up in a meaningless contradiction: "God's grace has made it possible for man to work for His acceptance and forgiveness" or "God loves us unconditionally if we keep all the rules." Law is the realm of what you earn by your performance. Grace is the realm of receiving a free gift. How could you ever mingle the two?
This is like a friend saying that they were going to give you a free car for only $1,000. Wait a minute, I thought you said it was free? A true gift is free.
Bob George goes on to say.." People are attracted to Christ by the message of His total love and acceptance and of salvation by grace; then, once they're in the family of God, they are leveled by demands for performance and conformity. But the Bible says that we can't have it both ways. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:6"
Isn't it great that we can rest in the fact that we don't have to stay down on ourselves about not being all that we think we should be. The Lord loves us just the way we are. We don't have to do anything but receive and believe it!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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Family Life- Marriage Conference
Joe & I are planning to go to Family Life's Marriage Conference this summer. See the link below to see the dates. Our goal is to leave footprints in the sand as we journey through life together hand and hand.
Have you ever wondered what the outcome would be if you spent half the amount of time investing into your marriage as you do in your career? The outcome would be amazing. Family life can help you do just that!
http://www.familylife.com/
Have you ever wondered what the outcome would be if you spent half the amount of time investing into your marriage as you do in your career? The outcome would be amazing. Family life can help you do just that!
http://www.familylife.com/

GodChicks Conference
Are you looking for a conference that is ALL CHICKS? Well I would recommend this GodChicks conference this summer. It is a weekend event where you can connect with other girls and also learn what your role is as a woman! See the link below.
WWW.GODCHICKS.COM
WWW.GODCHICKS.COM

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