Category Archives: Truth

Legalism vs. Law

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Paul warned that there is one solution to legalism – knowing and living under the rulership of Jesus Christ, because he made us alive with Him having wiped out the requirements against us (Col. 2:11-15).  So Paul continues don’t let someone cheat you from your reward by imposing commandments and doctrines of men on you (Col. 2:16-23).   Therefore live by dependency on Christ, not man-made legalisms.

As you went over the questions on the back of the insert, did you understand the Laws of Liberty, Love, Sacrifice and Accommodation?  Did you understand how they are related to the Law of Christ?  And how they are not legalism?  These are important to understand, because you can almost get the idea that “law” is a bad word.  Context is key to understanding all principles of Scripture.

Legalism is not a word found in Scripture, like “trinity.”  Legalism refers to any addition, subtraction, twisting, or distorting of Scripture established by man that focuses a person on the action rather than his relationship with Jesus Christ.  We’ll look at this specifically on Sunday when we look at “What does Scripture teach about a legalist?”   We’ll also see how any Christian can fall into legalism.  Can you?

Set Free in Christ to Live for Him

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What a great response to our message last Sunday, “You are set free in Christ to live for Him!” I love how God sets us free that we are no longer under law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14), which makes us want to love the Lord with all our heart. It motivates us to want to live for Him rather than for self! It makes us want to press to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, rather than the sinful ways of the world. You are free to please Him, not the requirements of the law. You get to live for Him, not something in the world. And you’ll see that love, by who is getting the attention in your life!

One of the topics in the message was the subject of baptism. Paul wrote that we are “buried with Him in baptism” and we looked briefly at baptisms in Scripture. I mentioned there are real and ritual baptisms. The three ritual baptisms are :
1) the baptism of John (Matt. 3:1-11)
2) the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:13-17)
3) the believer’s baptism (1 Cor. 1:13-17).

A ritual baptism involves immersion and identifies the person with another subject, as in:
1) the kingdom
2) Christ’s public ministry on earth under the Father’s authority
3) identification with Christ’s burial and resurrection unto life, respectively.

By contrast, a real baptism is an actual identification with the object mentioned. For example:
1) the Baptism of Moses (1 Cor. 10:1-2) is Israel’s actual identification with Moses going through the Red Sea
2) the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13) is the actual identification of the believer with the body of Christ
3) the Baptism of Fire (Matt. 3:11) is an actual identification of the unbeliever into Fire at the end of the Tribulation and Great White Throne judgment
4) the Baptism of the Cup (cross) (Mark 10:38-39) is Christ’s actual identification with the cross
5) the Baptism of Noah (1 Pet. 3:18-19) is an actual identification of the seven souls with Noah.

Let’s bring it back to you – you were buried with Christ, so you are free in Christ to live for Him. You are not under the law or requirements, so you are free to pursue with all your life to live in holiness and truth! By the way, Justin’s youth paintball expedition went fantastic! Great charge on the opposing forces! Too bad they nailed you so well! Only minor battle wounds and the old guys still have what it takes to whoop up on the younger soldiers! It was a great day of bonding!

Beware of Empty Deception

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The miraculous life we saw in Colossians 2:8-10 is a reality for those who humble themselves to God’s will and His power. God is the potter and we are the clay; He will mold and make us while we are waiting, yielded and still. It’s better than any television entertainment or concert, because there is no explanation besides “it’s the Lord doing it.” I’ve seen it many times again and again.So we need to: Beware of empty deception. The key is we can’t fall back to the philosophies, empty deceit of the world or the traditions of men. They ruin any adventure with the Lord. And we need to: Let His fullness lead you against worldly powers. Jesus is fully God and true humanity in one person! God wants you to press forward in the completeness you have in Jesus Christ. Don’t let anyone tell you, if you are a Christian, that you don’t fit in the Body at Grace, or match up to His grace, or will ever get it right! You are complete in Christ and through God’s work of sanctification, you can experience that completeness on a daily basis. If you are a believer, you are complete in Christ and God fully indwells you to live a miraculous life!

This Sunday, Paul addresses the basis for how to deal with legalism. Legalism isn’t something that is as obvious today as it was 40 years ago, but it still exists. So how do we ensure legalism doesn’t press the wind out of you? How do you press forward with joy and anticipation of God’s work in your lives? I’ll tell you Sunday morning from Colossians 2:11-15! Can’t wait to see you. It’ll be a great morning!

It’s Faith that Matters

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It was great fun having the children on Sunday. They were so alert and Vickie and Debbie did a wonderful job in preparing and leading the children. I’m glad you invited friends and family members to see the children and come to our Resurrection Sunday service.
“When you believe, you will see spiritual” was the message I saw in the passage and first Mary, then the Disciples and finally Thomas were able to see the Lord. Then the penetrating words the Lord spoke, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” God wants us to depend solely by faith on Him. It’s not our senses, our feelings, our experiences, our intelligence that matters nearly as much as faith.
I love the last stanza of “It is Well with My Soul,” which goes:
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
“Even so” – it is well with my soul.
I pray that your Day of Resurrection was reflective about the Lord’s inscrutable gift of salvation. We’ll get back into Colossians this coming Sunday looking at “How do you become deeply rooted in Christ?” And we’ll need to consider, what are the consequences of not becoming deeply rooted in Him?
 Hope you can make the Youth Spaghetti dinner tomorrow night. Justin is going to be the auctioneer and rally some fun for all of us.

Our Treasure in Christ

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We had a wonderful outpouring of worship yesterday.  In brief summary of the message: First, all treasure is found in Jesus Christ.  We can search for and acquire many things (and God gives richly for us to enjoy 1 Tim. 6:17), but the greatest riches are found in what you acquire in Jesus Christ.  Nothing else compares.  Secondly, the normal Christian way of life is a struggle to help others experience that treasure.

We should look for opportunities to help people understand and live the treasure of Jesus Christ.  It may often be a struggle, but that’s when you see God’s glory working through you.  You could serve in the Children’s Ministry, for there are still a few opportunities to be assistants (contact Pat Hillebrand). You could serve in the Youth Ministry helping our youth find treasure in Jesus Christ.  There’s usually several opportunities every quarter to be involved without a huge commitment  (contact Justin Williams).  There are eternal rewards for helping others find the treasure.  There’s also opportunity to join us Saturday morning at 8:30 am for the evangelism seminar Pastor Gary will lead.  He’ll be done around noon.  It’ll be a great opportunity to sharpen your sharing skills or learn a new tool.

Many things give temporary happiness, but nothing compares with living out His salvation and helping others find Him as their treasure.  It is God’s blessing as we give away the treasure, because we gain many-fold more in blessing. It’s often a struggle, but what treasure isn’t worth the effort?

Pray for Becky Gluff as she flies out Friday to Ukraine to minister to women and pastors.  She’ll be teaching, training and giving her testimony of God’s grace. 

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night for Daylight Savings Time.  Spring forward on your clock and you’ll not miss the great tribute service for Pastor Dick!

Reconciliation

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Thanks again for your great support and prayer during the loss of my dad and that we could rejoice together about the salvation of my high school buddy, Dale.

I don’t know if you caught my thoughts on 2 Cor. 5:14-19 on Sunday as well as the thoughts from Colossians. We humanly struggle with reconciliation, because we “hope” things will work out, but we’re not absolutely sure.  If the person was forever gone, then we never have to think about it again.  If the person who hurt you dies, then you never have to deal with them physically again (I understand the memories that might exist).  You can have peace and not be suspicious, questioning, or be on guard.  That’s what God did with all the sins of the world in Christ.  God put all the sins of the world on Christ and when Christ died, all the sins of the world were put away – forever.

Now all that has to happen is to accept the gift of salvation by faith.  Paul writes that “If One died for all, then all died,” and then “…that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,…”  As unbelievers, we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin (John 16:8-11), that we haven’t believed in Christ, of righteousness, that Jesus satisfied the righteousness of the Father and a judgment is coming for those who reject.  Sin is no longer the issue for salvation that I have to do something about; we know because that is not the issue for judgment at the Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).  All the world has to do is accept what the Substitute of the world has done, died for them, thus removing the enmity, the hostility, away eternally.  The Righteousness of God was satisfied and the Love of God welcomes unbelievers who accept the gift of salvation by faith.  Those who do not, reject the pardon and are forever banished from God’s presence.  That exalts God’s character beyond the universe.

I thought I’d also include those five statements that we walked through regarding initiating practical reconciliation.  They were:

  • Expressing regret.  “I’m sorry for what I did.”
  • Accepting responsibility.  “I was wrong.”
  • Making restitution.  “What can I do to make things right?”
  • Genuine repentance.  “I don’t want to ever do that again.”
  • Requesting forgiveness.  “Will you please forgive me?” 

Let me know if you have any questions.  This message was a great way to see the Grace of God for me.

The Preeminent Christ

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Jesus is Preeminent!  He is preeminent as God, Creator, Sustainer and Head of the Body!

I love how Grace is responding to that preeminence by looking for ways to connect to worship Jesus.  Grace has many opportunities to equip growing believers to become more like Jesus Christ and minister in the stature we have in Christ.  We need to multiply ourselves in order to reach the world.  There is little time to waste, because the seeds of darkness look for any crack to root down, sprout up and smother our desire to honor the Lord Jesus!

We had a full day with the commissioning of deacons and elders.  What a joy to see new men rise up and serve at Grace.

I should have mentioned a handout on the information counter on Sunday.  Many religions don’t view Jesus the way we do.  I’ve listed nine different religions and compared what they believe about salvation and about Jesus to what we believe.  Hopefully you can use that list to worship Jesus by your words and life.

Thanks for your great support and prayers as I leave to my dad’s funeral.