Grace Blogs

Do you have difficulty being grateful? Today we are going to discuss what it means to be grateful, why we should, and some ways we can. As we enter the Christmas season, we want to reflect on the blessings we have as followers of Christ and the hope and peace that can be found only in Him.MP3 download.

 

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We have been weaving our way through a teaching series called ChurchWorks . In digging through how a church functions we have been taking a look at expressions of the Spirit (a.k.a spiritual gifts). In doing research for this aspect of the teaching, I was turned onto a person claiming to be a powerful conduit of God’s Spirit. So, I thought it would be good to try and apply the teaching points we have unearthed in this study thus far (I Corinthians, Ephesians 4, etc.) directly to a Mr. Todd Bentley.

Here’s a general introduction from an Nightline special focusing on Mr. Bentley. BTW. I understand the people conducting the “investigation” are bent …

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In teaching this passage, I noted that a fundamental issue with the church today is directly connected with our understanding of what happens when a person becomes a follower of Christ. In other words, how do we know when someone becomes a Christian and, thus, part of the church universal? To Paul, it was clear that he took great confidence that the Church at Thessalonica was real and true (“chosen” by God, v.4) because they had clearly changed and everyone knew it. In fact, they were joyfully accepting abuse from people who didn’t like the fact that they had turned from worshiping idols (see I Thess.1:6). Therefore, the change that these people underwent was obvious, radical, and complete.

Are …

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In this past Sunday’s God Questions series, we tackled the question: If God loves the world so much then why is there so much pain in this world? In talking about that, we mentioned that pain was introduced with the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Astute listeners have pointed out that in Genesis 3:16, God gives Eve (and all women after her) the bad news that He would increase her pain in childbirth. This implies that there was at least some pain in childbirth before the fall.

This is correct. When we said that pain came after the fall, we meant pain in the sense of pain, suffering, and grief. The central

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This past Sunday’s GraceTalk included the following question…

I struggle to know the difference between forgiving someone for sinning against me and allowing them back into my world. Do I have to just forgive and forget? If this is true, I don’t know how. Thoughts?

It is sometime hard to tell exactly where the author of a question like this is coming from. Is this person having trouble forgiving? Is he or she able to forgive, but struggling with the practical implications of the person after forgiving? And as is the case with most questions, the details of the particular situation are important. Given all of that, we’ll look at the biblical principles involved. We are to

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This week’s GraceTalk featured the following question…

In discussing the fact that we are all sinners and need to repent, I have run into the following argument that I get stumped trying to answer.

In John 8:1-11, Jesus is confronted with a clear situation of sin in relation to a woman “caught in adultery” yet Christ refused to condemn her actions as wrong. Jesus seems to actually excuse her by simply telling her that she is not “condemned” and she can go without any type of judgment. I was under the understanding that she and the man should have been put to death (according to Lev. 20:10). I have had people tell me that this

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This upcoming Sunday (12.30.07) we will be having a GraceTalk with the Pastors of Grace Fellowship. One of the questions is as follows:

Can the Pastors talk some more how to “crucify the flesh” from the Freedom series? I missed the session when this was taught. I heard people discussing this perspective that I never really heard it before and thought it would be helpful to know better. The idea of “killing your desires?” Please explain?

Although we will be dealing with this question on Sunday, I was encouraged to address this subject in written form for those who may not attend or want more resources on this subject.

In Galatians 5:24 it says, And those who belong …

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On Sunday (June 10) we taught on “Permission to Judge” in regard to what Jesus meant when he said, “Do not judge or you will be judged” (Luke 6:38). One of the things we need to guard against is making summery judgments based on appearance alone. Larry sent me the following as a great example of this warning:

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While there are issues that boil with passion there are others that simply simmer. For example, was Jesus the God-man? If you answer that question wrongly the result will be to have your soul damned. While there are relatively few who would make such a strong point about one subject in religion there are even fewer who would write that on a public blog! However, the gravity of this truth was hinted at in the Old Testament (Ps. 2:4-12) and screamed for in the New Testament (John 3:36; I John 4:1-3; 5:1). Our subject this week is a “simmer” subject – Who wrote Romans 7:14-25? When I say, “who” I mean, more exactly, who …

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On 02.04.02 USA TODAY contributing writer, Marilyn Elias, wrote an article entitled:

Doctors Back Gay ‘Co-Parents’

Elias reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the nation’s largest pediatric group called for state laws that allow homosexuals to adopt their partners’ children since recent research shows that heterosexual and homosexual parents can fuction with equal effectiveness in raising kids.

Legal “co-parent” status for gays would promote children’s best interests, says pediatrician Joseph Hagan Jr., chair of the panel that authored the new American Academy of Pediatrics policy.
Only a handful of states have approved co-parent adoptions for homosexuals. Meanwhile, a “gayby boom” is taking place as growing numbers of gays adopt or have their own biological children using donor sperm or female surrogates. …

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