Grace Blogs

During Sunday’s Gospel Conversations class, I quoted a bit from a great book I read over the summer: Questioning Evangelism. The title does not mean the author questions the value of evangelism — rather, he advocates evangelism that is characterized by asking lots of questions. If you want a smart, fresh take on evangelism, I highly recommend this book. (Also see the review at 9Marks.)

Here’s the quote I read during our class, which focused on the gravity of sin and the fact that we can’t really understand the Gospel

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I’m not usually fond of blogs that quote a blog quoting a book, but Justin Taylor has been reading Paul Tripp’s Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy and posted an excerpt that I find extremely insightful and personally convicting…

Sin lives in a costume, that’s why it’s so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party.

Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.
Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty.
Gossip

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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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The Doctrine of God: Week 20
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, by Wayne Grudem.
Chapter 14, Creation:  Why, how, and when did God create the universe?

This week we continue a discussion on why, how, and when God created the universe.  Here we begin discussing areas where some disagreements exist among believers.

 

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Have you ever thought about how incredible the idea of a person rising from the dead?  How you ever thought of the impossibility of this kind of belief?  Well, you wouldn’t be the first.  Throughout history the resurrection of Christ has met with every response possible ranging from sneers to apathy to those that embrace the belief that Jesus did rise from the dead and lives on.  We see this spectrum of opinion in Acts 17:32-33, when it says that “when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.  But others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’  But some men joined him and believed…”

Today we will follow the pen of the

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This past Sunday Jeff Stables handed me a Wall Street Journal article entitled, Banned from the Church. The article presented a freakish view into the lives of people who have been disciplined by pastors across the Country in all types of churches. The writer, Alexander Alter, frames the church somewhere between a ravenous monster and an anemic institution trying to scrap together an authoritative stance in the lives its parishners. Frank Turk replies in an effort to create distance between churches that abuse their authority while maintaining the value that expelling people for sinful activity has in the life of a church.

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The Bible says that it is for freedom Christ has set us free (v.1). In our last teaching time we saw the game-plan (Gal. 6:1-2) to deal with people who call themselves followers of Christ (“Christians”) yet are displaying the works of the flesh (5:19-21). Today, we will look at three things that hold us back from helping people who are spiritually unhealthy and some specific signs to look for when a person has been restored to spiritual health again.

 

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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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The Leadership Team answers your questions. 

Question 1 (0:00):  How does the Leadership Team deal with political issues?  I mean do you intend to hand out voter cards or information showing the candidates and the issues they support?  

Question 2 (5:31):  I have a hard time realizing that God does love me and forgive me for all of my sins.  I almost feel like I am cheapening God’s grace when I quickly realize my sin and move on to the rest of my day.  Am I wrong for not suffering more for my sin? How much personal grief should I have if I am serious about sin?

Question 3 (14:08):  I have friends who say that feeling like you have …

 

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The Doctrine of God: Week 1
Systematic Theology:  An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, by Wayne Grudem
Chapter 9, The Existence of God

What are the evidences that God exists?  Find out as we discuss what God has made plain for all to know.

 

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