“How is the indwelling Spirit not relational?” – David Crabtree
Interesting and featured Posts and Articles.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit was the same as being saved. The New Testament church folk recognized the necessity of being saved, but they never asked the question, “Are you saved?” They would, however, ask, “Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit?” Being filled with the Holy Spirit meant that you were indeed…
I love a good coffee in the morning! It’s more than just being attracted to the aroma, and flavor of quality coffee. It’s more than caffeine’s ‘wake-up’ call, though, if I am honest, I will admit to being happy with the ‘increasing glow’ of its influence. It’s the ambiance, the “feel-good”, and the “presence” it brings.
Without trying to sound trite, it really IS about Jesus. He is the Lord of Grace. The Holy Spirit is fully in there too as He is called the Spirit of Grace (Heb 10:29). It is also about belief and unbelief in Jesus. He is either fully capable of saving and empowering us in righteousness, or He is not. Leaning to Law to assist with righteousness means we think that Jesus is less than able, which practically means we no longer trust His abilities to comprehensively save or to rule. Sounds very much like unbelief to me!
Grace is so wonderful it seems too good to be true! As Martin Lloyd-Jones once said, “If you are not being criticised for preaching licentiousness, you are not preaching Grace hard enough!”
It has been said, many many times, that a “Grace only” message is dangerous and that Grace needs to balanced with appropriate use of Law and/or Truth. If we say we need to balance Grace with Law, for example, what Law do we balance it with? Do we balance Grace with the Ten Commandments? What part(s) of Law do we omit in our balancing of Grace? Let’s explore…
The notion of an angry God has no place in light of His grace and desire to declare us innocent. I want to give you a gentle reminder of one of the salient points made by Paul in Ephesians chapter 1. Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen…
Happy New Year to you! It’s a brand new year with the invitation to explore fresh opportunities and learn new perspectives. However, one perspective will not change. 2023 will still be all about the Kingdom of God. We have no instructions to revise the message that Jesus came preaching. The Kingdom of God has come.…
The Good News is still good news! It really is true that all who believe in Jesus have eternal life. Jesus didn’t add any qualifiers. Whoever believes will receive everlasting life and have passed from condemnation into freedom. The Grace of Jesus really offends religious controllers because He offers Eternal Life on the basis of His own ability to give it to all who believe. No strings attached. Wonderful news! The Apostle Paul states that we now live in the New Covenant and under a new “administration of grace” (Eph 3), and have the living presence of the Holy Spirit. We are now empowered and governed by the Holy Spirit. Grace, therefore, needs to be redefined in the context of that New Covenant.
Big Texas Move for us. Yes, it has already Happened! The last thing we expected this year was a physical move to Texas! Yes, we have moved, since returning from Australia to Celina (North Dallas) Texas. If it wasn’t that we were certain that it was a God move, we would have been happy to…
It would be wonderful to think that GRACE is revolutionary on its own. It certainly came over that way when first presented in the New Testament. Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit paved the way for the introduction of Grace. All believers in Jesus are made righteous without the need for Law. Radical? A Reformation? You bet! Grace ‘got up the noses’ of the religious folk, and still does!
