Love.

When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40)

This is what God wants for and from us but I think that if we are honest with ourselves, our natural tendency is to love our self more then anything or anyone else. When left on our own, we cannot keep this command. It doesn’t offer life because when we try to love God with our own strength and devoid of the gospel we do so in a legalistic religious way. It doesn’t give life as it was meant to, but condemnation. The book of 1 John paints a beautiful picture of what it actually this looks like. We learn that not only is loving God and neighbor a command but also so much more.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us 1 John 3:16
Love is the root of the gospel. It was love that moved the Son to offer himself as our sacrifice. Because of the wicked, corrupt, and depraved effects of sin in our lives,  we would never choose God or move towards him. While we were still sinners, still in rebellion, still willingly rejecting and denying him, he died for us. This goes against the pity definition of love that we as a society has created. Its radical, ruthless, shocking, scandalous and completely counter intuitive to the human heart. This is what love is. God defines it but he doesn’t stop there, he actually fulfills it and shows us what it looks like. Love is not passive, but it is also active.

We love because he first loved us 1 John 4:19
Love is the fruit of the gospel. Out of an understanding of this great love that he has for us, only then can we be fueled to love others in the same way. In understanding that in our worst, God have us his best can we be motivated to serve and love others in a way that is unconditional and selfless. Only in understanding that he died in our place for our sin, can we truly live this out, That means servings, investing, building up each other in a way that is completely selfless. Its about giving without expecting anything back.

Not Faith + Works but Faith that Works.

The book of James practically and faithfully reminds Christians how to live authentically and wisely for Christ. In its five small chapters, It has over fifty commands.

Luther wants called the book of James an “epistle of straw”. He did not like the book of James when he first read it because in his opinion there was too much emphasize on works and not enough emphasis on what Jesus has already done. He thought it was devoid of the gospel but he eventually saw that he indeed was mistaken.

Like Luther, we often have this response also. At first read it may appear that James’ view on faith is contradictory to Paul’s, but with careful study, it is clear that they the spiritual fruit that James talks about simply demonstrates the true faith of which Paul wrote. Their writings are not  contradictory but rather complementary.

God wants us to be free. That is why Jesus came. When reading through James we must be careful how we read it so that we do not mis read it and miss what James has to say and offer us.
The gospel is the foundation on which we are to understand the book of James and the bible. If we do not understand the gospel, everything we learn will turn us into self-righteous pharisees which will eventually lead us to pride, or despair. We will either become a legalistic pharisee or we will become gospel soaked lovers of Jesus.

There are two ways to approach James. (And notice the verb tenses.)We can either approach James with the mindset that:

I’m obligated to live this way so that God will love me.
or
I’m free to live this way because God has already loved me.

You are either motivated by legalism to obedience or you are fueled by the gospel to obedience. Thats it, there is no in between.

I’m obligated to live this way so that God will love me.
Unfortunately in many churches today, the Gospel of Christ is assumed and we are taught morality and ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’. We are taught a moralistic therapeutic deism, where we try harder to be better, and told to pick ourselves up from our bootstraps, Jesus is our life coach and moral example, and guide to a healthy, good works, moral and happy life. We leave the sunday morning motivated to try harder, and to perform better. Therefore when we approach God our mindset becomes ‘I do good things IN ORDER to gain Gods love and favor.’ So we work really really hard, to be moral and good people, so that God will bless us. The result is we either do well in our performance, and then are puffed up with pride, or we are defeated, and we fall into despair. This is how it works. When things crash and the world hits us, we question Gods goodness and character entirely based on our misunderstandings and poor interpretations. We let our circumstances dictate our passion. This leads to guilt-driven obedience. It is a life of shame, and condemnation. We see the gospel as “Do” and use our good works as a means to salvation. The common interpretation of James is Faith + Works = Salvation. This is wrong.

I’m free to live this way because God has already loved me.
But if we interpret the book of James through the lens of the Gospel we learn the Its not Faith + Works but rather Faith that Works.The gospel says that I do good things because God has already loved me. God came in Jesus through the Gospel not to just set non-Christians free from the penalty of sin, but to set Christians free from the power of sin. The Gospel is our motivation in our obedience to God. We don’t do good works in order to gain his love and acceptance, but we do good works because Christ has already gained infinite love and acceptance on our behalf. We are free to be harsh with sin because we know the cost that Jesus, our savior (not our life coach) paid. We understand our wretched, wicked and corrupt state and that God has done something in Christ to save us. We understand that Christ has done something totally radical, and counter intuitive to every performance driven impulse of our heart. He has actually done the work. It is finished. Therefore good works are not a means to salvation, good works are the fruit of salvation. In a thankful and appreciation to what he has done, we respond. Those who have saving faith, have been given a new heart, and are being regenerated into the likeness of Christ. It is impossible to have saving faith and not do good works. That what James means when he says “faith without works is dead” he isn’t saying that Faith + Works. He is saying Faith that Works. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.

When we read the bible it must be interpreted through the lens of the Gospel because believe it or not, the bible is not about you. Its about Jesus.

Passing the Torch. From one Gman to another.

2 Timothy is the most personal, intimate, emotional, and pastoral book I have yet to study here at ESBS. Before dying, Paul writes 2 Timothy to express his deep affection for his faithful friend and to ensure that his ministry would continue after his death by younger Christians, who would pass the torch from one Gospel man to another.

Timothy is likely the last letter that Paul penned and may have been written only days before he was murdered by beheading at the hands of the Emperor Nero in 68 AD. As he sits alone in his dark, filthy, roman cell, scarred by beatings and persecution, not complaining nor questioning Gods goodness or faithfulness but rather with his head up high determined and confident that he will soon be in Glory, face to face with his Savior and great King Jesus.

Paul has served faithfully as an apostle, he has been ship wrecked, stoned, flogged, harassed, and beaten. He has run the race, he has fought the good fight, he has been faithful and he will soon be in glory.
Paul is about to pass the torch to the next generation of Christian leadership and It is interesting what Paul wants Timothy to understand and accept at this defining moment.
What does biblical leadership look like?
His Instructions:

“Preach the Word in season and out of season” 2 Tim 4:2
Be faithful to the word of God and preach the bible for what it says, not for what you want it to say. Make it sound as good as it really is. The Bible says some radical, offensive, ruthless, shocking things that offend every self righteous, performance driven, post-modern, rebellious impulse of our hearts. People do not want to hear truth but would rather have their itching ears satisfied and wander off into myths. Hold firm to the word, be faithful in times of fruit, and in times of drought. Do not relent. Preach without apology. Do not be silent. They chopped off Paul’s head, stone stephen and crucified Christ because it was the only way to silence them.

“Remember Jesus” 2 Tim 2:8
The bible is about Jesus. Tell people about Jesus. Tell them of his goodness, of his character and his radical grace. Tell them that they are sinners in need of a savior. Tell them that he is a good and forgiving God. Tell tell about the good news that God has done something in Christ to Save wicked, wretched sinners like them. Warn them about Hell, and paint a beautiful image of what Heaven will be like. Inspire them to Love Jesus. Herald. Proclaim. Announce.

“Fulfill your ministry” 2 Tim 4:5
You have YOUR own calling from God. This is not someone elses ministry this is your ministry. If God wanted someone else, he would have picked someone else. It is important and good to learn from others, but not to duplicate their ministry. You are who you are, by the eternal love of God. Offer yourself to God, and reach for YOUR destiny. You are approved and qualified by God.

Do we see Him?

Do we see him?

Ricky: "Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the South call you: 'Jee-suz'. We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious...Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife's father Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always botherin' with it. Dear Tiny Infant Jesus..."

Ricky: "Dear Tiny Jesus, in your golden fleece diapers with your tiny, little fat balled up fists...Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money.... "Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don't even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent.....”

the script below was taken from a famous dinner scene from the movie Talledega Knights; the ballad of Ricky Bobby.

When I first saw this specific scene I was filled with all different kinds of emotions.
First, It was a funny, so I was filled with laughter.

But the more I chewed on it the more I was filled with a sadness, anger and drive. I was filled with these emotions because, this mindset isn’t a far cry from the one that our era has today.

I think if you are honest with yourself, you would agree with me also. You would agree that this is indeed a familiar mindset that many people have whether they admit it or not. The reason for this mindset, is that in reality we like this Jesus best. We tend to only see the baby Jesus and never move past it. Why? this baby Jesus is safe. He is not a threat. He isn’t offensive, radical, or ruthless but cuddly, cute, soft, fun, harmless, safe, you can pick him up and rock him to sleep, you can pick him up and take him where ever you want. Who doesn’t like babies?

No one would every say this or admit this but in our minds, in the way we live life out, in the way we approach God, we can in fact have a Ricky bobby, baby Jesus mentality. A cute baby, who gets us good things, makes us feel nice feelings, or get us out of hell.

Do we see him?

In The book of Colossians we are forced to see a glorious and accurate portrait of who Jesus really is. We see a portrait that is radically different then the “Christmas baby Jesus”. We see a Jesus who has authority. A Jesus who is King.

He is the very picture of God, The invisible God becomes visible. (1:15) At one point we could not know, see, or be in relationship with God. People could know of him, but they couldn’t actually know him in a real relational way. Through Jesus we now can. Jesus is God revealed to us. If we want to know his character, look to Jesus. If we want to know his will, look to Jesus. If we want to know his emotions, we look to Jesus.

He is he both the cause and the source of creation. There is nothing that exists without him. He is the ground for reason.He is the very point of everything. It is all about Jesus(1:16, John 1:3)
He is the Head of the church. The Senior Pastor. He calls the shots. Our authority must reside in Him, we must be submissive to Him, organize our leadership around align our mission to him. He is not functional figure head, rather then the Pastor in which all other pastors yield to in leadership. It is all about Jesus, if it isn't, we have a problem.(1:17).
He is the fullness of God (1:19) Jesus is the fullness of The Old Testament God. He isn’t a new God, he isn’t a more ‘chill’ God, or ‘more loving’ God. He is the One true God.

The same God who:
made all of the world in 6 days,
afflicted the Egyptians with plagues,
parted the Red Sea and provided the Israelites travel on dry land while being pursued by the Egyptians,
was a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night,
sent manna down from heaven,
water from a rock,
made the sun stand still,
rose up judges,
commands the ground to open and swallow rebells,
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

Do we see the baby Jesus, or the Jesus:
- that tells the wind and waves to shut up and they do because the authority that he has in his voice.
The Jesus who is the sustainer of everything and when he speaks things happen.
The Jesus who flips tables in the temple,
picks fights with the pious religious teachers who would not accept his message.
who is Glorious,
who is Perfect,
who is Holy,
who is Just and Supreme,
who is King of Kings,
who is Lord of Lords,
who Deserves nothing less than eternal glory and everlasting worship.
The Jesus who wrapped himself in the flesh, ate with us, did life with us then we striped him naked and crucified him, nailed him to a tree because we refused him as God.
The Jesus who on the cross he Paid our debt in full, took our sin and shame and gave us his righteousness,then sealed us with the Holy Spirit and made us his own.
 Do we see him?

Yes, the baby Jesus scene is important, and it paints a glorious picture of his humanity, and humility. It speaks incredibly about his love and his nature and character. But He did not stay there. He grew up, discipled, then he went to the cross, rose three days later and is now sitting at the right hand of God in glory. Sin, Satan, Death and Hell Defeated.


Do we see him?

Baby Jesus isn’t going to get you through this year.

The Way Of The Gospel.

We live live in a culture that values self reliance, and performance. If  One is going to succeed in life, and accomplish things they need to be the smartest, the biggest, and the best. They need to be strong and able to out-perform the rest. In the bible, but more specifically 2nd Corinthians we see that the way of the Gospel takes our lust for power and significance and turns it upside down.

The way we see Paul live is irrational, and inverted to societies thinking. His ministry is not flashy, eloquent,  or comfortable, but simple, straight forward and irrational to everything we know and expect. Paul embodies the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and the religious, pious false teachers do not like and will not accept the crux of his message; a defeated savior.

What does it mean to live a cross centered life? Paul has some radical things to say.
Acknowledge your frailty to God. Look to the Savior. He embraced the weakness of the cross so that you and I, weak moral sinners, can experience the blood-bought power of God.

What is your strength (that thing you rest on ) charm, intelligence, charisma, humor? Cross centered living means we do not ignore our weakness, but lean into them.
why? because we know, “When I am weak I am strong” because God will reveal his power

So, let’s boast in our weakness instead of our self-righteousness and strength. This is obviously folly and nonsense to the world, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.

How Big is your God?

Unconditional Election. Predestination. 
When you read or hear these words how do they make you feel? do they make you feel:
- uneasy?
- awkward?
- angry? 

- confused?
- uncomfortable?


Why do you feel those feelings?
Is it because these ideas don’t fit into the tiny theological box that you’ve put God in? Is it because you think that God wouldn’t do something that you wouldn’t do? Or maybe God would not think or act in a way in which you do not think or act?

Do we ever think that maybe the creators plans are more developed then our own and that maybe his nature and character is perfect and it is us who is flawed? So often we put Gods actions into our reasoning. We tend to put God into a box and are tempted to only believe the things the we can understand or comprehend. The things that we don’t understand or do not like; we get rid of. 


For many of us, our God is too small. Our tendency is to make him reflection of who we are and what we understand rather than us being a reflection of him. We can come to places that tell us things about God that go way beyond what we can understand or comprehend, and instead of accepting things by faith and believing them despite whether these things are true about God, we tend to dismiss them, sweep them or under the rug, or get rid of them in our minds altogether.

There are things about God that we will never understand because God is God and we are not, God is big, we are small. God is infinite we are finite. God is knowable and we don’t have to guess who he is, because he has showed us. What we do know about God is true and real as long as it corresponds with the scriptures. What we know is true, but it is only partial. How can it be that God has ordained everything and yet we are not robots?- this is a good question and we may never know. Scripture tells us things about God that are gloriously true but way beyond our ability to understand. If we don’t dismiss them but wrestle and take God at his word, we will grow and mature. 

The book of Romans, paint a depressing, and sad portrait of the condition and depravity of humanity. One does not have to read far into the first chapter before learning that  humans are so spiritually corrupt, prideful, rebellious and wretched that we would never choose God (Rom.1:21,3:9-10, Psalm 14:1,3) In fact, not only would we never chose him, we actually actively reject him. (1:21,32)

Further more, we also have the audacity to take God and put him on trial (1:28) We decide that this is not the kind of God we want, we reject him as God, do not see him fit to be worshipped, in so turn and worship the creature, rather than the creator thus God gives humanity over to its rebellion and he lets humanity to worship, pursue and obtain the very things that lead to destruction (1:18-32) Because we are in rebellion, everything we do is sin, good works and bad works alike (Rom.14:23) Our inability to submit to God or make changes to ourselves is total, and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment. If God waited for us to seek after him, the point is that he would be still waiting. Naturally we run from him. And if God waited for us to move towards him, we would have no hope at all. We are Dead.(Ephesians 2:4–5) Blind. (2 Cor 4:4) Hopeless people. Every single person.(1:20) Period.

But along with being perfect, holy and just God is also compassionate and loving. So before the world ever existed, before there were stars, a moon, the sky, before their were grass and goats. There was God. In that moment, God had you in mind and, in His unfathomable, electing, shocking, ruthless, scandalous and unconditional love, He decided to redeem you in Jesus Christ. He really did. He chose to save you (Ephesians 1:3) His love for you is eternal and not based any merit. God chose you to be his child before the foundation of the world, despite you.(Romans 8:29-30, 9:11, 11:5-7, Ephesians 1:4-6) While you were still dead in your trespasses(Romans 5:8. Ephesians 2:4-5) spitting in his face, jamming nails into his wrists, thorns into his head, he did something shocking. God took you, his will overrode your will, he gave you faith, HE saved you, HE embraced you, and HE accepted you. Then he substituted your cold dead heart with a new and regenerated heart and then sealed you with the Holy Spirit. Because God is faithful to complete the work he began; he promised to sustain you, and to hold you back from sin that leads to death. You are you eternally secure (Ephesians 1:13, 2Corinthians 1:22, 5:5)



‘Wait Chance you mean to tell me that God unconditionally elects?’

How dare he:
- trade me his righteousness for my sin
- come uninvited into my life.

- force his will to over ride my will.

- make a choice.

- give me something I don't deserve(grace)
- not give me what I do deserve (wrath)

How dare he:

- he save me.

- give me faith.
- secure me.
- give me a new heart.
- a new mind.
- a new path.

(sound ridiculous?)

praise God.



How does this fit into the post modern thinking in which you are saturated in?
is this offensive? 

Well, you or I do not get to comment on how God saves. He is God, we are not. We are just pieces of clay, trying to tell other pieces of clay, about who the potter is. His thoughts are not like our thoughts and his ways are not like our ways(Isa 55:8) 


The Doctrine of Unconditional Election is a comforting doctrine. In understanding that God saves sinners, and sinners don save themselves, it frees us to approach evangelism with confidence and boldness. It assures us of our eternal security. God Loved you before you did anything good or bad, and you can be confident that he loves you after.

The Doctrine of Election isn’t a topic to be debated, but embraced and bring overflowing passion and worship to our Sovereign, omnipotent God. It should challenge us to be Christians;
"Radical, full-blooded, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered, mission-advancing, soul-winning, church-loving, holiness-pursing, sovereignty-savoring, grace-besotted, broken-hearted, happy followers of the omnipotent, crucified Christ. At least that’s our imperfect commitment.’’- John Piper



Well how do I know if I am elect?

Do you hate sin and love Jesus and been giving a regenerated heart by the Holy Spirit?
Then you are elect.



Unconditional Election. Predestination. 

When you read or hear these words how do they make you feel? How about:

- thankful?
- humbled?
- excited?
- passionate?
- worshipful?
- assured?
- comforted?

How big is your God?






Dear Future Chance;

You have committed to dedicating the rest of your life to loving and serving one woman. That is a high calling. What an honor.

I’ve decided to write this letter to remind you of something important. Something that by the grace of God you have not forgotten, something I hope you have not dismissed  or moved beyond, something I pray you have held fast to. It is something that radically has changed your life, something that you are addicted too, something that excited and fuels you, something that runs through your veins; that something is the Gospel.

I want to remind you that despite what you think, you are still a sinner saved by Gods grace. That has not changed, and it never will. I want to remind you that there is nothing impressive about you. To the core you are a wicked sinner, and rebel who’s hands have murdered the author of time.  I want to remember everything that your Savior has done for you. While you were still spitting in his face, and ripping skin of his back and legs, jamming a crown of thorns in his skull, nailing his wrists and feet to a tree, he pursued you, he loved you, he gave himself up for you. Jesus lived the life you could not live, he died the death should have died, and he gives the gift that you can not earn; grace. He did not do it because anything you do, not your good deeds, or your bad deeds, but because of his compassionate, holy, and unconditional sacrificial love. In your worst, he gave you his best.

I wanted to remind you of this, because in order to have a healthy marriage, you must be saturated in this. You can not possibly love her the way she ought to be loved if you have moved past the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This needs to fuel you. Only then can you come home after a long day of work and give her your undivided attention, only then can you turn off the t.v and do the dishes, take the garbage out, spend time with her, listen to her, invest in her, love her and pursue her even when she is being selfish, stubborn, unfair, or even sinning against you . In his worst, he gave you his best.

I remind you of the Gospel  and in light of it I command you to sacrifice your life, for hers. Christ commands husbands to love their life like Christ loves the church.
How is that going Chance?
Are you loving her like Christ loves the church? Are you serving her selflessly? unconditionally? whole heartedly? Have you given your life for her? Have you given yourself up for her that she you might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word? are you patient with her are you kind? or are you envious, rude or arrogant towards her? are you irritable or resentful? do you rejoice at her wrong doing? have you become a coward like your father Adam? If so, shame on you from cowering from your responsibility to lead the family well. Shame on you for not giving your best.

Does this anger you? Whom am I to call you out on this? Im a single 20 year old past you, who does not know the first thing about women. Im like a dog chasing a fire truck aren’t I? I would not even know what to do if I caught it.



Ask me if I care.
If for some reason you’ve fell away from your responsibly of leading well, its time to put your pants on and repent of your stupidity and childlike behavior, become a man and give up your childish ways.

I pray and hope that you have stayed faithful and expect by the grace of God, you will. Keep loving well, stay rooted in his grace, and love that women well. Love endures all things...  SO endure for the sake of the promise and remember that in your worst, He gave you his best.
Lead well.

With much love from ESBS 2011
 20 year old Chance.

Christian; put some pants on and get a job.

What would you do if you ‘knew’ how long you had to live? How would you live your life? Think about it, because what you believe about the future, dictates how you live today.

Harold camping. 9/11. y2k. 2012. I am Legend, and the list goes on.
Our society is obsessed with end times. We can not get enough of it. There is something about it that is mysterious and exciting. From the beginning of church history to now, there are men and women who are sure that the end is here and the world will end in their lifetime. Each one of these people have something in common; they are wrong.

The secular world is obsessed with it, so they make movies and write books.
The church people are obsessed with it, so they make charts, and billboards because they read a unclear verse out of context, they make predictions.

In the world of the 1st century Christians in Thessalonica, the same obsession is common. The Thessalonians are so obsessed to when the 2nd coming of Jesus they forget about the present they are in.

They are so are sure that the return is in their lifetimes, they quit their jobs, and start having a lot of sex out side of covenant relationship. They get trapped in the idea that the spiritual and the physical share no commonality. What they believe about the future dictates how they live in the present. The problem is they have a poor understanding of what is to come and a false understanding of what it means to be spiritual.

In the Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul addresses this mindset. He explains to them that the spiritual and physical do have a commonality, in fact they are one in the same. The Thessalonians do not work because they  assume that the physical does not matter because Jesus is coming back ASAP. They start having a ton of sex with one another, because their mindset is that it is just physical and it does not effect them spiritually. Paul radically turns this mindset upside down.

One of the most spiritual things one can do, is work.
One of the most spiritual things one can do, is love their neighbor
One of the most spiritual thing one can do, is be pure with their body.

Thessalonians is not written TO us, the people in the 21st century. It is however written FOR us. It is amazing how a book written 2000 years ago, still speaks into our culture and society today.  Jesus is coming back, that is for sure. When? Well no body knows, but that should not motivate us to drop responsibilities.

It should challenged and fuel us to live in the now, in light of who Jesus is and what he as done.

It should motivate us to love on people, like Jesus loves on us, it should encourage us to fight for purity, and embrace sanctification.

It should break down the walls of living for the future and over spiritualizing everything and encourage us to put some pants on, get a job, and be faithful to what God has given us.

The Monster.

Galatians.
I hate going to the dentist. I hate going to the dentist, because I know when I get there my dentist is going to ask me that one question. “ how is your flossing going” and I know I am going to have to look at him and reluctantly say something like “well….uhm… its going ok….i’m trying” and then admit that I haven’t been doing as well I should be, and then he will give me the look of judgement. He will give me the evil eye.

I hate going to the dentist because I feel like my relationship with him is entirely determined by my performance to him. I will either leave the dentist full of pride because I did well in my flossing, or leave in despair because I realize I don’t do as well as I could.

It is amazing how in the  similar way in which I view my dentist, many people view God.

Everything inside of the human heart strives to measure up, to perform, to succeed, and to be accepted. Everything inside of the human heart drives us to try to earn our way. The harder one tries, the better one will become, the harder on performs and measures up, the more acceptance one will achieve. This idea often carries into our relationship with God. We try to earn his acceptance. We try hard to obey the rules, serve, and be good people, in order to be accepted. It is called self righteousness and it is a monster. Its the biggest and yet most subtle heresy in the church today.

The Monster says I obey therefore I am accepted. The idea being if one tries hard enough to follow the Law and Prophets and, by worldly standards, does a good job, God will love them. If one does all the right things, works hard and performs well when its necessary, God is happy with them and they may go to heaven. To get closer to God one must obey as many rules as possible.

The Monster is about becoming better on the outside; at the heart of it, all The Monster is concerned with is making himself the savior of his own life. Following the rules set out by God, he becomes proud of his own actions and not joyful in God’s. And as pride rules the heart so does contempt for those who are deemed less worthy by prideful people.
But
The Gospel Man says that I am accepted therefore I obey. Through Christ, God is infinitely happy and accepting towards me. Through Christ I have gained His acceptance, His love, and His approval. I no longer work in order to gain his approval, but out of loving response to grace I will work hard. God is a father who looks at his kids; a father who loves me, in spite of who I was. God does not love me so that I will obey, but loves me so that I can obey. His relationship with the father doesn’t depend on his obedience to him, but Christ’s obedience to him on his behalf because he never could. Out of that thankfulness and relationship with Christ comes the fruit and obedience, motivated and fueled by grace and love rather than duty and obligation.

The Gospel Man says that there are only bad people, who are either repentant or unrepentant. Since are all born into sin, all are sinners, all are bad, all are rebels, and enemies of God. So when Gods see him, he doesn’t see bad or good, he sees unrepentant or repentant; Dead or alive; he sees bad and he sees Jesus. Period.

The Gospel man recognizes his unworthiness.

The Gospel man is repentant and understands the message of the Gospel. He understands that he indeed is bad, sinful, unclean and in need of the mercy and grace of God and when confronted by God’s law, can’t help but cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death”

The law shows us that our best is never good enough. It is as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 54:6) It reveals how quick we are to run from God but the gospel reveals how quick God is to run after us. The bad news is that we are more wicked then we could ever know or fear but the Good news is that in Christ we are far more loved and valuable then we could ever hope or have imagined.

If you are a Gospel Man, you are right now under the completely sufficient righteousness of Christ. In the courtroom of heaven God the judge has examined your case & declared you totally innocent in his eyes. Your pardon is full and final. In Christ, you’re forgiven. You’re clean. It is finished.The threat of failure, judgment, and condemnation has been removed. You’re in.forever.  Nothing you do will make your position better and nothing you do will make your position worse. you’ve been set free.

Acts.

    God is sovereign; meaning that he is in control of everything and has a plan. When he does one thing, he is doing a million things. Whether he is doing miracles or whether he there is suffering God ultimately has a plan and is in control of the situation.
     In Acts we see both miracles and suffering which are used by God for God. After the healing of Aeneas (Acts 9:32-35) it says “all the residents ...turned to the lord”,  and after the healing of Dorca “ it became know throughout Joppa and many believed in the Lord” God is using these miracles not only to heal individually but also corporately.
    After the stoning of Stephen(Acts 7:54-60) there was a persecution against the church in Jerusalem and the church scatters (Acts 8:1) God uses this persecution to spread the Gospel outside of Jerusalem.Likewise After Ananias and Sapphira’s death, great fear comes upon all who hear (Acts 5:5,11) which leads to the church being held in high esteem (Acts 5:13). Furthermore, Peter and Johns arrest leads to the strengthening of the church in Acts 4:24, 31
    The reality is that we live in a fallen, broken world  that is corrupted by sin and we should expect suffering. Fortunately we have a loving, sovereign God who works out all things for good (Rom 8:28) Though he has freed us from the penalty of sin, and is from the power of sin, we are not yet freed  from the presence of sin but one day we will be.
    When I read the book of Acts I see that there are in fact good times and bad times but I also have a loving God who is in fact with me(Acts 18:10) and in control. Those who call themselves Christians should expect suffering and can be content in every situation, because as Paul says in Philippians 4:13 “ I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”

Grace changes everything.

    A true taste of Jesus, changes everything. A picture of his scandalous, radical, undeserving, irresistible grace will take persecutors and make them preachers, will take cowards and make them courageous, will take dead people, and make them alive. Jesus’ changes everything and in the Acts of the Apostles we see that those who know Jesus and his Gospel, can not help but to tell everyone about it. Those who love Jesus, share him with the world; at any cost.

 As people who have been radically effected and touched by Jesus, should the church not want to tell everyone about him?

 We motivate people to be missional by teaching, preaching, and reminding Christians of who Jesus is and all that he has done. That he was missional first. He pursued us, loved us, died for us, and gave us something we could never get on our own; Grace. Not only should the life of Jesus challenge us to be missional, it should fuel us.

Jesus; a glutton and drunkard.

In the book of Luke we  discover a Jesus who is shocking, radical, counter cultural, and offensive. We see a Jesus who loves to party with prostitutes(Luke 13:1-17) and the outcasts of the society. The tax collectors and ‘sinners’ love him, the lepers love him, the widows love him, While the pious, religious, well behaved moral people take offense to him(Luke 11:45) and can not relate to what he was about; the outrageous, scandalous grace of God.

In reading the book of Luke, one can not help but to notice how he interacts with the social outcasts of the day. Instead of looking down upon them, rejecting them, despising them, he shares a meal with them. He offers them grace.

What is the Son of Man doing when he comes to earth? The Jews expected him to come  defeating God’s enemies and vindicating his people but instead he shares a meal with the lowly.  God comes to earth and he shares a meal with his enemies. The leaders respond by calling him a glutton and a drunkard(Luke 7:34), while the ‘sinners’ respond by sitting at his feet(Luke 7:38)

The ones who considered themselves good with God, seem to be furthest away from him, while those who were considered the furthest from him, are joining in intimacy with him. This is a game changer.

Jesus meets broken people where they are at, interacts with them, and then he turns them into worshipers. He speaks into their situation and their life is forever changed and he doesn’t care about the cultural norm. He accepts them, forgives them, and joins into relationship with them, as it was always meant to be.

God has sat down and eaten with sinners. When he sat down with Levi, he was sitting down with me. Despite my uncleanliness, my sin, my past, the baggage that I have. Despite all my good works, and all of my bad works,  Jesus has offered me relationship. He offers to meet me where I am at. I  come as I am, join relationship with him and have forever been changed. I do not obey, in order gain acceptance from him but because I am accepted I will obey.

Workspace.

Philippians; following our humble King Jesus.

The book of Philippians is about serving in humility. A virtue that is counter intuitive to every performance driven impulse of our heart. Paul makes some big game changing statements that go against everything the Philippians knew.

" In humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you not look to your own interests but the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)

the word humility is defined (Word Study Dictionary) as

"the sinners confession of his sin and deep realization of his unworthiness to receive Gods marvelous grace"

The only way for me to truly serve unconditionally, and selflessly is to understand that I have been loved and served unconditionally, by the only true one worthy of being served; that is Jesus.  In a overflow of thankfulness, I will serve and love on other people, because I realize that I am just as jacked up as my neighbor.

sin is deep. his grace is deeper.