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Jan 1 2013

The Gospel of Christ in the Old Testament


1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53)

Dec 14 2012

What Duckcommander is Really Selling – Rob Sumrall


Pastor Rob Sumrall’s post about the Robertson family and Duck Dynasty is excellent! So good I decided to post it here.

robsumrall's avatarRob's Ramblings

Duck Dynasty

Phil Robertson may not appreciate me writing about his business or his family.  I’m what Phil would derisively call a “yuppy.”  I don’t own camo, hunt, or have a beard.  That’s not to say I’m some granola PETA-type; I’m a devoted carnivore who loves gumbo, fried fish, and even the occasional boudin link.  Phil lives off the land and, frankly, doesn’t think very highly of the lifestyle the rest of us non-outdoorsy types choose to live.  I dwell comfortably in the suburbs buying my groceries at Kroger where the butcher kindly dresses my meat.  In some ways, Phil and I have about as much in common as Snooki and the Pope, which is why it may seem odd that I have been sucked into Phil Robertson’s world via the uber-popular Duck Dynasty reality show.

Phil’s story fascinates me.

Decades ago, Phil kicked his wife and kids out of his house…

View original post 1,058 more words

Nov 29 2012

Gospel of the Grace of God


The fact that the name of this blog is Grace Digest is no small matter.  Years ago when I first started this blog it was a push-back against what I was seeing across the face of Americanized Christianity, namely a man centered gospel. The gospel of Christ at its most elementary definition is simply “good news”. What God has done in the person and work of Jesus Christ is in fact “good news” for sinful people. Conversely, man centered gospel is not “good news” because a salvation that depends on the goodness, obedience, and faithfulness of mere men will crumble and fall, every time.  The whole reason for the coming of Jesus and his passion was to answer the utter failure of the best of men to fully please God.

God and God alone makes sinful humans fit for his family and eternity with him. His unfathomable grace provides eternal life and forgiveness of sins as a free gift. Any church, any religious movement, that insists that we fallen creatures can so live that we will be approved by God on our own personal merit is wrong and should be avoided.

 

Nov 13 2012

Some Observations about the church from New Testament, part 2


A few weeks ago I posted a piece I wrote on this subject that focused on how important it was to the first century church to pray together. (You can read it here) I am convinced that the spiritual weakness of an individual believer, or a church will always point first to a prayer weakness. It is very clear that prayer, and especially praying together, was essential to our earliest churchmen.

The next observation that caught my attention as I read through the Acts and other NT books is how they loved one another. The very first expression of the new found faith of those 3,000 plus who were added to the church after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost was water repentance and baptism in water. The very next picture of those new believers is this one. 

 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

 

They devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayers. You say, cool, I’m all in on that stuff, it’s all stuff I enjoy. But, they had all things for the common good and sold their stuff to take care of others less fortunate. Most of us are not in a rush to do that. But, these believers did just that.

Love is a verb. You don’t love someone from the comfort of your recliner, you DO something. These people loved others more than they loved their stuff, more than their money! It’s a very difficult lesson but there is a lesson here. Measured up against this standard almost all of us are way off track. I have some growing to do! How about you?.

Then they worshiped together, they shared meals together, with glad and generous hearts! And the result? They had favor with all the people and lots of folks were being saved.

So, what is the missing ingredient in our churches. What is the possible reason we are not seeing people saved on a regular basis. We like the teaching! We like the meals! We even enjoy fellowship! But we don’t pray together much and we are stingy. Oh my how that truth hurts… Suggest your church members have a big sale of “stuff” and give all the money to the poor in your congregation. Feel the love yet? 

We want to be a New Testament church but we want to get there by dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s on Sunday morning and ignoring the important stuff. Sorry, If we don’t really love our brothers and sisters in tangible ways we don’t qualify to be a New Testament church.

Royce