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Feb 4 2013

Same Blog, New Look


A few of my readers had problems reading the white on black text, and I discovered that some of the older stuff in the dusty archives did not translate at all to the black theme. So, black is out.

An online friend advised me of the difficulty of finding archived posts. Hopefully I fixed that. Posts can now be found using a search widget, a category cloud, and by dated archives.

Writing has been a joy to me since I was a high school kid. I write principally for my own therapy. A few years ago my friend John Dobbs  suggested that I might enjoy blogging. I took his suggestion seriously and now many, many posts later I am so glad for the suggestion.

I have been both honored and humbled that things I have written have been helpful to so many people. I have received messages from readers from several countries saying they were encouraged, enlightened, were helped to understand a passage of Scripture, or in some way blessed by my humble efforts at the keyboard. I have heard from people who used something I posted for a communion meditation, churches have posted several posts in their weekly bulletins or monthly newsletters, and many people have written to me saying they were using something they found here in a sermon or Bible class. I am in awe at what God has done!

In 2012 there were days when I had over 20,000 views. Some days there are as few as 200. I am continually amazed that people from literally all around the planet manage to find little insignificant me and read what I write. My sincere thanks to those of you who have read my posts and a hearty welcome to new readers.

Royce Ogle
Monroe, LA

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.