Redefining Grace

Redefining Grace – Rob Coscia

If you’re one of those I keep seeing that focuses on the negativity of cities, states, and nations, pointing out all the wrongs that God must hate, I have a word for you. The dark cloud you keep pointing at isn’t a judgment from God. It isn’t even directly from the enemy. It’s from you. It’s the result of your retreat.

When you abandon your post of influencing the city in the fruit of the Spirit, you remove all the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, and hope that God has given to you, and you leave a gap. A gap you then judge as the sin of others, most of whom are living as best they can in the absence of a demonstration of something better.

Whether it came from an offense against you, or your own failure, somewhere along the way you listened to the enemy’s definition of grace, that it is conditional, limited, and must be earned. That kind of warped grace makes you insecure. So you protect your religious position by judging those who have experienced less of God’s presence than you, then punish them by removing all of yours.

I invite you to let God redefine grace for you. You are so completely, perfectly, unceasingly loved by your Father. You do not have to earn it. You don’t have to perform for it. You don’t have act perfectly, or stress yourself and everyone around you to the breaking point trying. As in Zechariah 4, cry out “Grace, grace!” over all that you are, including your past, and all that God wants to be for you.

When you know that Jesus’ love and grace toward you are unending, they will overflow to your family, your work, your city, your nation. You’ll remember that it’s not your job to curse the darkness. It’s your joy to transform it.

“Let your light so shine before others, that they may see the good things you do, and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5.16)

from: http://bit.ly/1NaqQzx

The Gospel of the Kingdom, or The Gospel of Salvation?

The gospel which we preach nowadays, which I refer to as “the gospel of salvation,” is largely about leading people to a salvation experience, typically in the form of “the sinner’s prayer.”

But such an experience is entirely lacking from the ministry of Jesus. Certainly, there’s nothing even remotely like a “repeat after me” prayer in scripture, but more, Jesus never called on people to perform any sort of act of conversion: no sinner’s prayer, no pledge card, no “with every eye closed, raise your hand.” Nothing.

But his first and strongest message was “Repent [which means “change the way you think”], for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand [which I interpret as “within reach”].” And then for three and a half years, he both taught on and demonstrated what the Kingdom was like.

And since He demonstrated it, regardless of what we think of His teachings, we have to admit that “the Kingdom” includes healing the sick and raising the dead. We watch Him in the Gospels, and it *looks* like it involves hanging out with tax collectors and “sinners” more intentionally than going to “church” (in his case, Temple).

And apparently, judging from the way he announced it, it involves thinking differently. Since he was talking to arguably the most religious people in history, apparently it meant “think differently than your religion.”

Adding His teachings into the description, the “good news” [“gospel”] of the Kingdom appears to also include loving people outside our comfort zone, and replicating ourselves (“bearing fruit”), and being treasured by God (as in the Pearl of Great Price).

It may be of some benefit to just look at every place that the Kingdom is mentioned in the gospels (follow this link: http://bit.ly/2pySuBb), and see what the Holy Spirit shows you. But take your time; there are 119 verses in that link, each with some revelation on the Kingdom. And I very much encourage you to discuss what you learn with Holy Spirit, and let Him separate the meat from the bones!

Does that offer any help understanding the difference between Jesus’ term “the gospel of the Kingdom” (Matthew 4:23) and our unscriptural term “the gospel of salvation”?

Here's a great (video) explanation;