Category: grace turned outward
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No more “Love the sinner; hate the sin”
When you love someone you embrace the whole person. This whole “Love the sinner; hate the sin” thing should be buried for good — not because it’s wrong, but because it’s impossible. If you’re going to love me and hate my sin, just where does my sin stop, and the “me” that you’re going to…
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Ask not what you can do for God
David wanted to build God a house. It didn’t seem right that he was in a nice cedar-built mansion and the Ark of the Covenant — the portable presence of God the children of Israel had been carrying around ever since they left Egypt — was still in a tent.
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You are an influencer
You are an influencer if: you want to make a difference in somebody’s life; you have a gift and you want to use it; you want to be found doing the will of God when the Lord comes back; you want to make right what’s gone wrong; you want people to feel like they’ve been…
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With or without you
God doesn’t need your money. Neither do we. It’s simple. This Ministry is going to continue with or without you. In fact, it could go on without us. Why? The message of Grace Turned Outward is bigger than any one of us. It’s a God Message and God will be the one to carry it…
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To judge or not to judge
How hard it is to avoid passing judgment! Patricia, one of our readers, wisely pointed out in a comment on yesterday’s Catch that when I suggested that the preacher railing against pornography has probably got a pornography problem, I was giving you permission to judge all preachers who get mad at some sin as being…
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The judging game
I take notice today that there are actually two sides to judging: there is judging, and there is being judged. Both are important and both are something we should be without. We don’t talk very much about the second one, but it may be harder to get rid of than the first.
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What’s going on next door?
In bringing about a community act of human love and compassion, we helped our neighbors take part in a genuine move of kindness that prevented the imminent homelessness of a single woman in our neighborhood.
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Towards a Spirit-driven life
Both Andrew and my wife pointed out one small detail I failed to mention in my Catch yesterday where I pointed out that the commands of God had all been reduced to a single simple one with two parts: Love God and love each other. That detail is the issue of empowerment. Great, John, but…
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God’s welcome home
Sometimes you don’t know what you’re missing ’til you leave it for awhile… My good friend and mentor, Ron Ritchie, sent me a picture yesterday of the Christian rock group, Love Song, and Phil Keaggy, taken at an awards event a few years ago in Nashville. They’re all looking pretty good for their age, albeit…
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Why grace is so hard to believe
Let’s face it: grace is hard to believe. Why is that the case when it’s so easy to get? Well that’s actually one of the reasons right there. We are all taught that to get anything valuable, you have to work for it. It’s part of human nature. So for salvation to come as a…
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The Fairy Godmother in us all
In case you missed it, over the weekend and the New Year’s holiday, we ran our annual end-of-the-year campaign. It covered the brief span of 4 emails in two days, and since it went by so fast, we decided to revisit it over the remainder of this week, not because we are still fundraising (although…
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Live large
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 2 Corinthians 9:6