So, lately my husband and I have been listening to Rob Rufus Sermons online daily, together, that in itself is a miraculous thing!(I'll explain why in a later post) He preaches inspiring life giving messages on grace and acceptance and on the promises of God, as well as enjoying God and many other wonderful topics that feed your soul, and spirit. We are getting so saturated in Scripture and the love of God, it makes us giddy! In addition we are loving each other more, and our family is operating more smoothly and we are inspired to live more for God than ever!!
The other night we went to a small group meeting, we hadn't been in months, and Keith led worship -and did a wonderful job, and I really felt the Holy Spirit and was full of joy! After worship we all split up into 2 groups to discuss the book"When Sinners Say I Do" by Dave Harvey. Well, I have not read the book, nor do I care to, I am currently avoiding all "Sin" topics, as I am on a diet of GRACE. Anyway, we were asked a few questions, basically give an example of how your sin affected your marriage relationship. First of all, isn't it obvious we all sin and add conflict to our marriages????? So, people shared their stories, and it semed all we talked about was sin, and how we are the biggest problem in our marriages. I was really struggling the whole time and I wanted to speak against it all, but decided not to. But, everyone seemed so glum and no one offered much hope or joy, or even about the good things God was doing in their marriages. It just seems to me the more you talk about and dwell on your sin, the more you feel bad and are inward focused, rather than upward focused on God and the freedom we have in Christ, he died for ALL of our sins, past, present and future, so we have nothing but hope for our marriages!!!
I was quite grieved when I left -no one in the room shared about the grace of God, no one!! How sad!! Keith and I immediately put on Rob Rufus to shake off the woe and bad feelings -ick. I am so sad that all of my friends in that group aren't experiencing the wonderful, amazing lavish grace of God! (At least not in the full sense of grace that is! And I am not judging anyone nor do I believe there is insincerity amongst these folks in their desire to live for God, just a focus on sin, not on HIm!!)
"Grace....prevents the church from being introverted and preoccupied with rulebook religion(or excessive talk about our sin!) Grace assures you that God has fully accepted you has always loved you and always will.. You are safe and you are free.
God calls you to arise and shine and put on you beautiful garments. Not only that, he calls you to go with good news for the nations, catching the evangelistic passion of Charles Wesley's famous hymn: "Oh, that the world might taste and see -The riches of His Grace! - The arms of love that compass me - Would all mankind embrace. "
Grace should never lead to passivity, but to outrageous adventure, a lifestyle that baffles those who play safe. It threatens the status quo not only of tenative religion, but also of cynical unbelief. It sets the church free to risk all for the praise of him who freely gave all for us." -Terry Virgo, from his book "God's Lavish Grace"
I wanted to add a whole bunch of verses, but my family is all around me now, needing me - oh the joy of being needed!!!
2 comments:
Lydia,
I nearly laughed out loud at your description of this meeting, which was similar to home groups we endured in the last few years before leaving a probably-related congregation. Guys I'd known for years, who used to be filled with the joy of the Lord, could only moan about their "indwelling sin" after being force-fed heavy doses of sermon-based reminders of their utter depravity at the point of salvation, and Puritans' writings on sin and temptation. How horrible to see fairly mature Christians having their noses shoved in sin, rather than reveling (as in years past) in their Father's glorious acceptance and delight over them, through the finished work of Jesus, and their glorious INHERITANCE of all the riches belonging to Jesus in heaven!
I'm with you on Rufus. Via our mutual blog-friends, my family and I are now downloading Rob's messages and regularly feasting at the table of salvation, grace and empowerment in Jesus Christ - who is not ashamed to *identify* with us, his sanctified brothers!
Amazingly, the more I hear about my forgiveness, the unqualified love the Father has for me, and his power-filled plans for my life, the more I want to tell others about this Jesus and his Father! I never wanted to do that, when I was being told I was only a sinner saved by grace, needing to focus continually on my ongoing sin. Now, instead of looking at my sin, I'm looking into the splendid face of Jesus and being transformed from glory to glory (2 Cor 3), not from sin to sin.
Wow, it sounds like our experience exactly, it's exciting to hear you are enjoying the riches of God's grace and in abundance!!!
And a big Yes and Amen to your last paragraph- my husband was clapping his hands and saying 'that's absolutely right!"
thanks for sharing!!
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