Testimony of Grace

We wanted to share this poem with everyone. It was written by one of the men living at the Burlington Emergency Shelter and experiencing the life-changing power of His grace! We know you will be blessed by Rick’s testimony because we are truly being blessed by God’s hand on his life.

FROM FAILURE TO VICTORY

Thoughts are rushing through my mind

Wishing I could just unwind

In this life I feel rejected

All my dreams have been infected

By the virus of bad intention

The book of life it doesn’t mention

The problems I would have to face

In this world – my home – my place

Though I try to get along

I feel the pain – it is so strong

In my life I’ve got situations

They are called trials and tribulations

In my mind they are complications

Sick and tired of all the frustrations

I get on my knees and I begin to pray

I ask the LORD for a better day

My mind at rest HE does lay

GOD takes my hand and shows me the way

HE shines HIS light for me to see

Now everything is clear to me

How true HIS love can really be

All though sometimes life may seem grim

I close my eyes and look to HIM

GOD takes my sorrows and casts them away

HE clears my mind for a better day

HE puts a smile back on my face

And makes my world a better place  

By: Richard Mattison

 

No Longer Under The Law

This post is from Scott, a live-in resident at the Burlington (Vermont) Emergency Shelter, a Christian homeless shelter providing temporary housing for homeless adult men and women. He attends the weekly Bible Study our church leads and is a role model to all of us. And though he is somewhat new to the message of grace, read his profound insight:

“There’s no mercy and no grace in rules; not even for one mistake. If I choose to live my life under the law, I am alone and independent, the promise of God is empty. However, Jesus laid the demands of the law to rest; in Him it no longer has the power to accuse or condemn. Jesus is both the fulfillment of the law and the promise of blessing. Remaining under the law is actually a declaration of independence, a way of separation from God, under the control of rules, regulations and principles”.

Scott has been a Christian for ten years and like many, had resigned himself to a seemingly endless cycle of self-effort, failure, and condemnation. But something has happened; he is coming under grace, living loved of God, a lover of people, leading others by example. Hallelujah for the uncontainable grace of God!

 

Biblical Discipleship Where Grace Rules

The following is an excerpt from Steve McVey’s book “Grace Rules”. Be encouraged and liberated by the clear and concise statements of truth!

“When grace rules a believer’s life, he won’t need a religious Gestapo to police his actions or dictate his behavior. Discipleship is important, but biblical discipleship means strengthening a person in an understanding of what it means to be in Christ, not indoctrinating him with religious rules. Teach a man who he is in Christ, and he can’t be stopped from godly activity. Try to control him through rules, and you set him up for spiritual ruin. We weren’t called to a spiritual list, but rather to spiritual rest. Jesus said that those who come to Him will receive rest (see Matthew 11:28) That kind of statement scares the legalist; he immediately becomes afraid that if a person embraces a position of rest, he may become passive.”

“In reality resting in Christ never leads a person to laziness. Abiding in Jesus means to completely depend on Him to animate our lifestyle -to continually trust Him to express His life through us. When a person chooses to live in that mode, there is absolutely no way that he will become passive! Grace is not a license to be lazy.  To the contrary, it is the divine enablement to courageously and powerfully live out who we are! That doesn’t mean we will fulfill all the expectations of the religious legalist who seeks to impose his own “To Do List” upon us; but it does mean that our lifestyle will express the activity of Jesus through us.”

“A Christian who is energized by the life of Jesus Christ is an active person. Yet his activity isn’t generated by self-effort, but by Jesus Himself.  Some modern methods of discipleship imply that while we are saved by grace, it is up to us to grow by our own efforts. Yet we are to walk the Christian life in the same way that we entered in – by faith. (II Cor. 5:7) Legalistic discipleship emphasizes obligation in the Christian life. Grace focuses on opportunities to express the Christ life. A life ruled by law is driven by duty. A lifestyle where grace rules is led by desire.”

What the Law CANNOT Do…

This post was written by Craig Glenn, one of our favorite bloggers, whose blogsite can be found at: therisingsons.blogspot.com  It definitely gets right to the point and magnifies God’s amazing grace!

“What the law CANNOT do…

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:16).

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal. 2:21).

“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith” (Gal. 3: 11).

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3).

“And by him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39).

“For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Heb. 7:19).

How’s about we do a series on this…that in our day and age, Christian Rules And Principles has now replaced the law of Moses as a rule of life…but the effect is still the same…death”

Amen Craig

Pointing To Grace

Church leadership is Scriptural and necessary. But I believe in many churches leadership must shift away from its moorings in an Old Covenant style priesthood to a New Covenant context where there is now “ONE mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ”. (I Timothy 2:5). New Covenant leaders are anointed pointers, pointing people to the throne of grace. (Hebrews 4:15). 

This shift helps prevent a very common (but dangerous) dependency – people who either want someone steeped in theology to tell them what the Bible says or someone with a significant “anointing” to tell them what God is saying. This is where much of the church’s Old Covenant perspective on leadership could benefit from major renovation. God’s people are to be brought into a New Covenant awareness of His unobstructed accessibility to them because the veil has been rent through the finished work of the Cross.

In this way, we are all ministers of the gospel of God’s grace; we are all sons and daughters of the Most High walking in full assurance of faith. HE will build His church by bringing an increase of Himself through a many-membered body. New Testament leadership learns to trust in the ability of the Holy Spirit within each believer to teach, guide, initiate, and reveal truth. (I John 2:27).

My message to leadership? Rest. Rest in the fact that function, order, fruit, and mission flow out naturally from the exposure to and the influence of God’s grace upon the heart. Paul said to the church at Colosse that they were bearing fruit “since the day they heard and fully knew the grace of God in truth”.