Living Grace: The Gospel for Christians

I recently spoke at the Women's Winter Festival here in Hobart. A recording of my talk can be found here.

Bible reading: Ephesians 2

“If there’s anything in life that we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others. I mean passionate about thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.” ~ C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life

What is this Gospel or Good News?

Every one of us are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, but MORE LOVED AND WELCOMED than we ever dared hope.


The Gospel is for Believers

Do you think the Gospel is for you?

The Gospel is for everyone, every day, ESPECIALLY those who identify themselves with Christ and call themselves Christians!


GOSPEL NARRATIVE READING

If you get ANYTHING out of this talk tonight, I want you to walk away with the tools to battle doubt, despair, and discouragement in your Christian life by being able to Preach the Gospel to yourself, daily. By arming yourself with the five facets of the Gospel message you can APPLY each of them to your life everyday.


1. INCARNATION – God became man

(Ephesians 2:17)
17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:1-3)
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath

(Hebrews 4:15)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

2. SINLESS LIFE

(Romans 5:19)
So by one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

3. CRUCIFIXION

Romans 5:6-10
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

4. RESURRECTION

(Ephesians 2:4-5)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

5. ASCENSION

(Ephesians 2:6-7)
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

(Hebrews 4:16)
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

HOW SHALL WE RESPOND TO THIS GOSPEL?

The more you preach the gospel to yourself the more you will become overwhelmed with the hideousness of your sin and the glorious love and amazing grace of God.

I urge you to respond to this grace in 5 ways:

1. GRATITUDE

Be thankful for this: Ephesians 2:8-10

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

2. CONTENTMENT

3. HUMILITY

4. FORBEARANCE: being patient with one another, walking through life arm and arm, supporting one another on your journey in life.

(Ephesians 2:19-22)
19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Peter tells us HOW to forbear with one another

(1 Peter 4:8-11)
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

5. FORGIVENESS


CONCLUSION

The Gospel that saved you is the SAME gospel that keeps you.

Paul asks you to REMEMBER the gospel … preach it to yourself

Verse 12

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ … without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Paul wrote to Timothy, a young minister

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.”

The churches in the book of Revelation were warned,

“Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.”

The Gospel is for you … remember it … preach it to yourselves daily.

minister's wife

Does your minister's wife feel loved and appreciated or neglected and misused?

One of our ministers' wives was recently asked if she was being looked after by our church. The older woman was perhaps surprised and pleased when this fresh, young minister's wife piped up that she had never felt so loved and looked after as she has over the last few months. She has been bathed in prayer. Her children have been loved by her sisters at church. And she does not doubt that others in the church respect and understand the immense and wonderful responsibility of being a godly mother to her two little girls.

If you would like to bless your pastor's wife, I recommend the following:

1. Commit to praying for her. Over the past 31 days, I have been praying for the above wife of our new pastor. Each day I sent her a card in the mail with Scripture written inside and a prayer I'd written for her based on the Bible passage. The blessings I received by doing this for her were small in comparison to the joy and gratitude I see in her eyes. Many times as I wrote out my prayers for her, the Scripture had so convicted me that I also lifted up prayers for myself. If you'd like to commit to praying for your pastor's wife, click here to take part in the 31 day challenge.

2. Also, click here for 25 Insightful Ways to Encourage your Pastor's Wife.

change

Saturday is the wrap up of our women's Bible study on the topic of sanctification. We're hosting a mini-retreat at which the women of the church are invited to join us for our last study. We will also share with them what God has taught us and how God has changed us over the past three months.

P came up to me after church to share what she has learned.

1. My sin is horrendous in the eyes of God.

2. God's grace is truly amazing and glorious and very much at work in me.

3. My church community is precious to me. I now see the importance of forming deep, meaningful relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ ... allowing God to use them to change me and letting God use me to change them.

USS Tarrawa

Monday morning a small group of just from Jane Franklin enjoyed a VIP tour on board the USS Tarrawa. Just as we boarded the ship I was met with the familiar plaque of pictures of commanding officers. The men and women in the pictures were not familiar to me, but my father and mother's faces once hung in similar plaques. There in the bay were all sorts of military vehicles that I was familiar with ... the smell ... the sights ... all reminded me of my childhood. Tanks, helicopters, HumVs, the slight aroma of grease and sweat, men and women in uniform ... nostalgia.

The group from Jane Franklin Hall.

My favorite man.

can I be both pro-life AND pro-Obama?

Frank Schaeffer thinks so.

Laura's here

She's moved here ... she just doesn't know it yet.

loving our mothers

Our women's Bible study at church has been working through the How People Change (or How Christ Changes Us by His Grace) curriculum. During one study we began contemplating ways that we could show the mums in our church how much we loved them and valued them. It's understandable that mums can often feel left out of the loop or depressed that they cannot give the church what they once could before children came along. But we wanted to show them that we understand that they are in a phase of life of performing unmeasurable amounts of concentrated blessing on their young ones. So we determined to show them God's love in practical ways.

First, the women in the church who do not have children and were keen to participate decided to adopt a mum as their sister. The purpose was not to enter their sister's home and make her feel guilty and lecture her on how to be a better parent. Instead, we wanted to be at their service. If a new mum just needed someone to hold her baby for 30 minutes so she could take a shower ... consider it done! If she'd really like some adult company or someone to read the Bible and pray with her ... done! If she just wants to feel like a woman again and go out to a movie with friends and indulge in some ice cream afterwards ... done! There is only one rule for the mums--they are not allowed to clean their home before their sister comes over. ; ) In turn, we have received a huge blessing from ministering to and loving our sisters.

Second, our Bible study made mother's day cards and gift bags for our sisters. Inside each bag we tucked away our cards, a bar of fair trade chocolate, a CD of Remember Me (Prayer of Hannah) by Jamie Barnes, a prayer for mothers (written by Laura Roberts), and an invite to our Bible study's wrap-up mini-retreat. I showed my friends Nick and Kate Jamie's song and they decided to bless the mums at Crossroads House this morning by performing it. Everyone was blessed.


Prayer for Our Mothers
by Laura Roberts
Heavenly Father,

It was your eternal purpose to give all people life through mothers,
And to send your Son in flesh through a mother’s womb.

Bless our mothers as they follow you,
And guide them as they seek you.

Give them wisdom, that they may instruct their children faithfully.

Grant them discernment as they pray for their children;
Shape their hearts that they might desire the gospel to shine forth in their children’s lives.

Lord, you know what we need even before we ask.
We earnestly seek your perfect will for our mothers,
So that they might raise up children whose lives declare the gospel
Of your Son, by whose sinless life, perfect death, and glorious resurrection
We come before you with our requests.

Amen

stop the press!

She's coming!

Fights are booked.

It's really happening!

bringing Laura down under

What would you be willing to do to bring Laura down under? Get involved here.

our new pad

More pictures here.