Insideous Enemies of Grace within.

Saturday night- the kids are in bed... some R even sleeping... my wife is chillin with the PAXchix; Football on T.V. and my mind is furiously chewing over some "applied grace" thoughts [Things like- fighting against my own nasty behaviors by applying legalistic 'do betterness' or self motivated 'I can handle this probl...em by myself you watch' is still pride and self-righteousness... isn't it true that if you fight sin with sin it's still sin? And doesn't the Bible say SIN brings death?) hmmmm only by leaning hard into grace can I find freedom- set -free -it -ness!
For all those who are so used to the terms- 'grace'; 'law', 'righteousness' when referring to the place/actions/conversation/and work of salvation- I'm meaning something that happens in the life AFTER the glorious transaction of salvation.
For all those who have habitually struggled for years trying to make yourself sanctified, or good enough before God and others. STOP! We already know you aren't going to do it- cause we can't either. This is why we need and are offered grace from God.
Can I get specific for a minute: Men, we enter the ring against a wandering heart, drawing away by wandering eyes and the acts of self-worship we commonly call lust. So, if you are a Jesus follower, you know you have to 'put to death' this bit of nastiness- cause if you don't it'll put to death a bunch of stuff in your own life. [Believe me I see the underbelly of it everyday with the human traffic in my hood and the addictive, abusive, self effacing heart ache that comes along with it]. So you determine by pure legalism (rules/boundaries/and by doing the best you can in your self) to over come it! That's weapon #1 we are often told will conquer lust in our lives. Secondly, we tell ourselves I can control this thing- weapon of pride. Both of which are dirty sins in themselves and soon like the Pharisees of old, who perfected pride and legalism we birth a self-righteousness. Here's how it goes:: Yeah, I have fasted from this for like a year now (pride); I'm starving this habit (with internet blockers and accountability partners); I'm controlling my mind- "by bouncing my eyes"- Every Man's Battle. I'm not saying these things are necessarily bad- NO boundaries are good, if we don't have boundaries we have lawlessness- BUT what I am saying is that these self made rules and will power are NOT ENOUGH!! In fact if left to their own they twist into our thinking so that we actually stop confessing and start rewarding our 'good behavior' with just a taste of sinful compromise. Or when we are tired, or up late, or feel like our wives or girlfriends are not there for us than lust (which we have tried to hold down by our own strength) completely overcomes us- devours us and pushes us to a dark place from which we can hardly recover.
We need for the Grace of God to so totally sweep our hearts, minds, lives that we hate sin so deeply because of what it cost Jesus to secure our freedom. We need to be so constantly close to the cross that the love of God castes out what we think we need through the false assurance and temporary security driven by our self- worship displayed in lust -Come on, using someone else for our own glory, whether they participate or not is a horrendous act and misuse of the dignity, value and worth God has given them and a blatant act of self-worship- Only the discipline motivated by the grace of God will be the kind of discipline that keeps us quick to confess, able to truly repent and living in the freedom of forgiveness AND victory. Where sin is grace is able to super abound = victory!

Grace produces Graces

This series is going to look at something that several of the puritan writers referred to as the graces being formed in the lives of those who have been deeply affected by THE Grace of God.
THE Grace is the evidence of God's love being so great towards us that He would satisfy His own holiness by sending His Son Jesus to justify our 'owe' accounts. He dies in our place, undergoing the fullness of God's wrath for sin and exchanges, in those who by faith believe, our earned wages of death (because of our sin) for His right standing before God.... AND SHARE IN ALL THE SPIRITUAL RICHES THAT CHRIST HOLDS as the Son of God.
This is what the Bible means when you read things like, "For by GRACE are we saved through faith, it is not of ourselves lest anyone should boast" (from Ephesians)
Paul says it a whole lot better and in a much deeper, fuller, incredible way all over the New Testament but one of the best places is here: Romans 3:21-31
The Puritan theologians wrote about those who have spent time understanding such great a grace will begin to be transformed from the inside-out! The graces will begin to form and show evidence in their lives. The spiritual graces are different than spiritual gifts- they are more like the spiritual fruits that Paul instructs us will show in the lives of those who are living a true spiritual life.
Shortening this post up- the graces that we will be looking at are ones that need to mark those who are the spiritual leaders of the churches in Crete:: and those which should mark the life of every one who has been truly affected by God's grace-
THE GRACE OF FAITH
THE GRACE OF HUMILITY
THE GRACE OF CONFESSION
THE GRACE OF REPENTANCE
THE GRACE OF PRAYER
A GRACE DRIVEN OBEDIENCE [from baptism to communion and beyond]

Because of such a Grace from God- we will see a growing reality of grace in our everyday lives...

Growing in the Graces:: Character for Leading a Christ-Centered Life

We are on to a NEW series- this one is looking at the HEART of the letter Paul wrote to Titus - the basic theme centers on Paul's instruction to Titus "to put in order" spiritual leadership who will deal with the mess that spiritual immaturity has created in the churches in Crete where I've sent you to serve. The basic problem?? Ever hear someone call another person a 'Cretan?'- it's not a flattering term- which you learn more of through the book of Titus. The basic problem is that there were a large group of those who called themselves spiritual leaders who demonstrated by their words and actions that they had little understanding or evidences of the transforming grace of God.
This series of messages is going to focus on Paul's core instruction to Titus to look for and encourage the character of Christ-centered living in the churches- and in the lives of everyone who calls themselves a Christ follower.
GROWING IN THE GRACES :: Character for Christ- Centered Living

Our identity Thread:: the Genesis

Where does your identity begin? or Out of what does your identity flow?
Don't just brush bye this question. I think the quality of your life and hope for your future depends on the answer. Does your identity begin and outflow from your birth family, ethnicity or the circumstances into which you were born -country, location, economics, race, etc? Has your identity flowed out of something that happened to you or something you've done in your childhood or in your youth? Is your identity driven by the cultural setting, the moral interpretations around us of what it looks like to be a successful man or woman? An honest answer to "Where does your identity begin?" matters.
I weekly interact with friends from our streets who have their identity shaped and often shattered by all of the above categories. "My dad was high up in a branch-off gang of the Hell's Angels. Spent years in jail. My mom used to ask me to leave the house for an hour seven or eight times a week so she could bring in a 'boy friend'. I have grown up surviving and no one else looks out for me but me! People need to know that I'm not to be messed with, I'll smash em if I need to."
Daily we are bombarded with images that tell us what kind of men or women we are supposed to be. The examples of those we worship in our culture constantly tell us how we are to dress for acceptance or in tune with a global moral trend, live in relationship or accept that relationships are merely for temporary entertainment, or what causes matter to us. We are told that all of us are just in the wings waiting to be discovered and therefore had better appear successful to a waiting world.
It doesn't matter if you grew up in 'disfunction' or if you grew up in 'health'- I would say that in regards to the genesis of our identity the Bible proves the most helpful. Genesis 1,2 describe for us the intentions and delight of God in creating a world where humanity could discover Him and each other. As far as the Bible is concerned our identity thread began in God. In fact in Psalms we are told, "before you were formed in your mother's womb I knew you."- God speaking here. Think on it... your not an after thought, your not a mistake. The opposite is true- your an forethought of God. "Before your thoughts came to you they were written down in my book."
Where your identity starts makes a life time of difference. In God you discover you were created for intentions, purposes and the deepest of relationship. Romans 1-8 is going to show us what happens when we ignore and deny this truth OR by faith we grab hold of an identity offered to us in Christ and live out the remaking of this identity.
What is central to all this promise of a remade identity?
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”Romans 1:16,17
If you have been wondering what this remake might look like or what is at risk if we simply choose to live out of a self-made identity- read the upcoming blogs or listen to the podcasts on our website (coming soon). Our prayer has been that this will sink deep into the heart and soul of each one who is willing to honestly interact with these truths. Deeper often confronts, hurts and demands answers of our souls- this is what Paul is about to do in Romans 1-8 regarding the making of our identity, ready?

Our Identity Thread

PAX is entering a new stage of spiritual growth. Over the last few months we have seen the development of three Value Discipleship Groups (Value D-Groups). These are community groups for peer to peer discipleship and a place to live out and apply God's Word in our lives together. However it is not the forming of new groups or a new ministry that truly determines a new stage of spiritual growth. In the last few months we have seen God's Spirit moving to draw us to a greater application of the Gospel into our lives and to begin to work that out in an everyday way.
There is a sense of excitement and joy as we have seen several people come to a fuller understanding of knowing Christ in their life- for both salvation and renewal. This also brings discomfort because the Gospel will not allow us to hold on to a false sense of self, or self worship. The Gospel brings renewal out of humility. We are no longer allowed to gain our identity from a broken past or a religious present our identity thread is founded in God, redeemed in Christ and remade through the Holy Spirit.
In the next few weeks we will be looking at the Gospel according to Paul- through the first 8 chapters of Romans. Here we find, in the power of the Gospel, what our identity looks or doesn’t look like [next week]. How we are released- bringing freedom of heart, spirit, life- and more than this; to know that it is from God [week3], through Christ [week 4] by His Holy Spirit [week 5] frees us from trappings/crisis in identity [week 6] allowing for us to live in a confident spiritual assurance for everyday no matter what our past, present or future looks like [week 7]. The reality is, the application of these passages will take much longer than 8 weeks- but will be a place of reforming of our entire life.

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Winter was Spring IS!

Hey PAXblog peeps. I have been on the MIA list for blog world- need to jump start:: the blog- since then we have launched two Missional D-Groups- small groups with the purposes of peer to peer discipleship [time to talk about application of a Gospel-posture in every day life and to hold each other accountable in relationship] and serving our community together through these groups. Our hope is that these groups would not be surface places of "self- realizations" not ego-centric; but that these would be places of honest life before God and each other so that we have no place to hide but in Christ alone; Following this up with an honest hands on approach to valuing our community by serving in it. We have also just completed our third Gospel Journey 101 [the basics of FAITH::VALUE:: CULTURE} a look at the foundations behind PAXnorth Church; All in all it's been an exciting winter [even as we studied through the Psalms of Lament]
Now we are studying through the last week or so of Christ's life, pre and up to His resurrection! We are discovering that Jesus IS Enough!! But more on that later in the week... ahhhhh good to be back!! Hope your winter found you not merely busy but effective!