Growing In Grace

Have you ever met a Christian somewhere and began chatting with them? Did you have a feeling of joy as you realize that this is another person that has been captivated by the grace of God in Christ? They say there is a special bond between a pair of brothers or sisters, and in moments like the one I just described we get a far clearer understanding of why Christians have used brother and sister language. But have you ever been in one of these situations and then the person says something that causes you to instantly hold your breath? Maybe you even get a lump in your throat and that feeling of camaraderie is instantly gone? I ask this question because if you have been a Christian for any time at all I imagine that you have had many such instances, and some of the feelings and reactions are incredibly justified. For instance I once had a conversation where the person knew lots of biblical truth but when pressed, their understanding of Christianity was boiled down to...

In the Old Testament we get an unfolding vision of God and His attributes through the stories of the people that He called. First we see that He is the creator that made man in His image, giving man the commission as the 'king priest' of the garden, ruling and subduing creation while expanding the borders of the Garden. Adam failed to crush the serpent and so he was removed from the Garden temple sanctuary. God repeated Adam's commission to his children, choosing Abram to be the father of a new nation (a corporate Adam) that would once again be commissioned to be a nation of priests.  Eventually God gave them the Holy Land (a new Garden for corporate Adam) and called them to grow it's boarders. Just as the Garden had been the place where man "walked with God" experiencing God's presence, the land of Israel was home to the tabernacle which was where the presence of God rested. The purpose of these stories in their fullness is to teach us that God is incre...

Galatians 3:13-14 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us - it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree' - in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Abraham was promised a blessing, a Descendant, and land, and in Galatians 3 we see that Christ is the fulfillment of the 'blessing promise' by bringing salvation to the Jews and Gentiles. Paul quotes the Old Testament saying, "Cursed is everyone that does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, to perform them." Jesus became cursed for us by hanging on the tree so that the blessing of Abraham would be passed on to those who believe through faith. Paul goes on in vs 16 to say that Christ is also the ultimate fulfillment of the Descendant or Seed promise. Paul is exegeting (interpreting/expounding) the promises to Abraham from Gene...

Most people are familiar with the Bible's opening line, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." From this verse we must recognize that before there was a beginning, God was. Clearly God could not have created something "in the beginning" if He was not already preexisting. John picks this theme up for us in the intro to his gospel. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John unfolds for us that this Word is the preexisting God come in the flesh as the God-man Jesus. John continues that everything was made "through" Him and, as the Genesis narrative continues to unfold the story of the creation account, we see that Adam was the crowning achievement of God's creation. Adam was created in perfection in the Garden of Eden and God told him to be fruitful and multiply by having dominion over the whole earth. The image is of Adam and Even expanding the perfection of the Garden to the e...