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grace

Grace and Peace

by TerryLema

This past Christmas our family decided to forego giving Christmas gifts and decided instead to create Christmas Memories. I liked the idea at first.

Finances have been a struggle for Bob and me throughout many of our years together. Living on a fixed income amid inflation has not done anything to alleviate that.  So, replacing the expense of gifts with the expense of memories was very appealing.

Until Christmas came and we had nothing to give those we loved. Then it felt a bit empty.

Christmas is all about giving and sacrifice. God gave His Son for us. His Son sacrificed His life for us. The Holy Spirit was given to us to remind us of God’s giving and Christ’s sacrifice. And God in Christ continues to give and give and give.

Paul understood that. Almost all his letters begin the same way.  “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The world is harsh, at times cruel. Animosity among people and nations abounds. The enemy of our soul assaults. The world seeks to seduce. Our own flesh often fights us.

If there is anything we need in this world, it is God’s grace and God’s peace. We need them moment by moment, every hour, every day.  How comforting it is to know that God loves giving us His grace and His peace in abundance.

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That Good Thing

by TerryLema

Black Friday deals no long wait until the day after Thanksgiving. I think they started advertising them the day after Labor Day.

I have been exploring various websites trying to find ideas for my loved ones for Christmas. I am trying for something meaningful, but not too expensive. I can find all manner of things outside my budget and a few things inside it. Choosing gifts that matter, however, is not always easy.

As I have been looking to find that good thing for each person, I thought about the gifts of God. The Psalmist reminds us that the Lord “gives” grace and glory (GREAT things) and that He will not withhold any “good thing” from those who love Him.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” [Psalm 84:11 HCSB]

Paul also reminds us of God’s gift of grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” [Ephesians 2:8-9 HCSB]

I am always blessed when I think of God’s grace. And especially so with the reminder that God’s grace is a gift. God graciously gives us the gift that meets the deepest needs of our hearts. We usually do not realize just how deep those needs are, but He does. He does and He meets them.

Thank you, LORD, for your gift of grace. It is the greatest gift ever granted to us. Amen.

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Wonderful Grace

by TerryLema

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin! [Grace Grace God’s Grace Lyrics By Julia H. Johnston, 1910]

I woke up Sunday morning with that chorus and thoughts about God’s grace. I love to think about God’s grace!

It brings hope to my heart and mind. I know what I am apart from God’s grace. I also know what I would be if God ever removed His grace from me.

Paul summed it up in Romans 3. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” [vs 23]

That was me. Sinner. Fallen. Running from God. Unable to measure up to His glory. Unable to meet His standards. I should have been tossed aside. But … BUT GOD … in His compassion and love decided instead to bestow His grace upon me.

Paul goes on in Romans 3 and the very next sentence reveals God’s love. “[I am] justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” [vs24]

Justified. Freely. By His Grace.

Whatever God has done for me since can never equal that initial bestowment of grace in me. Whatever God has done through me for His kingdom can never make my heart sing like it does when I think of God’s grace that lifted me from the miry pit and set my feet on the Rock of Ages.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our [my] sin!

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Grace Found

by TerryLema

Exodus 33 is perhaps my most favorite chapter in the Old Testament. I love the interaction between Moses and Jehovah God. The people had sinned. God has said they could still have the Promised Land, but He would not go with them. He’d send an angel and they’d get the victory, but His Presence would be absent.  That’s not going to cut it for Moses.  He pretty much tells God that if God doesn’t go, he’s not going either.

God had acknowledged His favor of Moses, and Moses begins his exchange with God based on that favor. “You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.” [Ex 33:12-13 NKJV]

Think about that.  Moses found grace in God’s sight. Because of that, Moses requests one thing—that he might know this God in whom He had found favor. Moses asks to know God’s way so that he might continue to find grace with God.

We, too, have found grace with God. The New Testament is full of references to the grace (favor) in which we now stand. Paul made it clear in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

So, based on God’s favor, what are our requests? Are we, like Moses, asking to know God’s way in order that we might continue to find favor with Him?  Or are we hoping to take advantage of God’s favor to satisfy our own agendas?

For the record, God’s response to Moses’ request … “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” [v14]

Is that not what we all want?

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We Do Love! We Do Grace!

by TerryLema

I have been pondering a bit on my church being adopted by Christian Faith Center (CFC). We will be changing our name from The Way Middleton to CFC Middleton. We will be transitioning over the next months.

Don’t you like that word transition? It is a less threatening way of saying “change.” We all know what most think of “change.” We will be changing, however, and that is both threatening and exciting.

CFC is a big, modern, growing church. The Way is small and not very modern. We will be adopting much of CFC’s outlook, philosophy, and vision. At first glance, it seems that we have nothing to really offer, except for a building in a city where commercial buildings are scarce.  But I wonder if that is true.

Yes, we have a building. But we have much more than that. There is a plaque in the foyer of the church which expresses what we really have to offer. It reminds me every time that I walk through those doors that we are much more than a building … we are a church that is truly family—a family that loves, that does hugs, that gives grace to all.

A new attendee at The Way told me recently, I have never felt such love as when I walked through the doors of this church. Then she said, “I hope that doesn’t change after we become part of CFC.”

The Way has always sought to give God’s greatest treasure (His grace) to the least deserving—which is every one of us. I trust that will be the heart of CFC Middleton too. We can relinquish all that temporal, external stuff in the change, but we must keep a strong grip on the heart of a family that loves, hugs, and gives grace to all.

“By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” [John 13:35 HCSB]

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Wondrous Grace

by TerryLema

“God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary…. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.’” [Luke 1:26-32]

“You have found favor with God.”  The word favor is charis in the Greek. It is usually translated as grace.

Mary found grace in the sight of the LORD, just as so many before her had … people like Noah and Abraham, Moses and David. Grace. God’s good favor.

Grace is an attribute of God. In God grace and mercy are one, but as they reach us, they are seen as two. Mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt (He doesn’t give us what we deserve—judgment). Grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit (He gives us what we don’t deserve—salvation, redemption, love).

John 1:20 tells us that “…grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”

 Grace didn’t suddenly come into existence when Jesus Christ was born on earth. Grace, God’s good favor, has existed for all time in the heart of God. It is as boundless, as eternal, as He is. Everyone who has ever come to God has come though His Divine Favor/Grace, whether in the Old Testament or in the New.

The wonder of Mary finding favor/grace with God is that she is going to give birth to the very means by which grace is going to come to all mankind.

That included Mary. That includes us!  What a wonder!

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In the Morning!

by TerryLema

How delightful that Psalm 4, which speaks of our prayers in the night, is followed by Psalm 5, our prayers in the morning!  “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice. In the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.” [vs 3 HCSB]

The early morning hours are often when I hear God’s voice best. They are also times when I am comfortable, with little or no pain. I stay snuggled in bed, trying to stall having to rise and face the day. I am like David in that I “watch” or “wait” expectantly for God to speak to me.

If you read Psalm 5 today, you will find three things that should thrill your soul and make you want to shout in praise.  They are abundant love (vs 7), blessing (vs 12a), and favor (vs 12b).

Abundant Love (Multitude of Mercies as some render it). “I enter your house by the abundance of your faithful love.” God’s love, His mercies, are more than can be numbered. That is exactly what keeps us day to day. His mercies are great, they renew every morning. His love is too much to even comprehend.

We see His abundant love, multitude of mercies, in the enormous sacrifice made by our LORD and Savior so that we might one day have entrance into the very presence of God Almighty.

Blessing. “For You Lord bless the righteous one .…” In Scripture blessing usually connotes preference, happiness, God’s approval. It is difficult to define, but it is so wonderful to experience that security found in the “blessings” of our LORD. Blessings come to the righteous not because they are morally excellent, but because Christ Jesus, the sinless One, took our sin upon Himself so that “we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” [2 Corinthians 5:21]

Favor. “You surround him with favor like a shield.” Favor means goodwill, delight, acceptance. Might we say, “Grace?” It is all because of God’s Amazing Grace!

Thank you, LORD. Today our praise focuses on Your Abundant Love for us that brings us into Your presence. We thank you for your blessings and favor to us. Amen

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Criminal?

by TerryLema

There is an annoying commercial. Is that redundant? Aren’t all commercials annoying?  Anyway, this commercial airs frequently on the channels where we watch baseball. The commercial is for youth advocacy programs. In the commercial a young man says, “I’ve done some stupid things, even committed some crimes, but I am not a criminal.”

The youth advocacy programs are probably quite good, mitigating for youth before they end up in prison and begin a cycle that often cannot be broken. It is just that comment that bothers me, “committed some crimes, but I am not a criminal.”

Merriam-Webster defines criminal as “a person who has committed a crime,” not as a person who has been convicted of committing a crime.

I am a criminal. I break the law every time I drive somewhere, usually a few miles over the speed limit. Sometimes I do not stop completely at a stop sign. I have never been convicted of my crimes, but I am still a criminal.

But it is my criminal activities against the Law of God which are far more important than my driving offenses. God is quite clear about His law. It is summed up “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” [Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, Luke 10:26-28 HCSB]

Jesus told an inquirer that if you obey that law, “you will live.” Which means the reverse is true, if you do not obey that law, you will not live.

All of mankind is criminal because not even the greatest have been able to love God with all their heart, soul, strength and mind, or their neighbor as themselves. That is why Jesus came, to fulfill God’s law in all righteousness and then impart that righteousness to us.

It is a mystery, yes. It is difficult to understand, of course. But, oh the love and grace of God that is displayed for us criminals there.

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Marvelous, Amazing, Wondrous Grace!

by TerryLema

“And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” 

That is a verse in Zechariah 4.  We are perhaps not as familiar with it as we are with the one that precedes it.  “Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”   [Zechariah 4:6-7 HCSB]

The captivity of the Jews in Babylon had come to an end after 70 years and a remnant was returning to their homeland only to find the temple had been destroyed and much of the land was rubble.  God gave Zechariah a series of visions to reassure this remnant that He was with them.  The temple would be rebuilt.  God would once again dwell with His people.

God put a man named Zerubbabel in charge. The foundation would be laid and the building completed.  It would not be done by human strength or power, but in the power of God’s Spirit.  And when they brought out the capstone to signal the house of God was complete, the song they would cry would be, “Grace, Grace to it!”  It would all be accomplished, from foundation to roof, from room to room, from depths to heights and widths through God’s marvelous grace.

The Scriptures remind us that now by faith we are the temple of the Living God.  He no longer dwells in houses made with brick, but in His children who have come back to Him by faith through the salvation obtained by Christ at Calvary.   This is all accomplished by God’s marvelous grace. The same thing that Paul claimed is our claim also, “But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective.” [1 Cor 15:10 HCSB]

There is coming a time when we shall stand in the presence of our God.  One by one the capstones of our lives will be raised, and the song each one of us will sing is, “Grace, Grace to it!”

It’s all because of God’s amazing grace.

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Dangerous Grace

by TerryLema

Jude 4: They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Jude told his readers that some have claimed the grace of God as something it is not – a license for immorality.  That is the danger in grace, that mankind will corrupt the freedom it brings into a license to do whatever they want.

I once heard a man incorporate grace into the equation while trying to justify leaving his wife for another woman.  He could do what he wanted now and always repent later on and God would give grace and forgiveness.  I bet there have been occasions when you have heard similar twisted logic.

The men Jude warned about were apostates. They were renouncers or defectors from the faith—if they ever had faith to begin with.

I cannot see how those who pervert grace ever really experienced it. 

The grace of God sets us free from bondage, free from sin. It carries forgiveness on its wings.  It flows from the Father’s heart, through the work of Jesus Christ.  It operates in us in the power of the Holy Spirit.  To experience grace that way, in truth, is an experience that is never forgotten, can never be trivialized.

Each day grace reminds me of the love of the Father.  It reminds me even of the pit from which I have been dug.  It holds me close to Christ Jesus, my Sovereign Lord.  That grace makes me want to do anything He might ask.  I may falter at times in my obedience, but grace always draws me back to God’s love.

I cannot think or write about it enough. Amen!

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