Tag: justification

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Let’s Begin a Social Grace Movement

Christians need to initiate a social grace movement. Jesus declared, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord!” These words have inspired a multitude of social justice movements – abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, right to life movements.

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We Need Law and Grace

I recently attended a middle school football game. As I walked through the crowd I observed the diversity – black, brown, and white. The football teams reflected the same diversity. I watched as two little girls played together – one white, one black. It was evident that this was their first meeting. They looked each other in the face, touched each others’ hair, and hugged. This is my community.

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Food, Sex, and Idols: Who can be Saved?

Who can be saved? That is a question Christians have sought to answer for millennia (Mark 10:26). When Cornelius and his house received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-45), God provoked a major controversy within the church. Can uncircumcised Gentiles inherit the Kingdom of God? “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’” (Acts 15:1). It’s amazing how many times preachers of the good news of Christ try to prohibit God’s outpouring of grace. For some Jewish believers, confession in Christ and baptism (water and Spirit) were not sufficient. To their way of thinking, to be saved the Greeks must become Jews. Peter witnessed the Spirit’s outpouring upon the Gentiles, and the Spirit had prepared him through a visionary experience (Acts 10:9-16). Peter declared, “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:34-35).

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The Gospel according to Elvis and Whitney

My favorite gospel music is that of Elvis Presley. From his majestic rendition of How Great Thou Art to Let Us Pray, the final song of his last movie, I love the hear Elvis sing songs of inspiration and faith. His musical style was born in his Pentecostal faith and married to the Blues music of Memphis. In fact, I enjoy all of his music, from Teddy Bear to In the Ghetto. When Elvis died I mourned his loss, but found myself wondering, “How can a man with his gift to sing sacred music and reared in Pentecostal church live and die like he did?”

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