Team Grace Message for July 11th, 2012

Thank you for helping us spread the Good News of God’s amazing grace to the world using personal emails and social media. These “weekly” grace messages are designed to be forwarded by you with any personal comments. It’s simple, non-time consuming, and serves to spread the unleavened truth of the finished work of Christ to thousands.

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Quote of the Week

“Grace produces perpetual spiritual life and vitality and moves us toward spiritual maturity.  Legalism and religion produce perpetual spiritual immaturity – the immature look for human authority figures to tell them what to do.  Immature authority figures make rules that benefit themselves and/ or their institutions, while securing their power and control.  It’s like leaving a 5-year old in charge of a 2-year old.”
(Pure Grace, pages 34-37)

While I might be exaggerating the point here, spiritually immature people by in large seek to know the rules primarily to see what they can get away with.  What can I get away with and still be in God’s good graces?  Let’s see what Paul had to say about maturity:

“Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.  As a result, we are no longer to be children…” (Ephesians 4:13-14)

A Revelation of grace allows us to  mature and motivates us to become someone who is like Jesus.  Ministries and teachings in the church that accentuate “behavior modification” through highlighting and managing sin, have failed in the maturation of believers category.  Don’t you think it’s time to learn how to better receive the finished work of Christ and grow in our identity as sons and daughters of God?

Grace to you all,

Pastor Clark Whitten

Grace Church Longwood, FL.

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