What I am about to share with you is a "hot topic" for me. Over the last year, God has continued to increase my understanding of His love and grace. Much of my thinking is seen as controversial because it flies into the face of what most of us have been taught. However, in the midst of the controversy there are those who are finding amazing freedom in their relationship with God. And contrary to popular opinion, it has NOT produces "loose Christians" but those who are in awe of God's goodness and seek to know Him in a greater way. What has been lost in the process is the idea of religion.
Read Colossians 1:15-23:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
In Christ we have the reconciliation of mankind. What was once lost through the 1st Adam has been recovered and restored in the Last Adam. Jesus is not only the Last Adam but the Firstborn of All Creation. He now has the preeminence. God was, in fact, redeeming mankind unto Himself. God chose to reconcile Himself to the world through Him and NOW we must be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.
The more I talk about all that was accomplished through Jesus, the more excited I become. When I think of what God has accomplished it boggles my mind. The world has never seen such LOVE nor experienced such GRACE. However, the realization of what God has done in Christ is not a message that some churches want to embrace. I heard Brennan Manning say that a Priest once told him that he had "out-Luthered" Luther. I just don't know that anyone could "out-Paul" the Apostle Paul. God gave him incredible understanding of the New Covenant and the finished work of Christ. I often wonder what the church would have looked like if God had not raised him up. What if there would have been a holdover of the Old Covenant? What if there would have been the righteous requirements of the Law apart from the grace of God in Christ? And where would we be without such an awesome understanding of the Holy Spirit?
Paul gave a vocabulary to all that was accomplished in Christ. He wanted those who were alive "in the moment" to understand what the death of Jesus was all about and why His resurrection was so important. He also wanted anyone who read His letters to understand the indescribable grace of God. Then he wanted the followers of Christ to carry this message of reconciliation to the rest of the world.
The message we now carry is very simple yet profound: God has done everything in Christ to reconcile Himself to us. NOW...if you will believe on the resurrection of Jesus and confess Him as Lord of your life - YOU WILL BE SAVED!!! That is - Be Saved, Be Delivered, Protected, Healed, Preserved, Prospered, and Made Whole. THAT IS GOOD NEWS!!!
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