From Pastor James MacDonald's blog, Vertical Church...
The family of God is truly vast and
sometimes on the blogosphere I encounter one of our ‘weird’ cousins
saying some outrageous things. Recently I linked to a link from a link
from a . . . I wandered off and found someone writing about what they
called, “the evangelical myth of transformation.” He went on at length
to describe how the Gospel’s promise of transformation is mainly
kingdom/someday vs. here and now. This is so bizarre to me that I am not
even going to link to it . . .
Here’s a quote:
“I keep on looking at my own life, and at church history, and I realize that when the Gospel talks about transformation, it can't possibly mean an actual, literal change in this life of a dramatic nature, except in a few instances. It must be primarily eschatological; it must be referring to the fact that we will in fact be changed. . . . But
we can't get into the habit of thinking that this dramatic change is
normal, this side of the Kingdom. What's normal this side of the Kingdom
is falling into sin (in big or small ways), and then appropriating the
grace of God and looking forward to the transformation to come.”
Okay, that is hyper-grace in the truest
sense and must reflect an exegesis of personal experience more than an
exegesis of Scripture.
Jude 2:5 “Certain people have crept in
unnoticed who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our
only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 6:14 “Sin shall not be your master, you are not under law but under grace.”
So much scripture could be listed here,
but how about 3 videos two of specific stories and one a grouping of
people all from our church, all reporting the powerful life transforming
experience of the gospel. Click below and renew your confidence in the
transforming power of the Gospel:
God at Work: Bob Zielinski
To view video, please visit this blog entry on the web.
God At Work: Rob Weincek
To view video, please visit this blog entry on the web.
Lives Changed, Jesus Proclaimed
To view video, please visit this blog entry on the web.
I feel badly for anyone not
experiencing the transforming power of the Gospel in their life and in
their church. Grace is truly AMAZING but it is not an excuse to keep on
sinning. Romans 6:1-2
“We all, with unveiled faces are
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord and are DAILY being
CHANGED into that image.” 2 Corinthians 3:18