When all is said and done, our relationship with God all comes down to CHRIST ALONE – faith and grace are themselves rooted and grounded in Christ, who is the very center of all that we are.

Join us for GRACE ALONE, the second message in this three part series, as Greg considers the much misunderstood, mis-used and abused topic of God’s amazing grace.

We begin a three parts series which will carefully consider this phrase, so often used here at CWR. This week, we’ll the teaching given to us in Romans 4:13-25 about FAITH ALONE.

While the kingdom of God is very much present in our lives now, the kingdom also has a future tense, when it comes in its fullness.

This first of a two part series examines the present reality of the kingdom of God – Jesus said that it is here, now!

Join us as we ponder and meditate about the love of God expressed to us and for us and with us in the life of Jesus, who experienced the disappointments, betrayals, and rejections common to us all — and through it all served us with his love — and he still does!

God’s love, in action, is far from a dream-like never-never fantasy land. God’s love is real, it exists in and through the tough times, the trenches, the pits and ditches into which we fall — it is with us as we walk through dark valleys of our lives.

He doesn’t call us a slave or a servant- nor does he insist that we keep our distance, as he is our teacher and we are merely his disciples and students.

“To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Divine forgiveness, illustrated in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, involves no bookkeeping.

Greg illustrates how easy it is to misunderstand and abuse the teaching available to us in the Bible – and confesses to doing so himself.

It’s the title of a famous folk song, but more importantly the wind is a metaphor describing the work of God. Join Greg as he explains John 3:8.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus used a person whose race and religion was despised as a metaphor of his own work – in the parable of the Good Shepherd he compared himself to a profession that didn’t have the best reputation. Why?

Jesus’ parable of the vine yields incredible insight into the nature of our relationship with him.

Since Jesus invites us to the kingdom of heaven in spite of what we have done, rather than what we have done, does that mean there are no limits to God’s grace?

While the storms of our lives do not define or limit our relationship with God, they can be traumatic and disconcerting. Join Greg as he offers fresh perspective about the blessed assurance we can all have in and through Jesus Christ.

Christ in us enables us to be wounded healers – transformed by God’s grace that we may be vehicles of God’s love, offering comfort for others in the same way we have been comforted by God.

Greg explains that Jesus’ parable of “The Workers” in Matthew 20 is a picture of God’s grace, and that the kingdom of heaven reverses the values and expectations of the kingdoms of religion. Luke records Jesus saying, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

Sin management is the focus of Christ-less religion – attempting to make bad people good, or at the very least better. But Jesus’ mission is not about making bad people better. Jesus comes to make spiritually dead people live!

God is seen and known only by and through Jesus, who came to reveal God. We pray for those who are yet to see and know the One true God.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. His grace is resisted by religious high places, but the spiritual gravitational pull of grace causes it to flow to low places.

The early New Testament church quickly learned that they could not deceive or manipulate God. The relationship he offered them, and that he offers us, is one that we can only receive, not gain or earn. We have nothing to offer God that he doesn’t already have.

Jesus disciples all wanted to be rich and famous, but the kingdom of heaven is founded on an opposing value — serving others rather than serving ourselves.

What did Jesus mean when he said, Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me?

Greg explains the real difference between the sheep and the goats of Jesus parable in Matthew 25.

As we remember the extraordinary legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. we think of how instrumental he was in bringing people of different races and cultures together. We consider Ezekiel’s example of sitting among captives and exiles, and most of all the example of Jesus who became one of us, living among us, sitting with us.

Join Greg as he considers the difference between an open hand, like that of Jesus on the cross, and a clinched fist.

God comforts us so that we might act as his tools, his hands and feet, to reflect and radiate his comfort to others. God’s comfort doesn’t terminate with us!

God is not somewhere, like heaven, while he is absent from another place or location. What does the fact that we cannot measure or completely fathom God mean for our relationship with him?

Of all revolutions, and of all the revolutionary anthems, this song is all about the greatest of them all.

There is only One way to find true, eternal rest from the anxieties, burdens and obligations that weigh us down.

Doubts are not the opposite of faith, they are a necessary part of the process. The opposite of faith, the real enemy, is fear.

Christ-less religion attempts to deceive us into thinking that outward form will always produce desired results. It’s a widespread deception — join Greg as he reveals more about form and substance.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins tells us more about the kingdom of heaven. But, is this parable warning us to be careful so that we don’t “run out” of the Holy Spirit? Is this parable telling us that 50% of all Christians are foolish? Does this parable offer hidden clues about the Second Coming?

As he answered this question posed by a religious professional, was Jesus telling us what to do, or did his answer go to a reality far deeper than merely helping our fellow humans in need?

In our world of advertising and spin doctoring truth is replaced with distortion and lies.  But then sometimes truth can be difficult — hard to deal with.  Can you handle the truth?  What is truth?

Greg teaches from Matthew 7:13-14, taking issue with the popular idea of the precise identity of those who journey on the broad road, and, on the other hand, who is traveling on the narrow road.

The triumph of the slain Lamb of God, improbable and impossible as it seems, is the triumph of the way of grace.

Do you know where you are spiritually? Are you found or are you lost? If you don’t know where you are, you need to be found, and you need to listen to today’s program.

Is Christianity a smooth, comfortable and secure road taking us to a blissful and serene future? Is it the smooth level paved road that we’d prefer, or is it more like a bumpy roller coaster?

Are you troubled by whether or not your sins are forgiven? John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Yet we wonder, will God always forgive us? What does it take for us to have absolute assurance that we are forgiven?