1754 results for tag: Greg Albrecht

The Gift of Giving

As we approach Thanksgiving, our sermon shows that God's grace working in and through us will lead us to give generously and cheerfully without compulsion. You might say that God's grace gives us an incredible insider trading tip -- enabling us to invest in the eternal kingdom of God!

Real Christianity

Ask ten people in the parking lot of your supermarket or shopping mall to describe a real Christian, and you’ll probably get ten different answers! Join Greg in further exploring real Christianity.

Desperation Meets Grace

Through the story of Ruth we can learn that our misery meets God’s mercy at the foot of the cross of Christ. God takes our disgrace and transforms it into his grace.

Success by Excess is Not True Greatness – Greg Albrecht

During a school vacation, Billy stayed at his grandmother’s house, where she introduced him to the game of Monopoly. As you know, the game of Monopoly is about money and power—it’s all about acquiring, purchasing and owning more property, more buildings and more companies than anyone else. It’s ruthless—one cannot win the game of Monopoly until one bankrupts one’s opponents. During his week with his grandma, Billy learned that she was a Monopoly expert. They played Monopoly every day and she never lost a single game. She never patronized Billy by letting him win. At the end of the week she told him he needed to learn how to play ...

Going to the Dogs

Join Greg as he studies a desperate Canaanite woman whom Jesus calls a “dog.” Isn’t Jesus loving, compassionate, merciful and gentle? Wasn’t it completely out of character for him to call this woman who fell at his feet a “dog”?

Let Us Make God in Our Own Image

In our consumer-driven world, religion attempts to meet "felt-needs" - scrambling to give people the health and wealth they want, while Jesus calls us to suffering - to come and follow him. Are we attempting to remake God in our image or yielding to him so that he might transform us into his?

Thanks-Giving or Self-Absorption? – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from November 2015: The day and season of Thanksgiving, already celebrated in Canada on October 12, and yet to be celebrated here in these United States on November 26, is much more than turkey and pumpkin pie!  From a Christ-centered perspective Thanks-Giving is aptly named, for giving thanks is one of the most inevitable characteristics evident in those in whom the Master lives and works.  Sadly, it seems giving thanks and being grateful is increasingly becoming extinct in our world. The plight of many today, particularly the younger generation, is that their spiritual senses have been overwhelmed by ...

Being In Christ

The friendship Jesus offers us is not the same as being a member of a religious club. Martin Luther once said, “Where Christ is there he goes against the flow.” Buildings, budgets and baptisms can diminish and devalue the personal relationship God in Christ offers.

The Word of God – Greg Albrecht

The first chapter of John is the New Testament counterpart of the Old Testament creation story recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. The Genesis story is focused on the physical and mortal beginning, with the creation story in the Gospel of John placing an emphasis on the spiritual and eternal beginning (the phrase “in the beginning” used twice in these two verses). John introduces us to Jesus, God in the flesh, the Word.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us – John 1:14. When God became man and wanted to tell us all about who God is, Jesus became one of us. As the Word of God, Jesus is the Master Communicator ...

Generosity Without Expectations – Greg Albrecht

During the Thanksgiving season several years ago, the leader of a youth group from a prosperous suburb persuaded everyone to help serve meals in an inner-city soup kitchen. Before this volunteer service project, most of these young people had only seen homeless, impoverished locals through their car windows as they and their family drove through a poor part of town. The teenagers served a predictable Thanksgiving menu of beans, mashed potatoes, yams and turkey to a long line of homeless people. As they filed past these young people, filling empty plates with generous servings, few of the homeless people made any eye contact with the teens ...

To Be or Not To Be?

Just as athletic coaches remind their players that there is no “I” in team Christians realize that there is no “I” in the body of Christ. The body of Christ is truly one for all and all for one — that’s what it means to be in Christ.

The Battle About the Bible

For centuries just what exactly the Bible is and what it isn’t has caused splits and divisions within Christianity. Join Greg as he weighs in, based on Jesus’ teaching in John 5:39-40, on the significance of the Bible in your life.

A Time of Soul-Searching

Holocaust Remembrance Day is more than a day, and more than the story of the Jewish Holocaust - it's about the brutal oppression of people, throughout history - more often than not, atrocities and abuse carried out in the name of religion.

Finding Your Way Home – by Greg Albrecht

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.—Psalm 137:1-6 One of our lifelong goals is to "find our way home." In the Gospel of John, Jesus assures his disciples, and by extension all those who would follow Jesus ...

Before You Decide You Know-It-All

We can all find ourselves thinking that we know more, spiritually, than almost anyone — and that we are spiritually superior to others, because of the “truth” we have that others don’t. Join Greg for some humble pie!

A Canary in a Coal Mine

Canaries used to serve in coal mines as an early warning system for miners because they are extremely sensitive to toxic gases. Join Greg as he talks about the help we can all receive detecting spiritually toxic teaching.

SALVATION – How Many are Saved? – Greg Albrecht

SALVATION – How Many are Saved – Who, Where, When and Why? Question: When you responded to a question I had, you included the following statement:  "I hope and believe in my faith that many more have and will accept God’s invitation, but because it’s ultimately our choice, some will reject him, even after he pursues us relentlessly." I would like your thoughts to my following questions: 1)  Can any human be eternally responsible for rejecting God's offer of eternal salvation while tainted with human nature? 2)  Why do you think any human, after being saturated in a world of sin and misery and then experiencing ...

Hooked On a Feeling

Addictions are everywhere, even in supposedly sacred and holy places! Join us as Greg explains how to unplug from religion and its addictions, and connect with God and his amazing grace.

Grace… Up on the Roof

It’s got all the elements of a Hollywood action-thriller — spies, adventure, suspense, military conflict and of course sex. It’s one of the most improbable stories of God’s lavish, unpredictable, and by human standards, scandalous grace.

Be Still! – by Greg Albrecht

  When in danger, when in doubt, Run in circles, scream and shout The British Navy has a strange custom, I am told. If a sudden disaster happens, "the still" is blown. If you live in certain parts of the United States you may think of a still as a place where bootleg whiskey is produced.     The "still" in the British Navy, as I understand it, is a whistle which calls the crew of a ship to a moment of silence in a time of crisis. It's a moment of calm that allows everyone to collect their thoughts before they respond to an emergency.     My wife, Karen, and I recently witnessed the results of failure ...