1785 results for tag: Greg Albrecht
Who Is It You Are Looking For?
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"—John 20:11-15
The religious lynch-mob convened an illegal trial, declared an innocent man guilty and condemned him to death. Of course, it wasn't the ...
Why Did Jesus Die?
Why did Jesus die?" may seem like an easy question, because the answer seems obvious, doesn't it? Normally, most Christians immediately answer the question something like this: "He died to atone, that is pay for, our sins. As the Lamb of God, he took away the sins of the world, redeeming us from sin through his precious blood. He died that we might die to sin, so that he might live in us, producing his righteousness within us."
That answer is true—but it's not the whole story.
Much of the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, presents the cross of Christ as a forensic event. That is, God uses the language and word pictures of the ...
Exclamation Point on God’s Love: Greg Albrecht with Brad Jersak
The following is a transcript of an interview with Brad Jersak by Greg Albrecht on the meaning of the Cross
Greg Albrecht: Hello everyone, this is Greg Albrecht. We're going to remember and discuss our Lord's ultimate sacrifice for us and reflect on his life, death, burial and of course the significance and meaning of his resurrection. Helping us with his insights and observations is Brad Jersak. Brad is Editor of our magazines and a Christ-centered professor, speaker and author.
Brad, in one sense it seems to me that these two events, the crucifixion and the ...
His Kiss by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from April 2022
While I had many problems with Bible teaching when I was a teenager (particularly how it was interpreted and administered in the church my parents attended), I remember being in favor of one of Paul’s oft-repeated concluding statements in his letters. “Greet one other with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:26) sounded like wise advice to me, particularly if the kiss involved an attractive female of my age.
But before my “gospel of kissing girls because the Bible commanded it” could ever pick up much traction, a stick-in-the-mud ...
I Fought the Law – Greg Albrecht
In 1966 the Bobby Fuller Four recorded a top ten hit called “I Fought the Law”—here are the lyrics in the first verse: I’m breakin’ rocks in the hot sun I fought the law and the law won.
The physical image that breakin’ rocks in the hot sun brings to mind is of the endless, soul destroying labor performed by prison inmates—back in the day, soul destroying labor often included breaking rocks with sledgehammers on the proverbial hard rock pile. Prisoners broke the law and now the law returned the favor.
Breaking rocks on the hard rock pile is, of course, an intentionally meaningless exercise— and “meaningless exercise” ...
April 2022
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(PDF Format)
Brad Jersak: The Cross: God's Eternal Mercy Seat – pg. 2
Laura Urista: Trimming the Roses – pg. 5
Richard Rohr: The Saving Power of the Cross – pg. 6
Greg Albrecht: The Meaning(s) of the Cross – pg. 7
Who Killed Jesus? – Greg Albrecht
It's high noon in Dry Gulch. Two lone figures are walking down the dusty street, getting closer and closer to their inevitable face-off.
According to religious interpretations, God the Father is the good guy on the streets of Dry Gulch. God is the Lawman—the quickest and fastest draw ever. Nobody ever gets the drop on God.
The bad guy? That would be, according to religion, you and me. God the Lawman has said “enough already.” He has called us out and we are approaching the gates of hell.
Our mothers told us if we didn’t change our ways, we would pay a severe penalty. Our pastors and priests warned us about God’s wrath. ...
Don’t Be Afraid
No matter what might happen to us during this year, whether we might expect troubles and trials, or whether they may be unexpected, Jesus reaches out to us, comforting and assuring us, "Do not be afraid."
The Meaning of Life – by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from March 2016
In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoon strips, Snoopy the beagle sits on top of his doghouse and forlornly ponders: “Where am I going? What am I doing? What is the meaning of life?”
#1 – we are born, we go to school and then, when we grow up, we hope to get a job. BUT is gaining knowledge and having a job the meaning of life? Teenagers and young adults often feel they will find the meaning of life with someone who will love them forever.
#2 – however, when young people get a little older many get a job, find the love of their life, marry and have children many discover ...
Being In Christ
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.—John 15:12-17
When we consider our relationship with God ...
A Covenant – Not a Contract!
There is probably no other human endeavor quite like marriage—sadly, many of these partnerships that begin with such hope and expectation regularly fail. One of the reasons marriages fail is because many see marriage and the entire relationship through the eyes of a contract rather than through the perspective of a covenant.
Marriage, an example of a human covenant, can help us to understand the divine relationship God offers to each of us. He offers us the new covenant in Christ, not the new contract in Christ. It's a covenant, NOT a contract!
• A contract is a legally binding agreement between two parties, a business agreement which ...
Going to the Dogs
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs." "Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." ...
God’s Grace is For Everyone
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.—Titus 2:11
You are invited to the kingdom of heaven, and the invitation is called "the gospel" (good news) because it has no strings attached. You and I are invited to the kingdom of heaven in spite of what we have done! The body of Christ on earth is not the equivalent of an exclusive country club or a cloistered, highly restricted religious fraternity or union. Titus 2:11 says that God's grace is available to everyone—it does not promise or insist that everyone receives and accepts it —but grace is available, and it's for everyone.
There's a story I once heard ...
Living a Life of Love – Greg Albrecht
God doesn’t need us to love him, but he not only takes pleasure in sharing the essence of who he is, he produces his very love in us, empowering us by his grace to pass that same love on to others, in thought and action.
We are loved, not because we are particularly lovable, but because God is love. We often make the distinction that love is not merely one of many attributes of God. The Bible clearly defines God as love. Love is the essence of who God is.
Some miss the point when they think that doing good things and behaving in a moral or appropriate way is the same as sharing God’s love. Our good deeds do not transform us into ...
A Cross Examination: No Christianity Without The Cross – by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from March 2022
As they attempt to fill the emptiness in their souls, many citizens of planet earth frantically run after drugs, food, sex, achievements, possessions and entertainment. It’s been said the most frenzied attempts in human history in a quest to find and secure happiness have occurred in 20th and now 21st century North America.
Ironically, the more intense efforts to secure happiness become, it seems animosity, division, hatred, racism and violence increase at the same time. From the beginning of history, humans have measured and weighed success and happiness through things that can be seen, felt and ...
The Easy Way Out – Greg Albrecht
Before we are allowed to enter the way of Life, we must leave behind all of the religious baggage and traditions that are so precious to us.Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)Many read these words and assume they know exactly who is on the road to destruction Jesus was talking about. Surely he was talking about the “eat, drink and be merry” crowd—those who are lazy, immoral and permissive. The broad road must be the irreligious “anything goes” ...
Love – By Law or Grace? by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from February 2016
While she was in college in the 60s, Lisa wore flowers in her hair, burned her bra, smoked a lot of pot and had sex so indiscriminately her grandfather told her it seemed to him that she was having sex “with anyone and everyone, at the drop of a hat.” Lisa attended college in Berkeley, California – ground zero of permissive and promiscuous “free” love during a time of great moral upheaval in the United States.
And Lisa often did have sex with partners at the “drop of a hat” – sometimes she discovered their names later, if at all. Her anything-goes-lifestyle did not end when she ...
What Does Real Estate Have to Do With the Gospel? – Greg Albrecht
From the Winter 2010 Plain Truth - Greg Albrecht
For decades she put world leaders on the spot, skewering them with blunt, penetrating questions. But it was an outspoken answer she gave which forced 89-year-old Helen Thomas to retire as dean of the White House press corps.
This past May, Thomas, a Lebanese-American who grew up in Detroit was interviewed by Rabbi David F. Nesenoff, a Long Island-based filmmaker. Thomas already had a history, describing Israel as a nation that “oppresses a helpless people with its military power and daily humiliation.”
Responding to questions posed by Nesenoff, Thomas said that Israel should “get ...
Intimacy With God
Here's some breaking news! God is head-over-heels in love with you. He loves you beyond your wildest imaginations. You might respond, "How can he love me that much? He knows all there is to know about me. And of course, anyone who knows that much about me could never really love me."
Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian writer who, with her family, helped many Jews escape the Holocaust, once offered a word picture to explain how God loves us—specifically she was talking about how he forgives all our sins—past, present and future. Corrie Ten Boom said that God takes all of our shortcomings, tragedies, flaws and scandals and throws them into ...
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