1763 results for tag: Greg Albrecht
The God of Comfort – Greg Albrecht
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are ...
Grace at the Crossroads
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.
A Lion and A Lamb
The triumph of the slain Lamb of God, improbable and impossible as it seems, is the triumph of the way of grace.
Hooked on a Feeling
Once upon a time, the word "addiction" was used almost exclusively to define and describe dependence on mood altering substances. Addiction is centered on sensory stimulation and gratification. When a particular chemical substance that produces an incredible "rush" or "high" wears off, an individual starts returning to the drug to experience the same feeling again. Substance addiction is further understood as continued involvement with a drug because of immediate pleasure and gratification, in spite of the negative consequences the addict would eventually experience.
Today we speak not only of substance addiction but also, in a broader context, ...
When Christ-less Religion Meets God’s Grace
All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.—John 16:1-3
What happens when fear, shame and guilt meet God's unconditional love? Human history is a record of titanic struggles and classic confrontations. Biblically, we think of Moses and the seemingly defenseless Israelites, hemmed in by the mountains, with the Red Sea at their back, being pursued by the finest, most well-equipped and trained army in the world at that time. ...
Grace – Up on the Roof
The second chapter of Joshua tells us that a woman named Rahab found grace in the most unexpected manner and place. This story would make a great Hollywood action-thriller. It's a story that includes adventure, suspense, military conflict, spies—and, of course, a beautiful woman. It has all the elements of a block-buster hit at the box office.
The leading character of this drama is a prostitute named Rahab. We can be fairly certain that Rahab was not invited to join the important clubs in Jericho where she lived, because she lived and worked on the fringes of polite society. While Rahab's way of earning a living may have been more acceptable ...
The God of Comfort
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are ...
Poking Holes in the Darkness – Greg Albrecht
Friends and Partner Letter for January 2022
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has notovercome it.—John 1:4-5
Robert Lewis Stevenson, well-known for his adventure story Treasure Island, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, into a well-to-do family. His father and his uncles and his maternal grandfather all designed lighthouses. During Robert’s childhood he was in poor health, suffering from severe bronchial problems, and was thus often confined to his room, particularly in cold winter months. But his creative mind was active, even at a young age, giving evidence of ...
Q & R – Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? – Greg Albrecht
Q: Should Christians celebrate Christmas? I believe Christ was born, but I haven't read anything in the Bible that says we should commemorate that event! I don't see anything wrong with celebrating Jesus' resurrection, since we know that was in the Spring—but we don't know the date of his birth. And, according to my research, Christmas seems to be a Roman Catholic invention, not a biblical one—and I tend to view anything coming from Rome with great mistrust.
A: Perhaps we should define the word "Christmas." For some this word simply means an endless round of parties, concerts, gift giving, decorating, etc. MUST Christians do this? NO. ...
No Christmas Without Christ – by Greg Albrecht
Friends and Partner Letter for December 2014
He is both a speechless child and He is the Word…He lies in a manger, but he holds the world in His hand; He is nourished at the breast but He feeds the angels; He is wrapped in swaddling clothes but He clothes us with immortality… He does not find room in the inn but He makes a temple for Himself in the hearts of believers. For Strength took on weakness that weakness might become strong.
– Augustine, (354-430), Sermon 190.
As we begin this last month of the year, we see another frenzied Christmas shopping season of excess, with retailers unleashing promotional devices and marketing ...
Hitting the Resume Button Is Not Our Ultimate Goal – Greg Albrecht
I am old enough to remember television sets whose channel selections and volume controls were located solely on the front of the television – thus necessitating someone rising out of a chair (or off the floor in my case) and “changing the channel.” You know the old televisions – the kind with rabbit ears on the top of the set. Wiggling and adjusting those rabbit ears was another manual labor task involved in watching the television.
When my family was finally able to afford a television, it didn’t always work. Television tubes had a habit of refusing to co-operate. One of my memories ...
God Comes Near
Imagine, for a moment, that you are part of a team building a skyscraper. Your team building this "high rise" would need, of course, a great deal of expertise to ensure that a sound foundation would be laid. Considerable expense and work is involved in preparing the foundation of any edifice that eventually soars majestically, hundreds of feet into the air.
Skyscrapers are incredibly heavy, so they must be built on much more durable foundations than smaller buildings. In virtually every case, a skyscraper requires a deep foundation, with pilings, drilled shafts and columns put in place using a pile driver—all reinforced by concrete.
When ...
Despised and Rejected of Men
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. —Isaiah 53:1-3
Isaiah says that Jesus was despised. Jesus wasn't merely ignored or disliked. Jesus wasn't regarded as just a minor irritant—he was hated and despised—strong language—powerful emotions!
W...
I Am Alive For Ever and Ever!
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I Am Alive for Ever and Ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."—Revelation 1:17-18
You know, almost every time that God came to someone in the Bible to tell them he wanted them to fulfill a certain responsibility, he received a similar response. Moses said he wasn't fit for the job because he had a speech impediment. Jonah of course ran away in the opposite direction. When Peter became more aware that Jesus was God in the flesh he told Jesus to ...
Do Not Be Afraid
The time and culture of Jesus' birth was not unlike the world in which we live today. For that matter, it was just like any generation or era in history. The specific people, land and culture to which Jesus came was a world permeated with fear at almost every level. The Jews were an occupied people. They suffered under grinding poverty and heavy taxation. There was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Life expectancy, particularly among the poor, is estimated to have been in the mid-30s to early-40s. Fear is a part of what it means to be human. It's a common and normal emotional reaction.
• We have fears that we will live so long that ...
We’ll All Be Home for Christmas – by Greg Albrecht
Friends and Partner Letter for December 2021
1–Greg, your brother in Christ, to my dear Friends and Partners in the gospel, who are scattered all over this world (with apologies to the Apostle Paul as I borrow the style and content of his epistles, and with thanksgiving for the 1611 Authorized King James version, some of whose terminology and language I adopt and excerpt in this letter).
2–Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3–Blessed be God, who has saved us by his grace, through his Son, who came to us, becoming one of us, as the one and only God in the flesh, and that he might self-sacrifi...
Q&R with Greg Albrecht – “How does the Bride of Christ make herself ready?”
Question
The Bible says that prior to Christ’s Return, his bride has made herself ready. Since, as you say so often, we are saved by grace, and not by anything we do or produce spiritually, how does the Bride of Christ “make herself ready”?
Response
The Bride of Christ is of course but one of many New Testament metaphors used to describe the universal body of Christ, and individual Christ followers who, by God’s grace, compose that universal body. This particular metaphor is one of the most beautiful and enduring. Marriage is the most intimate of all human relationships, and this metaphor describes the intimacy ...
The Different Gospel of Political Pied Pipers
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-7).
After reading Brad Jersak’s excellent post on “Understanding Theological and Political Anger,” I decided to read a few of our recent blogs which discuss similar topics, linked to the end of most of our blogs. We are reposting “The Different Gospel of Political Pied Pipers,” which I wrote about a year ago, offered as a bit of a year in review. As Brad pointed out, may we all seek the peace of God, may we follow Jesus in tolerance, ...
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