1785 results for tag: Greg Albrecht
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, ...
Neither Poverty Nor Riches by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from November 2014
Here in the U.S. the month of November includes a nationally mandated Day of Thanksgiving. If you are one of our Canadian Friends and Partners, you already have memories of your Thanksgiving Day observed on October 13.
Thanksgiving celebrations usually center around expressions of gratitude for physical blessings. Thanksgiving observances often involve filling ourselves with physical food, but as Christfollowers we are far more thankful to God for filling us with his grace and mercy.
Of course, the physical blessings we enjoy do cause us to stop and consider the plight of others in our world. ...
All Things Come of Thee – Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner letter for November 2021
“All things come of Thee, O Lord, and of Thine own have we given Thee.”
All Things Come of Thee is a traditional hymn and prayer, whose message reminds us that giving thanks results, for Christ-followers, in giving. All Things Come of Thee confesses that anything and everything we give to God ultimately belongs to him for he gave it to us to begin with. Our Thanks-Giving is but a minimal return to God of his greater and supreme gifts he lavishes on us.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to acknowledge that all we have, from the money in our pockets, to the food in our refrigerator and the ...
Rest For the Weary
I heard a story about an American missionary named David who served in an African town several decades ago. David was amazed to see the heavy loads and burdens the Africans carried on their heads as a part of their regular jobs.
The most astonishing individual he met, in this regard, was a lady who had perfected the technique of carrying heavy loads on her head to such a degree that her peers called her "the human delivery truck." Amazing at it seems to us, she delivered engine blocks from cars and trucks from one repair shop to another. According to the story, four men would lift the engine block on to a tray that she carried on her head—she ...
Meals on Wheels
Earlier this year my wife and I attended memorial services for the wife of an older gentleman who frequents the same gym where my wife and I exercise. Jerrat is one of a number of seniors who arrive early at the gym, virtually every day. We have joined this group about three times a week over the last 6-8 years.
A group of about 20 of us from the gym (we call ourselves gym rats) joined Jerrat, his family, loved ones and friends, supporting them during this time of loss. A week or so after the funeral my wife Karen decided to make some dinner for Jerrat. We called him and asked him if we could come to his house and bring him dinner. He was so ...
An Offer We Can’t Refuse
When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' "The ...
It All Comes From God
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.—Romans 11:33-36
Here in the United States this is the time and the week after Thanksgiving. It's a time of the year when it can be so easy to forget that what we are eating and enjoying is what God has given us, for every good and perfect gift is from above…(James 1:17). Here in the U.S. we just ...
The Power of a Tireless Minority by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from October 2015
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather a tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds."– attributed to Samuel Adams, an American Founding Father (1722-1803).
IT DOES NOT TAKE A MAJORITY TO PREVAIL! Throughout history, authentic Christianity seems to have thrived when it was a distinct minority. On the other hand, it seems that the pure gospel and faith taught by Jesus and proclaimed in theNew Testament was polluted and corrupted when Christendom became the official, state religion and it was enforced and institutionalized.
Setting brush fires in people’s ...
Are You a Believer?
Many Christians use the word believer as a short definition of their way of life and as a way of separating their practices and teachings from non-believers. Without further qualification, the term believer can be just one more in a long list of clichés and "in-house" terminology. After all, a believer might describe someone who believes in UFOs and aliens from outer space. A believer might describe someone who actually believes in the ghosts and goblins of Halloween. So the term believer begs for further definition, doesn't it? Belief in what or who? The answer may seem to be obvious, but sadly, in many cases it isn't.
Ponder with ...
See How He Loves Us
There's a great story about a little boy who was trying to learn the Lord's Prayer. One night he was kneeling down by his bed, and he prayed: "Our Father who are in heaven, how do you know my name?"
St. Augustine, revered as one of the great theologians of the Christian faith, once said that Jesus loves each of us as if there was no one else to love.
Time after time we read in the four Gospels about people Jesus met who felt and experienced his radically personalized, individual affection—no one they had ever known had talked to them, treated them and spent time with them the way Jesus did.
The eyes out of which Jesus saw and ...
Is My Church Legalistic?
Q: I have been a member of a "fundamental, Bible-believing" church for six years and recently, some things have come to light that concern me. First, our church is adamant about the clear gospel in that it is not of works and that you can't ever earn your way into heaven. I know it's a free gift and that is the core of our teaching.
However, there are strict rules for the members—no going to movies, no listening to anything that resembles Christian rock music—men must wear suits and women must wear dresses or skirts in church. Our pastor calls these requirements "standards."
My most disturbing concern is when people leave our ...
Loving Legalism – No Such Thing!
From the time the first human beings walked the face of the earth, literally billions of people have been living lives of religious legalism—attempting to do for themselves what God has already done for them—trying to replace God's infinitely powerful grace with empty, useless human effort.
After Jesus came to us, telling us about and showing us God's unconditional love, and after establishing his church, it seems we should have gotten the point. But even though Jesus, God in the flesh, came as one of us revealing the Father, religious legalism continues even among people who claim to be Christians.
In fact legalism, as a ...
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