Good Tuesday morning, my friends.
Today I forward you in its entirety this articly by John Fischer. Can you relate?
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 4:46 AM
Subject: The Catch - The way it goes
| | The way it goes by John Fischer | | Here is a typical scenario for a Christian today. See if any of this fits, and then let us know. When you first became a Christian you were acutely aware of your sin. Indeed it was your sin and helplessness to stop it that drove you to Christ because you had heard that He had forgiven your sin, removed it as a barrier between you and God and even broken sin's power over you on the cross. Suddenly salvation is free and being right with God is there for the taking. As to your own sin, you had nothing to hide. You were not measuring yourself as a semi-good person coming to the cross. You were not "joining God's team." You were despicable and incapable of anything good. And in your confession and forgiveness, you were washed clean, unburdened, overwhelmed with grace, thankful, open, honest and pure. You felt like a baby inside, giddy with delight, like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning, the spirits having done it all in one night! This is how you felt. Then you started going to church and hanging around other Christians who have been Christians for a while and something gradually changed. A shift occurred. The shift was away from focusing on sin, the need for forgiveness and helplessness to produce anything good, and towards what you could do to become a better Christian. The law or the process of obeying the commands of scripture became something attainable. It became something able to make good people better. And there are countless programs, seminars, small groups, books and studies to help you do this. Hardly any of these remind people of either their despicableness and their inability to do good; almost all of them help you to become better. What is the goal? To be good people. What do we try and show the world? That we are good people. What happens when we turn out to really be bad people hiding behind a mask? People laugh at us and feel better about their own sin. What they supposed about us all along is true - we are a bunch of hypocrites - and the gospel is totally wasted on them. They never hear it. (The world only hears the gospel when it hears about our sin.) What happens to the gospel, the cross, forgiveness, grace and the great feeling of astonishment? It becomes a story in the past - something to sing about and be sentimental over. The New Covenant is the same as our conversion. We need the Spirit to begin and we need the Spirit to continue. The New Covenant requires our sinfulness and inadequacy to do anything good and it requires an unmasked life so that the miracle of the life of Christ can be easily seen in us and not confused with us. If any of this has peaked your interest you should seriously consider jumping in on our Catch On Teleconference Study tomorrow night. See tomorrow's Catch for all the details. | | John Fischer | | | |
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 | | Click to Download | Still Life - Available for Download John Fischer's landmark 1973 album Still Life is now available for download! Includes the original recording of his most-loved "All Day Song (Love Him in the Morning)" and other favorites like "Setting of the Sun," "Brightest and Best," and "Matthew's Blues." This version has all the sparkle and pop of the original. Find out how well this music has held up over the years and how far ahead of its time it really was. |
| The Catch | 1278 Glenneyre | Laguna Beach | CA | 92651 |
Grace and peace be yours in abundance,
Bruce
Dear Heavenly Father, we lower our heads before you and we confess that we have too often forgotten that we are yours.
Sometimes we carry on our lives as if there was no God and we fall short of being a credible witness to You.
For these things we ask your forgiveness and we also ask for your strength.
Give us clear minds and open hearts so we may witness to You in our world.
Remind us to be who You would have us to be regardless of what we are doing or who we are with.
Hold us to You and build our relationship with You and with those You have given us on earth.
 | Bruce MacPherson
macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821
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