Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus' triumphant return to Jerusalem - if a triumphal return is considered as one on a donkey. Many people chose to celebrate Jesus' entry into the city, laying down palm leaves.
This morning, at Calvary Chapel Murrieta, Pastor Brian decided to make his message about Grace.
We desire to maintain contact with God. We are sinners, but we don't need spiritual cosmetics to be presentable to Him. He accepts us as we are.
Jesus has full comprehension of who you are, but we don't want to recognize His acceptance and forgiveness.
Pastor Brian then quoted from the introduction of the Ragamuffin Gospel. . .
“The Ragamuffin Gospel was written with a specific reading audience in mind: This book is not for the super-spiritual. It is not for muscular Christians who have made John Wayne and not Jesus their hero. It is not for academicians who would imprison Jesus in the ivory tower of exegesis. It is not for noisy, feel-good folks who manipulate Christianity into a naked appeal to emotion. It is not for hooded mystics who want magic in their religion. It is not for Alleluia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of desolation. It is not for the fearless and the tearless. It is not for red-hot zealots who boast with the rich young ruler of the gospels: ‘All these commandments I have kept from my youth.’ It is not for the complacent, hoisting over their shoulder a tote-bag of honors, diplomas, and good works actually believing they have it made. It is not for legalists who would rather surrender control of their souls to rules than run the risk of living in union with Jesus.
“If anyone is still reading along, The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out. It is for the sorely burdened who are still shifting the heavy suitcase from one hand to the other. It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don’t have it altogether and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace. It is for inconsistent, unsteady disciples whose cheese is falling off their cracker. It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents. It is for earthen vessels who shuffle along on feet of clay. It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God. It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags. The Ragamuffin Gospel is a book I wrote for myself and anyone who has grown weary along the Way.”
We are saved by Grace. All by Grace. If we don't get that, we've missed the whole point of Christ's sacrifice. The holy self-righteous types hide their hypocrisy, but the saved recognize that we are sinners and without His Grace we fall short of His Glory. Until we accept our inadequacies and insecurities, we are not ready for Christianity. Jesus invited sinners, not the self-righteous, to his table.
Mathew 9:13: But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
"Church is not a museum for Saints, but a hospital for sinners." - Abigail Van Buren
We are beggars at the door of God's Mercy. We must not be too proud to accept the Gift of His Amazing Grace.
Through one man sin entered, and death spread. Adam affected all by cutting a hole in the side of life's ship. The sin spread, and was passed down from generation to generation.
Pastor Brian told a story about a skunk that had sprayed his dog in the back yard, and when he patted the dog on the head to get him to stop barking, the spray of the skunk got on his hand, and no matter how much he washed it the stink remained, ultimately spreading through the house - just as sin did from Adam.
Even if a stick is slightly crooked, and it claims to be nearly straight, when placed next to a straight stick, its failure to be straight is even more apparent. Our lives are crooked, and when placed against God's Law how crooked we are is all the more apparent. Sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call Grace. When it is sin versus Grace, Grace wins hands down. Grace carries us beyond the universe, and into the Heart of God.
He never withholds Grace on the account of sin. Nothing can avert the flow of the Grace of God. Grace is given in spite of our sin. We are unable to reach the righteousness God commands, so He offered us the Gift of Grace. He is a God that demands everything, and stops at nothing for us. Eternal life is not only the future, but a present possession of the believer.
To live in Him there is only one place to take our sins. . . to the foot of The Cross.
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In the evening, my friend Paul, who is a Pentecostal, invited me to a service by a "spirit-filled" congregation using a Methodist Church's classroom for their Worship Services. As a raised Baptist, and Calvary Chapel Evangelical right now, I took him up on the proposition well knowing I am not nearly as bouncy in church as he is.
Though I am not quite a "holy roller" like my friend and his church, the Sunday Night service in Temecula was phenomenal.
I was also blessed because I have been facing some medical difficulties of late, and in fact am going through a few tests, and Paul, and his friends, prayed for me at the service, laying hands on me as well.
When it comes to healing, I believe it is very possible, but it also has to be in God's Will. God is not a genie in a bottle that just does as we ask. In fact, it is we that are the servants. However, if my healing is in His Will, encouraged by the prayer, I may very well be healed from my affliction.
We'll soon find out, I am sure.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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