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Category: Jesus (Page 1 of 60)

People of Promise

July 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“If the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.” ~Galatians 3:18

We are not a people of the law, we are a people of promise. And that matters. It matters big time.

If we believe we are saved by the law or by rules and regulations or by behaving correctly, then we’re going to treat people harshly. We’ll be arrogant and judgmental, we’ll be unbending and unforgiving. We’ll be nervous or unsure about the correctness of our own performance, so we’ll fight and divide over the weirdest things. And we’ll turn off a lot of people.

When we know we are saved by the gracious promise of God in Christ, then we’ll be a people of mercy and love. We’ll give others the benefit of the doubt. We’ll be flexible and forgiving, we’ll seek to bless others, we’ll be kind and hospitable. Our words will be encouraging, our actions will be inviting. We’ll be unified by a focus on the really important things. And we’ll inspire a lot of people.

We are not people of the law. We are not people of rules or people of regulations or people of the guilt trip or people of the coercion. We are not people of correct interpretations or proper practices. None of those things save us! Those are things we use to gain control. Or to be right. Or to be better. Or more prominent. Those are the things that divide us and separate us, those are the things that lead to strife and condemnation.

The Good News is that your forgiveness, your salvation, your eternal life rests solely in the unchanging promise or our God through Christ alone.

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” ~Galatians 3:29

Peace,

Allan

Who God Is

June 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We are beginning a shepherd selection process here at the GCR Church to choose a few additional elders to join our leadership group. If you belong to GCR, it is especially important that you visit our shepherding page on the church website for information and resources. If you’re not a GCR member, I would still encourage you to check out this page. You’ll find four sermons we preached back in 2023 about elders–qualifications, processes, term limits and sabbaticals, the “lists” in 1 Timothy and Titus, and what to look for in potential shepherds. You’ll also find several excellent resources that include breakdowns of the “qualities” in those two New Testament “lists,” other Scriptures that are just as important in helping discern the right men for the job, and theological answers to the questions of divorce and remarriage, and an elder’s children. I believe you’ll find it very helpful.

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“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us… When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.” ~Romans 5:8, 10

God insists on doing whatever it takes to have a righteous relationship with us so he tells us exactly who he is. He wants us to know him, so he gives us his full name: compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). And then he comes here to show us. He goes to the cross to show us that there are no limits to his love and no end to his faithfulness.

The cross is where God receives the worst sin and evil we can muster. All of our sin, all of our evil, everything that’s wrong and broken in us–our God absorbs all of that at the cross and he turns the other cheek and he forgives. In Christ, God reconciled us back to himself. God is not reconnecting himself back to us. It wasn’t God who was alienated from us! It was we who were alienated from God!

Jesus doesn’t die on the cross to change God’s mind about us. Jesus died on the cross to change your mind about God.

When we look at the cross, we don’t see what God does, we see who God is.

God did not require the death of Jesus. It’s that God came to us in person and we said, “Crucify him.” And when we said, “Crucify him,” God said, “Forgive them.”

When Jesus prayed, “Forgive them” for his murderers, he was not acting contrary to the nature of God. This wasn’t something new. He was revealing the eternal nature of God as faithful and forgiving love. We see at the cross that our God would rather die for his enemies than do them harm. That’s who God is.

Peace,

Allan

We’ve Seen It

June 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only Begotten, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” ~John 1:18

I would love to have this conversation with the writer of John. No one has ever seen God? Come on, man! The Bible tells us all kinds of people have seen God. Abraham had a picnic with God under the oak trees at Mamre. Jacob saw God at the top of that stairway to heaven at Bethel. Moses met God face to face. The 70 elders saw God in Exodus 24–it says it twice!–they saw God and they ate and drank. Isaiah saw God in the temple. Ezekiel saw God at the river in Babylon. Come on, John, lots of people have seen God.

I think John would say, “Look, man, I know all those stories better than you do. But all those visions and dreams, all those epiphanies and theophanies–all of that pales in comparison to this full revelation of God that we have in Jesus! Jesus is the ultimate revelation and full disclosure of who our God is and what he’s all about!”

Jesus himself says it over and over: “I and the Father are one” and “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”

Paul makes the same claim: “God gave us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Our God wants so badly to have a righteous relationship with us, so he tells us exactly who he is. He gives us his full name: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. And then he comes here to show us who he is. Jesus Christ is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness! Faithful to the death, is he not? And forgiving! Jesus reveals an undeniable flesh and blood, on this earth with us, reflection of exactly what God describes as his “glory” on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 34.

And John says, yeah, we’ve seen it.

“We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” ~John 1:14

Peace,

Allan

Sorrow and Love

April 18, 2025 / / 0 Comments

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died;
my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

~ Isaac Watts, 1707

See the Light. Be the Light.

December 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

John the Baptist is sitting in a jail cell. He’s sitting in darkness. He sends word to Jesus. “How do we know you’re the one? Are you really the answer to all our prayers, or do we need to keep looking?”

Jesus says, “Keep looking for what? It’s right in front of you!”

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor!” ~Matthew 11:4-5

You and I can see the Kingdom of God being ushered in by Jesus. The Christ is born in the city of David and hurting people are comforted. Distressed people are encouraged. Everywhere Jesus goes, hopeless people are filled with hope. Prisoners are released and captives are given their freedom. Jesus walks in and sick people are made well, sinful people are forgiven. Jesus shows up and the devil’s grip on God’s people is broken forever. You can see Jesus bringing in the promised Kingdom of God!

And we walk in his light. By his life, death, and resurrection, by his obedience and faithfulness, his perfection is our perfection. His holiness, righteousness, and redemption is ours. His eternal life is your eternal life. His love is lavished on you. His peace embraces you. Christ’s Spirit lives in you, his power works for you, and his victory belongs to you! We walk in that light! Your church lives and worships and serves together in that light!

“The truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” ~1 John 2:8

We’re like Stonehenge. All of us, all our churches, we catch this light of Christ. We catch these beams of light from the Lord of Life and we reflect that light, we proclaim it, we project it, and we share it with everybody. We preach it, we embody it, we live it. So everybody in town knows that your church is the place and the people where your yoke can be shattered and the rod of your oppression can be broken forever by the brightest of lights that gives life to all people!

You can see the Kingdom of God. It’s visible right now in and among all us who claim to follow Jesus as Lord. When we decide to also be the Kingdom of God, well, now we’re on to something.

Peace,

Allan

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