Grace Alone Online

A boy possessed with an unclean spirit is afflicted and the disciples can do nothing about it.  Jesus says, "This is a faithless generation" - TO HIS DISCIPLES....not the boy, not his father, nor the onlookers.  Why are the disciples considered "faithless?"  they spent all their time with Jesus.  How could they have missed something?  Have you missed something?

In today's Gospel, Jesus heals a deaf man.  Pay close attention the extent that Jesus goes in making this man hear and speak again.  He does this with all of us.  Romans 10:17, Paul writes, "Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the preaching of God's Word."  We are all deaf and cannot respond to the truth of God's Word.  He calls us through His word and opens our ears to hear and believe.  "Let the person who has ears....let them hear the word of the Lord."

By what authority are things declared "clean" or "unclean".  Mayors and governors have tried to prohibit the sale certain foods and drinks that they have deemed "unhealthy."  Even presidents have tried to mandate vaccinations and declare "unclean" those who are not vaccinated as if some type of utopia or paradise will be ushered in.  Jesus reacts o what makes a person clean or unclean and it's not by prohibiting McDonald's.

Tevye cries "Tradition!" in the musical Fiddler on the Roof.  Jesus has something to say about traditions in the church, and about those fighting today over "contemporary" and "traditional" worship services!

"Grant me patience, wisdom and understanding...." was a phrase in my childhood prayers that my parents taught me.  How true these words are.  We have a choice: worldly wisdom vs spiritual wisdom.  Street smarts and spiritual street smarts.  If you want to survive in this worlds at any cost (perhaps sometimes throwing morals and personal integrity to the wind), then street smarts might work.  But, Christ invites us to be granted His riches, His robes of righteousness, forgiveness and salvation from this world and our broken lives and lies.  His wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, repentance, and acknowledgement of Him alone as God an Savior.  How is the Lord to be "feared in all Christian walks?"  Listen in.

People do not live by bread alone -- or DO they?!  The gospel of John is straight forward in its presentation of who Jesus is and His teachings.  John does not mix words when revealing to us that Jesus Is the bread of life.  Chapter 6 is a beautiful chapter in which John frames Jesus teaching of himself as the bread of life and the the Last Supper.  Matthew and Mark chronicle the event of the Last Supper, John captures the meaning of the Last Supper in Jesus teachings.  Follow Jesus, as He leads us in understanding that He is the bread of life.  

We conclude our study of Paul's letter to the Ephesians delving into Chapter 6.  Since chapter 5, Paul has been talking about our walk with Christ.  We are to be "filled with the Holy Spirit..." emphasizing that being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be submissive to each others' needs: putting them before our own. (Ephesians 5:18ff).  Paul, then, uses the example of how this plays out in the marriage relationship.  In chapter 6, then, Paul addresses how this plays out in the "family relationship" - the family included at that time, not only children but slaves and servants.  Paul's instruction is simple: love obediently.  This clashes with today's society where we are told to fight against injustice on our own terms before we would obey or love the "other."  Let's listen to what Paul has to say...

Submission: What's Love Got To Do With It - it probably the best way to approach the topic in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5.  Marriage was so rotten among Jews and Romans at Paul's time, that He took time to dedicate part his chapter of "walking in the faith in Christ" to devote to the relationship between husbands and wives. Listen in as Paul discusses how deposits of love prevent a bankrupt marriage.

Ephesians 5:18-21 continues our study of Paul's letter to the Ephesians.  Paul focuses on "being filled with the Spirit".  It is a command.  It is a continuous command.  It is something that is done TO every Christian, not something that a Christians does to him or herself.  where do we find the Holy Spirit in order to be filled?  what are the signs that we are filled with God's Spirit, and living the life for which Christ redeemed us? Listen in.

In our continued study of the book of Ephesians, Paul makes a shift from talking about who we are in Christ to how we walk in Christ.  The first three chapters of Ephesians focuses on who we are, seated in the high places, wealth in Christ, chosen to be his family.  now, in chapter 4-6, Paul talks about what it is to walk.  For Paul, however, faith and walking never happen individually, rather in community.  We are in the family of God, joined together by Christ in Baptism.  we are united in faith, and, we are to walk united in this world.  Paul's emphasis, "we're all in the same boat..."  We do not exist, we cannot believe, we will not survive, separate from one another.  Doctrine means duty, belief means behavior, oue relationship with Jesus means relationship with one another.  Listen in.