617 results for author: Greg Albrecht
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 31, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“I am a critic of religious legalism, but more importantly I am a deeply devoted Christian. I am also a recovering legalist, and I know the deadly power of religious legalism. I know that Christ set me free from its bondage. I know that I was blind but now I see (John 9:25). I must report what I see and who healed and rescued me, whether modern religious Pharisees like the implications of my story or not.
Grace helped me see that it is a travesty and a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be calling oneself a Christian while insisting that the work of salvation is ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 29, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“… salvation is not BY works, but FOR works. God saves and rescues and re-births us, Christ in us, the hope of glory, works in our lives, producing in and through us the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Only God can create a tree. And the only reason a tree brings forth fruit is that God created the tree and vibrant systems within the tree that enable fruit-bearing. No stick of wood can plant itself in the ground, and by rigorous effort, expect fruit to be borne on its branches. Jesus said, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches… without me, you can do nothing (John 15:5).”
Originally ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 26, 2023 - Quote for the Day
“In our world, whether it’s the workplace or the church, the relationship others are willing to have with you is normally based on a bottom line. The relationship you have with a bank is based on the money you have on deposit. If your checkbook doesn’t balance, you are an undesirable. You must maintain a minimum balance. In the spiritual realm, many are led to believe that if they don’t show up at church often enough the religious bankers will start adding service charges to their account – or just show them the door that supposedly leads directly to eternal torture in hell. The kingdom ...
Grace Without Reservations – by Greg Albrecht
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, then grace would no longer be grace.—Romans 11:6
Have you ever had an altercation, a conflict or misunderstanding with your wife or husband, adult child or a good friend and wondered how in the world you could patch things up? We've all been there, haven't we? Perhaps we are "there" right now.
Let's suppose (and it's a safe supposition, isn't it?) that the mess we are thinking about is a mess that is our fault. We are to blame. After all, at some point in our lives, we have all been in the wrong, haven't we? At some point in our lives we have all been the major factor or cause behind a ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 24, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“The word ‘religion’ itself, even while it has positive meanings attributed to it, is, at its core, a toxic faith. The etymology of the word goes back to the Latin religare – to bind – and religio – obligation (to the gods). The use of the word ‘religion’ today generally points toward the practices and beliefs individuals accept as being a true definition of what God (or the gods) expects of them…
Toxic faith is religious in the sense that religion binds and imprisons it followers in belief systems that control them. Healthy faith is Christ-centered in the sense that ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 22, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“Quid pro quo means ‘something for something – something received or given in return for something else.’ We humans learn quickly that we must work for what we get in our world. We earn wages for services we render. Quid pro quo. We earn approval and acceptance by deeds we perform. Quid pro quo. People like and love us if we help them, serve them, and make them feel or look good. Quid pro quo. Grace is the opposite of quid pro quo. God is grace. He gives and loves, without guarantee or prior evidence of any return on his investment. Not only does God not reward us for what we deserve, ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 19, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“During a discussion with a new acquaintance in which I challenged some of her views, it became obvious to me that she considered the fact that I am an old white male as de facto proof that I am a hateful and bigoted racist.
When I pointed out that her judgment of me was itself racist (I’m white), sexist (I’m male) and based on age discrimination (65 is fading fast in my rear-view mirror), she was not amused…
I did not bother to tell her I am one of those hateful, bigoted racists who believe in the absolute historical proof of the Holocaust and that I support the right of the nation of ...
Scandalous Grace – Part 2 – by Greg Albrecht
Genesis 27:1-45 - Jacob deceives Isaac for his blessing
The story of Jacob's deception centers on God promising a reversal. God essentially told Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother, that Jacob would receive the blessing the older brother, Esau, should have had.
Amazingly, the life of Jacob after he had deceived both his father and his brother was an ongoing saga of deceit and conflict. When Esau realized that he had been duped and deceived, Jacob had to run for his life to escape Esau's anger.
The story of Esau and Jacob is an illustration of God's scandalous grace, a grace that reaches into the murky ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 17, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“Today millions continue to be enslaved by ‘just-around-the-corner’ interpretations of the book of Revelation. Some live in fear within cultic groups where apocalyptic anxieties allow leaders to combine irresponsible prophecy teaching with authoritarian control, while others experience the rigors of prophetic addiction (prophetic teaching that turns into a religious addiction) within churches that generally teach sound doctrine but corrupt and cheapen the gospel with irresponsible speculation. In either case Revelation is used as a club to control and intimidate.”
Originally ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 15, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
“The world that God loves is a gift from our gracious God. The world, seen and unseen, animal, vegetable and mineral, testifies to the entire world’s absolute dependence on God. The world-at-large demonstrates our inter-relationship with all creatures, our environment and our fellow human beings.”
Originally published in:
Wonders of His Love
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Wins and Losses Don’t Matter – by Greg Albrecht
Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. – Matthew 10:39
The purpose of a Christ-centered life is not to gratify or satisfy the self, but to lose ourselves in the cause of something bigger and more important. When we lose ourselves in the service of Jesus, we find life – he gives us his life, and he lives his life in us now and forever. The primary purpose of life that motivates Christ-followers is far beyond merely consuming, acquiring and possessing. The purpose of life for those who walk with Jesus is to lose ourselves in the service of those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
October 12, 2023 - Quote for the Day:
"Eternal conscious torment in hell is an unbiblical, fabricated teaching of Christ-less religion designed to keep its followers in line. ‘Believers’ in such teaching perceive hell as having positive results because 1) the fear of being consigned to the fiery coals of hell keeps the followers of Christ-less religion in tow, as they ‘toe-the-line,’ and 2) it gives those who are religiously devout ‘hope’ that God will see to it that those who do not faithfully ‘toe-the-line’ as they do will get what they deserve."
Originally published in:
Letters to My Friends
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Scandalous Grace – by Greg Albrecht
Keynote Passage:
This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, ...
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