Acceptance grace and Empowering grace

Rob Rufus says, "Every revival has ended up crushed by condemnation - every move of God through church history has ended up crushed in dead religious formalism because they gave into the spirit of legalism. They formulated rules and lost their freedom through grace."

That is why i am so convinced that preaching acceptance grace WILL bring about revival and sustain it (as long as you stick with acceptance grace.) So many Pastors today are trying to preach empowering grace without the message of acceptance grace (the gospel) and are driving their churches further into legalism without even realizing it. i believe its a scheming ploy of the enemy...

In doing this (preaching empowering grace at the expense of acceptance grace), there is a negative "double whammy"for these churches. Not only are the believers feeling condemnation for doing what they know they shouldn't be doing, and that is, sinning against a holy God, who constantly judges their unholy actions, counting those unholy actions against them and threatening to withhold blessing until they stop, they also feel condemnation for not doing what empowering grace says they "should" be doing everyday, and that is, signs, wonders and miracles. This drives the believers deeper into conformism or rebellion! But acceptance grace tells me God counts my sin against me no longer, forever gone, and if i never "do" signs, wonders and miracles He will love me still, bless me still, protect me still, be my Father still!

We need to preach acceptance grace and empowering grace WILL flow naturally. Empowering grace is something that happens when we as believers (sons) realize who we are IN CHRIST. Nothing will stop the believer from "doing" when they have a revelation of who they are. How do we get believers to get that revelation?...Keep on keeping on preaching acceptance grace, start a series on it, when the series is finished start from the beginning again. Paul the Apostle spent his WHOLE life laying the foundation of who we are in Christ, as a matter of fact he fought to keep that teaching in the church when those of the circumcision group tried to pervert the message, and eventually died because of it...His favorite saying? YOU ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS...NO MATTER WHAT...

Acceptance grace - the message of who i am and will always be through what He has done.
Empowering grace - the message of what I can do because i am a Christian.

The Older Brother Syndrome

"The older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son had outer life conformation. So he conformed to what he thought the rules and regulations of the house were. He worked in the Father's house but received nothing of the Father's inheritance. All he knew was confirmation not supernatural transformation. But the prodigal son came home and instantly transformed into sonship in the house while the older brother living for years in confirmation receives nothing. Many in the church are full of "Older Brother Syndrome".

GRACE, GRACE, GRACE !!

Hey guys. I am back in South Africa from Hong Kong. Got back yesterday, feeling the lag a little but what an extraordinary time. There is so much i could say, but what i will say for now is GRACE, GRACE, GRACE !! I believe God is moving the entire church into freedom by the revelation of the gospel as spelled out in the New Testament. That is the grace of God, pure and undiluted, forever having our sins washed away, holy, righteous and blameless before the Father because we are IN Christ, no matter the behaviour!!

So i will endeavor to continuously expound on this in my blog. Hong Kong for me was a reinforcement of the writings and quotes from this blog. For those of you that disagree, i pray that God too will open your eyes :-)

So here's Rob...

"If you give in for a moment something of the Gospel is lost - the truth of the the Gospel is diluted the only expression of the power of God - the only agency for the power of God is through the Gospel. We are talking about a daily battle where spirits come into your mind and try and bring you into condemnation and bring you into guilt, trying to intimidate you and manipulate you and make you feel unworthy. Don't give in for a moment!

The reason why we can't give in for a moment is that too much is at stake (2 Corinthians 3). It's not just your personal happiness that is at stake although that will also be stolen. But it is also the destiny of millions of people."

I'm off to HK too...

For those of you going to the Hong Kong, Glory and Grace conference...look out for me...i'm about 5'9, got dark hair (with some grey!) and i go by the name of Craig...yeeeehaaaaaaaa

Ps.. so i wont be posting for the next 2 weeks or so...

see you when i get back

Does the mercy of God put the justice of God in jeopardy...?

Take the cross of Christ, for example. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Yet the Bible also says that the aim of the death of Christ was "to demonstrate [God's] righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25). Passing over sins creates a huge problem for the righteousness of God. It makes him look like a judge who lets criminals go free without punishment. In other words, the mercy of God puts the justice of God in jeopardy

So to vindicate his justice he does the unthinkable - he puts his Son to death as the substitute penalty for our sins. The cross makes it plain to everyone that God does not sweep evil under the rug of the universe. He punishes it in Jesus for those who believe.

John Piper

What the law CANNOT do...

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2:16).

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:21).

"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith" (Gal. 3: 11).

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).

"And by him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39).

"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God" (Heb. 7:19).



How's about we do a series on this...that in our day and age, Christian Rules And Principles has now replaced the law of Moses as a rule of life...but the effect is still the same...death

...Law kills...grace makes alive...

Law shuts every mouth before God;
Grace opens every mouth to praise Him.

Law puts a great and guilty distance between man and God;
Grace makes guilty man nigh to God.

Law says "do and live";
Grace, "believe and live."

Law never had a missionary;
Grace is to be preached to every creature.

Law utterly condemns the best man;
Grace freely justifies the worst.

Law is a system of probation;
Grace, of favour.

Law stones an adulteress;
Grace says, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin (disbelieve) no more."

Under law the sheep dies at the hand of the shepherd;
Under grace the Shepherd dies for the sheep.

by C I Scofield