So, the message of grace IS foolishness...

1 Cor 1:21 "God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

"Many a bad sermon has been launched from a mistranslation of this verse. The King James Version translates the verse to say "the foolishness of preaching." But it is not the act of preaching that is said to be foolish. It is the message of what is preached. It is the preached Word, the preached gospel that is foolishness. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached--that is, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ--to save those who believe. This is what is well pleasing to God."

His wisdom!

"God did not save the world through its own wisdom. It was not through cleverness or wisdom or intelligence that anyone has come to Christ, including any of us. It is often tempting to think that we were simply smart enough to understand this gospel. When the gospel was preached, we were intelligent enough to grasp it, smart enough to recognize it for what it was. As tempting as such thoughts may be, however, none of us came to the gospel by intelligence. We came because of God's power working in "the foolishness of the message preached."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD IS IN A GOOD MOOD !!!

Want to doubt?

"He is not going to change his mind about wanting us, about calling us, about being merciful to us. "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23). He has made a commitment to us, a covenant with us, to redeem us, to give us eternal life, to love us forever. He will not be without us. He is trustworthy, but how do we respond to him? Do we worry? Do we struggle to be worthy of his love? Or do we trust him? We need never doubt God’s power.

This is shown in the resurrection of Jesus from death. This is the God who has power over death itself, power over all the beings he created, power over all other powers (Colossians 2:15). He triumphed over all things through the cross, and this is demonstrated through his resurrection. Death could not hold him, for he is the author of life (Acts 3:15).The same power that raised Jesus from death will also give immortal life to us (Romans 8:11). We can trust that he has the power, and the desire, to fulfill all his promises toward us.

We can trust him with everything—and that’s a good thing, since it is foolish to trust in anything else. Of ourselves, we will fail. Left to itself, even the sun will fail. Our only hope is in a God who has power greater than the sun, greater than the universe, more faithful than time and space, full of love and faithfulness toward us. We have that sure hope in Jesus our Savior."

ooh His Goodness!

"God always uses his enormous power to further his promise of love and grace toward his people."

no right!

"Grace must not just be central in a preacher’s study, understanding and explanation of of Scripture, but equally important when it comes to how he applies Scripture for daily living. Preachers should motivate their listeners by grace, not guilt. As Bryan Chapell has written, “If God has freed His people from the guilt and power of sin, then preachers have no right to seek holiness by putting believers back under the weight Jesus bore.”

Strongholds!

"It is the power of God that truly transforms our lives. We need the power of God back in the church. We need people on fire who are free because they are transformed by grace and not condemnation. (2 Corinthians 10). We plant churches out of a foundation of liberty and freedom and the call of God not a desire to get accepted. "Divine power to demolish". The power of God demolishes strongholds - what are strongholds? "Arguments and every pretence". Strongholds are thought patterns in the minds."

Rob Rufus

...of things not seen.

"Many people think faith is acting like something is so when it really isn't so, and if we do that long enough, then it will become so. But that's not it at all. Faith is real.

Hebrews 11:1 says,

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is substance. This is saying that faith is real. It is the evidence of things not seen. Notice it didn't say "things that don't exist." They do exist. They just aren't seen."

Andrew Wommack

A better system of righteousness was yet to come!

"The Old Covenant, of course, had pointed to Law as the best path (for that time) toward justification. The complete system of law, delivered from Mount Sinai, is the heart of the Old, Mosaic, Covenant (incidentally, it is one complete legal system; the Old Testament does not allow us to break it down into bits such as 'the ceremonial law' and so on). But as time wore on we see that none, yes, not even Moses and Aaron - and certainly not people like David - were able to fully keep this law, and we start to find indicators that a better system of righteousness was yet to come"

Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!