In our fellowships, grace is real, raw and unmerited.
But we also understand that although grace is freely given, it costs everything to accept – because when it is authentically received, we then take up our cross as we die to self and follow Him.
Our fellowships are filled with those who once were (literally) murders, abusers, pimps, dealers and slaves to other depravities too horrible to mention. They are now redeemed and moving forward in the Lord because we touched their lives with the unmerited grace and acceptance of God. But when they responded to His call, we then cared enough to teach them the fullness of Christ – both His presence and His ways.
Often, I feel the Lord compel me to address some of out-of-balance swings of the pendulum that plague God’s people. I do so often in my blogs.
In our fellowships, however, we NEVER need to talk about the balance of God’s grace of unmerited love and presence and His grace of truth and rule – because that’s just an unspoken given.
Here’s a video of some mighty, prophetic preaching by Paul Washer, which I think is God’s message of balance today. It confronts the postmodern mentality that has polluted God’s people with doctrines and practices that pervert grace by trying to create Jesus in our own image, and calls us to repentance.
It may offend, and it comes from a more traditional church and traditional pastor perspective, but it proclaims needed truth for all of God’s people.
Whenever I hear it, I weep as God convicts me and brings me to repentance in areas where I have ignored His ways – and then find His renewing joy and enabling power to better serve Him as He created me to be and do.
I don’t care if you are traditional, organic, missional, emergent, “Beyond” or whatever crowd you hang with – none of us are exempt from Paul Washer’s 10 Indictments.
This expresses my heart as God prophetically calls His people to grab hold of who He really is – the fulness of all of Christ, His accepting grace and the grace of His truth.
~ Jim
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Related articles
- Hyper Grace – Part 1 (crossroadjunction.com)
- Hyper Grace – Part 2 (crossroadjunction.com)
- Hyper Grace – Part 4 (crossroadjunction.com)
Crossroad Junction 
Keep Preaching the Truth Brother! The Truth will set yu Freee! A person who is set free is free indeed… Love it! and Love the Lord Our God!
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I’m disappointed, Jim. I suppose the style puts me off, but about 1/2 way through he interjects that he is running out of time…the famous ‘in conclusion’ that is usually repeated abut 5 times. Or the riddle, “Q. What does it mean when a preacher looks at his watch? A. Absolutely nothing.
He starts off with a great discussion of his humility, but nothing he says afterwards suggests he is open to discussion on any of his statements.
He says one particular atonement model is true…and implies that all the rest are heretical.
He seems to say that a ‘real’ conversion requires lots of time and an appropriate degree of agony and repentance. Anything quick must be bogus and just lead people to be unreachable for true conversion.
He seems to think the idea of the true church vs the outward ‘church’ is a new idea.
I have questions about his freely mixing of Old Testament and New Testament passages… that’s it…he comes from the camp that sees the Father as the distant, judging God…he misses the revelation that Jesus presented to Phillip…he who has seen me has seen the Father. He condemns those who have created a friendly God to their own liking, but what he really is doing is creating a God in the limited model of the Old Testament and bemoaning those who have grasped the CHRISTIAN model.
I don’t know his audience, but it must be large numbers of traditional pastors. All I can think of is a scene from the movie, ‘The American President’ about how, to win an election you gather a group of middle-class Americans and you reminisce about the better days and about how things were better back then and you point your finger at other folks and say THEY are the cause of your problems… THAT’S how you win elections.
Here is a preacher telling a group how the old time theologians and preachers had it right and the present state of the church is due to the Psychologists and evangelists who have lost sight of the old time Gospel.
I confess, Jim, interruptions kept me from getting all the way through, but I see what bothered me. Don’t confuse ‘flogging the flock’ with holding to the objective standard of Scriptural truth!
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Tom, the issue of style is really an issue of culture. The Lord has us go to those who have truly reached the end of themselves. For them, blunt and direct works. I have had many men come to me – years later – and tell me that this message by Paul Washer was a turning point for them.
Our fellowships have not – thank God! – been called to reach the self-deceived: the pampered, churched or polite folks who think they’re OK but are spiritually dead.
For us, the only Gospel, and the only grace, that makes a difference is raw, direct and wholly honest by showing the love of Christ along with His rule and total repentance. There is no sloppy agape, or pampering any postmodern or middle class sensibilities which cause people to think they can come to Jesus on their terms because they are basically OK but just need a little help around the edges.
If Washer offends, then it’s likely because of your cultural context – which is fine. I think, however, the rest of the Body of Christ may have something to learn from our cultural context and the total repentance and surrender that comes from those who have no illusion about their true depravity, and thus nothing worth holding onto as they grab hold of Christ. They then go on to do amazing things in the Kingdom of God, because they understand that Jesus is not a mutual admiration society, but total Lord.
I applaud Washer, and hope God raises up more voices of repentance and holiness against this self content generation.
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