Happy Friday

Boldness In Proclaiming the Gospel

by Steve McVey

In August of 1521, Martin Luther wrote a letter to his friend, Philipp Melanchthon. Here's what he had to say about how to proclaim the gospel:

If you are a preacher of mercy; do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners.

Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter, are looking forward to "a new heaven and a new earth" where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins?

Raw grace --- it's dangerous stuff. At the least, it makes some people nervous. Others will be outraged. Tell folks that their sins are all forgiven and some of them will become incredibly offended by such good news. Tell them that there's nothing they can do to separate themselves from the love of God and they'll accuse you of preaching license to sin. Tell them Jesus has done it all and there's nothing left for them to do to make themselves acceptable to God and they may say you're teaching passivity. It's a strange thing to see how much people often despise good news.

Share the truth in its purity and you'll likely find that your enemies will hate you and your friends will worry about you. That's a given. Plainly and simply put, if you are never misunderstood; if you are never criticized for your view of grace; if you never ruffle any feathers, you aren't being bold enough in proclaiming the gospel of grace.

From the Apostle Paul forward, everybody who has proclaimed pure grace has riled up self-righteous religionists. Don't forget that the greatest opponents of Jesus were the religious people. I don't believe we should try to be offensive, but the Bible calls the gospel an offense, so if nobody is ever being offended by our proclamation of grace, we have to wonder how clearly we are presenting it in its purity.

Luther and others, both before and after him, paid a price for refusing to budge on the subject. May God raise up a generation of grace walkers today that show the same resolve. The need is great and the potential is staggering.

Be bold about grace. Don't raise the white flag by accepting that there must be balance. Don't surrender by agreeing that it may simply be a matter of semantics when we discuss the subject. Don't think for one moment that you can take grace too far. You can't because if you did it would stop being grace and morph into disgrace.

As Luther said, the exalted Lamb didn't pay a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins. The Trinity of Heaven spent every ounce of Divine Equity for our forgiveness and to bring us into the Divine Circle of Life. Let us not insult such a great expression of love with a wishy-washy testimony. Stand strong. Speak plainly and refuse to compromise. Too much has been spent and too much is at stake to do any less.
 Saved, Saved

1. I’ve found a Friend, who is all to me,
   His love is ever true;
   I love to tell how He lifted me
   And what His grace can do for you.
   
   • Refrain:
     Saved by His pow’r divine,
     Saved to new life sublime!
     Life now is sweet and my joy is complete,
     For I’m saved, saved, saved!

1. He saves me from every sin and harm,
   Secures my soul each day;
   I’m leaning strong on His mighty arm;
   I know He’ll guide me all the way.

1. When poor and needy and all alone,
   In love He said to me,
   “Come unto Me and I’ll lead you home,
   To live with Me eternally.”
   

Daily Smile:
Q: What's every cat's favorite song?
A: Three Blind Mice!  

In The News:
Obama Pushes for New Gun Control Measures
President Barack Obama plans to put his "full weight" behind the push for new gun control legislation in the aftermath of the shooting in Newtown, Conn., WORLD News Service reports. During an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, the president said he would make the new legislation one of his top priorities in 2013. Obama, who appointed Vice President Joe Biden to head a committee that will make recommendations about gun control measures and other safety initiatives in January, also said he planned to rally the American people to support the legislative effort. "I think there are a vast majority of responsible gun owners out there who recognize that we can't have a situation in which somebody with severe psychological problems is able to get the kind of high-capacity weapons that this individual in Newtown obtained and gun down our kids," Obama said. But National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre, who appeared on Meet the Press before Christmas, said blaming guns for violence won't solve the problem. "You can't legislate morality," he said. "Legislation works on the sane. Legislation works on the law-abiding. It doesn't work on criminals. ... There are monsters out there every day, and we need to do something to stop them."

Federal Food Stamp Program Spent Record $80.4 Billion in Fiscal Year 2012
During fiscal year 2012, the U.S. government spent a record $80.4 billion on food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a $2.7 billion increase from fiscal year 2011, CNSNews.com reports. According to the Monthly Treasury Statement that summarizes the receipts and outlays of the federal government, $80,401,000,000 went toward SNAP during FY 2012, compared to $77,637,000,000 in FY 2011. The SNAP program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also runs other food assistance programs under the auspices of the Food and Nutrition Service Agency. In total, nearly $106 billion was spent on food assistance in 2012, with $18.3 billion that went to "Child Nutrition Programs." Total federal spending on SNAP has increased each year during President Obama's first term in office. In FY 2009, when SNAP was still known as the "Food Stamp" program, the government spent approximately $55.6 billion. By FY 2010, SNAP spending increased to nearly $70.5 billion. Between FY 2009 and FY 2012, SNAP's budget jumped by approximately $24.8 billion.