Oh, Hell!

I am often saddened by Christians who are bent on preaching about "hell" as a method of bringing people into the "kingdom" or putting enough fear in their hearts and minds to "keep them there." There is NO "good news" in it. Jesus did speak of hell often, but until you thoughtfully consider the PEOPLE he was speaking to and the MOTIVE behind it... you will NEVER grasp the WHY of his references to this topic. Jesus was SENT, first and foremost, as the Messiah to the Jewish people to FULFILL the Law's requirements and free them from the condemnation of the covenant it established between them and God. While many in his day were well aware of the law and it's demands, they were also rather self-assured that their ability to KEEP the whole of the law was "do-able." Jesus made it clear that not committing the sins listed IN the law was insufficient in God's eyes for righteousness... because the HEART of mankind was what God could see and judge that we often can't see in ourselves, much less the hearts of others. The law offered only the mirror for the sins of man, and the Jews were chosen to represent that truth to the world. Jesus spoke much of "hell" to express the foolishness of believing that any man had the capacity and sufficiency to stand under the laws PROOF of our sinfulness, and therefore clearly established the fact that condemnation was the ONLY end for our USING the law as a means for righteousness. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The talk of hell was not meant as a threat, but as a way to enlighten those with eyes to see and ears to hear that our insufficiency should be glaring and DRIVE us toward the loving MERCY of God, which is the reason and purpose of his being given to the world... To maintain confidence in their own ability to uphold the law would cause them to miss the GREATEST gift of provision that God sent for their own demise according to the laws decrees. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. Our confidence is in God's love and mercy and grace... not our ability to walk uprightly in hopes that we will be eternally rewarded for our own works. Christians... hell is not our home... the Holy Spirit IN YOU is the down payment that everything God has promised AND PAID FOR by the blood of the Messiah, will be faithfully completed. Believe it!

Drink deeply.

How The Imperfect Church Reveals The Perfect Christ

     Just reflecting on the fact that the church is an IMPERFECT representation of a PERFECT Christ in this world. Many people carry a mistaken view of this fact. Anything other than the above perspective causes us, by necessity, to maintain a harsh and impossible notion that our perfection through self-effort, personal behavior, and application of religious rigor in following rules and upholding laws is what gives us (or helps us maintain) favor with God and "sets us apart" from the rest of humanity. Paul said to the Colossians that this attitude "popularly passes for WISDOM." FAITH in the perfect and finished work of Christ allows for the ever evolving fruit of God's Spirit to flourish in our lives. Not being willing to admit the truth of our personal inability to be perfect flies in the face of such wonderfully assuring scriptures like Galatians 6:2,5 "Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens and TROUBLESOME MORAL FAULTS, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the LAW OF CHRIST... for EVERY PERSON will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his OWN LITTLE LOAD OF OPRESSIVE FAULTS."
     Understanding our "perfection and holiness" in Christ that is given as an imparted gift (which is a grand reality), should never cause us to raise our expectations of ourselves and others beyond the boundaries that we all share as human beings. There are no options for God's favor other than what He gives freely by faith in Christ. Recognizing and accepting our insufficiency, frailty, neediness, and imperfection should not demean or condemn us, but rather, give us a sense of personal awareness that this condition is SHARED by all. Therefore, it gives us the power to release people from the impossible expectations of a religious perfection that only sets us up for failure, guilt, condemnation and fear of living openly and transparently among the family of God. As Peter said in Acts 15:10 to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem who wanted new converts to observe the law of Moses, "...why do you try to TEST God by putting a YOKE on the necks of the followers, such as neither our forefathers NOR WE OURSELVES were able to endure? But we believe that we are saved through the undeserved favor and mercy of the Lord Jesus, JUST AS WE ARE."
     By looking unto Jesus, we see clearly who we are, and receive all that we daily have need of by a simple gift of faith. In doing so, we find freedom from transgressions, sins, frailty, insufficiency, offenses and everything that would otherwise make us so merely human. Once we come to this awareness we can turn and freely offer the same mercy, love, forgiveness, forbearance and grace to others on this journey. And when we DO see people overtaken by a fault or sin, we can lovingly restore and reinstate them to the understanding of God's goodness and mercy. AND THAT is what separates us from the "world." Jesus said, "By THIS shall all men know that YOU are MY followers... that YOU HAVE LOVE ONE FOR ANOTHER."
     By looking to the Law and adhering to its standard, we can ONLY measure one another's sins. By choosing to love, forgive, be patient, forbearing and merciful... I can still be imperfect, yet by FAITH be reckoned by God as righteous. I can miss the mark, and still be holy before God by the same FAITH.  By grace, in spite of my lack, I can stand among those Jesus called "poor in spirit" and therein live to showcase the PERFECT law of Christ as a free man, who glories in all that God has conferred upon me, yet also as one who very humbly knows his own struggle with the flesh.

Balancing Grace?

    Just the concept of "balancing grace" brings an absurd image into my mind. Surely you have held your breath and watched in awe of someone walking a tightrope or high wire across a dangerously high place, between skyscrapers, or stretched across Niagara Falls. Well, some Christians insist their relationship with God is similar to walking such a tightrope. Everything about the success of crossing safely to the other side, or plunging to ones death, hinges on our capacity to maintain "BALANCE." We become solely dependent upon ourselves to make God sit up and take notice of our ability to juggle everything in life with the skill of a death-defying circus act. Our daily endeavor is to get God to bless these actions, and as long as we can keep everything in balance, and not go too far one way or the other, we can feel pretty secure about our performance.
     We cannot offer much in the way of faith in God's ability to do anything in our lives as we maintain this preposterous mentality, because WE have to KEEP the focus, WE KEEP the balance, WE KEEP on target, WE KEEP towing the line, WE KEEP steady to prevent falling to our death, and WE KEEP creeping little by little to the other side until we finally make our destination. THAT is how the concept of "balance" seems to play out in the definition of keeping "grace in check." In other words, DON'T trust the saving grace of God, it might let you fall! The sufficiency MUST be a two-way street. A little God... a little me. Better safe than sorry! When all is said and done, unlike all those other sorry suckers, we can proudly stand before Him and say, "Lord, Lord! Look at all I have done in your name!"

     I was raised all my life in legalistic churches that placed EVERY key element of vital importance upon self-effort, performance, rule-keeping, etc. as the insurance policy to keep me in good standing with the denomination, fellowship within the ranks, and entrance into heaven, although our best efforts was still not a guarantee. If an open failure to maintain even the unspoken rules of the church was recognized, and it was perceived as something less offensive than, let's say, having an alcoholic beverage, emphasis was always placed on public remorse for the offense with an exhortation to "pray more-try harder" as the key to righteous reinstatement. All this after a good dose of condemnation, shaming and guilt tactics, silent treatment and the like by those considered "mature" within the church. The definition of "mature" usually meant those more entrenched in pseudo-holiness than others, and the title mostly self-ordained. You never could be sure when and by whom you might next be targeted for merciless scrutiny. Great pride was taken by those who could find out something to disclose on others. Usually made known by being brought up as a "prayer request" in a home fellowship. Those who weren't quite as highly regarded as the ones having sex with the pastor would be mercilessly accused of some heinous sin, turned out of the congregation, and readily forgotten. An easy sacrificial offering to keep the general congregants in line with microscopic supervision and manipulative control. I use that horrifying example because I have seen it as a reality on multiple occasions within churches that demand "holiness" (defined as "something I demand you to DO!") from their members.

     When the topic of "grace" became something MORE than just the means by which God chose to FORGIVE me for all I had done up to the point of my acceptance of Christ, things began to change. I started to see the cracks in the theology and government of the churches I had affiliated myself with and had to make sensible, intelligent and wise choices about the findings. At first, my response was simply, "This can't be! It's too easy!" And everyone knew in the circles I came up in that if Christianity was anything, it WASN'T easy! Naturally, I had to contend for "balance" when speaking on this topic with most people I knew. First of all, I couldn't allow them to become suspect that I might jump ship to align myself with the "heretics." Eventually GRACE became truly defined as "unmerited" in my understanding and I started to see the error in how I was always working to earn God's favor. Something was wrong in my whole foundational understanding of Christianity and had to be addressed, changed, radically altered. Either GRACE was the heart of the Gospel according to Acts 20:24 when Paul said, "...that I might finish my course... and ministry... which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the GRACE OF GOD" or, it was merely a tool used to assist us with a leg-up as better servants to the harsh mistress of self-effort. It was one or the other. It couldn't be both. Not any longer.
     Some teachers blame pastors for the general lack of understanding this vital topic. Not to mention the fact that people don’t study the Bible enough on their own. I agree that such is most often the case, but it remains, what people are generally taught from the pulpits of their chosen denomination is what they accept as truth. I have been guilty of this in my own life. Needless to say, my own study was colored by the perspectives I had been trained to believe as essential, especially among those I was taught to trust, regardless of the DIFFERENT theological positions I saw in scripture. Like everyone else, I just force-fitted the contradictions into my preferred theological narrative. Truly, people are not easily given to going against the grain of whatever "group/denomination" they are established in, comfortable with, or have been raised in. Regardless of what they are taught, if it's embraced as believable, acceptable, and valued by the peers of their religious community and family, no matter how crazy it seems outside their ranks, they will accept it. How do millions of people in cults that embrace the most seemingly absurd teachings (according to our set belief systems), having no foundation in scripture whatsoever, or from a different book altogether, fall prey to it? Pretty easy when considering normal human behavior, I think.
     I recently read a post exhorting people not to assume that everyone hasn’t heard this “good news of God's grace" even though some may have only recently discovered its richness. And, that we should make it a point to keep it away from the forefront of our conversation. I couldn’t be less in agreement. I have been in fellowship with countless numbers throughout my years in ministry who, like myself, had no clue of what the Gospel of God’s grace meant. Therefore, I have become a minister of that marvelous truth, and proclaim it regardless of who has or who hasn’t heard it. Those who HAVE heard it… TRULY heard it… rejoice with me when I speak of the excellence of God's glorious provision of grace. Those who haven’t, don’t. Often they strongly downplay its significance, relevance, and importance to bring “BALANCE.” They are usually the ones who fight to the death to defend the right to be responsible for their ultimate outcome, including being saved. As Paul writes in Galatians 1:7 “…there be some that… would PERVERT the gospel of Christ” tells me an ongoing battle for genuine faith has been a struggle since the beginning. If the gospel can be “perverted” then to what extent, and by what means? Because of my own experience with multitudes of Christians of various backgrounds, I believe it HAS been perverted and is held unwittingly in that twisted perspective. Ten minutes of conversation with most will allow anyone who understands this pivotal doctrine to determine such a position of ignorant disregard accurately. What's more, listen a little more closely and you will see how they are walking the fearful "tightrope" in hopes of securing through this balancing-act what was meant to be received as a simple gift.

     So, if born-again, Spirit-filled believers are JUST coming to this knowledge of God’s grace after years of serving under the yoke of religious bondage… HALLELUJAH! We should be REJOICING in this fact and hitting the floor on our faces in gratitude that truth and light are being revealed where falsehood and darkness flourished! That people are learning what REAL faith is about, and how to rightly place it in the person and work of Christ should make us shout from the housetops.

     For me, my early understanding of "grace” was merely a rite of passage into the world of traditional Christendom. I was assured all that was taught would be “true, Biblical, and life-changing" IF I did my part and lived by the standards of holiness. Once in, I became twice the son of hell as those that were falsely leading me into this quagmire of religious deception. After years and years in that web of pseudo-spirituality, I stepped out of the box. At the condemnation and warning from the faithful around me, I began to take the teachings of the Bible that I had earlier over-looked and compartmentalized as false or heretical until  the “scales” fell from my eyes. It was clearly written by the Apostle Paul that righteousness was a gift of God's grace through faith and not of works. Not of anything I could offer or accomplish.  I could no longer hold to any religious equation or method or tactic for what I must do to acquire blessing and favor. Either faith is sufficient or it isn't. Sheer faith is the victory or it's the catastrophe. But it became clear that it would be all or nothing. God can be trusted or he can't. To give the smallest fraction of dependence upon my own self-effort was a breach of the whole gift of grace that God offers. I stepped off the tightrope into a total free-fall of trusting in the promises of God's ongoing goodness and mercy. That was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. And I haven't hit bottom and died.
     Now, as the old hymn says, “My faith has found a resting place.” Clearly aware of my mission, duties, responsibilities and work, I place no longer place any emphasis on them as a means of keeping my relationship with God on track and well-oiled. The tightrope is gone and all the anxiety of maintaining the right balance between grace and works to avoid consequences are gone with it. The Good News is all about God's GRACE and my lips will never cease to proclaim it. If anyone thinks that they have quite literally moved beyond it… to higher and greater and better truths… I seriously question their foundation. And I fully relate to the fear they are facing as they walk that tightrope of religious insecurity.  

Drink deeply...

Finding Approval: Like a Mother with a Son in Prison

Coming to a place of actually believing that God loves us is difficult. Many will say they believe it, but their conversation will betray what they claim to believe if you listen closely for a matter of minutes. There is always a catch, a stammering, a "but" or "however" injected somewhere, which promotes the notion that there is always a need for change or improvement before we can seriously find a resting place in the concept of God's love toward us. It essentially causes us to believe that "God loves us, but doesn't approve of us." This has been a problem all of my life. Most of us live with this attitude and are willing to allow that mindset to be the guiding force of our relationship with him. Kind of like the notion that a mother will always grievingly love her misguided son who is serving a life sentence in prison. God is the mother and we are the kid in the big house. He loves us, but we have to become something different and pay our dues before he will bestow approval. It just seems like common sense in most religious perceptions.

Arriving at the TRUTH that he APPROVES of us is altogether different than coming to the realization about his love, and where most have the greater difficulty, causing us to jump through never-ending hoops of religious self-denial, self-loathing and castigating behaviors. None of which promote the peace that simple faith in his unchanging love affords. So, when you go to bed, turn off the light, and lay in the darkness with nothing but your innermost thoughts, THAT is the person God knows perfectly. God is not in a different room or building curiously awaiting your return to see what you've been up to. God knows the person that you allow NO ONE ELSE to discover. You may even try to live in denial of who you really are because the truth doesn't fit the expectations and definitions of what meets your own standards for public display. That is why we have trouble with this notion of God's favor... his grace... his love... his approval. IF others knew what we know about our hidden selves, our darkest desires, our selfish ambitions and codependent needs, you know, the "real" us, they would unanimously agree on our unworthiness to meet the requirements of God's approval. Yet he gives it anyway.

He can do this because the covenant we possess is not based on sin and punishment as in the Mosaic covenant of the Law. The Law says, "If you will do THIS.. then I will do THAT..." For this reason, according to the the book of Hebrews, God found fault with this system, because people cannot keep their end of the bargain. Heb. 8:7 "For if that first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one or an atempt to institute another one." His love for us is so great that a new and better covenant was developed and ratified, setting aside the former one, so that God's love, favor and approval could be poured out richly upon us by faith in his promise, Heb. 8:12 "I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more." 

God has given his love, favor and approval. There is no need to fear. We are NOT likened to the son in prison who is somehow still loved by a poor grieving mother. This love and approval is real. It is eternal and unchanging. So much so that his own life within supplies us with the very things we need to make it in this world. He works within to will and do his own good pleasure. Take a breath, exhale and breathe again... This is not "to good to be true" as most religious traditions would have you believe. There are no catches, hitches, exceptions, "buts or howevers" attached. Can you allow yourself to embrace it? Can you let yourself be set free in the truth of this powerful reality? Can you live in the glorious lifestyle of acceptance that allows others to be released from religious bondage as well? It's time to see God in the light of his own definition of love. (1Cor. 13) And it's time to believe he gave himself that definition for our benefit. Believe it, trust it, depend upon it, fall upon it, and know there are no means of adding something by your own self-effort to make God's love more stable, secure, sufficient or trustworthy. It's a gift for the taking. So why not make it yours?

Drink deeply...

Unfounded Expectancy

In my thirty-five plus years of ministry I have come to the conclusion that the greatest potential for sidetracking a believer from the “sacred path” is when simple trust/faith in God's promises start to become overshadowed and replaced by the keeping of religious laws, rules and regulations. This causes trust/faith to be exchanged for an unfounded expectancy that God will reward our works with the blessings that faith alone provides. Not to mention, this confidence in our capability and strength creates a greater sense of FEAR that we will be punished according to our sins and failures when we miss the mark. And will we ever miss it.
Galatians 5:2,4 (Amplified) "...for if you distrust Him, you can gain nothing from Him. If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from grace - from God's gracious favor and unmerited blessing." Sounds to me like Paul was clearly addressing the fact that the capacity to reach our potential gets fully short-circuited when we seek to please God by following any kind of "law" as a means of gaining His approval, favor, blessing, and provision of salvation.
This is certainly one of the MOST practiced and required pitfalls in Christendom, that carries the greatest approval rating among religious brethren and peers, but the Bible seems to imply that God "cuts the umbellical cord" when we take these measures.
Isn't it odd that Paul was not telling the Galatians that their "sins" were getting in the way of their relationship with God, (for there is a provision for sin) but that keeping the law (which IS holy) rather than trusting God's promise to justify the wicked was the culprit for their demise? No provision for that. How can the law help us when the Bible declares metaphorically that we've died to it and married another? Great food for thought...
In our lack of understanding, we continue embracing religious notions insisting that the law be upheld and practiced to "maintain" righteousness. But, mind you, not the whole of the law, (as required by God for those who insist it be followed (Gal. 5:3) but "selective enforcement" of hand-picked rules and laws that appeal to our sense of morality and uprightness. Even new laws have been created and put in place that was never a part of the original intent of the churches founding requirements. Weren't there enough laws given through Moses without trying to heap some other mans requirements upon them?
Do you want to live your potential to its maximum? Walk daily according to the leading of the Holy Spirit and follow the cardinal "law" of LOVE. (God and neighbor as yourself.)
Quit following Judaic laws, rules and regulations, and put your faith wholly in the one (Jesus) who has the capacity to help you.
By holding fast (in faith) to the "HEAD" (Christ) you will grow with a growth that is from God. (Col.2:19) Counting on God to bless your rigorous intensity to please Him by keeping rules, laws and rituals will only end in frustration and defeat. Haven’t we had enough of that in life? Let’s get on with real living and let faith stand on it’s own as the means of embracing all the goodness that God has to offer in this life and the next.
Let faith take hold of the sufficiency that grace provides.
Then take a sigh of relief and drink deeply.
You are so loved.

He Knows Everything

Just like everyone else on the planet, I have issues with faith. I relate fully to the man who said to Jesus, "Lord, I believe... help my unbelief." Who (being truthful) cannot sincerely identify with the person who spoke these words to the Master? I have never and probably never will relate to people who profess great faith any more than I relate to people who flag wave a profound standard of personal righteousness. I've been in too many situations where preachers, pastors, evangelists and ministry personalities who do profess such great faith hide from view in situations of great conflict, so those they "teach" won't see them "under the circumstances" they publicly claim to live above. As for me, I can't lay claim to living above circumstances. I live in them. And I am convinced that God lives there with me, guiding, leading, empowering and uplifting me through each and every situation giving sufficient grace for the need.

Truth is... I can't see Jesus. I can't truly "feel" Jesus. I can't "call him up and tell him what I want" as the song implores us to do. This relationship requires faith for operation, but the journey is all about starting with little and learning how to put it to work in every human situation possible. Then, just when I think I've got a better handle on faith, a new situation comes into play that totally challenges and trumps my previous faith experience. To take it a step further... it's not even our faith we're working with, but the faith God gives us for the task of making this relationship effective. I'm grateful for it, but because of my humanity and need for all things tangible through the senses to feel secure... I fall short of using that gift of faith to its potential. I don't always know how to use it or apply it correctly, even though I've read most every five to seven step book on how make faith work. And... like most people, my heart condemns me when I fall short. Through the years I've tried to pick myself up and do better after failing before taking it to Jesus for consideration. Then I have to use the faith I've been given when I confess my shortcomings to trust that God keeps me plugged-in to right relationship. Almost like a viscious circle. The Bible says have faith, my mind says "do better" and my church friends give me umpteen million rigorous spiritual exercises to undertake that are guaranteed to make me more spiritually fit and fail proof than before. And I stand before God wanting to do my best, and feel condemned for not acheiving the goal.

Consider this. The Bible teaches us in Romans 5 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This verse was the writers golden opportunity to speak the truth and tell it like it really is. It could have read, "Therefore being justified by BEING GOOD... or justified by being RELIGIOUS... or justified by keeping the LAW... or justified by paying your TITHES... or justified by going to CHURCH... or justified by sacrificing your first born child into the fires of... " The eternal truth was cemented in that verse. We have peace with God by the simple means of being justified by faith. Faith alone. Not faith PLUS something else.

God knows everything about us and is fully aware of our inability to continually do the right thing the right way at the right time in the right place for the right reason. But, he still loves us. We have to have faith in the fact that he knows all about us and sees everything we do. Good and bad. And he still loves us. While we were his enemies, he loved us. Herein is love, not that we loved him, but that he loved us first...

I was always taught to believe that what gets in the way of my relationship with God is sin. That somehow each time I sin I short-circuit the lifeline of his connection to my being, causing the need to start all over from the beginning. In the church I grew up in, we just got saved over and over again to compensate for our inability to keep getting it right. That perspective became like a concrete block around my neck and impossible to carry. I just couldn't get it right all the time, not to mention the unbearable weight of my heart under the condemnation of my own mind telling me, "There you've gone and done it again!" But I've come to relate to the Apostle Paul who explained his own struggle so clearly in Romans chapter 7. "When I want to do what's right... I don't. I'm forever doing the wrong..." Paul's insights should help us all to grasp the fact that sin is not the factor that causes us to become separated from God. However, a lack of FAITH, preventing us from resting in the assurance that he loves us is detrimental to the foundations of our relationship. Faith dares us to look at ourselves in light of the mirror of the Word of God and stand assured in the truth that his love is unchanging for us when we are good or bad. He has made the provisions we need available on a daily basis through the sacrifice of Jesus as the only spotless substitute. If we say we have no sin, we call God a liar and the truth is not in us. If we sin, we confess our moral and spiritual failures, and the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us of our unrighteousness. Simple. Sin doesn't seem to get in the way, but only a lacking of confidence in God's ability to provide in the situation.

Our best efforts to maintain a sense of perfect uprightness will always be met with futility and frustration. We are just not made up of the stuff necessary to accomplish such a noble task. We may have good intentions, but we just don't have the moral currency to acquire such perfection. But, we never cease to strive for following the perfect example of our heavenly Father whose ways are above our own. His perfection compels us to be elevated in our efforts to be the best with all that we've been given, to showforth the praises of him, while never accepting for a moment the arrogant need to believe that we have the means to achieve that goal in and of ourselves. I don't even believe that we have the means with God's help... not in this body. The body we live in will forever draw us away from all that is right, good, holy and righteous. That is why in the eternal relationship we have with God here and now, the just shall live by FAITH. (Never by works, lest we boast.) For all these things, he has given us GRACE. And grace is sufficient.

All this said, we come to the conclusion that 1 John 3:19,20 is deeply relevant to our human and spiritual condition and needs. "...so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

God is good. We can't fool him, or hide anything from him. Face it... our best efforts are always less than perfect. But perfection is not key for pleasing God. Faith is the key. We continue daily to walk by faith during the good and bad times, success and failure, when openly upright or utterly fallen and remain constantly aware that when trying our best to live in love we can stand before the Lord in all confidence, even when our hearts condemn us. He is still faithful and greater than our hearts. And he knows everything. And he still loves us. Faith can have a foundation in our hearts and lives if we embrace his everlasting love. Fear and condemnation fade into the background when our minds become fixed on God's love. After all, it's not my works, or goodness, or religious fervor, etc. that matters here, but the assurance or faith that God loves us in our best efforts and our worst failures. So, even when our hearts condemn us, we can still stand confidently in his unsearchable love. He knows everything.

May the God who knows us and made it his perfect will to justify the wicked, cause our hearts to believe in his eternal love and rely on his eternal Word of truth.

Drink deeply,
JP

Welcome to the New Wine Bar

Greetings... I've thought for the longest time that I should NOT join the millions of those who feel compelled to put their thoughts and ideas online. The idea that my contributions would be buried under vast mountains of cyber sand and gravel without ever being discovered and read by anyone was my essential cause for demotivation. But lately I've had a change of heart. Certainly the Apostle Paul (one of my great heros, along with Luther, Calvin and other great reformers and free-thinkers who impacted history) would have loved the possibilities available through the Internet. The people that could have been reached and touched at the click of a keyboard. Endless...

Not that I think my perspectives, ideas, viewpoints and insights are equal to those as Paul, Calvin, Luther, etc. but heck, you never know until you lay it out there who will be touched or provoked by my offerings until they're given.

With that in mind... I present the "New Wine Bar." I unapologetically use the term "bar" in my blogspot title and affiliate it with things "Christian, spiritual, religious, etc." with a purpose. It is meant to be what it is... a bar... a place where people gather to partake in something they enjoy... a place where conversation is optimum and ideas are welcomed, heard and laid out among friends. A place where people come to DRINK IN the New Wine of Jesus and be filled. Satisfied. Refreshed. If the concept offends you, there are certainly countless other blogs online that are more suitable to your taste. Find them.

The themes that will be reoccuring are LOVE, GRACE, MERCY, FAITH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, JOY, ABUNDANT LIFE, FREEDOM, LIBERTY, SPIRITUAL GIFTS, PRAISE and WORSHIP.

There will be times when the ideas offered will be as simple as a children's Sunday school lesson, others will be as controversial as it can possibly get. Some will certainly find the entries more offensive than my blogspot title. But that's OK.

My grandfather used to love to look at me and quote the Bible saying, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein..." The smile that remained on his face long after quoting that verse always left me knowing that his faith in the God who owns EVERYTHING meant him too... and also me. He never let me forget that. It established hope in my heart and joy in my soul. My future belongs to the Lord who owns everything and reigns over all his creation with great love.

Check back with me now and then... leave me your thoughts and reflections on postings whether you agree or not.

But always remember that Christ is our mediator and common denominator as well.

I will not judge you, who does or doesn't serve the same Lord.

But I will LISTEN to your views. I may respond by agreeing or disagreeing. That is my choice and priviledge.

Together we will drink deep at the New Wine Bar.

JP