(Colossians 1:6)
God's grace towards us is his freely giving us things without us having to pay him back or deserve them in the first place. It is so strange and so different to everything we are used to, because our parents, the world, our boss and almost everyone else relates to us on the basis of, "If you do this, then I will do that." But God just says, "Here is a gift, and if you like it, there's more."
Here are some reflections on the kind of grace and freedom we have been given by God.
One of the most helpful teachers on grace I know is Ken "as-if-there-were-some-other-message" Blue, a pastor from San Diego, California. He visited Sydney in 1999 for a "Grace & Healing" conference, which was wonderful.
Have a look at the grace of God page for a summary of some of his teaching (with some of my own thoughts thrown in).
Here are some transcripts from his Foundations in Grace eight-tape series:
(These are about 300-400 lines long (15-20K))
And one from the Building on Grace series:
Ken also spoke about Healthy Christian Leadership in Sydney before the Grace & Healing conference, which was followed by a Question and Answer session where several issues about grace were brought up.
Ken Blue is the author of Healing Spiritual Abuse and Authority to Heal, and the co-author with John White of Healing the Wounded (the costly love of church discipline). He is currently writing a book on grace, which I am very much looking forward to !
Tapes of Ken's messages are available from his web site or from:
or from Randwick Baptist Church
