Week 3: Grace (With Chris)

Grace
Chris is Lindsey's husband who spoke on relationships. I loved this week the best so far I think because without grace, man, none of this matters or makes sense. I thought it dumbed me down, but it took that, childish idea, to GET IT!
here's a few notes I took
God IS consistent=Bible talks over and over about it
What is so fantastic about Christianity with Jesus is we have Grace. There is no other religion that has this concept of GRACE! Christianity is God moving towards you.
Bono concept:
2 different forces in the world:
Grace: Karma:
Unmerited favor You get what you deserve
undeserved favor
free

-Grace is is bringing false beliefs back into balance.
If I had grace, I wouldn't need God.
Chris talked about this idea as a pendulum. One side is doing more and more (works) for God to receive his grace and forgiveness. The other side is being lazy and doing nothing. This is meaning you don't need to do anything because God will in the end, forgive you, so you don't have to strive to live 'good'. In the middle of this pendulum is....yes...Grace=Peace. On either side of this peace, is stress and tension.
The apostles Paul deals with this.
Phillipeans 3:4
-outward things 'more' side o the pendulum means that he could take credit
-Paul was circumsized, a pharisee, zealous-persecuted people
Phil. 3:7
-Paul said before Christ I boasted of all those 'things' but NOW, the ONLY thing Paul could boast about was having Christ.
Phil. 3:8
-Paul lost all that garbage (outward things). Paul basically says, that all he did as a Pharisee and doing what God commands means nothing! (God is good ALL the time, even in the bad because he created both)
We can't change God, but we can change our view.
God is Good: Ecc. 7:14, Romans 8:28
God is Omni (all): omnicent (knowing prov. 15:11, isai. 46:10) Omnipotent (powerful Job 42:2, Psalm 115:3) and Omnipresent (everywhere. psalm 139, Jer. 23:24)
God is Divine: we have to view God for who he is.
I remember we looked into Acts 12. King Herod had James, brother of John put to death. Then Herod went after Peter. Peter was arrested and put into prison. Herod brought him into the public's eye for trial after the Passover. While Peter was in prison his church back home was praying and praying for him.
During the night and angel came to Peter and woke him, (struck him lol) and said get up and go, while the chains just fell off Peter. Peter got up and followed the angel out. The angel and Peter passed a few gaurds and even the iron gate was opened. Eventually down the street the angel left Peter and he then realized that God was without a doubt true to his Word.
The Bible then goes on to say that it 'dawned' on Peter and he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John where those in the church were earnestly praying for him. It's kinda funny here because Peter is freed from prison, and the whole church is meeting in this home praying for him to be released, and he knocks on the door, and the servant girl is so excited she shuts the door on him, and goes to tell the others Peter's at the door. Ha!
The others who were praying for a miracle, didn't even believe. They said no way! They told the girl she was out of her mind. (Interesting how we pray for the miracles, but don't actually believe they can and will happen).
Peter continued to knock and eventually they opened the door for him. He quited the excited friends and family down, and told them to tell james and the others about what had happened. He then left to go to another place, which probably Peter wanting to continue telling the wonderful thing that has happened. The Good News.
Now what we tood from this, was how would you feel, if you were James's wife. Imagine you're friends Peter and his wife along with James and his wife in the church. Buddies and their families. One is killed for his belief and the other rescued. Mrs. James is probably hurt and wondering, well now, why him and not James? Hard to answer that question. Good did come out of it though eh? So what do we do with that? How do we look at God after something like that?
I have learned that God never changes. Is is always Love. He is always the good guy. But how can we trust him?
Chris answered these questions with this:
-I don't know, but his is what I do know...God never changes.
-Come to a point where you can claim peace
Scripture says God brough Jesus @ the Perfect Time. In Job, we see in his anguish and pain, that he STILL chooses to praise God. We see it's ok to be frustrated, have questions, struggle and be lost.
I liked this other example. Think about Michael J. Fox. Chris pulled out this ad he had in an old magazine with the actor. Now we're not sure if Michael Fox is a christian or not, but what he said held a great truth in itself. He said in this paragragh, that He very possibly was blessed to have the disease. He basically said it's possible this happened so that he could do something about it. A Godly response from him. Think about it. With his fame, he could take this painful thing, and help others who are dealing with it too. Perhaps even find a cure. Who knows what could come about but Michael can take this hardship and find good in it. No answer as to why, but God is sitll good. How can I make the best out of this situation? It will be hard/sad, but it doesn't change Him.
I'm going to reflect this ponderment back to my own life. I know that when I look at my parents divorce, it seems like the immediate reactions is...oh how terrible. Ah shame. And people are feeling bad for the situation as the same reaciton as I get when I look at other divorces. BUT, I KNOW, that my amazing brother Kale, in whom I give all my thanks for pulling me back onto my feet with Jesus, was changed by that change in our lives. He was really beaten down. He took that and found God. Not the God he was told about all his life in our church and walk with the christians in our lives. But he found God for Himself. The real friend and savior.
That rippled down to me. I saw this change and it changed my life. I then began to seek God for ME. I now look at my parents and where they are, and seeing the growth and beauty from the change in our family, there's blessings all around. Mom, I want you to know that I'm so proud of where you are right now. You're so much in a place that reflects you realizing the love HE, the father in heave, the father right next to you, the father you always have wanted, LOVES YOU! You're beginning to earnestly seek Him. I sense that and I can't be more joyous about it. There's so much wonderful things that we couldn't have foreseen years ago.
Belief, is in something we can't see. If we could see it, it wouldn't be believing.