Not sure how I feel about the painting…but I think it’s a great song. Hope to hear it soon at Oasis. Minus the paint.
Sin Cannot Stop God’s Grace! – By Joseph Prince
Here is a copy of one of Joseph Prince’s recent daily devotionals. You can see more of his ministry and resources at www.josephprince.com.
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Sin Cannot Stop God’s Grace! |
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Romans 5:20 |
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When a top executive is charged for corruption or a church minister is caught in the very act of adultery, you will probably hear the phrase “fallen from grace” being used of them. We have come to believe that when someone falls into sin, he falls from grace. But God wants us to know that when someone falls into sin, he does not fall from grace — he actually falls into grace! Thank God His grace is there to put the person back on his feet. The Bible tells of prostitutes and corrupt tax collectors — sinners — who fell into God’s grace and got back on their feet. If the sin in their lives could stop God’s grace, they would never have been able to receive His grace of healing, help and power to live right. Now, it is important you understand that God hates sin because it destroys our lives, relationships and bodies. Sin is evil! But sin is not overcome by us talking about it and relying on our willpower to overcome it. It takes God’s grace to destroy sin. In fact, it is when you are under His grace that sin has no dominion over you. (Romans 6:14) It is when you see His grace in providing His Son to put away your sins and make you eternally righteous that sin will not dominate you. The devil will say to you, “You think that you can still expect God’s blessings after what you did this morning?” That is when you must remind yourself that Christ alone is your perfection and righteousness. All of us have faults. None of us deserve God’s blessings. That is why we plead the grace of God, which is His unearned, unmerited and undeserved favor toward us. Sin does not and cannot stop God’s grace. If His grace can be cut off by sin, Jesus would never have come to save us because we were all terrible sinners. But praise God, “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more”! My friend, God’s grace is bigger, deeper, wider and more powerful than all the world’s sins put together. Receive His grace right now to walk in total victory over that weakness or evil habit in your life! |
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version ®. |
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Fireproof – A Review
To be honest, when my wife, Krissy, asked me the other day if I wanted to see Fireproof, I thought….YES! My reasoning was, if the word “fire” is in the title then there must also be guns, chase scenes, and lots of explosions. “So who’s in it,” I asked? “Kirk Cameron,” she replied. Though it would be great to see good old Mike Seaver with a machine gun chasing the bad guys, I was certain that he hadn’t made the switch to action hero quite yet. Then I remember that I had heard of him making a new movie with the same creators of “Facing the Giants” a movie I was pleasantly surprised by as it was made by a baptist church (as I understand). But instead of the action thrill a second movie plot I was hoping for, I discovered the storyline of this movie revolved around marriage. Now don’t get me wrong….I love my wife and am thankful every day for my marriage. I’m even glad if you (my ambigious readers) are married. But I’m in this regard, I’m probably a fairly stereotypical red blooded American. I mean, I put the date for the James Bond opener on my blackberry calendar like 6 months in advance as to make sure I’m not double booked. The reality is, I don’t get excited about seeing drama, relationship movies….I hated Titanic (though the “near, far, where ever you are” song is STILL stuck in my head…and don’t even get me started on Michael Keaton’s “My Life”….by the end of the movie I though I was the one who was dying. So to say the least, I wasn’t super thrilled about the movie Fireproof. But my wife had the day of school, we’ve been super busy lately, and I had promised her that we could spend the whole day together and do whatever she wanted…so Fireproof it was. But as we walked into the theater and purchased the tickets, I soon started regretting my decision. Eagle Eye, Body of Lies, Pride and Glory…..I was surrounded by action films, all playing close by, easily available yet I couldn’t make myself stop following my beautiful wife into a romantic drama and a Christian made one at that. My only hope of making it through the movie awake was the package of peanut m&m’s that I smuggled into the theater in my coat pocket.
So finally, the movie started…and to be honest, I wanted to be critical, I wanted to smirk at the cheesy acting and the over the top Christian references….but instead, I found myself engaged, and even tearful at times. It ended up being one of the more realistic renditions of an actually marriage that I’ve seen (with “The Story of Us” being right up there too.) In fact, I felt at times that it was our story that we were watching…certainly not every detail, but what couple is not on a journey to re-win each others hearts and to restore the love and passion that they had in the beginning.
I found myself wanting to hold my wife’s hand…and that was a big decision, because it was formerly holding my back of m&m’s, but I had to make a choice.
I also thought the movie was an excellent presentation of the Gospel. I was worried about it being legalistic or lawfilled, but it never really came. So in the end….I’m glad I saw FIREPROOF and even liked it! I would highly recommend couples to go see it, but ladies, make sure and bring a few tissues, your guy will need them.
Oasis Granger New Staff Photo’s!
Here are a few samples of our new staff photos compliments of Knox Photography (knoxphotography@hotmail.com). I think they did a great job for us. Thanks Brittany!
Arthur Meintjes at Oasis Granger
Here are a few photos from Arthur Meintjes at Oasis Granger. Arthur is a powerful teacher and speaker from South Africa. We had the privelege to host him at Oasis Granger for the last few days. Here are a few photos from some of our meetings. Also, special thanks to Adam Tarwacki and Trace Rorie from Granger Community Church for leading worship at our evening service at Bella Vita Coffee.
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- Big crowd at Oasis Granger, over 80 in attendance!!!!
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- Adam and Trace leading worship
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- worship at Bella Vita Coffee
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- Krissy, Lucas, Arthur, and Cathy
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- Arthur teaching
Oasis Indy Set to Launch!!!
We have lift-off…we’ll not yet, but very soon. Oasis Indy is set to launch as a Sunday morning church experience in late February/early March 2009. The Fishers based core team has been meeting in Josh and April Miles home for the last 1.5-2yrs. I’ve been traveling down on a monthly basis leading teaching and discussion, while Drew Tooley, Lucas DeShong, and Brian DeShong have led worship. This past week the group met to discuss the ins and outs of stepping out into a Sunday morning service and all confirmed that now is the time. At this point, the new church will be treated as an additional campus of Oasis Granger with the weekly responsibilities overseen by a local leadership team in Fishers. Tentatively there will be two video feed messages per month and 2 “live” teachings. Worship will be led by Brian DeShong and Drew Tooley. Stay tuned for more information as the plans continue to evolve.
Who is Sarah Palin….really?
As I’ve been watching the recent elections I found that I really only had one question….who is Sarah Palin? She seemed so unknown, yet so familiar. Almost like I knew her in a former life. Then it dawned on me…Sarah Palin…..Diana Prince…..Palin….Prince……wait a minute….could it be….no?….well, maybe…..I’ll let you be the judge.
Sarah Palin
Diana Prince
Wonderwoman….Take off your glasses Sarah and let the truth be known!
McCann’s VP Pick Offers a New Twist on the Presidential Race
I found this article (http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/29/what-palin-does-for-mccain-and-to-obama/) really interesting in regards to McCann’s choice of Sarah Palin (pictured below) for Vice President. Let me know what you think.
Vice President Nominee Sarah Palin
I’m back…
Well, for the first time since June 25th, I woke up in my own bed, without a mosquito net I may add. It felt great. I stayed up until midnight…which probably was a little late, but I wanted to do my best to beat the jet lag as much as possible from my return flight. Nairobi is a 7 hour difference, so as I write this it’s 10am in South Bend, and 5pm in Kenya…that’s enough to mess you up a bit. But surprisingly I slept through the whole night and woke up around 7:30am. Feeling much better, but I’m sure it’ll take a few days to get back into the full swing of things. I’m planning on preaching on Sunday at Oasis Granger, but other than that, I’m going to take a few days off to just relax and get reacclimated to the US, my family, etc. Additionally, I want to spend some time with my dad after his surgery and heart attack. I got to see him last night for a little bit, which was good. He looked even better than I thought he would. Thanks again to all that helped care for my family while I was gone…it means the world to me.
Regarding the trip again, I’m hoping to post some short video clips just to give everyone a deeper feel for the culture and the community there, but so far I’ve had some issue loading them directly to my blog…I’m going to look at taking them through Youtube instead….I’ll get them up as soon as I can.
It’ll be weird to drive today, something I haven’t done for over two weeks, especially on the right side of the road. It’ll also be strange I think to be surrounded by white people…even walking through the airport was a little weird yesterday. This trip was so different in nature, and due to all the initial problems we had, such as my dad’s heart attack, etc, John and I both agreed that it felt like we had been gone forever. As we were leaving Kenya, I told John it felt like we had been gone for a month or more due to everything that we did, now back home…Kenya seems like such a distant land….and I suppose it is.
Overall, it’s amazing to be home…there were a couple times on the trip, like after eating bad goat meatballs and having what I call the seasaw effect in the bathroom, aka coming out of both ends, for 24 hours, that I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to make it back here. But here I am…safe in my house, a little disoriented and tired, but excited to see everyone, get readjusted to the time change, and enjoy the rest of the summer.
Hope to see you soon.
