If you are a preacher of Grace, then preach a true, not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here we have to sin. This life in not the dwelling place of righteousness but, as Peter says, we look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells… . Pray boldly-you too are a mighty sinner.

(Weimar ed. vol. 2, p. 371; Letters I, “Luther’s Works,” American Ed., Vol 48. p. 281- 282) 

What does grace look like?

Below is an excerpt from a short article I wrote recently for Mars Hill’s weekly bulletin and blog.

Grace. It’s a word that runs counter to our human nature, one we wouldn’t have a category for without Jesus. One of the things I love about being at Mars Hill Church is hearing the incredible stories of God’s grace. I grew up in church but I never heard stories like the ones I hear at Mars Hill. The stories I’ve heard from the stage and online include:

  • Marriages ravaged by porn and adultery—then restored
  • Men in the military listening to sermons while on duty, deleting hard drives of porn and starting Bible studies on their bases
  • Former addicts and prostitutes saved from the streets and baptized on Easter
  • Community groups caring for elderly neighbors and single mothers
  • Couples ministering to each other through miscarriage and infertility
  • College students saved to lives not driven by performance or sex
  • Men saved from using women to become husbands and fathers who love, care, and respect their wives and children.

You can read it in it’s entirety right here.

The apostle Paul, who beyond all others is the exponent of grace and redemption, never disassociates God’s grace from God’s crucified Son. Always in his teachings the two are found together, organically one and inseparable.
A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, 146. (via of first importance)
Oh you who are so valiant for truth. You would have been as valiant for error if grace not laid hold of you.
Charles Spurgeon