What if you don’t make particular people your target group for your church- but make the Trinity your target group, then God will come, and bring His friends.
Sometimes grace can be a great antidote to legalism and preaching morality. It’s a great way to grow a church to just say ‘God loves you as you are, so stay the same.’ But that’s not real grace. 1 Cor 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Paul effectively says ‘I am who I am by grace BUT… I worked. BUT grace was working in me It wasn’t me working – it was grace. There’s an apparent contradiction, it really it’s a both/and Grace is not a licence to do wrong but the power to do right. Works don’t lead to grace; that’s legalism But grace causes us to work. We have to fundamentally understand grace because God not need your good works, but the world does. You could never do anything to earn it, but when you get it – you are motivated by it. And God […]
They say everyone has a double. To have a double and a namesake appear on the same page of a paper is quite disconcerting! A number of friends have been kind enough to point me to various news sites featuring another Anthony Delaney, also 43 years of age – I know I don’t look it 🙂 My homeless namesake was living at Gatwick Airport for months, until magistrates found him in breach of his ASBO and brought it to an end. If you follow the link you’ll even see that they picture Tom Hanks from his overly cute 2004 film The Terminal . I was told by a nurse years ago that I look a bit like Tom Hanks, those of you who know me may agree or disagree? Let me know. Do you know what came to mind as I read the other Mr Delaney’s sad story – knowing that if Jesus hadn’t put his hand on me and called me to follow him, I could well have ended up in as sorry a state or worse? ‘There but […]