1794 results for tag: Greg Albrecht

May 2020

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: Grace Is the Gospel of Christ – pg. 1 The Narrow Door – pg. 2 Want to Hear a Good Story? – pg. 5 Franny and Bonnie – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

Eternal Torture – Divine or Human Vengence?

By Greg Albrecht— Hell is a subject many religious people get all hot and bothered about. It's one of the most disputed and controversial teachings within Christendom. The squabbling is not about the surety of judgment for depravity and wickedness. Most Christians agree that there is and will be divine judgment for evil. The battle for hell is all about specifications, temperature and longevity. The debate involves comprehending and communicating divine justice—and in the process humans export definitions of time and space into eternity. But the Bible does not suggest that God needs to import our flawed perspectives into the perfection ...

Take Away the Religious Rocks

By Greg Albrecht— Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. —John 11:38-39 Religious rocks create barriers in our relationship with God. Notice the "red letter" words in our passage in John 11:39, the four words in this verse that Jesus actually spoke. Take away the stone.... The background for our passage begins in the first verse of chapter 11 of the book of John. Lazarus was sick. As the chapter unfolds we discover that Lazarus eventually died. His sisters Mary and Martha were overcome with shock and grief. Our message begins at the house ...

I Am Making Everything New

By Greg Albrecht— This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King. This is what the LORD says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive ...

Jesus – More Than a Man

By Greg Albrecht— When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16:13-15). More than two thousand years ago, Jesus asked his closest disciples the same question that he has asked humans ever since. Who do you say that I am? The answer his disciples gave then, and that you and I give today, radically determines the direction of our lives. Even those who have been skeptical of the claims that people ...

When Can Life Return to Normal? by Greg Albrecht

A blog I was reading a few days ago cited a portion of a lecture C.S. Lewis gave to his students at Oxford during the dark and dismal days of World War II. In this excerpted quote, when Lewis mentioned the word “war,” I have taken the liberty to suggest, in brackets, the substitution of “the coronavirus.” The war [the coronavirus] creates no absolutely new situation, it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If ...

April 2020

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Brad Jersak: The Finished Work– pg. 3 Jim Fowler: Did Jesus Die for All?– pg. 7 Greg Albrecht: Is Paris Burning? Retrospective – pg. 8 Laura Urista: Out of the Tribulation Closet – pg. 10 Irene Frances: Fear Not! – pg. 13 Greg Albrecht: Is the Bible Infallible? -pg. 15

A Jesus Kind of Church

By Greg Albrecht— "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." —Luke 4: 18-19 Out in the endless, desolate desert of west Texas, a hunter looking for antelope stumbles on a crime scene. Abandoned cars and trucks are pock marked with bullet holes, and a half dozen or so dead bodies are scattered around. In that odd and somewhat glib euphemism used by the media, it's apparently a drug deal "gone wrong" (if indeed there was ever a ...

Bitterness and Resentment

By Greg Albrecht— Remember the older brother, the third major character of the parable of the prodigal son? As he witnessed the extravagant love and forgiveness of his father, lavished on his younger brother when he came home from wasting his inheritance, the older brother was eaten alive by jealously, envy and bitterness. The older, unforgiving brother refused to join in the festivities and celebration. The older, responsible, hard-working brother felt that he was a faithful and diligent son, always trying to earn his father's favor. But the celebration and festivities—the barbecue, the music and the dancing—were not in honor of all ...

No Carry-on Baggage Allowed

By Greg Albrecht—   Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are born by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity. "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." —Isaiah 46:1-4 If you have flown commercially lately, ...

Did Jesus’ Crucifixion Satisfy God’s Wrath? Greg Albrecht

An idyllic, beautiful setting surrounds a rambling country estate in rural England. It's 1935, and this pastoral setting provides the backdrop for the initial scene that plays out in Atonement. During the brief respite between the first and second World Wars, Cecilia Tallis, a rich young lady in her early twenties whose family owns the estate discovers she loves, and is loved by Robbie, a young man whose mother is the housekeeper at the Tallis home. As the love story begins, we are also introduced to Briony, Cecilia's younger sister. Briony is an aspiring writer who is, in her coming of age 13-year-old way, envious of the courtship enjoyed by ...

March 2020

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: Following in Jesus' Footsteps – pg. 1 Grace Brings Grace Home – pg. 2 Walking in the Jesus Way – pg. 5 Fences Are for Dogs – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

Grace At Church

By Greg Albrecht— To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified ...

God Really Likes You

by Greg Albrecht Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."—Revelation 21:1-4 Does God love ...

What’s So Bad About Cults?

By Greg Albrecht If PTM wants to get lots of letters from readers, all we need to do is publish an article explaining and defending Christ-centered-Christianity against some wrong teaching or biblical misinterpretation. Defending and explaining biblical doctrines is called apologetics. An apologetic article in The Plain Truth usually results in a tidal wave of letters and emails, pro and con. The cons often go something like this: "Why are you so critical of other Christians? Why don't you just leave other people alone and let them believe what they want?" Most Christian denominations were originally formed because they disagreed with ...

The Commands of God and the Traditions of Men

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?" He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions." —Mark 7:5-8 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, widely regarded as a 20th century martyr, put to death by the Nazis just before the end of World War 2 because of his faith in ...

February 2020

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Greg Albrecht: God Loves Everyone– pg. 3 Brad Jersak: Religiosity Is Adapting– pg. 7 Stephen Crosby: The Original Prodigal Sons – pg. 10 Debbie Hughes: Deconstruction - a Poem – pg. 12 Sean Davidson: Deconstruction Defined – pg. 13 Brad Jersak: The Mystery of the Trinity -pg. 14

Son of a Preacher Man

By Greg Albrecht— Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" —Matthew 16:24-26 The passage in Matthew that forms the basis of our message talks about losing your life so that you might gain it. At first it may seem to you that Jesus' assertion amounts to little more than theological double-talk. But this teaching begins to make ...

The Pearl of Great Value

By Greg Albrecht— Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.—Matthew 13:45-46 We turn our attention to one of Jesus' parables about the kingdom of heaven. In the Authorized King James Version the parable is called The Pearl of Great Price. As I normally use the New International Version, we'll refer to it by the title given to it in that translation, The Pearl of Great Value. Here's the widely accepted Christian interpretation of this parable: The merchant is you or me. We decide to look for Christ, and finally, after ...

Ships That Pass in the Night

By Greg Albrecht— Many, even those unfamiliar with the Bible, have heard of Jonah. Most remember the story of Jonah as it is depicted in children's books—a man named Jonah who was swallowed by a big fish and lived to tell the tale. As we go a little deeper into the story (deeper even than the whale went with Jonah) we see that Jonah is yet another biblical example of how humans can completely misunderstand God. We can misunderstand God as Jonah did, and in terms of our relationship with God, be, as he was, like two Ships that Pass in the Night. The book of Jonah begins with God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the ...