The Plumbline

  We preach  Christ , warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. (Colossians 1:28 MSG) We preach Christ - nothing more, certainly nothing less. This is the message of a life transformed by the power of Christ. This is our calling on this earth - to be living, breathing examples of his grace, goodness, and love. Why does God use 'living testimonials' of his grace? To draw people who are riddled with hurts, hangups, and habits to himself. As they enter into relationship with him, he uses each of us to help one another grow up into mature believers. We may think our lives are our own, but God made us to relate one to another, bringing each other nearer and nearer to him as we do. To be mature is to be basic. That might seem like a bit of an oxymoron. A 'newbie' to any process or practice is likely immature in that process or prac...

 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God. (I Peter 1:18-19) A journey that must be traveled - that is a pretty doggone good description of our life with Christ. The empty-headed life put us smack-dab in the middle of sin, compromise of all sorts, and some pretty unwise decisions. In Christ, we leave behind that dead-end life we 'grew up in'. Our sin nature has been with us since conception - our new nature in Christ has been with us since we said yes to Jesus. Now it ...