Grace Gripped It only takes a moment…

March 3, 2010

“The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.” Ephesians 3:5-6 The Message

The Great Exchange #7

You were an outsider once. You may remember what it felt like in some other arena .. being an outsider. You may have even been an insider-outsider. But without Jesus on the inside of your life .. you were still an outsider. When you belong to Jesus you become church: called-out ones .. inexhaustibly-loved-saints .. God’s family .. God’s house .. the people who love God in such a way that outsiders want to become insiders. You become grace-givers .. grace-lovers .. and grace-gripped by the Insider-Son who exchanged your outsider-enslaved life for His Insider-freed life. You’ve become part of the Same-Family: same offer .. same help .. same promises .. same road .. same direction .. and the same oneness that Jesus shared with the God and Father of all. Everything you do becomes connected to one another. The world you live in wants you to believe that you are on your own .. your own life .. your own choices .. your own stuff. But you don’t become an insider on your own. No one ever has or ever will. A JesusFollower no longer lives on his or her own strength. That’s an outsider’s life and you’ll see it all around you today. The life you are living today is through the resurrected life of Christ. It makes everything about you different. You’re an insider who has been given the indwelling power and grace to give away the same everything that brought you in from the outside.  And it only takes a  moment …

“You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.” Ephesians 4:4-6 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Outsiders made Insiders through trusting Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

March 2, 2010

“At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.” Ephesians 1:23 The Message

The Great Exchange #6

Sin-scarred .. Sin-tired .. Sin-weary travelers turned into Unshakable-saints .. Unconditionally-loved .. Unbelievably-called Christ’s body. It didn’t happen on your own. In fact .. it never will. God came after you .. the you nobody really knows like Jesus knows you .. inside and out. He made a great exchange: His life for yours. His love .. whole .. healing & forgiving … for your love .. self-preserving .. insecure .. self-centered. There are no strings attached or hidden agendas. You’ve been given a new life. But God has done something with your life and any other life joined together by His Spirit: He’s formed you into The Called-Out Ones .. The Church .. known as the Body of Christ. He’s purposely hidden His life in you and your life in His so that the world you live in can see a difference of Who is in the center. On our own … we fail and fumble about “trying” to do God things and good works with good intentions. But God .. invites us to join him in the work he has already designed. He hasn’t wasted one day of your life .. even if you have wasted or ignored Him. He’s been there at the start — middle — and extravagant finish of your life. It may not feel that way .. but He has. The world would love to reduce your JesusLife to a few hours each week or annual events. But the life He has for you today is a resurrected life .. deeply loved .. grace filled .. and God at work .. through you! You’re this important to God’s start to finish gift. So don’t let old closets of the past .. old tapes of old messes .. and old ways discourage you from receiving the Jesus exchange for your life today. It only takes a moment …

“It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” Ephesians 2:9-10 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to The Holy Wonder Called Church and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

February 26, 2010

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 1:19-20 New Living Translation

The Great Exchange #4

His life exchanged for yours … Sin-dead sinners turned into Resurrected-saints … and now Common dust particles formed into Holy citizens of grace. Everything about your life and everywhere you go is littered with God’s holiness. How …? Because God not only calls you to be holy .. He declares that you are holy .. and He backs it up with the same power that raised Christ from the dead. Most of the time we don’t feel like saints. Most of the time we have no idea what Holy feels like inside our lives. It is hidden so deep that we can’t see it but others are infected by it. It happens all day long .. kind words .. a thank you .. a quiet prayer in a restaurant .. sacrificing your time .. a gift given in love .. “doing” your job well because you know your life is hidden in Christ. God didn’t call you to be holy at certain moments. He is shaping your life into a God-shaped-life of Christ’s incredible greatness and resurrection love. You alone know what kind of common dust particles God is working with in your life. You know where they’ve been … what they’ve done .. and what they are capable of doing. And yet .. God doesn’t even hesitate to call you holy because of His Son’s risen life living within you. You can let yourself be pulled along today .. pulled deeper into the Only Life that is worth living and the Only Life that you will truly love living … in Christ. The world you live in screams silently in fear. The world you are being shaped for celebrates in the heavenly realms. That’s why you have become a citizen of grace .. so that God’s holiness .. His incredible love .. and Son-raising power might infect .. invade .. and indwell someone you meet today. That’s what happened when He exchanged His life for yours and you believed him.  It only takes a moment…

“As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.” ” 1 Peter 1:16 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Holy Saints following Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

February 25, 2010

” … To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1:1 New King James Version

The Great Exchange #3

You may not like your name but you can’t change it. It was picked out for you by someone else. Actually .. it became you when he became what you were. To the saints … that’s you. It describes who you are in Christ. It is an uncomfortable name .. a holy adjective .. a crucified noun .. a resurrected life. We’re not accustomed to looking at others as saints. But they are. They didn’t earn it. They don’t become one through nomination. They became one through identification. Saints wake up with all kinds of struggles .. fears .. doubts .. moments of uncertainty .. life-pressures .. and sometimes very un-saintly attitudes.  Saints look like you .. someone who exchanged a life centered in sin for a life centered in Christ. Are there rough spots …? Yep! Are there smooth places …? Yep!. Are there half-saints …? Nope! When you became alive in Christ .. when the JesusLife became your life .. You became a saint. It becomes the life you live everyday. You’re just a  normal looking once-dead .. now-alive follower of Jesus. And He turned you into a saint so that you could begin to infect the world you live in with the indwelling life of Christ. The great news is you don’t have to try to live this life on your own. You get the saint-helper: The Holy Spirit to live in you .. to help you .. to work in you .. to guide you .. to grow you into the holy one you really are in Christ. God’s not messing around when it comes to your life. He’s there for you today … moment by moment .. and it only takes a moment .. to begin with His help …

” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” 2 Cor. 5:21 New Living Translation

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Unlikely but Deliberately Chosen Saints following Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

February 18, 2010

“With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 The Message

Did God really mean it …?

Yes He does. No condemnation … No black clouds hovering over your heart or mind … No more tyrants masquerading under past sins …! All those lies still try to capture you and drain you from living life in His Spirit daily. They appear in various forms: circumstances .. something you see that causes you to remember the past .. job stress .. marriage stress .. totally unrelated moments that whisper condemnation and rejection. This is the world we live in everyday. But it is not the world you belong to forever. God really means what He says about living life in His Son … through His Spirit. And He really means what He says about His Son living his life in you … through His Spirit. And He really means what He says about no more black clouds hovering and haunting you. You are breathing “clean air” in Christ. In Christ .. you are loved beyond anything imaginable. In Christ .. you are free .. absolutely free from the power of sin and death. Sin is real and death is real .. but .. you are no longer under their dictatorship. In Christ .. there is no condemnation of your life .. no low-lying black cloud over your life. If you’ve walked this path then you know how fresh the air is and you don’t want to go back. But if this path is new .. then your first steps will feel strange because Christ’s breath breathing into your life is like none other. He means it … about your life being free in Him. He means it … there is no more condemnation in your life in Him. He means it … His Holy Spirit has moved in your life and you will not walk alone ever again. It only takes a moment …

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 The New Living Translation

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Christ-is-Risen Followers and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)