Grace The Power To Change Last Chapter 21

Grace The Power To Change

Last Chapter 21

The Truth About God

How do or traditions influence the way we interpret the scripture?

We must be able to pick up our Bibles and hear God instead of hearing man. Like the Jews, we render the Word powerless through our traditions. This is because we are influenced more by man than we are by God. We accept what the preacher says, based on his power of persuasion. We are influenced to see the scriptures the way others see them because they are presented in a reasonable and logical way. Most people find in the Bible exactly what they are looking for to validate their traditional beliefs.

What will change your problems?

Believing the truth of God and believing that the truth applied to us will bring about change. Believing that God loves us without condition makes us want to change.

What did Jesus say concerning how we should interpret all scripture?

Mat 22:37 Jesus told him, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

Mat 22:38 This is the greatest and most important commandment.

Mat 22:39 The second is exactly like it: 'You must love your neighbor as yourself.'

Everything we believe must be interpreted in light of these two commandments. In other words, if what we believe does not make us love God and love people more, it is not true. If we just do these two things we would fulfill every expectation that God has ever had for us. We may need to sort through our beliefs and ask, “Does what I believe about this make me love God and love people?” If not we must change what we believe and how we are interpreting the scripture.

Questions to ask yourself:

Where do your beliefs come from? From a preacher’s perspective and powers of persuasion or from your own findings in the Word?

God’s two greatest commandments were to love God and love people – does what you believe about God cause you to love God and love people more? If not, we must change what we believe.

If there is a lack of love for God or people in your life, what belief is behind this feeling? What can you do to change this? Often times if we just look back and focus on God’s love and incredible mercy on us, it becomes incredibly easy to love others.

This message of Grace that has included the last 21 parts is from the book by Dr. James Richards. The book is titled “Grace the Power to Change.” Of course the book is a lot more detailed, so if you would like to order a copy you can go to www.impactministries.com. I recommend that if you order this book you also order along with it “The Gospel of Peace.”