Grace Church Teaching

As an essential aspect of oneness, marital intimacy tends to be emblematic of the health of a marriage overall. Sadly, this area is most often marked by brokenness and bitterness, instead of the power and enjoyment that God means it for. If we are to experience marital oneness, we must recover the Biblical vision of marital intimacy and work to restore it in our marriages.

To a similar degree as the truth about marriage, the truth about singleness has become tangled and twisted for Christians today. The Church has become alarmingly prone to borrowing its view of singleness from the surrounding world, and the distinctions between dating and marriage have become blurred, if not altogether lost. If we are to escape this confusion and live out God-honoring singleness, we must be directed by Biblical truth about marriage and the wisdom offered by those who have gone before us.

Marriage is not characterized by emotion or duty, as our culture teaches, but by loyal, steadfast, committed love, just as God has for us. Both romance and duty fail to provide solid foundations for marriage because they entail a commitment to something besides the other person. The only true foundation for oneness in marriage is a loyal, unfailing commitment to the other person, as exemplified by God’s love for His people.

Marriage is the practice of oneness between two people,and that oneness is made even more profound by the uniqueness that sets each gender apart from the other – a controversial subject, but also an important one. In a time when the lines between genders are blurred, how are we to think about uniqueness in a way that is Biblical?

What is marriage? How are we meant to define it? The world around us offers many answers to these questions, making the truth about it less and less clear. The institution of marriage itself seems broken within our culture, leading some to reject it outright. Now, more than ever, we must recover a Biblical perspective of marriage as oneness, and more importantly, a practice of this oneness to match.

Under Jesus' Authority, following, obeying and yielding to Him--make disciples in order to produce sustainable life change form one generation to the next.

Since the beginning of our church 20 years ago, we have greatly benefited from God's faithfulness towards us and witnessed his grace change people's lives every year. Matt Williams reflects on the past two decades and the God who made them happen.

When commanded to worship the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the Jews Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to sin against God, and were ultimately saved by His miracle on their behalf. For believers, miracles are possible but not guaranteed, and often the choice must be made between suffering as a disciple or prospering as a spiritual adulterer.

The story of Elisha miraculously prevailing against the Aramean army in 2 Kings 6 depicts him to be the lone powerful person involved in the event. In contrast to the foolish king of Aram, the irrelevant king of Israel, and the weak servant boy, Elisha has a living relationship with God marked by trust and obedience. This picture of a man and his God compels us to examine our own lives for this kind of relationship and the power that comes from it.

The story of Elisha miraculously prevailing against the Aramean army in 2 Kings 6 depicts him to be the lone powerful person involved in the event. In contrast to the foolish king of Aram, the irrelevant king of Israel, and the weak servant boy, Elisha has a living relationship with God marked by trust and obedience. This picture of a man and his God compels us to examine our own lives for this kind of relationship and the power that comes from it.

While dying of leprosy, the high and mighty Naaman went to Elisha to be healed of his disease. God's method of saving Naaman, initially seen as foolish and absurd, proved to be the only way for him to be made clean once he humbled himself. In the same way, the Gospel offers the only way to be saved if we will humble ourselves and believe the glorious, but foolish, message of the crucified Messiah.

While dying of leprosy, the high and mighty Naaman went to Elisha to be healed of his disease. God's method of saving Naaman, initially seen as foolish and absurd, proved to be the only way for him to be made clean once he humbled himself. In the same way, the Gospel offers the only way to be saved if we will humble ourselves and believe the glorious, but foolish, message of the crucified Messiah.

Along with the rights that God has given us as citizens of His Kingdom, we have also been entrusted with certain responsibilities: to establish a distinctive community united around the purposes of God in the world, and to endure suffering in hope, among others. As we work to be faithful in fulfilling these responsibilities, our response to a changing and sometimes hostile culture becomes clearer.

Along with the rights that God has given us as citizens of His Kingdom, we have also been entrusted with certain responsibilities: to establish a distinctive community united around the purposes of God in the world, and to endure suffering in hope, among others. As we work to be faithful in fulfilling these responsibilities, our response to a changing and sometimes hostile culture becomes clearer.

Many of our troubles in dealing with culture around us stem from being unclear on our concerns versus our responsibilities. As Christ's ambassadors to the world, we have been commissioned with His work in the world. So what exactly is included within our responsibilities? TEXTS: 1 Cor 9:19-23, 2 Cor 5:17-21, 1 Cor 5:9-13