Buzz King: Grace & Joy thru Scripture BuzzKing

I recently met a man who was confronting a potentially terrifying biopsy result, but who knew that the Spirit was more powerful than any cancer.  We consider the often-forgotten Holy Spirit, whom very few Christians fully appreciate.  We look at the Spirit from the perspective of the Book of Acts.  We see how the spread of the faith from Jerusalem outward to almost the entire known world - the amazing spread of the faith to the Gentiles - was orchestrated not by the Apostles, not by Paul, but by the Holy Spirit.  

Tyrian purple dye, which was, in truth, purple snail snot, was extraordinarily valuable in the ancient world - worth three times its weight in gold, at a time when gold was extremely rare.  We look at our possessions today, things we highly value, and we ask: will they be the purple snail snot of the future?  And what about that other incredible valuable item, given to us by God...?

I once spoke with a woman who had been through at least three major medical journeys.  She felt a constant pull between Grace and fear in her life.  She desperately need Grace to win the battle within her.  We look at one way that has been used to categorize Grace: Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying Grace.  Our goal isn't to memorize any particular way to structure the overall notion of Grace.  We want to understand what Grace does within us and how it impacts our lives.

A common complaint against the Bible, in particular, the resurrection story, is that the intense symbolism and numerology of the Bible tells us that it is fictional, that it couldn't possibly represent reality.  We look at the Easter story, at what is indeed a dramatic resurrection scene, and which introduces one of the most important phases of Jesus' ministry on Earth - and we look at God's story-writing.

We look at Jesus as he approaches the cross and as he is crucified.  He gives us two moral challenges, ones that for the world today, are incredibly important.  We look at these challenges offered by a dying Messiah.

Matthew focuses on Jesus as the Messiah promised in many Old Testament prophesies - and thus seems to be writing for Jews.  Luke focuses on Jesus as a prophet, seeming to address Gentiles.  We look at my Scout Master, who was blind, and who inspired me (many, many years later) to look at the Gospel of Luke and consider Jesus as our Prophet.  On Palm Sunday, we see just why this is so critical to do if we truly want to understand Jesus' special relationship to us as humans.