Steve’s Word

What should drive the Church if it claims the historical marks of the Church and the visible marks of being revealing, resolute, ready, responsive, resilient, reframed, repentant, repetitive, remembrant, receptive, refined, and reverent?

We should see a Church that is conversional and missional: a Church that is people coming to Christ and living the Great Commandment, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 25, and the Great Commission. For this to happen, there must be unity, in the body of Christ, characterized ...

We are destined to be followers of Jesus!

Jesus said to his disciples in John 6:40, For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus prayed to the Father concerning his disciples in John 14:17-19, I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of ...

As followers of Jesus, we are marked. These marks are meant to characterize our life as believers and as a church at Grace.

• To preach the gospel marks us.
• To properly administer the sacraments marks us.
• To rightly exercise church discipline marks us.

As a church, living as marked followers of Jesus, we are marked to address culture and society that struggles in knowing its way and building a better humanity.

• Followers of Jesus are to be leaven for individual and social change.
• Followers of Jesus ...

As I reflect upon the meaning of the resurrection, and I do that often, I am becoming more and more convinced that authenticity is of utmost importance in the Christian walk.

What is it about authenticity that is so difficult, yet attractive?

• First, to live authentically means to tell the truth about others and ourselves. Are you willing to look in the mirror of your life and honestly admit what you see? What if you see deceit, hate, anger, arrogance, or jealousy? ...

Being face-to-face with Jesus. Ponder that for a moment. When I think about being face-to-face with Jesus, I begin to yearn for a more personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. The human face with its vices of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language comes face-to-face with the face of Jesus with its virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Our vulnerabilities and powerlessness are exposed. The outcomes of such a face-to-face encounter with Jesus causes a correction ...