Grace, Grace, God's Grace

I had a professor tell me one time that if you build your ministry on food and fun you will loose it to food and fun. As a new youth pastor I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but I certainly do now. The kids that came to my bible studies for the pizza and games left about as quickly as they came. Why you ask. The answer is because they could find more pizza and games out in the world than I could ever offer them at church. I believe this same principle applies to adults as well. There are some who come to church as long as the church has something tangible to offer them but as soon as they can get that same need met out in the world they are gone.

The million dollar question becomes; what can the church offer a person that they can not get in the world? The answer to that question is grace. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, vile and wretched people of this world so that they could be saved from their sins. Jesus is truely the embodiment of grace for He shows unmerrited favor to people who truely don't deserve it. The Church is the only place to find that. There is no grace in politics or education. There is no grace in the other religions for those systems are based on works and legalism. This explains why many of the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses are so unhappy. They are trying to earn their way into heaven.

I pray that I always preach grace, not as license for immoral behavior, but as the only hope a person has for forgiveness and eternal life. I also want to show grace, the same grace that God showed to this poor sinner. Only then will my ministry and my church be blessed for we will be offering the only thing that people can't get out in the world.