power and grace are no longer mutually exclusive

If you’ve been listening to the talks from Grace East recently you will have gathered that this is an assumption that we are seeking to challenge. If we are to build the “best church in the world” (yes you did read correctly) then we better recognize that to do that we will need both grace and power. Last weekend Hayley and I were heading out somewhere and I noticed an advertisement what the car manufactures Mercedes have dubbed “The new generation SL.” I’d driven past the billboard several times that week and whilst I had noticed the gleaming new car I hadn’t read the strap line. On Saturday I read it and it was one of those prophetic moments of divine revelation, confirmation affirmation all rolled into one. The strap line boomed “No longer are power and grace mutually exclusive.” What a truth and what a truth for us to grasp this Pentecost.

I know I have said this before but you know there was a time when God used to talk to the world though the church but increasingly he seems to be talking to the church through the world. This weekend we celebrate Pentecost it ought to one of the most important days in the Christian calendar yet for many people in the Exchanged Life community the day will pass almost without notice. That is a great shame it really is. The battle lines seem to me to have been clearly drawn, if your for grace then your against power and if your for power then your not likely to be drawn to grace teaching