Los.

In an effort to take blogging more seriously I have moved to  LOSGRIEGO.COM .

If you follow please update accordingly if you want to keep track of this dude’s crazy life that is just about to amp up a notch!

Guest Post by Dane Ortlund

“It does not seem that I can trust anyone,” said Frodo.

“It all depends on what you mean,” put in Merry. “You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin–to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours–closer than you yourself keep it. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid–but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”

–J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (Houghton Mifflin 1994), 103

via Between Two Worlds

“18 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt. 28: 18-20

To think this means, go get decisions or prayer cards for Jesus, is to miss the point. The call is for disciples, the call is to teach them to observe, or better put, obey all Jesus commanded.

All Christians are called to this and are given the local church to do so. Trying to do this outside the local church disregards the fuel, tools and community Jesus gives us for such a impossible mission.

A great piece, from Tim Keller, on what makes a ministry movement and how it differs from an institution:

The word “movement” is often used to describe a kind of vital, dynamic human organization, in order to distinguish it from what are called “institutions.” Both of these words can have broader meanings, but for the sake of this discussion let us define them in the following ways.

A movement is marked by an attractive, clear, unifying vision for the future together with a strong set of values or beliefs. The content of the vision must be compelling and clear so that others can grasp it readily. It must not be so esoteric or difficult that only a handful of people can articulate it. Instead, it must be something that all members of the movement can understand and pass along to others. By contrast, “institutionalized” organizations are held together by rules, regulations, and procedures, not by a shared vision.

Read the Rest Here

    [15] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
(1 Timothy 1:15 ESV)

God’s grace should day in and day out blow us away. The reality that God would love us rebels and sinners, that he would manifest his love in the person of Jesus Christ who came lived and died on the cross should stop us in our path daily. Due to our indwelling sin, we are not stopped and are easily distracted. Yesterday, however, was a day where I was stopped and amazed by God’s grace.

I was a guest preacher at Crossroads Fellowship Church. Crossroads is a 7 year old church plant that is by God’s grace, trying to reach the downtown Albuquerque area. The church was great, the body of Christ there really did care and love for each other in a way that shows they have felt the love of God in profound ways. As good as that was, it was not the church that blew me away. It was the Gospel.

9 years ago yesterday morning, guest preaching at a church was not on my radar. Instead fear, panic and despair were all hovering around my heart. I was in a jail cell, arrested for DWI. I was 20 years old, a week away from 21, and had a fake ID, and had spent the previous Saturday night drinking and partying downtown. I got in my jeep, actually, I stumbled into my jeep. I headed down the road, I am sure swerving this way and that. I stopped at a red light, only to decide to hop on the curb and drive my jeep through the intersection. Little did I know in my drunken stupor that a cop was behind me. Next thing I know, I have a couple cop cars behind me, I am handcuffed and put in the back of a car.

I lost my license for 3 months, had to go to court.

Rock bottom? Maybe for some. But that is not what God used to save me on the spot. It would be another 2 years till God opened my eyes to see his joy and salvation that is available.

When he did save me though, my life was transformed in radical ways. I did nothing to deserve, to achieve or to earn God’s favor. Instead God saw it fit to bring men into my life who loved me, who shared the gospel with me and who prayed for me. God saw it fit to call me one night to himself. God saw it fit for me to see the mercy of a Holy God who demands perfection and came down lived that perfection, and then became a sacrifice by taking the punishment I deserved.

Alcohol was not my problem, sin was. Sobriety was not the answer, the cross of Jesus was. Clean living is not my hope, Jesus is.

9 years later, I am still a messy, broken person. Far from the person I want to be, but that is not what makes me who I am, Christ’s blood makes me who I am, as it did that night 7 years ago.

9 years later I was downtown on Sunday morning, but instead of a jail cell, I was in a pulpit, preaching about this Jesus who saves, broken, drunken, messy people, like me.

Yeah, sometimes it just blows you away.