Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor

We’ve been exploring a new paradigm in our attitude toward salvation lately at FCCPHX.  We’ve been challenged with the idea, the possibility, that eternal life is not a future thing, in heaven someday, but a lifestyle and way of living that begins now when we enter into a relationship with our Creator. Jesus called this the life of the eternal age, which he himself ushered in as Messiah. And he defined our overused and seldom understood Christianese term, eternal life, in John 17:3. Go ahead and look it up. I dare you! Jesus’ own definition of eternal life changes everything about our traditional view of eternal life. We live in this eternal age now as Children of God, knowing him, and as Followers of Jesus, his son. 

With that mouthful above in mind, what should our lives look like? Probably a little different than what we often seem to settle into.

We’re also learning about another term thrown around all the time in church circles, Grace. This week we were challenged with the notion that Grace, which comes from the Greek wordxaris, means gift, but it’s a gift with a string attached. God’s gracious gifts to us come with the expectation that we will not consider them just for us to enjoy ourselves.  God’s grace—his gifts—come to us so that we will use them to help and bless others.  This is true of our financial resources, our abilities, talents, time—everything we have and are!

As children of a gracious and generous God, how we use our financial resources reflects whether we really know him and whether we are engaged with him in his great endeavor to establish his kingdom on earth. Are we really kingdom players or not?