BoazNigel

Jesus 'cast' a Samaritan as the hero of the parable because He wanted to make a point. Jews & Samaritans hated each other & would have nothing to do with each other. The injured man on the road, who was a Jew, was not in a position to help himself. The Samaritan who cared for him had nothing to be gained. This was undeserved & unrepaid favour. In my community one of the 'resented neighbours are asylum seekers - even rejected by the Government. I worked with a Christian charity with asylum seekers - we organised support through food banks, clothes banks, temporary accommodation in church buildings & spare rooms in private houses ... plus legal advocacy, medical help & pastoral support as necessary.

"For God loved the world SO MUCH that He gave His one & only Son ... " (Jn 3:16, NLT) this is grace that for no other reason - nothing we did or deserved - but only because He loved us did God the Father send Jesus. Motivated solely by God's love, This is explained by the old acronym God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

Bonhoeffer wrote - cheap grace is justification of sin without justification of the sinner 'we bestow on ourselves' (not from God) the preaching of forgiveness without repentance baptism without church discipline communion without confession grace without discipleship grace without the Cross grace without Jesus Christ living & incarnate Cheap grace has no cost! We do not have to work for costly grace because 'Jesus paid it all' but we do have to repent & follow It is costly because it cost Jesus everything ... Praise His Name!

Is there any good in humankind? Appearances would say 'yes' but the Apostle Paul wrote "I know NOTHING GOOD LIVES IN ME, that is, in my sinful nature" (Rom 7:18, NLT) There is a 'shadow' of goodness because we are created in the image of God but because of the Fall there is no good in us Our 'deceitful heart' is exposed by our sinful inclinations & motivation: in how we speak, act & react As my old pastor used to say 'no one ever had to teach a child to be naughty!'

" ... you were DEAD because of your disobedience & your many sins ... obeying the devil ... by our very nature we were subject to God's anger ... " (Eph 2:1-3, NLT selected) we were spiritually dead - alienated from God We were motivated/driven by our fallen nature, satan & the world/cultural pressures & norms As to what was conscious & what was unconscious - this is a complex question Conscious motivation is when we deliberately follow/yield to the things/lusts that we know are wrong Unconscious motivation are those things that creep in unbidden but they become conscious when we yield to them Lord help me stand strong!

"We were utterly helpless" (Rom 5:6, NLT) 'Utterly helpless' - without power - we were totally unable to do anything to help ourselves out of our 'lost situation' It is remarkable that "(Christ died for us) while we were still sinners (Rom 5:8, NLT) Referring back to Q5 Christ died for His enemies ... this is remarkable! And this remarkable act was motivated by LOVE "God showed His GREAT LOVE for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners (Rom 5:8, NLT)

To be 'in a state of grace' means that we have been saved (or rescued) from one state to another "for He has rescued us from the Kingdom (state) of darkness into the Kingdom (state) of Hid dear Son" (Col 1:13, NLT) we are now in a state of favour - God's favour "We have been made right in God's sight by FAITH ... " (Rom 5:1, NLT) it is by faith in what Christ has done for us "Our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His ENEMIES ... " (Rom 5:10, NLT) the opposite of 'peace with God' is ENMITY WITH GOD - not a good position 'choose your enemies well'!

God told Hosea to marry a prostitute to be a 'prophetic example/demonstration' of God's grace. Israel had prostituted herself with pagan gods yet God still loved Israel & wanted her back. The story not only tells us of God's 'Amazing Grace' but also of His OUTRAGEOUS Grace - God tells Hosea to go after Gomer & buy her back. This demonstrates God's OUTRAGEOUS Grace in that He came after us (we love Him because He first loved us) - we didn't choose Him He chose us! - this is grace it is nothing of us but all of Him.

1. Yahweh forgives all our sins - for those who repent 2. Rebellion creeps into a believer's life in stages - one small steo at a time ... the minor sin leading to another & then another ... slowly-slowly rebellion creeps in LIKE BOILING A FROG IN A PAN OF WATER 3. God doesn't forgive those who don't repent (with sadness) - He has provided forgiveness , salvation is available ... but mankind rejects it - just walking by Lord help me to avoid the minor sins - or at least keep short accounts when I fall -& help me to make known 'the Way os Salvation

I suppose the fact that God was willing to reveal Himself to Moses is an indicator of His grace He reveals Himself as " ... compassionate ... gracious ... slow to anger ... abounding in love & faithfulness ... maintaining love ... forgiving wickedness, rebellion & sin ... Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished ... " 1. compassionate God understands our weaknesses & what we struggle with 2. gracious God is merciful & kind 3. slow to anger God is not 'quick tempered' but thoughtful 4. abounding in love His love (חֶסֶד hesed) hesed is not merely an emotion or feeling but involves action on behalf of someone who is in need & is always towards us 5. faithfulness God is dependable - to be trusted 6. forgiving wickedness & sin what greater demonstration of grace is there than 'forgiveness' - God forgives & in fact sent His Son to die in our place to make forgiveness possible 7. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished ... God is not an 'easy touch' - sin cannot go unpunished but knowing the character of God we can rest in the truth that the repentant are forgiven 😆

Grace (χάρις charis) is unearned favour - it is not something we can earn or deserve, it is not because we are good or worthy, it is unmerited favour based solely on the goodness of the Giver ... God A helpful working definition of Biblical grace would be 'receiving what we don't deserve' - God's Riches At Christ's Expense Grace characterizes the 'God of all grace' because His goodness is constantly towards us & is summed up in John 3:16 "God so loved the world that He gave ..." He doesn't just 'love' He 'SO loves - this is grace!

1. The honour was that she would have the privilege of being the mother of the Son of God (the long awaited Messiah) 2. She would be accused of adultery: rejected by Joseph, rejected by the community - evern stoned 3. She was willing to obey God (even though she didn't fully understand) & trust Him for the outcome 4. As disciples we should be willing to obey God (even when we don't fully understand) & trust Him for protection & the outcome 🙏

I have always found Luke's Gospel of real interest Luke - a travelling companion of Paul - tells us "Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught. (Luke 1:1-4) Luke had access to the writings of Matthew & Mark (John came later) & also as a travelling companion of Paul he would have spoken to many eyewitnesses of the Gospel events collecting teir memories So we have an extraordinary document in our hands a carefully researched documentary drawing on the experiences & accounts of the original eyewitnesses Being 'published' with the lifetimes of those eyewitnesses we can be sure that this is an accurate account