One day a Christian man said to me, "There's got to be more to the Christian life than this."

Never mind that you can't see his face. Just hear his words shriek off the page at the level of your own experience. "There's got to be more to the Christian life than this."

When our son and daughter were kids they liked to watch a children's program on TV called "Mr Dressup." One day a friend of ours, who worked at the TV station where that program was filmed, took our kids to meet Mr Dressup. When the kids came home, the first thing my son said to me was: "Hey Dad. You know those steps on Mr Dressup? They don't go anywhere."

God has prescribed the way for us to tap into the "more" of the Christian life. That's the "more" I write about. All other steps we might take instead of God's prescription for us are like that TV prop. They "don't go anywhere."

I write for you, the Christian who used to live the Christian life in a powerful way, whose spiritual life is now a ghost town. Dust and tumbleweeds gust boisterously up the dry dirt streets and hurriedly along them; half-fallen signs swing wildly from their storefront postings up above, and shutters convulse and smack incessantly against the grey rustic buildings. That's your life. All sad remains of what used to be.

Jesus, speaking as the Good Shepherd, said concerning His sheep, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). That's the life you used to know. The abundant life. The more God has for your Christian life now.

I write for you, the Christian stuck on a never-stopping roller coaster ride. Hoisted to the heights and hurled to the depths with erratic ups and downs, you've had all hope of finding any level of spiritual satisfaction jerked right out of you.

Walt Disney is reputed to have said, "Saint Paul would never go near Disneyland. Only children, tourists, and visiting Soviet high officials ever go to Disneyland. Saints do not." He was wrong. I was a saint when my family and I went to Disneyland. (Saint George, that is.)

All in all it was a joyful time. But the roller coaster ride? While being jerked full throttle around those merciless curves this saint lost both his hat and his stomach. I never did get my hat back. And my stomach? Well, that took awhile to retrieve.

But you, you are on a roller coaster you think you're never going to get off. What a ride you're on! Hitting the highs, then hitting the lows, then high, then low, and so on. Sometimes you feel quite pleased with yourself; other times you feel quite displeased with yourself.

Sometimes you think too much of yourself; other times you think too little of yourself. On and on it goes. And you're saying: "Stop all this rocketing up and swooping down! I want to get off this roller coaster ride!"

I write for you, the Christian who has gradually slipped into spiritual complacency, become accustomed to it, and don't realize you're in it.

Years ago I visited a church where the late Dr A. W. Tozer was speaking. On that occasion I heard him give a couple of illustrations of this condition that show it well.

First, he carried our imaginations off to a room where people are gradually gathering. More and more people gather until the room is filled up. The last people to arrive notice how stale the air in the room has become. But the first people who arrived have gradually become accustomed to the diminished air quality. The early comers don't even notice how stale it is until they hear some of the late comers remark how hot and stuffy the room is.

Perhaps you need these messages to make you aware of your stale spiritual condition. Then to help correct it.

Next, Dr Tozer carried our imaginations off to the front porch of a house. A man is sitting there reading. He had started reading in the late afternoon light and continues reading even though dusk has begun to take over. Then his wife steps out of their lit up house and asks, "You still reading out here? How can you see? It's so dark out here." When he follows her back into the house his eyes get struck and stung by the light. A moment later his eyes have adjusted to the light and then he realizes the poor reading condition he'd gradually become accustomed to out on the porch.

Perhaps you need these messages to make you aware of the dusky spiritual atmosphere you're sitting in. Then to help you correct it.

I write to you, the Christian, who used to sit under good Bible teaching, but are now deprived of that privilege. You recall the good old days of sound doctrine and solid exposition of Scripture. You are sick and tired of the shallowness and showmanship of the so-called worship service led by the so-called worship team that you have to put up with Sunday after Sunday.

You wish your pastor would preach the theology of the Bible instead of using the Bible to recast humanistic notions in supposedly Christian form. He's molding his ideas from the latest-fad book and preaching canned goods that conveniently furnish his power-point presentation. He doesn't know any better but you do. You've had enough and know you're stuck in a situation you can't change.

I write to you, the Christian, who has never sat under good Bible teaching. You have no idea what sound doctrine and solid exposition of Scripture are. You are entertained by the contemporary church service you enjoy Sunday after Sunday and lift up your hands as an act of worship at certain points of the singing. But because you've never been trained in reverence through constant exposure to the theology of the Bible, your spiritual ecstasy is only a moment of punctuation. Other moments during the same period of singing find you glancing around in distraction or talking and laughing with your spouse.

And no wonder. For his part, your pastor keeps you amused with his stories and humor, and even pleases you with illustrations and applications that address your felt needs. But he tells you very little that God actually says in His Word. You get what your pastor means you to get but not what the Scripture writers meant you to get. It seems oh so spiritual but in fact it's oh, so subtle.

Well, my sketches are over. If you didn't find yourself in them don't feel left out. Just prayerfully read these messages and make sure you get in on God's "more" for you.

God's grace is His way of governing, leading, motivating and empowering His people in this present age. It is ever with us. Ever available to the spiritual eyes of our faith in God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's GRACE WITH A VIEW. That view is four-directional. It causes us to look backward, upward, forward and inward.

By grace our view looks backward to the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. In God's estimation when Jesus died on the cross we died with Him. When He was buried and resurrected so were we. When He ascended into heaven so did we. And, as we will contemplate in these messages, the implications of our identification from His cross to His throne are dynamically important for us to know and apply.

By grace our view looks upward to heaven to the right hand of God where our Savior is seated. And again in God's estimation, where we ourselves are seated with Christ. He is God's primary Heir and we are co-heirs with Him. While we as secondary heirs set our mind and hearts on things above we'll get in on the present benefits of our heavenly inheritance.

By grace our view looks forward to the imminent return of the Lord Jesus, the rapture and the eternal glory to follow. Ours is the age of the administration of God's grace. With good reason we call our present age, the age of grace, the age of the Holy Spirit and the age of the church. It's an age in its own right with its own unique characteristics and will end in its own unique way. We live by God's grace and look forward to the grace that will come to us at the end of this present age and welcome us into eternity.

By grace our view looks inward to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, the Person and the performance of the Holy Spirit in this present age is grossly misunderstood and misrepresented by many Christians today. On the other hand, He and His work are greatly underestimated and neglected by many other Christians.

Yet there is a true appraisal Him and proper appropriation of Him. And He Himself will use the Word of God's grace to build us up and give us our inheritance if we prayerfully read and study its content in context. He authored the Word and He will guide us into all its truth (Jn 16:13).

And speaking of His guiding us into all the truth, it seems to me that this not only means impartation of information but also implementation in application. So with this in mind I'll conclude some of my messages with a special segment to draw your attention to the four directions of our view for practical application of God's grace in your walk in the truth (3 Jn 3).

The thought in my mind right now stands out in three verses from Acts:

"...and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled" (Acts 14:26).

"...but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord" (Acts 15:40).

"And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32).

I commend you to God. I commend you to the Word of His grace. Just think of what our gracious God will do for you through His Word. He'll "build you up and give you the inheritance."

The inheritance He will give you is for "all those who are sanctified." Sanctified means separated or set apart. If you know Christ as your Lord and Savior God's grace has already set you apart to a position of acceptance before Him. The question is, Is His grace setting you apart to an experience of victory in your daily Christian life?

The inheritance is eternal. We won't experience the zenith of its benefits until we enter eternity. But it also affords us tremendous benefits right now in the process of God's building us up in steps of spiritual growth.

So I commend you to the "God of all grace," (1 Pet 5:10) and thus to the grace of God. I turn you over to God and His grace and urge you to do the same for yourself. And then be encouraged, challenged and blessed through these messages from my heart, and I trust, from the heart of God.

Above all I write for God's glory.