People imagine it was difficult to follow the law of Moses. It wasn't difficult; it was impossible. But God made provision for the failure by means of sacrifices. With the failures taken care of, the law of Moses was, In another sense, simple and even satisfying. How so? The rules were clearly laid out. There was no guesswork as to what God liked and what He didn't. One could easily measure one's progress, or lack thereof. It was like a report card at school. Or the gold stars you got at the top of your paper for good performance. Success was instantly rewarded and failure was instantly acknowledged and addressed. One's performance in law could be set forth on a graph, with which one could compare one's achievements with those of others. In short, the law was VISIBLE.

Compare this to a walk of grace. The measuring stick for one's production of fruit is, from the human side, the conscience. On the divine side, God sees you as righteous no matter what. Performance is not and cannot be measured on a graph, for grace is not based on individual performance, but on the performance of God's Son on the cross, which was perfect.

In law, God's favor of you was detectable in physical ways: your wife was fruitful; your crops and livestock thrived; you rarely caught a cold. Contrast this with grace, where one's physical situation is oftentimes not the result of missing the mark but of either suffering unjustly at the hands of law-keepers (how ironic) or of the world not being worthy of you. In short, a walk of grace is undetectable by any of the senses. It's invisible.

This theme is explored in a video I made in June of 2005 in Willard, Ohio. Our friend and fellow-believer Rodney Paris digitized the analog tape, set it to engaging video and helpful text frames, and presents it to you here in another hard-wrought production.

Please watch to the end. What Rodney does at the end of this video will rock you. It did me. Rodney took an excerpt of an MZTV presentation I did three years ago and—well—he sprinkled some fairy dust on it, and if it blesses you to half the length it did me, you're going to go away on a very satisfying spiritual high.

Thanks to all of you for your continued love and support. Together, we are running the final lap of a very important race begun by our apostle Paul. We are running together and, by the grace of God, we will win together. A wreath of righteousness awaits all who compete lawfully in the evangel—a blessing, indeed, above and beyond our common salvation.

I am remaining yours from the edge of the bottom of the Floridan peninsula,

—Martin