Grace

Joke

One Sunday a pastor told the congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.

After the offering plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 bill in the offering. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he'd like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate.

A very quiet, elderly, saintly lady all the way in the back shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front. Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and in thanksgiving asked her to pick out three hymns. Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three handsomest men in the building and said, "I'll take him and him and him!"

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A Christian and an atheist were neighbors. The Christian one day yells ''Lord please sends me food''.

The atheist heard this and replies ''there is no GOD!''

The next day the Christian wakes up and goes to her porch to find that there were bags of groceries. She yells ''Thank You LORD for this food!"

As soon as soon as the Christian said that the atheist jumps out from the brush and replies ''your GOD didn't give you that food…I did!''

Without wasting a second the Christian yells to the LORD ''thank you for sending me this food and making Satan pay for it''!

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Grace that is Greater than all our sin

It is no small wonder that these two verses are frequently memorized. They sum up the gospel of grace, every heart desires grace. We surely don’t want justice. If we got what we deserve for our sin, we would all be condemned.

We want what we don’t deserve, and that is grace,

Ephesians 2:8–9 teaches that our salvation has nothing to do with our works. Salvation is a gift which we receive by faith.

Even the faith to believe comes from God, so it is grace from start to finish. You know This is not something that we work up or even something we work on, because Works have nothing to do with it.

If that were not the case we COULD boast I did this or I did that but only GOD can say I did this and I did that.

Paul knew about boasting in Philippians 3

He referred to his past, and we can all agree it was quite an impressive past. If anyone could boast paul could have.

Paul could have talk about religious Christian credentials. He said that if anyone can boast or have confidence in the flesh he could .

he was very religious, but he confessed in the next verse yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. He looked at his impressive past and counted it all rubbish.

Be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteous, which is from God by faith.

According to Romans 3:23.

None of us deserves salvation. We have all sinned, but Grace greater than our sins was offered. All we need to do is receive Christ, and if we think that any of our works add anything to the cross that insults God, may we never lose the wonder of amazing grace.

Have you ever looked at your circumstances

RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU Have ever thought If i could only go back and have another chance to do it differently I would.

that is what Grace is all about. I don’t mean after we die we get another chance to receive the Lord Jesus as savior. The Bible does not teach that. In this life, he lavishes his forgiving love on us after we have thoughtfully blown it , we are never outside God’s grace

Most people hear the gospel many times before they receive the Lord. That is grace.

You see, he is the god of the second chance, and often times 1000 chances. He sends someone our way to tell us about him. We reject the truth, because he is a God of grace he sends another, we reject the truth again , he sends yet another sometimes this process goes on for years until finally one day because of his pursuant grace, we become a child of God.

Be Encourage

This should encourage us to pray for unsaved people. This should encourage a Christian wife, who has prayed for years for her unsaved husband. that God‘s grace is pursuing him,

this should encourage parents who have prayed for an unsaved child. that God‘s grace is pursuing that son or daughter. some may give up, but let me tell you this morning that God does not give up..

Some of us were saved early in life and some were saved late in life but the wonderful fact is it takes the same amount of grace to save a 12-year-old as it does a 60-year-old Grace is abundant, no matter the age.

God is beyond time. Just think of being in a helicopter and seeing all of a parade at one time, that’s the way God sees time when God forgave Adam and Eve for their sin, he did so based on what in his mind was already accomplished, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, his death made it possible for God to say to us I’m going to give you another chance.

Many struggling Christians understand that they have been saved by grace, but they still want to pay him back with good works and some religions even think this is necessary to remain saved. But The Bible doesn’t teach that.

God isn’t keeping score we can’t pay him back for his grace. No amount of good words can pay the debt of love we owe. There is no ritual involved. He loves us and draws us to himself.

You can’t do anything to make him. love you anymore and you can’t do anything to make him. Love you any less.

The book of Galatians was written to those who were adding law to grace. In Galatians 3:24-25 Paul wrote to them. In Galatians Therefore, the law was our school master to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith but after faith is calm, we are no longer under a school master .

There is no way we could keep God‘s moral code perfectly we need a savior. Even after we become Christians, God does not want us to add to his grace he wants obedience.

But the obedience is an overflow of a heart full of love not legalism. When Jesus tells us to keep his commandments, he emphasizes that obedience shows others that we love him, the moral law shows us our need of a savior.

The new testament helps us see that we cannot obey the Lord Jesus, even after we are saved without his help. It is not to gain his favor. It is children wanting to please, the father, because we love him. This delivers us from the legalism and keeps us on the ground of grace, not only salvation, but for living the Christian life.

What about those who abuse Grace?

In romans 6:1 Paul anticipates this when he ask what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that Grace may bound? The answer is no.

Paul answered the question in the very next verse. Certainly not. how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it….… The implication is that it is unthinkable that as a Christian, we would be comfortable continuing to sin.

Sin does not stay dormant it grows, it in slaves. If people are saved, sin cannot destroy the relationship with God, but it surely can damage their testimony and their fellowship.

We do not have license to sin ….…Abundant grace Spurs to obedience. Remember when Jesus answered Peter‘s question about how often he needed to forgive his brother, Peter thought seven times sounded extravagant.

Jesus answered Peter 70×7. Jesus was telling Peter to forgive countless times. Jesus did not say well Peter I see how someone would really want to take advantage of you. Peter may have wondered that, but Jesus emphasize forgiveness, not keeping score, and not worrying about being taken advantage of.

if Jesus told Peter that how much more does he the son of God exercise forgiveness towards us? Surely we have sinned more than 490 times and it is by the grace of God that he is not counting.

The extravagant grace of God does not encourage sin. Grace comes into our lives when we receive Jesus Christ as our personal savior, he delivers us from the penalty of sin and also the power of sin in our lives. Roman 6 emphasizes that we do not have to sin. What wonderful liberty is given to us to do what is pleasing to him. Amen

Let’s look at the riches of his grace, according to Ephesians 1:1-9

1st the riches of the grace of God are bestowed by God the father. 2nd, in verse 6 these riches are freely given to us. That means we don’t merit these riches they are extensions of his character of grace.

3rd. in verse 7 this grace is given to us in abundance. nowhere is being stin-gy hinted at all , he has given immeasurable grace, 4th in verse 3 his grace is given to us instantly, once and for all.

5th the richest come simultaneously. God does not justify me here and redeem me later and forgive me over there and reconcile me down the line and glorify me here and sanctify me later.

all these things, and more became mine when I was saved. 6th these riches are totally on the merit of what Jesus did not on any of our merit.

his death brought his death bought the riches for us. He paid the debt in full. The riches are eternal, money can’t buy them death can’t take them away, we are redeemed, reconciled, and freed from the law.

We have a relationship in the family of God, we are children of the king who more than abundantly gives us everything we need to live as children of his kingdom.

Someone might say well that sounds pretty good, but I don’t feel rich. We are talking about our wonderful, abundant, spiritual assets, not material or wealth, and whether or not, we feel rich has nothing to do with our wealth or riches they are in the one we belong to, and he will never change,

the Bible says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich.

The obvious question comes to mind if we are so rich and he is so great why do Christians suffer? Second Corinthians 12:9 gives the promise in the midst of suffering. My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness…… Paul learned there was something far more important to him than re-engineered circumstances he was discovering the sufficiency of God‘s grace.

I have a question for you

With a show of hands how many of you would like to know God the way the apostle paul did?

With a show of hands, in all honesty how many of you are willing to go through being stoned, beatings, ship wrecked, in prison left for dead, and many other persecutions, that the paul experienced?

I understand no one enjoys pain and hurt, but we prove his immeasurable grace in the middle of terrific heartache. You know Paul was consumed with the gospel of grace,, that he was willing to die for it and he was willing to live for it.

When we have the conviction that we are doing the work that God has given to us to do in our souls, be encouraged that all the forces of this world cannot destroy that..…

We could spend most of our lives, doing a study on the word, grace. There are so many levels to it. You know It affects the core of our being, and spills over into our finances, our relationships with others and in our prayer life.

In Hebrews, the writer tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace . But I was wondering how we would feel if he had written about our coming boldly to the throne of judgment. Just Think about that for a minute.

That term doesn’t generate an attitude of wanting to come at all, much less with boldness. Or suppose he invited us to come to the throne of condemnation? Who on earth would want to come, would you?

Entering the throne room of God and coming before the very throne of grace require no security measures, nobody checks you out.

You don’t have to stand in line. You don’t even have to make an appointment. YOU JUST COME. You belong there because of grace.

We Have Instant Access

When John F. Kennedy was president security was frequently tight. But one picture captivated the heart of America as his little son sneaked by all the security personnel and curled up close to his daddy. He had instant access, it didn’t matter what any of the Service agents said he could come anytime he wanted to because he was his son.

Grace brought us to the savior, often after we have burned him on many occasions. God brings us back to him when we fail. Grace gives us all the things we need to live for him. Grace displaces us when we test the limits. Grace tells us we’re accepted on another's merits….… Grace is more than we need when we suffer. When we suffer grace Superabounds were sin bounds. Grace invites us to the throne, where we can find the one to help in time of need.

Grace is when God gives us the things we don’t deserve. Mercy is when God does not give us the things we do deserve.

GOD IS CALLING

You might have a need or going through a situation that you need to bring to him. You can sit where you are, you can come bring it to the alter, or if you needs someone to pray with you, there is a family of God here that will take you by the hand and pray with you. So as she continues to play lets just take a moment in prayer!!!!

Lord we come to you this morning, giving you praise for every blessing you have given us. And we also thank you for your abundant grace. I pray if there is someone that needs help from you this morning, that you will reach down and touch them in a miraculous way. We love you and praise you in Jesus name Amen!!!!

Sing this with me. Marvelous Grace