Armor of God - Grace - The Power of the Cross

Grace - The Power of the Cross

Intro

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Eph 2:1-

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Pray

[picofgrace]

[picofgrace]

Grace is perhaps one of the most misunderstood tenets of our faith...

talk about Ephesians understanding faith…give some history

So what is grace to you?

examples

Grace is a two way street

God extends it, but we must accept it...

so by extension, if it is that grace saves us, we must then want to be saved if we are to be saved!…and if you want to be saved you must want to be changed!

Ultimately to be changed, you have to really want it.

[kidinstore]

You ever get something you really wanted?

What do you do with that

story about girls getting stuff that I pay for versus when they pay for it.

If you are invested in the thing that you want you are going to want it more. Likewise, if we are invested in our salvation, we want it more! That is why God gives us the choice! You can have it or not. But the choice is what makes us invested in Him.

We must choose....but while we are deciding, we need to understand just what this Grace is that we are choosing to accept from God. Just what it is all about.

We must choose....but while we are deciding, we need to understand just what this Grace is that we are choosing to accept from God. Just what it is all about.

So today, I want to help clarify what grace is by offering a few key points that this text reminds us of.

We have all sinned

Japanese folded armor (maybe story of discovering that?)

Where sin abounds grace abounds. (verse 1-3)

our need for grace becomes for us an armor IF WE PUT IT ON! WE HAVE TO OWN THE FACT THAT WE HAVE SINNED NOT RUN FROM IT. WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS THAT SIN, ALL OF OUR SHORTCOMINGS THAT GET FOLDED OVER THEMSELVES TIME AND TIME AGAIN SO THAT WE ARE MADE STRONG BY THE IT! IN OTHER WORDS, GRACE FOLDS THAT PAPER OVER AND GIVES IT NEW LIFE - WHILE MAKING IT STRONGER.

tie in? 5:1-5 CTW and tie in here

Grace is not subjective

We don’t get grace because our sins are more tolerable than others. (verse 4-5; 8)

We walk, and live, in light of grace

verse 10 - best defense is a good offense! parallel with legion…end with power of the cross [you have time]

[powerofthecross]

Invitation

accept today whether you have accepted 80 years ago or 8 seconds ago...

stand and sing…unified power of the church…the power of grace folded over on itself, all sins forgiven so that we could forgive all and live and love for all!