Family Talk - Grace

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Ephesians 3:14–16 ESV

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Ephesians 3:17–19 ESV

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

if you are new around here you may notice that we love the bible around here and think that its words can help bring life. These specific words we just read are about God’s love for us and I want this for everybody who comes through these doors to experience and know the incredible and awesome power of God’s love.

Pastor Bob drives up to the Happy Rest Nursing home to visit Matilda, an elderly member of his church in the latter years of her life.

"Hi Matilda, good to see you, can I sit with you for awhile?"

As they begin chatting, the pastor notices a bowl full of peanuts on the nearby nightstand. As Matilda continues to share a story he's already heard a few times before, he reaches for the bowl of peanuts and takes one.

As the conversation continues, he also continues to eat more and more peanuts. Near the end of their time together he realizes he has eaten every single peanut in the bowl.

"Matilda, I must apologize. It seems that I have eaten every one of your peanuts."

"Oh that's okay Pastor Bob."

"They would have just sat there anyway."

"Without my teeth anymore, all I can do is lick and suck the chocolate off of them and put the peanuts back in the bowl."

no point

To be a part of this family is to pursue and know God’s love

Also to be a part of this family is to pursue and know God’s grace

God’s grace.. God’s grace..

not exhaustive about grace, key things to know

is that the prayer at the beginning of when people eat?

A couple things to know about God’s grace:

Grace: Unmerited Favor

4 things to know about God’s grace

Grace is not just a concept but a Person

1. Grace: Unmerited Favor not Forgiveness 2. Grace is not just a concept but a Person3. Grace is how we reign/win in this life4. Grace is free to you, but grace was not free

Grace is how we reign/win in this life

1. Grace: Unmerited Favor not Forgiveness

2. Grace is not just a concept but a Person

3. Grace is how we reign/win in this life

Grace is free to you, but grace was not free

4. Grace is free to you, but grace was not free

ot word is hesed and hene

nt word is charis

Favor, unmerited favor, divine favor

something that starts inside of who god is, and is extended towards us as the receiver of that favor

grace is not forgiveness or mercy but by his grace we receive those things

someones in trouble and they ask for grace - mean forgiveness

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Grace

grace \ˈgrās\ noun

[Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin gratia favor, charm, thanks, from gratus pleasing, grateful; akin to Sanskrit gṛṇāti he praises] 12th century

1 a: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification

Luke 15:1–2 ESV

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Luke 15:4–6 ESV

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

Luke 15:8–9 ESV

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

skip down

Luke 15:22–24 ESV

22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

2 grace is not only a concept of unmerited favor, divine favor but grace is also a person. grace can only come from a personhood. If a bear is after me and hes about to eat me and he ends up not eating me, that bear hasnt shown me grace, he’s an animal and doesnt have the ability to show me favor. hes not a person. grace comes from personhood

christian bear story -

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the evolution had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing.

He ran even faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!...." Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don't exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice. The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed. And then the bear dropped his right paw ..... brought both paws together...bowed his head and spoke:

"Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful...AMEN!"

grace can only come from a person

1 grace is how we are saved

Ephesians 2:7 ESV

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

grace noun

you - verb, present active indicative, being

through, preposition, car into pole - indicates the relationship of something

faith - traust, persuasion, belief, confidence in, assurance

eph 2;8

eph 2;7

Titus 2:11 ESV

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

titus 2:

appeared - verb, action - indicative(actual), aorist(means its like a snapshot),

personifies grace but not in a poetic, fluffy feel good type if way

Jesus is the person of grace and when we learn about jesus we are learning about grace. Jesus is the unmerited favor of god from God the father but also jesus is the grace of God from himself. It’s a part of who he is.

2 grace is how we reign

Romans 5:17 ESV

17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

receive - active and present

reign - government word

Romans 6:14 ESV

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

rom 6

dominion - relational type word of being in charge and actively controlling

under prep - you and laws relationship? not you under grace

grace is free to you, but not free

The boy stood with back arched, head cocked back and hands clenched defiantly. "Go ahead, give it to me."

The principal looked down at the young rebel. "How many times have you been here?"

The child sneered rebelliously, "Apparently not enough."

The principal gave the boy a strange look. "And you have been punished each time have you not?"

"Yeah, I been punished, if that's what you want to call it." He threw out his small chest, "Go ahead I can take whatever you dish out. I always have."

"And no thought of your punishment enters your head the next time you decide to break the rules does it?"

"Nope, I do whatever I want to do. Ain't nothin' you people gonna do to stop me either."

The principal looked over at the teacher who stood nearby. "What did he do this time?"

"Fighting. He took little Tommy and shoved his face into the sandbox."

The principal turned to look at the boy, "Why? What did little Tommy do to you?"

"Nothin, I didn't like the way he was lookin' at me, just like I don't like the way your lookin' at me! And if I thought I could do it, I'd shove your face into something."

The teacher stiffened and started to rise but a quick look from the principal stopped him. He contemplated the child for a moment and then quietly said, "Today my young student, is the day you learn about grace."

"Grace? Isn't that what you old people do before you sit down to eat? I don't need none of your stinkin grace."

"Oh but you do." The principal studied the young mans face and whispered. "Oh yes, you truly do..."

The boy continued to glare as the principal continued, "Grace, in its short definition is unmerited favor. You can not earn it, it is a gift and is always freely given. It means that you will not be getting what you so richly deserve."

The boy looked puzzled. "Your not gonna whup me? You just gonna let me walk?"

The principal looked down at the unyielding child. "Yes, I am going to let you walk."

The boy studied the face of the principal, "No punishment at all? Even though I socked Tommy and shoved his face into the sandbox?"

"Oh, there has to be punishment. What you did was wrong and there are always consequences to our actions. There will be punishment. Grace is not an excuse for doing wrong."

"I knew it," Sneered the boy as he held out his hands. "Lets get on with it."📷

The principal nodded toward the teacher. "Bring me the belt." The teacher presented the belt to the principal. He carefully folded it in two and then handed it back to the teacher. He looked at the child and said. "I want you to count the blows."

He slid out from behind his desk and walked over to stand directly in front of the young man. He gently reached out and folded the child's outstretched, expectant hands together and then turned to face the teacher with his own hands outstretched. One quiet word came forth from his mouth. "Begin."

The belt whipped down on the outstretched hands of the principal. Crack! The young man jumped ten feet in the air.

Shock registered across his face, "One" he whispered. Crack! "Two." His voice raised an octave. Crack! "Three..." He couldn't believe this. Crack! "Four." Big tears welled up in the eyes of the rebel.

"OK stop! That's enough. Stop!" Crack! Came the belt down on the callused hands of the principal. Crack! The child flinched with each blow, tears beginning to stream down his face.

Crack! Crack! "No please", the former rebel begged, "Stop, I did it, I'm the one who deserves it. Stop! Please. Stop..."

Still the blows came, Crack! Crack! One after another. Finally it was over.

The principal stood with sweat glistening across his forehead and beads trickling down his face.

Slowly he knelt down.

He studied the young man for a second and then his swollen hands reached out to cradle the face of the weeping child.

Justice and righteousness demand a punishment, and the only way God could satisfy that demand of sin was to pay the price himself and he did for you

Romans 3:23–24 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

justified - declared righteous

I never dreamed that taking a child to Disney World could be so difficult — or that such a trip could teach me so much about God’s outrageous grace.

Our middle daughter had been previously adopted by another family. I [Timothy] am sure this couple had the best of intentions, but they never quite integrated the adopted child into their family of biological children. After a couple of rough years, they dissolved the adoption, and we ended up welcoming an eight-year-old girl into our home.

For one reason or another, whenever our daughter’s previous family vacationed at Disney World, they took their biological children with them, but they left their adopted daughter with a family friend. Usually — at least in the child’s mind — this happened because she did something wrong that precluded her presence on the trip.

And so, by the time we adopted our daughter, she had seen many pictures of Disney World and she had heard about the rides and the characters and the parades. But when it came to passing through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, she had always been the one left on the outside. Once I found out about this history, I made plans to take her to Disney World the next time a speaking engagement took our family to the southeastern United States.

I thought I had mastered the Disney World drill. I knew from previous experiences that the prospect of seeing cast members in freakishly oversized mouse and duck costumes somehow turns children into squirming bundles of emotional instability. What I didn’t expect was that the prospect of visiting this dreamworld would produce a stream of downright devilish behavior in our newest daughter. In the month leading up to our trip to the Magic Kingdom, she stole food when a simple request would have gained her a snack. She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. She whispered insults that were carefully crafted to hurt her older sister as deeply as possible — and, as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied.

A couple of days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter into my lap to talk through her latest escapade. “I know what you’re going to do,” she stated flatly. “You’re not going to take me to Disney World, are you?” The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. She knew she couldn’t earn her way into the Magic Kingdom — she had tried and failed that test several times before — so she was living in a way that placed her as far as possible from the most magical place on earth.

In retrospect, I’m embarrassed to admit that, in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. The easiest response would have been, “If you don’t start behaving better, you’re right, we won’t take you” — but, by God’s grace, I didn’t. Instead, I asked her, “Is this trip something we’re doing as a family?”

She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed.

“Are you part of this family?”

She nodded again.

“Then you’re going with us. Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what’s right and what’s wrong — but you’re part of our family, and we’re not leaving you behind.”

I’d like to say that her behaviors grew better after that moment. They didn’t. Her choices pretty much spiraled out of control at every hotel and rest stop all the way to Lake Buena Vista. Still, we headed to Disney World on the day we had promised, and it was a typical Disney day. Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals, and lots of lines, mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again someday.

In our hotel room that evening, a very different child emerged. She was exhausted, pensive, and a little weepy at times, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. When bedtime rolled around, I prayed with her, held her, and asked, “So how was your first day at Disney World?”

She closed her eyes and snuggled down into her stuffed unicorn. After a few moments, she opened her eyes ever so slightly. “Daddy,” she said, “I finally got to go to Disney World. But it wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.”