Charis...Grace to Live Holy

Two Ditches on the Road

Ditch Number One says that it is only by living right will we be eligible to experience God’s Grace.

Ditch Number Two says that where sin abounds then Gods grace abounds even more, so if we want to experience Grace then we need to sin more.

Neither of these thoughts are accurate! However, they are both practiced in the church.

Not only are they practiced, but they are creating a culture within the church that is unhealthy and untruthful.

Where truth does not reign supreme then freedom cannot be found. Where there is no freedom there is bondage. Dreams will not be fulfilled, God’s Kingdom will not influence the earth.

Sanctifying Grace

2 Peter 3:18 NLT

18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.

Sanctifying Grace is grace too grow to be like Jesus.

Sanctifying Grace is God’s power and ability to purify us and enabling us to live holy lives in a corrupt world.

Sanctifying Grace keeps us from being contaminated.

Sanctifying Grace is God’s love cleansing us.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NLT

23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

Read out of the Amp.

Grace to separate us from profane things, make us pure and wholly consecrated to God.-Amp

If we are going to understand sanctifying grace then we have to see both sides, the God side and the Man side.

The Royal Baby

Imagine a royal baby being born. The baby born legally to be a direct heir to the throne. The baby even though he is young does not have to earn his way to the throne it is inherited.

However, the baby is still a baby! He still has dirty diapers, throws fits, cries, spits up, etc...

The baby is going to eventually grow out of the childish traits. He won’t be a twenty year old walking around with a diaper. The baby will become an adult and learn the ways of the Kingdom.

Our Father paid the price to make us who we are and no one can take that away. We have been given rights and privileges.

Because I am in Christ, I am:

John 15:5 NLT

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

John

I live with God.

Romans 5:1 NLT

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

I have been made right with God.

Romans 6:11 NLT

11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

I am dead to Sin

I am ALIVE through Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1 NLT

1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

I am FREE from Condemnation

Romans 8:17 NLT

17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

I am an heir with Christ Jesus

Romans 8:37 NLT

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

I am a winner through Christ

Romans 8:39 NLT

39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate me from God.

1 Corinthians 6:17 NLT

17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

I Corinthians

I am joined to Jesus, I am One spirit with him

1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT

19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,

I Corinthians

I am the house of the Holy Spirit

I Corinthians

1 Corinthians 6:20 NLT

20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

I am worthy enough to be bought for a high price.

1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT

27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

I Corinthians

I am a part of Christ body

2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV

14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

II Corinthians

God always causes me to be triumphant!

2 Corinthians 5:18 NLT

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

God gave us a gift and brought us back to God

Galatians 3:13 NLT

13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

Galatians 3:

I have been rescued from the curse of the law!

Galatians 3:26 NLT

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

I am a Child of God

:

Galatians 3:29 NLT

29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Galatians

All that God promised Abraham now belongs to me!

Galatians 5:1 NLT

1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

I am Free

Ephesians 1:1 NLT

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

I am a saint

Ephesians 1:3 NLT

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

I am blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing!

Ephesians 1:4 NLT

4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

I am chosen

Colossians 1:13 NLT

13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

Colossians

I have been rescued from darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of God.

Colossians 1:14 NLT

14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Colo

I am have been forgiven

II Peter

2 Peter 1:4 NLT

4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

I am a partaker of God’s divine nature.

AMEN!!!

I believe when we proclaim these scriptures it will renew our minds to believe as God believes!

These scriptures tell us all that God has done for us and who we are in him.

Focus on the God side it makes the man side easier

Peter told us that we need to grow up, don’t stay a toddler.

We can be legally a King and still live like a pauper

Grace is absolutely about what Jesus has done, but it is also about what God can do through you!

Paul explained all this in the book of Ephesians

Chapters 1-3 tells us what God did for us through Jesus.

Chapters 4-6 Paul tells us how to respond to what Jesus did for us:

Walk worthy of our calling

Maintain Unity among ourselves

Quit Lying

Quit Stealing

Walk in Love

Do not fornicate, be covetous, or unclean.

Live in right relationship with our families and the people we work with.

Conclusion

Grace is all about what Jesus has done, but it also about what Jesus can do through us!