Grace Cultures 3

To be Graced is to Be Gifted

• Greet the people - welcome them to our online service

We had such a powerful Altars service last week…I want to remind you that every month until the Lord tells us otherwise we will be building the altars and giving habitation for Gods spirit to move powerfully!

• Well back to our teaching series on the Culture of Grace•

1 Corinthians (Chapter 12) 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

God sets - appoints - fixes in place - deposits in place the church - ecclesia (called out assembly - universal and local)

Where you go to church - where you become a member of, a partner of, a participant of should have nothing to do with you BUT Obedience!

• Also the Body belongs to Him - The Church belongs to Him - He is the head of the church and therefore He infuses its CHARACTER - He sets its VISION - He Ordains its Structure - and then looks for people that He can set within What He has ordained

• YOU HAVE BEEN TETHERED TO GRACE!

• The Place of Grace - if GOD HAS SET YOU HERE PHYSICALLY OR EVEN VIRTUALLY YOU HAVE BEEN TETHERED TO GRACE

• You are joined to GRACE

• Your success and accomplishments in the life and in the Kingdom of God will be by GRACE!

• 1 Corinthians 15.9For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

• I worked in and I laboured by the GRACE - sometimes we work in the flesh and get disappointed about the results - GET BACK TO THE PLACE OF GRACE!

• WE ARE PEOPLE THAT HAS RECEIVED HIS GRACE, THAT LIVE BY HIS GRACE AND THAT DISPLAYS HIS GRACE TO A WORLD THAT NEEDS HIS GRACE

• This is one of our creedal confessions

• There are aspects of GRACE that we did not even know was happening - COMMON GRACE the theologians called it

• It rains on the righteous and the wicked

• Common grace includes all undeserved blessings that natural man receives from the hand of God: rain, sun, prosperity, health, happiness, natural capacities and gifts, sin being restrained from complete dominion

• BUT THIS CHARIS that our salvation hinges on - MUST BE RECIEVED BY FAITH!

• Receive by faith SAVING GRACE OF GOD

• Receive by Grace the MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD

• 1 Peter 4. (Chapter 4) 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

• So last week we began to look at again our Grace Cultures -

• So Now lets refresh ourselves with our 4 GRACE CULTURES

• At the PLACE OF GRACE WE EXIST FOR THESE THINGS

• 1. WE ARE GRACED TO EMBRACE THE SINNER

• We have received grace therefore we should also GIVE Grace

• SO HE WRITES TO THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS- Ephesians 2.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

• GRACE LITERALLY FOUND US WHILE WE WHERE YET DEAD IN OUR SINS

• DON’T BE UNGRACEFUL – TO THE WEAK, TO THE POOR, TO THE UNPOPULAR – EVERYBODY NEEDS GRACE, EVERY BODY NEEDED GRACE!!

• HYPER EVANGELICAL CULTURE - hatred of weakness and frailty

• WE ARE GRACED TO EMBRACE THE SINNER – GRACED TO EMBRACE THE BROKEN – WORLD BROKEN AND CHURCH BROKEN

• WE said that at the Place of Grace, Shame comes to die....Shame produces to many actors and hypocrites - Shame keeps and pushes people away!

• We are not called to push people away - freeze people OUT - And i know it’s something we have to fight in this culture ---because honestly people are annoying--- we want to protect our peace ----BUT SOMEONE HAS TO LOVE THE UNLOVABLE, THE FORGOTTEN, THE ARROGANT AND PRIDEFUL---Someone has to reach where GRACE FOUND US!!

EGR - Extra GRACE REQUIRED!

• Its not a natural thing - There’s a grace to it! There is a grace to embrace what you would normally push away!

• 2. WE ARE GRACED TO BREAK THE SPIRIT OF RELIGION”

• NEIGHBOUR HERE AT THE PLACE OF GRACE – WE ARE GRACED TO BREAK THE SPIRIT OF RELIGION

• WE are NOT a religious church!

• What do I mean when we say that?

• THE BARRIERS AND LIMITATIONS THAT MEN IMPOSE THAT KEEP PEOPLE AWAY FROM A VITAL THRIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!

• USELESS AND LIMITING TRADITIONS THAT KEEP PEOPLE AWAY FROM JESUS

• These traditions are expressed through religion and become almost binding

• Religion is when TRADITIONS BECOME HOLY & SACRED...

• Like your suit is not holy, your hat is not holy…that music style is not holy, that preaching style is not holy, your prayer methodology is not holy…,

• There is no righteousness ATTACHED TO A TRADITION - NO SAVING POWER ATTACHED TO A GARMENT, TO A STYLE OR DENOMINATION PREFERENCE

“THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID TO ME – “WHEN YOU THINK THAT I CAN ONLY MOVE IN A PARTICULAR WAY AND STYLE YOU WILL MAKE YOUR PREFERENCES AND IDOL”!

• Matthew 19:13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.

• DONT ADD TAX

• “TO TAX WITH FAULT” – ARE YOU ADDING TAX TO THE THINGS OF GOD!

• Imposing our preferences

• One of the worst things about spirit of the religion is that when it exists - it absolutely quenches and extinguishes the Spirit of God and it nullifies the Word of God!

• Religions quenches the Spirit of God and nullifies the Word of GOD

• Mark (Chapter 7) 13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

• TRADITION NULLIFIES THE POWER OF GODS WORD

• AND THEN ALSO IF THE SPIRIT DESIRES TO MOVE IN A PARTICULAR WAY - THE SPIRIT OF RELIGION SAYS NO...

• We don’t want that new wine - we don’t want the Holy Spirit to do anything different than what we have known!

• When we negelect the Spirit of God tradition is what replaces it!

• Well there is a grace HERE to break the spirit of religion but it doesn’t come easy - because its compels constant reformation --- As Much as God is a foundational GOD, He is stability personified--- there is so much of Him that we have to GROW INTO — And if we stop and stagnate — THE SPIRIT OF RELIGION WILL TAKE HOLD and we camp out where GOD Has already moved from!!

• That’s REFORMERS BURDERN AND UNFORTUNATELY THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD IN THE SEASON THEY ARE TRYING TO REFORM--- This is a place for REFORMERS!

• WE are NOT A RELIGIOUS CHURCH

• And we declared last week that we will be a beacon of light to those that have gone through religious hurt, been blcoked from Jesus, been stifled by tradition - that this is a place where they can flourish!

• 3. GRACED TO Empower the CALLED

• This Grace culture deals with the empowering nature of Grace - THAT GOD does not just save us and that’s it - wait for heaven, wait for the sweet by and by ---NO HE EMPOWERS US TO LIVE BY HIS GRACE! HE EMPOWERS US TO DOMINATE BY HIS GRACE, TO OVERCOME BY HIS GRACE!

• Again Paul - makes this statement - I AM WHAT I AM BY THE GRACE OF GOD - The grace of God towards me was NOT in vain - I should have been the least…BUT LOOK AT WHAT GRACE HAS DONE

• I BELIEVE WE HAVE SIMILAR SUCCESS STORIES HERE - AND STORIES IN THE MAKING ----- How I came in is not how I am going to FINISH - and the vehicle that is going to take me ALL THAT I AM CREATED TO BE IN GOD IS GRACE - and my faith in His grace!

• THERE IS A TANGIBLE EMPOWERMENT OF GRACE TO DO WHAT GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO DO AND BE WHAT GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO BE!

Zechariah 4.5-7 (Chapter 4) 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?”And I said, “No, my lord.”6 So he answered and said to me:“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’Says the LORD of hosts.7 ‘Who are you, O great mountain?Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”

• Zechariah - a series of visions about Israel - Currently under Babylonian exile… Fallen into idolatry..temple is destroyed and Zechariah begins to receive visons and part of thatis the temple being restored.. and in Zechariah 4 - we find this text

• THE CONTEXT THAT WE FIND HERE IS THAT WHAT GOD DOES WITH THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE WILL NOT BE BY HUMAN STRENGTH OR POWER BUT BY HIS SPIRIT

• “Who are you great mountain”?

• You shall become a PLAIN - and he shall bring forth the CAPSTONE - THE HIGH ARCH OF THE TEMPLE…WITH SHOUTS OF GRACE TO IT, GRACE TO IT

• This high thing that needs to be overcome shall be - and we will DECLARE - GRACE TO IT---GRACE TO IT!!

• I want you to declare to whatever mountain, challenge, struggle, opposition that you are facing right NOW ---GRACE TO IT!!!

• This grace is tangible - possibly in Zechariahs writing it is an allusion to the SPIRIT - 10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; (Zec 12:10).

• ALSO IN THE NEW TESTAMENT HE IS CALLED THE SPIRIT OF GRACE!

• You get the idea - that there is a grace that empowers you to overcome mountains and to build what you never thought you could build by His spirit and might!

• When you think about Jesus - Have you ever thought How he finished HIs assignment - How did He succeed in the plans that God had for Him?

Luke 2. 40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

• The Grace of God was upon HIM - very early on in His life it is noted that Jesus walked in the GRACE OF GOD

• His words were seasoned with grace - many would be astonished at the grace of God in His life and when John writes of Him

John 1 (Chapter 1) 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The New King James Version (Chapter 1) 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

• For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ESV

• From HIS FULLNESS WE HAVE RECEIVED GRACE UPON GRACE…The same grace that enabled Him and Empowered Him is the same grace upon your life and the same grace upon this HOUSE!

• John Wesley called it the SUSTAINING GRACE - There is a grace that sustains us

Acts 20. (Chapter 20) 32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

• This empowering grace BUILDS IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT GIVES US AN INHERITANCE - A HERITAGE

• A POSSESSION AMONG THE SANCTIFIED

• There is a grace to possess the promises of God that He has pre-destined for you!

• This grace that empowers enables you to be a witness of the Lord Jesus

Acts (Chapter 4) 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all

• SOMEONE DECLARE GREAT GRACE IS UPON MY LIFE!

• This grace empowered the church in their witness- THAT JESUS IS STILL ALIVE TODAY!

• This church is filled with testimonies that Christ is ALIVE, His blood still works, His word still works - and it doesnt matter HOW LOW YOU COME IN -

• How small you start - there is a grace that will cause you to rise up, to be promoted, to grow in the things of GOD!

• I BELIEVE THAT!

• PAUL believed that and came to know that GRACE - when He writes ..

• 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

• There is something about the GRACE of God that works with my weakness, my frailty, my inability ---- its almost like when I give up and admit this is where I am..this is how i feel…I just CANT RIGHT NOW ---- that this empowering Grace of JESUS steps in — and completes, this grace develops, this grace matures, this grace accomplishes, this GRACE FINISHES what we could not FINISH

• IT IS TIME TO REST ON, HAVE FAITH IN, HIS EMPOWERING GRACE…We have some things to finish, to mature, to complete...

• THIS empowering grace also delivers you from the spirit of QUIT!, The demon of GIVE UP…someone declare I will FINISH the will of God for my life!!

• lets end with this text and then pray into this

1 Peter Chapter 1) 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

• Grace gives you what you need for this life to live it in Godliness

• it enable you to esacpe the corruption of this world — the degrading nature of this life that strips you of who you are called to be- your excellence, your sonship, your drive, your passions, your kingdom dreams....GRACE AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED TO YOU IN ABUNDANCE!

• Lets pray for this

• pray for those that have felt like giving up

• been overwhelmed by there weakness - dont be overwhlemed…boast in it…this invites the Grace of God in