GRACE, FULL GRACE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

ARE YOU SEEKING?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Pastor Greg does GOD’s grace really work?” “I mean does it apply to me?” “You see I did IT again” “I didn’t want to do IT but the rent was due, the ex-husband called, my old friend came in to visit and I…” “Well, you know…”

Whew…tough questions.

So when I am faced with tough questions, I go to THE BOOK! And what does the book say? “TELL THEM JOHNNY…J”

John 1:16

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

GRACE!

And that sounds like FULL grace to me. Not half baked, not sorta grace, not “grace until”. That sounds like grace for the bad choices and the slip ups. That sounds like grace for the failings and mess ups.

And what is grace?

GOD’S RICHES AT CHRIST’S EXPENSE, that’s what.

Grace is GOD’S undeserved and unmerited favor. So the answer would be YES, grace does work! And yes GRACE does apply!

Now I am going to be totally honest and say I that I really struggle with fully accepting God's grace in my daily living. I mean I woke up at 4:30 this morning in a panic from the visuals of yet another “using” dream. Nothing like thinking the car is full of booze and just fell out in the church parking lot to get your day off to a rousing and GODLY start…YEESH!

So if I had this grace thing all figured out, I don’t think those little nightmares would continue to surface.

Grace acceptance can be tricky.

The truth is that many of us who really desire to walk with God fall into the enemy’s trap of performance-based acceptance with God. It is easy to get bogged down by our failures. But THANK GOD grace doesn’t have a SCORECARD! It is when we base our walk and our recovery solely on our capabilities we are in for some tough times and we are only kidding ourselves.

Why?

We DON’T have the stuff to maintain that type of performance. Even Paul realized that.

Romans 7:15-25

New Century Version (NCV)

¹⁵ I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate.¹⁶ And if I do not want to do the hated things I do, that means I agree that the law is good.¹⁷ But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them.¹⁸Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them.¹⁹ I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do.²⁰So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.

²¹ So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me.²² In my mind, I against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and it makes me its prisoner.²⁴ What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this am happy with God's law.²³But I see another law working in my body, which makes war body that brings me death?²⁵ I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The take away is that Paul had nothing. GOD did all the saving.

That is GRACE!

But is still no fun when we “get it wrong” is it? Because when we do the enemy sure brings the hammer doesn’t he?

We say things like, "What a terrible, horrible person I am. God must be truly disgusted with me. Surely something awful is going to happen to me because God is so disgusted with me."

Or is that just me? J

The truth for those in Christ however, is that all our sins are paid for -past, present and future. By His grace, they have been taken away and nailed to His cross.

Colossians 2:14

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

So EMBRACE the GRACE!

But don’t get carried away.

Always use caution because grace does not give us a license to sin and do whatever we want. Instead with should consciously and thankfully live each day by the truth of His grace for that is what has saved us and freed us!

So how bout a shout out for GOD and his GRACE today!

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

I love you all.

Freedom Church