A little GOODNESS please!

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.

Well we talked about “grace” the other day yet at the end of that little DISPATCH I noted a “word of caution” something I will call “grace abuse.” So I wanted to remind all of us again, that while we are all blessed with immeasurable grace; it isn’t a “license to sin”.

Romans 6:1, 2

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹ Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Now yes, grace breaks sins POWER over us, the cross grants us a new life, a fresh perspective; FREEDOM!

2 Corinthians 5:17
If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a newcreation. The old things have gone; everything is made new!

And yes grace does “cleave” us to CHRIST and it does renew our prospects and perspectives! But as HIS CHILDREN, as ones whose lives have been restored and renewed, we are called to HONOR this gift of GRACE. We are to cherish it like the most precious gift ever received! And we do that by striving for GOODNESS in our lives!

In fact we are implored to demonstrate“GOODNESS”.

2 Peter 1:5

New International Version (NIV)

…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;

I know I know, you are saying,

“Come on PASTOR, being “good” ain’t all that easy! After all, everyone struggles with temptation to act in bad ways, and sometimes even my good intentions don’t translate to me being good.”

But don’t get confused. God isn't looking for legalistic "goody-two-shoes." Instead, He wants us to acknowledge Him as our loving Father who wants His children to be good, because He knows that's what best for us.

So want to give this “being good" thing a go?

Don’t think you can do it?

SURE WE CAN!

Let’s start simple.

1. Start by realizing that God is the source of all goodness. Let’s seek to draw closer to Him, and express our love for Him. Let’s live to please God because you love Him. We can do that!

2. Imitate Christ's life by showing love for others. Seek to serve others in love whenever you have an opportunity. That will trigger “good” decisions and “good” behavior! We can do that!

John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

3. Fill up on the truth each day- the Bible and allow it to show you the way to get through the day. The BIBLE has GODLY (and good) solutions for every WORLDLY problem. Apply that WORD! We can do that!

4. Lastly, DAILY, REMEMBER THE GIFT OF GRACE. It has made US ambassadors for Jesus Himself. Be aware that other people are watching as you make decisions. When you choose “be good”, you honor Christ and bring Him glory as His representative. We can do that!

So let’s HONOR our grace today and “BE GOOD”!

2 Corinthians 5:

....We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now:

We can do that!

I love you all.

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney