The Full Meaning of Grace - Sunday Service

answer to these are precious sheep thank you Lord that Revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanical demonic Force and father I pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind none of me and all of you it's in Jesus name we pray and everybody said amen you may be seated if you have your Bibles before I begin today's message I want to pick up with a ending point from last week as we talked about being trained by grace in Philippians chapter 1 verse 3 and 6 Philippians chapter one and verse 3 and 6 and then Psalms 138 and 8. one of the things I want to make sure you understand is that God if God started the work in you he's going to finish it amen and Philippians 1 and 3 says I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests of me now Look at verse 6. being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ so you got saved by grace you received it by faith God started the good work in you the commitment that he makes is he's going to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ so all the way up until Jesus return God has committed to work in you God's working in you say out loud God's working in me the beginning of the work was saved by grace that's what it was beginning of the work was saved by grace the performance of the work is disciplined by Grace So God's not just saving us but he's going to give us a discipline to walk in God never saves a person and then leaves him to himself to finish the good work and that's what religion tells us you got saved but now you're gonna have to finish the good work listen you needed him to get you saved you're going to need him to finish the work amen all right so God never leaves you to finish the good work on your own he himself perfects that which he has begun so you have to believe I got saved and God has promised to perfect what He started and so yeah there are a lot of things going on in your life a lot of behaviors a lot of you know uh Missing the mark and never seeing to be able to get to a certain point don't get frustrated that's the time you go back and say God's working in me he's committed to finishing the work look at Psalms 138 and verse 8. and just take these two scriptures and and tuck them away he says the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me isn't that good God will perfect that which concerneth me the uh thy mercy O Lord endure forever forsake not the works of thy hands now look at this in the uh NLT real quick Psalms 138 verse 8 the Lord will work out his plans for my life I need you to release your faith for that say out loud God will work out the plans for my life all right so I'm believing right now today that God's working out the plans for your life so if you're bumping into a wall that's probably not what you ought to be doing God is working out the plans for my life say it again God is working out the plans for my life he says for your faithful love O Lord endures forever I love I love this don't abandon me for you made me don't don't abandon me you made me he started it he's going to finish it he's he's not going to abandon you he made you and you may look up and you might be in the middle of some hard times but God is committed to the work that that's on the inside of you and then finally Philippians 2 13 in the NLT how wonderful it is to know that the same Grace the same loving-kindness of God which sent his son to the cross and brought salvation is the same Grace that also disciplines and perfects that life which is born of God that was amazing to me that the same Grace that saved me is the same Grace that's going to mature me and the same Grace is going to discipline me and the same Grace that's going to raise me up the same Grace that's got a plan for my life God's way trying to force something to happen and and just be by Faith Lord I Thank you that you're you're making this right and how is he going to do it verse 13 for God is working in you say out loud God is working in me giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him what does that look like God's working in me to give me the desire to please him what does that look like uh God is like okay I need to snatch this out of your life and you keep going back and you keep going back but one time you go back it's gonna almost mess you up you ain't want to go back no more God knows how to give you a nasty taste for something you used to enjoy he knows how to put the desire on the inside of you my now now you got to trust that God knows what he is doing so that's why I wanted to leave you with so now let's pick up with today's uh sermon something I said I thought that was it no that was because I ran out of time last week get that in your head God is committed to perfecting me now I don't know as Christians what we've been thinking maybe we thought by Church you know Church give you a 20 100 11 000 rules that if you keep all of these rules then you'll be perfected no no no you have learned that by keeping first of all a lot of people just hear the rules but don't keep them because they can't keep them and and that's what brings condemnation when you can't keep it and when you get all messed up you you if we could dive honestly into your life you look you still look almost like a center foreign because you won't let the Holy Ghost do the work you keep trying to do it and you're just as you know you're not what you're not where the place where God wants you to be now this morning we're going to begin a series or a part of this series that we're talking about now we're going to look at a deeper definition of grace we need a fuller meaning of Grace I'm teaching you how to live by grace but I don't think people really understand what it is what we do understand is correct but it's so much more unmerited favor absolutely right but it's so much more love absolutely right but it's so much more and so today is going to challenge you to understand what Grace is and to look at your life and discover the areas that you've been doing and living by that's not the grace life so let's begin as we as we we look at this in John chapter 1 verse 14 and 17. let's look at it in the King James NLT John 1 17 the objective of the next couple of weeks is that we want a fuller more comprehensive more practical and plead understanding of what this grace is [Music] all right verse 14 says this the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father now who is the only begotten of the father Jesus all right so watch this Jesus the only begotten of the father watch this full of grace and truth now the truth is Grace so Jesus is full of grace which is the truth Jesus full of grace which is the truth now move on down to verse 17 in King James for the law was given by who Moses but Grace which is the truth came by who Jesus Christ so please understand something Jesus Christ is the source of all of this Grace he is full of grace and and and they're people who are more connected to religion and doing church but not Jesus the the the grace that we're talking about Grace and Jesus are one Grace is not just a curriculum it's not just a teaching Grace is a person Jesus is full of grace which is the truth it's Jesus it's Jesus so so that you won't get so lost every now and then you need to remind yourself when you're talking about Grace we're talking about a person Jesus is that person full of grace and truth now let's go back and look at these two verses in the in the NLT oh man put all these scriptures in teaching sometimes at church you just got to get some teaching don't get mad at that church the church should have never become an entertainment hour and we spent years learning how to do church and what did they leave us we it left us with the situation where we don't know how to do life we don't know what to do when the finances are short we don't know what to do when sickness knocks on the door we don't know what to do when we feel offended and hurt we don't know what to do and so we gotta get fed we're 14 so the word became human yeah and made his home among us he was full of unfailing love notice what no no sight translation Grace here he was full of unfailing love and faithfulness and we have seen his glory the glory of the fathers one and only son unfailing love love that cannot fail won't fail verse 17 for the law was given through Moses but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ he is unfailing love his love that will not fail came through Jesus Christ and it's called Grace now let's deal with some practical things here Grace never ever means a license to sin Grace never means permission to sin Grace never means tolerance and permission permission to just continue to misbehave that's not what Grace is the grace still has this objective Holiness is still the objective of Grace now let me show you how how religion has done to us it's okay for the most part for a long time to hear that Grace is is is a license to sin it is not a license to sin as some people think on the contrary Grace is is that which prevents a Believer from sinning damn Grace is what stops you from sinning Grace is not what causes you to sin somebody says well you know I I love the message of Grace but well you know we gotta we can't talk about Grace too much because people get to hearing that Chris too much they're going to start living careless lives no it's cause they're not hearing it and it's because they don't understand it Grace is never responsible for you sinning you can't hop into bed with Miss Bessette and then hop out and talk about well I'm under grace Grayson had nothing to do with that Grace is not a license or permission to sin but Grace is what will help you to stop sinning Grace prevents sin think of that Grace prevents sin now because of this there's a lack of understanding of Grace and so it is necessary to consider the true meaning of Grace now I'm going to give you what I feel is the complete definition for Grace if you just put that on the screen because it's long and then I'm gonna work on breaking it down into bite-sized pieces here's what I believe Grace is Grace is unmerited abounding provision when something abounds it continues to increase is unmerited that means you can't do anything to deserve it it's unmerited abounding provision of the unrestrained operation of God's infinite love that comes through Jesus Christ on behalf of man especially for those who depend on him so you see why it's going to take some time to break this down it is the unmerited abound ending provision Grace is a provision and it's it's nothing you can do to get it nothing you can do to deserve it it's unmerited abounding constantly increasing provision it's provision Grace is provision is provision of the unrestrained so at one time this love was restrained but it's provision of the unrestrained operation there's an unrestrained operation of God's infinite love that's over us a love that can't be restrained that's free to operate and it all works through Jesus Christ but and it works on behalf of mankind I'll show you that Grace was given for mankind for you so much won't God show Satan some Grace anyone good grace one given for Satan hell was given because of what he did Grace was given for mankind especially you're the ones who are going to really walk in it especially those who depend on him especially those who depend on him who so if you're if you've made your life up and made a declaration of dependence boy you're gonna bump into this abounding provision of God's unrestrained operation of his infinite love that works through Jesus Christ especially for those who depend on him amen now listen to me carefully this was this was huge in my thinking this was huge and here's what I advise you to do take this definition write it down on a little card put it in your wallet memorize it memorize it say it every day all right now let me see if we can break this down let's start off with this word Providence God's Providence it's literally talking about his his care of everything that he created uh God's Providence his protective care it's the protective care of God in his provision [Music] for all of his natural Creation in other words God's Providence is that all of his natural creation he has provided nourishment and care for it it is God's Providence it's all of everything that God created he had to provide the care and the nourishment for it let me give you a few examples until you can get this for example rain sunshine and the elements in the Earth are part of his provision or Providence for plant life he created plant life and now he has provided the necessary provision and nourishment for plant life sun and Ray if you understand that say Amen look at another one food food for animals and all other things needed to sustain their lives that's a gift of God's care and God's Providence so if he created animals he's committed to make sure that they have food and all the things they need for care and nourishment so also our food and clothing and shelter and everything needed for the well-being of man's natural life so the well-being of our natural life God is committed through his Providence provision so that so that he has available all of the nourishment you'll ever need all of everything you need to care for your natural life I'll even go farther than that there's probably no sickness in this world that's somewhere on the earth God got something man just trying to discover what all of it is that's his Providence God's Providence for his creations the whole how do I say this because of man's sin in the garden it's partially withheld and partially limited by the curse because of sin but his Providence and his nourishment and his care for mankind has never failed now if you understand all that say Amen all right now watch this Grace is a similar great and abounding provision of God Grace is like the food that was provided for the animals Grace is like the sunshine that was provided for plant life Grace is a similar provision uh provided by God but instead of being for the physical creation it is essentially for the spiritual Realm Grace is a provision for the spiritual realm it is a provision of God to restore all that was lost spiritually because of man's sin and think about this man's sin and lost his whole relationship with God and God says all right I am going to create a new creation in man but I gotta get a provision for that new creation to be nourished and cared for once man gets it glory to God it's lost spiritually because of man's sin now it makes it possible he says to sustain a new creation a new creation that's going to be on a higher plane than any other creation when you got born again the old you Departed the new creation came on the inside in order to nourish that new man in you foreign God had to provide Grace because that's the only way he can care and nourish you so when there are situations that happen in your life and you feel condemned Grace has got to come in to nourish that new man to keep you in the place you ought to be because the devil's going to try to destroy you but he has nothing like the grace of God nourishing your new man and now everything about you comes from that new man out your entire value system and who you are is based on that new man that you now have I am the righteousness of God that was that was given to me through the grace of God and now that righteousness in me flows out of my new man affects my soul and I now wear the identity of righteousness you get this this is so strong so Grace is God's care and nourishment for the spiritual realm designed to nourish the new creation once you say I believe Jesus and the old man leaves and the new Christian comes in Grace is now what's going to keep you nourished and keep you right and never ever go back to the devil and the devil says wait a minute I only got one thing if they don't believe it I can get them oh that's true if they don't believe it I can get them if they don't believe it I can get them and religion has been Satan's attempt to keep you away from this gift of Grace this great provision of God is summed up in Romans chapter 8 32 turn there this great provision of God is summed up in Romans chapter 8 and 32. this is awesome now watch this he that spared not his own son well he that spared not Grace you thought you see that he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things I shall not watch this he nourished us with Jesus Grace so he can give us all things he nourished us with Grace so he can give us all things there is nothing that God can't do for you when you believe in Jesus and begin to allow this grace to show up in your life now as that was all the bulk of what we're doing so now let's break it down I want to talk about Sevenfold definition of Grace which gives me opportunity to break down that big definition and also break down what we're talking about now I like to get stuff in you so it can be moving around so then when I say it in a clearer way you're like the light bulb comes on and you really get what happens here all right so what is Grace Sevenfold definition of grace here's the First Slice the First Slice Grace is the operation of God's love Grace is the operation of God's love to them that believe and receive Jesus and receive this Providence and this provision of Grace now I'm going to go through several scriptures in fact five right here and I want you to see if you can locate the operation of Grace in each one of them all right first one John 3 16. you don't have to turn now I hope you know that for God so what love the world all right what's his operation that he gave his only begotten son and his son is Grace right so God so loved the world did just like Titus he's made salvation available to the whole world all right he loved the whole world gospel loved the whole world uh that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever what believeth in him believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life this is an operation of God's love that I love you so much I gave my son so that you won't perish but have everlasting life we take that so lightly I'm telling you he loved you I mean which one of your kids you gonna give up which one of your kids are you willing to give up and I'm going to say this ahead of time I'll say it again Jesus died for his enemies that's mind-boggling he died for his enemies and you think about somebody that'll adopt you I gave you a hard time and you're like I ain't down for them Jesus died for his enemies as an operation of his love that came by grace that came by Jesus look at the second scripture Hebrews 2 and 9 in the NLT Hebrews 2 and 9. in the NLT he says what what we do see is Jesus who for a little while was given a position a little lower than the angels and because he suffered death for us look at that operation he died for us he is now crowned with Glory and Honor so we so we're not talking about I love you we see him operating like this yes by Grace Jesus tasted death for everyone well so when I talk about I love you there's an operation of it he died for you he died for listen he died for everyone that is ever going to be born on the Earth so they would all have the same opportunity to believe him let's keep going John 1. and 16. the giving of the Son of God in death for every man is said to be by grace it's said to be by grace for God so loved the word gave his own God's son that was by Grace John 1 16. he says from his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another from his abundance gracing blessings after another see look at the operation of God's love of Grace upon Grace one one blessing after another Grace upon Grace and I'm telling you 2022 it's going to be like Bam Bam Grace upon Grace upon Grace but all of that's gonna come from his abundance glory to God be careful not to take credit for something you don't know about talk about what you know don't be careful not to do that I'm telling you in the name of Jesus out of his abundance we have received one gracious blessing after another has anybody ever received a blessing from God I'm telling you it came out of his abundance those who receive Grace upon Grace out of his fullness are the same who Jesus loved until the end and then John 13 and 1 he talks about those who he loved until the end it was his disciples that he loved them to the end all right now look at this Ephesians 1 and 4 in the NLT Ephesians 1 and 4 in enot you know I really I didn't really struggle with this but I was like you know Lord there's a lot of scriptures to go over and I mean and I'm like and I'm going over every last one of them you don't want to hear no scriptures all you gotta do walk out we got to get fed you got to know that it ain't coming out of my head and out of my mind this is what Jesus has put down in the word and when you claim listen when you claim that that's the Bible you need to know it's the Bible it's just like people who say it during the pandemic they said I'm following signs no you ain't you following the news you don't even know what's in the stuff I'm filing size you don't know how to spell science what are you talking about people do the same thing with the word I'm following the word of God where is that in the scripture but I'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold that's what the word say that ain't in the scripture where that at [Applause] so we got to get in it we got to find out what it is what did I say go yeah Ephesians 1 4 even before he made the world God loved us chose us in Christ to be holy and Sanctified and without fault in his eyes before the world how you do that before the world God called the end at the beginning he didn't wait to the end to see it to call it he saw it at the beginning before the end showed up and God saw at the end that you would be holy and without fault in his eyes he knew a Jesus would come he knew Grace would be provided he called your number at the beginning before you were born and before he made the wild glory to God it's supposed to be look at Ephesians 2 and 7 NLT Ephesians 2 and 7. so God can point to us oh in all future ages as examples of his incredible wealth of his grace kindness towards us as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus and God says we're going to be the example somewhere around our future I don't know maybe it's in heaven or whatever but we're going to be the example we're going to we're going to be the ones that he says come here the you guys who were under the age of Grace come here you are the examples of the incredible wealth of Grace that I showed see when you started believing in Jesus your sin meter was turned off and the grace meter was turned on the incredible wealth of his grace you're going to be the example you're going to be in that number see the Old Testament Saints they did not know this you are a generation that will know this and will be an example of it God willing the ages to come show the exceeding Riches of his grace now notice about each of these scriptures in each of these these scriptures God's love is expressed by his grace in each one of them God's love was expressed through his grace so Grace is God's love in action Grace is God's love in action think about some of the stuff that God has done for you since you've been born again Grace is his love in action think about when you were on the brink of life and just couldn't figure it out and you didn't tried your best and you didn't know and you you thought that God didn't love you and and you walked in condemnation and you and you walked in shame and and and and and you were so condemned and so beat up and and you you were trying to live right and you were you were trying to do the word and you you were trying to come to church and be a good church member trying to be a good choir member trying to be a good Usher member you were trying and somewhere in there in your life Satan convinced you that you ain't all right with God no more Satan convinced you that no no you ain't going to heaven no more Satan convince you no no no no no no no no God can't bless you no more I mean listen I was in the ministry and in question and am I going to make it am I going to make it Lord because some people think well you know preacher's gonna automatically make sure no I know some preachers who ain't even saved I'm trying to figure that out they introduced themselves to me at some of the little schools that I go and teach at and they say well you know I I my profession is to be a preacher and I'm thinking oh you say what's that you don't know what that what are you going to preach because when I was when I was in the Baptist Church the the it was not just the homiletics and the hermeneutics it was it was it was the style of preaching it was something we played with called hoopology God [Music] [Laughter] hoopology I remember going to ace I don't know what it was a seminar and we would rush from one building to another bill so we can get that just in time to see the hubology and these jungles were not born again I cannot tell you how many pastors I have personally led to the Lord Jesus Christ who were in the ministry and they were not even saved but the grace of God expressed his love through his grace and he saved them he saved those guys and I get so excited anytime I hear any preacher who's a new testament preacher who've decided to preach Jesus Christ and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ because that's the gospel [Applause] that's the gospel okay let's go to the second peace the second slice of this definition of grace the First Slice of course was Grace is the operation of God's love here's the second slice this is important God's love is infinite God's love is infinite look at Saint John first John I think first John 4 16 in the NLT if you have that Bible God's love is infinite now why is that so important well look at this he says we know how much God loves us I pause because I don't think a lot of people know how much God loves them we know how much God loves us and we have put our trust in his love see we spent so much time religion religion had us spending so much time on the issue of how much you love God and the issue is not how much you love God the issue is how how much do you believe that God loves you see that's what the devil was attacking people they were getting people convinced that you have done something and now God Don't Love You No More no no no no the issue is will you believe the love that God has for you that's where the power is do you believe that God loves you I believe God loves me therefore I believe what God says in his word I believe God loves me therefore I believe he'll heal me I believe God loves me therefore I believe he will prosper me you won't go around talking about well maybe God doing this to punish me and to show me something I believe God loves me therefore I believe I'm not going to die of this cancer because God loves me praise God I believe God's loved me and said so if you get got Corona sometime in that whole process I believe God loves me therefore I'm coming out of this praise God I believe God loves me therefore somehow I'm gonna pay these bills I don't know where it's gonna come from but I do know God loves me I believe God loves me you in jail and somehow another I'm gonna get up out of this and get Vindicated I believe God loves me and when you believe the love that God has for you you'll believe the power yeah we know how much God loves us and we we we we we have put our trust in his love God is love and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them something missing when our Christianity is all about how much more money we can get how successful we can be no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no your Christianity should be clearly defined by the love that we have for one another yeah you don't ever get no shouts on that one do you how much love we have for one another God's looking to see how we treat one another he died for his enemies you don't even speak to yours you ain't even thought about doing nothing when I ain't got no intimacy yes you do you sitting here minding your business at church somebody talking about you you just don't know they're talking about you but we walk in love it doesn't matter we walk on a higher level we God is love and his love is so powerful it must infect us I pray that you all will be infected by love and that we'll have a pandemic of the love of God that you catch love glory be to God that you catch love praise God I've learned in my life that in order for me to do that I gotta let stuff go I can't if people who keep stuff all that's going to do is infect you with the wrong kind of stuff and then you end up by yourself because ain't nobody got time for that I love you but I'm not gonna love you and in a in a situation where you know instead of you forgiving me you for sale your forgiveness I'll forgive you if you do these three things that ain't no forgiveness that's for sale you're saying if I if I for sale these three things then you'll forgive me that's not what love is love is patient it's kind it's long-suffering it's all the things that church people don't appear to be these days church people the meanest son of a gun that I've seen in my life uh Church Folks and on a good day that I'm saying church folks who say hallelujah will cuss you out I'm talking about good old southern cousin I mean like they got a book of cuss encyclopedias a cusp they use compound cussing words you never heard used like that the cussing so good you want to try out yourself like that dog that got a ring to it [Applause] so the world looks at us like a joke cause we don't even know how to love one another we can't even speak to one another and you coming to church you in church you come to church you're supposed to be the body of Christ if love is real it should be coming out of you but why is it that you having a problem with the very essence of who you're supposed to be loving somebody you can't figure out how to do that and you wonder why you don't love your wife and you going to bed with Miss kidding them Miss Kitty that gunsmokers [Applause] my God Miss Kitty let me get back to the thing is some weird stuff going on up here Miss Kitty my God and see I'll be talking my Festus after a while you know so as God is infinite so are his attributes so is his characteristics God is infinite his love then is infinite therefore that love which he is must be infinite this love is infinite and again God's love is infinite because the measure of it his only begotten son is infinite there is no dead end for God's love ah I don't care how crazy you get or do there is no crazy that can be produced from a man that will ever block up stop up God's love the grace of God flowing from infinite love is inexhaustible can't be stopped it can never fail and this is the grace that he has begin to sick upon your life who believe in him I am now going to deal with you with love that that's inexhaustible I'm gonna deal with you with love that cannot fail my love cannot fail now here's the problem as Christians people we've not known how to receive that love by faith and I just showed you Lord I believe you love me I believe you love me Lord so you're not gonna let me be a complainer all my life I believe you love me Lord sure you so you're going to show me how to how to live my life away from my past I think I prayed this this morning I can't alter my past but I can't bring my past to the altar and his love never fails that's the grace of God I believe the love say it say I believe the love said again I believe the love say it again I believe the love that's how you receive that you have to remind yourself over and over again I believe God loves me I know God loves me in the midst of crazy time I do not know the lights just went out and you don't know you have nothing to pay those bills God loves me that's why there's going to be a way he's going to make a way for me to be able to get out of this God loves me that's why I'm gonna operate in promotion God loves me that's why I'm going to be the best husband the best wife the best children God loves me he can't fail so I can't do nothing and won't do nothing without reminding myself he loves me especially when I get concerned and when I get hurt I have to I have to remind myself God loves me God loves me God loves me I mean my wife will tell you for about a week or two I wasn't sleeping too good and I I just got in the word because God loves me God God loves me I don't need to be going around talking about all of the scientific reasons for why I'm sleeping that ain't helping me I'm sleeping and I got in the word and I looked up every scripture I could find on sleep and the one that did it for me was when my head hits the pillow I lie down in peace and my sleep shall be sweet [Applause] man when I got that first eight hours that came up I want to take a picture and put it on Instagram or whatever tapping his sentence I'll let everybody see just show them the time I got up this morning and you know what I did I just started praising God for his love you love me this can't go on you love me because you love me you go we gonna figure whatever we're gonna you go you love me those you looking for a job God loves you and God wants you to have the best job he wants you to have a job where you can State your own salary he wants you to have a job where you you can State your own salary State your own situation they gonna come up to your time you want to work home you want an office I want to stay I want to stay home what else you want you know you need a car to get around there whatever we know somebody that they did it they they got everything they wanted they got a bigger salary and and and and and they stay awesome what else can we do for you what else can we do for you that's the inexhaustible love of God that's the grace of God it wasn't because you were so outstanding it's because he's so outstanding [Applause] all right number three so we know Greece is the operation of God's love it is infinite it never can fail here you go number three it's unmerited now this is the part that's gotten us I believe in in church it's unmerited it's undeserved it's unearned you're not you can't you can't qualify for this let's see man can do nothing or contribute nothing to that which God does in Grace and nor do we do anything to Merit it or deserve it you can't contribute nothing we think we can because religions taught us do these three things and that'll happen do this and that'll happen do this and none of it's coming out of your heart is coming out of an attempt to try to get God to do something for you at Romans 11 6 in the NLT Romans 4 and 4 in the NLT and Luke chapter 18 and I'll give you the verse in a minute in NLT man can do nothing or contribute nothing to that which God does in Grace so everything that God does for us he does it in Grace and you still think you're contributing something somehow you're trying to brag on something that God did oh yeah oh the reason why that happened because see what you don't know is I went on a five day fast didn't even have no water [Music] there's you can't contribute anything to which God has decided to do by Grace he's already whatever issue you're facing he's already decided for the best outcome for you and you you think you can make God do it and then we got to the point where we think we can be like God without God and that's called religion look at this in verse six and since it is through God's kindness then it is not by their good works for in that case God's grace would not be what it really is free and undeserved his grace is free and annotate Grace is without your contributions at this point somebody said well what do you do then if you're spending all this time with God the only thing left for you to do is just flow with him do what he tells you to do don't go out and try to fix what we do we've been trying to do something trying to make him do something instead of working with him you have plenty to do God I got to tell you to do this he'll tell you to do that here he's just flow but God just do what God tell you to do just walk in in this wonderful obedience towards the Holy Spirit as he leads and guides you along the way what gets you is this you can't figure out how to do something where you can boast about it you know checks for a little boast about what they did you can't do it the Bible says we're saved by grace we get it through faith lets any man should boast you know what he did he said the grace gave you salvation you ain't got nothing to boast about cause you didn't have nothing to do with it you didn't deserve it you didn't earn it he said this grace is free and clear it was by works then Grace would not be what it is free and undeserved well I deserved it because and this is what gets me and I can't wait to get to this part of the sermon I'm a tiger what the no what that mean like that gives you some type of uh oh give me the word some kind of entitlement look at that entitlement and came into church you think you are entitled to be blessed because you are a tiger [Music] well you know pastor this was a good person and it was a tie the two well they don't qualify you for nothing you can tell I've been holding that a while huh I'm a tiger so therefore I should be able to have these privileges I'm a tiger that's not entitlement you know this was wrong with our world right now so entitled [Music] think you entitled everything man my sisters were growing up entitled we but did we didn't know what that meant we were just glad to get what we got where we got it entitled we didn't even know we were broken pole I didn't I had I wore the same shoes two years in a row until somebody drawn me up man you got them same shoes on you had last year I ain't seen nothing wrong with it people are entitled in the church some of you think you're you're entitled because you you think you have an anointing to preach well obviously it don't mean nothing right now because God ain't called it for nothing so sit yourself down some of these preachers need to be in somebody else's Church in somebody else's Department serving instead of there trying to start a church you ain't been called to it just because you can preach don't mean you can leave you got to be free from people to leave you two Advantage the people for God to use you he can't use you because if he tells you something tonight then people will change your mind in the morning somebody's preaching some of them need to be somebody's praise leader somebody needs some of these preachers need to be somebody's a vision keeper some of these preachers need to be I'm right here trying to preach stop stop opening up all these dead churches [Applause] ah ah Tampa I might have to tag you in help me Jesus he delivered me from all of this today I'm just being delivered from all of it [Applause] cause this religious law-based Beijing almost killed me [Music] this religious law-based teaching you got to do this and and and and and and and you got to control your wife and and I knew definite wasn't a controlling she wasn't it wouldn't work I tried to control her one time it didn't go too good at all [Applause] boy that bed was so cold that night my God [Applause] she had biblical equality in her before she got the revelation of biblical God she said I don't know what this is but this ain't happening here you got the wrong one you got the wrong number bro [Applause] just all that religious talk just pressure I remember one day I just got tired I'm so tired I didn't know what to do I I called her I had been praying I had holes in my shoes understand I had holes in my shoes and I had to put plastic plastic around the socks and when it rained oh Lord Jesus and and hold the ring on getting my socks and then you get them hard things under your feet and and so I got tired so the pastor called me and said you come to church tonight I said no see I ain't lie like something y'all just said no income he said why I say I'm tired he said what you mean I said I'm just tired and that was the night that my breakthrough was going to come to I I learned something I I was praying and then the Baptist Church you would turn around and get on your knees and pray my heels were up and my my godmother saw all the holes in my shoes she looked up she said law look at that baby got his hoes oh Lord so she got some together with some people in the church and they they bought me some new shoes and stuff like that and I said and I didn't know that because that was the day I was tired because I'm preaching I'm cleaning the church up I'm playing the piano I'm tired and then when you hoop I was that exhausted me I did I wasn't a hoopa I was tired and but you had the hoop in the church I'm under Authority so you got to go to the Cross no matter what you preach you could be preaching on depression and you had to end up on the president ah Jesus died for your depression oh he died he died died and see that wore me out I was exhausted died and one time I just got cracked oh Jesus died [Applause] so I was preaching the veins coming out your head you lie sometime to get good to you yeah I'm telling you all the truth it's a true story I ain't making none of this up and and so he taught me in to come he said son come tonight just just come tonight I said I'm tired fast I'm you know I don't want to come I don't even know if I want to be saved no more this is this is just too much one time they told me you know make these confessions every day the confessions turned into five pages I was like God dog I gotta do all all these confessions found a move I said this this can't be right I'm not so I went sat down I was tired then they said uh they call me ribbon Reverend dollar back then Reverend dollar Reverend dollar could you come yeah what you want attitude one right cause like I said I'm trying to figure out I don't if this is how this works I am so tired of this I just you know if this is how it worked I just need to go get go get me some weed and some mad dog go find me a bar somewhere and and and that sounds like Jordan me I am not happy [Music] didn't know Jesus because they scared the hell out of me because they kept talking about hell you're going to hell every time you're going to go to hell for that confession will you make that run that run too uh you know you can't be wearing them them tight t-shirts that's on t-shirt I got on me for it to be tight I'm just fat right now you know but you're going to hell for that and you're going to hell for this and you did you miss communion this morning you're going to help him because my commute you missed communion you're going to have one you're going to hell God don't like ugly God don't like I'm like God dog I mean I just got saved yesterday and I don't understand people who want to keep living like that when Jesus has died to give you his inexhaustible Grace and his inexhaustible love and we won't even learn how to live that way because we're satisfied with what we've learned about bondage ask the Lord to show me my wife she was sitting in Bible study Taffy we're sitting in Bible study lord said open your eyes I opened my eyes up she had her legs problem about like what she got now [Applause] so I had about the head down my eyes were closed he said open your eyes she right here in front of you on my eyes and all I can see was his legs and I said oh I bind the spirit unless I bind it I bind the spirit unless devil you get away go go in Jesus name it's insane and even I knew something because God said open your eyes eyes I'm trying to show you what you pray for and and even the law and when all that tried to I almost missed my wife because of the law I knew it was something about it because when I stood there that night and they called me up and the first thing they pulled out of that bag was my shoes and I had been believing God for for my shoes and I got my shoes and I was praising the Lord for that I got my shoes now I didn't deserve that because I had a bad attitude that night song is called angels will be singing Joy of bells will be ringing I got a band I'm banging that piano had a bad attitude and that's a sin of course that's the sin everything was a sin I must been everything I was doing must have been a scene when I wanted to meet the person who was Flawless and when I met them they were not they had issues too I'm like oh and then self-righteousness come at least don't do that are y'all following you're getting what I'm saying here it's free and undeserved now watch this look at Romans 4 and 4 in the NLT you'll find out why all that stuff happened when people work their wages are not a gift but it's something that they have earned Grace is a gift to work for it turns that gift into a payment for something earned so anytime you think you can do something to earn it you've turned what God released as a gift and turned it into a wage something that was earned now look at Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 14. I'm going to look at this and then we'll stop right here look at eight look eight verse 9 we're going to read 9 through 14. he says then Jesus told his oh I'm out of time wow y'all got time I mean I I I can you give me but like eight minutes and um kind of 2.5 seconds ain't no football game coming on today so you know I I I love the job then Jesus told his story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else then went to the temple to pray one was a Pharisee and the other was a despised tax collector the Pharisees stood by himself and prayed this prayer thank you God but I am not like other people I'm not I'm not a cheater I'm not like other people cheaters Sinners adulterers I'm certainly not like that tax collector seriously that was a prayer I fast twice a week and I give you a tenth there it goes of my income but the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to Heaven as he prayed instead he beat his chest in sorrow saying oh God be merciful to me for I am a sinner next verse I tell you this sinner not the Pharisee returned home Justified before God for those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted see what that Pharisee was doing with self-righteousness self-righteous people always like to compare themselves with somebody else self-righteous people always say well at least I ain't do that that's self-righteous I don't do this I don't do that that's self-righteous your self-righteousness is enough it's sin but somehow Satan convinces you that you're doing that and that's going to earn you God's grace it's it doesn't work like that that's not how that happens that's how that that's not how that works therefore works as a means of obtaining God's favor and grace are completely excluded listen to this God's grace always acts first on behalf of man before man can act on behalf of God hear this God's grace always acts first on behalf of of man so God's doing something first for you enabling you now to act on behalf of God as an excellent scripture to uh to to show you first first uh John chapter 4 verse 19. in the King James first John 4 19. see man can't ever Act on behalf of God unless God has first of all acted on man's behalf we love him because he first loved us we can't love him first he got to love me first it's his love for me that enables me to love him we love him but he acted on our behalf first of all we didn't act on his behalf but Grace is more than just unmerited favor it is favor towards those who deserve the very opposite Grace's favor on those who deserve the opposite the thing you're supposed to get you don't get and Grace operates for those who deserve the opposite look at Romans 5 and 8 and Romans 5 and 10 in the NLT Romans 5 and 8 and 5 and 10 in the NLT something grace operates on the on behalf of somebody who deserves the opposite of Grace and that's not how the church people see it church people say kill them they're strong kick them out to church no Grace at all but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us when while we were still sinners Christ died for us verse 10. for since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son while we were still his enemies He restored us we were all enemies of God please understand that he says we will certainly be saved through the life of God so by the grace of God Jesus died for Sinners Jesus died for his enemies sin therefore does not in fact cannot limit the grace of God sin can not limit the grace of God now that don't mean you're going to sin to test it and it won't happen because Gracie is teaching you not to sin so that's not even in the equation you mean tell me if you went out and got drunk and slept with a bunch of prostitutes and Grace will still work see that ain't even any crazy so quit bringing that up Grace is teaching you how to be righteous and sin will never limit the grace of God look at Romans 5 20 NLT last scripture get you out of here well at least somebody shouting thank you baby Romans 5 20 NLT here we go God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they are or were so you're sitting around here you know but the Ten Commandments say is this you got to make sure you you you properly decipher that because if the Ten Commandments are being administered by rules and regulations such as the Mosaic law in other words God gave the Ten Commandments they came from God Ten Commandments is not sin and it's not bad but it won't ever be produced in your life if you're trying to keep bruising regulations to manifest that character of The Ten Commandments in your life the Ten Commandments are all repeated except the Sabbath day that that one command about the Sabbath day wasn't repeated because today our Sabbath is Jesus but all of the other nine were repeated by the Apostle Paul but the difference is The Ten Commandments were now under the administration of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God which makes the difference it failed miserably when people try to keep it based on rules and regulations and that's what the church did the church took the Ten Commandments and says now you got to do all these other things around this in order to see that character in your life and that was your moral compass but on the New Testament we see the character of God the Ten Commandments being administered by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit Led life teaching you because he's accepted the responsibility to mature you and the results will be the character of God and those Ten Commandments and here's what he says he says you keep all all of those Commandments by keeping one commandment loves God got this thing together God's law was given was given so that all people could see how sinful they were so the Ten Commandments under the administration of the law was just like a mirror the law is like a mirror just shows you what you look like it's like spiritual die it's not medicine it's just putting that a show you what's going on in your body but as people send more and more God's Wonderful Grace became more abundant more reason for the grace of God to be there because they just couldn't figure out how to live in fact sin made the manifestation of Grace possible what yeah all that junk that went on Grace had to be manifested because Grace teaches you to live a righteous and a Godly and a sober life and in this series we're going to talk to you about what godliness is godliness is not a bunch of rules and regulation godliness is so simple godliness is when you live a life regarding God and having God to be included in what you do that's what godliness is ungodliness is a total disregard from God and so as you disregard God then the fruits of wickedness show up in your life because God is not a part of nothing you do thank you for the extra time that's good let's stop there we'll pick up with uh a number four on next week would you bow your heads for a moment so father I thank you as this word has gone forth Oh by your spirit you minister to every individual that they know that they have a personal relationship with you that revelation will come to them because of what you show them what you say to them that prayerfully as I said words that you spoke words to them and they understand because of what you Enlighten them with this morning and father as we continue in our study of Grace let us come to know you in a more intimate way let us see you in a more intimate way we praise you father Floyd thank you so much thank you for everything that you're doing in in all of our lives and we we confess and admit right now we can't do nothing without you we don't even want to want to do anything without you we got to have you yeah we got to have you in everything we do we declare our dependence upon you and not our dependence upon ourself help us God Enlighten us give us greater understanding may we be the example of Grace that in the ages to come that you might use us as the grant the example of of the wealth of the riches of Grace that you showed upon us oh God Deliver Us from the condemnation and the shame and the fear and and I think that we can we can live lives that are are sound and complete and with joy I give you praise Lord in Jesus name if you're here right now you've never made Jesus the Lord of your life I'm going to pray a simple prayer if you're if you're joining us over the Stream I'm going to pray this simple prayer if you pray it with me you will be born again believe in Jesus and and God the Bible says Grace teaches us not everybody in the world but he teaches us become a part of the us today repeat after me Heavenly Father I realize that I'm a sinner but right now I Repent of all my sins today I accept the free gift of forgiveness Lord Jesus I believe in you I believe you're the son of God come into my heart be my Lord and my savior and right now I declare that by faith I am saved in Jesus name amen hey if you prayed that prayer with me in the dome in just a moment I'm going to ask you to come down to the altar those of you who prayed their prayer with me on the stream text the key word I'm saved that's one word to 5155 provide your name and email address and we'll send you a free ebook as a gift to you today welcome to the family of God Amen praise God now to make our worship complete it's offering time it's time to bring our gifts it's time to bring our gifts to the Lord give unto the Lord Glory do unto his name bring an offering and worship him in the beauty of his holiness we are giving out of Honor out of appreciation out of Thanksgiving and out of gratitude Matthew chapter 2 the Magi located Jesus they saw him he was around probably about two years old and the Bible says they fell to their knees reaching into the treasury and worshiped him wow our worship is incomplete without the giving of gifts it is something that we do out of gratitude out of Thanksgiving Lord thank you for saving me thank you for living with me thank you for raising me and committed to raise me until Jesus returned thank you for maturing me thank you for helping me to see what I couldn't see before and so father I honor you with this gift it is my great pleasure to worship you with this and we've never understood that before we all everybody always try to make an issue well well there you go heck all the money because if you're not willing to worship god with the money you're going to probably end up worshiping the money and then the Mammon Spirit gets into you and now you don't need God because you got money now you don't trust God because you trust money no will always be a giver to God because he's always done so much for me father thank you for the seed that we're going to sow thank you for the gifts that we bring receive it Lord out of our love our respect and our honor for you and all that you've done and who you are in our lives it is our great joy to do so in Jesus name amen if you need an offering envelope did I do that part offering envelope okay hold on hold on hold on to the bucket for a moment uh if you need an offering envelope raise your hands and the ushers will get one to you and those of you who are online giving that information is on your screen about four ways to give you can follow that information there's also a QR code on the screen as well you can give that way those of you who are in the dome there's a QR code on our screen and also when you go out in the lobby there's a QR code if you want to give that way it'll take you directly to the text to give one of the things that I'm learning as a result of the pandemic I've got to pass to both live and people who are online and streaming that's that's fine I just want to make sure that people get it and have the same opportunities that we have here uh in in the comfort of their home amen you all ready all right guys let's go ahead and receive this gift thank you God praise God thank you Jesus amen Hallelujah praise God amen oh time went by too quick y'all on Wednesday night we went from 30 minutes to 45 minutes because you know by the time you say hello the time gone you know so we're doing a great series on Wednesday night great series here and we're also tomorrow morning during the confessions we'll start a great series on righteousness there um I know what I've been called to do and what I've been prepared to do and it's time and I'm ready and so you're going to get it and your whole life's going to change I mean just in every Arena it's going to change and it's going to be sweatless Victory this time instead of you sweating for victory and that's that's going to be a big deal big big deal so finally uh if you're here today or online and you want to join World changes Church International those of you who are online and you can't get to the Dome because you're in another state or a city somewhere you can join our e-church e-church membership has its advantages if you want to be an e-member go to the web go to worldchanges.org and click join at the top of the page or you can text join wcci all one word to 5155 and we'll send you all the benefits of e-membership if you're here in the dome live and you believe that God wants you to be a part of this church you believe this is the home that God wants you to to be in tapping I would love the challenge and the wonderful opportunity to continue to teach you the word of God we don't do pity parties and none of that we equip you to try to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ I don't do all that Pastor abuse stuff oh Pastor come to see me somebody might and doing all that you can equipped with the power and the anointing and laying on the hands of yourself you are not going to kill me and work on other pastors that ain't just how that happened I'm just saying that so you can make sure that's where you want to be amen so if that's so at this time I'm going to ask those of you who desire to do so if you can quickly come on down front and we'll receive you today those of you who prayed the Prayer of Salvation if you'll come on down front we will minister to you as well in Jesus name amen thank you [Applause] amen it's so good to see you guys you know feeling safe and comfortable to come to church and then they feel good I'm so glad to see you so glad all is well with you and your house and your family and everything's gonna be all right I believe that God's going to give you double for your trouble amen and what a what a blessing of the Lord what a blessing of the Lord so grateful so thankful glory be to God God is so good so father we we declare your blessings upon these your precious sheep do something so amazing with them use them in a mighty way bring Clarity to their lives and I thank you they can never be the same again because of you in Jesus name amen at this time if you will follow this gentleman to the prayer room they're going to take you upstairs get some information from you pray with you if you need it we believe that God's riches and best will continue to be yours as you seek Him First in Jesus name would you all stand for the benediction remember we're teaching the benediction it's the it's the final blessing in this service and we're praying a blessing over your life I'm I'm trying to keep it scripture and directly planted from the scripture because I want the blessing to have impact I don't know what you might encounter this week but I want to make sure that you are covered praise God in the name of Jesus and if you'll receive this right now Lift Your Hands Up now may the God of Peace who brought you up from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep and ratified an eternal Covenant with his blood may he equip you with all you need for doing his will may he produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ every good thing that is pleasing to him all glory to him forever and forever and now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty God be glory Majesty dominion and Power we plead the blood of Jesus over your family over your life and that all may be well with you this week we declare Divine protection over your life Divine safety over your life and with a long life are you satisfied it is in the name of Jesus Christ we declare these blessings over your life and yes you will walk in the favor of God and in the comfort of the holy spirit in Jesus mighty name we pray and all that receives said amen God bless you everybody [Applause]

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 412,158

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: y9GHN4lroRQ

Length: 83min 47sec (5027 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2022