GRACE What is it?

GRACE

 What is it?

 

If you had all the favor of God…

What would your life look like?

God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient.”

The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh.

It was something he could not do anything about.

It was something he knew God could take care of.

Paul on three occasions asked God to remove this thorn.

For you and I, we really don’t care what Paul’s thorn was,

what we care about is the thorn in our flesh.

We don’t know if Paul prayed three times

in ten minutes, ten days or ten decades.

How long has your thorn been there

and God has not taken it away?

The only answer Paul received,

and maybe the only answer you have is

God’s grace is sufficient.

What is GRACE?

It has been defined as FAVOR.

Most define it as unmerited favor,

yet we know it cost Jesus His life - a price was paid.

We can see that Jesus grew in grace with both God and man.

So grace is something you can grow in

and therefore something is paid to receive it.

But what is GRACE?

If you look at Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the fathers of Israel,

grace seems to be a large family,

lots of live stock and land, in brief “wealth.”

God looked favorably on them and gave them wealth.

Paul on the other hand spent much of his life in suffering and prison

and God says His grace was enough for him.

Two Christians both love the Lord and served Him faithfully;

one gets a bonus and the other gets laid off.

Which one has God’s grace?

Which one has God’s favor?

Some say grace is God giving us the ability

to handle the situation we are in.

Maybe so, but is that the extent of grace?

As you think this over there are two things we learn from Paul…

 

Paul counted the “grace of the cross” as being so wonderful

that he dedicated his life in appreciation… 

a life given to know Him and fellowship in those sufferings of Christ.

  

The second thing we discover is,

grace had nothing to do with how much God could give to Paul

but a demonstration of God’s power in our weakness.

Maybe God’s grace and favor is still on your life

after being denied three times.

Your weakness does not limit His power.

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

 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.

10 That is why, for Christ's sake,

I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV

7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,

and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 

9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,

which is from the law,

but that which is through faith in Christ,

the righteousness which is from God by faith;

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,

and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The Mind of Christ

The Mind of Christ

What do you do when

you can’t make up your mind?

 

Ever second guess yourself?

Ever change your mind?

I do all the time;

I guess it has something to do with my analytical mindset.

I have come to the place where

I do not make final decisions until the last minute.

For some people,

changing their mind every hour

is normal and acceptable.

I like things I can count on

and I don’t want people to think

I can’t make up my mind.

On top of dealing with my own mind,

the Bible tells me I am to put on the mind of Christ.

WOW!!! That BLOWS my mind!

The space between my ears is overwhelmed with my thoughts;

and now I have to make room for God’s thoughts.

What makes it hard is the Bible says,

God’s thoughts are not my thoughts. 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:16,

 "For who has known the mind of the Lord

that he may instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul says, I already have the mind of Christ - WOW!!!

So why do I still find confusion in my thoughts?

Paul makes it sound so simple and so do many Christians.

But for me - it is a challenge.

Oh, yes, I want the mind of Christ

and I look to Him for every decision I make.

But there is too often uncertainty.

The last couple of days I had some very interesting things

happen to me as I have to make a very big decision.

The problem is they seem to be saying

‘go ahead’ and ‘don’t go ahead’!

After the first conflict I said,

God you said let everything be established by 2 or 3 witnesses.

And Colossians 3:15 says,

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart.”

(that word rule means to play the umpire)

The thing that gives me the most comfort when I am not sure of God’s mind is that God can take my mistakes and work them out.  Romans 8:28

So I am moving forward;

God can stop me with a closed door

or fix my mistake.

And who knows, maybe I will get it right

and find out I had the mind of Christ all along!

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 2:1-3:1 NIV

2:1 When I came to you, brothers,

I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom

as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  

2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you

except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3 I came to you in weakness and fear,

and with much trembling.

4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,

but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom,

but on God's power.

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,

but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age,

who are coming to nothing.

7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom,

a wisdom that has been hidden

and that God destined for our glory before time began.

8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had,

they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 However, as it is written:

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"—

10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man

except the man's spirit within him?

In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God

except the Spirit of God.

12 We have not received the spirit of the world

but the Spirit who is from God,

that we may understand what God has freely given us.

13 This is what we speak,

not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit,

expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.  

14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things

that come from the Spirit of God,

for they are foolishness to him,

and he cannot understand them,

because they are spiritually discerned.

15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things,

but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

The Rut

The Rut

Ever feel like your road needs to change?

Ever feel like your zeal meter is running low?

Maybe it is time to make a change in the way you do things.

Someone once said,

“A rut is a grave with the ends knocked out.”

Ruts are created by traveling the same path over and over again.

Our spiritual lives can get into a rut.

We can be doing all the right things

but feel like we are in a rut.

When we pray…

we pray for the same things

in the same way.

When we read God’s Word…

we get into a habit of getting through

so many verses or chapters.

When we serve…

we do it the same way

as we always have.

Everything we do can become a rut.

I can tell when I start getting into a rut,

it’s when my zeal starts to diminish.

I start to get nervous energy.

The nervous energy can serve me or hurt me.

When you find nervous energy building up,

you want to do something

and there is a tendency to become impulsive

and take action you will later regret.

But that same nervous energy can also be the catalyst

to move you into a new and fresh place with the Lord.

Sometimes ‘in the rut’ can become a comfort place.

There are many time when my life is changing

and uncertainty is all around me

that I look back to the days I worked at Jeep.

I got up every morning at the same time,

did the same job every day,

and came home to my family every evening at the same time,

and the Friday pay check was always there.

It was a no brainier life –

I have to confess I miss it at times.

I am not saying that routine isn’t good, we need it in life.

But when the routine makes us dull minded

and our spiritual zeal wanes,

the routine is becoming a rut.

Don’t be impulsive;

but ask yourself the question:

“How’s my Spiritual Zeal Meter doing?”

“How fresh is life?”

Maybe it is time to cut a new trail!

Scripture Reading

Romans 12:9-21 NIV

9 Love must be sincere.

Hate what is evil;

cling to what is good.

10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Honor one another above yourselves.

 11 Never be lacking in zeal,

but keep your spiritual fervor,

serving the Lord.

12 Be joyful in hope,

patient in affliction,

faithful in prayer.

13 Share with God's people who are in need.

Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you;

bless and do not curse.

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice;

mourn with those who mourn.

16 Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be proud,

but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written:

"It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

20 On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  

21 Do not be overcome by evil,

but overcome evil with good.