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Grace Is Greater Than Mercy

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Grace Is Greater Than Mercy

We were under the Law, but now we are under grace. We used to be under a system where we had to live up to a certain standard to qualify for God's blessings. Now we are in a relationship with God in which He has made us His children and has given us His kingdom. He has given us everything He has, through Christ.

The issue is that what He has given us is primarily spiritual. Everything that Jesus paid for in our atonement is in us right now, in spiritual seed form. As we exercise faith in Christ, we make room in our hearts and lives for our inheritance to manifest from spiritual seed form to something tangible or substantive in our lives.

Faith doesn't make God move or cause Him to give us things, faith hosts God's presence within our inner man and allows God's spiritual power of grace to build His character and promises into our lives.

God is not withholding anything from us, but what He has given us must be received by grace through faith.

So how do we access grace by faith and experience the power of grace in our lives?

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Don't Let COVID Steal Your Dreams

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Don't Let COVID Steal Your Dreams

How much power have we given to COVID to keep us from doing the things we know God has called us to do? I don’t want to beat you up, I want to encourage you to consider moving forward. Don’t neglect your gift, use it to serve, and find a way to use it now.

“Use whatever gift you have received to serve.” This reminds me of Moses. God called him, and Moses tried to disqualify himself multiple times. When he started to become open to following God, he asked God how he was supposed to accomplish what God was asking him to do. God said, let’s start with what’s in your hands.

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God Wants to Save People, Not Reject Them.

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God Wants to Save People, Not Reject Them.

God wants to save people, He is not looking for a reason to reject people. He is not looking for a reason to reject you. He did everything He could to remove the things He had against you in the sacrifice of Christ, to make life with Him secure by faith rather than works.

BUT

He does seem to give us a warning in Hebrews. I’ll cut to the chase, the warning is; don’t reject Jesus and go back to Old Covenant sacrifices. Yes, that’s the “willful sin” the author of Hebrews warns about, rejecting Jesus and trusting in the blood of goats and bulls rather than Christ.

Now, you don’t have a temple to take your goat to, but you do have your dead works that you think make you clean again with God (more on this in the sermon). Jesus’ lifeblood cleanses you, and God’s circumcision of your old nature makes you new. That alone is your righteousness and your removal of sin.

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We Are More Than Forgiven, We Are Co-Heirs with Christ.

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We Are More Than Forgiven, We Are Co-Heirs with Christ.

Have you ever received an inheritance? Have you taken the time to draft a will for your children? The process requires great detail. You have to list every asset and decide who it goes to. You can place age stipulations or other guidelines if you so choose. Or you can simply pass down all that you have without restriction. God did this. Through inheritance, he gave you everything.

God handcrafted a will for you that is full of great and precious promises. In Christ, God predetermined what He would leave you in His last will and testament. His inheritance makes for a glorious afterlife, but it has benefits now too.

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Jesus Our Substitute, He Died for you and as you.

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Jesus Our Substitute, He Died for you and as you.

Jesus didn’t just die for you, He died as you. He died in your place. He became like you so you could become like Him. He became your sin so you could be righteous. He was diseased so you would be well. He was punished so you could be free. He was rejected so you could be accepted.

Read along with me through these passages. This sermon is more of a meditative walk through Isaish 52:13 through 54:10.

Here is one of my favorite set of promises from this section of scripture. Notice how God defines Himself; your husband, the Lord of Hosts, your redeemer, the God of the earth, the Lord who has mercy. We must allow God to define who He is and how He wants to operate in our lives. In this selection of scripture, He makes Himself more than our Lord, He describes a very personal and intimate relationship. He is our husband, He is the one who has mercy on us.

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God Removed Your diseased Sinful human Nature and washed you clean with the blood of jesus

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God Removed Your diseased Sinful human Nature and washed you clean with the blood of jesus

God performed spiritual surgery in you when you placed your faith in Christ. When you believe in Christ for salvation and the forgiveness of sins, He goes to work. Here’s the procedure you undergo to become born again:

  1. You placed your faith in Christ.

  2. God removes your heart of stone.

  3. He removes the “body of the sins of the flesh.”

  4. He washes you clean with the blood of Christ (This step makes you holy)

  5. He then gives you a new heart.

  6. Next, He places His Spirit in you, joining Himself to you forever.

  7. This makes you acceptable to Him because of His finished work in you. You cannot improve on His work, and you cannot invalidate His work. It’s His work.

  8. You come off His operating table as a new creature, that is now His child, and a co-heir with Jesus, fully equipped with the authority He shares with you, to go into the world doing the works He did and making disciples of all nations.

All of this is possible because God made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

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Righteousness is not earned or maintained Through The Law

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Righteousness is not earned or maintained Through The Law

If you read the Old Testament, especially the Old Covenant Laws, and feel condemned GOOD JOB! You’re taking it seriously. That’s what the Law is supposed to do, condemn you and highlight your sin. Even some of the teachings of Jesus were delivered through the lens of the Law. He did so to point out your inability to keep the Law.

For clarification, there is a difference between the Old Testament and the Old Covenant. All the books of the Old Testament are the inspired Word of God. But the Old Covenant, the agreement between God and the nation of Israel, along with its 600+ rules and laws, have been fulfilled by Jesus, thus rendering the set of laws obsolete.

Hebrews 8:13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

We’re not throwing out a huge part of God’s Word, we’re simply putting the Law in its proper perspective as affected by the finished work of Jesus. Jesus is the end of the Law for the believer. The Law was made obsolete regarding righteousness for you. Jesus didn’t throw out the Law, he just fulfilled it for you.

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Fear God, But Don't be Afraid of Him.

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Fear God, But Don't be Afraid of Him.

If you’re worried about what God might do to you if you make a mistake, it reveals that you aren’t truly convinced of his love for you. God’s correction and training in your life are not through harsh judgment and pain, it’s through wisdom and guidance.

God is a loving father who will train you in the way you should go. If you fail, simply remember that Jesus was your substitution. Jesus bore the penalty of your sin. Not so you can now get away with it, but so that he could remove God’s wrath from you and relate to you as a child rather than a sinner. God is not mocked, you will reap what you sow, but God is no longer keeping a record of your sin to punish you.

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Your Mindset Determines If You Will Believe The Gospel

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Your Mindset Determines If You Will Believe The Gospel

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

— Matthew 4:17

When he stepped into his public ministry, he encouraged people to repent and believe the Gospel. We instantly think of sin when we hear the word “repent,” meaning we think repenting is always about confessing our sin. Repenting from sin is important, but that’s not what Jesus was talking about.

Definition of Repent

Repent is the Greek word metanoeō, which is a combination of two words; meta and noeō. Meta means; with, after, behind. It’s a preposition that modifies the verb noeō. Noeō means; to perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding, to think upon, heed, ponder, consider.

Metanoeō or Repent means; to change one's mind, to turn one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins.

So repentance does have to do with turning away from sin but more specifically it is about changing our minds about the beliefs that drive sin. Repentance is when you do a deeper work than just apologizing for a sinful action. It’s when you go into your heart beliefs and make adjustments.

What you believe generates your thoughts. Your thoughts then lead to feelings and emotions. Those feelings and emotions then give way to action. So whether it be anger or adultery, sin is the fruit of your beliefs and what you think on. To repent is to turn away from the thinking that leads to sin. In this passage, Jesus teaches us to change the way we think about God’s kingdom because he’s bringing us good news.

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How to yield to the river of life in your heart to bear one another’s burdens

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How to yield to the river of life in your heart to bear one another’s burdens

What a year! COVID, the US election, and all the personal challenges people are experiencing. By now, I’m sure you know that depression cases are skyrocketing, alcoholism and substance abuse are at record highs, domestic abuse has increased, many people have lost their lives due to COVID, businesses are failing, and more.

If you’re not careful, you can allow all of the bad news to skew your entire perspective of life. In the world, he said we would have trouble, but to be of good cheer because he overcame the world. He also said that there would be wheat and weeds growing together in His kingdom until He returns.

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