Participants: John Stanton & Kevin Hart
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL110014
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00:01 Hello, friends. Grab your Bible and a friend
00:03 and sit back as we explore God's word together 00:05 on this edition of House Calls. 00:21 Welcome back to House Calls. 00:23 We're at your door. We're knocking asking you 00:26 to come into your living room once again 00:28 share God's word with you. 00:29 Thank you for inviting us in 00:31 and we appreciate every single week. 00:34 When you turn to House Calls 00:36 and you join us in this program, 00:37 especially as you're sending your questions 00:39 and participate as well. 00:40 My name is Pastor John Stanton 00:42 and with me in the studio is Kevin Hart. 00:44 And Kevin it's a thrilled 00:45 to be able to be with you here once again. 00:47 I appreciate that. Thank you. 00:48 Yeah! And again we're thrilled that you also 00:51 are part of this program by sending in your questions. 00:55 Before we get to that and our topic today 00:57 we wanna start off with the word of prayer though. 00:59 So Kevin, would you lead us to the throne of grace. Sure. 01:02 Father we thank you once again for the opportunity 01:04 to dig into Your word and to see 01:06 what You would have us know Lord. 01:08 To see how Your word is that living agent in our lives 01:11 to cause us and to allow us, 01:13 to empower us to walk a holy life Lord 01:16 and to live beyond the inclinations 01:18 of our natural heart to walk us as a new man 01:21 and a new woman in Christ. 01:22 We just pray your blessing out pour on this program. 01:24 May all be blessed and they come to know 01:26 Jesus a little better. 01:27 For do we ask all these things 01:28 in His precious name, amen. Amen. 01:31 And that is truly our desire to know Jesus better. 01:34 And that's why we come here from week to week 01:37 to study the word with you and we pray that 01:39 that will be our experience here today. 01:42 We're gonna dive into our questions at this time. 01:44 Before we do, I just want to give you the couple, 01:47 there are couple methods that you can use 01:48 to send those questions in. 01:49 Number one is to send them by regular mail to 3ABN 01:52 and just mark on there care of C/o House Calls 01:57 and it will get right over to us. 01:59 And we'll make sure that we read those questions 02:01 and do our best to put them in a future program. 02:04 Also you can send them an email to housecalls@3abn.org 02:09 that's housecalls@3abn.org 02:12 and we'll do the same with those. 02:14 We appreciate that every time we receive a new question 02:17 from our friends out there. 02:20 So thank you again for joining us. 02:22 We've had prayer. It's time now Kevin to dive 02:24 into the word and to open up our first question. 02:27 Do you have one to start us off with? 02:28 I do. Question is in Acts Chapter 19, 02:32 "The seven sons of Sceva attempt to rebuke Satan 02:35 without authority. They were beaten and left naked." 02:38 This also occurred to another individual 02:40 in the Old Testament. 02:41 We discuss this and this really not an example 02:43 in the Old Testament where one rebukes the devil 02:47 or earthly people. But, there is a one in the New Testament 02:51 of certain instance I can think of. 02:53 But at the end of the question says, 02:54 I can't find the passage, okay, please clarify. 02:57 And also how do we modern individuals stand a chance. 03:00 The demon fear Jesus and the Apostles but not us. 03:05 I like to turn real quickly on that story 03:07 in Acts Chapter 19, the seven sons of Sceva. 03:11 It says now God worked, verse 11. 03:13 Now God works unusual miracles 03:15 by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs 03:17 or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, 03:20 and the diseases left them and the evil spirits 03:22 went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish 03:26 exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name 03:28 of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, 03:31 saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus 03:35 whom Paul preaches." Also there were seven sons 03:37 of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 03:41 And the evil spirit answered and said, 03:43 "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" 03:47 These word, these word Jews who were trying to benefit, 03:54 trying to use what Paul was doing. 03:56 The miracles that were taking place 03:58 to their own glory and so they thought that 04:01 they could go around cast out demons 04:03 by the Jesus who Paul knew, right, 04:05 and that's the key, right, exactly, you know, 04:07 and get themselves maybe a good reputation. 04:10 Above we find is the evil spirit basically says, 04:12 I know Paul, I knew Jesus but I have no idea who you are. 04:15 And the answer really is in the second part of verse 13 04:20 where they say, we exorcise you by the Jesus 04:23 whom Paul knows. The problem was, 04:26 it wasn't the Jesus who they knew. 04:28 They didn't know Jesus and that's why the demons 04:31 could have cared less what they were commanding 04:33 at that point. So that's why the demons 04:36 didn't respond. To answer the question 04:39 of that caller. Yes, demons do not fear us. 04:44 They do fear Christ, His authority. 04:47 They do fear other celestial beings who come down 04:51 in great power at times. But they do not fear us 04:54 because we're number one, we're not immortal, 04:56 we're not...we don't posses the power that Christ posses. 05:00 We're human but if we know Jesus as Paul knew Jesus, 05:06 we too can have the power that Paul had. 05:10 But an example of this problem 05:13 I guess that was asked will be in Matthew Chapter 17. 05:16 And we find there a story where the disciples 05:20 faced a dilemma and a boy was brought to them 05:25 and they could not cast out this demon. 05:28 Let's see here, we'll pick it up in Matthew Chapter 17 05:33 and verse...okay let's see, we'll just pick it up in 18. 05:37 The disciples couldn't cast out the demon. 05:39 They tell, come and tell Jesus about it, 05:41 the child is brought to him. 05:42 In verse 18, Jesus rebuked the demon, 05:44 and it came out of him, the child was cured 05:46 from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus 05:48 privately and said why couldn't we not cast it out? 05:52 So Jesus said because of your unbelief. 05:54 For surely I say to you, 05:55 if you have faith as a mustard seed, 05:56 you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here' 05:59 and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. 06:01 However here is the key verse. "However, 06:03 this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. 06:10 It did not mean that the disciples didn't know Jesus, 06:13 they did know Jesus. But sometimes 06:16 and faith plays such an important role here 06:19 and it's good because the Bible say every man 06:20 has been given a measure of faith. 06:22 You know, it's not that there some people 06:23 that don't have faith. 06:24 God has given everybody a measure of faith. 06:26 Right, right. But sometimes it takes little more 06:28 than just the word. It takes a little more 06:30 than our daily routine of spending time with the Lord 06:33 in the morning praying. 06:34 Sometimes it takes little more than that, 06:35 it takes prayer and fasting. 06:37 So sometimes we need to give a little more so to speak, 06:40 you know, we got to plea, we got to beg, 06:42 we got to put bend every, all of our spiritual energies 06:45 and surrender and make sure that number one 06:47 is nothing in our own life we're clinging to. 06:49 So that the Lord can work through us 06:52 and that we're true in a state of surrender. 06:54 So yes, the demons don't fear us, 06:57 but they do fear the authority of Christ, right. 06:59 And if we know Jesus as Paul did, 07:02 then we too can have that same authority. 07:04 Yeah. You know, and Paul had been having 07:06 an experience of growth, a growth period with Christ. 07:10 He'd become very personal and becoming his all basically 07:14 in everything that he did. 07:16 Paul was a very... a man that could boast 07:19 about anything if he wanted to. 07:20 But he become very humble, right, 07:22 and I think with great humility 07:24 there comes a lot of dependence upon Christ 07:27 and His will. Christ in his strength, 07:29 Christ in his authority which Paul did. 07:32 And so none of these things that Paul did that is, 07:36 I mean, amazing story in that Book of Acts it says 07:38 that even things that were brought, 07:40 that were from Paul provided an avenue 07:42 of healing for them. So this power, 07:46 this authority from Christ that was given to Paul 07:48 was also passed on by Paul. 07:51 But Paul know where he was boasting 07:53 which allowed Christ authority to move freely. 07:56 And the disciples here in this story 07:58 were still learning. They were still growing 08:00 and I think God allowed them to experience a defeat, 08:04 sure, sure, to show them the importance 08:06 of depending upon Him for that authority 08:08 and that power. 08:10 And which we need to learn everyday. 08:12 You know, I've said a couple of times 08:13 when people talk about well, you know, 08:15 I just say in Jesus name and the devil will leave. 08:18 And it's like this thought, this preconceived how I'll go 08:21 about eliminating the power of the enemy 08:23 if I ever come across him. 08:25 But I think the biggest thing that we can remember 08:27 upfront is that if we're depending upon Jesus, 08:31 that we allow Him to do the rebuking, exactly. 08:35 The Lord rebuke you not I rebuke you, 08:38 that is very important for us to remember 08:40 because we've nothing to offer 08:42 that would fight the enemy. 08:43 We're totally weak and totally depended upon Christ. 08:46 And He gave us, Jesus gave us 08:47 the ultimate example that when the temptations 08:49 in the wilderness, you know, thus it is written. 08:52 You know, it is written and so, 08:54 so we find that the authority rest in God's word 08:57 and the words that Christ gave us. Yeah. 08:58 And Paul is very careful to make sure that 09:01 no one put their faith in him, right, you know, 09:03 if a handkerchief from his pocket healed someone 09:08 and they came and said oh, 09:09 and they came to worship him. 09:10 Paul wouldn't accept that. No, no. 09:12 You know, it'll be very tempting for some 09:13 individuals which is why we saw 09:14 the seven sons of Sceva, that's what they want. 09:16 Hey we can wield this power. Yeah, this great. 09:18 We're running out this thing., you know. 09:20 But, yeah good point and good question for sending 09:22 that in because I think we can all learn a lot. 09:24 It's a good reminder of our dependence upon Christ. 09:28 I've a question here one fairly quick one 09:31 and then one that's a little longer. 09:35 It comes from Darlene. Thank you Darlene for sending 09:38 this in. I was listening to our local Christian 09:41 radio program and the host made a comment 09:43 that the last supper was on a Wednesday, is this correct? 09:47 You know, I just wanna share here briefly 09:49 we've had this question before. 09:50 Many try to move back, I guess I would say 09:55 the Garden of Gethsemane experience the upper room 09:59 experience to Wednesday, the last supper as well 10:04 in the upper room to Wednesday because 10:06 they are trying to fit in the three days 10:08 and three nights of Jonah. 10:10 And they don't understand necessarily 10:12 that the Bible beliefs in one thing 10:14 first inclusive reckoning rule, 10:16 which is very important. 10:18 So if you're talking about any specific day 10:20 you've to include that day, even though it's a part, 10:23 even though it's an hour too you include that day 10:25 in the count. And that's how the Hebrew mindset 10:27 always worked, always worked. 10:28 And so when you're thinking, you know, 10:30 when Jesus made the statement that, you know, 10:33 I will raise this temple up and referring to Himself 10:36 in three days. We're talking about 10:39 His crucifixion happened on Friday which was very clear 10:41 from scriptures. Read Luke, I believe its transition 10:46 from 23 to 24, it talks about how on the preparation day 10:50 is when He passed away on the cross. 10:53 They buried Him on that day, He rested in the grave 10:56 on the Sabbath and then on Sunday morning 10:59 when the first, sun was first starting to come up 11:01 of course He rose from the grave, right, 11:04 from the tomb. So you've three days there 11:07 in the mindset of the Hebrew using inclusive reckoning, 11:10 there were three days, Friday, Saturday, 11:13 Sunday resurrection day. And so there was no problem 11:16 with that. In our mindset, you know, 11:19 in our culture today, we try to fit every piece 11:21 or every hour of every day and so preachers 11:24 or teachers will sometimes try to move that back 11:27 and say well, you know, it didn't happened on Thursday 11:28 it happened on Wednesday, right. 11:30 And there is a problem there. We answered I think 11:32 a question recently about Jonah, 11:34 as Jonah was in the belly of a whale three days 11:36 and three nights. Well we find in answer 11:40 to that question, you know, 11:41 well where is your third night. 11:44 Not only it's inclusive reckoning we find that Christ 11:47 experience in the Garden of Gethsemane 11:48 began the separation from His Father. 11:50 He talked about I'm sorrowful even unto death. 11:53 I mean He was pouring out sweat and drops of blood 11:56 on to the ground because of the agony 11:58 He was in even at that point. 12:00 He was drinking from the cup of God's wrath, 12:03 of His Father's wrath tasting it. 12:05 And so in that respect His agony, 12:07 His experience even betrayed into the hands of sinners 12:11 and the sin he drink that night on Thursday night 12:14 began to process that He experienced on the cross. 12:16 So there is again three days and three night 12:19 that you got...Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, 12:24 you've got Friday, Saturday, of course Sunday morning. 12:29 So you don't have to force fit this thing. 12:32 You know, the Bible is very clear and especially 12:34 with regard to Luke Chapter 22, 23 actually 23, 24. 12:38 Look at that you'll find the days 12:40 are spelled out very clearly there is to what happened. 12:42 And you run, and you run into problems 12:43 when you really try to, you know, 12:45 put scripture round here and there to try to fit, 12:48 you know, what our logical minds what we're used to. 12:50 You in the process depicting other scripture. 12:51 Yeah, exactly, the Preparation Day says it all. 12:53 Preparation is always Friday. 12:54 That's right. And the night before it was Garden 12:56 of Gethsemane and the belly of the earth, you know, 12:58 that was, yeah, so the experiences going through. 13:01 Anyway thank you very much for that question. 13:03 Now our question I think may take a little longer 13:05 but hopefully not so much. Is a question that comes 13:10 from Nikrisha. Thank you very much Nikisha. 13:13 Nikisha, or Nikrisha, I don't know exactly 13:15 how that's pronounced but forgive me 13:16 if I said it wrong. My husband and I are confused 13:22 about which day is the true Bible seventh day Sabbath. 13:27 The Hebrew lunar calendar seems to be the calendar 13:30 the Israelites followed after their Exodus from Egypt. 13:35 Based upon the dates given in Exodus 12, 18 and 22 13:38 when they killed the Passover Lamb on the 14th day 13:41 of the month. Then I suggest the children of Israel 13:43 traveled all night of the 14th and then finally crossed 13:46 the Red Sea as morning approached 13:48 which would have been the 15th the Sabbath day. 13:51 Exodus 14, 24 to 27 in numbers 33:3. 13:55 And she goes on to talk about some other dates 13:57 that connect in with the lunar calendar, you know, 14:00 that the calendar of the Jews, the Israelites 14:03 back then and the Jews even during Christ day. 14:06 Here's one of the things that we really need to remember. 14:10 The Jews did base their calendar 14:12 upon the lunar cycle, 360 day. 14:15 It's a 360 days cycle 30 days for each month times 12. 14:21 However the Sabbath was not based upon that calendar. 14:25 They said that the weekly, the seventh-day Sabbath, 14:28 the Fourth Commandment Sabbath was not based 14:31 upon the lunar calendar, is based upon the week. 14:35 That is the only reason why we have a week today 14:37 is because God created the world in six days 14:40 and on the seventh day He rested from all that 14:43 He had done. Now there are ceremonial Sabbaths 14:46 that coincide with the lunar calendar, 14:49 but not the weekly Sabbath. 14:51 Weekly Sabbath is based always upon the week, 14:54 so don't get confused by what should be tied 14:58 to lunar calendar issues and what should be tied 15:01 to the weekly cycle. The seventh-day Sabbath 15:04 is always been tied to the weekly Sabbath. 15:05 The Jews had been keeping it for centuries now, 15:08 but even prior to that Israelites, prior to that, 15:13 you have the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 15:19 and goes way back to creation we know this. 15:22 So we shouldn't, don't get confused, 15:24 there is this theory out there now that 15:26 the seventh-day Sabbath is also tied to the lunar 15:29 kind of the lunisolar calendar system so to speak, 15:34 and there are some papers spread out on this. 15:36 You know, what to me nonsense. Absolutely! 15:40 It is so biblically it lacks or biblical theology 15:45 that lacks for good hermeneutics, 15:47 for good acts of Jesus which is the pulling out 15:50 of the scripture what the scripture says. 15:51 There is so much added in there to make it fit, 15:54 it just doesn't work. 15:56 No it doesn't. And even when the calendar changes 15:58 throughout the centuries, the Julian calendar, 16:01 the Gregorian calendar, a calendar, none of those, 16:03 both those calendars never affected the weekly cycle. 16:07 It never shifted what day, because some people say 16:10 well how do we know? You know, 16:11 because the calendar is changed. 16:13 So maybe Tuesday really was the original 16:15 seventh-day Sabbath. But no, it's never changed. 16:19 And even the Romans recognized 16:21 the Jewish festivals and recognized 16:24 when those festivals occurred, right. 16:25 So we don't need to worry ourselves that 16:30 we're not keeping the original seventh-day Sabbath. 16:32 It's never changed, the Jews were extremely careful. 16:35 You know, one thing we know from Jewish history 16:37 is that when it came to numbers, when it came to, 16:40 you know, cycles they were very on top of that, yes. 16:43 That never changed. 16:44 They didn't miss a day, they didn't miss... No. 16:46 You know, there is a simple principle here 16:49 as well that we need to think about. 16:51 God makes clear the things that are required of man 16:56 for his salvation. Number one, by grace 17:00 we've been saved through faith. 17:01 He requires that we give up our life, 17:04 repent of our sins, and put our life 17:06 in Christ in His hands and by His works 17:09 we're saved not our own. Secondly, He requires 17:11 that we as a, as we walk with Christ that we keep 17:15 His commandments, that we follow in His ways, 17:17 that we obey Him, His own obedience there, 17:19 that's the requirement. And so God requires 17:22 that we remain in Christ through our corporation 17:26 with Him as He grows us, as He changes, 17:28 as He makes us the new. And part of that is the 17:32 Ten Commandments. But if the Ten Commandments 17:33 that are required. God will not make it a rocket science 17:38 to figure out what day is required 17:40 in the Fourth Commandment. 17:41 And He simply says the seventh day is the Sabbath 17:44 of the Lord thy God. Then He ties it to creation. 17:47 So you see without a doubt there that creation which is, 17:50 it happens in a week, in six days of that week 17:53 and the seventh day tied to that is the bases 17:56 for which the Fourth Commandment 17:57 is put into operation and put into effect. 18:01 And that's where we go to find out which day 18:03 is the seventh day. And that cycle as you said 18:05 has never changed because the calendar has changed. 18:07 When it changed to the, is it the Julian calendar 18:10 when we changed to. I think it went from October 4, 5 18:15 or something to 15 but the day did not change. 18:18 It still went from say Thursday to Friday 18:21 or whatever day I can't remember it was, 18:23 but the weekly cycle did not change whatsoever. 18:27 But people want to throw this stuff out there, you know, 18:29 it's like the thing we talked about recently 18:30 with making majors out of minors 18:33 with regard to the dailying. 18:35 And I think, and I think honestly with some people 18:36 it's an attempt to excuse it. 18:39 So you don't have to observe it. 18:41 You know, I mean come from all kinds of different mottos 18:43 May not be their attempt, but or their intent, 18:46 but it ends up being what happens 18:47 and we've to be very careful with that. 18:49 So I encourage you, you gonna find every wind 18:53 of doctrine out there, but make sure you're keeping 18:56 the word and make sure also that you're in harmony 18:58 with others who are keeping in the word. 19:00 The multitude of counselors is very important here. 19:03 And if we listen to one person 19:05 or even if there is another person that gets together 19:07 to champion that. We need to make sure 19:08 that we're staying in harmony with the direction 19:11 that God has set forth in His word and through His Church. 19:15 And that comes, the safety there comes 19:17 in the multitude of counselors. 19:18 And we encourage you to make sure that 19:20 you stay in harmony with that, because 19:22 that's where the safety is. Stay in the boat, 19:25 stay in the boat. As, as one writer said, 19:26 stay in the boat don't depart from the ship now, 19:28 it's too late stay with the brethren 19:30 and stay with above. All right, thank you 19:32 again for all your questions. 19:34 We'll wrapped up there, so it gives us a little more time 19:36 a few minutes more to cover our the last part 19:38 of our topic today. But I want to end here 19:41 by saying that you can send your questions 19:43 into housecalls@3abn.org, its housecalls@3abn.org 19:51 and we'll make sure we take those questions in 19:54 and do our best to provide biblical answers 19:56 for each and everyone of them. Thank you very much. 20:00 Our topic we got in, just really to dive 20:02 into the heavy part, the meaty part last, 20:05 in our last program. And today we're gonna get 20:07 into the subject of the power of grace, 20:11 more in looking at the aspect of what that power means 20:14 to the life of the Christian. When we give our life 20:17 to Christ we're saved by His grace through faith. 20:21 Then as Christ continues to pour out that grace upon us 20:23 to give us power and strength for living the Christian life 20:26 what does that mean to us individually. 20:28 You know, how should we pray for grace? 20:30 How should we look to God to provide for our needs? 20:33 We, ourselves cannot supply it. 20:34 We don't have the power and strength to supply it. 20:37 That's what we're gonna cover today. 20:39 I wouldn't mind throwing out a verse. 20:41 Yeah, let's start off with the verse. 20:42 Just bringing from that. And it's the beginning 20:45 of Romans Chapter 6, "What shall we say then? 20:47 Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" 20:51 You know, Paul previous talked about where sin 20:52 was grace was much more, you know, 20:55 but then he builds that up and then he finally says 20:57 because he realizes that some people are gonna say, 20:59 oh okay, well let's keep sin into the God's grace 21:01 will abound, you know. Right. 21:02 So then he starts Chapter 6 here saying, 21:05 "No, does not continue sin, that grace may abound. 21:09 Certainly not. How shall you who died to sin 21:12 and here's the thing, you know, 21:13 when you come to Christ, we die with Christ, 21:17 so to speak through baptism. 21:18 "How shall you who died to sin live any longer? 21:22 Do you not know that so many of us 21:23 as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized 21:25 into his death? Therefore we are buried with him 21:28 through baptism unto death that just as Christ 21:30 was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, 21:33 even so we also should walk the same 21:36 as we were before." No, it's not what the verse said, no. 21:39 Even so we should walk in newness of life. 21:42 Okay. So... You know, praise the Lord 21:45 for that because you are actually connecting 21:46 in Ephesians 2:10. Because God prepared the works 21:51 before Him that we should walk, walked in them, right. 21:54 And here you're quoting again from Paul saying 21:58 that we should walk in the newness of life. 22:00 Paul in Romans 8 talks about walking in the spirit. 22:04 Walking in the spirit. 22:05 So the walk with Christ is so dependent upon His grace, 22:10 His strength, His power, not ourselves. 22:13 You know, the program we did before Obedience 22:15 versus Legalism, that was the distinguishing factor 22:17 between the both, the two. 22:19 Obedience is when you depend upon Christ for His strength 22:22 and you walk in His grace, you walk in His strength 22:26 and under His power. Legalism is when you trust 22:29 in your own will power and strength and try to walk 22:32 and hold your life in harmony with His 22:33 without His power, that's legalism. 22:36 And grace actually is a global word, 22:38 this isn't just isolated to Bible. Actually even in some, 22:42 there have been some who interpreted the word grace 22:45 in Hindu religion as being something that 22:48 you merit based on your works. And that's not we are 22:51 talking about here, no. This isn't something 22:53 that you work for and then God says oh good job, 22:56 I'm gonna give you grace now. 22:57 No, it's the grace that empowers you to work, 23:00 to do the good work. Absolutely. 23:02 So... Works are impossible for us to do 23:05 without the grace of God. Exactly. 23:07 And so that's really Ephesians 2:8 through 10, 23:09 right there and that's what you're talking about here. 23:11 For someone to say and this goes back to the Jew verse 23:15 that we read in our first, in our first program 23:18 which was that some have crept in unnoticed 23:21 who turn the grace of God 23:22 into a license for immorality. 23:23 Paul is also debunking that notion. 23:25 He is saying, she just go ahead and sinning, 23:27 so grace can abound. Of course not! 23:30 Grace is to deliver you from the power of sin. 23:33 That's a very important point. 23:35 Amen, praise God. Now let's look at, 23:37 kind of to recap from where we went from last, 23:41 the last program to where we're today. 23:44 We define the difference between grace and mercy. 23:47 Grace receiving a power or something from God 23:50 that we don't deserve, that's His unmerited favor, 23:54 that's His blessing bestowed upon us. 23:56 Mercy is not receiving judgment, 23:58 not receiving from God, something we actually 24:00 do deserve. So now as we shift them into grace 24:03 and we look at the true meaning of grace 24:05 and its power and strength. We read a verse 24:09 from 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient 24:11 for you: for my strength is made perfect 24:14 in your weakness." And then now a new verse 24:18 I'll share here with you from Ephesians Chapter 3 verse 7, 24:22 "Where Paul says that he became a minister 24:25 according to the gift of the grace of God 24:28 given to me by the effective working of His power." 24:33 Now I love that, because in here Paul is saying 24:37 that he became a minister by the grace of God 24:41 for the effective working of his power, right. 24:45 There is no power in our life. There is no power 24:48 in my life as a pastor. I can have no strength 24:51 unless God bestow His grace upon me every single day 24:56 throughout the day. That is the power 24:58 I get from God that enables me to live 25:01 the Christ like life. And Kevin, 25:05 I wanna share something, I wanna confess 25:07 and maybe you can probably identify with me here. 25:11 There are days I wake up and I get going 25:14 and I hit the day running, haven't spent time 25:17 with the Lord like I should, haven't prayed 25:20 and asked for His grace and I haven't asked for His power 25:23 to fill me through the indwelling spirit. 25:26 And I'm going through that day and all of a sudden 25:28 I'm a little irritated, little angry, little upset. 25:32 I lash back at somebody, I'm little harsh my wife says 25:35 well almost that kind was hurtful. 25:37 And I convicted right there, you know what, 25:39 I haven't spent this day, 25:41 haven't started this day with Jesus. 25:44 And it's not that I've lived the day unsaved, 25:51 God in His mercy doesn't throw me out. 25:55 But He doesn't forsake you. 25:56 You don't throw a family member out because 25:57 they make a mistake, but He is patiently there waiting, 26:00 you know, looking for me to ask for the grace, 26:03 the power to live that day which I haven't done. 26:06 I'm powerless! And it's daily choice. 26:08 It has to be a daily choice. I've got to get back 26:11 on my knees and sometimes it's too late. 26:13 Oh, not too late, it's too late in the day 26:16 to where it really matters a lot for that day. 26:18 And then you find yourself saying, 26:19 Lord please give me grace, forgive me. 26:22 Give me grace and mercy because it's not going well 26:26 and I thought... I look forward to that, absolutely. 26:28 I confess that that happens to me sometimes 26:30 and I need to remind myself each day 26:32 when I wake up. Lord, I pray for the baptism 26:36 of the Holy Spirit. I die daily to my sin as Paul said. 26:41 I seek your grace through the outpouring 26:44 of your Holy Spirit in my life, bring that pour out 26:46 that grace upon me, so that I might live this day 26:49 with You at the center of my life 26:52 and with Your power as my strength to overcome 26:55 the temptation when it comes, 26:56 because I know it's gonna come. Sure. 26:58 And it's when we don't do that, 26:59 when we don't spend time in the word 27:01 and with Christ that we overcome. 27:05 It seemed to be acting more upon impulse than 27:07 reason and power, you know. Yeah. 27:09 It's almost like you're saying somebody says 27:11 some that blind sight us and, you know, 27:13 you lash back and then you're like oh where 27:16 that come from. Yeah, I didn't spend that time 27:19 with the Lord this morning. And that's what it goes back 27:22 to relationship which really goes back to, 27:24 you know, the whole work of salvation, you know, 27:27 it's an invitation to a life transforming relationship 27:31 with Christ. And if it's a relationship 27:32 we got to spend time with Him. 27:34 And if we don't spend... well, we know 27:35 what happens if we don't spend time with our wives. 27:37 We know with any relationship, 27:38 you don't spend time with the person, 27:39 it dismantles, it crumbles. Yeah. 27:43 So yes, absolutely, got to spend time. 27:44 So think about this, so if the devil knows that 27:48 wouldn't he send people into the church to teach 27:52 that grace is simply the saving part 27:54 and that let's add this doctrine. 27:57 One saved always saved to it, 27:59 so that when people think that it's just kind of 28:03 a favor of God as He gives you the gift of grace, 28:05 that's all it needed to start you off with, 28:07 then you are good, right, and you are good always. 28:10 Isn't it just like him to kind of throw those doctrines in 28:13 to diminish our need everyday to depend upon 28:16 the power and strength of God? 28:17 And it's appealing, it's appealing 28:20 because we're carnal at heart 28:23 and it's not our inclination to do what is right. 28:25 You don't want to die to ourselves? 28:27 Oh! No, we don't, you know, because that takes work... 28:29 Ellen Sister White said the greatest battle ever fought 28:31 was the battle against self. 28:32 And I know that from experience, 28:34 you know that from experience. 28:35 And wouldn't it, isn't it appearing just to think well 28:39 it doesn't matter what kind of person I'm. 28:40 You know, I mean I don't like myself 28:42 but at least the Lord's grace just covers me 28:44 and I'm safe, you know. 28:45 So I, so I know this we're all fighting 28:47 a loosing battle anyway. 28:48 I'm just gonna throw in the towel and, 28:49 you know, when Jesus comes then I'll be translated. 28:51 Right. You know, that's not the way it is. 28:53 Not the way it works. No. 28:54 So it's got an appeal to it, 28:56 but very deceptive appeal to it. 28:58 And it makes God look good, you know, 29:00 kind of oh, yeah, sure His grace covers you. 29:02 He is so taller. Yeah. 29:03 He is so taller, He is so loving, 29:04 you know, but that's not. 29:06 It sounds good, but the end is really... 29:08 its corrupting ourselves really. 29:10 You know, I feel almost prompt you right now 29:12 to just kind of make an appeal 29:13 because I know some out there might be experiencing 29:16 that defeat everyday. 29:17 You know, the enemy has beat me up 29:20 everyday with this one sin. 29:22 You know, whether it be a lifestyle issue 29:24 or whether it be, you know, immoral issue or something, 29:29 you know, that I know God doesn't want this in my life, 29:31 but I've been beat up with it everyday 29:32 and I'm just at the point of giving up. 29:34 Why hasn't God delivered me, I prayed for it? 29:36 You know, I just want to encourage you 29:38 in the morning there are few steps to go through 29:41 in the process of re-establishing 29:44 that connection with God 29:46 and we talked about some of them already. 29:47 We talked about dying to self 29:50 and in the first part of dying to self 29:52 is not stepping out and going throughout the day 29:54 without spending time with Christ. 29:55 Dying to self is, I'm gonna set myself down 29:58 and I'm gonna spend time in the word 29:59 with my God, my Savior. 30:02 Setting your life, your will, your way aside 30:05 and allowing Him to come in 30:06 and ask for the Holy Spirit 30:07 to fill you with strength with power. 30:10 Ask for the grace of God to renew its part, 30:14 or its peace, its element within that salvation 30:18 experience that God promised you from the beginning. 30:21 Don't see it as a one time event. 30:23 Allow the grace to have that full impact 30:26 in your life again, in fact, each and every day. 30:28 And ask Christ to fill you with His spirit 30:31 which brings Christ into your life 30:33 and put Him at the helm of you ship. 30:36 Put Him in the driver seat of your car 30:41 and ask Him to do the driving that day. 30:43 Because as you do that and you're walking daily 30:46 with Christ in the spirit, 30:47 that's when the temptations come. 30:49 He gives you the power at the moment to overcome it. 30:52 You don't receive power 30:54 at the moment the temptation comes. 30:56 You receive power at the beginning of the day 30:58 that carries you through the temptations. 31:00 So your battery being charged. 31:02 You know, it's got to be charged, 31:04 if it's not charged and you go to get those 31:05 jumper cables to maybe jump to another battery, 31:08 it's not gonna work. Right. 31:09 How long will a quick dollar of gas 31:12 in your gas tank take you? Exactly. 31:14 It'll take you an hour, but, you know, 31:16 the tempter keeps coming, you need a full tank 31:18 at the beginning of the day. 31:19 And here's another for those who are discouraged 31:21 like you're addressing. Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 7, 31:25 but to each one of us grace was given 31:28 according to the measure of Christ's gift. 31:32 To each one of us. 31:33 And His grace has been given to everybody. 31:35 Grace has been given to you 31:37 according to the measure of Christ's gift. 31:39 And what was the measure of Christ gift? 31:41 Infinite! Infinite, you know. 31:44 But it's a gift, you know, like you said 31:46 think of it as a gift every morning, 31:48 you got to think it. That's right. 31:49 And you got to reach out and take it, 31:51 you know, and spend time with the Lord 31:52 and thank Him for it. Yeah. 31:54 Hart, you know, maybe we've been fearful, 31:58 we haven't understood grace in this way 31:59 and we haven't prayed pour out 32:00 Your grace upon me today. 32:02 You know, this is why the new meaning, 32:04 new meaning, it's an old meaning but it needs 32:06 to comeback to the forefront again, the power of grace, 32:08 this is where it comes into play. 32:09 Lord, I need your grace today, 32:11 pour out your grace and harmony throughout day 32:13 with whatever I need. 32:14 Also like you said, I think in one other, 32:16 I think in the last program maybe before... 32:18 that we sometimes focus so much on the mercy 32:19 and we forget about the empowering aspect of grace. 32:22 You know, wake up in the morning Bible says, 32:24 His mercies are new every morning. 32:25 Thank you for your mercy. 32:26 But more than your mercy Lord, I want power, 32:28 I need your grace. I need your grace. 32:30 because I know you're merciful. 32:32 And I wouldn't be here today if you weren't merciful, 32:34 but I want power to overcome, 32:36 you know, the things in my life. 32:37 I want power to live the Christian life. 32:39 I want power to be a benevolent person 32:43 to someone or to have a kind word... 32:45 Giving heart. giving heart, absolutely. 32:47 You know, just to recap from those 32:49 who may have missed the last program. 32:51 Grace, we defined as receiving something 32:54 that we don't deserve. Mercy as not receiving 32:58 something that we do deserve. Right. 33:00 So mercy is God giving it to us, 33:03 giving something to us, power, strength, 33:05 a blessing, whatever it is. 33:07 We don't deserve it, but He still gives it to us. 33:09 Mercy is He doesn't judge us, He doesn't condemn, 33:12 He gives us opportunity to walk with Him 33:15 and to be created a new. Right. 33:17 And so that is the mercy of God. 33:19 And so that's the difference we talked about last time, 33:22 I'm not sure we recap that. 33:23 But let me read a verse here, 33:24 Kevin, as we could as go forward from Romans 1 33:27 and I think you almost got there in your, 33:29 or maybe little passage actually in Romans 1 33:31 where you quoted from. Romans 1 verse 5 says, 33:34 Through Him we received grace 33:37 and apostleship for what, for obedience to the faith. 33:41 So grace is given to us 33:44 so that we might obey our faith. 33:47 The faith that we've began in our relationship 33:50 in our walk with Christ. Right, exactly. 33:52 So grace is there to give us power 33:54 and strength to obey. All right, now let me share 33:58 something here to kind of take this 34:00 to kind of a next step. I've a friend of mine 34:02 and he is doing a lot of studying and experimenting. 34:08 He works for a company, I won't name the company 34:10 to kind of put him on the spot, 34:11 but he works for a company that does 34:12 a lot of research in the area of soy. 34:15 And as you know Adventist have been big on soy 34:18 for a long time, you know. 34:20 And, so there are definitely some health benefits 34:22 in eating a healthy lifestyle that include soy. 34:26 Too much soy is not good, but a level of soy provides 34:29 protein that we need for our life. 34:30 So anyway he is doing the, his company is doing 34:33 research on this, and they've blow down 34:38 to what they believe they found 34:40 which is the mechanism of action, so to speak. 34:43 The thing that provides the active agent 34:46 for the health benefits we receive in soy 34:50 and that active agent is called lunasin. 34:54 And you may heard, hear of this in the future coming 34:56 from this company. Anyway it's called lunasin, 34:59 so they are trying to extract or create beans 35:03 and even flower from the soybeans 35:05 that have high levels of lunasin 35:07 that provide more of a benefit, 35:10 that provides also the active agent for health. Right. 35:13 And so in doing this, you know, 35:15 as I was thinking about this. 35:17 I thought, you know, they considered this text 35:21 Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 there and 10 included. 35:25 For by grace we've been saved through faith. 35:29 And I thought wait a minute. 35:30 Faith is really so to speak the mechanism of action. 35:34 The activating agent for grace. Right. 35:37 so when we engage our faith which is active. 35:40 We put our faith in trusting God praying for His grace 35:44 that activates God in moving His heart 35:47 toward us to give us, bestow upon us His grace. 35:51 So several times I know that Jesus said 35:54 your faith has healed you, you faith has made you well. 35:58 Or when they couldn't cast out the demon, 36:00 you didn't have enough faith. 36:03 Faith was this activating agent that often 36:05 we don't want to exercise. 36:07 We're trying to do ourselves, but we need 36:09 to exercise the faith that God has given. 36:11 Now, I like the way you put it, 36:13 everyone is given a measure of it. 36:14 You've got faith, right, you need to exercise it. 36:17 And as you exercise it, that mechanism of action 36:21 that moves the hand of God, your faith will grow. 36:25 That's why I lik Hebrews 11:6, it says, 36:28 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, 36:31 for he who come to God must believe 36:33 that He exists. But not just that 36:35 but that He is a rewarder of those 36:38 who diligently seek Him. 36:39 If you are diligently seeking God, 36:41 then you're certainly number one, 36:42 you obviously have to believe He exists. 36:44 But when you're actively exercising in those 36:47 faith muscles we want to use that term, 36:49 God will reward that and that's the beauty of faith, 36:52 you know, and obviously Jesus said 36:54 if anyone has faith as a mustard seed 36:55 and in fact, it was relevant to the story of the disciples 36:58 that couldn't cast out the demon out of that boy. 37:01 When you think of a mustard seed, 37:03 some will say the size of mustard seed, 37:06 but I think Jesus says as a mustard seed. 37:08 Look at the conditions in which a mustard seed grows 37:11 or any seed for that matter, right. 37:13 Dark, dirty, damp, cold, it's uncomfortable, yes. 37:16 But, yet those are the very conditions in which 37:18 life springs out, you know, 37:20 where that seed will flourish. 37:22 And so if in those conditions we can flourish in Christ, 37:26 that's what is faith, yeah, you know. 37:28 You know, you really opened 37:31 just a whole huge thing for me. 37:33 When you quoted that verse because 37:35 without faith it's impossible to please Him, 37:37 but those who do exercise faith, He rewards. 37:41 You know, we talked, we already defined grace 37:43 as being the favor of God bestowed upon us, 37:47 that includes reward. 37:50 So whether it be a blessing that comes, 37:52 whether it be strength, that's a blessing. 37:54 But those are also a reward of faith. 37:58 Right, Exactly. 37:59 So faith comes first to activate to move 38:01 the hand of God that blesses, that rewards us. 38:05 And that reward is often times grace 38:08 in our life, you know. 38:10 Yeah, praise the Lord. You know, and that's 38:13 what a great way to think about our experience 38:15 of salvation today on this earth. 38:17 We're experiencing the rewards of heaven early. 38:22 We don't have to wait for the rewards 38:23 of the kingdom to come, but we can be rewarded 38:27 or experience those rewards even today 38:29 as we live and walk in Christ. 38:31 And that's what makes the Christian walk so enjoyable. 38:33 You know, we don't have to walk with our heads down, 38:35 moping and groping in this world. 38:36 We're not left unto ourselves. 38:38 You know, we serve a God who loves us, 38:40 who cares for us, who said He will never leave us 38:42 nor forsake us, and He has provided grace for us. 38:45 So every time a circumstance arise, 38:47 a challenge put it that way, 38:48 in our life we're not left alone. 38:50 God will provide grace and it's a joy knowing that, 38:54 you know. It's a joy knowing that when, 38:57 you know, the sum total of your income 39:02 does not equal the sum total of your out going bills. 39:07 That's right, that's right. 39:08 That God still has grace. 39:09 You know, He hasn't left us or forsaken us. 39:12 That's nice though we can ask for that 39:13 and we can certainly believe that He will give it to us. 39:15 Yeah, you know, I think day by day 39:17 as we experience the grace of God in our lives, 39:20 He is doing something in us. He is getting us ready. 39:22 I know that one in the recent program, 39:25 I think part one of this we had a question about 39:30 what's the importance of knowing 39:32 that Christ is in the most holy verses holy, 39:36 His transition from one of the next 39:38 and how that the most Holy is involving 39:40 the cleansing of sin, the putting away of sin, 39:43 the purifying of sin. 39:45 Well, the Bible in the New Testament 39:47 not only in the Book of Hebrews it supports that, 39:50 it tested that as we grow in Christ, 39:52 as we walk in Christ and He bestows 39:55 that grace upon us. He is doing it for a reason, 39:57 He is doing it to cleanse us, to purify us. 40:00 And so I'm gonna read Titus Chapter 2 verses 11 to 14 40:05 and let's see how this text might jump 40:08 out of this more than maybe it had before 40:10 understanding grace in this way. 40:12 You know, it's been power and strength from God, 40:14 in a way that purifies and cleanses us 40:17 in preparation for Christ return. 40:19 Titus Chapter 2 verse 11, 40:22 "For the grace of God that brings salvation 40:25 has appeared to all men. 40:28 Teaching us, notice grace teaches us, 40:33 it teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts 40:37 we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, 40:40 in this present age looking for the blessed hope, 40:43 and glorious appearing of our great God 40:46 and our Savior Jesus Christ; 40:47 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us 40:50 from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself 40:54 His own special people, zealous for good works." 40:58 You see the consequences then of grace. 41:00 Grace is appeared to all men, a clear statement God is there, 41:03 prepared His grace is poured out upon men. 41:06 We can't partake of that grace. 41:08 In the end of it the verse says 41:09 His own special people I think, yeah. 41:13 His people should be a reflection of Himself. 41:16 Just like usually a son is a reflection of the father 41:19 in most cases, you know. 41:21 If we're Christs', if we call God our father 41:26 and Christ our Lord, shouldn't there be some resemblance, 41:30 you know, what I mean. Absolutely. 41:31 I mean it's undeniable, 41:32 it's all throughout the New Testament. 41:34 His people have always been chosen throughout time 41:36 to exemplify His character and to do His works. 41:40 That's why His works are prepared before hand. 41:42 We keeps coming back to that Ephesians 2:10. 41:44 So this, you see this progression of the grace of God 41:47 appearing to all men teaching us 41:50 to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. 41:53 In other words, it's not, now I've been saved I can, 41:56 I'm not accountable to God for keeping His law 41:59 and doing things that he should. 42:00 No, this verse is quiet the opposite. 42:02 I've received the grace of God, 42:04 He pours out that grace on me, 42:05 so that I might resist and not allow myself 42:09 to be corrupted again to fall back into the old way of life. 42:12 To live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. 42:16 And I'll tell you there has never been an age 42:18 as there is today where God's grace is so needed in that, 42:24 it is exemplified. 42:26 It is revealed in our works, in who we are, 42:28 in our character we show who God is. 42:31 We show who God is through our relationship with Him 42:34 and especially in our relationship with each other. 42:37 You know, Jesus said by this all men will know that 42:40 you're my disciples, if you have love for one another. 42:44 There should certainly be a, 42:45 obviously a vertical relationship, right, 42:48 indicate and an expression of that relationship 42:51 should be seen in our life and actions. 42:53 But there is also a horizontal relationship 42:55 between us and our fellow men. 42:57 That should also reflect that ultimate relationship 43:01 we have with Christ. 43:02 So how does grace, 43:04 if we are recipients of grace is there a way that we can, 43:07 you know, give grace to others 43:09 I guess if you want to put there some. 43:11 Yeah, absolute. You know, one of the things 43:12 that I think about, you know, you commented love. 43:14 You know, elsewhere in scripture 43:16 I'm not remembering exactly what verse it is, 43:18 but it talks about that the love of God 43:19 is poured into our hearts. 43:21 We need, we can't love, 43:25 you cannot conjure up a godly love 43:27 unconditional love for your fellow man. 43:29 No, because we're selfish by nature. 43:31 Yeah, probably the closest thing to I would say 43:33 if you wanted to conjure it up would be 43:34 when a parent has love for his child. 43:37 But that even can vain over time 43:39 because if a child becomes disobedient, disrespectful, 43:42 you can kind of loose that experience at times. 43:46 But there is always that attachment. 43:47 But God wants to pour that love into our heart 43:50 for all mankind and He does that by His grace. 43:53 So even grace is tied to our change, 43:57 the change, the love change that happens within us. 44:01 When you say Lord pour out your love into me, 44:03 because I don't have that love that you have. 44:05 You're saying by your grace give me your love. 44:10 You know, make me more loving because I don't have it. 44:13 And people like that, you know. 44:15 Nobody would deny the fact that people are attracted 44:19 to other people who are very loving and kind, yes. 44:22 And we don't see lot of that this day and age. 44:24 We see, we live in a world where people are, 44:27 I guess I use the term blood thirsty, you know. 44:31 Recently there was a huge trial 44:33 that got national attention with a young lady. 44:35 She was acquitted from the charges 44:38 she was made and people were angry. 44:40 You know, they were just upset, there was riots, 44:43 there was picketing injustice. 44:44 First thing for justice, but if that were their own child 44:48 they wouldn't want justice, would they. 44:50 You know, so we need to see grace and mercy. 44:54 Which is why we entrust in Lord and say vengeance is mine ..., 44:57 exactly, I will repay says the Lord. 45:00 You know, here's another text along the lines of grace, 45:02 purifying us and creating good works. 45:06 Second Corinthians 9 verse 8 45:09 says, "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you." 45:15 Notice that, not just a single event 45:17 but all grace abound toward you 45:20 that you always having all sufficiency in all things 45:26 may have an abundance for every good work. 45:29 So the grace will abound towards us from God 45:32 that we've sufficiency and in abundance 45:35 to create or to generate good works in us. 45:38 So that's the case. 45:39 If His grace creates good works through in us, 45:42 who is doing the good works? 45:44 God of course is doing the good work. 45:45 So when someone says to you, Kevin, 45:48 well, you and the Sabbath thing, 45:51 that's just legalism, you know, 45:54 having to rest on the Sabbath, 45:56 saying that's how the day not working, 45:58 you know, that's just legalism. 46:01 Your response then could be, no it's God's grace, 46:04 being poured out upon me generating the desire 46:08 within my heart to love Him, 46:10 to please Him and to obey Him. 46:12 Sure. And these are one of the works 46:14 that's I do to obey Him. 46:15 It's as I chose not to murder, 46:19 I chose not to steal, I chose not to lie. 46:22 Those are commandments. 46:23 I chose not to break the seventh day Sabbath. 46:26 Which is why David said, 46:27 "Great peace have they which love thy law." 46:30 Who doesn't want peace. that's right. 46:31 You know, it's a beautiful thing. 46:33 Amen. But people see it as, 46:35 you're right people see it as legalism. Right. 46:37 amidst of rules, you know, 46:38 but no, this is an enjoyment. 46:40 This is the grace of God living through them 46:42 that generates these good works 46:43 and when you call them legalism 46:45 what do you doing in fact. Right. 46:46 You're calling God working through somebody a legalist. 46:50 I mean, you're taking God not this person in that. 46:53 We have to be careful of that as well 46:55 because we don't know the motives of the heart. 46:58 All right, you know, there is something 47:00 that also I wanted to kind of conclude our topic 47:04 with today that is closely tied to grace. 47:08 That is so necessary and important 47:09 for us to understand. And that is the difference 47:12 between the two things that the spirit brings to us. 47:16 The two things given to the Church 47:18 that directly come as a result of the spirit's working. 47:22 Because anything the spirit does 47:24 is because of God's grace. 47:25 Because the spirit coming to us to do something for us 47:29 that we don't deserve is God's grace. 47:32 It is that simple to understand. 47:35 The Spirit of God brings two things. 47:37 Number one He brings fruit. 47:40 The fruit of the spirit are found there 47:42 in Galatians 5:22 and 23 and you see that fruit 47:45 involves in inward change. Inward change of our life 47:48 the way we think, the way we act, 47:50 those are the things that the spirit 47:53 then does within us by God's grace. 47:56 But there is something else. 47:57 There are gifts of the spirit. 48:00 And those gifts are given for the identification 48:02 of the Church, for the moving of the Church 48:04 forward in its work of ministry 48:06 and that is also by God's grace 48:09 and by the work of the Holy Spirit. 48:12 So in many respects, in these two things 48:14 no matter which one they are, 48:16 the Holy Spirit is the vehicle 48:18 by which God's grace is bestowed. 48:22 So we pray that God would pull out His grace upon us, 48:24 but what we really praying is that 48:25 the Holy Spirit would work. 48:27 True. Work through us. 48:29 Work through us. So He is... 48:31 in fact, the first thing, I mentioned fruit first 48:33 because that's the most important. 48:34 He changes us from within so He works in us first 48:38 and then He imparts gifts to us as He changes us 48:43 so that He might work through us. 48:45 Exactly. These two things 48:49 should not be confused or merged together. 48:51 And here's where I want kind of admonish 48:53 the church out there. If someone is saying 48:57 and I've had this happened before as a pastor, 48:58 well, you know pastor, I witness because 49:02 I just am Christ like. And God changes me 49:07 from within and people see that and they say, 49:08 you know, you're a different person. 49:10 And I say praise the Lord. 49:11 You know, first step encourage them. 49:14 God does change us that is the witness. 49:17 But God has also given us a voice, 49:20 He has given us hands and feet, 49:22 He has given us things that we can use, 49:26 our bodies that we can be used by Him to bestow 49:29 blessing upon others. Right. 49:31 And that is in the form of gifts. 49:34 So He changes us, gives us fruit 49:37 and He bestows gifts upon the Church, 49:39 upon us as individuals. We all have at least one 49:42 that God will ask us to use for Him 49:44 for the work of ministry, for the reaching of the world 49:48 with everlasting Gospel. 49:49 And that is not just preaching with our mouth, 49:53 there is a gift of preaching, there is a gift of pastoring. 49:55 There is a gift of teaching. 49:56 But it also involves the gift of hospitality, 49:59 the gift of helping others, the gift of giving, 50:02 the gift of encouraging words. 50:04 All these gifts are part of God's grace manifested to us 50:08 through the work of that Holy Spirit. 50:10 And you may be going to that verse right 50:12 because it's almost kind of what you're saying 50:14 Romans 12 verses 6-10 says, 50:18 "having then gifts differing according to the grace 50:22 that is given to us, let us use them, right. 50:25 And into the prophecy, let us prophecy proportion 50:28 to our faith, ministry let us minister." 50:30 We have seen there is stuff more then this 50:31 and, of course, you find that in verse 8. 50:33 "He who exhorts, in his exhortation; 50:34 he who gives, with liberality; 50:37 he who leads, with diligence; 50:38 he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." 50:40 And then verse 9, 50:41 "let love be without hypocrisy. 50:42 Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." 50:44 Then I go to verse 10, sorry, 50:46 "be kindly affectionate to one to another." 50:49 this is all in the same context of the gift, 50:50 the gift of grace, affectionate to one another 50:53 with brotherly love and honor giving preference 50:57 to one another. You know... 51:00 Which verse, tell me which verse you are at? 51:01 Oh, I'm sorry verse 10. Romans 12 verse 10. 51:04 Okay. I just wrapped it up. 51:05 "Be kindly affectionate to one to another." 51:08 Grace empowers us like you said should create 51:11 a change with in us. And then you've got 51:13 the grace that has given to us different gifts 51:16 but we're to use those gifts like you're talking 51:19 about for the up building of the body of Christ 51:21 which is the Church. Amen. 51:23 More simply put a relationship 51:24 with one another, you know. 51:27 The verse you had is not actually in the thing here. 51:29 It was not okay. I'm gonna add it 51:31 so that's a really good one. Yeah, sure. 51:32 But thinking about grace, you know, having the gifts. 51:34 Talking about having the gifts given to people 51:36 according to the grace given to you. 51:39 Well, clearly the connection of grace 51:41 there to gifts and everything we do as ministers 51:43 for Christ is part of the experience 51:46 we have in our walk with Him. 51:49 Again back to that, walks He prepared be, 51:51 works He prepared be for Him 51:52 that we should walk in them. 51:54 Exactly. So it's not by grace that we've been saved, 51:56 past tense saved once and for all but save in, you know. 52:03 Amen. You know, these things are so, 52:07 they all tied together, don't they? They do. 52:08 I mean grace and works and food and gifts and faith, 52:14 the activating agent for all of these things 52:17 and then knowing that this grace is beyond 52:19 just the free gift of salvation given to us. 52:21 Once you receive this and you start to read 52:23 the scriptures especially New Testament 52:25 where it talks a lot about grace, 52:26 it expands your knowledge of God 52:29 and His love for you and His plan 52:31 and His will for your life in calling you to ministry. 52:35 Sure. And this activity I speak of, 52:36 you ought to do words study on grace 52:38 you would find the concordance tons of uses of the word 52:42 Grace in the New Testament. I mean it's everywhere 52:44 Amen. And it's a beautiful thing. 52:46 It is such a critical component of our salvation 52:50 experience, you know, because it affects 52:53 everything about who we are. 52:55 I shared a sermon along these lines. 52:58 I spoke about, mentioned that recently, 53:00 it's "The Gift That Keeps On Giving" 53:01 which is great title. 53:03 "The Gift That Keeps On Giving." 53:04 Right, sure. 53:05 I preached this message and it was, 53:06 you know, before fairly large audience 53:09 and several came up to me afterwards 53:11 and these are Adventist Christians 53:13 who know their scriptures 53:15 and they said never heard it before. 53:18 Never saw it in my life, how did I miss that. 53:22 I got to go back and study Grace again. 53:24 And this wasn't just one or two. 53:25 I mean, five, six, seven, ten times I heard this. 53:28 Even from pastors. I'm gonna go back and learn. 53:32 That gives me some kind of go looking 53:34 and talk about Grace for. 53:35 We sometimes think that we need to find ways 53:37 to talk about the grace of God, 53:39 and I think we get dumbfounded 53:41 for how to expand that 53:43 because we have reduced grace to being this 53:46 one time salvation event or a merited favor. 53:49 When there is so much more in there about grace 53:52 and I hope and pray that our listeners 53:55 and our viewers today are being impacted 53:56 by that because it impacted my life. 53:58 It changed my life once I saw this in the Word of God, 54:02 it just means so much more to me now 54:04 God's grace than when I've heard it before. 54:07 Yeah, beautiful and really is. 54:09 You know, one thing I like to end on just maybe really quick 54:11 because we talked about it a couple of times 54:14 before this thing about, once saved always saved. 54:17 You know, the grace of God saved me, 54:19 and it's one of the times that, 54:20 one of the things I struggled with this term God saved. 54:24 You know, God saved, it's almost like got milk, right. 54:27 You know, it becomes trivial. 54:29 Well people throw that around there a lot 54:31 and to me I say I've been saved or I've got saved, 54:36 I got saved, but I'm being saved everyday by God's grace. 54:41 It's an ongoing salvation experience. 54:44 I've always been little bit worry about that, that seemed... 54:45 Yeah. I would say I met Christ at this time, 54:49 or I was saved. Yeah, yeah. 54:52 But I bring this out because this doctrine is out there. 54:55 You know, "once saved always saved." 54:56 I refer to it is the doctrine of insecurity. 55:00 And I refer it to insecurity using insecurity 55:03 because it usually raises an eyebrow 55:04 because people believe that this doctrine helps 55:07 to give them security. 55:09 And the question is always asked and I ask this of some, 55:14 so you're saying that a person is being saved 55:16 and goes back to the old lifestyle of murdering 55:18 and drinking and smoking and all the stuff, so they're saved. 55:21 Well no, and the answer always is, 55:25 they were never really saved in the first one. 55:27 You know, they didn't really get the gift of salvation. 55:30 My question right there is then how do you know yourself? 55:34 Did you say the right words? 55:35 Did you had the right experience? 55:38 And if you start to get into those things 55:39 or you thinking in your mind maybe I'm, 55:41 you know, maybe I'm not saved. 55:43 You see, I know I'm saved biblically 55:46 because I'm walking in the newness of life with Christ. 55:49 Exactly. If I fall away from Christ 55:51 and I get into the life of sin again 55:53 I know I need to repent and comeback to Christ 55:55 and He will save me. 55:56 But I'm not constantly thinking 55:58 am I in or out right now. 55:59 Did I receive the saving grace of God 56:02 when I asked to be saved or did I not? 56:04 Right. And now you'll understand 56:05 why it is the doctrine of insecurity... of insecurity, 56:07 true nothing secure about that at all. 56:08 Right, did I do it right, you know, and there is people 56:10 running around thinking well my life doesn't show 56:12 that I've been saved but, 56:13 you know, they tell me I got saved. 56:15 Right, how do you know? 56:16 What's the marker, you know. 56:18 And it's this moving target and it is so, 56:21 it breeds insecurity. 56:23 And so I just want to encourage our friends out there that, 56:27 that doctrine not only it is not a biblical doctrine 56:30 but it does exactly the opposite of what they say it will do. 56:33 It breeds insecurity... 56:35 Which really breads further rebellion if you think about it. 56:38 Because if you're not secure about 56:39 how the Lord feels about you, 56:41 if you're not secure in your salvation experience 56:42 with Him it is discouraging. 56:45 And the more you get discouraged the more you give up. 56:47 The more you give up, the more you get into, 56:49 you know, you really been in deeper ways. 56:51 So... And where is worthless rags, 56:53 I mean our lives are as worthless rags 56:55 but we're not worthless to Christ. 56:59 He paid the ultimate price for us. 57:01 And friends He paid the ultimate price for you 57:04 and He offers you the gift of His grace through faith, 57:09 salvation from your sins and then offers, 57:12 makes that offer continuingly through His grace, 57:15 through His Holy Spirit imported to you to give you power 57:18 and strength to live the life that Christ is giving you 57:22 from this day forward to walk in the newness of life 57:25 and harmony with His way and His precepts. 57:28 We want to encourage you in that walk today asking you 57:31 for the grace of Christ in your life. 57:33 God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17