The Age of Grace

 

 

1 CORINTHIANS 16:23

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

The age of grace began at the cross of Jesus Christ. Until then, a strict adherent faithfulness to the laws of God had to be met: with a love for God in their hearts and an expectant longing for His Savior, Whom He had promised several times over would arrive and reign on David's throne. 

But what is grace? And why do we need it? 

Grace is the extension of God's love toward mankind because He wants to be near us. We need His grace because without it we cannot enter His eternal dwelling place, nor can we stand in His holy presence. 

How do we get this wonderful grace which has been proffered to us?

Through Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son; Who obediently suffered and died for sinners everywhere and in every time period. Ephesians 2:8 tells us, "It is by grace you have been saved, it is The Gift of God." We didn't earn this grace: it is freely given to all who put their faith in The Name of Jesus Christ for their salvation. It is saving grace and Christ Jesus is the only way to obtain it. 

God's grace will not end until after the millennial reign which Christ will set up at the end of the tribulation years. Sin will still exist, as well as death. For Isaiah says, " No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed." 

It is amazing to me that when Christ is on His throne during that time, that people will not only see His loving face and hear His beautiful voice, but will choose to believe that He is not The Only Begotten Son of God and live their lives without Him in it. They will have the same opportunities you and I have now, except for one thing: the churches will be gone. 

And my heart is sad and burdened, even now, for the people in this day and age who choose to disbelieve The Written Word of God, who deny His existence and, again, prefer to live their lives without Him in it. 

Please don't be one of those people who lives without Christ. Come to Jesus. And enjoy a close, personal relationship like you've never experienced before. 

JUST AS I AM (I COME BROKEN) - Travis Cottrell 

LIVE IN ME, JESUS - Calvin B. Rhone 

COME TO THE ALTAR - Elevation Worship

Pardoned & Sanctified

 

Psalm 32:1

A psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Maschil: an instructive, didactic poem (didactic: intended to teach moral instruction)

Transgression: breach of trust, rebellion

Forgiven: to lift, carry, take away

Sin: *from the ATS Bible Dictionary* Any thought, word, desire, action, or omission of action, contrary to the law of God, or defective when compared with it.  Contrary to the nature, worship, love, and service to God. Ungodliness, iniquity/unrighteousness. In Genesis it is referred to as "the flesh". 

Covered: to cover over as to not be seen again, to clothe

    When we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, our sins are forgiven, for the blood of God's perfect Lamb, which was shed on the cross, covers our sinful nature--through the power of God's Holy Spirit--and clothes our souls with the righteous nature of Christ Jesus. 

    Romans 13:14 But put on The Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. 

    Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 

    Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of The Father, we, too, may walk in newness of life. 

    Which brings us to being sanctified. In his letter to the believers' church in Rome, Paul was giving his references, his qualifications, for being the one who would bring the gospel message to the Gentiles--the non-Jews--ethnicities unrelated to the Hebrew culture.

Romans 15:16 ..to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by The Holy Spirit. 

Sanctified: made holy, consecrated, set apart, dedicated, hallowed, to separate

    It is the work of The Holy Spirit in us to make us holy. It is our job to listen to Him and obey The Voice of God when He speaks to us. And God does speak to us. In His written Word and in the nudgings of His Spirit within us. In prophetic tongues through His people God reveals Himself. The Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us in God's Word on a daily basis, when we read what the prophets and the apostles have written thousands of years past. We just need to believe that God's Word is True and Faithful. 

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS - Alan Jackson 

WORD OF GOD SPEAK - MercyMe

    

  

God's Faithfulness and Love Are Enduring

 

Psalm 36:5 

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies."

Psalm 57:10
"For Your loving devotion reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness to the clouds."
Psalm 103:11
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him."
Jeremiah 9:24
"But let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am The LORD, Who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth--for I delight in these things," declares The LORD."

 

I LIFT MY EYES - Kristyn Getty/Jordan Kauflin/Matt Merkel

Psalm 121:1
"I lift up my eyes unto the hills, where my Help comes from."
Hebrews 13:5-6
"Let your conversation (character and lifestyle) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for He has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you.'

So that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.'

  

GOODNESS OF GOD - Bethel Music

Who Encourages The Encouragers?

 

1 Samuel 30:6

 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David encouraged himself in The LORD his God. 

    When everyone is against you, even the people you have surrounded yourself with, there is no better place to receive encouragement than from The Lord your God.

     Things go wrong and sometimes people need someone to blame, to hold accountable. These are the times we need to seek God's face and His presence. We run to The Father and He wraps His wings of mercy around us, sheltering us from the storms of criticisms, vitriolic language and persecutions. 

    At times, it may feel as if we have fallen into some deep pit, and we cry out to God; whereupon He reaches down and picks us up, holding us in His hands; holding us upright and strengthening us with Himself and His Word and His Spirit. Many are the days when a body feels as if it has fallen into a never ending abyss; God reaches way, way down and lays hold of us, cradling us in the palm of His hand. There is nowhere we go that God cannot reach us, when we cry out to Him. 

    Crying out to God is necessary to activate God's hand and Word in our lives and our hearts. Salvation is made in us when we believe and confess (out loud) that Jesus Christ is Lord. We must open up our hearts and speak aloud The Word of God to God in our hearing, where possible. I am aware that some folks cannot speak, or speak well, nor can some hear with their ears. But we can read The Word and The Holy Spirit will apply it to our open, listening hearts. 

    What is another way we encourage ourselves in our Lord? Prayer. Prayer with our God is the most vital form of communication we have. He is, after all, our heavenly Father and desires to hear from His children daily. He wants to meet our needs and grant us the desires of our hearts. He longs to spend quality, family time with us. We need to embrace Him and all that He has for us, is for us. 

    We encourage ourselves in The Lord, when we sing songs that glorify God; songs that lift up His Name; hymns and psalms that speak Scripture into us when we sing or read them. Music is vital to me. Ever since I got baptized in The Spirit during a revival, I cannot help but sing: even in my frail, sometimes failing voice, I will sing as long as I have breath to sing. 

    We encourage ourselves in The Lord when we encourage each other in The Lord. In 1 Samuel 23:16, Jonathan came to David and encouraged him in God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul encourages the church in Thessalonica, writing that they are to encourage each other and build each other up, edifying one another in The Lord. 

    To be encouraged in The Lord is to be strengthened and made firm/steadfast in The Lord. It is to hear The Word via The Spirit and set our faces like stone, immovable in our faith, unwavering in our belief. We will be called haters, stubborn, intolerable. And we will be hated. We will be, and currently around the world some of us are, beaten, tortured, jailed, killed. Our children may be taken from us or they may turn us in to the authorities. Families are divided and sometimes one's own family will do the killing. This Christian life is a tough life, but so worth the journey. 

Psalm 18:2

The LORD is My Rock, My Fortress, and My Deliverer. My God is My Rock, in Whom I take Refuge, My Shield, and The Horn of My Salvation, My Stronghold. 

Jude 1:20, 21

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in The Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

Statements of Faith - Grafted Into The Vine

 

JOHN 15:1-8

I am The True Vine, and My Father is The Husbandman (Vinedresser: worker of the soil, farmer). Every branch in Me that bears no fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges (cleanses, prunes) it, that it may bear more fruit.

Now you are clean through The Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in Me. 

I am The Vine, you are the branches: he that abides in Me, and I in him, will bring forth much fruit: for without Me, you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and withers; and men gather them,  and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples. 

    My prayer after studying this out is, "Lord, make me more fruitful.", knowing full well that having a more fruitful life sets God's hands in motion to prune from my life that which is not fruit-bearing. I asked for this because I feel unfruitful. There are days I feel useless and discarded. I don't feel fruitful at all. Am I where God wants me to be so that He can use me efficiently and effectively?

    My prayer life is vital to my fruitfulness: it is the rain and the sun on my fields. My Bible study time is vital to my fruitfulness: it is the Seed that gets planted in my fields. My social life is vital to my fruitfulness: it is the companionship of working side by side in my fields. What fields are these? The fields which are ripe unto harvest: the fields of souls who are searching for something to satisfy their hunger and thirst for Truth. 

    I live in Christ. I am able to live in Him because He lives in me. How is this possible? By faith in His Name for my salvation. His Name is Savior, Redeemer, Reconciler. His Name is Faithful and True. His Name is Living Water and Fountain of Life. His Name is Bread of Life and Mana From Heaven. 

    He satisfies the hunger of my soul. He slakes the thirst of my soul. He saved my soul when He died on the cross. He gave my soul new life, when He conquered death and walked out of the grave. He leads me, He feeds me, He strengthens me. In Him I am found and in me He shines His Light and His Love all through me and out of me, that all may see that Christ is alive in me. I am renewed in Him and now, I am strong again. 

    I am being made more fruitful even as I write this. And it is good to be in The True Vine where The Father can work on me with His loving hands, removing dead weight and giving my branch more bounce to carry sweeter fruit.