Part 3 of our Grace and Favour series this morning in church. Paul Benger spoke a great message on “Finding Grace”.
2 Timothy 2:1 – “…be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”
Grace = Supernatural enabling
His grace is sufficient for you. He delivers us out of or through difficult times but whatever way he does it his grace is sufficient.
Hebrews 4:14-16 – Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
This is the great news...Christ has won the victory. He’s been through it all…triumphed for you and me so that we could find grace today.
Three things taken from these verses that help us to live...
1) Keep Your Confession
...let us hold firmly to the faith we profess
What we say is more important than what we think it is. Our words are very powerful. Yes be truthful, be real, but good confession is vital for our lives.
We’re prophesying about our lives, we’re writing the script of our future.
Hebrews 10:23 – Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful
We believe in a faithful God. He’s faithful to his word. He’s faithful to his people.
Psalm 45:1 – My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer
What is the theme of our heart? Whatever the theme is it will come out. Is our theme confidence in God?
We might say we can’t see a way out of our difficult situation...but with God you can – he will bring you through!
Hold fast to you confession of God’s word...what he says about you. You are shaped by God, a people of destiny.
Our confession - so often it is the first thing that goes when trouble hits us.
2) Let Us Draw Near
...Let us then approach the throne of grace (draw near)
Our natural reaction is to draw back when trouble comes. We pull away. Put yourself on the front foot - don’t draw back but draw near.
It is a throne of grace not a throne of judgement. There is enough grace in Jesus for you.
Also, draw near to the people of God. Don’t go into isolation. When challenge comes don’t draw back from the people of God. How many would be fulfilling their destiny today had they not drawn back when the challenges came?
3) Let Us Have Confidence
...Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence
We can be confident as we approach God today. He is for us, he wants the best for us. Loved by God, liked by God!
He is the answer. He is smarter/wiser than me! He has a plan for my life.
We have an enemy that wants to steal our confidence. To sabotage our confidence.
Hebrews 10:35 - So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded
He may undermine our confidence, but we are the ones who throw it away.
Our confidence is not in ourselves but in God. in Jesus Christ, his will, his power – he who began a good work in me will complete it!
Habakkuk 3:17-19 – Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Grace and Favour Part II
Another great time in church today. Paul Benger continued this excellent series called Grave and Favour.
John 1:17 – For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Grace is all about Jesus and what He has done. We can reign in life, live an abundant life through the person of Jesus Christ.
Grace = God has smiled on you and you did not deserve it! Even when we understand this truth we can still find ourselves trying to earn his favour.
Grace is the power that helps us to overcome sin.
Romans 6:14 – For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
‘Sin’ is missing the mark of God’s best. When we live under grace sin is no longer the master.
The Purpose of the Law
The Law reveals our ‘inability’ to know God and leads us to live for God based on our ‘ability’. It shows us that we need Christ. The Law is good but it does not have the power to make us good.
The Children of Israel rebelled against God even though they had seen God’s amazing grace following the exodus from Egypt. Delivery from the Egyptians, crossing the Red Sea, Manna from Heaven. Yet they became reliable on their own self-righteousness.
Grace doesn’t rely on my righteousness but on His righteousness.
When we try and live in our righteousness we will see lack. Living in him and his righteousness we will see no lack.
Galatians 2:21 – I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Romans 3:24 – and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus
When we preach the law, come on...‘get good’, ‘try harder’, ‘pray more’...we will fail.
1 Corinthians 15:56 – and the law gives sin its power. Tell a child, ‘Don’t touch that!’…What do they do? When we preach that we’re accepted in Christ, He loves us unconditionally…we live for him…we offer back to him our lives.
Four ways...How to reign in life through Jesus Christ
1) Focus on God’s love for you
God loves You...the Gospel of grace. “He loved a people undeserving!”
John 14:23 – Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them
Romans 8:35 – Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
2) Let God set you free from the Law
From striving...trying to receive the favour of God. God likes you! Don’t live with the ‘daisy mentality’, ‘he loves me, he loves me not...’
Galatians 5:4 - For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace
The Christian life became hard when we forget the grace of God. Live out of his grace, it will turn our world around.
The church is at its best when it shows the love and grace of God. Not speaking a negative message of what we are against but a positive message of God’s love for the world.
3) Know who you are in Christ
1 John 4:17 – Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as He is, so are we in this world
He takes our sin and gives us his freedom and acceptance. If Jesus is pleasing to God, so are we. If he is right with God, so are we. Reigning?...so are we.
Let him invade your world. Through him you can become more than a conqueror and reign in life.
4) Refuse to be in bondage
Galatians: 5:1 – It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
We can enjoy freedom living in the grace of God.
John 1:17 – For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Grace is all about Jesus and what He has done. We can reign in life, live an abundant life through the person of Jesus Christ.
Grace = God has smiled on you and you did not deserve it! Even when we understand this truth we can still find ourselves trying to earn his favour.
Grace is the power that helps us to overcome sin.
Romans 6:14 – For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
‘Sin’ is missing the mark of God’s best. When we live under grace sin is no longer the master.
The Purpose of the Law
The Law reveals our ‘inability’ to know God and leads us to live for God based on our ‘ability’. It shows us that we need Christ. The Law is good but it does not have the power to make us good.
The Children of Israel rebelled against God even though they had seen God’s amazing grace following the exodus from Egypt. Delivery from the Egyptians, crossing the Red Sea, Manna from Heaven. Yet they became reliable on their own self-righteousness.
Grace doesn’t rely on my righteousness but on His righteousness.
When we try and live in our righteousness we will see lack. Living in him and his righteousness we will see no lack.
Galatians 2:21 – I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Romans 3:24 – and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus
When we preach the law, come on...‘get good’, ‘try harder’, ‘pray more’...we will fail.
1 Corinthians 15:56 – and the law gives sin its power. Tell a child, ‘Don’t touch that!’…What do they do? When we preach that we’re accepted in Christ, He loves us unconditionally…we live for him…we offer back to him our lives.
Four ways...How to reign in life through Jesus Christ
1) Focus on God’s love for you
God loves You...the Gospel of grace. “He loved a people undeserving!”
John 14:23 – Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them
Romans 8:35 – Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
2) Let God set you free from the Law
From striving...trying to receive the favour of God. God likes you! Don’t live with the ‘daisy mentality’, ‘he loves me, he loves me not...’
Galatians 5:4 - For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace
The Christian life became hard when we forget the grace of God. Live out of his grace, it will turn our world around.
The church is at its best when it shows the love and grace of God. Not speaking a negative message of what we are against but a positive message of God’s love for the world.
3) Know who you are in Christ
1 John 4:17 – Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as He is, so are we in this world
He takes our sin and gives us his freedom and acceptance. If Jesus is pleasing to God, so are we. If he is right with God, so are we. Reigning?...so are we.
Let him invade your world. Through him you can become more than a conqueror and reign in life.
4) Refuse to be in bondage
Galatians: 5:1 – It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
We can enjoy freedom living in the grace of God.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Grace and Favour Part I
An incredible time in church this morning. Paul Benger began our new three part series called Grave and Favour.
So often we focus on what we can do for him when in fact our focus should be on what he has done for us.
Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
2 Corinthians 8:9 - For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich
Focus on the love of God because his focus is on us. That good news is open to all.
The Old Testament law is not enough, it’s not about rules or religion – it is all about relationship. Relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17 - For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace is the foundation of the Christian life.
So often we revert to trying to please God, working hard for his favour. His favour is already with us! He reveals his grace through Jesus and all that he has done. We could never be worthy by what we do. And God doesn’t change. He doesn’t love us one day and not the next.
Grace = 1) favour undeserved 2) A gift given 3) Supernatural enabling or position.
The law says...Do good get good, do bad get beat! (eg – the woman caught in adultery)
Boast – on what he has done for us not what we do for him
When sea sick, focus on the horizon and not the waves! Focus on a fixed point. So we also must focus on Christ’s love that never changes, immutable, when our lives are in rough seas.
Looking at the disciples John and Peter we can learn so much from the kind of relationship we can have Jesus, helps us to understand our position in with Christ through grace, his love for us.
Peter would focus so much on what he could do for God. “I’ll wash your feet Jesus, not you wash mine!” John’s contrast to Peter was that he was aware of how much he meant to God, what God had done for him.
Boast – In Christ’s love for us
Five occasions is John’s Gospel where John says of himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. On these five occasions we learn what we can have/experience as a result of the revelation of who we are because of what he has done for us.
1) Intimacy
John 13:22-28
When you boast in Christ’s work for you draw closer to his person. Whereas Peter sensed a distancing between him and Jesus, John had the revelation of the love of Christ for him and that position of strength for him.
2) Minister to the needs of the Lord
John 19:26-27
We minister the needs of the Lord. We get entrusted, given the responsibility to minister to others.
3) You make spiritual progress
John 20:2-4
Spiritual progress when you’re focused on Christ’s love for you. We make big strides, we grow. When we’re focused on the ‘done’ rather than on the ‘do’.
4) You’ll have quick and clear perception
John 21:6-8
You’ll know when it is God, when he is speaking to you. You’ll also know when it is the enemy. “I know you love me”.
5) You will be following Jesus
John 21:19-20
The disciple whom Jesus loved was already following him! Peter had to be told to follow him. When we’re focused on Christ’s love for us we will follow him. We won’t have to keep being told. It won’t be a struggle, a tug or a challenge.
Grace is a rich reservoir...everything we need for our lives. All that we ever do should be from that position.
So often we focus on what we can do for him when in fact our focus should be on what he has done for us.
Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
2 Corinthians 8:9 - For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich
Focus on the love of God because his focus is on us. That good news is open to all.
The Old Testament law is not enough, it’s not about rules or religion – it is all about relationship. Relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17 - For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace is the foundation of the Christian life.
So often we revert to trying to please God, working hard for his favour. His favour is already with us! He reveals his grace through Jesus and all that he has done. We could never be worthy by what we do. And God doesn’t change. He doesn’t love us one day and not the next.
Grace = 1) favour undeserved 2) A gift given 3) Supernatural enabling or position.
The law says...Do good get good, do bad get beat! (eg – the woman caught in adultery)
Boast – on what he has done for us not what we do for him
When sea sick, focus on the horizon and not the waves! Focus on a fixed point. So we also must focus on Christ’s love that never changes, immutable, when our lives are in rough seas.
Looking at the disciples John and Peter we can learn so much from the kind of relationship we can have Jesus, helps us to understand our position in with Christ through grace, his love for us.
Peter would focus so much on what he could do for God. “I’ll wash your feet Jesus, not you wash mine!” John’s contrast to Peter was that he was aware of how much he meant to God, what God had done for him.
Boast – In Christ’s love for us
Five occasions is John’s Gospel where John says of himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. On these five occasions we learn what we can have/experience as a result of the revelation of who we are because of what he has done for us.
1) Intimacy
John 13:22-28
When you boast in Christ’s work for you draw closer to his person. Whereas Peter sensed a distancing between him and Jesus, John had the revelation of the love of Christ for him and that position of strength for him.
2) Minister to the needs of the Lord
John 19:26-27
We minister the needs of the Lord. We get entrusted, given the responsibility to minister to others.
3) You make spiritual progress
John 20:2-4
Spiritual progress when you’re focused on Christ’s love for you. We make big strides, we grow. When we’re focused on the ‘done’ rather than on the ‘do’.
4) You’ll have quick and clear perception
John 21:6-8
You’ll know when it is God, when he is speaking to you. You’ll also know when it is the enemy. “I know you love me”.
5) You will be following Jesus
John 21:19-20
The disciple whom Jesus loved was already following him! Peter had to be told to follow him. When we’re focused on Christ’s love for us we will follow him. We won’t have to keep being told. It won’t be a struggle, a tug or a challenge.
Grace is a rich reservoir...everything we need for our lives. All that we ever do should be from that position.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Passionate People
We're back...Happy New Year!
2008 got off to a great start in church this morning. Jeannie Benger shared about us being Passionate People.
God’s desire is for us to live lives with passion! A passion for him. Living for him and giving him our very best.
4 areas we should be passionate about.
1) A Passion for Life
John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full
God’s desire is that we live life to the full. To enjoy life. God’s word has all the wisdom we need to live our lives well. Everything we need for life is in His book.
We need to see life with God as the most fulfilling, the most satisfying.
Be passionate people, passionate for life. People want to be around those kinds of people. Magnetic…drawing others to God through the lives we live for him.
1 Timothy 6:17 – Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment
2) A Passion for His Church
When we are planted in God’s house we flourish. It changes our whole lives forever.
Psalm 92:13 - planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God
When people are planted they expand, they grow. Being planted also means having a passion for his house.
We are wanting to build a big church that reflects his glory. A house that has a passion for people to come to him.
Psalm 1:3 - He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
3) A Passion for God
Knowing and serving God is the most important thing in our lives. With God you never know what is going to happen next! Our desire...to know him more and more each day.
Let us live a life of thankfulness...of praise! We have so much to thank him for. As we live thankful and praiseful lives it changes the atmosphere around us. It lifts the lives of others.
Praising God also changes the outcome.
4) A Passion for People
God has blessed us...to be a blessing to others. We want to see people lives lifted up.
He loves people and we want to be like him. To love others, to have a passion for people.
You make a difference in people’s lives. Like Christ, love unconditionally in a world that loves conditionally.
2008 got off to a great start in church this morning. Jeannie Benger shared about us being Passionate People.
God’s desire is for us to live lives with passion! A passion for him. Living for him and giving him our very best.
4 areas we should be passionate about.
1) A Passion for Life
John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full
God’s desire is that we live life to the full. To enjoy life. God’s word has all the wisdom we need to live our lives well. Everything we need for life is in His book.
We need to see life with God as the most fulfilling, the most satisfying.
Be passionate people, passionate for life. People want to be around those kinds of people. Magnetic…drawing others to God through the lives we live for him.
1 Timothy 6:17 – Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment
2) A Passion for His Church
When we are planted in God’s house we flourish. It changes our whole lives forever.
Psalm 92:13 - planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God
When people are planted they expand, they grow. Being planted also means having a passion for his house.
We are wanting to build a big church that reflects his glory. A house that has a passion for people to come to him.
Psalm 1:3 - He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
3) A Passion for God
Knowing and serving God is the most important thing in our lives. With God you never know what is going to happen next! Our desire...to know him more and more each day.
Let us live a life of thankfulness...of praise! We have so much to thank him for. As we live thankful and praiseful lives it changes the atmosphere around us. It lifts the lives of others.
Praising God also changes the outcome.
4) A Passion for People
God has blessed us...to be a blessing to others. We want to see people lives lifted up.
He loves people and we want to be like him. To love others, to have a passion for people.
You make a difference in people’s lives. Like Christ, love unconditionally in a world that loves conditionally.
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