8/27/10

Living Loved, Bible Study

Those of you in the Tulsa area may come to the Living Loved, Living Free Bible study—a 10 week study beginning September 15th. Location: Abiding Harvest Church in Broken Arrow. For more information please go to www.BecauseofJesus.com or call 918-994-6500.

For those who aren't able to come, please join us online for the weekly broadcast. Bible study workbooks are available at: the BOJM Bookstore. Experience the freedom of living in the Father’s love through the finished work of Jesus. True freedom is found in living loved by Him. See you soon!

8/21/10

Embracing the Power of Grace

by Connie Witter

“Most surely will those who receive God’s overflowing grace and His free gift of righteousness reign as a king in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:17 Amplified
What is grace?
.... Hebrews 10:29 calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of grace.” In James 4:6, the Amplified Bible defines grace as “the power of Holy Spirit to meet this evil tendency and all others fully.” And in II Corinthians 1:12, the Amplified Bible gives another wonderful definition of grace: “the grace of God (the unmerited favor and merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, and keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian virtues.)
.... The gift of grace is righteousness; and when you accepted Jesus, your Spirit became perfect in the Father’s eyes. However, you also have a soul, which is your mind, will and emotions. We have all experienced fear, worry, anger, resentment, judgemental and critical attitudes, and discouragement in our souls. When this occurs it’s because we have taken our eyes off of Jesus and are not seeing ourselves as righteous and holy in Him. Therefore, we need the power of grace to influence our souls, turn our thoughts toward Jesus and increase us in Christ-like Character. The power of grace enables us to really believe that we are righteous and empowers us to overcome every evil tendency of our flesh. Grace is not an excuse to live in sin, but rather the power to live free from sin.

Obedience is a Promise
.... In the Old Covenant, obedience was the requirement and you depended on your own ability to be righteous. But in the New Covenant, obedience is a promise. When you rely upon Jesus, the Spirit of grace brings out the fruit of righteousness in your life. James 4:6 says that God gives grace to the humble. As you turn to Jesus every time you are tempted to sin, the power of grace will help you overcome.
.... Phillipians 2:13 was a life changing Scripture for me. It says that God will create in me the desire and power to do what pleases Him. Through this verse, I realized that I didn’t have to try to change myself anymore. I began to embrace God’s grace to create in me the desire and power to bear the fruit of righteousness. Once I got my focus on Jesus, I began to see a transformation of my soul. I found myself empowered to really believe what Jesus had done for me. I began to experience love, joy and peace in my soul.
.... Have you ever felt weak in faith? Have you ever felt overcome with feelings of fear, worry, guilt, condemnation, resentment, offence or anger? The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:16 to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help you believe what Jesus says about you and the ability to overcome every negative emotion.
.... So begin today to focus on Jesus; ask for His grace to help you overcome any negative emotion you may be experiencing in your soul. Ask Him to help you to really believe who Jesus has made you. II Corinthians 12:9 says that God’s grace is sufficient for all your weaknesses. In your weakness, the power of God’s grace makes you strong!

Embracing the Gift of Grace

by Connie Witter

“Most surely will those who receive God’s overflowing grace and His free gift of righteousness reign as a king in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:17 Amplified

What is grace and how do you embrace it?

There are two definitions of the word grace:

Grace is a gift of God. It is the undeserved, unearned favor and blessing of God...
Grace is also the power of the Holy Spirit giving us the ability to walk in righteousness. Righteousness is the gift of grace.

Old Covenant vs. New Covenant

In order to fully understand this awesome gift we must realize the difference between the Old Covenant, which is based on the law and the New Covenant, which is based on grace.

In Deuteronomy 6:24,25 and 7:11-15, we see that under the Old Covenant, God required righteousness through obedience to the law in order to be accepted by Him and worthy of His favor and blessing. However, instead of obedience, man continued to disobey God and so he fell under God’s curse instead (Deuteronomy 28:1-67). We all fell under God’s curse because of our sin. We needed a Savior.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:4 and 5 that in order to satisfy the wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead because of our sins, Jesus died for us. He looked upon us with mercy and said, “Father, I will redeem them. I will make them righteous.”

So Jesus came to the earth and lived a perfect life. He kept the condition of righteousness by obeying all of God’s laws and commands. He was declared righteous in the Father’s eyes. Then He became the ultimate sacrifice. He was willing to take the punishment that we deserved in order to free us from the penalty of our sin. Galatians 3:13,14 state that Jesus purchased our freedom from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He offered to us the gift of His righteousness as a free gift of His grace simply by trusting in the sacrifice He made for us.

When you trusted in Jesus, you became righteous in the Father’s eyes. That means that you instantly became qualified for all the promises and blessings of God. Since you couldn’t meet the conditions of righteousness on your own, Jesus did it for you. You could have never earned or deserved to be called righteous through trying to obey the law. It can only be received as a gift. A gift of love from a Savior Who was willing to sacrifice everything so you could stand before the Father completely righteous. You look just like Jesus in your Father’s eyes because of His amazing grace.


Embrace Grace

So embrace God’s gift of grace. Focus on Jesus right now with a heart filled with thanksgiving and say, “Thank you, Jesus, I receive your gift of righteousness. I am accepted, loved, holy, blessed, favored, and without fault in my Father’s eyes because of Your amazing grace. (Ephesians 1:1-14)