The Riches of His Grace

Hey guys. Hello. I have one more announcement to make before we get into teaching. Some

of you have expressed interest in contributing money towards Wilson's family. If you remember,

Wilson is our friend who Jacob and Pawan talked about last week. So he passed away about a

week ago now. It's not an accident, but some of you have expressed interest to provide

money towards that. So if you'd like to do that, you can see me after this or send me

a message and we can do that. All right. The title for today's message, I've got a PowerPoint

for you. It's the riches of his grace. Ooh. The riches of his grace. You better take notes

then. All right. So what I want to talk about is, see, grace is a topic that's extensively

covered in the New Testament. We all know that. There's about 140 plus references of

the word grace in the New Testament. You see it all the way through. And the last verse of the

Bible, of the Bibles, the last book, Revelation, last chapter, last verse, can someone tell me

what that verse is? Good one. Good one, Nick. It is grace. May the, may the grace of the Lord Jesus

be with you. Amen. Yeah. So you see this topic extensively being covered in the New Testament.

And about a couple of weeks ago, the Lord started bringing my attention to grace and a few things

that I want to share with us today. Okay. Even though the word grace is, as I said, very much,

very extensively used, one of the things that you find is we have the tendency to sometimes limit

grace to a few select things. So when you think about grace, what are the things you think about

first? You can think about being saved because that's God's grace. When you think about grace,

sometimes kids may say, let's say grace before we eat something. It could be grace as in, man,

I sinned. I just really need God's grace. These are the things that our minds often connect grace to.

Dawn, please stop calling me. Or was it Kasia? Anyway, so these are the few things that our

mind correlates to grace every time we hear the word. That's what it goes to. But man, grace,

the essence of it, the beauty of it is so much more than what we often think grazes. It's so

much more. Bible talks about the riches of his grace. Bible talks about grace upon grace. And I

will touch on these different themes as we go. So my goal, my charge today is to lay out before us

what the Bible really means when it says grace, which is more than what our mind typically goes

to, which is good, but there is so much more to it. So that's my charge that if I can accomplish

that, that'd be great. I am hoping that the Holy Spirit will help me, help us to understand the

multiple dimensions, multi-dimensions of grace. So grace is multi-dimensional. It's not one thing

that we look at and we go, oh, I get it. That's it. It's multi-dimensional. So every time we try to

define grace, therefore, if we don't understand that, we can limit grace to just one thing,

right? That's when we say what's grace. We can say grace is undeserved favor. And so we have the

tendency then every time we think of the word grace, we say grace is undeserved favor, which is

good, which is correct. But there is so much more to grace than undeserved favor, right? So grace

being multi-dimensional, what are the things that it actually means? And that's what I want us to

look at today. And when I say grace is multi-dimensional, that it's more than just trying to capture it in

one sentence. What does that mean? And what's really the reason? What's backing that up? Let's

look at a few scriptures. Today, I have a few scriptures for us to look through, which is why I

had it in PowerPoint, so you can thank me later. John chapter 1, 16 to 17. Actually in verse 14,

John 1 · chapter mention

you see John saying, the word became flesh and he dwelt amongst us. And we beheld his glory, glory,

as of the Son of the living God, full of grace and truth. So Jesus Christ is full of grace and

truth. So the foundation kind of starts from there. So if you were to look at Jesus, if you were to

look at who he really is, Jesus is full of grace and truth. And then you see in verse 16 and 17,

for from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. So there is this idea therefore,

we look at this, it's not a one-time interaction. It's not God saying, well, you've been saved,

well, my grace saved you through your faith. Here is grace over your life. You see this idea

developing throughout the New Testament, starting from John and then even more. And if we look at

it, grace upon grace. So what does that mean? Grace upon grace for my life, grace upon grace

for your life. Second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8, it says, and God is able to make all grace

2 Corinthians 9:8

abound to you. All grace. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency

in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Just think about your life and

my life. What that verse is saying is we are being given grace, grace upon grace, all grace,

so that Derek, you will have all sufficiency in everything that you are doing at all times. You

see it covers everything. It covers everything for your life. It covers everything for my life.

That's why I want to build from here in that let's not think of grace as just unmerited favor. Let's

not look at grace as this one thing that helped us save, helped us become saved. Grace is so much

more. The third verse, Brandon, if we can go there, next one. Not the break time, not break time yet,

please. Please don't get out. First Peter chapter 5 verse 10, and after you have suffered a little

1 Peter 5:10

while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore,

confirm, strengthen, and establish you. So you should not have any doubt that I said grace is

multi-dimensional. It's not just one thing. We can't just put that in one little unmerited favor,

undeserved favor line and say that's what grace is because the moment I do that, what I'm actually

doing is I am limiting myself from accessing the depth, the richness of what grace actually is.

Yeah? See guys, one of the things that we should always remember is this. As far as the devil is

concerned, he wants us to be ignorant. If I am ignorant, if you're ignorant, then half the trick

is done. But the more God reveals to us what is available to me, available to you, then we begin

to make progress in our life. So the attempt always is to keep us ignorant. But this word is light to

my path. It's light to your path. So as we look at these verses, try to speak to God, try to tell

him, Abba, if there is more, I want more. See, that's how you participate. And we'll look at

these things in a little more detail later. So that is really the foundation of what I want to

say. From here on, I want us to look at a couple of scriptures. But before that, here is how I'd

summarize grace for today's teachings purposes. Grace is the supreme, all-encompassing means by

which God transforms me, transforms a believer from darkness into one who shines forth his light.

I know it's a long sentence, but I'll repeat it again. Grace is the supreme, all-encompassing means

by which God transforms me from darkness into one who issues forth, who shines forth his light. So

it doesn't really end with me being saved. It's only beginning with me being saved. It's something

that I have access to at all times, for all things, so that I am all-sufficient in everything

that God has for me. Yeah? So that's the definition. Now, a couple more things before we get into what

it actually means. Here are some scriptures to take care of, to think about. So in John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

we said there is the fullness of grace available to us. So think about it for a second. What does

that really mean? The fullness of grace. So if you think about it, for your life and for my life,

the analogy could be something like there is such vastness to grace over my life. It's an

abundant repository. It's endless. It's limitless. And what God says is, Derek, you have access to

it. You have complete access to this abundant reservoir, repository. That's grace. That's my

fullness for you. It is sufficient for all days of your life. And if I then believe that, I have

to say, well, that allows me to look at my life on a daily basis. And God will use grace that He

gives me to be building blocks of my life. So that's where grace upon grace. As I lead my life,

as I move on from this month to the next month, there is more deposited in my life because I've

understood that there is grace available for me. I've understood that there is more that He can

give me that I have access to. And now that I have understood it, I ask for it. I touch it. I feel it.

And it becomes something that He builds my life with. And then I stand on it the next day. And

then God says, you're not done yet. There is so much more. I have more to give you because this

is an endless, unlimited reservoir. Yeah? It is fullness of Jesus. The fullness of Jesus can't be

The fullness of the one who created this world is so large, so big that even when I don't understand

it fully, I can just say, there is so much more. And that becomes a door through which I can walk

in. We don't sometimes need to understand its fullness. It's good to say, there is so much more,

but I want to walk in. And the moment you say, I want to walk in, God opens up new things for us.

So Bible talks about two or three things that can stop you from accessing grace. If grace is all

that we said it is, can you nullify grace? Can you receive grace in vain? You have it. God gave it

to you, but it's kind of useless. Can that happen? It can happen. Let's look at the next couple of

verses. Galatians chapter two, verse 21. This is Paul writing, I do not nullify the grace of God,

for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. So there is a chance

that if I'm not careful, I can nullify the grace that God pours over my life. Second Corinthians

chapter six, verse one, working together with him, then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of

God in vain. So it is possible that I understand the meaning of grace. It is possible that I begin

to understand the expanse of it, and I receive it even. But even after I receive it, I cannot make

use of it. So Paul is charging the Corinthian church saying, please don't just be people who

receive grace, and there is no purpose to it. There is no usefulness to it. So keep this in mind,

even as we're looking at a few other things, about how do I make sure I receive grace and that it

doesn't become vain, that I use it, that it becomes something that helps me to move from where I am

at today to the next place in you. See, it's a mindset. A lot of things in our lives is really

mindset and understanding what God is saying and participating with him. So there are three things

I want to talk about that nullifies grace in our lives. Three things that nullifies grace in our

lives. Number one is pride. Pride can nullify grace. Where does it say that? James chapter four,

but he, God, gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

He gives grace to the humble. But if you're proud, you're not getting grace. You may have gotten

received grace, but it's useless for you if you're proud. 1 Peter 5 verse 5, likewise, you who are

1 Peter 5:5

younger be subject to the elders. Don't clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one

another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. See, the scripture keeps talking

about this, that it is, there is a possibility that I can actually receive all of this grace,

but it's useless if I have, if I'm proud. If pride resides in me, it's useless. See, these are big

words, guys. Can you just think of it? In the fullness of Christ, Christ gave you and I grace,

and then it's saying that this supreme all encompassing means to help transform my life

can become useless. Wow, that's shocking. That while grace is powerful, I can nullify it. While grace

is rich, if I'm not careful, it becomes of no use to me. So pride is one thing that we got to be

careful about, and let's just talk about the antidote. What's the opposite? What do we need?

We all know this, humility. And there are so many scriptures that we have heard, read over the last

little while about humility. I want to summarize all of that into two things for today's purposes.

Number one, humility is not devaluing myself. Humility is not drooping shoulders. It's not

soft voice. That's not humility, because sometimes we have a tendency to think loud, being loud,

being a certain way is prideful. That has nothing to do with humility. Humility is a state of your

heart. So me having, you know, if I were to walk around here and I was like walking around like a,

you know, nice guy, that doesn't mean that I'm humble at all. That doesn't mean I have humility

at all. You know what humility is? Open hands. So instead of drooping shoulders, if I have open

hands, meaning, Aba, God, I don't have enough. I am needy. I'm dependent. Those open hands,

that's what shows if you have humility or not. Because if I have everything that I need, I don't

need God. If I feel like I can do even as I'm teaching right now, if I feel like, oh, I, you

know, I have things written out, I can just say it and be done with it. Then the extent to which

God can be useful for you will be limited by my attitude. Same thing for you. The quality of your

hearing, the quality of your understanding is dependent on your humility. How much God can right

now even deposit into your life is dependent on your humility, your heart to say open hands. Father,

I don't have enough. I need more. I need more. So that is humility. Another way to put humility,

describe humility would be it's not a heavy head. It's quick feet. What do I mean by that? A heavy

head would be I know enough. I understand. Why are you that way? There's lots of thoughts,

lots of computation, lots of analysis, lots of, I get everything. I know this person. I know how

Mark is. Mark, mama. That's Mark. I know how Kezia is. I was trying to. So that's me saying,

I know, I know it all. I understand. I understand what Acts 29 is. I understand how things work.

I get it. I know how you are. Another way, and Jesus put it this way in, I think, Luke chapter 22,

Luke 22 · chapter mention

humility is the ability to serve someone. Quick feet to serve. So not having a heavy head,

but having quick feet. Jesus put it this way in Luke chapter 22. The greatest among you is the

Luke 22 · chapter mention

least. The greatest among you is the least. So it's your ability to live that out by looking at a

room like this, your family, your church, your quest or pursuit or wherever you go to say,

I'm not here to set myself up as a little idol that everyone has to bow to, that everyone is

answerable to. I am here as someone who recognizes God has graciously gifted me everything I have,

and therefore I will give all of myself to serve what he has.

Don't put yourself up as a little idol of your own life that you expect others to bow down to.

So we talked about three things. The first thing that nullifies grace is pride. The second thing

that nullifies grace is passiveness. Your passiveness nullifies grace. I don't want

to expand on that now because that's something that I'll be talking about in a little more

extent later on. Your passiveness nullifies grace. Your passiveness nullifies grace.

So going back to humility, a couple more things. Humility endears a man to God and the work of the

spirit accelerates in his life. If I am humble, if I have humility and if I am growing in humility

day after day, I'm actually endearing myself to God, meaning God looks at me and you and will say,

here is a man who is asking for more. Here is a man or a woman who is dependent on me. Here is a

man or a woman who is not satisfied. While he is satisfied in what I am to him, he is still not

satisfied. His hands are open. His feet is quick to serve. He runs around busy, busy as in not trying

to make some things happen, but because there is nothing you want to do except serving him and what

he has put in front of you. You don't expect others to come serve you. You expect yourself to

go serve others. See, we don't talk about servant leadership. It's one of those things that if you

start talking about it, most people will go, yada yada yada because it's been talked about in such

a way that it has lost its meaning almost. That doesn't mean that we can't talk about it anymore.

It means so much that there is a level of expectancy that Christ Jesus has for you and me

that if you want to be someone that he wants to use, you better stand up and you better say,

I want to serve others. You better say, I'm not as good as these people sitting in this room. If I

have an attitude that I'm somehow better, then God can't use me. That's the truth. So I'm not seeing

devalue what God has taught me, devalue what God has put inside of me. That's not what I am saying.

It's an attitude where I say, I come humbly because see the thing is guys, if I realize what

he has done for me, it'll be easier for me to extend that to others. That's the key.

Right? If I realize what's happening here, if I realize who I am and what he has been doing for

me, I cannot then set myself up as an idol. Then I must distribute what he has been giving me so

that it can be used for others. So oftentimes when we have issues between each other, if there is,

I just don't know why this person is like that. More often than not, look at your heart to see

what's happening here. Yeah, we have spent enough time on it. So let's move on. We talked about

passiveness, having the ability to nullify the grace of God for your life. And the third thing

is offense and bitterness can nullify the grace of God for your life. Offense and bitterness

can nullify the grace of God for your life. I don't know if it's in this slide, but Hebrews chapter 12

Hebrews 12:15

verse 15, there you go. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God,

that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled.

Wow. So I can, while there is this repository of grace, while there is this immense depth that

God can add to my life freely because he is who he is and because his fullness is available for me,

I can fail to obtain that grace if there is bitterness in my life.

So I can nullify grace. We talked about three ways. That's the third one. So let's move on to

three types of grace that I want us to look at today. We said it's multi-dimensional. So three

types. There is more, but let's look at three. Number one is saving grace. We're very familiar

with it. Saving grace. This is the grace that draws people to Jesus. So we're going to look at

people who are saved by their faith in Jesus. And we know this. This is not a faith, a grace

that I receive based on my merits. Bible makes it very clear. I'm not saved because of my works.

Bible says the saving grace is what saves you through faith, but it's grace that saves you.

And this is where if I go back to what I said before, we have a tendency to park ourselves here.

We have a tendency because we are so familiar with this idea of grace that we could easily

park ourselves here and say, this is what grace is. And yes, it is what grace is, but it's just one

aspect of it. There is so much more to it. So I don't want to spend too much time here because

we are familiar with it, but let me put it this way. If anyone listening or anyone in this room

wonders what saving grace is, it simply means this. That the God of this universe, the God who

created you, he said, I can't have a relationship with the one that I created, meaning me or you,

unless you are right with me. Because in my natural tendency, I say, I don't need God. I

don't want God. I just want to live my life my way. I set myself up as an idol, as I said before.

That's what I do. That's what any human being born on the face of the earth does. You have a

natural tendency because of the nature inside you, the fallen nature of man to say, I don't want God.

I don't want his ways. You may still say things like, oh, I believe in God, but the natural

tendency is to say his ways are not my ways. His ways, I don't want it. I have better ways. I know

how to live my life, and that's what you choose. What does saving grace mean? Saving grace means,

therefore, God of this universe, the God who created you said, I still want you back.

And the only way I can get you back is by sending my son to die for your sins. And he sent his son

to die for me. He sent his son to die for you. And he died. He died a death that no one else could die

so that I could live. But then God says, see, he paid your penalty, the penalty of your decisions,

your sins, the penalty of everything that you've ever done so far and will ever do.

He already paid. But there is one condition for you to walk and do this. This is the condition.

The condition is you have to look at yourself and say, I'm not clean. I'm not pure. I'm not perfect.

I've made mistakes. And then you have to say, but I want his perfection, Jesus's purity,

what he has. And Jesus and God says the only way you can have that is very simple. It's a free gift.

As soon as you do this, it will freely be given to you. How do you do that? You believe in Christ Jesus

as Lord, as Savior. Savior, as in he cleansed you. He died for you. His sins has, your sins have been

washed away by his blood. And so as soon as you believe, then saving grace, that very thing that

we're talking about floods over your life. And it saves you from darkness to a new place in God,

meaning you have now been added to God's family. You had chosen to move away from God, but now you've

been added to God's family. And so you and I, anyone here in this room who believes in Christ Jesus

is now part of that family, part of this grace. You did not do anything for it except look at

your condition and say, I was unclean. I need Jesus to save me. And as soon as you do that,

as soon as you do that, saving grace takes you from where you are and puts you in a completely

different realm. Bible says it takes you from darkness. It takes you from being under the

control of Satan and this world. And he essentially takes you and parks you and puts you in God's

family. But it's just the beginning because from their own grace upon grace upon grace is being

given to you. So what's the second kind of grace? No, before we actually go to the second type of

grace, another key thing to mark out here, this grace is not dependent on your works. So

it's not looking at how well you're, you know, what your work is for this grace to come to you.

I still remember a guy who we had met, we talked to him about Jesus and he heard what we had to say.

At the end of us speaking to him, he said, I want Jesus in my life. But then he said,

that bottle of beer that's laying there, I don't want to pray because I know that as soon as I

finish praying, I'll go pick it up. So I don't want that. We told him, in you believing right now,

you can pray, you can access God. The fact that right now you want to touch that bottle and you

fact that right now you want to drink it doesn't disqualify you from accessing the richness of

God's grace. So this grace, the saving grace is not based on your work, my work. It's directly

given to you and I as soon as I believe, as soon as you believe by faith, this grace through faith,

this grace is released to us. Yeah. So the second type of grace, which is where I want to spend a

few more minutes on is equipping grace, enabling grace. So as soon as I become saved,

as soon as I am now in God's kingdom, there is more grace available for me.

Empowering grace, equipping grace, enabling grace and this grace is available for every believer

and this grace is required for your daily sustenance and victorious living.

So for my, the next day I wake up after receiving Christ and being added to his kingdom,

there is this grace waiting over my life for me to access. This grace is the grace that God has

already deposited for me, already made available for me, for my daily sustenance, for my victorious

living. This grace is already available day after day after day. This grace is there. It's there for

all sufficiency at all times, all days. It's there. It's not going away and it's not just one thing.

It's not a small measure. He knows the life that George leads. He knows where George will be

10 years later. So what George needs for 10 years later is already prepared. It's already arranged.

He knows every day of my life. It does not mean he knows every day of, it does not just mean that he

knows where I'll be 10 years later. It means therefore that he's already made available

everything that I would need for my sustenance, everything that I would need for living

victoriously. That has already been made available by Christ. It's there. The question is, do I use it?

See saving grace is one where it's not based on my work. As soon as I believe it's there

and it has changed me. As soon as you get though to empowering grace, the grace that's available

for you and me, there is more to be done and I'll explain it. Let's first look at Titus chapter 2

Titus 2:11

verses 11 and 12. Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches. So the same grace that offered salvation to me, which we talked about, the saving grace. There is more to that grace, which is the equipping empowering grace that we talked about.

This grace teaches me, trains me to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in this present age. So there is a grace that Jesus has already released into my life from his fullness that allows me to say no to ungodliness, that allows me to say no to worldly passions.

There is this grace. Let's read Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and grace to help in a time of need. So not only does this grace empower me to say no to that I should say no to, it also gives me grace to help in times of need.

Hebrews 4:16

On a daily basis, whenever I have need, like Sheldon had need when he was in Indonesia, that need, the reason why in two and a half hours everything had to happen happened is simply because even before he left the airport here, there was grace available ready for Sheldon to access.

Even before you get to where you need to go to, there is grace available. It is from the richness of Christ Jesus over your life because as Jane said initially, Tooney said initially, he loves me, he loves you.

So he is not one who has to then look at what may happen tomorrow and then write out a check for you to cash. It has already been deposited in your account. It is there already. You've got to use it.

You've got to go to the bank and say, I know that this check has been deposited. I know it's there. Here is my ID. I take this and then it becomes yours. And this very grace I can use on a daily basis to say no to the things I need to say no to.

And not just that, it also allows me to receive help for everything that I need on a daily basis. So right now think for your lives then. This grace is available. No one needs to pray for you for this grace to come to you because Jesus already paid for this grace to be made available.

You don't need someone to pray. I repeat it, for this grace to be made available. This grace is already there. Prayer can happen for other things. The grace is already there. It's already deposited. It's already available. Can you take it? Do you want to access it?

Now here is the distinct difference between saving grace and empowering grace. For saving grace, your works didn't matter. For empowering grace, your work matters. And I'll explain why.

The work that is dependent, the work that is expected of you is an obedient partnership with God. It's an obedient partnership with God. So let's take an example. I think in the previous slide it said, in Titus, this grace is grace that's given to me to say no to everything that I need to say no to.

So let's make it more practical. Let's assume, let's take a case where someone is struggling with addiction. They've been struggling with some sort of addiction for years on. This grace, Bible says, is available for you and me to say no to addiction.

Guys, one of the things that the Church of Christ has to do is talk more about what will solve the problem than the problem itself. It's a shame when we consider certain things so undefeatable because those thinking, those patterns of thinking are from the flesh.

When the Word says, Derek, do you want to stay away from it? Do you want to live a life where sin will not have dominion over you? Here is grace available for you, for you to take a hold of. Half the battle in our lives is won when we believe what is written.

When I believe that everything I need to say no to ungodliness, everything I need to say no to worldly passions is already available for my life, I have won half the battle. The problem is we don't actually believe that.

So what would I do if let's say I was struggling with porn? What would I do? It's an addiction. I don't want to do that every time I think about it. It makes me feel bad. I don't want to use it, but somehow every time it happens.

What if that's the case? How do you use a scripture like that to come at that addiction? Here is what you can do. You start with the next slide, please. The first verse you start with Romans chapter six, verse 14, for sin will have no dominion over you.

You start there. You believe it. That this grace that has been granted to me, that this grace that has been granted to you, the word of God says it will not have dominion over you.

It doesn't say select few people. It is not written just for the Roman church. It is written and sent to all of us to live out our daily lives. And so I start there by saying sin will have no dominion over me.

Level one. And as I said, as soon as I say yes, and I believe this in the depth of my heart, what happens is I have now unlocked a door that releases fresh new grace into my life.

Every time I make a decision to believe what he has said over my life, what I am doing is I'm opening the door. I am now participating. That's my work now. Remember I said this empowering grace is different because it requires of you and I to participate with God.

It's an obedient partnership. What is my obedient partnership here? I first believe. I believe. And what do I do next? Well, in my obedient partnership, following the same line of thinking, if there are apps on my phone that I shouldn't be looking at, if there are things in my house that's not from God, I see that those are not things that from God. And if I want to run away from that addiction, I know I can't just pray. I got to do more than pray. I can't just pray.

God, somehow, can you please do it? Let me go to a couple of people to pray. No, you do that. But you also take those things out of your home, burn it if you need to. You start there. No, you know what happens when I do that? That's obedient partnership with God. And when God sees me do it, there is something again happening. Not only did I believe that no sin will have dominion over me, I am now entering a partnership with God to say these things are not mine. I throw it away. I put it on fire. It's

not in my life. I start there. What do I do? I maybe then go and tell the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, I need help. What am I doing? I am consistently believing in what has been spoken over my life that no addiction will have any power over me. And so I'm opening one door after another so that one day when I wake up, it is a far gone thing that never affects my life. This is how Christians live in victory. It is

possible, absolutely possible to live a sanctified, consecrated life where my today looks so different from yesterday, only because this grace is available for me, for me to access, for me to take a hold of. It has already been deposited into my account. Can I withdraw it?

Withdrawing it is not equal to simply praying. Withdrawing it is equal to praying plus obedient partnership with Christ. Then I am accessing it. Then I am receiving the results of what it should be.

So this grace, it takes faith to walk in empowering grace. And this faith is dead without works. And the work that is required to activate this grace is my obedient partnership with God.

So this grace of God, it empowers me to make righteous choices. It empowers me to make righteous choices.

Yeah. Yeah. Let's take another example. Let's say there is a relationship that you're like, you know it's not right. It's a relationship that you're like, you know it's not right.

It's a relationship that you want to stay out of. You don't just pray, God give me the ability to stay out of this relationship. That would be pretty foolish. You pray, but you also do what you need to do.

So if it's a friend who always invites you out for this thing that you know it's never good for you, you make a decision to do something about that. You may tell them, I'm never coming there anymore. You don't pray about it. You don't just pray about it. You partner with God to say, it ain't happening anymore. Sorry.

Well, Jesus actually said this, if you want to follow him, you will have to say to a whole lot more people, no, no, no, no. And he said, that's the only way you can follow me. Yeah. So we have to make all of these things practical and real in our lives. It's not some abstract thing that Vedisha talked like, you know, she said, it's not abstract out there that I wish it happens. It's real. It happens on a daily basis. This grace is available for me for my life.

So Hebrews in Hebrews, it said, if I were to go back to Hebrews chapter four, verse 16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and grace to help in time of need to help in time of need. So you can apply the same thing there.

Do you have a need? Not only do you believe that this grace is available, you then begin to obediently partner with God. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person in your family is going to be saved. If that prophetic word came over you and you received it, the fact that you received and you're praying is not the only thing. You then begin to also ask God, Abba, I want to obediently

partner with you. So this relative of mine, how do I, how do I deal with this person? So maybe as you begin to ask, you say, aha, I get this thing. God is telling me, do this, send a message, send this call, say this, God gives you things. He because you're now not just legs up passive. He'll do it because he said it. He'll do it because he said it. But he wants to do it with your obedience.

So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this person is going to be saved. So let's say God gave you a prophetic word saying this

grace, the empowering grace, it's not that it's a striving, it's that you're partnering with God. So absolutely. In James 2.18 you said, James 2.18, faith without works is dead. So in this faith, in this grace, you partner with God. It's not one where you put your leg up and you say, well, God said it and therefore it'll happen.

And the last one, the third type of grace. Actually, let me touch on one thing. Can you go to 1 Peter 1.13, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Christ Jesus.

Guys, here's another thing. Every day, God wants to reveal Christ more and more to me. And every day, the devil wants to diminish my understanding of that revelation. So be aware of that. Because there are so many areas in our lives where we have accepted a certain way of living.

We have accepted a certain level of revelation to which God actually wants to add more. But the moment I am satisfied with the level of understanding that I have in that area, I can't be helped more. God has to do further more to be able to help me.

But if I say, Abba, I receive, I understand, add to my understanding of who Jesus is, add to my understanding of who he is for me, then what will begin to happen is your eyes will open up to new things that you haven't seen before.

So it could be something as simple as in a relationship, how you need to be. It could be something as simple as what you need to be doing at work. These are all practical things for which there is a greater revelation, a greater level of understanding that God wants to deposit in your life.

Be open to it. Revelatory grace, 1 Peter 1 13. Now, the last thing I want to talk about is sending grace. The third type of grace is sending grace. This is the grace that equips you and empowers you to be a sent one in the world.

So we started with me being born again and the saving grace of God helping me to on a daily basis, everything needed for my sustenance and victorious living being added to my life through the empowering grace of God to thirdly, sending grace.

Now that he's established, he has established me now that he has established you, he also sends you out. And there is a grace that's available for every one of us to use to access so that we can go out into the world and do what he wants us to do.

Romans chapter one, verse five, through Christ Jesus, we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Wow. It means that there is a great power of grace that is available to us to use to access.

That grace is available for people to access. That there is the obedience of nations to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Wow. It means that there is a grace that God has given to Tunis that when he understands that grace, when he accepts that grace, when he believes in that grace, every time Tunis speaks, that grace is available for people to access.

That grace is already present in Tunis. The good news is it's not just Tunis. It's all of us. So for each and every one of us, there is this grace that's available to the grace to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of Jesus's name among all nations.

Don't discard it guys. Don't discard this one because we often write this thing off for a few select people. Can you believe it? That this grace, this sending grace, it allows you to operate in such a way that what Christ did on that cross, now that you've begun to live it, now that you're accessing his grace on a daily basis and you're living a life where you know him, he knows you, you know how well you're connected intricately with him.

Now that you're connected to him, his spirit and your spirit is one from that place. There is a grace that's available. When I begin to speak and unbelievers are listening, this grace that flows through my mouth will cause obedience of others, obedience of nations to come to Christ.

Think about it. If you want to be an evangelist, if you want to be an evangelist and God said, hey, you're going to be an evangelist. So it's a great prophetic word that's been deposited in his life.

He's 21, 2. God already has plans for him to be an evangelist. So here is two things that can happen. He receives the word and he says, I'm so excited. This is only God. Only God could have done this. How did my life change? And then he begins to say, it's going to happen to me. I look forward to the day it will happen. He believes it so much inside him, believes it so much inside him.

That he's so excited for this to happen. But he can be 30 and still have more understanding of this, but not walking in it. At the same time, he could be 21 and 22 or 22. And he received the word saying, God said he wants me to win to be an evangelist. What does he do?

He opens up Matthew, Mark, Luke and John like no one else. He reads it and reads it cover to cover because every time he reads a story, something happens in his heart. He begins to say, Jesus, this person that you are, I want to relate this to others.

There is saving grace that he lives, which then equips him to live an empowered life. And from there on, he says, sending grace. I know it's over my life. I access it. You teach me things that no one knows. He opens Zia's eyes to see these things that others aren't seeing.

So when Zia reads John chapter four, the woman at the well, his understanding is different. See what he is doing. He is participating with God. It's an obedient partnership because God said this would happen. Doesn't mean it will happen.

God expects you to partner with him. I know guys, when I say this, some of you may think, what are you saying? It's truth. Certain things that God speaks over our lives. There is work that we need to do. This work doesn't stink with self striving.

This work is an obedient, submitted partnership to God. And so it changes the way we live. And then Zia wakes up one day and something inside him doesn't allow him to stay where he is at.

Because what God has been putting into his heart day after day, week after week, month after month, it begins to show that now when he walks the streets, he can't but say Jesus. When he sees someone while he's driving a car, he prays for them.

That's how he ends up at 40 years old doing the exploits that he will begin to do. It does not happen overnight. This is how you receive the word. You prepare yourself as best as you can. You'll still fail. You'll still not be enough.

It will still you may look at what you're doing and say, oh, I wish I could have done it better. It does not matter. You are submitting yourself to a process that God said, this is what I've called you for. You go for it. You then see what he will do with your obedient partnership with him.

And the good news, guys, is this that there is not one person in this room who cannot access these things. And the same richness that's available for Zia is the same richness that's available to me and to you.

Favor, favor, his favor, his precise calibrated way of marking my life for some things where he sees I have found you for this. I am going to send you for this. When I participate with him, it'll happen.

So if God said you're supposed to go to the Middle East, you better start reading up on Middle East. And as soon as you you start doing this, things change in the spiritual and keep at it. Keep at it. Keep at it.

May the sharpness increase. May the arrow be more polished day after day, day after day so that one day when you wake up, you don't realize yourself and no one else does either. Sending grace.

And that's it. Six fifteen. I promised myself I won't go beyond six fifty. So let me pray.

Jesus, grace comes from your fullness. I know that you want to release your fullness to us, to every one of us, to some who may be listening, who doesn't know you.

Who haven't made that decision to follow you, who is still questioning that is saving grace available. The grace that by just believing what Christ did on the cross, the grace that will transform their life from darkness to light.

For those of us who have now been found in this kingdom of light, there is the grace that allows us, that equips us, that empowers us for our daily living. To say no to sin, but that's just the start.

To have dominion over sin, but that's just the start. Grace that floods in during times of need, but that's just the start. It's ongoing. It happens forever, but that's just the start.

I thank you for that grace. The empowering grace. Grace that helps. Grace that helps. Grace that promotes. Grace that meets all my needs. Grace that when it meets my weakness and my desire for more leads to a spiritual explosion in my life.

Two, the grace that sends me. Where like Moses I may say I'm not qualified. Like Moses I may say I'm not enough, but there is a grace that's available. That changes my personality. That changes the way I am. That changes the way others perceive me.

That changes the way I think of myself to one day stand up and know that I'm a son of God, a daughter of God, that he has sent out into the world to bring more sons and daughters back.

And thank you about that. This grace also multiplies. Thank you for that. Thank you for your desire over our lives for us to access and enter into the riches of your grace. Amen.

If you need prayers, there will be Sue and others here praying for you. Otherwise, thanks everyone.

Amen.