* You can now watch a video of this message at: https://new.livestream.com/rickpina/live.
This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing to teach on the fact that “God’s Grace is Sufficient.” God gave you everything He was ever going to give you, before the foundations of the world, in eternity, outside of time, by His undeserved grace. This grace is sufficient. We don’t need to add anything to it, nor do we need to mix it with human effort. All we need to do is rest in what God has already done and access His grace by faith.
The Apostle Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is God’s powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven. This message was preached first to the Jews alone, but now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way. This Good News tells us that God makes us ready for heaven-makes us right in God’s sight-when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture says it, “The man who finds life will find it through trusting God” (Romans 1:16,17 Living Bible).
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. The Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of grace, full of the grace of Christ; there is no other gospel.
2. We are saved by grace; and salvation includes more than the Born-Again experience. Our salvation includes our deliverance, healing, and divine prosperity (everything we need to fulfill our assignment).
3. Everything we need has already been made available to us through the finished works of Jesus Christ, by God’s unearned grace.
4. God’s unmerited favor empowers us to receive His finished works, not our own strength. God’s grace is sufficient to empower us. Rest in, and have confidence in His grace, not your human ability.
5. Without God’s ability — His strength, favor, power, grace — we could do nothing. Human strength is never enough to accomplish God’s divine will.
6. Faith is a positive response to what Jesus has already done and to what the Father has already provided.
7. Faith is how we take possession of what Jesus has already done and the Father has already provided.
8. We do not use faith in order to make God do anything we want Him to do. We cannot tell God what to do.
9. Faith is not you attempting to get God to put a “yes” on your plans. Faith is God attempting to get you to put a “yes” on His plans.
10. Faith only appropriates what has been made available under the redemptive plan of Jesus Christ.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me more and more about Your amazing, undeserved, unearned and immeasurable GRACE! The more I study Your grace, the more I understand all You have done for me. It is sometimes hard for me to comprehend the “finished” nature of Your works towards me, because I am in time and Your are in eternity. In time, where I am, the things You have promised me have not happened yet. In eternity, where You are, they are already done. That is why Your Word says that Jesus, the Lamb of God, “was” slain from the foundations of the world. Before Jesus’ birth, for us who are in time, Jesus had not come yet. But even before Jesus’ birth, for You who are in eternity, Jesus was already slain. It is like that with me. You see the end of my life from the beginning. I sometimes get overwhelmed, overly excited, and even anxious, about the things I am facing in time. But You, from the perspective of eternity, already see the end of the situation and You know You have already given me the grace to overcome. So instead of getting anxious or overwhelmed, I am learning, day by day, to pray and seek Your face. Through my relationship with You, You are able to show me the things that are already done, and when I agree with those things it is called “faith”. So by faith I access Your grace. By faith I agree, in time, with eternity. By faith I agree, in the earth, with heaven. By faith I lay hold of what You have already provided by grace. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
