Grace The Power To Change Part 14

Grace The Power To Change

Part 14

Freedom from Sin

What is the “Spirit of grace”?

The Spirit of grace is one of the names of the Holy Spirit identified in Hebrews 10:29. This name identifies Him as the One who works in us to make us able. When we received Jesus we also received the Spirit of Grace – God’s ability within us.

Does taking personal responsibility for your choices, actions and beliefs frighten you?

Sin is willful – sin is always a choice. Personal responsibility is the only pathway to freedom.

Why does a failure to understand grace keep people bound to sin?

We tend to believe that grace is just God’s unmerited favor, leading us to think that God can still favor us when we sin. The truth about grace actually says, “I don’t have to sin. Sin has no power over me; I am not limited to my ability to deal with sin”. God will continue to love us and accept us if we sin, but that is an issue of mercy, not grace.

What will limit the Spirit of grace from working in your life?

Failure to make a decision limits what the Spirit of grace can do in your life. If you don’t believe you can yield yourself to God, you will not make a decision to yield. We make decisions whether to yield to sin or yield to righteousness. If we choose to yield to righteousness, the Holy Spirit will give us grace to walk in that righteousness – the choice is ours.

Why sin does not separate us from God.

Rom 8:39 nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

God never draws back from us; we are the ones who draw back. When we sin our hearts condemn us, but God is greater than our hearts. In other words, God does not change and withdraw from us; in our hearts we change and withdraw from Him.

Why should we confess our sins to God?

Confessing is saying the same thing God says about you and your sin, and this is the way you return to the light. It is in believing truth that your heart becomes established in righteousness. It is in confessing truth that we experience forgiveness. Not receive forgiveness – but experience it.

How can we annihilate the root cause of sin that we continually yield to?

Through personal fellowship with the Father we can experience love and acceptance that will destroy the root cause of sin. Then sin no longer has power over us. Our needs can be met only in a close, personal relationship with God.

Are you at a place where you can say the same thing about your sin that God says? Do you recognize when you sin that it is not God who withdraws from you, but you who separates yourself from God? Talk about what freedom it brings to know that Grace is not just unmerited favor, but that it is actually God’s ability working in you because of the finished work of Jesus. Is it empowering?

If you want to better understand this message, go to www.impactministries.com.

Grace The Power To Change Part 13

Grace The Power To Change

Part 13

The Time of Need

What is a benefit of grace working in us?

It always brings peace and joy. Peace is knowing that grace “God’s ability” is working in us – in HIS ability we can do all things.

What do we need to know when we are approaching the throne of grace?

We need to know that we have the total acceptance of God. We may not have confidence in any of our abilities, but we can have boldness and confidence in God. If we don’t believe God’s acceptance, we will never receive His grace. Approach God based on what Jesus has done. If Jesus has a right to come before God in confidence, then we have a right to come before God in confidence.

Name something God will never do.

God will never violate your will. He will convict you, draw you, and compel you, bet He will not change your mind for you. Once we have repented, changed our minds, and made a decision, God can move in our lives.

What is wrong with our attitude about sin?

We do not sin as the source of our pain. We wrongly believe that our pain is God’s conviction. We view sin as a list of fun things God does not allow us to do, instead of accepting the truth and viewing sin as a list of things that will bring absolute destruction in our lives.

Here are some questions to ask yourself.

When you approach God, do you do it on the basis of what you have done or on the basis of what Jesus did?

Are you at a place where you can allow the ability of God to work in your most difficult situation?

Have you repented and changed your mind?

How do you view sin? Do you see it as something God is keeping from you? Or, do you correctly view it as the things that affect your heart in a way that separates you from the life of God?

Have you confused the consequences of your sin as the punishment of God?

Grace The Power To Change Part 12

Grace The Power To Change

Part 12

Coming Out of the Grave

Why are we able to have victory in our lives?

We are able to live victorious lives because of the power of God that works in us. It is the same resurrection power that went into the grave to raise Jesus from the dead. It is the power that caused Him to be victorious over all other power.

How is God’s glory related to reality?

The word for glory means the view, judgment, and opinion of God, which is reality. The way God sees it is the way it is. Regardless of how we see it or understand it, God’s view is reality.

How was Jonah a type of Christ?

Jonah in the belly of the whale was a type of Jesus in hell. Just like Jonah made confessions of faith, worship, and trust while he was in the whale, Jesus began to say in hell what God said. He began to worshipfully speak God’s view and opinion, which is reality. Those words brought the Holy Spirit in and delivered Him from the chains of sin and death to make Him the firstborn of the dead.

What does the Bible mean by lying vanities?

Lying vanities are our views and opinions. To be swayed by emotions or to make decisions from our perspective is to observe a lying vanity. It shows we have no real regard or trust for the view and opinion of God.

What lying vanities are you allowing to control your life? Are you willing to surrender your opinion to God’s opinion in this area? No matter what tribulation, trial or circumstance is affecting your life right now, you can stabilize your heart by using God’s word. Just like Jonah you can begin to worshipfully speak God’s view and opinion of your situation and allow your own heart to lead you to victory.

To hear more of Dr. Jim Richards teaching on grace, go to www.impactministries.com.

Grace The Power To Change Part 11

Grace The Power To Change

Part 11

The Doorway to the Heart

What does it mean to be carnally minded?

The carnally minded person believes that we become righteous by doing righteous deeds. That is a mind that understands things according to the flesh.

What does it mean to “renew your mind”?

Rom 8:6 To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace.

We must see things the way God sees them, not how we decide they are. As we ponder and meditate on the Word of God, those thoughts affect our emotions and find their way to our heart.

Mar 4:24 He went on to say to them, "Pay attention to what you're hearing! You will be evaluated by the same standard with which you do your evaluating, and still more will be given to you,

Renewing our mind is when we persuade our hearts of what God says about us and look to what He says about us, not what others have said.

How do we establish information in our hearts?

Once we have received any input, whether true or false, we begin to think on it. Once we begin to think on anything – particularly those things that produce emotions – it begins to affect our hearts. Hearing a truth may not affect your life; but when you begin to think or meditate on it, it will.

What is the doorkeeper to your heart?

Your thoughts are the doorkeeper of your heart.

What makes up our soul?

The soul consists of the mind (thoughts), the emotions (feelings), and the will (the ability to make decisions).

What will alienate us from God’s grace?

Any thoughts or imaginations that are not consistent with the Word will cause us to go backwards, guide our live into destruction, and alienate us from God’s grace.

What is the number one way to guard your heart against those things that rise up against the Word of God?

You must conquer your thought life. When any thought or word tries to take your thoughts captive, speak God’s truth out of your mouth until your thoughts and emotions come back in line.

Every time you start to get a thought that is negative or against God’s Word, you must immediately stop, send it away, speak a scripture that is opposite of the thought, meditate on it, see and feel it. Every time you say something negative do the same thing. If you do this, I’m telling you from experience of how amazed you will see things change. I will also add that some things will change very fast, but others will not, it will take time to get those things in your heart that have been programmed against the Word of God. If it takes millions of times doing this, I’m telling you it is worth it.

To learn more about writing on your heart, go to www.fambible.org. Go to the message section and pick video or audio. Find the message about writing on your heart. Pastor Allen Speegle is the Pastor speaking.

Grace The Power To Change Part 10

Grace The Power To Change

Part 10

The Breastplate of Righteousness

What is the importance of keeping and guarding your hearts?

Pro 4:23 Above everything else guard your heart, because from it flow the springs of life.

We need to guard our hearts because all that our lives are, or have been, is the product of our hearts. The heart is the seat of our emotions. It is the spiritual strengthen, intellectual life, and inner nature or man; it is the source of emotions, feelings, instincts, and passions. In our hearts the Word of God is kept, the peace of God begins to rule, and God gives strength.

In the real you, can you see the correlation of how you live life and the beliefs in your heart?

Why did God say Abraham was the father of faith?

Abraham was the father of faith because he believed what God said. In spite of all his failures, God called him righteous.

Gen 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Abraham believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness. This is why Abraham is an example of faith to us.

Rom 4:17 as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don't yet exist.

Abraham believed what God said. God called him righteous and related to him as a righteous man, even though he was not.

What determines if the Word of God will work in your life?

What you believe about righteousness will affect your heart more than anything else you believe. What you believe about righteousness will determine whether the Word of God will work in your life.

What does it mean to raise the shield of faith and wear the breastplate of righteousness?

Raising the shield of faith is continually rejecting anything not based on the finished work of Jesus. Wearing the breastplate of righteousness is guarding the heart with the righteousness we have in Jesus.

Grace The Power To Change Part 9

Grace The Power To Change

Part 9

Grace Through Righteousness

What is the difference between “works righteousness” and “faith righteousness”?

Works righteousness is trying to be right before God in our own strengthen. Faith righteousness is a free gift based on Jesus being obedient to the Father in life, death, and resurrection.

What does relying on Jesus’ righteousness do for us?

We are empowered when we rely on the righteousness of Jesus. As we acknowledge that we are righteous our hearts are persuaded and grace will flow out of our hearts. This causes us to abandon any trust in our own performance.

What can transform us into the likeness of Christ?

When we abandon works righteousness and enter into faith righteousness we share in the resurrection power of Jesus. That resurrection power transforms us into the likeness of Christ.

What is righteousness of heart?

Just as there is a difference in being righteous and living righteously, there is also a difference between having a righteous spirit and a righteous heart. Our spirits were made righteous the moment we accepted Jesus. Our hearts, however, are righteous only when we believe the truth.

What is the “glory of God”?

Glory means the opinion, judgment, view and opinion of God which is reality. Righteousness believes the view and opinion of God about you and accepts it as reality regardless of your own opinion.

How can I help keep my heart in righteousness?

The words that we speak help keep our hearts in righteousness. When we realize our emotions are becoming negative, we use the words of our mouth to turn the tide and convince our hearts of our righteousness.

Grace The Power To Change Part 8

Grace The Power To Change

Part 8

Grace in the Heart

How does God relate to us?

All that God does in us; He does in and through our hearts. God looks on and relates to us through our hearts and all that our lives are flows from the condition of our hearts.

Why does the Bible consider unbelief evil?

The reason unbelief is so evil is quite simple. Faith is a response to God’s character. It’s the natural response for someone who believes God is honest. Unbelief is also a response to God’s character – it does not believe in the honesty of God.

What is true humility?

Humility is not a “cast down” attitude. Neither is it a weakness. Humility is the place where you submit your will, your view, and your plans to the will, view, and plan of God.

Let’s talk about the heart of the sin nature being fear.

You cannot trust someone you are afraid of. When you are afraid of God, you do not trust Him. Because people who do not trust God -  His plans for them, His way, His opinion – they turn to sin for gratification and try to do things in their own way.

How does grace work?

Grace works in the heart and produces change from the inside out. Because grace works in our heart we can be and do all that God requires and still abide in rest. Rest is freedom from dead works.

Grace The Power To Change Part 7

Grace The Power To Change

Part 7

The Manifold Grace of God

The word “saved” comes from the Greek word sozo. What does it mean and why is it important to us?

Sozo means to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, do well, make whole, keep safe, or rescue from destruction. This is important to us because it means that Jesus did more when He died than just give us forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Sozo speaks of ALL Jesus died to give us. Forgiveness from sin and deliverance from the results of sin.

God’s grace is not automatic. How do we get it to work for us?

Grace works in the areas in which we operate faith and faith comes only in the areas where we have heard the Good News about Jesus.

What does the Bible mean by the manifold grace of God?

The manifold grace of God is God’s ability in any area of your life where you have a need. The manifold grace of God can make us able in any area that the Word promises and that we believe, confess, and receive.

What should the goal of our faith be?

Our goal should be to use our faith to receive grace, not to receive things. Our faith will bring us the grace to change.

How can you receive the manifold grace of God in every area of your life?

You receive grace (ability) in all areas of life by accepting and believing you are righteous in Jesus. A man believes unto righteousness, he does not do unto righteousness or perform unto righteousness.

Have you had the “serendipity” principle work in your life?

The dictionary defines serendipity as “coming upon a happy discovery when you are not looking for them”.

Grace The Power To Change Part 6

Grace The Power To Change

Part 6

Grace For Sin

When we sin, the Bible says in 1 John 2:1 that we have an advocate with the Father. What is an advocate and who is our advocate?

1Jn 2:1 My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus, the Messiah, one who is righteous.

An advocate is “someone who is for us” and our advocate is Jesus.

Why does Jesus understand our inability to cope with sin?

Jesus knows it is impossible for man to win over sin in his own strengthen. Having walked the earth as a man, He knows full well that the grace (ability) of God is the only power that can make man able to win over sin.

Can you remember a time when you ran from and not to God? Why did you run away? Fear of rejection, shame, sorrow? Did you return? What did you feel? Did you experience the love of God and His forgiveness and acceptance? Did you realize that He was right there waiting for you to return. He sought to make peace.

What is the key to being able to boldly go before the Lord in our time of need?

The key is to realize that we are approaching a throne of grace and not a throne of judgment. Becoming aware of God’s mercy will cause us to run to Him instead of from Him.

Why can we have confidence that we will be accepted before the throne of God?

We are accepted because of Jesus. It’s about what He did, not what we have done or not done. Our works do not give us acceptance; we are accepted because of Jesus.

Why does it help the believer to “confess the Word”?

We don’t confess the Word to try and get God to do something. We confess the Word to convince our hearts of what He has already done. Confessing the Word gets our heart “back on track”.

It is not enough to have a doctrine of faith righteousness; we must believe it in our hearts. When we confess the Word we persuade our hearts of the truth that we know.

Grace The Power To Change Part 5

Grace The Power To Change

Part 5

In My Weakness

How do we neutralize grace?

We neutralize grace by trusting in our own ability. There is no in between when we are trusting in ourselves or we are trusting in God. The one thing that keeps us from walking in grace is our own strengthen.

What does it mean to fall from grace? Does it mean you are no longer saved?

No, falling from grace is when you leave the realm of God’s ability. It is when you attempt to obtain righteousness by your performance.

What did Paul learn from the “thorn in his flesh”?

Paul learned that he did not need a miracle from God to remove the obstacle, but the grace of God to face and conquer the obstacle.

How does the Bible define “frustrate”?

Neutralize, trusting in your own ability that NEUTRALIZES God’s ability, attempting to gain righteousness by your performance.

The word “frustrate” and it’s meaning in light of the times when we are frustrated. Maybe our frustration is a result of not depending on or neutralizing God’s grace in that situation.

How do we obtain grace on a daily basis?

Each day we must be committed to live in the realm of God’s ability and not our own. On a daily basis, as we pray, we obtain grace for that moment.

Grace The Power To Change Part 4

Grace The Power To Change

Part 4

Where Sin Abounds

How does grace help the sin problem?

Grace is not God’s ability to overlook your sin; it is His ability working in you to deliver you from sin.

What is the difference between mercy and grace?

Mercy is God’s ability to forgive when we sin. Grace is God’s ability to overcome sin.

What effect does sin have on our hearts?

Sin damages the heart making it difficult for us to trust God in the future. It makes us doubt God’s love and His ability to forgive.

What is humility and why do we need it?

Humility is the willingness to surrender your will, your opinions, and your views to the view and will of God. We cannot receive grace unless we are humble. As we draw near to God and submit ourselves to Him and depend on Him we begin to partake of His grace.

What power does Satan have over us?

His only power is deception and accusation. When we fail to believe the truth, in that state of dullness and confusion, Satan is able to attack and destroy.

How do you win the battle over Satan?

Simply by gaining control of your thoughts and beliefs.

Truths to meditate on:

There is always more grace than there is temptation. God wants you to avoid sin because it destroys you. What you focus on, you gravitate toward.

Grace The Power To Change Part 3

Grace The Power To Change

Chapter 2

The Grace of Jesus

What 2 things did Jesus show us in His earthly life and how did he accomplish these 2 things?

He showed God to man and He showed what a man full of the power of God could do. He accomplished this by the grace (ability) of God working in Him.

We have this same power and the same amount of grace that Jesus had. We just need to learn how to use that power and grace.

Discuss how the scripture John 14:12, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also” is possible in the Christian life.

We can do the works of Jesus did because He did it all as a man full of the grace of God. We have that same grace (ability). This is why it is important to understand the humanity of Jesus. If we do not believe he became a man, we don’t realize that as a man we can do as he did and greater (scripture: James 1:14, Hebrews 4:15-16, Hebrews 2:18).

How was Jesus able to conquer the desire to sin?

Hebrews 4:16 He went to the Father and received grace (ability) when He was I n need.

What is one of the best ways to learn to live by grace?

Follow the example of Jesus. He was our pattern and example. He showed us what a person yielded to the Spirit could do and be.

Grace The Power To Change Part 2

Grace The Power To Change

Part 2

Chapter 2: Grace – God’s Ability

What is a simple definition of grace?

God’s ability working in man, making him able to do what he cannot do in his own ability.

John 1:16 We have all received one gracious gift after another from his abundance,

When Jesus came he not only brought truth, but the ability to live that truth.

What does the “flesh” refer to and how can you recognize when you are “in the flesh”?

The “flesh” refers to man’s ability. When we try to change, perform, or become what we should be through our own strengthen we are operating “in the flesh”. The law was little more than an awareness of sin. The law did not give us ability. The law that they are referring to here is the Old Testament law that God gave to Moses.

What sets the Old and New Covenant apart?

The 1^st Covenant was dependant on man; the 2^nd is dependent on God. The New Covenant brings glory to God because of His accomplishments in man. In the New Covenant God does the word – we believe and receive.

What is the only way the Word will work in us?

By the grace of God – His ability working in us as we are drawn into close, loving, appreciative dependency on Him. Works through a relationship- by love –

Grace The Power To Change Part 1

Grace The Power To Change

I would like to acknowledge Dr. James Richards for his insights to the grace message that God has given him. All the material here comes from his book entitled; Grace The Power To Change. His book helped change my life. I hope that as you take this journey you too will have the power to change. God’s grace is what changes us. Grace means that God’s strengthen works in us when we can’t change ourselves. But God can’t do this unless you allow him to.

Chapter 1

The Power To Change

What makes up the real you?

The heart is the real you. The heart is the place where who you are in your spirit and who you are in your soul (mind, will and emotions) come together. Our heart is influenced by: Our thinking, what we expose ourselves to, the beliefs that we adopt.

How does the condition of our hearts affect our everyday life?

Our spirits can be full of life, healing, joy, and integrity, but the condition of our hearts can keep those things from becoming a reality to us.

How can you change your heart in order to change your life?

Our hearts can only be changed by our thinking. What we think, what we expose ourselves to, the beliefs we adopt – all affect and influence our hearts. We can change our hearts through prayer, meditation and study/confession of the word. The confession part is not confessing our sins. It’s confessing what God says about us, who we are and what He thinks about us.

Describe the difference between “change” and “transformation”.

Change happens though our strengthen and ability transformation happens when we come to believe the truth about who we are in Jesus.

Transforming Destructive Feelings!

Transforming Destructive Feelings

We all have feelings and they are real feelings. However any negative feelings that we have, or feelings that are contrary to the Word of God are false feelings. And we know from research that negative feelings can destroy our health.

Most of our negative feelings come from feelings that need to be restored. Once we find out the feelings that need to be restored, then healing can come. The Bible says that a merry heart is health to our body.

2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

This scripture tells us how to deal with thoughts and feelings that come out of what we have been thought.

But everything that we believe must come from what took place because of the resurrection of Jesus.

This scripture has nothing to do with warfare against Satan. Satan is not even mentioned, but the church has taken this as warfare against Satan.

The word war here is not talking about a war where force is being used. It’s talking about the war of the flesh that each one of us has.

Let’s look at the word weapons here. The word for weapons is the word tools.

So Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit gives us the tools needed to take hold of the power that God has given us to control the negative thoughts and beliefs that we have been holding on to. But most Christians don’t know how to access this power because they feel they are unworthy.

The word strongholds means – philosophical structures.

Most people try to find scriptures that endorse their philosophies. This leads to a life of convenience rather than a life of conviction. Conviction says that I have to get into the Bible and seek God and see how to apply God’s beliefs into my life. To see what Gods says about me and who I am.

2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Imaginations here, is referring to reasoning’s that are apart from God.

Whenever you get a negative thought or feeling, you need to cast down everyone that is apart from God.

I will use myself as an example here. I suffered for 11 years from a broken back. Every time that I would experience pain, I would have to force myself to stop thinking about the pain, speak a scripture of healing, then praise God in a way of thanksgiving, and then see myself healthy. Then I would have to attach an emotion to those thoughts. I also would do this with every negative thought and emotion. I would do this countless times a day. Day after day, after week, after year. But it was worth it.

There is a deep revelation from reading the Bible, but just getting a revelation from the Bible will stop us from experiencing the revelation if we don’t apply God’s word into our lives. We must be willing to have an ongoing experience with God for things to function properly in our lives.

High thing in this scripture refers to anything that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ. Bringing everything into captivity is the obedience of Christ. I’m going to take any thought, argument or belief and compare it to what Christ accomplished through His obedience. If they do not fall in line with the obedience of Christ then I have change my thoughts, beliefs and arguments.

2Co 10:6 and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Revenge here means to try as a case or to punish. This means that when we have negative thoughts and feelings we must decide whether or not they line up with the finished work of the cross.

Disobedience here means to hear incorrectly or to hear and disregard. Or a place of decision where we go to a particular point or thought.

Negative feelings and thoughts will only produce more negative thoughts and feelings. This is the law of sowing and reaping. Scripture also says that the more you think on something, the more of it you get back. This works for good or bad thoughts and feelings.

When we say things like I’m not happy, I’m poor or sick; we are not working in faith. Whatever we belief connects with our bodies. Our bodies then response to our beliefs. We must keep our feeling and thoughts in harmony with God to experience what God has for us.

One of my teachers spoke on this same message recently. I used a lot of what he spoke about here. But he can explain it so much better to you than I can. He has been teaching this a lot longer. So if you would like to hear a more detailed message about this subject than what I said here, you can visit his website. He also has lot more messages you can hear. So visit Dr. James Richards at www.impactministries.com .

Grace/Righteousness

Grace/Righteousness

Righteousness, what is it? Right standing with God.

There are two types of righteousness:

1.     Works righteousness – a type of right standing that depends on doing good or doing the right thing, that we think makes us right with God.

But there is a big problem with this type of righteousness.

Rom 3:12  They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not, so much as one:

Most people think it’s alright if I just don’t do the real bad things. They think that they are ok, but this is not what God’s Word says. Some people think that in the end my good stuff will out weigh my bad stuff, but this too is wrong.

Most people are familiar with the Ten Commandments. But actually God gave Moses 613 commandments.

Jas 2:10 For whoever shall keep all the Law, but stumbles in one, he has become guilty of all.

If you just broke one law, you were guilty of all of the law. Man talk about ruff. And the penalties were bad if you broke the law. You had to get your righteousness from the law, but if you kept every law.

2.     Faith righteousness – is when you depend on and believe that your right standing with God is because of what Jesus did for you at the cross.

2Co 5:21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.

Jesus suffered the penalty we should have, yet he never broke the law. The Holy Spirit was then sent into us to do in our lives what we cannot do on our own. Our right standing with God came by believing, not be our good works.

If you are someone who doesn’t trust and believe in Jesus and what He did for you, the only thing left for you is to stand before God based on your performance and works. Believe me when I tell you this, you don’t want to have to do that.

Tit 3:5 not by works in righteousness which we had done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

In other words if you could be right with God by your performance, Jesus would have never had to come to this earth. And if you still could, He died in vain.

It’s not what a person does or doesn’t do that makes them righteous, rather what they fail to believe.

Rom 5:12 Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death resulted from sin, therefore everyone dies, because everyone has sinned.

We were made sinners at birth with a sin nature because of Adam.  There are some false teachings about grace right now so I want you to listen very carefully with what I’m about to say. Before trusting in Christ we did some good things but it didn’t cause us to have a righteous nature. Because of Adam the sin nature, the death sentenced was passed onto all of humanity. And our ability had nothing to do with it. You were born into it.

Rom 5:17 For if, through one man, death ruled because of that man's offense, how much more will those who receive such overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness rule in life because of one man, Jesus the Messiah!

Adam got us all into a big mess, and because of what Adam did, sin was passed onto all people. But yet Jesus came, paid the price much more than those that received the abundance of grace. We must receive righteousness for it to affect our lives and eternal destination. A natural birth guarantees us a sin nature; a spirit birth guarantees us a righteous nature. This will probably upset some religious people, but with your righteous nature you’re failures can’t make you unrighteous.

Rom 3:22 God’s righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah—for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people.

Right standing with God has been paid for, but the whole world is not in right standing with God. Nothing influences your life until you believe it. And we have to believe what Jesus did for us.

Rom 10:10 For one believes with his heart and is justified, and declares with his mouth and is saved.

Isaiah 53 describes what took place on our behalf.

Isaiah 54 describes the new covenant as a result of the exchange that took place on the cross.

Isa 54:7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you; but I'll gather you with great compassion.

Isa 54:8 I hid my face from you for a moment in a surge of anger, but I will have compassion on you with my everlasting gracious love," says the LORD your Redeemer.

Isa 54:9  "For this is like the waters of Noah to me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again spread over the earth; so have I sworn that I won't be angry with you again and that I won't rebuke you.

Isa 54:10 for the mountains may collapse and the hills may reel, but my gracious love will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace totter," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

What a wonderful statement from God about us!!!!

When believed how does faith righteousness help us?

1.     It secures our eternity.

2.     It changes our nature.

3.     It changes how we feel about ourselves.

Understanding that righteousness comes by believing makes me feel different, makes me think that if I’m loved by God that much, man I feel pretty good about myself. Our identity must come from God. Not stuff, people, money or etc.

Eph 2:10  For we are God's masterpiece, created in the Messiah Jesus to perform good actions that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.

We do good works because of who we are in Christ.

Any teaching that you hear out there that promotes that sin is ok and it doesn’t have destructive forces or vices is heresy.

Heresy – when you take the truth and you expand it to the place where it is no longer true.

I hope that everyone will read the following book by Dr. Jim Richards. You can find it at www.impactminitries.com. Book title: The Gospel of Peace. This book can change your life. It can change what you think and feel about yourself and God.