If you want to be happy, stop complaining.

Never give up in life

It’s Monday
Stay blessed
Stay humble

What is grace?

1. It is an attribute of God. God is gracious. Psalm 145:8 "The Lord is gracious." When God talks about His grace, He's giving Himself. He just doesn't give you "something"; the gift is Himself. We can say God is Love, we can say God is Grace. It's actually a part of Christ Himself.

2. It comes through Jesus Christ. Grace comes through a person. It's personal. John 1:17 "For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Moses gave the Law and Jesus Christ gave grace. Romans 5:15 "The gift came by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ."

3. It's eternal. God has always acted in grace. 2 Timothy 1:9 "Who has saved us and called us to a Holy life, not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. And this grace was given us in Jesus Christ before the beginning of time." A lot of people think that God acted one way in the Old Testament and another way in the New Testament. The Old Testament is Law and the New Testament is grace. But God has always acted in grace toward people. Genesis 9 says "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Abraham was chosen by grace. God has always acted by grace. Always. From the beginning of time. Grace is eternal.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

4. It's free. It's unconditional. It's a gift. You don't earn it. You don't work for it. Romans 3:24 "We are justified freely by His grace." Remember justified means just as if I'd never sinned. That is great news! God makes me just as if I'd never sinned. Because I deserve it? No. Because I earn it? No. But because of grace. It is free. It is a free gift. Titus 3:5 "It's not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He has saved us."

5. It can be resisted. Grace can be resisted. You can resist it in your life. How? There are three things that will limit and hinder the grace of God in your life:

1) Hebrew 12:15 says that one of the things that limits God's grace in our life is bitterness. When you get resentful, when you allow bitterness to build up in your life towards another person, that hinders the grace of God in your life. "See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Bitterness hinders the grace of God in your life. God warns against it over and over saying, Don't become resentful!

2) Pride hinders the grace of God in your life. James 4:6 "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." When you or I get full of pride and think "I can do this on my own. I don't need God. I can make it by myself. I have plenty energy, plenty of time, plenty of ability" then God's grace is frustrated in our lives -- the power and the ability to do God's will.

3) Relying on our own works frustrates the grace of God. This is what the book of Galatians is all about. They had started by walking in the Spirit and then they continued by trying to earn God's pleasure by their good works.

6. It is limitless. God's grace is limitless. If you tried to measure the grace of God you'd face an impossible task. Romans 5:20 "The Law was added so that trespass might increase but where sin increased grace all the more increased." Literally, in the Greek, it says "Where sin increased, God's grace super increased." You cannot out-sin the grace of God. Have you ever heard anybody say, "That guy is hopeless!" But Romans 5:20 says nobody is hopeless. Where sin increased, God's grace super increases. You cannot out-sin God's grace. It is limitless.

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

THE BENEFITS OF GRACE

Why is grace such a big deal? Eight benefits of God's grace in your life:



1. We're saved by grace. Romans 4-5. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." We're not saved by our own effort. We're saved by grace. But the big problem is that many Christians think they are saved by grace and then they live the Christian life by works. It's like they enter the family of God one way and then they continue another way. They get into all kinds of problems. Colossians 2:6 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." The way you became a Christian is the way you continue in the Christian life. How were you saved? By grace. How do you continue the Christian life? By grace, through faith.