This was my summary ( refer to post below). It is not written in nice prose but rather sentences that spoke to me- characteristic of all the other summaries in this blog.
Introduction
We have been forgiven of sins past present and future, made righteous and are well accepted by God through Christ Jesus.Jesus has finished the work. Stop depending on yourself and start depending on Him.No more judgment. God’s anger exhausted on the cross.The power to overcome sin comes from Grace and forgiveness, victory over sin.The old covenant is obsolete, Divide the word rightly.
The Law brings death. Purpose of it is to bring man to an end so he would turn to God in his despair.
Wrong thinking allows devil to keep us in defeat. Truth will set you free.Unforgivable sin, continually rejecting God cannot be committed by Christians.We are always clean and forgiven because of the continuous washing in Christ Jesus blood.To say that God chastise us with sickness/accidents/tragedies is to negate the finished work of Christ on the cross.The Holy Spirit convicts the world of the sin of unbelief and convicts Christians of their righteousness in Him.If you are living in sin, you are definitely not under grace.
Don’t search your heart and become more sin conscious. Be more grace conscious and you’ll produce Godly character. It’s not discipline but the knowledge you have been cleansed from your sin that will produce change.Holiness means being set apart from the non believers. Riches in financial crisis, health in world pandemics.Whoever looks on Jesus and sees their sins, curses and sicknesses punished on His body shall be saved/healed.Bringing back the ark of the covenant is the same as bringing Jesus Christ back into a place of prominence, and making Him and His finished work the centre of all our teaching and preaching.We don’t read the bible to qualify for God’s blessings; we read the bible to find out about our blessings and inheritance in Christ.
Grace is the undeserved, unmerited and unearned favour of God- the moment you try to merit the free favours of God, His grace is nullified.Faith for any breakthrough or miracle in your life springs forth when you see His grace.When people hear the good news that all their sins have been forgiven because of the cross, something supernatural happens. It’s all about Jesus and His finished work. You are destined to reign through Him. This is the secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living.
1. DESTINED TO REIGN
ROMANS 5:17
For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
- We are destined to reign. It is not God’s desire that you live a life of defeat, poverty and failure.
- When you reign in life, you reign over sin, you reign over the powers of darkness and you reign over depression, over poverty, over every curse and over every sickness and disease ( over the devil and all his devices)
- The secret of reigning in life lies with receiving everything that Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. Receive two things- the abundance of grace and gift of righteousness.
- Jesus finished the work. Hebrews 10:12-14 His finished work on the cross was offered as one sacrifice forever, and when you received Jesus Christ into your life, you were perfected forever. So stop depending on your own efforts and start receiving from God.
2. THE LAW HAS BEEN FULFILLED
JOHN 1:17, MATTHEW 5:17,COLOSSIANS 2:14-15
- Grace is personal and came as a person. Christianity is about having a relationship with God.
- Jesus has fulfilled completely the righteous requirements of the law; the devil cannot use the law to condemn you every time you fail.
- Purpose of law was to bring man to the end of himself so that in his despair, he would see his need for Jesus. Not designed to make you holy, but to expose your ungodliness.
3. CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
- The devil’s strategy is to surround the truths of God with controversies. You can always tell how powerful a truth is by the number of controversies the devil surrounds it with. E.g. healing.
- Do you seriously think that your heavenly father will bless you with a meagre hand when the streets of heaven are made of pure gold?
- The gospel of Jesus Christ leads to blessings, success, healing, restoration, protection, financial breakthroughs, security, peace, wholeness and MUCH MORE!
- God blesses you not because you are good but because He is good.
- Law- deserved favour, Grace is undeserved favour.
- Jesus is grace. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. ( Romans 6:14) More grace, more power to overcome sin.
- We are the righteousness of God in Christ. ( Romans 10:3) It is a gift. Sin- past, present and future- has been forgiven the moment you received Jesus into your life and will never be held liable for your sins again. ( Colossians 2:13, forgiven all our sins)
- Sin loses its appeal when you Encounter the Person of Grace, Jesus Christ, and realise all that He has blessed you with and done for you on the cross. It causes you to fall in love with Jesus. The more you realise that you are righteous, the more victory you will experience over sin. ( 1 Cor 15:34)
- That why the yoke is light, grace and not law.
- It is our Lord’s good pleasure to see your family blessed, storehouses overflowing and your body full of the resurrection life of Jesus.
4. WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED
- “Today, He prospers me, but tomorrow, He may give me poverty to humble me.” This is schizophrenic Christianity.
- Under law, God demanded righteousness from man. Under grace, God provided righteousness for man. Old covenant based on what you do, new covenant based on grace. (Hebrews 8:8-12... I will)
- Grace imparts righteousness and has accomplished everything on your behalf.
- How can God be angry with you when He has already declared “your sins and your lawless deeds I will remember no more”? This is the reason why many believers are living a life of defeat- believe the lie that God is angry with them. Carry guilt and condemnation.
- Today He is well pleased with you because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. No longer angry with us because all His anger for our sins fell upon Jesus at the cross.
- Grace and forgiveness that gives you the power to overcome sin, victory over sin.
- Many Christians have been robbed of fellowship and intimacy with God because they believe the lie that God is still angry with them because of their sins. His anger has been exhausted completely on the body of your saviour. All judged and punished already.
5. IS GOD JUDGING AMERICA
- Tragedy of Sept 11: some people say God is judging America. If God judges America today, He has to apologise to Jesus and what He has accomplished on the cross.
- It is true that Old Testament God rains down judgment to punish His people but we need to understand how to rightly divide the word of God. (2 Tim 2:15). Before the cross events and after the cross events.
- Son of man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. We must filter all prophecies through the cross. If you receive a “word” from someone that brings your sins to remembrance or instils an expectation of punishment, throw it out.
- Even when men sins, God will not count his sin against him, nor punish him for his iniquity. Romans 4:8. Too good to be true? That why we are called blessed.
- God is for us not against us. When we have this confidence, we can believe for restoration, breakthroughs and good things to happen to us.
6. THE EVIL CONSPIRACY
- As long as you continue to have a wrong perception of God and withdraw from Him, the devil can keep you bound in a life of defeat. Truth will set you free.
- One of the most evil teachings that I have heard is that God will chastise His own with sickness, diseases, accidents and tragedies. This erroneous teaching is based on the old covenant and not the new covenant. Lev: I will chastise you seven times for your sins. But we are no longer under the covenant of law- under grace!
- Isaiah 53:4- the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
- To say that God will still chastise us with sickness/accidents/diseases is to negate the finished work of Jesus Christ.
- New covenant chastisement (Hebrews 12) is poorly translated. It refers to child training. Disciplines us just as earthly fathers would their sons.
- Would you give your son a terminal disease to teach him a lesson? If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more God?
- God’s righteous anger against sin has been satisfied and today we can expect only love from Him, not judgment.
- So all these are from the devil and because of Jesus’ finished work, we have been redeemed from every evil work and curse. Psalm 103: 1-5.
- Paul’s thorn in the flesh- a messenger of Satan. Use bible to interprete bibl. In numbers you will find that the enemies of Israel were described as thorns. (Numbers 33:55). So Paul did not suffer any sickness or disease but it was in reference to an evil personality who instigated people to attack, gossip and back bite Paul everywhere he went preaching the gospel.
- The Good news of Jesus always liberates and His perfect love removes every fear. Imparts faith and exalts the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross so stop believing that lie.
7. THE GOSPEL THAT PAUL PREAHED
- The power of the gospel is to live each waking moment having the confidence that all your sins have been forgiven.
- Only when Christ is preached will faith be imparted. ACTS14: 8-10. Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ. Romans 10:7. No impartation of faith when you hear the 10 commandments.
- The power of the gospel that Paul preached is found in the forgiveness of all your sins for everyone who believes.
- Pharisees couldn’t accept this like some people today. Filled with envy because they have worked so hard and depended on their own efforts to achieve their own sense of self righteousness. Grace makes nothing of man’s own efforts and makes everything of Jesus Christ. Don’t reject the gospel of grace: Acts 13:41.
8. THE MAIN CLAUSE OF THE NEW COVENANT
- I now know beyond the shadow of doubt that a Christian cannot commit the unpardonable sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. There is no sin that a Christian is not forgiven of.
- To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to continually reject the person of Christ whom the Holy Spirit testifies of. (John 15:26). Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees.
- Holy Spirit is present to witness about Jesus so to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to keep on rejecting the gospel of Jesus and to depend on your own efforts to be saved.
- There is a lot of confusion and wrong believing in church today because many Christians read their bible without rightly dividing the old and new covenants. When we read the words of Jesus, necessary to rightly divide the Word and understand who Jesus was speaking to.
- So main clause of the new covenant: Hebrews 8:8-12. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. God does not keep an itemised account of all your failures.
9. THE WATERFALL OF FORGIVENESS
- I have yet to encounter anyone who, after receiving the grace of our Lord Jesus, says to himself, “Now I can go out and sin!” However, I have encountered people who have given up and walked away from God, not because they were evil and desired to sin but because they were sincere and had consistently failed in their attempts to keep the laws of the covenant and ended up feeling like hypocrites.
- On the other hand, I have received countless written testimonies and personally witnessed precious lives, marriages and family transformed by the grace of our Lord Jesus.
- But to who little is forgiven, the same loves little. (Luke 7:44-47). The reason why people don’t love Him much is that they don’t understand how much they have been forgiven.
- We are always told to produce Christian Character, we need to have discipline. But this is not what the word says. 2 Peter 1:5-9 ‘....... For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.’
- The secret behind every godly man and woman is their belief in the truth that they have been forgiven.
- Thus we don’t confess to be forgiven but we confess because we are already forgiven. Not begging for forgiveness but to come to Him freely and being open with God. If you really believe you need to confess all your sins to be forgiven, you have to confess all the time. We are not to live from confession to confession, but from faith to faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work.
- 1John 1:9- writing to the Gnostics who were unbelievers.
- When people in Corinth church living in sin, he did not ask them to confess their sin but he reminded of their righteousness by saying ‘Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?’
- John 1:7: walk in the light not walk according to the light. We are already being translated out of darkness to light. So if we sin in the light, we are cleansed in the light, and we are kept in the light. The word cleanses in the above verse is in continuous tense, the blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing you. It’s like a stone wedged right in the middle of the steady flow of the waterfall. You are always kept clean and forgiven because of the continuous cleansing of Jesus’ blood.
- Holy Communion: 1 Cor 11:27-30. The unworthy manner is not about you failing to examine yourself and confess all your sins, but it’s about failing to discern the body of Jesus and see for themselves how He has suffered in His body on your behalf. Not looking at yourself but to Jesus.
- Jesus said to the paralytic man that His sins were forgiven before asking him to arise and take his bed. This is because Jesus knew that unless the man had the assurance that all his sins had been forgiven, he would not have faith to be healted.
- The blood of Jesus qualifies you to have constant access to the Most High God. Because you are under this waterfall of forgiveness, every prayer you make avails much.
10. THE MINISTRY OF DEATH
- There are believers who choose to continue to live under its condemnation instead of receiving the grace from God. They have chosen to put their trust in their ability to abide by the Ten Commandments.
- 2 Cor 3:7-9 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
- The law demands righteousness from sinful man whereas grace imparts righteousness to sinful man. That is why it’s more glorious.
- Law demands perfection, but will not lift a finger to help. Grace imparts perfection and does everything for man through Jesus Christ.
- By cutting a new covenant of grace, God has made the first obsolete. Ten Commandments have been made obsolete. Hebrews 8:13.
- Tree of good and evil is a picture of God’s law and the Ten Commandments. Law is the knowledge of good and evil. God did not want man to partake of that because when a man partakes of the tree, he becomes dependent on his self efforts to do good and keep away from evil.
- God is after a relationship with us, one that is dependent on His goodness and His goodness alone.
- By sacrificing Himself and absorbing the full brunt of the judgment that was meant for you and me, Jesus stopped the sword of judgment that prevents us from partaking of the tree of life. God will never condemn us because His only begotten Son has already been condemned on our behalf.
- No more judgment. Jesus came so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly.
11. UNEARTHING THE DEEPEST ROOT
- The deepest root is condemnation.
- Conscience came in when Adam took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- It understands justice and the necessity of punishment. A conscience that typically expects punishment is a conscience that is under condemnation. The bible says ‘let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.’ Hebrews 10:22. An evil conscience is one that is perpetually conscious of sin and failure and typically expects punishment.
- A believer who has Jesus Christ and the power of His finished work can reject any accusation, guilt and condemnation thrown at him by the devil and by his own heart. WE can have good conscience- instead of sin conscious, forgiveness conscious.
- But some people chose to depend on their own efforts – to do right and do more- to be free from guilt and condemnation. This robs you of intimacy with God and leads you into a life of guilt. This is why condemnation is the deepest root. Satan accuses you and you begin to entertain negative thoughts and his best achievement is to keep you under condemnation.
- How then do we know if it’s Satan accusing us or Holy Spirit Convicting us? The bottom line is that the Holy Spirit never convicts you of your sins. He never comes to point out your faults. It says nowhere in the bible of the Holy Spirit convicting Christians of their sins.
- Holy Spirit is actually there to convict them of their righteousness in Christ. To remind us that we are continually cleansed by God’s blood even when we fail.
- John 16:8-11.
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
- So the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin because they do not believe in Him, unbelievers. There is only one sin that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of and that is the sin of unbelief, the sin of rejecting Jesus and not believing in His unfinished work.
- After you become a Christian, He convicts you of righteousness- right standing with Christ- because we don’t see Jesus anymore. He goes to the Father and we don’t see Him anymore. He is present to remind you of the main clause of the new covenant.
- Awake to righteousness and sin not. 1 Cor 15:34 KJV. The more believers realise that they are righteous, the more they start behaving like a righteous person. Right believing leads to right living. So if we our life to change, the solution is not changing circumstances but changing your heart, what you believe. God’s grace is bigger than your addictions. When you start believing that you are righteous apart from your works, the voice of the accuser has no more effect.
- Believe that you’re the righteousness of God in Christ, start walking in freedom and enjoy the blessings that are on the head of the righteous.
12. CONDEMNATION KILLS
- Law brings death. ‘The commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived and by it killed me.’Romans 7:10-11
- Law Always minister condemnation. Grace on the hand always ministers righteousness.
- The law stirs up sinful desires in man. Pau said that laws was designed to bring forth the offense ‘moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound” Romans 5:20.
- Condemnation leads to fear which leads to stress and then all kinds of psychosomatic sicknesses and oppression.
- Solution: There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1. The according to Spirit part is a mistranslation but it does not appear in the original Greek manuscripts. No conditions and no prerequisites.
- What will give you the boldness to Him is the knowledge that He sees you as completely forgiven. Adam hid from God. It is a lie that condemnation and guilt will lead you back to God.
- Prodigal story. The Father’s Heart of Grace.
13. THE GIFT OF NO CONDEMNATION
- Jesus blood protects us from condemnation.
- Believer should never feel guilty about being sick. You have not sinned or that God is teaching you a lesson but it just mean your healing is on the way.
- No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. Isaiah 54:17. You have the authority and the power to condemn every word of judgment that comes against you.
- Jesus told the woman of was caught in adultery that He doesn’t condemn her before telling her to sin n more. The order is important. Jesus gives the guilty sinner the gift of no condemnation.
- It is obvious that Jesus believed that when someone really has revelation that God does not condemn them, they would have the power to go and sin no more.
- Can a person be under grace and still live in sin? The bible says that sin shall not have dominion over you when you are not under law but under grace. So if you are living in sin, you are definitely not under grace. You are not enjoying the gift of no condemnation and the free unmerited favour of God. That is why sin has dominion over you. If someone has really known and experienced grace, he will NOT want to sin. Grace always results in victory over sin.
- Every time you fail in thought word or deed, receive this afresh. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
14. NO MORE CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN
- Christians are often told to search their hearts for sin. Instead of being more conscious of the love of God, they become more self conscious and more conscious of their sin.
- Come to Jesus are you are. Like the woman in Luke 7 who simply fell at His feet and worshipped.
- Whatever your need is, come to Jesus. The lie that you have to clean yourself first is so entrenched that in the church that many believers say ‘pastor, I don’t want to come to Jesus until I make my life right.’ Sad truth is that you will never come to Jesus because you cannot make your own life right.
- It is the unadulterated gospel of the grace of God that will produce all these good fruit. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. Titus 2: 11-12.
- Time to emphasise what God emphasizes. Grace is not teaching/doctrine/topic but is a person- Jesus. When you have Him, you are made holy!
- Holiness means being set apart, made uncommon from the rest of the world of unbelievers. In old covenant, God set Israelites apart by insulating them from plagues, provided for them and protected them. How much more for us?
- What this means is that even when the world is facing a financial crisis, we who are made holy by Jesus’ blood will have more than enough in our storehouses. When there are all kinds of diseases, we are made holy and set apart to enjoy God’s protection and divine health.
- God does not require you to search your heart and locate your sins before you worship Him. Psalmist ask God to search Him and if God searched us today, all that he will find is your righteousness in Jesus Christ for He sees you as righteous, holy and forgiven.
- Jesus is both our sin and burnt offering. Our sins are transferred to Him and Jesus worthiness before God being transferred to us.
- If you believe that you don’t deserve success but deserve to be punished, you will unconsciously punish yourself and cause yourself to fail. Condemnation is destructive; you punish yourself, your family with verbal abuse etc. Self sabotaging mechanism.
- Jesus was an overpayment for all our sins. It’s now up to you to believe the message. Unbelief does not change the fact that your debt has been fully paid but it means you will still have debt on your conscious and will affect you negatively each time you approach God. Don’t insult the payment of our Lord Jesus Christ but saying it is not enough.
- The way out of sin consciousness is to hear more teaching on the finished work of Jesus and how His blood has cleansed and forgiven you of all your sins.
15. THE ROAD TO EMMAUS
- Luke 4 ‘... The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel... “. Jesus was anointed to preach good news to you. So whenever you hear Jesus preached, good news will be proclaimed over your life, finances, marriage and your entire household will be blessed beyond measure.
- Luke 24:25: Jesus said ‘O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken’ to his two disciples when they didn’t recognised him after he resurrected. He then proceeded to expound to them all the things in the scripture concerning Himself. ( Luke 24:27)
- He did that because He didn’t want them to have faith in Him simply because they heard the scripture talking about Him but because they have heard the scriptures about Him. Same privilege given to the church today. So we read the bible not to find out what to do/not do but to see Him and all the things concerning Him.
- Their hearts burned within them when Jesus talked. There is also a natural hot sprint along the road to Emmaus which had medicinal qualities. Revelation from God: When you are sitting under anointed ministries that unveil Jesus in the Scriptures, not only will your heart be bathed in the warmth of His love, but even your physical body will be healed and restored. His words are truly ‘life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.’ Proverbs 4:22.
- The law is all about you looking at yourself. The new covenant of grace is all about you seeing Jesus.
- Jesus as the bread of life (manna in the desert) which kept them free from sickness and diseases. Anybody who doesn’t focus on Jesus Christ and His finished work has neither the wisdom of God nor the power of God.
- Jesus, the bronze serpent in the wilderness. Jesus became a serpent, a picture of a cursed creature, so that you and I could go free. Bronze snake and not real snake, cause Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Bronze in the bible is judgment. All who gazed on the bronze serpent was healed. Whoever looks on Jesus and sees their sins, curses and sicknesses punished on His body shall be saved/healed.
- Don’t look at yourself, your afflictions or your disease. Look at Jesus and you will live.
16. THE SECRET OF DAVID
- Why did God call David a man after His own heart? Psalm 132 ‘... I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty one of Jacob.’ Because he placed such importance on bringing back the ark.
- The item in the ark speaks of our sins and rebellion: tablets, rod and manna. It is then covered with the mercy seat where the blood of animal sacrifices was placed. God doesn’t want to see man’s sins and cannot see them when they are covered by blood.
- Jesus is our propitiation, Jesus is our mercy seat. Don’t uncover your sins or the sins of others. They have been completely forgiven by the blood of Jesus. His mercy endures forever.
- Bringing back the ark of the covenant is the same as bringing Jesus Christ back into a place of prominence, and making Him and His finished work the center of all our teaching and preaching.
- Some churches, you hear doing calling and vision. Is this what Christianity is about?
- Unveil Jesus. When Jesus Christ is not given central place in the body of Christ, the fullness of His blessings is not flowing as it should. JP main calling is to bring Jesus back into the central place of church.
- Today, you can be the man or woman after God’s own heart by making Jesus the centrepiece of every aspect of your life.
17. PICTURE OF PURE GRACE
- From Egypt to Sinai. Not a single Israelite died during this period although they murmured and complained during that period, the blessings and provisions they received were not dependent on their obedience or goodness. They were dependent on God’s goodness and faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, which was a covenant of grace.
- Something tragic happened. Exodus 19:8: All that the Lord has spoken we will do. In the original Hebrew text, they were saying, all that God requires and demands of us, we are well able to perform. In other words, they are asking God to judge them based on their obedience and not His goodness. So they effectively exchanged covenants. Since then, God punished each time they complained. This is called self righteousness; God will bless you if you keep his commandments.
- If you are still trying to be justified by your obedience to the law, you are effectively negating what Jesus has already done for you on the cross. The law condemns the best of us but grace saves the worst of us.
- True Gospel always produces peace in your heart. Some spiritual leaders teach that Christian life was difficult; you had to suffer for the Lord and pay your dues. But we don’t read the bible to qualify for God’s blessings; we read the bible to find out about our blessings and inheritance in Christ. Not reading the bible shouldn’t produce guilt but hunger!
- What produces peace? Hearing about judgment or goodness and Grace? Your answer is found in His grace, not your own doing.
18. ONE THING YOU LACK
- God’s goodness leads us to Repentance. Romans 2:4 4 or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Example: Peter and the fishes
- Repent in the Greek work means to change one’s mind. It’s not really about mourning and being sorrowful. As you hear the gospel of Jesus preached, they are changing their minds about their old beliefs that held them in bondage and receiving the truth that liberates them.
- New Testament exhorts us to repent from dead works. Sin is simply the fruit, dead works are the roots.
- Dead works are the religious things that people do, thinking that by doing these things, they are gaining righteousness with God. Hebrews6:1 1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
- Grace opens your heart. The law condemns the self righteous but Grace will transform the sinner. Story of the rich young ruler and Zaccheaus show the contrast between grace and law.
- What is going to govern my behaviour to make it acceptable to God if you give up keeping the Law of Moses? Grace will teach you. Titus 2:11-12 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
- It is grace that leads people to true repentance and inward heart transformation.
19. THE KEY TO EFFORTLESS VICTORIOUS LIVING
- Right believing leads to right behaviour. Instead of being irritated and angry with him for big upset with a colleague, he over flows with God’s grace and is empowered with a supernatural ability to love even the most unlikeable colleague.
- You can have victory over your thought life by seeing that all your thoughts are continually being cleaned by the blood of Jesus.
- Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation...
- Sin does not stop God’s grace from flowing, but God’s grace will stop sin. Victory over sin comes only when people encounter the super abundance of God’s grace.
20. THE PROBLEM WITH MIXTURE
- Believers today have a confused perspective of God. What would cause believers to think God is sometimes angry with them and sometimes pleased?
- “Galatianism” is a mixture of covenants. Intermingling of teachings about God which contain a little bit of the law as well as a little bit of grace. Compare response to Corinthian church and Galatia church. Wrong doctrine is far worse than wrong behaviour.
- If there is no grace or grace is mixed with law, what hope is there for overcoming your wrong behaviour?
- Evidence of this in churches “yes, you are saved by grace, but now that you are saved, you have to start living a holy life by keeping the Ten Commandments.’
- This is MIXTURE.
- Grace is the undeserved, unmerited and unearned favour of God- the moment you try to merit the free favours of God, His grace is nullified.
- Don’t put new wine into old wineskin. God don’t want us to be blessed when we obey the law and cursed when we fail. He wants us to be blessed on account of His son and what He did on the cross.
- Revelations 3:15-16 KJV. ‘... I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.’
- Cold refers to completely under the law, hot refers to completely under grace.
- Trying to balance grace with the law robs you of the power o reign in life through the abundance of His grace.
- Either you enjoy the blessings of the Lord through His undeserved, unearned and unmerited favour, or you trust in your own efforts and your own behaviour to deserve, earn and merit favours from the Lord.
21. THE SECRET TO GREAT FAITH
- Once I started pointing the people to what was wrong with them because of Jesus, faith was imparted and we began to experience an explosion of healing miracles like never before.
- When believers catch the revelation that there is nothing wrong with God, nothing wrong with His word and by His grace, nothing wrong with them, They become more conscious of What Jesus has done for them. The more they see what Jesus has qualified for them, the more faith springs up within them and miracles break forth.
- Look to Jesus. The author and finisher of faith.
- Faith for any breakthrough or miracle in your life springs forth when you see His grace.
- Both people who were commended for having great faith were gentiles, not under the Law of Moses and therefore they did not disqualify themselves.
- 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, Romans 4:14
- Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them” Galatians 3:12
- Faith is bringing out from the spirit realm what is already there, what is already true of you.
- You do not confess you are righteous in order to become righteous but because you are already righteous. You confess that you are rich not to become rich but because He became poor so that through His poverty, you might become rich.
- Faith in His goodness, in His grace.
- When you believe that it is the blood that saves you, God sees that as faith in the blood. Stop wondering if you have enough faith and just believe that it is His blood that saved, delivers and blesses you.
22. GOOD THINGS HAPPEN
- Testimony: when this brother travels, he does not depend on his own willpower to overcome the temptation to indulge in pornography in his hotel room. He will just completely rest in the revelation that he is as righteous as Jesus by God’s grace. Awake to righteousness and sin not!
- When people hear the good news that all their sins have been forgiven because of the cross, something supernatural happens.
- Psalm 103:1-5
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- Forgiveness comes before healing and once you know that you have been forgiven of all your sins, past, present and future, the healing of all your diseases follow.
- Grace and condemnation perpetuates the cycle of sin, whereas His grace, His blood and His righteousness liberate and provide freedom from sin. ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’
- 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us...
- Once you know that you are God’s beloved, whatever the devils want to bring against you will fail.
- Temptations cannot succeed when you have a revelation that you are God’s beloved.
- If God did not withhold His son from you, why would He withhold healing, financial provision, protection, peace of mind and all the other blessings from you?
- Look away from your circumstances and call our without fear to your Father. He loves you and will never judge or condemn you! He loves you with an everlasting love. Feed on His love for you and receive from Him exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think!
- It’s all about Jesus and His finished work. You are destined to reign through Him. This is the secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living.
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