Stephanie Ike Okafor - Jesus:The Embodiment of Grace

How can grace be the thing that empowers you to do the will of God also be the reason for you to stay and sin. Welcome to Plock Pod with me Stephanie okafor and this is your invitation to return to what matters the most, and that is your walk with the Lord Jesus, your relationship with him. Now season one, we are focusing on topics that really bring us back to the basics of our faith. Now, if you're just joining us, I encourage you to watch every episode leading up to this because that you're just going to follow the journey of what God is doing through his word in this podcast. Now, last week we taught about salvation, and I was teaching primarily that salvation is not about change but an exchange. Right, Jesus is not trying to have you, you know, have better habits or better disci blens, void of his presence, void of his power, right, but to about an exchange. One of the things that I encouraged everyone to do, and I hope you did do this for those that watch, is to meditate on Galatians two twenty because in Galatians two twenty, it's really bringing us into this reality that I died with I was crucified right with Christ Jesus. It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who now lives through me right and lives in me. And when you meditate on that scripture, meditation on the scripture is such a powerful thing because it just makes room for the Holy Spirit to really shine light on it in your heart and bring more, just a more of an in depth revelation of His word. Because when you think about it, I have been crucified with Christ Jesus, who is the eye my old self, that sinful nature has been crucified with Christ Jesus. And it says it is no longer I who live, right, So this is not about having better habits. This is about becoming a different person, a new creation. Right. So it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Now. The key thing here that we talked about is that this truth must be received in faith. Right. Faith is the currency receipt of transaction with God. Let's just put it that way. Faith is the currency of transacting with the Lord. There are many things that are made available, but it is through faith. You have to believe that when you said yes to Jesus what was made available to you is the life of Christ. Right that you became a new creation. And this is very key because if anyone who has not considered their old self to be dead will still live according to the appetites of the old nature. If you don't acknowledge that that old nature is dead, if that is not a consciousness that you have, Like we talked about the apostle Paul saying, I die daily, right, so every morning that the Lord gives me breath in my body, I am aware of the fact that my old nature has been crucified with Christ. Why is that so significant? Because if I don't acknowledge them, if I don't embrace that as truth, I am gonna live according to the appetites of the old nature. Right. There is no faith for me to receive what Jesus has done for me. Now, when we talk about all of this, one of the things that we are going to really hone intoday just in continuation of just you know, we're seeing what the Lord is doing here, but we're gonna really get into grace today, right, because when we think about salvation, when we think about you know, one of the key things that people will always say is but we are saved by grace, and that many people are familiar with this word grace, but it's it has also been there's a lot of misconceptions about what it really is and what it really means. Right, And so even when we think about grace, Jesus is the embodiment of grace. And so even before we get into the topic, when you think about the fact that Jesus is the embodiment of grace, then how could grace be anything less than that which brings us even closer to that which God desires to do in and through us. Right, the average person has heard how grace has been used to almost as a license to sin. Right, this idea that you know there's grace. You know, salvation is by grace, it's not by works. That means I can be saved and I could just live. However, because I'm saved by grace. And we're going to really dig into this, so we unpack what does it mean to be, say, by grace and not just saved by grace? What is grace? And we're looking at the model who is Christ Jesus. And in order to do this, we're really gonna get into Ephesians chapter two. This is gonna be one of our first scriptures, and there's gonna be a lot of scriptures, So just get a notepad ready. But Ephesians chapter two, and we're gonna read from verse one to ten. There might be some things that might skip in the middle, but I would just keep it like that for now, so that you can also study verse one to ten in your own time. Now, some of the key things to understand, first of all, about the Book of Ephesians. Now, this was a book written by the apostle Paul, and it was written to believers in the city of Ephesus. And it's also believed that it was not just for the people in Ephesus, but it was intended for the churches just throughout that area in Asia. Now, the region of Asia that the Bible is speaking of is not modern day Asia, the continent, right. This was a Roman province that was called Asia that is located in what we would know today as western Turkey. But the key thing about this book is that it has written to believers, people like you and me. Now, what is also significant about the city of Ephesus is that it was a major center for pagan worship. Right, so the believers there were surrounded by idolatry. They were surrounded by just spiritual darkness that in you know, our the times that we're living right now, we can say that we are surrounded by pagan worship. It's everywhere. It's in our movies, it's in the you know, children's content, it's in schools, it's everywhere. Right, So they were surrounded by these things, and so the apostle Paul is writing them to really encourage them to firm in their faith. Right. Ephesians is such a critical book to study forever believer, because it also gives us a deep understanding of what it is to have our identity in Christ. Right. For the Ephesians now understand that these are people who are literally surrounded by pagan worship. So for many of them, they practice those things at one point in their lives. Right, So there was a time where they were idol worshippers. They were given their life and their time and their energy and their devotion to things that were beneath them. So these are people that have to learn what it means to now be a new creation in Christ. Right. They have to discover what that is. And it's beautiful because we all fall in that category, right, And that's why I love it because even in the way Paul would address them, he doesn't make it about, oh, this is just you guys. You would see that we read this scripture, there is this collective sense of like, hey, we've all been here, right, We've all experienced because anyone who is a new creation in Christ, there was a time there you were not right. We were dead in sin and and our transgressions. So we've all lived a life outside of the desire and the will of God. And so now when we come into Christ, when we get saved, we have to understand what does it mean to have this new identity in Christ. So even in the Book of Ephesians, you will see where the apostle Paul is revealing and teaching and explaining a lot of key themes and doctrines as it applies to the Christian faith, right, and one of those major themes is grace. So let's look at this scripture. So in verse one, it says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. Right, when a person is separated from God, they are spiritually dead. Now you can be physically you're alive you're moving about, you have a job, you get coffee, you're brunching, you're doing all the things, but spiritually you are dead. Now, the crazy thing is, even though such people they're known to be spiritually dead, it does not mean they're spiritually inactive. And you're gonna see what I mean when we get to the next verse, because they are still in that place of being spiritually dead. They're spiritually cut off because the source of life is from Christ. Right, So even though they're spiritually dead, they're under a spiritual influence, but it's what is actually demonic. So when the Bible says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and your sins. So these are people who are only living a life after the cravings of their sinful nature. They're dead in it. That's all they know, right. And so one of the significant things here, just like we mentioned even last week again about salvation. You see that salvation is not about moral improvement. It's not about becoming a better version of yourself. It's about becoming a new creation in Christ. This is why when you're saved, it's defined as being born again, because you were dead in transgressions and sins and so when you come in Christ, you are born again. You have this new creation. So even two Corinthians five point seventeen it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Right. Christ takes our place in debt so that we might share with him in life. But then let's jump into verse two. It says, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. This I mean just this verse two. It is so there's just so much to unpack here. So first of all, he says, in this you used to live when you followed the ways of this world. The you that Paul is talking about here is the same eye that we talked about Englations to twenty. I have been crucified with Christ. Which I the you that used to live according to the patterns of that you know of this world, the you that was a slave to sin, the you that was dead in your transgressions, that you as a believer has been crucified with Christ. Right, So that's the first thing to know. And then we now go into when he says, when you follow the ways of this world and of the ruler of the Kingdom of the air. Now, even when we see the scriptures talking about the ruler of the Kingdom of the air, what does it mean. Another translation would call say in the prince of the power of the air. And so all of this the air here is pointing to a spiritual realm where we see it's an unseen dimension where demonic spirits operate, where they've influenced the lives of many people. Right, and so the ruler of the air, when you followed the ways of the ruler of the Kingdom of the air, this should make us understand that sin is not just this personal thing I chose to do. Because look at what it continues by saying that the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. So when we were living in disobedience, there was a spirit at work in us. There was a spirit working in us to desire after the ways of the world, to desire after the appetites of the flesh. We were a slave to it. That's why I said, you can be spiritually dead, but not that you're spiritually inactive because we were created. How God created us to be is that we would host a spirit, and that spirit is supposed to be His Holy Spirit. But when we are a void of the Holy Spirit, it's an invitation for demonic influences to take over a person, right, And that's why you you know, this again, should always make you so compassionate to pray for unbelievers, because when you see things that are just unheard of in your society, in your community, how someone would wake up they have no record of, you know, being a criminal or anything. They just wake up and just go shoot up somewhere. It's not natural, and it's not always a mental issue. More than likely it's spiritual. And we're gonna go into this later on in the podcast, but you will learn that their times were even in the kingdom of darkness, there is a demand for blood, and so the enemy begins to look for those who are just open vessels, and he's able to influence them in ways that even if you ever actually, if you've ever watched a documentary or anything like that with people who are serial killers, you would see that they have a master. For many of them, there was something speaking to them. There is something that they're feeding by their by their acts and the things that they do. It's not normal. These are spiritual things. This is why every believer ought to be an intercessor. You have to intercede over your community, intercede over your family, intercede over your workplace. Anyone who is close to you or connected to you in any way that does not know the Lord, that you begin to pray for them, that they will no longer be a slave to sin, they will no longer be dead in their transgression right. And this is also why as believers, when you come into Christ, your appetites changed, because when you were a son or daughter of disobedience, there was a spirit at work in you. And when you say yes to Jesus, you receive a different spirit, You receive His Holy Spirit. So the appetites should change. The appetites cannot remain the same. You cannot find satisfaction in the things that you used to do in your old nature, because in your old nature you had a different master. But in Christ you should now begin to desire things according to His nature and his likeness. And even last week I talked about Yes, there are times that you might fall but it's not that you enjoy where you fell, because your nature has changed. You have become a new creation. Right. And now it's also so interesting because even when we look at that word when it says you know the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient, you know where else that word work is used Ephesians three twenty. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us two different masters. When you are a slave to sin, there is a demonic influence at work in you. When you come under the lordship of Christ, there is the power of transformation, of change, the spirit of the Lord at work in you. Right, and let's just continue. So then it goes on in verse three it says all of us also lived among them at one time. You see what the apostle Paul is saying. He's not just making this about them, because for every believer, we are all included in this. We've all been there. We know what he's talking about. I've shared some of my testimony when you know I would just the Lord is telling me, hey, don't go to the club, and I'm like, I'm still going and I was doing things that it's crazy because it's not even the funny part of it is that I did some things that I don't even like. But it's almost like you feel like you're a slave to this lifestyle. Right, So all of us who lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts, this is when we would do things. And it's like you're you just constantly living and dealing with regret because it's like, oh, man, why did I do that? Why did I go there? Why did I say that? Why did I drink that? Why did I whatever? Right? Because you were a slave to it. And when Christ comes, we have to believe that we have received a new creat we have been made a new creation, because that begins to change our appetite. So the Apostle Paul continues. He says, like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath, right, And it's all of this is so it's so interesting because even when he says we were by nature deserving of wrath, I love how the New King James translates this because it says, we're by nature children of wrath. You know how you know there are things that we say in culture and then maybe it just passed down from one generation to the next generation when we say things like we are all children of God, and that's not really true. The same way when we say like we're all made in the image of God. And we talked about that last week, but we are all children, know we are. We are all created by God. We are all God's creation, but we are not all his children. We only become a child of God when we receive Christ Jesus. Right. Look at John one, verse twelve to fourteen. It says, but as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God. For as men as received him, he gave them the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So when we don't receive Christ, what we are known as are children of wrath. Right, And then it continues in verse four says, but because of his great love for us, this is just the goodness, the loving kindness of God. And you know, even that word grace, that one of the things that translates to is loving kindness. Right, So it says, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. Now, this is so beautiful. So even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive with Christ. So now when the Bible talks about it is by grace you have been saved. So you know, first of all, let me back up a little bit. Let's go back to maid alife with Christ. Right. This is such a beautiful display of the love of God, the mercy of God, the goodness of God, and really pointing to the grace of God because it's in his loving kindness that he gave us his only begotten son, Jesus, to die for us on the cross. Now, Jesus, the Bible calls him the express image of God. Right, So you're talking about God literally gave himself to come as man and die for us while we were dead in transgressions. And then when it talks to us about how it is by grace we have been saved, it is the fact that there is nothing you could have done in your own ability to be saved other than to receive him. You did not pray. When you think about your salvation experience, it's not that you are fasting for forty days. You didn't even know who the fast to. It's not that you are praying like God, please, I just want you to save me. And maybe people have different stories. I don't know, but I'm talking about the average person, right, And even if you did that, that's not what saved you. Right. So when we say that it is by grace we have been saved. Now the entry points into being reconciled to God has nothing to do with your works. It just has to do with your ability to receive it, your ability. And we talked a lot about salvation in the last episode about what does it look like to know that you belong to Jesus. But it really boils down still to belief and faith. It's not that you did something so masterful. Right. We are like our righteousness, the Bible says, is like filthy rags. So by grace we have been saved. Because grace, which is loving kindness and the loving kindness of God, he gave us his son, Jesus Christ. It is the sacrifice of Jesus that saved us. It's nothing that we could do. Nothing we could do would be worthy, nothing we could do would be deserving for us to be reconciled back to God. Right, But then I want you to check this out because there is so much in this because even the fact that He would make us alive while we were dead in transgressions. I want to pause really quick because I really wanted also hone in on the fact of why we are supposed to be changed, why there are supposed to be a new appetite, a new desire that points us back to the nature and the likeness of God. I was in during my study and doing my research, I ran across something a theologians said, and I really want to share this with you because he talked about how the person who is spiritually dead is like a man who is lying in a coffin, comfortable, unmoved, unaware of his condition. He doesn't desire any type of change. He wants to be left alone because death has numbed his senses. Now, can you imagine someone who is resurrected back to life while in a coffin. They're not going to be comfortable anymore. They want to get out, they'll start hitting things. I don't know if you've ever seen a movie where something like that happens. It's a little trippy, right, because when they're made alive, they realize what I was comfortable in is suffocating me. I don't want to live like this. I don't want to be here. That's what Sheesus made us alive while we were dead in transgressions. He made us alive. And when he made us alive, we are appetites begin to change. Because when he made us alive. Colosians one thirteen says this, he has delivered us from the power of darkness. We don't desire that life anymore. We don't desire that way anymore. But then it says, but this, all of this happens by grace, right, that what you are experiencing in salvation is because of the sacrifice of Jesus. So what is it speaking to that salvation is not a reward for your effort. It is the gift of grace. Right. We didn't earn it, we received it. But now how did we receive it? This is very key. In verse eight, it says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God. So grace is available, but it is only accessed or it only comes into your possession through faith. So going back again to this whole faith journey, there is something made available to every believer which is done by grace, but the only way you can have it for yourself is through faith. And this is just to you know, even give more understanding to this whole idea about when people say, you know what, I'm saved, I believe in Jesus, But then you reject the life of Jesus. You still define yourself according to your old nature. You still believe that your personalities or how you know who you are is according to your old nature. In whatever capacity, then did you really receive him? Because what he did, He's made it available, but you have to access it through faith. That's why the scriptures talk about how it is impossible to please God because anyone is impossible to please God without faith. Why because faith is what gives it the ability to receive from him. Grace makes salvation possible, but faith makes it personal. Grace makes healing possible, but faith makes it personal. Grace makes deliverance possible, but faith makes it personal. Faith is what gives you access to the things that Christ has already done for us. But now we're still getting somewhere right because then when it goes to not by works so that anyone can boast, Now we get back to this long standing misunderstanding that rhymes right about grace and works. Because this is where many people begin to argue. And the arguments are shocking to me, because I'm like, are you arguing to stay in sin? Are you arguing that you know what, we are not called to do all these works because you want to stay in sin? Because I normally see these arguments when a minister starts to speak about holiness, when a minister starts to speak about living a life that models after the nature of God, that many people start to attack it and say, oh, this is just works. We don't need all of that because we were saved by grace. Now here's the interesting thing, because works are not necessary for you to receive salvation. Your works have no part to play in it. This is the gift of God. But salvation produces works. Salvation produces good works, works that are acceptable before the Lord. And I'll show you right because yes, salvation is by grace, but the evidence of your salvation is going to be works, and you're gonna see it in this scripture because many times we think that this idea of works has to do with the entirety of our faith, the entirety of our walk with God. You know what, I was saved by grace. And then that's when we think as though I could never lose my salvation because I was saved by grace and I could live anyhow I want to. It doesn't work like that. Then you didn't really receive Jesus, because if you believe in what He did for you, then the outcome of that should be changed and transformation in you. And again I'm not saying that this happens. You know, you wake up the next morning and everything just cuts off. No, but it is a it is a work in you. It is a gradual thing that begins to happen. But it does not leave you the same way you came in because you begin to realize way that old nature was under the influence of a spirit that is not in the Kingdom of God. There are things that, even if you have the appetite for it, you detest the fact that you have the appetite for it, and you come before the Lord and say, Lord, help me in my weakness. Because look at what the next verse would say, For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus. Look at this to do good works now verse nine, not by works that anyone can boast right, because being saved by grace is the entry point. I was saved by grace. There's nothing I could do in my own strength, in my own ability to receive Jesus except to believe him, to believe what he did for me on the cross, to submit myself under to his lordship. I cannot fast my way into salvation. I can't pray my way into salvation. I can give my way into salvation. I just have to believe my way into salvation. But the evidence of my salvation is now what the scripture says. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus, to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. What is that telling us that salvation brings us into the door so that we can actually begin to do the will of God. That salvation is not the finish line, it's the starting line. Salvation re consoles us back to God that we may begin to do the very things that is in the will of God concerning our lives. Do you see why grace cannot be this license to just live anyhow, to live recklessly and just say well, it's by grace. No salvation brings us into a new creation, a new creation that can carry out the will of God, because these were the things that He prepared in advanced for us to do. That before time, there were things that God knew about your life that you were called to do. There was a nature you are always called to embody. But in order to get there, because of the fall of man, the only way we could get back there was to first be saved, and that salvation is by grace. How can the solution be the excuse. How can grace be the thing that empowers you to do the will of God also be the reason for you to stay in sin. It doesn't work that way. The evidence that you have received Christ is that your life begins to bear fruit that is consistent with the spirit at work in you. When you receive the Holy Spirit, your life begins to bear fruit. Now remember fruit, it is not something that just grows overnight. But we should start. We should see with with you know, in the course of time, we should see that your life is bearing fruit consistent with the Spirit at work in you. Now again we're talking about grace. But I wanted to start this teaching by even showing us the connection with grace and salvation as a continuation from what we were what we learned last week. But even as we go further into grace, you would begin to understand that for every purpose of God, there is a measure of grace available in Christ for you to achieve it. So even in the context of salvation, salvation is the beginning, because we cannot even get to the place of doing good works you see holiness. In order for you to even get to the place of holiness, you first have to be made right just by Christ. Because until you receive the nature of God, then you don't even know what it means to live holy, because that can only be produced by His nature. You can't separate yourself when you are still in the kingdom of darkness. But when you were called out of it, when you were brought out of it and you come into the family of God, now you can begin to live out the will of God for your life. So have we been saved by grace? But that does not mean that grace is a cover for sin. No, we've been saved by grace, meaning it was in the loving kindness of God that he gave us his son to sacrifice his life for us. But then the evidence of that salvation is that your life is actually called to do works. So what is grace? I want you to write this down. Grace is God's partnership with us to overcome our weakness and enable us to do His will. So, in short, grace enables us to do God's work. Grace is the work of is God working in and through you. It is the life of God at work in you. That is grace because you will never achieve God's will in your strength. The very thing that the Lord has called you to do can never be achieved in your strength alone. And this is where He makes grace available. You see when the man Jesus and I say the man Jesus because Jesus is God, but when he came in an earthen vessel, the life he lived. You know, there's this saying that when a person, a believer maybe gets upset or gets angry and they're like, well, I'm not Jesus, because it's almost as though we have seen the way he lived on earth as too perfect that we can never get close to it. But Jesus gives us, you know, the word of God, rather gives us an insight on how he lived the way he did, because the word of God will tell us how he was full of grace and truth. Right, let's read it together, John Juan, verse fourteen to seventeen. It says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, this is he of whom I said, He who comes after men, is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness we have all received and grace for grace now verse seventeen. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. He is the embodiment of grace. He is the embodiment of truth. He is truth. But the way that Jesus was able to live the way he did was that grace and truth. He was full of it by the spirit at work in him. When you begin to receive and embrace grace and truth, which is really the person Jesus, we would begin to learn that there are certain weaknesses that if we yield to His spirit, that will be overcome. Not because we have a history of strength in those areas, but we have the ability to yield to the one who empowers us to overcome the very things that we need to do in order to please the Lord, in order to live according to his will. So even when the scripture says for the law was given by Moses, when presented the law, the emphasis was undoing, here are the commandments, do them. And you're given the commandments to men to women who are not empowered by the spirit of God. They don't even have the ability to fulfill it. And that is why in Romans three twenty it says through the law we became conscious of our sin. So the law only made people aware that they needed a savior because they didn't have it in themselves to carry it out. But it says, but grace and truth came through Jesus, because Jesus, it was not just about doing, it was about being. He embodied the nature of God. You see the Ten Commandments beyond what it was about for them to do. The Ten Commandments really reve the character of God. Right when the Lord will say, be holy, for I am holy. So he is trying to show the people that my nature, if you have my nature, this is how you would live. You will not steal, you will not be, You will not you know, mak an your other idol before me. You will not do these things if you had my nature. But because they didn't have his nature, all it did was make them conscious of sin. Then Jesus comes on the scene. And Jesus, who is the image. The Bible literally calls him the express image of God. You can read this in Hebrews one three. Jesus embodies what it means to reveal the character of God. When Jesus is speaking to a person, that is how God will speak to them. The things that Jesus would do. Now he's not trying to do the command and he is being it. He is being he's reflecting. It's the Commandments personified. Now this changes things because he is full of truth. He is truth, but he's full of grace. He's empowered to live out the truth. That's what Grace is pointing to. Because the law would say do and live, and it was impossible because it were not even empowered to do it. But Jesus would say, believe, receive and live. If you believe in me, you would receive my life and it would empower you to live out my nature. It's not just about oh, I have to do this, I have to do that, I gotta do this. No, you're going to become it. You're going to receive my life. Right. One of the questions that people often ask me is, Stephanie, how do I actually start the Bible? When we desire to go deeper, sometimes it can feel a little intimidating. And I'm here to tell you about an amazing Bible study too, and it's called Logos. It's an incredible app that helps you engage with scripture in a more meaningful way. So, for example, you can type in what does the Bible say about holiness and it will give you scripture, scholarly insights, historical background, and so much more. Logos helps you to understand what you're reading and why it matters. So whether you're new to the faith or you've been following Jesus for some time. This is going to help you study the world with so much confidence. And we have received such an incredible gift for every plog pod listener. You can use Lagos today for free for the next sixty days. All you have to do is go to logos dot com backslide Stephanie to get started. Now let's go back into the episode. So now as we continue to talk about grace, there's a scripture I love so much. First Pter five ten. It says, and the God of all Grace. I just want to talk about that part and you can read the rest of the verse. But what I love about the God of all Grace because it suggests to us that grace is multifaceted. Right, and in just even in my studying, one of the things I realize is that theologians will often describe two primary dimensions of grace. Right, it's the same thing, but there are different dimensions to it, and it's all pointing us back to partnership with God in order to fulfill his will through our lives. But those two key dimensions is one saving grace and two enabling or empowering grace. Now, saving grace, this is the grace. This is what we've been talking about. Salvation, right, This is the grace that redeems and brings us into relationship with God. It's unearned, it's undeserved. It's literally the love of God reaching us, you know, reach down on us from being dead in our sin, dead in our transgressions, and bringing us to life. That's the saving grace. But now we're gonna shift gears a bit and talk about the enabling grace, the empowering grace. This is the grace that sustains, the grace that strengthens, the grace that equips you to live out the life you received when you got saved, right Tewod Corinthians twelve nine. For many you know this story. This was when the apostle Paul there was a thorn in his flesh. And you know, first of all, the thorn was given to him. Right, he was a man that he was a steward of the mysteries of God. And the Bible will tell us how knowledge puffs up. And so God's strategy to keep the man humble was to give him a thorn in the flesh. And then he you know, he tells us how he had prayed to God three times asking for this thorn to be removed from him, and in chapter twelve verse this is what happens. But he said to me, this is now God responding to the prayer of Apostle Paul, saying, hey, take the storm away. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me. When the Lord revealed to him, I'm not taking it from you because my grace is sufficient and my power would rest on your weakness. Then the apostle Paul realize, oh, okay, I don't have to hide my weakness. I don't have to be defined by it. But actually it is the place where God partners with me, because my weakness reminds me of the version of me that has been crucified with Christ. And in order for me to live this new creation, have to receive and invite the Lord the work of God in me, because that is where there is that partnership. That if it is no longer I who live but Christ, then where do I give Christ the opportunity to live through me? If I'm strong in everything I do, where does Christ have an opportunity to live through me? And so what I might call a weakness is actually the place where Christ demonstrates that He is the one living through me. So you see weaknesses. It's so interesting because especially I don't know for you guys, but I know for me there are things that I had, even in my study and praying and sitting with God. In this message, it was healing for me because you see, sometimes when we think about weaknesses, we go into like you know what known like sin, like okay, drink, that's not the thing that There are things that you just don't really struggle with anymore, right, it's just whatever. But we don't talk about functional weaknesses. And what I mean by that are the things that are not easily called a sin. Right if I tell someone that, like for me, for example, one of what I would say is a weakness that reveals my old nature is that I am extremely introverted. People would not know this even every time I preach. I'm like, wow, Lord, thank you, because you really partnered with me. I am not the person, well I would say, my old nature. Okay, it's not the person who is who really likes to be around people that much, and the funny things that when I'm around them, I love it. But it would not be what I would choose to just say, Hey, let me just go hang out with a bunch of people. No, I love being at home. I love being you know, if I'm doing something, I would go and come back. I like, I love being by myself. Right, But then, the call of God in my life requires me the people. It requires me to be around people, it requires community, it requires all these things, and it is not what I would call my natural inclination. But guess what, that weakness does not have to define me and the things that the Lord is calling me to do. If I define myself by that weakness, I will delay his will. I would delay his purpose in and through my life because I would keep pointing to the thing that's says, well, Lord, I'm I'm not ready to do this. I don't think I'm the best one. There are people who just love to do this, and why don't you call them? I will delay it. And you see, sometimes we think it's cute when we're like, God, are you sure it's not me? Oh my God, it's pride. It's just you have been I am not just you. We have been deceived. You see something the Lord taught me. Any time there is a place of disobedience in your life, you have been deceived by sin. You have been deceived in some degree. Whenever you think that you can delay obeying God, there is deception a work in your life. And sometimes what we think is humility, because even we can be in that state of God. Are you sure it's me? And we are crying emotional asking the Holy Spirit, I just want to know you can pick somebody else, and we think it's cute, we think it's humility. We think that is us just telling the Lord like I'm just worthy. And at the root of it, because you see, pride is too prideful to to actually tell you it's pride. Pride would hide as everything else except pride. Pride would hide as humility. But it's pride. Why because pride reveals self sufficiency. Grace is dependency on God, Pride is dependency on me. So what I have the ability to do is what is easier for me to say yes to and what is not in my natural inclination, what is natural for me? I'm like, oh, lod, it's not me. Pride pride written all over it. And here is how God works in what he has called you to do in the assignment on your life. It's going to require your weakness because that is where Christ lives through you. How else will you know that Christ is at work in you and through you if you can't tell the difference. How else would you know. Anyone that is really close to me would know that it is extremely difficult for me to get offended. The truth of the matter is that that is not me that reveals to me the work of Christ in me, Because some of you that know my testimony. As a kid, I was very angry. I had a lot of anger issues. And now I have to find the anger. I can't. It's like searching for it. Like you know, there are times where you want to be angry at something and you're over there like digging and searching and hunting, like, where's the anger? Show up somewhere? That is the work of Christ. And I remember one time, I remember this, this is like a few years ago. I used to think that it was me. I was like, man, I'm just I'm just so kind, so just so loving, and then something happened and how I not even how I wanted to respond, how I responded, what I planned to do to that person, what I said I was going to do and was in motion to do it. That's when the Lord hilled me myself. And there are moments where God will give you these glimpses of what your old nature used to look like, and how what is I work in you is actually Christ in you. That it is no longer you that lives, but it is Christ who lives in me. So you have to be willing to give God the opportunity to partner with your weakness. That is grace. Grace is not me disobeying God and saying God, there's grace for tomorrow. I'll obey tomorrow. No grace is me saying God, I need you. I don't know how to do this on my own. I don't know how to figure this out on my own. I don't have the skill set for this. I don't have the whatever for this. I need you. The degree to which you are dependent on God is to the degree to which you can fulfill the will of God on your life. If you are if everything that the things that you're easy, you're you. I mean, it's easy for you to say yes to are the things you're comfortable saying yes to. You're going to live a life of mediocrity because where is where is the life of God I work in you? Where is it? There are things that are supposed to be uncomfortable because by faith you say, Lord, I know you're gonna partner with me. By faith you can say yes, I don't like cameras. But by faith, Lord, I'm just gonna do the thing you told me to do because You're gonna work in me to overcome my weakness. And all of a sudden, those fears begin to disappear because you see the beautiful thing. When you make more room for God, you begin to experience more of his love. When the scriptures say that perfect love cast out fear, it's an experience. It's not a head knowledge. It's not something where you're like, God, tell me how perfect love cast out fear. It's something you you have to experience with God. Something you have to walk out with God. And when you walk it out, then you're like, wait, I'm good. I know I'm scared to do this because I feel weak in this area. But Lord, work through me. Reveal that you are in me, and that I agree I come in agreement with you that I am not my old nature. I am a new creation in you. So reveal yourself through me. That's why His power is made perfect through our weakness, because his power in our weakness. When we see the power of God, you know this is Christ that work through me. So why wouldn't you make room for him? Right? Another thing that is so beautiful about why the Lord wants us to depend on him. It's not because God is insecure. It's for your safety. Because whatever you trust in you will follow. And if you only trust in yourself, your life is going to lead you into error. That's why when you're reading Proverbs fourteen twelve, it would say that there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction. We have to really think, why does it seem right to him? Because if the Lord is leading you, it should not end in destruction. But whatever you put your trust in, you will follow. So if a man a woman puts trust in themselves, in their wisdom, in their comfort and their safety, in their plans and their ideas, void of the power of God, the strength of God, the leading of God, the work of God through you, you will fall into error. You will fall into error. Proverbs also says in chapter three, from verse five to six, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways. Submit to him, and he will make your path stray. It's God's safety for you. It's God's protection for you, because how would you know how to live a life that you did not create? How can you fulfill the purpose of your life when you were not the giver of the destiny of it. You didn't give yourself purpose. You didn't give yourself destiny. You showed up in time, but you started with God in eternity. He knows the way that you should take. When it came to the apostle Paul, he gave him a thorn in the flesh, because weakness gives room. Weakness is an invitation for the grace of God to be at work through you, not as an excuse for it, but that it would overcome it. You would know that I'm in partnership with God, and your dependency and reliance would be on the Lord. Right. So the question I have for you, what are you yielding to? Are you yielding to yourself? Or are you yielding to the grace of God, that empowerment God's partnership, that you will fulfill his will. And here's a beautiful thing. When you yield to grace, what used to limit you would launch you. That's the design of God. Moses had a speech impediment, yet the Lord called him to be the one to speak to Pharaoh and to the people, even though he when he was arguing with God. The Bible literally says how God got angry because the argument is actually kicking God out. I'm trying to work in and through you, you know what I And this is just my own thoughts. This is not some this is not something that have a biblical you know, reference for. But this is just me thinking about it, right, this is just my own critical thinking. I always wondered that if Moses embraced what the Lord was saying about him in that moment, what would it have done in him? And would that have made a difference, that maybe he would have actually experienced the promised land, that the outbursts of anger that he had. Now, mind you, the Bible says Moses was the meekest man in all the earth, right, But I'm just thinking about it that in the things that we fight with God about, the things that we reject, and we're like God, call another person, we don't realize how it limits our ability to get to the destinations that God prepared for us. Just my thoughts. Well, in all of this, what I'm hoping is that you do understand what grace is not. Right, That grace is not a license or an excuse to sin. Romans six, verse one or two. It says, what shall we say, then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Then he answers the question certainly not how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Grace is not a permission to sin. Grace cannot be the thing that supports the works of the flesh when it's actually the thing given to empower the will of God. It cannot contradict itself. If grace is what empowers you to do God's will, then how can he be the same thing that excuses the works of the flesh? Right, It doesn't work that way. Even Let's look at this scripture. This is a perfect example. If you ever read about Jesus and the woman who was caught an adultery, this is in John chapter eight, verse three to eleven. Actually, just read John chapter eight. There's so many amazing things in there. But when you study this, a woman was called in adultery, right, and the religious leaders wanted to condemn her according to the law of Moses, and so boom, everybody's picking up a stone to stone her, and Jesus says, what many of us are familiar with, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Then guess what happens. Everyone starts being convicted. Bible literally says how they were convicted by their own conscience, right, so they started feeling guilty because they had an awareness that they were all sinners. We often leave it there and we think that's what grace looks like, right, And remember Jesus is full of grace and truth, So grace is not just about hey, because when he tells the woman, he literally looks at her. He says, hey, where are your accusers and those that condemn you? And when she looks around, she realizes they're all gone, right, and Jesus is like, yeah, neither do I condemn you. But we often stop there. But when you read from verse ten to eleven, actually, even in verse eleven, you know, after the Lord says neda, do I condemn you, he continues by saying, go and sin no more. That's grace. Grace is not just neither do I condemn you and walk away? Is neither do I condemn you? Now be empowered, go and sin no more. This is so critical because you see, we are living in the last days and there is going to be so many deceptive teachings what the scriptures call doctrine of demons. Demons don't just want to possess people to make them look crazy. Demons also want to hijack vocal cords. They want to teach, They want to influence people's minds. They want to be in the pulpits. They want to start churches. They want to be the influence behind leaders so that they can bring a new doctrine, a deceptive doctrine, a doctrine that causes people to live as though they are they never knew Christ, while saying they are in him. And one of the things that we're gonna see is a rise in this idea that you could live anyhow, that you could do whatever you want, because salvation is by grace. It's a it's a big deception and if you fall into it, you would not because you see, we're it's your life. The Lord. He he's not just judging by what you say and what you do, and those things have weight, but what you believe? What what what your heart has come to in agreement with Because you can't live like that and say you're in you have you you have an intimate relationship with Christ. You can't just say, well, you know what, these Christians do too much, because you're missing the whole point. We don't do too much. We are becoming the new creation that we received when we said yes to Christ. And you have to desire that. But guess what, by grace through faith we were saved. But then salvation brings you into the economy of doing the will of God. So grace brings you into partnership with God to do his will, not to permit missing the mark. Right. So again, what is grace In a very simple term, Grace is God working in and through you when you come to receive that, when you come to believe it. Grace is God working in and through you. Philippians two thirteen says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. That's grace. But you have to yield to it. You have to submit to it because you do have free will. God is not going to force you into it. No, grace does not override your will. You have to surrender to it to submit yourself to it. So what I want to encourage you, and my charge to you is that you stop defining yourself by your weakness. But let your weakness be the reminder of this is the place of invitation for Christ to live through me. Let that weakness be a reminder because eventually you will look back and you will not even It's like it's no longer your weakness because you've allowed Christ to live through you. And so when the Lord said to apostle pod, my grace is sufficient because I never want you to lose sight on the fact that I am the one at work in and through you. I don't want you to lose sight and think that it is just because you're you know, you know all these things, and then you start to move in pride. But I am the one at work in and through you. Don't define yourself by your weakness because guess what James four six. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Pride is revealed when you depend on you grace when you depend on God. It's impossible to receive grace when you only depend on yourself. Stop the what you think are humble prayers. If it's rejecting what God says about you, if it's causing you to question what God says about you, that's pride. Masquerade it as humility. Instead, begin to say, God, I need you. God, I believe what you say about me. But help me. Help me to walk it out and yield to Him when He gives you instructions. You may not feel like it, you may not like it, but let Christ be at work in and through you, because humility will always position you for increase. Humility would position you for the Spirit of God to work in and through your life. What you call your weakness, it's actually a launching pad. What you call your weakness is an open invitation for the Lord. Would you let him in? That's my charge for you. If you haven't given your life to the Lord Jesus, I encourage you to stay till the end of this so that we can pray. And next week we're going to be back and I'm going to be teaching about how we discover our purpose in Christ. Right, there's so many talks about purpose, the will of God and all these things, and so how do we simplify that, What does that mean? What does that look like? So it doesn't become this unhealthy obsession, right, but it just becomes something that we're able to walk out and live. But don't tell them, I'll see you next week. If you're watching this, then I believe that there is a hunger in your heart. There is something that has moved you with a desire to want to make Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. Now, this is not just a decision that we make out of being convinced by something, but there is a conviction of the Holy Spirit that ministers to us that I I need to be saved from this path of destruction that my life has been on. I need to be saved from this sinful nature to come into life to receive the life of God. Salvation is about an exchange that the Lord has put that sinful nature on the cross. When we believe what Jesus did, when we believe that he died and he was raised up with all victory and all power you see on the cross. Jesus took captivity. Captive, that's what the Word of God says. And what is that captivity Everything that has tried to keep you bound, including that sinful nature that we have received as from the fallen man. You see, when man fell, he took on the nature of sin, and that is the image that every other man has been born into. But in Jesus you have righteousness. You can be made righteous in Christ. And salvation is to be saved from death into life, to come out of bondage into freedom. And so I want to pray with you, but I want you to know that as you say yes to the Lord, you are saying yes to his life. You are saying yes to the ways of Jesus. You are saying yes for Jesus to live in and through you your body, your life becomes a home for the Holy Spirit. And he wants to express the nature of Jesus through your life. And so just join with me in prayer, because this will be the start. But salvation is a journey and we're gonna have There's gonna be a link in the description, especially if you are listening to this or you're watching this from YouTube. You're going to see this in the description, and I want you to click on that because it's going to help guide you into things about what comes next, how to study the Bible, just little things that are going to be very beneficial to your walk with the Lord. And so I just want you to pray with me, Lord Jesus, and just repeat after me. And when I say repeat after me, it's not just for you to just use words and they're empty before you. After this prayer, meditate on those words and just really have a moment of personal prayer with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit minister to you beyond what I could do. And so just repeat after me, Lord Jesus, I confess with my mouth as I have believed in my heart in this moment, that indeed you are the son of God, that when you came to the earth and you are crucified on the cross, that you put to death my sinful nature. And as I receive you, I receive your life. I receive the righteousness, the righteous nature that you have brought to give me. I exchange the sinful nature for the righteous nature. And so Lord, come into my life and make my life your home. Have your way in and through me. Whatever is in me that is not pleasing to you, convict me of these things, Lord, that I will not identify with the way of the flesh, but I will come in agreement with the way of life. I choose life, I choose you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,