Believe Week 4: Are you prepared?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 4: The Bible: God’s Inspired Word!”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
“When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare” – John Wooden.
John Wooden was one of the most successful NCAA Division 1 basketball coaches the sport has ever seen. He worked not just to win games, but to develop young men in their personhood. He was relentless in his practices, emphasizing the basics of basketball, all the while developing the character of his players.
Coach Wooden knew a 60 second time-out was not enough time to teach, practice and implement a new play or strategy to take advantage of an opportunity in the game. He knew that it was the daily, dedicated practices that honed his players into individuals that could adjust, adapt and take advantage of a game situation and work it for their benefit.
Preparation must be done before the opportunity comes…thorough preparation.
Are you prepared?
“For what?” people in church asked when I posed that question yesterday.
Good point. If we don’t know for what we are preparing, we will not know how to prepare.
So, for what are we preparing?
As Christians, God told us last week in Ephesians 2:8-10:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God, by his grace, brought you into his family to do the good works he has prepared in advance for us to do.
Do I know what opportunities he’s going to give you today? Do I know what opportunities he’s going to give me today?
I don’t.
But I know he wants me to be prepared for every good work opportunity he puts before me.
Will it be a person in distress that needs someone to listen? Is it a child that will challenge me as a parent? Is it a spouse that will need extra love? Is it a job that challenges my patience?
This is just a short list of possibilities.
So how will we be prepared?
God helps us with that. Our key passage this week is 2 Timothy 3:16-17: 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
So how will we be prepared, i.e. “thoroughly equipped”?
By connecting daily with the God-breathed words of Scripture. Through them God will prepare us…for every good work.
So when opportunity comes, we will be prepared!
Apply: How prepared do you feel for your day/life of good works? What small commitment will you make to start a “training” program today?
Prayer: Lord thank you for putting me on your team by grace shown to me in Jesus. Spirit of God, equip me through the words of Scripture you inspired to be thoroughly equipped for a life of following Jesus…starting today! AMEN.
Believe Week 3: Certainty of Grace!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 3: Salvation by Grace!”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Have you ever received a gift that is so wonderful you think you have to give it back or you have trouble believing it is yours?
“Is this for me? Really? I don’t deserve this.”
“You shouldn’t have. I don’t deserve this.”
You are right. Our natural inclination is to measure our “worthiness” for God’s grace. I pray we simply accept the truth. You are NOT worthy of grace…never have been…never will be. That’s what makes grace so amazing…God gives it to you ANYWAY!
Here’s what makes grace so certain.
- It’s based on God’s heart of love for you.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Whenever you question if God loves you and had you in mind when he chose to send Jesus and share his grace, ask yourself this: “Am I part of the world?” If so, God loves you. If yes, God sent his son for you!
- It’s based on the facts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Whenever I question whether I am saved or headed to heaven, I simply ask, “Did Jesus live a perfect life? Did Jesus die in my place on the cross? Did Jesus come out of the tomb alive?” YES to all of them. So my feelings don’t change the facts. I may not FEEL saved, but the facts remind me I AM saved!
Martin Luther put it this way as he explained the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed:
“He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own, and live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessed ness, just as he has risen from death and lives and rules eternally.”
- It’s NOT based on your performance!
Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is NOT FROM YOURSELVES, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Enjoy grace for all it is! God’s undeserved love for you! God’s gift of salvation for you!
Prayer: Lord, simply, thank you for grace! AMEN!
Believe Week 3: Lies About Grace
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 3: Salvation by Grace!”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Satan loves to lie to us about grace.
He knows how powerful and eternal the reality of God’s grace is…and he knows he’s missed out on it forever. So he tries to ruin it for the rest of us.
Satan is the father of lies, and lying about grace simply falls in his standard operating procedure.
How so?
Lie 1: You have to earn grace.
We looked at this yesterday, so I won’t spend much time on it. When I work to gain something, what I receive is a wage, not a gift. Grace is ALWAYS a gift. If it were by works, it would no longer be grace. Remember this passage from yesterday, “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6).
Lie 2: You have to choose grace.
This one is a little dicey as so much of evangelical Christianity focuses a person on a moment of decision. The picture I often see is God holding out the “offer” of grace. As God is holding it, you are invited to reach out and get it. In this “moment of decision” you now receive God’s love and forgiveness, i.e. grace.
Why is this a deception? There are two very important reasons. First it assumes that we have the spiritual ability to reach out to God for grace and forgiveness. (But remember Ephesians 2:1, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin…”) By nature we are DEAD in sin and objects of WRATH. We have no ability in our natural selves, our sinful nature to make a move toward God. The second reason this is a dangerous deception is that it puts responsibility on my shoulders for reaching out to gain God’s grace. This becomes a work which my sinful nature loves to take credit for and thus credit for my salvation.
Satan loves to add to and twist the truth. He wants to feed our desire to in some way great or small take some credit for our salvation.
The power of our salvation is the Gospel:
Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Faith to believe the Gospel is worked by God through the Word
Romans 10:17 “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”
The fact that we confess Jesus as our Savior and Lord is the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Here’s the bottom line. Satan wants you to think you can in some way, even a small way, take credit for your salvation and eternity in heaven. As soon as we buy into that lie I jeopardize grace. Someone once said it’s like having a strong rope in Jesus to span 99 feet of a 100’ chasm, yet I try and tie off the last foot with a piece of dental floss I had in my pocket. This 1% of weakness weakens the WHOLE rope. Any attempt on my part to connect my effort to God’s grace weakens and jeopardizes all of God’s grace.
Don’t do it. By the power of God’s Spirit receive and believe grace as it is…100% God’s gift to you and certainty for you.
Apply: How does Satan lead you to question God’s gift of grace for you? What leads you to think you don’t have God’s grace? Is what you are thinking true based on God’s promises?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for giving me grace through Jesus. Let me never lessen the reality or impact of grace in my life, but always appreciate, as it is, a 100% gift from you! AMEN
3rd Article of the Apostles’ Creed “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel…and kept me in the true faith.”
Believe: Week 3: Don’t Ruin Grace!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 3: Salvation by Grace!”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Just stop.
Stop ruining grace.
What do I mean?
We ruin grace when we think you can earn grace. You can’t.
If you could, it would no longer be grace.
Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Here’s a strong statement…but let me explain: Christmas ruins grace.
At least American celebration of it. Why? Because about a month before Christmas parents start telling their children, “If you’re naughty, Santa won’t bring you any presents. If you’re nice, he will.”
What is the conclusion of millions of kids on Christmas morning as they rip open gifts? “I must have been pretty nice to get this gift.”
If you do Santa with your kids, tell them the truth. If you don’t want to tell them Santa isn’t real, then at least tell them on Christmas morning, “Good job, you were nice more than naughty so Santa is paying you what you earned.”
Clunky? I know (better yet, consider removing Santa from your Christmas celebration.)
But it messes up the REAL GIFT of Christmas – the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
A gift is not earned. A gift is not deserved. A gift is not a payment.
A gift is initiated in the heart of the giver and is given REGARDLESS of behavior, REGARDLESS of performance, REGARDLESS of whether it is deserved.
“Because of his GREAT love for us, God who is rich in mercy…” GAVE you a Savior. You didn’t earn it by being a Christian. You didn’t deserve it more than someone else. You don’t even get credit for choosing to receive the gift.
It is all God. It is ALL a gift. Because it is all grace.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Maybe I just ruined Santa for you. Sorry.
But I don’t want Santa, or anyone or anything else ruin grace.
I know we’re a few months out from Christmas, but why not reimagine Christmas morning? Instead of excitement over what “Santa brought,” why not excitement over what God GAVE you and the gifts we give to our kids and to each other are a wonderful reminder of Gods UNDESERVED gift to us.
Let grace be grace. Thoroughly enjoy it. It’s God’s GIFT to you!
Apply: How does your sinful nature like to think that in some way you deserve God’s grace? How can Ephesians 2:8-9 refocus our hearts?
Prayer: Lord, forgive me for ruining grace by thinking I can earn your favor or deserve your love. I don’t. I thank you for loving me so much that you were and are willing to give me your love, forgiveness and place in heaven simply because you love me. AMEN.
Believe: Week 3: Powerful Three Letter Word
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 3: Salvation by Grace!”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
But…
Three letters, but a powerful conjunction.
As a language professor quipped in Seminary, “If you master the prepositions and conjunctions, you will master the language. Why? Because prepositions and conjunctions communicate the relationship between one part of a sentence to another or one section of a paragraph to another (OK, enough for the language lesson today!)
Ephesians 2:4-10 is one of my favorite sections of the Bible because it starts with the conjunction, “But.” It is easy to read past this, but please do not. It sets up the contrast of verses 1-3 and what follows. Remember yesterday verses 1-3 remind us that we are “dead in sin” and “objects of God’s wrath.” I’m glad God didn’t stop there. There is not much hope at the end of verse 3.
BUT…
Read this slowly:
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Did you notice WHO is acting on behalf of WHO?
God is the prime mover in this setting. “God, … made us alive…” “God, raised us up with Christ and seated us with him…” “…it is the gift of God…”
Did you notice WHY God acts on our behalf?
God doesn’t say, “Because of your great attempt to follow my law…” He doesn’t say, “Because you’ve followed me for a very long time.” He doesn’t say, “Because you are better than most in loving me.” He doesn’t say, “You’ve been really good recently.” He DOES say, “because of his great love for us.”
The sole motivator for God to act on our behalf IS his GREAT LOVE for us, because he is rich in mercy.
Did you notice WHAT happens when God acts?
Our dead soul is given spiritual life.
Our status as “objects of wrath” is now “receiver of God’s mercy”
Our eternity of condemnation is now one of salvation.
This is grace.
Grace stands in stark contrast to what our sin deserves.
That’s why I love the little word, “but.”
My sin deserves death, BUT God’s love and grace gives me life.
This is God’s grace for YOU!
Apply: What stands out to you in these verses? How does it affect your understanding of grace?
Prayer: Lord Jesus thank you for loving me even though I give many reasons for you not to. I trust and rely on your grace today and always. AMEN.