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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

815. Ungodly People Justified With Righteousness – Apart From Self-Improvement

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Christian believers have frequently fallen into the religious trap of thinking they are identified as “just a sinner” who needs to keep working harder at becoming something they think they have not attained yet. The mindset established is that they are “hungering and thirsting” for righteousness while working to make behavioral improvements in order to become “more righteous” and gradually coming to a place where they will (hopefully) make themselves more acceptable to God.

While lifestyle and changes in behavior can be a positive thing in this life, it has nothing to do with who God has declared you to already be as His child—having inherited His very nature and now gaining access to all things pertaining to life and godliness. The idea that we are trying to climb a spiritual ladder of self-improvement is a fairy tale which leaves people in the same hopeless position as those who were under the law in the faulty first covenant. It leads to one of two dead end streets: self-righteous hypocrisy or guilt and condemnation. Jesus did the work so we could live in a place of peace and rest.



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800. The 800 Club: Looking Back – Believers Identified as Righteous

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This week reaches a new milestone for our Growing in Grace podcast with the manifestation of program #800. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be reminiscing about some of the subjects that we feel have been some of the most significant when it comes to understanding the gospel of grace and what the finished work of Christ has provided for us. One of those is the gift of God’s righteousness.

Most church buildings are filled with believers who have assumed they are “sinners saved by grace,” when no such phrase is written within the pages. It’s a fake I.D.! We have inherited certain attributes from God as new creations in Christ and one of those is that we are now identified as righteous—the righteousness of God in Him.



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702. Born Identity: You Are Righteous

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Sadly, most believers in Jesus Christ have been taught they are identified as sinners and have failed to realize the gift of God’s righteousness that has been inherited by faith, apart from works. The Jewish people pursued righteousness under the law by trying to keep the Ten Commandments, plus 603 other commands and rules from the law which came through Moses. Yet they never attained a state of righteousness through that law. Nobody was righteous under that system… not one. On the other hand, Gentiles who weren’t even chasing after right standing with God attained righteousness by faith. We have been gifted with His righteousness. In Him, we are in a state or condition that is acceptable to God because of what Jesus did for us (and not what we do for Him). It is not progressive, nor does it increase or decrease based upon our performance or behavior. Growing in our understanding of this grace that has been poured out upon us - and abides in us - now empowers us to outwardly reflect the light of Jesus Christ.



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602. God’s Love: Jesus Became Sin; We Became Righteous

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Experiencing God’s peace and joy will be connected to gaining the understanding that His love for you has no strings attached. People often go through life wondering where they are positioned with God or they live in fear that God is angry with them. They have been smothered with teaching which proclaims faith, hope and love are based upon working at attaining a higher level of morality, an area where they are constantly falling short. God loves you because He loves you! He demonstrated this unconditional love through Jesus Christ dying for us, when all humans were still identified as sinners. He took our place by becoming sin, so we could receive His righteousness through belief, apart from works.



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592. A Heart Condition

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The sin condition of the heart entered the world through one man (Adam). This form of the word for “sin” is a noun in the Greek and appears nearly four times more often than the verb in the New Testament. Death entered through this “sin condition” and it spread to all men, because the noun would lead to sinful actions, since all have sinned (verb). Jesus came to destroy and take away the sin of the world, the condition that resulted in everyone being identified as sinners, as inherited through Adam. Through one sacrifice at the cross, God dealt with and resolved the sin problem forever; both the sinful nature and the sinful actions. If this was not the case, Jesus would need to keep suffering repeatedly, and the cross would have to be considered inadequate. Fortunately for us, His one-time shedding of blood was more than enough, and now the issue is simply choosing to believe in order to receive the new nature of righteousness within our hearts.



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No One Is Too Far Gone To Reach with the Love of God

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Do you know people that seem impossible to reach? Have you ever seen someone on tv or read about in an article and thought to yourself, “that person is definitely going to hell, there’s no hope for them?” What about the radical Muslim that is plotting the next attack, do you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change his heart?

We look at the world today and often come to the conclusion that some people are just too far gone. Many have bought into the idea that some people are too evil or too hopeless to change and come to God’s saving truth.

When we think this way:

  • we’re limiting the power of God
  • we’re giving up on that person
  • we are not trusting in the transformative grace of God
  • we think it’s up to us to change people

I hear lots of people these days that have this attitude toward the world in general; things are so bad there’s no hope other than Jesus coming back and rescuing us from the mess we’ve made of the planet. Some even seem to think the devil is stronger than the body of Christ in this world.

The spiritual force of God’s love is powerful enough to transform any and every human it encounters. Yes, some have rejected God but he still died to save that person and it only takes one change of mind within that person to have an encounter with Him.

It’s time to trust God for people

As ministers we often trust in our ministry for people more than we trust God’s spirit to teach, lead and transform people. I see ministers that fight against a radical grace message due to fear of the hearer falling into sin. The truth is this message reveals the heart and actually gives the hearer an option, a hope and a path to transformation. The ministers I see that oppose radical grace also look at certain sections of the world’s population as hopeless, I think that is revealing in light of their trust in the ability of God’s love to make people whole.

I want to urge you to trust God for others more than you trust yourself for others. God is an optimist that believes in his own capacity to change others to the degree that he was willing to die for it. Let’s give him the benefit of our doubt and agree with God that everyone is reachable if they could just get a glimpse of His love for them, and then take the responsibility that we may be the avenue through which he does the “impossible.”

SO THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE

So The World Will Believe front

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Message Titles

  1. Faith Begins With Love
  2. Love is the Way of the Kingdom
  3. Who is your Passion
  4. Defy Your Excuses

Jesus tells us there’s only one way to reach the world, LOVE. Love is the only strategy that never fails. His strategy has two steps…

STEP 1: Our love for one another should be a testimony to the world that we follow Jesus. There should be something different in the way we treat each other that sends a message to the world that Jesus followers have a unique relationship with one another that is rooted in love.

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13:34-35

STEP 2: There should be a unity among believers that the world is compelled to believe. The strength of this unity is our love for one another and the purpose of this unity is so the world will believe.

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. John 17:21

When we allow division to dwell within the body of Christ we are working against God’s plans to reach the world. In this series I challenge the church to take Jesus at his word and begin to walk according to his commandments and purposes.

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The post No One Is Too Far Gone To Reach with the Love of God appeared first on Forward Ministries.

532. God Justifies the Ungodly

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Sin is bad. It causes pain, hurts and destroys. We should exhort one another to live from the life of Christ in us which is based on perfect love. However, religion will attempt to convince you the work of Christ was not fully completed at the cross and will try to lay the burden of maintaining an acceptable relationship with God with your performance of works. As a believer in Him, you have been credited with the gift of righteousness. Our conversation this week centers around the result of Christ's finished work, the taking away of sin and what it means for us and our relationship with him.



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