789 NE 5th St, Crystal River, Fl
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But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I hear it all the time, how God loves us all unconditionally. Over the years of having conducted services at a mandatory rehab for people whose crimes were drug related, ministered at homeless shelters and having countless conversations with “believers” who readily admit they are not walking with God as they should, I frequently run into those who enthusiastically confess to me how they know, absolutely know, that God loves them unconditionally and that He accepts them just as they are.
This has led me into many discussions with people about what it means to “believe” and what exactly this “grace” is that these people are boasting about since they know they are saved because of it. Sadly, many have no real understanding of what grace really is, they simply repeat what they were once told, “It is unmerited favor.” It is as if people are convinced that when God looks at them He has on some special “Jesus only” colored glasses because they think God only sees Jesus when He looks at them and not themselves for how they truly are.
Grace is truly an amazing gift of God given to the believer, but there are four things about grace we can readily know from scripture –
1. Grace is sufficient
2. Grace can be frustrated
3. Grace while working similarly in all God’s children, still has a uniqueness to it purpose as it is given to each of us
4. Grace can be received in vain.
789 NE 5th St, Crystal River, Fl
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Have you added to your faith since you believed?
Have you truly tapped into the grace of God?
(If not you’re in danger of falling…)
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.
Wherefore when He came into the world, He saith, “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me.”
789 NE 5th St, Crystal River, Fl
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Paul warned the church of another Jesus . . . which Jesus is yours?
Is your Jesus the one that will save you from your sins and the wrath of God?
If this message has meant something to you, please look into the article below-
God has promised to reward us in Hebrews 11:6 with understanding if we would “diligently” seek Him. Answering His call to personal holiness, picking up our crosses and following Him is how we seek Him. To those who obey this mandate Jesus said He would give to them “to know the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11).We are required to “diligently” seek if we are to find, just as we must actively knock if the door of understanding is to be opened unto us. We must humbly acknowledge our ignorance and ask for understanding if we are to be enlightened by God’s Holy Spirit. Nothing is more blinding than the light one proudly thinks himself to have. Yet, all our seeking, knocking, and asking must be with an intention of true faithfulness if we are to receive anything from God. It is only when “our hearts condemn us not” of sin that we have true “confidence” toward God. It is in that place and condition that “whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (I John 3:21, 22).
(Excerpt from Justified In the Spirit)
789 NE 5th St, Crystal River, Fl
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Nobody is going to stumble into the Kingdom of God. You must take the Promise Land if God is going to give it to you. It’s for the overcomers…
Mt 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Lu 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it.
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Coffee House 9-18
Legality versus Legalism
Note: In this message I state “grace is not unmerited favor.” For clarification my intent was to express how is grace is not just unmerited favor, it is much much more than that. By grace are we saved, therefore we need to understand God’s grace if we are to fully utilize it and not frustrate it or exhaust its sufficiency before it completes the task God gives it to accomplish in our hearts. Therefore, grieve not the Spirit of Grace and lay hold of the power of the Gospel which makes dead men live and to turns sinners into saints.
Run the race He has set before you lawfully . . .
1Cor 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Ga 5:7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
Php 3:14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Heb 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Gates of the City 