| We Must Accept God’s Grace |
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| By Rick Warren — Aug 13, 2015 |
“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NLT, second edition)
The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (NLT, second edition). You might say that grace is the gift that keeps on giving. When you get to know Jesus Christ and his grace and love, it gets better and better and better. It is available and extended throughout eternity. The best is yet to come!
What’s Heaven going to be like? You’re going to be reunited with loved ones who know the Lord. You’re going to be rewarded for your faith. You’re going to be reassigned a position of work that you love to do. You’re going to be released from pain, depression, despair, shame, and guilt, and you’re going to rejoice and party for eternity. What a deal!
But there’s a catch: You have to accept it.
If you went home today and found a gift on your table, but you left it there for the next year, unopened, that would be pretty dumb. A gift is worthless unless you accept it. You must accept God’s grace through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Some of you have held off because you’re afraid of being rejected. Maybe you were rejected by your parents. Maybe you were rejected by a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and that hurt really bad. Or maybe you were rejected by a brother or sister or by kids on the playground. Some of you have been rejected by a former husband or wife who walked out on you and said very hurtful things that you still think of today.
But there is one person who will never reject you, and his name is Jesus Christ. He’s saying to you, “Come home.” Have you been secretly overwhelmed by that shame in your life? You can get rid of it today. The more you understand the grace of God, the more you fall in love with God and the more you want to draw closer to Jesus—because it’s almost impossible to not love somebody who loves you that much.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick>>
Talk It Over
- How should you respond to God’s grace when you consider that it is a gift?
- What is the guilt or shame or bitterness in your past that kept or is keeping you from accepting God’s grace? Have you fully released it to God?
- What does it mean to “come home” to God?
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| Today’s Scripture |
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
(Hebrews 11:1, NLT) |
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| Give Your Faith a Target |
So many people today are depressed and discouraged simply because they only focus on their present circumstances. They’re constantly dwelling on their problems, what they don’t have, and what’s wrong with them. They don’t realize it, but they’re allowing the enemy to steal their hope. This negative frame of mind is what keeps people from moving forward in life.
Understand today that faith is confidence and assurance about the things we hope for according to the promises of God. Like an arrow, your faith points to the target of hope. If you don’t have hope, that arrow of faith will just drop to the ground. It won’t accomplish anything. But when you keep your hopes up, when you keep expecting and believing, it’s as if that target gets larger and larger—easier to hit!
Choose today to live with an attitude of expectancy. Get your hopes up! Start by taking captive any negative thoughts you may have one at a time. As you focus on God’s goodness and faithfulness, you’ll feel that hope inside you growing. You’ll give your faith a target, and you’ll move confidently into the blessings and peace the Lord has in store for you!
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| A Prayer for Today |
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“Father, today I surrender every thought to You. I choose to release my cares and concerns so I can focus on Your goodness in my life. Thank You for the gift of faith to see the impossible become possible as I continue to place my hope and confidence in You in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
PS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s0KYTQb5UQ
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