09/21/2018 — Each of us was born a sinner, condemned to eternal death at the hands of a just God who cannot tolerate sin. But we can choose to live forever instead. God’s grace frees us to choose between life and death, between blessing and cursing. Grace frees us to live a life approximating the life of Jesus Christ.

Rejecting grace leaves us in our condemned state. Why would we ever not choose grace?

EDUCATION

Romans 6:12-18
“Sin is a dethroned monarch; so you must no longer give it an opportunity to rule over your life, controlling how you live and compelling you to obey its desires and cravings. So then, refuse to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness. Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to him as one who has now experienced resurrection life! You live now for his pleasure, ready to be used for his noble purpose. Remember this: sin will not conquer you, for God already has! You are not governed by law but governed by the reign of the grace of God.

“What are we to do, then? Should we sin to our hearts’ content since there’s no law to condemn us anymore? What a terrible thought! Don’t you realize that grace frees you to choose your own master? But choose carefully, for you surrender yourself to become a servant—bound to the one you choose to obey. If you choose to love sin, it will become your master, and it will own you and reward you with death. But if you choose to love and obey God, he will lead you into perfect righteousness.

“And God is pleased with you, for in the past you were servants of sin, but now your obedience is heart deep, and your life is being molded by truth through the teaching you are devoted to. And now you celebrate your freedom from your former master—sin. You’ve left its bondage, and now God’s perfect righteousness holds power over you as his loving servants” (TPT).

APPLICATION

• A holy God cannot tolerate sin. And, after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, each of us was born with the inherent inability to keep God’s laws. We cannot help but sin.
• But God made a way, through the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus Christ, for us to be reconciled to Him. Theologians call that way grace.
• Grace frees us to either embrace God or reject Him. The fallacy that too many have adopted – what the martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” is the idea that grace frees us to live any way we please. Paul anticipated that argument and, in Romans 6, explains why it is a fatally flawed view.
• We all must make the choice between life and death, between blessing and cursing. And the choice we make binds us to the One we obey. If we choose God, we are bound to serve Him; if we choose to abandon God, we become servants of the enemy of our souls.
• Either way, we will live forever with the consequences of our choice. Choose grace!

IMPARTATION

Heavenly Father,

I choose grace! Thank You for making a way for me to have fellowship with you despite the sin of Adam and Eve so many generations ago. I recognize that by choosing Your grace, I will be forever aligned with You and Your people and be as assured of spending eternity with You in Heaven as if I was already there!

I intercede for my family and other loved ones, Heavenly Father, asking that You use me to impress upon them the importance of choosing Your grace instead of rejecting it. I want to make Heaven full! Order my steps so that I may become a demonstration of Your grace to everyone I encounter in the days and weeks ahead.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – Jehovah Joshua Messiah – I pray. Amen!






WHC FAMILY PRAYER REQUESTS

In Matthew 18, Jesus said “Truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Let’s stand in agreement with the following members of our church family who have requested prayer:
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