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Better Together

Experience God's Grace | Better Together Episode 1151

March 30, 2026 | S8 E1151 | 50:59

Experience God's Grace | Better Together Episode 1151
The Cross is the greatest picture of God's forgiveness and grace. Jesus chose the Cross to carry the weight of our sin and reveal the depth of God’s love for us. Understanding this gift of grace changes the way we live and leads us to lasting freedom. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000
#Salvation #Grace #Love #Cross #Gospel #Forgiveness #Freedom #Faith #Sin #Shame #Fear #PersonalStory #LoveofGod #Goodness #Pride #Humility #Obedience #GardenofEden #Failure #Favor #LaurieCrouch #SheilaWalsh #FaithEuryCho #NonaJones

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Better Together | Experience God's Grace | Better Together Episode 1151 | March 30, 2026
  • - during holy week, we remember everything that jesus
  • 00:01:29.856 --> 00:00:03.026
  • Accomplished on the cross.
  • 00:00:03.026 --> 00:00:04.394
  • He chose to pay the ultimate price for you and me to walk in
  • 00:00:04.394 --> 00:00:08.098
  • His perfect grace.
  • 00:00:08.098 --> 00:00:09.532
  • Come on, let's talk about it.
  • 00:00:09.532 --> 00:00:10.733
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:00:10.733 --> 00:00:38.728
  • - i have to say this is one of my favorite weeks of the year.
  • 00:00:39.996 --> 00:00:41.364
  • And i'm so glad we have a whole week of better together so we
  • 00:00:41.364 --> 00:00:46.469
  • Can really pause and sit in the moment and wonder, just wonder
  • 00:00:46.469 --> 00:00:52.408
  • At the grace of god and the love of jesus that would compel him.
  • 00:00:52.408 --> 00:00:58.014
  • To leave where he was worshipped and come to a place where he
  • 00:00:58.014 --> 00:01:04.521
  • Knew that he would be betrayed by those that he'd spent years
  • 00:01:04.521 --> 00:01:08.091
  • Pouring into by judas.
  • 00:01:08.091 --> 00:01:11.995
  • And even those close to him would walk away.
  • 00:01:11.995 --> 00:01:14.097
  • So i was thinking back to my own salvation when i got saved.
  • 00:01:14.097 --> 00:01:17.333
  • I was probably 11 years old and my mom took us to hear
  • 00:01:17.333 --> 00:01:23.039
  • Scotland's only gospel group.
  • 00:01:23.039 --> 00:01:25.441
  • They weren't very good.
  • 00:01:25.441 --> 00:01:27.210
  • But i do remember the guy at the end.
  • 00:01:27.210 --> 00:01:31.214
  • He said, god has no grandchildren.
  • 00:01:31.214 --> 00:01:32.916
  • He only has sons and daughters.
  • 00:01:32.916 --> 00:01:34.617
  • And i remember thinking, oh, that's fascinating because my
  • 00:01:34.617 --> 00:01:38.621
  • Father had died by suicide, but my mom was a very
  • 00:01:38.621 --> 00:01:41.090
  • Committed believer.
  • 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:42.458
  • And so i just always thought, i mean, i go to church with her
  • 00:01:42.458 --> 00:01:44.527
  • All the time.
  • 00:01:44.527 --> 00:01:46.496
  • I'm just, i'm in, i'm part of the group.
  • 00:01:46.496 --> 00:01:47.730
  • You know, it's like a kind of all skate.
  • 00:01:47.730 --> 00:01:50.266
  • And that night i began to realize, no, it's not that.
  • 00:01:50.266 --> 00:01:54.370
  • And a lot of people responded to what we call an
  • 00:01:54.370 --> 00:01:56.739
  • Altar call and went forward.
  • 00:01:56.739 --> 00:01:58.541
  • And i couldn't move.
  • 00:01:58.541 --> 00:01:59.842
  • I was literally shocked at 11 that god might want to know
  • 00:01:59.842 --> 00:02:02.545
  • Me personally.
  • 00:02:02.545 --> 00:02:03.913
  • So when i got home that night, i tried to go to sleep
  • 00:02:03.913 --> 00:02:07.050
  • And i couldn't.
  • 00:02:07.050 --> 00:02:08.184
  • I lay there in my bed, just couldn't go to sleep.
  • 00:02:08.184 --> 00:02:09.552
  • So i came back downstairs and i asked my mom a question that i
  • 00:02:09.552 --> 00:02:12.121
  • Now know is a ridiculous question, but at 11, i thought
  • 00:02:12.121 --> 00:02:15.225
  • It was valid.
  • 00:02:15.225 --> 00:02:16.726
  • I said, mom, is god still awake?
  • 00:02:16.726 --> 00:02:17.727
  • And she said, what do you mean?
  • 00:02:17.727 --> 00:02:19.829
  • I said, well, i don't know what hours he keeps, but i really
  • 00:02:19.829 --> 00:02:21.764
  • Would like to become a christian.
  • 00:02:21.764 --> 00:02:25.868
  • And so my mom was the one who prayed for me as i gave my life
  • 00:02:25.868 --> 00:02:28.838
  • To jesus.
  • 00:02:28.838 --> 00:02:30.974
  • And it was so interesting because not long ago, maybe five
  • 00:02:30.974 --> 00:02:33.876
  • Years ago, although it feels like yesterday when my mom
  • 00:02:33.876 --> 00:02:35.912
  • Passed, my sister and i were going through all my mom's
  • 00:02:35.912 --> 00:02:38.748
  • Things and just, you know, clearing everything out.
  • 00:02:38.748 --> 00:02:40.984
  • And i came across this bible that my mom was given when she
  • 00:02:40.984 --> 00:02:44.454
  • Was 12 years old.
  • 00:02:44.454 --> 00:02:46.956
  • And she was given, it says, presented to miss betty nichol
  • 00:02:46.956 --> 00:02:50.326
  • In appreciation of her splendid wildflower collection, 6th of
  • 00:02:50.326 --> 00:02:54.197
  • December, 1942.
  • 00:02:54.197 --> 00:02:56.566
  • But the thing that i loved that i hadn't noticed for a bit is on
  • 00:02:56.566 --> 00:03:00.270
  • The back page in her own handwriting as a little girl,
  • 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:04.407
  • She wrote, grace is undeserved favor.
  • 00:03:04.407 --> 00:03:07.443
  • It is love stooping.
  • 00:03:07.443 --> 00:03:09.312
  • And i thought that is just the most perfect
  • 00:03:09.312 --> 00:03:14.117
  • Picture, word picture of what actually happened.
  • 00:03:14.117 --> 00:03:18.421
  • Love stooping, love coming down.
  • 00:03:18.421 --> 00:03:21.257
  • And when i think about the crucifixion, i was reading
  • 00:03:21.257 --> 00:03:25.194
  • Something the other day, an old book, but john calvin said in
  • 00:03:25.194 --> 00:03:30.500
  • The 16th century, he wrote and he said that people who were
  • 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:33.970
  • Coming into jerusalem that day for passover and they would see
  • 00:03:33.970 --> 00:03:36.906
  • Three men being crucified.
  • 00:03:36.906 --> 00:03:39.242
  • It was the understanding in those days that the one in the
  • 00:03:39.242 --> 00:03:42.211
  • Middle was the worst.
  • 00:03:42.211 --> 00:03:43.313
  • He would be the ringleader.
  • 00:03:43.313 --> 00:03:44.847
  • And the fact that christ had the position of being the worst of
  • 00:03:44.847 --> 00:03:48.217
  • The worst.
  • 00:03:48.217 --> 00:03:49.986
  • And in the same book further on, it had another thing that martin
  • 00:03:49.986 --> 00:03:53.323
  • Luther talked about.
  • 00:03:53.323 --> 00:03:54.657
  • He said that for that moment when christ took on all the sin
  • 00:03:54.657 --> 00:03:57.727
  • Of the world, it's almost impossible to take in that he
  • 00:03:57.727 --> 00:04:01.331
  • Became the worst of the worst at that moment.
  • 00:04:01.331 --> 00:04:03.599
  • The worst murderer, the worst adulterer, the worst whatever.
  • 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:06.169
  • Christ took all of that on himself so that you and i could
  • 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:10.340
  • Know him.
  • 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:11.441
  • And i can't think...
  • 00:04:11.441 --> 00:04:12.975
  • I mean, that's got to be the biggest explanation of grace
  • 00:04:12.975 --> 00:04:15.511
  • Ever, that things that we could not do for ourself, but that
  • 00:04:15.511 --> 00:04:19.615
  • Christ was willing to come.
  • 00:04:19.615 --> 00:04:21.417
  • - you know, one of the, i think, most prevalent questions that
  • 00:04:21.417 --> 00:04:25.855
  • People have is, why in the world did jesus have to die for us?
  • 00:04:25.855 --> 00:04:31.561
  • Like, why is it that we could not just be good enough in order
  • 00:04:31.561 --> 00:04:36.299
  • To essentially save ourselves?
  • 00:04:36.299 --> 00:04:38.835
  • And the answer goes all the way back
  • 00:04:38.835 --> 00:04:41.804
  • To the garden of eden.
  • 00:04:41.804 --> 00:04:43.339
  • It goes all the way back to the very beginning.
  • 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:45.742
  • Our dna was compromised by the sin of adam and eve, so much so
  • 00:04:45.742 --> 00:04:50.146
  • That no matter how good we are, that doesn't make up for the
  • 00:04:50.146 --> 00:04:55.718
  • Iniquity in our bloodline.
  • 00:04:55.718 --> 00:04:58.454
  • And what jesus did, the miracle that he performed, is his blood
  • 00:04:58.454 --> 00:05:04.260
  • Actually became the transfusion for the iniquity in ours.
  • 00:05:04.260 --> 00:05:08.765
  • That's why he had to die for us, because there's no way that we
  • 00:05:08.765 --> 00:05:12.535
  • Could save ourselves.
  • 00:05:12.535 --> 00:05:14.103
  • No matter how good we may be, our blood was tainted.
  • 00:05:14.103 --> 00:05:18.040
  • But the blood of jesus now replaces ours, and we are now
  • 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:22.612
  • Justified in the sight of god.
  • 00:05:22.612 --> 00:05:23.913
  • - as we move in through this holy week, when i say the word
  • 00:05:23.913 --> 00:05:27.817
  • Grace, like, what does that conjure up for you?
  • 00:05:27.817 --> 00:05:32.355
  • - so this is why i'm so excited about this week, because toward
  • 00:05:32.355 --> 00:05:37.126
  • The end of 2025...
  • 00:05:37.126 --> 00:05:38.995
  • God called me to a water-only fast, and he told me to just
  • 00:05:38.995 --> 00:05:42.265
  • Fast the last four days of the year, so the 28th going into the
  • 00:05:42.265 --> 00:05:46.803
  • New year.
  • 00:05:46.803 --> 00:05:48.471
  • I'd never done a water-only fast before.
  • 00:05:48.471 --> 00:05:49.972
  • You know, i've done the 369 fast, i've done the daniel fast,
  • 00:05:49.972 --> 00:05:53.576
  • I've done that, but god basically was like, no, there's
  • 00:05:53.576 --> 00:05:56.279
  • Something significant that i want to do and reveal.
  • 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:58.548
  • This question of grace and the depth of god's grace, i'll never
  • 00:05:58.548 --> 00:06:02.118
  • Forget, i think on day two, you know, i was already kind of...
  • 00:06:02.118 --> 00:06:05.154
  • Kind of hungry and all of that.
  • 00:06:05.154 --> 00:06:07.490
  • But i was, i was leaning into the presence of god and i was in
  • 00:06:07.490 --> 00:06:10.460
  • Prayer and god asked me a question.
  • 00:06:10.460 --> 00:06:13.963
  • God said, nona, why would i send my son to die?
  • 00:06:13.963 --> 00:06:19.969
  • What is it that i needed?
  • 00:06:19.969 --> 00:06:23.306
  • And i thought about that and i was like, he needs nothing.
  • 00:06:23.306 --> 00:06:26.909
  • Like as jehovah.
  • 00:06:26.909 --> 00:06:29.612
  • He is the self-sufficient god, right?
  • 00:06:29.612 --> 00:06:33.850
  • Like by him, everything was made.
  • 00:06:33.850 --> 00:06:36.219
  • By nothing is he.
  • 00:06:36.219 --> 00:06:38.187
  • We say things like, oh, he just needs our worship.
  • 00:06:38.187 --> 00:06:41.457
  • He doesn't even need our worship.
  • 00:06:41.457 --> 00:06:45.361
  • Like he has 24/7 worship from angelic hosts.
  • 00:06:45.361 --> 00:06:51.000
  • He doesn't even need our worship.
  • 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:54.036
  • So it's like, why would god who needs nothing offer himself as
  • 00:06:54.036 --> 00:07:01.978
  • This sacrifice for us?
  • 00:07:01.978 --> 00:07:04.780
  • And it was such a profound question because, you know, i
  • 00:07:04.780 --> 00:07:08.584
  • Think sometimes we can make the grace of god so cheap.
  • 00:07:08.584 --> 00:07:13.189
  • Like we can just say, oh yeah, god loves me.
  • 00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:16.392
  • Jesus loves me.
  • 00:07:16.392 --> 00:07:17.727
  • You know, when you really think about the fact that there is
  • 00:07:17.727 --> 00:07:21.197
  • Nothing at all that we can offer to god, and yet he made
  • 00:07:21.197 --> 00:07:27.203
  • This incalculable...
  • 00:07:27.203 --> 00:07:29.372
  • Priceless sacrifice.
  • 00:07:29.372 --> 00:07:30.640
  • The only reason is love.
  • 00:07:30.640 --> 00:07:34.176
  • That's it.
  • 00:07:34.176 --> 00:07:35.411
  • That he loves us in a way that we can't even understand.
  • 00:07:35.411 --> 00:07:40.182
  • We can't even comprehend.
  • 00:07:40.182 --> 00:07:42.151
  • And when you get to a place where you understand the depth
  • 00:07:42.151 --> 00:07:45.388
  • Of god's love for us, i think it changes the way you show up in
  • 00:07:45.388 --> 00:07:50.226
  • The world.
  • 00:07:50.226 --> 00:07:51.994
  • You know, 1 corinthians 13, it comes to mind for me even now,
  • 00:07:51.994 --> 00:07:54.931
  • Is just like, what does it mean?
  • 00:07:54.931 --> 00:07:58.167
  • What does the love of god really mean?
  • 00:07:58.167 --> 00:08:02.271
  • So the apostle paul writes, if i speak in the tongues of men or
  • 00:08:02.271 --> 00:08:06.075
  • Of angels, but do not have love, i am only a resounding gong or a
  • 00:08:06.075 --> 00:08:08.544
  • Clanging cymbal.
  • 00:08:08.544 --> 00:08:10.446
  • If i have the gift of prophecy and i can fathom all mysteries
  • 00:08:10.446 --> 00:08:13.249
  • And all knowledge, and if i have a faith that can move mountains,
  • 00:08:13.249 --> 00:08:15.518
  • But do not have love, i am nothing.
  • 00:08:15.518 --> 00:08:17.753
  • If i give all i possess to the poor and give over my body to
  • 00:08:17.753 --> 00:08:20.923
  • Hardship that i may boast, but do not have love, i
  • 00:08:20.923 --> 00:08:23.092
  • Gain nothing.
  • 00:08:23.092 --> 00:08:25.494
  • He's basically saying, that if i do the miraculous works, if i do
  • 00:08:25.494 --> 00:08:27.997
  • Wondrous things, but i don't have love, i have nothing.
  • 00:08:27.997 --> 00:08:31.767
  • And then he goes on to define love.
  • 00:08:31.767 --> 00:08:36.205
  • He says, love is patient.
  • 00:08:36.205 --> 00:08:37.873
  • Love is kind.
  • 00:08:37.873 --> 00:08:38.941
  • It does not envy.
  • 00:08:38.941 --> 00:08:40.209
  • It does not boast.
  • 00:08:40.209 --> 00:08:41.077
  • It is not proud.
  • 00:08:41.077 --> 00:08:42.211
  • It does not dishonor others.
  • 00:08:42.211 --> 00:08:43.412
  • It is not self-seeking.
  • 00:08:43.412 --> 00:08:45.381
  • It is not easily angered.
  • 00:08:45.381 --> 00:08:46.482
  • It keeps no records of wrongs.
  • 00:08:46.482 --> 00:08:48.517
  • Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
  • 00:08:48.517 --> 00:08:50.686
  • It always protects.
  • 00:08:50.686 --> 00:08:53.089
  • Always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
  • 00:08:53.089 --> 00:08:56.459
  • Love never fails.
  • 00:08:56.459 --> 00:08:59.795
  • That is a kind of love that we can't understand in our
  • 00:08:59.795 --> 00:09:01.764
  • Mortal bodies.
  • 00:09:01.764 --> 00:09:02.999
  • But that is the love of god.
  • 00:09:02.999 --> 00:09:04.934
  • That is the agape love of god that goes beyond comprehension.
  • 00:09:04.934 --> 00:09:09.905
  • And for me, it is a call to the deep mercy and grace of god to
  • 00:09:09.905 --> 00:09:16.078
  • Know that no matter what i've done, no matter how many times
  • 00:09:16.078 --> 00:09:19.749
  • I've messed it up, failed him.
  • 00:09:19.749 --> 00:09:22.118
  • That he keeps no record of wrongs, that he's decided i was
  • 00:09:22.118 --> 00:09:25.955
  • Worth dying for, that is beyond comprehension for me.
  • 00:09:25.955 --> 00:09:32.628
  • So we talk about the grace of god.
  • 00:09:32.628 --> 00:09:35.197
  • It is just such a deep, enduring love that should always call us
  • 00:09:35.197 --> 00:09:43.673
  • To a place of humility.
  • 00:09:43.673 --> 00:09:45.374
  • - you know, grace is freedom.
  • 00:09:45.374 --> 00:09:48.377
  • Grace is the core of what we believe.
  • 00:09:48.377 --> 00:09:50.246
  • It's the thing that sets us free from bondage in our mind,
  • 00:09:50.246 --> 00:09:56.852
  • Bondage in our thoughts.
  • 00:09:56.852 --> 00:09:59.021
  • All the things drop off when we know that it's not because i'm
  • 00:09:59.021 --> 00:10:05.127
  • Good enough or that i'm so horrible.
  • 00:10:05.127 --> 00:10:08.597
  • That we can do anything to deserve god's grace.
  • 00:10:08.597 --> 00:10:12.501
  • It's a free gift to us, and it's not something that's given so we
  • 00:10:12.501 --> 00:10:15.971
  • Just keep on sinning.
  • 00:10:15.971 --> 00:10:17.339
  • Something's given us so that we can have the power to overcome,
  • 00:10:17.339 --> 00:10:21.510
  • To do things out of love and obedience instead of shame and
  • 00:10:21.510 --> 00:10:25.815
  • Condemnation for what we've done.
  • 00:10:25.815 --> 00:10:29.151
  • God's grace was the greatest gift i believe he's ever given
  • 00:10:29.151 --> 00:10:32.254
  • To us, to salvation.
  • 00:10:32.254 --> 00:10:34.323
  • It's our healing.
  • 00:10:34.323 --> 00:10:35.858
  • It's all the things that we need to get through life and get
  • 00:10:35.858 --> 00:10:39.428
  • Through life more abundantly.
  • 00:10:39.428 --> 00:10:43.699
  • God's grace, the perfect gift, the free gift from god.
  • 00:10:43.699 --> 00:10:46.235
  • - i love that too because that context of that text right there
  • 00:10:46.235 --> 00:10:49.038
  • Is actually, you know, we use it in weddings and all the time,
  • 00:10:49.038 --> 00:10:53.676
  • But really it's about the community loving one another.
  • 00:10:53.676 --> 00:10:57.646
  • Putting each other first you know and and for me you know i
  • 00:10:57.646 --> 00:11:01.917
  • Was thinking about romans 5:20 moreover the law entered that
  • 00:11:01.917 --> 00:11:05.921
  • The offense might abound but where sin abounded grace
  • 00:11:05.921 --> 00:11:08.791
  • Abounded much more and i remember when grace to answer
  • 00:11:08.791 --> 00:11:11.260
  • Your question sheila grace became real for me i always knew
  • 00:11:11.260 --> 00:11:15.231
  • About grace grace for other people, but i remember in the
  • 00:11:15.231 --> 00:11:17.867
  • Wake of me confessing my affair which i've talked about on the
  • 00:11:17.867 --> 00:11:22.705
  • Show before oh i lost so many friends, people, especially in
  • 00:11:22.705 --> 00:11:26.308
  • The church world, they don't know what to do with it.
  • 00:11:26.308 --> 00:11:28.811
  • But i had a small group of friends that just prayed and
  • 00:11:28.811 --> 00:11:32.815
  • Loved me.
  • 00:11:32.815 --> 00:11:34.517
  • And i, for the first time, not only experienced grace from
  • 00:11:34.517 --> 00:11:38.254
  • Them, but i experienced it from my husband when he finally, six
  • 00:11:38.254 --> 00:11:41.791
  • Months later, actually said to me, i forgive you.
  • 00:11:41.791 --> 00:11:43.859
  • And to this day...
  • 00:11:43.859 --> 00:11:46.428
  • I mean, that was 20 years ago.
  • 00:11:46.428 --> 00:11:48.030
  • He's not throwing it in my face.
  • 00:11:48.030 --> 00:11:50.099
  • Not that we don't talk about it, right?
  • 00:11:50.099 --> 00:11:51.534
  • But here is an embodiment of grace.
  • 00:11:51.534 --> 00:11:54.804
  • My husband has shown this grace that i've only ever heard about
  • 00:11:54.804 --> 00:11:58.974
  • But never experienced.
  • 00:11:58.974 --> 00:12:00.843
  • And i think what that means is as jesus people, instead of
  • 00:12:00.843 --> 00:12:06.649
  • Being judgmental, instead of holding it against
  • 00:12:06.649 --> 00:12:08.417
  • The law, right?
  • 00:12:08.417 --> 00:12:09.785
  • We are supposed to love others in a way that brings them back.
  • 00:12:09.785 --> 00:12:13.489
  • It allowed me even the beginning, the feeling of, oh, i
  • 00:12:13.489 --> 00:12:18.127
  • Can come back.
  • 00:12:18.127 --> 00:12:20.229
  • There's nothing, not that i'm going to go do that again, but
  • 00:12:20.229 --> 00:12:23.599
  • There's nothing ever that i could do that is so wrong that
  • 00:12:23.599 --> 00:12:25.601
  • One, god doesn't already know about, but two, that he didn't
  • 00:12:25.601 --> 00:12:29.004
  • Die for, that he didn't go to the cross for.
  • 00:12:29.004 --> 00:12:31.874
  • And so, yeah, i just think that that's what's amazing about our
  • 00:12:31.874 --> 00:12:36.011
  • Faith and amazing about our god.
  • 00:12:36.011 --> 00:12:38.247
  • - i think jenny's story is so important for a lot of us to
  • 00:12:38.247 --> 00:12:41.016
  • Hear because the journey, to getting to know god's grace can
  • 00:12:41.016 --> 00:12:46.789
  • Sometimes start in a devastating way, in a way that we don't
  • 00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:51.861
  • Want, which is exposure, vulnerability, confession.
  • 00:12:51.861 --> 00:12:55.464
  • And yet when that's met with a kindness of god, that
  • 00:12:55.464 --> 00:13:00.569
  • Changes everything.
  • 00:13:00.569 --> 00:13:02.137
  • And i love that she was able to share so openly because it
  • 00:13:02.137 --> 00:13:05.674
  • Reminds us that sometimes we got to get through the ugly to
  • 00:13:05.674 --> 00:13:09.879
  • Really get into the beautiful.
  • 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:12.481
  • I think what i love about that story is that even though it was
  • 00:13:12.481 --> 00:13:16.051
  • A horrific story, the most beautiful thing came about it,
  • 00:13:16.051 --> 00:13:20.456
  • Which was that grace was so real for you.
  • 00:13:20.456 --> 00:13:23.525
  • And, you know, i think the challenge for a lot of us is
  • 00:13:23.525 --> 00:13:26.962
  • That as believers, we talk about grace, we sing about grace, we
  • 00:13:26.962 --> 00:13:30.699
  • Learn about grace, but...
  • 00:13:30.699 --> 00:13:32.968
  • Is grace really real is there an experiential knowledge of grace
  • 00:13:32.968 --> 00:13:37.273
  • And i'm reminded in in luke 7 47 where jesus says but the one who
  • 00:13:37.273 --> 00:13:43.946
  • Is forgiven little loves little right and it makes me wonder
  • 00:13:43.946 --> 00:13:48.918
  • Like oh man like in order to know how much you're forgiven,
  • 00:13:48.918 --> 00:13:53.856
  • You also need to be real about how much you need forgiveness.
  • 00:13:53.856 --> 00:14:00.529
  • And that part, i think it's so lost on us, you know, and i
  • 00:14:00.529 --> 00:14:07.403
  • Remember, you know, when i first got saved, it's because i really
  • 00:14:07.403 --> 00:14:10.673
  • Believed and, you know, i really accepted jesus christ as my lord
  • 00:14:10.673 --> 00:14:14.143
  • And savior.
  • 00:14:14.143 --> 00:14:15.177
  • My salvation experience was very real.
  • 00:14:15.177 --> 00:14:17.146
  • However, my understanding of grace was very little.
  • 00:14:17.146 --> 00:14:23.585
  • I knew it as theory, but by experience, it was just a whole
  • 00:14:23.585 --> 00:14:28.557
  • Nother thing.
  • 00:14:28.557 --> 00:14:29.959
  • Because humanity, grace is such a scandalous concept, right?
  • 00:14:29.959 --> 00:14:34.229
  • You know, and oftentimes, you know, we claim we receive it,
  • 00:14:34.229 --> 00:14:39.168
  • But then if our everyday reality lacks it, right, it's...
  • 00:14:39.168 --> 00:14:45.374
  • It's hard to really know, like, do i really believe it?
  • 00:14:45.374 --> 00:14:50.779
  • And some of us, we may be wondering, man, why is it that i
  • 00:14:50.779 --> 00:14:53.248
  • Have a hard time praying or wanting to love jesus or wanting
  • 00:14:53.248 --> 00:14:56.018
  • To engage with god?
  • 00:14:56.018 --> 00:14:57.886
  • And i really think part of it is just we have forgotten what
  • 00:14:57.886 --> 00:15:01.557
  • Grace actually is and what it means to us.
  • 00:15:01.557 --> 00:15:05.394
  • If you've never received god's grace and want to receive that
  • 00:15:05.394 --> 00:15:09.932
  • Gift today, i would love to pray for you. jesus.
  • 00:15:09.932 --> 00:15:13.936
  • We yield ourselves to you.
  • 00:15:13.936 --> 00:15:18.674
  • And god, we don't just believe that you exist, but we believe
  • 00:15:18.674 --> 00:15:21.310
  • That you are good enough to follow and entrust our lives to.
  • 00:15:21.310 --> 00:15:24.079
  • God, you know every wrongdoing.
  • 00:15:24.079 --> 00:15:30.552
  • You know every ounce of evil that could be in our hearts.
  • 00:15:30.552 --> 00:15:34.156
  • Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross.
  • 00:15:34.156 --> 00:15:37.659
  • We receive your forgiveness.
  • 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:39.261
  • Thank you for your grace.
  • 00:15:39.261 --> 00:15:42.498
  • We love you, lord.
  • 00:15:42.498 --> 00:15:43.832
  • Help us to grow in that love.
  • 00:15:43.832 --> 00:15:46.668
  • In jesus' name we pray. amen.
  • 00:15:46.668 --> 00:15:50.439
  • - let's keep the conversation going.
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  • Connect with us on social media and share your favorite moments
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  • From today.
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  • - we are better together because of you.
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  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:16:10.726 --> 00:16:12.008
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:16:12.008 --> 00:16:20.970
  • - one of the most profound parts of the death, burial, and
  • 00:16:20.970 --> 00:16:24.741
  • Resurrection of jesus is that it didn't happen because those of
  • 00:16:24.741 --> 00:16:29.312
  • Us who need salvation are perfect or holy.
  • 00:16:29.312 --> 00:16:34.751
  • It happened because god is good.
  • 00:16:34.751 --> 00:16:37.320
  • And this is a fundamental part of god's grace.
  • 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:40.990
  • It isn't something that he extends to us because of what we
  • 00:16:40.990 --> 00:16:44.594
  • Do or how we behave.
  • 00:16:44.594 --> 00:16:47.597
  • It's extended to us because of who he is.
  • 00:16:47.597 --> 00:16:50.567
  • And so i want you to know that no matter what you've done, the
  • 00:16:50.567 --> 00:16:53.870
  • Reason why you're not beyond the reach of god's grace is not
  • 00:16:53.870 --> 00:16:56.840
  • Because of your perfection, but because of his love.
  • 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:04.247
  • - i remember there was this one time at church, and this is when
  • 00:17:05.548 --> 00:17:07.917
  • I was in college, and i was really struggling with the
  • 00:17:07.917 --> 00:17:10.954
  • Concept of religion and church.
  • 00:17:10.954 --> 00:17:13.556
  • I was really struggling with sanctification, repentance, this
  • 00:17:13.556 --> 00:17:18.495
  • Whole concept of everyone has fallen short of the glory
  • 00:17:18.495 --> 00:17:22.298
  • Of god.
  • 00:17:22.298 --> 00:17:24.000
  • It just felt very doom and gloom, fire and brimstone.
  • 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.002
  • And i remember the teacher that one evening when he said, when
  • 00:17:26.002 --> 00:17:33.209
  • God looks at you...
  • 00:17:33.209 --> 00:17:34.444
  • He doesn't look at you as someone that has made mistakes
  • 00:17:34.444 --> 00:17:38.148
  • And has asked for forgiveness time and time again.
  • 00:17:38.148 --> 00:17:42.986
  • He looks at you as if you've never sinned before.
  • 00:17:42.986 --> 00:17:46.156
  • And that just, i received a revelation that evening.
  • 00:17:46.156 --> 00:17:50.960
  • Because for me, was never a reality.
  • 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:54.797
  • You know what i mean?
  • 00:17:54.797 --> 00:17:57.667
  • Grace was a concept in my mind, but that became so real for me
  • 00:17:57.667 --> 00:18:02.539
  • That it just radically transformed.
  • 00:18:02.539 --> 00:18:05.441
  • The way i engage with god.
  • 00:18:05.441 --> 00:18:08.144
  • He doesn't just change what we do, but he changes who we are.
  • 00:18:08.144 --> 00:18:11.481
  • Oh, man.
  • 00:18:11.481 --> 00:18:12.815
  • And to that point about changing who we are, i think the enemy
  • 00:18:12.815 --> 00:18:16.553
  • Works so hard to keep us in a place of shame.
  • 00:18:16.553 --> 00:18:18.388
  • - oh, yeah.
  • 00:18:18.388 --> 00:18:20.023
  • - because what shame does in many ways is it actually
  • 00:18:20.023 --> 00:18:22.926
  • Invalidates the grace of god.
  • 00:18:22.926 --> 00:18:24.561
  • Because shame says, i am beyond repair.
  • 00:18:24.561 --> 00:18:27.230
  • Something that happened to me, something i did.
  • 00:18:27.230 --> 00:18:29.866
  • Like it's beyond repair.
  • 00:18:29.866 --> 00:18:32.035
  • Shame in many ways is a lack of trust in god, who god is, what
  • 00:18:32.035 --> 00:18:35.972
  • He has said about you, the fact that there is nothing that can
  • 00:18:35.972 --> 00:18:38.775
  • Separate you from the love of god, that the work of the cross
  • 00:18:38.775 --> 00:18:42.545
  • Is finished.
  • 00:18:42.545 --> 00:18:44.480
  • When you were in romans 5, i'm going to go back to it really
  • 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.050
  • Quick, but in romans 5, i think it's verse 8.
  • 00:18:47.050 --> 00:18:49.285
  • I want to read this because i think we have to remember
  • 00:18:49.285 --> 00:18:52.522
  • Exactly who we were when god made the decision to love us.
  • 00:18:52.522 --> 00:18:56.092
  • It says, god demonstrates his own love for us in this.
  • 00:18:56.092 --> 00:19:00.196
  • While we were still sinners, christ died for us.
  • 00:19:00.196 --> 00:19:04.000
  • Down to verse 10, it says, for if while we were god's
  • 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.304
  • Enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his
  • 00:19:08.304 --> 00:19:11.541
  • Son, how much more of having been reconciled
  • 00:19:11.541 --> 00:19:13.943
  • Shall we be saved through his life?
  • 00:19:13.943 --> 00:19:16.579
  • God didn't wait until we were perfect.
  • 00:19:16.579 --> 00:19:18.948
  • He didn't wait until we had it all together.
  • 00:19:18.948 --> 00:19:21.117
  • He didn't wait until we were holy to decide, okay, now you're
  • 00:19:21.117 --> 00:19:23.720
  • Worth dying for.
  • 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:25.288
  • He was like, while you're doing the thing, you're worthy.
  • 00:19:25.288 --> 00:19:30.059
  • And i think so much of the reason why we end up being
  • 00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:32.028
  • Judgmental is because we have not received the grace of god.
  • 00:19:32.028 --> 00:19:35.365
  • - one of the things i think a lot of us struggle with
  • 00:19:35.365 --> 00:19:39.302
  • Is shame.
  • 00:19:39.302 --> 00:19:41.271
  • And the way i differentiate between shame and guilt, this is
  • 00:19:41.271 --> 00:19:44.607
  • Not a clinical definition, but i think if i said something unkind
  • 00:19:44.607 --> 00:19:48.077
  • To you, i would feel guilty until i could say, please
  • 00:19:48.077 --> 00:19:51.848
  • Forgive me.
  • 00:19:51.848 --> 00:19:53.049
  • That was all me.
  • 00:19:53.049 --> 00:19:54.417
  • So if guilt tells me i've done something wrong, shame tells me
  • 00:19:54.417 --> 00:19:57.053
  • I am something wrong.
  • 00:19:57.053 --> 00:19:59.289
  • And what do you do with that?
  • 00:19:59.289 --> 00:20:00.690
  • But i want you to know, it says in psalms 34, those who look to
  • 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:05.561
  • Him for help will be radiant with joy.
  • 00:20:05.561 --> 00:20:08.264
  • No shadow of shame will touch their faces.
  • 00:20:08.264 --> 00:20:11.334
  • Then it says the lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves
  • 00:20:11.334 --> 00:20:14.537
  • Those who are crushed in spirit.
  • 00:20:14.537 --> 00:20:17.006
  • Shame doesn't belong to you anymore.
  • 00:20:17.006 --> 00:20:19.575
  • Jesus took it on himself on the cross.
  • 00:20:19.575 --> 00:20:21.477
  • It said, you know, in the bible, cursed is he who's hung on a
  • 00:20:21.477 --> 00:20:25.915
  • Tree, and jesus was willing to become that so that you and i
  • 00:20:25.915 --> 00:20:29.052
  • Could live shame-free.
  • 00:20:29.052 --> 00:20:30.520
  • I think sometimes we don't realize we need grace.
  • 00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:33.723
  • I think we tend to think that this is big sins, there's
  • 00:20:33.723 --> 00:20:36.326
  • Certain things that people do, and they're the big sins, and
  • 00:20:36.326 --> 00:20:38.194
  • You definitely need grace, but i don't need grace.
  • 00:20:38.194 --> 00:20:41.898
  • I remember at a conference, candice cameron-barré had this
  • 00:20:41.898 --> 00:20:45.001
  • Illustration that i thought was so interesting.
  • 00:20:45.001 --> 00:20:46.636
  • She talked about being in a place
  • 00:20:46.636 --> 00:20:48.237
  • Where there was this field of sheep, beautiful
  • 00:20:48.237 --> 00:20:51.174
  • White sheep, and they're eating green grass.
  • 00:20:51.174 --> 00:20:53.142
  • And she said, it just looks, the contrast was so beautiful.
  • 00:20:53.142 --> 00:20:55.578
  • They're so white and the grass is so green.
  • 00:20:55.578 --> 00:20:57.880
  • And then it started to snow.
  • 00:20:57.880 --> 00:20:59.716
  • And as the snow began to fell, she thought, these sheep are
  • 00:20:59.716 --> 00:21:03.486
  • Filthy. because the contrast was, you know, was stark.
  • 00:21:03.486 --> 00:21:08.024
  • And i think that sometimes...
  • 00:21:08.024 --> 00:21:11.427
  • You need that revelation from the lord as, do you know how
  • 00:21:11.427 --> 00:21:13.363
  • Much you need this?
  • 00:21:13.363 --> 00:21:14.697
  • Do you know how much you need me to stoop down and pick you up?
  • 00:21:14.697 --> 00:21:18.234
  • I think that's why i love the word salvation so much, that
  • 00:21:18.234 --> 00:21:22.338
  • Whole word so and so.
  • 00:21:22.338 --> 00:21:24.173
  • I used to think of it as a one-time thing.
  • 00:21:24.173 --> 00:21:26.542
  • In fact, i read something last night.
  • 00:21:26.542 --> 00:21:27.844
  • In the time that christ was on earth, orthodox jews had this
  • 00:21:27.844 --> 00:21:30.646
  • Saying, there is joy in heaven when one sinner is obliterated
  • 00:21:30.646 --> 00:21:33.683
  • From the earth.
  • 00:21:33.683 --> 00:21:35.651
  • - wow. - say it, again.
  • 00:21:35.651 --> 00:21:37.153
  • - there is joy in heaven when one sinner...
  • 00:21:37.153 --> 00:21:39.989
  • Is obliterated from the earth.
  • 00:21:39.989 --> 00:21:42.592
  • But in luke 15:7, jesus said, there is joy in heaven when one
  • 00:21:42.592 --> 00:21:45.461
  • Sinner repents.
  • 00:21:45.461 --> 00:21:48.231
  • And that word salvation, i remember hearing nicky gumbel
  • 00:21:48.231 --> 00:21:52.101
  • Speaking about that and saying those three tenses to it.
  • 00:21:52.101 --> 00:21:54.670
  • It's like, we have been saved from sin.
  • 00:21:54.670 --> 00:21:57.840
  • We are being saved right in the present.
  • 00:21:57.840 --> 00:22:00.610
  • And in our future, we're permanently removed from sin.
  • 00:22:00.610 --> 00:22:03.813
  • Because i love that verse, those who call on the name of the lord
  • 00:22:03.813 --> 00:22:06.382
  • Will be saved.
  • 00:22:06.382 --> 00:22:08.151
  • And it's not just this one-time thing.
  • 00:22:08.151 --> 00:22:10.286
  • I can think of so many times in my life i've had to call on the
  • 00:22:10.286 --> 00:22:12.955
  • Name of jesus when you find yourself in a tough spot.
  • 00:22:12.955 --> 00:22:15.725
  • But to me, salvation, meaning to save and to heal, is an ongoing
  • 00:22:15.725 --> 00:22:20.430
  • Gift of grace.
  • 00:22:20.430 --> 00:22:22.498
  • - but when you truly understand the depth of god's grace and
  • 00:22:22.498 --> 00:22:27.103
  • You understand the cost of christ's sacrifice,
  • 00:22:27.103 --> 00:22:31.507
  • It leads you to a place of repentance and humility,
  • 00:22:31.507 --> 00:22:33.843
  • Because you realize god did not have to pay
  • 00:22:33.843 --> 00:22:38.047
  • That penalty.
  • 00:22:38.047 --> 00:22:39.215
  • He is perfectly fine, self-sufficient, whether we
  • 00:22:39.215 --> 00:22:41.417
  • Worship or live for him or not.
  • 00:22:41.417 --> 00:22:44.253
  • And yet it is his grace, it is his mercy that caused him to do
  • 00:22:44.253 --> 00:22:47.957
  • What no one else could do, not even ourselves.
  • 00:22:47.957 --> 00:22:50.893
  • And that's what causes us to purify ourselves because of the
  • 00:22:50.893 --> 00:22:54.464
  • Matchless work of the cross.
  • 00:22:54.464 --> 00:22:56.899
  • - and it's hard because, i mean, not hard, it's a gift, but that
  • 00:22:56.899 --> 00:23:02.071
  • Admission, right?
  • 00:23:02.071 --> 00:23:05.441
  • It's like you can't quite receive salvation until you
  • 00:23:05.441 --> 00:23:09.479
  • Admit you need to be saved.
  • 00:23:09.479 --> 00:23:11.547
  • It's like if somebody offers you a tic tac or a breath mint, if
  • 00:23:11.547 --> 00:23:17.353
  • You were to receive it, you have to admit that you need a
  • 00:23:17.353 --> 00:23:19.622
  • Breath mint.
  • 00:23:19.622 --> 00:23:22.758
  • And i think it's very counter-cultural
  • 00:23:22.758 --> 00:23:26.395
  • To be open to grace and to be receiving of grace because, you
  • 00:23:26.395 --> 00:23:31.100
  • Know, you were talking about shame and sometimes the fleshly
  • 00:23:31.100 --> 00:23:35.004
  • Way to combat shame is saying, oh, i'm great.
  • 00:23:35.004 --> 00:23:39.709
  • I'm awesome.
  • 00:23:39.709 --> 00:23:41.043
  • And, you know, you're not wrong, but that's not the full story.
  • 00:23:41.043 --> 00:23:43.713
  • We truly have fallen short of the glory of god.
  • 00:23:43.713 --> 00:23:48.084
  • I'm reminded about...
  • 00:23:48.084 --> 00:23:49.519
  • Apostle paul, like, you know, he wrote all these epistles, but
  • 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:52.255
  • Near the later epistles, he's like amongst all the sinners.
  • 00:23:52.255 --> 00:23:56.559
  • I'm the chief sinner.
  • 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:57.793
  • You know, i'm the worst among them, right.
  • 00:23:57.793 --> 00:24:02.164
  • And it's not that he just lost his self-confidence over time.
  • 00:24:02.164 --> 00:24:06.903
  • It's just the more you get to know god, the deeper you're
  • 00:24:06.903 --> 00:24:12.341
  • Aware of your depravity.
  • 00:24:12.341 --> 00:24:14.944
  • And it's not to wallow in shame.
  • 00:24:14.944 --> 00:24:18.514
  • But it's to embrace that grace even more.
  • 00:24:18.514 --> 00:24:22.118
  • - i often think about it as, like shame wears an armor, and
  • 00:24:22.118 --> 00:24:25.821
  • That armor is pride.
  • 00:24:25.821 --> 00:24:27.290
  • Like, you can tell when somebody is walking in shame because
  • 00:24:27.290 --> 00:24:34.130
  • There's almost like this, to your point, i'm okay, i don't
  • 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:35.631
  • Need anybody, i don't need anything, y'all are wrong, y'all
  • 00:24:35.631 --> 00:24:37.700
  • Are this, y'all are...
  • 00:24:37.700 --> 00:24:39.835
  • When you get to a place where you really understand
  • 00:24:39.835 --> 00:24:41.370
  • Who you are in god and what he did, you don't have to walk
  • 00:24:41.370 --> 00:24:43.539
  • In shame.
  • 00:24:43.539 --> 00:24:46.409
  • You can actually accept the fact that, no, i'm not perfect.
  • 00:24:46.409 --> 00:24:47.843
  • I need the grace of god every day.
  • 00:24:47.843 --> 00:24:50.246
  • - receiving god's grace changed everything because it changes my
  • 00:24:50.246 --> 00:24:54.517
  • Purpose, which is no longer about me.
  • 00:24:54.517 --> 00:24:59.589
  • But now everything is to the lord.
  • 00:24:59.589 --> 00:25:01.290
  • Everything is for the lord.
  • 00:25:01.290 --> 00:25:02.925
  • It's not about pursuing the career that i want, or it's not
  • 00:25:02.925 --> 00:25:07.163
  • Just about creating the family of my dreams, but it's really
  • 00:25:07.163 --> 00:25:10.066
  • About glorifying jesus, obeying his will and way, and
  • 00:25:10.066 --> 00:25:15.304
  • Loving others.
  • 00:25:15.304 --> 00:25:16.906
  • And so i think it changed everything.
  • 00:25:16.906 --> 00:25:18.975
  • And to do that would require more grace.
  • 00:25:18.975 --> 00:25:22.311
  • So a life lived dependently on him for him.
  • 00:25:22.311 --> 00:25:26.349
  • - think about when sin entered.
  • 00:25:26.349 --> 00:25:30.753
  • It was in the garden when humanity decided to question
  • 00:25:30.753 --> 00:25:34.290
  • God's goodness to us.
  • 00:25:34.290 --> 00:25:40.429
  • We're not allowed to question god's goodness.
  • 00:25:40.429 --> 00:25:42.298
  • You know, his love for us.
  • 00:25:42.298 --> 00:25:44.767
  • We're not allowed to do that.
  • 00:25:44.767 --> 00:25:47.103
  • Sorry, as christ followers, we can't because god is so good.
  • 00:25:47.103 --> 00:25:52.475
  • God is love.
  • 00:25:52.475 --> 00:25:54.076
  • God is all these beautiful things that
  • 00:25:54.076 --> 00:25:55.578
  • Is his character.
  • 00:25:55.578 --> 00:25:58.514
  • And there's nothing that we can do that is beyond his goodness
  • 00:25:58.514 --> 00:26:03.152
  • And his grace and his mercy.
  • 00:26:03.152 --> 00:26:05.521
  • And when god decided to send his son, i mean, he did that before
  • 00:26:05.521 --> 00:26:10.393
  • He said, i'm going to redeem humanity.
  • 00:26:10.393 --> 00:26:12.261
  • That was a plan all along.
  • 00:26:12.261 --> 00:26:14.830
  • And it wasn't--
  • 00:26:14.830 --> 00:26:16.699
  • Grace wasn't god lowering his standards.
  • 00:26:16.699 --> 00:26:19.935
  • Grace was him meeting his standards with jesus.
  • 00:26:19.935 --> 00:26:22.171
  • It wasn't that he lost patience with us.
  • 00:26:22.171 --> 00:26:26.676
  • It wasn't any of that.
  • 00:26:26.676 --> 00:26:28.210
  • He was like, when i am going to redeem man back to me and grace
  • 00:26:28.210 --> 00:26:31.580
  • Isn't something that we lower our standards and stuff, but
  • 00:26:31.580 --> 00:26:36.285
  • Grace is something that is the power to change our life.
  • 00:26:36.285 --> 00:26:39.288
  • That's what grace is.
  • 00:26:39.288 --> 00:26:42.258
  • Grace is i'm giving you the power--
  • 00:26:42.258 --> 00:26:44.627
  • To be in right standing i'm giving you the power to be the
  • 00:26:44.627 --> 00:26:48.164
  • Righteousness of god in christ that when i look at you i see
  • 00:26:48.164 --> 00:26:50.766
  • Jesus and his blood shed for you you know and it
  • 00:26:50.766 --> 00:26:56.172
  • Wasn't a mistake.
  • 00:26:56.172 --> 00:26:57.306
  • It wasn't an afterthought it wasn't god
  • 00:26:57.306 --> 00:26:58.708
  • Losing patience with mankind it was his plan all along to meet
  • 00:26:58.708 --> 00:27:02.344
  • His own standards of goodness and grace and mercy and mercy
  • 00:27:02.344 --> 00:27:07.249
  • And justice had to come together...because we couldn't
  • 00:27:07.249 --> 00:27:11.287
  • Fix it in ourselves we couldn't do it on our own we had to have
  • 00:27:11.287 --> 00:27:16.025
  • A savior. you know and that jesus would do that for us out
  • 00:27:16.025 --> 00:27:21.731
  • Of god's loving kindness towards man and humanity that he so
  • 00:27:21.731 --> 00:27:24.967
  • Loved us that he gave.
  • 00:27:24.967 --> 00:27:28.170
  • - yes i think people are afraid of grace
  • 00:27:28.170 --> 00:27:30.473
  • Because i think a lot of people think well then you just you
  • 00:27:30.473 --> 00:27:34.243
  • Extend grace and then people think they can live any way
  • 00:27:34.243 --> 00:27:36.479
  • They like--
  • 00:27:36.479 --> 00:27:38.280
  • - no it's the power to change your life... - it's absolutely
  • 00:27:38.280 --> 00:27:40.282
  • Not cause it's like when you've like you talked about that jenni
  • 00:27:40.282 --> 00:27:42.752
  • And i can think of a moment like that was a different
  • 00:27:42.752 --> 00:27:45.121
  • Circumstance, but when you suddenly realize your desperate
  • 00:27:45.121 --> 00:27:50.459
  • Need for god and it suddenly becomes crystal clear, it
  • 00:27:50.459 --> 00:27:53.496
  • Doesn't make you think oh great now i can get away
  • 00:27:53.496 --> 00:27:55.765
  • With anything.
  • 00:27:55.765 --> 00:27:57.133
  • It's like you're so showered at that moment by the love of god
  • 00:27:57.133 --> 00:27:59.935
  • You're like you want to live differently, to me grace calls
  • 00:27:59.935 --> 00:28:02.938
  • You by your proper name.
  • 00:28:02.938 --> 00:28:05.274
  • It doesn't call you by the circumstance.
  • 00:28:05.274 --> 00:28:06.442
  • It doesn't call you by what it sees.
  • 00:28:06.442 --> 00:28:08.477
  • It doesn't call you any shame's names.
  • 00:28:08.477 --> 00:28:10.112
  • Grace calls you by your proper name, child of god.
  • 00:28:10.112 --> 00:28:13.849
  • And to me, that makes you want to change.
  • 00:28:13.849 --> 00:28:16.418
  • And the power of the holy spirit to help us do that.
  • 00:28:16.418 --> 00:28:19.188
  • Someone asked me once if grace is just almost like...
  • 00:28:19.188 --> 00:28:23.259
  • A free pass to keep sinning.
  • 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:27.163
  • Like if god's going to forgive us anyway, then what
  • 00:28:27.163 --> 00:28:28.864
  • Does it matter?
  • 00:28:28.864 --> 00:28:30.199
  • If jesus has already paid for everything, then why wouldn't we
  • 00:28:30.199 --> 00:28:32.935
  • Just live like we could live any old way?
  • 00:28:32.935 --> 00:28:34.737
  • I think it's because the whole heart of faith is not about a
  • 00:28:34.737 --> 00:28:39.375
  • Set of rules.
  • 00:28:39.375 --> 00:28:40.743
  • It's about relationship.
  • 00:28:40.743 --> 00:28:42.111
  • When you have a relationship with jesus, i just want you to
  • 00:28:42.111 --> 00:28:45.247
  • Know the more you fall in love with him, the more you want to
  • 00:28:45.247 --> 00:28:47.950
  • Live in a way that would honor him.
  • 00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:49.685
  • And grace doesn't say it's okay to live any other way.
  • 00:28:49.685 --> 00:28:52.354
  • It just means that when you do fall down, he's there to pick
  • 00:28:52.354 --> 00:28:54.990
  • You up.
  • 00:28:54.990 --> 00:28:56.292
  • But there's something about the struggles in life when you
  • 00:28:56.292 --> 00:29:00.963
  • Realize how much you need the grace of god.
  • 00:29:00.963 --> 00:29:02.998
  • And i think when you've been soaked to the skin by grace
  • 00:29:02.998 --> 00:29:06.302
  • Yourself, you want to extend that to other people too.
  • 00:29:06.302 --> 00:29:10.072
  • - i remember there was this time where i was getting really
  • 00:29:10.072 --> 00:29:15.477
  • Frustrated, you know, like when some people frustrate you.
  • 00:29:15.477 --> 00:29:19.114
  • - i've never been there, never.
  • 00:29:19.114 --> 00:29:21.517
  • - and, you know, it's like, i don't know, i'm sure we all have
  • 00:29:21.517 --> 00:29:26.055
  • Our own pet peeves, right?
  • 00:29:26.055 --> 00:29:27.356
  • And there's this time when i just went through a season where
  • 00:29:27.356 --> 00:29:30.092
  • I was just getting really frustrated by
  • 00:29:30.092 --> 00:29:31.293
  • The needs and demands of somebody and you know
  • 00:29:31.293 --> 00:29:35.464
  • We could rationalize right a lot like why would this person need
  • 00:29:35.464 --> 00:29:39.101
  • That, like this person should depend on god or like you know
  • 00:29:39.101 --> 00:29:43.405
  • That lack of love you know it's usually a signal of something
  • 00:29:43.405 --> 00:29:47.376
  • Yeah you know. but i remember there was this one time when i
  • 00:29:47.376 --> 00:29:50.179
  • Was praying about it like lord jesus she does not know what she
  • 00:29:50.179 --> 00:29:54.316
  • Does so lord you know and and i just felt this gentle correction
  • 00:29:54.316 --> 00:30:00.322
  • From holy spirit, where he was like, faith, the fact that i
  • 00:30:00.322 --> 00:30:08.797
  • Came to earth, i was honoring humankind's humanity.
  • 00:30:08.797 --> 00:30:14.169
  • You know, our human needs.
  • 00:30:14.169 --> 00:30:16.772
  • When he came, he chose us before he demanded
  • 00:30:16.772 --> 00:30:20.276
  • Spiritual transformation.
  • 00:30:20.276 --> 00:30:24.079
  • He decided to be present.
  • 00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:26.048
  • Before he started to go off and...
  • 00:30:26.048 --> 00:30:28.217
  • And say now you have to now you have to change now you have to
  • 00:30:28.217 --> 00:30:31.787
  • Repent you know i mean he did say you have to repent he did
  • 00:30:31.787 --> 00:30:34.990
  • Call the wrong out but he chose us first you know and that
  • 00:30:34.990 --> 00:30:39.962
  • Transformation is from it's the fruit of that covenant and he
  • 00:30:39.962 --> 00:30:45.134
  • Was just reminding me like let's remember all the times that i've
  • 00:30:45.134 --> 00:30:48.137
  • Honored your human needs like i've honored just your
  • 00:30:48.137 --> 00:30:51.240
  • Imperfections, your weaknesses, the need for a learning curve.
  • 00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:58.480
  • And i think sometimes when we lack patience for one another
  • 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:04.119
  • And in a way we expect everyone to be a final product, right?
  • 00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:07.690
  • I think that's usually a diagnosis that we forgot how
  • 00:31:07.690 --> 00:31:11.627
  • Much god has in a way given us that grace
  • 00:31:11.627 --> 00:31:20.336
  • To be human.
  • 00:31:20.336 --> 00:31:23.272
  • And when i say human, i don't mean just being sinful.
  • 00:31:23.272 --> 00:31:25.040
  • I'm saying the fact that we are weak, the fact that we have
  • 00:31:25.040 --> 00:31:30.179
  • Fallen short, the fact that we need to learn things time and
  • 00:31:30.179 --> 00:31:35.751
  • Time again, the fact that sometimes we need to make
  • 00:31:35.751 --> 00:31:38.454
  • Mistakes to learn our lessons.
  • 00:31:38.454 --> 00:31:39.855
  • It's the fact that he's been so patient with us.
  • 00:31:39.855 --> 00:31:43.058
  • And i think that acknowledgement, just realizing,
  • 00:31:43.058 --> 00:31:47.396
  • Oh my goodness.
  • 00:31:47.396 --> 00:31:50.599
  • God, you've been so patient with me, has revolutionized the way
  • 00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:56.372
  • That i have loved others, you know?
  • 00:31:56.372 --> 00:31:59.775
  • And so i, you know, and i've said this before, like, i think
  • 00:31:59.775 --> 00:32:03.779
  • If anyone is frustrated by their inability to love god and to
  • 00:32:03.779 --> 00:32:07.983
  • Love others, i would go back to and revisit what's your
  • 00:32:07.983 --> 00:32:12.521
  • Relationship with god's grace?
  • 00:32:12.521 --> 00:32:15.257
  • - one of the greatest challenges in life is extending grace to
  • 00:32:15.257 --> 00:32:19.294
  • Someone who has hurt you.
  • 00:32:19.294 --> 00:32:21.997
  • And honestly, i think the lord understands there's a process
  • 00:32:21.997 --> 00:32:25.067
  • Involved there.
  • 00:32:25.067 --> 00:32:26.402
  • If someone has really wounded you, then what i have started
  • 00:32:26.402 --> 00:32:29.505
  • With in the past, i had a friend who really hurt me
  • 00:32:29.505 --> 00:32:33.308
  • Some years ago, it was really, i found it devastating.
  • 00:32:33.308 --> 00:32:35.310
  • But i knew that god wanted me to be able to extend grace.
  • 00:32:35.310 --> 00:32:38.680
  • So i had to start with just him and i, just the lord and i,
  • 00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:42.217
  • Where i could be really, really honest and tell him exactly
  • 00:32:42.217 --> 00:32:45.054
  • How i felt.
  • 00:32:45.054 --> 00:32:47.222
  • And there's something about the beauty of being able to tell god
  • 00:32:47.222 --> 00:32:51.060
  • The whole truth.
  • 00:32:51.060 --> 00:32:52.428
  • And then having poured out all that pain, then i began to pray
  • 00:32:52.428 --> 00:32:54.930
  • For that person.
  • 00:32:54.930 --> 00:32:56.331
  • And i discovered that every day as i started to pray, god began
  • 00:32:56.331 --> 00:32:59.268
  • To share more and more grace on me, and it made it possible for
  • 00:32:59.268 --> 00:33:03.038
  • Me to not just forgive that person, but to extend
  • 00:33:03.038 --> 00:33:06.408
  • Grace to them.
  • 00:33:06.408 --> 00:33:07.376
  • God's grace changes us.
  • 00:33:07.376 --> 00:33:10.512
  • - it's what you said, sheila, in terms of people being afraid of
  • 00:33:10.512 --> 00:33:13.749
  • The grace of god, because it's this idea that, oh, well, that
  • 00:33:13.749 --> 00:33:17.619
  • Just becomes a free pass.
  • 00:33:17.619 --> 00:33:18.954
  • But to your point, faith, when you really understand the depth,
  • 00:33:18.954 --> 00:33:21.490
  • The expense, the cost of god's grace, you don't
  • 00:33:21.490 --> 00:33:25.327
  • Just do anything.
  • 00:33:25.327 --> 00:33:27.729
  • And like 1 john 3 came to mind.
  • 00:33:27.729 --> 00:33:29.398
  • And i want to give this scripture for anybody who's
  • 00:33:29.398 --> 00:33:32.134
  • Struggling with this.
  • 00:33:32.134 --> 00:33:33.469
  • It says, see what great love the father has lavished on us that
  • 00:33:33.469 --> 00:33:36.038
  • We should be called children of god, not grandchildren, children
  • 00:33:36.038 --> 00:33:40.709
  • Of god.
  • 00:33:40.709 --> 00:33:42.211
  • And that is what we are.
  • 00:33:42.211 --> 00:33:45.581
  • The reason the world does not know us is that it did
  • 00:33:45.581 --> 00:33:47.416
  • Not know him.
  • 00:33:47.416 --> 00:33:48.317
  • Then it says, dear friends.
  • 00:33:48.317 --> 00:33:49.651
  • Now we are children of god and what we will be has not yet been
  • 00:33:49.651 --> 00:33:51.787
  • Made known.
  • 00:33:51.787 --> 00:33:53.889
  • But we know that when christ appears, we shall be like him
  • 00:33:53.889 --> 00:33:56.391
  • For we shall see him as he is.
  • 00:33:56.391 --> 00:33:58.360
  • All who have this hope in him purify themselves just as
  • 00:33:58.360 --> 00:34:01.430
  • He is pure.
  • 00:34:01.430 --> 00:34:03.298
  • We don't live our lives any kind of way because the hope that we
  • 00:34:03.298 --> 00:34:06.735
  • Have and the grace that god has shown us...
  • 00:34:06.735 --> 00:34:10.706
  • It compels us to live a life of holiness.
  • 00:34:10.706 --> 00:34:14.576
  • Like it compels us out of gratitude, out of gratitude for
  • 00:34:14.576 --> 00:34:17.946
  • What he did.
  • 00:34:17.946 --> 00:34:20.048
  • There have been times where, you know, i've faced some
  • 00:34:20.048 --> 00:34:22.651
  • Frustrations in life and, you know, the old me, the former me
  • 00:34:22.651 --> 00:34:26.054
  • Might have clapped back and lashed out and all of that.
  • 00:34:26.054 --> 00:34:29.525
  • But i don't do it because i think about
  • 00:34:29.525 --> 00:34:32.895
  • The grace of god and i think about what he did and it's like
  • 00:34:32.895 --> 00:34:37.299
  • This minor inconvenience this person being rude this painful
  • 00:34:37.299 --> 00:34:40.435
  • Experience i'm having it doesn't even compare to what christ did.
  • 00:34:40.435 --> 00:34:45.874
  • And so that's what purifies that's what purifies it doesn't
  • 00:34:45.874 --> 00:34:48.343
  • Give me a you know sin the way you want to sin free card it
  • 00:34:48.343 --> 00:34:51.346
  • Just reminds me that this is expensive grace and that's what
  • 00:34:51.346 --> 00:34:56.318
  • Keeps me um focused on who god is.
  • 00:34:56.318 --> 00:35:00.088
  • - and i wonder too if that grace i think we're afraid of
  • 00:35:00.088 --> 00:35:01.857
  • It because we're so black and white as a culture.
  • 00:35:01.857 --> 00:35:04.860
  • So it's either grace or it's failure.
  • 00:35:04.860 --> 00:35:08.163
  • And so we're actually afraid of failure, right?
  • 00:35:08.163 --> 00:35:10.132
  • But failure is what compels us.
  • 00:35:10.132 --> 00:35:12.734
  • Like we were talking about it.
  • 00:35:12.734 --> 00:35:16.271
  • In my case, it was very much a, do i ever want that to
  • 00:35:16.271 --> 00:35:18.674
  • Happen again?
  • 00:35:18.674 --> 00:35:19.441
  • No, absolutely not.
  • 00:35:19.441 --> 00:35:20.475
  • And i do everything to not.
  • 00:35:20.475 --> 00:35:21.777
  • However, i thank god for not what i did, but the response and
  • 00:35:21.777 --> 00:35:28.383
  • The reaction out of it.
  • 00:35:28.383 --> 00:35:30.152
  • Because where i am today, how grateful i
  • 00:35:30.152 --> 00:35:34.590
  • Am for not the failure, but the response to
  • 00:35:34.590 --> 00:35:38.293
  • It and the wholeness and the life and the goodness
  • 00:35:38.293 --> 00:35:42.364
  • That has come out of that.
  • 00:35:42.364 --> 00:35:45.534
  • And it wouldn't stick if it didn't hurt so bad so that i
  • 00:35:45.534 --> 00:35:50.339
  • Would realize i need it.
  • 00:35:50.339 --> 00:35:52.941
  • And i think people that don't want to give that grace or don't
  • 00:35:52.941 --> 00:35:56.778
  • Think that they deserve it, they're fighting so hard to be
  • 00:35:56.778 --> 00:35:59.915
  • In control and to not fail.
  • 00:35:59.915 --> 00:36:02.484
  • But failure, you have to fail to grow.
  • 00:36:02.484 --> 00:36:04.820
  • You have to fail to become a better version of yourself, to
  • 00:36:04.820 --> 00:36:09.358
  • Step into the calling that god has called us to.
  • 00:36:09.358 --> 00:36:11.994
  • And so not that you go out and look for failure, but i don't
  • 00:36:11.994 --> 00:36:15.797
  • Think that we need to work so hard to be like, oh, no, i'm not
  • 00:36:15.797 --> 00:36:18.500
  • Going to fail ever, ever, ever, because then it doesn't let you
  • 00:36:18.500 --> 00:36:21.169
  • Live either, right?
  • 00:36:21.169 --> 00:36:22.471
  • I became aware that i needed grace when i had spent most of
  • 00:36:22.471 --> 00:36:25.040
  • My life talking about it.
  • 00:36:25.040 --> 00:36:27.876
  • I had been in ministry for a long time.
  • 00:36:27.876 --> 00:36:29.978
  • I had talked about how god is grace.
  • 00:36:29.978 --> 00:36:31.146
  • We need his amazing grace.
  • 00:36:31.146 --> 00:36:33.849
  • But i realized in that moment post-affair and with my husband
  • 00:36:33.849 --> 00:36:37.953
  • Forgiving me that i didn't actually know what it felt like.
  • 00:36:37.953 --> 00:36:42.024
  • I knew the concept.
  • 00:36:42.024 --> 00:36:43.959
  • There was a connection in my brain, but not a connection in
  • 00:36:43.959 --> 00:36:47.095
  • My heart.
  • 00:36:47.095 --> 00:36:48.297
  • And so understanding that i was a human of depravity.
  • 00:36:48.297 --> 00:36:51.433
  • And needed that grace and experiencing it from an actual
  • 00:36:51.433 --> 00:36:55.637
  • Human being really changed the trajectory of my life to see how
  • 00:36:55.637 --> 00:36:58.774
  • Much more grace i could give to others.
  • 00:36:58.774 --> 00:37:04.780
  • - let's keep the conversation going.
  • 00:37:05.614 --> 00:37:07.349
  • You can find the better together podcast on your favorite
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  • Listening platform.
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  • Subscribe today.
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  • Subscribe today.
  • 00:37:16.005 --> 00:37:18.094
  • - i think this is why galatians 6 is so important, where we're
  • 00:37:19.395 --> 00:37:22.965
  • Told that if a brother or sister is caught, in a trespass or in a
  • 00:37:22.965 --> 00:37:25.301
  • Sin says you who are spiritual restore such a one being careful
  • 00:37:25.301 --> 00:37:30.239
  • Lest you are also tempted.
  • 00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:32.308
  • So many times we think that we are above
  • 00:37:32.308 --> 00:37:33.976
  • The issue that our brother or sister is grappling with and
  • 00:37:33.976 --> 00:37:39.015
  • I feel like what paul was saying is be careful lest you become
  • 00:37:39.015 --> 00:37:43.419
  • Tempted too, now what is temptation because some people
  • 00:37:43.419 --> 00:37:46.456
  • Will be like well i would never be tempted by that thing.
  • 00:37:46.456 --> 00:37:49.759
  • The bible defines temptation.
  • 00:37:49.759 --> 00:37:51.094
  • It says that you are tempted when you are drawn away of your
  • 00:37:51.094 --> 00:37:53.229
  • Own lust and enticed.
  • 00:37:53.229 --> 00:37:54.664
  • So there's something in you that wants that thing and then the
  • 00:37:54.664 --> 00:37:57.533
  • Opportunity comes and then you go after it.
  • 00:37:57.533 --> 00:38:00.103
  • So he's even telling us just because you think you're above
  • 00:38:00.103 --> 00:38:02.905
  • The thing, you very well may not be.
  • 00:38:02.905 --> 00:38:06.175
  • And that is also a manifestation of grace, which is understanding
  • 00:38:06.175 --> 00:38:08.511
  • I could be just as susceptible.
  • 00:38:08.511 --> 00:38:10.780
  • I don't know what's in me.
  • 00:38:10.780 --> 00:38:11.881
  • I have no idea.
  • 00:38:11.881 --> 00:38:13.316
  • I can assume.
  • 00:38:13.316 --> 00:38:14.484
  • - to anything.
  • 00:38:14.484 --> 00:38:15.318
  • Wouldn't that be to anything?
  • 00:38:15.318 --> 00:38:16.519
  • - yes. i could assume that i would never do x, y, z.
  • 00:38:16.519 --> 00:38:19.422
  • But this is why, again, just the grace of god is so powerful.
  • 00:38:19.422 --> 00:38:21.791
  • God is saying, i know what's in you.
  • 00:38:21.791 --> 00:38:25.194
  • I know what's in you.
  • 00:38:25.194 --> 00:38:26.796
  • So what i want you to do...
  • 00:38:26.796 --> 00:38:28.097
  • Is i want you just to love one another the way that i have
  • 00:38:28.097 --> 00:38:29.799
  • Loved you, recognizing that you don't know what's in you.
  • 00:38:29.799 --> 00:38:32.301
  • - you know, i love that you said the grace is so powerful because
  • 00:38:32.301 --> 00:38:35.171
  • Actually in the new testament, grace and power go hand in hand.
  • 00:38:35.171 --> 00:38:37.940
  • You know, whenever there was grace, there was power, you
  • 00:38:37.940 --> 00:38:41.677
  • Know, and i just really, as we were sharing, i just really felt
  • 00:38:41.677 --> 00:38:44.747
  • Like, you know, i wanted to address that.
  • 00:38:44.747 --> 00:38:47.383
  • I'm sure i am positive.
  • 00:38:47.383 --> 00:38:49.585
  • There are some that are going to be watching in and listening in
  • 00:38:49.585 --> 00:38:52.088
  • On this conversation and thinking, well, that's easy for
  • 00:38:52.088 --> 00:38:56.292
  • You to say.
  • 00:38:56.292 --> 00:38:57.527
  • But what i have done is unforgivable, you know, and as a
  • 00:38:57.527 --> 00:39:02.465
  • Church pastor and, you know, we're all church girls here.
  • 00:39:02.465 --> 00:39:05.635
  • Like, i'm sure like we ourself have experienced it.
  • 00:39:05.635 --> 00:39:08.805
  • And we've also sat with many people that feel like they are
  • 00:39:08.805 --> 00:39:12.742
  • Not allowed to receive this grace because of what they've
  • 00:39:12.742 --> 00:39:16.946
  • Done, because who've--
  • 00:39:16.946 --> 00:39:18.848
  • Who they are or where they've been and you know that in a way
  • 00:39:18.848 --> 00:39:22.452
  • It almost feels impossible to receive this gift unless we
  • 00:39:22.452 --> 00:39:26.122
  • Could erase our past or unless we could undo a very large
  • 00:39:26.122 --> 00:39:30.359
  • Mistake that we're still living out you know and i've seen
  • 00:39:30.359 --> 00:39:34.063
  • People discount themselves from baptisms because of this.
  • 00:39:34.063 --> 00:39:38.968
  • You know from serving the lord and following their calling
  • 00:39:38.968 --> 00:39:41.737
  • Because of this.
  • 00:39:41.737 --> 00:39:42.972
  • And this is a very very real issue in the church and i'm
  • 00:39:42.972 --> 00:39:46.709
  • Just reminded of how in 2nd corinthians 12, apostle paul had
  • 00:39:46.709 --> 00:39:51.814
  • This thorn on his side and he was just begging god to take it
  • 00:39:51.814 --> 00:39:57.253
  • Away because we would love so much to be that great person
  • 00:39:57.253 --> 00:40:00.590
  • That's worthy of the calling.
  • 00:40:00.590 --> 00:40:03.259
  • You know, we would love to be that person that could say, hey,
  • 00:40:03.259 --> 00:40:06.896
  • Like i've prayed the prayers, i've done the things and
  • 00:40:06.896 --> 00:40:09.599
  • I've conquered.
  • 00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:11.033
  • I'm more than a conqueror.
  • 00:40:11.033 --> 00:40:12.802
  • - i deserve it.
  • 00:40:12.802 --> 00:40:13.703
  • - right. i deserve it.
  • 00:40:13.703 --> 00:40:15.404
  • But, you know, god never said.
  • 00:40:15.404 --> 00:40:17.373
  • Sure, i'll take away those thorns.
  • 00:40:17.373 --> 00:40:20.142
  • We don't know for sure what those thorns are.
  • 00:40:20.142 --> 00:40:22.211
  • Some theologians speculate, but at the end of the day, no one
  • 00:40:22.211 --> 00:40:25.314
  • Knows for sure what they are.
  • 00:40:25.314 --> 00:40:27.650
  • But we know that apostle paul felt absolutely weak with it.
  • 00:40:27.650 --> 00:40:31.087
  • And what did god say?
  • 00:40:31.087 --> 00:40:34.924
  • My grace is sufficient for you and my strength is going to be
  • 00:40:34.924 --> 00:40:38.327
  • Made perfect in your weakness.
  • 00:40:38.327 --> 00:40:40.897
  • And so, you know, dare i say, can we embrace
  • 00:40:40.897 --> 00:40:45.768
  • All the ugly, all the broken, all that we are not, everything
  • 00:40:45.768 --> 00:40:51.908
  • That's not worthy of being on stage, everything that's not
  • 00:40:51.908 --> 00:40:55.211
  • Instagrammable, right?
  • 00:40:55.211 --> 00:40:57.880
  • Or brandable.
  • 00:40:57.880 --> 00:40:59.615
  • Can we just embrace it?
  • 00:40:59.615 --> 00:41:03.252
  • Because it's there that god's grace will be.
  • 00:41:03.252 --> 00:41:05.288
  • And because god's grace will abound there, that is where you
  • 00:41:05.288 --> 00:41:08.658
  • Will experience the power of the holy spirit.
  • 00:41:08.658 --> 00:41:12.295
  • If you find it difficult to receive god's grace, oftentimes
  • 00:41:12.295 --> 00:41:15.798
  • It's because it doesn't feel right.
  • 00:41:15.798 --> 00:41:17.900
  • But actually, in some sense, that could be a very prideful
  • 00:41:17.900 --> 00:41:22.104
  • Posture to say that i know more than god and that my sin is
  • 00:41:22.104 --> 00:41:29.345
  • Greater than god's grace.
  • 00:41:29.345 --> 00:41:30.980
  • The most humble thing that you can do is to receive his
  • 00:41:30.980 --> 00:41:35.184
  • Forgiveness and mercy.
  • 00:41:35.184 --> 00:41:38.988
  • - jesus changed everything. everything....
  • 00:41:38.988 --> 00:41:40.756
  • The very last trip i had in thailand, we were working with
  • 00:41:40.756 --> 00:41:44.961
  • Girls that had been sex trafficked.
  • 00:41:44.961 --> 00:41:46.295
  • And it was a really hard trip.
  • 00:41:46.295 --> 00:41:49.465
  • And this one particular day, i was in an area where some of
  • 00:41:49.465 --> 00:41:53.469
  • Them live.
  • 00:41:53.469 --> 00:41:54.470
  • And it was all built over a garbage dump.
  • 00:41:54.470 --> 00:41:56.606
  • These shacks, just horrible.
  • 00:41:56.606 --> 00:41:58.874
  • And some of these girls were so young.
  • 00:41:58.874 --> 00:42:02.211
  • They were just little girls.
  • 00:42:02.211 --> 00:42:03.713
  • To me, they were just like little girls.
  • 00:42:03.713 --> 00:42:05.414
  • And after i'd been in there a few hours, i stepped outside
  • 00:42:05.414 --> 00:42:08.217
  • Just to get a breath of fresh air.
  • 00:42:08.217 --> 00:42:10.219
  • And there was this contrast scene because here's this shanty
  • 00:42:10.219 --> 00:42:13.289
  • Town, which is awful.
  • 00:42:13.289 --> 00:42:15.124
  • And right beside it was this brand new buddhist temple with
  • 00:42:15.124 --> 00:42:17.793
  • Beautiful golden domes.
  • 00:42:17.793 --> 00:42:19.261
  • And i asked my translator, i said, do you think i could talk
  • 00:42:19.261 --> 00:42:22.932
  • To one of the priests?
  • 00:42:22.932 --> 00:42:24.133
  • Would they be willing to talk to me?
  • 00:42:24.133 --> 00:42:25.935
  • And so this was my question of him.
  • 00:42:25.935 --> 00:42:27.837
  • I said, do you ever think of taking some of the wealth that
  • 00:42:27.837 --> 00:42:30.806
  • You have and helping those who are literally dying on
  • 00:42:30.806 --> 00:42:33.876
  • Your doorstep?
  • 00:42:33.876 --> 00:42:34.977
  • And the answer was very clear.
  • 00:42:34.977 --> 00:42:37.446
  • Oh, no, the poor do not deserve our help.
  • 00:42:37.446 --> 00:42:39.115
  • If they will give us what little they have, then perhaps next
  • 00:42:39.115 --> 00:42:42.118
  • Time they will be born into a better life.
  • 00:42:42.118 --> 00:42:44.987
  • It's called karma.
  • 00:42:44.987 --> 00:42:46.255
  • Christianity is the opposite of karma.
  • 00:42:46.255 --> 00:42:49.859
  • Grace is the antithesis of karma.
  • 00:42:49.859 --> 00:42:52.294
  • We get what we do not deserve.
  • 00:42:52.294 --> 00:42:53.963
  • But i read this thing last night.
  • 00:42:53.963 --> 00:42:56.232
  • I just love.
  • 00:42:56.232 --> 00:42:57.566
  • This was written in the fourth century by ambrose, the bishop
  • 00:42:57.566 --> 00:42:59.402
  • Of milan.
  • 00:42:59.402 --> 00:43:00.770
  • And he's talking about the cross, which will be central for
  • 00:43:00.770 --> 00:43:02.705
  • Us this week.
  • 00:43:02.705 --> 00:43:03.873
  • He said, is that of a sword with the point downward.
  • 00:43:03.873 --> 00:43:08.511
  • Above is the hilt toward heaven, as if in the hand of god.
  • 00:43:08.511 --> 00:43:11.180
  • Below is the point toward earth, as if thrust through the head of
  • 00:43:11.180 --> 00:43:15.418
  • The old serpent, the devil.
  • 00:43:15.418 --> 00:43:17.386
  • That to those who saw the cross and thought, this is a shame,
  • 00:43:17.386 --> 00:43:20.022
  • God saw it as a victory.
  • 00:43:20.022 --> 00:43:21.524
  • Holding it from heaven, smashing through the head of the enemy so
  • 00:43:21.524 --> 00:43:25.361
  • That every single one of us, those who think we deserve it
  • 00:43:25.361 --> 00:43:27.997
  • And those who know we don't, can be saved.
  • 00:43:27.997 --> 00:43:30.666
  • I mean...
  • 00:43:30.666 --> 00:43:31.901
  • Those who call on the name of the lord shall be saved.
  • 00:43:31.901 --> 00:43:34.770
  • - amen. - i'm just going to read this because you told me to.
  • 00:43:34.770 --> 00:43:37.640
  • - you should.
  • 00:43:37.640 --> 00:43:38.974
  • - but a common distortion is to assume that if god forgives
  • 00:43:38.974 --> 00:43:41.677
  • Endlessly, then transformation is optional.
  • 00:43:41.677 --> 00:43:44.914
  • That logic misunderstands grace entirely.
  • 00:43:44.914 --> 00:43:48.951
  • Grace does not excuse sin, but it removes sin's authority.
  • 00:43:48.951 --> 00:43:53.155
  • When grace is truly received, sin loses its leverage and shame
  • 00:43:53.155 --> 00:43:58.761
  • No longer drives obedience, but love does.
  • 00:43:58.761 --> 00:44:02.098
  • I love that.
  • 00:44:02.098 --> 00:44:03.399
  • And, you know, the gospel of grace isn't self-improvement.
  • 00:44:03.399 --> 00:44:07.570
  • It is substitution. - wow.
  • 00:44:07.570 --> 00:44:10.473
  • - so when we think that we don't deserve it and that we've been
  • 00:44:10.473 --> 00:44:14.977
  • So bad, i need to take you back to the cross of christ and
  • 00:44:14.977 --> 00:44:17.546
  • Calvary, you know, and and sometimes.
  • 00:44:17.546 --> 00:44:21.217
  • Because, i mean, how many times do we pray that we can be
  • 00:44:21.217 --> 00:44:25.187
  • Better at this?
  • 00:44:25.187 --> 00:44:26.188
  • And, oh, god, i'm so sorry i did that.
  • 00:44:26.188 --> 00:44:28.657
  • Please forgive me.
  • 00:44:28.657 --> 00:44:29.959
  • And it's no sooner you turn around and you've done it again.
  • 00:44:29.959 --> 00:44:32.328
  • - yes. - oh, god, your grace is so precious to me.
  • 00:44:32.328 --> 00:44:38.167
  • Please forgive me.
  • 00:44:38.167 --> 00:44:39.502
  • Help me be better at that, you know, and concentrating on how
  • 00:44:39.502 --> 00:44:41.036
  • Much god loves us is what turns our hearts towards him.
  • 00:44:41.036 --> 00:44:46.876
  • It's his love towards us that we
  • 00:44:46.876 --> 00:44:48.744
  • Need to dwell on that then the obedience
  • 00:44:48.744 --> 00:44:54.984
  • And the transformation comes when we focus on god's
  • 00:44:54.984 --> 00:45:00.055
  • Love for me.
  • 00:45:00.055 --> 00:45:01.724
  • That's what he's done for me.
  • 00:45:01.724 --> 00:45:02.858
  • When jesus died, you know, i think of every drop.
  • 00:45:02.858 --> 00:45:06.028
  • This is me.
  • 00:45:06.028 --> 00:45:07.563
  • I think, god, i want to get benefit from
  • 00:45:07.563 --> 00:45:09.865
  • Every single drop of blood.
  • 00:45:09.865 --> 00:45:12.902
  • I want something from every drop of blood that he shed for my
  • 00:45:12.902 --> 00:45:16.939
  • Healing, for my wholeness, for my salvation, for everything
  • 00:45:16.939 --> 00:45:23.145
  • That he paid for.
  • 00:45:23.145 --> 00:45:25.815
  • I want everything that god's got for me because of jesus.
  • 00:45:25.815 --> 00:45:29.118
  • And so for us to say that it's too much.
  • 00:45:29.118 --> 00:45:34.723
  • God can't forgive this.
  • 00:45:34.723 --> 00:45:36.225
  • Don't underscore what jesus has done on the cross for you.
  • 00:45:36.225 --> 00:45:39.395
  • He was our substitution.
  • 00:45:39.395 --> 00:45:41.730
  • He physically became sin.
  • 00:45:41.730 --> 00:45:44.166
  • The sin of the world was on him.
  • 00:45:44.166 --> 00:45:48.204
  • Everything we've done in the past, everything that we
  • 00:45:48.204 --> 00:45:53.475
  • Will ever do.
  • 00:45:53.475 --> 00:45:55.377
  • Jesus already paid for it.
  • 00:45:55.377 --> 00:45:58.047
  • And so our obedience and our transformation comes because he
  • 00:45:58.047 --> 00:46:02.151
  • Sent the holy spirit.
  • 00:46:02.151 --> 00:46:03.786
  • But because of that, i can choose and i can-- love drives
  • 00:46:03.786 --> 00:46:10.526
  • Me now. - yes.
  • 00:46:10.526 --> 00:46:12.328
  • - it's not the shame.
  • 00:46:12.328 --> 00:46:13.629
  • It's not the guilt.
  • 00:46:13.629 --> 00:46:14.897
  • It's not trying to prove do good, get good, do bad, get bad.
  • 00:46:14.897 --> 00:46:18.133
  • It's god's grace that he absolutely was a substitution
  • 00:46:18.133 --> 00:46:21.503
  • For my salvation that he paid the price for me.
  • 00:46:21.503 --> 00:46:27.109
  • That everything takes us back to the cross of what we did believe
  • 00:46:27.109 --> 00:46:32.281
  • Happened there at the cross is the way we live our life now.
  • 00:46:32.281 --> 00:46:37.152
  • Did he do it or did he not?
  • 00:46:37.152 --> 00:46:38.721
  • Did he die for all of my sins, future, past, present,
  • 00:46:38.721 --> 00:46:44.260
  • Going forward?
  • 00:46:44.260 --> 00:46:46.695
  • Did he already do it?
  • 00:46:46.695 --> 00:46:47.663
  • He did.
  • 00:46:47.663 --> 00:46:48.898
  • And so from that drives my obedience, drives my faith,
  • 00:46:48.898 --> 00:46:51.700
  • Drives everything that concerns me.
  • 00:46:51.700 --> 00:46:54.336
  • Yeah, you know, god is so patient and he's so kind.
  • 00:46:54.336 --> 00:46:58.674
  • We always want to think that we're in trouble.
  • 00:46:58.674 --> 00:47:01.810
  • But you know what?
  • 00:47:01.810 --> 00:47:03.012
  • All that happened in the garden when the serpent came.
  • 00:47:03.012 --> 00:47:04.880
  • We started questioning god's goodness and that maybe he
  • 00:47:04.880 --> 00:47:11.420
  • Wasn't a good father because he was maybe keeping
  • 00:47:11.420 --> 00:47:14.356
  • Something from us.
  • 00:47:14.356 --> 00:47:15.824
  • But you know what?
  • 00:47:15.824 --> 00:47:16.759
  • That's just a lie.
  • 00:47:16.759 --> 00:47:17.927
  • There's no truth found in him.
  • 00:47:17.927 --> 00:47:19.361
  • God is a good, good father.
  • 00:47:19.361 --> 00:47:21.430
  • He loves you.
  • 00:47:21.430 --> 00:47:22.431
  • You can do no wrong in his eyes.
  • 00:47:22.431 --> 00:47:23.966
  • He paid for it all.
  • 00:47:23.966 --> 00:47:25.668
  • He sent his son jesus to die on the cross for us.
  • 00:47:25.668 --> 00:47:29.305
  • And so we get to walk in freedom.
  • 00:47:29.305 --> 00:47:31.740
  • We get to walk in the knowing that we are a child of god, that
  • 00:47:31.740 --> 00:47:37.313
  • I can come to him boldly with confidence into my father and
  • 00:47:37.313 --> 00:47:42.484
  • Ask him for anything and tell him anything.
  • 00:47:42.484 --> 00:47:47.323
  • And he just loves us.
  • 00:47:47.323 --> 00:47:49.291
  • - so instead of coming with this, oh, i'm such a failure
  • 00:47:49.291 --> 00:47:52.594
  • Of what i've done.
  • 00:47:52.594 --> 00:47:53.929
  • Wouldn't that be such a shift if it became just suddenly, gosh, i
  • 00:47:53.929 --> 00:47:56.565
  • Can't believe how much you love me today.
  • 00:47:56.565 --> 00:47:57.833
  • - look what jesus did.
  • 00:47:57.833 --> 00:48:01.403
  • - thanks for calling me back.
  • 00:48:01.403 --> 00:48:02.137
  • Thanks for calling me back.
  • 00:48:02.137 --> 00:48:04.440
  • Not a, oh, well, i failed, i'm out.
  • 00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:05.874
  • - no i think, gosh, that would so please the father's heart
  • 00:48:05.874 --> 00:48:09.578
  • That suddenly we're not paying so much attention to ourselves
  • 00:48:09.578 --> 00:48:14.316
  • And how we failed or how we've not lived up.
  • 00:48:14.316 --> 00:48:15.951
  • We're just like constantly lifting up jesus and saying,
  • 00:48:15.951 --> 00:48:18.954
  • You did it.
  • 00:48:18.954 --> 00:48:20.322
  • - because 1 corinthians 13 says, love keeps no record of wrongs.
  • 00:48:20.322 --> 00:48:22.691
  • And god is saying, i have forgiven you.
  • 00:48:22.691 --> 00:48:26.929
  • - i'm just thinking right now, if there's anybody who's just
  • 00:48:26.929 --> 00:48:29.565
  • Maybe not familiar with better together and they've just tuned
  • 00:48:29.565 --> 00:48:32.067
  • In, and there's something about this thing, i don't think i
  • 00:48:32.067 --> 00:48:35.070
  • Know this jesus.
  • 00:48:35.070 --> 00:48:36.538
  • Could there be a better week in human history to say, to call on
  • 00:48:36.538 --> 00:48:39.975
  • The name of the lord and be saved?
  • 00:48:39.975 --> 00:48:42.945
  • So it doesn't matter who you are, what you've done.
  • 00:48:42.945 --> 00:48:45.814
  • Jesus came for you.
  • 00:48:45.814 --> 00:48:48.450
  • And you can call on him today.
  • 00:48:48.450 --> 00:48:49.918
  • And we're going to have a great week.
  • 00:48:49.918 --> 00:48:52.688
  • Let's pray.
  • 00:48:52.688 --> 00:48:53.989
  • Lord, our hearts honestly are overflowing with gratitude.
  • 00:48:53.989 --> 00:48:57.192
  • If anyone in human history could have said, this is not my job,
  • 00:48:57.192 --> 00:49:03.365
  • It would have been you.
  • 00:49:03.365 --> 00:49:05.267
  • Perfect, sinless lamb of god.
  • 00:49:05.267 --> 00:49:08.937
  • And yet you said, father, lay it all on me.
  • 00:49:08.937 --> 00:49:12.408
  • Everything. lay it all on me, father.
  • 00:49:12.408 --> 00:49:17.946
  • And even as that moment before you did that and you gave john
  • 00:49:17.946 --> 00:49:20.949
  • Your mom, suddenly you embraced complete aloneness because
  • 00:49:20.949 --> 00:49:25.988
  • You're so outrageous in your love for us.
  • 00:49:25.988 --> 00:49:29.425
  • So lord, we just ask together as just five sisters, if there's
  • 00:49:29.425 --> 00:49:33.195
  • Anybody out there today that doesn't know you, that they
  • 00:49:33.195 --> 00:49:35.497
  • Would call on your name and be saved and that this would be the
  • 00:49:35.497 --> 00:49:39.001
  • Greatest holy week ever.
  • 00:49:39.001 --> 00:49:41.336
  • We commit this whole week to you, lord, and we thank you.
  • 00:49:41.336 --> 00:49:43.372
  • Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
  • 00:49:43.372 --> 00:49:46.642
  • In jesus' name.
  • 00:49:46.642 --> 00:49:50.045
  • Connect with us on social media and let us know how our team can
  • 00:49:51.346 --> 00:49:53.215
  • Pray for you.
  • 00:49:53.215 --> 00:49:55.350
  • - the amazing thing about god's grace is it's not something that
  • 00:49:56.652 --> 00:50:00.789
  • You just work up.
  • 00:50:00.789 --> 00:50:02.324
  • When i was a younger woman, i had this list of things i
  • 00:50:02.324 --> 00:50:04.793
  • Thought i needed to do so that i could live a life that was
  • 00:50:04.793 --> 00:50:08.197
  • Pleasing to god.
  • 00:50:08.197 --> 00:50:09.331
  • But grace is unmerited favor.
  • 00:50:09.331 --> 00:50:11.934
  • It's we get what we don't deserve.
  • 00:50:11.934 --> 00:50:14.970
  • It's god giving us everything we need.
  • 00:50:14.970 --> 00:50:17.072
  • Because if you're like me and if you've tried so hard to be a
  • 00:50:17.072 --> 00:50:20.142
  • Perfect christian and you feel like you're not doing great, ask
  • 00:50:20.142 --> 00:50:23.011
  • The lord to help you.
  • 00:50:23.011 --> 00:50:25.013
  • Ask the holy spirit to help you understand more about what grace
  • 00:50:25.013 --> 00:50:27.583
  • Really is.
  • 00:50:27.583 --> 00:50:29.751
  • I remember reading a book by chuck swindoll, and his book was
  • 00:50:29.751 --> 00:50:32.121
  • Called the grace awakening.
  • 00:50:32.121 --> 00:50:33.789
  • And he said, on that very first christmas morning, when the tiny
  • 00:50:33.789 --> 00:50:36.859
  • Christ child opened his eyes, grace awakened.
  • 00:50:36.859 --> 00:50:40.262
  • Grace is there for you today.
  • 00:50:40.262 --> 00:50:43.932
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
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  • Stream full episodes of better together on demand.
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  • Go to bettertogether.tv to stream all of our
  • 00:50:47.102 --> 00:50:50.272
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