Today we meet grace…live & in person. Literally the person who is grace. Not just a person named grace; a gracious person; a person with much grace…but grace Himself.
John 1:14-17 the Word, Jesus Christ
Why is grace important? What will grace do for you?
- Help you appreciate God’s gifts to you
- Motivate you to spend less time criticizing others
- Make you less judgmental (more tolerant)
- Take you a giant step closer towards maturity “growing in grace”
…to understand grace @ work, we don’t have to look far… only to the Gospels…
God’s Grace towards Children (Mt 19:14)
- He knew what it was to be a child (Phil. 2:6-7)
- Jesus was approachable…he had a “yes – face”
(Pres. Jefferson- crossing the cold river gave the peasant a ride) - Proverbs 15:1– as a parent – very convicting…rearing an angry generation
God’s grace toward His Followers (Mark 14:66, 16:7)
- The story of the Prodigal – He knew what it meant to be a Son
- The real-life story of so many ‘kids’ today… prodigals (Matthew 3:17)
God’s grace toward sinners ( John 8:11) > we don’t like the word “sinners” but God doesn’t really mind
- Its amazing that a Holy God ( Mt. 5:48) could even allow a close encounter of the sinful kind
- Edward Jones- (19th century) painter – painted kittens, lambs, goldfish in the corner for his granddaughter when she was in trouble
- The Purpose of the Cross – not you’re healing, riches…dealing with sin… Forgiveness (pardon of bank robbers)
- Wedding Party in Boston, room already reserved = inviting bums, homeless, elderly – turned into a banquet of grace
Leave a Reply