#4 Defining Moments - Begin Again With Grace

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#4 Defining Moments

Begin Again With Grace

America’s relationship with God.

85% considered themselves to be Christians

77% believe there is a heaven

76% say their chances of going are good or excellent

57% of Americans believe salvation is earned through good character or behavior.

USA TODAY: Man on the street survey asking ‘what do you think your chances are of getting into heaven’

- 85%, I don’t think the entrance exam will be that tough

- 50-50, the older I get the more my chances will improve

- 50%, you have to be a nice person so I think I am still in the running

When asked about certain celebrities chances of going to heaven:

O.J. SIMPSON 19%

Dennis Rodman 28% Bad boy basketball player in the NBA. Has talent, tie-dye hair colors, tattoos, and many body piercings.

Bill Clinton 52%

Mother Teresa 79%

Mother Teresa wins on good works but all miss the essential truths about salvation: BY GRACE – THROUGH FAITH – OF GOD

Last Kiss

Jay Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers

Number two on the charts in 1964.

The song was the last in a long line of teen tragedies that were popular in the U.S. during the early ’60s

Hyper Link to song

Oh where oh where can my baby be?

The lord took her away from me.

She’s gone to heaven so I got to be good.

So I can see my baby when I leave this world.

Where is GRACE in any of these?

1. Christ the Giver of Grace

- Begin Again With Grace

- Lk 7:41-42

- Pence/Coin - a days wage

Slide - min. wage = $20,600 vs $2,060

- Which debtor represents you?

- What have you got to pay?

- Well, “I want to be saved”

- Put on the credit side

- I have nothing to pay

- v.42 – Forgave them both - GRACE

What Is GRACE

Acronym - God’s Riches At Christ Expense

- Suppose that filthy bum breaks into your home.

- In the course of a robbery, that person kills your child.

Vengeance --You hunt him down yourself and kill him

Justice -- You allow the police to do

their jobs and the person is apprehended and punished

Grace -- You take him into your home

and adopt him as your son or daughter

- The root word for grace in the Greek is charis. This verb means, "I will rejoice and be glad.

- Intoxicated with joy

2. Christ A Lover of Losers

a. Understanding the Past through Scrip

- Sinful women anointing Jesus

- Samaritan Women with 5 husbands

- Invalid who had failed to get his

timing down for 38

- Fishermen failed at fishing

- Woman caught in adultery

- Doubting disciple failed to believe

b. Our Experience in the present

- Here we are today with our problems

at losing

- Unhappy with our situations

- Job is difficult with it’s hours and

demands insecure with no future

- Families that do not understand me

- My possessions are breaking down

c. Our Solution is Grace our way

- We have come to cheap grace which

we want to be replaced with the next best thing

- Our focus is always somewhere else

- Seeking forgiveness without repentance

- We want grace without our cross

- We want life without Christ

- Never understanding our debt and

Christ’s payment

- Eph 2:8-9 calls out

3. Christ A Savior of Sinners

Gospel can be summarized from three passages .

Cause for salvation

God’s love Jn. 3:16

Conduct of Salvation

Confess & believe Rom. 10:9-10. Channel of Salvation

By grace through faith Eph. 2:8-10 It’s not by works v. 9,

But for works v. 10,

So begin again with Grace

Salvation’s Work

A. Salvation set us free from sin,

Sins power,

Sins effects its consequences. ROM 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

B. Salvation restores our relationship with God

Back into fellowship and communion, with Him.

C. Salvation protects us from sins power of temptation

The boy stood defiantly. "Go ahead, give it to me."

The principal looked at the young rebel and asked, "How many times have you been here?"

The child sneered rebelliously, "Apparently not enough."

"And you have been punished each time?" the principal responded.

"Yeah, I been punished, if that’s what you want to call it. Go ahead. I can take whatever you dish out. I always have."

"And no thought of your punishment enters your head the next time you decide to break the rules does it?"

"Nope, I do whatever I want to do. Ain’t nothin’ you people gonna do to stop me either."