Message for the 19th June, 2015
Theme: Understanding the Grace and Mercy of God - Text: Ex.33:19; Ps.103:8; Jer.31:34; Heb.8:12 and Romans 9:15-18
Topic: Products of Grace and Mercy Part 2
Introduction: Last week we began to look at the products of the grace and mercy of God. While we acknowledge that they are numerous, we are looking at some of them to provoke us to personally research God to find out more of these his products to enable us take advantage of them for our benefits and that of others.
Products of Grace and Mercy (continued)
Divine Revelations: In the gospels, there is the account of the Lord seeking to find out from His disciples if they really knew who He was. In Matthew 16:15-19, we read:
Mat 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
From this account we get to understand that revelation knowledge is one of the greatest product of the grace and mercy of God to us. In fact, the entire Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was founded and built by the revelation knowledge given by God to man. When Peter declared who Jesus Christ was with the help of the Holy Spirit to the Lord, he did not do it in his own strength. By the grace of God that revealed the Lord to him, he declared accurately that Jesus was the Christ; the Son of the Living God. The early Church built their lives on the Apostles’ doctrines. See Acts 2:42
We are saved by grace through faith. The grace that saves us together with the faith is a gift from God. This is why it would take God to reveal himself to us through the preaching of the gospel for us to be saved. Every time a sinner hears the gospel preached, and gets saved, he has received the grace and can take advantage of all that it offers. If the sinner however refuses the grace of God, he remains lost and unable to benefit from it because the acceptance of or denial of grace is a question of the choice we make.
Many people make the wrong choice because of the blindness on their minds. To solve this problem therefore would require that we intercede for the lost before approaching them with the gospel. We would have to pray that God would open the eyes of their minds to see the truth and to touch their hearts with the conviction of the Holy Spirit so that they can turn to the saving grace of God otherwise, they cannot be helped. See Jn.16:7-13; 2Cor.4:3-6; Eph.2:2; Titus 2:11-12.
In addition to bringing us salvation, revelation knowledge does the following for us:
Unfolds our purpose to us: Jer.29:11; Ps.25:12 and Jn.16:13
Shows us how to run in it to fulfill our destinies – see Mt.16:18-19; Hab.2:1-3.
Delivers the keys for our victorious living to us: Jesus told Peter that based on knowledge revealed to us by the Spirit of God, we are given access to the keys of the kingdom. With these, we are able to bind and lose here on earth and receive divine support in heaven while so doing.
Divine helps: These are assistances that God gives to us to enable us fulfill our destinies. Whereas each of us is born for a specific purpose as determined by God; the fulfilment of that purpose is not automatic; it can only happen with the help of God [Jer.1:4-5; Matt.1:21]. God’s helps presents in the following ways:
Divine opportunities: This can come by God blessing us with favour before the right people. When Israel was to relocate from Egypt, God gave them favour before the Egyptians which enabled them to spoil the Egyptians who had enslaved them for four hundred years so that they did not leave Egypt empty. See Exod.3:21-22 and 12:36. This is a clear example of the grace of God being demonstrated by God. If they stopped at the favor; there is no guarantee that they would receive a complete miracle. They had to take the action of borrowing from the Egyptians even though God knew that the Egyptians would not be alive to request for the debt. That favour given to them by God was their opportunity. Their action of faith in requesting a loan of the Egyptians was their action that enabled them to take what God’s opportunity has offered them.
Divine ability imparted to us by the Holy Spirit: A good example of divine ability imparted to a person by the Holy Spirit is the case of David bringing down Goliath in 1Sam.16 and 17. In the previous chapter, David was anointed King. By that anointing, he received the divine ability to operate in the office of a King. For him to do this successfully, he must go before the people to fight their battles and bring them victory. As a youth, he successfully justified the favour he received of the Lord to stand in the office of a king when he defeated Goliath to bring a resounding victory for Israel against the Philistines with a sling and a stone. This was divine favour and ability meeting together to establish David as a leader over the Israelites by his influence rather than by a position. See 1Sam.18:6-7.
We shall stop here for today. While more can be said on this topic of the products of the grace of God, I want to leave it open to each of us to find out from the word of God more of these products and learn to take advantage of them with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Meanwhile, if you have never made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and you wish to not frustrate this great grace of God, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will commence this glorious journey of faith that will take you from glory to glory:
Heavenly Father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.
Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!
No comments:
Post a Comment