Sanctifying Grace Part 2

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

I remember when I was new Christian and was first learning about God’s grace.

Grace is a word that is used very often in the New Testament. But in my

family, grace was not a word we used much at all. So I really didn’t

understand its meaning. My teachers at church helped me. They said that

God’s grace is his unmerited favor. We do not deserve God’s grace. We

cannot earn it. But, by grace, God shows us favor. Because of His great grace,

the Father sent his Son Jesus into the world to save his people from their sins.

Ephesians 2:8,9 teach us that “It is by grace you have been saved, through

faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so

that no one can boast.” 

Grace: God’s unmerited favor. I am so glad I learned this definition. But later

I learned that there is more to grace than simply unmerited favor. I learned

that God’s grace is the power to do his will. The Apostle Paul said in I

Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to

me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but

the grace of God that was with me.” Here Paul understand the grace of God as

the power of God to do the will of God.

What an amazing truth. God calls us to be holy and God gives us power to be

holy. If we had to transform our behavior in our own strength, we would surely

fail. But God is kind to us; he gives us power to be holy. We call this power

from God to live a transformed life “sanctifying grace.” Sanctifying grace is

God’s power at work in us enabling us to do the will of God. And like saving

grace, sanctifying grace is free. It is not earned or deserved. Like saving grace,

sanctifying grace is received by faith. And like saving grace, the Holy Spirit is

God’s agent who delivers sanctifying grace to us.

I know that as a church planter you long to lead and multiply strong, healthy

churches. And as a church planter who has worked to make disciples, you know

that churches are only as healthy as the people who form them. As a church

planter, you have seen sin which has broken and impoverished families for

generations. And, praise the Lord, as a church planter, you have seen God’s

saving grace at work through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring new life to

men and women who were far from God.

So here is my word of encouragement for you today. Just as you have

proclaimed the saving grace of God to hundreds, so also proclaim the

 sanctifying grace of God. Teach new believers from Philippines 2:13, “God is at

work in you both to desire and to work for his good pleasure.” Teach church

members that the God who calls them to be holy will give them power to be

holy. Invite them to receive sanctifying grace moment by moment. Teach them

to expect the Holy Spirit to deliver God’s grace every hour and every day.

This has been “Multiply.” And I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #SanctifyingGrace #BeHoly

How the Spirit Produces Fruit

 Hello, this is Multiply! A podcast for church planters, pastors, and Christian leaders. I am your host today, Daneille Snowden.

Fruit contains seeds and most fruit is sweet and is enjoyed as a refreshing food. My favorite fruit is berries. They are sweet and oh so juicy. There are many nutrients in fruit that better our health, and even helps us fight diseases plus viruses. God didn’t stop there with fruit, he made sure we would never run out of it! How? By placing a seed within the fruit to plant, reproducing even more fruit. Take apple trees for example, on average one tree can produce 200 to 300 apples, and an older tree the same size produces up to eight hundred apples per tree. 

In Galatians 5:22-23 it says: “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” 

How does the fruit of the Spirit reproduce? For me, the answer is simple! As we seek the Lord, worship Him and feast upon His Word, this fruit will be a part of our lives. The Fruit of the Spirit reproduced is not of us. Our human devices are listed just a couple verses before, in verses 19-20 (please read). 

 He will give us joy! Joy is contagious, another words that joy will reproduce. Each part of the fruit listed becomes a part of who we are through the Holy Spirit. He gives us a deep love, that we in turn can give out to others. There is Self-control, with the help of the Holy Spirit we can have power over evil temptations, and even over ourselves. 

When we eat fruit, it is full of nutrients that becomes a part of our body, flowing into our cells and blood. As the Holy Spirit flows, His fruit will multiply within our own soul and even mind. Changing us for His Glory! We will walk in peace and strength. We will shine a light and send a message to others as they see and even hear the Holy Spirit’s presence! Then, they too will be touched and be led to seek the Lord, thus we will witness the power of multiplication in the Spirit. Let us rejoice that God has designed this too, as we will never run out of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit!

Will you share this word with others? Also, find us on our website www.vcpencouragement.org. Multiply is also on several podcast channels.

Sanctifying Grace

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

One of the most challenging commands of Scripture is first mentioned in the

Old Testament and is repeated in the New Testament: The Lord says, “You

shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” God gives this command in

Leviticus 11:44 and 45. Peter repeats the command in 1 Peter 1:16.

For many of us, when we hear this command and think about it, our first

response is “Impossible. There is no way that I can be holy. There is no way

that I can be like God.” But it is very clear that God wants us to be holy. He

wants us to separate ourselves from evil and be devoted to him. He wants us

to take on his character of righteousness and love.

One of the major themes of Village Church Planting is the need to teach God’s

big story from start to finish. We call this Chronological Bible Storytelling.

When we think about God’s big story, we remember from Genesis 1 and 2 that

he is the Creator. He created man and woman in his image. God delighted to

have fellowship with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. But, first the woman

and then the man disobeyed God. They ate the fruit he said that they must not

eat. Because of their sin, they were separated from God.

The rest of God’s big story tells about God’s initiative to restore fellowship

between himself and the people he has created. It’s not easy. In Genesis 6:5,

God observes that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was

only evil all the time. Even so, God saves Noah and his family. Then he calls

Abraham to himself. He blesses Abraham and his descendants in hundreds of

ways. But they seem so unwilling to separate themselves from worldly, unholy

ways. Even so, God never gives up. In the fullness of time, God send his Son

Jesus to save his people from their sins. By his life, death, and resurrection,

Jesus changes everything! Listen to the Good News announced in Romans 8:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set

you free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do

because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the

likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the

flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in

us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Did you hear that? “The righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in

us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Because of the Holy Spirit living in us, as children of God, we can say “No!” to

sin and “Yes!” to righteousness. We can be separated from sin and live for God.

In fact, the common name for Christ followers in the New Testament is “saint.”

What are saints? They are people made holy by the work of Christ and the

presence of His Holy Spirit.

We give thanks to God for his wonderful gift. Won’t you share this good news

with everyone in your church!

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #BeHoly