Riches of God's Grace

I was talking to my friend and mentor JW earlier today, and he suggested these verses as reading material. He also suggested replacing the word "us" with my own name (or your's) whenever it came up. I'm proud and blessed to have my friend in NE Georgia in my life. Can't wait to see ya in June! It will be an honor for Sarah to meet you too.

Ephesians: Chapter 1 V3-10

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sonsthrough Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Give Yourself Some Credit

You are a human being. You are capable of wonderful, spectacular things. Nothing we do that is truly worthwhile is possible without the grace of God. Don't sell yourself short, though.

God has given us the power of choice and freewill. The good we do in this world comes from us... with His guidance. And we do our good in His name.

God is all around us. His spirit pervades the universe. And yet we often do not let His spirit in. We try to get along without His help and we make a mess of our lives. We can do nothing of any value without God's help. All our human relationships depend on this. When we let God's spirit rule our lives, we learn how to get along with others and how to help them.

I've found that I could not have been of truly effective service without His help. Nor could I help myself without the guidance of that Higher Power.

You are your own person. That's God's gift. So what are you going to do with it?

Goodnight :)

All Things New, Pt. 3: Working to Grace (Cornerstone Sermon Podcast 03-11-12)

Just listened to the new podcast from Cornerstone Church in Auburn, Al. They are on YouTube as well, which is exciting. Now I can watch the sermons. The audio is a bit off in this vid, so I'm going to post a link to the podcast too.

One of the things Rusty talks about in his message is that work and good deeds, while wonderful, are still incomplete without God's grace. Another thing that really touched me was being reminded of all the grace and forgiveness that I've been shown... not only from God, but from the people who love me. Even when I didn't deserve it. It's truly humbling.

And below is a link to the podcast....

All Things New, Pt. 3: Working to Grace (Cornerstone Sermon Podcast 03-11-12)

I've been cleaning and doing laundry today, and now it's time to cook. The weather is a bit harsh out, so I think it'll be a night in. I like a good thunderstorm, though. ;)

Have a great evening!