Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host)
Series Code: GPL
Program Code: GPL000001
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00:01 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:02 Please join us today on "The Grace Pipeline" 00:05 where we will consider how the Bible explains 00:08 that the love of God is the compelling force 00:11 behind the grace of God. 00:38 Welcome to "The Grace Pipeline." 00:40 This series will be a journey through scripture 00:43 to help broaden our understanding 00:45 of God's wonderful gospel of grace. 00:49 The series will follow along with the Bible study 00:52 that I was also privileged to write 00:54 and it's in a book entitled "The Grace Pipeline." 00:58 Because the words of scripture are so much weightier 01:02 than any other words that could be shared, 01:04 we will provide plenty of scripture to let the Bible 01:08 become the foundation of our understanding. 01:11 We hope you will tune in each time 01:13 as we progress through topics like justification, 01:17 righteousness by faith, God's work of sanctification 01:21 and how we can develop victorious faith, 01:24 but most of all, how we must guard 01:27 the relationship of grace in which we stand. 01:30 Today, we will lay a foundation for this series 01:34 by examining the very root cause of grace 01:37 as we try to increase our comprehension 01:40 of God's amazing channel of blessings to us. 01:44 Today's program content will follow 01:46 chapter 1 of the series companion book. 01:50 You might frequent a favorite place of worship 01:53 or perhaps even though you believe in God, 01:56 you have never entered a church. 01:58 Either way, there is something you possibly share in common 02:02 with many who believe in God's existence, 02:05 and that is confusion concerning God's character. 02:09 Popular misconceptions are bound and that is understandable. 02:13 If you think about it, 02:15 how can the self-centered nature of mankind 02:18 hindered by our limited human understanding 02:22 and reasoning in our limited experience? 02:25 How can we comprehend the glorious character of God? 02:30 It requires serious study and a personal experience 02:34 with our loving Heavenly Father 02:36 to even get a glimpse of His goodness. 02:39 The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:16 that God is love. 02:45 Not just loving, His very nature is love. 02:49 He is the author and source of unconditional love. 02:53 We humans have difficulty even defining it. 02:57 And as I tried to think of an illustration, 03:00 I could think of only one and perfect example. 03:03 Perhaps the closest condition of the natural human heart 03:08 which captures a portion of God's nature of love 03:11 is the free flowing feelings 03:13 of a devoted parent to their child. 03:16 Such parents love their children 03:19 whether their behavior is good or bad. 03:21 And these parents are inclined to make sacrifices 03:24 for their children's security and happiness. 03:27 But tragically, not all parents model this behavior 03:31 which makes even this limited example 03:34 difficult for many to absorb. 03:37 Do we really understand that the very essence 03:40 of God's nature is self-sacrificing love? 03:46 Paul writes in Romans 5:8 03:49 that God demonstrates His own love toward us 03:53 in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 03:57 When this occurred, the grace of God 04:00 that brings salvation appeared in the flesh to all men. 04:04 What is your picture of God? 04:07 Do you realize what a merciful God He is? 04:11 Let's look at Micah 7:18-19, 04:16 "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity 04:20 and passing over the transgression 04:23 of the remnant of His heritage? 04:25 He does not retain His anger forever, 04:28 because He delights in mercy. 04:32 He will again have compassion on us 04:35 and will subdue our iniquities. 04:37 You will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea." 04:43 God delights in mercy and longs to be gracious to you and me 04:50 but deep within our hearts 04:52 we feel unworthy of such love from our creator, don't we? 04:56 Frankly it sounds too good to be true. 04:59 So many of us resist this revelation. 05:02 We don't recognize the love of God 05:05 is the compelling force behind the grace of God. 05:09 And to resist His infinite love is to resist His abundant grace. 05:16 Above all else, God wants to reveal 05:19 His true character to His created beings 05:23 so that we may know Him 05:25 and accept all that He desires to bestow upon us. 05:29 I love the way the Old Testament prophet Isaiah 05:32 assures the people of God, of His loving care 05:36 in Isaiah 30:18-19, let's read that. 05:40 And it says, "Therefore the Lord will wait, 05:43 that He may be gracious to you. 05:45 And therefore He will be exalted, 05:47 that He may have mercy on you. 05:49 For the Lord is a God of justice. 05:51 Blessed are all those who wait for Him. 05:54 You shall weep no more. 05:56 He will be very gracious to you atthe sound of your cry. 06:00 When He hears it, He will answer you." 06:06 A just and tender hearted God 06:09 is earnestly seeking opportunities 06:12 to multiply His mercies to you. 06:14 His heart's desire is to demonstrate 06:17 His loving kindness, to lavish His love, 06:20 His joy, and His peace on you. 06:23 He calls to you and with eager expectation He waits, 06:27 willing to answer your cry for help 06:29 by exchanging His power for your weakness. 06:32 In fact, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, Christ said, 06:36 "My grace is sufficient for you, 06:38 for my power is made perfect in weakness." 06:42 Do you realize that the almighty stands ready 06:45 to give you victory over sin and its destructive consequences 06:50 and to grant to you life abundantly? 06:53 This, my friend, is the good news. 06:56 It is the gospel of God's grace. 06:59 Grace, there's no other New Testament word 07:02 that is more meaningful and none other 07:05 is as greatly under valued or as grossly distorted 07:09 by man's feeble attempts to define it. 07:12 Far too many Christians live with an understanding of grace 07:16 that is fundamentally flawed leaving the immeasurable riches 07:21 and the power of divine grace untold. 07:25 Some suffering consciences 07:28 have yet to be soothed by its great promise. 07:32 Let me ask you, has yours? 07:35 And in other cases, there are people 07:37 who have twisted the meaning of grace 07:40 to their own destruction, 07:42 turning God's grace into an excuse 07:45 for the absence of restraint. 07:47 This reminds me of the time Jesus confronted the Sadducees 07:51 who rejected the truth of resurrection. 07:53 He refuted their argument by saying in Matthew 22:29, 07:58 "You are in error because you do not know 08:01 the scriptures or the power of God." 08:04 You know what? 08:05 I would also extend this same rebuttal to believers today 08:09 who abuse His truth of grace. 08:13 Well, it is accurate to say God's abundant grace 08:17 grants us liberty from pharisaical legalism. 08:21 It is the devil's distortion of truth 08:23 to suggest grace grants us license to sin 08:27 or that anyone who mentions obedience 08:30 is legalistic and unlearned in grace. 08:33 Sin turns our hearts away from God. 08:37 Grace draws us toward His embrace. 08:41 God's divine grace contains power to set us free from sin. 08:46 This revelation radically changed my Christian experience 08:50 and I'm excited to have this opportunity 08:53 to share the good news with you. 08:57 The master of grace can make 08:59 a dramatic difference in your life too 09:02 if you will just accept these truths and embrace them. 09:07 In Hosea 4:6 God says, 09:10 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." 09:14 The same holds true today. 09:16 For anyone who doesn't understand grace, 09:20 they're breaking the heart of our loving Father. 09:23 I am convinced that Christians walk 09:25 in a lesser degree of power than is available to us 09:29 because we don't comprehend the full value of words 09:33 that encase great biblical concepts, 09:36 words like grace, love, faith, justification, sanctification, 09:42 and others which represent systematic and practical truths. 09:48 If we cannot comprehend the value of the word, 09:53 we cannot really define it. 09:55 And you know what we do? 09:56 We overlook and under appreciate undefined words. 10:01 Many resources are available to help today's Bible students 10:05 interpret meanings of the scripture 10:08 in original Bible languages. 10:11 Still the definitions provided are not always sufficient 10:15 because Bible writers sometimes enhance 10:18 the value of a word with spiritual meaning. 10:21 So to determine the true significance 10:24 of an original Bible word or phrase, 10:26 we must look at its every use within scripture 10:31 examining pages in passages 10:34 that come before and after for complete understanding 10:38 because scriptural context 10:40 is a certain compass that points us 10:43 to the writer's intent and true meaning. 10:46 And in God's language of love, 10:48 there is no weightier or more worthy word than grace. 10:53 Everything in God's economy, His pardon, His provision, 10:58 His privileges, His protection, His power, and His peace 11:03 comes to us by the pleasure of His grace. 11:07 Who better to help us understand this than the apostle Paul, 11:10 the self proclaimed chief of sinners 11:13 who was rescued and renewed 11:15 after encountering the master of grace? 11:18 Our beloved brother became a believer, 11:21 considered his own indebtedness to life altering grace 11:25 and accepted Christ's commission 11:27 to bear witness to the gospel, the good news of grace. 11:33 Let's look at the emphasis that Paul puts on the value 11:36 of God's grace in his own life 11:39 as he expressed in 1 Corinthians 15:10 saying there, 11:45 "I am what I am by the grace of God. 11:49 And His grace toward me was not in vain. 11:52 But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, 11:57 but the grace of God which was with me." 12:02 All that Paul had become, everything that he achieved, 12:08 he attributed to the power of God's life-changing grace. 12:13 Paul made it the goal of his life to testify 12:16 to the gloriously good news of the grace of God. 12:20 Listen to what he says in Acts 20:24, 12:25 "But none of these things move me, 12:28 nor do I count my life dear to myself, 12:31 so that I may finish my race with joy, 12:34 and the ministry which I received 12:37 from the Lord Jesus, 12:38 to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." 12:44 Paul strategically in his epistles, 12:47 he uses the word grace at least 100 times 12:50 accounting for more than half of the some 170 times 12:54 the New Testament employs this term. 12:57 And from a heart that throbbed with passion 13:00 borne of his experience, 13:02 Paul supplies a special significance to this word. 13:06 It's a significance not found elsewhere 13:09 in classical Greek literature. 13:11 Together, you and I will take a closer look 13:14 at this respected apostle's revelation on this matter 13:18 allowing it to unfold naturally in upcoming programs 13:22 like a fragrant rose bud coming into full bloom. 13:26 Although grace was not a common place greeting of the day, 13:30 Paul assigned such noteworthy value to this word. 13:33 It became his customary blessing 13:35 at the opening and closing of his writings. 13:38 He always began and ended his letters by pronouncing 13:42 a divine blessing of grace on the readers. 13:45 And in like matters so did the apostles Peter and John. 13:49 They used grace as a salutation. 13:51 And it is the final benediction, 13:53 that's the final prayer of blessing 13:56 found in the very last scripture of the Bible. 14:00 To the apostles, the affirmation of grace over the believers 14:05 was a sufficient summary of all of God's blessings. 14:10 The expression evolved 14:12 as it were into the New Testament version 14:15 of the blessing found in the Old Testament 14:18 in Numbers 6:24-26 that says, 14:23 "The Lord bless you and keep you. 14:25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, 14:28 and be gracious to you. 14:30 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace." 14:37 Grace, grace fits into the category of words 14:41 that the Bible authors enhanced with spiritual meaning. 14:46 In its classical Greek definition, 14:49 grace was a very elastic word. 14:52 It covered multiple but related concepts. 14:56 But more than any other writer, 14:58 Paul further stretched its meaning 15:00 and shaped the unique New Testament 15:03 rendering of divine grace as representing 15:07 the unity of God's enormous endowments to humanity. 15:12 Divine grace is a solid foundation 15:15 upon which we build our hope, you and me. 15:19 And it is essential that we comprehend 15:22 this marvelous concept for our salvation 15:25 and everything good depends upon it. 15:29 Our most desperate need is to recognize 15:32 and receive the manifold grace of God. 15:36 And as we recognize His gifts of grace, 15:40 we will begin to understand the effects of grace. 15:45 God is wholeheartedly engaged in His covenant of grace 15:49 by which He bestows all of His blessings and benefits upon us. 15:53 We can't afford to allow a misunderstanding 15:56 to be a barrier between us and our benevolent Creator. 16:01 If we can but grasp the scope of grace, 16:05 the height, the depth, the width, and the length of it, 16:08 we will more fully recognize His perfect plan 16:12 is for us to be completely dependant upon Him. 16:17 And understanding His love and His plan to carry us 16:22 through our journey on earth will, I feel certain, 16:25 result in our spending more time in prayer 16:28 embracing the master of grace. 16:32 At least I know that has been my personal experience. 16:37 My most significant time of personal spiritual growth 16:41 was the years of 1999-2004. 16:45 God called me to full-time ministry 16:47 and simultaneously to sit at His feet to learn from Him. 16:53 During that time of intense study, 16:55 I had to let go off some difficult errors. 16:58 They were significant errors that I had learned from man. 17:02 And let me tell you it's not always easy 17:05 to let go off the errors that you believe. 17:09 But as I looked to scripture only, 17:12 God taught me stunning truths. 17:15 Many of which took root in a study on the sanctuary 17:19 that I was shocked to learn that the tabernacle 17:22 and the wilderness was the sanctuary of grace. 17:27 His method of salvation 17:28 has always been by the wonders of His grace. 17:33 God does not change. 17:35 He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 17:39 But wait I'm getting ahead of myself here. 17:41 The foundation we want to lay in this opening program 17:46 even before we work out a definition of grace 17:49 is how God's system of grace works. 17:53 Let me explain what I mean by system. 17:58 Don't you just marvel at the order 18:00 and the rhythm of creation 18:02 designed by the master craftsman? 18:05 God is the architect and engineer 18:07 of astounding life-sustaining systems. 18:11 Certainly as it is in the physical world, 18:14 it is likewise in the spiritual world. 18:17 God ordained a systematic order to our spiritual world 18:21 and our spiritual development as well. 18:24 He is the God of order not confusion. 18:27 And within scripture are revealed 18:30 His systems of interwoven spiritual principles, 18:35 their relation to each other 18:36 and their cause and their effect. 18:38 God has taught me 18:40 to search for His systems, to connect the dots. 18:44 Do you remember when we were children 18:47 they were drawing lines that they had little numbers 18:52 and we would go from one number dot to the next, 18:54 drawing a line to reveal a picture 18:57 that could not be seen before? 18:59 That's kind of what it's like when we're studying the Bible. 19:02 And as I began grasping the process of divine grace, 19:07 I ask the Lord for an illustration 19:10 to help make it practical 19:12 and this is how God impressed me, it operates. 19:16 God's heart wells with love for us. 19:20 He loves us with an everlasting love 19:24 and He draws us to himself with His loving kindness. 19:28 Jeremiah 31:3 says, "The Lord has appeared of old to me, 19:33 saying, 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. 19:37 Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.'" 19:41 And from that well of love flows all of God's blessings. 19:47 So grace is the pipeline 19:50 from which all blessings flow from heaven to earth. 19:54 Everything, absolutely every good thing comes to us 19:59 through His great pipeline of grace. 20:03 God is the giver of every good and perfect gift 20:06 and He makes them available to all mankind. 20:10 James 1:17 tells us 20:12 that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, 20:16 and comes down from the Father of lights, 20:19 with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." 20:23 And Titus 2:11 says, "For the grace of God 20:28 that brings salvation has appeared to all men." 20:32 Now on this grace pipeline, faith is the faucet. 20:37 It is how we tap into God's grace pipeline 20:41 and our faith regulates 20:44 the release of blessings from His great reservoir. 20:48 Through Christ we have access by faith 20:52 into this marvelous grace of God. 20:55 That's what Paul says in Romans 5:1-2. 20:59 He says, "Therefore having been justified by faith, 21:04 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 21:09 through whom, through Christ also we have access 21:14 by faith into this grace in which we stand, 21:17 and rejoice in the glory of God." 21:21 Now here's the pipeline, we tap in by faith 21:25 and prayer is the handle that opens the faith faucet. 21:31 In Mark 11:24, James says, 21:35 "Therefore I say to you, 21:37 whatever things you ask when you pray, 21:41 believe that you receive them, and you will have them." 21:46 That is the foundation for the-- 21:48 our trust is the foundation for the prayer of faith. 21:52 And Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, 21:55 "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, 21:58 and lean not on your own understanding. 22:01 In all your ways acknowledge Him, 22:05 and He shall direct your path." 22:08 So if trust is the foundation for the prayer of faith, 22:12 relationship is the foundation for trust. 22:16 The Apostle John recognized the enormity 22:20 of being a child of God and he said in 1 John 3:1, 22:25 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, 22:30 that we should be called the children of God." 22:35 And finally, love is the foundation for relationship. 22:40 Jesus tells us in Mark 12:30, 22:44 "You shall love the Lord your God 22:47 with all of your heart, with all of your soul, 22:50 with all of your mind, and with all of your strength." 22:56 Indeed the love of God 22:58 is the compelling force behind the grace of God 23:02 and the greater our understanding 23:04 of God's love for us the greater our love will be for Him. 23:09 We love Him because He first loved us. 23:12 The greater our love, the more intimate 23:15 our relationship will become with Him. 23:18 The more intimate our relationship, 23:20 the greater our trust. 23:22 And the greater our trust, 23:23 the more persistent our prayer of faith will become. 23:27 The more persistent our prayer of faith, 23:30 the greater our actions of faith develop. 23:34 And the greater our faith, the more we will tap 23:37 into the various areas of God's grace. 23:42 The more we access God's grace pipeline, 23:45 the greater blessings we receive. 23:48 God's streams of grace flow from His heavenly pipeline 23:53 without any shortage of supply turning our dry and dusty 23:58 life experiences into a spiritual oasis. 24:03 We hope that you have enjoyed this program today. 24:09 What we're doing is laying this foundation 24:12 and as we do my prayer is that God will increase 24:18 the measure of your expectations of grace. 24:22 Let me pray that with you right now 24:25 because what we want more than anything 24:28 is for God to do a work in our hearts. 24:31 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 24:33 we come in the name of Jesus Christ 24:37 and Lord, we praise You. 24:39 We praise You for who You are. 24:42 Help us, oh, Lord, to understand Your nature. 24:48 Father, we glibly say God is love 24:52 but we don't comprehend it. 24:54 I pray in the name of Jesus Christ 24:57 You will open our eyes 25:01 to understand how much You love us, 25:03 to understand, Father, that Your love, 25:08 everything that comes from You 25:11 comes through this grace pipeline. 25:15 And I pray, Father, that around the world 25:19 as my brothers and sisters are tuned in, 25:22 people who may not even know You, Father, 25:25 that You will give them wisdom from above, 25:29 uncommon wisdom, to understand Your grace. 25:34 I pray that for myself as well 25:36 that You will broaden our understanding of grace. 25:40 And, Lord, not that it will just be an understanding 25:43 but that it will become our experience 25:47 to walk by faith in the grace in which we stand. 25:52 Lord, we ask these things in the name of Jesus 25:57 and we receive them in the name of Jesus. 26:00 Thanking You for the answer to the prayer of faith, amen. 26:05 Well, I am very pleased to tell you 26:09 that on our next program what we are going to do 26:13 is delve a little bit deeper into the definition of grace. 26:18 It's a little more than what you and I have thought in the past. 26:23 I'm sure that you are saying, "Well, I know 26:24 the definition of grace is God's unmerited favor." 26:29 But what does that mean? What does it mean? 26:32 We're going to learn next time. 26:34 And we hope that you will join us 26:37 so that we can learn together. 26:40 We want you to experience God's presence in your life 26:44 and the life-changing grace that will help you 26:48 grow as a Christian, grow as a mother, as a father, 26:53 as a brother or sister, to grow as a person 26:57 who is becoming more like Jesus every day. 27:01 And now our prayer is that you will grow in grace. 27:08 Grace is something that we should pursue. 27:13 We should become seekers of grace 27:16 to tap into God's grace pipeline by faith 27:20 so that we may overcome all that has been troubling us 27:26 and hanging on to us if you will like a viper, 27:30 something that has bitten us. 27:32 And God is going to show us how that can change. 27:35 So now we thank you so much for joining in. 27:38 We pray that next time please have a pen and paper handy 27:43 because we are going to give you 27:44 lots of scriptures to give you a foundation 27:48 and we want you to be able to jot down 27:50 these scripture references 27:52 so that you can have them for your continued study. 27:56 Grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord. 27:58 Goodbye. |
Revised 2014-12-17