WEBVTT 00:00:00.641 --> 00:00:01.963 Greetings and praise the Lord. 00:00:01.963 --> 00:00:04.006 Welcome to the month of March. 00:00:04.006 --> 00:00:08.955 We thank God for his continued grace and favor over your life. 00:00:08.955 --> 00:00:25.077 We also thank God that he has been so gracious as to give us a word in season, a word that keeps us connected to his purpose and to his will over our lives in this year. 00:00:25.077 --> 00:00:39.887 This month, we are shifting to focus on the justice of God and therefore our sub-theme this month is the impartation of uncommon justice, spirit-led restoration. 00:00:40.661 --> 00:00:47.350 Let's pick some words from the book of Romans, chapter 5, and Paul is talking about justification. 00:00:47.350 --> 00:00:50.389 This is what he says in verse 1 and 2. 00:00:50.389 --> 00:01:14.307 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 00:01:14.307 --> 00:01:41.384 Paul brings in this word of justification, talking about God's uncommon justice, and he says that we have been justified through faith, that when we come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and by faith, receive him and welcome him into our lives as our Lord and Savior, then we are justified. 00:01:41.384 --> 00:01:51.168 When we put our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross we receive God's justification. 00:01:51.168 --> 00:02:04.173 God is just and through his son he has given us his justification, so that there are three things then Paul is pointing out for us in this particular passage. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.704 Things then Paul is pointing out for us in this particular passage, and Paul tells us now that we have been justified. 00:02:09.704 --> 00:02:13.711 The first thing is that we now have peace with God. 00:02:13.711 --> 00:02:19.204 Before we were justified, we did not have peace with God. 00:02:19.204 --> 00:02:23.991 The past did not afford us peace with God. 00:02:23.991 --> 00:02:30.139 The past did not even afford us peace with one another and even peace with ourselves. 00:02:30.139 --> 00:02:41.695 But now that we have been justified, we now have peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Savior. 00:02:41.695 --> 00:02:54.348 Lord and Savior, and therefore the past is taken care of, because Jesus' peace has now been imparted in our lives for us to be in a relationship with God. 00:02:54.810 --> 00:02:59.604 But secondly, paul tells us not only do we have peace, but we have access. 00:02:59.604 --> 00:03:11.868 He says that we have gained access by faith into this grace, and so we have access into God's grace, and by this grace we stand. 00:03:11.868 --> 00:03:16.632 By this grace we are no longer bowed down in shame. 00:03:16.632 --> 00:03:23.794 We stand upright because God has given us his grace for us to stand in his presence. 00:03:23.794 --> 00:03:41.132 It is by grace, then, that we are able to come before the Lord with confidence this month, knowing that justice has already taken place and we have been reconciled with God, and this grace then gives us access into his presence. 00:03:41.612 --> 00:03:54.274 But then, thirdly, paul tells us that not only do we have peace with God, not only have we been given access into his grace, but we also boast in his glory. 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:59.983 We boast in the glory now, we boast in the glory to come. 00:03:59.983 --> 00:04:07.987 We are no longer marred by our sin, we are no longer marred by our sin, by the filth of sin, but we are now shining. 00:04:07.987 --> 00:04:18.514 We are glowing in the glory of God, not only the glory in the present, but even much more in the glory that is to come. 00:04:18.514 --> 00:04:36.843 And therefore, as you enter this month of March, I want you to know, because of the uncommon justice of God, because of the spirit-led restoration that you have received through Jesus Christ, you have peace with God. 00:04:36.843 --> 00:04:40.408 What a gift that, with God now, there is peace. 00:04:40.408 --> 00:04:46.014 And this peace again gives us access into his grace. 00:04:46.014 --> 00:04:53.226 That gives us the opportunity to stand before him, to commune with him, to fellowship with him. 00:04:53.226 --> 00:05:04.250 But this grace also has covered us with his glory as we even look forward to the greater glory that will come into the future. 00:05:04.250 --> 00:05:13.949 So, this month of March, may you march in your peace, may you march in your grace, and may you march in God's glory. 00:05:13.949 --> 00:05:16.766 In Jesus' name, god bless you.