SPEAKER_00: The impartation of uncommon grace.
SPEAKER_00: We read from Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 to 10.
SPEAKER_00: This is what scripture says.
SPEAKER_00: As for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
SPEAKER_00: All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of the flesh and following its desires and thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 punctuates and says, but because of his great love for us.
SPEAKER_00: That but is very important.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that your life will be punctuated with those moments where God steps in for you.
SPEAKER_00: Says, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, not in anger, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.
SPEAKER_00: Together, that praise, it is by grace you have been saved.
SPEAKER_00: Continues verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read verse 8 together.
SPEAKER_00: For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
SPEAKER_00: 9.
SPEAKER_00: Not by works, so that no one can boast.
SPEAKER_00: And then we finish verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: We know that heaven and earth will pass away, but we know your word remains.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, in the changing seasons of life, through your grace, we anchor ourselves in the truth of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, speak to our hearts, speak to us, God, and Father, be magnified.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, and God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Where would I be?
SPEAKER_00: You only know.
SPEAKER_00: A whole place case, an empty place.
SPEAKER_00: If not for grace, where would I be you only know I'm glad you see through eyes of love a whole place an empty place?
SPEAKER_00: If not for grace, amazing grace, amazing grace, sweetness was lost.
SPEAKER_00: I once was lost a whole place.
SPEAKER_00: An empty place.
SPEAKER_00: If not for grace, a hopeless place, a hopeless place, an empty place.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for grace.
SPEAKER_00: That is my story.
SPEAKER_00: That is that is my story, and if that is your story, put your hands together.
SPEAKER_00: Like you mean it to this God.
SPEAKER_00: So by the take note, I've actually sung because I was threatened by my wife if I don't sing.
SPEAKER_00: So babe, Nimaimba, she's been telling me, Riggs, you haven't sung in a long while.
SPEAKER_00: And we miss your voice.
SPEAKER_00: And here we are today.
SPEAKER_00: So, Dekondan, where's Dekondan?
SPEAKER_00: Is he somewhere?
SPEAKER_00: Dekondan, I think he's up in the in the sound room.
SPEAKER_00: So, Dekondan, our pact, I have started to fulfill my portion, and we'll keep singing as we continue to serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let's put our hands together for all the teams that have served, worship team, band.
SPEAKER_00: Please feel free to sit.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Mbari Kiwi Sana.
SPEAKER_00: I start by saying our theme for this month, the impartation of uncommon grace, spirit-led impact.
SPEAKER_00: Three things that I'll be sharing with us media, if we could have them on the screen, is that number one, the power of grace, that is the freedom we find in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, the providence or the provision of grace, the salvation that is ours in Christ, and last but not least, the purpose of grace, and that is our service in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so, number one, I start by saying I am a beneficiary of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Grace that has been extended to me by my parents, by my siblings, by my wife and the children.
SPEAKER_00: This church has extended grace not only to me but to my family.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as I stand here, you are looking at a beneficiary of grace, and as you are seated there, you are a beneficiary of grace.
SPEAKER_00: But then also, I am a product of grace.
SPEAKER_00: You are a product of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Our being here today is simply and only because of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: As we have sung with the worship team, where would I be?
SPEAKER_00: Where would you be if not for grace?
SPEAKER_00: The next time you see a drunk man, don't laugh at them.
SPEAKER_00: Say, God, thank you, because save for your grace, that would have been me.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, I say that I'm a trophy of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's our good brother from Nigeria who sings and says, if you're wondering how God, how good God is, look no farther, look at who?
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: And I stand here today to say, if you're just wondering how good God is, I'm telling you, Pastor Riggs is a trophy of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Look no farther, because I'm here only because of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: The hymn we just sang, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.
SPEAKER_00: It was written by John Newton.
SPEAKER_00: And the long and short of John Newton's story is that John Newton was part of the slave trade that was happening across the Atlantic, getting Africans from Sierra Leone and selling them in the US.
SPEAKER_00: But then Grace met John Newton, and he gave his life to Christ, and he actually became a minister of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: At the time of his death, when his memory was failing and his eyes, his sight was growing dim.
SPEAKER_00: This is what John Newton said.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a great sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is the great savior.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior.
SPEAKER_00: And as I stand here today, indeed, it is only by grace that we stand.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as I like to do it, ask your neighbor what is grace to them.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, have a conversation with somebody.
SPEAKER_00: At least, probably you haven't spoken to them.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I like it when Pastor says, Turn to your neighbor, tell them you're looking good.
SPEAKER_00: By the those conversations really help.
SPEAKER_00: You never know.
SPEAKER_00: Kunandoa zime to ka hapo.
SPEAKER_00: Just because of turn to your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: So turn to your neighbor and ask them, what is grace to you?
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm sure we do have, you know, some level of understanding of what grace is and who grace is.
SPEAKER_00: Dekonjo, I can see you laughing.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Grace, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so this is the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, grace, the acronym, somebody once defined it, that grace is God's riches at Christ's expense extended to us.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: I like what our senior pastor wrote in the theme book, in the declarations of October, that grace is the demonstration of God's love to lost humanity.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it is God's unarned and merited love, goodness, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and acceptance to we who are the undeserving.
SPEAKER_00: But I even like this: that grace is God's faithfulness to Himself, His character, and His word.
SPEAKER_00: And if you had those definitions, it has everything to do with God.
SPEAKER_00: Where you and I come in, we are only beneficiaries and recipients of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But then we are talking about uncommon, uncommon grace.
SPEAKER_00: So what makes God's grace uncommon?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, God's grace is uncommon because God's grace runs purely on his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: God's grace runs purely on his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: It is completely unmerited.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have got nothing to do about it.
SPEAKER_00: Human systems run on merit, true or not true, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: For you to get a promotion at your place of work, they have to check your appraisal, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you know, for your kids to say daddy is good is because you did what?
SPEAKER_00: You got them something.
SPEAKER_00: There has to be performance tagged to it.
SPEAKER_00: But God's grace purely runs on his mercy, it is not earned, it is not deserved or achieved, it is freely given.
SPEAKER_00: Then we continue.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, why is God's grace uncommon?
SPEAKER_00: I had wanted to read Romans chapter 5 or 7 to 10, but I'll just summarize it.
SPEAKER_00: In Romans 5, 7 to 10, scripture says that rarely would someone die for a righteous man.
SPEAKER_00: But it continues to say, for a good man, somebody might die, which is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Between a righteous man, Pastor Ambrose, and a good man, there's clearly a difference.
SPEAKER_00: So it's to say that righteous man benefits from the grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But then it continues to say in verse 8, but God, but who?
SPEAKER_00: But God has done what God has demonstrated his love for you and I such that when we were, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_00: Deconvert, in other words, we were not thinking about God.
SPEAKER_00: We had no intentions of looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: But God looked for us.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, celebrate the living God.
SPEAKER_00: But secondly, God's grace is uncommon because it flows from his nature, not human worthiness.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say that again.
SPEAKER_00: God's grace flows from his nature, not human worthiness.
SPEAKER_00: Casting crowns have sung a song, Who Am I?
SPEAKER_00: And there's a line in that song where it says, Not because of who I am, but because of what you have done.
SPEAKER_00: Not because of what I have done, but because of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: That is grace.
SPEAKER_00: Then we continue.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, why is God's grace uncommon?
SPEAKER_00: God's grace is uncommon because it saves, redeems the undeserving, and transforms them from sinners to saints.
SPEAKER_00: That's what makes God's grace uncommon.
SPEAKER_00: And allow me to say this, church: every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
SPEAKER_00: Celebrate the living God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you see us walking here looking nice in suits, and as you say me in a kapo, my wife Ali niambia, so mini ko poa.
SPEAKER_00: So, so you know when you see us and you're thinking, this is the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Every saint has a past.
SPEAKER_00: Every sinner has a future only by grace.
SPEAKER_00: We continue to say, why is God's grace uncommon?
SPEAKER_00: It's because God's grace reverses justice without violating it.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: God's grace reverses justice without violating it.
SPEAKER_00: We know what scripture says in the book of Romans 3 that the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_00: But the gift of God is eternal life through who?
SPEAKER_00: Through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Allow me to say this: only God could by himself and of himself truly satisfy his righteous demands for the atonement of sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he gave his only begotten son.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing to do with us, but everything for us.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 53 says, All we like sheep have gone astray, but God has laid on him the punishment that did what?
SPEAKER_00: That brought us, that brought us peace.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 2, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: My brothers and my sisters, then I challenge us, with all that God has done for us, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
SPEAKER_00: You can't save yourself, neither can I.
SPEAKER_00: But then I continue.
SPEAKER_00: Why is God's grace uncommon?
SPEAKER_00: God's grace is uncommon because it's all inclusive.
SPEAKER_00: Tell your neighbor, all inclusive.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because of those hotel deals.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: I know the ladies are going for the boot camp.
SPEAKER_00: So it has got nothing to do with that.
SPEAKER_00: I say God's grace is all inclusive.
SPEAKER_00: And in the morning service, I said it's like a hag.
SPEAKER_00: One size fits all.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Because your hag, you give it to so many people, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And they all fit in that hag.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, that's God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: God's grace is all inclusive.
SPEAKER_00: And allow me to say this, church.
SPEAKER_00: No one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: No one.
SPEAKER_00: Even those ones who have cost you the deepest of heartache, they are not beyond the reach of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: There is no situation in your life that is beyond the reach of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: You yourself, you may be here and you're saying, Pastor Riggs, I don't deserve.
SPEAKER_00: It is true, but he qualified you.
SPEAKER_00: You are deserving of his grace in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: The grace of God has appeared to all people, yet it meets each person individually, tailored to our need and story.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 says, Let us therefore with what?
SPEAKER_00: With confidence draw near to the throne of grace.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter where you have been.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, somebody once said, God doesn't care where you have been, but he cares where you are going.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't care where you have been, but he cares where you are, you are going.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why he's saying, My son, my daughter, approach the throne of grace with confidence that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in your time of need.
SPEAKER_00: I continue to say that God's grace is uncommon because it not only pardons, but also empowers.
SPEAKER_00: After salvation, his grace strengthens, sustains, and enables obedience.
SPEAKER_00: First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 9 and 10, Paul says, I have worked hard than all the apostles, yet I am the least of them, because everything that I have done, not I, but the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: In this world of chest thumping.
SPEAKER_00: Cindio, you know when you go for interviews, you're being asked, What do you bring on there?
SPEAKER_00: On the table.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, Yet not I, but who?
SPEAKER_00: The grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, God speaks to Paul and he speaks to him in a time of difficulty, saying, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: Are you among us?
SPEAKER_00: Are you at the pavilion?
SPEAKER_00: Are you online and you're going through difficulty and you're feeling like God, this is too much.
SPEAKER_00: God is speaking to you this afternoon and is saying, My daughter, my son, my child, my grace is sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_00: For my strength is made perfect in weakness.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, why is God's grace uncommon?
SPEAKER_00: God's grace is uncommon because it elevates enemies into family, falls into friends.
SPEAKER_00: For grace doesn't merely reconcile, it adopts.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we are here, gathered as saints, gathered as children of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why my prayer, and we will give you that invitation, make that decision today to say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart that you may become God's child.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so, therefore, let's remember that everything about grace has got to do nothing with us, but everything to do with God.
SPEAKER_00: And so, to my first point, the power of grace.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the freedom that is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Power of grace, freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: When you read Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, I'd like us to read it.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians, it says, as for you, you are dead where?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's read it together.
SPEAKER_00: As for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sins.
SPEAKER_00: Continue.
SPEAKER_00: In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, of the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, and following its desires and thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue together, like the rest.
SPEAKER_00: We were by nature deserving of wrath.
SPEAKER_00: God's love, God's grace, and his mercy always work together.
SPEAKER_00: God's love is the reason he sent his son, John 3.16.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he did what?
SPEAKER_00: Sent his only begotten son, so that whoever does what, whoever believes in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_00: Church, allow me to say this to us.
SPEAKER_00: It is not our sins that hang him on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It is not the Romans that put him there.
SPEAKER_00: It's his love for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: God's love made the difference.
SPEAKER_00: God's mercy takes away from me what I deserve.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: His mercy withholds from me what I duly and justly deserve.
SPEAKER_00: We have read there in verse 3, we were by nature objects of wrath.
SPEAKER_00: Because of your sin and my sin, we were deserving of wrath.
SPEAKER_00: We were deserving of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: But God has set us free.
SPEAKER_00: What has God set us free from?
SPEAKER_00: God has set us free from the power and dominion of sin.
SPEAKER_00: God has set us free from the judgment and penalty of sin.
SPEAKER_00: God has set us free from condemnation and guilt.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verses 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_00: There is therefore now no condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: It says, for those who are aware, in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: And as I bring this home, I'd like us to consider the story of the woman who was caught in adultery.
SPEAKER_00: And I have always wondered why they titled it The Woman.
SPEAKER_00: Because, like you and I would guess, she was not Amma.
SPEAKER_00: She was not so where was this gentleman?
SPEAKER_00: Clearly, he was not a gentleman.
SPEAKER_00: He took off.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: And when you read John chapter 8, verses 1 to 11, it's very funny, the conjo.
SPEAKER_00: Because it says early in the morning, at dawn.
SPEAKER_00: So you know the Pharisees and the religious leaders, it's like they caught this lady, was it at 3 a.m.?
SPEAKER_00: Because it says early in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: So it's like they were waiting for daylight.
SPEAKER_00: As in Asubikitokea Heavy, they show up and tell Jesus, we caught her.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, I've been asking myself, so okay, how did they even know?
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I was actually hoping it would be during daylight, Pastor Philista.
SPEAKER_00: But if you read, it says, At dawn.
SPEAKER_00: So this woman, she is brought and shoved in the presence of Jesus, Christ who is seated there, and they level the accusations against her, and they say, This woman was caught in adultery.
SPEAKER_00: They proceeded and they said, According to the law of Moses, she is supposed to die by stoning.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: There was silence.
SPEAKER_00: Because Christ was writing on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is that Christ was writing.
SPEAKER_00: But as our senior pastor has told us, probably he was writing the name of the man.
SPEAKER_00: This woman is not even given a name, it's just said a woman.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest, partly it was probably to protect her identity, but also a depiction of all of us.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have been caught with our hands in the cookie ja, deserving of nothing but wrath, deserving of nothing but judgment.
SPEAKER_00: So they continue to probe Jesus, saying, What should you do?
SPEAKER_00: What should we do with her?
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus straightened up, looked at them, and he said, Whoever is without sin, let him be the first to cast a stone.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, the Bible records that upon hearing him, they all started walking away.
SPEAKER_00: From the eldest to the youngest.
SPEAKER_00: Alex, probably, you know, the the older ones knew what they have done.
SPEAKER_00: The young ones were still wondering, Allah Kundaje.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: But this is the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Then when everybody had left, and it was just the woman with Christ, Christ asked her, Where are they who are condemning you?
SPEAKER_00: And she said, They're gone.
SPEAKER_00: Then Christ said, Neither do I condemn you.
SPEAKER_00: But then he gave her an instruction and said, Go and live your life of sin, or go and sin.
SPEAKER_00: No more.
SPEAKER_00: A few things we learn about this lady, about God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when the laws of man wanted to bring her down, when the law of Moses wanted to condemn her, a greater law was at work.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the law of grace.
SPEAKER_00: And having a conversation with our senior pastor, at least got some wisdom in Kasema Nitongeza Kwasamo notes.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor was reminding me, you see, this woman being caught, what seemed to be the end of her life was an opportunity for grace to locate her.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, celebrate the living God.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm saying this because perhaps you are here.
SPEAKER_00: You've been caught with your hand in the cookie ja.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it is God's grace reaching out to you and saying, Not anymore.
SPEAKER_00: This one belongs to me.
SPEAKER_00: It is God's grace reaching out to you, reaching out to your family and saying, No more distraction.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, sometimes what would be your misfortune, grace turns it around for your good.
SPEAKER_00: That is what is amazing about grace.
SPEAKER_00: And so, my brothers and my sisters, let God's grace speak up for you.
SPEAKER_00: And as I pondered about this woman, scripture does not mention her name.
SPEAKER_00: But I know the Lord Jesus Christ knows her by name.
SPEAKER_00: My brother, my sister, God knows you by name.
SPEAKER_00: He calls you by name.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, grace covers, grace covered that woman.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever your situation, whatever you are going through, God's grace is covering you.
SPEAKER_00: Then grace celebrated her.
SPEAKER_00: She was set free.
SPEAKER_00: Grace celebrates you, my brother and my sister.
SPEAKER_00: God's grace is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, because of God's grace, we are delivered from God's wrath.
SPEAKER_00: We are delivered from enmity with God.
SPEAKER_00: We are delivered from the power and reign of sin and death.
SPEAKER_00: We are delivered from the accusation of the law.
SPEAKER_00: But then, since we have been delivered, Paul says in Romans chapter 5, verse 20, shall we keep on sinning that grace may abound?
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is not a license for us to keep on sinning.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes in Romans 2.4, don't you know God's grace, God's kindness is to draw you to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Don't mistake God's patience for slothfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Because Scripture says God cannot be mocked.
SPEAKER_00: What a man sows that he shall reap.
SPEAKER_00: But thank God for grace.
SPEAKER_00: Because grace intervenes.
SPEAKER_00: Where you are to be condemned, Christ says, Let it be on me.
SPEAKER_00: Where you are to be cast down, Christ says, No, my grace is sufficient to lift them up.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to God's grace, that indeed you may be healed and restored.
SPEAKER_00: We must remember that sin was humanity's greatest burden.
SPEAKER_00: And only the cross of Jesus Christ is the cure.
SPEAKER_00: Sin demands justice for our souls.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that God is a just God.
SPEAKER_00: The justice of God stands on the basis that He offers man a way of escape from sin.
SPEAKER_00: That is Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man.
SPEAKER_00: Allow me to say this, church.
SPEAKER_00: He forgives sin or he judges sin.
SPEAKER_00: If you turn to him in grace, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You experience his forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: But if you choose to bear your own burden, then guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Too bad.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why God is saying, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For indeed it is by grace that we have been saved.
SPEAKER_00: We have been freed from our fears and anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: We have been freed from our past regrets and our hearts, our hatred, bitter envy, carelessness, and all these things, grace has set us free.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, when grace checks in, there is something that grace takes away from you.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that God's mercy takes away from you.
SPEAKER_00: Takes away your condemnation, takes away your guilt, takes away the wrath of God that was to be met upon you.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what, my brothers and my sisters?
SPEAKER_00: Grace invites a response.
SPEAKER_00: Will you respond to God's grace?
SPEAKER_00: Christ did for me what I could not do for myself.
SPEAKER_00: He paid a debt that I could not pay.
SPEAKER_00: For I owed a debt I could not pay.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus paid a debt he did not owe.
SPEAKER_00: Grace has set me free.
SPEAKER_00: But let me quickly move on to the second point: the provision of grace, and that is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: From Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 to 9, I'll read quickly.
SPEAKER_00: This is what scripture says.
SPEAKER_00: And remember, I said that but, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.
SPEAKER_00: It is by grace that you have been saved.
SPEAKER_00: And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages God might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 Together, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can tell your neighbor, no boasting.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the other one and tell them no bragging.
SPEAKER_00: I know we like to do it, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: I imagine I am where I am because of me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not where I am because of me.
SPEAKER_00: I am where I am because of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: The family you have is because of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: The job you have is because of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's easy to think, Riggs, I'm that clever guy.
SPEAKER_00: My brother, my sister, I remind you today, it is because of the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: Grace punctuated the life of this woman caught in adultery.
SPEAKER_00: Because that verse 4 says, But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And this is my prayer for you, that your life will be full of those moments where God steps in.
SPEAKER_00: The bat God moments.
SPEAKER_00: I would have lost my mind, but God stepped in.
SPEAKER_00: My child would have become ABCD, but God stepped in.
SPEAKER_00: I would have been lost long and gone, but grace God stepped in.
SPEAKER_00: I would have lost my job, but God stepped in.
SPEAKER_00: They worked hard to undermine me, but God stepped in.
SPEAKER_00: But God.
SPEAKER_00: And how I pray that your eyes will be opened to see God in those moments.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see who?
SPEAKER_00: They shall see God.
SPEAKER_00: Learn to see God in every moment.
SPEAKER_00: That is wisdom from our senior pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I struggle, let me be honest with you.
SPEAKER_00: But Pastor Ambrose encourages me and tells me, Riggs, see God's unseen hand at work at every turn of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And my brothers, my sisters, I propose to you, when you feel things are not making sense, God is working.
SPEAKER_00: When you feel things are not going in your direction, God is working.
SPEAKER_00: When you feel like you have lost, God is working.
SPEAKER_00: Because God never stops working.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, God's grace credits something into my account.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, his mercy took my pain, his mercy took my shame, his mercy took away the wrath.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's something that grace credits into my account.
SPEAKER_00: For grace gives unto me that which I do not deserve.
SPEAKER_00: That's what grace does.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, mercy withholds from me what I duly deserve.
SPEAKER_00: Grace, on the other hand, pours into your account, credits into your account what you do not deserve.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's see.
SPEAKER_00: What are these things that God has done for us?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 145, verse 8, 9, and 10.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture says the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is good to all, he has compassion on all.
SPEAKER_00: You see, grace tears into the cloak of self-righteousness and a holier than thou attitude.
SPEAKER_00: For our righteousness is like filthy rugs before who?
SPEAKER_00: Before God.
SPEAKER_00: But then you see, God takes that away and he clothes us with the righteousness of his son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Grace credits unto me in Jesus Christ what I don't deserve.
SPEAKER_00: In the story of the prodigal son, I won't read it, but I'd like us to think for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: In that story, so we have the father, we have the eldest son, we have yes, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: You come up, the last born.
SPEAKER_00: DJ last bones in the house.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So we have the prodigal son himself, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Then they are the workers, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: But then true or not true?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Linda, I can see you laughing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you in that story, since we have the general gist of the story, who are you in that story?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, you think about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a right, wrong question.
SPEAKER_00: But I'll tell you guys about myself.
SPEAKER_00: When I see somebody has experienced God's mercy and grace, I feel they don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: I find myself most of the time to be like the eldest son.
SPEAKER_00: I want to legislate grace, I want to decide for God who is deserving of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, God's grace is all inclusive.
SPEAKER_00: All are welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody is welcome.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we cannot keep this good news to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We must share this good news.
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you, perhaps you are thinking you are the father.
SPEAKER_00: You are not the father.
SPEAKER_00: Because the father is God.
SPEAKER_00: Are we together?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And you see, in that story, there's a song that says, Mercy came running.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what happens when we turn to God in repentance.
SPEAKER_00: He meets us in his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Mercy comes running towards us.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing grace.
SPEAKER_00: How sweet the sound that served a wretch like me.
SPEAKER_00: That is the only time in scripture we see a picture of God running.
SPEAKER_00: That every time we turn to him, somebody once said, if there are 2,000 steps between you and God, God will cover the 1,999.
SPEAKER_00: You will only take one step, and that is to turn on him and to say, God, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: That is amazing grace.
SPEAKER_00: Christ, God doing for me in Christ Jesus what I could never do for myself.
SPEAKER_00: Another wisdom from the senior pastor, grace has been applied to us.
SPEAKER_00: It is only befitting that we apply grace to those around us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so in Christ Jesus, I have passed from death to eternal life, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, the kingdom of the Son, He loves.
SPEAKER_00: I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the old is gone, all things have become new.
SPEAKER_00: God makes all things new.
SPEAKER_00: I have shifted, I have been justified as if I have never sinned.
SPEAKER_00: No more condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says it is God who justifies.
SPEAKER_00: Who then will do what?
SPEAKER_00: Condemn.
SPEAKER_00: No one.
SPEAKER_00: God has justified you in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Christ became sin for me so that I might be made the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: He became poor so that I might be made rich and rich in the things, in the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: I have peace with God.
SPEAKER_00: I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I am chosen in him.
SPEAKER_00: I am adopted as God's Son in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I am a co-hair with Christ of the riches of God.
SPEAKER_00: I am redeemed in him.
SPEAKER_00: My sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 103 David says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
SPEAKER_00: Who forgives your he forgives your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you have to have them so that in their presence, God will prepare a banquet in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, celebrate the living God.
SPEAKER_00: But only because of grace.
SPEAKER_00: And God does all that to display his grace so that the glory doesn't come to you.
SPEAKER_00: All the glory goes back to him in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: I encourage you, even as I go to the third point, even as we come to a close, get some time.
SPEAKER_00: Get some time.
SPEAKER_00: Read the book of Ephesians and consider all the phrases, do a word search where Paul is talking of in Christ, with Christ, where he's mentioning grace.
SPEAKER_00: You will be surprised what God has in store for you.
SPEAKER_00: You remember that hymn, count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you to see what the Lord has done.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, point number three: the purpose of grace.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose of grace.
SPEAKER_00: That is our service in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I challenge us, church.
SPEAKER_00: Grace has a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just for us to feel good and to feel nice.
SPEAKER_00: It is so that we may serve God and serve his world.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are seated here.
SPEAKER_00: You hear the church saying we are looking for ABCD, and you are seated there.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: Take a step of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Come out and say, Pastor Riggs, I think I can plug in here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to give of myself here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to give of my resources here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to give of my time here.
SPEAKER_00: Because God has applied grace on us that we may extend the same grace to our hearting world.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2 10.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like us to read it together.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read it together.
SPEAKER_00: For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: You know what that verse means?
SPEAKER_00: You're not an accident.
SPEAKER_00: And you know they say, firstborn, was that your comfy nini?
SPEAKER_00: But don't worry.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says in Jeremiah, God speaks to Jeremiah, and he says, Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you, and I appointed you to be my voice to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: So your parents may yeah, that one.
SPEAKER_00: Your parents probably they didn't plan for your coming.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: God says, before you are formed in your mother's womb, I by the Pastor Ambrose is a firstborn.
SPEAKER_00: Senior Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Pastor Ambrose is a firstborn.
SPEAKER_00: Let's celebrate the firstbones in the house.
SPEAKER_00: God tells Jeremiah, I appointed you to be my voice.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you are to fulfill purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what people have told you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what circumstances have told you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what your children have told you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what your spouse has told you.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the thing: you are created for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: God knows you by name.
SPEAKER_00: We can personalize Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: You can say, I am God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you personalize it?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go together.
SPEAKER_00: I am God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for me to do.
SPEAKER_00: Put your hand on your chest.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read it together again.
SPEAKER_00: I am God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared for me in advance.
SPEAKER_00: In Galatians chapter 5, verse 6, it says, In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that counts is what?
SPEAKER_00: Faith expressing itself through love and good deeds.
SPEAKER_00: We have been called to love selfless and sacrificial love as demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We must, it is not optional.
SPEAKER_00: We must, by grace, demonstrate tangible expressions of faith through good deeds, for we know that faith without actions is dead.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like us to read 1 John 3.18 together.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith is expressed in and through love, loving actions towards God and others.
SPEAKER_00: You are not just saved to feel good, you are saved to accomplish purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read 1 John 3.18 together.
SPEAKER_00: Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and truth.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus speaks to his disciples and he says, A new commandment I give unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Love one another as I have loved you.
SPEAKER_00: Is God speaking to you?
SPEAKER_00: Love as God in Christ Jesus has loved you.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what, Dikonwambugu?
SPEAKER_00: Our testimony is in our loving one another.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture says, then will the world know that we are his disciples if we have love for one another.
SPEAKER_00: We respond to God's grace by drawing closer to Him and by emboding His love to a hurting world.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation by grace through faith has a purpose, and that is to produce good works that are test of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is the root of works and not vice versa.
SPEAKER_00: While works play no part at all in securing salvation, believers will tell the world of God's love through their actions.
SPEAKER_00: For we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
SPEAKER_00: I'll kindly request us to be up on our feet.
SPEAKER_00: Even as I finish.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read it.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Now verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
SPEAKER_00: Media, just let that stay there.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is that God is speaking to you through that verse.
SPEAKER_00: God still loves and cares for his world.
SPEAKER_00: God cares about your brother, your sister who's not born again.
SPEAKER_00: God cares about your boss who you feel is giving you hell.
SPEAKER_00: God cares about him.
SPEAKER_00: God cares about her.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been condemning your world?
SPEAKER_00: God wants to love his world through you.
SPEAKER_00: Will you open yourself to him?
SPEAKER_00: That indeed you may be an extension of his grace.
SPEAKER_00: You may be an extension of his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: You may be an extension of his kindness.
SPEAKER_00: My latest picture of grace, and I share this with permission from the Mukusas, who I believe are following online.
SPEAKER_00: Recently, the Mukusas adopted a baby girl.
SPEAKER_00: 18 months, baby Sophia Ada.
SPEAKER_00: And Dekonwambugu, God used that moment to speak to me.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when this little baby was abandoned, honestly, she had no hope.
SPEAKER_00: If she could fathom what she was going through, it would have been a hopeless and dark situation for her.
SPEAKER_00: Behind the scenes, God was weaving his purposes for this girl, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Ambrose, we were there at that service, huh?
SPEAKER_00: And Baby Adiah, when she was being received from the children's home, she was put in a cassette.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you when you growing up you even have cassettes?
SPEAKER_00: You get it.
SPEAKER_00: Now I was being told she has her own room.
SPEAKER_00: You know, talk of in my father's house are many.
SPEAKER_00: You get it?
SPEAKER_00: Now for me, this is even what blesses and touches my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now she takes on the mukusa's name, and God used that moment to tell me, Riggs, this is what I did for you when you cared nothing about me, when things seemed to be going haywire.
SPEAKER_00: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_00: And now you are God's child.
SPEAKER_00: Grace has been applied to you.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you going to apply this grace?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the world does not care how much we know until they know how much we care.
SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you, let the windows of your heart be open to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let the people know that you care for the welfare of their lives.
SPEAKER_00: For how will they know unless we go to them?
SPEAKER_00: Grace and truth came to us through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That is John.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 1, verses 17.
SPEAKER_00: And so with our eyes closed, I ask you, when people hear you coming, when people hear your steps, when people see your demeanor, do they hear the voice of grace?
SPEAKER_00: The voice of truth and compassion?
SPEAKER_00: Or do they hear the mocking voice of accusation and condemnation?
SPEAKER_00: For by grace you have been saved, not by works.
SPEAKER_00: And so carry your candle.
SPEAKER_00: Go light your world with God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: Serve God and serve his world in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So even as we pray this wonderful evening, uh afternoon, you're here, you're not born again.
SPEAKER_00: This invitation is extended to you.
SPEAKER_00: This amazing grace is available for you.
SPEAKER_00: Like that woman caught in adultery, she needed that moment, for it was her moment of turnaround, it was her turning point.
SPEAKER_00: What appeared to be a misfortune, it was an extension of God's grace to her, and so you're here, you're not born again.
SPEAKER_00: We are giving you this invitation.
SPEAKER_00: Come, we will not close our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see you, we want to celebrate with you today.
SPEAKER_00: You making a decision and saying, I have decided to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I want this grace to speak up for me.
SPEAKER_00: You are there, you are at the pavilion, you can shoot up your hand, you are online, you can uh post uh your your your your decision online, and we will see you and connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone, we don't want to miss you.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone, anyone?
SPEAKER_00: God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.
SPEAKER_00: The second group of people we like to pray with this afternoon is you're going through a difficult time, and probably you find yourself in the place where Paul was.
SPEAKER_00: Three times he prayed to God, asking, remove this thorn in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: It could be a work situation, it could be a family situation, and you're saying, God, this is overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to remind you, Scripture says that God's grace is sufficient for you, that his strength is made perfect in your weakness.
SPEAKER_00: If you're there, please shoot up your hand and we will pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: Just wherever you are, wherever you are.
SPEAKER_00: God sees that hand, God sees your heart, and God is coming through for you.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you, God bless you.
SPEAKER_00: You need wisdom, you need guidance.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for every hand that has been raised.
SPEAKER_00: You have told us in your word to call upon you, and God, you will answer us, and you will show us great and mighty things that we do not know.
SPEAKER_00: Father, for these dear ones who have raised their hands, may you connect with them.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, may you connect with their situations, and may you release uncommon grace, O Jehovah God, into their situations.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm praying and I'm asking, you have said that call unto me, pray, and I will deliver you and you will honor me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you that you have released your angels to attend to them, to attend to their situations.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, this coming Sunday, they are coming back with testimonies of what you have done in Jesus' name, and God's people said, Amen and amen and amen.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, you're here and you're saying, Pastor Riggs, I want God to use me to impact my world.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a blessing to my family, I want to be source and light at my place of work.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be an extension of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: For too many days I have condemned my world, but today I want God to love his world through me.
SPEAKER_00: You can shoot up your hand and we will pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I'm reminded of that Samaritan woman who, when you met her through your son Jesus Christ at the well, and she experienced your love and your grace.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord Scripture says, She ran into the city, telling them, Come see a man who told me everything.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, your children with their hands lifted up, they are saying, Lord, see me.
SPEAKER_00: Today I'm making a commitment to be salt and light, to shine your grace in a dark world, to be an extension of your love, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to visit those in prison, to give a listening ear to somebody, to give a word of encouragement to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray today, may these lives go out as firebrands, Jehovah God, shining for you.
SPEAKER_00: And so, saints, I remind you, arise and shine, for your light has come, and God's glory is risen upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, nations will be drawn to the light of your rising in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And we all said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's