338. The Grace of God (from the Vault)

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Well, happy Friday, everyone, and welcome to Moments of Worship. I'm Keith McMahon, worship pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown, Virginia. Beloved, this podcast seeks to encourage you in the worship of God each weekday. Years ago, I got my first writing assignment from Red Tie Music. It was an orchestration and arrangement for one of their wonderful songs. I was so excited. At the time of this assignment, I was two weeks out from conducting at Carnegie Hall, conducting a mass choir. I was so excited to do that, and this invitation came to write this arrangement, and I couldn't turn it down, so I accepted it. Well, when I returned from New York, I got right to work on the project. It was coming along great. The day before I was supposed to turn it in, as I was working on the chart, you guessed it, the program crashed and I lost my work. Well, I had to do what we might have done in school. We had to tell the teacher the dog ate our homework. So I called the the person the contact there at the publisher and told them my problem with the computer, and she was very gracious to me and gave me an extension. Can you think of a time someone showed you grace that you did not deserve it? Maybe it was a police officer showing you grace that you ran a stop sign or were speeding when you shouldn't have been, or maybe you showed up late to an important engagement and the host was gracious in your tardiness and let you come in anyways. Or perhaps you were late on a payment and the company did not charge you late fees. Well today we're going to look at the grace of God. Ephesians two eight through ten states For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Friend, the scripture is so clear here that we are saved by grace. It's nothing that we have done, but only the gracious gift of God and His Son Jesus Christ. We have no room to boast, as all we have done is receive. Grace is an undeserved gift. We can see the goodness of God all throughout Scripture, and we see it here in God's grace to us and His Son. Jesus loves us, cares for us, and is always with us. We should rejoice that God showed us mercy, not giving us what we deserve. Hear this scripture, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love which with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Ephesians two, four through five. God did not spare his son, but spared us through the blood of his son Jesus. Praise be to God. Ephesians one seven states in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. Friend, as you head into the weekend, seek to model Jesus by being gracious to those you encounter. Maybe somebody cuts you off as you're driving to eat with your family or whatever situation might come along that you feel like that you were served unjustly. Let's not forget the immense amount of grace we have received from God, and may we model God's kindness to others as we seek to be gracious like Jesus was to us. Well, thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Moments in Worship. And if you've enjoyed it, if you've been encouraged, hit the like and subscribe button or share it with someone that you know could benefit from an encouraging word today. I pray you have such a great weekend, and we'll see you back here Monday for moments of worship. Lord bless you.