Study Notes

FOUNDATION STATEMENT: Jesus did many marvelous things during his earthly ministry and every marvelous thing he did, he did because the grace of God was upon him and that very same grace is available to us today. 

 

I.      The function of grace-Grace is the foundation to all prosperity.  It is the need meeting force that removes all lack of any kind and leaves you complete, perfect, and wanting nothing in every situation.

A.    The God of all grace will make you what you ought to be-1 Peter 5:10

1.      You ought to be perfect, entire, lacking nothing in every situation-Luke 13:8

2.      To find out what you ought to be look to the rock from whence you were hewn-Isaiah 51:1-3

B.     Grace’s job is to supply you with whatever you need in whatever situation u are facing

1.      1 Peter 5:10-Grace’s job is to leave nothing missing, lacking, or broken-Acts 4:33

2.      1 Corinthians 1:3-7-Grace enriches you in everything  

C.    2 Corinthians 9:8-The ability of our Heavenly Father to give grace is to overflow you with grace in such a way that it leaves you always having more than enough NO MATTER WHAT the need is

1.      God is able-The ability of God-This is what God is capable of concerning His grace

a.    Psalm 78:41-They limited God; this ability is limited or enhanced by what you do

2.      God is able to make all grace (All goodwill, all favor, all kindness, all joy, all pleasure, all delight, all sweetness, and loveliness of life)

a.    That leaves nothing out spirit, soul, body, socially are financially

3.      Abound towards u-He’s able 2 overflow u w/ grace, 2 abundantly furnish u w/ grace

4.      What would be the result of that in your life?

a.    Always having is never lacking

b.    All sufficiency-More than enough (Ample stock, adequate power, no support needed, independent of what’s going on around you)

1)       Ample stock or fund (ample-Great in bulk or size, liberal, unrestrained; without being thrifty, frugal, or cost-cutting, fully sufficient; as, ample provision for the table; Largeness, spaciousness, sufficiency, abundance)

2)       Adequate power

3)       Strong enough to need no aid or support; a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed

4)       All of this independent of external circumstances

c.     In all things-Whatever the need be

II.     Jesus operated in his Earthly ministry by the grace of God (John 1:14-He was full of grace)

A.    Jesus did what he did on the Earth because God’s grace was on him (Luke 2:40)

1.      Jesus increased in grace-Luke 2:52 (this reveals a couple things)

a.    1) Just b/c ur saved doesn’t mean you’re experiencing the fullness of grace

b.    2) I am responsible for doing what is necessary to increase in this grace

2.      Jesus is in the temple w/ “experts” who had been studying their whole lives & he’s proposing questions to them & after they didn’t know they answer he’d answer it 

a.    They were thrown into wonderment & were amazed & astounded by his answers

b.    The things accomplished by grace of God in the life of a believer will leave the world astonished

3.      The maturation of His spirit is connected to the grace of God that was upon him

a.    The more mature you are spiritually the more grace you’ll see working in your life

b.    When you’re strong in faith, strong in obedience, strong in walking in the spirit you’ll see more grace

B.     John 1:17-Jesus came to the Earth not demonstrating the law, while he perfectly fulfilled it, but demonstrating grace & faith

1.      John 14:10-He references the fact that it’s not me, it’s the Father in me doing the works; It’s his grace on my life

a.    He didn’t come to the Earth to demonstrate how good a man good be; he came demonstrating how great God could be to and through a man who would completely yield to him (John 8:50)

1)       He came demonstrating, not look how good I am, but look how gracious my Father is to me

b.    John 8:26-He demonstrated faith and grace

1)       There’s a tendency to think that Jesus did what he did and got what he got because of how good he was

c.     If you talked to Jesus about how good he was and how good he lived his life on the Earth, he would tell you my Father was gracious to me – Why? Because he didn’t do what he did because of something he was, he did what he did because of something that was on him (grace) and that made him who he was (Mark 10:18)

2.      If He did what He did and got what he got by grace, then I have the potential to get what he got and do what he did

C.    John 1:16-The very grace that Jesus operated in is the very grace that u have received

1.      Whatever that grace did in his life it’s capable of doing in your life

a.    There’s nothing Jesus did in his Earthly ministry that I can’t do (John 14:12)

b.    You didn’t get some second hand grace

2.      1 John 2:6-If we are to walk the same way Jesus walked, we need the same grace

a.    I can walk, and live, and conduct my life in the same manner that Jesus did b/c he did what he did by grace and that very same grace is available to me

1)       I can resist like he resisted; I can obey the Father like he obeyed; I can not yield to the flesh the way he didn’t yield to flesh; I can be led the way he was led

b.    The grace of God will enable you to reflect the exact of character of Jesus every second of your life

1)       That grace was the reason, cause, and root to everything Jesus did and the character he walked in

c.     Jesus didn’t some special endowment that’s not available to you and me

1)       He lived the way he did by the grace of almighty God

3.      We haven’t been taught this; we’ve been taught you sin everyday & you could never live like Jesus

a.    We’ve believed we’re not able to live lives where we are not giving into the flesh

III.   Our master walked in this grace beyond human comprehension; Jesus never got ready to do something, but then lacked whatever it took to do it; he wasn’t overcome by the greatness of his circumstances, but his circumstances were overcome by the greatness of God’s grace that was on his life

A.    The grace of God worked at such a level in his life, that no matter what he encountered, he had grace to overcome; what ever he encounters outside in his life, there’s something greater than that working in him an on him

1.      Examples

a.    If He needed wisdom he had it

b.    If He needed to resist he had grace to do it

c.     If He needed to love he had grace to do it

d.    If He needed to have the right words, he had grace to do it

e.    If He needed to teach, he had grace to do it

f.      If He needed to pay his taxes, he had grace to do it

g.    If He needed to feed 15,000 people he had grace to do it

h.     If He needed to heal the sick, he had grace to do it

i.       If He needed to raise the dead, he had grace to do it

j.       If He needed to kick grandma out of the house, he had grace to do it

k.     At one of the most chaotic times in his life, when John was beheaded and he went to get away, and the people followed him he had grace to handle this perfectly

2.      He always said the right thing; He always did the right thing no matter what was said to him, no matter what was said about him, what’s behind that?

a.    This is a manifestation of the grace of God at work in his life

B.     The grace on your life will make you greater than anything you face

1.      When the grace of God is at work in your life you’re always up to the challenge

IV.   What did Jesus do to tap the grace of God the way he did?

A.    The disconnect has been that Jesus was much more proficient at tapping this grace

1.      Your whole life and the victory and success that you have in life depends the grace of God and if you don’t know how to walk in that grace, receive that grace, and function in that grace everyday of your life failure and defeat are inevitable

2.      You fail to tap the grace of God you fail

3.      We haven’t talked about “tapping grace” enough

B.     Jesus tapped grace with:

1.      Humility

2.      Faith-If he always pleased the Father, then he must have always lived by faith (John 8:29, Hebrews 11:6)

3.      Place-Jesus was always in his proper place (John 5:19, 30)

4.      Thanksgiving-In the times of greatest pressure Jesus operated in thanksgiving (Matt 14, John 11, 2 Corinthians 4:15)

V.    1) Humility-Jesus walked in the highest degree of humility (Matthew 11:30, James 4:6)

A.    James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-The Humble get the grace; the proud get resisted

1.      The degree of humility that you walk in, will determine the level of God’s grace you see in your life

B.     Matthew 11:29-Jesus walked in humility

1.      Meek-Gentle, mild; Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; the opposite of self-interest or self-assertiveness

2.      Lowly-Humble

3.      Jesus was lowly (humble) in heart

a.    Humility is not measured by the lack of material things that you have, it is the inward condition of a heart totally submitted to God and to His Word        

C.    What is humility?

1.      Humility has to do lowering yourself and taking your rightful place under (1 Peter 5:6)

a.    Humble-Not rising far from the ground, as a condition, lowly, of low degree, lowly in spirit, having a humble opinion of one's self, modesty, lowliness of mind, to make low, bring low, to assign a lower rank or place to, to abase, to be ranked below others who are honored or rewarded, to lower, bring down one's pride, to behave in an unassuming manner, devoid of all haughtiness

2.      Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think (Romans 12:3)

a.    In other words take your rightful place – That’s humility

b.    Lower yourself under the authority of this word. What it says I am, I am.

3.      Humility has to do with truth and reality (2 Corinthians 12:6)

a.    People who in pride are in deception because they have an untrue estimation of themselves (Obadiah 3)

b.    John 17:17-They Word is truth and if you’re going to get humble you got to get submitted to the Word

c.     False humility is prideful-To say you’re unrightous, unholy etc. is pride

D.    Pride has to do with over estimating yourself (Proverbs 6:17-AMP)

1.      Pride-A rising up, swelling (of the sea), majesty, haughtiness, exaltation, arrogance, height, a lifting up, presumption, empty, braggart talk, an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources, empty presumption, the character of one who, with a swollen estimate of his own powers or merits, looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt

2.      Pride has to do with lifting yourself up, being high or lofty; It is an over estimation of your abilities

3.      Pride has to do with self-exaltation, usually in false manner

a.    You’ve exalted yourself to a high place b/c of your high estimation of yourself

E.     Humility requires God in all that does; Humility sees the need for him in all that it does

1.      Four IN YOU truths

a.    In yourself you are nothing-Galatians 6:3 (In Him you are something)

b.    In yourself you know nothing-1 Cor 8:2 (In Him you know all things-1 Jn 2:20)

c.     In yourself you have nothing-1 Corinthians 4:7 (In Him you have all things that pertain to life and godliness-2 Peter 1:4)

d.    In yourself you can do nothing-John 15:5 (In Him you can do all things-Phil 4:13)

2.      Humility recognizes it’s need for God daily  

a.    Humility recognizes all of the “in myself” lacks and deficiencies & the need for him

b.    Humility is the acknowledgment of your dependence on him

c.     Humility is the absolute necessity for Him in everything that I do, say or think

3.      Humility requires God and therefore seeks God’s grace and finds it

a.    In their pride my people aren’t requiring me; but those who humble themselves and require me will get grace

b.    Psalm 22:26 – Require him as your greatest need

c.     Psalm 27:8 – Require him has a necessity

d.    Psalm 105:3 – Require him as an indispensable necessity

e.    Psalm 34:10 – Those who require Him like this will not lack any good thing

f.      Pride says I don’t need you, I can do fine by myself

g.    Pride exalts itself to the high place where it doesn’t need God

h.     You show God you’re need for him, by living a slow life and acknowledging Him and including him in every word you speak, every thought you think and every action that make

4.      The humility of our Master-John 5:19, 30, 6:57, 7:16, 8:28

F.     Pride will lead you out of your position and out of your place

1.      Isaiah 14:12-14-We look at this like it’s such a foreign thing in the lives of believers, but in reality it’s active in the hearts of many believers; You exalt yourself above God when you do what you want instead of what he told you

2.      1 Peter 5:5-10

a.    6-Humility has to do with taking your rightful place under the authority of God and his word

1)       This word is right and I’m wrong

b.    6-God doesn’t mind you being exalted; he doesn’t like you trying to exalt yourself

c.     7-You humble yourself by casting your cares

1)       You are the caster of cares, He is the caretaker

2)       You can’t take better care of that care than God can

3)       It’s very irreverent & prideful when you take the care because in doing so you’ve exalted yourself to his position

4)       You over estimating yourself and underestimating God

3.      People who pick up the care out of their place and out of grace-2 Corinthians 11:28, 12:5-10

a.    7-The thorn in his flesh was there to torment him

b.    1 John 4:18-The Apostle Paul wouldn’t be available to be tormented if there wasn’t fear operating in his life

c.     2 Corinthians 11:28-The fear that is operating in his life is concerning those churches

d.    9-Paul’s resisting grace because he’s in pride taking the care of those churches and God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5)

4.      Humility will seek grace and always be it’s place