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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.
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Ephesians, chapter 2 and verse 1, Paul begins by the Holy Spirit and he says, and you he made alive. Does anyone in this room remember when you had life all figured out? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it was right after boot camp. Maybe it was during your first love. Maybe you graduated somewhere or made your first little bit of paper, only to look back later to say to yourself, what was I thinking? And this is what happens whenever a person truly meets God. What you used to think was light becomes darkness. What once seemed like freedom, you discover, was really bondage. What you believe was life was killing you. It was death. You see, God only turns people's lives upside down to make them right side up again. That's his motivation. And you he made alive who were dead. Now, each of us had biological lives, intellectual lives, family lives, social lives, et cetera. But we were spiritually disconnected from God. And we were dead in the most important way. In our relationship toward God, we live lives surrendering eternal things for temporal and temporary things. We exchanged true gold for that which was only gold plated. You see, it shined for a season like that cheap jewelry. But with time and wear, it always eventually showed its true colors. Hebrews 11:24 tells us something about Moses. It says by faith, Moses, when he became of age, no longer the baby, you know, rustling through the rushes and. And a little kind of basket. But this is the grown up Moses. He put away childish things. He was at the top of his game. But when he got there, he did something important. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was part of the most powerful court in the world at that time. Egypt was the most powerful nation, he served the most powerful man. He was adopted into the most powerful family and he was part of again the most powerful court. But Moses had the courage to reject the world's track to power. And it got on God's track. You see, it's easy to sacrifice everything when you have nothing. But it's a little different when you're like Moses and you got everything. Some historians say that he was the major leading general in Egypt's armies. Others say that he wrote orchestras and poetry and songs. He was already. He was a great man in every respect. But despite every natural advantage choosing meaning, he made a choice rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. For some of us, the biggest challenge is getting in a car in the rain and coming to church. But what I've learned through the years is we cannot worship without sacrifice. You can't really give without cost, and you can't follow without giving up the lead. Worship is more than a song. It's a choice. Now, somewhere along our history, we replaced worship with singing. But David said, lord, I will not give you anything unless it costs me something. And we are to offer God the fruit of our lips. There's power in praise, but our praise is most powerful when a life that's laid itself on the altar is singing the song. Choosing it was a choice rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. True love is willing to sacrifice. You see, when I was young, I didn't really know this. But hard times, even your mistakes, don't really cause your friends to leave you. It just reveals who your true friends are. And because of his commitment to God and the people of God, he took off his royal robes and was willing to suffer the pain and the affliction of the people of God rather than enjoy the passing. Passing, Passing. Passing. Sin is pleasurable for a season. The problem is, when the season ends, it was fun while you were ringing up that credit card. But when the payment becomes due, rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, Moses would not settle for anything less than God's best, even when it costs you something. Now, he was willing to do whatever it took in order for him to see God's glory later. Whenever we release what's in our hand, God then lets go of what's in his hand. Back to Ephesians 2:1 and you, he made alive, who were past tense, dead in trespasses. Now, again, I said today was going to be a lot more like class. Trespass simply means to cross a line. My mind is telling me no, but my body is telling me yes. This side of the room. Stop looking at me so innocently like you don't know what I'm talking about. All of us have crossed the line at some point. We were dead in trespass. And if that wasn't enough, sins. The word sin here, or sins, literally, means to miss the mark. So even when we tried to shoot straight in our own strength, things went left and we missed the bullseye. And he continues, it gets worse. In which you once walked. Remember the first time you did that thing that you know you should not do? You took that cookie, that candy. You watched that video you shouldn't watch the first time. There was some anxiety, some trepidation, but each Time after, it got easier and easier and soon that thing became your thing and you lost your standards. Ladies, if having healthy standards means risking a man walking out your life, take the risk. And brothers, stop thinking a woman has an attitude when all she really got is some standards. Pay attention to what I'm saying. I'm just trying to help you on my way somewhere. And it continues. Y' all are in Bible school right now. According to the course or the path of this world. Meaning folks just went with the flow. But any dead fish can float downstream. It takes a live fish or a living fish to swim against the current. According to the prince of the power of the air. Watch this. The Spirit. Now they just thought they were sinning and transgressing, but the Holy Spirit now pulls the veil up. It said you thought you were just doing stuff, but there was really a spirit behind all that was going on. The Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. We thought we were forward looking. We thought, you know, we were contemporary. We thought we were enlightened. We thought we were liberated. We thought we were progressive. We thought we were in the know. But all the while, a puppet master who despised us, hated us, laughed at us as he pulled the strings. This may challenge you, but how many believe the words of Jesus? Yeah, he talks about only two kingdoms. The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. There are only two kingdoms operating on the earth right now. The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. So we only have two choices. Action or inaction. There is no third choice. And then he continues, among whom? Watch this. Also we all. All of us. Meaning not just some folk, all of us like you keep hearing me say, stop judging people just because they sin differently than you do. It says we all. See how soon we forget we all once conducted ourselves. I know you're mad at your child, but you did the same thing in a different way. It might have been a different haircut, wearing some different clothes. But we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, where we could see, feel, hear, smell, taste, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind. What the scriptures are saying is we were all a hot mess. We were all know it alls who really knew nothing. But watch this next part. And who were by nature children of wrath. So the problem was not just our deeds, it was our nature. You see, you could cut a mule's ears, you could color his fur, brush it down real good. You could ask the mule to tuck in his belly a little bit to make the mule look like a horse, but when the gun fires at the starting gate, everyone's gonna see the difference. See, I can change how I look to you, but only God can change who I am. And if all Jesus is is about how you look and not about how you really are, you have missed the gospel ship and were by nature. How many of y' all have dogs? Yeah. Now, you could dress up your dog, put pants on your dog, a necklace on your dog, a shirt on your dog. You can feed your dog human food, talk to your dog like a human. But if your dog is big enough, when company comes, he's still going to sniff out crotch. Want him to do it? He going to lick somewhere he shouldn't. And if you turn your back, he might do something indecent to somebody's leg. But here's the big point. He can't help it. It's his nature. You can dress it up how you want, but the nature of a thing is eventually going to come out. By nature, a dog barks. By nature, a lion roars. By nature, a monkey climbs. And by nature, a sinner sins. You see? Forget the psychology books and the sociology books. I'm gonna tell you the truth. Jesus got it right. We don't sin just because of the world around us. It's mostly because of the nature in us. This is why when we come to the altar, God doesn't just forgive us. Second Corinthians says, we are new creations in Christ. God doesn't just come to forgive us of our mess. He comes to change the very nature of who we are. Jesus doesn't stand outside of the sin factory saying, well, I'll forgive this sin. Forgive. No. He goes and shuts the factory down. You understand what I'm saying? Thank God, he forgives us. But he puts a new nature, the nature of Christ, in us. You understand? So if all you do is come to church to be forgiven, you've missed the gospel. God wants to change your nature from a child of darkness to a child of light, from a child of the devil, a child of God. Okay, okay, okay. I'm in the book. And we were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Meaning, don't look down on nobody. All of us were in the same boat. And when you are something or a child of something in the scriptures, that's something that never goes away. How many of y' all remember Michael Jackson? Yeah, Mike. Someone said, hee hee. Michael could change his nose as often as he wanted, but he could never erase the fact he was Joe's son. You could do all you want on the outside, but a change won't come till you let God work on the inside. It's an inside job. Those last three chapters were a little hard on us. Our situation was stark. Our situation was bleak. Our situation was hopeless. But then we hear two simple words. And in my mind, it's these two simple words that really explained the entire gospel. But God, I was all that, but God, all that sin, all that, but God. I was in a mess, drowning. But God. But God. But God. But God, But God, but God. When the devil reminds you of your past, look at it and say, but God has given me a future, a hope and a purpose. But God. Genesis 8:1 says, But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and the livestock that were with him in boat. And God made the wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. But God remembered God's wrath released people dead. But God remembered Genesis 15:20 is what Joseph said to his brothers. As for you, y' all meant it for evil, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about this day so I can save many people alive. Psalm 73 and 26. Asaph said, My flesh and my heart may fail, sometimes we get tired. But God is my strength and my heart. Ephesians 2 and 4. God is the strength of my heart. As bad as the three verses prior were. But God, who is rich, he don't give you just a little dab, who is rich in wrath and mercy. You may have had some bad chapters in your life, but with God it doesn't have to be the end of the story. You cannot sin more than God can forgive no sinner. I don't care how bad you think you are, is greater than God's mercy if we just turn to him and repent. You see, this is important. God does not love you because you are good. The scripture says we were dead in trespasses and sinned. The reason God loves you is because God is love. So stop trying to become lovable enough to make God love you. You will never do it. There's not enough makeup in this world to make what you got going on look good to a God that sees past everything on every surface. God's love for us has nothing to do with our character. It has everything to do with his. Okay. Okay. You say okay. Okay. So, you know, in this room, some of our children, prison children on drugs, children in relationships that are killing them, children just doing all different types of things. How many of you know, despite what your child may be doing, you still love that child. You don't love that child an inch less. The issue is you don't enjoy that child. So when you go sideways, it's not that God don't love you, he just can't enjoy you at the moment. But God's love is fixed. It's unconditional, meaning there's no condition. He sees everything you are and loves you. So stop putting on masks, stop fronting, stop trying to pretend you're some you're not. God saw you in your mess and loved you, but he's working on you so he can start to enjoy you. And then it says, and because of his great love with which he loved us. Now the word love is mentioned twice. And one of the words, one of the uses, is preceded by the word great. So God doesn't just love us, he loves. Loves us with a great love. And then it says, even or despite our condition, despicable as it's been at times I know you're like, you ain't talking to me. No, you come on. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with the most beautiful one of them all, with Christ. And the big point here is if God loved us while we were dead, imagine the love he wants to express now that we are alive. Now, this is important. And this is why we gotta go to school for a minute here. God rewards us based on our works, but he does not love us based on our works. God's love for me is unconditional. But the Bible talks about the judgment seat of Christ, where we'll stand before Jesus and give an account for the works we did in the flesh. Some people's work and all their life's gonna be burned up like wood, hay and stubble. But those of us that have built on a rock and we listen to the Lord in our life, in our living and our giving, we'll be likened to precious stones, gold and silver. And we'll endure the fire because when we get to glory, you see, let's say it this way. God does not need our good works, our neighbor does. God doesn't need my good works to love me, but my neighbor needs it to get along in life and for us to properly demonstrate the Christ. So when I get to heaven, the life I lived, I'm not just gonna make it. I'm be rewarded on how well I reflected the image of Jesus. So one of the reasons I'm not trying to live all sideways is not because God wouldn't love me less, but because I got my reward on my mind. And also I don't want to get in the way of anybody else getting to know the one who saved my soul, who cleansed my soul, who keeps me, upholds me. There ain't nothing in this world more important than his approval. And I don't want to hurt him. I don't want to cause him pain. I want there to be a smile on his face as he sees me walking in the room. Even when we were dead in trespasses. Jesus, God raised us up. All the benefits of Christ became ours together with Jesus. Then it says, by grace you have been saved. Now the Holy Spirit is very, very smart and I mentioned two simple words either but God, I said, that describes the gospel. But now he's about to use three words that illustrate the power, the process and the purpose of salvation. And these words are really hard to say. By through and for. By through and for. Now in a moment we're going to say we're saved by grace. So grace is the muscle. What Christ accomplished that, that's the power of God by grace, unmerited favor. We've been saved. But then we're saved through something that's like a fish going through water. That's what I'm trying to do there with my hand. So we're saved by grace, through faith for. Like you're trying to serve something to somebody. So I want you to do this with me. We're saved by grace, through faith for. And we're about to see what that. What we're saved for. Do you know what you're saved for? We're about to see what we're saved for. Let's start again. By what? Grace. What is grace? Grace is simply God's riches at Christ's expense. One more time. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. Let's say that with me. God's riches at Christ's expense. God's riches at Christ's expense. One more time. God's riches at Christ's expense. Salvation is free, but it costs Jesus everything. So let's do this now. And I'm going to wrap up verse eight. For by grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. Jesus paid a debt he didn't know because we owed a debt we could not pay. You have been saved. Now watch the second word through. Through what? Faith. So we receive God's riches at Christ's expense through something so we don't automatically receive. Has to come through something. I want you to think about water through a hose now, water, like grace, is the most important part. But it goes nowhere without the hose. You see, we are not saved by faith, but through faith. Faith is simply the way we receive all that God has promised. So God could have made it very difficult. I want you to write a 30 page paper. I want you to walk on glass. I want you to go to this city seven times and walk around the building three times. And then maybe I'll save you. But God said, I'm going to make it real, real simple that even a child can get this done. All I need you to do is trust me. Just take me at my word. Believe I am who I say I am and I want to do what I said I want to do. Believe that I'm for you and not against. All I'm asking you to do is trust me. Not jump up and down 16 times. Whether you sing or don't sing, or can't sing, or whether you got money. Don't got money, I don't have to pay a penny. All you gotta do is trust him. So the gospel is accessible to every person in every condition and situation. Because the grace of God, the power of God, the muscle of God, and grace doesn't just save you from something. Grace gives you power to live and do some things in life. You have been saved through faith and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Salvation is not your idea. It is God's idea. And it is available to anyone who will trust him. And then he goes on, it's like, because y' all getting a little proud, y' all been in church for a minute and you know all the songs and you know when to clap and all the rest of that, you're starting to forget. So he said, not of works, lest anyone should boast. You see, if I were saved based on my own goodness, I'd have cause to look down on someone else who wasn't saved. But because I need mercy just like you need mercy. There's no grounds for superiority. We are all in the same boat. We need a merciful God. You say, well, I'm a better sinner than the next person who wants to be the best sinner to go to hell. Being better than me don't fix nothing. So we are saved by grace. God's riches at Christ's expense through faith. Faith is the means through which we receive. But he doesn't stop there. He's about to lay out the purpose, at least one of the purposes of our salvation. He says, for we are God's strategic and Artful workmanship. The Greek literally says, we are God's work of art. You are God's masterpiece in the making, according to scripture, created in Christ Jesus. Watch this. For. For we say by grace through faith for this purpose, for good works. So God didn't just save you only because he loved you. He loved you, but he also saved you because he wants to do something amazing through you. The grace of God that saves our souls, he wants to use to change our lives and the lives of others. Watch this. For we are God's workmanship. We are perfectly and expertly designed in Christ Jesus for certain tasks which God prepared beforehand. Before you were born, God saw every life he wanted to change and impact through your living, your giving and your loving. You are an instrument. Actually, you are a weapon. You are God's spear in his hand, designed to hit a certain bullseye. You see, God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. And even though you may not have arrived, God can still use you if you yield for his glory, which God has prepared when beforehand. You are not an afterthought. You are absolutely necessary. When you gave your life to Jesus, you started a domino effect every. Listen, when you came to that altar, God didn't just see you. He saw every life you would have packed after that moment. What's about to happen in a couple minutes is not just gonna impact you. It's gonna impact multiple generations. Cause you're gonna hand it to your kids and then their kids and then their kids and your neighbor. Then they're gonna go to that neighbor. God doesn't just see you. You don't have to be a preacher to be effective. Let me tell you something. All church is, is really the huddle. Yeah, it's the huddle. God calls the play here, but then we get out on the field of life and we get bumped and bruised and all the rest, and then we move the ball down the field. But we are on the same team, just with different roles. Right now, I'm the quarterback, but y' all are on the line. Some of y' all wide receivers, some of y' all real fast with your feet. He uses different gifts in different ways. Different size people, you know, they're different speed, everything. God knows what he's doing. And we're artfully and wisely made by God. Some people I can't reach, but you can. We were saved for good works, which God, before you were born, prepared just for you. So if you miss your moment, other people might miss their salvation. 38 years ago, when the Lord visited me in my dorm room. God loved me and everything, but it wasn't just me. You see, God doesn't see time like we see. He sees the end from the beginning. So he didn't just see a little boy, you know, trying to figure out life. He saw a man. He saw this building. He saw every life that's come to this altar. He's seen every message I've preached. He's seen every life I've impacted. You understand what I'm saying? It's not just about you. You are here for a purpose. And on purpose. We have a world to reach. And you were saved by grace through faith. But for something. And we gotta do it together or it will not get done. For good works which God prepared beforehand, watch this. That we should walk in them. He's saying the world needs what you're carrying. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step of faith. You are not an accident. You are not irrelevant. You matter. You are not a mistake. You are not a mistake. When God sees you, he not only sees you, but everything he designed you to do do in this life. And those things only you can do in the same way that you do them again. God saw everything you could do. And then he made that part of his plan. And all he wants each and every one of us to do is surrender to that plan.
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Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember, you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derekreer.com by clicking the link in the description.