Grace Shines Brightly by Pastor Brent Lokker

Last Saturday I gave multiple examples of how grace leads us into a close relationship with God while religion (the keeping of rules) keeps us at a distance. Here are a few examples:

Religious Rule Keeping Is performance and fear based Focuses on punishment Always asks: "Am I doing enough to please God?" Believes my past is too big and horrible for God to forgive Judges & condemns myself and others Thinks God is angry with me when I sin and looking to find all the wrong things I do

Grace & Faith-based Relationship with God Is acceptance and love-based Focuses on restoration Believes that Jesus has made me enough! I am pleasing to my Father! Loves and accepts myself and others while helping them to grow Knows that God hates the sin that hurts me and is training me to use my freedom to love myself

You can listen to the rest of the message here While it’s 100% true that we are saved by grace and that we can’t “do” anything for God to love us any more than he already does, it’s also 100% true that out of his love and grace, our heavenly Father has always wanted us to walk in the light and freedom of who we are as his holy ones. His grace gifts of forgiveness and freedom in Christ were never meant to be used to walk back into darkness. Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light! And the supernatural fruits of his light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth. Then you will learn to choose what is beautiful to our Lord. Whatever the revelation-light exposes, it will also correct, and everything that reveals truth is light to the soul. (Ephesians 5:8-10,13 TPT) What is your mission? To live as children flooded with his revelation-light! And why does his light expose and correct darkness in us? Because… You are God’s chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own. He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world.  (1 Peter 2:9, TPT) This leads us right back to the Father’s plan: We get to display the nature of God wherever we go, not by trying to be good, but by allowing Christ in us to shine brightly! With Much Love, Pastor Brent