THE TRANSFORMING CHURCH
SUNDAY SERVICE
May 26th, 2024 (1st Service)
YEAR OF FLOURISHING AND THRIVING SUPERNATURALLY
Minister: Pastor Sunday Adebamiro
Text: 1st Corinthians 15:9-10 (NKJV)
Topic: FLOURISHING AND THRIVING THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD
“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Grace is undeserved and unmerited favor of God. It is no longer grace if you deserve or work for it. Grace is also God’s uncaused goodness, blessings and love towards us. So many of us became parents by default, having not attended any parenting classes, but the way our children turned out could only be by the grace of God.
Grace is the embodiment and sum total of all the riches of God that came through Christ Jesus. It is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. It is everything that God has given to every believer in Christ.
Grace summarizes all the blessings of God as far as Christ is concerned. In other words, it is everything that Christ represents. Grace includes favor, power, anointing etc, and there are no blessings you can talk about outside Grace.
Reasons we need Grace:
- Grace gives Access:
Ephesians 2: 5 (NKJV)
“Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”
We are saved by the grace of God. Grace gives us access to the salvation we have in Christ.
Ephesians 2: 13 – 14 (NKJV)
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.”
We now have access to all the blessings in Christ by Grace.
Romans 8:17 (NKJV)
“and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Every inheritance Christ has access to is also accessible to us. Now, Christ is not the only begotten son, but also one of the begotten sons. Grace has made it happen for us to also be counted among the begotten children of God.
- Grace gives Advantage:
The world system is structured in a way that only the strong, fast, skillful or wise can make it, but grace has been able to disrupt that structure.
Ecclesiastes 9: 11 (NLT)
“I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.”
Only grace can give advantage or room to the less privileged in this kind of structured system. Grace makes the difference.
Paul never had the opportunity to sit with Jesus as one of His disciples while on earth, but Paul admitted all his accomplishments to the grace of God. By grace, the last can become the first and the weak can become the strong.
2 Peter 1: 2 (NKJV)
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,”
Grace is an expandable commodity. The reason you are where you are is because grace has not multiplied. How can grace be multiplied? By the knowledge of God through Christ. In essence, grace is multiplied in your life as you know God the more.
