CRCF\u201d\u201d2\/7\/10
\nRidiculous Grace
\nEphesians 1:3-14
\nIntroduction\u201d\u201dAfter the first half-day, Nathan captured the essence of our trip to Arizona\u201d\u201d\u201cThis is crazy ridiculous!\u201d Check it out (go through pics quickly).
\nWe were given this trip\u201d\u201dall expenses paid and an amazing itinerary mapped out, by a great group of people.
\n\u201cAs the only organization of its kind in the nation, the Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation provides memory opportunities for children who have a Mom or Dad with late stage, limited life expectancy cancer. Thousands of Moms and Dads in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s with late stage cancer will die each year despite the advances in research. These parents are leaving behind grieving children.
\nJill Albert appreciated that memories become our greatest inheritance. She urged us all to never stop appreciating our family time together and to never stop dancing.
\nThe Foundation flies in the face of Late Stage Cancer with smiles, joy, and a return to normalcy for these families . . . A WOW! Experience is a unique, memorable getaway that allows the family to enjoy time with each other…while they can away from their new normal of living with the dire circumstances of late stage cancer.\u201d (from www.jajf.org )
\nIn a thank you letter to all who were involved in our week in Arizona, we wrote: \u201cWe have come away from the trip with a greater appreciation of God’s grace because of you all–unearned, undeserved, lavish and extravagant favor, free for our enjoyment because of a great price paid by Someone who loves us infinitely! The cost was great for our time at Wild Horse Pass–time, energy, service, thought and resources, all given by people who care deeply for families dealing with cancer; and the cost was greater still for God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, who loved us enough to give His life that we might be free to know God as our Father!\u201d
\nIf God\u201d\u2122s grace isn\u201d\u2122t just \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d to you, then you don\u201d\u2122t get just how good it really is!
\n1. Grace is Unearned
\nEph. 2:8-9 (NIV)
\n8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u201d\u201dand this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u201d\u201d 9not by works, so that no one can boast.
\nIf God\u201d\u2122s grace isn\u201d\u2122t just \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d to you, then you don\u201d\u2122t get just how good it really is!<\/p>\n
2. Grace is Undeserved
\nRom. 5:8 (NLT)
\n8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
\nIf God\u201d\u2122s grace isn\u201d\u2122t just \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d to you, then you don\u201d\u2122t get just how good it really is!
\n3. Grace is lavish and extravagant favor, free for our enjoyment because of a great price paid by Someone who loves us infinitely!
\nEphesians 1:3-14 (NLT)
\n3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
\n9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ\u201d\u201deverything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
\n12 God\u201d\u2122s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God\u201d\u2122s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
\nIf God\u201d\u2122s grace isn\u201d\u2122t just \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d to you, then you don\u201d\u2122t get just how good it really is!
\n4. Grace makes us truly FREE!
\nRomans 8:1 (NLT)
\n1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
\nSteve Brown: \u201cSome people in the family of God will require things of you that God never required, will tell you that God is angry when he isn\u201d\u2122t, and will make you feel ashamed and guilty when you shouldn\u201d\u2122t feel ashamed and guilty.\u201d (17)
\nGalatians 5:1 (The Message)
\n1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
\nSteve Brown: \u201cMany of us don\u201d\u2122t live free because we don\u201d\u2122t believe in a God who loves us enough to give us the gift of freedom.\u201d (ibid., 28)<\/p>\n
\u201cAbraham Lincoln went to a slave market. There he noted a young, beautiful African-American woman being auctioned off to the highest offer. He bid on her and won. He could see the anger in the young woman\u201d\u2122s eyes and could imagine what she was thinking, Another white man who will buy me, use me, and then discard me. As Lincoln walked off with his \u201d\u02dcproperty\u201d\u2122, he turned to the woman and said, \u201d\u02dcYou\u201d\u2122re free.\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcYeah. What does that mean?\u201d\u2122 she replied. \u201d\u02dcIt means that you\u201d\u2122re free.\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcDoes that mean I can say whatever I want to say?\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcYes,\u201d\u2122 replied Lincoln, smiling, \u201d\u02dcit means you can say whatever you want to say.\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcDoes it mean,\u201d\u2122 she asked incredulously, \u201d\u02dcthat I can be whatever I want to be?\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcYes, you can be whatever you want to be.\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcDoes it mean,\u201d\u2122 the young woman said hesitantly, \u201d\u02dcthat I can go wherever I want to go?\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcYes, it means you are free and can go wherever you want to go.\u201d\u2122 \u201d\u02dcThen,\u201d\u2122 said the young woman with tears welling up in her eyes, \u201d\u02dcI think I\u201d\u2122ll go with you.\u201d\u2122\u201d (Steve Brown, A Scandalous Freedom, 13)
\nOn the way home from Arizona, I thought to myself\u201d\u201dI\u201d\u2122d really like to meet the folks who made this trip possible, I\u201d\u2122d really like to thank them personally and get to know them better, because their kind generosity is just \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d!<\/p>\n
I don\u201d\u2122t know about you, but God\u201d\u2122s \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d grace makes me want to know Him more and act more like Jesus!
\nIf God\u201d\u2122s grace isn\u201d\u2122t just \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d to you, then you don\u201d\u2122t get just how good it really is!
\nConclusion\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n
Romans 8:31-39 (NLT)\u201d\u201dREAD from Bible<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a convent school, there was a basket of apples on the dining-room table. A note under the basket said, \u201d\u02dcTake only one. God is watching.\u201d\u2122 At the other end of the dining room sat another basket filled with chocolate-chip cookies. In a child\u201d\u2122s handwriting, a note under the basket read: \u201d\u02dcTake all the cookies you want. God is watching the apples.\u201d\u2122
\n\u201cGod is really watching both the apples and the cookies. In fact, he made them for you and will be offended if you don\u201d\u2122t try them.\u201d (Brown, 48)<\/p>\n
Last Slide\u201d\u201dTHAT is how we should feel about God\u201d\u2122s grace all that time\u201d\u201dit\u201d\u2122s THAT \u201ccrazy ridiculous\u201d, good!<\/p>\n
Celebration of the Lord\u201d\u2122s Supper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d2\/7\/10 Ridiculous Grace Ephesians 1:3-14 Introduction\u201d\u201dAfter the first half-day, Nathan captured the essence of our trip to Arizona\u201d\u201d\u201cThis is crazy ridiculous!\u201d Check it out (go through pics quickly). We were given this trip\u201d\u201dall expenses paid and an amazing itinerary mapped … Continue reading