Ep# 76 - We Are Saved By God's Grace, BUT...

It seems to me that the grace of God is not fully understood in the church. Many doctrines focus on what we have to do, getting us into the business of performing and trying to do for ourselves what Jesus already accomplished. We seem to think that we are independent from God, and so we work way too hard to try and receive from Him. So, here are a few points about grace covered in the podcast: • Everything we receive from God is a gift, from His grace • Salvation is a gift, NOT a reward or based on works • There is no human element involved in the grace of God • Faith is a gift Now, here is where we get stuck. We think we need to muster up our faith, that we need to work to believe more, which comes out of a false identity of separation from God. The reality is we do not have faith apart from Jesus, because we do not exist apart from Jesus. Some highlights about faith from the podcast include: • Faith without a foundational understanding of our union with God = works • The grace of God is what gives us the ability to have faith • Faith is a response to hearing what God has done - hearing the word of God, the Gospel, is what delivers faith to us I cover a lot of other ground is covered in the podcast as well, including what it even means to be saved, why we think we need to build our faith, and what we practically need to do so that the Kingdom of God can manifest in our lives. It’s time to stop working for the gifts of salvation and faith that we’ve been given through grace, and rest in what He already finished!