Pastor Steve Dixon

Praise God. Greetings in the name of Jesus, and I wanted to play this piano because it’s anointed over here. Wow! I love the worship; I love the worship. It is worship with thanksgiving to our great God that brings us all together. God has chosen our praise and worship to bring unity to brothers and sisters around the world, and this a beautiful expression of that today here.
So, we bring you greetings from America, and say thank you so much for all you’re doing for the Kingdom of God. Great things are coming out of this house. If you realize it or not, you have been touching the world through the ministries of this house, and I say thank God for every one of you, we love pastor Gail and Brian so very much and they are gifts to every one of us.
Song – Falling in love with Jesus, is the best thing I’ve ever done. Can you say Amen to that? Praise God. I love You Lord Jesus. We bless You Father.
Song – It is good to give thanks unto the Lord. I will praise the name of the Lord. Amen, Amen.
And we give thanks. One of the beautiful things working with you as an interpreter, is I mess up, you can just do a Greek dance. Oh, she’s good. We have had so much fun, and this is a life changing week in our lives, and I think I speak for the others. Thank you for your kind hospitality to us. We commit to pray for you, as you commit to pray for us, for we are the body of Christ.
For the Scripture this morning I want to take you to Ephesians 1. But I want to talk to you about grace. One of the most precious gifts we have in the body of Christ, is this underserved gift of blessing and favor, that we have through Jesus Christ, our, Lord and Savior.
Ephesians 1:1-8, we begin, “This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 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.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 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.

So, we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”

Praise God for the marvelous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He has given to every one of us. It is so important that Paul so frequently began his writings with these words, “grace and peace to you.” And what a way to enter life with the grace and peace of God. Knowing that He is for us and not against us. Knowing that it is His nature to be kind and forgiving to us. I think this portion of Scripture captures that beautifully for us.
The story is told of something that happened on the Oxford university campus many years ago. That a group of wise teachers and scholars assembled together somewhere, and were debating. They were debating on what makes Christianity unique. Some said, could it be the death of Christ? The conclusion was no, because others have said some have died for them. Could it be His resurrection from the dead? No, because some would say they have figures rise from the grave to teach them.
Trying to put a word on why we are unique in this world. As followers of Christ, what makes us different? And the noted Christian apologist of the day, CS Lewis, walked in the room, and asked, what is this confusion about? And they explained, that we’re trying to come up with some way of understanding why we are unique. Why is Christianity unique?
CS Lewis said, that’s easy. It’s grace. It’s grace. No strings attached, he said. No attachments, nothing we have to do to earn it. He let them know right up front that it is a free gift from God to us. No charge. It’s free, Amen? Other religions can’t claim that. But the common denominator for everyone who chooses to follow Christ, is that we recognize that it is by grace that we are saved, and no merit of our own, but it is based on His love for us.
So, I have a question for you. Do you have any idea how much God loves you? Do you really comprehend how much He loves you? That changes everything. When we begin to think of His love towards us and not out deserving of His love, God loved us so much that He gave His Son as we know. And Greece doesn’t understand it totally, but next week you will celebrate the risen Savior.
Nothing we could ever do could help us, would allow us to earn the grace He has shown towards us. So, accepting the fact that He has graciously loved us, is a difficult thing for some people to do. Because we look at ll our transgressions and sins, we look at our failures and disappointments, we’ve even had other people say to us, ‘You are no good.’ And it prevents us from knowing how much He loves us. But the only way we’ll ever experience that beautiful gift is by faith in Jesus. Stepping into the unknown. Stepping into that place where we’re unsure, but we’re going to trust what He says is true. And when we do, there is a joy that is unspeakable.
There’s this first realization of how much He loves us and life begins in a new day. Three things about grace I want you to remember:

There is the saving grace of God that He gives us.
There is the sustaining grace of God. Grace for the journey I would say.

Paul said, ‘I could boast about a lot of things in the Lord.’ In 2 Corinthians 3, he was quick to tell the body of Christ, ‘I could brag if I wanted to,’ but he identified with the people by speaking of his own situation. What he said, ‘I have a thorn in the flesh.’ All of a sudden, everybody relates to him. ‘I have a trouble in my own spirit.’ Maybe it was in his flesh, maybe it was in his thinking. We don’t really know. But he said 3 times, ‘I have asked God to take it away from me.’ Then he turned around with this remarkable revelation, ‘His grace is sufficient and His strength is perfected in my weakness.’ I am so glad he didn’t boast, but that he then identified with me, because I have questions and troubles in my own thinking. I have questions that I have no answers and I get no answers, but I hear Him say, ‘My grace is sufficient, and My strength in you is perfect in the midst of this weakness.’
Kozy and I are praying sincerely about certain things. We’re putting all of our hopes and our faith towards something. We want an extended member of our family to be set free from bondage. Because we hurt when we see family hurt. I wish I could tell you that God has answered the prayer the way I prayed it. I’ve asked Him several times, more than three, but I’m learning that, ‘His grace is sufficient.’ His grace is sufficient for the journey that is necessary, for the freedom to take place. For the deliverance to come. God’s not doing it the way I sometimes think He should.
This did not stop Paul’s ministry at all. But he said, ‘In my weakness I’m learning strength. In my situation I’m learning grace.’ And can I tell you this, nobody can help somebody, like somebody that’s been there. So, it could be that God is preparing you to be minister to somebody else. To extend the grace to them that He has extended to you. We are saved by His grace. We are sustained by His grace. And the journey will go on, because, “He who hath begun a good work in me is faithful to complete that work.” Amen? Then I believe Paul also spoke of a third grace:

A sanctifying grace. A grace that continues to work in us and helps us to conform to the image of Christ.

I don’t know if anybody has told you this or not, but the day you gave your heart to Jesus, your destiny was set in heaven but you didn’t necessarily look like a Christian. I could say it to someone, ‘When did you stop smoking? Well, that was months ago. Oh. I’m sorry, your clothes still smell like smoke.’ There’s a lot of washing that takes place. There’s a lot of cleansing that takes place. Paul even refers to it in Romans as a ‘renewing of our minds that takes place.’
We need to offer one another grace, as we are all growing in this grace. God asks us to love Him, then He gives us the grace to love Him. He gives us the power and the desire to love Him. He invites us to serve Him, and then He gives us the grace to serve Him. He gives us the grace to live a holy life before him, and then He gives us the grace to live it out. He invites to love one another, and then He gives us the grace to love one another, for there are a lot of unlovely people in our lives. But He gives us a special grace to love one another.
Everything in your future, is something that God has already prepared you for. Pastor Gail’s story, of loving people the way she loves people, I would say, has something to do with the way she was loved, when she was just a child and found herself in Linda’s home, with a mom that loved. Everything is preparation for the next thing in our lives. God heals us and holds us. So that we hold and heal others. We will never bring healing to our world, if we don’t love them like Jesus loved them. That’s the only way healing is going to come to our world. That’s the only way healing is going to come to our families. And can I say, it’s the way of victory for people. For love covers a multitude of sin.
I’m concerned in the Body of Christ today, that there are many, because of the things that are going on in our world, that are very angry. And there are two commandments in the Word of God. One is this, “Be angry”, the second is, “but sin not.” Two commands. It is human to be angry, but it’s a violation of His grace to sin in our anger. So, we have the privilege of loving as He has loved us, and not judging others, because He did not judge us. But in His kindness, He loved us.
We will touch our families for Jesus, if we will love them rather than judge them. If we will hold them and let them cry, because the Holy Spirit wants to do the work. And I’ve learned something of recent, the Holy Spirit speaks the language of our heart. And every one of us need to hear what He has to say. So, I cannot let my anger get in the way. So, I need to pace my life with this grace and let God do the beautiful work of love in my family. But it is God’s desire to do something good. It’s always been His desire to do great and mighty things, but it is the love of God that opens the door. And the grace of God that invites people into that relationship. So, may we do the very same thing.
I want to close with this. You don’t have to be bogged down with your past mistakes, but you can give it completely to the Lord and have grace to go on. And don’t be disturbed if it doesn’t happen immediately the you want it to happen, but let His sustaining grace take you on the journey, for you are growing in Him as you do life with Him. We’re in this thing together, Jesus and me, we’re in this thing together. So, regardless what happens, I’m not alone. He is with me. He is with us. And He is for us. So, none of these things can be against us, and triumph over us. They will come against us, but they cannot triumph over us, because we’re strong in Him.
Let me pray, OK? Precious Jesus, we’re so grateful for Your love. So grateful for the gift of Your grace to us. We know we don’t deserve it, yet You have lavished Your grace upon us. So, from a grateful heart, we say thank you. Thank You that we walk with Your grace, it sustains us, it changes us, to become more and more like You. So, now I pray in the name of Jesus, that we will lay our hurts and habits and disappointments, we will lay them at Your feet, and we will move forward in grace. Because You are for us. Now, let the peace of God that passes all of our understanding, guard our hearts and our minds against all those things that would come against us, and let our gaze be upon Your love, Your unconditional love to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen, Amen. God bless you.

Gail Stathis

I believe that this is a divine day. Some of us have an appointment with the Lord today. I think Steve needs to play that song again, ‘Falling in love with Jesus.’ And I’ll tell you another reason why, for me that is grace. No matter what, and I feel His love. Some of you may want to get married and wonder where your spouse is, He’s already here. He’s right here. He always stays. He never leaves. I think as we listen to Steve sing this today, any hurts, anything you feel, anything you feel inadequate about, just don’t think about that. Just picture Jesus holding you, loving you no matter what, and I’m just asking for one couple to stand on one side and another couple on the other side of us. If you want someone to pay with you today. Today, let it go.
You know what, He is so crazy about you. I know it, He tells me all the time, ‘Oh He loves me’ and some of you need to know that today. So, as Steve sings, just where you’re at, let Him hold you and pour His love on you and if you want to pray with someone that that is sealed today, that you never feel the negative again, let somebody pray with you or grab somebody by the hand, alright.
Sometimes we rush our time with the Lord, but the most beautiful thing is just to see Him with you, to know Him with you. He’s there. That’s all we need. That’s all you need today. Amen. I love that word. Don’t you feel Him holding you right now? Hallelujah. How rich we are. One more time and then I think we’re going to end. I think everybody in here knows the Lord as your personal Savior, but if you do not, He’s here to teach about love, Amen. He loves you, just invite Him in.