Present Grace part 2

We have a firm grasp of past grace when God forgave my sins. We have a firm grasp of future grace when I will dwell in heaven with God. We don't have a grasp of God's Present Grace.

We can think of journey of our lives as a book.

The Last Chapter One of the ways we know what is important throughout a story is by reading the last chapter. The finale of any story reconciles and gives meaning to the plot. Things that didn't make sense at the time are put in perspective in the finale.

The early chapters of humanity after creation was the fall. Without Jesus Christ, the final chapter of men is death, destruction, separation from God and his grace for eternity.

God would not allow the final chapter for his children to end in death and separation. Listen to the final scenes of those who trust Jesus that come out of the tribulation.

Revelation 7:9-17

The final chapter of Jesus' followers is not sin, shame, death and destruction. Our story will end with "praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever."

We will be there with the angels, the 24 elders, and the four living creatures celebrating the greatness of God and Jesus who changed the plot of our lives, rescued us from sin and death and gave us eternity in heaven.

Gives perspective to our struggles - maybe the goal of my life is more than my temporary happiness. My life is worth more than working and wanting and buying things. My failures do not define me, my life in Christ defines who I am.

"God is working to accomplish something much greater in me than I am usually even aware of. I need to look at my daily life through the lens of my final destination: Christlikeness in God’s presence." The Present Chapter What needs to change to affect the current chapter of your life? We focus on the things we feel are missing in our lives. My life would be better If I had a different job, If I had a more money, a better marriage, more opportunity. All those things are good, But too often, they take our focus away from what our ultimate goal is. We think, "I'll be happy, fulfilled, complete if only..."

We focus on things outside of ourselves as needing change - not us. We have relationship problems and always think it's someone else's fault. We have been hurt and think that someone else's sin is will always affect our life.

"We tend to believe that the sin that surrounds us is more dangerous than the sin that resides inside us." - Lane and Tripp

James 4:1-3. What causes fights, quarrels - my own wickedness. What needs to change? You and me.

We seek fulfillment in something or someone other than Christ.

The Bible says that is idolatry. We take good things and make them ultimate things. We engage in idolatry whenever take something out of its proper sphere and put it in a place of worship.

The Bible describes the relationship between Jesus and his church like the relationship between a groom and his bride. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭54‬:‭5‬)

Ephesians uses Jesus' relationship with his church to instruct men to love their wives.

2 Corinthians 11:1-3

In our relationship with Jesus we find fullness and real help for change and growth. The real issue is not outside of you. It is within you. You need redemption - not at the end of your life - in this present chapter of your life. You need change. You need growth.

The Christian life is built upon the foundation of facing who you really are and trusting who Christ really is.

In our union with Christ, we bring liabilities, but he brings countless assets that make possible our growth and real change in this chapter of your life.