Flamdunktious 4
Flamdunktious!
Week 1: F words of Glory. Tame the tongue. “If you can say it, you can play it”
Week 2: Biblical Motherhood. Esther Focused on FORGIVENESS [Talk About forgiving J&G]
Week 3: Faith Filled Grace Notes
Week 4: From Seed to Deed.
- Memorial Day, Appropriate Patriotism & The Glory of the nations.
Today:
FLAVORS OF FAVOR
Psalm 34:4-8
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him
Taste and see that the LORD is good!!
God has revealed to us in His Word that He gives favor! Our whole relationship with God is possible because We are saved from our separation from God by His own gift to us of unmerited favor.
You see that’s what GRACE means. Unmerited favor.
UNMERITED favor
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
Romans 3:24
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
INHERITED favor
Inherited favor - the unmerited favor we received from Jesus Christ makes us children of God, Co-heirs with Him!! As heirs, we get an inheritance. Not because of who we are, but because of who HE is. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. The promise of the fullness that is to come. We become kings and priests. the Bible literally calls us God’s fellow workers. He collaborates with us.
Now, we also learn from the word of God that what we do with our inheritance can lead to either more or less favor. This is MERITED favor. Talking about this is actually a little controversial. For good reason too, our salvation and status as children of God is the context of all of this. ANY form of merited favor from God must be understood in the context of our status as justified saints, as children of God. As people clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Our status as such is unmerited. Under that umbrella of grace, what we do with that incredible gift of Resurrection life does have consequences.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
MERITED favor
the Bible uses “IF” over 1500 times. A bunch of those are God speaking.
Scriptures:
Matthew 16:27
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
The Promise: The Son of Man (Jesus) is going to come in His glory and will reward people.
The Condition: You will be rewarded according to your own deeds in this life.
Matthew 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The Promise: The end will come.
The Condition: When the Gospel has been preached to all nations in the whole world.
Matthew 24:45-47
45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
The Promise: God will make a person ruler over all that is His (His possessions).
The Condition: If that person is faithful and wise in charge of the “little things”.
Hebrews 11:6
The Promise: God rewards
The Condition: those who diligently seek him
James 1:5-6
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
The Promise: Wisdom will be given.
The Condition: If you ask of God in faith without doubting.
James 1:12
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
The Promise: Receive the crown of life
The Condition: If we endure trials by temptation and love the Lord.
THE FLAVORS OF FAVOR
I opened today with TASTE and see that the Lord is good. The Word of teaches us about God’s favor, often using flavor.
- Jesus is the bread of life! John 6:35
- Actual food. Romans 14: EAT! Acts. Don’t call unclean what I have called clean. Vegans & Timothy.
- The Holy Spirit is the new wine! Matt 9:17
"16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”- Doing the will of God is MEAT John 4:34
- The Water of the Word (& Times of refreshing!) Ephesians 5:26, Acts 3:20 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
- The FISH
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea andgathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
- Psalm 36: 7-9
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
9 For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light.
- The Fattened Calf [The two sons parable]
Check your heart! Embrace the responsibility. Working with people is MESSY. God has called us to do it though. “GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES”
When you catch fish, it’s not nice. It’s fun. It’s fulfilling. It’s work though.
To an even greater level, it’s like taking on a city, the responsibility comes with that. There is much hate out there today for the wealthy. Now, I’m not calling the wealthy righteous but much of the hate comes for ignorant envy. For me, I have no desire to be a billionaire. To some degree I know what it takes, and I simply do not desire that. I’m not called to that. But many who are not called desire the riches. (Famous makeup lady example of $30k debt, My bitcoin friend who risked $20,000 of debt)
Finally to bring this back around, Let’s finish with the Revelation promises. Merited Or Unmerited?
The promises to the churches Revelation 1-3
Revelation Promises.
1. Revelation 2:7 To the one who is victorious,I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
2. Revelation 2:11 The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
3. Revelation 2:17 To the one who is victorious,I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
4. Revelation 2:26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’[b]—just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give that one the morning star.
5. Revelation 3:5 The one who is victorious will be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.
6. Revelation 3:12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
7. Revelation 3:21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Summary:
• Citizenship of paradise
• Immortality
• Granted Forgiveness
• Given Authority over nations
• We get Irrevocable inclusion
• We will be established and given security clearance (know God’s secrets)
• We are given the right to sit on the throne of the king of universe
BID
1. Receive the Unmerited Favor
2. Commit to obedience, to appropriately use your inheritance.