Grow Strong in Spirit and Wisdom with God's Amazing Grace - Randy Bell

Christianity is based on God's amazing grace, which brings life and liberty.

God's grace is implanted in our being, making our life real and not just a concept.

Jesus, as a child, grew strong in spirit and became filled with wisdom due to God's grace.

The evidence of God's grace in Jesus' life was real and noticeable to others.

Thank you. All right, we've spoke a few weeks about how the entire concept of Christianity, the whole course of history is laid upon God and it's based into one big word called grace. God's grace is implanted with the reality of bringing us life and liberty. We don't talk about religion as a bunch of words, a bunch of concepts, a bunch of thoughts that you build in your head. Grace takes God's word and implants it into your being so that your life is real and that your reality is more than just something you think about on Sundays, but every day of the week you are being pressed by the presence and power of the living God. And so we're going to look at the story of Christmas to establish the ideas of grace today. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And here's the key verse I want you to look after all this. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. The grace of God was upon him. Now, when you think and understand the grace of God, we think God doesn't need grace. But Jesus, the man, needed grace in the same way that we, the people of the church, need grace. In the exact same way, God poured out grace upon Jesus as we need grace poured upon us. Now, when you look at Jesus as the example here, and you think of Him growing up as a baby with the grace of God upon Him, what do you expect His life to reflect in the real world? Does it mean that He lives like the devil, disobeys His mother, beats up His younger brothers, and then God just forgives Him and it's okay? What do you expect grace to have accomplished in Him? What do you expect it to be? What do you expect to see his life to be like? Ideas? Goodness, definitely. What else? Submission to authority. What else? Spiritual blessing. Holiness, righteousness, goodness, peace, joy, love. You expect godliness to pour out of him because the grace of God is upon him, right? It's got to be connected. You can't have the grace without the reality. And that's what I would need you to see about Jesus. And this is so good to see it at the Christmas season. God poured out His grace upon His Son, and it was reflected in the real world. And God is going to teach us through His Word that as He pushes out grace upon us, it's reflected in the real world also. It must be the same visual reality. Does that make sense? It's got to be there. It's got to be true and real. So we think of the grace of God was upon Him. We expect Christ the child to grow. Even in the natural fleshly thing, we see children grow. We expect them to get bigger, stronger, larger, smarter. We see things that happen as growth happens. It's very real. In the spiritual, it's the same thing. You would expect a Christian that's born to become real, stronger, developing as it goes. As natural a process as the process of being just a human baby. Right? That's the point of what we're reflecting here. It's so real. Number two, he became strong in spirit, it says. Well, that would be normal. Grace affects the spirit. Right? So of course he would become stronger as a baby, growing to a little child, as a little child. Because that lucky guy, if you say luck, he didn't have to be born again. He was born right in the first place. We were born in sin and had to get reversal somewhere along the line, get a second birth, and then start from there. He got it from the outset. So there was no reversal changes. He was supernaturally motivated by the grace of God from the day he was. And never stopped as he went out into eternity. If you'd say as he died on the cross, resurrected and went to heaven. There was no major changes in his spirit because God was pouring his grace into his spirit. His spirit was constantly becoming stronger. Even though he was confined to not even knowing any language. Can you imagine? Think about that. if you were talking and singing, all of a sudden, whoop, you became a baby again. All your thoughts would be just locked up. You wouldn't have any more, hardly, because you have no English knowledge of anything. You have no language. You've got feelings, and you feel hungers and whatever, but you have no community, and you've got to learn it all. It's got to come. Here he had everything just snatched away from him instantly when he was created in that womb. All his thoughts and abilities were gone. And suddenly, it took a while before, as his spirit got stronger to develop, it took time for... I mean, believe me, he didn't just start talking when he was five days old. He had to learn to talk like every other kid. His mind had to develop. And it wasn't developed, and therefore, he was stuck. There was no outlet. Nothing was happening there. He was in that little framework like anybody else And it had to be developed And he became strong in spirit and grew in body And also it says even as a child he was becoming filled with wisdom. Oh, I wish I saw some kids full of wisdom. Most kids are pretty dumb. And you have to keep them from hurting themselves, beating up their friends, killing their neighbors, destroying the animals, killing... You know, they just don't know anything. You've got to spend a lot of time to develop wisdom. Right? But it comes. And the thing is, under grace, it comes. It comes as natural flow as you grow up as a person. And I need you to see how important it is in your life that you are seeing the impacting presence of the grace of God in your life. It's got to be real. It says, the child grew and became strong in spirit. Strong. Notice that word strong. Not just grew in the spirit, he became strong in the spirit. He was filled with wisdom, not just had some wisdom. He got flooded with wisdom. And the grace, favor of God was upon him. And that means it was noticeable. The people noticed this kid in town. The grace of God was upon him from the time he became visual, visible amongst the people. They saw the grace and favor of God on him uniquely different than everybody else. They could sense it, see it. It was there. It wasn't hidden. It came out because it was flooding out of him. Now that's cool. Now, this is what I want you to say. Evidence of grace in Jesus was real. It wasn't just talk that his mother said. The neighbors noticed he was doing things unusually different than the other kids. It was uniquely things different. Kindness kept coming out of him. Love kept coming. Things that you have to try to beat it into your kids because they're pagans until they're converted. he was doing these things more and more day by day week by week he was getting stronger in spirit greater in the in the truth of the word and wisdom was coming out of him and they were getting blown away now we know this is true because remember when he was 12 when he was 12 it says as it was their custom which means every year they went to jerusalem and fulfilled the the ceremonies and so forth of the yearly feast they got there remember he got lost into the temple and it says he was asking questions do you know what that means it doesn't mean what you think he wasn't going there and say oh sir i need to have an answer the leaders asked questions when they taught 12 years old he goes in there and blows away all the leaders of the temple and starts asking them questions and teaching them the truth and they were astounded and he didn't let up on them for three days it says he blew them away well that didn't just happen when he was 12 it was brewing day after day and week after week month after month as the grace of god was amazingly poured out with all fullness upon him just pouring through him so at 12 he thought he was ready because he already blew away everybody in the whole nation all the experts couldn't even handle any longer, but God didn't think it was ready yet. It wasn't time until he was 30. But he already could handle them all at 12. That's the grace of God. See, visually, something's going on. Changes from every aspect of their life was pouring out of them so the choices he made, the attitudes he held, the actions he completed, the way he handled himself around other people, adults and children, was visibly the grace-altering, impacting power of the Holy Ghost. Right? You see what I'm saying? And I'm belaboring it because I want you to see this is just as real and has to be just as reality in your life. That's the power of God. That's the power of God. It's the reality of being truly in the spirit of the Lord. Now, the word grace, if you remember, we get the word charismatic in our culture. And everybody thinks that means you speak in tongues and jump up and down and stuff. That has nothing to do with it. I want to show you how that's so confusing. It really has confused the truth here. Charis, the first part of the word we call charismatic, is the word grace. It's the word grace. And you look at the definition. It says graciousness of manner or act. And it can be an abstract or a concrete actual thing is what it's saying here. It can be figuratively used, literally or spiritually. It covers all areas and aspects of life, in other words. And it says especially, and get that word especially, that's the core idea of what grace really means. Especially the divine influence upon the heart. Grace is especially the divine presence and pushing of God's life upon you. This is why we've always defined grace as what? The desire and the power to do God's will. This is why the core meaning of the word is exactly that. Think about it. If the idea of grace is the divine influence, well, what's influence? Pressing upon your desires, giving you the strength to do His will. That is exactly the defining term of what the essence of grace is all about. It's the influence upon the heart and its reflection in the real world, your life. See how it is? It's got to be real. When it's inside, it's not like hidden. Some people say, I'm a believer, but I don't show it. That's like saying I'm a woman, but I don't show it. Or, you know, I mean, if you're a woman, you're a woman. And how can you not see that? You know, I mean, it's there. And grace, if it's real, it floods out of your life. It does come through. It's real. And it's an active reality. Now, to see how important that is then, remember how it said, the word became, in Luke, or in John, excuse me, one it says the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory and this man's talking about being around Jesus John is saying it the glory as of the only begotten of the father notice the word full of grace and truth They were around him and they could see the grace and they could experience the truth See, it was there. You know, Jesus didn't walk around saying one thing and doing another. His grace reality was so real they saw it and heard it because it was coming out of his life and his mouth at the same time. And it says full. Notice that full. That word full is also very significant. That word full means covered over. In other words, like you get flooded or turn on a hose and let it keep flooding and flooding and flooding. it's more than just being fill your glass up it's overflowing the glass it keeps coming out and over the side and over the side and over the side and doesn't quit that's the idea it's complete full replete covered over and it just has happening it's real and so you see the idea that the word became flesh and dwelt among us and it was full of grace and truth so how does that impact us or How has that got to do with us? Well, he goes on to say in verse 16, And of his fullness we have all received. Oh, stop right there. What did that say? Of all that grace we have received. Now the Christian John's making sense. We've received that overwhelming grace. And grace for grace. Like that. And grace for grace. You get the grace and you get grace for grace. Now what's he talking about? Well, the idea of that fullness, remember, talks about that completion, it filling, it coming at us. And even more than that, Dr. Spiros Zodiades, we knew him, I knew him. He used to come, when I lived in Stewart, or I didn't live in Stewart, I lived in Hobeson, but I was a youth pastor at Covenant Fellowship Baptist Church in Stewart. He used to come to that church and teach every year. because in the wintertime, he fled from the cold like all the other snowbirds, came down here, and he wrote a lot of books. And he would come to our church and teach us. This man is a Greek expert. You know why? He's Greek. He knew Greek because he was born and raised in Greece, and he knew Greece and knew Greek, and so he was the best guy. He wouldn't even bring an English Bible in with him. He would sit there and bring a Greek Bible in with him, and off the top of his head, translate off the Greek, teaching us the word into English. And he just blew our minds. And he says for this thing, this is really cool if you catch this. He says here, when he talks about this, first of all, receive grace for grace. He said a new believer cannot receive or experience all God's grace at once. Can't handle it. It would be too much for him to handle. So the father apportions grace to the believer based on his capacity for receiving it. Your cup is smaller than God's pitcher. So instead of drowning you, he just fills up your glass. And it basically says, hence, keros and keratos. Grace added on top of grace and new grace is given for grace already used up on serving God and others. Do you realize that grace is used up? It's like energy. It's like electricity or gas in your car. God gives you grace and you can run it down and run your tank empty. Grace will run out. Do you know that? It's not an abstract thought. Grace is actually an energizing force from the Holy Spirit. So you use it up. You have to get refueled. And you can run your tank dry and stop the grace of God coming. you run out of juice and you start to find yourself struggling living unrighteously you wonder what's going on grace is gone there's things we do to stop the grace of God but he says he will give grace and more grace grace upon grace in other places he says and he gives more grace yet he gives you more and more he's got all the grace you need if you just walk with him and that grace is sufficient. He said, my grace is sufficient to Paul, right? My grace is sufficient. It'll give you as much as you need. And we see it in Jesus, but we tend not to think it's here. Well, Jesus doesn't know what my... I'm not like Jesus. He doesn't know what my life's like. You don't know my boss. You don't know my neighbors. You don't know myself. You don't know my husband or you don't know whatever. But that's got anything to do with it. Grace keeps coming. If you understand the process here, I made an example last time if you're real thirsty it's like going to a fire hydrant and take a drink wham! he could knock you back a hundred feet if you want but he won't give you that much grace but it's there he'll tone it down to a hose full just so you get enough to hang in there now God is able to make all grace abound towards you the second idea he's able to make all grace abound to you sufficient and more than enough he's able to do. So when we talk about being lacking of anything, it's not God's fault. He's already got all the grace for you. He's able to give you all the grace you need. And so we've got to see where we fall short and how we can make sure we stick with the power. Don't pay your bills. FP&L will cut you off. You don't have any power. We had that happen with the cable this week. Suddenly in the morning, I got up to watch the news and it just went snap and said, you're no longer whatever. I said, Cheryl, come here. Did you pay the bill? I didn't get one. Well, you better get one now because we have nothing here. We're now without the use. Oh, well, I never got one. So I said, well, you better call or I'll call. And so we had to call and find out that sure enough, we never did get the bill. She was right. I don't know where it went to, but it didn't change any fact that you get cut off anyway. Got our attention real quick Now God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance He wants you to have an abundance of grace Plenty. So overwhelming grace is showered upon you. Just think of that lady. Just think of getting showered with so many gifts you haul them out by the handfuls. That's what he's talking about. He's trying to fill your arms up with so much grace you don't know what to do with it all. So what he wants you to do with it is start sharing it. And that's why at the end it says, may I have an abundance for every good work. He gives you so much grace, you don't know what to do with it all, so you start sharing it with others. That's what he's after. Because that's the point. Just like I said in the other point there, he gives you grace, but you can run your tank dry when you use it doing the works of God. You literally use up his grace. Then you can try to be self-sufficient, but that's not going to make the things happen. You need God's grace. Otherwise, you'll find yourself dried up. God pours out grace to grow spiritually then. Look at Acts 20.32. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. Notice that, the word of his grace. Notice there's a connection now, which is able to build you up. Notice that. The grace of the word is able to build you up, give you the strength, grace you're after, and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 2 Peter. Peter says, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness. What do you think of the word steadfast? Don't you think of being held up strong? It says, beware lest you fall from your grace strength. It's holding you up so powerful that you can't. It says, being led away with the error of the wicked. Notice how your thoughts are important here. The word of God builds you up. the lies of the world tear you down. Notice if you fill your head up with the wrong stuff you will literally short circuit your grace connection. You cannot allow the errors of the world to plug up your mind and spirit from the Word of God. You must make sure your head is not full of lies. Because look at being led away with the error of the wicked. Verse 18, but grow in the grace. you must learn to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How does a little baby grow up to be so big like my clunking sons who can beat me up now? What actually did they do to grow? I can only think of basically one thing. They ate. Right? What else? They didn't really do anything else. I mean, I taught them. I sent them to school to learn. They didn't do all that. but the one thing they did to make their body grow was one thing. They just ate. That's all it took. And all the natural processes did the work for them. And God is saying, if you can get past the simple thing, this book is not just a book. It exposes, it connects, it's like grazing grace instead of grass. You graze on it, and you get strength from it, like if a cow went out and ate grass. You graze on the Word and grace comes pouring out. It's not a normal book. Grace is released. Strength is empowering. From this simple thing, like a child eating food, you eat this book. That's it. I know we kind of made it sound like it was, you know, people talk about read the Bible, read the Bible, and people don't get it. It is a key. Reading the Bible is a key because reading it is not just when you're ready to go to sleep and your mind is shut down and you read, okay, I'm going to bed. It's getting so your mind changes thoughts. And the thoughts change attitudes. And attitudes change your actions. And your actions change your habits. And then those habits are shown in God-like manner. This book is designed to absolutely change your life and releases the impulsing power of the grace of God. Does that make sense? And so one thing you can do to stagnate your growth then is to not eat, not read this book. If you don't read this book, you will find grace is running out. Just like taking your vitamins is important, you feel weaker. your spirit is just not strong in the spirit it becomes a weak spirit in a simple key that you can do and if you can't read have somebody read it to you because you got ears you know but somewhere along you can get some of that stuff stuck between your head right and that's a key point here that he's saying beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness being led away by the air of false information. Now, we compete strongly because here you go home and TV lies to you for six hours or, you know, your grandmother may be lying to you for six hours if she's not a Christian and doesn't know God's wisdom. And you get your head full of hours and hours of lies and culture and newspapers that tell you stuff and whatever. And then you read the Bible for a few minutes. You tend to have more thinking of the airs than you do truth. Right? And so you have to really develop what you listen to, make sure it's connected with this book. And the point is, as this book becomes stronger, it does change you spiritually in a number of ways. Stand up and shout it if you love my Lord.

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