7-17-2022

Good Morning!    
                 John 1:16; “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” 

    You would think that we would learn, but we don’t. All the kids and grandkids were around for the 4^th of July, so we had to eat meals, so we prepared for meals. Now, there may be 6-8 adults and then 5 grandkids 10 on down. We cook and prepare like the SDSU football team is moving in. We might have 3 or 4 meals together, but the leftovers start on the first meal and then seem to multiply, exponentially from there. We have even started to bag them up and portion them out to the families as they leave and hunt them down if they conveniently “forget.” You can only take so many leftovers. We finally finished our 4^th of July ones but will we learn? No, probably not. There will be leftovers, on that you can rest assured. 

    One thing about having leftovers is that you know that you are still full from the first time you ate it.  You ate and ate but still have some leftover for later.  Sometimes you have more leftover than you ate the first time.  Then you have all that left to eat.  The interesting thing is that there are some foods that taste better as leftovers than as “first overs.”  I think oyster stew and most chilis taste better a day or two later.  But you have to have a lot to start with so you can have enough leftovers to enjoy.

    That is the point of our verse for today.  Because of the fullness of the grace that Jesus brings into our lives.  He brings it into our lives through his all-availing death on the cross.  He confirms it with his resurrection from the grave.  Through that single event, his death on the cross, our lives are completely changed.  We are never again what we were.  We are no longer just toys and playthings for the devil; we are God’s redeemed children.  We no longer are the devil’s tools; we are God’s beloved children.

    We have enough grace, more than enough, to face the devil’s challenges.  The devil can no longer assault us but rather must deceive us and he tries and tries.  Painfully, sometimes he succeeds.  We slip and fall into his trap, and we suffer for it, but God is there, through Christ, waiting for us with grace upon grace.  He keeps calling us back to his redeemed family, calling us with his grace.

    Now this grace is never “just enough” grace; we have tons of “leftover grace.”  We will have grace upon grace.  We have more than enough grace to bring us through.  This is an incredible truth to hold onto.  No matter what occurs in our life, not matter how horrible the sin we commit seems to us, we have grace upon grace.  God will always forgive us, and, with true faith, we receive the forgiveness of sins.  We don’t want to waste it, nor do we take it for granted.  The cost to God was far too great to treat our grace cheaply.  But the grace is ours, grace upon grace, more grace leftover than we will ever use no matter how much we need. 

Father of all grace, we give you thanks for the grace that you bestow upon us.  We know the wonders of your love as we look to Jesus.  Keep us mindful of your love and guide us to see the devil’s lies and tricks.  Be with those who feel that there is no grace available for them.  Bring them to the truth of your amazing grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret