Understanding God's Grace in All Its Truth

Colossians 1:6
All over the world this Gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's Grace in all its truth.

Reading through Colossians after Steve's recent series on the book, this verse jumped out at me.  Two powerful truths are revealed.  Firstly, the Gospel was bearing fruit all over the world and growing.

Think about this...  Before Paul arrived on the scene, Judaism and Greek mythology were probably the two most popular religions.  Within 300 years, Christianity had become the world's most believed upon faith.  How did that happen!?

Romans 1:16 gives us a good answer:  "The Gospel is the Power of God".  The Message of the Gospel is the most powerful message anyone can ever convey.  So powerful that it will spread like a wildfire naturally.  One only has to look at this worldwide "Grace revolution" we are in to see that.  People everywhere are coming into this revelation because the message is the Message of the Gospel!  Just this week I received an email from a lady in Cape Town who had been watching Joseph Prince's teachings on TBN every week and finally the revelation of Grace penetrated her heart and she started Googling "Grace" and came across "Highway to Grace".  She said her life has been completed transformed by this revelation.  Stories like this confirm the power of this Message.

Another side to the Gospel's power to bear fruit is not only in global understanding, but in personal growth.  This message is one that naturally produces faith in God's goodness.  If you find yourself still battling in a certain area, still feel like there are areas you need to adjust etc.  Be patient.  The seed of the Gospel that has penetrated your heart will start to germinate and produce some beautiful fruit!

Paul then goes on to say in the second half of this verse that the Gospel has borne fruit "since the day... you understood God's Grace in all its truth."  Notice that word "all"?  That's intriguing.  Could it be that it is possible to understand God's Grace in fractions of its truth?  Could it be that the more of its truth we grasp the more fruit we will see?

Friends, God's Grace is bigger and wider and more powerful than any of us will ever come to comprehend.  We never stop learning from it, and we never stop loving it.  Continue to soak yourself in New Covenant books and teachings and grow in your understanding of God's Grace.

Maybe like the woman in Cape Town that emailed me, you've heard the message of Grace so often but it hasn't had that much of an impact on you.  Don't stress.  Don't try to believe it.  Keep soaking yourself in it, and eventually this Powerful, World-changing Message will grip you so tightly that you will never be the same.

May you forever stay in the Rays of God's Glorious Grace.  And may you forever grow in your understanding of it!

Highway to Grace "Snippet"

The following is a snippet taken from the "Introduction" of Steve Wheeler's latest book "Highway to Grace".  May it bless and inspire you in your walk with God!  For more information on the book and to buy it online, log on to www.highwaytograce.com

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After twenty years in the ministry I had a rude awakening.  I realised that I had been mixing the Covenant of Law into the Gospel of Grace.  I was sincerely doing my best to preach the Gospel as best as I knew how.  But I confused the covenants that God made with Abraham, Moses and Jesus. 

I spent years teaching that God’s blessing is proportional to our fulfilling certain conditions.  Year in and year out I preached “What you should be” and “What you shouldn’t do”... “Ten things you should do to get God to bless you”... “Pray harder, longer, louder”... “Twist His arm with a 21-day fast”.... 

Now I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that God’s blessing comes solely because Jesus fulfilled the conditions for me.  At the Cross Jesus cried out, “It is finished”.  The Greek phrase used there is “teta lestai”, meaning “paid in full”.  This is a financial term meaning that no debt remains outstanding.

Many attending church religiously every week have no idea what was accomplished on the Cross.  You will never enjoy your inheritance when you remain ignorant of what is rightfully yours. 

To fully appreciate God’s Grace, we have to understand what the Finished Work of the Cross means for us.

At the Cross:

• the Old Covenant was obliterated
• every sin – past, present and future – was forgiven and wiped out
• sickness, death and hell were forever defeated
• we were co-crucified, co-buried and co-resurrected with Jesus.

Because of the Cross:

• we have become a new species re-created in Christ
• we have been seated at His right hand in the heavenly places
• we reign in this life as kings.

For too long God’s goodness has been doubted and the Work of the Cross diluted.  Mixing Law and Grace has caused the Gospel to be polluted.  Not separating the Covenants has resulted in confusion.  

Grace is not just some subject we can tag along with all our other Bible doctrines.  Grace is the essence of who Jesus is, what He did and how He will forever relate to us.  To understand Grace fully we have to think of Grace as being a Person: Jesus himself. 

I want to spend what’s left of my life here on earth unapologetically declaring the Gospel Truth:  God’s Grace given to us through His son Jesus Christ.   

“So what is our part then?” you may ask. 

Our part is to believe this Good News.  Faith is the ‘positive response’ to what He has already accomplished at the Cross.  Only Faith pleases God. 

The Bible teaches that Faith was deposited in our hearts as a gift when we heard the Truth of the Gospel.  You have all the faith you need.  Now you have to exercise it.

A life-changing journey

Understanding this message and seeing its life-changing impact is a process.  As a church we’ve been on the journey for over three years now.  A revelation of the Gospel of Grace is renewing our understanding of who we are in Christ.   And Grace has changed our understanding and approach to church, spiritual disciplines, preaching and leadership.
  

The results we are beginning to enjoy include a greater freedom to be who God has called us to be.  I regularly have people telling me that they are reading the Bible with new passion and revelation.  The Gospel of Grace is producing a new boldness to step out and trust our Father to demonstrate His Kingdom rule on earth.  Testimonies abound from those who are reaching out to the lost with this awesome message of Undeserved Favour.  There is far less ‘performance mentality’ in our church life.  I hear of unsaved people coming into our meetings and experiencing love and unconditional acceptance. 

We are enjoying a guilt-free relationship with our Father, and are expecting – and seeing! – greater things from Him because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross for us. 

Over the past few years we have had our fair share of trials, disappointments and misunderstandings.  We have made some mistakes in our language and in our exuberance.  At times the ‘pendulum’ has swung excessively, and there have been more questions than answers.  I will address many of these in this book.

As Andrew Wommack says, “We haven’t arrived yet. But we have left.”  With the benefit of hindsight there are many things I would do differently.  But by His Grace we are where we are – and we are still moving in the direction of Amazing Grace.

We have taken more ground than we have lost as a church.  We have had more victory than failure; more joy than sorrow.  And with Jesus’ help we never want to go back into legalism; we never want to hear those dreadful words:  “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1)