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00:00 But, Moses had the courage to reject the world's track to power, and it got on God's track.
00:13 You see, it's easy to sacrifice everything when you have nothing.
00:19 But it's a little different when you're like Moses and you've got everything.
00:25 Some historians say that he was the major leading general in Egypt's armies.
00:31 Others say that he wrote orchestras, and poetry, and songs.
00:37 He was a great man in every respect.
00:43 But despite every natural advantage, choosing, meaning he made a choice, rather to suffer
00:53 affliction with the people of God.
01:08 Ephesians chapter two and verse one.
01:15 Paul begins by the Holy Spirit.
01:16 He says, "And you he made alive."
01:22 Does anyone in this room remember when you had life all figured out?
01:26 Yeah?
01:27 Yeah.
01:29 Maybe it was right after boot camp.
01:32 Maybe it was during your first love.
01:35 Maybe you graduated somewhere or made your first little bit of paper.
01:41 Only to look back later to say to yourself, what was I thinking?
01:49 And this is what happens whenever a person truly meets God.
01:57 What you used to think was light becomes darkness.
02:02 What once seemed like freedom you discovered was really bondage.
02:07 What you believed was life was killing you.
02:11 It was death.
02:12 You see, God only turns people's lives upside down to make them right side up again.
02:23 That's his motivation.
02:26 And you he made alive who were dead.
02:32 Now each of us had biological lives, intellectual lives, family lives, social lives, et cetera.
02:40 But we were spiritually disconnected from God.
02:45 And we were dead in the most important way in our relationship toward God.
02:53 We lived lives surrendering eternal things for temporal and temporary things.
03:01 We exchanged true gold for that which was only gold-plated.
03:03 You see, it shined for a season like that cheap jewelry.
03:11 But with time and wear, it always eventually showed its true colors.
03:18 Hebrews 11 and verse 24 tells us something about Moses.
03:24 It says, "By faith Moses, when he became of age," no longer the baby, you know, rustling
03:36 through the rushes and a little kind of basket.
03:43 But this is the grown-up Moses.
03:44 He put away childish things.
03:46 He was at the top of his game.
03:49 But when he got there, he did something important.
03:50 He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
03:56 He was part of the most powerful court in the world at that time.
04:00 Egypt was the most powerful nation.
04:03 He served the most powerful man.
04:05 He was adopted into the most powerful family, and he was part of, again, the most powerful
04:10 court.
04:13 But Moses had the courage to reject the world's track to power, and it got on God's track.
04:24 You see, it's easy to sacrifice everything when you have nothing.
04:30 But it's a little different when you're like Moses and you've got everything.
04:35 Some historians say that he was the major leading general in Egypt's armies.
04:41 Others say that he wrote orchestras, and poetry, and songs.
04:47 He was already...
04:48 He was a great man in every respect.
04:54 But despite every natural advantage, choosing, meaning he made a choice, rather to suffer
05:03 affliction with the people of God.
05:10 For some of us, the biggest challenge is getting in our car in the rain and coming to church.
05:19 But what I've learned through the years is we cannot worship without sacrifice.
05:26 You can't really give without cost, and you can't follow without giving up the lead.
05:36 Worship is more than a song.
05:39 It's a choice.
05:46 Now somewhere along our history, we replaced worship with singing.
05:53 But David said, "Lord, I will not give you anything unless it costs me something."
06:02 And we are to offer God the fruit of our lips.
06:05 There's power in praise.
06:08 But our praise is most powerful when a life that's laid itself on the altar is singing
06:17 the song.
06:18 Choosing, it was a choice, rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.
06:26 True love is willing to sacrifice.
06:28 You see, when I was young, I didn't really know this, but hard times, even your mistakes
06:36 don't really cause your friends to leave you.
06:41 It just reveals who your true friends are.
06:49 And because of his commitment to God and the people of God, he took off his royal robes
06:58 and was willing to suffer the pain and the affliction of the people of God.
07:05 Rather than enjoy the passing, passing, passing, passing, sin is pleasurable for a season.
07:15 The problem is when the season ends.
07:19 It was fun while you were ringing up that credit card.
07:27 But when the payment becomes due, rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, Moses
07:41 would not settle for anything less than God's best.
07:50 Even when it costs you something now, he was willing to do whatever it took in order for
07:57 him to see God's glory later.
08:01 Whenever we release what's in our hand, God then lets go of what's in his hand.
08:08 Back to Ephesians 2 and 1.
08:12 And you he made alive who were, past tense, dead in trespasses.
08:18 Now again, I said today was going to be a lot more like class.
08:24 Trespass simply means to cross a line.
08:30 My mind is telling me no, but my body is telling me yes.
08:43 This side of the room stopped looking at me so innocently, like you don't know what I'm
08:48 talking about.
08:53 All of us have crossed a line at some point.
09:03 We were dead in trespass, and if that wasn't enough, sins.
09:10 The word sin here, or sins, literally means to miss the mark.
09:16 So even when we tried to shoot straight in our own strength, things went left, and we
09:22 missed the bullseye.
09:27 And he continues, it gets worse.
09:30 In which you once walked.
09:35 Remember the first time you did that thing that you know you should not do?
09:42 You took that cookie, that candy, you watched that video you shouldn't watch.
09:52 The first time there was some anxiety, some trepidation, but each time after it got easier,
10:02 and easier.
10:05 But soon that thing became your thing, and you lost your standards.
10:16 Ladies, if having healthy standards means risking a man walking out your life, take
10:25 the risk.
10:34 And brothers, stop thinking a woman has an attitude when all she really got is some standards.
10:43 Pay attention to what I'm saying.
10:46 I'm just trying to help you on my way somewhere.
10:52 And he continues.
10:53 Y'all are in Bible school right now.
10:57 According to the course or the path of this world, meaning folks just went with the flow.
11:05 But any dead fish can float downstream.
11:09 It takes a live fish or a living fish to swim against the current.
11:16 According to the prince of the power of the air, watch this, the spirit now, they just
11:22 thought they were sinning and transgressing.
11:26 But the Holy Spirit now pulls the veil up and said you thought you were just doing stuff,
11:31 but there was really a spirit behind all that was going on.
11:36 The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
11:42 We thought we were forward-looking.
11:45 We thought, you know, we were contemporary.
11:49 We thought we were enlightened.
11:50 We thought we were liberated.
11:52 We thought we were progressive.
11:54 We thought we were in the know.
11:57 But all the while, a puppet master who despised us, hated us, laughed at us as he pulled the
12:08 strings.
12:11 This may challenge you, but how many believe the words of Jesus?
12:17 Yeah, yeah.
12:20 He talks about only two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.
12:30 There are only two kingdoms operating on the earth right now, the kingdom of light and
12:38 the kingdom of darkness.
12:41 So we only have two choices, action or inaction.
12:48 There is no third choice.
12:52 And then he continues, "Among whom," watch this, "also we all," all of us, meaning not
13:04 just some folk, all of us.
13:09 Like you keep hearing me say, stop judging people just because they sin differently than
13:14 you do.
13:23 It says we all.
13:24 See, how soon we forget.
13:29 We all once conducted ourselves.
13:33 I know you're mad at your child, but you did the same thing in a different way.
13:37 We might have been a different haircut, wearing some different clothes.
13:41 But we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh where we could see, feel,
13:50 hear, smell, taste, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind.
13:59 What the Scriptures are saying is we were all a hot mess.
14:04 We were all know-it-alls who really knew nothing.
14:07 But watch this next part.
14:10 And who were by nature children of wrath.
14:17 So the problem was not just our deeds; it was our nature.
14:22 You see, you could cut a mule's ears.
14:27 You could color his fur, brush it down real good.
14:31 You could ask the mule to tuck in his belly a little bit to make the mule look like a
14:37 horse.
14:40 But when the gun fires at the starting gate, everyone's going to see the difference.
14:46 See, I can change how I look to you, but only God can change who I am.
15:00 And if all Jesus is is about how you look and not about how you really are, you have
15:09 missed the Gospel ship.
15:14 And were by nature.
15:17 How many of y'all have dogs?
15:22 Yeah.
15:23 You could dress up your dog, put pants on your dog, a necklace on your dog, a shirt
15:30 on your dog.
15:32 You could feed your dog human food, talk to your dog like a human.
15:36 But if your dog is big enough, when company comes, he's still going to sniff a crotch.
15:47 He's going to lick somewhere he shouldn't.
15:52 And if you turn your back, he might do something indecent to somebody's leg.
15:58 But here's the big point.
15:59 He can't help it.
16:01 It's his nature.
16:04 You can dress it up how you want, but the nature of a thing is eventually going to come
16:09 out.
16:11 By nature, a dog barks.
16:15 By nature, a lion roars.
16:18 By nature, a monkey climbs.
16:22 And by nature, a sinner sins.
16:25 See, forget the psychology books and the sociology books.
16:30 I'm going to tell you the truth.
16:32 Jesus got it right.
16:35 We don't sin just because of the world around us.
16:39 It's mostly because of the nature in us.
16:44 This is why when we come to the altar, God doesn't just forgive us.
16:48 2 Corinthians says we are new creations in Christ.
16:55 God doesn't just come to forgive us of our mess.
16:57 He comes to change the very nature of who we are.
17:03 Jesus doesn't stand outside of the sin factory saying, "Well, I'll forgive this sin."
17:07 No, He goes and shuts the factory down.
17:09 You understand what I'm saying?
17:12 Thank God He forgives us, but He puts a new nature, the nature of Christ in us.
17:20 You understand?
17:21 So, if all you do is come to church to be forgiven, you've missed the Gospel.
17:28 God wants to change your nature from a child of darkness to a child of light, from a child
17:34 of the devil to a child of God.
17:36 Okay, okay, okay.
17:39 I'm in the book.
17:43 And we were by nature children of wrath just as the others.
17:50 Meaning don't look down on nobody.
17:53 All of us were in the same boat.
17:57 And when you are something, or a child of something in the Scriptures, that's something
18:03 that never goes away.
18:04 How many of you remember Michael Jackson?
18:08 Yeah.
18:10 Mike, someone said he, he.
18:14 Michael could change his nose as often as he wanted, but he could never erase the fact
18:22 he was Joe's son.
18:25 You could do all you want on the outside, but a change won't come until you let God
18:31 work on the inside.
18:33 It's an inside job.
18:38 These last three chapters were a little hard on us.
18:45 Our situation was stark.
18:47 Our situation was bleak.
18:50 Our situation was hopeless.
18:54 But then we hear two simple words.
18:58 And in my mind, it's these two simple words that really explain the entire Gospel, "But,
19:08 God."
19:09 I was all that, "But, God."
19:13 All that sin, all that, "But, God."
19:15 I was in a mess, drowning.
19:17 "But, God.
19:18 But, God.
19:19 But, God.
19:20 But, God.
19:21 But, God.
19:22 But, God.
19:23 But, God."
19:26 When the devil reminds you of your past, look at it and say, "But, God has given me a future,
19:32 a hope, and a purpose.
19:38 But, God."
19:40 Genesis 8 and 1 says, "But, God, remember Noah and all the beasts and the livestock
19:48 that went with him in the boat.
19:50 And God made the wind blow over the earth and the water subsided.
19:55 But, God remembered.
19:59 God's wrath released people dead, but God remembered."
20:04 Genesis 15 and 20 is what Joseph said to his brothers, "As for you, y'all meant it for
20:12 evil, but God meant it for good."
20:19 In order to bring it about this day so I can save many people alive, Psalm 73 and 26, Asaph
20:24 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, sometimes we get tired, but God is my strength and my
20:36 heart."
20:37 Ephesians 2 and 4, God is the strength of my heart.
20:44 As bad as the three verses prior were, but God who is rich.
20:54 He don't give you just a little dab.
20:56 Who is rich in wrath and mercy.
21:03 You may have had some bad chapters in your life, but with God it doesn't have to be the
21:07 end of the story.
21:12 You cannot sin more than God can forgive.
21:17 No sinner, I don't care how bad you think you are, is greater than God's mercy.
21:22 If we just turn to Him and repent.
21:28 You see, this is important.
21:31 God does not love you because you are good.
21:35 The Scripture says we were dead in trespasses and sin.
21:42 The reason God loves you is because God is love.
21:48 So stop trying to become lovable enough to make God love you.
21:53 You will never do it.
21:54 There's not enough makeup in this world to make what you got going on look good to a
21:59 God that sees past everything on every surface.
22:09 God's love for us has nothing to do with our character.
22:15 It has everything to do with His.
22:17 Okay, okay, you say, okay.
22:20 Okay, so you know in this room some of our children in prison, children on drugs, children
22:27 in relationships that are killing them, children just doing all different types of things.
22:32 How many of you know despite what your child may be doing, you still love that child?
22:46 Okay.
22:50 You don't love that child an inch less.
22:53 The issue is you don't enjoy that child.
23:02 So when you go sideways, it's not that God doesn't love you.
23:04 He just can't enjoy you at the moment.
23:10 But God's love is fixed.
23:12 It's unconditional, meaning there's no condition.
23:15 He sees everything you are and loves you.
23:18 So stop putting on masks.
23:20 Stop frontin', stop trying to pretend you're something you're not.
23:24 God saw you in your mess and loved you.
23:29 But He's working on you so He can start to enjoy you.
23:38 And then it says, "And because of His great love with which He loved us."
23:43 Now the word love is mentioned twice, and one of the words, one of the uses is preceded
23:50 by the word great.
23:53 So God doesn't just love us.
23:57 He loves, loves us with a great love.
24:02 And then it says, "Even or despite our condition, despicable as it's been at times."
24:08 I know, you're like, "You ain't talking to me."
24:10 I know, you do, come on.
24:14 Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with the most beautiful
24:24 one of them all, with Christ.
24:29 And the big point here is if God loved us while we were dead, imagine the love He wants
24:36 to express now that we are alive.
24:42 Now this is important, and this is why we've got to go to school for a minute here.
24:49 God rewards us based on our works, but He does not love us based on our works.
24:58 God's love for me is unconditional, but the Bible talks about the judgment seat of Christ
25:03 where we'll stand before Jesus and give an account for the works we did in the flesh.
25:08 Some people's work and all their lives are going to be burned up like wood, hay, and
25:12 stubble.
25:13 But those of us that have built on a rock and we listen to the Lord in our life, in
25:17 our living, in our giving, we will be likened to precious stones, gold, and silver, and
25:23 we'll endure the fire.
25:27 Because when we get to glory—let's say it this way.
25:32 God does not need our good works; our neighbor does.
25:42 God doesn't need my good works to love me, but my neighbor needs it to get along in life
25:49 and for us to properly demonstrate the Christ.
25:56 So when I get to Heaven, the life I lived, I'm not just going to make it.
26:01 I'm going to be rewarded on how well I reflected the image of Jesus.
26:07 So one of the reasons I'm not trying to live all sideways is not because God would love
26:12 me less, but because I got my reward on my mind.
26:15 And also, I don't want to get in the way of anybody else getting to know the one who saved
26:20 my soul, who cleansed my soul, who keeps me, upholds me.
26:24 There ain't nothing in this world more important than His approval, and I don't want to hurt
26:29 Him.
26:31 I don't want to cause Him pain.
26:34 I want there to be a smile on His face as He sees me walking in the room.
26:42 Even when we were dead in trespasses, Jesus, God raised us up.
26:48 All the benefits of Christ became ours together with Jesus.
26:52 Then it says, "By grace you have been saved."
26:57 Now the Holy Spirit is very, very smart, and I mentioned two simple words, either but God.
27:03 I said that describes the Gospel.
27:06 But now He's about to use three words that illustrate the power, the process, and the
27:16 purpose of salvation.
27:20 And these words are really hard to say, "By, through, and for."
27:30 By, through, and for.
27:34 Now in a moment we're going to say we're saved by grace, so grace is the muscle.
27:41 What Christ accomplished, that's the power of God.
27:45 By grace, unmerited favor, we've been saved.
27:50 And then we're saved through something.
27:53 It's like a fish going through water, that's what I'm trying to do there with my hand.
27:56 So we're saved by grace, through faith, for, like you're trying to serve something to somebody.
28:04 So I want you to do this with me.
28:05 We're saved by grace, through faith, for, and we're about to see what that, what we're
28:14 saved for.
28:15 Do you know what you're saved for?
28:16 We're about to see what we're saved for.
28:22 Let's start again.
28:24 By what?
28:25 >> AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Grace.
28:26 >> BISHOP WILLIAMS, JR.
28:27 Grace.
28:28 What is grace?
28:29 Grace is simply God's riches at Christ's expense.
28:34 One more time.
28:36 Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense.
28:39 Let's say that with me.
28:40 God's riches at Christ's expense.
28:45 God's riches at Christ's expense.
28:48 One more time.
28:49 God's riches at Christ's expense.
28:55 Salvation is free, but it costs Jesus everything.
29:01 So let's do this now, and I'm going to wrap up.
29:04 Verse eight.
29:06 For by grace, God's riches at Christ's expense.
29:13 Jesus paid a debt he didn't know, because we owe the debt we could not pay.
29:19 You have been saved, now watch the second word, through, through what?
29:25 Faith.
29:26 So we receive God's riches at Christ's expense through something.
29:34 So we don't automatically receive it.
29:38 It has to come through something.
29:42 I want you to think about water through a hose.
29:47 Now water, like grace, is the most important part, but it goes nowhere without the hose.
29:55 You see, we are not saved by faith, but through faith.
30:03 Faith is simply the way we receive all that God has promised.
30:10 So God could have made it very difficult.
30:11 I want you to write a 30-page paper.
30:13 I want you to walk on glass.
30:15 I want you to, you know, go to this city seven times and walk around the building, you know,
30:19 three times, and then maybe I'll save you.
30:24 But God said I'm going to make it real, real simple, that even a child can get this done.
30:29 All I need you to do is trust me.
30:33 Just take me at my word.
30:35 Believe I am who I say I am, and I want to do what I said I want to do.
30:40 Believe that I'm for you and not against.
30:42 All I'm asking you to do is trust me.
30:45 Not jump up and down 16 times, whether you sing or don't sing, or can't sing, or whether
30:50 you got money, don't got money.
30:52 I don't have to pay a penny.
30:54 All you got to do is trust Him.
30:58 So the Gospel is accessible to every person in every condition and situation, because
31:04 the grace of God, the power of God, the muscle of God, and grace doesn't just save you from
31:10 something.
31:11 Grace gives you power to live and do some things in life.
31:17 You have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God.
31:27 Salvation is not your idea.
31:30 It is God's idea.
31:34 And it is available to anyone who will trust Him.
31:41 And then he goes on.
31:42 It's like, because y'all getting a little proud.
31:44 Y'all been in church for a minute, and you know all the songs, and you know when to clap,
31:47 and all the rest of that.
31:50 You're starting to forget.
31:51 So he said, "Not of works, lest anyone should boast."
31:57 You see, if I were saved based on my own goodness, I'd have cause to look down on someone else
32:04 who wasn't saved.
32:07 But because I need mercy just like you need mercy, there's no grounds for superiority.
32:12 We are all in the same boat.
32:15 We need a merciful God.
32:19 You say, "Well, I'm a better sinner than the next person."
32:21 Who wants to be the best sinner to go to hell?
32:26 Being better than me don't fix nothing.
32:32 So we are saved by grace, God's riches at Christ's expense, through faith.
32:41 Faith is the means through which we receive.
32:46 But he doesn't stop there.
32:48 He's about to lay out the purpose, at least one of the purposes of our salvation.
32:55 He says, "For we are God's strategic and artful workmanship."
33:04 The Greek literally says, "We are God's work of art."
33:09 You are God's masterpiece in the making according to Scripture.
33:17 God in Christ Jesus, watch this, for, for, we say by grace, through faith, for this purpose,
33:37 for good works.
33:42 So God didn't just save you only because He loved you, He loved you.
33:50 But He also saved you because He wants to do something amazing through you.
33:56 The grace of God that saves our souls, He wants to use to change our lives and the lives
34:04 of others.
34:05 Watch this.
34:09 For we are God's workmanship, we are perfectly and expertly designed in Christ Jesus for
34:19 certain tasks which God prepared beforehand.
34:27 Before you were born, God saw every life He wanted to change and impact through your living,
34:36 your giving, and your loving.
34:39 You are an instrument.
34:40 Actually, you are a weapon.
34:42 You are God's spear in His hand designed to hit a certain bullseye.
34:51 You see, God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.
34:56 And even though you may not have arrived, God can still use you if you yield for His
35:02 glory.
35:04 Because God has prepared when beforehand.
35:09 You are not an afterthought.
35:12 You are absolutely necessary.
35:15 When you gave your life to Jesus, you started a domino effect.
35:21 Every—listen, when you came to that altar, God didn't just see you.
35:25 He saw every life you would impact after that moment.
35:30 What's about to happen in a couple minutes is not just going to impact you, it's going
35:34 to impact multiple generations, because you're going to hand it to your kids, and then their
35:39 kids, and then their kids, and your neighbor, and then they're going to go to that neighbor.
35:45 God doesn't just see you.
35:47 You don't have to be a preacher to be effective.
35:52 Let me tell you something.
35:53 All church is is really the huddle.
35:55 Yeah, it's the huddle.
35:59 God calls the play here, but then we get out on the field of life, and we get bumped, and
36:06 we bruise, and all the rest, and then we move the ball down the field.
36:15 But we are on the same team, just with different roles.
36:19 Right now I'm the quarterback, but y'all are on the line.
36:21 Some of y'all are wide receivers, some of y'all are real fast with your feet.
36:24 He uses different gifts in different ways, different size people, you know, their different
36:28 speed, everything.
36:29 God knows what He's doing, and we're artfully and wisely made by God.
36:35 Some people I can't reach, but you can.
36:46 You were saved for good works which God, before you were born, prepared just for you.
36:59 So, if you miss your moment, other people might miss their salvation.
37:12 Thirty-eight years ago when the Lord visited me in my dorm room, God loved me and everything,
37:21 but it wasn't just me.
37:24 You see, God doesn't see time like we see.
37:26 He sees the end from the beginning.
37:29 So, He didn't just see a little boy, you know, trying to figure out life.
37:36 He saw a man.
37:37 He saw this building.
37:38 He saw every light that's come to this office.
37:40 He's seen every message I've preached.
37:42 He's seen every life I've impacted.
37:43 You understand what I'm saying?
37:44 It's not just about you.
37:47 You are here for a purpose, and on purpose we have a world to reach, and you were saved
37:54 by grace, through faith, but for something, and we've got to do it together or it will
38:01 not get done.
38:09 And for good works, which God prepared beforehand, watch this, that we should walk in them.
38:20 He's saying the world needs what you carry in.
38:27 But a journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step of faith.
38:33 You are not an accident.
38:35 You are not irrelevant.
38:37 You matter.
38:39 You are not a mistake.
38:40 You are not a mistake.
38:43 When God sees you, He not only sees you, but everything He designed you to do in this life,
38:50 and in those things only you can do in the same way that you do them.
38:54 Again, God saw everything you could do, and then He made that part of His plan.
39:02 But all He wants each and every one of us to do is surrender to that plan.
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