Grace And Peace

I. EXORDIUM:

Grace and Peace to you

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show that when GOD gives, it's a package deal.

IV. TEXT:

Galatians 1:3 (Amplified Bible)

Grace and spiritual blessing be to you and [soul] peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah),

V. THESIS:

When GOD gives, it's a package deal.

VI. TITLE:

Grace and Peace

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Author: Apostle Paul

B. Date written: 55 A.D. to 60 A.D.

C. Purpose: To defend doctrine of justification by faith, warn against reversion to Judaism, and vindicate Paul's own apostolic authority

D. To whom written: Galatia church

E. Main theme: Magna charta of the church

F. Keywords: faith, grace, liberty, the cross

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. Grace from GOD, our FATHER and our LORD JESUS CHRIST

1. Grace is freely given

Psalms 84:11 (Amplified Bible)

For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Acts 11:23 (Amplified Bible)

When he arrived and saw what grace (favor) God was bestowing upon them, he was full of joy; and he continuously exhorted (warned, urged, and encouraged) them all to cleave unto and remain faithful to and devoted to the Lord with [resolute and steady] purpose of heart.

Grace empowers men to lead a simple life

2 Corinthians 1:12 (Amplified Bible)

It is a reason for pride and exultation to which our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world [generally] and especially toward you, with devout and pure motives and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God (the unmerited favor and merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, and keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian virtues).

Grace is not given for selfish use

1 Peter 4:10 (Amplified Bible)

As each of you has received a gift (a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as [befits] good trustees of God’s many-sided grace [faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor].

Grace is promised to the humble

1 Peter 5:5 (Amplified Bible)

Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church)—[giving them due respect and yielding to their counsel]. Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.

Grace maybe rendered innefectual

2 Corinthians 6:1 (Amplified Bible)

LABORING TOGETHER [as God’s fellow workers] with Him then, we beg of you not to receive the grace of God in vain [that merciful kindness by which God exerts His holy influence on souls and turns them to Christ, keeping and strengthening them—do not receive it to no purpose].

Galatians 2:21 (Amplified Bible)

[Therefore, I do not treat God’s gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the ritual of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.]

B. Peace from GOD, our FATHER and our LORD JESUS CHRIST

Romans 8:6 (Amplified Bible)

Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

Romans 14:17 (Amplified Bible)

[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Psalms 4:8 (Amplified Bible)

In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.

Peace is so effective that it grants sleep for workers of GOD, even rich people are paying millions of money just for them to fall asleep but for GOD's workers peace is freely given and it allows sweet sleep.

IX. CONCLUSION:

Galatians 1:3 (Amplified Bible)

Grace and spiritual blessing be to you and [soul] peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah),