UNITY CHRIST EVANGELICAL MINISTRY (UCEM)

Don't Be Discouraged
Holy Ghost Revival
What Revival Is - Part One
What Revival Is - Part Two
When the devil attacks
Fear, Worry and Anxiety
The Holy Spirit Part One
The Holy Spirit Part Two
The Holy Spirit Part Three
Jesus Part One
Jesus Part Two
Holiness
The precious gift of eternal life
Tell it to God
food for Soul - Approved of God Lesson One
food for Soul - Approved of God Lesson Two
food for Soul - Approved of God Lesson Three
food for Soul - Approved of God Lesson Four
food for Soul - Approved of God Lesson Five
food for Soul - Vessels of Honor
food for Soul - God Needs Vessels
devotional - Beware of Pride
devotional - What if the News is bad?

GROW IN GRACE

Prepared by

R. Oye Taiwo

Unity Christ Evangelical Ministry (UCEM)

www.ucevam.com

1. What Grace is

Grace is Gods unmerited favor. That is, something that God does for the people of the world in order to help them or be kind to them - gifts and help the receivers have not done anything to to deserve or merit.

1.1.       Grace is unmerited favor of God in saving sinners.

1.1.1. It is by grace that lost sinners are saved - Eph 2:5; Eph 2:8 Acts 15:11; Titus 3:5. Man willingly sinned against God in the beginning. He deserved nothing but the severe punishment of Heaven. But God came to man’s rescue and brought salvation to Him through Christ. That is grace. Man did not do anything to merit the great salvation of God. But God’s love, goodness and kindness brought it to him. That is grace.

1.1.2. It is by grace that lost sinners are justified – Rom 3:20, 24, 28; Gal 5:4; Titus 3:7. ‘Justify’ means to pronounce free from guilt or blame. Man was guilty before God. But through the grace of God, Jesus pronounced everybody who believed in Him free of guilt and blame before God. Through grace, a sinful man became just as if he had never sinned.

1.2.       Grace is a virtue – an active power, a special ability, divine strength – given by God to a person to accomplish a given effect, do certain things excellently and achieve a special purpose– Ex 31:3; Dan. 10:18; Dan. 10:19; 1Cor. 12:8; Eph 3:16. Whatever ability or gift we have that is not really the result of great education or training or human endeavor we must see as God’s grace. 

1.2.1. Spiritual enrichment in word, knowledge, spiritual gifts – 1 Cor. 1:4-8. Bible Schools are good. But we can’t get from them the spiritual gifts we need to be successful in the Work of God. We must receive the gifts directly from heaven. Good Bible Schools can show us how to get God to give us the spiritual gifts we need, but our theological studies cannot endow us with the gifts  

1.2.2. Divine strength for the work of the Lord - 1Cor 15:10. By the grace of God, Paul could do a lot of work for the Lord and get great things done for God.

1.2.3. Ability to live the kind of life that pleases God – 2 Cor 1:12. God gives His People grace to live the kind of life He wants them to live. In our own power and by our own knowledge, we cannot live as God wants us to live. We are nothing but what God’s grace makes us.  All that is good in us is a stream from the Fountain of Christ.

1.2.4. Favor of God in calling to a special ministry – Gal. 1:15; 2 Tim. 1:9.  It is God who calls people to special ministries. It is not something that into which one can get by training or promotion or struggling in the human flesh. You, for example, can’t become a God-anointed prophet just because you like the Ministry of a prophet, and train well or pray hard to get into the Ministry. A man called by God into a special ministry shouldn’t deceive himself into thinking that he receives the calling because of something he has done to merit it. No, it is simply by grace.

2. Every child of God is a recipient of God’s grace

Eph 4:7

2.1. Every child of God has received grace to be saved – Eph 2:8

2.2. Every child of God receives grace to overcome temptation - 1Cor 10:13. God gives grace to overcome temptations. This grace enables a child of God to say ‘no’ to the devil.

2.2. Every child of God receives grace of faith - Rom 12:3.

3. Don’t receive the grace of God in vain

3.1. Do not receive the grace of God in vain – 2 Cor. 6:1. A good child of God should take care that the grace of God bestowed on him is not in vain.

3.1.1. A good child of God should cherish the grace of God given to him. He should not treat it as Esau treated the grace of being the first born of Isaac – Gen 25 29-34; Heb 12:16.

3.1.2. A good child of God should employ the grace of God for eternal purpose -1Cor. 15:10. Don’t treat the grace of God as if it is an article of little value. Use it to fulfill God’s purpose for your life.

3.1.3. A good child of God should not set aside, nullify, and frustrate the grace of God - Gal. 2:21. Do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose. Many children of God, for example fail to let the grace of God to live holy lives have the effect it should have in their lives. They live as if they have no grace of God to live the kind of life God wants them to live.

3.1.4. A good child of God should use the grace of God in his life to serve others – 1 Pet. 4:10. Employ the grace given to you in serving other people, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
As God’s people, we must employ for one another our spiritual talents and gifts, and  gracious divine endowments

4. How to grow in grace

2Pet. 3:18

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

4.1. God wants you to grow in grace -  2 Pet. 3:18; Psa. 84:7; Pro. 4:18. He wants you to always move from one level of grace to a higher level. As soon as you get born again, by receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your desire must be for growth in the grace of God.

4.2. The Knowledge of Christ leads to increases in and multiplies the grace of God in a Christian’s life – 2 Pet. 1:2; 2 Pet.3:18. The most powerful means of increase in grace in a Christian’s life is increasing knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is why we must always make great efforts to increase our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

4.2.1. We increase our knowledge of Christ through the Word of God – 1 Pet. 2:2. Study the Bible always. Listen to anointed messages and read good, inspiring Christian books.

4.2.2. We increase our knowledge of Christ by getting close to Him – Jam. 4:8. As you get close to God, your knowledge of Christ increases. Proximity to God results in continual increase in divine knowledge and wisdom.

4.2.2.1. We get close to God through  prayer – Acts 10:9.  Recognizing the need to be close to God through prayer, the disciples made a practice of regular prayer, in obedience to the Lord’s instructions in Luke 18:1; Luke 21:36; Rom 12:12; 1Thes 5:17.

4.2.2.2. We get close to God by allowing the Word of God to dwell in us – Col 3:16.

4.3. Keep yourself in the love of God, who is able to keep you from falling from grace - Jude 1:21, 24. More grace of God will flow abundantly into your life as the love of God fill your heart.

4.4. Keep moving forward for the Lord - Phil. 3:12-15. Don’t allow the sad thoughts of past failures to keep you from moving forward in the lord and for the Lord. Never allow the feeling of satisfaction with the past successes and victories working harder for the Lord.

4.5. Abide in Christ - John 15:4-5. It is by abiding in Christ that the fruits of grace can be produced in our Lord. We must keep on abiding in the Lord if we want the fruit of grace to multiply in our life.

4.5.1. We prove we are abiding in Christ by keeping His words – 1 John 2:5-6; John 14:23; John 15:10.

4.5.2. We prove we are abiding in Christ by walking in love – towards God and our fellow human beings - Joh 13:34; 2Joh 1:5

4.5.2. We prove we are abiding in Christ by remaining faithful to Him in whatever condition - Acts 11:23; Rom 8:35, 39