Thursday, March 5, 2015

"The Face of Grace" Lesson 2

What Does Grace Look Like?

(A Taste of Grace - Lesson 2)


Only God can change an "Ugly Duckling" into a Swan!



What is Grace?
(Lesson 2)

Are you ready for a little “Taste of Grace“?
(Hint - to save yourself time in looking up the verses, 
click on any of the highlighted Scripture references to take you to BLUE LETTER BIBLE,
 For the sake of uniformity I've done this study using the New King James Version.)


What does the Face of Grace Look Like?

To know what grace looks like, I think it might help
 if we looked at what people looked like before they met grace.

John 1:16 says, “The law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ.

Joseph Prince says, “Grace is a person,
and that person is Jesus Christ.”

So let’s look at a few people whose lives were changed
because of the grace they found when they came to know Jesus.

The first one we’ll look at is the woman who was known as a sinner.
Her story is found in Luke 7:36-50.
(Click on the highlighted link to read her story.)
She is probably not the kind of woman that most people would want to hang around with
 for fear it would ruin their reputation.
However, Jesus did not hide from her when she literally
“let down her hair”
and used it to wipe the oil that she had put on his feet.  
When He was asked why He would even let this woman touch Him,
Jesus used the hosts own words to answer the him;
the one who was forgiven the most
 would love the most.  (verses 41-43)
Maybe that’s why Peter loved Jesus so much,
because he was forgiven much,
and shown much grace by Jesus.

In doing this study, I found it very interesting that all four of the gospels
 included Jesus‘ prediction that Peter would deny him. 
 All four gospels also include the story of Peter’s actual denial of Jesus, 
with all of them telling about the
incriminating crowing of the rooster.

But did you know that only short moments before this happened,
 that Peter had been bragging that he would
lay down his life for Jesus’ sake?

Before Peter even knew his own heart was capable of denying Jesus,
 Jesus showed him grace in telling him
“Simon, Simon…  I have prayed for you
that your faith should not fail;
and when you have returned to Me,
strengthen your brethren.”

Luke tells us that after the rooster crowed,
“the Lord turned and looked at Peter,
then Peter remembered the word of the Lord…
‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’
So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”

After the resurrection Jesus asked Peter three times,
“Do you love me?”
 It seems to me that Jesus used that principle of grace to restore Peter by having Peter affirm his love for him three times just as Peter had denied him three times.

No wonder Peter became a picture of grace!
Let’s look at one more face that became a face of grace.
That would be the Apostle Paul.
But let’s first look at him when he was known as Saul.

What a bad dude!
The first time we hear of Saul was shortly after Jesus’ resurrection, 
when the church was in its infancy.
The Jewish leaders who prided themselves on keeping all the law 
were most upset with the preachers of grace.
Stephen was a deacon in the early church
whose testimony greatly upset some of the Jewish leaders.
These leaders stirred up the people and accused Stephen of
blaspheming Moses, the Law, and God.

The people became so upset with Stephen,
that they cast him out of the city and stoned him,
“laying their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

The next chapter says Saul was in agreement with this act of murder,
and “made havoc of the church, entering every house,
 and dragging off men and women,
committing them to prison.” 

Jesus did not let Saul continue to threaten the church.
He staged an intervention with him, and
Saul was changed from a persecutor
to a preacher of grace.
His interesting conversion experience is found in Acts 9,
with verse 15 saying Saul was "a chosen vessel."

Saul becomes known as Paul (Acts 13:9),
and tells us how to receive an abundance of grace
so that we can reign in life! (Romans 5:17)

Buckle your seat belt!
Let’s learn the secrets of grace from Paul together!
If you have time to read the book of Galatians, or Romans chapters 5-8 over the next few weeks, 
it might help prepare you for the ride!


*********************************************************


(Sorry....   I've been so busy working on this GRACE series,
that Rock4Today is getting a bit behind on new posts!)

Below is the study guide for Lesson 2 in this
Taste of Grace series.

*****************************************



What is Grace?
(Lesson 2)

Are you ready for a little “Taste of Grace“?
(Hint - to save yourself time in looking up the verses,
click on any of the highlighted Scripture references to take you to BLUE LETTER BIBLE,
 For the sake of uniformity I've done this study using the New King James Version.)


What does the Face of Grace Look Like?

To know what grace looks like, I think it might help
 if we looked at what people looked like before they met grace.

John 1:16 says, “The________ was given through Moses,
but _____________ and ___________
came through Jesus Christ.

Joseph Prince says, “Grace is a person,
and that person is Jesus Christ.”

So let’s look at a few people whose lives were changed
because of the grace they found when they came to know ______________.

The first one we’ll look at is the ____________
 who was known as a ___________.
Her story is found in Luke 7:36-50.

She is probably not the kind of woman that most people
 would want to hang around with
 for fear it would ruin their ________________.
However, Jesus did not hide from her when she literally
“___________________________”
and used it to wipe the oil that she had put on his feet.
When He was asked why He would even let this woman
_________________ Him,
Jesus used the hosts own words to answer him;
the one who was______________ the most
 would_____________ the most.  (verses 41-43)
Maybe that’s why Peter loved Jesus so much,
because he was forgiven much,
and shown much grace by Jesus.

In doing this study, I found it very interesting that all four of the gospels
 included Jesus‘ prediction that Peter would deny him.
 All four gospels also include the story of Peter’s actual denial of Jesus,
with all of them telling about the
incriminating crowing of the rooster.

But did you know that only short moments before this happened,
 that Peter had been____________ that he would
lay down his __________ for Jesus’ sake?
 John 13:36-38

Before Peter even knew his own heart was capable of denying Jesus,
 Jesus showed him grace in telling him
“Simon, Simon…  I have _____________________
that your faith should not fail;
and when you have returned to Me,
__________________ your brethren.”
 Luke 22:31-32

Luke tells us that after the rooster crowed,
“the Lord turned and_____________ at Peter,
then Peter remembered the word of the Lord…
‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’
So Peter went out and _______________________.”
Luke 22:60-62

After the resurrection Jesus asked Peter ____________ times,
“Do you love me?”
John 21:15-17
 It seems to me that Jesus used that principle of grace to restore Peter by having Peter___________ his love for him ______________ times just as Peter had denied him three times.

No wonder Peter became a picture of grace!
Let’s look at one more face that became a face of grace.
That would be the Apostle Paul.
But let’s first look at him when he was known as Saul.

What a bad dude!
The first time we hear of Saul was shortly after Jesus’ resurrection,
when the church was in its infancy.
The Jewish leaders who prided themselves on keeping all the law
were most upset with the preachers of grace.
Stephen was a deacon in the early church
whose testimony greatly upset some of the Jewish leaders.
These leaders stirred up the people and accused Stephen of
blaspheming ____________, the ____________, and _______.
 Acts 6:8-15

The people became so upset with Stephen,
that they cast him out of the city and _____________ him,
“laying their clothes at the feet of a young man named ______________.”
  Acts 7:57-60

The next chapter says Saul was in agreement with this act of murder and "made ____________________ of the church, entering every house,
 and dragging off men and women,
committing them to ______________.”
 Acts 8:1-3

Jesus did not let Saul continue to threaten the church.
He staged an intervention with him, and
Saul was changed from a ________________
to a ________________ of grace.
His interesting conversion experience is found in Acts 9,
with verse 15 saying Saul was "a chosen vessel."

Saul becomes known as___________________ (Acts 13:9),
and tells us how to receive an abundance of grace
so that we can_________________ in life! (Romans 5:17)

Buckle your seat belt!
Let’s learn the secrets of grace from Paul together!
If God can change the people we studied in this lesson,
He can change us, too!
If you have time to read the book of Galatians, or Romans chapters 5-8 over the next few weeks,
it might help prepare you for the ride!





2 comments:

Aritha V. said...

Thanks you for writing this beautiful blog!

Aritha V. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.