January 24, 2010
Program #820
Accept the Acceptance
Ephesians 1:1-7 (King James Version)
Ephesians 1
1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
God came to Adam and Eve and had a relationship with them. God pursued Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. God is the one that take the initiative.
Jeremiah 31:3 (Amplified Bible)
3The Lord appeared from of old to me [Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.(A)
Hosea 11:4 (Amplified Bible)
4I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as one who lifts up and eases the yoke over their cheeks, and I bent down to them and gently laid food before them.
Cords and bands simply defined as rope. How strange this skit had our Jesus pulling on her like a tug of war.
Ephesians 1:6-7
6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Ephesians 1:4-7 (Amplified Bible)
4Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.
5For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [[a]because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]--
6[So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor,
Strong’s definition for accepted: to pursue with grace, compass with favor, to honor with blessing.
Commendation-favorable representation with words.
Compass: surely mercy and goodness shall follow me all the days of my life.
Grace wants to pursue you, are you ready to accept the acceptance.
Exact same word spoken to Mary the virgin of the Christ in Luke 1:28
Luke 1:28 (King James Version)
28And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
God has big plans for you. Are you ready to accept the acceptance? Are you ready to accept His grace. God placed the Word in Mary, right now God is placing the Word in you. Mary’s response was here I am Lord, may your will be done.
We all can relate to the battle of feeling accepted. People feel physical, emotional, spiritual, economical, and sexual abuse.
¼ of women have been abused according to news in Albany, NY
¼ of women said they would be willing to undergo plastic surgery.
Key word is acceptance. We all want to feel accepted.
Let’s give examples. My father never taught me to throw a football, or shot a basketball. I thought I will do better. Mylon and I at camp Dixie play tether ball. Another time I brag about Mylon showing me how to shoot a basketball, Mackenzie comes running in what about me. Once I heard my father call my older brother his number one son. What does this mean?
Genesis 22 (Summarized)
Abraham and Issac and the story of Mackenzie. First Mackenzie learned don’t make your dad mad. If the fire doesn’t get you, the knife will.
Question: Does God fully accept me? What are the stipulations? Saved, unsaved, rich, or poor we all ask this question. Realize, IN LOVE He predestined us to adoption.
Romans 5:1-11 (King James Version)
Romans 5
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
What did this say: It is Christ’s work, not our own work, and a relationship with God. When sin enters the picture, what do I do to be reaccepted? We fear God has changed, but is only us who changed.
Do not abuse the grace. The faith does not give freedom to do as we please. Give scripture here.
Appreciation for grace will motivate you not to continue in sin.
Oh God I’ve failed you. My Son, how did you fail me. I AM the one carrying you. Always concerned with what I can be for God, but it in the end is always what God is for me.
Back in the day when I was a teen Arnold and Sly set the stage for what a man was suppose to look like. Hear boys talking about Megan Foxx, and the pressure this puts on everyone. Girls love Taylor Lautner’s body from Twilight.
Another group says you’re not smart enough, what about my clothes, my car? What about the fact I have boyfriend/girlfriend? Do I have to sleep with them to keep them? Did you know ¼ of all freshmen in high school are having premarital sex? And ¾ of all high school seniors are no longer virgins. What we do for acceptance is too high a price!
Bring this into the adult world too.
So busy doing and being what we think everyone else wants us to be (extrinsic motivation). One is never meditating on the inside, the intrinsic, of what God has placed inside of you just has He placed the Word in Mary. What is God’s Word pursuing me for? Be a God pleaser and not a man pleaser.
Galatians 1:9-10 (Amplified Bible)
9As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you received [from us], let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!
10Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).
One can be so busy pleasing people and compromising, you hurt the ones who really love you.
Bill Cosby once said “I do not know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
Why would we try to do something God can’t do? People pray to God for the Super Bowl, only one team can win. That’s not pleasing everyone.
Luke 15:1-7 (Amplified Bible)
Luke 15
1NOW THE tax collectors and [notorious and [a]especially wicked] sinners were all coming near to [Jesus] to listen to Him.
2And the Pharisees and the scribes kept muttering and indignantly complaining, saying, This man accepts and receives and welcomes [[b]preeminently wicked] sinners and eats with them.
3So He told them this parable:
4What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness (desert) and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
5And when he has found it, he lays it on his [own] shoulders, rejoicing.
6And when he gets home, he summons together [his] friends and [his] neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep which was lost.
7Thus, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one [[c]especially] wicked person who repents ([d]changes his mind, abhorring his errors and misdeeds, and determines to enter upon a better course of life) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.
Being called a sheep is not a great complement. Sheep follow anything. Winter is often the season of the dead. Sure you made it through, but when death (sin) is in the air, you are dirty and weighted down. What is the Good Shepherd’s role?
Luke 15:11-31 (King James Version)
11And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.” And he divided unto them his living.
13And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
26And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
29And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Special attention to Luke 15:17 as the word spare means abundance. God’s grace is abundant.
Conclusion: Are you ready to accept the acceptance? Have you ever accepted Christ’s sacrifice to accept you? If you have, have you accepted his acceptance, let Him pursue you with His grace? This is not judgment day; it is the day to accept His acceptance that you are good enough.
