The Mystery of Grace

Grace is more than a small favor. It’s a powerful force of love and purpose that never stops — despite our sinful behavior. In 2 Kings 2:8-15, Elisha worried he would stop receiving grace once Elijah transitioned. However, God allowed him to inherit a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Similarly, God has blessed us with incredible grace that can also affect future generations. So, when doubt creeps in, remember that you were granted unmerited favor LONG before you knew. It’s a temporary rescue and a lifelong journey of divine connection. Are you ready to allow His grace to transform you?

Something happened last year when, uh, I had my final woman Doubled loose.
And, uh, I passed the baton, uh, to my daughter for Woman Evolve.
So I did this ceremony.
You know, she she didn’t know what was gonna go on, and she got control issues.
I don’t know where she got them from, but she got control issues. And she kept hitting me.
I I don’t know exactly what’s gonna go on, and then they have to have a new, you know, And the people in the background asking me, you know, exactly how you’re gonna do this.
And I said, I want a prayer bench, and I want this, and I want that,
and I want some oil and and this and that now, and and they said, well, when do you want this?
I said, just follow my lead. I’m I’m I’m gonna just follow my lead.
is gonna be alright because I’m following the lead of Holy Spirit.
It is not just wisdom to know when to start.
It is wisdom to know when to finish.
It takes just as much wisdom to know when to walk away as it does to walk forward.
And so we had this this moment, this powerful moment that, uh, of, of exchange and she had already been doing woman evolve.
It had already started picking up huge momentum.
And I could see it was the the coming of the future, uh, radical militant, anointed gifted women of god who were raising up to face the giants of their generation.
And I had been used of god to, to minister to hurting broken wounded women of my generation and to tell them that you could be loosed from the bondages and the shackles that held you.
And I suddenly realized that neither one of them would be complete without the other because success is not success without a successor.
And for the times we’re living in today and the contemporary woman and what she faces today, it’s not enough for her to be loose she has to evolve into the next dimension not just of how the world sees you, but how you see your self, how you see yourself.
Because if you don’t see yourself correctly, it’s hard to convince other people of something that you don’t believe because of the nagging voices of your history devouring your destiny.
And so I, took my coat off. I didn’t know I was gonna take my coat off.
I took my coat off and wrapped her in my coat because that’s what I did when she was a little girl.
She said, I’m cold, daddy. She always knew how to work me, you know.
And I would stop, Michael.
I’d pull over to the side of the road on the interstate to take my coat off and cover her up.
So symbolic of that covering, I took my coat off, my new coat.
No, dog.
My new coat, my my one time only got to wear one coat and covered up.
I thought it would be symbolic.
I thought when we get behind in the stage, you It wasn’t even cold or nothing.
She kept my coat. Do you not know from around the world in every language and tongue you can think of.
Women have registered to converge here in Arlington for Woman Evolve. No.
You don’t get this. I’m talking about white women. I’m talking about black women. I’m talking about brown women.
I’m talking about Jamaican women. I’m talking about Caribbean women. I’m talking about Hawaiian women.
I’m talking about women from Africa, from Saudi Arabia, from Japan, from all walks of life, are coming to Arlington, Texas to explode.
We are hearing from corporate women businesswomen, entrepreneurial women housewives who are going to bask in the glory and the anointing of the lord they’re gonna have a session called mind your business.
They’re gonna have all kinds of stuff for you to grow in every area because it’s not enough for you to evolve spiritually if you don’t evolve economically and socially and in every area of your life.
And I’m so amazed because we we got back home we had said we had the first one at the church.
By the time we got back from Woman Hour, at least 10,000 women had already registered.
I said, That won’t work. So we’re running all over town, and we finally found a stadium that would accommodate the women.
And even at that, Listen, we are almost completely.
Now y’all don’t hear me.
This is this is not an organization. This is not a movement.
This is not a sorority. This is not the NAACP.
Just just two country folks from the hills of West Virginia, we are most almost completely sold out for Woman Evolve.
almost completely sold out. There is an urgency that I know how we do.
I know how we do I know how we do.
I know how we do. I’m not talking about Christians right now.
I’m talking about the other week. I I know how we do. We are last minute people.
We we gotta fleece the lord and ask a sun to go backwards.
And, and then if, if my shoes turn blue and then I gotta wait on my check to come at the 1st the month.
Listen. Uh, I and if my sister ain’t made up her mind yet, But if Nene and Nookie come down from Chicago, I’m gonna register and go to call Nene right now.
tell they may come or not. I’m registering for this conference. I’m not gonna be seedless at this meeting.
I want you to register right now. Put the information. Oh, it’s on the screen now.
How you can do it right? I would do it right now.
I would do it while I was brushing my teeth. I would do it while I was scrambling my eggs.
I would do it, hallelujah, what flipping pancakes so you you don’t get caught with no seats.
You need to do it right now.
I wanna commend my daughter on a job well done in leading this new revolution.
Come on. Let’s celebrate. Let’s celebrate her. Let’s celebrate her.
And don’t you let anybody tell you that god can’t use a woman?
And don’t you let anybody tell you that a woman can’t be annoying it?
And don’t you let anybody tell you that a woman can’t preach?
Because the people who are saying that are now filling up no stadium with no forty thousand people.
The Bible said you should know the tree by the fruit it bears Don’t argue with them.
Just start throwing apples at them and let them see the fruit of what gospel.
I want every woman in the house and every come on, women, Come on.
Women make some noise in the house. Women don’t lie. Want you to blow this line up. hallelujah. hallelujah.
Whatever oil is on hers about to fall on you, your business is about to explode.
Your company’s to explore. Your career is about to explore.
Don’t let anybody on your job tell you God can’t use you. The devil is a lie.
It did just start with Sarah. It goes back to Ruth in the Bible.
It goes back to Esther in the Bible all over the the Bible is covered with women.
When Jesus got ready to come, he didn’t pick a man. He picked a woman. Come on, somebody Come on.
Somebody. Come on. Somebody. Come on. Somebody. You don’t have to apologize.
You don’t have to sit back and you don’t have to feel bad.
And that doesn’t mean that you replace the men, but I want a strong woman by my side.
I want a woman who can carry her weight by my side.
I’m not intimidated by a strong woman because I’m a strong man.
And that’s why I want all the men to get up and give god a praise for for this revolution of Women Evolving.
Amen.
I went back and forth about the title.
For me, picking a title is the hardest part of a message, because you don’t really know what the message is about until you’re standing in the moment.
So, um, I was did get lazy, I’ll be honest.
I told him, I’m a just call it amazing grace because who can argue with that?
But, God gave me the mystery of grace last night.
So that is my subject, the mystery of grace.
I have to tell you, preaching after Bishop has mopped the floor with us the last 2 weeks about faith.
you wrong for this, and you know it. And you know you know it.
I mean, he’s been so deep in his back. Can we thank god for the Bishop of this house?
truly the go the greatest to ever do it.
And I’m a talk bad about you putting me up here after you preach that series.
And then you have pastor Kian up here on Wednesday.
ladies, I need some backup in the spirit.
The fella was trying to pick a fight with us. So all one kingdom. Okay.
Here we go. 2nd kings, chapter 2, verse 8 through
15.
I’m reading from the new King James version, and my text begins.
It says, now, Elijah took his mantle. rolled it up and struck the water.
And it was divided this way and that so that the
2
of them crossed over on dry ground, the
2
of them being Elijah and Elijah.
Sometimes we take for granted the fact that Some of us have heard these stories so many times that I wanna take a minute for those of us who are still new in the faith or new in the word, that Elijah is a prophet, and he has a successor that successor’s name is Elijah.
And this point in the text, Elijah is getting ready to what they think is dying.
They think that his ministry is coming to an end, and therefore, his death is taking place in this moment.
And Elijah, his servant is trying to navigate what this transition looks like.
And so the circumstances surrounding this moment in the text is very delicate as they’re watching to see how he will transition and also trying to determine what will happen to the grace that was on his life.
Verse 9 continues in his says, so it was when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elijah, ask what I may do for you before I am taken away from you.
Elijah said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.
So he said, you have asked a hard thing.
Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you.
But if not, It shall not be so he’s hanging in the balance.
Then it happened as they continued on and talked that suddenly, a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the 2 of them.
And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, and Elijah saw it. And he cried out.
my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen.
so he saw him no more.
And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water and said, Where is the lord god of Elijah and when he also had struck the water?
It was divided this way, and that, and Elijah crossed over.
Now, when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah rests on Elijah.
And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him, spirit of the living god, This is your word.
God, you gave it to me, and I’ve done the best that I can with it.
So what I need now more than anything is your spirit to help me convey the truth that you have given me.
God, I pray that you would open hearts in this room, that they would receive the part of this word that you have picked out for them.
God, I thank you that only you can take a room this side, take an internet this wide, and make a personal message that meets people right where they need it the most.
God, the only way that happens is if you would give me the spirit of Revelation prophecy, insight, wisdom, discernment, god that you would unlock your spirit and allow it to flow through me in such a way that there is none of me, god.
and only you. So great god I ask that you fall is only you can do make room in this space, make room in our hearts, give us our march orders that we may establish your kingdom on earth in Jesus’ name, I pray.
Amen. Amen. Amen. One of the things that I have heard almost my entire life, as it relates to my mother, is that she is the embodiment of grace.
Everyone says if they’ve had an opportunity to meet her or just watch her any amount of time that she just embodies what it means to have a grace because she’s so classy and she’s so petite, and she’s just so She whispers everything.
And Grace feels like a whisper, and that’s why she would I think that’s why she does it.
I think that Grace is just a whisper. down in her spirit.
I recognize that when most of the people say that she is the embodiment of grace, that they’re not necessarily talking about grace as we know it in the there is a definition of grace that is more, I’ll say, westernized, something that doesn’t have much to do with faith at all, And this definition of grace relies on us to really lean into a person’s elegance, their beauty.
They say, that when a person has grace, they’re not always talking about her embodying the attributes of being in relationship with Jesus, but rather someone who just has elegance in grace, and certainly my mother fits that bill.
As I was defining what grace is, I couldn’t help, but start at that surface level definition of grace.
However, when we dig deeper into grace, we recognize that there are so many other definitions, many of them that we have become familiar with, especially if you’ve been in church or around church for any number of time.
And that is the unmerited favor of God.
When we define grace, Theologically, or in the context of church, We see it as the unmerited favor of god or something that you may have heard, a divine influence of the heart.
So when we say that god’s grace is with us or god’s grace is what empowered us, we’re talking about god doing something in our heart that allowed our heart to turn even when we didn’t realize that we needed it to turn or that god turned his heart to us in ways that we didn’t deserve or could not have earned, that is what grace is when we talk about it in the context of church and theology.
And yet, when I was studying grace, I went even deeper and recognized that the word that is translated into grace and the new testament of the Bible is a Griko Roman word.
This Griko Roman word that was translated actually is care is the word that is translated as grace.
And when I looked at Carys, apart from our, you know, Chris Chinese church version of what grace is.
When I just looked at it purely in the historical context of Carys, What I learned is that Carys was a system that was used in the Greco Roman area era.
And in this system of grace, called Carys. It is when one person gave a gift to another person.
The only thing is that the person who gave the gift often had a higher value gift or a higher value position than the person who was receiving it.
So Carys is like a, a king and a servant.
And a servant gives a gift to a king, and though his heart is well intended, though it has value based on where the servant is from the king’s perspective.
It is a lesser value, but still because they have engaged in this relationship this system of grace just because he gives him something of lesser value.
It doesn’t mean that he is disqualified from being in relationship with him because Carys allows for us to give something on a lesser value and still be in relationship with the person who we’re giving the gift to.
When we see Carys in the text, really, we have to look at it in this cultural historical context if we want to accurately determine what it means to really experience god’s grace.
because Paul, the writer, a Roman citizen, cannot separate the context of the caris from what he is translating into our relationship with god.
So when he says in 1st Corinthians, when he talks about grace, I pulled a text as an example in 1st Corinthians
15. 9
through 10, put it on the screen for me.
He says for I am the least of the apostles, he starts off already setting his value low.
I am the least. I have less value.
I’m not like some of the other apostles who actually walked with Jesus. I’m not high and mighty.
I’m the least of the apostles who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
But then it continues, and it says, but by the grace, because I made an exchange with god, it’s not that I don’t the least amount of value, but by the grace of god, I am what I am.
You could appraise my worth based on of what I did, and you would be right to say that I have no value.
But if you would praise my worth by who I am connected with, then you would recognize that who I am connected with automatically took mistakes up.
It is by the grace of god that I am who I am. You’re right. I’m not educated enough.
You’re right. I don’t have the right connections. You’re right.
I have no business being in this pulpit, but by the grace of god. I am what I am.
You’re right about it. I I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be raising the family.
I shouldn’t be starting the business, but by the grace of god, I am, what I am.
Some people are jealous of what you did.
They don’t realize that what you did was done by the grace of god.
You and I are actually no different, but by the grace of god, I am what I am.
You could act cute in this place if you want to, but I know there are some people in this room who are only in this room because Grace said I will align with you and know you’re not my best option and know you’re not my choice.
But if you’re willing to give me an exchange, I made an exchange.
There’s some people in this room who made an exchange with god.
and the exchange they made with god didn’t even have any value to god.
God gave you addiction, and he gave you a ministry.
God gave you you gave addiction, and he gave you a ministry.
You gave god low self esteem, and he gave you what business god gave me in exchange.
It don’t even make sense because what gave him doesn’t match what he gave me in return.
I gave you disobedience, and you gave me another shot. I gave you reckless, and you in my steps.
I wish there were some people in this room.
Who knows that god what I gave you wasn’t nothing compared to what she gave.
You see, I know what I gave them.
See, I tell other people, no. No. I I studied for this.
No, I went to school for this, but when it’s me and god in the prayer closet, god’s able to help me understand.
Now, you you didn’t really give me much to work with. You know you was lying your face off.
You know you was sleeping with anything that would walk.
You know you didn’t give me nothing to with, but by the Christ a god.
When god’s Christ breathes on you, it takes your nothing and turns it into soft and the of god is why I’m in this room.
The grace of god is why I have another chance.
The grace of god is why I know I’m gonna see the goodness of god.
The goodness of god and the grace of god. They keep messing with me every time I Hinger.
I’m giving him something about you. He says that’s nothing to me. Let me breathe on it and expand it.
I didn’t give him nothing to work with.
I didn’t give him nothing to work with.
I didn’t have no ingredients because if you just give me what you have, if you just give me what you have, I know it doesn’t seem like a lot.
I know it looks like broken pieces. know it may look like a portion.
I know it may look like you’re tired.
I know it may look like you should be locked up, but if you give me something to work with, We could enter into an alliance.
where my grace and what you offer aligns in such a way that it is undeniable that Grace went ahead of you.
Yeah. Grace is in exchange.
Grace is not just about consumption. Grace is not insurance for you to do whatever you like.
I know. I’m sorry. I wanted to cute.
I wanted to preach something real cute, but god told me I gotta really break down what grace is.
because some of us do treat grace like it is insurance, and grace is gonna go ahead and I’m a make the mistake, but I believe is gonna cover me when you really get a revelation of grace.
You understand that if god ever gave me what I truly deserved, If god had been lifted his grace off of my life, then imposter syndrome would be right because I have no business being where I am, but god’s grace Oh, was the grace of god.
that made the difference.
And so when we see Paul talking about grace, and he says it is the grace of God I am, what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all.
There’s I see exchange here.
I am the least of them, but god gave me the grace of god.
I am what I am. He changed my identity.
And then when he changed his identity, when he changed my identity, he says, Paul, when he changed the way that I saw myself, when he changed the way I saw what he was doing in the earth, I decided that his grace toward me would not be in vain, because grace comes with the responsibility.
because I don’t feel entitled to grace, just because you allowed me to have grace on credit.
God help me.
Some people in this room got grace on credit.
Gus says I’m gonna give you grace first.
And then when you step into the grace, I want you to live in such a way that I know that my grace was not in vain that you recognize what this is.
Because if you recognize what this is, you won’t do that. again.
That’s why we can love people with grace for real.
I don’t have to condemn you to make sure you don’t make the same mistake over and over again.
I just gotta be so good to you, that you never wanna be bad to yourself again.
I just gotta be so good to you, that you never wanna go back to who you were 4.
It is the grace of god, the goodness of god that kept showing up in his life that says, now I feel obligated.
What can I render unto you God for all that you have done to me? I feel obligated.
I am a slave of the gospel, not because I did everything right, not because he actually chained me, but because he kept chasing me with his grace.
And I finally turned And I said, god, don’t you know I’m ragged in? God, don’t you know I’m mad?
God, don’t you know you could get somebody else, but you keep me into this bar.
You keep chasing me into this strip club.
God, what is it that you won’t with me? God, what is it that
you can do with these Hallelujah.
2nd, corinthians chapter 10 verse
9.
That’s my scripture right there.
Paul is expressing right before this, how he’s got this thorn in his flesh.
Oh, god. I feel like you wanna do something in this place.
God, I could almost be used, but I got this thorn in my flesh God.
I could almost be of use, but there’s this thing that is piercing my soul.
I could almost be like them. I could almost be perfect. I could almost hold my head up high.
I could almost be in ministry. I could almost lay it down and and Jesus says to him my grace.
Once again, we’re not talking about the co the way we’ve come to know it in church, we’re talking about an exchange.
This exchange that I made is sufficient for you because my strength is made perfect in weakness.
That means that if you make this exchange the right way, it won’t matter what the thorn is.
It won’t matter to wear your weak. All that no matter is that you made in exchange with me.
You give me weakness and that tipped you straight.
You give me free freedom, I will give you a real call and a purpose.
If you give it to me, I’ll transform it. God says I wanna marry your weakness.
Put it back on the screen for me.
I want you to give me your weakness. I want you to give it to me.
Don’t give it to them.
See, the reason that most of us end up with our hearts broken is because we were giving our weakness to other weak people.
And we were hoping that if I give you my weakness, I’ll finally feel strong but Jesus said the reason why you needed him to walk away.
The reason why you needed her to disappoint you is because you wanted her to do what only I could do.
You wanted the job to be only I could be.
You wanted the check to do what only I can do. And that’s why you’re rich and still upset.
And that’s why you truck
and stealing. Got no peace.
There is no drug greater than my grace.
There ain’t a drink on earth that can make you strong in the air You’ve been weak.
It can help you forget. It can help you walk away. But if you wanna be strong for real,
you gotta take that a weakness say god, here I am, lord.
Here I am with my weak self. Here I am with my broke self.
Here I am with my shattered sucker.
The moment they call me,
I’ll go running up the door. I don’t wanna be weak anymore.
I don’t wanna be weak like this anymore.
This weakness is messing up my destiny. This weakness is messing up my family.
This weakness is changing the way I see myself.
This weakness is about to keep me from being who you’ve called me
to be. You gotta go to war with your because your weakness go mess you up.
But when you decide that I won’t let a weak bee, keep me from a that thing.
The weakness It’s in the way it’s in the way that weakness is in the way and you don’t just get it out of the way by ignoring it.
And you don’t get it out of the way by pretending you’re gonna be confident in the place where you are weak.
You can’t affirm yourself out of this weakness. You can’t post yourself out of this weakness.
The only thing longer than the area where you’re weak.
His name is Jesus. Oh, god. I didn’t die. His name.
Poses.
I knew I was weak, but when I got this revelation, that my weak hit can have a companion.
My weakness can have a companion, and that companion is his strength. When I got that revelation.
I did something crazy. I started boasting in my infirmities because the more
I go about it. The more he breaks on it.
And the more he breaks on it, the power of god rests upon.
I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to live a life confuses being to me.
How in the hell did all of the hell I put her through? Not keep her from being.
Now how did that heal? Did all of the hell?
the enemy sent hell to keep you from being who god
has called you to be. I know it’s confusing, but the
hell didn’t work. I know it’s confusing, but the hell actually works for me.
it hits me, his strength was made perfect in the place where I yet. Hell, you sent it in.
Evident.
Okay. That’s not even That’s not my message.
And I’m trying to calm down, but I just gotta let you know that you standing in the room where hell try to attack me, you send it in the room
where hell said, I’m a get her pregnant so she never opens her mouth and thirteen years old,
I’m a put her in a room
and tell her you’ll never have access to the gift of I do see it, everybody else, and heaven’s at uh-uh uh-uh one day.
She gonna give me all that hell she went through. there.
Okay. Hold on. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Do you been than for the first time. I’m sorry. You don’t even know me like that.
But let me tell you something. I know something about the grace of god.
I know something about the goodness of god. I know I don’t have no business in this place.
Okay. Okay.
I’m a boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rests upon me I’m not gonna whisper about these infirmities.
I’m not gonna ignore these infirmities.
I’m gonna make an exchange.
I give god my weakness.
my doubt, my insecurity, my need to perform, my need to be polished.
I’m a give him my weakness. I’m a give him that broken little boy.
I’m a give him that broken little girl. I’m a give him my weakness, my my weakness.
I’m gonna give him this addiction. I’m gonna give him my weakness.
You see, we came in here, and we looked the best that we can look Part of it is because I’m trying to cover up some of this weakness.
You think you got decree on top of degree because you really wanted that to And, yes, that was it.
But some of you were trying to cover up your weakness, and I hear god saying you’re trying to cover up the very thing I wanna partner with.
I wanna partner with what looks good.
I don’t wanna partner with the part of you that makes everyone feel good.
I wanna partner with the of you that nobody wants not even you.
Gusses, that’s the part that I want. I want your weakness. I want your brokenness. I wants your bitterness.
He left 20 years ago. You’re still bitter. God says, give me that. You’re not angry. You’re hurting.
You’re not in You’re broken, I won’t. I want Your weakness.
Oh, goodness.
This exchange that we make with god requires that we really see I have to tell you culturally, this is challenging because culturally, We do live in a world that requires we find our confidence.
that we find the best version of ourselves.
And sometimes we get so high off our own supply.
that we don’t see the gap between who we are and who god is.
And you start to think to yourself, maybe I’m not that bad.
I mean, I did do this.
I did do that, but it is the grace of god, not the grace of man. that makes the difference.
And just because you got favor in the eyes of man, doesn’t mean you did anything to get favor in the eyes of god.
God is not impressed with what you have. God is impressed with all of who you are.
And if you are not careful, you will allow your achievements and your pursuit of another crown.
to keep you from making a divine exchange.
God told me.
The only way we survive this time that we’re living in is not by how big we can make ourselves, but how much weakness we can find within ourselves.
And I know you can point out weakness because you could have pointed out in everyone else, but what about that weakness?
inside of you. What about that speck in your own eye?
because it’s weakness inside of me. And when I handle my weakness with care.
It changes how I see your weakness because I recognize that I wouldn’t even have the sense that I have if it wasn’t for the grace of god.
And some be instead of prosecuting them.
What we need to do is pray that they have an exchange with grace that helps them to understand you don’t have to live that way.
You don’t have to talk that way, but I understand how you got that very there because they’re, but for the grace of god.
There go I.
I’m not even in my text.
It was, uh, really interesting to me that god would give me a message about grace.
but then take me into the Old Testament. Doesn’t really align.
those of you who are real fancy scholars, y’all sit down.
We just I don’t know. Just I don’t even know.
We just reckless and unruly every time. Yes, Charles. Sit down right there. Make yourself at home.
Welcome to the potter’s house. Welcome. Yes. Welcome. Take your shoes.
I took my shoes off. One time I took my wig off that over well for me.
Helped a lot of people. Um, I wondered why for me, it didn’t go well for me.
I wondered why god took me to the Old Testament because traditionally, when we look at scripture, we think as the we think of the Old Testament as the law.
And the new testament we associate with grace This is the traditional lines of demarcation when studying the Bible.
we see the law as the list of rules that god gave to Israel knowing that they could not fulfill them.
that they would ultimately need the grace of Jesus life in order to make up the difference for what they could not fulfill.
Jesus fulfilled the law. He did what no one else could do so that we can do what we have no business being able to do.
because we didn’t live in such a way that would allow us access to god.
And yet, god gave me this text about grace because he wanna me to understand that though grace is not the star of the Old Testament, grace is running in the background.
of the Old Testament.
We see the word grace, the Hebrew word for grace mentioned for the first time, in Genesis
6.
When no when god has looked at the earth and said, I’m so sorry that I made them.
which sometimes in
2023,
I just be like, Are we messing it up down here?
And can you tell me, can I have a Noah anointing on my life, because I think we messing it up a little bit down here.
Says in Genesis 6, he looked at all of the earth, and he was sorry that made them.
He says, but Noah found Grace in his eyes.
This concept of grace is not what we know of it now.
This is the first time we see grace.
and it taught me something about the way that grace is running in the background of the Old Testament.
It taught me that ultimately when Noah found grace in god’s eye, that he found the ability to give to Noah what he could give to no one else he found favor in god’s eyes.
And the thing about this is that it doesn’t tell us much about Noah.
It doesn’t say that Noah was necessarily the the most righteous man, the most faithful that he did everything the right way, but there was something about Noah’s heart posture that when god looked at him, he found grace.
Oh, god, that’s a word within itself.
Sometimes we are concerned about who we are connected to because we afraid that who we are connected to may dissuade people in some way from wanting to be connected with us, but there was something to be said about man looking at the word appearance, but god looking at the heart, god says I know how to get through all of the mess that you’re around to see the virtue in the favor that is still down on the inside of you.
How did god decipher that Noah was the one?
Because Noah understood something about god that other people didn’t.
says that Noah found favor in god’s eyes.
But this taught me about the mystery of grace is that grace wasn’t just something that we received from god in the new testament.
It also taught me that when we find grace in god’s eyes, that oftentimes, grace makes the first move.
God help me. Help me to say this the right way.
Man, I gotta unpack this the way god gave it to me.
When Noah finds grace in god’s eyes, he gives Noah a download about what is to come.
This helped me to understand that too often, we see grace as a one off.
that that there is grace that is confined to a particular situation that god showed me grace in this one instance.
And even when we talk about Noah finding grace in god’s eyes, we kinda limit it to him giving the instruction that the flood is coming.
and he built the arc. And we kind of make it seem that that is the end of grace.
But what I learned in reading this text is that when no one found grace in god eyes that ultimately god invited him into a lifestyle of grace.
Yeah. Because it’s not just grace for you to be preserved, It also takes grace for you to build something you’ve never seen before.
experience that’s gonna hit the earth.
It doesn’t just take grace to get onto the arc and build the arc.
There’s a special kind of that also happens when the flood has withdrawn.
And now I have to build my life again. He invited him into a lifestyle of grace.
And as long as we see grace as temporary, we will never give the level of obedience that unlocks a lifestyle of grace that allows us to stand in moments we would have never had access to, but for the grace of god, now I’m living a lifestyle Grace.
I wanna prophecy over somebody in this room that the moment that you recognize that you have found grace in the eyes of the lord that you have a responsibility to be obedient to that grace.
I don’t know who you are in this room, but god has told you time after time.
I have graced you for this.
I have graced you for something in the earth that only you can do, and you wanna understand what’s on the other side of the grace.
I know I’m talking to some in this section because I keep getting pulled over here.
I know that I have graced you for something, but you’ll never see the fullness of what I have graced you for.
until you are obedient to the yes that is required in this moment.
Maybe you’re over here too, and god has graced you for something like Noah.
I found grace in the eye of the lord.
And I keep seeing this grace, but I don’t trust this grace.
I don’t
Trust the grace
that I found in the eyes of the lord.
So I would rather believe that Grace is a one off.
that it saved me once, then to believe that there is grace for me to unpack in my life.
Jesus help me.
Can you imagine though we see grace for the first time as a word in Genesis 6, The first active grace is really in Genesis
3.
After Adam and Eve have eaten from the fruit, Jesus told them.
God told them in Genesis too. If you eat from this tree, you will surely die.
That was the rule. That was the law. And they broke it.
but they did not die. They got results that they didn’t deserve.
even though they broke the rules.
And instead of them really dying, now an animal that was minding his business has to die.
to cover the thing that they should have never been in, in the first place, if that’s Grace, I don’t know.
If that’s not Grace, I don’t know what is. because how are you covering something that I messed up?
Oh, god. See, some of you, oh, Jesus, this is my word. Y’all can just hear my word.
You see, there are some messes I got myself into.
There were some things that god shouldn’t have had to cover at all.
There were some things where I should have thrown myself down at the mercy of the court and say, god, I did that.
And whatever punishment I get is the one that I’ve earned, but said, I’m actually not gonna punish you.
I’m gonna cover you in a way that you coulda never covered yourself. You took those little fig leaves.
and tried to cover that mistake you made. God said I got something more durable to cover you.
I got something that cannot be shaken, and I want you to sit back and look at the links I will go to cover you.
God took an animal that did nothing wrong at all, but said because I got to cover my child, I’m a tell you this, and it might be a little bit I don’t know.
It might be a little bit wrong to tell you, but I want you to know that there are people who will end up paying the consequences for what you did.
And that’s how you know that the grace of god is with you because it really shouldn’t have been them that lost their job.
You owned up to the mistaken everything, but some kind of way, god still preserved you.
There were people who end up paying consequences for things that you should have been paying the consequence for Some of you ought to be in jail.
Some of you ought to be in the hospital.
Some of you ought to be on food stamps and waken from check to check.
but somebody else is paying for consequences that didn’t have anything to do with what they did.
But because god said for some reason, I’m gonna cover you when I’m gonna this is Jesus.
What I find interesting about this in Genesis when god shows them grace by slaughtering this animal to cover them.
He does kick them out of the garden.
And it proves to me that a version of their lives did die.
their life itself didn’t die, but there was a version of life as they knew it that ended in that moment.
It helped me understand another mystery of grace that I think is important for all of us to know.
that even though life, as you know, it may have ended, maybe you’re not in the same city.
maybe that person is never coming back to life.
Grace is not always about keeping that life alive.
Sometimes grace is about showing you how to live again in a new world.
their life didn’t end the way that it should have, but god paves the way for them to experience life again.
That’s grace too, is that you can have joy again, that you can have peace again, Not that the situation goes back to being what it was, but sometimes grace is I can’t change what happened, but I can offer you the opportunity to live again in a way you never thought was possible.
I wish that would have never happened. I wish that your life would have been preserved.
I wish you would have stayed protected, but my grace is sufficient enough to help you understand that on the other side of this heartbreak, there is a life again, and that life still allows you to be fruitful and multiply.
And that life still allows you to have dominion. I gotta plan.
And this is why we’ve got to acknowledge that grace does exist in the Old Testament because Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, which means that even in Genesis and even through all of the Old Testament, when we see god giving chance after chance after chance that what we’re really seeing is him setting up a template of grace where you don’t always do the right thing, and you don’t always get the right yeses.
but because I so believe in who you can become, I’m gonna show you that there’s life after mistakes.
I’m gonna show you there’s life when you should have been dead.
There were some of you in this room who are sitting next to a corpse, and you don’t even know it.
But because god allowed them to live again, they thing that is sitting next to you is someone who has been resurrected.
That thing sitting next to you as someone who had suicidal thoughts and thought I shouldn’t be here.
You said to a corpse. I didn’t even wanna live to see another day, but for some reason, the grace of god gave me another chance.
And now the life that I’m living is really not my own.
The life that I’m living is the life that I was resurrected to embody.
The life that I’m living is the life that god said.
If you can just hang on and survive, I’m gonna bring you back to life.
I wanna prophesy to somebody in this room, and you’ve been feeling like you’re on your last leg.
You’ve been feeling like this life is over.
You’ve been feeling like there is nothing else for you to do in the earth because you’ve made so many mistakes, because you’ve been the victim of so many mistakes.
and I hear god saying that I can bring you back to life.
I hear god saying that that resurrect in power, there’s grace on the other side of this for you to live again.
I don’t know who stole from you. I don’t know who betrayed you.
I don’t know what betrayal you allowed to happen on your own, but I hear god’s saying that there is life after your shame.
There is life after your heartbreak. There is grace for you to live again.
I dare you to take a deep breath and let the devil know you should have killed me when you had the chance, but for some reason, he keeps breathing air into my lungs.
hear god saying that your breath is a threat to the enemy because your breath is a reminder that my grace still sufficient.
Your breath is a reminder that though he’s claiming, I can still trust in him.
Your breath is a reminder that he’s not finished with me yet. My story is still being written.
Heaven is still rejoicing when I wake up in the morning.
Hell tried to unleash hell on me, but heaven can’t pulling me back. Heaven can’t chasing me tab.
think I’m a go
on and live again. I think I’m a go on and try again.
I think I’m a go on and and lecture myself to get back in position so that I can become all that god has called me to be.
I think I’m gonna try anyway. I think I can still be fruitful. I don’t know who you are.
You’ve been in a but I hear god saying get ready for rain because the moment you get a revelation that my grace sees past your drought, I’m gonna lock the windows of heaven, and I’m gonna pour you out a blessing that you don’t have room enough to receive.
What is that blessing? That blessing is getting your mind back. That blessing is getting your heart back.
That blessing is getting your hunger back.
There’s a grace. There’s a grace.
There’s a grace. There’s a grace after this. There’s a grace after this. There’s a grace after this.
That grace says if you give it to me, I’ll transform it. There’s a grace after this pain.
There’s a grace after this. there’s a grace after this. I don’t know
who you are, but I hear god saying there’s a grace coming. There’s a grace coming. Keep your eyes open.
You’re going through life with your eyes shut. I hear god’s hand keep your eyes open.
I’m about to show you what grace looks like. I’m about to show you what grace sounds like.
Make sure the volume is up on your phone because I want you to hear grace.
When it starts ringing, I want you to hear grace.
When it starts knocking on your door, I’m prophesying for some body in this room that before I see you again on Sunday that you’re gonna have an encounter with grace, that grace is gonna wake you up in the another night, and all of a sudden where you were weeping, somebody’s gonna wake up laughing.
I think gracious won’t be about a sir. I think Grace just woke me about a stupid.
Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace, ma’am.
I need it in my marriage. I need it at my stop. I need it in my forgiveness.
I need it in my pain. I need it in my bitterness.
I gotta give you grace because I’m making room. Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
I think somebody’s making room for grace. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. I’ve been making room for doubt.
I’ve been making room for worrying.
I’ve been making room for things to go bad, but I hear god saying, I need you to make some room for grace.
I know you see how it could fail.
But do you see how I could take things and do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ask for?
Imagine, I need you to get in a mindset of grace.
I need you to get in the posture of grace.
I need you to free your feet so you can dance.
I need you move your arms so you can pray.
Cause in a minute, a great wave is gonna hit this place.
The grace It’s coming like a wave. It’s coming like a wave.
It’s coming like a wave. It’s coming like a wave. Don’t look at the news.
The news don’t know nothing about this wave. Don’t look on your timeline.
Your timeline don’t know nothing about this way. This gray suede that’s coming.
It’s gonna move you from where you have been and place your feet on solid ground. Who are you?
You’ve been sinking. Who are you? You’ve been drowning. God says grace is about to carry you to shore.
Grace.
Grace.
Jesus.
I think god gave me this text. I gotta finish.
I think god gave me this text. because Elijah experienced God’s grace.
Elijah was and drinking in and drought, eating in the family.
Elijah experienced god’s grace. And he was not just a consumer of god’s grace.
He was obedient to the grace that was on his life.
even when that grace almost risked him his entire life, he couldn’t separate the fact Yes, I may be afraid.
Yes, I may be distraught. But at the end of the day, if god says arise and eat, I’m gonna be obedient because the grace that is on my life requires obedience.
And if I am not obedient, then I will be disconnected from that grace.
I don’t even wanna risk being disconnected from that grace. I wanna stay so