Sermon Cloud

“Growth in character and changes in behavior occur in a gradual process after a person becomes a Christian.  The mistaken belief that a person must “clean up” his or her own life in order to merit God’s presence is not Christianity.”

Timothy Keller
The Reason For God

James 1:17

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Galatians 2:11-21

     11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.  12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.  13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
     14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?  15 “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’  16 know that a man is not
justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put
our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
     17 “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin?  Absolutely not!  18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 
     19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

You know when...

YOU ARE MORE LIKE JESUS CHRIST TODAY THAN YOU WERE YESTERDAY, and
YOU ARE ENJOYING THAT CHANGE MORE AND MORE.

 God’s grace gives you the freedom you’ve always longed for...

THE FREEDOM OF KNOWING WHO YOU ARE, and
THE FREEDOM OF KNOWING YOU'RE ACCEPTED