What’s love got to do with it?

John said, “Perfect love casts out fear”. It’s an inside job that removes shame and punishment. When we received Christ, we received His Spirit. Our spirit became perfect but our soul still remembers how unperfect we were. Our old man is not our new identity, because now we have a new heart and the law of love written upon it. When Christians submit to the love of Jesus and their new identity, fear is cast aside. Can a Christian choose not to walk in love? Absolutely, and the Lord will bring correction to His children. Is this the kind of correction we should fear? It’s the kind of correction that leads us to repentance. I’m talking about His kindness and goodness that will turn your world upside down when you need it most. The most scandalous grace is given when we deserve it the least. He offers this kind of grace at all times but disobedient children receive grace only when they have exhausted their own efforts. What if there is an army of children rising up in faith, that will lay down their ideas of earning favor and identity and live from favor in identity? What if there is an army of believers that know they are loved and live like it?

1 John 4:18 

¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

 

Prayer Challenge:

Ask the Lord to help you live from identity.

Ask the Lord for a fresh revelation of His love today.

 

Foolishness or Faith?

A woman walked into a room of entertainment. Men and women were there to feast and Jesus was invited to participate. It was that time of year for tradition to focus on celebrating the past but one woman saw the value in Jesus and the future. Jesus said she would be remembered throughout history for her one act of honor. The aroma of faith, filled the room as she spent a year’s wages pouring perfume over the head of Jesus. This looked like foolishness to the spectators in the room. They knew poor people who could really use this money. And yet what they were really missing was the value of Jesus. Is it possible that knowing the value of Jesus causes people to want to give extravagant gifts to Him? The world will call sacrifice foolishness and the financial math may not add up but faith always sees the value of Jesus!

Prayer Challenge:

When was the last time your heart burned to give honor extravagantly to Jesus?

Ask the Lord what does He love and what sacrifice do you have to honor that love?

Mark 14:3-9

³ And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. ⁴ There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? ⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. ⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

http://www.graceforeternity.com

 

Is it possible to make a loan to God?

 

As a teenager in the mid-90’s, I worked two jobs. One job was during the week as a grocery bagger at Winn Dixie and then most Saturdays as an estate auctioneer’s assistant. The paycheck could barely cover gas for my 1986 Mazda and my $10 a month pager bill possibly because most of my money went to entertaining myself and my girlfriend (now wife). Failing the majority of my classes at public school, after my parents divorced, was my resume yet there were people that didn’t give up on that young man. In fact, the more I resisted, the more they invested. My mother worked two jobs and went back to college full time so I experienced a very quiet home the majority of my teen years with my sister out of the house.  The leaders of a private school and the leaders of a youth group at church stepped up and invested in this young, teenage man when I didn’t even know how to invest in myself. I had nothing to offer the lenders in return except pride, bitterness, and resistance. By the grace of God, men and women invested in my education and spiritual growth.

Last year as a church, our body helped invest the gospel and feed over 1,000 families in our community. Every week they invested in teenagers with food, drinks and the word of God. During the summer, we help feed single moms and their teens while school is out. A few years ago, one young, mega-church pastor encouraged me as a lead pastor to wait to invest financially in teens until we could grow to 2 services because there was no visible return on their church attendance or giving. His plan was to invest and reach business owners and parents. He was passionate, how the Lord gave him a plan to grow his church in numbers.  The Lord gave me a passion and heart to invest in teens and single moms that have little or nothing to offer the church in return. Single parents can often struggle to get their kids in the car for church much less have money to invest in the church. Teens are often trying to figure out life while their parents are unstable and don’t know know what to do with their own life. Possibly this passion was planted when Jesus invested in me through the hands of His saints and for my single mom growing up. I am so grateful for the Body of Christ back then and grateful for the Body of Christ now that continues to lend unto the Lord. To bring stability and faithfulness to an unstable world looking for hope.

Questions To Ask The Lord:

What have you gifted me with?

Who have you gifted me with?

Where can I lend my gift and strength to an area where someone is poor and weak?

Do I expect them to repay me or do I expect God to repay me?

Proverbs 19:17

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.

Calling All Rejects? Prayer Challenge Week Two

My son was at Sea World and saw his very first 3D movie at the age of four. He kept grasping in the air for what appeared before him with his glasses on during the movie. Sponge Bob appeared to be coming out of the screen. He removed his glasses and put them back on again and again. Reality was not what he was seeing with the glasses on. He feared that things were going to hit him in the face, so he removed the glasses.

When David was anointed to be king, he attracted men differently than Saul. The bible says that there were 3 (D) types of men that met David to be led by Him. Saul, walking by the flesh, looked for men of strength and valor to join his army. David attracted the distressed, discontented, and the ones in debt.

1 Samuel 14:52

….when saw Saul saw any strong or any valient man, he took him for himself

1 Samuel 22:1-2

David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. ² And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

Today Jesus is still gathering the distressed, discontented and people of debt to come to Him to find rest and supply in Him. The people the world rejects as weak, Jesus supplies strength and entrusts His kingdom. He removes the lenses of distress and replaces the reality of His identity and Kingdom!

Prayer Challenge Week Two: Take a moment and thank the Lord today that everywhere you step the Kingdom of God steps with you. Ask the Lord to reveal His identity and Kingdom inside of you in a greater revelation today. 

-Brandon Pollard

http://www.graceforeternity.com

 

Wine and the Kingdom Prayer Challenge

 

Jesus sat among His disciples and intrigued them with the revealing of His Kingdom. I can see Him now with the wine in his hand, bringing it up to his lips and saying “I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come. ” Then, just a few verses later, the Bible tells us He brings another glass of wine to their attention and explains it represents the new covenant. You know the disciples were on the edge of their seat, Jesus just said the kingdom would come when He took His next drink. Jesus possibly sniffed the wine and the disciples leaned in hoping He would drink. Alas, they didn’t see Him drink but heard something about a new covenant, something about blood, not their blood, but possibly thinking and concentrating on, “We are about to see the Kingdom!” Jesus places His wine cup down and walks away from the table and it’s like the air is let out of a balloon. The disappointment in the hearts of the disciples can be felt off the pages of our Bible. The Kingdom had yet to come. They must have thought “Was He toying with us? He could have just sipped the wine because we were definitely ready to see His Kingdom!”

Fast forward and we see Jesus was hanging on the cross after being beaten and whipped. Jesus didn’t lie when He said the next drink of wine from Him will be when the Kingdom of God has come. Jesus, says He is thirsty, fully knowing that what is nearby is sour wine. Jesus took His last drop of sour wine so that we would have a full supply of fresh wine within us. The Kingdom of God came that day to the earth, just as Jesus promised. He cried out, “It is Finished!” No more praying for the kingdom of God to come but we give thankful prayers that the kingdom of God came and stayed and now lives within us the believer. Wherever you go, darkness trembles because you carry the King and His Kingdom within you. This is the new covenant!

Luke 22:17-21,  NLT

17 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.

John 19:28-30 NLT

28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Prayer Challenge Week One: Take a moment and thank the Lord today that everywhere you step the Kingdom of God steps with you. Ask the Lord to reveal His love and Kingdom inside of you in a greater revelation today. 

 

Top 5 reasons to join Grace for Eternity Church in 2020.

We are a young church that is seeing God do big things beginning in our heart, home and community. Everyone is invited, many are changed and individuals are empowered with grace!

1. We value and faithfully invest in our single moms and the fatherless. Our budget is directed for us to entertain His presence by investing in those who can’t return the favor of investment.
2. Our church is rich in diversity and people of all ages who are intentional to raise up the next generation of believers.
3.  We value unity over perfection, faithfulness over victim- identity and love over control.
4. We teach new covenant generosity is a choice the cross provided and investing in the church will reap Kingdom gain. We teach the cross removed every curse and poverty to the believer who will receive by faith.
5. We believe one person is not the full church just as we don’t believe one body part (toe) is the full body. All body parts are necessary and require honor for the body to be healthy, beginning with the head of the church, Jesus Christ. We choose to not forsake gathering as believers.

Feel free to visit our website here: http://www.graceforeternity.com