Righteousness by Faith

Before I start on today’s message I want to point out that the block editor has changed again and I don’t like it! Just when I finally started figuring out the old block editor, they change it up again. Now I can’t adjust picture size and i have to “create” tags. It’s frustrating! Rant over, thank you.

Now, today’s message is based on Romans 9:25-33

First let me ask a question.

You read a news report that someone committed a crime like child abuse. Does the guilty party once he chooses to repent deserve God’s forgiveness?

No?

Do you?

No! But God gives it anyway!

We do not get to decide who gets God’s grace. We cannot put limits on His grace and mercy.

All of us are sinners saved by grace through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ! I don’t deserve to have my sins forgiven but I am! You don’t know my past, thank goodness, and if you did you would probably deem me unworthy but guess what! So. Are. You.

Christ died a horrible death on the cross to wipe our slates clean. We get a do-over, so we need to make sure that this time we do it right. Love our neighbors. Help the needy. Pray for someone. Visit someone in a nursing home or hospital. There are so many ways to thank God for His grace! By the way, that is the reason for any good works. Not to gain entry into heaven, because no man can by works but only by faith. The reason to do good works is to thank God for how good He is and for our many blessings.

Today is our Fall Festival. From 5-8 we will show the people that come visit a good time with hayrides, hotdogs, a cake walk, many different games (I’ll be at the candy corn toss) and so much more. Lots of folks have put in tons of work and planning to make this a success so my prayer 🙏 is that we not only show the citizens of Orange a good time, but I’m hopeful we get new members that we can love on.

Jesus was not the Messiah the Jews were looking for but the Gentiles were overwhelmed to be included into the kingdom. The Jews rejected him opting for the law; yet through the redeeming blood of Christ, the Gentiles now have hope.

Ephesians 2:8-10: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”