 What I want to talk to you about right now is often abused, it's often misunderstood, it's often misrepresented. I want to talk to you about grace. What is the grace of God? Well, the grace of God is God doing for you what you could not do for yourself. The grace of God is the power of God within you. The grace of God is the Holy Spirit's presence within you, empowering you to accomplish God's will. I'm going to talk about grace on this edition of Spirit Church here on the EncounterTV Network. But first, Stephen Moctezuma is here. He's going to lead you in some anointed worship. And then I want to talk to you about grace. Grace is the power to live holy. Grace is the power to accomplish the will of God. Grace is the power to persevere and so much more. This message really is going to strengthen your faith and strengthen your walk with the Lord. No longer will you waver, this truth will set you free. Here is Stephen Moctezuma. To get right into this, first of all, I want to tell you what grace is not, because often you've heard of grace being abused. The scripture makes it very clear that the grace of God is not an excuse to live an unholy life. There are those, even preachers or so-called, who will tell you that you can live however you want and so long as you're living in the grace of God that there are no consequences to that sin. But the truth is that the Bible makes it perfectly clear that God demands of us, God requires of us holy and righteous living. So I want to read a scripture to you that's going to, first of all, lay the foundation teaching you what grace is not and how prophetic this scripture is. In Jude chapter 1 verses 3 through 8 say this, Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share, but now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to His holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus Christ first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. So I'm going to stop here just for a second, then I'll read the rest of that portion of scripture. There are some who teach that because we are living in a period of the grace of God that there is therefore no more judgment, no more punishment for sin, but the scripture here is making it perfectly clear that there still are consequences to sin. Let's continue reading, and I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them, but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness waiting for the day of judgment, the great day of judgment. And don't forget about Sodom and Gomorrah, and their neighboring towns which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion, those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God's judgment, verse 8, in the same way these people who claim authority from their dreams, live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. So here the scripture is making it very clear that though we are under the grace of God, though Jesus did pay the penalty for our sins, that we are not to abuse that grace to live immoral lives. Now I'm not talking to the believer who is struggling and making an effort in holiness. I'm talking to the one who is stubbornly refusing to turn from sin, clinging to grace as in this context a false hope. Grace does not do a thing for the one who will not attempt to walk with God, for the one who does not try. It's all about the heart. It's all about the position of repentance in the heart. So that scripture, that portion of scripture makes it absolutely clear. We are not to live immoral lives. We are to live in holiness. We are to live in righteousness. We are to live for God's will. So don't go on sinning saying, well the grace of God allows me to do so. That's not at all what the scripture teaches. But the Bible does teach that God's grace empowers us. You see, the grace of God is more than just unmerited favor, as you've often heard it said. You see unmerited favor means that God gives us something we don't deserve. Grace is not the idea that God gives us something that we do not deserve. Grace is that which God gives us, even though we don't deserve it. So the question is not how merciful is God that he gives us what we don't deserve. The question of grace is, what is that thing he gives us that we don't deserve? And this is what grace is. It's more than mercy. It's more than forgiveness. It's more than the pardon from your sin. You see the Holy Spirit in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 is called the spirit of grace. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. What does this spirit of grace cause them to do? Look very carefully at the scripture. So that spirit of grace comes upon them. That spirit of supplication, grace and prayer. What does the Holy Spirit within them cause them to do when he comes upon them? What does grace drive us to do? Look at what the scripture says, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first mourn. Well, think about this. Look at the scripture for a second. Look at the way the Bible phrases this. This is so powerful, and they shall look upon me. This is God talking whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him. He's talking about his crucifixion when he became flesh. The word became flesh. This is talking about Jesus. The spirit of grace will first of all cause you to look to the cross. You know that drawing, that pool, that sense of urgency that you felt when you first gave your heart to the Lord? That was the grace of God drawing you to the cross, causing you to look at the one whom they pierced, causing you to look at the crucified Lord, and mourn over this. You see, grace will first cause you to mourn over your sin, and then it will cause you to repent from that sin that has caused you to mourn. Grace works conviction. Grace works holy desire. Grace inspires in you, stirs in you, this hunger, this thirst for righteousness. So grace will first of all draw you to the cross. You see, grace is God's power. Grace is God's presence within you. Do you really think that you came to the cross on your own? Do you really think that you desired the Lord on your own? No. It was grace in you desiring. I'll put it to you this way. Grace is God desiring on your behalf. Grace is God doing on your behalf. Grace is God from within you, causing you to be what he wants you to be, and he causes you to do what you could not do without his power, without his presence. So in the book of Zachariah, we see that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the spirit of grace. He causes the people to look on the cross and mourn, they're broken over their sin. Now what comes after this morning? We'll look in Zachariah chapter 13 verse 1, after they mourn over their sin. This is so powerful. The Bible says, on that day, a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity. Before we can drink from the fountain of salvation, we have to be drawn to the fountain of salvation. Grace is what drew you to salvation. Grace is God desiring on your behalf. Grace is God doing on your behalf. Grace is God accomplishing on your behalf. I want you to really get this. Think about the way I'm wording this, because I really prayerfully came to word this this way. Grace is God desiring on your behalf, desiring from within you on your behalf, accomplishing on your behalf, doing on your behalf. You wouldn't have desired salvation. You couldn't accomplish holiness on your own. You couldn't live the Christian life on your own. But grace allows you to do so. Grace is the Holy Spirit within you. I want to read you this quote here, something that I wrote. The grace of God is the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Grace is God by His Spirit, doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Grace is God by His Spirit, giving to us what we don't deserve. Grace is God by His Spirit, empowering us to do what we could not do without Him. Think about all that grace empowers us to do. Grace empowered Paul the Apostle to carry out his ministry. So grace is more, I'm going to read that in just a second where grace empowered Paul. But I want to stop and just make this clear. Grace is more than just mercy, though that is wonderful. Grace is more than just forgiveness of sins. Grace is the whole thing. Grace is God Himself within you, desiring for you through you, accomplishing for you through you. He uses you to accomplish things that only He can accomplish. I want you to really think about that. That spirit within you has desires. And His desires are so strong that from within you they overtake even your desires. His power is so great that that stirring within you works through you and accomplishes on your behalf what you could not accomplish. You couldn't desire to resist sin. You couldn't desire to come to Jesus. But grace empowers you to do so. And it does so much more. As I said, grace empowered Paul the Apostle to carry out his ministry. First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 10 says, But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me and not without results, for I have worked harder than any of the other apostles, yet it was not I, but God who was working through me by His grace. The ministry of Paul the Apostle, the writer of many of the books in the New Testament, he accomplished his ministry. It was carried out because of the grace of God within him. He says, It wasn't me doing it. It was the grace of God working through me on his behalf. The scripture also says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29, How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished, who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the spirit of grace. Grace enables us to resist evil desires. You're struggling with sin. You're tired of being broken. You're tired of the sense of shame. You're tired of the guilt. You're tired of being frustrated with yourself because you can't stop doing again and again the things that you know you shouldn't do. Well, grace is the answer because grace is the power of God doing for you through you. This is what the Bible says about grace and sin. James chapter 4 verse 6 says, But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the scriptures say, God opposes the proud, but favors the humble. This is why the Bible says we're sin abound, grace much more abounds. It doesn't say that because God is more forgiving, the more stubborn we are in our sin, not at all. God is just as forgiving as he'll ever be. All he requires is repentance and faith in him. No, that scripture, we're sin abound, grace much more abounds. Grace has to abound more because the greater the sin, the stronger the power of sin, the greater the grace needs to be to help you to overcome it, not to cover it. Grace gives you the power to resist sin. Grace teaches us to deny ungodly desires. Now think about this. Grace is actually a teacher? Who does that tell you, is in you? Who does that remind you of? That's the Holy Spirit, the spirit of grace. Titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 12 say, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. It is by the grace of God that we serve him acceptably. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28 says, Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. You know, one of my favorite portions of scripture described this battle that Paul the Apostle is having. He's having this battle with some struggle in his flesh. Now theologians debate as to what this might be, I'm not going to get into that, but all I know is that Paul was battling something that frustrated him, and it was something about himself that he could not be rid of. Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 through 9, this is powerful. This is what the Bible says, verse 7, Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God, so to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me, and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I beg the Lord to take it away. He's not just asking casually, Lord, remove this. Three separate times he begged the Lord. He pleaded with God in his frustration and in his anguish. He begged the Lord to remove this from his flesh. How many of us have things like that where we're just frustrated with ourselves? I cannot stand my own flesh, and I know you can't either. How many times have we said, Lord, help me to change, help me to transform. Take this from me. But God didn't. This is what he says instead. This is so powerful. Each time he said, my grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. Many of you know I have had battles with anxiety. That's been a battle since I can remember, seven years old. I remember it being in my life as early as that age. And I remember battling with it to the point where I couldn't leave the house, or I couldn't drive in cars, or I couldn't enjoy everyday life, because the fear was so crippling. And those of you who've battled anxiety, you know that it's not just some fear that people can tell you, all get over it. It's something that goes much deeper than that. And so that fear, that anxiety, I would plead with the Lord, God, please remove this from me. And I would be frustrated. I remember praying those prayers, my whole body would tense up. And I would say, God, remove this anxiety from me. But each time I thought of this scripture, my grace is sufficient. You see, I may sometimes have anxiety, but anxiety will never have me. My grace is sufficient. It's in our weaknesses his power is perfected. Why? Because our flesh, our weaknesses drive us to the cross. They drive us to grace. They drive us to say, Lord, I can't do this on my own. I need your power. I need you to do for me what I cannot do for myself, but I need you to do it through me from the power within. His grace is sufficient. What does that mean? It means that grace does not rid you of your problems. It gives you the strength to endure them. Grace does not rid you of the flesh. It gives you the strength to subject it. Grace does not remove you from all temptations, but it gives you the strength to say, no, I'm going to live righteously because it's God desiring for you through you. Grace is all we need to overcome the weakness of the flesh. Second Corinthians chapter 12, verse 8 and 9, we just read it, he said, my grace is sufficient. In other words, we don't need any more than that. You already have what you need to overcome it. Stop being frustrated. Stop stressing. Stop obsessing over it. And just say, Lord, I need your grace. Grace and holiness are not opposites. They are the perfect balance. Grace is the power to live in holiness. Grace is not an excuse of sin. Grace is the power to resist sin. Psalm 143, verse 10 says, teach me to do your will. For you are my God, and I love this. May your gracious spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. The Holy Spirit within you helps you to resist the temptations around you. Galatians chapter 5, verses 16 through 18 describe how the Holy Spirit fights the flesh. He comes against the sin nature. And it's more than just fighting sin. Like I said, he empowers you to do ministry. He empowers you to persevere. He empowers you in many areas of life. This is God doing for you what you cannot do for yourself, but He does it through you. He even desires on your behalf. Think about this. You're not left alone to fight that battle. I love how Psalms words this. Psalm 141, verses 3 through 4 say, take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Don't let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness. Don't let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong. Psalm 39, verse 8, this is probably one of my favorite prayers. Rescue me from my rebellion. Do not let fools mock me. In other words, Lord, save me from myself. That's what grace does. When you understand the true nature of grace, you avoid the extremes of legalism and liberalism. So some say that grace is an excuse for sin. Others talk about grace in another extreme. But you see, legalism says that your salvation depends upon works, but the Scripture refutes legalism. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 says, God saved you by His grace when you believed. You can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. And liberalism tells you that you can live however you want to live with no consequences. This Scripture also refutes that. Jude chapter 1, verse 4, we just read it. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your church's saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they denied our only master. So grace is the balance. Grace is God working in us to accomplish His will. Grace is freedom from sin. Romans chapter 6, verse 14 says, sin is no longer your master. For you no longer live under the requirements of the law, instead you live under the freedom of God's grace. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16 says, so that the Holy Spirit guide your lives, then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The key to overcoming the flesh is not willpower, it's not discipline, it's not self-loathing or self-hatred, it's the grace of God. The key to ministry, the key that even caused you to be drawn to salvation, the very thing which caused you to desire salvation in response to the message that God presented you in truth, is grace. So grace drew you to salvation, grace gives you the power to live out your salvation, and grace will ultimately take you to the place where you receive the fullness of that salvation in glory. Grace again is God doing for you what you could not do on your own through you. Grace is that power within, grace is God's presence, grace is God's power living within you. I'm going to leave you with this thought, I want to read another quote to you. When temptation pools on the desires of your flesh, call upon the Holy Spirit. Stop what you're doing, look upward and say, help me Holy Spirit, I'm in trouble. Spirit of grace, give me the power to resist this. And don't stop calling upon him until the ungodly desire wanes. You don't have to fight the flesh on your own. You're not powerless to live the will of God. You can live your life to the glory of God because you have grace within you. The same spirit who showed you salvation and drew you to salvation is the same spirit who will help you to live in salvation and he will empower you to do much more the Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace and grace again is God doing for you what you could not do for yourself through you. He is the power within. Well, that's it for the lesson. I really felt the anointing on that and I think that chains were broken as the word of God went forth. I want to pray with you now. Let's believe God that you're finally going to come into the place where you have breakthrough in the area of sin, perseverance, in faith, because all of those things, anything that God requires of you, whether it be faith or holiness or worship or prayer, devotion in anything, it all requires grace. So I want to pray that you would depend upon the power that God has given you within which is his presence to fulfill his will. Father in the name of Jesus. I pray for that one watching right now and I ask Lord, I sense his anointing right now. I ask Lord that your grace would empower that one. I release the anointing of the Holy Spirit and I pray, Father, that your word, which is truth, would liberate us, set us free from deception, set us free from the bounds of religion, break every chain, bring healing, liberty and freedom. We thank you for your grace. Just take a moment. Just thank him for his grace right now. We thank you for your grace, Lord. In the name of Jesus, I give you the glory and the honor. Wow. I want you to say it because you agree. Say amen. Well, I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you like information on how you can join the Spirit family now with over 3400 members from all around the world, then just use the information at the bottom of the screen. What you'll get from our ministry is a weekly email with teaching that is rich and anointed and fresh every week, brand new teaching in your email inbox. And you can reply to that email for prayer support from our ministry staff. It's absolutely free. Use the information again at the bottom of the screen to join the Spirit family. I want to read your comments now. Now, last week I actually finished my series, Symbols of the Holy Spirit. It was a nine-part series and I just finished the last one last week and that symbol was wine. It was one of my favorite to teach in the entire series. That whole series is now available here on our channel for free, so go take a look at it. But these are some of the comments that you left on last week's video. If you'd like me to potentially read your comment next week, leave a comment right here right now on this video. So here are the comments from last week from the video, Symbols of the Holy Spirit. This one was wine, which like I said, one of my favorites to teach. Ollie Herrick writes, thanks David, I've been a believer my whole life, but never felt the Holy Spirit the way I feel him now. I appreciate the realness you bring to the gospel and the passion you have for the truth of the word. God bless you. Shalom 777 writes, I really enjoy your teachings. They are awesome. Stephen is also anointed. And Pizza Girl writes, just swung over to the iTunes store to purchase the Holy Spirit and support Stephen Matizuma. So anointed. He is very anointed. I always say it, my favorite worship leader. But he actually just released a song called the Holy Spirit and I know you'll love it. There's a link in the video right here on this channel and all the information about the song is in the description on that video. Another commenter writes, I am from Jamaica and I have learned so much from your teachings this past year. Thanks be to God for pouring out his anointing upon you. Stephen, you're a true worshiper. And finally, A. Denilson Johnson writes, thanks David for this series of teachings about the Symbols of the Holy Spirit. I followed it throughout the entire series and it was a blessing to me as an evangelist in search of the Holy Spirit. Thanks again for such great work. May God bless your ministry and take you beyond borders. And we certainly do want to go beyond borders. I want to read a scripture to you and I want to encourage you in something here. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and I'll begin reading, let me begin reading at verse number 6. Keep in mind here that Paul the apostle is talking about finances here. This is what the Bible says. Remember this, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must decide each in your heart how much to give and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure for God loves a person who gives cheerfully and I love this promise and God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. Again, it's talking about finances here. Now you know I'm not a big proponent of the prosperity gospel and to me the prosperity gospel is the promise that everyone's going to be a millionaire, that everyone's going to have a perfectly wealthy family. This is not what the Bible promises, but what the Bible does teach is that there is financial provision for those who give to the gospel and so I don't cross any lines. I like to keep things just biblical. I don't want to cross any lines and start preaching prosperity and you know I've pledged this from day one guys, I'm not going to preach the prosperity gospel. Now different people define it different ways but the way I define it is that promise of wealth and like I said a perfectly wealthy family and I don't even necessarily believe that every believer is going to be a millionaire. I don't believe that that's the central message of the gospel. It's not. The central message of the gospel is salvation through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, the repentance from sin, the cross, the resurrection. This is the gospel. But in order to support the gospel the Bible does talk about money. So when I talk about money I'm not changing a focus and neither should you but we do need to talk about these things because there are needs in the ministry and Paul the apostle talked about giving. I'm going to talk about giving. The Bible makes it clear and I'm going to make a very hard stance on that. I do believe that the Bible talks about finances. So what is the Bible promise here? It says that if you give generously you'll harvest a generous crop. Now you aren't to give into pressure. You aren't to give reluctantly. I'm not going to pressure you. I'm not going to tell you that if you sow $30 today you're going to be debt-free in 60 days. Those are gimmicks. I don't use those. What I will say is this, the reason I raise support is not so that I can be wealthy, it's not so that Steve can be wealthy, it's so that we can continue to fund the efforts of the ministry and that is simply to build the believer and win the loss. That's our heart. That's our heartbeat, which is to win souls. The Bible says that when you give generously you'll have everything you need. So your needs are met and plenty left over to share with others. There are people watching me right now in your heart you're saying, God, I want to be someone who gifts to the gospel. I want to be someone who can help others, who can fund ministries, who can fund missions projects and orphanages and feeding projects and churches and all of that is wonderful. But here's how you start. Whenever you give, you're telling the Lord, Lord, you can trust me with your finances. But He watches to see what you do with what He's placed in your hand. And so I want to challenge you today, often we say, God, bless me and I'll give. When I get that job, when I get that promotion, when I get rid of the debt, when I'm out of school, then I'll start giving. We say, God, give me and I'll start giving. Bless me and I'll give. But God says, give and I'll bless you. The step of faith is on us. So I want to encourage you with that scripture to sew into the ministry today. Help me take the gospel all around the world. This is about souls. We want to change this world. We want to think big. We want to do larger events. We want to release more media. Many of you know we're working on that TV studio right now, which we'll be releasing some updates in the next couple of months. Very, very exciting for those of you who've given to that. But right now we're just in a season of growth and you watch, mark my words, you're going to see a day when stadiums are being filled and thousands are coming to Jesus and you're going to help us to do it. This is only the beginning. Think big. Think with faith. We're going to change this world. Revival is here. The power of God is on this ministry. The anointing is with us. We have the favor of God. Join us. Become a supporter of the ministry today. Become a partner for $30 or more a month and I will send you as an initiation gift. Monthly gifts, not one-time gifts, you sign up for $30 or more a month. We'll send you either carriers of the glory, 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare or encountering the Holy Spirit in every book of the Bible. I will sign it. That'll be my initiation gift to you. Partner with me today. If you can't partner, look. Some of you, you can't do monthly, but you can do one time. You can give a one-time gift of $500 or even $1,000. I know there are some who God has spoken to you. In fact, I believe there's someone watching right now. God's spoken to you about an amount and in your heart you're withholding. Let me tell you something. I believe this Bible through and through and I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't talk to you also about giving. So giving is necessary. That's the system God has chosen to take advantage of for the sake of the gospel. The gospel is free, but the means to deliver it nowadays gets quite expensive. So help us do that. If you're watching this on YouTube, wait until the very end of this video. You're going to see a red button up here and you're going to click that and it's going to take you right to where you can donate. If you're watching this on the app, wait until the video goes away and you'll see a button that says partner with David. If you're watching this anywhere else, use the information at the bottom of the screen, but whatever you do, do it today. Sign up to become my partner. Say David, I'm going to stand with you and Stephen and we're going to do this. A. Denilson Johnson wrote, he wants to see us go beyond borders. Well, we want to go beyond borders too. We want to go to the nations. Let's do this, guys. For partner with us today, think big and until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe. Also, help me win souls by spreading the gospel through events and media. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.