WEBVTT

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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves.

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It is a gift from God, not by works so that no one can boast.

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Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9.

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I love to revisit this scripture.

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On days when I am tempted to believe, it is all up to me.

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By grace, through faith, not by works.

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And many of us understood this when we first came to Christ, right?

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We knew we couldn't earn our way to God.

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We received his grace and it changed our lives, right?

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But somewhere along the way, many of us pick up performance again.

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Not necessarily with our salvation, but with everything that comes after it.

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We try to earn our peace.

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We try to earn our joy.

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We try to earn our identity.

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We try to earn God's approval.

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It's like we accepted grace to get in the door, but then switch back to works to try

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to stay in the room.

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It's as if God saved us by grace and then suddenly started keeping score.

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And Paul saw this too when he was writing the Galatians in Galatians chapter 3, in verse

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3 he says, are you so foolish?

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After beginning by means of the spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?

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And that's a question for believers, people who have already received grace, but are quietly

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going back to striving.

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Paul is saying the way you started is the way you continue.

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By the spirit, by faith, not by your effort.

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Good behavior is not the doorway to a new life.

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Faith is.

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And you don't become new by first acting new.

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You become new by receiving what God gave you.

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And you keep walking in that newness of life the same way you received it.

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Not by performing, but by believing.

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So how do we actually believe new?

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We stop negotiating with what God already settled.

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When we see in his word that it says you are righteous in Christ, you say yes I am.

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When God's word says you are free indeed, you say yes I am.

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When he says you are his and nothing can separate you from his love, you say yes and amen.

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Belief is not a feeling that you need to wait for, it's an agreement that you make.

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And every yes you say rewires something inside of you that performance never could.