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Today, we are going to take a posture of peace by being empowered by grace.

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Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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Okay, listen to this beautiful truth from Romans 6. I'm going to be reading a chunk

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of scripture today. We as a posture community have talked about the scripture before,

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but I felt like the Lord was leading me back there today, so I wanted to share it with you.

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Just lean back and soak this in. Be washed by the water of the word. Romans 6 verses 3 through 11.

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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus have been baptized

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into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that,

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just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the

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newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be

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united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him

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in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved

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to sin. For one who died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe

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that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never

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die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin

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once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you must also consider yourself dead to

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sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. And in the middle of all that we have to get done today,

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I want us to remember who we have been called to be. A great thought to have every morning

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is that no matter how you go through your day, whether it's awesome or not so awesome,

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God is absolutely unchanging in how he loves you. He's going to smile when he looks at you,

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he's going to be joyful when he thinks of you, because he has only one reality. All he can ever

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see all day, every day is the beauty of who you are in Jesus. That is his singular focus.

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And it can be our singular focus as well. God is not frustrated, exasperated, or disappointed with

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you because he's confident that he has replaced your old self with Jesus. Even if you're not yet

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confident in that truth, you are a new creation. It's who you are. You know, sometimes people get

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nervous when we talk about grace, because they think what is being preached is an enabling

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gospel. They're concerned that people are just being enabled to sin more and not feel bad about

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it. But the grace that we have been given through Jesus Christ is not enabling, it's empowering.

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It empowers us to be dead to sin. It empowers us to be made into the image and likeness of God.

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It empowers us on our worst days and on our best days. It sounds radical because it is.

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So instead of being skeptical about grace, allow yourself to bask in the radicalness of this truth.

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Jesus did not come so that you could be a better version of yourself.

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He came to die as you so that you would be raised as him and share in the same relationship

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that he has with Father God. You are walking today free, empowered, and totally loved and

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accepted by God. And you can trust this truth because it's a relationship that God initiated

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with you. You didn't initiate this, you can't initiate it. You can only receive it. So receive

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it today. If you've entered into this new year wishing for a new you, you've got it.

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You're a new creation. The old is gone. Grace is your fuel. It empowers you.

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Condemnation does not empower you. Legalism does not empower you.

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Self-righteousness does not empower you. Nor does perfectionism.

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or pressure. Grace and peace are yours today.