North Ridge Life Church

Today, we conclude our PROOF series on grace. Listen in as Elder Don Lytton explores the meaning of "forever" grace.

Today, we continue our "PROOF" series with God’s Overcoming Grace. Overcoming Grace is how God works in our lives to transform our rebellion against him into unconditional surrender so that we freely repent and recognize Christ as the risen King. The idea of Overcoming Grace is really a way to state the miracle of how God’s Spirit comes to those who are spiritually dead, wanting absolutely nothing to do with Christ or his kingdom, and works in them to abandon our self-idolatry and worldly desires and to desire to be reconciled to God, longing for holiness and increasingly surrendering to Christ and his way.

Mothers are managers, teachers, pastors, doctors, referees, counselors, mechanics, chefs, and so forth, all within the context of the miracle we call “motherhood”! The essence of motherhood is not maternity, but womanhood. With this idea that “womanhood is the essence of motherhood”, today we attempt to address the culture of misogyny, sexism and the abuse of women that the Lord has allowed to be exposed in recent months, directly with the heart of God the Father.

Today, we continue our “P.R.O.O.F.” series considering the doctrines of God’s grace, based on the book by Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Jones. We will explore God’s Outrageous, Scandalous, Incomprehensible and Amazing Grace. God chooses those to be saved on the basis of his sovereign will and good pleasure; not because of what we do or bring to the table.

Today we turn our attention to God’s Resurrecting Grace, seeking to answer three questions: “Who will come to God?” “Can you come to God in your own power?” and “How does the Holy Spirit make us alive?”

Grace…we’ve all heard about it, especially if we’ve grown up in church. We talk about it; we sing about it; we “say grace” before we eat; we name our kids after it; we get tattoos on our extremities; we preach about it quite a bit… But what if we don’t fully understand the scandal, the audacity, the extravagance, the glory, the unbelievably good news of God’s grace?

In today's market-oriented society, we are constantly being sold, coerced, and manipulated into being aligned with and branded by various products, beliefs, and "norms". If we are believers in and followers of Jesus Christ, then we have already been "branded" by Him and the power of His name, which can keep us from falling into traps skillfully laid out by enemies of the cross.

A word from the Elders of North Ridge Life Church on the occasion of the ordination of new Elders David Walt and Don Lytton.

The CEO model of church leadership is not biblical. God actually intended the oversight of the church to be handled by a team of godly men who were more concerned with souls than dollars. The elders’ primary role is really to be a co-equal shepherd (spiritual care provider) with the primary pastor-teacher!

All true believers accept the actual, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead as historical fact. The resurrection has as much credibility as any other event in all of recorded history. By his rising we are commissioned to proclaim his good news authoritatively and expand the reach of his kingdom. Because he lives, we can rest in the promise that death truly has no power over us and that we will one day rise just like he did and join him forever!

Christ didn’t die to start a religion, or make you behave, or simply to enable you to enjoy a glorious afterlife. His purpose was to make a brand new kind of people for his own possession and fellowship. His intention was for this state to begin now, and not only when we die or the world ends.

All of us who claim to be believers in and followers of Jesus Christ have a responsibility to proclaim His message, to demonstrate His power, proclaim His authority, and to represent His presence. However, we cannot convince anyone. The Holy Spirit’s job is to convince people. Our responsibility lies in proclamation and nothing more. We are not God’s salesmen, but his ambassadors.

3.2 billion people worldwide have never (or only minimally) heard the story of Jesus! Additionally, 81% of Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus have no contact with a single Christ follower. That may be sad, but what can you possibly do about it? What should you do about it? A lot actually!

Our prayer is that we will be a church that has highly-developed spiritual senses to discern what is and is not the gospel, and that we will be clear in the proclamation and application of it. We must all become so clear on this all important message, so that we can encourage each other to believe it fully and apply it deeply.

Our mission as a church is to proclaim the message of Christ Jesus clearly, backed by Christ’s authority and assured of his presence, in order to make disciples of all nations - a daunting task indeed, but one which cannot fail because it is the intent of almighty God to have a people for himself.

As individuals and as a church, let us commit our hearts to knowing Jesus in purity, undistracted by the values and idols of this world. Let us be found as a people increasingly dead to sin and self. Let us identify with his death and resurrection and all of it’s attendant power that gives us 24/7 access to the throne room, as well as a newer, better perspective. Let us reign as his ambassadors, passionately making God’s appeal to the fallen, broken and sinful world.