Thank you to Pastor Wayne for allowing me to speak to you, and today, please don’t see me as a guest, please see me as a family member because we are all children of God.

I’m going to share with you a message from my newest book, which just came out. It’s called Relentless and it will give you the power you need to never give up.

Paul said, “my task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God has been doing. Through Christians like yourselves… this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known.” (Ephesians 3:9-10 Message)

For Paul to say this means there was something hidden that had to be brought out into the open – what is hidden is to be revealed – which is God’s plan.

God’s plan is extraordinary, but let’s starts off with looking at the definition of “extraordinary.”

It is defined as: “Beyond what is usual” and “exceeding the common measure.”

Sometimes we can understand a word better for what it is not, and some antonyms include “ordinary” and “normal.”

Therefore the opposite of living an extraordinary life is to live a normal life. However, unless it has been suppressed in you, there is an inbuilt desire to excel. It’s in every one of us and it’s God-given that we at least try to live an extraordinary life.

The Bible says, “And of his fullness, we have all received, and grace for grace.” John 1:16 NKJV

Now, I don’t talk like this, I don’t say, “grace for grace” so I’ve got a Greek friend in Athens and I asked him what this “grace for grace” could mean.

I asked, “Panis, would you please tell me what John is saying here when he writes about “grace for grace?”

He wrote me back and said that the Apostle meant an “overflow of fullness” or a “completeness” of what the grace of God does for you and me.

Oh my goodness, I thought, what does that mean? Then I realized it means that we get an overflow and fullness in Jesus.

Think of it this way. If I was talking about a high school basketball team and I don’t mean the starters, I’m talking about the kid on the bench – the one who’s only brought in with two minutes left and the team is up by thirty points.

So, we look at this kid, and we tell him we have new, proven scientific means to put the fullness of LeBron James in him.

What do you think the kid is going to do?

Ofcourse he will say, “Put it in me, right now, and then put me in, coach.” That’s what he’s going to say.

And what happens next? He’ll be a starter for the school, will go on to win state and national championships and will end up in the NBA – that’s what would happen next.

It would be the same thing if we were talking about a struggling small businessman. We tell him we have new proven scientific means to put in him the full ability of Donald Trump and Steve Jobs?

What’s the poor guy going to do?

He would say, “Put it in me, put it on me, right now!”

And then he’s going to have the ability to think of ways to invest in the right company at the right time – ways he’d never before considered.

Well grace hasn’t given us the fullness of LeBron James, Donald Trump or Steve Jobs.

Grace has, however, given us the fullness of Jesus Christ himself.

That’s power, baby!

So you can see God does not introduce grace into the New Testament as a free gift or a ticket into heaven, although it is both those things.

No, God introduces grace as the empowerment that gives us the fullness of Jesus. That is His primary definition.

That’s why God says that grace is His power, “As his divine power (grace) has given to us all things that pertain to life [extraordinary life]… by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the diving nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4, NKJV)

What does the word “nature” mean in this context?

“The essential character or qualities of a person.”

Do you understand what grace has done for you? It has given you the essential character and qualities – the fullness of Jesus Christ Himself.

This is why the Apostle John, when he was in his nineties wrote: “As he (Jesus) is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17, NKJV)

Wait a minute. He doesn’t say that someday we’ll be in heaven – he says as Jesus is, so are we in this world.

This is why I get angry, oh so angry, when some preacher stands up and goes something like “Well you know we Christians, we’re really no different than sinners – we’re just forgiven.”

I’m like, turn the guy’s mike off, switch the channel, run out of the building or turn off the television.

All they’re doing is bad-mouthing and dis-empowering the church.

I mean, even nature teaches us better than that. Have you ever heard of a lion giving birth to a weasel, or a race horse giving birth to a tiny worm?

The Bible says we are his offspring and we are bone of his bone – we are the flesh of his flesh.

This is why John goes on to say in his book that “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.” (1 John 2:6, NLT)

But how are we supposed to live just like Jesus?

Through the free gift of grace!

The Apostle Paul writes that Jesus walked in godliness and purity, while other translations say, “Let us purify ourselves (cleanse ourselves) from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be complete holy.” (2 Corinthians 7:1, TEV.)

How in the world are we supposed to do that?

Through the free gift of grace.

I became a child of God and accepted Jesus Christ as my savior while in college – but kept living a life of sin. Why?

Because I didn’t know what I had.

I didn’t have anyone mentoring or teaching me. Then a few years later, I read in the Bible that I had to pursue holiness – without which no one is going to see the Lord.

This turned me into a legalist and I became very overbearing. I kept telling people they’d never see God if they kept doing whatever it was… and this became very embarrassing to my friends, and even my wife.

Then God, in His mercy, spoke to me one day. He said, “Son, holiness is not a work of your flesh, this is a product of My grace.

That’s when I realized that grace is God’s empowering presence and it gives me the ability to do what I couldn’t do using only my own ability. This then is an acceptable way to serve God.

Remember, “Let us purify ourselves (cleanse ourselves) from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be complete holy. (2 Corinthians 7:1, TEV.)

Also, “Let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably.” (Hebrews 12: 28, NKJV.)

Do you see what grace gives us the ability to do? It gives us the ability to serve Him acceptably.

Now, do you know what’s really scary? Ninety-eight percent of Christians in America are trying to live a godly life by using only their own ability.

You know what happens when you try to live Godly in your own ability? One of two things: either you become a hypocritical legalist, or you become a loosey goosey who makes up some strange doctrine of your own.

However, when you understand that grace is God’s empowerment, you become one happy person. Why? Because you have the ability to do what you couldn’t do before when you were using only your own ability.

How else did Jesus live?

Well, He met the needs of humanity, He healed the sick, cleansed those who were diseased, He got people saved and tells us to do the exact same thing that He did.

Jesus walked in extraordinary wisdom, understanding, insight, ingenuity and creativity to mention but only a few traits.

Jesus’ wisdom blew people away, I mean one time He saved a woman’s life when a group of religious zealots dragged a woman out to the street and were about to stone her to death.

What wisdom Jesus showed by saying “Let the first man without sin throw the first stone.”

Even though it may be obvious, it makes for an interesting question: Where did Jesus’ wisdom come from?

Luke 2:40 (NKJV) says, “And the child (Jesus) grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”

But, as the Son of God, why did Jesus need grace in the first place?

Because Jesus walked upon us; because He needed grace’s empowerment to share the wisdom He wanted to share.

His wisdom was so great that He was able to change the societies he lived in – through the grace of God.

How can we do what He did? Through the empowerment of Jesus Christ.

It is written, “All who receive God’s abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ.” (Romans 5:17, TEV.)

If you have been saved, you have received God’s abundant grace.

You notice it doesn’t say rule in the “next life,” it says “rule in this life.”

You know what’s sad in my observation? That society has been leading, and we as Christians, have been following as the tail.

For example, if you are a police detective, you’re coming up with new and innovative ways and solutions to solve crimes quicker and faster. You know the right evidence and you’re closing your cases faster.

And all the people in your department and elsewhere are scratching their heads and wondering why?

And it’s easy – it’s because of the grace of God.

In essence, the grace of God gives us the ability to change the societies we are a in.

It gives us the ability to distinguish ourselves above the norm.

As the Bible says, “Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit.” (Daniel 6:3, NASB)

Jesus came out and said of all the people that have been born to that point, no one has been smarter than John the Baptist.

Which means John was greater than Daniel – who rose to the top of Babylonian power – but it’s hard to compare John the Baptist with Daniel, because John was a minister and Daniel was a politician.

There have been about a billion Christians since Jesus, and if you happen to be the weakest of those billion – or if you feel you are the least – Jesus is saying you are still better than John and Daniel.

Powerful stuff.

But here’s a quick word on distinguishing ourselves.

Jesus said over and over again, you are the light of the world. Isn’t that true and what do lights do? They distinguish themselves.

Walk outside on a clear dark night and you can see a billion stars distinguishing themselves against the black sky.

But we have a problem – we read what we believe when we should believe what we read.

You could never live the life that I have proclaimed today unless you are first saved by grace.

There are a lot of people in America who think all you have to do is just believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross – just believe that – and that’s enough to make you a child of God.

In order to become saved, you have to give your entire life to Jesus. You have to give your life to Him.

That means you won’t live for yourself anymore. That means you won’t life for the world anymore.

The Lord wants you to let Him in. Will you open the door?

QUESTIONS:

Who owns your life?

Why aren’t you distinguishing yourself?

What are you seeing “in you?”