Grace Bomb: Grace Bombing a Hard Heart
This week we heard Pastor Robbie speak about the numerous Grace Bombs found throughout the Book of Jonah!
This past Sunday, Pastor Robbie brought us a word from the Book of Jonah and the extents that God went to Grace Bomb the people of Nineveh in spite of Jonah’s reluctance. Even in the face of a people that lived in absolute opposition to God, He desires to see them loved and brought into right relationship with Himself. We have concluded our Grace Bomb series and just in case anyone is joining us for the first time, for even more info than what we will be discussing here, you can find more information at their website here. If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we missed you and hope to be able to see you this upcoming Sunday!
Before getting into the main passages we would be discussing which came specifically out of the Book of Jonah, Pastor Robbie had some powerful words for that we may have considered saying,
“We believe that Grace Built People Grace Bomb People, so this doesn’t end here today, and for some of us, it’s only just the beginning. And if you’re just joining us on this Grace Bomb journey, don’t worry, I’ll catch you up with where we have been and where we are going in just a moment. But I want to start with some amazing Grace Bomb stories. And to echo what I said last week, please please share those stories, share them now, share them later when they happen, and please, share them often! Someone told me this week that they felt weird sharing the story and essentially taking credit or receiving recognition for Grace Bombing someone - I get that, but as long as we have the understanding that it isn’t about us specifically, but is about us encouraging others. And I have biblical support for that: Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Your act of love and generosity could be the catalyst that encourages someone else to move with the Holy Spirit. The reaction that you get from a Grace Bomb could be the motivation for someone to step out of their comfort zone and step into obedience in the Lord!”
The Book of Jonah serves as a very specific reminder that the people that we are not inclined to love are the people that God is seeking to love and Grace Bomb no matter what we think of the situation! God called Jonah to preach to Nineveh, the capital city of the nation of Assyria, one of the greatest enemies of Israel. Jonah has made his prophetic living preaching against these people. Jonah was horrified that God wanted Him to now preach to the Ninevites. Stories were told that when they fought, they killed every person, including children. Jonah viewed people differently than God viewed people. And isn’t that the case with us? When we think about certain people, maybe even whole people groups like Jonah, do we think that they deserve the grace of God? Do we think about people the same way that God does, with love and hope and mercy and grace? Or maybe we’re fine with them receiving grace, but we just don’t want to be the ones to give it. So like Jonah, we run away. We retreat to our houses, to our cozy jobs, to our comfortable friend groups, all of the while, God is calling us to take Grace the Ninevites living next door, around the block, across the railroad tracks...Who was Jonah, and who are we, to be the deciders as to who receives the grace that we were freely given in the first place?!
The main passage(s) of Scripture surrounds the entire Book of Jonah, and Pastor Robbie goes through each chapter thoroughly with very specific applications - way too much to be able to cover here in this post; we encourage you to go and listen to the Podcast for this Sermon to get all of the great breakdown Pastor Robbie gives!
Essentially Jonah resists God’s call on his life to go and prophesy to the people of Nineveh by trying to escape to Tarshish - he is humbled before God for the error of His ways and concedes to his task, heading back to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-3:2). During this section we see God humbling Jonah to realize the foolishness of trying to escape what mission he has been given by a sovereign and holy God.
The last two chapters deal with Jonah still reluctantly going to prophesy to the people of Nineveh to turn from their evil ways, and their soften hearts respond positively to this message! Jonah should be joyous and celebratory over the Grace and Love that has been shown to the people of Nineveh but instead throw a temper-tantrum because He didn’t want them to be made righteous. God then uses a plant with its life-giving shade to Jonah and he is upset when God takes it away from him; this is used as a lesson to show Jonah that he is more concerned about the life of a plant than the 120,000 people who found redemption through God’s moving through Jonah (Jonah 3:3-4:11).
Pastor Robbie concludes the message with a convicting thought for each and every one of us saying,
“God loves lost people, even the violent people of Nineveh. He’s saying “Jonah, people are more important than your plant,” and this should be so clear to him, and to us! - he’s mourning a plant more than lost souls! Why? because as I said in the beginning, he doesn’t see people the way that God sees people. God is for the least, the last, and the lost and there is nobody too far gone to receive his free grace. So, there’s this cliffhanger ending, where we don’t get to see the full redemptive outcome in Jonah’s life - kinda leaves us thinking: Will we love who God loves? Will we demonstrate this in not holding back Grace Bombing anyone as the Lord leads - even those we may feel hard-hearted towards? Is having a hardened-heart a barrier in moving forward in our Grace Bombing journey?”
We must consider the conditions fo our hearts today. Are we like Jonah worried about something trivial, while there are thousands of people in our community that need to experience the Love of God? We are able to make an impact church! Legacy City Church is committed to impacting the City of Greenwood as we will hear from many of our Strategic Partners this upcoming week - we hope to see you there!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Grace Bomb: Grace Bombing a Hard Heart - The Book of Jonah serves as a very specific reminder that the people that we are not inclined to love are the people that God is seeking to love and Grace Bomb no matter what we think of the situation!
Main Scripture Verses - Jonah 1-4
Jonah Doesn’t See People the Way God Sees People - God sees each and every person in the world as someone worthy of Love, and are those who He desires to know on a personal relationship level; Jonah didn’t, he thought he knew which people should and should not receive God’s Love.
Do We See People Like God, or Like Jonah? - We see that God is concerned very much with how we view other people - we all have to potential to be the Jonah we see in chapter 3; God desires to use our obedience to mighty things in our world. Are you ready to join Him?
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we hear from our For Greenwood partners, non-profits in our community seeking to join with YOU in helping provide for much-needed services in our City!
We’re saving you a seat, and know that You Are Loved!
Grace Bomb: Fuel Supply
This week we heard Pastor Robbie speak about the numerous Grace Bombs found throughout the Book of Jonah!
This past Sunday, Pastor Robbie brought us a word on how we have been seeing Grace Bomb throughout Scripture without even realizing it - it’s everywhere! The way the church was structured from the beginning was set up for this very thing! We are deep in our Grace Bomb series and just in case anyone is joining us for the first time, for even more info than what we will be discussing here, you can find more information at their website here. If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we missed you and hope to be able to see you this upcoming Sunday!
The majority of the message comes out of the very beginning of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesian Church, verses 3-13 specifically. Not only is it an extremely long run-on sentence (200+ words), but what it tells us we could probably spend weeks talking about! It begins with Paul literally praising God for what he has done through Jesus Christ, giving us access to ‘every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’. Praise God who has blessed us in Christ, being the keywords here. God the Father and us his children are inseparably united with Jesus - that is who we are, church. This connection that we have in Jesus, in Christ, is paramount to everything that we do in our lives, and we should be working to bring those around us into the same fold.
Pastor Robbie said, ‘It should be incredibly encouraging to us that God the Father thinks about you and treats you the way He thinks about and treats Jesus. God treats you, loves you, cares for you, gives to you the same way he would for his Son Jesus. Because when God sees you, he sees you and Jesus together. When he sees you, he sees you in Christ! We are inseparable from Jesus. Being in Christ, we have access to every possible heavenly benefit that Jesus has access to! Because we are in Christ, we get to experience God’s blessing, love, favor, connection, relationship.
Ephesians 1:4-6 says, ‘even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. in love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.’ We see here that not only does God view us in the same light as He views Jesus, we know that this was specifically apart of God’s sovereign plan! We have been chosen by God for the work and the mission that He started. We have been adopted into the family of God, into the Kingdom fo God - He has blessed us beyond measure with something we did not deserve but were given through the blood of Jesus! When we look at Scripture, we see a couple of ways that it talks about us coming into God’s family. One of those ways is a more natural-sounding way; that a person is born again in the Spirit, that there is a spiritual rebirth by trusting in Jesus - that something new and exciting happens inside our soul and we become a new creation. Jesus explains this in John, says we are reborn into God’s family. But we are also adopted. And I think he uses these different ways to describe coming into the family of God to display the width and breadth of this conversion. When you think about the idea of adoption, there’s a permanence there.
Paul’s Grace Bombing continues with verses 7-8 saying, ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.’ The first part of that, redeemed - every single one of us has been in slavery to sin, and the penalty for that sin is death – but to be redeemed means we were bought back with a price. And in that redemption, we can find forgiveness. Our sins are carried away, that’s what forgiven means, and we are set free from their bondage. We are free from sin, free from shame, free from guilt, we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. His mercy and grace have blazed this path for us, as we accept that freedom, that forgiveness - verse 8 says he lavishes his riches on us!
So, what do you do with this picture of these Grace Bombs? Our identity in Christ. We have been chosen and adopted, redeemed and forgiven, we have been given wisdom and we have an inheritance, we are safe and secure - sealed with the Holy Spirit. What better way to share the grace of God with others than from a place where we’ve rested in the knowledge and wisdom of our identity in Christ. Pastor Robbie concluded in saying,
“It says three times in that passage “To the praise of his Glory” - God Grace Bombs to the praise of the glory of His grace – and that is our reason too – for God’s glory! Let your activity flow from your identity – you are sitting on a gold mine of blessing, an unlimited fuel supply – so go be a blessing!”
We have been Grace Bombed in so many ways by the very God that created us and saved us from our wickedness and unrighteousness. We have a duty to accept and understand what has been granted to us; this knowledge can empower us to go out and love others, to bless others, and Grace Bomb them with similar means of grace and love that God has shown each and every one of us!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Grace Bomb: Fuel Supply - Grace Bombs have been apart of God’s Work and Mission from the very beginning; we have been brought into God’s family to come alongside Him in what He has already done for us!
Main Scripture Verses: Eph. 1:3-13; 1 Cor. 15:21-22; John 6:44; John 8:24
Grace Bomb - In Christ: The first of many Grace Bomb that God dropped on us has specifically to do with the fact because of Jesus, we can be in right relationship with Him!
Grace Bomb - Chosen & Adopted: Not only are we ‘In Christ’ but we were chosen by Him for the mission that we have been given; among this, we have been adopted into God’s family and co-heirs with Jesus!
Grace Bomb - Redeemed & Forgiven: Being chosen by God and adopted into His family means that we have also been redeemed from our sinful ways and forgiven of our past transgressions!
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we hear from Pastor Robbie continuing in our Grace Bomb series!
We’re saving you a seat, and know that You Are Loved!
Grace Built People, Grace Bomb People
This week we had the honor of hearing from Pastor Patrick Linnell, Founder of Grace Bomb speaking about the motivation behind this movement!
This past Sunday, we had the privilege of welcoming Pastor Patrick Linnell from Bay Area Community Church in Annapolis, Maryland, and Founder of a new series called Grace Bomb that we are so excited to get behind. This message explains much of what Grace Bomb is and the motivation behind starting. For even more info than what we will be discussing here, you can find more information at their website here. If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we missed you and hope to be able to see you this upcoming Sunday!
We just got done with our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting to finish out the first month of 2020 strong, and this new series Grace Bomb has all of us very excited about what kind of impact we can continue to make in our community! ‘Grace Bombing’ people comes from a very specific verse in Scripture, one that is fairly popular but some of it seems to always be pointed at over the other. In Ephesians 2:8-10 we see, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’ We have been saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ - a give that was given to us. This is good, this is great in fact, but the part of the verse that may sound more familiar to you; but what about the latter part of the verse? We have been created in Christ Jesus for good works; not as a means of salvation, but as a display of loving-kindness to our fellow man - our good works shine Jesus’ light into the darkness of our world.
Not only have we been created for works, but we have been created for many things, as evidence of our salvation.
We are called to…
Abound – 2 Corinthians 9:8 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
Be Fruitful –Colossians 1:10 …walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…
Be Zealous – Titus 2:14 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Sacrifice – Hebrews 13:16 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Where ‘Grace Bomb’ comes in involves picking up physical cards with information that the recipient will be able to go to Grace Bomb’s website with more info about what has happened to them. The website explains, with a video from Pat Linnell, that what just happened was a selfless gift from a follower of Jesus, who wanted to bless them with a random act of kindness.
Pat explained the system that Grace Bomb operates on:
Load: Do your day, your everyday life; be conscious about taking your cards with you of the day.
Listen: Look and Listen for “the Nudge”. This is the Spirit’s prompting of your divine appointment to be able to bless your neighbor.
Let’er Go! Drop your Grace Bomb anonymously or face to face - whatever way it comes to mind, act and how to leave the message will be natural.
Grace Built People, Grace Bomb People - we have all been saved by grace, as a gift from God and we need to embrace our calling to bless those around us. We also can’t wait to be able to hear about the various stories of Grace Bombing, or being Grace Bombed - share your stories on Social Media, and encourage others to get involved!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Grace Built People, Grace Bomb People - Grace Built People, Grace Bomb People - we have all been saved by grace, as a gift from God and we need to embrace our calling to bless those around us.
Main Scripture Verses: Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Cor. 9:8; Col. 1:10; Titus 2:14; Heb. 13:16.
Grace Built People - We are all saved by grace through faith, this is a gift from God - we could not be who we are, nor do what we do without Jesus’ sacrifice.
Grace Bomb People - Because we are saved by grace, we should be actively seeking to extend grace to those around us - extend God’s love to anyone we come in contact with.
LOAD, LISTEN, LET’RE GO - Make sure to keep cards on you during your day, listen to the calling of the Holy Spirit for when to drop a Grace Bomb - finally, go through with it and drop your Grace Bomb!
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we hear from Elder Adam Weyer, continuing in our Grace Bomb series!
We’re saving you a seat, and know that You Are Loved!