The Kingdom of Grace...

When Jesus presented His disciples with what we refer to as the Lord's Prayer, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," He reminds us that we are to pray that the will or desires of the king should be reflected in the lives of those who are citizens of that kingdom. But unlike most kingdoms that attempt to guarantee this type of allegiance by a ruler that governs by force, God's citizens are enticed to give allegiance to a King that rules by grace.

When Jesus commissioned the disciples to go into all the world and to preach the "gospel" for a witness to all nations, what message do you think that He was sending them out to share if not the gospel of God's amazing grace. When you think about it, what other message did they have if not the message of grace? Isn't that the message that Jesus came to demonstrate to the world? Wasn't that the whole purpose behind God literally becoming one of us so that He might pay the debt that was ours and we might live the life that was His?  

And despite the attempts that have been made to pervert this gospel of grace, whether during the Apostle Paul's time with the message of salvation by works, or by those in our day that still cling to a works- based righteousness, the message of the kingdom of grace is the message that God has given His church, His kingdom to share. And if the church is the primary vehicle for being dispensers of this message of grace, then shouldn't our primary focus be on sharing it with those that live in the world of the "ungraced?"  

I challenge you today not to be merely a receptacle of this marvelous life-changing grace, but to be one that is willing to dispense into the lives of those that for far too long, have been left out in the cold and who desperately need to feel the warmth that only God's grace can give.

Charles A. Tapp

Senior Pastor