This Is The Life: How To Establish Your Heart In The Grace Of God

By Ken Legg

Many believers are frustrated, confused and defeated because they have learned erroneous things about God, themselves and the Christian life. This Is The Life! seeks to replace some of those faulty foundations with the truths of authentic, life transforming Christianity.

There are ten chapters in this book, as follows:

*Deficient or Sufficient? Do we need new experiences that endlessly come onto the market, or are we complete in Christ?

*Condition or Position? Is it what we do that determines who we are, or who we are that will determine what we do?

*Change or Exchange? Do we become righteous by changing our ways, or by exchanging our sin for God’s righteousness in Christ?

*Follow or Abide? Those who follow Jesus have only His example, but those who abide in Him have His life. Which are you living by?

*Law or Grace? Do we believe we will be blessed on the basis of what we do for God, or on the basis of what He has done for us in Christ?

*Positive Thinking or Correct Thinking? How do we win the battle for the mind? Is it by positive thinking, or by believing the truth?

*Self-esteem or Self-denial? Did Jesus command us to esteem ourselves, or deny ourselves?

*Flesh or Spirit? Every Christian is capable of manifesting two kinds of life – the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit. How do we learn to walk in the Spirit?

*Same or Different? No two Christians are alike. Discover your new creation uniqueness as you identify your spiritual gift.

*Produce or Reproduce? Is the ultimate aim of discipleship to grow or to multiply?

This Is The Life! is all about establishing your heart upon the foundations of God’s grace. Grace is what makes Christianity unique. If we fail to make the grace connection we will end up with just another religion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ken Legg
• Release date: Sep 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466054547

Ken Legg

Ken Legg is pastor of New Beginnings Christian Church on the Gold Coast of Australia. He has authored several books, including This Is The Life! (How To Establish Your Heart In The Grace Of God), What's Eating You?, New Covenant, New Glory, etc. He is founder/pastor of New Beginnings Christian Church on the Gold Coast of Australia. He and his wife Marianne have been involved in church planting and pastoral/Bible teaching ministry since 1974. They have two daughters and 4 grandchildren. Ken has spoken at Conferences in Israel, Egypt, Zambia, Indonesia, Philippines & Malaysia. He has also featured on a teaching program on Christian TV and is a regular speaker on Christian radio. In 1996 Ken began to make his teaching/training resources available to the wider Body of Christ, through his ministry organization called Set Free Ministries. Over 1,000 churches throughout Australia and New Zealand have now used his resource materials. Ken has a passion to share the gospel of grace with the Body of Christ and to help believers discover their new creation identity.

Book preview

This Is The Life!

By Ken Legg

Copyright 2003 Ken Legg

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 978-1-4660-5454-7

Published by: Set Free Ministries

P O Box 4185

Elanora

Queensland 4221

Australia

© Copyright: Ken Legg, 2003. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Second Printing – 2009

Note: It is both illegal and a violation of Christian ethics to copy any of this material without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers. Used with permission.

Acknowledgments

Editing is a vital part of the writing process, giving a book its final polish, thus making it more presentable to its reading audience. I must make special mention of Garry Toms and Beverley Tulloch, who spent many hours going over the manuscript of this book, correcting countless grammatical errors and making numerous suggestions. Thank you so much.

My sincere appreciation to Derek Smith, who did the cover design. An excellent job, Derek.

They say that behind every good man stands a great woman, and an amazed mother-in-law! My wife, Marianne, has been an outstanding support to me whilst writing this book. This book not only marks thirty years of ministry for me, but also twenty-nine years of wonderful married life for us. I am so blessed to have such a fantastic wife. Thank you, darling.

The congregation at New Beginnings Christian Church has been such an encouragement to me, in more ways than they realize. As I have shared the truths from this book each Sunday morning they have been so receptive and responsive. There can be no greater reward for a pastor than to see God’s people impacted by the truth. It is a great privilege to be their pastor.

Contents

Introduction

1. Deficient Or Sufficient?

2. Condition Or Position?

3. Change Or Exchange?

4. Follow Or Abide?

5. Law Or Grace?

6. Positive Thinking Or Correct Thinking?

7. Self-esteem Or Self-denial?

8. Flesh Or Spirit?

9. Same Or Different?

10. Produce Or Reproduce?

Introduction

I have witnessed Christians going through every kind of storm, from personal failure and tragedy to church splits. What I have observed is this – in times of testing, those without substantial foundations spun out, but those with rock solid foundations were able to come through.

No doubt you have heard the saying, The most important thing is to keep the most important thing as the most important thing. The most important part of a building is the part you can’t see – the foundations. Builders who skimp over this area pay the ultimate price.

The same applies in the Christian life. Jesus’ teaching confirms this. The foolish man who builds upon sand is heading for disaster. It’s only a matter of time. But the wise man will take the time to dig deep and build his house upon the rock. And that which he builds will be here today and here tomorrow.

This book is all about establishing your heart upon the foundations of grace. Grace is what makes Christianity unique. If we don’t make the grace connection we will end up with just another religion. Religion is what we try to do for God. Grace is what God has done for us, and is doing in us, through His Son Jesus Christ.

Grace people do not experience fewer trials than others do, but they are equipped to handle those trials through divine resources.

But grace is more than God’s ability to hold us up in the midst of hard times. It is the manifestation of Christ’s life through us. The key to understanding the Christian walk is to know that it does not consist of us trying to live our lives for Jesus, but of Him living His life through us. That’s why I’ve called this book This Is The Life!

We are living in days of abundance of Bible teaching. We have access to almost limitless material. The danger we face is that of ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. In order to establish your heart in the grace of God you will need to dig deep.

I encourage you to go through this book several times, (ten times or more, if necessary) until your heart is thoroughly rooted and grounded in the truth of God’s love, and you are firmly grasped in the grip of His grace.

Then go and help others build their lives on the Solid Rock, Christ Jesus.

May God richly bless you!

Ken Legg

Ken Legg

Gold Coast, Australia, 2003.

It is good that the heart be established by grace

(Hebrews 13:9)

1

Deficient Or Sufficient?

A young man once approached a very wealthy man and asked him the secret to his financial prosperity. Well, young man, said the rich man, My story begins back in the days of the depression. I was down to my last five cents. With that five cents I bought an apple. I spent the rest of the day polishing that apple. The next day I took it down to the market and sold it for ten cents. With that ten cents I bought two more apples. I polished those apples and took them to the market the next day and sold them for ten cents each. This went on for a while and by the end of the month I had made $3.20. Now that was a lot of money in those days. The following month my wife’s father died, and left us 3 million dollars. And that’s how I became rich!

There are two ways you can become rich. One way is to work hard at doing things like polishing apples, and hope you will get a break. The other way is to inherit a fortune. No one who has 3 million dollars in his bank account will waste time polishing apples.

The first lesson of the Christian life is to learn that when we believed on Christ as Saviour we were positioned in Him and were given access to all the riches of His grace. We may not know what life will throw at us but we do know that we have been fully equipped to meet the sum total of life.

Some people have the impression that when we were born again all we received was a ticket to heaven, and that between now and when we get there we just have to do the best we can.

Others believe that what we received at salvation was only the first instalment, and that this will need to be supplemented from time to time with new experiences and blessings which come onto the market. A large segment of the Christian Church operates this way. It is like the parents of a new-born baby who has just been released from hospital being told that their baby will need to be brought back periodically to receive new body parts!

This theology of deficiency sends us on an endless pursuit for fix-ups for the past and top-ups for the future. It is at complete variance with the teaching of the New Testament. There we learn that when we were saved we were baptized into Christ, and that being in Him we have all things.

"His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3).

There are no instalments to the Christian life. God has given us one gift, His Son Jesus Christ, and included in Him is every other blessing we will ever need for life. The Christian life does not consist of running everywhere to get our needs met. It’s about having Christ and possessing all things in Him. As we journey through life God teaches us that we are not working towards adequacy, but from it. We have been made sufficient for all things.

Do you know this? Have you discovered it? Are you appropriating it? Are you living it, loving it, experiencing it and enjoying it? If not, you may be a prime target for Satan’s deceptions. You will probably ride the roller coaster of feelings and become a victim of emotional highs and lows. Every fad and whim that blows through the Church will toss you around. You will succumb to every form of challenge to get a life. You will probably drift from altar call to altar call in search of another shot in the arm. You will live most of your days walking according to the flesh, i.e. from your own resources. You will find yourself on the treadmill of trying, failing, recovering, and trying again. Each time you will try a little harder. You will try in different ways. But the results will be the same. You will expend much effort, but see meagre fruit.

Every Christian is heir to a spiritual fortune. We don’t need more because we have all things. But we do need to discover what we already have in Him. What are the riches of His grace?

This Is The Life

This book is all about the life that Christ has bequeathed us. It is His life. The apostle John says, He who has the Son has life (1 John 5:12). Literally the verse reads like this – He who has the Son has the life. There are certain building blocks that are absolutely crucial to living the Christian life successfully. One of those building blocks is this: God has fully empowered us in His Son Jesus Christ for the totality of life on planet earth. Understanding this truth is critical if we are to prosper. If we doubt this in any way life will be a struggle. Just ponder some of the promises of God that assure us of this:

• "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32)

• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

• My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19)

• His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3)

• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3)

• Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matt.6:33).

Notice the phrases used in these New Testament promises, all things, all your need, every spiritual blessing, all these things.

The Promised Land

The reality of God’s abundant provision for us in Christ is depicted in the Old Testament. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to them so that He might deliver them from their bondage and bring them into their own inheritance, the land of Canaan. Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt is a picture of our redemption. The blood of the Passover lamb