Amazing Grace - Part 4

By Pastor Ric

The gospel message is the good news of God's Grace upon us.

Many people who are unaware of God in their lives, or those who choose to believe that God is not there or is not relevant to them, hear the word Grace and apply it to being graceful, like a ballet dancer or to someone who walks in a graceful way.

Others who believe that they are Christian, attribute Grace to the time we are living in now, they say we are not under the law of Moses as mankind once was, but we are now living in a time of God's Grace, where God allows everything and forgives everything.

Yet others say that Grace is "God's favor toward the unworthy" or "God's benevolence on the undeserving.

But Grace is not an idea, a concept or a time we are living in, Grace is a Person who is alive and alive for evermore having come down from heaven and being born through a woman. Who died on a tree and was raised from the dead by God and who is now alive for all eternity.

This book is Part 1 of a fo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pastor Ric
• Release date: Feb 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224776146

Pastor Ric

Having Pastored a mainline Christian Church for many years, I am now producing Mobile apps, ebooks and paperback books on many Christian subjects, you can download them from https://noprisoners-ministry.com/.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - My way or the highway.

Chapter 2 - The Script for Life.

Chapter 3 - How Faith works.

Chapter 4 - Taking down the old self.

Chapter 5 - My own righteousness and righteousness in the mind of Christ.

Receiving Salvation

Receiving the Holy Spirit

Appendix 1 - God's Plan of Salvation

Appendix 2 - Two Trees Part 1 reviewed

Appendix 3 - What happened in the Garden?

Appendix 4 - The sower sows the Word - 5 stumbling stones.

Appendix 5 - The sower sows the Word

Chapter 1 - My way or the highway.

Ymay have heard the phrase it's my way or the highway, it was very popular a few years back, it’s an interesting phrase as it contains a grain of Truth, before we look at my way, lets have a look at the other way, the highway of Holiness.

This is what God the Father says about His Highway of Holiness

Isaiah 55:8 This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours! 

Isaiah 55:9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours.

Isaiah 55:10 As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, 

Isaiah 55:11 so also is my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to and prosper everywhere I send it. 

Isaiah 55:12 You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills, the trees of the field—all the world around you—will rejoice Isaiah

There is a song that was made famous by a singer called Frank Sinatra the first verse of the song says

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I travelled each and every highway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

I wonder if Franks way was the best way because he is no longer with us and we dont know where he is now to be able to ask him, Frank was your way the best way?

It makes me wonder if there might be another way that is better, is there a choice between my way and another way, is there a higher way the highway of Holiness?

What we are talking about here is our thoughts, it appears that lifes outcome begins with our thoughts, but is there something before our thoughts, there is! it is the words we hear that influence the thoughts we think and words come in only two ways, good words or bad words.

But who gets to decide which words are good and which are bad? to a natural mind which is a mind that leaves God out of the equation, we think that it is we who get to decide what is good or bad, right or wrong.

Then how are we making the comparison to decide? It is by referring or listening to our conscience. Every single person born on this earth hears their conscience when we do things.

We know that this is true because we have all heard our conscience, when we are young it is like a little voice in our mind that we hear say 'No don't do that it is wrong', or 'Yes that was the right thing to do.

We have all heard that voice, but many thought that it was just themselves saying that to themselves, but that cannot be the case, how can a person instinctively know right from wrong?

You can see conscience operating in a young baby, when Momma says 'Did you do that?' and you see that awkward look on the child’s face as they say 'no it wasn’t me', or yes im sorry Momma' the child knows from a very early age right from wrong because their conscience tells them and the only way that they can escape their conscience is to ignore what it says.

Then that small voice gets quieter and quieter, until it can no longer be heard, this happens if the child continues to ignore their small voice.

Life and it's outcome begins with the word we hear from our conscience, or if we turn off the conscience by ignoring it, we use the words we have heard that did not come from our conscience, from people in the outside world.

The source that we choose to listen to determines our thoughts and ways, the way we think about doing things influences what we do in life and that leads us to our outcome in life good or bad.

The thoughts I have about life take me into the way I choose to go, but what if I could know for sure what the outcome  of the way I choose would be before I did anything.

What if I could know the outcome before it happened, wouldn't that make the choice a 'no brainer' to take compared to the other choice of 'flying by the seat of my pants' so to speak and just doing things hoping for the best that the outcome would work.

Well it seems obvious that an awful lot of people choose the 'wing it' way of living life. It's like no one goes and starts a business thinking that they will fail everyone thinks the business will be successful otherwise they would not do it.

What person would take a chance on a horrible outcome in life if they could know that the other way gives you the certainty of an amazing wonderful outcome.

Well we can know this because our conscience will advise us what to do and what not to do if we keep listening and taking the advice and doing it.

How many times have you heard a person who finds themselves in trouble say 'Something told me not to do that' whoops they heard their conscience and chose to ignore it.

Our conscience is not us talking to ourselves, our conscience was given to us by our Father God in Heaven this is what He told us 

2 Corinthians 1:12 Now that the worst is over, we’re pleased we can report that we’ve come out of this with conscience and faith intact, and can face the world—and even more importantly, face you with our heads held high. But it wasn’t by any fancy footwork on our part. It was God who kept us focused on him, uncompromised.

But back to Frank with his final curtain.

Here is what another famous person said about facing his final curtain

2 Timothy 4:8 [As to what remains] henceforth there is laid up for me the [victor’s] crown of righteousness [for being right with God and doing right], which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me and recompense me on that [great] day—and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and yearned for and welcomed His appearing (His return). 

The Apostle Paul said much the same thing because they both knew that it was a sure thing, they would receive the victors crown, but they both knew that there was a condition attached to enable them to get there and the condition was stay on the highway of holiness, the path of Holy

Does that mean that both of them were Holy, no because there is only One who is completely Holy and that is God the Father and God the Son but because of what the Son Jesus Christ did on the cross taking all our sin and destroying sin then ascending back to the Father in Holiness He gave to us the right to enter into Him who is the way into His Holiness so that we are now made Holy in Him, am I Holy in myself no but I am Holy in Him, in other words I must stay in His Holiness with unwavering faith and Holiness, the victors crown will be accredited to me when I meet the Lord.

Romans 4: 21  (Abraham) Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.

Romans 4: 21 That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).

so when will I meet the Lord

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be