[vc_row][vc_column][gem_divider margin_top=”25″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1546466777929{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;}”]“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.” (Zechariah 12:10a)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][gem_quote style=”4″ no_paddings=”1″]Every Christian must strive with all their heart to seek God wholeheartedly and accurately to save both themselves and their hearers (1 Timothy 4:16)![/gem_quote][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1457788607747{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1546468825983{padding-bottom: 404px !important;background-image: url(https://seattleicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Article-Images-Spirit-of-Grace-2.jpg?id=25001) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1457788939445{padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 42px !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0″][vc_column_text]I was always taught in elementary school that you can never start a sentence with the word and because it is a conjunction that brings two ideas together. So in order to begin to fully appreciate this passage, you must comprehend the first nine verses.

Zechariah was one of the prophets who were around during the Post-Exilic Period, which started in 538 BC as the Israelites left Babylon to return to a devastated Jerusalem. He did not bring a new message. In fact, the same prophecy was made by Ezekiel about thirty years prior and Joel 300 years prior. At this point, the prophecy mattered most as it brought a tremendous amount of hope and healing during a time of recovery.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1457788581707{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1457789015745{padding-top: 33px !important;padding-right: 42px !important;}”][vc_column_text]The prophecy increases in encouragement as it continues. First, Jerusalem is known to be an immovable rock. Then God promises injury to anyone who comes close. After about six other promises, God closes with, “I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:9). God was reassuring his people that this time they would be fully protected within the boundaries God set. His people, this was the greatest news they could have ever imagined. But the message is two-fold because it condemns anyone outside of the boundaries that God has set up.

As disciples, we are constantly being encouraged by God and the promises he fulfills in our lives. At the same time, however, our hearts are constantly breaking over the lostness of the world. There are so many who are living in sin, deceived by their own emotions and traditions, and living a life that insults the spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29). There are even more who passionately seek God but do it wrong as their Bible-knowledge is full of false teachings and misinterpretations of the Scriptures. Every Christian must strive with all their heart to seek God wholeheartedly and accurately to save both themselves and their hearers (1 Timothy 4:16)![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1546468996612{padding-bottom: 400px !important;background-image: url(https://seattleicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Article-Images-Spirit-of-Grace-3.jpg?id=25002) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1457788607747{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1546491853614{padding-bottom: 404px !important;background-image: url(https://seattleicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Article-Images-_-Spirit-of-Grace.jpg?id=25015) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1457788939445{padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 42px !important;}” offset=”vc_col-lg-offset-0″][vc_column_text]Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well know author, coined a term known as “cheap grace.” He said, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Far too many people define “Grace” with this definition!

One of my favorite definitions of grace is actually an acronym: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense (G.R.A.C.E.). We have access to God and forgiveness of sins and a divine power for our protection, but it came at a cost.

This cost was not Jesus’ alone. In fact, anyone who wants to follow Him, can but must take up their own cross daily. “They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zechariah 12:10b). Clearly, there is a cost for anyone who decides to follow Jesus.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1457788581707{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1457789015745{padding-top: 33px !important;padding-right: 42px !important;}”][vc_column_text]Many authors and preachers have ventured to define grace over the years. There are many Scriptures that one could exercise in order to find the true meaning of it. It is my conviction that what matters more than defining it, is the motivation that one finds in it. If someone is truly in God’s grace then they will be moved by it. If there is no action following the reception of the grace it would be a cause for concern.

Joel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah said that God’s grace would be poured out on our lives. Grace affects everything! If someone was just married and then continued to live as a single person, their love for their spouse would minimally be severely questioned, and very possibly the relationship could be annulled. How much more so should we evaluate our relationship with God? Paul writes, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). God’s grace moved Paul to work hard! He writes to Titus that God’s grace teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness (Titus 2:11). The action proceeds the reception of grace. Be absolutely sure that a lack of action could very well mean that no grace was received! Are you moved by God’s grace?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1546491956235{padding-bottom: 400px !important;background-image: url(https://seattleicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Article-Images-_-Spirit-of-Grace-5.jpg?id=25016) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1457788581707{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1457789015745{padding-top: 33px !important;padding-right: 42px !important;}”][vc_column_text]I am so glad to be a part of the Pacific Northwest Churches. God has evidently poured his grace into our lives. Moved by the spirit of grace, on January 1st twenty campus ministry disciples gathered at the University of Washington for an All-Night Prayer. Just like we did last term, we prayed from midnight to 6:30 AM. The incredible thing was that many people had work the next day and didn’t rest. Then, this past week, over 2,000 students at UW and Shoreline CC were reached out to and invited to a Bible study. Though some may call this “overly-zealous” or “unnecessary,” we know God is pleased! “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news’” (Romans 10:14-15).

As we continue to celebrate The Year Of Grace, let us keep in mind that the grace we received came at a cost. Let us share the deep conviction of King David as he desired to construct an altar of sacrifice to God: “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). We know this is going to be a great year for the Seattle International Christian Church. Let us embrace the grace as we work hard on our relationship with God, and thus work hard in the ministry for His glory.

Stay #BlessedInTheNorthwest 🙂

We are family… to do the impossible,

Joel R. Parlour[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1546469680126{padding-bottom: 400px !important;background-image: url(https://seattleicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Article-Images-Spirit-of-Grace-1.jpg?id=25000) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row]