What if you were full of pain, cuts, bruises, beaten, and yet what you were feeling was so much more real, so much more powerful, this overcoming joy and victory. Now you've got it. When life is at its darkest

He walked on water. Cast devils out. He raised the dead. And so the disciples are thinking. Messiah. Kingdom, if he can do these things. What power on earth could stop him? But instead of using that power. Jesus is taken, nailed to a cross. Dies.

Paul was persecuted by the religious leaders for spreading the gospel. They said, look, if you'll stop preaching this message of grace by faith, we'll stop persecuting you. Paul was beaten up so many times in prison, so many times for you Gentiles. Why was he so convinced of this? He wanted to make sure that you could be saved by grace through faith alone.

So when Jesus crossed, as it were, the threshold, he was crucified. His blood was shed. Symbolically, the angels clean their swords, sheathed them, stand back. And now the way is open. Access is available. Now that Jesus. And of course, the beauty is that he not only died right there at the very entrance to fellowship with God, then he rose from the dead.

Why only through him and with the analogy that comes here, actually comes from the Middle East and the patriarchs. Abraham, of course, was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd. And interestingly, when I went to when I went to high school, I was in a district where I was supposed to go to this one high school, but I wanted to transfer because of the sports program that they had and the sport that I was in.

Why only through him and with the analogy that comes here, actually comes from the Middle East and the patriarchs. Abraham, of course, was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd. And interestingly, when I went to when I went to high school, I was in a district where I was supposed to go to this one high school, but I wanted to transfer because of the sports program that they had and the sport that I was in.

So we are our salvation is by a gift. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to deserve it, and it's just given to you. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Even your faith in the Lord is a gift to you. If you believe in trust in Jesus Christ, it's not something that you have created or manufactured.

So let's go back to verses eight through ten. It says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.So we are.

Our salvation is by a gift. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to deserve it, and it's just given to you. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Even your faith in the Lord is a gift to you. If you believe in trust in Jesus Christ, it's not something that you have created or manufactured.

God knows our needs and meets them. What are the top three things you would like out of life? I want love. I want to love and be loved. I want peace. Peace of mind. Peace of heart. And I want joy. Well, isn't it interesting? The three top things that human beings crave and desire are the very first three fruit of the spirit when we're reconciled to him.

God loves you. He loves you, and he never tires of telling you so. For God to express all the love in his heart toward you is going to take forever. You will never get to the end. He will never get done. He will never finish pulling out of his heart. How he feels about you and all that he has done for you through His Son Jesus Christ spread.

when we turn from our sins and turn to God. When you turn around and you face God, who is love, and God who is light. The number one comforting thing is I'm not alone anymore. Number two, this is a process. The fear that because of the things and the hurts and the wounds is a process of God removing fear and replacing it with his love.