# The Work of Grace **Previously we established:** - Grace is a free gift from God - Any blessing in our lives is considered a grace from God - God created man and surrounded him by His grace - Man lost that grace as a result of sin and corruption - Man became uncapable of attaining righteousness on his own - The law could not help man attain righteousness - Man needed divine intervention to be able to attain righteousness - God graced man with the economy of salvation (Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, etc.) - In order to attain salvation, we must have faith (God's grace) and works - Man cannot attain salvation without the work of God's grace **What is the Work of Grace?** **Introduction:** - Grace is a divine gift, given freely to us in various ways, and at various times - Grace is sent to those who are weak to strengthens them, and those who are strong to increase their strength - In spiritual life, God's grace plays a big role - God's grace leads to repentance - Give examples; after St Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, "Now when they heard *this,* they were cut to the heart" Acts 2:37 - God's grace stops us from falling in sin - Give examples - God's grace encourages us to attain virtues - Give examples - Grace is a way of God reaching out to us to help us **Visitations of Grace:** - At certain times in our lives, God visits us by His grace - Sometimes we find ourselves moved towards doing what is good - especially in the spiritual field - This is the work of God's grace - The fathers refer to that as a "visitation of grace" - We are "visited" by God's grace which encourages us to do good at the moment - Examples - The icon of "Christ knocking on the door" describes the visitation of grace - The fathers tell us that the visitations of grace come at the right time - in the right circumstances **When do get visited by God's grace?** - We could be "visited" by God's grace at any time - It usually can be felt in the heart - It could be: - In the middle of the liturgy - In the middle of my personal prayer - In the middle of sin (i.e. God's calling of Saul while he's going to Damascus) - It could be through an event in your life - Through a vision or a dream - Through a message from your spiritual father - In the midst of hardships or trials - Let us look at the life of St Anthony as an example: - We know at least 3 occasions where he was visited by God's grace and it was life changing for him - At his father's death - He realized that life on earth is temporary and less valuable than eternal life - Listening to the Gospel at church - He decided to leave everything and head to the desert - When the lady rebuked him by the river - He decided to go far into the desert to live in solitude - The same grace who made St Anthony a great saint is inside of me so what is the difference? **Who gets visited by God's grace?** - God visits everyone with His grace - Some are more sensitive to it God's grace than others - Some are more tuned to listen to God's voice than other - Jonah - (Was a visitation of grace to the Ninevites - He also was a visitation of grace to the mariners in the ship - In the process, the Lord visited Jonah himself) - The calling of Matthew - The visit to Zacchaeus - St Mary of Egypt - while in the midst of her sin - St Moses the strong - while searching for the true God **Reasons for visitations of grace:** - To wake us up from laziness - Leads us to repent - Ignites and strengthens our spiritual life - Corrects the course of our lives sometimes - Reminds us with the consequences of a wrong do it to stop us - Call us to service - To aid us to carry on with our the service - Even with saints, to reach higher levels of sainthood - Gives us a blessing **What should be our response towards visitations of grace?** - It is important to note that God's grace works in us to produce good works but it does NOT force us to do good works (Grace and Free will) - Grace is an internal movement towards what is good and Godly, but it does not force or pushes you to do anything, the decision has to come from you - We are in need of God's grace to be able to do anything good. The Lord Jesus said "**without** **Me** **you** **can** **do** **nothing**." John 15:5 - God's grace works with us all the time. However, the question is do we work with it or not? - It depends on my response towards God's grace - Let's take the Right and the Left hand thieves as an example: - Both were criminals - Both were rightly punished - Both saw the Lord in front of them (visited by Him) - However only one responded to that visitation and gained eternal life - Sometimes may respond well to God's grace and some may resist it **What prevents God's grace from us? (Resisting God's grace)** - Free will dictates that we are free to respond to the God's grace or not - There are many things that prevents God's grace from me: - Being careless with the word of God (Not listening carefully to sermons, SS lessons, Bible study, etc.) - Focusing on the speaker instead of listening -(i.e. this abouna is too strict, that abouna is too spiritual for me, etc.) - Lack of circumspection when it comes to my spiritual canon (i.e. not listening to the advise of my spiritual father) - Not living a true life of Obedience (i.e. I listen to my parents, servants, or abouna with no intention of obeying them) - Resisting spiritual messages and warnings - Not learning from previous mistakes (repeated confessions) - Not participating in spiritual days or conventions (i.e. friends are not going) - Giving into strange ideology (i.e. the Church is living the stone age) “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy." Jonah 2:8 - Lack of thanksgiving (i.e. Not considering the multitude of blessings in one's life) - Lack of faith - (i.e. doubting the presence of God's grace) "But without faith *it is* impossible to please *Him"* Hebrews 11:6 - Negativity - (i.e. God doesn't love me) - Responding to the grace but not following through - (i.e. like Pharaoh in letting the people go) - Satan opposes God's grace - (i.e. You hear God's voice saying go reconcile with your friend, then you hear another voice saying "how about my dignity?") - **“Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts" Hebrews 3:15** - "Hear His voice" is the work of grace, "harden your hearts" is our response towards it **Can God's grace abandon us?** - Sometimes, out of God's love, He allows His grace to abandon us - To send us a message to learn from - As a warning in order to straighten our ways -

As a result of continuous resistance to the visitation of grace

King Saul

"Do not quench the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19

**How to benefit from the visitations of grace?** - Respond to the visitation of grace promptly - Do not say my will is weak - God's grace can strengthen your will - but you should respond to it - Do not say my sin is too big - "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" Romans 5:20 - Do not say I cannot do it - "My Grace is sufficient to you" - We need to work with God's grace - Grace and works - God's grace will plant a seed, you need to water and care for the seed to grow - God's grace will save you from falling into sin, you do not return to that sin again - Pray for God's grace and to grow in God's grace - Humble yourself - “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 - St Mary - Full of grace - Prayer to receive grace from God - Intercession of the saints - Work of the church with you - Be ready in your heart - "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God" John 1:12 - Strive to be worthy of that grace - "to the praise of the glory of His grace" Eph 1:6 - Give thanks - Consider that everything good in your life is a result of God's grace with you - Hold fast to every opportunity - Spend more time in prayers - Go into a new depth in the liturgy - Read more chapters in the Bible - "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. " 2 Timothy 2:1 **Growing in the grace** "grow in the grace" 2 Peter 3:18 - Growing in the grace is a commandment that we are asked to obey - Not only to use the grace given to me but to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord - So how can we enjoy and grow in God's grace? - Any growth can be measured - the measure of growing in grace is fruits - Fruit of repentance - Real change "Therefore bear **fruit**s **worthy** **of** **repentance" Matthew 3:8** - Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23

But **the** **fruit** **of** **the** **Spirit** is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such **the**re is no law.

- Fruit in the service