Creflo Dollar - How to Take Possession Through Grace - Part 3
If you have your Bibles, glory to God. Go with me into the book of Romans chapter 4 and 16. This is, this is something that has been in my spirit all week and I've been sharing it as much as I possibly can. We've been talking about grace for daily life. Grace for everyday life. And I think one of the things I wanna do first of all, is let's review the definition I gave you on grace and just see how far we've come with just what we've learned and look at it again and check it out. All right, so grace we've just said over a period of time that it's unmerited favor and it is favor, but it's so much more than unmerited favor. Grace is the unmerited, now, what do I say, what do I mean when I use the word unmerited? It means undeserved, you can't work for it, you can't earn it, it's literally something that's given as a gift without you having to do anything to get it or deserve it. That's strong.
Now the first thing we recognize is that grace is not just a curriculum, grace is a person. So how do you put all that together? And I know it's pretty lengthy, but this is something that, you know, we shared earlier on in this series and you've been working on memorizing it and placing it in memory, but grace is an unmerited abounding. When something abounds, it increases. It's unmerited abounding provision. Unmerited abounding provision. Something you don't earn, it keeps increasing and what is it that keeps increasing? It's provision. It's the unmerited abounding provision of the unrestricted, the unrestricted operation of God's love. Well, why is it unrestricted? Because Jesus has satisfied justice and he satisfied sin.
Under the Old Testament, his love was restricted. He couldn't, he couldn't love without restriction because sin hadn't been paid for, there was no Jesus to pay for sins and justice hadn't been fulfilled. So the God of justice, if a man did something, he had to die because the justice hadn't been fulfilled. Oh, but because of Jesus, the sin penalty has been paid, and because of Jesus, justice has been taken care of. So grace is that unmerited abounding provision of the unrestricted operation of God's love, which means there is nothing that will restrict God's full release of love towards you. Unrestricted operation of God's love, glory to God, that works and operates. And this definition says, it's the unrestricted operation of his infinite love. His love doesn't stop, it's an infinite love and it works and comes through Jesus Christ, so you can't get grace without Jesus because it's Jesus, then grace comes out of Jesus and truth comes out of grace, man. It comes through Jesus Christ for mankind, especially for those who depend on him.
Look at that for a moment. It's on the screen? Yeah. Look at that for a moment, look at this. Unmerited abounding provision, the provision that keep, it keeps increasing. What is the provision you need on the earth today? What is the thing that you lack that grace says I'll increase upon you? What is the thing that you need and grace says, I've got the provision? Now I understand Philippians, I mean, Philippians 4:19. "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory through him by Christ Jesus". That is not a result of the money you put in the plate, that is a result of Jesus that died on the cross and released his grace and made it available unto you with no restrictions. And those of you who have gotten born again and declare, "I believe," the day you said, "I believe you Jesus," he is now able to love you with no restrictions. He is now able to provide for you with no restriction, even your crazy can't stop.
Your crazy can't restrain him from loving you. Your sinful behavior, now that you're born again, because if you didn't know it, saved people miss the mark. But your missing the mark is not strong enough to restrict God's love for you. And everything that you can think of, that you may think or the devil's caused you to think, that somehow or another you've done something so bad, that God can't love you, and God can't take care of you, now God says, because of what Jesus has done, my love is unrestricted, you can't stop it, I don't care how crazy you get, how bad you are, my love will continue to abound in your life and provisions with that and I'll still take care of you. Even when you don't and you turn your back on me, I'm gonna still be right there. You're not gonna divorce me, you're not gonna separate me, you're not gonna put me away. Soon as you turn your back on me, I'm gonna be working to get you to turn right back around, because you can't restrict my love.
Can you ever recall in your life as a Christian, where something didn't go right and you thought, "Man, I really messed up, God don't want to have nothing to do with me no more, I wonder if he loves me". And you actually limited God and said, "Well, how can I expect for God to do this for me after I did that? And how can I expect for God to do that for me after I did that"? And you gotta remember what David said, David says, "I don't even, I don't even know what I would be if I had not believed for the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living". But remember what God says, he says, "With my goodness, I have supplied an ample amount of mercy". So God says, I can be good to you and show mercy to you and mercy is, you know what you deserve you don't get, what you gonna get is my unrestricted love. So when the provisions show up and you know you didn't deserve it, that's God's unrestricted love.
So here's the thing you gotta do, you got to learn how to mature and stop holding onto the baby bottle and drinking milk. Some things you don't have to go through is not necessary, but some things, some of y'all just make it necessary. You're not paying no attention to God. I mean, if you escape that one situation, why are you going back in it? And you know, God will turn around and say, "You know what? I love him, but I'm gonna step back and give him a little let lone and let him just go on through this thing, so when they come out, they gonna want me". 'Cause God don't want you to have something to do with him because it's a requirement, you don't want your husband to come in and say, "Well, I got to love you, so I guess I will". 'Cause you know how you are, you'll start ticking your head, "Now, you ain't got to do nothing".
Well, my God don't do his head like that, but what he's saying is, what he's saying is, "I want you to want me because you want me. I wanna be wanted". So what is it gonna take in your life before you finally get to the place where you're saying, "I want you because I want you. I want you. I want you 'cause I want you". I don't want you because you know, I show out at church or have a nice little dance at church, but I want you because in those times where I'm all by myself, where I can't lie to you cause you already know the truth and you show up and the fact that you showed up after this crazy and all of a sudden that's when you really know I've got a relationship with God, because you walking around with a relationship with God, you don't care what nobody got to think about you.
Oh, I gotta figure out how to make it through this sermon right here, boy. 'Cause I want him. And now you're not afraid to die, you're not afraid of what comes on, you're not afraid of what bills do, you're not afraid of what the bank account is, you're not afraid of none of that no more, because you found out that you're the beloved of God. There's nothing like that day when God whispers in your ear and he says, for no reason at all, you ain't praying, you ain't in church, you ain't doing nothing. You might be driving your car or at the grocery store for no reason at all, you take a step and you hear him say, "You know I love you, don't you"? I'm not talking about having church. I'm not talking about the religiosity of church. I'm not talking about the program of church. I'm talking about a personal relationship with a God who will love you with unmerited abounding provision. His operation is not, not at hindered anymore, he will love me all the way until he appears.
Now here's the key. The key to the power, the key to the breakthrough is can you believe that he loves you like that? Can you believe it? What, what is it that you gotta go through before you settle it that God loves me and I know it. And you can't tell me no difference 'cause you don't know what I've been through, you don't know where I've been, you don't know the ditch I fell in, you don't know, you don't know how I came close to death's door, you don't know none of that and neither do I need to prove it to you. See, this is the thing about your relationship with God, you don't need to prove it to nobody. You don't need to prove to somebody you're saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, you don't need to do that. You know it because you know he loves you. God loves me.
When you close your eyes and you die, you ain't gotta be scared about going to hell and you sit up there, "Well, I didn't do this and I didn't," no, no, no, no, no. You did one thing, it took a long time, but you did one thing it was right, you made Jesus the Lord of your life and people, people don't go to hell for sinning, people go to hell for rejecting Jesus Christ and as long as you didn't reject him and you know, he loves you, it ought to be a peaceful passing. For people who have a real relationship with God, staying here gets hard. Gosh, you're like, "Oh I can't wait to see you". And you'll know him. He won't walk past you and you not know who it was.
I remember John Avanzini told me, we were in the back, he was here preaching one Sunday morning. He said, he said, "Brother Creflo," he says, "I'm getting up in my age, I'm an old man now". And he says, "I wanna make sure that I spend more time loving people and spend more time getting to know Jesus, 'cause I don't wanna walk by him in heaven and not know who he is". It's real. This is not religion, this is a relationship. This is not a religion, and then you get to say, "Well, I don't agree with that religion, but I agree with this religion. That religion is", this is not a religion. This is real simple. Do you know him? Have you come to know who he is? Have you experienced his love? Do you believe his love?
And when you know and believe his love, then his provisions will be abounding. His love will be unrestricted. His provisions will be unmerited and you don't have to sit and count how many goody good of things you did this week to deserve that. God said, "You deserved it the day you got born again and believed in me". I hadn't started preaching my sermon yet, I apologize. I'm just so tired of religion. I'm so tired of religion. I'm so tired of your religion. I'm so tired of your Christian t-shirts as you proclaim something on the shirt that ain't even in your heart. I don't know, maybe I'm too free.
People say, "You need to watch your mouth". I don't wanna watch my mouth, I've been watching it long enough, I gotta preach the gospel of grace even when people don't like it, even when they leave the church, even when they talk about me, I gotta preach this gospel of grace. I was under the law and under the religion so long, but now I have been set free by the power of God's blood. I will preach the grace, I'll preach the gospel and he said, "Then the end will come". But it's gotta be preached. I'm not gonna stop preaching it. "Dog, when are we going to something else"? That's all it is. Jesus is all it is, ain't nothing else. Jesus, that's it. Jesus is it, that's it. "But when are we gonna talk about the therapeutic way to love one another in marriage"?
Go see a marriage counselor. But the gospel is about a man, hallelujah. It's about, it's about God who became a man. And he got in flesh and he died for you to move the restrictions so that God could love you without any bounds and without any restriction, and then he got up on the third day and he was seated on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. And one day he's gonna stand up and he's coming back again. And then those who are alive and remain shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye and they shall be caught up to meet him in the air. That's the gospel. It's all about Jesus. Ain't nothing else, it's all about Jesus. I so apologize for all this screaming and holler.
Please, please. You all know something's coming. You know this thing's getting ready to wrap up, you know that. Before it wraps up, there's a move of God that's gonna hit this planet, that will be unlike any move of God that's ever hit this planet. And the Lord spoke to me yesterday, he said, "Oh, it's already started". He says, "I will do in one day, when it took five years". Things are accelerating now. Prophecy has to come to pass, and if you've read the prophecy, it's not a pretty picture but it has to come to pass. You can't cast out prophecy, like you cast out devils, but in the middle of it and to keep us distracted from it, there will be a move of God and manifestations of the spirit, that'll be coming through you.
If you're not afraid enough to say it, so they can see it, if you're not afraid of to lay hands on the sick so they can be healed, I dare you to start walking in the anointing and the authority that God has given you. You watch, you're gonna, you're gonna see miracles in your home, around the table. You're gonna see them at the grocery store, you're gonna see them amongst your friends when y'all get together and thought y'all gonna have a good time and the Holy Ghost sat down in front of you. You're gonna see it. He will begin to do exploits and he's gonna use you. It's not gonna be the popular preacher, are you kidding me? My job is the easiest as it's ever been, preach the gospel. But you guys, all of this anointing, that's sitting in this room, all of this anointing that's on the stream, you think God just been having you sitting around for no reason at all?
There's a grace takeover getting ready to happen. You don't want the credit, all you just, "I just, well, the Lord just told me to do that and I did it. Lord just told me to say that and I said it," and you're gonna start beholding exploits. Yeah, I'll say that. Starting today, stay at the Spirit of God. Now, this is not something that is coming, it's been coming, it's here. Grace is the unmerited abounding provision of the unrestrained operation of God's infinite love. It happens through Jesus Christ. It is on our behalf, on behalf of mankind.
Here's the part I want you to get, especially for those who depend on him. How many of you depend on God? I depend on him. Some men trust in horses and chariots, I trust in him. I depend on him. I depend on him. I dismiss my, whatever it was called, and I just said, "Lord, I depend on you. I don't know what to do in the middle of a pandemic. I don't know what to do in the middle of people being demonically influenced. I don't know what to do when people don't even know truth no more, they're making up stuff and calling it truth".
He said, preach the gospel. Preach it in season and out of season. Preach it. And when stuff comes to try to mess with you, just go ahead and go through it, go through it. Don't camp out there, go on, go through it. Don't debate with people. Don't argue with folks, let them do what they need to do. Pray for them, the Lord, have God, I depend on God to change you. I'm not gonna get in no debate. I'm not debating the Scriptures. Why would I wanna do that? I don't need to debate it, I already know it works. It's just like me taking a recipe for a chocolate cake and debate with you, whether or not this will make a chocolate cake when I have made it 20 times. I don't need to talk to you, I don't need to say nothing to you. I already know, I've been in the kitchen. Ooh. So grace is provision for everything that pertains to life.