The Grace That Carries – Walking In Power with Nate Ortiz

Hey, everyone, my name is Nate Ortiz and this is Walking in Power.

Today, I want to talk to you about the grace that carries.

In our lives, we all need grace.

And depending on how you grew up, grace is maybe a positive word.

I'm been so thankful for grace in my life.

For others, it feels like maybe it's an excuse just to not live in a way that's discipline

or structure that you feel like, oh, there's just grace.

And it's okay to make mistakes.

But I believe the grace that God gives is the grace that carries you into what he has for

you in this life.

And so I think if you don't operate in grace, though, I think the opposite of that is offense.

I think when you are not operating the grace that God gives you, the grace that God gives

other people, you just typically become offended.

You're offended that they're doing things even though they maybe have some character flaws

that you see or that you say, I can't believe that they're doing this and they're this type

of person.

And God would deal with those people as well.

But I want to focus on the story.

John Tepprofai, I believe it captures this well.

And the guy in this story, he was a sick man laying on a pallet by this water.

I was stirred up by an angel and then people would go into the water and they would get healed.

Well, this guy has been laying there on this map for 38 years and he's not been healed.

And Jesus shows up and says, hey, do you want to be made well?

Now the scripture tells us in the stories that Jesus knew this man wasn't what we asked

to question.

Now, the father's guy, I'm laying there for 38 years and I'm sure people know my story.

I've been there for so long.

I really haven't been able to go anywhere because I'm laying and I can't get in.

But that Jesus says, do you want to be made well?

That's like an offensive question, right?

In this life where there's maybe a struggle we have going through and you're going through

and so on.

So they do want to be made well.

Do you not want to struggle with this the more?

Well, it's like, of course, of course I do.

I don't want to deal with this issue to have in my life.

It could almost come across so offensive to you that you are blinded to what is in front

of you.

The solutions, the answers that are in front of you when you live offended.

Jesus was this man's answer.

Jesus brought the extended grace to him.

It doesn't allow him to be healed.

Now, I understand for some of you might say I've been pram and asking God hasn't done it

yet.

And I can tell you that I know people that are in that journey right now.

I know people that have exited that space where God's brought a healing to them.

But here's what I want to tell you.

In the middle of the difficult things is like there's a grace for you.

And so I always say this that in your life we are looking for grace.

Sometimes it comes to form and offensive question.

God will always offends your mind if it will get to your heart.

And so you have to be in that place to understand that God is for you but you have to change

how you view things.

You have to not just say poor me or it's never going to change but you have to put your

minds to that.

And so that God is doing something greater that can understand that you put together.

And we have to be in the place to say God, even in the middle of this, I know you're with

me and I know you're for me.

And so I want to encourage you that maybe get those questions in your life that are

hard and most offensive to you because you're such a sensitive topic or you're going

through difficult things.

Don't shy away from those kind of questions.

So search with God.

The reason why you're feeling that, why are those things just causing deep-rooted issues

in your heart?

The second thought I would like to tell you is that when Jesus is talking to us and

he says, why do you want to be made well?

The guy tells us, there's always something who steps in front of me and I have known

to take me down to the water.

And I thought in this life, when you don't operate in the grace, God gives you to wait

or to move or to do something difficult.

You don't operate in that grace.

You can begin to live in a place of fence.

Now this guy wasn't there but he said, well, there's someone in front of me and someone

who steps down from me and says, no one takes me.

I know people in life that they just get stuck where they just say, no one's there to

take me down or someone always steps in front of me.

Do you know those people?

Right?

They might be in your family.

They might be someone close to you.

But it's always that mindset of someone's always doing it before me.

You got to break that thinking.

You have to remove the thought of it.

Everyone else has fallen.

This never going to happen for me.

It happens for everyone else.

But Jesus can help you get to where you need to go.

He we chapter 4, verse 16.

It says, therefore, let's approach the throne of grace with confidence that we may have

received mercy and find grace for help at our time of need.

Now our human nature is we want to always just look for opportunity for people to affirm

our excuses in life.

But we have to be of the mindset that when grace is extended to us, you must operate

in that grace, right?

That God gives.

When those situations we must operate it and not just take the approach of, well, I want

someone to feel bad for me.

I want someone to affirm the excuses in my life.

And if they don't, I'll make them the enemy.

I'll make them the someone who is steps in front of me.

Instead, let's be people who say, God, trusting you, I'm waiting upon you.

Even if I feel like people are stepping in front of me, or I thought I don't have people

in my corner, I know you're in my corner.

The last thing I want to say is that when you operate in the grace given from God, people

always have things to say.

When you are doing things that people feel like you shouldn't be doing this.

You shouldn't be the one doing this or doing that.

There's a grace upon your life that God gives to you, that he gives to me.

Now, it's important that we operate in that grace, that we just all say, I'm going to use

God's grace to do what I want to do.

But we operate in God's grace that he gives us to accomplish his will, not our will.

So be that type of person that can understand that people always have to come at you.

People are always going to say things.

We're always going to criticize.

But if you don't, God is asking you to do those criticisms are going to fall aside.

The people who are coming at you, they're not going to have a voice.

Their voices are getting more and more faint as you get closer and closer to God in this

life.

So I challenge you that in Feast Chapter 4 verse 7, it says, but to each one of us grace

was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

So there's grace upon your life to do what he's called you to do.

And the people in your life who are the naysayers and trying to bring you down, I love this quote,

it says, don't blame a clown for acting like a clown, but ask yourself what you keep going

to the circus.

Sometimes we have to be intentional about who we're letting speak into our lives or we don't

let people be a crutch for us in a firm or excuses.

So be aware of that.

Have just inventory of who's around you who's speaking to your life.

But there is a grace for you to accomplish what God has for you.

I pray today that you go after everything God has that there's a grace for you to do it

and blessing upon you to do it from God.

So hey, I hope you have an amazing week.

May you just get closer to God.

May His gracious extend to you and all that you do have an amazing, amazing week and I'll

talk to you soon.