This podcast covers Lesson 1 of the Graceful Living Bible Study.

Treasuring the Gift of Jesus Christ

Christianity is Christ

• Christianity is Christ! It is not a lifestyle. It’s not rules of conduct. It’s not a society of people who have joined together by the sprinkling or covering of water. Christianity is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

What Jesus claimed about Himself

• Not only did Jesus claim to be God, but He also claimed to be the answer to the needs of the human heart. He consistently calls God His father. He declared His right to judge and said that He deserves the honor that belongs to God.
• Even in His trials before the Jewish and Roman leaders, Jesus clearly and boldly claimed His identity as the promised anointed one of God. He claimed to be the Son of Man who was also the Son of God.

Jesus was fully human.

• Jesus was fully human. He experienced the normal process of body development from a child to an adult man. He obeyed His parents and learned to live with at least 4 brothers and 2 sisters. In His human body, Jesus felt hunger and thirst, tears and anger, distress and pain.
• Because Jesus was fully human, He understands every single one of your heartaches, physical pains, feelings of rejection, strained relationships, abuse, grief, and impatience. He gets your joy, too.
• Jesus was fully human, but He did not sin because He lived in perfect love for God the Father, His Father. Because He loved God perfectly, He lived in perfect dependence on God the Father and perfect obedience. And, He gave us a pattern to follow so that we can learn to love God and to depend upon Him by faith, too.

Jesus was fully God.

• Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the exact representation of God’s likeness. We’re not talking about His face but His character. Colossians 1:15; John 14:9
• Jesus as the Son of God is the firstborn over all creation. This refers to Him being the one who had priority and supremacy over everything that God the Father owned. He inherited all of it. Colossians 1:15
• Jesus was the Creator. He was not created. All things were created by Him and through Him. Colossians 1:16; John 1:3
• Jesus holds all things together. Christ is the controlling and unifying force in nature. Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3
• Jesus is also Head of the Church. The Jews and Gentiles are combined into one body of believers, and He is the Head of that body. Colossians 1:18
• All God’s fullness dwells in Jesus. The totality of God’s powers and attributes are in Jesus. There is nothing missing. There is nothing more of God that we can get apart from Jesus. Colossians 1:19
• Jesus Christ is fully God and is Lord over all. Jesus not only claimed Psalm 110:1 for Himself but also demonstrated that He was the Son of God who sits at God’s right hand. Jesus is the Christ. He is also the Lord. Lord means master.
• As fully God and fully man, you can be confident that Jesus as human understands how you feel and is powerful enough as God to take care of your every need. When you go to Him in prayer, you can trust that He understands, that He knows how you are feeling and what your needs are at that moment. You can trust His compassion toward you to meet your needs. Are you confident of that?

Jesus demonstrated how much He loved and valued women.

• The Lord Jesus also demonstrated in His life on earth how much He loved and valued women. He taught them truth about God, forgave them for their sins, accepted them in His circle of followers, and gave new life to them after His resurrection. His care for them was so countercultural to what they had previously known. Women recognized that and responded with love for Him and a desire to serve him. Jesus Christ entered into the midst of their lives, visibly representing God to them, loving them dearly, and changing their lives forever! He does the same for you and me today.
• Jesus invites you to trust in what He says about Himself—that He is the Son of God—and believe that He died on the cross for you. Have you done that?
• As soon as you trust in Christ to be your Savior, you begin a loving relationship with the God of the universe. From then on, you have a new spiritual life with God’s Spirit living inside you and producing many new qualities in you as you respond to Him.
• You receive complete love and acceptance by God as your Father. You receive treasure that is yours to know and experience for the rest of your earthly life. When you trust in Christ, He is in your life forever. You will never be without him. Ever.
• The treasure that God offers you in Jesus Christ is greater than anything you could substitute for Him. Why not spend the rest of your life getting to know this Jesus who gave Himself for you so you could have a new life? That’s graceful living.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with His grace so that your life overflows with His grace every day. You will experience a life of freedom and joy!

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