1. We Can Rejoice in the Lord Because We Are Partakers of Grace (Philippians 1:6)

2. Review We are involved in a series of lessons in the book of Philippians in which we are discovering 20 reasons why we can rejoice in the Lord. We are undertaking this series of lessons so that we can: –Illustrate just how wonderful it is to be a child of God –Increase our resolve to be faithful to the Lord –Improve our ability to let our light shine

3. Review In our first lesson, we learned that we can rejoice in the Lord because we are saints! In our second lesson, we learned that we can rejoice in the Lord because God works in our lives! In this our third lesson, we will learn that we can rejoice in the Lord because we are partakers of His grace!

4. Partakers of Grace! What Is God’s Grace? How Do We Receive God’s Grace? How Can We Grow in Grace?

5. What Is God’s Grace? There are four meanings for the word “grace” in Scripture. –Elegance or beauty in form, manner or motion (Proverbs 1:8,9; Ephesians 4:29) –The granting of mercy, clemency or pardon (Ezra 9:8,9; II Corinthians 12:8,9) –Demonstrations of favor, especially made by a superior (Acts 4:33; Colossians 3:16) –An undeserved, unmerited free gift (Romans 5:15; Ephesians 2:4-7; II Timothy 1:8-10)

6. How Do We Receive the Gift of God’s Grace? The general answer to this question is that we receive the gift of God’s grace by means of FAITH. (John 1:12; 5:24; 11:25,26; Eph. 2:8; I Timothy 1:15,16) The specific answer to this question is that we receive the gift of God’s grace when we express our faith by way obeying God’s commands. (Mark 16:15,16; Titus 3:3-7)

7. How Can We Grow in Grace? By Pruning (John 15:1,2; Galatians 5:19- 21; Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:5-10) By Producing (Galatians 5:22,23; II Peter 1:5-11) By Protecting (Ephesians 6:10-17)

8. Reasons to Rejoice in the Lord Concerning God’s Grace We can rejoice in the Lord concerning God’s grace because: –We have received the beautiful gift of salvation. –We have received something that we could not possibly have earned on our own. –We can grow in it, which means we can deeply enrich our lives.