{"id":2863,"date":"2025-01-18T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/?p=2863"},"modified":"2025-01-19T00:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T06:05:08","slug":"blessed-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/2025\/01\/18\/blessed-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed &#8211; Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6112\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2863-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3\">http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2025-01-12.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Duration: 36:13 &#8212; 33.2MB)<\/p>\n<p>January 12, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Ephesians 1:3-4<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ephesians 1:7-8<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ephesians 2:8-9<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>James 1:20<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fb.watch\/xcipC1UoN3\/\">https:\/\/fb.watch\/xcipC1UoN3\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Pastor Gene&#8217;s sermon emphasizes the transformative power of God&#8217;s grace and mercy, contrasting human tendencies to earn favor with God&#8217;s gift of salvation, which is freely given. Using personal anecdotes, he highlights the joy of receiving undeserved mercy, likening it to being forgiven a penalty by law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The central message revolves around Ephesians 1 and 2, where Paul describes believers as &#8220;already blessed&#8221; with every spiritual blessing through unity with Christ. Pastor Gene stresses that salvation is a gift, not a reward for good deeds, and that Jesus &#8220;came down the ladder&#8221; to bring forgiveness to humanity. This realization, he argues, should lead to a life of gratitude, service, and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key takeaways include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Receiving Forgiveness<\/strong>: Understand that God&#8217;s forgiveness is unearned and complete.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Practicing Forgiveness<\/strong>: Forgive others as God forgave us, resisting anger and offense in a divisive world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Living Blessed<\/strong>: Recognize and live in the assurance of God&#8217;s love, grace, and eternal promise, regardless of circumstances.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6114\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2863-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3\">http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2025-01-12.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Duration: 36:13 &#8212; 33.2MB)<\/p><p>http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-01-12.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 36:13 &#8212; 33.2MB) January 12, 2025 https:\/\/fb.watch\/xcipC1UoN3\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[863],"tags":[266,80],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5z53F-Kb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2864,"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions\/2864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydestinychurch.com\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}