Faith Over Fear
Faith Over Fear
Grace For Everyone
Grace is not a reward for the good; it’s rescue for the needy—and that includes all of us. We dive straight into why the gospel says you can’t earn your way to God, and why that’s the best news you’ll hear this week. Drawing from Romans, Ephesians, and John, we unpack how the law reveals our need, how Jesus pays our debt, and how faith—not performance—opens the door to peace with God.
We talk about the difference grace makes on Monday morning: freedom from sin’s dominion, a living connection to the Holy Spirit, and a daily path of sanctification that is honest about failure and bold about hope. Using a simple jail-and-bail picture, we ask the question many avoid: if the door is open, why stay in the cell? From there we explore how true joy, purpose, and identity break through when we stop hustling for worth and receive it as a gift. Redemption through Christ’s blood is not a concept; it’s a new status—sons and daughters with access to God’s presence.
You’ll hear practical encouragement to pray, to lean on Scripture, and to embrace a grace-shaped life that confesses quickly, gets back up, and keeps walking. We challenge the myths of self-salvation, money-as-meaning, and fame-as-fulfillment, and point to a better foundation: the immeasurable riches of God’s kindness in Christ. If you’ve felt disqualified, tired, or stuck, consider this your invitation to stand in grace today.
If this conversation encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—your support helps more people encounter the good news.
Podcast from two weeks ago:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2302308/follow
Follow us on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonotalvaro/
X:https://x.com/Jonotalvaro
Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@faithoverfear_m
Beat Provided By https://freebeats.io
Produced By White Hot
On this episode of Faith Over Fear, we're going to be specifically talking about the grace of God and how the grace of God is for everyone and anybody who listens and believes in him. It is a gift from God, not based off of works, but it is a gift of God that is free for everyone. I'll see you guys in just a few seconds. As you guys can see, I've been tweaking the studio a little bit. And then also last week or two weeks ago, actually, I recorded a podcast with our brothers, one of our brothers from church and with another brother and his wife. I'll actually link it down in the description. We talked about church hurt. We talked about uh salvation. We talked about a whole bunch of other topics. It's it's an awesome episode. I very much recommend everybody to go listen to it. Um and yeah, I'm glad to be back. Um, like I said, it's been a while. Um, every single time that I miss an episode, I I get upset, I get sad because I'm just like, oh man, like I I have to I have to do it. I have to do it. Um, but you know, uh I like to tweak things, I like to make things better, I like to um do things as best um as I can, um, the best possible way. Um so you know, I got a little bit of new lighting. Uh I ch I painted the wall, it's a completely different color now. Um, and yeah, just to make the presentation a little bit better. Um, but before we get started, uh let's just make sure that you guys are following, that you guys are commenting, that you guys are subscribing, that you guys are liking, um, that you guys are leaving reviews on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It helps so much with the algorithm. Um, we want to be able to get this message to as many people as we possibly can. Um, you know, hearing the word of God is that seed that everybody needs to be able to be transformed, to be able to access the grace of God, to be able to access uh what God has for everyone, which is salvation, which is eternity with him, um, which is a purpose in this life. Uh so let's just make sure that we're sharing, that we're liking, that we're engaging with the content so that as many, so that this can be exposed to as many people as possible. Uh, before we get started, uh let's just start off with a quick prayer and then we can get right into it. Father God, we come before you. And before anything else, Lord, I just want to say thanks, Lord. Um, this is Thanksgiving week, and I wanted to take the time to give thanks to you, Lord, for everything that I have, for everything that we all have. We all have, you know, our families, our people that support us, our friends, a job. Um, we're all alive and breathing today, Lord. We're able to hear this podcast, we're able to see this podcast, we're able to function, Lord. We're able to have air in our lungs. We have a bed, we have a roof over our heads, we have food in our table. And Lord, all of that comes from you. All blessings come from you, Lord. And I just wanted to take the time to say thanks. And above all, Lord, thank you because you have extended salvation to everybody and everyone who listens. And God, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for coming down from heaven and sacrificing your life for us. Lord, may you be using my tongue, may you be using this vessel, Lord, to speak your word today. In the name of Jesus, amen. So I wanted to talk about grace today. It is Thanksgiving week. Um, you know, Thursday, it's going to be Thanksgiving. Um, you know, and it's it's a big, big national holiday, especially in the United States, where everybody uh comes together with family and friends, and we all take time to give thanks. And, you know, us as Christians, we have to give thanks to God. Um, we're only here because of God. We're only um able to do what we're doing because of God. You know, God gives us all our blessings, God gave us salvation, God gave us hope, God gave us life, God has given us everything that we have. All blessings come from God. And I wanted to talk about grace specifically because grace is the biggest reason to give thanks to God. You know, his sacrifice is the one that gives us life, his sacrifice is the one that that mends the relationship between man and God. His sacrifice is the one that brings all things back together. His sacrifice is the one that saved humanity, that saved the earth. Uh, so there's no greater um way to give thanks uh to God other than understanding his grace, understanding what he did for us. Um, so we can get right into it. Uh, I don't want to take too long. Um, I know, like I said, it's Thanksgiving, and you know, people are already have so many plans. Um, people at work, work is getting super busy right now. Um, and you know, people have a lot of stuff to do, so I don't want to take too long. Um, and we can get right into it. Uh, we can open up our Bibles in Romans uh chapter 3, verse 20 through 24. And this is what it says. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So, what this is saying, none of us are justified through works. You can't be just a good person, you can't do good acts, you can't um say, oh, I've never murdered anybody, I've never lied, I've I've which is a lie, everybody has lied. But I've never murdered, I've never robbed, I've never intentionally hurt someone, I've never um, you know, beat someone up, whatever you can think of, I've never sinned or I've never done something super bad. Um, that's false. Everybody has sinned, everybody has fallen short, everybody has failed. Um, nobody has been able to 100% uphold all the commandments. So it says right here that none of us are justified by works. We are only justified by the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. We are all justified through Jesus Christ. None of us are saved by keeping the commandments. We are saved by grace. We are saved by grace. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift. So Jesus gives it to us as a gift. There is nothing that we can do to receive grace, there's nothing that we can do to attain grace. No, it is a free gift from God, and that is something that we should be super thankful for. God just gives it to us. He says, Here, here is my gift to you. Here is my grace to you. Grace is something that we don't deserve, it's something that we can't do to attain it, it's something that God gives to us for free out of love. And why wouldn't we be thankful? Why wouldn't we receive that gift? And then you might be saying, Oh, but I don't have my parents, I don't have friends, I don't have a job, I don't have this or this or that. But you have air in your lungs. You're able to wake up, you were able to wake up today. You were able to maybe eat a little bit of food. You have something that's keeping you alive, and that's enough to be thankful to God for. Let's look at what Romans 5, 1 through 2 says. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Again, we have been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, because we have been justified by faith in the grace that He has given to us. So yesterday, um, my dad was preaching and he gave a really good example. He said, Why imagine you were thrown in jail, you had a fee of$500,000 or whatever number it is, an achievable number for most people. And you have a friend or a loved one that loves you so much that they work extra hard, they work overtime, that they spend their whole life trying to get that bail money out so that they can get you out of jail. And, you know, they are able to get all that money and pay off the bail. And, you know, they come to you, they come to you in the cell and they say, Hey, you are free to go. Someone has bailed you out, someone has paid the fee of$500,000, for example. You are free to go. And you decide to say, you know what? Nah, I'm just gonna stay in this cell. And they leave the door wide open, and you just decide to stay in the cell. Why would you reject that gift? It's a free gift from someone that loves you that is trying to bail you out of the circumstance that you're in. And you are saying, no, that is how the grace of God works. God is offering this gift to everyone and anybody that wants it. God is giving it to everybody and anyone. And all you have to say is, God, yes, I accept this gift. I believe in you, I believe that you sacrifice your life for us. I believe that you sacrifice your life for me. And I accept that gift. And then you get taken out of that circumstance that you're in, which is spiritual death, disconnected from the presence of God. And now you accept that gift, and now your spiritual connection with God is reinstated. You now have access to the presence of God, you now have access to the Holy Spirit, you now have access to be transformed, you now have access to sanctification, you now have access to eternal life, not by works, but by faith in Christ. You now have access to all this stuff. You become an inheritor of the kingdom of God, you become a son of God, and you now you have eternal life waiting for you. Now you have true hope, true peace, true joy. Now you have purpose in this life. Why wouldn't we accept that grace, that gift from God, that free gift, even though we don't deserve it, even though we've been bad, even though we've done evil, even though we've sinned against God, even though we've sinned against ourselves. It's a gift that we don't deserve. But God still gives it to us and says, I love you so much that I'm gonna give my life for you so that you can be in my presence. Because I want you to spend eternity with me. That is the grace of God. It's not by works, it's not by being a good person, it's not by keeping the commandments, it's not by doing all these things that you think are good. No. It is believing by faith, believing in Jesus, putting your faith in Christ. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the sacrifice that Jesus did, we now have access to the presence of God. Look what it says in Romans 5, 21, verse 5, verse 20 through 21. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ. We were dead, we were spiritually dead, we were headed towards condemnation, we were headed towards a life of complete separation from God. We were headed towards actual death. But God, but Jesus decided to give it all for me and you, for sinners, for people that backstabbed them, for people that wanted nothing to do with him, for people that didn't deserve it, he still did it for us. What does it say? Sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life. And it says that even though when the law came to increase the trespass, now the law came in to increase the trespass so that we know through the law we can't keep it, we are not perfect, we can't keep the law, and sin increased more and more. But grace abounded all the more. The grace of God is the most powerful thing in the universe, it's the most powerful love in the universe, and He gives it to us for free. For free. Why wouldn't we accept that gift? Why wouldn't we we be thankful for that gift? Again, we were headed towards condemnation, we were headed towards damnation, we were headed to total destruction. But God loved us so much that he says, No, I can't bear to see my children, my creation, my favorite creation be destroyed. I need to do something about it. Look what it says in Romans 6, verse 14. A lot of Romans today, a lot of Romans. Romans, guys, I recommend you to read the book of Romans. Romans is the basically the the encapsuled gospel, it goes in depth with everything, and it's beautiful. And I recommend that you read it and then reread it and then reread it. It explores what the gospel is in its fullness, and it's it's beautiful. Um read it. It's the most I am would I say this? It's probably one of my favorite books in the New Testament, if not my favorite. It's it's amazing. Like I very, very much advise you to read the book of Romans. It's it's amazing. Look what it says in chapter 6, verse 14. It says, For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace. So we have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness, and because we have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness, sin no longer has dominion over us. We no longer are controlled by sin, we're no longer controlled by our flesh, we're no longer controlled by the world. We are free to take action on our own free will, guided by the Holy Spirit, because we are being sanctified day by day. If you put your faith in Christ, if you believe in Christ, and you take the steps of Acts 238, where you repent, you are baptized, you have access to the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians chapter 1, it says that once you heard with faith, you have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 3, it says that did you access the Holy Spirit through works or by hearing with faith? Through faith, we have access of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one that guides us, the Holy Spirit is the one that sanctifies it, that transforms us, that gives us all the tools that we need to continue this life of righteousness, to maintain our steadfastness in God. And because of that, sin no longer has dominion over us. We no longer have to sin. If you're out in the world, you're gonna continue sinning and continue sinning and continue sinning because you're a slave to darkness, you're a slave to the world. As children of God, we are meant to be holy and separated from the world, not to sin anymore. And of course, we're we're gonna sin every day. Our thoughts are gonna come against us, our flesh is gonna come against us. But that's why we have been given the Holy Spirit, so that we can have dominion over our flesh, so that we can have dominion over the world, so that sin no longer controls us, so that when we do sin, we have access to the throne of God and ask for forgiveness. God, forgive me of my actions. God forgive me of my thoughts. God forgive me for being angry. Forgive me for saying these words that weren't right. Forgive me for thinking like that. We have access to the throne of God to be able to get rid of our sin. And then God forgives us and He tells us, okay, keep going. Keep going through this path of righteousness, keep going through this path of sanctification. And it's a process for the rest of our lives. But we have God living in us now, which is the Holy Spirit guiding us, cleaning us, giving us the wisdom, the discernment, the intelligence that we need every single day to make the right decisions every single day. Every single day, the Holy Spirit guides us. And you should be having that constant connection with God. God, should I make this decision? Should I do this? How should I act to this? God, I have a big decision coming up. Help me make the right decision. God should be the center point of everything. And because of that, again, we should be thankful because we have the right guidance. We have everything that we need every single day of our lives. We have God guiding us, God speaking to us. He has given us the tool that we need to be able to be fruitful, to achieve his purpose, to complete his purpose, to fulfill the mission that he has given us. Look what it says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 through 9. To the praise of his glorious grace, which with he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ. We have redemption through his blood. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we have redemption. Through the blood of Christ, we have redemption. He has lavished us, he has forgiven us our trespasses according to the riches of his grace through the blood of Christ. And through Christ, he has completely cleaned us. We no longer have any condemnation that can point at us to tell us you are headed towards condemnation. You are headed towards towards your doom, towards darkness. No. Through Christ, we are redeemed. Through Christ we have salvation. Through Christ, we now again we have access to the throne of God. We have access to the mercy of God. We have access to be forgiven, to be redeemed every single day of our lives. Before that, we didn't have that. We didn't have access to God. We didn't have access to forgiveness. We were slaves to the world. But the grace of God. It's like again, I will keep repeating it. It's the most beautiful thing that a human being can experience is the grace of God. Finding hope in this world that is hopeless. Finding peace in this world where there is no peace. Finding purpose in this world where there is no purpose. Where the world tells you that you are not worthy, that you need to do this to find happiness, that you need money to find happiness, that you need to be famous to find happiness, that you need all the cars or the homes in the world to be happy. All that is alliance, all material stuff that will end up getting destroyed, that will end up in the hands of someone else. In God is true happiness. In God is true purpose. In God is true peace. And when you feel like the world is spiraling around you, God is there with you, telling you, I am in control. Trust in me. Put your trust in me, put your struggles in me, and I will help you. People that don't have their trust in God, they don't have anybody to put their fears on. They don't have anybody to put their struggles on. And they might try to put it on somebody else, but somebody else, that somebody else is already dealing with their own stuff, and they're going to fail that person. People will fail you 100% of the time. God will never fail you. Your brothers, your sisters, your parents, they will fail you 100% of the time. Your spouse, your partner will fail you 100% of the time. They're dealing with their own stuff, their own struggles, their own, their own sin, their own everything. But God will never fail you. And we have God with us. We have God guiding us. We have God telling us, hey, I'm here for you. I love you. I can help you. I can guide you. Turn here. Don't do that. He will help us make the right decisions so that the good consequences come to us, not the bad consequences. He will help us every single day of our lives. If you put your faith in him, if you give your life to him, if you let yourself be transformed by him. It says, But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly praise places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. So through God we have been saved, and we have been placed in the high high heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have been placed in the heavenly places with Jesus. Look what it says. I'm gonna read it again just because in the video it wasn't showing up. But God being rich in mercy, God being in rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, he loved us, so he had mercy on us. Even when we were dead, when we were dead in our trespasses, in our sin, in our rebellion against God, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. By the gift of God, you have been saved. By the free gift of God that we didn't deserve, you have been saved. And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He raised us up, we were dead, but he raised us up and put us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace, immeasurable, infinite measure of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, for by the free gift of God, you have been saved through faith, through us putting our faith in him. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. This is not by works, this is not by you being an awesome beast of a person. No, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. God had mercy on us, and he loved us so much that he extended that gift to us, even though we didn't deserve it, even again, even though we we we hated him, even though we were in rebellion against him, even though we were in our sin, even though we wanted nothing to do with God, he still gave us the free gift of grace. And by us putting our faith in him, by us believing in him, we he has put us in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. Not by works, not by keeping the commandments, not by being a good person, no, by faith in Christ Jesus, we have received grace. Everybody knows this verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And John chapter one, verse sixteen. Jesus came into this world, which is God manifested in the flesh. God himself. Coming down from the heavenly places, from his throne, coming down into the world, lowering him himself all the way down to a servant. It says in Hebrews that he lowered himself below the angels, born in the most humble of places. Lord himself to a lowly human like us. Lived a life like us, was tempted in every way, suffered in any way, and suffered in ways that we will never understand. He was betrayed by his followers, he was left alone, and he died a brutal death. All because he was a perfect man. But he did it out of love for us. Grace upon grace was given to us, even though we didn't deserve it. Even though we're evil. Even though all of all that we desire is evil, he still did it for us. To save the world, not to condemn us, but to save the world through his sacrifice. And all we have to do is put our faith in Christ. Declare the Lord as your Savior. Say, Jesus, I believe that you came down, died for my sins, and then rose from the dead three days later in power. And Jesus says that all authority was given to him in heaven and on earth. He is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. And he sacrificed himself for us so that we can spend eternity with him. If there's something to be thankful for, is for that. And if there's something that anybody or everybody has has to hear, needs to hear, is that we have hope. That we have life after this one. Through Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, we come before you. And I just want to say thank you because you saw us and you had mercy on us. You loved us so much and had mercy on us. That you decided to come down and manifest yourself in the flesh and humble yourself, humble yourself all the way down to a servant, a lowly human like us. You left your throne, you left your heavenly place. So you can live a life like us, so that you can understand us, so that you can go through all our struggles and end up getting murdered, end up being put on a cross for our sins. But now, because of that, Lord, we have eternal life. We have hope, we have peace, we have joy. We now have access to your throne of grace. We now have access to your presence, Lord. And because of that, we now have access to you living in us, guiding us, giving us peace, giving us joy, giving us purpose, allowing us to fulfill your plans, Lord. And God, may you touch those who are listening to this, may you heal those who are listening to this. May you transform the lives of those who are listening to this, God. We thank you, Lord, for our families, for our friends, for our jobs, for our homes, for our children, for everything that you have given us, Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen. Thank you guys for listening to this new episode of Faith Over Fear. Again, if you guys can just make sure that you guys are following, that you guys are subscribing, that you guys are sharing, that you guys are liking, that you guys are engaging with the content. It helps a lot more to be able to spread this message to as many people as we possibly can. Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts on Spotify. Um, five-star review, please. And I will see you guys on the next episode. God bless you guys and have an amazing Thanksgiving with your loved ones.