1 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:21,200 So I told you today about a lady named Marjorie, who is my mom's 2 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,480 friend. And she said, Tony, when I was 3 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,480 18 years old. And it just been filled with the 4 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,520 Holy Spirit. She said, can you tell me what 5 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,040 Grace is? And I wanted her to think I was 6 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:32,640 smart. So I said yes. 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,360 She said, what is it? And I said it's unmerited favor. 8 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,600 And I thought I'd really just, you know, because that was a 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:40,760 Theo. How many of you think 10 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,760 theological definitions are going to change people's lives? 11 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,160 You know, and you know, I just think as I was flying down here, 12 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:51,280 of course, flew into Jacksonville and was driving 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:53,880 over. And, you know, when people think 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,800 of Saint Augustine, I wonder how many times they really think of 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:03,160 Saint Augustine. The, the, the preacher that 16 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,600 lived back. He did, you know, he is African, 17 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:12,640 he is North African and he, he's actually a brilliant guy. 18 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,320 You may not agree with everything he said. 19 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:17,800 I may not agree with everything he said, but he said some pretty 20 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,920 amazing things. And one of the things he said 21 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:26,720 that that really impressed me when I, I think he is in the 5th 22 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,080 century, if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to go back and check 23 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,120 my dates. But he said, and I'm, I'm really 24 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,880 going to butcher this quote, so forgive me, but he said, what 25 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:43,760 good does it do you if with profundity you can define the 26 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:50,880 Trinity and yet by your pride you offend the Trinity? 27 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,040 And he was saying it's it's better, you know, I mean, I'm 28 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,640 all for knowledge. I'm a Bible teacher, but but if 29 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:05,280 we, you know, get in this groove where it's all about such hyper 30 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:11,400 precise technical knowledge that we miss the Spirit of God in the 31 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,600 issue, you know, we're missing it. 32 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,080 So, so I'm all for wanting to be able to come up with some kind 33 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,920 of working definition of grace, but I'd much rather you have a 34 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:27,280 little bit of technical knowledge about grace, but 35 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,440 because of your faith and your humility, you be able to drink 36 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:36,880 deeply from God's grace. Because the main objective in 37 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,120 the Christian life is not just simply being able to have 38 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,920 precise technical knowledge of things, but it's to be able to 39 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:47,480 partake of things. I love the verse in the Bible 40 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,520 that says taste and see that the Lord is good. 41 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,440 And I've known people who got into, I mean knock down, drag 42 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,680 out fights about the grace of God. 43 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,320 And I'm thinking is that gracious? 44 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:11,600 You know, if I really believe in the grace of God, some some 45 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:18,360 aspect of that should lead me to become a gracious person, you 46 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,680 know, and and same with so many things. 47 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:25,040 But anyway, you know, when Marjorie, that friend of my mom, 48 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,960 said, what is grace? And I, out of pride, said it's 49 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,880 unmerited favor, I thought I was just so smart to tell her that. 50 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:33,920 And she said, yeah, but what's that? 51 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,000 And then all of a sudden I felt very uncomfortable because I 52 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,640 couldn't go beyond that. And I said, well, that's favor 53 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,640 that is not merited, which, you know, she she probably figured 54 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,280 out then. I don't really know very much 55 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,680 about this. And she said, yeah, but what's 56 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,080 that? And then I just had to say, 57 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,360 well, you know, and and so it's really years. 58 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,720 I, every time I'd read Grace in the Bible, I'd say, I want to, I 59 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,240 want to know what that is. I I don't really know what that 60 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,520 is. And I'm going to give you some 61 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,040 kind of working definitions. I wish I'd known some of these 62 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,080 then when I was talking to her, I think I could have answered 63 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,840 her better. But the next slide, just some of 64 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,720 the definitions we've have here. Is that Grace? 65 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:21,959 GRACE is God's riches at Christ's expense. 66 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:29,680 That's kind of a good insight. Grace is what flows out of our 67 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:34,760 gracious God. I really gracious is probably 68 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,640 not a word we use a lot in our society today, but how many know 69 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,760 when you've met a gracious person, somebody who's kind, 70 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,600 somebody who's generous, somebody who's positive, 71 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,280 somebody who's affirming, encouraging, you know, they just 72 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:54,560 exude, you know, kindness toward other people. 73 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:58,600 Grace is what flows out of our gracious God. 74 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,520 Grace is God's and these are just random definitions. 75 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:08,320 Grace is God's love, mercy and compassion, forever reaching out 76 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,000 to us and for us. Grace, this is 1. 77 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:16,680 I think this is from Vine's Dictionary of Greek words. 78 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,760 Vine said that grace is God's divine influence upon the heart 79 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:27,200 and it's reflection in life, in our lives. 80 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:34,080 Grace is God's power in action. Grace is God doing for us what 81 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,640 we could have never done for ourselves. 82 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:43,080 Second slide there is grace is the sum total of all that God 83 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,960 did for us in Christ, all that he's doing for us now through 84 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,480 the Holy Spirit and all that He will do for us in the future. 85 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:58,960 Grace is favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or 86 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,920 merit of the one who receives it, and maybe in spite of what 87 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:10,480 that same person deserves. Grace is the active expression 88 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:15,880 of God's character. Grace is the outpouring of God's 89 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,280 love. So those are just a few. 90 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:21,280 I mean, those are worth, you know, just thinking about 91 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:25,600 meditating on as you study through Scripture, you know, 92 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,960 what the Bible says about grace is 1000 times more important 93 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,600 than what I say about grace. Hopefully what I'm saying is 94 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,760 coinciding with, and often the same thing is what the Bible is 95 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,080 saying about grace. But you know, maybe have some of 96 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,800 those definitions in your mind as you think about what the 97 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,320 Bible said. Do you know Paul began almost 98 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:49,200 every letter, I think, and ended every letter with these grace be 99 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,080 unto you. Great. 100 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,200 See, I used to think those are just mere formalities like you 101 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,960 know, yours truly or sincerely yours or you just saying it to 102 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,920 be saying it. But no, those were words that 103 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:06,440 conveyed blessing. And when Paul said grace be unto 104 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,040 you, he was really making a powerful statement. 105 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,240 You know, we've all been taught about the power of words and 106 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:18,320 life and death are in the power of the tongue And and you know, 107 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,200 that's why Paul began all these letters and John, Peter, you 108 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,800 know, they all did. But let's go to the next slide. 109 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,200 And this is kind of a review of what we talked about this 110 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,120 morning. We we talked about electricity. 111 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,800 I hope how many of you were here today, this morning, You heard 112 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,880 this morning Good most everybody. 113 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,600 So if you weren't, you can go back, I'm sure and grab the 114 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,600 information. But I said grace is a little bit 115 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,480 like electricity. But on one hand you can say, 116 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,480 well, electricity is just electricity and it is. 117 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:56,840 But electricity will create different results depending on 118 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:01,520 what it flows into. And you can say grace is grace, 119 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,440 and that's true. But grace will produce different 120 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:11,000 results depending on what part of our life we allow grace to 121 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,960 flow into or what part of our life where we receive that 122 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,400 grace. You know, grace does something 123 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:24,480 different flowing into a microwave than it does flowing 124 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:29,280 into a refrigerator. It's all electricity, but it 125 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:35,480 produces different results when we come to God as a lost person, 126 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,720 you know, separated from God, sin, you know that type of 127 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,720 thing. And and we say, Jesus, I receive 128 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,560 you because he is he. You know, he is the Lord of 129 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:50,600 grace. The Bible says he's the God of 130 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,960 grace. By grace He tasted of death for 131 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,720 every man. The Holy Spirit is called the 132 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,280 Spirit of grace. You know, grace is the sum total 133 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,360 of everything that God did for us in Christ and is doing for us 134 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,480 now through the person of the Holy Spirit. 135 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:13,320 So if I'm a lost person and I come to Jesus and I come to God 136 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:17,960 and you know, the God of all grace, then grace makes me a new 137 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,480 creature. But that's not the end of grace 138 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,640 because I've got other areas of my life that need his influence, 139 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,280 that need his help, that need his direction. 140 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,520 So we told you this morning that we're going to be talking about 141 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:38,240 saving grace, strengthening grace, sanctifying grace, 142 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,120 sharing grace, serving grace, you know, because those are all 143 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,800 vital. And we have a picture of a 144 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,440 diamond there because we wanted you to understand that, you 145 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,640 know, grace is grace, just like a diamond is a diamond. 146 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:56,360 But how many of you know, when you look at that diamond? 147 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,920 I'm not a jeweler. I, I know I've bought a few 148 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:01,880 things for my wife over the years. 149 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,080 I'm not one, you know, maybe some of you guys are just 150 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:12,200 phenomenal gift givers, but my wife is, I say this so lovingly 151 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:17,080 and so kindly, but she is so precise about what she wants and 152 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,120 she doesn't want a lot. You know, she'd, she'd much 153 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,920 rather have a walk on the beach than some gift. 154 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,680 But every once in a while she'll say, you know, I'd like a ring 155 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:30,840 and, but it's pretty rare. She had that just a couple of 156 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,400 years ago. And so we had to go. 157 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:36,440 And I mean, I had the privilege of going. 158 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:38,400 That's what I meant. I had the privilege of going 159 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:43,920 while she looked at many different rings. 160 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,640 I just love that. I just loved waiting there, 161 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:53,440 being with her and Earl. Am I digging myself out of this 162 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,920 pastor? You think I'm doing my best? 163 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:01,720 Anyway, baby, if you're watching tonight, I love you so. 164 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,200 But she's, she's so precise about what she wants. 165 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:11,360 So anyway, but a jeweler, you know, I just look and say that's 166 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,960 a that's a diamond. But a jeweler will take that. 167 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,480 Is it an Oculus? I don't know what it's called 168 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,960 that little magnifying glass. And the jeweler might, if this 169 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:29,080 is what they do, turn that diamond and look at every facet. 170 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,840 So I, I, I don't know much about this, so I want to share because 171 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:38,800 I believe there is a similarity between something like grace and 172 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:43,360 a diamond because I believe they're both multifaceted. 173 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,360 So let's look at it. I just grabbed this all. 174 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:48,320 I just grabbed this online this morning. 175 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:53,360 Here's a definition of of what diamond facets are. 176 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:59,200 Diamond facets are flat surfaces cut onto a diamond surface. 177 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:05,240 These facets act as mirrors, reflecting light and creating 178 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:09,880 the diamonds brilliance, fire, and sparkle. 179 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,200 I like those terms. Diamond facets are the numerous 180 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:21,080 flat surfaces on a diamond that are strategically created and 181 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:27,000 arranged to optimize the stones interaction with light. 182 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:33,520 Each facet is meticulously cut and polished to exact angles. 183 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:40,440 This enables light to enter the diamond, reflect internally, and 184 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:46,720 exit back out to produce the sparkle that diamonds are famous 185 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,840 for. Now when you stop and think 186 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:54,520 about that if if if if this is a decent example. 187 00:12:54,520 --> 00:13:00,360 I hope it is if grace is like a diamond in that it, it's one 188 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,960 stone, but there are different facets of the same diamond. 189 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,760 You stop and think about that. Just like electricity, 190 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:11,960 electricity is electricity, but it when it flows in, it'll 191 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,920 produce different things. So my question for you tonight, 192 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,120 you know, we tried to lay a little bit of a foundation this 193 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:20,920 morning. Tonight we want to really 194 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:27,640 examine how many areas of your life are being affected on a 195 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:33,920 day-to-day basis by the grace of God in your present day 196 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:39,360 experience and walk with God. You know, I think there it is 197 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,600 possible if somebody has not had a lot of teaching about grace, 198 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,080 they might, you know, and you say have you experienced the 199 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,400 grace of God? You know, they could say, yeah, 200 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,120 I got saved on such and such a date. 201 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:58,800 And maybe it's 20 years ago and they're thinking their only 202 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:03,680 experience with the grace of God is the day they passed from 203 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:06,320 spiritual darkness into spiritual light. 204 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,160 And listen, if that's the only time that you've experienced the 205 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:17,000 grace of God, great. Thank God for that one. 206 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:23,200 But there's so much more. That'd be like saying, you know, 207 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,880 have you ever experienced the benefits of electricity? 208 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,720 And a person would say, yeah, seven years ago when I moved 209 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:36,240 into this house or apt, I turned on the lights once. 210 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:40,240 Wait a minute. You you turn on the light? 211 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:42,760 You mean you don't turn on the lights every day? 212 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,520 You mean you don't you don't have the refrigerator plugged 213 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:48,200 in? You mean you don't have a hair 214 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,920 dryer curling iron plugged in? You mean you don't have the 215 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,800 coffee pot plugged in? You don't have the TV and the 216 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:55,360 micro? You don't have your computer? 217 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,480 No, I just. But I had an encounter with 218 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:04,440 electricity once. Do you see how you're missing so 219 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:10,160 much if if you just think that getting saved is just having one 220 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,840 A1 time experience? Thank God for the one time 221 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,080 experience. There's so much more. 222 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,920 When when I was, I told you this morning, didn't I tell you about 223 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,000 that when I was 18 years old, I got spirit filled. 224 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,640 I told you that this morning. And I was raised in the mainline 225 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:30,720 traditional denominational church. 226 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:35,960 And three weeks after I graduated from high school, a 227 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:38,560 friend took me. Remember this? 228 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:43,680 Three weeks after I graduated from high school, a friend took 229 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,080 me to a meeting. Now, if you're here and you're 230 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:51,880 an old timer, you may remember the name Charles and Francis 231 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,240 Hunter. Anybody here remember that name? 232 00:15:54,720 --> 00:16:00,320 Few folks remember that name. They were when I was 18, when I 233 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,760 first met them. They just seemed ancient to me. 234 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:07,720 And of course, when you're 18, you know, 45 seems ancient. 235 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,160 But anyway, we won't start getting into relativity and 236 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,800 stuff like that. But he's this older couple and 237 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,800 but God used them in some amazing ways. 238 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:19,920 He laid his hands on me that night. 239 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:25,480 The power of God came into my body and I fell under the power 240 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,440 of God. And when I got up, he said, 241 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:30,760 young man, bend over and touch the floor. 242 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,120 And he didn't know I, you know, active in sports and all that, 243 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:36,760 but I was playing everything I did. 244 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,800 I had pain in my back. I had pain shooting down the 245 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:46,320 back, right side of my leg. Anytime I would bend over past, 246 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:50,000 you know, if I bent down to touch my kneecaps, that pain 247 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,360 would shoot down. I could force myself to go 248 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,880 lower, but man, did it hurt. My parents had sent me to three 249 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,520 different doctors and they couldn't do anything. 250 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,400 He laid his hands on me. The power of God tangibly came 251 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,079 into my body and when I stood up, he said, young man, bend 252 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:13,480 over and and touch the floor. I bent over and put both palms 253 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:17,760 on the floor with no pain whatsoever. 254 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:24,359 Don't ask me to do that. Now I can bend over without pain 255 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:29,040 but things change between 18 and 66. 256 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:35,200 But anyway, so never have had a back problem since then. 257 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:40,440 So but but that was three weeks after I graduated from high 258 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:42,440 school. I got filled with the Holy 259 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:44,960 Spirit that night. Spoke in tongues. 260 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,680 Been speaking in tongues ever since. 261 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,560 Thank God for being able to pray in the Spirit. 262 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,680 Right before that, right before I graduated from high school, I 263 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:03,440 I told you I grew up in North Central IN and went to a 264 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,880 probably a relatively small high school. 265 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,040 Our high school was literally, and I'm not kidding one bit, 266 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:14,440 located in the middle in between 4 cornfields. 267 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:22,480 It was completely rural Indiana. And so, so I'm just saying that 268 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,520 to kind of give you, I wasn't part of a big city school or 269 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:26,800 anything. It was a fairly small school, 270 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,400 but I was class president my senior year and a month or 271 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,400 probably two months, I don't remember when my, my high school 272 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,880 principal called me into the office and said, Tony, 273 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,920 graduation is coming up. And because you are the class 274 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,120 president, you will automatically be giving the 275 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:49,600 graduation speech representing the school, representing the 276 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,840 senior class without one bit of hesitation. 277 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,280 I said his name was Mr. Burkholder. 278 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,280 Wonderful man. I said, Mr. Burkholder, find 279 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,960 somebody else. And he said, what? 280 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,720 And I said find somebody else. He said, well, Tony, it's a 281 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,040 great honor to speak at your high school graduation. 282 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,800 I said I have no interest in public speaking. 283 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,960 I said honestly, I said it would not be a, a, a pleasant 284 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,520 experience for me. Please get somebody else. 285 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,800 And he tried to talk me into it. I just, I just kindly, you know, 286 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,480 don't want anything unpleasant or controversial or adversarial 287 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,880 about it. I just said, I just don't, I 288 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:31,520 don't want to speak in front of people. 289 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,680 So he got a good friend of mine, a guy, and and he did the 290 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:40,880 graduation speech, did a great job. 291 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,640 I was so thankful that night that I didn't have to get up and 292 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,400 speak. Three weeks later was that 293 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,600 night, that meeting where I got prayed for, filled with the Holy 294 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,600 Spirit and healed. Now, I didn't turn into a 295 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:58,880 preacher overnight, but something happened in my life 296 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:03,920 when I got filled with the Spirit and I started going to 297 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,800 all these meetings, all these, we didn't even really have any 298 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:10,680 established churches like this. Boy, I wish we would. 299 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,520 We started going to all these, you know, Bible studies with 300 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:19,120 just 17/18/1920 year olds. We'd all had that experience 301 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:22,760 with the Holy Spirit. We'd get together and, and none 302 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,280 of us knew anything. None of us have been saved or 303 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:29,440 spirit filled very long at all. We'd get together and talk about 304 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,080 a scripture that we'd found that week and we'd sing a couple of 305 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:37,920 songs and it was just super informal and super, you know, 306 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:39,880 kind of disorganized and that type of thing. 307 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:44,640 But, but God showed up in some of those meetings with the young 308 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,240 people. And I think there's either 5 or 309 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:53,120 6, six of us ended up in full time preaching ministry out of 310 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:57,200 that disjointed group of people that just we met in people's 311 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,400 garages and their basements and their living rooms, you know, 312 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:02,920 just, you know, for a few months there. 313 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,240 And I didn't, like I said, I didn't start preaching full, but 314 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:12,160 all of a sudden I, I'd read a scripture during the week and I 315 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:17,440 could not wait to get to Bible study to tell because we had, 316 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,120 you know, small group young people, just, you know, what did 317 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:25,960 you learn this week and share? Boy, this week I read this and, 318 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,560 and wow, this is what it means to me. 319 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,360 And a few months later it was, I read these two scriptures this 320 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:36,400 week and wow, did it impact my life. 321 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,320 And this is what these scriptures mean to me. 322 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:44,360 And, and the third month or whenever I said I read these 3 323 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:51,600 verses and then it just kept until I was giving lessons and 324 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,320 all of a sudden this kid that didn't want to speak publicly is 325 00:21:55,320 --> 00:22:02,280 now speaking a lot. Before that I completely had no 326 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,080 interest in speaking before people. 327 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,840 God put something on the inside of me that wasn't there. 328 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,960 Now, I think God can take natural abilities and enhance 329 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:18,560 them or or you know, add a touch to them, but God can also put 330 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,520 things on the inside of a person that were not there at all. 331 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,280 You know, and I don't know, sometimes people say, was it 332 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,000 natural ability or is it just a supernatural gift? 333 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,880 Sometimes I don't know, but just whatever you have, use it for 334 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:39,440 the glory of God. And so anyway, so serving Grace 335 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,480 says, I trust in God's ability to equip me to serve others. 336 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,120 So we're going to give you a scripture for each one. 337 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,400 Let's go to the next slide. If we could, I want to give you 338 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,040 a scripture for each one. We talked about saving grace. 339 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,000 Let me give you another definition. 340 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,600 Saving grace according you say which of these definitions is 341 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,800 right? Well, I hope they're all right. 342 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:06,840 I think they're just different ways that you know, how many of 343 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,280 you know, if, if several people look at a mountain from 344 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,280 different perspectives, you know, one person might focus on 345 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,360 the the trees on it, one person might focus on the waterfalls on 346 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,360 it, Some person might focus on how steep it is, some person 347 00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:25,400 might focus on how tall. And all the descriptions are 348 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,440 accurate, but they all are a little bit different. 349 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,400 So here's a definition for saving grace. 350 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:37,440 It's God's life and power released toward and working 351 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:43,040 inside of an individual, justifying him or her and making 352 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,320 him or her a new creature in Christ. 353 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,960 That's that to me is a pretty good definition of saving grace. 354 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,720 And, and this is the verse we looked at today. 355 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:58,920 For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of 356 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,640 yourselves. It is the gift of God. 357 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,680 It is not of works, not of it's it's not of our works. 358 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,080 It's his work. It's not of human works. 359 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:15,280 It's of God's work. It's not of your works, lest 360 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,080 anyone should boast. So none of us have anything to 361 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,120 brag about when it comes to standing before God. 362 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:25,480 You know, I can't say God. I'm here in your presence 363 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,360 because I'm so awesome. I'm here because God, I've just 364 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,120 done so many amazing things. I know you're really impressed 365 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,800 with me. God it's Father. 366 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:39,320 I come in the name of Jesus. That means I come because of who 367 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,080 he is. I come because of what he did. 368 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,680 I come because of his shed blood. 369 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:49,080 I come because of his death, burial, and resurrection. 370 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,400 He, he's the mediator between myself and God. 371 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,120 He, he's the mediator between you and God. 372 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,040 So that's a good scripture about saving grace. 373 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,920 What about strengthening grace? And what about a verse on that 374 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:10,440 strengthening? Grace is God's life and power 375 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:17,400 released toward and working in an individual, strengthening him 376 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,520 and enabling Him to stand victorious in life. 377 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,320 See, grace doesn't just get you into the Kingdom. 378 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:32,320 Grace empowers you once you're in the Kingdom verse we have 379 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:41,120 here Romans 517 For if by one man's offense death reigned, who 380 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:47,400 is the one man that his offense or his sin enabled death to come 381 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,120 in and rule and reign over the human race? 382 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:55,800 Adam, by one man's offense, death reigned through the one. 383 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,080 Much more, everybody say much more. 384 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:00,840 We're not talking an equal thing. 385 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,720 We're talking a much more thing, much more. 386 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:11,280 Those who receive what abundance of grace? 387 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:18,240 You know, I just wonder now I'm speculating those who receive 388 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:24,360 abundance of grace, are there Christians who maybe just 389 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:28,920 receive a little bit of grace, just enough to make it into 390 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,360 heaven? I'm just asking a question. 391 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,720 How many Christians don't receive all the grace that they 392 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:41,400 could? Those that receive abundance of 393 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:49,120 grace will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. 394 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:55,360 So, so it doesn't say will reign in heaven, it says we will 395 00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:58,240 reign. And that implies we will, we 396 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:03,920 will be like royalty on earth. We will reign in life, in life 397 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,920 through the one Jesus Christ. So that is what we would call 398 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,000 strengthening grace. And then what about this thing 399 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,520 that we've been calling sanctifying grace? 400 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,520 We're going to elaborate more on a lot of these things tomorrow, 401 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:22,480 But sanctifying grace, the definition I have here is that 402 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:29,920 sanctifying grace is God's life and power released toward and 403 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,920 working in an individual. Cleansing everybody, say 404 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:43,840 cleansing, cleansing him or her and enabling him or her to live 405 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:51,280 a holy life. Titus 211 and 12 For the grace 406 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,600 of God. This is Paul, this is the 407 00:27:54,600 --> 00:28:01,080 apostle Paul, this is the Bible, the grace of God that brings 408 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,520 salvation. So that's kind of a neat thing 409 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,920 that grace does is it brings salvation to people. 410 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,360 Have you ever heard somebody say, I just went seeking after 411 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:18,680 God? I sought after God and I finally 412 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:23,960 found God And, and I'm not, I'm not trying to dispute or, or put 413 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:31,840 anybody down, but but really the Bible says Jesus said in John 414 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:36,680 15, he said you did not choose me, but I chose you. 415 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:43,000 John said, it's not that we loved him, it's that he loved 416 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,360 us. Now, I'm not saying that people 417 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,640 don't go on a spiritual journey and try this and try. 418 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:50,360 I know that kind of thing happens. 419 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,960 And, and I suppose from an earthly standpoint, people do 420 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:59,480 think that they're seeking after God, but the big reality is that 421 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,800 long before you ever thought about seeking after God, he had 422 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,840 already sought you. Now I know this is a hymn, not 423 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,080 Scripture, but I think this, how many of you know hymns may or 424 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,440 may not be true? Scripture is always true. 425 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:20,680 But I think this, I think the hymn, He sought me and He bought 426 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:26,600 me with his redeeming blood. Now whenever you say I sought 427 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,640 him, I'm not going to, you know, argue if you say that, but just 428 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,200 understand this. He'd already sought you. 429 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,600 He'd already bought you before you were even born. 430 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,240 God said I have loved you with an everlasting love. 431 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,640 That means no beginning, no end. I've loved you with an 432 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,880 everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness 433 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:55,040 I have drawn you to myself and all that time you may be 434 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,960 thinking that you are seeking God, but I think the ultimate 435 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,480 reality and the pre-existing reality is that He was seeking 436 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,640 you. So the grace of God that brings 437 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,640 salvation has appeared to all men. 438 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,080 Wait a minute, does that mean everybody's going to be saved? 439 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,880 Does that mean everybody's going to heaven? 440 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,600 It says it's appeared, doesn't say it's been received. 441 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:25,080 I believe that salvation is offered to all, but it's only 442 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:31,200 received by those who receive. Jesus wept over the city of 443 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,360 Jerusalem. He said, how often would I have 444 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,560 gathered you, you know, under And he said you would not. 445 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,520 You know, I mean, you can find so many scriptures about people, 446 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,960 you know, saying no to God and rejecting God. 447 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:54,160 The fact that the grace of God brings salvation and that 448 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:58,880 salvation has appeared or been made available doesn't mean that 449 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,440 everybody said yes, doesn't mean that everybody's accepted it. 450 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,080 The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all 451 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,320 men. Teaching us. 452 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,400 Look at verse 12. Teaching us. 453 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:18,520 So did you know grace teaches that word teaching in the Greek 454 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:24,560 language is training it it's, it's a, it's not just a, an 455 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:28,240 intellectual passing on of information. 456 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,480 It's like hands on training. I'm going to train you how to do 457 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,440 this. The grace of God that brings 458 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:40,640 salvation has appeared to all men teaching us who's us? 459 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:46,000 We're the ones who've said yes to the salvation, to the grace 460 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:56,280 teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. 461 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:03,840 We should everybody say should we should live soberly, 462 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:09,440 righteously and godly in this present age. 463 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,880 Now, that right there deserves some time. 464 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:20,000 That right there deserves some unpacking because some people 465 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:25,640 have taught or implied or or people have gathered, perhaps 466 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:31,120 through ignorance or whatever reason, that grace means you're 467 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,080 forgiven. You can do whatever you want. 468 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:38,240 There's never any consequences for disobedience or sin. 469 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:45,920 The grace of God teaches us, trains us, that denying what 470 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,040 does denying mean? Says say no to it. 471 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:54,320 Denying ungodliness and worldly lust? 472 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,960 We say no to that, and then we should. 473 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:06,760 That means we say yes to living soberly, righteously, and godly 474 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:14,880 in this present age. Saving grace gives you life. 475 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:21,120 Sanctifying grace helps you to live a lifestyle. 476 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,880 This is so huge. Let me let me just say this. 477 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,640 I wish I had this on the screen, but I don't. 478 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:36,880 Grace is never ever, ever divine permission to do wrong. 479 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:43,680 Grace is divine empowerment to do right. 480 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:51,480 Grace not only delivers us from the penalty of sin, grace 481 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,160 delivers us from the power of sin. 482 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,040 Sharing grace. I'm just giving you one 483 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,800 scripture for each of these 5, but I think I think that's a 484 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,680 good basis for what we're going to launch from and go into 485 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,400 tomorrow night sharing grace. This is one people don't think 486 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:15,920 about. Generosity is the heart of God. 487 00:34:19,679 --> 00:34:23,000 You know, I don't know any ministry in the world that 488 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,679 doesn't function because somebody's generous. 489 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,520 This church functions because people are generous. 490 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,199 People bring their tithes and their offerings and see the 491 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:38,600 mission, the guy, the people you support, the missions that you 492 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,679 do personally here at this church, the outreach that you 493 00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:46,440 are that. I mean, it's like somebody once 494 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,239 said the water, you know, the gospel, you know, it's living 495 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:54,639 water and the water's free, but the plumbing's real expensive. 496 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,200 OK. And it's always been that way. 497 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:00,920 Do you know Jesus had financial partners in his ministry? 498 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,480 Luke chapter 8, it talks about a group of women that followed and 499 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,200 they gave him regularly of their substance. 500 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,360 And and so thank God for every person that ties into Anchor 501 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,640 Faith Church that gives offerings, that does all the 502 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:20,320 support. But I've always noticed it 503 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:26,200 interesting and that that sometimes people feel that when, 504 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,160 you know, we have this dynamic praise and worship and people 505 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,120 are just, oh, they're just. And, and then all of a sudden 506 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:35,400 the pastor, you know, gets up and mentions the offering and 507 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,640 then it's just kind of like, well, we're having such a good 508 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,360 time with God and you have to go bring up the offering and talk 509 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,080 about money and stuff like that. God's just as much. 510 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,960 And he, he's not a materialist, you know what I'm saying by 511 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,160 that? He's not a, he's not greedy, 512 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,760 He's not covetous. He's not, but, but he wants to 513 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:55,840 be involved in every area of our life. 514 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,520 He wants to be involved in us being good stewards of our 515 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,160 finances, just like he wants to be good stewards of our tongues 516 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,520 and worshipping and praising God. 517 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:11,760 And and so we see that the grace of God has the grace of God will 518 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:18,520 influence your material life. So what is sharing grace? 519 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:23,440 It's God's life and power release toward and working in a 520 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,840 in an individual. I really should say it's God's 521 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:31,760 life power and provision. We need to add provision in 522 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,720 there released toward and working in an individual 523 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,960 prompting cheerfulness. Everybody say cheerfulness in 524 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,640 giving to others. And I think the Amplified Bible 525 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,320 probably has the best rendition of this because it really does 526 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,200 amplify it. Let's look at this together. 527 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,880 And, and just so you'll know, Second Corinthians chapter 8 and 528 00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:01,920 9, Paul is talking totally about finances and this is what he 529 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,920 says. And God is able to make, this is 530 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:11,600 Chapter 9, verse 8. God is able to make all grace. 531 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:17,280 So he's talking about grace in the middle of a 2 chapter 532 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,920 teaching. He's talking about grace in the 533 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:26,360 middle of finances and stewardship and God is able to 534 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:30,120 make all grace. And now here you see, we're 535 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,680 going to see a different facet. He's not talking about anybody 536 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,320 going to heaven here. He's not really talking about 537 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,200 being empowered for daily living. 538 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:41,160 He's not really talking about holiness. 539 00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:46,000 He's talking about finances. He's talking about generosity. 540 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,280 So it's a different facet of the same diamond. 541 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,600 God is able to make all grace, and now he identifies which 542 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,320 facet of the diamond. He's talking about every favor 543 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:04,120 and what kind of blessing. What kind of blessing? 544 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:10,080 Earthly blessing. Now, do we seek earthly 545 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,560 blessings first? No. 546 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:14,880 Do we put money first? No. 547 00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,680 Does God care about your resources? 548 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:22,680 Yes. God is able to make every grace, 549 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:29,640 every favor and earthly blessing come to you in abundance so that 550 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:34,600 you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the 551 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:39,120 need be self-sufficient. Now that doesn't mean 552 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:46,880 self-sufficient without God. It means God by his ability is 553 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,440 going to make you self-sufficient. 554 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,440 But it's really a God sufficiency. 555 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,840 It's a self-sufficiency based on 1st a God sufficiency, 556 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:01,400 possessing enough to require no aid or support, and furnished in 557 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:06,920 abundance for every good work and charitable donation. 558 00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:13,240 So notice it starts with God providing your need so that God 559 00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:18,080 being generous to you, so that you can be generous toward 560 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,040 others. God operates on a principle of 561 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:25,520 freely. You have received freely give. 562 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:30,520 He operates on a principle of such as I have give I thee. 563 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,080 Now somebody could very easily, you know, a person who's 564 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,400 thinking, a person who's using their brain could say brother 565 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:41,080 cook. You say freely, I have received 566 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:43,520 brother cook. I didn't freely receive 567 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,720 anything. I've worked hard for everything 568 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:50,560 I've got. I mean, I, I, you know, I, I 569 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:54,120 worked my way through school. I worked my way through college. 570 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,360 I mean, I started the bottom of the corporate rung. 571 00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,960 I mean, I've worked his blood, sweat and tears. 572 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,880 You know, I, I've worked my way up and all, all the wealth I 573 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:08,640 have, I've earned it. Can you understand somebody 574 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:12,720 having that attitude? Yeah, from a natural standpoint 575 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:14,800 you can. But here's my question. 576 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,520 And, and OK, great commend you. How many of you know work is a 577 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,800 good thing? You know, we commend work. 578 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:26,360 You know Jesus, did you know Jesus was a Carpenter 6 times 579 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:31,680 longer than he was a preacher? He was a Carpenter from the age 580 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,640 of 12 to the age of 30. He just preached for three 581 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,080 years. He was a Carpenter for 18 years. 582 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,640 We're all for work. Adam was a gardener and a 583 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:44,760 security guard. Abraham was a rancher and a, you 584 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,680 know, her, you know, traded in goods and things through his 585 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:53,960 camels. And, you know, Joseph and Daniel 586 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,360 and Nehemiah all worked in government. 587 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:02,040 Luke was a physician. Paul was a leather worker. 588 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:08,800 I mean, work is a good thing, but here's the question. 589 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,520 When you were climbing the corporate ladder, when you were 590 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,440 earning the degrees or going through your training school, 591 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:19,840 whose oxygen were you breathing while you were doing that? 592 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,680 Those muscles, if you if you work, you know, physically, you 593 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:30,760 know who gave you those muscles? So I I developed them. 594 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,560 Yeah. But where do they come from? 595 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:34,840 Who? Who formed you? 596 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:39,080 You're fearfully and wonderfully self created. 597 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,720 No, no, you're formed in the womb by God. 598 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,080 You. So I made my I'm. 599 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,280 I'm a great intellect and that type of thing. 600 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,280 Yeah, well, well, did you create your own brain? 601 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,080 Everything we have comes from God. 602 00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:00,160 So we're not devaluing, we're not disrespecting the hard work 603 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:05,000 you've done, but we should always keep in mind that that 604 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,280 it's only by the grace of God that we were given the raw 605 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,320 materials to do something from that. 606 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,800 And with that is his air we were breathing. 607 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,320 And sometimes we don't even, you know, do you ever just thank God 608 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:23,560 for air, you know, things like that. 609 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:31,400 So say, serve a sharing grace. God is generous toward us. 610 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:34,040 We become generous toward others. 611 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:39,600 And finally, what we're going to call serving grace, serving 612 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:47,240 grace, we're defining it as God's life and power release 613 00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:52,040 toward and working in an individual, enabling him to 614 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:57,280 serve God and others with a divinely imparted ability. 615 00:42:58,240 --> 00:43:03,880 And we read in first Peter chapter 4, verse 10, Peter's 616 00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:05,520 writing. If you look at first Peter 617 00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:08,960 chapter one, verse 1, you read that Peter was talking to 618 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:14,000 Christians all over, really a large region of what today is 619 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,640 the nation of Turkey. He talks about to the believers 620 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:20,560 and we just read it. We don't know what they're 621 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,640 talking if we haven't studied the geographies in Pontus and 622 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,640 Bethenny and Cappadocia and so on. 623 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,720 He's talking about, it'd be like saying to the believers in 624 00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:35,080 Florida and Georgia and you know, South Carolina and all 625 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:38,240 that type of thing. It's a pretty huge region and 626 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:42,240 and so he's not talking to 1 Christian, he's not talking to a 627 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:46,200 pastor. He's talking to believers in 628 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:52,520 multiple churches over a large geographical realm. 629 00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:57,200 And he says as each one, as each one. 630 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:04,200 Now, what does each one mean? If I said this is hypothetical, 631 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:08,720 OK, this, I'm not saying this every say this is this is 632 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:13,040 hypothetical, OK? But if I said after service I 633 00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:17,640 want each one to come see me, I'm going to give you each $100 634 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:20,280 bill. I said that's hypothetical. 635 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:27,120 And you come up to me and you see me start handing out and I 636 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,080 said, oh, I'm sorry to you. I say to you, oh, I'm sorry. 637 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,920 I didn't mean you. I meant, I meant everybody else. 638 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:35,840 You can have a problem with that, right? 639 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,400 You say you didn't, you didn't give out an exemption. 640 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,080 You, you said each one. I'm part of each one. 641 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:43,280 How many of you are part of each one? 642 00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:49,560 Peter says. As each one of you has received 643 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:59,040 a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the 644 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:05,200 manifold grace of God. That word manifold means multi 645 00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:10,280 colored. And I, I, I'm trying to remember 646 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:13,560 the, the Greek, but I, I know it's, it's associated with what 647 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:17,000 we would call like a plant. If you, if you're got a green 648 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:20,040 thumb and do gardening work, you know what a leaf is that's 649 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:24,520 variegated means it's got different shades of color within 650 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:26,440 the same leaf and that type of thing. 651 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:29,720 It's all the same leaf, but there's many different shades. 652 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:34,600 The manifold, we would say it this way, the multifaceted or 653 00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:39,320 the diversified grace of God. So let's read it that way as 654 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:42,400 each one has received a gift. Notice he doesn't say we've 655 00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:45,760 received the same gift because we don't have the same gift. 656 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:50,400 We have different gifts. Minister it to one another as 657 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:55,480 good stewards of the diversified, the multifaceted 658 00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:58,840 manifold multi colored grace of God. 659 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:04,000 If anyone speaks, let him speak as of the oracles of God. 660 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,680 See some people their gift is a vocal thing. 661 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:12,240 But then he says, but if anyone serves ministers, let him do it. 662 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:15,480 As with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God 663 00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:17,760 may be glorified through Jesus Christ. 664 00:46:18,720 --> 00:46:22,840 So serving grace. This isn't talking about going 665 00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:26,080 to heaven when you die. This isn't even talking about 666 00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:29,280 being a victorious Christian in the sense that we think of 667 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,720 individual victory. It's not talking about being a 668 00:46:32,720 --> 00:46:36,120 holy Christian. This is talking about being a 669 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:40,640 productive Christian. This is talking about doing 670 00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,440 things that will benefit other people. 671 00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:48,760 And it may be that you have a vocal gift if any man speaks. 672 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,440 So what what in the Bible would that Well, that would include 673 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:57,120 preaching, teaching, prophesying, exhorting, 674 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,080 encouraging. You know, there's a whole bunch 675 00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:05,080 of different levels that people speak and it's a gift from God. 676 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:10,480 But but then he said, but if anyone ministers, meaning some 677 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,440 people don't have a speaking gift, Not everybody's called to 678 00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:17,520 be behind a pulpit. Most people are called to be 679 00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:21,480 behind the scenes. Do you know if if you can 680 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:26,800 picture an iceberg right now in a cross section of an iceberg? 681 00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,560 If you've seen these on some of the documentaries? 682 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:32,920 I don't know what the figure is. Maybe somebody watches the 683 00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:37,160 National Geographic or whatever. But it's like what 10% of the 684 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,800 iceberg is a is above the surface of the water. 685 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:43,000 Is that what? What's the exact figure? 686 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,480 Does anybody know? I don't even know if it's the 687 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,320 same with every iceberg. Well, it's just hypothetically 688 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:52,280 10% of the iceberg is above the surface of the water. 689 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:59,960 It's visible. 90% hypothetically is beneath the surface of the 690 00:47:59,960 --> 00:48:03,080 water. You don't see it, I mean, unless 691 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:05,880 you're under the water. Do you know, that's a lot like 692 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,960 church? People come to Anchor Faith 693 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:12,760 Church on a Sunday and man, the, you know, they see some greeters 694 00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:16,160 and that type of thing that's really nice and see the snack 695 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:20,000 bar and the thing that's nice. And they come in here and man, 696 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:24,160 they see this great worship team up here, you know, and, and, and 697 00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:28,040 they hear pastoral get up and deliver the word, you know, and, 698 00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:31,920 and they leave and, and they have an assessment of Anchor 699 00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,160 Faith Church. But you know what they, they 700 00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:40,200 just saw maybe 10%. They didn't see all the praying, 701 00:48:41,240 --> 00:48:43,920 all the people that pray behind the scenes. 702 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:48,320 They didn't see the planning that takes place. 703 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:52,800 They didn't see the organizing. They didn't see the different 704 00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:56,400 department heads. They didn't see the different 705 00:48:56,400 --> 00:49:00,120 coordination between different team members who are, who are 706 00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:02,520 doing outreach and all these things. 707 00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:07,480 Thank God for what happened. Thank God for the 10%, but every 708 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:11,640 healthy, vibrant church, there's way more that the average person 709 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:18,720 attending doesn't see, but it's just as valuable, just as 710 00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:19,400 important.