So I told you today about a lady named Marjorie, who is my mom's
friend. And she said, Tony, when I was
18 years old. And it just been filled with the
Holy Spirit. She said, can you tell me what
Grace is? And I wanted her to think I was
smart. So I said yes.
She said, what is it? And I said it's unmerited favor.
And I thought I'd really just, you know, because that was a
Theo. How many of you think
theological definitions are going to change people's lives?
You know, and you know, I just think as I was flying down here,
of course, flew into Jacksonville and was driving
over. And, you know, when people think
of Saint Augustine, I wonder how many times they really think of
Saint Augustine. The, the, the preacher that
lived back. He did, you know, he is African,
he is North African and he, he's actually a brilliant guy.
You may not agree with everything he said.
I may not agree with everything he said, but he said some pretty
amazing things. And one of the things he said
that that really impressed me when I, I think he is in the 5th
century, if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to go back and check
my dates. But he said, and I'm, I'm really
going to butcher this quote, so forgive me, but he said, what
good does it do you if with profundity you can define the
Trinity and yet by your pride you offend the Trinity?
And he was saying it's it's better, you know, I mean, I'm
all for knowledge. I'm a Bible teacher, but but if
we, you know, get in this groove where it's all about such hyper
precise technical knowledge that we miss the Spirit of God in the
issue, you know, we're missing it.
So, so I'm all for wanting to be able to come up with some kind
of working definition of grace, but I'd much rather you have a
little bit of technical knowledge about grace, but
because of your faith and your humility, you be able to drink
deeply from God's grace. Because the main objective in
the Christian life is not just simply being able to have
precise technical knowledge of things, but it's to be able to
partake of things. I love the verse in the Bible
that says taste and see that the Lord is good.
And I've known people who got into, I mean knock down, drag
out fights about the grace of God.
And I'm thinking is that gracious?
You know, if I really believe in the grace of God, some some
aspect of that should lead me to become a gracious person, you
know, and and same with so many things.
But anyway, you know, when Marjorie, that friend of my mom,
said, what is grace? And I, out of pride, said it's
unmerited favor, I thought I was just so smart to tell her that.
And she said, yeah, but what's that?
And then all of a sudden I felt very uncomfortable because I
couldn't go beyond that. And I said, well, that's favor
that is not merited, which, you know, she she probably figured
out then. I don't really know very much
about this. And she said, yeah, but what's
that? And then I just had to say,
well, you know, and and so it's really years.
I, every time I'd read Grace in the Bible, I'd say, I want to, I
want to know what that is. I I don't really know what that
is. And I'm going to give you some
kind of working definitions. I wish I'd known some of these
then when I was talking to her, I think I could have answered
her better. But the next slide, just some of
the definitions we've have here. Is that Grace?
GRACE is God's riches at Christ's expense.
That's kind of a good insight. Grace is what flows out of our
gracious God. I really gracious is probably
not a word we use a lot in our society today, but how many know
when you've met a gracious person, somebody who's kind,
somebody who's generous, somebody who's positive,
somebody who's affirming, encouraging, you know, they just
exude, you know, kindness toward other people.
Grace is what flows out of our gracious God.
Grace is God's and these are just random definitions.
Grace is God's love, mercy and compassion, forever reaching out
to us and for us. Grace, this is 1.
I think this is from Vine's Dictionary of Greek words.
Vine said that grace is God's divine influence upon the heart
and it's reflection in life, in our lives.
Grace is God's power in action. Grace is God doing for us what
we could have never done for ourselves.
Second slide there is grace is the sum total of all that God
did for us in Christ, all that he's doing for us now through
the Holy Spirit and all that He will do for us in the future.
Grace is favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or
merit of the one who receives it, and maybe in spite of what
that same person deserves. Grace is the active expression
of God's character. Grace is the outpouring of God's
love. So those are just a few.
I mean, those are worth, you know, just thinking about
meditating on as you study through Scripture, you know,
what the Bible says about grace is 1000 times more important
than what I say about grace. Hopefully what I'm saying is
coinciding with, and often the same thing is what the Bible is
saying about grace. But you know, maybe have some of
those definitions in your mind as you think about what the
Bible said. Do you know Paul began almost
every letter, I think, and ended every letter with these grace be
unto you. Great.
See, I used to think those are just mere formalities like you
know, yours truly or sincerely yours or you just saying it to
be saying it. But no, those were words that
conveyed blessing. And when Paul said grace be unto
you, he was really making a powerful statement.
You know, we've all been taught about the power of words and
life and death are in the power of the tongue And and you know,
that's why Paul began all these letters and John, Peter, you
know, they all did. But let's go to the next slide.
And this is kind of a review of what we talked about this
morning. We we talked about electricity.
I hope how many of you were here today, this morning, You heard
this morning Good most everybody.
So if you weren't, you can go back, I'm sure and grab the
information. But I said grace is a little bit
like electricity. But on one hand you can say,
well, electricity is just electricity and it is.
But electricity will create different results depending on
what it flows into. And you can say grace is grace,
and that's true. But grace will produce different
results depending on what part of our life we allow grace to
flow into or what part of our life where we receive that
grace. You know, grace does something
different flowing into a microwave than it does flowing
into a refrigerator. It's all electricity, but it
produces different results when we come to God as a lost person,
you know, separated from God, sin, you know that type of
thing. And and we say, Jesus, I receive
you because he is he. You know, he is the Lord of
grace. The Bible says he's the God of
grace. By grace He tasted of death for
every man. The Holy Spirit is called the
Spirit of grace. You know, grace is the sum total
of everything that God did for us in Christ and is doing for us
now through the person of the Holy Spirit.
So if I'm a lost person and I come to Jesus and I come to God
and you know, the God of all grace, then grace makes me a new
creature. But that's not the end of grace
because I've got other areas of my life that need his influence,
that need his help, that need his direction.
So we told you this morning that we're going to be talking about
saving grace, strengthening grace, sanctifying grace,
sharing grace, serving grace, you know, because those are all
vital. And we have a picture of a
diamond there because we wanted you to understand that, you
know, grace is grace, just like a diamond is a diamond.
But how many of you know, when you look at that diamond?
I'm not a jeweler. I, I know I've bought a few
things for my wife over the years.
I'm not one, you know, maybe some of you guys are just
phenomenal gift givers, but my wife is, I say this so lovingly
and so kindly, but she is so precise about what she wants and
she doesn't want a lot. You know, she'd, she'd much
rather have a walk on the beach than some gift.
But every once in a while she'll say, you know, I'd like a ring
and, but it's pretty rare. She had that just a couple of
years ago. And so we had to go.
And I mean, I had the privilege of going.
That's what I meant. I had the privilege of going
while she looked at many different rings.
I just love that. I just loved waiting there,
being with her and Earl. Am I digging myself out of this
pastor? You think I'm doing my best?
Anyway, baby, if you're watching tonight, I love you so.
But she's, she's so precise about what she wants.
So anyway, but a jeweler, you know, I just look and say that's
a that's a diamond. But a jeweler will take that.
Is it an Oculus? I don't know what it's called
that little magnifying glass. And the jeweler might, if this
is what they do, turn that diamond and look at every facet.
So I, I, I don't know much about this, so I want to share because
I believe there is a similarity between something like grace and
a diamond because I believe they're both multifaceted.
So let's look at it. I just grabbed this all.
I just grabbed this online this morning.
Here's a definition of of what diamond facets are.
Diamond facets are flat surfaces cut onto a diamond surface.
These facets act as mirrors, reflecting light and creating
the diamonds brilliance, fire, and sparkle.
I like those terms. Diamond facets are the numerous
flat surfaces on a diamond that are strategically created and
arranged to optimize the stones interaction with light.
Each facet is meticulously cut and polished to exact angles.
This enables light to enter the diamond, reflect internally, and
exit back out to produce the sparkle that diamonds are famous
for. Now when you stop and think
about that if if if if this is a decent example.
I hope it is if grace is like a diamond in that it, it's one
stone, but there are different facets of the same diamond.
You stop and think about that. Just like electricity,
electricity is electricity, but it when it flows in, it'll
produce different things. So my question for you tonight,
you know, we tried to lay a little bit of a foundation this
morning. Tonight we want to really
examine how many areas of your life are being affected on a
day-to-day basis by the grace of God in your present day
experience and walk with God. You know, I think there it is
possible if somebody has not had a lot of teaching about grace,
they might, you know, and you say have you experienced the
grace of God? You know, they could say, yeah,
I got saved on such and such a date.
And maybe it's 20 years ago and they're thinking their only
experience with the grace of God is the day they passed from
spiritual darkness into spiritual light.
And listen, if that's the only time that you've experienced the
grace of God, great. Thank God for that one.
But there's so much more. That'd be like saying, you know,
have you ever experienced the benefits of electricity?
And a person would say, yeah, seven years ago when I moved
into this house or apt, I turned on the lights once.
Wait a minute. You you turn on the light?
You mean you don't turn on the lights every day?
You mean you don't you don't have the refrigerator plugged
in? You mean you don't have a hair
dryer curling iron plugged in? You mean you don't have the
coffee pot plugged in? You don't have the TV and the
micro? You don't have your computer?
No, I just. But I had an encounter with
electricity once. Do you see how you're missing so
much if if you just think that getting saved is just having one
A1 time experience? Thank God for the one time
experience. There's so much more.
When when I was, I told you this morning, didn't I tell you about
that when I was 18 years old, I got spirit filled.
I told you that this morning. And I was raised in the mainline
traditional denominational church.
And three weeks after I graduated from high school, a
friend took me. Remember this?
Three weeks after I graduated from high school, a friend took
me to a meeting. Now, if you're here and you're
an old timer, you may remember the name Charles and Francis
Hunter. Anybody here remember that name?
Few folks remember that name. They were when I was 18, when I
first met them. They just seemed ancient to me.
And of course, when you're 18, you know, 45 seems ancient.
But anyway, we won't start getting into relativity and
stuff like that. But he's this older couple and
but God used them in some amazing ways.
He laid his hands on me that night.
The power of God came into my body and I fell under the power
of God. And when I got up, he said,
young man, bend over and touch the floor.
And he didn't know I, you know, active in sports and all that,
but I was playing everything I did.
I had pain in my back. I had pain shooting down the
back, right side of my leg. Anytime I would bend over past,
you know, if I bent down to touch my kneecaps, that pain
would shoot down. I could force myself to go
lower, but man, did it hurt. My parents had sent me to three
different doctors and they couldn't do anything.
He laid his hands on me. The power of God tangibly came
into my body and when I stood up, he said, young man, bend
over and and touch the floor. I bent over and put both palms
on the floor with no pain whatsoever.
Don't ask me to do that. Now I can bend over without pain
but things change between 18 and 66.
But anyway, so never have had a back problem since then.
So but but that was three weeks after I graduated from high
school. I got filled with the Holy
Spirit that night. Spoke in tongues.
Been speaking in tongues ever since.
Thank God for being able to pray in the Spirit.
Right before that, right before I graduated from high school, I
I told you I grew up in North Central IN and went to a
probably a relatively small high school.
Our high school was literally, and I'm not kidding one bit,
located in the middle in between 4 cornfields.
It was completely rural Indiana. And so, so I'm just saying that
to kind of give you, I wasn't part of a big city school or
anything. It was a fairly small school,
but I was class president my senior year and a month or
probably two months, I don't remember when my, my high school
principal called me into the office and said, Tony,
graduation is coming up. And because you are the class
president, you will automatically be giving the
graduation speech representing the school, representing the
senior class without one bit of hesitation.
I said his name was Mr. Burkholder.
Wonderful man. I said, Mr. Burkholder, find
somebody else. And he said, what?
And I said find somebody else. He said, well, Tony, it's a
great honor to speak at your high school graduation.
I said I have no interest in public speaking.
I said honestly, I said it would not be a, a, a pleasant
experience for me. Please get somebody else.
And he tried to talk me into it. I just, I just kindly, you know,
don't want anything unpleasant or controversial or adversarial
about it. I just said, I just don't, I
don't want to speak in front of people.
So he got a good friend of mine, a guy, and and he did the
graduation speech, did a great job.
I was so thankful that night that I didn't have to get up and
speak. Three weeks later was that
night, that meeting where I got prayed for, filled with the Holy
Spirit and healed. Now, I didn't turn into a
preacher overnight, but something happened in my life
when I got filled with the Spirit and I started going to
all these meetings, all these, we didn't even really have any
established churches like this. Boy, I wish we would.
We started going to all these, you know, Bible studies with
just 17/18/1920 year olds. We'd all had that experience
with the Holy Spirit. We'd get together and, and none
of us knew anything. None of us have been saved or
spirit filled very long at all. We'd get together and talk about
a scripture that we'd found that week and we'd sing a couple of
songs and it was just super informal and super, you know,
kind of disorganized and that type of thing.
But, but God showed up in some of those meetings with the young
people. And I think there's either 5 or
6, six of us ended up in full time preaching ministry out of
that disjointed group of people that just we met in people's
garages and their basements and their living rooms, you know,
just, you know, for a few months there.
And I didn't, like I said, I didn't start preaching full, but
all of a sudden I, I'd read a scripture during the week and I
could not wait to get to Bible study to tell because we had,
you know, small group young people, just, you know, what did
you learn this week and share? Boy, this week I read this and,
and wow, this is what it means to me.
And a few months later it was, I read these two scriptures this
week and wow, did it impact my life.
And this is what these scriptures mean to me.
And, and the third month or whenever I said I read these 3
verses and then it just kept until I was giving lessons and
all of a sudden this kid that didn't want to speak publicly is
now speaking a lot. Before that I completely had no
interest in speaking before people.
God put something on the inside of me that wasn't there.
Now, I think God can take natural abilities and enhance
them or or you know, add a touch to them, but God can also put
things on the inside of a person that were not there at all.
You know, and I don't know, sometimes people say, was it
natural ability or is it just a supernatural gift?
Sometimes I don't know, but just whatever you have, use it for
the glory of God. And so anyway, so serving Grace
says, I trust in God's ability to equip me to serve others.
So we're going to give you a scripture for each one.
Let's go to the next slide. If we could, I want to give you
a scripture for each one. We talked about saving grace.
Let me give you another definition.
Saving grace according you say which of these definitions is
right? Well, I hope they're all right.
I think they're just different ways that you know, how many of
you know, if, if several people look at a mountain from
different perspectives, you know, one person might focus on
the the trees on it, one person might focus on the waterfalls on
it, Some person might focus on how steep it is, some person
might focus on how tall. And all the descriptions are
accurate, but they all are a little bit different.
So here's a definition for saving grace.
It's God's life and power released toward and working
inside of an individual, justifying him or her and making
him or her a new creature in Christ.
That's that to me is a pretty good definition of saving grace.
And, and this is the verse we looked at today.
For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God.
It is not of works, not of it's it's not of our works.
It's his work. It's not of human works.
It's of God's work. It's not of your works, lest
anyone should boast. So none of us have anything to
brag about when it comes to standing before God.
You know, I can't say God. I'm here in your presence
because I'm so awesome. I'm here because God, I've just
done so many amazing things. I know you're really impressed
with me. God it's Father.
I come in the name of Jesus. That means I come because of who
he is. I come because of what he did.
I come because of his shed blood.
I come because of his death, burial, and resurrection.
He, he's the mediator between myself and God.
He, he's the mediator between you and God.
So that's a good scripture about saving grace.
What about strengthening grace? And what about a verse on that
strengthening? Grace is God's life and power
released toward and working in an individual, strengthening him
and enabling Him to stand victorious in life.
See, grace doesn't just get you into the Kingdom.
Grace empowers you once you're in the Kingdom verse we have
here Romans 517 For if by one man's offense death reigned, who
is the one man that his offense or his sin enabled death to come
in and rule and reign over the human race?
Adam, by one man's offense, death reigned through the one.
Much more, everybody say much more.
We're not talking an equal thing.
We're talking a much more thing, much more.
Those who receive what abundance of grace?
You know, I just wonder now I'm speculating those who receive
abundance of grace, are there Christians who maybe just
receive a little bit of grace, just enough to make it into
heaven? I'm just asking a question.
How many Christians don't receive all the grace that they
could? Those that receive abundance of
grace will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
So, so it doesn't say will reign in heaven, it says we will
reign. And that implies we will, we
will be like royalty on earth. We will reign in life, in life
through the one Jesus Christ. So that is what we would call
strengthening grace. And then what about this thing
that we've been calling sanctifying grace?
We're going to elaborate more on a lot of these things tomorrow,
But sanctifying grace, the definition I have here is that
sanctifying grace is God's life and power released toward and
working in an individual. Cleansing everybody, say
cleansing, cleansing him or her and enabling him or her to live
a holy life. Titus 211 and 12 For the grace
of God. This is Paul, this is the
apostle Paul, this is the Bible, the grace of God that brings
salvation. So that's kind of a neat thing
that grace does is it brings salvation to people.
Have you ever heard somebody say, I just went seeking after
God? I sought after God and I finally
found God And, and I'm not, I'm not trying to dispute or, or put
anybody down, but but really the Bible says Jesus said in John
15, he said you did not choose me, but I chose you.
John said, it's not that we loved him, it's that he loved
us. Now, I'm not saying that people
don't go on a spiritual journey and try this and try.
I know that kind of thing happens.
And, and I suppose from an earthly standpoint, people do
think that they're seeking after God, but the big reality is that
long before you ever thought about seeking after God, he had
already sought you. Now I know this is a hymn, not
Scripture, but I think this, how many of you know hymns may or
may not be true? Scripture is always true.
But I think this, I think the hymn, He sought me and He bought
me with his redeeming blood. Now whenever you say I sought
him, I'm not going to, you know, argue if you say that, but just
understand this. He'd already sought you.
He'd already bought you before you were even born.
God said I have loved you with an everlasting love.
That means no beginning, no end. I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
I have drawn you to myself and all that time you may be
thinking that you are seeking God, but I think the ultimate
reality and the pre-existing reality is that He was seeking
you. So the grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men.
Wait a minute, does that mean everybody's going to be saved?
Does that mean everybody's going to heaven?
It says it's appeared, doesn't say it's been received.
I believe that salvation is offered to all, but it's only
received by those who receive. Jesus wept over the city of
Jerusalem. He said, how often would I have
gathered you, you know, under And he said you would not.
You know, I mean, you can find so many scriptures about people,
you know, saying no to God and rejecting God.
The fact that the grace of God brings salvation and that
salvation has appeared or been made available doesn't mean that
everybody said yes, doesn't mean that everybody's accepted it.
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men. Teaching us.
Look at verse 12. Teaching us.
So did you know grace teaches that word teaching in the Greek
language is training it it's, it's a, it's not just a, an
intellectual passing on of information.
It's like hands on training. I'm going to train you how to do
this. The grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men teaching us who's us?
We're the ones who've said yes to the salvation, to the grace
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.
We should everybody say should we should live soberly,
righteously and godly in this present age.
Now, that right there deserves some time.
That right there deserves some unpacking because some people
have taught or implied or or people have gathered, perhaps
through ignorance or whatever reason, that grace means you're
forgiven. You can do whatever you want.
There's never any consequences for disobedience or sin.
The grace of God teaches us, trains us, that denying what
does denying mean? Says say no to it.
Denying ungodliness and worldly lust?
We say no to that, and then we should.
That means we say yes to living soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present age. Saving grace gives you life.
Sanctifying grace helps you to live a lifestyle.
This is so huge. Let me let me just say this.
I wish I had this on the screen, but I don't.
Grace is never ever, ever divine permission to do wrong.
Grace is divine empowerment to do right.
Grace not only delivers us from the penalty of sin, grace
delivers us from the power of sin.
Sharing grace. I'm just giving you one
scripture for each of these 5, but I think I think that's a
good basis for what we're going to launch from and go into
tomorrow night sharing grace. This is one people don't think
about. Generosity is the heart of God.
You know, I don't know any ministry in the world that
doesn't function because somebody's generous.
This church functions because people are generous.
People bring their tithes and their offerings and see the
mission, the guy, the people you support, the missions that you
do personally here at this church, the outreach that you
are that. I mean, it's like somebody once
said the water, you know, the gospel, you know, it's living
water and the water's free, but the plumbing's real expensive.
OK. And it's always been that way.
Do you know Jesus had financial partners in his ministry?
Luke chapter 8, it talks about a group of women that followed and
they gave him regularly of their substance.
And and so thank God for every person that ties into Anchor
Faith Church that gives offerings, that does all the
support. But I've always noticed it
interesting and that that sometimes people feel that when,
you know, we have this dynamic praise and worship and people
are just, oh, they're just. And, and then all of a sudden
the pastor, you know, gets up and mentions the offering and
then it's just kind of like, well, we're having such a good
time with God and you have to go bring up the offering and talk
about money and stuff like that. God's just as much.
And he, he's not a materialist, you know what I'm saying by
that? He's not a, he's not greedy,
He's not covetous. He's not, but, but he wants to
be involved in every area of our life.
He wants to be involved in us being good stewards of our
finances, just like he wants to be good stewards of our tongues
and worshipping and praising God.
And and so we see that the grace of God has the grace of God will
influence your material life. So what is sharing grace?
It's God's life and power release toward and working in a
in an individual. I really should say it's God's
life power and provision. We need to add provision in
there released toward and working in an individual
prompting cheerfulness. Everybody say cheerfulness in
giving to others. And I think the Amplified Bible
probably has the best rendition of this because it really does
amplify it. Let's look at this together.
And, and just so you'll know, Second Corinthians chapter 8 and
9, Paul is talking totally about finances and this is what he
says. And God is able to make, this is
Chapter 9, verse 8. God is able to make all grace.
So he's talking about grace in the middle of a 2 chapter
teaching. He's talking about grace in the
middle of finances and stewardship and God is able to
make all grace. And now here you see, we're
going to see a different facet. He's not talking about anybody
going to heaven here. He's not really talking about
being empowered for daily living.
He's not really talking about holiness.
He's talking about finances. He's talking about generosity.
So it's a different facet of the same diamond.
God is able to make all grace, and now he identifies which
facet of the diamond. He's talking about every favor
and what kind of blessing. What kind of blessing?
Earthly blessing. Now, do we seek earthly
blessings first? No.
Do we put money first? No.
Does God care about your resources?
Yes. God is able to make every grace,
every favor and earthly blessing come to you in abundance so that
you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the
need be self-sufficient. Now that doesn't mean
self-sufficient without God. It means God by his ability is
going to make you self-sufficient.
But it's really a God sufficiency.
It's a self-sufficiency based on 1st a God sufficiency,
possessing enough to require no aid or support, and furnished in
abundance for every good work and charitable donation.
So notice it starts with God providing your need so that God
being generous to you, so that you can be generous toward
others. God operates on a principle of
freely. You have received freely give.
He operates on a principle of such as I have give I thee.
Now somebody could very easily, you know, a person who's
thinking, a person who's using their brain could say brother
cook. You say freely, I have received
brother cook. I didn't freely receive
anything. I've worked hard for everything
I've got. I mean, I, I, you know, I, I
worked my way through school. I worked my way through college.
I mean, I started the bottom of the corporate rung.
I mean, I've worked his blood, sweat and tears.
You know, I, I've worked my way up and all, all the wealth I
have, I've earned it. Can you understand somebody
having that attitude? Yeah, from a natural standpoint
you can. But here's my question.
And, and OK, great commend you. How many of you know work is a
good thing? You know, we commend work.
You know Jesus, did you know Jesus was a Carpenter 6 times
longer than he was a preacher? He was a Carpenter from the age
of 12 to the age of 30. He just preached for three
years. He was a Carpenter for 18 years.
We're all for work. Adam was a gardener and a
security guard. Abraham was a rancher and a, you
know, her, you know, traded in goods and things through his
camels. And, you know, Joseph and Daniel
and Nehemiah all worked in government.
Luke was a physician. Paul was a leather worker.
I mean, work is a good thing, but here's the question.
When you were climbing the corporate ladder, when you were
earning the degrees or going through your training school,
whose oxygen were you breathing while you were doing that?
Those muscles, if you if you work, you know, physically, you
know who gave you those muscles? So I I developed them.
Yeah. But where do they come from?
Who? Who formed you?
You're fearfully and wonderfully self created.
No, no, you're formed in the womb by God.
You. So I made my I'm.
I'm a great intellect and that type of thing.
Yeah, well, well, did you create your own brain?
Everything we have comes from God.
So we're not devaluing, we're not disrespecting the hard work
you've done, but we should always keep in mind that that
it's only by the grace of God that we were given the raw
materials to do something from that.
And with that is his air we were breathing.
And sometimes we don't even, you know, do you ever just thank God
for air, you know, things like that.
So say, serve a sharing grace. God is generous toward us.
We become generous toward others.
And finally, what we're going to call serving grace, serving
grace, we're defining it as God's life and power release
toward and working in an individual, enabling him to
serve God and others with a divinely imparted ability.
And we read in first Peter chapter 4, verse 10, Peter's
writing. If you look at first Peter
chapter one, verse 1, you read that Peter was talking to
Christians all over, really a large region of what today is
the nation of Turkey. He talks about to the believers
and we just read it. We don't know what they're
talking if we haven't studied the geographies in Pontus and
Bethenny and Cappadocia and so on.
He's talking about, it'd be like saying to the believers in
Florida and Georgia and you know, South Carolina and all
that type of thing. It's a pretty huge region and
and so he's not talking to 1 Christian, he's not talking to a
pastor. He's talking to believers in
multiple churches over a large geographical realm.
And he says as each one, as each one.
Now, what does each one mean? If I said this is hypothetical,
OK, this, I'm not saying this every say this is this is
hypothetical, OK? But if I said after service I
want each one to come see me, I'm going to give you each $100
bill. I said that's hypothetical.
And you come up to me and you see me start handing out and I
said, oh, I'm sorry to you. I say to you, oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean you. I meant, I meant everybody else.
You can have a problem with that, right?
You say you didn't, you didn't give out an exemption.
You, you said each one. I'm part of each one.
How many of you are part of each one?
Peter says. As each one of you has received
a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. That word manifold means multi
colored. And I, I, I'm trying to remember
the, the Greek, but I, I know it's, it's associated with what
we would call like a plant. If you, if you're got a green
thumb and do gardening work, you know what a leaf is that's
variegated means it's got different shades of color within
the same leaf and that type of thing.
It's all the same leaf, but there's many different shades.
The manifold, we would say it this way, the multifaceted or
the diversified grace of God. So let's read it that way as
each one has received a gift. Notice he doesn't say we've
received the same gift because we don't have the same gift.
We have different gifts. Minister it to one another as
good stewards of the diversified, the multifaceted
manifold multi colored grace of God.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as of the oracles of God.
See some people their gift is a vocal thing.
But then he says, but if anyone serves ministers, let him do it.
As with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God
may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
So serving grace. This isn't talking about going
to heaven when you die. This isn't even talking about
being a victorious Christian in the sense that we think of
individual victory. It's not talking about being a
holy Christian. This is talking about being a
productive Christian. This is talking about doing
things that will benefit other people.
And it may be that you have a vocal gift if any man speaks.
So what what in the Bible would that Well, that would include
preaching, teaching, prophesying, exhorting,
encouraging. You know, there's a whole bunch
of different levels that people speak and it's a gift from God.
But but then he said, but if anyone ministers, meaning some
people don't have a speaking gift, Not everybody's called to
be behind a pulpit. Most people are called to be
behind the scenes. Do you know if if you can
picture an iceberg right now in a cross section of an iceberg?
If you've seen these on some of the documentaries?
I don't know what the figure is. Maybe somebody watches the
National Geographic or whatever. But it's like what 10% of the
iceberg is a is above the surface of the water.
Is that what? What's the exact figure?
Does anybody know? I don't even know if it's the
same with every iceberg. Well, it's just hypothetically
10% of the iceberg is above the surface of the water.
It's visible. 90% hypothetically is beneath the surface of the
water. You don't see it, I mean, unless
you're under the water. Do you know, that's a lot like
church? People come to Anchor Faith
Church on a Sunday and man, the, you know, they see some greeters
and that type of thing that's really nice and see the snack
bar and the thing that's nice. And they come in here and man,
they see this great worship team up here, you know, and, and, and
they hear pastoral get up and deliver the word, you know, and,
and they leave and, and they have an assessment of Anchor
Faith Church. But you know what they, they
just saw maybe 10%. They didn't see all the praying,
all the people that pray behind the scenes.
They didn't see the planning that takes place.
They didn't see the organizing. They didn't see the different
department heads. They didn't see the different
coordination between different team members who are, who are
doing outreach and all these things.
Thank God for what happened. Thank God for the 10%, but every
healthy, vibrant church, there's way more that the average person
attending doesn't see, but it's just as valuable, just as
important.