[0:00] Before I look into Titus, I would like to ask you, do you have a favorite teacher in your life? I'm sure all the students of David Dubois have him as a favorite teacher. But how many of you could think off the hand if I was to ask you afterwards, you'd be able to name the favorite teacher that you had growing up?
[0:15] Anybody have a favorite? How many of you can remember your kindergarten teacher, the name of your kindergarten teacher? First grade? All right. How many of you think you could remember about all the names of your teachers through the years?
[0:27] Anybody able to do that? All right. Lorelai thinks she can. A few of you can. Good job, Barry. You have less to remember than some, but you would know so far. And she's sitting two people over from you.
[0:38] That's easier when you're homeschooled to remember your teacher's name. But he was quick to answer that. That was good. I have some teachers that I'm really grateful for. Miss Corsi, which you've never met.
[0:51] But if it wasn't because of her, if I wanted to, I could preach a sermon today on squirrels getting awards for running down railroad tracks. And I could use Silly Sally Salinger seashells as an illustration if I wanted to.
[1:06] And you're thinking, what in the world is that about? Well, she was my speech teacher. And all the way through elementary school and middle school, she was always giving me these flashcards to say my R's and my S's.
[1:18] And I'm super grateful for her. She checks in on me occasionally. And I love that. And so that was a teacher I have great memories of. And I think she liked having me as a student.
[1:30] I would drive my little moped over to the middle school when I was in elementary. It looked cool, Brett. I know you're picturing it's not. But she met with me in the summer to give me extra classes so that I could learn to speak more clearly.
[1:43] But that was a good relationship. Now, Miss Conley was a teacher that I really loved. But I don't imagine she liked me very much. She was an English teacher. And so that's one problem that she probably had with me.
[1:55] And then secondly, my friend Justin and I, she made monkey bread. How many of you know what monkey bread is? You pull it apart. It's wonderful. Many of you will not think about anything else the rest of the day but monkey bread.
[2:07] Should have saved that to the end of the sermon. But she made monkey bread. And me and my friend Justin, before class, we went into, we found it and we got into it. And we ate some of it.
[2:17] And then she came in the class with this monkey bread. And she said, somebody has got into the monkey bread. And because of that, she pulled out a trash can and she crumbled it up.
[2:29] And she said, because of that, none of you are going to get any monkey bread. And me and Justin were in the back of the class. We started laughing very hard. And she says, what is your problem?
[2:40] And we said, well, Ms. Conley, we've already had our monkey bread. And she's like, out of here to the principal's office. So I went to the principal and he's like, what are you doing here? Like, we had monkey bread. Why did you have monkey bread?
[2:51] I'm like, have you ever smelt it? He's like, oh, I have. And he's like, he's a young principal with his mid-30s. He's like, I'm not sure what to do with you. He's like, so he said, why don't you stay here long enough so that when you go back, she thinks that you got in trouble.
[3:04] So we sat there for a few minutes and we went back. Well, that was a teacher that we frustrated on many occasions through that. But we're really thankful for her.
[3:15] This portion of scripture, Titus 2.11 through 3.11, speaks about the role of grace in promoting godly behavior. And today specifically about the educating power of grace.
[3:28] We're going to see that the greatest teacher that you've ever had is grace. Verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us.
[3:41] That list of people before us, the age people in our lives, the kids, your parents, all those people are human teachers that have been used in our lives. But we should all believe that when we're teaching God's word, we're teaching things that have also been taught by the Holy Spirit and by His word and the life of believers.
[4:01] Adam Clark, concerning this portion of scripture, he wrote a commentary and he said, Few portions of the New Testament excel this chapter. It may well form the creed, system of ethics, and a textbook of every Christian preacher.
[4:15] Does any man inquire what is the duty of a gospel minister, that's all of us in here, and send him to the second chapter of the epistle to Titus for a complete answer?
[4:25] There's so much that's laid out in here and who we are to be. We are told to be sober. And we have so many descriptions that have been given to us, and we look to people to help us, but here in this next passage it says that grace has appeared and that it will teach us, that God is teaching us how to live out the Christian life.
[4:47] He is telling us how to behave as people that have received His unmerited favor in our lives. So what do we say when we mean grace? If you're sitting around a dinner table and somebody looked at you and they'd say, Would you like to say grace?
[5:01] If you said, Okay, grace. That would be awkward, right? That's not what they're talking about. They're saying, Would you say the prayer before the meal? That's often a way that the word grace is used.
[5:12] Sometimes the word is misused. Grace provides a license. It's an excuse where people say, I can do whatever I want because if I do whatever I want and there's grace available, then why don't I just go on living and sin?
[5:25] And the answer to that in the Bible is, God forbid. Those that truly understand Jesus, those that know Jesus, those that know grace, you would not want to go on sinning against such a loving Savior.
[5:38] So the few words that are more misunderstood or misapplied, even by those who treasure Jesus, than this word grace. We'll put it up on the screen, but I'm going to give you a simple definition today.
[5:49] As I speak about grace being a teacher, it's this. Grace is unmerited favor, which gives both the desire and ability to do God's will.
[6:01] Grace is unmerited favor. I think most of us would know that. That's probably the simplest definition if we were to give one. But it isn't in there. It's unmerited favor, which gives me both the desire and ability to do God's will.
[6:14] So that first statement there, it's grace involved this undeserved favor. Romans 3.24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
[6:27] When you and I were still enemies of the cross, that Jesus Christ, He loved us, and He extended forgiveness to us, and we did not earn it.
[6:38] It's unmerited. You've done nothing to earn your salvation. It's called a gift. Not of works, or you would boast. It was unmerited favor from God.
[6:49] And we're so grateful for that. That's one aspect. The next aspect is grace involves fervor. Not just favor, but fervor. It gives us specifically the desire and the power to do His will.
[7:03] And so that idea of grace being unmerited favor, that's not full enough. As we see passages of scriptures like 2 Corinthians 9.8, which says, And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always have all sufficiency, and all things may abound to every good work.
[7:20] That speaks to that aspect of grace that gives you the desire and the ability to do God's will. Grace provides strength for you to obey. Another example, 2 Corinthians 12.9, which is, And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
[7:39] Most gladly, therefore, I rather glory in my infirmities, and that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Synonymous here with the strength needed to live out what God has given us.
[7:50] You come here today, you don't desire to do the things that God has called upon you to do. You need His grace today. So grace is not only the disposition to do good for us when we don't deserve it, or for God to do good, to give us that.
[8:04] Grace is also the power from God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us, which we don't deserve. I like how it's been said, We were not birthed by grace and then laid on the doorstep of law, but grace abounds in our lives.
[8:21] We continually need God's grace in our lives. We continually need to receive it. We need to continue to extend it to other people. A.W. Tozer said, Abounding sin is the terror of the world, but abounding grace is the hope of mankind.
[8:35] And that's what we have found in Jesus, this abounding grace. So we see today, we're going to see that grace has showed up, has showed up, it showed up for a reason, and it purchased the people for Himself.
[8:47] Verse 11, For the grace of God brings salvation has appeared to all men. This hath appeared. It's the word in which we have in English that comes from epiphany. It's a metaphor as the sun is taken, as it's rising from the east and it's shining upon us.
[9:03] It enlightens us in the whole world. And it's speaking here of a historic event. In Moses, it says in John 1.17, that through Moses we knew the law, we knew that we were sinners, we knew that we needed something, that we were not sufficient, that we were born in a world underneath Adam after the fall, and we were broken.
[9:25] But by Jesus came grace and truth. The historic event that grace appeared in this world in Jesus. In that same passage, John 1.14, it says, And this word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
[9:44] So grace came. And why did He come? He came very clearly. It tells us, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save, which was lost. Grace came in the person of Jesus Christ.
[9:57] And so the kindness and the love of God and the grace of God appeared in the incarnate Christ who saved it. As one pastor says concerning the incarnation, Of all the times, it's the turning point.
[10:09] Of all love, it's the highest point. Of all worship, it is the central point. And of all salvation, it is the starting point. Grace appeared. Pretty soon, Christmas is coming, just a few weeks away, I guess now, just a couple months away, and we will celebrate that grace has appeared in history for us.
[10:28] The law taught us that we were sinners, but we were dead and without hope if Jesus Christ would not have arrived and died in our place. But the grace of God is so much more than an attribute, it is a person.
[10:40] Titus 3, 4. And after that, the kindness and love of our God, our Savior, towards man appeared. So when I say that grace has appeared and grace has a name, it's Jesus, this should mean something for all of us.
[10:53] The grace of God really refers to Christ here appearing in this world. So grace has appeared in this world and Jesus Christ being born, living a perfect life, dying a perfect death in our place, being risen again three days later.
[11:08] But it's also appeared in our own lives. I remember the place of my life as a nine-year-old boy when I came to a full understanding that I was a sinner in need of a Savior.
[11:20] And I'm thankful that the gospel presentation didn't end only with bad news. But then Jesus, He appeared. Grace appeared. I recognized that He was my Savior. I put my faith and trust in Him.
[11:32] So many Southern Gospel songs. Jonathan probably knows how many. He likes them. He's our resident scholar for Southern Gospel music over there. But so many songs talk about when Jesus passed by.
[11:42] And you love those kind of songs. You should. I love those kind of songs because Jesus passed by. The reason that we baptize children here at our church is because children can put their faith and trust in Jesus.
[11:54] At the age of nine, standing in the foyer, explaining to that pastor how I recognized this week that I was a sinner and I needed Jesus. And Jesus forgave me of my sins.
[12:05] And I cried because that's what I do. And I cried there at nine years of age. And He said, well, describe it. And I said, it was like I was standing in the middle of a road and I was about to be hit by a truck. And somehow I deserved that.
[12:17] And Jesus pulled me off the road because that was the grace of God. And it appeared in my life. And I'm so grateful. And if you're in here today and you do not know the grace of God, we would like to introduce you to Him and His name is Jesus.
[12:31] And so when I speak about grace having a name, that's biblical language here when it speaks about grace hath appeared. We're speaking about Jesus in our lives. He's appeared historically and He's appeared in our lives.
[12:44] And that's why you could have waited to baptize me, but I would not have been any more saved than I was at the age of nine. So a few weeks later, I was baptized at that church because even as a child, you're able to know the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation.
[13:01] So grace appeared. Second of all, grace appeared for a reason. And it says that teaching us what? Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
[13:14] Grace that is found in Jesus, it changes our lives. Our lives are made up on how we answer the deep questions of our lives. The appearing of Jesus and the grace that is offered should change our lives.
[13:27] As Ben shared in offering devotion, meeting Jesus, receiving the grace of God, changes the way that you live out a Tuesday afternoon at your work. I had the opportunity to speak to the Sparks class.
[13:40] It's one of our Awana classes a couple weeks ago. And I was speaking about creation and they asked me all kinds of questions that I'd never even thought about. Like, why can pigs eat people? And I'm like, I didn't know pigs could eat people, but now I have something else to be worried about in life.
[13:54] And there they would say, why does Genesis start with a G? And I'm like, that's over my head. You know, that's above my pay grade. I don't know any of that. And they were asking just questions that you would expect.
[14:05] And little Evelyn Cooper, she raised her hand after I explained that God created the world, He created man, and I was explaining all that. She just raised her hand and said, why did He do it?
[14:16] And all of the room got quiet. And they looked at me and they said, why did they do it? They were asking a question that would help develop their worldview.
[14:28] Of all the years that God gives me, I don't know that if maybe in those few moments that I didn't have the greatest opportunity that I was ever given in teaching. They were asking questions.
[14:39] All the kids were listening to this wonderful question that she had asked, that God created us. I got to share with them that God was not lacking anything, that God was not deficient, and that He did not need us, but He created us that we get to worship Him and that He had populated this world with people that will worship Him and just explaining that question to them, but we were created to worship God and that He should receive glory from our lives.
[15:08] So those kind of questions, like what is man and where did we come from? Everybody in the world wants to know that. Every religion has to give that type of answer, but as Bible-believing people, we look back to the creation account.
[15:21] Because we look to the creation account, we say there's a creator. Because we say there's a creator, we say there's authority in our lives. Because there's a creator, the man's created with human dignity. It changes the way that we relate to one another.
[15:33] It changes so many things about the way we live out our lives, that big building block of the worldview. Or a question is, what is the problem with this world? We look to God's Word, we see the fallenness of man, we see that evil exists, we see that there's sin in this world, we see that there's sin inside of us, and we need a Redeemer.
[15:52] And so what are we to do with that sin? And that's answered in the person of Jesus. And that grace hath appeared. And so how you answer these questions will determine so much about what shapes your life.
[16:04] Your understanding of that is going to shape the way that you live your life. And so when it says that grace has appeared and it is teaching us, we should consider the training aspect of that in our lives.
[16:18] When you think about a teacher, maybe you typically just think about somebody that is lecturing. Some of you didn't like school in here, looking at you, Jeff, all right, you've admitted before, and you just heard, because you didn't like the classroom setting, you didn't like the Charlie Brown teacher just talking to you all the time.
[16:33] You wanted to get out there and you want to do something. And so grace is teaching us in real time, and it is training us. It is shaping us. On a Friday night, I got to go and see the famous Penrod brothers in action as they played football.
[16:49] And I was just blown away about many things in that game. And they're incredible. They're not just off the field, are they impressive, but on the field as well.
[17:00] But one of the things that I was just overwhelmed with was how much coaching there was and how much was available to them. And so there was one time while the game was still going on that Austin was underneath the tent with a coach watching game tape that had just taken place like three minutes ago in the middle of the game.
[17:19] Does anybody know what I'm talking about in here? I'm telling you, let me make sure you understand this. If you don't understand football, they're recording the game and in the middle of the game, the players are sitting underneath the tent watching game tape that had just taken place a few minutes prior.
[17:36] It just blew my mind, all right? I've never seen anything like that in all of my life. But they are training. They're showing. And they're saying, this is what happened. This is what should have happened. Let me help you get from where you are at to where you ought to be going.
[17:51] There's a training aspect that's going on, not just lecturing, but training that takes place. I don't know much about football. I played basketball growing up. But my coach did more than just lecturing and teaching me, but he was right there beside me.
[18:05] I had a surgery when I was 16 and it cut all the muscles in my abdomen and so I couldn't leave the ground. When I tried to jump, I could not. My feet wouldn't even leave the ground.
[18:16] And so my coach brought me out there and it was my job just to jump up and try to hit the bottom of the backboard. And as I was standing there, he would stand by me. He would say, quality is not an act.
[18:28] It's a habit. And as I would do that, he would just yell that over and over to me. He was a good coach and he was constantly saying, this is where you're at and this is where you need to be and I'm going to be with you all along the way.
[18:42] And so grace teaches us. It's going to teach us how to live soberly, righteously, and godly. It's an attitude, a mindset, a seriousness about the things of God.
[18:54] Righteously, actions to others, a right relationship. The Bible tells us how we are to treat one another. Many of the characteristics that were given in this chapter talk about our relationship one to another.
[19:05] Verse 10 being one, we shouldn't steal from one another but we should live with integrity. That's contrasted to the way that people would live in ungodly lives. And then lastly here, it said, live soberly, righteously, and godly.
[19:19] That speaks about our affections toward God. We need that in our lives. We need teaching in our lives if we are going to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.
[19:33] And Jesus, the grace of God, is present in our lives continually teaching and coaching and shaping our lives ever present there for us.
[19:44] And so it goes on to teach us what we are to forsake. And so we are to forsake ungodliness. We're tempted so often to say yes to every desire and every feeling. We live in a present age that would not only say if you desire something, you should have it.
[19:58] And if you want something, then that is your true identity. That everything's turned upside down. We don't live in a world that is supposed to say no to your desires if they're fallen. We're supposed to say not only say yes to them, but they're supposed to identify who we are.
[20:12] So the reality of our faith is going to be demonstrated in what we are willing to deny. And it's the grace of God that is active in our lives that is going to teach us how to say yes and how to teach us to say no.
[20:25] Denying ungodliness and denying worldly lust. And we need the grace of God present in every day of our lives. At the age of nine, recognizing that I was a sinner, I needed the grace of God in my life.
[20:39] I needed an undeserved, unmerited favor in my life. Today, as a husband and as a father at 40, I need the grace of God in my life today as well.
[20:49] I need Him giving me the power and desire to live in the way in which He has called me to live. And then we're told what to focus on. Not only what are we supposed to be forsaking, which is this ungodliness and worldly lust, but also what we are to focus on.
[21:06] Verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And so what is that blessed hope? It's grace teaches us that we ought to be expecting it.
[21:17] Not just wishful thinking, but expecting for that blessed hope to come. And that hope is not a series of events, heaven or glory, but it's Jesus Himself face to face, closer than ever.
[21:31] That's what we desire as Bible believers. When we talk about tonight, we'll talk about Israel and end times. We're not excited about a series of events that are going to come into place after the Lord's return.
[21:42] We're excited about our hope. We're excited about Jesus Christ returning and us getting to see Him. Because that's been the great pursuit of our lives is to know Him and to make Him known and someday we will get to see Him face to face.
[21:56] So it says glorious appearing and also says this blessed hope. It's possible here that Paul is referring to the two separate events, the glorious appearing and when Christ would come in the clouds and we call it a rapture and the gathering of the church and then when He will return.
[22:11] But maybe he's just thinking of it as one big thing which is there's a time that's going to come where all this will end and all these struggles of the present world will end and our hope will be found in Him.
[22:22] We'll talk more about that tonight in that third question that will be answered. So Charles Spurgeon talking about this passage he says the discipline of grace according to the apostle has three results denying, living, and looking.
[22:36] And you see these three words right before us. We are people because of the grace of God that we deny these ungodly desires. We deny these worldly lusts. We deny worshiping anything other than Him.
[22:50] We also are living it out. We have been given a path. Not just guide rails to say don't come over here and don't do that but we're told that this is the will of God and the way that you should live your life.
[23:02] And we're told what the will of God is for our lives. We're told what it is and then the grace of God in our lives is giving us the ability and desire to live it. And then lastly the result here grace has appeared.
[23:14] Grace appeared for a reason and in that reason is that Jesus He has purchased for Himself a people. Titus 2.14 Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.
[23:33] When it says that He gave Himself for us that grace that appeared that was born in a manger He gave Himself for us He went to a cross and He died in our place He took our sins on His account and He went to a cross and in doing that He is now able to redeem us from iniquity that the purchase price for our sins or as the Bible would say the wages of sin is death and Jesus Christ paid for those.
[24:01] We're all familiar what wages are we know what you can do a job and what will be paid for the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death and separation from God for all eternity but Jesus Christ which is grace has appeared and He gave Himself and He has redeemed us and as a result He has bought for Himself a peculiar people and peculiar means that we are belonging to Him we are belonging to Him Josh sent me a picture Josh Chris earlier this week and he said I found your twin and it was a man standing and he looked a lot like me and the way that he was standing with poor posture it reminded Josh of his friend Trent I appreciate that so much alright so I'm going to call you out in church you don't mess with me the only week I have a pulpit on Sunday alright we'll make this thing even and as I saw it I saw and it was a peculiar way that the man was standing which means it was distinctive which means that that is a way of standing that looks like Trent you can have a peculiar walk you have a peculiar way that you do something it doesn't just mean that it's strange and weird which it can be strange and weird but what it really means is that it's distinctive it's belonging so Jesus Christ
[25:16] He died grace appeared and He died for us and He bought for Himself a people and we distinctly belong to Him before you belong to anything else in this world you belong to Jesus so whenever you go to make a question as Ben says on a Monday you gotta say well let me first remember I belong to Jesus and then let me make that decision because of all the factors in your life there's none that should have a greater bearing upon your life than you belong to Jesus and so just like there's implications of your world view where you would say well I believe there's a creator I believe there's a creation which means I can and can't do these things or that I believe these certain things whatever it is in life then the fact that your world view ought to be shaped by the fact that you belong to Jesus He has redeemed you and that ought to teach you how to behave in this world and so God is demonstrating saving power and He will do it through saved peculiar people David Rackley I worked in college for a roofing company and some of my tactics for selling roofs were not what they should have been alright and one of the things that I did when I went door to the door is I couldn't put a roof on
[26:25] I could tell you where the roof was at that's about all I could tell you about a roof but what I would say here and the company we said well it wasn't and we said we don't do any marketing so this is what I'd say I would come up to the door I was just driving by the area sir and we don't have any marketing material so what we do is we provide a parade of homes and your home is just so beautiful and if you would allow us to put a roof on your home at a discount then you would be part of our parade of homes and that people could drive by and when they wanted to see our work we could tell them that we have done work in the area and you could be a great example well some people really like that you know they like their home they like this parade of homes which is something I completely made up alright it made sense cars are driving down the road it's a parade alright it's this parade of homes and we could give you great discount if you will sign up for this parade of homes there's no marketing material there's just the proof of a job well done
[27:26] I know that example is silly but Frederick Nietzsche said if you'll show me you show me the redeemed and I will believe there is a redeemer why does the world not believe that there is a redeemer they just haven't seen many people that have been redeemed they just haven't seen many people that have been changed by the gospel because if we truly believe what we say is true then it's going to be lived out in our lives in so many different ways have you noticed in the time in which we live in how you can do something that ought to just be considered being normal being human just being a good neighbor that you're just kind to somebody and they're just so amazed by the fact because nobody seems to care about anybody anymore and they see that in your life and it's your job to say you know what the reason I act redeemed is because I've met a redeemer the reason I'm able to bestow grace in you is because grace has appeared in my life and Mike it says who is a God like unto thee that parteth iniquity
[28:32] I believe the world has asked that question and it ought to be answered by a parade of homes of people when they go down and they see our lives they see our families and the way that we live their lives they would say we may not agree with those people but there is something that has changed there's something that they believe in that changed the way that they live Jesus wants to be known as a savior as we come to a close today it's said here in each of the chapters here he's referred to as a savior verse 10 that Ben read it says that we might adorn the doctrine of God our savior in all things Jesus Christ wants to be known in this world as a savior and the way that that's shown is that we are shown that we are people that have been saved and that are being saved from our sin and one day ultimately will be saved from it all all false religions they can offer religion can offer so many things that are similar to other religions in Christianity but a false religion can be motivated by fear and guilt and shame they can give a purpose in this life they can show a good cause but you cannot replicate
[29:38] Jesus there is no one that is like that and so the law prepared a way to let us know that we needed grace and we needed grace and he appeared and so as we've said before all religions tell you that you have to work your way to the top you have to work your way and that God is at the top but the Christianity says that Jesus Christ left the top and he came to earth and he appeared among us and he gave us grace that grace appeared in Jesus and so we've been redeemed by him we've been justified freely by the grace and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus grace has a name and that grace and that name is Jesus so here's Paul telling Titus he says Titus it's going to be important that you continually remind the church that there's a reason that you exist and the reason that you're in this world is to display God's saving power so that others in seeing it may well be drawn to salvation we should live a life that displays the fact that we have been redeemed we should display a life that we have received the grace and so we rejoice in the grace that we have received the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God are free gifts today that means that it cost us nothing because it cost him everything so I'm going to pray here in a moment
[30:55] I'm going to invite you to stand and sing and I pray that our time of singing will be a response that you'll just take some time and you'll just realize the grace of God go back into that time in your life where somebody shared the gospel with you I had no idea that I needed grace until that moment that I realized that I was desperate for it and that Jesus Christ didn't forgive me of my sins I would spend eternity separated from him and I received grace and that truth ought to be transformational it's more than just an attribute it is a person and meeting Jesus should change every aspect of my life and so we ought to express that in our gratitude and so we'll stand and we will sing as we should but as we leave here let's not stop singing let's not stop rejoicing let's not stop being shaped and coached and trained by what he has done in our lives the grace of God in our lives daily not only unmerited favor but also the desire and ability to live the life in which he has called us to live and some of you in here may have never received that gift and I want to give you great news today the most wonderful gift in all the worlds available for you today the gift of God as grace has appeared in history it can appear in your life today this can be a great day for you and recognizing all that you need and all that you desire and that area of forgiveness of sin is possible because Jesus Christ came and he gave himself that he may redeem us and make us his own would you bow your head and pray with me here for a moment with heads bowed and eyes closed and I pray for my brothers and sisters in here and may the Holy Spirit do work in your life and help you recognize does your life adorn the doctrines of Christ as it's been said in here so well we cannot make more of the gospel it is beautiful but we can reflect it more clearly as parents our relationship one to another to our children ought to display the gospel as workers our work ethic our integrity should be on display of the gospel we should live as people that have been abundantly blessed by God's grace and not as people who do not have it you remember those days some of you in here what it was like to not know the grace of God and then receive it it's changed your life it's changed your eternity and it can continue doing that so believer in here pray unto the Lord ask him to be recognize that he is the teacher in your life shaping and coaching you how to live this out showing you where you're at the game tape of where you're at but coaching and helping you to where you should be and believers as you're praying there in your seats
[33:46] I want to speak to you in here today if you've never known the grace of God the best way to know it is in the person of Jesus Christ he is full of grace and truth you'll never know grace until you know Jesus there may be believers in your life that have shown you grace and that's only possible because of the grace they've received in Jesus so I want you to know this real clearly what I mean when I tell you that grace is offered to you by Jesus that every one of us were born in the sin we were born with a sinful nature and at a young age you may recognize that when you had a desire to do right or to do wrong many times we chose to do wrong and that was not only wrong towards those in our lives but that was sin against the creator it was rebellion and that sin comes with a cost the wage of that will be separation from God for all eternity and we were lost and without hope until grace appeared and Jesus came and lived a life in our place and he offers an exchange your life for his he has taken your sin upon the cross and so this is what
[34:55] I would encourage you to do pray to him today cry out to him and ask for grace so that you recognize as a sinner that you're in need of grace and he is a redeemer and the day he will be your redeemer you could cry out to him today in your prayers there in your seat you could go to a next steps table and say that you would like to receive more information or you could reject this gift but there's no way that you can ignore the invitation where it's been extended today may the day be the day that grace appears in your life I'm going to pray that I'm going to invite you all to stand with me and we will sing as we respond and we rejoice not just in our singing but in the way in which we live out our lives may the gospel be on display heavenly father I thank you for your word but father more I also want to thank you lord for the grace that you have shown as we've read your word at times and we have not lived according to it that you have given us the desire and the ability to live out the life that you have called us to do by knowing that we are forgiven of sins lord you have set us free to live this life may we not be people that say we believe something but it not be reflected in the way in which we live father I pray the day that all my brothers and sisters in here the older ones and the younger ones that every one of us lord would recognize the incredible opportunity that we have to show that there is a redeemer and that we have been redeemed father I pray that anyone here the day that has never known your grace that has not appeared in their life that today would be the day of salvation that they would not leave without praying to you receiving forgiveness of sins repenting of those sins and turning their life to you may you give us the great privilege and joy of helping people start that journey father we love you so very much we love the name
[36:49] Jesus we love what he has done in our lives and may we live lives lord that reflect that in Jesus name I pray amen