Brother Gary Sunday Morning 11/11/12

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 11/11/12

Rev 22:21  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

There are many problems in the World today.  It is vital that you and I have an understanding of the Grace of God.  A lot of people have the conception of grace that it is mystic and allows you to see everything through rosy glasses.

The grace of God is the inspiration of the Divine upon the heart and it’s reflection in our life.  The very writer of this scripture also told us in First John that grace came by Jesus Christ and grace for grace. 

In the Greek Dictionary of the New Testament there are about 10 or 11 words that describe grace.  One of them is ‘acceptable’.  Without the grace of God there will be nothing acceptable in our life or in our relationships toward God and toward each other.

When we experience the grace of God we realize that it is a great benefit.  In the decision making process, seek the grace of God that it will come to you and be that benefit and favor to you.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God.  It causes us to be gracious.  Life is not fair, but if you, in life, find yourself being agitated, if you will ask God for grace He will cause you to see how many things you have to be thankful for.

Joy liberality:  grace causes you to have joy that is unending.  Grace means pleasure.  It is a real pleasure to have the divine influence of God come upon our heart.  The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.  We need God’s grace to come so that our heart doesn’t lead us astray.  We need to trust to the grace of God instead of our heart.

Grace means thank worthy. 

The thought that has convicted me is, “what is inspiring my heart?”  The heart is the seat of our affections.  We think of what we’d like to do this winter.  There may be trips that you would like to take or books that you would like to read.  There is nothing wrong with hobbies to enjoy or things that you like to do. 

It doesn’t matter what the hobby or pastime, don’t be deceived into thinking that it will bring you life satisfaction.  One as wise as Solomon thought that he could bring all sorts of things into his country and seek after all sorts of things and find satisfaction.  He ended with the thought, “It is all vanity.”

What is inspiring your and my heart this morning?  God moved upon Paul, a man that thought that he had it all together until he realized that he didn’t.  He wrote to Titus:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Many times people don’t understand that it is God’s grace appearing to them.  For most of us God’s grace began appearing to us as children.  We had serious questions.  We wanted to know where we came from and where we would go when we died.

I think I hammered the question to my mother so much that I remember asking her again as we were riding in the car.  My mother said, “By and by son, you will understand more.”  Needless to say, I wasn’t content with the answer.  I wanted to know now.

The grace of God brings salvation.  Grace is the divine influence upon our heart and its reflection into the life.   

Some mornings you wake up very happy.  Other mornings you wake up without having a good night, and others you wake with aches and pains.  Some mornings you wake up and dread the day.  This doesn’t mean that you are not saved or that God is angry with you.

Some people wake up and the first thing that hits them in the face is their past.  God understands that you may be sorry for the past.  If you allow that to be the inspiration for the day then you will not have a good day. 

Some days you wake up and are burdened for a son or a daughter, when I see an individual whose life is on the broad way I know that they are headed to destruction.  We don’t like to think of anyone headed to destruction, but we know that they are because Jesus taught it very early.  If you allow that to be your inspiration then you will be down all day.

We are blessed to have the grace of God visit us, but we are blessed to realize that it is vitally important that you and I know how to approach the throne of grace so that we can have the Divine influence and the inspiration of that come upon our soul.  It will help us to know how to deal with it rightfully.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

The design of grace is that you and I have a divine influence to have grace as a teacher teaching us to deny lusts.  All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  If we allow the world to be our influence we will always make the wrong decisions.  We are to deny those and live soberly, righteously, and godly.

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

The grace of God influences us to look for that blessed hope.  The grace of God brings hope.  The world, the influences of the world, all the people of the world may bring discouragement and the thought that it is hopeless, but the grace of God brings hope. 

It is wonderful that we have a source that we can go to that will bring a lively hope.  We don’t have something about us that just because of who we are things will turn out without Divine intervention.  We need Divine intervention. 

We need hope not only to go to heaven but for while we are here.  We need hope for where we are, to study the Word of God.  We are all needy. 

The blessed hope is more than just Jesus coming.  We have blessed hope for answers to prayer, blessed hope so that we can learn more about Jesus and more of His fullness show.

Tit 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.

May God help you and me to realize that God Himself was willing for his son to pay the supreme cost that you could be redeemed from a terrible life of sin. 

2Co 8:9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

For my sake He became poor.  He did not have to suffer.  He suffered for you and for me.  There are not many people that will make themselves poor to help you and me.  My banker will not go poor trying to help me.  It will not happen.  Jesus became poor that through His poverty we might be rich. 

He came to redeem us from sin.  In the world there is something that would like to educate our minds in error.  That is the thought that sin isn’t destroying.  I want it real to me that the broad road leads to destruction. 

We look at those that seem to have it all together and think, “They are really doing well in sin.”  No they are not doing well in sin. 

Towser said, “Sin is a terror.”  If we are not careful sin will callous us until we don’t think that sin is having a very bad affect.  If you don’t believe that sin is having a bad affect then your prayers will be shallow so that you are telling God how good someone is.  God says, “They are headed for destruction.”  It puts a whole different look at things.

Peculiar: this is one that God and Jesus redeemed and purified and they are His special ones.  He shall say, “These are mine, in the day that I make up my jewels.”

We all know how people feel about their own.  We wouldn’t take that from any mother or father.  We love our own.  This is why Jesus came. This is why grace: the inspiration of the Divine upon the soul and it reflecting into the life. 

It doesn’t matter how you wake up, you see lots to be thankful for.  You say, God help me to do today what is acceptable and beneficial to someone else.”

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Tit 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.

Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Zealous of good works.

They brought young children to Him that He should touch them, and the disciples forbid them.  Jesus was displeased with His disciples.  He said, “Don’t forbid the children to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of God.” 

Jesus wanted to influence innocent lives with grace.  He knew that little children would have lots of influences enter the mind that would cause them to talk back to their parents, or throw crayons instead of color. The influence of the Divine would cause them to love and care. 

We all have a past and our past scares us to death. But you can let Jesus inspire you and you can let Him come close and let Him touch you. 

The grace of God appears to those that are captive.  Matt 4:16 those that sat in darkness saw a great light.

When Jesus was on earth, there were people that sin had immobilized.  They had lost their reason for living.  They were setting in darkness and Jesus shed a light on them.

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Jesus said, “I came to preach the gospel to the poor.”  I came to bring good news to that one that has lost so much.  He came to heal the broken hearted.  I came for those whose lives have been broken and who find themselves broken hearted over what they have lost.

I have come to preach deliverance to the captive, to those that can’t think right because they are bound.  If there is only darkness on your horizon then let the grace of God come and anoint your eyes so that you can see the good things that are out there. 

If the road of life has left you hurting, if the bruises haven’t been healed then they will turn to bitterness.  Let the Divine influence come and heal your bruises so that you don’t become bitter.

Children learn to be influenced.  Young people, let grace influence your heart.  To those between 20 and 50, let divine influence come into your heart.  There are a lot influences to your nature and flesh.  Let the grace of God come upon your heart and bring out the influences that are beneficial and acceptable.

Study grace and recognize the need of the influences of grace.  We need Divine influence for every part of our life.  Our lives need grace. 

Possess grace.  Be determined that you will have grace as you get up from your devotions.  Don’t get up the same way that you got down. 

Only be influenced by the grace of God.  We want grace influencing our pathway and directing our decisions.  We need renewed by divine influences.  We need renewed by the grace of God.

Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

He knows how to give grace when you are worn out.  When you have prayed and fasted and there seems to be no change, God knows how to renew you. 

If God has spoken to you and said, “Son or daughter, I feel about you as I felt about the little children, come unto me.”  Let’s come boldly to the throne of grace.  When we are in desperate need of grace, when we have to grit our teeth because we are so unhappy with ourselves, when you need grace come boldly and you will find grace to help in every time of need.