All Who Trust in God should Do What Is Good

0 (0s): Good morning. 0 (6s): you cross says you wait for the 2 (15m 36s): Lord, we adore you. We worship and praise you this morning in Jesus name. Amen. 3 (15m 45s): Amen. Turn and greet somebody and we will have shirts here. We'll continue to have church. Look at those guns. 3 (17m 20s): Here we go. Welcome back. Hey, we're in Titus chapter three. Today, we're going to wrap up Titus chapter three a minute for the last number of weeks, a little break window. Jeremy spoke for a couple of weeks in a row and a little break from last week, but we are back in Titus chapter three, Titus chapter three. We've titled the message. All who trust in God should do what is good. All who trust in God should do. What is good? Where are we picking it up in verse and Ron Ron covered Titus three one. And so if you miss that message, you can look online@aigharvest.org, and you will find the message there. 3 (18m 1s): So will be entitled chapter three, verses two, and following. So w getting ready to leave this morning, and Jolene's got this sweater, Jolene's my wife. And she's got this sweatshirt on. It says, choose happy. And it has totally brightened my day, because she's been going through recovery from her surgery. She had surgery about 10 days ago, and, and now they, they think she might have a torn diaphragm. So she might have to go back in for that. And so she's got to been through a lot of pain and, and yet she's choosing to be optimistic and choosing to be happy and just choosing to trust the Lord. And I thought, man, that's really what we probably all need to be doing in our lives. Choosing to do the right thing when it's especially difficult to choose the right thing, I've had to do that because I don't know if you've noticed, but God has not given me the gift of compassion and empathy. 3 (18m 54s): It might be surprising to some, not so much to others. And so it's been my job to, with compassion and empathy, take care of my wife for these last 10 days and probably for the foreseeable future for the next six weeks or so, depending on what's going on with her, but because of my love for her, my desire to serve for guys to give me the, you know, I've been asking the Lord, Lord, would you give me the grace just to do this every day? Would you give me the grace to get up and take care of her and just serve her in her time of need? And so the Lord has been doing that and I thought, this is how really we are meant to live the Christian life, just completely dependent on the Lord, depending on him to fill us with the desire to do the things that he's called us to do. 3 (19m 36s): We've all been called for purpose. And part of that purpose is doing good. Paul writes to Titus here in Titus chapter three, and he explains that the people of God must learn to do good. And then he impacts some things, some areas in which we need to learn to do good. And so we're going to be unpacking that together. And I, as you'll be Kaleed, as I was challenged in prepping the message and thinking about the, the, the, the words that were written there that remember the context. So this letter is written to Titus, who is a spiritual oversee of the pastor of a bunch of house churches on the island of Crete. 3 (20m 17s): Crete is in, it's a group, a Grecian island, and it's, it's very corrupt. It's, it's a very dark culture. And in fact, in Titus one 12, it says everyone, even one of their own men. So even one of their own men who profit from Crete has said about them, that people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals and lazy gluttons. So that kind of gives us the backdrop. Maybe we can look at our own culture and say, man, we're dealing with a lot of the same type of stuff. The people of creed are all liars, cruel animals and lazy gluttons. And so God by his mercy rescues people out of a culture with the desire to save them, adopt them into his family, but then also to transform their lives so that they can be salt in light, salt, and light in their culture. 3 (21m 11s): And so God has done the same thing with us. He is he's rescued us. He has saved us. He has adopted us into his family, and then he has challenged us to be salt and light in our culture. And so that means that we must live differently than those in the culture around us. We have this responsibility, but not just this responsibility, but we've got the power of God that enables us to live differently by his grace. And because of his strength, he actually empowers us to do what we can not do in our own strength. He empowers us to want to do what we don't even want to do in our own strength, but he challenges us with truth so that we might examine our own lives and say, yeah, God, you're right. 3 (21m 58s): I, I need to live this way. I need to stop living this way. I need to think differently about my purpose in life. Why I'm here, why I've got a pulse, what's your purpose for me? Well, Paul helps us to understand our purpose, especially in light of a pretty dark culture, a pretty rough culture. Paul's instructing Titus to bring order to these congregations of believers all over the island. So to kind of recap, the first three chapters Titus was to appoint elders and the elders were supposed to help with instruction in governance over the local church, he was to confront false teachers in order to, to confront false seizures. 3 (22m 45s): You actually have to know theology. You have to know the Bible, you have to know truth so that you can discern truth from error. So part of Titus's job was to confront the false teachers, equipping the saints, the church of the living, God, to be able to do the same thing he was to promote right conduct in the household of God. In other words, how are we supposed to relate one to another? Within the household of God, Titus was to bring correction when needed. And finally Titus was to instruct people how to live in societies. That's kind of what we've been talking about. How do we live out our faith in society in general? 3 (23m 26s): What, what is our life supposed to look like? What is the order of the, from the Lord that he would have us to follow? As we follow him, Titus three, two, it says they, the believers must not slander in the Greek. It's the same word that we get our word blast theme from. I never really thought about blaspheming another person, but it literally means to rail on and to be critical of a person. And so it's clear that Paul is challenging something that he is most likely seeing within the church, something of the culture that is bleeding into the congregation of the saints, something from the culture that is impacting and, and bringing darkness on the name of Christ and the church. 3 (24m 20s): And so he's challenging the people, the believers, they must not slander. So I think in the flesh, we naturally slander when we've been hurt. We lash out with slander. When we've been disappointed, we lash out with slander when things don't go our way, we lash out with slander. We tend to use slander in as a way of kind of expressing anger and expressing disappointment and expressing frustration. But Paul's selling tidy some of the inspiration of the holy spirit. Believers must not slander. That means we've got to exercise self-control in the way that we speak and the way that we use our tongue, the Bible in James talks about the power of the tongue. 3 (25m 9s): It's got power to do great things and power to do great evil. And it all depends on how we use our tongue. They, the believers must not slander. They must not bless beam one another, any one must not blast seam or slander anyone and must avoid quarrelling. We must avoid quarrelling. Now, I'll be honest with you. I almost got into a quarrel with my neighbor recently. It was close call, but I exercise some self control. So my neighbor comes over and he's drunk and he's mad at me about something. And I'm, I'm not home. I'm at my neighbors, my other neighbor's house. 3 (25m 50s): And he gets into my truck and he's drunk. And he's laying on the horn until I come out to talk with him. And Jolene said, Hey, you need to get out of Steve's truck because he's not going to be happy if you, if he comes home and you're in his truck, I'm not getting out of here until he comes over. So, anyway, so I came over and after kind of getting my composure, because I heard what was going on. I, I had to make a decision. Am I going to physically remove him from my truck? Or am I just going to take a higher higher road here? And she used to be gentle and handle it, hopefully the way that God would handle it. And so the, the verse goes on here. 3 (26m 30s): It says, instead they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. So did my neighbor D did he deserve gentleness and humility? No, he didn't. He deserved to be physically removed from my truck, but because of God's grace, I was able to show true humility and gentleness with him. Number one, in our notes, as we talk about this, this topic of right living, all who trust in God should do what is good. Number one, we must exercise self control. We've got to exercise, self control. And really the best way to exercise self control is to allow our lives to be filled and directed by the holy spirit. 3 (27m 17s): We're not meant actually to live life as believers and followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, apart from the power of the holy spirit. And so, as I shared last week, that I had a hard time connecting with the heavenly father because of my dysfunctional earthly father. Sometimes we have a hard time connecting with the holy spirit in all of these, of all of his mystery and, and, and just maybe with bad experiences in the past. But we are literally not meant to live life as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, without the power of the holy spirit within us. And so if you're reading the scripture and wondering why you don't have the grace and the power and the ability and the self control to do what God is asking you to do, it may be that you're lacking the presence of the holy spirit in your life. 3 (28m 1s): And so we're told in scripture to over and over again, be filled with the holy spirit. The spirit of God gives us the grace to be humble and to show gentleness with people. The holy spirit gives us clarity when we're in a difficult conversation, the holy spirit gives us counsel when we need counsel from the holy spirit, the holy spirit is our helper. He's our, he, he's the presence of the living God within us. So he's always with us, always there to help us and direct us. And yet we go through life often, not counseling with the holy spirit, especially when we need it. 3 (28m 41s): We need to get in the habit of calling on God in the good times. And in the hard times, if we call on God, if we choose and learn to call on God, the holy spirit in times that are good, we will naturally and most and more naturally call on him. When things get hard, we're told in Ephesians 4 30, 1 and 32 that we're to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. We can't do any of that stuff in our natural man. Our natural human response is all of those things. It's rage and anger and harsh words. 3 (29m 21s): It's slander all of these things come out of us when we're not filled with the presence of the living God. But when we are filled with the presence of the living, God, when press the glory and the beauty of what God has done within us, we'll begin to come out and we're able to show gentleness and true humility to people who do not deserve it. Verse 32 and Ephesians four says instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. And so we need to live in relationship with others, expressing to them, loving them the way that God, by his great grace and mercy has related to us, he has continually faithfully, forever and ever forgiven us and has served us and is taking care of us. 3 (30m 20s): And he's given us the grace and the power to do the same with others instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. When you, when we begin to do that much, like I shared about my father and my relationship with my father and just the ability to forgive him, all of those things that I wrote down and shared with you last week, it was like the holy spirit just did a scrub, a work in my soul to cleanse me of all of this stuff. That was, that was there. It had been there for decades. It was, it was a work of the holy spirit that I have not been able to accomplish in my own strength. So exercising self control can only be done as we yield ourselves to the holy spirit. 3 (31m 6s): And one of the fruit of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit is self-control. And so if you're struggling today to implement the things that we read in the scripture and talk about on Sunday morning and the things that we discuss in Bible study it's because it you're, you may be lacking the power and the presence of the holy spirit to invite the holy spirit into your circumstance in life. It requires humility. It requires an emptying of yourself. It requires the decision that says, you know what? I cannot do this in my own strength. I don't want to try to do this in my, in my own strength. It's foolish for me to try and do this in my own strength. So holy spirit, give me the words, give me the grace, give me the help that I need in each and every circumstance. 3 (31m 50s): And as a result, you will have the self-control and the strength that you need in each and every circumstance. So Paul makes a comparison. He says, once we to verse three, once we too were foolish and disobedience, like we did all of these things before we knew Christ, we were misled and became slaves to many less and pleasures, our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other, but he said, but, but when God came and that's the, the big, but that we want to use every time we're up against a difficult situation, we want to say, but this is impossible. But God, this is beyond my scope, but God, I don't want to do this right thing, but God will give me the grace and the strength to do it. 3 (32m 39s): But when God, our savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us. Not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. So we've been saved by his mercy now because of our good works, he recognized our desperate need before we could do anything about it. And he rescued us, he washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and a new life through the holy spirit. So this is what we've been talking about. This new birth, meaning your old man has died. You've been born again. You have new life, new power, new focus, new ability in Christ because you've been adopted into his family. 3 (33m 19s): You've been given new life birth by the holy spirit, filled with the power of God to do the works and to live the way that he's called you to live. So, number one, we must exercise self control. But number two, we must remember who we are. I think sometimes we get, say, do we go about our business as if nothing has changed. We as if we haven't made the biggest decision in our whole life ever, we go about our business in our flesh, in our own strength with a human mind, instead of a spirit, a spirit filled mind. And God's saying, listen, you have been born again. Remember who you are because in that transformation, in that new life experience, I've got new purpose and a new life and a new plan for your life. 3 (34m 7s): We must remember who we are. We are spirit filled followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, unless we're not, maybe you're here today and you don't feel like you're spirit filled follower of Christ. Maybe you're here today and you don't even know Christ. The reality is, is that God will give you the grace to know him and to follow him. And he'll come into your life and save you and rescue you and adopt you into his family. To give you a brand new purpose for your life. And then you will become a spirit filled follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So I'll ask you this question. Are you a spirit filled follower of the Lord? 3 (34m 47s): Jesus Christ. If you're not, you simply do one of two things. Maybe you're a Christian here, but you've never been filled with the holy spirit. You haven't asked the holy spirit to come into your life. You haven't been dependent on the holy Spirit's. You haven't been waiting and, and resting in the holy spirit with your life, but you've been doing things in your own strength with your own desires, with your own plans, with your own purpose. So maybe you just need to avail yourself to the Lord. And I would say, do this all the time. Not just on Sundays, not just when you're going through a hard time, but get up every morning and say, God, I, I just need you to fill me with your spirit. Maybe by lunchtime. You're feeling like you're all empty. 3 (35m 28s): Again. You say, okay, Lord, it's lunchtime. And I need you to fill me with your holy spirit, because I want my life to reflect you. I want who I am to look like who you are. God, I pray that you would do a wonderful supernatural work in me. And so you just begin to avail yourself to the power of the holy spirit is become, it just becomes a normal part of your rhythm and routine as you pray. And as you seek the Lord, maybe you're here today. You don't know Jesus, and you've never been filled with the holy spirit because you've never been introduced to Jesus. Well, I'm introducing you to Jesus. He's the savior of the world. He died for your sins. He loves you unconditionally. He wants to adopt you into his family. And so if you've never accepted the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ know that his grace is sufficient to cover all of your sins. 3 (36m 13s): Your sins are your mistakes, your failures, your shortcomings, the Bible calls them sin. He loves you. God loves you unconditionally. In spite of what you've done, he still loves you. And he wants to adopt you into his family so that he can give you a new life so that he can call you a son so that he can call you his daughter so that you can be spending eternity in heaven with the Lord that's God's plan. And if you would like to receive him, you just say, Lord, I, I need all of what pastor Steve is saying. I need you to come into my life and I need you to forgive me of my sin. I need you to save me. I need you to adopt me into your family. And as you do that, the holy spirit fills your life. And God rescues you and gives you new life and a new purpose in your life. 3 (36m 58s): It says in verse six, he generously poured out the spirit upon us through Jesus Christ, our savior. So he's not with holding. God is not withholding the goodness that he has for us, but he generously pours it out upon us. Generously gives it to us so that we might live the kind of life that he desires for us to live because of his grace verse seven, he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life because of his goodness, because of what he has done. He's given us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. So you give your life to Jesus. This side of heaven, you are filled with the holy Spirit's. 3 (37m 39s): You're given new purpose. You know, now why you're here in the earth. You know why you have a pulse and why you're still breathing. God has given you new purpose because you've been born again in him. And so now your life is all about serving Jesus and surrounded by Jesus in his plans and purposes. And so you you're confident in your future because of what God has said. You're confident in your eternity because of what Jesus has done. And so now you just move forward day by day, serving him. That's just what the Christian life is meant to me, Jesus, with his disciples on the sea of the sh the shore of the sea of Galilee said, Hey, come and follow me, come and follow me. So leave what you're used to and come and follow me. And I'll make you fishers of men. So there's new purpose when God calls us new priorities. 3 (38m 23s): When God calls us new direction, when God calls us verse eight, says, this is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote to doing good. And so part of what God's plan for our life is, is that we would devote ourselves to doing good. What is the good that God would have us to do, or to be salt and light in the earth, or to do what God has called us to do in the scripture, where to be humbly obedient in him with our time, talent or treasure, everything that we have belongs to him, everything, every resource that we have belongs to him, our whole lives belong to him, where to vote, to devote ourselves to doing good. 3 (39m 4s): And he said, teach these teachings are good and beneficial for everyone heard this story. Recently, it's an old story about a guy whose truck was breaking down and he was barely gonna make it to the gas station where he could get to the payphones before cell phones. And maybe he didn't have a cell phone. And, but payphones, everybody know what a payphone is, put your quarter in their dial. Okay. So he's a, I don't think they're even in existence anymore. Are they? I haven't seen a payphone for awhile. So anyway, so this guy creeps into the, into the gas station. 3 (39m 45s): He he's gonna call mechanic or a tow truck. And he realizes, he sees this woman who's really struggling. She'd come out to the gas pumps and she had fallen. And so he rushed over to help her. And when getting there, he realizes that her he's got dark bags under her eyes, she'd been crying. She was just having a terrible day. And he looks at her car's full of stuff. And she's got a few kids in there and they, they look desperate as well. And so he begins to just listen to her, her story what's going on. And she was trying to get from wherever she was to California, because she was in dire straits with her family. And she was going to be moving back in with her folks. 3 (40m 25s): And anyway, so he hears her story and he decides, Hey, I'm here for purpose. So I'm going to fill up her gas tank. I'm gonna get some food for her and for her kids, I'm gonna pray for her. And I just bless her as she makes her way out to California, wherever from wherever she was. So he got so busy serving this woman in her family, that he forgot all about his own needs. He forgot all about his truck. And so he was like, oh yeah, I gotta call somebody. So anyway, he tries to get back. He gets back to his truck and tries to start the truck. And the truck starts right up and didn't have any problems after that. And he just realized, Hey, God directed me to this place. So that I minister to this woman and to her kids in need. 3 (41m 9s): I think sometimes God allows things to happen in our lives to position us so that we might minister more effectively. He puts us in places so that we would be strategically where somebody might need us so that we might pray for them. So we might encourage them so that we might be a blessing in their lives learning to do good with everyone because it benefits everyone. Sometimes we get distracted though. And in verse nine, it kind of talks about distractions. And it says, do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees. Like this comparison thing. Like, Hey, look at me. This is where I'm from. This is my background. This is my family. And we kind of get into this comparison thing, do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. 3 (41m 57s): These things are useless and a waste of time. Sometimes we think, oh, I'm doing so well. And I, you know, we get kind of puffed up that we're learning to obey the law or doing the stuff that God has called us to do. And we get puffed up and we get comparing. We begin to compare ourselves and we begin to see problems within the body of Christ. Number one, we must exercise self control. Number two, we must remember who we are. And number three, we must be United in Christ. Remember, he's speaking to people who he's rescued, not for the righteousness of their own, but because of his good plan and purpose for them, he's rescued them out of this culture because he wants to give them eternal life because he wants to change their life. 3 (42m 37s): But sometimes when we get rescued, we forget that we've been rescued because of no value of our, of our own because of no good works of our own. But, but because of God's grace and we get caught up in this religious kind of comparison game, where we begin to compare our lives with somebody else. And it's just a bogus game, because you're always going to feel better about yourself or worse about yourself, depending on where you end up in that comparison game, we must be United in Christ, helping each other. Do what is good verse 10 says, if people are causing divisions among you give a first, in a second warning. After that, I have nothing more to do with them. Interesting for people like that have turned away from the truth and their own sins, condemn them. 3 (43m 25s): So Paul final remarks and greetings here in verse 12, he says, I'm planning to send either Artemis or titch Agus to you. As soon as one of them arrives, do your best to meet me at a night, a night. Coppola's for, I've decided to stay there for the winter, do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos with their trip. See that they are given everything they need. Why? Because verse 14, our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others. Then they will not be on productive. So God's given us a responsibility to meet the urgent needs of others so that we will not be on productive. 3 (44m 6s): Number four, we must be productive. This is part of what God has called us to in the earth. We must be productive as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We will all stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives. The things that we do for the kingdom are like precious metals that endure the fire, the testing of fire, that purifies and burns up everything that's impure in our lives. And so imagine, imagine your life is in a fire. And the only thing that's going to survive is the things that you've done for the kingdom. The ways that you prayed for somebody served somebody given of yourself for the kingdom work, serve the Lord sacrificially and faithfully. 3 (44m 52s): When you didn't have the grace to do it in your own strength, all of the things that you've done for Jesus will survive the burning, but everything that you've done selfishly, and for this world will be burned up. I wonder if we examine our lives in that light, what will be left? What will will anything be left in our lives? Or will everything have burned? We will each be judged according to the works that we've accomplished, not judged for salvation, because we know we're saved by grace through faith. That has nothing to do with ourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast, but the life that we lead after we come to faith in Christ will be judged. 3 (45m 37s): Did we live our lives for God's kingdom purposes or not? And we will be given rewards or not based on that. We must actually be productive. Now the apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote most of his letters, the prison epistles, and he could have said, Hey, I'm in a bad circumstance, best situation. I'm just going to sit back and let God work on getting me out of here. In the meantime, I don't have anything to do, but instead he said, no, I've got stuff to do while I'm here in locked down. And so I'm going to be productive with my time, encouraging the body of Christ. Maybe you feel locked down during COVID and you feel like you're off the hook that you don't have anything productive to do during this time. 3 (46m 20s): That is not the truth. You can be calling people and encouraging people. You can be praying for people. You can be in some way in whatever way God leads you. You can be salt and light in the earth, but we are called to productivity as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. God has given us spiritual gifts to be used within the kingdom of God, so that we might be partnering with God, cooperating with God, doing the supernatural things that he wants to do in the year. So what has God called you to do? How has he equipped you to do the work that he's called you to? And what are you doing about it recently, going through the journey group, which is, I talked about journey last week in this last session, we talked about our spiritual gifts. 3 (47m 7s): And so we all took a spiritual gift assessment. So a spiritual gift assessment is like a hundred questions or so that you answer that help you kind of dial in your spiritual gift. And so we all got a chance to figure out what our spiritual gifts are, so that we can figure out where we might be employed within the kingdom to do the stuff that God has called us to do. So, one of my gifts is giving I God's given me the grace to believe and give in the kingdom work that he's called me to give to he's given me faith. This is often why we take our take on these big, huge projects just by faith, believing that God is going to see us through. 3 (47m 49s): And so far. So good. We got is always seen us through every project. We sent out the letter a, this week about 1 0 2, which is our new worship center. And what's happening now is what has happened with every big venture that we've ever tried to accomplish. We're up against this testing time where we're asking the Lord to provide and take care of the needs. And it's just a testing time where we're just seeing God provide day by day, but we need more people to give and to, to be a part of that. So if you'd like to be a part of that than just give and be a part of it, I sent out a letter. If he didn't get a letter, I just said, Hey, just pray. And if you would like to give toward one or two, then give, and we'll use that to finish up the project. We really only have about two months worth of work to do, but we've got, we've got to raise about another $150,000. 3 (48m 30s): So I so many Sierra and they got $150,000. It would just make it easy. Just write a check and we'll call it good. So one of my spiritual gifts is a faith. And so that God uses that to challenge our church, to step into supernatural things that God has for us. And he's given my elders the same gift of faith and they believe that God is in it and we move forward together. What is my other spiritual gift I have? What is it teaching? Maybe I'm just trying to think of the one that was the top three. So faith giving and may have been leadership or something like that. Yeah. Maybe teaching, I don't know whatever it was, but whatever it is, it helps to know those things so that we can dial in what we feel like we're called to do. 3 (49m 17s): So what is it that God has called you to do? You can, I think we still have on our website, a spiritual gift assessment, if not, we'll get that back up, but you can go on that website, AIG harvest.org and take a spiritual gift assessment and figure out what it is that God has called you to do so that you can be productive. God has productive work for each of us to accomplish work within his kingdom work, the supports, the kingdom work that God has given us specifically to do. How many believe that God has given you specifically? Not generally speaking, but specifically that God has given you a spiritual gift. How many know what their spiritual gift is good. Okay. So a lot of us know what our spiritual gift is. That's just the place to begin, right? 3 (49m 58s): To take a test and figure out what it is. Maybe you've got the gift of helps where you just want to be behind the scenes, helping out wherever there's a need. Maybe you've got the spiritual gift of intercession and you just want to pray for people. And you just have this desire, this longing to pray for people. Maybe you've got the spiritual gift of administration where you just know how to organize people and things and projects, and you can get things done. Maybe you got the spiritual gift of leadership. Maybe you've got the spiritual gift of hospitality and you just like to host people. What is it that God has gifted you and equipped you to do? That's all he's asking you to do. You figure that out and then just use it, use it in his strength and by his power and grace, everybody here, verse 15 sends greetings. 3 (50m 44s): This is Paul saying, Hey, I'm not in this by myself. I'm not doing this by myself. I've got people around me with different spiritual gifts and they send greetings. And he said, please give my greetings to the believers. All who love us. He's saying, Hey, we're in this to gather as the body of Christ. So let's be United and let's be productive. As we work together to accomplish the things that God has called us to do. And then he says, may God's grace be with you all? So number five, as we wrap it up today, we must learn to extend the grace. Let's not misused grace or misunderstand grace, misappropriate grace. Sometimes we say, well, I don't want to do that. 3 (51m 24s): I'm not going to do that. But God's grace is sufficient. The sins of omission, sins of commission, things. We do what we don't want. We don't do what God has called us. And we don't do what we know what God has called us to do. And so we've commit sins of commission and sins of omission. And we say, God's, grace is sufficient. And that's true. God's grace is sufficient, but that's not the proper use of grace. Grace is meant to cover us, to cleanse us, to wash over us so that we can do and work within the kingdom of God that he has called us to do. So. Sometimes we say why I'll never get over that sin in my life. But God's grace is sufficient. 3 (52m 6s): Don't use God's grace as an excuse for your laziness, your sinfulness, your disobedience. And I'll say the same thing for me. I don't want to use God's grace as an excuse for my disobedience laziness and sinfulness. God's. Grace is such that he port poured out upon us, his mercy and his kindness when we were desperately in need, desperately broken, desperately needing his, his forgiveness. And he poured it out upon us. When we call upon him and he saved us by his great grace. So we need to appropriate grace properly and then extend grace to one another because we're all in difficult life situations. 3 (52m 46s): And so maybe you're going through a hard thing and you're struggling. And somebody comes along and extends grace to you, speaks life and hope to you. That is a proper use of a spiritual gift, right there. A gift of encouragement, a gift of grace extended so that the body of Christ can function together and help one another move forward. All who trust in God should do what is good. Let's invite the worship team up here. Number one, we must exercise self control. We must remember who we are. Number three, we must be United in Christ. Number four, we must be productive and five. We must learn to extend grace. 3 (53m 28s): And so with that, let's go ahead and stand up without Lord God, we just go to you in prayer. We desperately need you, Lord God. And we're calling out to you and praying that you'd fill us up with your spirit and give us the desire to do the things that are hard and difficult and seemingly impossible to do. Lord God help us not to be afraid to be used by you and to be led by you and to be filled with you and to be directed by you. Lord, help us just along for that, to look for that, to hunger for that Lord, as we are filled with you, God, that we would be ready, vessels, obedience, ready to do good at whatever turn wherever it is that you call us to do good Lord, help us to be faithful and obedient. 3 (54m 15s): God, we love you. And we know that you'll give us a strength for all of these things, because that's what you do. Bless us. Now we praise we worship in Jesus name. Amen. Let's worship