It is time once again for this week's sermon. Thank you for reading it. I want to thank the Lord for giving me this ministry, and I hope that you are having a great week.
In our message today, we are going to step back from our study in the book of Mark this week because I want to bring a message about something that has been on my mind a lot recently. It has to do with the grace of God.
Grace can best be defined as God's unmerited favor. That means God giving us and providing us with good things not based on us doing something to earn or deserve it. He does it just because He cares for us and wants to provide the best for us.
As you know, I have sold my house and moved. Over the course of the last few weeks as this entire process has carried itself out, I have been looking back over the course of my life. Something really stood out to me in my reflections. I have been the recipient of the grace and goodness of the Lord over and over and over again. It is not through any good deeds on my part, it is all because of the goodness of the Lord.
One of the examples of God's grace in my life is the fact that He allowed me to be born in a Christian home to parents who showed me what it meant to live out one's faith for the Lord Jesus. By God's grace I was able to go to a Christian school and study and learn more about Him.
It was only by God's grace that I was able to beat the odds and make it through my early years and be here today. I was born with a congenital immune system problem and was not expected to live too long. But by the grace of God, I am still standing and moving forward trying to serve Him each day as He enables me to do it.
Another outstanding example of the grace of God at work in my life was finding my friend Toby. There was no way we would have ever come together unless the Lord Jesus made it all work out the way that it needed to work out. It is one of the defining points of my life finding him.
God's grace was also at work in allowing me to find a great teacher to help me learn about classical music and jazz. Some may say it was just the luck of the draw. But, I know that it was the grace of God. God providing for me more than I could ever ask or imagine out of His great goodness and love for me.
There have been numerous good things and good times that have happened in my life like becoming a writer and finding the right job that would not have happened except by the grace of God. It is all because of Him that I am what I am today and I have the things that I have today. It is all of Him and none of me.
The greatest gift of God's grace in my life is salvation through the finished work of Christ on the cross and through His glorious resurrection. It was not through any goodness or works of righteousness on my part that I am redeemed. It is all through what Jesus did for me. He took my sin and imputed His righteousness within me. By grace I have been saved.
I hope that you will look back this week at the many instances of God's grace in your life. And give Him thanks for all that He has done. If you have never come to know the grace of God through Jesus, I hope you will receive His gift of grace today. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please keep praying for me as I try to move into the new aspect of my life. Transitions are difficult, but your prayers make a difference.
Keep praying for peace. This is really on my heart right now. All of the battles and strife in the Middle East and Iran need to stop. We need peace in Ukraine now. The battle in Sudan needs to stop. So many are suffering. Pray for peace in these and in the other war torn areas of the world.
Pray for my friend at work who is having a hard time with his health. He has had an operation that has gone badly.
For our prayer focus countries this week let us pray for those in the nations of Cambodia and Senegal. Pray that many will come to know Jesus.
Next week, we will resume our study in Mark. I will post the verses on Tuesday. May God bless you all.
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