Great Grace

Introduction: Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1 - …be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Absent grace, all we have is us. Grace is the power of God, beyond anything we can imagine. Salvation is by grace, for by grace are ye saved….now that we’re saved, are we strong in the grace of God today? 2 Timothy 2:1 - …be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Peter 3:18 - Grow in grace… Acts 4:33 -And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Tell story of Acts 3 lame man. Where did you get the power to do this…? Here is where I got this…in the name of Jesus, jailed for a day, went back to church and did 3 things to receive great grace!

Acts 3:4–7 KJV 1900

4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength.

Thrown in Jain

Reading: Acts 4:23 – 33 “23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. 24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: 25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. 29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the…”

I. Great Praise, Praised God – Let everything that hath breath, praise the lord; In everything, give thanks.

A. Advice: In the midst of your problems, you need help…write it down…Praise God.

B. How Good are you at praising God

C. Acts 4:23 – 28: “Lord” All powerful, Nothing we go through is a surprise

D. The Lord inhabits the praise of His people

E. We worship and praise with all of our heart, mind, and being

F. Watching sports – Sometimes we watch the game, others put themselves into it!

G. When we praise & worship how into it are you?

Illustration: Singer who would sing exactly ½ step off….you’re messing everything up, I know but I love tossing & praise!

II. Great Boldness – Acts 4:29

A. In Our Witness

B. Despite their threatenings

III. Great Prayer – Acts 4:31

A. How’s your prayer life

B. You have not, because you ask not

C. What impossible things are you seeking?

D. Jeremiah 33:3

Jeremiah 33:3 KJV 1900

3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

E. Philippians 4:6

Philippians 4:6 KJV 1900

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

IV. Why would we strive to do anything without great Grace?

A. How can we live our lives without Great Grace?

B. Great Grace comes when we exhibit Great Praise, Great Boldness, & Great Prayer!

C. Today God helping us, let live all 3, that God’s Great Grace would lead our lives

Acts 3:6–7 KJV 1900

6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength.

And though we have little in this world, in terms of earthly possessions we can say as the Apostle Peter says, “Silver & gold have I none, but such as I have...in the name of Jesus rise up & walk...!”

Such as I have....Do you know you have it…it’s powerful

Took him by the right hand…involves effort, reaching out

Lifted Him Up....there are some people who need lifting today…the Great Grace given to you, can be used to lift others!

Ye who were dead in your trespasses and sins...rise up & walk! The rut we find ourselves in...rise up & walk! The guilt of our past, let it go...rise up & walk! The shame of our failings, its covered by His blood...rise up and walk! The weight of our wrong, is lifted…rise up and walk! Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk and praise for you are covered by Great Grace!

A pastor was invited a number of years ago to preach at an all black church, a great church. And when he had gotten, he noticed it was a large church, several thousand people there. He noticed that he was the only person not of color in the church. He'd preached a lot of places, and several predominantly black churches, but this is the first where he's the only one not of color. He's sitting there and the people are friendly and he gets ready for the service and a dear lady came in and sat down on the front row, not too far from where he was on the pew and she nodded at him, and he nodded at her.

And the pastor asked, "how are you today?" She said, "good, how are you?" he said, good a couple minutes went by and finally, this lady turned to the guest preacher and she said, "what are you doing here white boy."

Now, when she said that, it startledly never in my life at anybody called me white boy, and she didn't say it nasty, but it just caught me off guard. She said, what are you doing here? White boy and I said, well, ma'am, white boys. Gonna preach this morning and I thought, oh my goodness, I just called myself, white boy.

She said you're going to preach white boy. I said, yes ma'am, She said, well, in that a hoot and I said, I agree. That's a hoot. Next thing she did she turned to me? And she said you got the stuff, right?

Boy. I said, I beg your pardon. She said, don't play stupid. You know what I mean? She said you either got the stuff for you don't got the stuff And if you don't have the stuff, white boy, you stay seated right here and let somebody get up there. That's got the stuff Now.

If you got it. Yes, or no.

I said white boys. Got the stuff. I don't know what to say. Further folder. I'm saying. God, give me the stuff boy up. Tell you this is, whoa.

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She said now did they tell you how we do stuff around here? I said, no ma'am. No, they didn't. Oh she said white boy. You're gonna love it. She said, first thing we do is we sing for an hour and a half to two hours. I said you sing for two hours.

Oh, she said it's great. She said it drives the devil crazy. She said man if you really praise the Lord it get your heart ready to get the word. Oh, she said we love driving the devil. Crazy that she said, you know who else that drives crazy? I said who she said.

Carnal Christians. She said they can't stand it. She said you love singing. Don't you white boy? And I said, ma'am, I'm loving it. More by the minute. Yeah ma'am. I'm with you.

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She said after that, we have testimoniesAnd she said, it's a people who got saved and they confessed sin but she said virtually every week, somebody gets saved that's done some crimes and and when they confess those crimes, we take them right down to the chief of police and turn them in.

I said really She said yeah she said you know you're not right with man. You're not right with God, She said, you know, that's in the Bible. Quick question. I'm aware of that. She said a couple weeks ago, we had a guy get saved, he come forward, and he confessed that he tried to kill the chief of police.

And his family blue, his car to smithereens, but the bomb went off. Too soon. He come forward that safe. She said the whole church went down to the police station and we turned him in, he got on his knees in front of the sheriff and vague. This forgiveness. I said, wow, She said you haven't done any crimes.

Have you white boy? And really this way through my mind known that I'm talking about this morning, I'll tell you that

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She said, okay now in a minute we're going to start singing. I need you to do me a favor. I said, what's that? She said I need you to move over just a little bit. I said somebody else coming. She said no just me.

I said why do you need me to move over? I mean, we're already that far apart, She said, because when I get singing to my Jesus, I need a little room. We got singing. Good thing. I moved over. That lady started singing and her praise pulled me in further after a few minutes.

I found myself saying, I want that. I want the spirit. She's got.

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By the time we were done, her spirit had spoken to me. And all that kept saying, is God, forgive me for my pitiful. Praise. Forgive me, forgive me for just singing the songs Have you ever done this, you know, a song. So you just sing it by wrote. It's not really coming out of your heart.

It's coming out of your head because you just know it. I said, God, I want what she's got. It changed me Those two hours went by like that. When you're standing in front of the king, a king was, Would your praise in the one? Who loves you so much.

He gave His Son to die for you. And somebody is saying it. Like, they mean it or it changed me.

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Finally, the preacher summoned me up to the platform. And I went up there and He said, Brother Gibbs. I see you're down there talking to sister. Abby I said, is that her name?

He said yeah, I said preacher, I tell you something. I want to be like her. She changed me this morning. Would anybody around you this morning? Someone will be like that, man. I want to be like that woman. Oh you can't hide heartfelt. Praise. You can't hide it. He asked did she tell you her testimony. I said, no, Sir, she didn't. He said, brother gives a year ago for two junior high, boys and her husband went down to the bus stop at 6:30 in the morning. Her boys are going to go to school on a bus and her husband takes a bus to work while they're standing there at 6:30 in the morning.

Waiting for their buses. They think it was a gang thing. Two cars pulled up and shotguns came out and they murdered her family. They shot her boys to death. Then her husband.

Did she tell you that she has stage IV cancer, with no money for treatment? Though she lost her family, her health, and her wealth she boldly proclaimed in great praise, I still have Jesus, He’s still good to me, by His grace I am saved, by His Grace I still stand, by His Grace I will offer my Great Praise!