Prayer Service 8-16-23
Notes
Transcript
Adoration
Adoration
Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Grace)
GRACE — favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves.
Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Grace)
God’s grace flows out of his inter-Trinitarian, gift-giving life. Even in humanity’s fallen state, God freely grants to his creatures good things they do not deserve.
Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Grace)
God’s grace toward mankind arises from the fullness of his being. He is gracious.
When God appeared to Moses he declared his name, Yahweh, the I AM, as the sum of his eternal being. This nature includes his graciousness:
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
J. I. Packer suggests that grace is simply God’s love demonstrated toward those who deserve the opposite. God’s grace is his gift-giving life, and the gift is himself.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grace)
As a result, it becomes possible for undeserving humans to approach him with the prayer, “If now I have found favor (or grace) in thy sight, O Lord, …” (v 9).
We couldn’t approach Him...
…if he weren’t fundamentally gracious.
Exodus 34:9 (ESV)
9 . . . “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
By Grace Alone!
The Fall brought the Grace of God to light:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
The Abrahamic Covenant was...
…an outworking of this same grace:
Genesis 12:2–3 (ESV)
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Perhaps, the primary example of Grace in the OT...
…was the redemption of the Hebrews from Egypt...
…and their establishment in the Promised Land.
Deuteronomy 7:7–8 (ESV)
7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 9:5–6 (ESV)
5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
God’s grace is the basis for his people’s hope:
6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
That brings us to the NT.
Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Grace)
The grace of God was supremely revealed and given in the person and work of Jesus Christ
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:16–17 (ESV)
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
“came” = took place or happened
Titus 2:11 (ESV)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...
Here’s what that means:
Acts 15:10–11 (ESV)
10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Paul Elaborates:
Romans 3:20–24 (ESV)
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 3:26–30 (ESV)
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
In summary:
Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Futhermore:
Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Let’s praise his glorious grace!
Prayer of Adoration
Prayer of Adoration
Supplication
Supplication
Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Thanksgiving:
Shalimar
Ashlyn and Emersyn Grace
Shawn and Grey Lakey: Loss of unborn child
Intercession:
Folks in Hawaii
Young people starting college this week
Mark Crisp: Ministerial Issues
Andrew Herrington and Family
All of Our Marriages and Families
Anything Else?
Ongoing Health Needs:
Mark Hill and Danny Williams (Liver Transplants)
Gale and Elaine Jenkins: Multiple Health Needs
Ty Benton: Bladder Cancer, Dementia
Hope and Jason Sanders: Palliative Care
Randy Young: Pancreatic Cancer
Makenna Cook: Brain Aneurysm