1 Timothy 1:12-20 - Gospel Leadership

Pray

Father, thank you for revealing yourself and your will for us in your Word.

I pray that as we hear your Word preached this morning that we would be compelled to worship you and obey what you have commanded us to do.

And that will only happen if you change us, transform our hearts to live and love like your Son, Jesus through the power of your Holy Spirit and the preaching of your Word.

It won’t happen through any power in my words alone, so I pray that you would empower me to preach and empower each of our hearts to receive this miracle.

Lord, prepare us for your mighty work in our hearts through your Word preached in your power.

I pray all of this in the powerful name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.

Intro

Well, we’re continuing our series through Paul’s first letter to Timothy, his true child in the faith, which is all about proper leadership in the church.

And we began our series last week with Paul’s introduction and first point for the whole letter.

The passage we looked at last week came right out the gate talking about false teachers and the authoritative charge from God to Paul to Timothy to these false teachers to stop it, stop teaching wrong things in the church, stop teaching against the gospel.

It’s the charge to proper teaching in the church backed by Jesus’ authority, focusing on Jesus’ person and work, and using the Law properly in association with the gospel to avoid legalism, lawlessness, and empty spirituality.

Now in our passage this morning, in 1 Timothy 1:12-20, Paul explains his own conversion and call to gospel leadership as the primary example of what proper teaching of the gospel does in the hearts and lives of God’s people.

Then he shifts from explaining his own conversion and call to entrust Timothy with the same gospel leadership.

We tend to dismiss the importance of the gospel in the lives and teaching of our leaders.

Think about it.

When you think of a great leader in the church, or even a not so great leader in the church…

What makes them great or not so great in your mind?

Is it how well they can keep the congregation’s attention during their sermon?

Is it how well they can articulate doctrine?

Is it how well they can answer difficult questions about the Bible?

Is it how well they can manage the finances of the church?

Is it how many books they’ve published?

These all play some part in our thinking of what makes a good church leader.

But the biggest thing, the most important aspect of church leadership, is how well they promote and exalt Christ and his gospel in their lives and in their teaching.

That’s the most important.

Jesus changes lives through the grace, mercy, and peace of the gospel staring with the church leaders.

We’ve been given the examples of Paul and Timothy here in 1 Timothy 1:12-20, their examples of authoritative, Christ focused, gospel oriented teaching in the church to change lives.

So we need to look at their examples and understand how important the gospel is for healthy leadership in the church.

And our passage starts with…

The Example of Paul

He offers up his own experience, his own conversion and call to gospel leadership as the primary example of how important the gospel is in the lives and teaching of leaders in the church.

And in his description and later in how he entrusts Timothy with this same gospel leadership, he highlights the three aspects of the gospel that he brought up in his salutation back in verse 2.

1 Timothy 1:2 “To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We’re going to see God’s grace and mercy in the gospel at work in Paul’s life, and Timothy called to promote God’s peace in the gospel later on.

So, let’s look and see how God’s grace worked in Paul’s life in verses 12-14.

1 Timothy 1:12–14 ESV

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

This part of Paul’s example is focused on…

Jesus’ Overflowing Grace (12-14)

Back in verse 11 Paul said that he’s been entrusted with the gospel.

Jesus entrusted him with this good news, to share this good news with everyone, to live out this good news of salvation from sin and death.

And now he explains how that happened, how he was entrusted with the gospel, and how Jesus changed his life.

He says that he thanks Christ Jesus our Lord, the one who has given him strength.

He knows that he could never change his own life or do what God has called him to do, or live the way Jesus wants him to live…

He could never do any of that in his own strength.

He knows that he needs Jesus’ strength for gospel leadership, let alone gospel living among those who aren’t called to leadership.

And he thanks Jesus, the one who gave him the strength in the first place, because Jesus judged him faithful.

In Jesus’ estimation, Paul was worthy to be appointed as a leader simply because of his faithfulness.

Not his knowledge.

Not his public speaking ability.

Not his financial portfolio.

Not his public persona.

Just his faithfulness.

That’s Jesus’ criteria for who he raises up into gospel leadership, their faithfulness to him.

And because Paul was judged faithful, Jesus appointed him to his service.

Paul’s ministry, really all gospel leadership, is service for Jesus.

True gospel leadership isn’t glamorous.

It isn’t cushy.

It’s hard work.

Often it’s dirty work, or lowly work associating with and helping clean up people who are messed up sinners.

And the reason gospel leaders in the church can help messed up sinners is because we were messed up too, and Jesus has been working in our lives to clean us up, so we share a bit of how Jesus is cleaning us up with others who also need to be cleaned up.

It’s messy, and wonderful!

Paul explains just how messed up he was with three simple, but very descriptive words.

Formerly he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent.

He was a blasphemer, that means he spoke in direct opposition to the gospel.

His words directly contradicted the gospel and he fought against the gospel with every word he breathed.

He was also a persecutor, that means he acted in direct opposition to the gospel.

His actions put those who followed the gospel to harm, physically, socially, and economically.

Any way that he could punish those who followed the gospel, he did it and happily.

His persecution is described in Acts 8:3 as “ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

He was also insolent in his opposition to the gospel.

The Greek word Paul used here is hu-BRIS-tays, where we get our English word “hubris,” excessive pride, self-confidence, and arrogance.

This is also translated as Paul being a violent opponent.

Paul was proud of his opposition to the gospel because he thought that it was something detrimental to the Jewish religion, something foreign, something that needed to be violently opposed and stamped out, because of his hubris.

He was wrong, but he proudly and self-confidently thought he was right to oppose the gospel in his words and actions, so he did it with zeal.

He described this insolence, this hubris, in Philippians 3:5–6 “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

But his hubris shifted to humility when Jesus saved him, which is why he continued in Philippians 3:7 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

That’s what Paul continues to describe in our passage.

After Paul explained how messed up he was, he contrasts that with what he received from Jesus in the gospel.

In spite of his blasphemous, violent, and prideful opposition to the gospel, Jesus still showed him mercy.

And the reason Jesus showed him mercy was because he had acted in ignorance and unbelief.

At first glance we might read this verse and think of it as a sort of comparison.

We assume Paul is speaking of a comparison between acting in ignorance and unbelief as compared to acting in high handed knowing rebellion.

But Paul isn’t explaining why he was allowed to have mercy, as if he could have gone beyond Jesus’ mercy but hadn’t yet because he only acted in ignorance and unbelief.

He’s simply explaining why he needed mercy in the first place.

He couldn’t save himself because he was ignorant and unbelieving.

He needed mercy just like everyone needs mercy because no one can save themselves, everyone is ignorant and unbelieving until God shows mercy and gives spiritual sight and faith in Christ through his Spirit.

And once Paul received that mercy, God’s grace overflowed to him in faith and love.

Paul’s life was changed.

He went from ignorant unbelief pridefully blaspheming and persecuting Jesus’ followers to fully and humbly believing in Jesus and loving Jesus and loving all of Jesus’ followers.

That’s a massive shift going from the greatest opponent of the gospel to the greatest proponent of the gospel.

And all of it is in Christ Jesus, because of Jesus, and flowing from Jesus.

It’s all his overflowing grace.

Grace is simply unearned favor and everything that flows from that unearned favor.

There are so many things that flow from God’s grace.

But Paul specifically highlights faith and love because those are the things that shifted so significantly for him in his conversion.

Faith comes from God’s grace.

Paul explained this very clearly in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

You would not have faith in God’s Son, Jesus apart from his unearned favor choosing to save you.

Love also comes from God’s grace.

John explained in 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

And he explained just a few verses later in 1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

You wouldn’t even know what love is apart from God’s grace to love you and give you new life in Christ.

It’s all overflowing grace because as Christ pours his grace into us to produce faith and love in our hearts, that same faith and love overflow from us into other peoples’ hearts as we share the gospel of God’s grace with them and love them with Jesus’ love.

So, Paul is a wonderful example of how Jesus’s overflowing grace changed his life so dramatically, and how his grace can change our lives so dramatically, too.

Next we’re going to see how Jesus’ mercy is on display in Paul’s life in verses 15-17.

1 Timothy 1:15–17 ESV

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

This part of Paul’s example is focused on…

Jesus’ Patient Mercy (15-17)

Paul mentions a saying here, a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.

This saying was likely an early articulation of the gospel believers used to recite to each other and encourage each other in sharing the gospel in evangelism.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

It’s the who, what, and why of the gospel.

There’s a lot more details and nuances that we could get into about the gospel, but this is the basic message, the goodness of the good news.

Who?

The Messiah, namely Jesus.

What did he do?

He came into the world.

Why did he do that?

He did it for the purpose of saving sinners.

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

I mean… if Jesus said it, then it might very well be a trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance.

But any faithful articulation of the truth of the gospel is a trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance.

Paul wrote another simple articulation of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”

Who?

Christ.

What did he do?

He died.

Why did he do that?

For our sins.

On the flip side, any unfaithful twisting of the gospel or distraction from the gospel is not trustworthy and ought to be fully rejected.

So, Jesus came to save sinners, and Paul says that he’s the worst sinner who Jesus came to save.

And as the foremost sinner who has received Jesus’ mercy and shifted so dramatically like we saw in the previous section, Paul understands that he’s an example of just how patient and powerful Jesus’ mercy really is.

Paul says that one of the reasons Jesus saved him and transformed him and showed him such patient mercy is as an example to those who were to believe in Jesus for eternal life.

It’s a comfort and an assurance that Jesus’ mercy is enough to forgive even the worst sinner like Paul, so surely his mercy is enough to forgive me.

Like the familiar worship song says, “our sins they are many, his mercy is more.”

It doesn’t matter how much sin you have, or how bad of a sinner you are, Jesus’ mercy will always be enough to forgive you.

And the power and extent of Jesus’ mercy in Paul’s life is exhibit A to give you assurance that you can be forgiven like Paul was.

In showing mercy to Paul Jesus displayed his perfect patience because he patiently waited for Paul to be at the perfect place to receive his mercy, and he patiently waits for each of us to be at the perfect place to receive his mercy and forgiveness as well.

Remember, this is all in the context of Paul thanking Jesus for saving him, for his grace and mercy in his life, and for appointing him to share Jesus’ grace and mercy with the world.

And Paul flows naturally from thanksgiving to praise in a beautiful doxology in verse 17 because all of the grace and mercy that both transformed Paul’s life and works through him to transform other people’s lives…

All of it comes from God’s sovereign authority as the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God.

And all of it is to honor and glorify him forever.

It’s all God’s doing and not ours.

That’s what Paul explained in Ephesians 2:4–5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

We were dead in our sins, we couldn’t save ourselves, we were ignorant and in unbelief like Paul said that he was back in verse 13 of our passage.

But Jesus saved us, he showed us mercy, and God the Father made us alive together with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It’s all him, he get’s all the glory, all the honor because of his authority and power, and we get all the grace and mercy and peace.

Amen… truly, he deserves all the glory and honor.

So, Paul is a wonderful example of Jesus’ overflowing grace and patient mercy which transformed his life through the gospel and called him to share the gospel with the rest of the world so that Jesus could transform their lives as well.

And we can all look to Paul’s example and have assurance that we are not too far gone or too late to receive Jesus’ grace and mercy to be forgiven and saved from sin and death and given eternal life through faith in him.

Next we’re going to shift to see…

The Example of Timothy

Paul has mentored Timothy for quite a few years and encouraged him to remain at the church in Ephesus as his apostolic delegate to bring the church back to health through proper leadership.

He’s already mentioned the charge, the authoritative instructions to give to the bad leaders in the church to stop teaching against the gospel.

And he mentions it again here to bring this beginning argument about proper teaching in the church full circle.

He entrusted Timothy with this charge, but in light of what Paul has just explained about his own conversion and call to ministry, he’s entrusting Timothy with the same gospel leadership Jesus entrusted to Paul.

And he explains this here with a sort of theological underpinning of Jesus’ perfect peace in the gospel in verses 18-20.

He says…

1 Timothy 1:18–20 ESV

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

As Paul entrusted Timothy with the same gospel leadership he has, he focused on…

Jesus’ Perfect Peace (18-20)

Again, Paul refers back to the charge he gave Timothy from before, back in verses 3 and 5.

1 Timothy 1:3 “As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,”

1 Timothy 1:5 “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

Paul is entrusting Timothy with this charge as his apostolic delegate to bring the leadership at the church in Ephesus back to the gospel.

And Paul also refers back to his salutation as he calls Timothy, “my child,” like he did back in verse 2.

1 Timothy 1:2 “To Timothy, my true child in the faith…”

Paul uses his authoritative charge entrusted to Timothy along with, in accordance with, the prophecies made about Timothy.

These prophecies were God’s authoritative declaration of his intended use of Timothy for his purposes in his church.

Much like Paul and Barnabas were prophesied to be set apart for God’s specific task for them in Acts 13:2 “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.””

Paul uses both of these things, both the charge he entrusted Timothy with and God’s declaration of his special use for Timothy as motivation for him to “wage the good warfare,” to “fight the good fight,” to engage in both offense and defense in spiritual warfare.

Now, when I mention spiritual warfare, how many of you immediately thought of angels and demons duking it out or clashing in some supernatural battlefield in a cloudy sky?

Or maybe you thought of demon possession and exorcism.

While spiritual warfare sometimes has to do with supernatural forces working evil and harm in people’s lives, more often, the vast majority of the time, it has to do with our focus on the gospel, with our faith in Jesus and obedience to him by a good conscience.

That’s why Paul brings those things up in the context of waging the good warfare.

Our fight, according to Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5, is not on a supernatural battlefield in the sky, or on some physical battlefield requiring special tools for exorcism.

It’s on the battlefield of the mind.

He says that when we fight, when we go on the offensive in spiritual warfare, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

And in order to do that, motivated by the authoritative charge he’s been entrusted with and the prophecies made about him, Timothy is to wage this good warfare by having faith and a good conscience.

Trusting Jesus to fight for him and obeying what Jesus has told him to do with a good conscience.

Remember that the aim of the charge Timothy was given is love that issues from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

Faith and a good conscience are tools used to wage spiritual warfare as well as the goal of that spiritual warfare.

The arms and the aim of our fight.

Good leaders in the church teach and live out their faith and obedience to Jesus as tools, armaments for the purpose, the goal, the aim of bringing others to faith and obedience to Jesus as well.

That’s spiritual warfare fighting against doubt and disobedience to Christ which are the adversaries’ tools and goals in this fight as well.

Any way that they can cause people to doubt the gospel and disobey the gospel they will do it.

From outright possession to subtle temptations to sin.

And we need to guard ourselves with reminders of the grace, mercy, and peace that we have in Christ.

That’s what the full armor of God is for in Ephesians 6:10-20.

For the sake of time I’m not going to quote it, but each piece of the armor of God is something we already have in Christ, and we just need to be reminded that we have it and put it to use to have faith and a good conscience.

You already have the truth of the gospel, so remember it and put it to use to avoid believing the lies that lead to disobedience.

You already have Jesus’ righteousness, so remember it and grow in your ability to live and love like him.

You already have the readiness of the gospel of peace, so remember it and pursue peace by sharing the gospel with everyone.

You already have faith in Jesus, so remember it to douse the flaming darts of doubt Satan throws at you.

You already have salvation, so remember it and boldly live for Jesus knowing that you are forgiven and freed from sins’ power and penalty.

And you already have God’s Word, so use it, dig into it, study it, meditate on it, love it, immerse yourself in it, because God’s Word is exactly how Jesus defended himself from Satan’s attacks in the wilderness as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13.

Knowing and using God’s Word rightly allowed Jesus to remain faithful and obedient to his calling to die for the sins of the world and rise from the dead rather than taking shortcuts or abandoning it entirely.

Now, what happens if leaders in the church don’t have faith and a good conscience?

What happens if they reject their faith and their conscience and teach and live contrary to the gospel?

That’s exactly what happened with these two guys mentioned in verses 19 and 20, Hymenaeus and Alexander.

They rejected faith and a good conscience, they fell for Satan’s lies and snares and lived and taught doubt and disobedience to Jesus.

Whether knowingly or unknowingly, they were opposing Jesus as leaders in his church.

And the result was that they made shipwreck of their faith.

I’ve never experienced or seen the devastation of a shipwreck, so for me, I think the illustration of a massive pileup on the highway hits a little closer to home.

Leaders in the church who oppose the gospel in either their teaching or their living or both, cause their life to be spiritually devastated and destroyed.

Hymenaeus and Alexander strayed from the gospel, they taught against the gospel, they opposed Jesus in their teaching, and because of that their spiritual lives, their faith, was a smoldering pile of splinters and scraps.

They were unfit to be leaders in the church, and even their faith, their salvation was called into question.

That’s why Paul handed them over to Satan.

He disciplined them out of the church, but the goal was not to abandon them, or cast them aside never to see or hear from them again.

The goal was to teach them, to call them to repentance, to compel them to come back to spiritual health and be restored into the fellowship of the church.

Paul says that he handed them over to Satan so that they would learn not to blaspheme.

Remember Paul said back in verse 13 that he was once a blasphemer, speaking directly against the gospel, attacking the gospel with his words.

Hymenaeus and Alexander were doing exactly what Paul had done.

And Paul was shown patient mercy, so Hymenaeus and Alexander are also not beyond Jesus’ mercy.

There’s still opportunity for them to repent and come back and be shown mercy and forgiveness.

All of this, Paul entrusting Timothy with this charge to clean up the teaching of the leadership in the church, Timothy waging this good warfare, Paul disciplining Hymenaeus and Alexander so that they might repent…

All of it is built on the theological underpinning of Jesus’ perfect peace.

Jesus purchased our peace with God on the cross.

We were enemies of God like Paul was, proud, persecutors and blasphemers.

But God saved us and reconciled us, thus bringing us into his perfect peace, no longer at odds with him.

Paul beautifully explained this in Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

And a few verses later in Romans 5:10–11 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Reconciliation with God is peace with God, and it’s purchased by the blood of Christ.

But this peace also affects our daily lives.

We were created to worship God and do what he tells us to do.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 says “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Fearing God, worshipping God, happens when we have faith.

And obedience, keeping his commandments happens when we have a good conscience.

So, we need to have and hold onto our faith in God and our good conscience to be aligned with how God created us in the first place.

That’s the idea behind peace, life as it was meant to be.

Peace is the circle peg going in the circle hole, the hole it was meant to go in, not the square hole is could only fit in if it was forced and broken.

Peace is using a hammer to pound in a nail rather than using whatever you have handy.

Peace is your computer program working without any bugs.

Peace is your finances always in the black and perfectly sticking with your budget.

Peace is the leaders in Jesus’ church living and loving like him and teaching everyone in the church to do the same, from Jesus’ authority, focused on his person and work, and using both the Law and the gospel to accomplish this in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus purchased our peace, but when we don’t follow and focus on him, we don’t feel that peace.

So, Paul entrusted Timothy with the charge to pursue Jesus’ perfect peace in the church at Ephesus starting with the leadership…

Timothy himself was to pursue Jesus’ perfect peace in his own fight against doubt and disobedience by having faith and a good conscience…

And Paul handed Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan in the pursuit of Jesus’ perfect peace in the church and in the lives of these two false teachers as they hopefully learned not to blaspheme and repented and were restored, reconciled to the church.

It’s all in pursuit of experiencing Jesus’ perfect peace that he purchased on the cross.

Conclusion

So, we saw Paul’s example of Jesus’ overflowing grace in his life to save him and appoint him to share the gospel with the world, Jesus’ grace overflowing in faith and love.

We also saw from his example Jesus’ patient mercy as Paul was so dramatically forgiven as an example for everyone, so that we can be sure that no one is too late or too far gone for Jesus to show them mercy and forgiveness.

And we saw from Timothy’s example how he was entrusted with a charge to pursue peace in the church by fighting for it with his own faith and a good conscience, to bring the church at Ephesus to focus on Jesus and the gospel also using church discipline of the false teachers like Hymenaeus and Alexander to hopefully bring them to repentance and reconciliation.

This is what the gospel does in our lives, especially when it is taught and exemplified by our church leaders.

Jesus’ grace overflows, cascading down from him to Paul to Timothy to other church leaders down through the ages to our own church leaders into our lives and flowing from us into everyone we interact with.

Jesus’ mercy forgives us of our sin, and we can find assurance of our forgiveness in his Word, and knowing that if Paul wasn’t too far gone or too late to be forgiven, then neither am I.

And Jesus’ peace that he purchased on the cross is felt and experienced when we do what we were made to do, focusing on Jesus and following him to live and love like him, worshipping him and obeying him in faith and a good conscience.

So, the gospel is very important for good leadership in the church, much more important than anything else.

Without the gospel being lived out and taught, our leaders will be ineffective and working against Jesus rather than with him and for him.

Without the gospel Jesus’ grace won’t overflow, it’ll be stopped up.

Without the gospel Jesus’ mercy won’t be seen.

Without the gospel Jesus’ peace won’t be experienced.

Without the gospel our leaders in the church become distractions like a massive car wreck on the side of the road distracting you from driving carefully.

So, we’ve got to make sure that our leaders, me included, are teaching and living out the gospel as our primary, most important aspect of our calling.

That means I need you to keep me accountable to this, and as we move into a season of affirming new elders I need you to remember that this is the biggest overarching qualification and responsibility that all the other qualifications and responsibilities fall under.

When we affirm these new elders we need to make sure that they are focused on living out and teaching the gospel.

That’s how we will know if the Holy Spirit has raised them up to serve in this capacity, if they focus on living out and teaching the gospel.

Everything else is secondary.

I’ve talked a lot about the gospel this morning, especially how Paul was saved by hearing and understanding this good news from Jesus himself.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Everyone is a sinner, all of mankind is lost and bound to sin.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

So, if you are a sinner, and you recognize your sinfulness, then know that Jesus has come to save you by dying in your place and rising from the dead three days later.

And all you need to do in order to be saved by Jesus is submit to his rule in your life and believe that he died and rose from the dead for you, to afford you forgiveness and eternal life.

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Now, if you haven’t done that yet, then I beg you to do so right now.

Then you’ll experience Jesus’ overflowing grace in faith and love.

You’ll experience Jesus’ mercy that’s patient and powerful enough to save you no matter how you’ve sinned.

And you’ll experience Jesus’ perfect peace as you finally come in line with what you were created to be.

A child of God who worships him and obeys his commandments out of love and thankfulness.

Pray

Father, thank you for saving us.

Thank you for your grace, and mercy, and peace.

And than you for giving us leaders in your church to show us and teach us your grace, and mercy, and peace in the gospel.

I pray that you would help us remember the importance of the gospel as we try to live our lives according to your will.

And also as we look to install more elders here at GBC.

Lord, help us remember that living out and teaching the gospel is the highest calling and qualification for leaders in your church.

And please help us identify those in the church who you are raising up to lead like this.

Because we know that you are the one who raises up leaders for your church, so please help us identify who you have for us.

Also, Father, please help me to live out and teach the gospel as I lead your people here at GBC.

And help everyone here to hold me accountable to this standard.

And help me be an example to your people as well.

We all want to live and love like your Son, Jesus.

And it’s in his name that we pray all of this. Amen.