Evidences of Grace

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Thanksgiving

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hook

This week I stumbled across this incredible story of Walter Carr. Walter had just rented a new apartment in Birmingham Alabama. His job he had as a cook in a restaurant was not going to pay his bills. He was very excited to start his new job for a moving company called Bellhops. He had a problem though. His car had broken down. He frantically called all his friends but no one could take him the 20 min to the home that they were moving the next morning. So from home he plotted the course. Google maps said it would take 8 hours for him to walk it. But, as a former high school cross country athlete, he knew he could do it faster. So he had a dinner of Bologna and eggs at 8:00 pm and took a nap. He woke at midnight and took off. Walked and jogged and made pretty good time. He said every time his legs burned he would just remind himself of the goal. At 2 AM he passed the City of Hoover. And reached Pelham, the town the home was in, at 4 AM. He paused to rest his aching legs in a church parking lot and a police car rolled up and the officer asked him if he was ok. He responded yes and told him what he was doing. The officer, Mark Knighten, told him to get in the car. He took him to Whataburger and bought him some breakfast. Then took him to a church a few miles down the road and told him to stay put and another officer would be by to take him the rest of the way. But, at 5:30 he began to think he would be late and started walking. Sure enough officer Scott Duffey pulled up behind him and drove him the last 4 miles to the job site. Duffey went to the home owner Jenny Lamey to explain that he had a great kid who had been walking all night to get to her house. She offered him a room to sleep or shower and he refused saying he would rather get started.

She said “He is just such a humble, kind hearted person. He’s really incredible. He said it was the way he was raised. Nothing is impossible unless you say it’s impossible.”

The next day Lamey called Carr’s boss and they cried together about all that had happened and the amazing situation. So she started a go fund me for him to get his car fixed with hopes of raising $2000. As of the writing of the article I read it had raised $44000 and Lamey helped him get a financial advisor to manage the money. The following Monday the CEO of Bellhops asked to meet him at a coffee shop near Carr’s home. Carr walked the 20 min to see him. The CEO Luke Marklin said “They set the bar for heart and grit and you (Carr) blew it away.” Then Marklin gave Carr his 2014 Ford Escape.

Carr was a great employee. But, no one knew how special he was until he was given the chance to show them. No one knew what a great kid he was until he showed them. Someone saw greatness in him and gave him a shot.

Now lets turn to

Book

Paul Gives thanks for The Corinthians.

What reasons does he give?

Enriched in Jesus in speech and knowledge.

Gifted

Patient. Waiting for Jesus revelation

Sustained , guiltless, through Jesus

Waiting for Jesus revelation

God is faithful and he called them into the fellowship of Jesus Christ.

There are many points that could be made here.

We are all gifted to serve as we wait on Jesus

If God has called us, and He has, then He will sustain us.

God is faithful and he has called us into fellowship with Jesus Christ.

Look

Book

But the biggest point I want to make today is this… What do we know about these Corinthians?

We know that the church was divided.

We know they were mishandling the Gospel.

We know they were baby Christians fighting over if they should follow Paul or Apollos.

WE know they were overly relaxed about immorality.

Allowing incest in the church

Filing lawsuits against one another

Taking part in the fornication that was rampant in Corinth at the time.

We know that they were concerned about marriage and being unequally yoked.

We know they were concerned about eating food that had been sacrificed to Idols.

We know they were divided about their worship and how they should operate in worship.

These things don’t seem to deter Paul. He loves them in spite of their issues! Why? If I were The Apostle Paul and someone were to ask me what churches I was involved in I would not offer Corinth as my shining star. I would point to Thessalonica or Rome or Timothy and his congregation. But Paul sees something more in the Corinthians.

Paul sees people worth fighting for, a Church worth fighting for, a city worth engaging for the Gospel. In fact it would grieve Paul’s heart if the Corinthians were not carried along as if blown by the wind to share the Good news of what Christ has done for them.

God gives Paul the ability to see beyond their faults to see the potential of the Corinthians. This church body has been through much. But, lets look this morning at 3 questions we need to ask ourselves in light of what we have seen through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians.

Do You see Evidence of Grace in our church? Or, do you see problems to be fixed?

1. Do You see Evidence of Grace in our church?

Do you see a people worth fighting for? Turn to your neighbor and say you are worth fighting for. I see a church of saints worth fighting for. I see a body of broken people on the way to healing that need to grow in confidence that God is doing a great work in them that will be performed in us until the day of Jesus Christ.

2. Do you see things you wish others would do?

If so perhaps you have been blessed with a new mission. If you see a need in the church fill a need in the church. We are all stewards of this building and the ministries of the church. So, if you see a ministry that needs something do it, or fill another need that someone else is doing so that they can fill the other needs. For instance. If I decide that there needs to be a ministry in the church taking food to shut ins and eating with them for companionship. But I don’t feel called to do it. Then I would find those in the church who would love to do this ministry and fill their shoes. For instance perhaps you and Pam talk and you discover that she would love it so you take over frogs so that she can devote time to the new ministry. I am not saying you should take over Frogs, unless you feel led to offer. I am saying that we should immerse ourselves in ministry where we can and we should be sensitive to each other.

3. Do You see God moving among us?

Do you see people from our church loving our community, or meeting the needs of others? If no then we need to pray fervently for God to move in us to reach Westport. If yes then we need to praise God for His movement in us and ask for him to continue to bless us with effective ministry.