The Gift In The Grind

0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:05.320 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:07.800 podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.720 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.920 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:13.640 in your life. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:14.800 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.319 I have one verse of scripture that I want to 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:21.000 preach on today. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:22.720 I did not choose the scripture. It chows me. 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.000 In fact, I would say it jumped up and bit 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.800 me on, bit me on my neck and told me 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.520 preach me or I'll kill you. It's just that fierce 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.920 the way that this verse came to me. It's in 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:39.920 First Corinthians, chapter fifteen, verse ten. You know what, though, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.120 if we preach on just one verse today, if we 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:44.519 preach on verse Corinthians fifteen ten, how's that going to 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.160 make verse nine feel? And if we skip by verse 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.680 eight to get to verse nine. So I only want 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.400 to preach one verse, but I think I should start 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.320 at verse one so that we do not offend any 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.800 of the other verses. Support we need contextually in order 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.320 to give the full illumination of the meaning of the verse. 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.559 So listen to these words now from the apostle Paul, 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:11.840 and I don't make you stand the whole time. If 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.399 you're new here, you get a little nervous. At this 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:16.920 point we do sit down, and then some people stand 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.119 back up, just the ones who love Jesus. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.880 They jump up while I'm preaching and stuff. I'm kidding. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:24.319 I'm kidding. 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.400 You can love Jesus and sit down to It's just 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.360 you love him more if you stand up. But you 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:31.880 can love him a little bit and sit to a sermon. Now, 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.679 brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.680 gospel I preach to you, which you received and on 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.560 which you have taken your stand. By this gospel, you 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.039 are saved if you hold firmly to the word I 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:51.680 preach to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. Would 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.440 you touch your neighbor and tell them, don't waste it. 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:58.680 Don't waste it. For what I received, I passed on 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.080 to you as a first importance, that Christ died for 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:06.000 our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.240 and that he was raised on the third day according 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.960 to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Seethus and 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.320 then to the twelve after that he appeared to more 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.760 than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.080 same time, most of whom are still living, though some 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.919 have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, and then 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:31.000 to all the apostles, and last of all, he appeared 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:36.000 to me, also as to one abnormally born. For I 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.760 am the least of the apostles, and do not even 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.000 deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:43.720 Church of God. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.280 But everybody shot. But that's one of the biggest. 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.639 Words in the Bible, by the way, I mean, it's 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.320 a big word, three letters, but it's a big word. 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:58.440 Everybody shall butt. I was going down. I thought it 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.600 was over. They laid him in the ground, and Hell 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.600 had a party on Friday night. Ask somebody next to you, say, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:06.600 how big is yours? 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:08.520 That's what I want to know. 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:16.720 But by the grace of God, I am what I am. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.680 And His grace to me was not without effect. No, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:23.840 I worked harder than all of. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.480 Them, yet not I but the grace of God that 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.680 was with me. I want to speak to you for 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.520 a few moments today on this subject. The gift in 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.760 the grind, the gift in the grind on your way 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.000 to your seat, touch somebody and say I'm on my grind. 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.400 You've seen that hashtag on Instagram. Right on my grind 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:59.600 hashtag Jim flow hashtag, humbled hashtag, filter free hashtag, paleo hashtag, CrossFit, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.800 bro hashtag, it's every day brostag hashtag. 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.520 Oh my grind. No, you're not on your grind, you're 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.080 on your phone. Put down your phone and just go 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:07.640 to the gym. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.040 If you go to the gym enough, you won't have 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:09.680 to post about it. 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.040 We'll all notice the results. Unless you want to show 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:14.160 off your shoes. 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:19.520 Then take a selfie. I mentioned it because Paul is 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.839 it's coming across a little bit humble braggy in First Corinthians. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:31.640 I know, I know he's the Apostle Paul and everything 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.960 he says is supposed to be so wonderful. But I 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.640 will be honest with you. I like the Bible, Like 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:39.919 I really like the Bible. 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.160 What a relief. It wouldn't matter if I liked it 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:44.159 or not, it would be true. 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.040 But I happen to like the Bible now more than 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.000 when I first started reading it. It's just that now 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.320 I don't like everybody in the Bible all the time 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:03.400 like Jonah, because God went through so much trouble to 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.720 get Jonah to preach a message in Nineveh, and then 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:07.640 by the time he preached the message after God had 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.040 to track him down and dispatch a whale and send 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.880 a storm and all of this nonsense. That Jonah couldn't 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.120 just go where he was supposed to preach and say 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:15.839 what he was supposed to say. When he did preach, 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:17.839 it wasn't even that great of a sermon. This was 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.600 his whole sermon. Forty days an interval will be destroyed. Well, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:28.080 anybody could have done that. And I don't want to 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.080 offend you so early in the sermon. I usually save 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:31.640 that until about the twenty two minute mark. 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:38.600 Right here, Paul is annoying me a little bit, a 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.680 little bit, just a little bit. 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:44.640 I'm sure he doesn't care that I'm annoyed with this 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.640 passage that he wrote to the church at Corinth. He's 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.640 not writing it as a letter to me or to 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:56.400 you as his primary audience. He's trying to get the 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:03.120 church in Corinth to live out what God has invested 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.520 put in. That's really the challenge of life is to 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:11.320 live out what God has put in. What makes that 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:17.560 difficult is the grind. The grind the glory of God 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:23.240 is such a wonderful, mesmerizing and peace inducing concept when 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.840 we're together like this, I wonder if I would be 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.200 able to preach as well if I had to follow 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.120 you onto your job and see the people that you 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.720 deal with. I wonder if my sermons would be well, 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.760 you're saying amen a little too loud right now, we offended. 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:39.200 But there is a sense in which every time I 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.080 stand up to preach, I am aware that the Gospel 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.440 has to be lived out not in the confines of 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:51.120 a cathedral, but in the grind of everyday life. And 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:57.920 life is a grind, and marriage is a grind. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.400 I know their vows were beautiful. 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.480 But there's some stuff they didn't put in those valves 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.679 because they didn't know about them yet. But four years 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.800 into marriage, if they could say the vowels the way 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.440 they really go, it wouldn't be big broad concepts like. 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.800 Sickness and health and life. 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.880 And death, because there's a lot of stuff in between 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.720 life and death called grime. It's called do I really 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:25.080 have to remind you to put. 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:25.920 Gas in the car? 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.040 You're forty seven years old, and we've been talking about 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.360 this for twenty one years. Did you really leave the 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.040 van on empty account? That's why people get divorced. It's 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.880 not big things. It's seven hundred and ninety three dirty 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.040 socks left in the room after I told you forty 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.200 three times. I'm not sure, mom, pick up after yourself. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.960 It's just a grind. And I was confused because I 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:50.680 thought people working. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:56.040 I thought people quit their jobs because big, horrible things happen. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.960 And I thought people gave up on themselves because of catastrophic, 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:08.160 cataclysmic events. I found out that it's the grind. The 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:15.720 grind makes ministers put down their microphone. I think I 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.440 think they put down their microphone, not because they quit 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.440 loving Jesus or left their first love. I think the 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.880 grind makes volunteers quit showing. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.640 Up to serve because it's kind of our fault. 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.160 When we sign you up to volunteer, we show you 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.160 the glory, but we hide the grind. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:37.240 You see these beautiful. 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.000 Women with the welcome team t shirts on there, I 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.679 guarantee you some people on their team didn't show up 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.040 to serve that we're supposed to serve today. Now that 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.000 happens to you enough Sunday mornings when you put aside 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.640 your Sunday morning to serve and somebody didn't even have 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.079 the stuff ready that you needed to serve. After a while, 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:53.719 you rip your name tag off and you say, I 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.320 love Jesus, but this sucks, and I can serve God 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:57.839 in my own way. I think I'll serve him on 0:08:57.880 --> 0:08:59.480 the boat. I have a boat ministry. 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:01.560 Jesus. This stuff on the boat. I'm gonna go on 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:03.320 the boat too. Lake Norman. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.160 They had seventy volunteers sign up for Lake Norman to 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.920 volunteer at Lake Norman this weekend. I'm just gonna be 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:11.600 upfront with you and tell you what they may not have. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:12.440 Told you at the campus. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:17.719 It's a grind. It's a grime. I mean it's a 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.440 good grind, and God's gonna do great things, but it's 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.839 a grime. How uninspiring could the introduction to. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:27.440 My sermon possibly be? 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.600 But to tell you that, after you've picked out the 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:35.000 baby names, and after they throw you a gender reveal 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.760 party and a gender reveal reveal party, and a gender 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:44.800 reveal reveal reveal reveal party, here comes to grind. The 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:50.320 grind of diapers, the grind of long nights, the grind 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.320 of Red Eyes and Red Bull. But the good news 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.440 is if you make it through the infancy stage, the 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:57.160 grind stops. 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:57.560 After that. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:04.160 Raising children is easy, no more grind. Just sitting next 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:08.520 to your child, tell them you're a grind. I love you. 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:11.840 I'm grateful for you. See that's the thing. I'm not 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.960 ungrateful for what God has given me. That's not why 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.720 I get a bad attitude. That's not why sometimes don't 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:19.280 want to show up. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:19.880 I appreciate. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.800 I know there are people who would love to have 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.240 my life, and it makes me feel bad and guilty 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.559 when you compare my life to somebody else, and I think, well, 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:27.240 it could be worse. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:28.600 And people will say things like when you know. 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:29.880 You could be in the hospital room, if you know 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:31.440 somebody in the hospital room would love. 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.640 To go to your job Monday, but they're not going. 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:35.679 And I am, and I'm in the grind, and I 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.559 am grateful I have a job. But there's just sometimes 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:46.160 that the grind. 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:54.440 Well, Paul is talking to a church that would have 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.440 been very familiar with the grind. 0:10:57.440 --> 0:10:59.560 It's not some little town. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.360 Core is a major city, not exactly a port city, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.520 but connected to one that meant they had all the 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:10.680 infrastructure of an urban city. That meant that the transportation 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.280 systems were complicated, so they knew what it was to 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:18.520 have a traffic jam. Just the grind, just the grind 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.120 of trying to figure out how to worship Christ in 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:26.840 a culture that is counter christ. Just the grind, trying 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.240 to figure out how to serve Christ and a culture 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.080 that is counter Christ from what is culturally normative is 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:40.400 counter Christian. It's a grind, just a grind. And Paul 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:45.040 reminds them of the importance of the Gospel. He said, 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.480 I want to remind you not of the information that 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.559 the Gospel contains, but the importance of it, because the 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:52.200 grind can. 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.680 Make you forget what's really important. You know this. 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.679 The grind can make you lose a sense of priority 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.400 that start giving your best energy to your lowest priorities. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:10.320 It's just the grime. Paul writes to them that he 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.040 understands it. He does it in a strange way, though, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.560 And this is where he started to get on my 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:20.320 nerves a little bit, because when he said, I want 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.520 to remind you of the Gospel and the resurrection, which 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:24.160 is your hope. 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.640 I was with him when he said, if you don't. 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.160 Hold on to it, and you don't really believe in it, 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:29.520 it's like. 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:30.200 It never happened. 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.240 I understand what he's saying, not that God is going 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.800 to take his grace away, but that sometimes if I 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.559 don't walk in, at what good is it. I understand 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.400 why he's saying. This gospel did not originate with me. 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:43.360 It just came through me because a lot of people 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.840 probably worship Paul and saw him as some indispensable gift 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:48.960 to the body of Christ. But he realized that really 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.680 all he was doing was regifting what God had given 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:56.440 to him. I understand his sequence. How he said that 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.960 he was the last one in to this og apostle group, 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.920 How he said that almost everybody seemed to be picked 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.199 before him. And then, in a blinding light on the 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.680 road to Damascus, as he was on his way to 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.520 persecute Christians, the very Christ who he was persecuting by 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.959 coming against those who stood for his name, knocked him 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.560 off of his horse. Oh yes, God will closeline you 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.680 if you are headed in the wrong direction, because He 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.240 loves you too much to let you waste your whole 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:32.720 life headed for a destination that will ultimately disappoint you. 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:33.600 Can I preach a little bit. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.240 So I get it when Paul says that I don't 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.200 have anything that I didn't receive, and I'm with him 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:40.920 when he says that. 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:42.839 It's all Gospel all the time. 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.040 When he gets to this part though, verse nine, we 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.520 should look at it again. For I am the least 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:58.040 of the Apostles. I'm not buying it, partially because his 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:03.200 very name is almost synonymous with apostle. 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.120 If I said the Apostle, and. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.319 Then let you fill in the blank, you know who 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:15.240 wrote thirteen of the twenty seven New Testament books, the Apostle. See, 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.400 you didn't say Bartholomew, and he was one two. 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:25.240 But you didn't name your kid that the Apostle, Paul. 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.360 And so for him to be saying, oh, oh, and 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.760 this is not his rookie year, I get it. In 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.240 your first year, you've been killing Christians, or at least 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.120 consenting to their murder. They laid the garments at your 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.880 feet when Stephen was stone, when Jesus Christ gave a 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.200 standing ovation to Stephen because of his boldness, and you 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.600 stood there watching it, and not only watching it, but 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:47.240 endorsing it and supporting it. 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.080 I understand how at. 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.320 That point it could take you a little while. But 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:55.760 you've been in the game thirty years, planting churches all 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.920 throughout the Roman Empire, taking it where didn't dare to 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:01.280 take it. 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.560 And in fact, Peter had. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.800 A sort of prejudice that didn't show itself except when 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:08.840 he was around people who he thought were as prejudice 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:09.320 as he was. 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.400 Paul wasn't that way. Paul didn't talk. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.960 One way in front of one group or one race, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.840 and then talk another way when he got around his 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:21.320 friends or his boys. 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.200 He was just determined to take the gospel to all people. 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:30.000 I just said something right there, one person, all the time. 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.080 But Paul said, you know, really, I don't feel worthy 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:33.400 of this. 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.920 I've been in it so long, and I know I'm 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:36.880 a legend. 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:40.440 But I don't even really feel like what you think 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:45.240 I am. I don't even really feel like I deserve 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.640 this title. And I'm doing the job and I'm filling 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.960 the position. But can I be honest with you, Sometimes 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:54.760 I feel more like a little boy than I do 0:15:54.880 --> 0:16:01.520 like a dad. It's the difference between the title. 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.160 Others give me and the truth I tell myself. 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.440 And Paul knew a truth about himself that caused him to. 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.240 Always feel a little unworthy of his title. He said, 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:14.040 I'm the least of the. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.520 Apostles, and I don't deserve to be calling apostle. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:18.600 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.600 That's like the singers who just sing so good and 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.920 then you're like, oh, you know, that was so good, 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.200 and try to shut up. You know you can sing, 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:32.920 And then there's some other ones who think they can 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:40.000 sing and need a friend. I remember the first compliment 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.320 I was ever given as a preacher, and there was 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.160 a lesson in it because I preached this little sermon 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.640 about the time that Peter was walking on the water 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.920 and he saw the wind in the waves and he 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.800 began to sing. I was sixteen years old preaching amongst 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.160 corny n I Methodist Church. Because at age sixteen, you 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.520 know all about the wind and waves of life qualifies 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.600 you to bring a word to the people. And I 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.679 got done preaching my sermon. And when you first start preaching, 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:14.760 people are very kind. They see it as their responsibility 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:15.600 to help bridge. 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:19.719 The gap between your attention and your performance. So they 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.440 say sweet things, especially in the South. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.800 They might not mean them, but Southerners will say it anyway, 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.320 and George Altman came up to me after my first 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.960 sermon and said, you did a good job today. George 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.800 Altman was a legend at the church. He'd been in 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.560 the church longer than the church had been in the church. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.840 He said, you did a good job today. And when 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.240 he said it, I felt like that I shouldn't just 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:49.000 say thank you, because that felt kind of arrogant that 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:53.919 I should say something spiritual back. So mister George said 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.320 that was a good job today. I said thank you, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.320 But it wasn't me. It was all God. And George 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:10.639 Aupman said, it wasn't that good. You know, it's a 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.199 little bit of you in it. If it would have 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.440 been all God, touch somebody say you're not that good, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.359 and I feel pope. Not only does it feel a 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:22.760 little bit like a humble brag. 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.160 I'm not even deserve to be an apostle. It's all God. 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:28.240 And he knows he's smart, and he knows he's of 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.520 the tribe of Benjamin, and he knows he's a Pharisee 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.120 of Pharisees, and he knows that he studied under the Meleel, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:38.879 who was the Jedi spiritual teacher of Judaic tradition, and 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:39.639 he knows all of this. 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:41.320 But he said, you know, I really don't even feel 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:43.639 like an apostle. But then he confused me because in 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.160 verse ten he can't make up his mind watch this. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:47.280 But by the. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.040 Grace of God, I am what I am, and his 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.240 grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.719 harder than all of them, than Cephists, than the twelve, 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.760 than the five hundred. I outworked everybody that God picked. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:07.200 Before me, yet not I. But it was the grace 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:13.880 of God that was with me. So which one was it? Paul? 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.879 I worked harder than all of them. I took the 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:19.960 gustel where none of them. 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:24.760 Would dare to go, shipwrecks and lashings and accusations. I 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:30.679 was on my grind, but it wasn't me, it was 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:37.640 Oh God, was it? 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:41.639 Was it your grind? Or was it God's grace? 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:44.600 I don't believe in talking to dead people, but I 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:46.480 saw I feel like Paul answered me this week. Maybe 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.879 it was a holy spirit and said, why do you 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:54.560 always try to keep two things apart? Then in the 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:59.159 mind of God go together? And I realized that I 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.600 was doing with the text what often happens even in 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:04.240 our own nation. 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.880 Is that two things that are really. 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:13.640 Meant to go together get so divided, and now we 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:18.840 see as opposites two things that actually cannot operate unless 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:24.560 they operate in tandem. So one person will say I 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.480 want justice and another person will say, but I'm a patriot. 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.720 But those two are not opposites, because you can't be 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.119 a patriot if. 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:39.639 There is not justice. It's got to work together. Do 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:44.280 you hear me? What God has joined together? Let not 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:45.359 man separate. 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:47.440 That's not just a Mariage scripture. 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:48.840 We do it all the time. 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.480 So we got some people who want to read the 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:53.800 Bible on their couch and say, I'm all about grace. 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.119 You know you really preciously with your girlfriend. 0:20:58.119 --> 0:20:59.679 You should make a commitment to her marriage. 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.080 And you probably anybody wou say about something Sharley, No, 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.400 I am what I am? Got the spirit of Popeye 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.800 comes over you when somebody starts saying something, Amn, what 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:10.240 I am? 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.400 I wan what I want? God knows what I want. 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:15.800 He even't want me to want it. He should have 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.160 made me different. Well, he should have made me, should 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.200 have made me want like all these women. And should 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:23.080 you know it's his fault. He made him look good. 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.080 I like your awkward laughter where you feel like we 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:33.720 got out of church and got into real real life. 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:38.239 The grind, the grind, the grind, the grind, all had 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:40.960 the grace of God. You know, I don't go to church, 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:42.840 but you know, me and God, we got our thing. 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:44.920 We chill over in the game. 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.960 See fantasy football is how I connect with God. That's 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.080 my connection with God because I feel like he's my 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:56.399 quarterback and God speaks to. 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:59.959 Me over the game. It's a great thing. You wouldn't 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:01.679 understand those of you. 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:05.240 Who like commit yourself to church and discipline you, you 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:07.960 just don't get the grace of God. Paul said, no, no, no, no, no, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:14.840 no no, you don't get the grind. Paul said, I 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:22.280 got grace and I got grind. Those two are not opposites. 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:28.840 I've got grace and I've got truth. Those two are 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:34.960 not opposites. I've got grace. But it's not this fake grace, 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:40.200 this cheap grace, this phony grace that finds you and 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:43.879 just covers you. This is a grace that changes you. 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.920 Paul said. When you've been where I've been, and you've 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:50.520 done what I've done, and God. 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.720 Picks you up off of a thirty Damascus. 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:56.919 Road and gives you a mission, and forgives your sins 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:01.240 and cleanses you from your unrighteousness and sets your feet 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:04.280 on a rock. When you get this kind of grace, 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:07.720 you don't stay on the couch. You walk into your 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:11.399 calling determined and committed to be what he calls you 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:11.639 to be. 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:15.120 I am what I am because of his grace. 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:17.200 And I will not stay what I was. 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:21.240 I'm becoming what I shall be by the grace of God. 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:23.800 Give him a shout of praise. If you got grace, 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:25.840 come on. 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:29.199 All the way to the top. Praise Him for his grace. 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.880 Grace will make you praise him. Grace will make you persevere. 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:37.359 Race we'll make you get up and go again. Grace 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:40.320 will make you change your ways. Grace will make you 0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:43.480 say I'm sorry. Grace will make you stick it out. 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:54.240 Did anybody make it by the grace of God? So 0:23:54.440 --> 0:23:57.359 Paul said, there's two ways to look at this. 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:04.720 I'm on my I'm on my grind. I'm serving God 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:09.520 more than all of them. And the reason I serve 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.280 God more than all of them is because I needed 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:16.320 more grace than any of them. This is the part 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:20.200 of the sermon where the people who aren't perfect should shout, 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:25.800 because when you know that you don't deserve what God 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:30.000 has given you, nobody has to make you serve God. 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:34.480 You know, every breakfast a gift, every step is grace, 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:36.119 every day is grace. 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:39.960 His mercies are new with every rising up the sun. 0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:43.480 I want all the unworthy people to shout, all the 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:48.000 undeserving people to shout. Come on rock Hill, come on Gaston, 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:52.240 come on Lake Norman, come on you see, come on Blakeney. 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:54.840 You might want to jump up on your feet for 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:58.760 seventeen seconds and second for his unmars. 0:24:58.800 --> 0:25:00.919 And then I got grind. 0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:19.800 Oh yeah, And I'm not grinding to get God's favor. 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:23.439 I'm grinding because I've already got God's favor. 0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:33.520 I got grace in the grind. So I want to 0:25:33.560 --> 0:25:37.200 make a new hashtag. I want to make a new hashtag. 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:43.080 I want you to post this week hashtag on my grind, 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:46.879 but change it a little bit. Sit down, I'll show you. 0:25:48.960 --> 0:25:55.560 It says I worked harder than them all. I'll work 0:25:55.680 --> 0:26:01.080 them all because I'll send them all. I worked them 0:26:01.160 --> 0:26:05.480 all because of what I knew about me, Not so 0:26:05.640 --> 0:26:07.960 God would love me, but because he did so much 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:11.080 I didn't bust through the front door and annoying his 0:26:11.640 --> 0:26:16.439 feet with perfume to earn his acceptance. It was because 0:26:16.480 --> 0:26:19.840 he had already given me his acceptance. It meant so 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:20.600 much to me. 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:30.080 So I'm on my grime. But it's not really me, 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.240 it's his grace to me. 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:38.680 And perhaps here a distinction would be helpful between the 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:40.920 common grace of God that is given to all men, 0:26:41.359 --> 0:26:43.919 the saving grace of God which brings us into right 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:47.720 relationship with Him, and then that particular grace of God 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:54.359 that God has given you and no one else, Elijah. 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:58.800 God gave me a grace to raise you. Any other 0:26:58.960 --> 0:27:02.080 Dad in this room would fail at it. But I 0:27:02.160 --> 0:27:07.639 can do this because I got grace for it, not 0:27:07.800 --> 0:27:15.200 that I need it. I got grace for it. God 0:27:15.280 --> 0:27:18.680 doesn't just give you a grace to save you. He 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:24.400 gives you a special grace for your grind. God does 0:27:24.480 --> 0:27:27.240 not just give grace to a preacher when he stands 0:27:27.280 --> 0:27:32.040 in a pulpit. He gives grace for negotiation in a boardroom. 0:27:33.000 --> 0:27:39.440 If that's your place, that's your grace. God has given 0:27:39.560 --> 0:27:44.080 you a particular grace. It is custom design to fit 0:27:44.200 --> 0:27:46.399 in the space where God has assigned you. 0:27:47.960 --> 0:27:52.520 Paul said, it was his grace to me, his grace 0:27:52.680 --> 0:27:56.720 to me. Verse three. I passed on to you that 0:27:56.880 --> 0:27:59.680 which was given to me, the grace that God gave me. 0:28:00.080 --> 0:28:02.480 I regifted it to you. That's all I did. 0:28:04.359 --> 0:28:07.320 I get weary when I try to pass on to 0:28:07.480 --> 0:28:15.200 others what God did not give to me. But when 0:28:15.280 --> 0:28:22.280 I stay on my grind, hashtag in my grace, that's 0:28:22.320 --> 0:28:23.240 the new hashtag. 0:28:23.680 --> 0:28:26.159 I'm on my grind. Tell somebody say I'm on my grind, 0:28:27.200 --> 0:28:32.280 but I'm in my grace. Hashtag in my grace. That's how. 0:28:32.600 --> 0:28:36.920 Give me that bag. Follow me around you follow me 0:28:36.960 --> 0:28:41.440 with that bag. I want you to go into situations 0:28:41.960 --> 0:28:46.160 this week. Can I use you? You don't look so sure. 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:53.320 Is those situations in your life that require extra grace 0:28:54.840 --> 0:28:58.200 those people in your life. One author called it e 0:28:58.320 --> 0:29:02.760 g R people Extra grace acquired people. Do not make 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:04.760 eye contact with the person you came to church with 0:29:04.920 --> 0:29:06.880 right now. That would be the worst thing you could do. 0:29:11.720 --> 0:29:13.800 And I want you to take the situation in your 0:29:13.840 --> 0:29:21.240 life this week that the grind and in your mind. 0:29:22.760 --> 0:29:27.600 I want you to see it as a gift. So 0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:31.280 I got a whole bag of bows and I want 0:29:31.320 --> 0:29:32.920 you to take the situation this week. 0:29:37.760 --> 0:29:44.840 That you've been asking God to take away anymont and 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:51.760 when that person comes your way, then tries your soul 0:29:52.120 --> 0:29:54.720 to the marrow of its essence. 0:29:56.320 --> 0:29:59.480 Oh god, how many of you just had a flash 0:29:59.560 --> 0:30:02.000 image of who they are? Put a bowl on them 0:30:03.560 --> 0:30:06.080 in your mind. Now, don't do it? 0:30:06.160 --> 0:30:06.400 Really? 0:30:07.720 --> 0:30:13.880 Then you know I might but that person that you 0:30:14.000 --> 0:30:17.920 got to deal with and you can't make them go away. 0:30:19.720 --> 0:30:21.160 But I want to find here. 0:30:21.200 --> 0:30:30.280 It is the gift in the grind. Oh, thank you, 0:30:31.320 --> 0:30:38.840 annoying person. Thank you long drive to work. I've been 0:30:38.920 --> 0:30:42.440 needing to listen to my audio Bible that is on 0:30:42.560 --> 0:30:46.000 my iPhone app and you just gave me thirty seven 0:30:46.160 --> 0:30:47.360 extra minutes to do it. 0:30:47.840 --> 0:30:57.840 What a gift. It's the gift in the grind. Oh, 0:30:58.640 --> 0:31:05.760 thank you dentist office. Just a little stuff, you know, 0:31:05.920 --> 0:31:10.520 just a little stuff forgiving me the opportunity to meditate. 0:31:10.800 --> 0:31:13.480 And even though this dntal hygienesi is trying to talk 0:31:13.560 --> 0:31:15.960 to me while she has an instrument of death in 0:31:16.040 --> 0:31:20.160 my mouth, why do they do that. I'll take this 0:31:22.600 --> 0:31:28.720 as a gift. You look better with that. It's a gift. 0:31:29.560 --> 0:31:32.600 It's a gift. It's a gift. Everybody shot it's a gift. 0:31:33.400 --> 0:31:33.960 It's a gift. 0:31:34.080 --> 0:31:36.800 It didn't look like a gift at first, but you 0:31:36.920 --> 0:31:41.320 know that person that doesn't like you, that God is 0:31:41.480 --> 0:31:46.360 using to set you free from the need to have 0:31:46.520 --> 0:31:52.960 people like you. It's a gift. It's a gift. Shout 0:31:53.040 --> 0:31:56.200 it out, love by faith, it's a gift. Doesn't have 0:31:56.280 --> 0:31:59.480 to feel good to be good. All things work together. 0:32:00.720 --> 0:32:01.080 Of them. 0:32:01.120 --> 0:32:04.160 They loved God and are called according to his purpose. 0:32:05.720 --> 0:32:10.440 So I'm looking for the gift in the grind. I'm 0:32:10.480 --> 0:32:16.280 looking for the gift in the discouragement. Imagine how much 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:18.960 fun is gonna be to go through the boring. 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:21.640 Parts of your week with a back full of bothes, 0:32:22.560 --> 0:32:27.680 just looking for the grace of God, just looking for 0:32:27.840 --> 0:32:31.880 the mercy of God, just looking for the gift of God. 0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:35.920 Because if I seek, I will find, and if I knock, 0:32:36.480 --> 0:32:40.560 the door will be open. And if I embrace the grid, 0:32:41.040 --> 0:32:43.240 I can receive the gift. 0:32:44.000 --> 0:32:46.880 Because the Word became flesh. 0:32:47.000 --> 0:32:51.320 And dwelt a loove us, and we beheld his glory, 0:32:51.800 --> 0:32:55.760 the glory, yes, of the only begotten, of the Father, full. 0:32:55.600 --> 0:32:59.920 Of grace and truth. Does somebody say, I gotta give. 0:33:01.280 --> 0:33:05.120 It's a guilt. It's a guilt. That's how I do it. 0:33:05.200 --> 0:33:07.400 I'm out of boze. You take the bag. I got 0:33:07.480 --> 0:33:10.240 a gift. I five everybody in your vicinity. 0:33:10.320 --> 0:33:10.760 A second. 0:33:11.000 --> 0:33:13.880 What a gumft, what a gamp? 0:33:15.040 --> 0:33:25.280 My weakness is a gift. My struggle is against God 0:33:25.400 --> 0:33:28.040 could have knocked Paul off of his horse. 0:33:28.160 --> 0:33:31.120 Before he ever consented to the killing of a Christian. 0:33:31.440 --> 0:33:33.720 But if he had done it too early, Paul would 0:33:33.760 --> 0:33:34.880 have valued it too little. 0:33:35.240 --> 0:33:42.080 I have a feeling. 0:33:43.240 --> 0:33:46.040 That when God really wants to use somebody in a 0:33:46.160 --> 0:33:50.160 great way, just like they took the olives to make 0:33:50.200 --> 0:33:52.000 the oil that went in the lamps that went in 0:33:52.080 --> 0:33:54.520 the tabernacle so that they could burn in the presence 0:33:54.560 --> 0:33:57.360 of the Lord, had to be hand pressed so that 0:33:57.440 --> 0:34:00.240 there would be no pulp in the lamp that would 0:34:00.240 --> 0:34:03.000 cause the light not to burn as brightly or as long. 0:34:04.720 --> 0:34:07.120 I have a feeling that God does to the life, 0:34:07.200 --> 0:34:10.279 that he really wants to handpick what they would do 0:34:10.400 --> 0:34:16.520 to those olives, and he hand presses the life to 0:34:16.640 --> 0:34:22.920 get the oil to flow from the purest place. That's 0:34:22.960 --> 0:34:26.760 what the grind is for. To get out my pride. 0:34:28.320 --> 0:34:32.840 That's what the grind is for to get out myself reliance. 0:34:34.200 --> 0:34:38.000 That's what the grind is for, to get out my superiority. 0:34:38.400 --> 0:34:40.160 If God would have given it to me too early, 0:34:40.200 --> 0:34:42.080 I would have thought I was better. But now I 0:34:42.120 --> 0:34:44.920 can say I don't even deserve to be what you're 0:34:45.000 --> 0:34:45.400 calling me. 0:34:47.480 --> 0:34:52.360 But I'm in. But it's not me, but it's in me, 0:34:53.560 --> 0:34:56.120 and I want my grind when. 0:34:56.000 --> 0:35:00.960 I'm in my grace. Here's the challenge. The enemy can't 0:35:01.120 --> 0:35:05.279 stop God from giving you grace, so he wants to 0:35:05.360 --> 0:35:14.040 stop you from using it. And I want to ask 0:35:14.080 --> 0:35:16.160 a question of everyone who made the choice to come 0:35:16.200 --> 0:35:18.560 to church today, have you been wasting your grace? 0:35:21.000 --> 0:35:23.840 Paul said, God gave me so much grace. 0:35:25.080 --> 0:35:29.239 And when Eugene Peterson tried to translate his version of 0:35:29.320 --> 0:35:32.640 First Corinthiums fifteen ten in the Message Bible, he had 0:35:32.680 --> 0:35:35.080 to say it like this, God has been so very 0:35:35.160 --> 0:35:37.239 good to me, and I don't intend to waste a 0:35:37.320 --> 0:35:42.080 drop of it. I won't waste it because it costs 0:35:42.120 --> 0:35:48.200 too much. Waste is relative to value. When you've had 0:35:48.280 --> 0:35:51.040 so much of something for so long, you lose the 0:35:51.160 --> 0:35:55.239 value of it, and so you use it and you 0:35:55.320 --> 0:35:59.040 abuse it because you have lost your sense, I want 0:35:59.080 --> 0:36:00.360 to remind you of the gospel. 0:36:00.400 --> 0:36:02.520 I preach to you, the gospel that God gave to 0:36:02.600 --> 0:36:03.680 me and I gave to you. 0:36:04.000 --> 0:36:06.759 And now you're in this gospel and you're in disgrace, 0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:08.560 but you're wasting it. 0:36:10.920 --> 0:36:12.080 The church at Corinth had. 0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:15.440 A lot of problems, not only idolatry, not only sexism, 0:36:15.680 --> 0:36:18.760 not only divisions in the church, not only sexual problems. 0:36:18.840 --> 0:36:20.680 But they had gift envy. 0:36:23.560 --> 0:36:25.600 It was a church full of gifted people that were 0:36:25.600 --> 0:36:31.239 walking around with other people's gift on their wish list. 0:36:35.560 --> 0:36:40.400 And when you envy someone else's gift, you waste your grace. 0:36:45.480 --> 0:36:48.239 When you wish that you had what they had, you 0:36:48.480 --> 0:36:53.000 missed the gift that God has given you. Don't waste 0:36:53.080 --> 0:36:58.880 your grace because you're wishing for someone else's. Well, if 0:36:58.920 --> 0:37:01.879 I could be like her, I guess I would. Paul said, 0:37:02.120 --> 0:37:04.040 I am what I am, and guess what that means. 0:37:04.800 --> 0:37:05.680 I'm not what I'm not. 0:37:08.960 --> 0:37:13.480 But it's okay because I got my own grace. I 0:37:13.600 --> 0:37:16.719 got my own grace. I don't need yours. I got 0:37:16.800 --> 0:37:21.640 my own. How many times have we wasted the grace 0:37:21.960 --> 0:37:24.920 that God has given us because we have envied the 0:37:25.000 --> 0:37:30.520 gifts that he gave another. I see people miss the 0:37:30.680 --> 0:37:33.680 season that they're in because they're waiting on the one 0:37:33.760 --> 0:37:37.840 that's to come. You will waste the grace of this 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:45.279 season if your focus is on the next one. And 0:37:45.360 --> 0:37:50.359 now you're weary, and now you're burden. Now you want 0:37:50.400 --> 0:37:54.359 to give up because you've wait, not that you don't 0:37:54.440 --> 0:38:00.920 have the grace, you're wasting it. It's right there be 0:38:01.040 --> 0:38:03.800 sad to get to heaven. And there's a big pile 0:38:04.960 --> 0:38:08.160 of all the grace that God gave you each day 0:38:09.120 --> 0:38:12.080 that you didn't appropriate because you were. 0:38:12.040 --> 0:38:13.720 Waiting until you felt worthy. 0:38:16.360 --> 0:38:19.680 Paul said, I know what I did, but if I 0:38:19.840 --> 0:38:24.960 stay in my shame, I will waste my grace. And 0:38:25.120 --> 0:38:28.600 the price that was paid for me to stand in 0:38:28.760 --> 0:38:32.160 this grace was too great for me to waste it. 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:40.000 I will not waste my grace. The pastes behind me, 0:38:40.560 --> 0:38:42.239 the crosses before. 0:38:42.000 --> 0:38:45.880 Me, and I. 0:38:47.440 --> 0:38:53.360 Will not waste the grace of this day. This is 0:38:53.480 --> 0:38:59.120 the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice 0:38:59.640 --> 0:39:03.880 and be glad in it. I refuse to leave any 0:39:04.239 --> 0:39:09.000 grace misappropriated. 0:39:13.480 --> 0:39:17.400 So I'm done wishing that I was someone else, because 0:39:17.440 --> 0:39:21.439 I am what I am by the grace of God, 0:39:22.280 --> 0:39:24.480 I'm done wishing that I was in a season or 0:39:24.520 --> 0:39:27.880 a situation that you know what. I am done wasting 0:39:28.280 --> 0:39:32.680 the grace that God has given me worrying about situations 0:39:32.719 --> 0:39:33.480 that I can't control. 0:39:34.960 --> 0:39:37.239 That's it. I'm done. 0:39:38.360 --> 0:39:42.560 I have wasted enough time crying over stuff that was 0:39:42.719 --> 0:39:46.080 over and missing stuff that I was living in. 0:39:46.560 --> 0:39:56.120 I will not waste the grace of this day. The 0:39:56.239 --> 0:39:58.800 Spirit of God helped me minister this message to someone. 0:39:59.360 --> 0:40:07.080 You have been wasting your grace, the great grace of God, greater, 0:40:07.520 --> 0:40:10.239 greater than all of our sin, greater than all of 0:40:10.320 --> 0:40:14.600 our sin. Great grace, somebody shall great grace, great grace 0:40:16.040 --> 0:40:24.680 when you don't value it, you don't get it. And 0:40:24.800 --> 0:40:29.600 you know that grind that we talked about earlier, the 0:40:29.680 --> 0:40:33.360 stuff that you wish would stop in your life. I 0:40:33.400 --> 0:40:35.200 didn't want to close the sermon this way, but God 0:40:35.280 --> 0:40:37.960 told me too, because he said that it didn't matter 0:40:38.000 --> 0:40:39.560 how I wanted to close the sermon, It mattered what 0:40:39.719 --> 0:40:40.080 was true. 0:40:42.760 --> 0:40:44.680 That grind is what produces the grace. 0:40:50.400 --> 0:40:55.399 That's where the grace comes right into that place, right 0:40:55.480 --> 0:41:00.400 into that insecurity, right into that revolving joys. 0:41:00.400 --> 0:41:03.279 Stand up so I can pray for you. 0:41:05.080 --> 0:41:10.440 You've been wasting your grace, Paul said, I didn't ever 0:41:10.560 --> 0:41:14.560 feel worthy, but I was made worthy, and I will 0:41:14.680 --> 0:41:17.080 not waste the grace of God waiting for a feeling 0:41:17.160 --> 0:41:19.080 to accompany the truth. 0:41:20.120 --> 0:41:23.400 I won't waste ants. 0:41:23.440 --> 0:41:25.640 You just lift your hands to heaven if you want 0:41:25.640 --> 0:41:28.439 to receive a fresh empowering of the grace of God, 0:41:29.480 --> 0:41:32.360 because I know you need it. Man, I know the 0:41:32.440 --> 0:41:36.759 grind is real. I know sometimes it just grinds the 0:41:36.840 --> 0:41:43.200 joy right out of you. Father, And your presence is 0:41:43.280 --> 0:41:48.440 the fullness of joy at your right hand, pleasures forevermore. 0:41:48.680 --> 0:41:49.520 It never runs out. 0:41:51.960 --> 0:41:56.520 We thank you today for common grace that's given to 0:41:56.560 --> 0:42:01.600 all men, your loving kindness, your disposition in favor of 0:42:01.640 --> 0:42:04.760 the human race that you created. Well, thank you today 0:42:04.880 --> 0:42:09.200 for saving grace that took away the penalty of our sin, 0:42:11.120 --> 0:42:13.800 the effects of our shame, and set us free to 0:42:13.960 --> 0:42:19.000 know you. I also thank you today for that special grace, 0:42:20.760 --> 0:42:25.920 that special grace for special struggles, that grace that comes 0:42:25.960 --> 0:42:31.200 in hospital rooms, that grace that comes in layoffs, that 0:42:31.320 --> 0:42:34.839 grace that comes in financial crisis, that grace that comes 0:42:34.880 --> 0:42:38.520 in the kind of success that seems unsustainable. I thank 0:42:38.600 --> 0:42:47.400 you for disgrace this gift in Jesus' name, look at 0:42:47.480 --> 0:42:50.960 me for a moment. Sometimes you're waiting for God to 0:42:51.040 --> 0:42:54.840 give you something that He already gave you, and you 0:42:54.880 --> 0:42:59.160 don't know you have it. One time, we were about 0:42:59.200 --> 0:43:04.000 to write a song and I was opening us up 0:43:04.040 --> 0:43:07.960 in prayer. It seemed the pastoral thing to do, and 0:43:08.080 --> 0:43:12.040 my prayer to me sounded very spiritual. I prayed out loud, God, 0:43:12.120 --> 0:43:14.480 we're here before you today, and we asked that you 0:43:14.520 --> 0:43:18.879 would give us a song. I prayed that out loud. 0:43:18.960 --> 0:43:20.879 I felt God speak back to me, not out loud, 0:43:20.920 --> 0:43:23.200 but inside. I say, God, give us a song. I 0:43:23.280 --> 0:43:31.920 felt God say, you give me one. Because I have 0:43:32.080 --> 0:43:38.120 given you your mouth, your mind, your ears, your spirit, 0:43:38.680 --> 0:43:42.280 your vocabulary, my word, your experiences. 0:43:42.840 --> 0:43:46.600 I have given you the grace, Now give me a song. 0:43:48.040 --> 0:43:50.960 I believe God wants you to give him a song today. 0:43:52.320 --> 0:43:54.399 I believe if you would open your mouth right now, 0:43:54.480 --> 0:43:57.920 in this moment, the grace of God would invade situation, 0:43:59.120 --> 0:43:59.760 the grace. 0:43:59.600 --> 0:44:04.600 Of God that would invade shame. Thank you for joining us. 0:44:04.960 --> 0:44:07.360 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:44:07.480 --> 0:44:10.920 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:44:11.400 --> 0:44:13.600 You can click the link in the description to give 0:44:13.680 --> 0:44:17.799 now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more 0:44:17.840 --> 0:44:21.480 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:44:21.960 --> 0:44:23.200 You can share it with your friends. 0:44:23.560 --> 0:44:25.800 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:44:25.880 --> 0:44:27.960 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:44:28.040 --> 0:44:28.839 Elevation Church. 0:44:28.960 --> 0:44:30.560 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.