SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the podcast of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
SPEAKER_02: Join us as we dive into this week's sermon that challenges our hearts and minds to grow closer to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: We pray that your heart is inspired and transformed by God's Word.
SPEAKER_03: Our scripture reading this morning comes from 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_03: This is verses 1 through 13 of chapter 6.
SPEAKER_03: Hear the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain, for He says, In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.
SPEAKER_03: Behold, now is the favorable time.
SPEAKER_03: Behold, now is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_03: We put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found in our ministry.
SPEAKER_03: But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way, by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as imposters, and yet are true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying, and behold, we live, as punished and not yet killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
SPEAKER_03: We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, our heart is wide open.
SPEAKER_03: You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.
SPEAKER_03: In return I speak as to children.
SPEAKER_03: Widen your hearts also.
SPEAKER_03: Friends, this is the word of God for the people of God.
SPEAKER_03: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_01: I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Paul Aller.
SPEAKER_01: I have the honor of serving as a senior pastor of Christ Methodist.
SPEAKER_01: We welcome you today.
SPEAKER_01: Love ones, before we dive into our teaching, I want to remind you that as we're on mission as a faith family of glorifying God and making disciples of Jesus Christ of all peoples, that we also have goals surrounding our mission as a church.
SPEAKER_01: And one of those goals is 100% of our church family in connection and serving in ministry with one or more of our mission partners.
SPEAKER_01: So next Saturday, May 2nd, the entire church family is invited to serve on mission with one of our mission partners in the city.
SPEAKER_01: Child care is provided.
SPEAKER_01: There's details.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll just take your iPhone, scan it over the QR code in the bulletin, and opportunities to serve will present themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to encourage you to be a part.
SPEAKER_01: We already have well over a hundred people that are signed up and we're trending in a delightful direction as we anticipate serving our city next Saturday.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to know that last Sunday in the text that we covered, the Apostle Paul confronted us.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, he continues in that spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Only what he shares is not just information, it's an invitation.
SPEAKER_01: It's an invitation not to take the grace of God for granted.
SPEAKER_01: It's an invitation that's not just about theology, but about what we're living into as Christ followers.
SPEAKER_01: As Daniel read so eloquently a moment ago, 2 Corinthians 6 1 begins with this: working together with him.
SPEAKER_01: Some of your Bibles translate that as God's co-workers.
SPEAKER_01: We appeal to you.
SPEAKER_01: Some of your Bibles say, we urge you.
SPEAKER_01: So think about the emotive language Paul's using.
SPEAKER_01: We urge you, we appeal to you.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, you can also translate it this way: we plead with you not to take the grace of God in vain.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's ask a question.
SPEAKER_01: If God's inspiring the Apostle Paul to instruct the church, don't take this for granted.
SPEAKER_01: What is the grace of God?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the grace of God is the power of God at work that saves you.
SPEAKER_01: We're saved by grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not all that grace is.
SPEAKER_01: We want to make much of that, but that is not all that grace is.
SPEAKER_01: Grace is also the ongoing work of God that is the power of God to transform your life after you've come to know Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The grace of God, to use the definition that our special guest next Sunday, who will be with us, Al Henson, that he uses, he defines grace of all as all of God for all my need.
SPEAKER_01: Let me define it in another way.
SPEAKER_01: Because grace is so much a part of the character of God, the grace of God is God working in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul here is appealing to the church at Corinth.
SPEAKER_01: Do not take the grace of God in vain.
SPEAKER_01: I remember a few months ago as we were journeying through the early parts of 2 Corinthians, where Paul is teaching us the grace of God's only available to you for a limited time.
SPEAKER_01: Do not take for granted the window of time that we're living in, because a day will come when the grace of God is no longer available in the context of your ongoing development.
SPEAKER_01: Because one day, as we learned two weeks ago, we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul's still writing in that same context when we get to these verses.
SPEAKER_01: There is a sense, church family, that this man of God, the Apostle Paul, is begging the church at Corinth not to waste grace.
SPEAKER_01: And so Paul introduces attention.
SPEAKER_01: And what he outlines is that grace can be received but still not applied for the believer.
SPEAKER_01: It can be present but not productive.
SPEAKER_01: It can be available, but not activated in the life of a believer.
SPEAKER_01: So the question isn't just, do you believe in the grace of God?
SPEAKER_01: The deeper question, in light of where the text takes us today, is God's grace changing anything in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And there are five primary matters that the Apostle Paul brings up and navigates us through, in which we will navigate this morning.
SPEAKER_01: The first matter is this related to the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: Grace requires a response.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Paul says, don't receive the presence of God, the grace of God in vain.
SPEAKER_01: This means God's grace can, in a sense, be in your hands, but not shape your habits, not shape your mindset, not shape your relationships and the way that you work with and get along with people.
SPEAKER_01: This is where many people get stuck.
SPEAKER_01: We celebrate grace at the moment of salvation, looking back at what God did when we were saved by grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ, but we neglect the grace that God has declared is available to us.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's the way the grace is defined most of the time in the New Testament, that is the very power that transforms your life.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, we love that grace forgives us.
SPEAKER_01: We want to make much of that.
SPEAKER_01: But we hesitate when the grace of God begins to confront us.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why the Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse, excuse me, in quoting the book of Isaiah, 2 Corinthians 6, 2, pardon me.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, in a favorable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.
SPEAKER_01: But then he takes that verse and he makes it personal.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, This Behold, now is the favorable time.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, now is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Now we need to pause here and consider what Paul means by salvation in this context.
SPEAKER_01: We understand, and I've affirmed it a couple of times already, we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But the root word for the word salvation, Greek word sozo, it not only means to be delivered from a kingdom of darkness and redeemed into a kingdom of light, to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: But sozo, that root word, also means to be made whole.
SPEAKER_01: And so what he's talking about here is not only your salvation that puts you in the kingdom of light and delivers you from judgment and wrath from God, but it also develops wholeness, your development into the image of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul is declaring now, don't put this off now.
SPEAKER_01: This is Christianity applied into your circumstances now, not later, not when life slows down, not when your emotions, you're waiting for them to line up in some way.
SPEAKER_00: He's declaring now.
SPEAKER_00: Now.
SPEAKER_01: And loved ones, is it not true that all of us are capable of being professional procrastinators when it comes to spiritual things?
SPEAKER_01: We can't have a capacity within us to delay obedience as if it's optional.
SPEAKER_01: I'll deal with this bad attitude later.
SPEAKER_01: I know that I need to forgive this person, but I'm just going to work it out where I get there someday, some pot some point in the distance, when I feel my emotions in a place where I'm going to suddenly be obedient to Jesus because when I feel like it is going to overrule obedience to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Or I'll get serious about the things of God when things settle down.
SPEAKER_01: But grace, according to what we're being taught by the Apostle Paul, doesn't operate on delay.
SPEAKER_01: It calls for a decision.
SPEAKER_01: Loved ones, to use a parallel, it's like if you had a deadly disease and you went to the doctor and the doctor gave you a prescription, and the doctor declares, this will cure you.
SPEAKER_01: This will save your life.
SPEAKER_01: But you go get the prescription and then you set it on your counter in the kitchen and you never take it.
SPEAKER_01: The medicine is real, the power is there to heal you, but if it's not taken, it doesn't heal.
SPEAKER_01: And the grace of God is not meant just to be admired, it is meant to be taken in, to be lived out, to be walked in daily.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the tension: God's grace is free, but it is not passive.
SPEAKER_01: It invites, the grace of God invites you into participation.
SPEAKER_01: The grace of God invites you into application.
SPEAKER_01: God will not force transformation on you.
SPEAKER_01: You have to respond.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why the Apostle Paul begins this section by describing how God's grace requires a response.
SPEAKER_01: Second matter he brings up is this.
SPEAKER_01: Paul does something here that really challenges our expectations.
SPEAKER_01: He starts listing what life looks like when somebody is walking in the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: And loved ones, to keep it real, it doesn't look comfortable.
SPEAKER_01: These examples that Paul uses, look with me in verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance, in afflictions, in hardship, in calamities.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's pause for a moment, because what Paul is doing here is he is keeping it so real and so relevant.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we're honest, that's not the kind of Christianity most people think they're signing up for.
SPEAKER_01: Because what we want is the grace of God working in our life in a way that it removes problems.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, the grace of God operates in a way that it sustains us through problems.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says that this is what God's grace looks like in real life.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he uses himself as an example.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he takes a moment to describe for the Corinthians troubles, hardships, distress, pardon me, being beaten, stripes, imprisonment, chaos, tumults, sleepless nights, hunger.
SPEAKER_01: And when he's doing this, church family, he's not describing failures.
SPEAKER_01: He's describing faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: He's describing a fruitfulness that, and of as God is being faithful to give grace to sustain him.
SPEAKER_01: This is how God is at work through his grace when we go through difficult times.
SPEAKER_01: And loved ones, properly understood, that shifts our perspective in terms of how God works.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us have misinterpreted our struggles as a sign that something is wrong, when in reality, it may be evidence that something is right, because God's grace does not change your circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace changes your capacity as you walk with God in your circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: This is why we could think about the building of a bridge that's designed to carry heavy loads.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know the strength of the bridge when it's empty.
SPEAKER_01: You know the strength, however, when the weight is applied.
SPEAKER_01: And some of us, present in the sound of my voice, you have been under severe pressure for a season.
SPEAKER_01: And you may have even been asking the question, God, why is this happening?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it so tough?
SPEAKER_01: And God may be saying to you, may, I'm showing you what I've built into you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm showing you that my grace is sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_01: Church, if that was the Apostle Paul's testimony with a thorn in the flesh, then do not think that any of us are above that as well.
SPEAKER_01: The grace of God operating in your life is internal reinforcement that allows you to carry what would otherwise crush you.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace shows up in real life, not ideal life.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the second matter.
SPEAKER_01: Paul wants the Corinthians, and I believe in faith, God wants us to understand from his living word.
SPEAKER_01: But thirdly, the third matter Paul navigates here is in understanding the operation of God's grace in our lives, is what we would call the paradox of a grace-filled life.
SPEAKER_01: Because Paul moves to one of the most powerful sections in this passage, and he navigates through verses eight through 10, and he shares this series of contrasts.
SPEAKER_01: Let's put those on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Look there with me.
SPEAKER_01: Through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown yet well known, as dying, behold, we live, as punished yet not yet killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor, making many rich, having nothing, yet possessing everything.
SPEAKER_01: Loved ones, that is a picture of the paradox of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: Because from the outside, it doesn't always make sense.
SPEAKER_01: There are seasons where as you follow Jesus, you are misunderstood, but you are still faithful.
SPEAKER_01: There are seasons where you are overlooked, but you are still called, because the Bible says all are called into ministry, priesthood of all believers.
SPEAKER_01: There are seasons where you are pressed, but because of a greater grace operating in you, you're still standing.
SPEAKER_01: There are seasons where you're sorrowful in the natural, but you're rejoicing because of an inner strength that's coming from God.
SPEAKER_01: And loved ones, that's not being Pollyanna.
SPEAKER_01: That's not denial.
SPEAKER_01: Loved ones, what that is, is depth in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that means your joy, as we covered last week, is not dependent upon circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: As poor, yet making many rich.
SPEAKER_01: That means even when you feel like you don't have much, God's still using you to pour into others.
SPEAKER_01: I remember before I was called to Christ Church, Memphis, one of your former pastors, James Lofton, talked about some members here at the church.
SPEAKER_01: He described them.
SPEAKER_01: I can't remember their name, but this is very honorable.
SPEAKER_01: He said there's this couple in this faith family didn't have enough to rub two nickels together.
SPEAKER_01: But their testimony, their love for Jesus was so vibrant and so alive.
SPEAKER_01: The blessing that they were to this church, the blessing that they were in serving this city.
SPEAKER_01: You can tell me their names after the service, perhaps.
SPEAKER_01: But it's this picture as poor, this paradox, yet making many rich, this again having nothing, yet possessing all things, your identity because of the grace of God in you is rooted in Christ, not your circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: As a believer, your life as like is like an iceberg.
SPEAKER_01: And that is that when you see what's on the surface, that's only a fraction of what's really there below the surface.
SPEAKER_01: A grace-filled life is depth beneath the surface, which is why we don't let appearances fool us, because we know God is always doing more than what's being seen in the visible.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the paradox of the grace-filled life.
SPEAKER_01: And then Paul moves to this subject.
SPEAKER_01: He says essentially that integrity is the container of grace, but there's a nuance on it.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to explain that.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about how his own life is lived in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, sincere love, in the Holy Spirit, with genuine truth.
SPEAKER_01: And the question we would ask is why does he emphasize that?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: The grace of God operating in our lives doesn't just change what we believe.
SPEAKER_01: The grace of God working in our lives changes how we behave.
SPEAKER_01: It changes how we live.
SPEAKER_01: But listen to how he nuances this.
SPEAKER_01: Verse three, we put no obstacle, offense, in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he understands that the way he lives will affect the message that he gives.
SPEAKER_01: That's true for all of us.
SPEAKER_01: And it's also especially relevant because we live in a time in Western culture where there are many people who are skeptical of the church, not always because of doctrine, but because of inconsistency.
SPEAKER_01: And the Apostle Paul is saying, don't let your life contradict the message of the work of God in your life.
SPEAKER_01: So if somebody handed you a bottle and said, This is clean water, but the bottle's dirty and cracked, you're going to hesitate to drink it.
SPEAKER_01: So to use it as a parallel, your life is the container and the message is the water.
SPEAKER_01: And when we use the word integrity here, it doesn't mean perfection.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, integrity is the container of grace, but what it does mean is alignment.
SPEAKER_01: I'm seeking to align my heart and my life with the grace of God, the revelation of God, the word of God, the way of God.
SPEAKER_01: It means what's happening in private isn't conflicting with what you're presenting in public.
SPEAKER_01: And so God, through his grace, empowers that kind of life.
SPEAKER_01: But loved one, what Paul is challenging the Corinthian church with is that you've got to cooperate with it.
SPEAKER_01: So integrity is the container of grace.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, church family, and this is where I wish I could step off this platform and just get close to you.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't mean to creep you out with that, but I
SPEAKER_00: I hope it makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: Because what the Apostle Paul's about to do in the scripture, he's about to go to the real problem at Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And it may be the real problem for many of us.
SPEAKER_01: For the grace of God to work in your heart and life to transform you, in order for that to be possible, Paul addresses what's the real issue.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll call it a restricted heart.
SPEAKER_01: Let's explain.
SPEAKER_01: Because he he shifts from speaking to them generally.
SPEAKER_01: Now he gets personal.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 11, We've spoken freely to you, Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart is wide open.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can feel there's emotion here.
SPEAKER_00: There's a father's heart for the church.
SPEAKER_01: And so he gets to a place where he's not speaking to them from a distance, he's getting close to them.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says this in verse 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's identifying that there's something limiting them in experiencing the kind of grace from God that transforms their lives.
SPEAKER_01: And what he says, you're restricted, and let's get specific, by your own affections.
SPEAKER_01: They're getting in the way of God's grace working in you at a transformative level.
SPEAKER_01: Church, that's a hard truth.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's saying that the limitation, the governor on your life is not on our end.
SPEAKER_01: It's not on the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: The governor is in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: There's something in your heart that's restricting you.
SPEAKER_01: And that hits home because oftentimes we blame external things for internal resistance.
SPEAKER_01: We say things like, I would grow more if you fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_01: I would grow more if my schedule were different.
SPEAKER_01: I would grow more if people treated me different.
SPEAKER_01: I would grow more if I had fewer distractions.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul is saying here the real issue is not just what is in your heart, but what has your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Let me put it this way: your affections determine your openness.
SPEAKER_01: If we were, if the Grizzlies were still in their season, and we decided that tonight we're all going to go to a Grizzlies game.
SPEAKER_01: And we get, we're going to all park in the same parking garage.
SPEAKER_01: We get there and we find out there's all kinds of festivities on Bill Street.
SPEAKER_01: And in fact, the city would never do this, but let's just imagine the city has also decided to have the world's largest yard sale in the parking garage.
SPEAKER_01: We pull into the parking garage, and because of activities on Bill and the game, there's no place to park.
SPEAKER_01: There's a yard sale going on.
SPEAKER_01: There's no room to get your vehicle in there.
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the picture.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us don't have room in our heart for what God wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: Not because God is not willing, not because God hasn't provided it through the power of his grace, but because the garage of our heart is already full of other affections, full of distractions, things that we value have placed higher value on, full of hurt, people that we need to forgive, full of disappointment and circumstances, full of pride, full of things that we just won't release to make room for God.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul's appeal here in terms of the bottom line and transformative grace working in the lives of the Corinthians is this loved ones, make room.
SPEAKER_00: Open your hearts also, not halfway, not cautiously, wide open.
SPEAKER_00: Open your hearts to God.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what it means not to waste the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it means not to receive the grace of God in vain.
SPEAKER_01: So what does that actually look like?
SPEAKER_01: Not to waste grace.
SPEAKER_01: Well, loved ones, it means that when God's convicting you of something, you respond.
SPEAKER_01: Now it means that when you're under pressure, that you stay faithful under pressure.
SPEAKER_01: It means that when you get offended, that you are quick to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: So the grace of God is operating.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, this this whole chapter starts out that we're co-laborers with God.
SPEAKER_01: We're working together in this.
SPEAKER_01: When I choose to forgive, God says, Oh, my son, my daughter is making this choice.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to co-labor with them to set them free.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to work together on this.
SPEAKER_01: That's how the grace of God operates.
SPEAKER_01: You pursue integrity when no one is watching.
SPEAKER_01: You keep your heart open.
SPEAKER_01: You keep your heart guarded from being hardened.
SPEAKER_01: And it means God's grace is not just something you treasure in your past by saving you.
SPEAKER_01: It's something that you're walking in right now.
SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the unique things about this area of our city is that we've got workout gyms everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: We've got a workout gym on our campus.
SPEAKER_01: We've got, in fact, I could take a rock here, maybe when I was 19, and throw it this way.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a gym right over here that I might be able to hit.
SPEAKER_01: Might.
SPEAKER_01: We go down Poplar, there's a couple of gyms down there.
SPEAKER_01: If you turn right on White Station, there are gyms, gyms to the right, gyms to the left.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: They're everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And you can be a member.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, you can sign up, pay for it, you can tell people you're a part of the gym.
SPEAKER_01: But if you never go, it never changes anything.
SPEAKER_01: Church, God's grace is not a membership.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace is intended to be an active movement in your life that transforms you, that moves you to a place where you're not what you were.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why Paul doesn't end this passage with a command.
SPEAKER_01: He ends this passage with an appeal.
SPEAKER_01: Make room in the garage of your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Open your heart, because at the end of the day, that's where everything starts.
SPEAKER_01: If your heart is open, transformative grace from God can flow.
SPEAKER_01: If your heart is open, growth happens, transformation happens.
SPEAKER_01: If your heart is open, God can do Ephesians 3.20, which says God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond all that you dare to think, ask, or imagine.
SPEAKER_01: He can do more than you imagine.
SPEAKER_01: But if your heart is closed, if you don't make room in the garage of your heart because it's cluttered with other affections, God can be present, but you won't be changed.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the question I want to leave you, faith family.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing with the grace that God has given you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you delaying it?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ignoring it?
SPEAKER_00: Are you distracted from it?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you allowing the grace of God to shape you right now?
SPEAKER_01: Because the time according to the scripture is not later.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul could not have said it more clearly.
SPEAKER_01: Now is the accepted time.
SPEAKER_01: Now is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So, loved one, don't waste the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Don't waste grace.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation is simply this open your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Open your heart to a loving God.
SPEAKER_01: Open your heart that God in Christ declares He didn't come to condemn you.
SPEAKER_01: He came to forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: He did not come to condemn you, He came to save you.
SPEAKER_01: And He did not come to condemn you.
SPEAKER_01: He came to give you life, new life, transformative life.
SPEAKER_01: Don't waste grace.
SPEAKER_01: Open your heart and let God do His work.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, we open our hearts before you.
SPEAKER_01: And as we open our hearts, we confess the clutter that is there.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray, Lord, through the blood of the Lamb that you would clean the garage, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Rearrange what needs to be rearranged, prioritize what needs to be prioritized, eliminate what needs to be eliminated.
SPEAKER_01: God put in the right order what needs to be in the right order with Jesus Christ as our first love.
SPEAKER_01: And you, as the one who began the good work in each of us, work your grace into our circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: For the sake of your glory and for the sake of you being glorified through our transformation, we pray.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast for Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
SPEAKER_02: We pray that today's message has inspired and encouraged you in your walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_02: To stay connected with our church community, visit us online at Christchurch Memphis.org.
SPEAKER_02: We hope to see you this upcoming Sunday for worship as we seek to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ all people.