Embracing Grace: Stories of Community Support, Transformation, and New Beginnings

Let me share with you the strength I found within our church family, a beacon of support that has remarkably seen us all through personal trials and communal triumphs alike. This episode is a tapestry woven from threads of gratitude, spiritual deepening, and the transformative journey of faith that each one of us treads. We reflect on the poignant beauty of our acapella worship service, the success of our Brown Bag Diner initiative, and how these experiences reinforce our church's bond with the wider community. With the new year looming, we look forward to the self-improvement resolutions that beckon, inspired by the drive that powers successful enterprises like Planet Fitness, and we embrace the fresh start that 2024 promises to each of us.

Gracing this episode with their presence, our guests guide us through a historical labyrinth, from the streets of ancient Crete, we highlight the profound impact of grace on a believer's life. We navigate the moral aspirations of living a life reflective of God's goodness amidst our human frailties and ponder the magnetic pull of grace that persistently calls us to transformation. I get personal, recounting the pivotal moment at fifteen when I surrendered my life to God's direction, a testimony to the idea that it's never too late for a second chance. As we prepare to bid farewell to the hardships and missteps of 2023, we do so with a message of hope, renewal, and the unwavering opportunity for a new beginning, no matter where we are on our spiritual path. Join us as we explore how embracing grace at our most undeserving moments can lead to a life of profound change and fulfillment.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

Into the messages. This morning, as always, we're going to just take a minute and pray and just ask that God will move in the spirit, teach us and show us what it is that we need. This morning, god, we thank you so much for who you are. We thank you for the fact that you continue to as a church. God just can't help us to become exactly what we're supposed to be, and I know that that's it's not just the church, but it's at that individual level. God, you're helping us to become the men and women you were calling us to be in your kingdom. God, thank you so much for the opportunity this morning. Thank you so much for the opportunity this last year and everything that's happened, the good and the bad. God, we praise you in all of it. And just this morning, as we dive in your word, I pray, as always, and it's always less of me and more of you. God, it's always your words, your truth, because that's what people need to hear, that's what people need to know, that's what brings us hope, is the ability to study and understand the scriptures you've given us. Thank you so much for who you are. Thank you so much for everything that you do and you're so known to pray Amen. So I can tell you that this morning I'm still feeling whatever sickness is running rampant in the world. I got I went home.

Speaker 1: 2:51

By the way, last Sunday was amazing. Thank you to everyone who came out and attended both services in the morning, thanks to the kids program and everything that happened there was awesome. And for those of you who came out Sunday night, thank you so much. If you were not here Sunday night, we just had a really kind of small worship service, lit a couple candles and we sang all acapella which was beautiful, by the way, minus the few laughs that occurred, because when I was putting together the song sheets, I've even noticed like there's, there's verses from certain Christmas songs we don't sing because when you sing them they don't really make sense, we're out of context, they just don't, and so I forgot to remove a couple of those and people started singing it. We all realized that no one knew them because we hadn't sung them, but it was an amazing time last Sunday, and so I I woke up Monday morning and I felt like I got hit by a truck and I was like this is awesome.

Speaker 1: 3:56

So I think I slept most of the day, monday, which was not as fun as it sounds, and just I know everyone's been feeling right. Everyone's been sick. I know a lot of people aren't here because they're sick, so this morning if I sit down just ignore it, it's because I need to. But but I'm excited because I think this year has been quite extraordinary and I know that there's been different experiences for everyone. I know that there's there's been some tragedy, there's been some some not so great things that have happened. A lot of people have lost love ones this year. But I think that there's been a lot of really good things that have happened this year and I think that there's been a lot of good things that have happened in our church.

Speaker 1: 4:47

We've gone through some major, some major changes. We've gone through some minor changes and we've seen the brown bag diner really kind of step into its own and take off and I think we're averaging about 50s, 50, 60 meals twice a week. At this point I think we're we're as a church, we're getting more in tune with what God is wanting us to do in this community. I continue to see that happen almost everywhere we go. I continue to have people ask me and when I tell them I'm like you know, I'm from refocus Christian church like, oh, yeah, we know where that church is and they're doing such and such. I'm like, yeah, that's us, like that's, and I think that's a great thing. People were starting to realize that. I think the church loves them. We love our community and so I'm excited because this is the last day of 2023. So tomorrow morning, as with the rest of the world, we all get to wake up and have to spend the next month crossing out all our dates, because we write 2023 until February. Right, it's not till February that you finally realize that I'm in a different year now, but I'm excited because we're we're stepping into a new year, and in a new year always brings new opportunities.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Around this time of year, people start making resolutions they're going to go to the gym more and they're going to eat better and they're going to save more money. And listen, these are all good intention things. Now some of the if you look at the statistics. Actually, planet Fitness is a genius if you think about it, but their greatest enrollment time is the beginning of the year, always In January, gym memberships increased by almost 70% and so a lot of places like Planet Fitness, they offer you, like that $10 membership, which is great, and they're hoping you're going to come work out, but if you don't, they're okay, because they're going to continue to collect $10 from you until you cancel it, right. And so the year is just, it's full of this idea of it's a fresh start.

Speaker 1: 7:08

As we step into tomorrow, we look back on what's been and we get excited about what happened, we grieve about what happened, but we step into the new year with the hope of a second chance to do 2024, maybe better than we did 2023. And I think that that's the human condition. It's almost like a mental reset for us as we want to hit the beginning of the year doing everything we're supposed to be doing and get rid of the things that we're not. We want to be better people. That is the constant desire for humanity is how do we become better? Just listening to John talk this morning, he's reading a book on confidence. Have you met him? He's really confident, like I mean, I've heard him have conversations with people and not miss a beat and I'm like, why does he need a book on confidence? And it's because the human condition is for improvement.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Always, we were always looking to be better, and one of the reasons why this message today that I love is because one of the best things about having a relationship with God is no matter where your life has come from, no matter the mistakes you have done, no matter the mistakes that you have made, no matter how much you feel like you've messed up your life, whether you've been a Christian for 30 years or you've been a Christian for less than a year, no matter how much you feel that there's not room to change the beauty of God and the beauty of Jesus is there's always grace. There's always a second chance to become the person God wants you to be, and a lot of people, especially new believers, understand this more than anyone. And a lot of times, those of us who've been Christians for a while I think we've been doing this along we forget that the same grace for them is the same grace for us. If you were expected to be perfect in everything that you did, there would be no Jesus Now. I would have left you and I to our own devices, but he knew. He knew that wasn't possible. So that's what we're going to talk about this morning. We're going to talk about grace. We're going to talk about second chances we're going to actually read the entire letter to Titus. By the way, it's only like three chapters, it's not very long, thank you.

Speaker 1: 10:07

The letter to Titus was written by Paul, considered a pastoral epistle. So this was a letter that was written to Titus, who is the pastor of a church in Crete. So this is one of the areas that Paul has been able to influence. So the area of Crete at this time is known for a lot of things and most of it is not good. Okay, this is part of Greece, so there's the whole culture of the Romans have infected and a lot of the Greek gods and there's a lot of immorality and all of this.

Speaker 1: 10:52

So Titus has been charged and tasked with the purpose of going to Crete as a church that's been established, he's leading it. So Paul is writing this letter to not only encourage him in his role, but also to challenge him to take the people, the men and women that are under his care, and to challenge them to not only understand grace and the importance of it, but the fact that if someone is under the grace of God, the transformation and change is expected. So he starts out like he does most of his letters Says Paul, servant of God and apostle Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of truth that leads to godliness In the hope of eternal life. What's gone, who does not lie, prospers before the beginning of time in which now there's a point of season. He has brought to you light through the preaching and trusted to me by the command of God, our Savior. To Titus, my true son and our common faith, grace and peace from God, the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior.

Speaker 1: 12:07

So Paul continues his letter and he starts with a conversation of establishing leadership in the church. So we have elders and we've talked about this. Elders have a certain role that they fill in the church and there's certain requirements that they must fulfill in order to be in that position. So Paul is writing to Titus, says the reason I left you in Crete was that you might put an order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Speaker 1: 12:40

An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient, since an overseer manages God's household. He must be blameless, not overbearing, not quick tempered, not given a drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firm into the trustworthy message that has been taught so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. So he's establishing that the leadership of these churches, of these communities, they are men who are called to live a certain way. These are non-negotiable. So when you are looking at future elders of your church, when you're looking at current elders of your church the letter of Titus is a great place to start are the men who are fulfilling those roles, living up to what God has called them to do. Their life is supposed to be a reflection of the God who created them. So it's important to understand that, because the leadership in the church, in order for a church to be healthy, the leadership of the church has to be healthy. If it is not, the church will not make it. I can prove that, by the way, because there are a lot of churches who close their doors every year because their leadership is not healthy. They've made wrong decisions. So this is why, as a church, when we talk about leadership, we talk about elders. I want to say we're picky about who we put up in front of you, elders, and I think we should be, because these are the men who are called to leave the church.

Speaker 1: 14:41

So Paul continues his letter. Once again, he's dealing with, mind you, a church that's very young and very much still in the midst of the world they live in, said further, are many rebellious people full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things that ought not to teach and what? That for a sake, and that for the sake of dishonest gain. One of Crete's own profits has said it Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy glutton. By the way, if anyone has ever called you a miscreant, this is actually where the word ties back to. This saying is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so there would be sound in the faith.

Speaker 1: 15:32

We'll pay no attention to Jewish myths. What's in the merely human commands of those who reject the truth? To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted, do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciousness are corrupted. They claim to know God, but their actions, they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. And Then, once again, paul is having a really honest, blunt conversation Saying there are people in your mints who are teaching false things, who are not living the way that they're supposed to.

Speaker 1: 16:12

They're doing it for dishonest gain. And he says these people must be silenced because they're causing problems. So then he continues on, and this he's speaking directly. Not only it's a tightest a lot of times these letters were read out loud but to the congregation says.

Speaker 1: 16:37

You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound, and faith and love endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and be subject to their husbands, so that no one will rely on the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled and everything. Set them example by doing what is good. And your teaching shown integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned. So those who oppose you may be ashamed Because they have nothing bad to say about us. Teach slaves to be subject to their masters and everything to try to please them, not to talk back to them, not to steal from them, but to show them that they can be fully trusted, so in every way, they will make the teaching about our God, our savior, attractive. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. In the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing in the glory of our great God and Savior, jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us all from wickedness and appear five for himself, a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach, encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not lend anyone despise you, and, and so that. Verses 11 through 15. That, that's that, and we'll come back to this, but, but. But. The idea is is Paul is establishing, through Titus, that understanding Once again, in Crete, the church is full of a bunch of young converts.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Crete is known for a lot of immorality, and Paul is saying you need to teach those who are part of the kingdom of God that the way that they live matters, that that the way that they Represent the church, the way they represent God is our Savior, the way they represent themselves matters. And and even the part where he's talking about slaves and and I know I've talked about this before that was a common thing back then. Slaves were a lot of times people would, they would work for someone or they would live in a household and they would try to earn to pay off a certain kind of debt. So I know we have a kind of a negative connotation about slavery, but back then a lot of it was just like a workforce, right. And so he's even saying to the slaves be respectful to your masters so that when you are challenged that there's nothing ill they can say about and. And so he's talking about the importance of of living a life, and he starts off with the elders of the church that you should live in such a way that the world, when the world looks at you, did they see the goodness of God and they see the grace of God and they see the power of God to to not only Transform your life but to help sustain that transformation and, and so when, when he goes into the, the latter part of chapter 2, he says, and he reminds him, it's by the grace of God, which has come so that all might be saved, that we are able to do these very things Right. And it's so important Because a lot of times, I think one of the biggest struggles that I see with new believers Is they give their life to God and Then they realize a couple months into it that they're still struggling with being everything God wants them to be.

Speaker 1: 21:05

Well, let me tell you, as someone who's been doing this for almost 20 years, I still struggle with being who God wants me to be. I do and I think that anyone in this room who's honest with themselves would have meant that Because who God wants me to be and who my sinful nature want me to be, they don't work. I'm constantly in this struggle between trying to do everything that I'm supposed to do as a believer and then on the other side and messing it up royally. And and the funny thing is is when that happens and I guess it's not funny is when I mess up. That's what I focus on. I I find myself beating myself up and and wishing I could be better and and I start to feel like I'm not worth it and I start to question why am I even doing this? And I see this especially in and younger believers that they have this really strong fire for God and then, when they they start to deal with the challenges of, why am I still like this? So many of them walk away.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Because our nature is not. It's distorted. Sin has corrupted everything. The only way for me to be more like God, the only way for me to be more like Jesus, is To understand the grace that God has given me. To accomplish that, I think about my kids. If you've ever spent our houses chaos, like 95% of the time, like if you come over to our house and it's clean, it's because we just did it Like. Make no mistake of that. Okay, and but but I think about my kids and in the way that they live their life and that ever is starting to get to an age where he is a little more defiant and and and that's to be expected. He's, he's got my personality and he's starting to test the waters and and he's starting to try to figure things out, and so sometimes he does things that he shouldn't do, and and when he does those things and he makes those mistakes, discipline occurs. It has to. The worst thing that I can do for my kid is not discipline, it's a truth. However, the discipline I offer them also has to be attached to the grace that I can give them to realize that he's eight and he needs to understand that, yes, he's been disciplined, but I love him. It doesn't matter how much he's screwed it up, even if I'm Disappointed. The grace and love that I show him in that moment gives him the ability to do it again and To try to get better and to want to get better.

Speaker 1: 24:28

I I when I was younger, my mom, my mom raised us and, and I remember that Most of the reason that I didn't do things not that I didn't do stupid things, I did stupid things, but a lot of times I wouldn't do stupid things Because I knew that my mom would be disappointed in me, and not just disappointed, but I also knew that my mom loved me enough that and she had done everything she could because she wanted us to be good kids. And so my desire to be a better person, my desire to make myself better when I did mess up was because I was so covered in love that I knew that I was gonna be okay. I knew my mom was gonna love me no matter what. So my response to that Was to naturally want to be a better person. A better person Because that's what my mom deserved.

Speaker 1: 25:27

And so when I think about how we are with God, that should be our reaction to God, Because of the grace and the love and the mercy he has given me. I'm not trying to be a better person because I'm trying to earn something from him, trying to be a better person because he loves me anyway and he will continue to love me. He will continue to be my father, he will continue. So my desire to be transformed, to be more like him, has to be out of grace and love and understanding and not just a simple act of obedience. Because if the only reason that I'm living for God, the only reason I'm trying to be a better Christian, is because I'm convinced it'll make him love me more, I've missed the entire point of the gospel, because in the, the greatest of my sins, he died for me. He met me where I was he. He offered grace. He offered grace not only to me, but he offers that same grace to all of sinful humanity and Paul says this in 2, 11 through 14 for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in his present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of our great God and Savior, jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us From all wickedness and to purify From self of people that are his very own, eager To do what is good.

Speaker 1: 27:27

Max locato, talking about grace, says this this says grace is the voice that calls us to change, and then it gives us the power to pull it off. When grace happens, we receive not a nice compliment From God, but a brand new heart. So John Wesley writes this by he's talking about means of grace. He says by means of grace I understand outward signs, words or action ordained by God and appointed for the sin To be the ordinary channels by which you might convey to individuals either preventing, justifying or sanctifying grace. I use this expression means of grace because I know none better, because it has been generally used in the Christian church for many ages.

Speaker 1: 28:23

It is by means of grace, that not only have we been offered salvation, but we've been given everything. We need to be transformed into who God wants us to be. Not our transformation is not an act of obedience. It's a response to an act of love, an incredible love that was offered to the entire world. I think it's so important that we understand that if God has grace for us in spite of all of our failing, in spite of all of our inabilities, if the Creator of the universe can show you grace, then I think you should show yourself some too, because in that understanding of grace, when I fail, it's a whole lot easier to pick myself up when I know that I'm stepping back into love. It's a whole lot easier to pick myself back up when I know that I'm stepping into grace.

Speaker 1: 29:45

My response, the way my life changes, the way that our life changes as believers, is in response to that grace. There is nothing I will ever be able to do to earn the love of God. There is nothing that I will ever be able to do that will make him love me more or love me less than he does in this moment, but I will live my life being everything I can to be like him, because that's how I show my gratitude for the one who saved me. That's what changes me. My motivation as a Christian all comes down to the grace that has been given to me the second chance to do my life different. Some of you are fresh into that. Some of you have been doing it for 40 years. But the grace from the new believer and the grace for the old believer is still the same, because God understands. From the moment you give your life to him, there's an internal struggle. You're gonna constantly be battling with what you want to do for him and what the world tells you you should be doing. But by the grace of God, I can look at the world and say I don't need you anymore because God has given me everything I need. So Paul continues and he finishes off his letter and he speaks of those who have been saved by grace.

Speaker 1: 31:47

It says remind the people to subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate and always be gentle toward everyone. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because it was mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renew by the Holy Spirit. He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Speaker 1: 32:39

This is a trustworthy saying and I want you to stress these things so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone, but avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once and then warn them a second time and after that have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful. They are self-condemned. And then he finishes off with his remarks. As soon as I send our statements, or take Ticetius to you, do your best to come to me and, like Coppola's because I've decided to winter there Do everything you can to help zina, the lawyer, and Apollo's on their way. See that they have everything they need. Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good in order to provide for Urgent needs, not live unproductive lives. Everyone with me send you greetings. Read those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all and and once again, I love. I love Paul, because he's writing this to to a pastor. It's a Titus saying tell the people the, because they've been saved, they should be doing good things and and it's because of the grace that you and I have been given that we strive to be everything God wants us to be.

Speaker 1: 34:16

John said at Doris communion that I'm probably gonna miss, quote on, but I think it was the Japanese quote that warriors who win, the warriors to win, win before they even go in the battle. Right there they have that, that mindset. And a couple years ago I was listening to a sermon by the Kray and he was talking about that that a lot of people fight the battle with the intention of winning. But the beauty of being a believer, the blue, the beauty of having a relationship with God, is you and I are already fighting from the wind. The winds happen, salvation has come. Satan will not prevail. Evil will not overcome. Nothing will stand in the way of when God comes back and makes things the way it's supposed to. We're not fighting to win. We're fighting from the victory already being won. We're not living the way that we live in order to earn grace. We live the way we live because we have grace. God has looked down upon you and I and he has given us a second chance To be what he wants us to be.

Speaker 1: 35:36

Whether you started your journey really young or you haven't started your journey yet, your story is not over. Until you take your last breath, grace is still an option for you. Grace and in what God can do in your life, is still on the table. And I will tell you, as a 15 year old kid, the greatest thing that I ever did Was I gave the pen of my life to the one who made me. I stopped trying to do my own story because my story wasn't great, and I gave my life to the one who, in my brokenness, picked me up and said I'm not done with you yet. And I believe that is meant for every single person we come across every single day. God can still offer them. God is still in the business of offering Second chances.

Speaker 1: 36:49

So as we step into 2024. Maybe you didn't do everything you wanted to in 2023. Maybe life knocked you down harder than you've ever been knocked down. Maybe you've done and said some really stupid things. Maybe you've lost. Maybe you've been broken. God's not done yet. It's not just about a new year. It's about a new life. It's about grace For all people who are on the same page, for all people who won the except. It's about a second chance, a real second chance. Whatever has happened has happened. I'm looking forward to what God's gonna do next. All right, free.