Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. As the City of Light song proclaims, What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? It's lavish and life-changing, yet Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 6-1, not to receive the grace of God in vain.
What does he mean by the grace of God, and how do we receive that grace as God intended us to? Today, Pastor Rich answers these questions from 2 Corinthians 6, 1-4. This is the third part of a message first preached on April 27, 2014 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
You can visit us at www.delightingrace.com. I am asking you to pray to the Lord for yourself. Don't pray for your neighbor, you pray for you. It's so easy to pray for others, isn't it? You pray for you.
What am I going to encourage you to pray for this morning? Lord, lead me to connect. Lead me to connect. The primary connection is between me and God, that I am vitally connected to Him. I am in relationship with Him.
Why? Because I am reconciled to Him. I am like the branch grafted back into the tree. Therefore, I draw life from Him. As I draw life from Him, I as the branch in the natural outflow will produce fruit. So, Lord, lead me to connect.
Father, draw me closer to yourself, for I desire to worship and obey. But then beyond that, as the outflow of that, Lord, lead me to connect because you took the initiative with me. I, Father, will follow your leading to take the initiative to connect with others. I will lead me to connect with Fran.
And you know what? It begins in this room. It begins in here with family, with loved ones. If we're not going to take the initiative to connect with each other, then how on earth are we going to connect with Fran outside these walls? Fran, by the way, is Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Neighbors for you visitors here today. Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Neighbors. Fran. All of us have Fran in our lives. Lord, lead me to connect, to take the initiative, to pursue meaningful, purposeful relationship.
Why? Because your sociology reflects your theology. In other words, the way you interact with others reflects what you think of God.
That's a pretty strong statement, isn't it? Take initiative as God did towards you. I'm going to ask something big of you today. Saturday night, start preparing to be together with God's people on the Lord's day.
And in prayer, be before the Father and say, Lord, lead me to connect. What does that mean? Well, we're all Americans. Well, I guess for the most part, we're all Americans. I think we're all Americans. We have a kind of a way to connect we have a kind of a way of thinking here in America. When we go to something, we go to something expecting to get something out of it, right?
That's just the way we think. That's the way we think about church, isn't it? What am I going to get out of it today? Here's what I'm going to ask of you, and this is big.
Are you up to the challenge? Beginning Saturday night, you're before the Lord. Lord, lead me to connect. Lord, instead of simply going to church thinking what I'm going to get out of it, Lord, lead me to connect. I'm going to church with them thinking, how can I connect and be a blessing to someone else?
Christians, think about what that will do to a church if we all come together with that perspective. I am going to go to church with the intent of being a blessing to someone else. I'm going to say hello to someone I haven't said hello to before. I'm going to follow up on a prayer request. I'm going to let somebody know I'm praying for you.
I'm going to ask somebody, how can I pray for you? I'm going to ask somebody, how are you and wait for a meaningful answer instead of, fine you. Folks, let's give that up, please.
Let's give it up. Hi, how are you? Fine you.
Just let's do away with that. Ask somebody how they are and wait for a meaningful answer. And you say, Rich, that's just not my personality. I'm not outgoing. Well, two things. One, God's commands were not given specifically to people with the right personality. Okay.
And the second thing is this. I am probably the biggest introvert in this room. I was just telling somebody earlier out there, I could have very easily been a hermit. I'm an introvert. I am, when it comes to casual, casual shooting the breeze conversation, I am lousy at it.
Just really lousy. It's hard for me. And sometimes if I'm with somebody, I'm like, I've got to come up with something to talk about here.
It's like, I'd just as soon be beat as to have to do that. But I can ask questions. I can ask questions. I encourage you to be before God instead of thinking, oh, see, I'm going to Sunday. I hope I get something good out of church. I hope the music's okay.
I hope Rich doesn't speak too long. You know, I hope they sing the songs I want. You know, whatever. Let the Lord rescue you from that and ask Him to lead you to connect. Who can I be a blessing to when I get together with God's people? And you know what? You're going to find that as you do that, you're going to start thinking that way when you go to work.
Who can I be a blessing to? Because the flesh wants to keep screaming at us, saying, you know, you deserve this. You deserve that.
You just go for what you can get out of it. And we're so bent on that as Americans, aren't we? We're so entertainment oriented. And even if that entertainment is a good, sound theological sermon, and we are committed to teaching the Word of God faithfully here, it is our highest priority. But please, I'm asking of you, be before the Lord and ask Him to lead you to connect and come together to fellowship with this in mind. To whom can I be a blessing today? Just say an encouraging word.
Lead me to connect. Lord, cause me to grow. Are you willing to grow? Are you content in your comfort zone? Let me say, this is strong, okay?
This is hard. Some of you might be put off by this, but this is truth. If you are simply content where you are and not willing to grow, not willing to be stretched, not willing to be taken outside of your comfort zone, then what you are saying is, I am happy to receive the grace of God in vain. And Paul pleads with us this morning, do not receive the grace of God in vain.
You have been lavished with the grace of God to be a blessing and a blessing to you. To be a blessing and to grow. Lord, cause me to grow in Christ's character and purpose so that I can see it and sense it in my life, so that my family and my friends can see it and sense it in my life, that I am actually growing in Christ. Lord, cause me to grow. Lead me to connect, cause me to grow. Lastly, Lord, move me to serve.
Move me to serve. Paul tells the Ephesians that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. He says to Titus that God has redeemed us as his people zealous for good works. Are we?
Are we or have we received the grace of God in vain? You see, this is our mission. Connect, grow and serve. And so, I am asking you to turn it into a prayer.
When you come in and you see our logo on the wall, you get a letter from us and you see the logo. Pray this prayer, Lord, lead me to connect, cause me to grow and move me to serve. Come to church with that attitude. Understanding, too, that God is going to fill you with blessing through his word, through the worship of himself and the fellowship of his people. But it will be much more rich and meaningful if you come with the attitude of wanting to connect, intentionally connect and grow and God moving you to serve. This is our mission.
This is the mission. Connect, grow, serve is the vehicle that will lead us to the realization of the vision that we have for Grace Bible Church. And our vision is just simply this. As we move forward toward the vision, as we are before the Lord, praying that prayer, Lord, lead me to connect, cause me to grow, move me to serve. As we are doing that collectively, then we will realize the mission. We will realize the vision that God has entrusted to us as a church.
And that is just simply this. The vision is this, that we are an intentional community of grace that loves God. Demonstrated by loving people in a culture of discipleship. I'm asking you to know that, please. And Dwight in the second two Sundays of May is going to be walking through that with you, looking at it in very practical terms.
What does this look like for me in the day to day? Together with God's people, together with Fran, what does this look like? This is God's calling. This is God's calling for the church. This is the mission of the church. And this is our vision. We are moving towards this as a church so that not only we sense it, but the whole community around us senses it as well. And this requires us to be specific. Names, faces, Lord, lead me to connect.
And I have a specific name and a face. Lord, lead me to connect with this person because you took the initiative with me, Father. I will take the initiative by your grace.
I will take the initiative to connect with this person, even though it's not my personality. But thank God, his mission doesn't depend on our personalities, right? It is according to his spirit and he's given us his spirit.
Not only does it call me to be specific, but it calls me to be intentional. Rise up, church. Rise up in obedience to the call that the Lord has upon us. And so, very simply, this fulfills the Lord's command, the greatest command in the second light unto it.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. That's what we're called to do. Lord, lead me to connect. Cause me to grow.
Move me to serve. So let's read this next frame. Let's read this responsibly. Micah 6-8, as our resolve.
Let's read this responsibly. God has demonstrated his goodness to us and what does he seek from us? We will do justly and we will love mercy as we walk humbly with our God. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 AM.
