By Grace Through Faith For Good Works | Pastor Steven Soon

You're listening to a message to go from ex Church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

By grace, true faith for good works. Right, by grace,

true faith for good works. And we're gonna read scripture together.

I would like to encourage us to turn to Ephicients

Chapter two, verse one to ten. Efficients Chapter two, verse

one to ten. Okay, I'm going to be reading from

the NKJV version for this one. I really love the

NKJV version. I think it really encapsulates what God is

trying to tell us in this translation. Of course, any

other translation is fine. The important part is that you

enjoy that translation. I always say this, when you read

the Bible, find a Bible that you would like reading.

Not to say that different versions of the Bible. There

is a better one or not a better or worse one,

but it helps to find a version that speaks to

you in in sense or in terms of the language. Right.

I'm pretty sure if I pass you a KJV version,

you wouldn't read it where there's the time fee I know,

or the traditional English. Right Like for me personally, I

have an NLT version. I so have an NKJV NIV

version back home, right, now I love to read the

NLT version. I feel that it's very relatable in terms

of the language. Right, So find a version that works

for you, that would encourage you to read the Word

of God. Okay, but for today's reading purposes, we're gonna

look at I'm going to read from the NKJV. Okay,

you can follow along, right, So if you're there, say

I'm there. Fantastic, all right, Ephicients two one to ten.

And this is why the apostle Paul wrote to the

church in Ephesus. He says this, and you he made

a life, he meaning Jesus, and you he made alive

who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you

once walk according to the cause of this world, according

to the Prince of the powder air, that's the devil

the spirit who now works in the sons of this

obedience Verse three. Among whom also we all once conducted

ourselves in lots of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of

the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature

children of wrath, just as the others. But God, God,

who is rich in mercy because of his great love

with which he loved us, even when we were dead

in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace

you have been saved verse six, and raised us up together,

and made us sit together in the heavenly places in

Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might

show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness

towards us in Christ Jesus verse eight. And want us

to pay attention to this, for by grace you have

been saved true faith, and that not of yourselves. It

is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone

should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,

for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should

walk in them. A man. God blessed the reading of

his word. Now a little bit of context. The Efficient Church.

If you did a little bit of study about the church, ineficios,

how they are, how they were, the Efficient Church was

a model church. They were a great church. You can

see this in chapter one the in many if any verses,

commanding your church. While you are, you guys are amazing.

You know, you guys have great works. You guys do

a lot of good deeds. You guys are known in

the community as a church that does good work. And

Paul was just saying fantastic, you did great. But yet, interestingly,

in one verse, verse four, Paul says, this, you did

all of this, but one thing, one thing I just

want to bring to you, my beloved Church of Ipicius,

you have left your first love. Hold on a moment.

Isn't this a model church that is known for good works,

great deeds, that is known for doing amazing things, loving people,

loving the community, making a difference. But yet in verse four,

in chapter one, Paul says, you have left your first love.

And let this be a first loving reminder to us.

Let us remember as we continue to do church, as

we continue to love our community, let us not forget

to love God. Let us not forget that it is

out of our love for the Lord that we are

doing what we do. Because let me tell you this,

as believers, as Christians, especially those of us here who

faithfully serve the house, if we get don't do this right,

if we just give and do good, these good works,

loving community, living community, living community, and forget our first love,

I'm gonna tell you this, You're gonna burn out and

you're gonna hate the church. I've not been in ministry

for long, but in these short few years I've seen

how this has happened to people that out of the

zealousness of serving the house but not being filled by

the love of God, they burn out. And what happens

The fingers are pointed at the church. The church did

this to me. The church doesn't care. The church doesn't

want me to do work, but never cares for my

well being. So we have to be very careful church.

Because that was where the efficient Church was hating too.

They were doing a lot of great work, but they

forgot their first love. This is very dangerous and this

is exactly where the enemy wants to place us, to

get us to be so busy with church that we

have no time for devotion, to get so busy with

doing administration. Sometimes, as leaders, we got a mean stuff

to do. You know, we've got to some a after homes,

we have to submit homes, report want do you know

that friends appreciate your leaders. There's work to do. We

have to submit share, But what went on in homes

or when well, what could be improved? You know? After

worship surveys, the LSBO, the locals in the passers office,

the leaders of the church. We have to send reports

every Sunday, right, the right to reflect what went. Now

that's why first serving team. I want to speak to

your serving team. Please give your feedback every week when

we ask you know, hey, what when well, what can

we improved? Let us not help your leaders out because

we are not everywhere or at once. We don't know

what happens sometimes, you know in certain parts of the service.

Let us know. We give your feedback so that it

helps the leaders to also give have a picture of

what we're on during worship survey, so that we can

we can improve. Right if there are any places of improvement.

And note, if they are people who are saved, we

need to know because we need to journey with them.

We need to teach them the Bible, God's word. All right,

So that's just something that I want to share. But anyways,

what I'm trying to say is this that was happening

to the Ephician church. They forgot their first love. They

were doing everything well known as the model church. But

yet at the same time they lost their first love.

What a tragedy that means. To say, all the commendation

that Paul gave in chapter one was notified in that

one statement, you lost your first love. Let me translate

that for you. That means we can do everything right,

but if we have loved lost our love for God,

it will be all for nothing. You guys call that.

I hope that will be a reminder for us, all right.

So that's a little bit of a context, right that.

This is what ificious Church, efficient Church was going through.

And just like how Paul needed to remind such a

amazing church that he has planted and passed on, in

the same way, I want to remind us to remember

our first love and why we do what we do.

I want us to remember what church is all about.

That Jesus is the center, not good works. Good works

is the result of Jesus being in the center. Amen.

Good works is the result of us loving Jesus at

the center, and naturally, out of and overflowing and out

pouring of our hearts, we then do good works and

good this. Oh wow, I actually went to my conclusion already.

But anyways, I'm going ahead of myself. Wow, Amen, let

us pray No, I'm kidding, okay. So I want to

bring us to a first point. I want us again

to ear my efficients. Chapter two verse eight, because this

is a scripture that we'll keep coming back to, all right,

just so if just put a finger there so that

you can easily reference it. First point, we are saved

by grace. You know, we say this a lot. We

are saved by grace, true faithful, good works, but we

sometimes don't really fully understand what it means. So I'm

gonna deep dive into this with us today. You see,

we are saved by grace. Who's grace, God's grace. That

means it's not by our own doing.

That.

It means not amount of good work you do, not

amount of nobel prize you win, it's gonna bring you

to good standing with God. You catch that it is

only by God's grace that we can or are saved.

Remember the person that was crucified beside Jesus, the criminal,

the thief. He by record isn't someone that should be saved.

But you know what happened. He actually tells told Jesus

Jesus remember me in Paradise. That means he acknowledged Jesus's lordship,

and through that acknowledgement he received grace from Jesus. Because

Jesus say, today you will be with me in paradise.

So it is not by works, my friends, Because by

works this criminals should not be going to heaven. I

want you to think about someone so evil in our

world today. I'm pretty sure somethings pop up, or someone

who is no longer around. You know, some people even

say the perpetrator of World War Two? All right, I

want to tell you this. Do you know that Jesus

also loves them? What evil men like this? Yeah? Do

you know Jesus died for them? The politicians that we

got said about, do you know Jesus died for them?

Do you know that as long as they accept Jesus,

they are safe? Can you accept that? You see? God

doesn't work in a way. We think we are limited

by our view of morality, but God views his creation differently.

As long as you receive me, as long as you repent,

you're saved. Therefore, we are saved not by good words.

We are saved not by good deeds. But we are

safe only by the grace of God. We are not

able to save ourselves. My friends, I just want to

take a moment for us to just just let this

sink in for a little bit, that in our years

of life on planet Earth. We can never save ourselves.

Let that sink in. It's a very depressing thought. That means,

by our own strength, by our own wisdom, by our

own morality or sense of righteousness, we are beyond salvation.

Very depressing if you think about it. But thank goodness,

God is in the picture where God's grace come. I'm

breaking it out further because sometimes as Christians this becomes

very we are numb to these kind of words. Terminology is,

but I want to really break it down. What does

grace means? That means we're beyond salvation by our own

means a God stepped in. God says I love you.

I'm going to provide a way. And there is true Jesus,

even if it means sacrificing my own son, going through

all the pain and torment, but I'm going to do this.

That is grace. Grace has the name. His name is Jesus.

And you remember that. How many of you here when

you buy a product from Shoppy or Lasada, or how

about how many of you here if the product comes

to you with a scratch, or an electronic comes to

you that cannot turn on, how many of you here

will just receive it and keep it and not say anything.

How many of you will actually return it and asked

a replacement. Those who don't raise your hand, You guys

are lying, because I would do that. If I buy

an electronic and it doesn't work, they better well send

me a working one. Somehow I have to send back

to them extra work I want. Asked an extra voucher

for the extra work. But you see, when Jesus redeemed us,

he was redeeming broken property. You know, Jesus know full

well what he was redeeming broken property, but Jesus did

it anyways, in our brokenness. Jesus said, I want this person,

I want this, this broken thing, this broken pottery. Give

it to me. And he bought it with blood, guys,

not shopping coins. Blood cost them. That is grace. I

want to look at the let's do a little bit

or I love to do this. My one of my

in terms of five foot ministry, my gifting is in teaching.

So you notice that when I preach, I love to

deep dive into root words, the original text. Now the

grace that is in this text, Yeah, this is the

word charity. Familiar came from this word, you know, grace.

The root word is that you, Carris. Now you may

have friends that is that has this name, that have

this name, right Carris. And these are the definitions of

basically the meaning of the word charity that's used here

for the word grace. Okay, the original word Greek word

that was used when the letter was written acceptable, benefit, favor, give, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thanks, thanks,

or thank worthy credit. I'm gonna throw a bomb statement

here to us. If you look at these words and

you and this means grace. You see the word pleasure,

that means it brings God great pleasure to save you.

It brings God joy to help you in your brokenness.

That makes that we are not troubling God. You know,

Oh yeah, I messed up again God. And then God

is a hi again, need to help this fella. But

God finds it a pleasure to save you. My friends.

That means anytime you're in trouble, God is like, ah,

I'm coming. I'm excited to help this person. My child.

I want to help my child. I want to love

on my child. I want my child to know that

he has a he or she has a loving father

ready to help. And this is the good news that

bear to you. When we say we are saved by grace,

that is what it means. That means in your brokenness.

And I tell you this all of us. Let's be

real here. We all go through brokenness, even as Christians,

and sometimes even more so. In our brokenness, God finds

pleasure to reach down to us and to bring us up.

So whatever situations you're in, my friends, remember this truth

that it pleasures God to help you and you're not

on your own. So this is the first point and

is the point of hope. All of us go through brokenness,

acknowledge it and bring God in because God it brings

God joy to save you, to help you, brings God

joy to stop the rain for pickup ball so that

his children can enjoy. Remember that that's what it means

by we are safe by grace, that we are undeserving

of it. We are broken, we are beyond help by

our own means. But God says, I love this broken person,

this is my child. I'll come and help. Parents. Here,

you will know that your child, at any point, your

child is in trouble and you and they reach out

to you, you will without a shadow of adopt I

hope without any delay. Help your child. Same thing, even

more so for the God who loves us so much.

Share a little story. I posted these are my socials.

You may have read it. I recently watched this series

called Adolescence, so you may have watched it. A man

that struck deep for me because I'm not going to

share the story, Like if guys want you, guys can

go ahead watch it. It's a heavy watch, I must say.

Have you watch a lot to ponder on. But after

I finished watching, I just can't help but have a

sense of like, God, thank you you're in my life,

those of you who watch it, And I mean in

recent events, you notice in our backyard in a school,

a student was stepped to death by another student's heartbreaking

just in the backyard five minutes away. And in my

mind when that happened, I was like, what would have

brought a young man to a point that he was

able to do such an atrocious thing? And then when

I watched at Holescence, I reflected on my own life

and I can't help again but to be grateful to

God that he is in my life because I don't

know how I will turn out. You know, if it

wasnt for God. If you talk to my parents, I

think they would also say this. I went through a lot.

I went through Buling growing up. Eleven years of my

life seven to seventeen. I went to Buling. I went

to buling In church as well. Wow, I could very

well have hated the church, by the way, if that

has happened a lot of things in my life. I

tell you, if it wasn't by the grace of God,

there's no way I'd be standing here preaching to you

as a pastor. Let my life be an evidence that

God exists. Because I can tell you this before if

I have time, if we hang out, if I share

with you the full extent of my story how I

grew up, I think you wouldn't be able to deny that.

There must be a higher power that's orchestrating everything. I

reflect and I go like, Wow, God, thank you that

you are in my life. And because you are in

my life, that is grace. And because there's grace here,

I am standing alive and well and more living an

abundant life. That is the first point. We are safe

by grace. I love how you guys are sitting there,

lying there. I hope you guys are listening to me, preacher,

So yeah, you know. First point, I just want to

bring up this scripture Romans five eight. He says this,

but God demonstrates his own love towards us in the

wile we were still see us, Christ died for us.

All right, the while we were still see us, Christ

died for us. Yeah. Remember that before we even know

of Christ, he died for us. Okay, that is God's grace. Okay,

all right. Second point, so first point, we are saved

by grace. Second point is this we are safe true

faith efficients to it. I'm gonna read the NLT version now.

So in the NKJV version it says for by grace

you have been saved true faith. Right. In the NALTY version,

it says God saved you by his grace when you believed,

when you believed, meaning to say, God's redeeming work in

our lives can only be done when you choose to

believe in him. That means you there is an action

you have to take, you know, friends, if you want

God's grace to be in your life, there is a prerequisite.

You have to believe. You have to believe. Now, the

rule what you sea in Greek was pistis pistus for

the word faith that's us here and when when you

believe was used in the NLT version. The root word

is pistus. It means faith, believe, trust, confidence, fidelity, pledge.

If you see the word trust, confidence, pledge, that means

that it's no longer when you pray for by faith

for God to help you, it's longer God, if you

may help me, God, maybe you will come true for

me some of this. Some of us pray prayers like this.

Let's be honest. I sometimes pray that God, maybe maybe

you can help me in this. God. But when it

comes to experiencing God's grace by faith, that means a.

Your prayers should be God, I know you can do this. God.

You are fully able and capable to come true for me. God,

you are almighty or powerful. God. You love me. God,

you will not allow me to remain in this state forever.

You will help me through this. God. See the sheaf

of prayer. Because when you say faith is full confidence,

faith is trust, that means it's really trusting God will

come true for you. Lah. It's not maybe God, you

will do it like God, maybe maybe you will come

true for me. I hope. This changes your perspective of

prayer because when you pray, now you got to prayer

and say, God, help me. Lord, I know you can't

help me. Lord, lead me, Lord, reveal yourself to me. Lord,

bring me through this. Lord, not God. Maybe maybe help

me Lord. No, because when you talk about faith, this

is what faith means. Pisses pledge. What a word to use.

When I look at this word pledge. Basically what occurs

to me is this right when you have faith in God,

that means you're pledging your situation to God, saying God,

I fully submit what I'm going true to you. I

fully submit, I fully trust you'll take over. At the

same time, you're pledging yourself to God and say, God,

my life is yours. I pledge my life to you.

You take over. I am in your mercy. And one

of the things I've caught a few years back was this.

God revealed this to me when I was in a

really tough spot, when I knew that my hands, my

life is completely in God's hands. I realized this. The

revelation was this, that I am utterly completely in God's mercy.

That means Ah. That means when when you say terms

like I'm in my enemy's mercy. Here it sounds a

very terrible thing, right, Oh no, the enemy can do

to me whatever he or she wishes. But you see

when you can say that that for me, it was,

Oh God, I'm completely in your mercy. And he revealed

to me this, What a beautiful place to be, What

a safe place to be, to be completely in God's mercy.

The mesa my life is completely God sends it. You know,

not up to me anymore. Many times you think that

that's a giving up of our rights. I want to

tell you this. The moment you became a Christian, you

already gave up your rights. Remember, God redeemed you. But

when you know that God is a loving father, you

willingly give up your rights to him. That God, you

take over your control our God, you tell me where

to go. God, piss this faith, believe. Mark nine, verse

twenty three to twenty five says this. And as you

flip up on this scripture, I want us to know

that we are also as human beings, not always in

a place where we can go God, I believe. Fully.

Let's be real. Many times, it's hard to believe. Many

times in the midst of our difficult situation. As we

are in a very dark valley. It's very hard to

go like God, God, I believe in you fully. It's tough.

But you know in the Bible there is someone like

that as well. Thank God, there's someone like that. Mark

Chapter nine, Verse they three twenty five. Jesus said to him,

if you can believe again, faith right here, pass this.

If you can pass this, all things are possible. That

means uh. The prerequisite is there. If you want all

things will be possible in your life, you gotta believe.

And then the father of the child cry out and

say it with Piers in desperation. Lord, I believe, And

then here a little bit skids O, Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief gone mayor one moment, believe one moment,

don't believe. But don't you think this, This ironic saman

is very human. I found myself in this saying this

many times. Lord, I believe in you, but Lord, I

still don't believe that you can come true. For my situation,

I cannot see the Lord. I cannot see a way out. Lord. Oh,

I find this person very relatable because I find myself

in this saying this in many situations of my life.

So he says this again. Let me make it simpler.

Jesus says, if you believe, all things are possible. And

then here comes this father that says, God in tears,

I believe, but help me in my unbelief. You know

what's a beautiful thing? Jesus did? I say, boohoo, too bad?

So said you didn't believe. I won't come true for you,

because he said, what only if you believe me. But

then here's a man that says, I have unbelief. Shouldn't

Jesus have said, sorry, too bad, Come again tomorrow when

you believe. But you know what Jesus said, this is

the beautiful thing. Jesus saw that the people came running together.

He rebuilt the unclean spirit of the Father's child on

the spot death and dumb spirit. I command you come

out of him and enter him no more. And the

rest of the scripture you will see that it was done.

The miracle happened, the child was delivered. So this tells

me that we can be in a state of unbelief,

but as long as we reach out to Jesus, he

will be there. Because that's exactly what the Father went through. Lord, Lord,

you know I have unbelieved. Lord, you know I'm struggling

to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Lord,

you know I struggled to see how I'm going to

come out of this. Lord, you know I struggled to

see this impossible situation in my family. But help my unbelief. Lord,

my friends, that is pisti. That is also faith. When

you pray to God and say help my unbelief, that

is faith. Ironic right, That means you also have faith

that God will help you live. Pissed this It started

with by grace charity. Now we say true faith, pistus.

So by grace we are safe, and true faith. We

got to believe, believe in God. And when we struggle

still and pray this prayer, God, help me to believe,

Help me to believe, and then all things are possible,

Jesus says. Third point. So first point, we are saved

by grace. Second point we are saved true faith. Third point. Okay,

there's action points here. Now we are saved for good words.

And now the good words coming to the picture. Paul

spoke to the efficient church and say, hey, you're great

for doing good works, but let me bring you back

to your first love. Remember that you're safe, not by

your good works, by your bye bye bye, by God's

grace and true faith. And now good work's coming to

the picture. Now, only the good works wire coming to

the picture. Ephesians two ten. For we are his workmanship

created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which got prepared beforehand,

that we should walk in them. So we've learned previously

two great words. Was the first one charity or charity

depending on the pronunciation. Second one, this says very good.

The third one is this talking about works gone well?

This sounds like some stars trek or star wars species. God,

all right, and this is what it means really purely work.

God means doing labor work. But I want us to

pay attention to your last two words, action and behavior.

That means when God says you're safe, you experience all

of grace you did that, true faith. You're safe. You

know fully while your first love, you're in touch with God,

good standing, good relationship with God. Now I want you

to go and do good works. And what does good

works mean? We all know about doing charity right, doing

good deeds, But I want us to pay attention to

this behavior. That means having good works. It also means

having good behavior. That means when people look at our life,

do they see Jesus that is considered good works or so,

my friends, According to scripture, it's not just about doing things,

it's about being. It's about being. The follow of Jesus.

That we are meant to be means the moment we

follower disciples of Jesus. That means the way we live.

Our lives should exude God's love, God's compassion, God's peace,

God's hope, God's joy. I'm not saying that we should

put on a mask all the time. I'm saying that

it should be a being. It should come from within.

So that means does our behavior reflect Christ. I have

to remind myself every time I'm driving because the drivers

on the road, be careful. When you pray for patients, Gods,

God will send you testing to build your patients. For

me is traffic on the road, and I have to

remind myself, Hey, I know I don't have a Christian

sticker on my car, but based on my driving, will

people's your testimoney? Like, remind myself this that, Okay, I'm

working progress, working in progress, but can we ask ourself

this question? When people look at our people will know us? Okay,

good lad. They can say that you're a Christian, But

can people see that you're a Christian if they don't

know you. Can people tell that, hey, this person very

loving by the way you treat people who serve you drinks?

Can people tell that you a believer by the by

the way that you see if they are trash and

all that you pick up, you clean up when you

go to a place, you make sure you leave that

place cleaner. I have a habita. I'm not saying you

guys should do it, but it's something that that I

think God is putting me that when I eat at

a restaurant or any copya mkfa, whatever, I'll try to

stack up the place proper believer us so it's easier

for the server to just take. I'm not saying you

guy should do. It's just something that I I I

have a conviction to do. I always try to clean

up after myself as much as I can. If I

go to a fast food chain and I'm supposed to

bring my own trade to dispose, I will do it. Right.

Can people tell if they don't know you that there's

something different about this person just by observing you. Okay,

I'm not saying to put up and act. I'm saying

that we got to be if we are, we call

ourselves sons and daughters of the Living God. We got

to be sons and daughters of the living Godlah right,

and again good news. If you feel condemned, not here

to condemn you. But the Lord is the one that

convicts the hearts. If you feel that, God, these things

are very hard for me to do. Have be ready

like God again, ask God for help. Help me. Lord,

I had to start somewhere. You think I born as

a baby. I'm already keeping plates already, ask my parents.

I don't do the dishes on growing up. I always

complain on my mom, Always say boy, come, can you

have watch place? I want to do homework. No, I'm

not doing homework just right away, right, I do the

easy whit whit whit white when white the place. I

don't want to wash growing up like that. But hey,

if we want to really be a true son and

daughter of the leaving God, we gotta live it out.

So when we talk about we are safe for good works,

many times we think about just donation, give donation, give

donation to people in need. But hey, it starts from

being from the little things, From the little things, you see,

when we truly understand how, then to what extent we

are saved, taking action is second nature because you're in

a place of constantly, in a place of thanks leaving God,

thank you your grace, I'm here And with thanksgiving it

is therefore also natural and easier for us to love

on others, to help others, And no matter how much

we are in lack or in need, there's always room

to give. That is a sign that we truly understand

what it means to be saved, truly know what it means,

that of being in God's mercy. When you truly understand

that you're saved by grace, true faith, you will naturally

want to bring light to your surroundings. It's natural. So

when if you find yourself struggling to be alike wherever

you're placed, then you've got to backtrack a bit. Do

I understand what it means to be saved by grace?

Do I know to what extend Jesus has gone for me?

And then when you go like by grace true faith,

you check yourself. Where is my faith? Do I trust

god fully and my fully pendent on the lot. Because

once you sort this tow out, the good works will come.

It'll become easier. Not to say it'll be very easy,

like drinking water. It will still cost you, but it

will become easier. I want to share about this. Right. So,

a month ago or so you may have seen me

wearing a brace on my wrists. So I injured my hand,

quite a bad one, quite a bad one. I it was.

It was in the gym. I had an injury. I

couldn't really I have I hadn't. I couldn't grip things,

even gripping a pan. I would have numbness that spread

through my wrists. Uh. Quite concerning. I asked a doctor

and she told me that it's potentially a couple of

Dona syndrome based on all this, and I think, I

think call TTF or something like that. Where the bone

could be uh are could be a small bone, year

could have cracked or something. I don't know, but I

didn't go for X ray and all that stubborn me.

But anyways, I injured myself and suddenly I is revelation, right,

I'm like, hey, actually I've been working out. I think

I am fairly okay in terms of strength, but it

all does not matter because I couldn't even exert because

of my race. No matter how strong I am, because

of this connection, I cannot even release that strength. I

cannot exert. I want to tell you these right friends,

in the same way that revelation. Through that revelation, God

taught me something that we can be very good in

a lot of things that we do. We can be

very gifted and talented, but without the Holy Spirit in

our lives, right, we cannot exert influence, true influence in

terms of bringing God's love into their lives, impacting their lives.

We're talking about good worlds, right, good behavior and all that,

and then true that, hopefully and prayerfully God's love is spread.

So that means you need God in the picture. You

will need God in the picture if you want to

truly be light and sort where you're at, you need

God in the picture because no matter how gifted, talented,

wherever you are, how rich you are, without going in

the picture, you can do a difference, but not eternal. Okay,

remember that I'm gonna come to my end conclusion I'm

just gonna do to wrap it all up. Give you

guys an equation and I'll finish this already. Okay, all right,

this is God's equation, grace by grace true faith. It's

a multiplication. Grace times safe equals salvation and good works. Okay,

hopefully that will help you remember it. Because when we

say by grace truethath by grace true faith, it's like

the English words are like playing with English words, a

little bit hard to understan. And but grace, true faith

salvation and good works. It is not grace times faith

pluss good works equal salvation. You get the equation right,

when you understand that you're saved by grace and you

multiply that by faith. Why do I say multiply by faith?

Because it is the Bible says this, right, You've got

to believe it's an action. It's a multiplication. And why

do I put multiplication because God is a god of multiplication,

not just addition. With the little that we have, we

add the God factor in. It multiplies Grace times faith

equals salvation and good works. And it is not grace

timesas plass good works. Then it is your salvation. Then

we have gotten the whole equation wrong. And this is

when we open up all right, because we be working

for our salvation. We can't it's by grace right. But Lord,

the Bible they tell us tell us that we have

to work out our salvation, meaning to say, we've got

to constantly leave out the truth of salvation. It's not

like once and for all your safe, then we happily

do whatever we want. Right. Remember that, Hey, are we

all okay? And I want to end with this right

For every single brother and sister you are sitting here,

I just want to tell you this. God wants to

work in and through you, every single one. If you're

a believer of Jesus. This is the fact for us.

God wants to work in you first and then through you.

It never stops in you. That's why God never asked

us to go and meditate in a monastery forever and ever.

God actually asks you to go and make disciples, not

just stay and mad it on his word. Important. But

there's a result from that, There is an action God

wants to work through us. Okay, I'm gonna do a

little illustration. Okay, let me see who I can get

to volunteer all looking away. They all looking away. Come, come, come,

don't worry. I won't get to get you to do

physical exercises. Okay, okay. I got this illustration from passa

k net if you'd just stand here. I got this

illustration from Passa K. I learned from him. What's this glove? Right?

Big yellow glove? Right? You see the glove? What does

it look like? Yellow? Yes? Yes, yes, yes. I don't

know if there was a racist statement because I'm holding it,

but kidding, kidding? What I look like? What does it resemble?

A hand? Right hand? Now? I want you shake hands

with ni gloff. Hey, you shake hand with ah? Correct? Oh,

it feels good. Shaking his head? Why not? It's a

shape over hand? Mah, it's it's lighter. It's that he's

not doing anything, right, Hey, let me give you a message.

I'm there. Wrong, you feel good? Ned you should not?

The glove is working not good? Right? Why are shape

over hand? What? Hey? Let me try now? Sorry, he asked.

What the hands take a while of going? Okay, okay,

now there is something inside the glove. Okay, now let's

shake hands. Okay, good god, massage massage okay, feels good.

Ah ah okay, but why is it different from the glove.

It now feels like you're shaking a real hand, right Okay,

Oh so I'm thinking that you can never see Let's

give him a hand pun intended. Okay, some of you

didn't catch it. Never mind, What does this illustration mean?

I want to tell you this. Imagine that you are

the glove on your own. There's really no power, no substance,

but you see, Imagine that you are the vessel, the glove,

and God comes in. Suddenly there's substance. Sally, that's strength

and power. The grip is there. Sally, when you massage,

people feel relieved, relaxed. I want to tell you this

that even though the external what you see is the

glurve and not my hand, isn't that the same with God?

That people see us and not God. So that means

that God if God, If we are the glove and

God is the hand, that means God wants to work

through us. And the good news is this, It is

not our own strength, because the glove alone can't do anything,

but it is the Lord's hand at work, and we

are purely the vessel used by God to touch lives,

to impact communities. This is what it means when we

say we are saved for good works. It is not

by our own strength, but it's in partnership with the

Holy Spirit. Can you believe with this hand you can

pray for healing and people get saved, get healed again,

not by your own anointing or your own old strength

of wisdom. It is true the Lord. Can you believe

then when you when someone is down, you go and

talk to the person that the Holy Spirit is walking

through you and out of your self. Here comes world

of life that's not of you, but of the Lord.

And that's my encouragement to you friends. We're safe by

grades true faith and what the privilege that we get

to do good works for the Lord. And we are

saved for good works. It's not for ourselves to keep.

We are meant to make a difference.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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that this week is going to be a good week.

I hit for you.

God bless