SAVED!

Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

What Grace, what Amazing Grace! Doesn't it just make you wanna shout? The Grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Everyone, not just some men. Not a selection of men and women that are good enough. But the Grace of God has appeared unto ALL men. From those men and women that have kept themselves clean and pure from the desecration of this world to the men and women who have done just about every foul, nasty, disgusting thing you could hear about.

I'm so excited this morning to be saved! Saved from the man that I used to be. Saved unto the man God desires me to be. Saved by His power divine. Saved to new life sublime. Saved, Saved, Saved! To most people being "saved" is just a coined term for those church-goers. All they ever talk about is being "saved" or "have you been saved?" They may even say, "Why in the world do you talk about being saved all the time?" Well the only answer I can come up with is... I'm saved and you need to be saved!

Salvation is the Grace of God in action. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He saved us. In other words, He redeemed us from sin, death and hell. We are lost without the Grace of God. I'm so glad the Grace of God that saves us is not limited to the people who come to church. For you see the people who come to worship at church do so because they are saved by the Grace of God that has appeared unto all men.

Aren't you glad to be saved today? Aren't you excited about it? You did nothing for it. You do nothing to keep it. It's God's Grace, God's saving Grace. God's saving Grace that has appeared unto ALL men and women. Trust upon Jesus as your Lord right now. Be saved by His Amazing Grace. Maybe you too will become excited about that word, "SAVED".

The Pace Setter

Hebrews 12:1-2
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

A couple of years ago I was just beginning to run. I started out by running a little and walking a lot. Then a friend of mine encouraged me to run in a ten-mile race. Needless to say, I laughed about it and thought he was nuts. But I prayed and begin to train for it. As I would train for this race he would often run with me. I can remember the first day we ran together because it was the first time I was to run five miles without stopping. After arriving at his house, I stretched a bit and found some music for my journey and he comes out the door and says, "Just follow me, I'll set a decent pace." And off we went.

Well you can imagine that my Army friend was breathing well and enjoying the run while I was gasping for air and about to die. But something happened to me. I just looked at his back, and the rhythm of his feet as he set the pace and I began to tune out the pain and began to breathe better. Before I knew it we were finished. On the day of the ten-mile race I brought this same attitude with me and finished in a decent time.

Our scripture this morning tells us to lay aside the things that will beset us or weights that will bring us down and run the race, here it is... "with patience". I wanted so bad to run the full ten miles in the spring while I was training and could never do it. I was not patient at all and would often get discouraged because of my impatience. Also look at the greatest blessing of this scripture. It says, "Looking unto Jesus" our pace setter. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He endured the cross. He despised the shame. Finally, He is now at the right hand of the throne of God.

As you are waking up to the new day that God has allowed you to have, listen to Him as He says to you, "Just follow me, I'll set the pace." This worlds pain and struggles will not go away during our race, but they can be tuned out by looking to the pace setter. Follow His steps.

Right In Front Of You

Acts 17:27
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

I know some today that will teach you that there is no possible way that you can seek the Lord. They will say that because you are lost and wicked, that you'll never seek God. But scripture teaches us that we can clearly see God in all of creation which brings about a truth in our lives that there is an Almighty God. After we have "known" God (Romans Chapter 1), people have turned from the truth unto a lie. This is because after the revelation of God in our lives we didn't seek Him.

Look at what the scriptures tell us this morning. That they should seek the Lord, if they might feel after or for Him, and find Him. Paul was preaching to these people of Rome about their altar to the "Unknown God". He made known unto them that if they will seek the truth, seek God, that they would find Him because He is not far from everyone of us. Why does this scripture say that God is not far from everyone of us?

Because it is God who does the original seeking. He is the one who does the saving. There is no man, nor will there ever be any man, who can save themselves. Never will we be able to pull ourselves up out of the pit of sin. But we will acknowledge our condition of helplessness. We should cry out and seek for help. This help can only be found in Jesus.

You may say today that you don't know if there is a God or not. You may want God to show Himself to you and reveal Himself to you. Let me tell you right now, He is right in front of your face. Could it be that you are not seeking Him? So why say that there is no God when you are not even looking? That would be like saying you can't find a job and just sit at home never looking. He is not far from everyone of us! Because He is seeking us. Now, call upon Him. Seek Him while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.

Administers of Grace

Ephesians 2:7
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

As I was staring up at that bright light from my dental chair this thought came to my mind. You know the routine... They call your name and you walk down that hall toward the "chair". Looking left and right as you pass by those being scrapped and drilled on. The noises you hear are ones that should be found on a construction site. I finally take my seat and wait for my dentist. When she comes in she is polite and somewhat perky (but she's not the one in the chair right?)

As her assistant was setting up for the drilling session my dentist was applying the normal pink deadening jelly. With needle now in hand she is ready to start. She looks at me and says, "Now comes the worst part, you'll feel a big pinch." As much as I dread these shots in my mouth I have to be honest and say that they do not hurt.

She was slowly and steadily applying pressure to the syringe and injecting the medicine. After a few seconds she says, "That's it, let's let that take effect for a moment and we will do it in the tooth area." To make a long story short, she did this four times (twice on each side) and began her work. Oh the drilling sound! The cold water and suctioning! The holding my mouth wide open for about two hours and praying to the Lord that my breath doesn't stink or that I cough and spit all that water back at the two of them. During this process my dentist constantly asked if I was in any pain. Over and over she would question me. She didn't want to hurt me.

She administered grace unto me. Not only do I see the medicine as grace, because without it she couldn't have removed the rottenness of my tooth. But I also see her attitude as an administrator of grace. Constantly she wanted my comfort but at the same time she knew she had to go deeper to remove all of the decay. She knew that she had to remove this before ever beginning to restore my tooth for use.

Thank you Jesus for your GRACE. Thank you also for your grace administrators. You may think that preacher is just trying to call you out, but he is a grace administrator. Lord help me to be just like my dentist. Help me to reveal the decaying effects of sin, so that you may restore them for use. Help me to be constantly aware of pain and administer the grace that you have given unto me.