Fire and water are two things that we need for life. But these can rage out of control, as can our trials and troubles in this world. Paul even wound up in prison in Rome. Christ keeps us, however. God brings us through to glorify Himself. The fire refines. The water cleanses. (Isaiah 43:1-3; Psalm 66:12; Philippians 2:1-2)

Speaker(s): John Love, Eugene Davis
Sermon 12437
11:00 AM on 1/8/2023

P. Eugene Davis –

Good morning everyone. Stand with me just for one reading of the Word of God this morning. Philppians 2, this has
been an amazing time. Philippians 2:1-2, you may be seated.
Happy New Year! It’s amazing some of us – 2022 – we were like that’s gone! And then 2023
starts. And oftentimes, the things that happen in 2022 continue into 2023. And we say, okay,
God. What are you doing? God is saying that I’m faithful to you. It’s an amazing thing as we
were singing that song, “I’m desperate for you.” I love that. That’s a great place to be. Desperate
for God. That means when God speaks, I’m listening. When God has a word for me, my ear is
open.

I was just thinking about the Apostle Paul and this was in my devotional this week. The Apostle
Paul is writing the book of Philippians. And the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Philippi
from a Roman prison. And it’s amazing because you realize he’s in prison for his faith. He
speaks about in 2 Timothy 1, bless “the house of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me being
not ashamed of my chains.”

In Philippians 2, the kinosis passage, vs. 5-8, we love those portions because it speaks about why
Christ came, the God Man. But in Philippians 2:1, it says “if there be any consolation in Christ” and I
was thinking about that word. It’s an interesting word. It means this, it means – it’s the word
where we get the word Paraklete or the word for the Holy Spirit, “PARAKLESIS.” The root is
“PARKALEO.” This is what it means. It means summoning for help. I love that. Because the
Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian church and he is writing to them to encourage them and
to build them up. But as we said before, he’s writing from prison. So before he can build up the
Body of Christ, he himself has to be built up as a member of the Body of Christ.
Encouragement. Strengthening.

It also means to encourage, to comfort, to exhort, solace. That which affords refreshment. And I
love that thought. So the Apostle Paul is being refreshed as he’s in prison. You say, wait a
minute. That’s difficult to do. How can he refresh himself? He’s isolated. He’s in prison for his
faith. He’s going through probably the most difficult trial of his life. And he’s writing to the Body
of Christ to refresh them. And he says, “at my first offense, no man stood with me; yet the Lord
stood with me and strengthened me.” Refreshed me.

I started thinking about that. In the beginning of 2023, how important it is to be refreshed in the
things of God. Yesterday, we were out soul winning with P. Scibelli. It was amazing. What I love
about P. Scibelli’s life is in doing the will of God the will of God refreshes him. In doing the will of
God, the will of God becomes his meat. Becomes that which ministers to him. That’s our life in
the Body of Christ. It’s not doing God’s will. It’s letting God minister to me. Letting God –
because we know in Philippians it says that for it is God both the willing and the doing of his
good pleasure. God gives the will and the ability to perform it. 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “faithful is he who
has called me who will also do it.” Philippians 1:6 says, “being confident of this thing, he who has
begun a good work in me will perform it to the day of Christ.”

So, I began to realize that the Apostle Paul is not in prison. He’s in the will of God. That changes
your perspective on the situation that you are in and that you are going through. You’re not in it,
right? God’s there and God’s taking you through it which means it has a purpose. And what was
the purpose of prison? The prison epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. From
prison. From a place of being incarcerated for the faith, but the Word of God is not bound and it
just began to just minister to my soul.

I thought of this: in 2023, and 2023 has just started, but I know of different individuals that are
going through things in 2023. But God is present. We heard in the first service Hebrews 4:16. “Let
us come boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive grace and mercy to help in time of
need.” We’re always in need. And we’re always coming to the throne of grace. At the throne of
grace, we are always being refreshed or encouraged by the mind of Christ.

This is what Paul said. He said be like minded. Have the same mind. Be of one accord. It simply
means to think with God. And for decades and decades and decades, this is the thing that has
ministered to us as the Body of Christ, learning how to think with God in our situations. So then
our situation doesn’t have to change. We don’t have to get an answer in our situation.
The situation doesn’t have to end, because the situation is subject to God and God is the one who
has his hand on the thermostat in the situation. But long before his hand is on the thermostat,
he’s already given us promises. “All the promises of God are in him yeah and amen unto the
glory of God by us.” The promises of God. I love this. It refreshes me.

I was thinking about this. Another word for refreshing is this: being quickened. Being quickened.
Being made alive. In Psalm 119:25, it says my soul cleaves to the dust. We all experience that. It
wasn’t just this morning when you wake up like ahh, what time is it? It can’t be. I just went to
bed. How can it be so soon? And your body is like I don’t want to get out of bed. You’re an adult
but you find yourself talking like you’re a kid again. No, mom, I don’t want to go to school. No
mom, I don’t want to go to church. And you realize wait a minute. I’m the parent! Kids are
expecting on me!

But what does it say? Our souls cling, adhere, hold fast to the dust. But that’s not the end of the
verse. Quicken me according to thy word. Speak to me the Word of God, Lord. Put it in me. Stir
me up. Let me take ahold of your promise and meditate on your promise. And as I meditate on
the promises of God, you know what happens? It begins to revive me. It begins to put strength
in me.

Daniel 10, Daniel is in one of the greatest trials of his life. He is praying and his prayer is hindered
for 21 days to the point where he has no more strength. There’s no more strength. He’s a man
of God in the will of God and no strength. And when the answer comes – I love this. This has
ministered to me often and often and often. He says, oh, Daniel, a man greatly loved. When was
the last time we let God love us in our situation. Not out of our situation. In it. And it refreshes
us. You know why? Because it tells us that God is faithful. 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “faithful is he who’s
called you” and me into our situations “who will also do it.” Do what? Refresh us. Strengthen us.
Provide for us. Comfort us. Build us. Carry us. Bottle our tears. Count our hairs. He is faithful.
He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. I love that. God is so faithful. 1 Thessalonians 1:9,
“faithful is he who has called you in the fellowship of his Son.” He’s faithful.

And he’s faithful to you and me. He’s not just faithful. He’s faithful to you and me. Now, it
becomes personal. He’s faithful to my family. He’s faithful in my marriage. He’s faithful in my
problems. He’s faithful in my job. He’s faithful in the household. He’s faithful raising kids. He’s
faithful. This is what refreshes us. The character and nature of God that doesn’t change. Malachi
3:6, “I’m the Lord your God and I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob shall not be
consumed.” Lamentation 3:21-23, “this one thing I bring to remembrance; therefore I have hope. It is of
the Lord’s mercies I’m not consumed. They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.”
Great is his faithfulness.

This is the Word of God. This is what it means to be refreshed and Paul writing to the Philippians
church is being refreshed. Therefore, he is writing with the mind of Christ and building the Body
of Christ.

Think about this in Philippians 2. This is amazing. I was thinking about this and this really ministered to
me this morning. He said this, Philippians 2:5-7, Christ served the ones who betrayed him. Christ
served the ones who denied him. Christ served the ones who sinned against him.
Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sinned. We heard this morning. What was God’s response to them? He
clothed them with the skins of an animal and he shed the blood. And Genesis 3:15 he gave a
promise that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He served. He
served. He made himself of no reputation but took on the form of a servant. He humbled
himself.

I was thinking, you know, the tendency in my heart when you are in a situation or circumstance
is the opposite of humility. It’s actually pride. Cause you know we say, why am I going through
this? Why is this happening to me? And God says submit to God, resist the devil. Submit to
God. In your situation, submit to God. In the trial, submit to God. In the morning when you don’t
want to wake up out of bed, submit to God. So good. It’s so good.

Another thing I was thinking about, this is in Ephesians 2:1. This week, read Ephesians 2. Read the entire
book of Ephesians. Eighty-six times we are “in Christ.” Why is that important? Because we said
before, I’m not in my situation. I’m in Christ. And Christ is in my situation. I’m in Christ. And
Christ is in my situation. You know, that’s what gives me hope. That’s what gives me assurance.
That’s what gives me strength. That’s what changes the situation. Cause Christ is in my
situation. So the situation, is submitted to God. God is not submitted to the situation.

I’ll say that again. The situation is submitted to God. God is not submitted to the situation. Who
gave us 2023? God. Which means anything that happens in 2023, has to go through the hand
of God. I know we don’t like that. I don’t know about that, P. Eugene. Is that scriptural? Yes, it is.
“All things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many
redound to the glory of God.” All things are for our sakes. Acts. 20:24, this is beautiful.

Ephesians 2 it says this in vs. 1. Think about that. We were dead. Do you know what it means to be
dead? To be dead. No ability. No strength. You’re dead. You can’t do anything. We’re dead in
trespasses and sins which means we didn’t have an option. For us to breathe was sin. For us to
do anything was sin. vs. 2-3. That does not sound good. That’s a bad commentary on life. But I
love the next few words, “But God.” Think about that. But God. Do you know what it means?
That I was going a certain direction and God stepped into my situation, turned me around, and
now I’m going in another direction. But God. But God. I was lost, but God I’m found. I was on my
way to hell. But God, I’m on my way to heaven. But God.

In Colossians 1:13, But God translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
Son. But God. That is so important. Let God enter into your situation and let God turn around
your situation for his glory. But God. But God. The rest of the book in Ephesians 2 it talks about what
God has done. And this is what strengthened the Apostle Paul. He didn’t get out of prison. He
died for his faith. But God ministered to him and ministered through him and is now ministering
to us in 2023. But God.

Why is this important for us as believers? Because God has given us all of his promises for our
situations that we might learn of God and that we might declare God in our generation. So, this
is beautiful. This is why we come to church. But God. In 2023, let our confessions be, “But God.”
I don’t know what’s happening today, but God knows what’s happening today. I don’t know
where the finances are going to come from, but God is Lord over the finances. I don’t know
about a difficult situation I may be experiencing in my family, but God is the one who gave me
my family which means but God knows what he’s going to do. And the devil cannot rob us what
our confession is. But God. But God.

And we heard from P. Scibelli – in closing – I love what he said today. The devil likes for us to
think that he doesn’t exist. Our enemy wants us to think he doesn’t exist. So, we start fighting
with flesh and blood. In Eph. 6, it says, “we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.” But you know what? But God has victory over principalities and
powers. So, 2023, but God. In Jesus’ name. Amen. (Prayer).

P. Love –

Great job. Don’t we have talented singers and musicians? Wow. Praise God! Let’s
bow for a prayer. (Prayer). Would you open your Bibles with me to Isaiah 43 and we’ll look at a
couple verses there and then turn to Psalm 66 to look at a verse as well. I was noticing as we were
sitting up here on the stage this morning, P. Eugene, that there’s no security behind us. They
typically sit there. Feel like they’re sending you and me a message! They’re going to protect everyone except you guys! Just kidding! Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you. Now I
feel eternally secure!

Isaiah 43, I’m reading from the New Living Translation because that’s the one that I picked up in the
lost and found! I have a lot of Bibles by the way that don’t belong to me. I don’t know. I figure,
Lord, if that’s the extent of my thievery then, I don’t know. I guess I can live with that. I’ve got P.
Palmer’s Bible. I’ve got P. Steven’s Bible. I’m looking for P. Scibelli’s Bible! I just go through them
and if I see pastor so and so, I say I’ll take that one! I’ll look for notes throughout the Bible that
they might have written. But this is the New Living Translation, vs. 1. isn’t that a good thought?
Think about that this morning. You are God’s. He purchased you. He purchased all of us with his
precious blood.

vs. 2. Have you ever felt like you’ve been through rivers – plural – of difficulty? Maybe for some
it’s like no. I feel like I’m in the rapids of difficulty. More threatening. vs. 2-3. turn over to Psalm
66:12. the psalmist is kind of rehearsing God’s past dealings with the nation of Israel. vs. 12.
Wow. Faith – there’s something about faith that we understand because we’ve experienced it.
And it’s simply this: faith always triumphs because of the one that we have put our faith in. It’s
the object of our faith that really matters. It’s not faith. People have lots of faith in so many
different things. When we place our faith in Christ, he causes us, always, to triumph.

I want you to think about this because the two words that are repeated here in the book of
Isaiah and then in the psalm are “fire” and “water.” Think about this. From the beginning of time,
fire and water have been man’s two most essential needs. You can’t live without them. But they
an also turn into man’s worst enemies, right? We read so often, we see it on television
oftentimes the fires. Think of the fires in Southern California. So often, those fires are raging
throughout the year especially during the summer time. We see some of these beautiful homes,
hundreds of them. Beautiful. Expensive homes just consumed by the fires.

I always think there’s two places that I’m not really that interested in living in. California and
Florida. But for so many, they seem to be two of the most desirable places to live because of
their environment. If I lived in California, I think I would wake up every day thinking, will the great
earthquake happen today? Or will a mud slide take me out? Or is a flood on its way? In Florida,
I’d be thinking when is the next hurricane coming. Those two places as beautiful as they are, no.
I’m not interested. Then you think maybe the safest place is smack dab in the middle of the
country. No, then the tornadoes come ripping through. So, it’s almost like Lord, I think Baltimore
right now is the best place for me to be. Amen.

But it’s true. The fires and then of course the waters. After those fires came through Southern
California, the people that are living there became aware of a new danger. And the new danger
was water because the priceless watershed had been destroyed and with the coming winter
rains, they actually were being threatened by something even worse than the fires. Incredible.
But think about how those two various essential needs of mankind are the two very things that
God uses to describe the trials and the tests that he brings his people through. Again, Psalm 66:12.
A place of abundance. And that’s what that word “wealthy” means. Abundance. A wide place. A
place of recovery. A place of refreshment. Isn’t it interesting that God describes the trials, the
difficulties, the troubles, the afflictions of his children as fire and water just indicating to us how
severe they can be. And sometimes, they are.

At first, you could read these words and you could be easily discouraged. But when you think of
the joy, the victory, the comfort that’s wrapped up in the one word that’s repeated both in Isaiah
and here by the psalmist. It’s the word “through.” That’s what God always does. He never leaves
us in those places. He always brings us through them. There’s never a time. He never says that
the waters will – you will be submerged in the waters and you will never come through the
waters. He always says I’m going to bring you through. Through the fire. Through the water.

Because as God’s children, the promise from God is you’re never going to be submerged.
You’re never going to be drowned. But you’re always going to be kept through the flood and the
fire. Think about it, even at the end of his life, what did the psalmist say? Because we can go
through so much in life itself and then we reach the end of our life and what did he say in Psalm
23? Even though I pass what? Through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
Why? Because you’re still with me.

Even at that moment when we face death, God says I’ll get you through that as well. Because
as we just sang or she just sang for us. We didn’t want to sing for her. We would have ruined it!
But she sang it so beautifully. We’ve never seen a time when he’s failed. Never seen a time
when he hasn’t caught us. Never seen a time when he hasn’t brought us through. The fact that
we are here today is proof positive to the glory of God that we’ve been brought through. And
even when the doctor comes and he gives us that diagnosis and we have to listen to it and it
breaks our heart, what do we know? God somehow, someway, he’s going to get us through that.
And he’s going to be glorified.

The trial by fire. Think about Job. That’s what he compared his affliction to, being cast into a
furnace. But listen to the words he said in Job. 23:10. “When he has tried me.” I’m so grateful he
doesn’t say if that should happen, but he was in the middle of it. It’s not a question of if we will
be tried, if we will be tested, if we will go through the floods, if we will be in the fire. It’s a matter
of when. But when he has tried me. He said I shall come forth as gold.

Notice the words again. I’ll come forth. Those are triumphant words. He never said when I’m in
the fire, I’ll be consumed. When I’m in the floods, certainly I will be drowned. He says I will come
through it. I will come forth. It’s one thing to testify after you’ve passed through the fire. Thank
God for testimonies of people that have that. Every one of us probably at some point in our lives
could stand before the Body of Christ and give a testimony of how God brought us through. But
think about Job. He was still in the furnace when he said those words. The heat was on. He was
covered with boils. Fever controlled his body. He was scraping his oozing boils with broken
pieces of pottery. His head throbbed with pain. His supposedly fiercely, fierce friends of him
were accusing him of sin in his life. He looked beyond the fiery trial and shouts out with
reassuring faith. I shall come through. That’s our testimony.

And by the way, even if you are in the midst of that fire and in that midst of that flood and you
can’t even say those words, it doesn’t matter. Recently, someone said to me, you know what? I
cannot believe God anymore. I don’t believe God anymore. At that point, some people would
hang up the phone and say, well, that’s too bad. I don’t want to talk to you. I said to them, even if
you cannot believe God, know this: your unbelief cannot make the Word of God of none effect.
Even if we stop believing, what does the Scripture say? He abides faithful. Because we are not
gathered here today to talk about how wonderful we are, how great we are, how faithful we are,
how amazing we are. We gather together as consistently as we do to talk about his greatness,
his faithfulness, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his grace because he is altogether glorious
because he gets us through.

I saw the way that Job saw himself. How? As gold in the furnace. David saw himself and saw
the children of God, the people of Israel, as silver in the refiner’s fire. He said in Psalm 66:10, a
couple of verses before vs. 12, he said “you have tried us as silver in the fire.” How is silver
tried? By turning us the heat. Have you ever sensed that God is turning up the heat in your life?
Because we just say Lord, why? Why turn up the heat? Malachi describes these metals
together in Malachi the third chapter. It’s almost as if he’s explaining how God develops his
people. He says these words, Malachi 3:3. And I love the fact that he sits like the refiner of silver
and gold. He’s not troubled about it like we can be. He’s not disturbed about it like we
sometimes find ourselves. He just sits because he knows exactly what he’s doing.

And why? The prophet asks the question, why? vs. 3b. So, look at it this way. The divine
method that God uses is fire. The divine motive is what to purge and purify us. What’s the divine
objective? Righteousness in our lives. Practical righteousness. We know that we are the righteousness of God by faith. We know we have the very righteousness of Christ.

But God wants that righteousness that’s positional to be worked out in a very practical way in our lives so
that it can be seen by a watching world. So the world can stand up and take notice that we are
not just talking about God but we are reflecting his nature. And they get to see as P. Stevens
used to say, it’s theantric action. Taking an invisible God and making him visible and using
weak, frail people like us to do it. That’s grace.

When these things happen, when we go through the fire, when we go through the floods and
sometimes we feel like we’re being overwhelmed, that’s when we are most tempted to do this
one thing. What is it? Hebrews 10:35 talks about it. Cast away your confidence. It always happens.
It happens with the disciples when Jesus said to them get in the boat. We’ll go to the other side.
And then a great storm comes down from the mountains and begins to whip up the waters. A
tempest threatening their lives. And who is it that cries out in the midst of that trouble? Wakes
up Jesus and says, Lord, don’t you care? It was Peter. I don’t know what that is.

We can be living our lives and if there’s no flood and if there’s no fire and if there’s no trouble
and no affliction we can just kind of – but the moment those troubles come, those fires we are
baptized into them and the flood comes, sometimes it causes us to cry out just as Peter did.
And to say, Lord, don’t you care about my pain? Don’t you care about my struggle? Don’t you
care about my affliction? But we have to remember when we are tempted to cast away our
confidence, remember this: he cares.

It would be the same Peter who would cry out in that boat and say, don’t you care? Who would
later write in 1 Peter 5:7, we can cast all our cares upon him because he cares for us. He learned.
But he went through the fire. He went through the floods. He cares.

Never let Satan inject a doubt into your mind regarding God’s love for you. He’ll try to. He longs
to take advantage. He longs to take advantage of our present trial and grief that we experience
and whisper in our ear, if God really cares you would not still be there. If God really cares, he
would have certainly come to deliver you and rescue you by now. He loves to whisper those
words.

But we know he does. In fact, we are so precious in his sight that nothing, nothing but the terms
silver and gold can describe his concern about us. His gold and silver, we know it in our culture,
those things ultimately are what? Corruptible. But what God is doing in your life, that is
incorruptible. That is eternal. That’s why this light affliction that we experience which is but for a
moment is working. God takes our affliction and he employs it. He employs it to do his great,
lasting eternal work so he can create what? An exceeding, exceeding weight of glory.

Remember this about the fire: we’re never harmed by the fire. We’re only developed when we’re
in the midst of it. The fire sets us free from – you could look at it this way – the fire may be used
by God to set us free from the shackles of carnality. To burn away the dross in our lives. To
remove some of those things that would hinder our spiritual progress making us ultimately more
like Christ and revealing that practical righteousness through our lives. God’s presence is very
real and precious in the fire.

The dross will be consumed but here’s the good news. You won’t be. The dross will be
consumed but you won’t be. We sometimes feel that we might be, but God promises that will not
happen because he cares. Not only does he care but he comforts. He sits as a refiner of silver
which means he never leaves that refining process. He never walks away from it. He never gets
preoccupied with another galaxy and forgets what it is that you are going through. He sits like
the refiner of this precious metal and he watches carefully making sure there is sufficient heat,
applying the right amount of heat, and for the right amount of time.

1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us once again as P. Eugene shared with us that God is faithful. He will
never permit us. He will never allow us to go through more than we can handle. So he knows how to keep his hand on the thermostat. He knows how long we need to be in the fire that
refines us.

I read this fascinating story by a gentlemen by the name of David Kirk. He wrote a book entitled,
The Mystery of Divine Chastening.” He tells a story of two Christian martyrs during the
Reformation period. One veteran St. Vladimir and the other was a young believer named Riley.
“They were condemned to be burned at the stake.

The night before the execution, young Riley was highly nervous, very agitated. He looked
through the iron bars of their dungeon prison and saw them preparing the stakes. In his panic,
he tried to light a candle. In the process, he burned his finger. His burn impressed upon him the
greater agony of the fate that awaited him and he cried out, “I can’t stand it! I can’t stand it.” His
seasoned companion gently laid his hand upon his shoulder and said, “my friend, God didn’t ask
you to burn your finger, so he doesn’t give you grace to stand it tonight. But tomorrow, when the
time comes God will be there with his sufficient grace.”

The next morning, the two men were led to the stakes, each with a triumphant smile and perfect
peace in their heart. As the flames surrounded their bodies, out of the midst came their vibrant
voices united in a victorious song of praise. God gave them grace when they needed it the
most.” Wow!

That’s the faithfulness of God. That’s proof that he cares and that he comforts and ultimately
he’s in controll, isn’t he? He sits by the fire. He guards. He protects. He cares for the precious
metal. And if he cares for the precious metal, that is the refiner of silver, how much more does
God care for the precious souls that he was willing to give his Son for. We have the assurance
of his presence. It’s always “through.” You will pass through the water, through the fire. I will be
with you. He never places the ones he loves into the fire or into the furnace or into the flood and
somehow forgets they are there. He will always be present.

Paul when he reached the end of his life, you can read about it in 2 Timothy 4. He talks about how
everyone at that point had forsaken him. He said no man stood with me. But listen to what he
said in vs. 17. The loyalty of others may be very questionable. But not God’s loyalty. We will
never have to doubt it. We will never have to wonder if we have been forsaken. He knows when
the work is done. He knows how that work has been complete. Like the refiner of silver. We’ve
heard it before but it bears reiteration.

The refiner of silver turns up the heat, burns away the dross, removes all the impurities and then
when one questions, how do you know when the silver is purified? He says when I look into the
silver and see my own image. God, how will you know? How will we know if we are being
conformed into the image of your Son? How will we know if we will reflect your divine nature
while here on the earth? How will we understand it? You know what God’s answer will be?

Because when I look at you, I see my own image. When God looks at you, he sees his Son.
And I think that is especially so when we go through the fire, when we go through the floods. We
will not drown. We will not be consumed. God, well he’s determined it. Just as we have born the
earthly, Paul said that to the Corinthians. Just the same way we have born the earthly image, we
shall bear the image of the heavenly. Not just when we get there but while we are here on the
earth. If people are going to get a glimpse of heaven,a glimpse of what God’s like, a glimpse of
God’s character, if they are going to be able to look and see the grace of God and begin to
fathom and understand what mercy is, they’ll get a chance to do it through our lives. Gold and
silver in this world and in this life are corruptible. What God is doing in ours, incorruptible.
Eternal. Forever.

And how’s he going to do it? Not by might, not by power, but by his Spirit. He’ll do the work.
We’ll just make ourselves available. If we can just simply say, Lord, here am I. That’s enough.
Sometimes we’re tempted to say, Lord, here am I. Send someone else! But really what we need
to say is, Lord, I’m here. I can’t do a thing through my own effort, through my own strength, through my own ability. But if I could yield myself into your hands, I know you have the power to
make me just like Jesus and he’ll do it. And he’ll do it by his grace. Amen. Let’s pray together.
(Prayer).

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.