Peter Tan-Chi - Experience God's Grace

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Last week we talked about getting ready for the return of Christ. What will help you stay ready? Today I want to share with you the importance of God’s grace. What does God’s grace mean? Because Acts 22 is Paul's personal story and he talks about how God touched his life. Do you realize that some of you may have loved ones who seem impossible to come to Jesus and you feel like this person is hopeless? Maybe it's your husband, your wife, your family, your parents are hopeless in your mind. Today you will discover how the grace of God can change us. Some of you are struggling with pornography and all kinds of vices in your mind. When you feel like you have no hope, I bring you good news. Understand the grace of God.

What is the grace of God? According to my research, God’s grace has the following definition: Let’s read together: Grace is unmerited favor from God It saves us God’s grace brings salvation More than just salvation It gives us That desire that inner desire to do God's will and that power to do His will so the grace of God not only brings salvation it also changes your heart it changes you from the inside out and then it gives you strength. How will I present it to you to do His will? We're going to look at the Bible and we're going to look at scripture and we're going to look at Paul's testimony and you're going to see all of this happening in his life and also in the life of Felix the lawyer and you can see how he changed in his Lives Changed.

The Bible tells us in the first chapter of Titus to read together: Titus 2:11-12 For God’s grace has been revealed that saves all men. Please note: God’s grace has been revealed, but what has it done? It brings salvation but many stop Don’t stop at salvation, continue reading: Teach us... Teach us to put away ungodliness and worldly lusts It will change your heart It will change you Change your desires More than that, live wisely. It empowers you to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world as you believe. Do you see the big picture? God's grace brings salvation. It changes your desires. It sanctifies you. It helps you live a holy life. Then it leads to serving Him.

Why do I say this? Don't stop at verse 12. What is verse 13 about? Verses 13 and 14 tell us...read it together: Waiting for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Have you noticed that because of the grace of God you begin to set your heart on the second coming of Christ and this gives you the motivation you need the motivation, please note the titles of Jesus Jesus has the following titles: Come together our great… God and Savior So the early church already believed that Jesus was God and Savior Continue reading: He gave himself for us to redeem us, that’s a beautiful word to redeem you, to redeem you to redeem us from all sin Now look at you life, you start to see what you were like in the past and who you are now. Do you see changes? Do you have? Only five people changed. Do you see a change? Amen.

And it not only redeems us, we all read: And purifies us, and makes us specially His own people. Grace is God’s choice of us to be His own people. Everyone reads: Specially made us His own people, zealous for doing good, zealous for doing good. So if a true When people experience the grace of God, you will see changes, you will have testimonies, and you will have stories about what you were like in the past B.C. before (believing in) Christ. Turning point: how you came to believe in Christ, and then A.C. after (believing in) Christ. This is the story of the Apostle Paul. This is the story of the Apostle Paul. This is why I gave you a form. Could you please pull out that form? This is about a one-minute testimony, and it's for all of you.

We want you to write it down. It's called a one-minute testimony. What has God done for you? For example: Before you believed in Christ, three adjectives. What were you like before you believed in Christ? How did you come to believe in Christ? You write it down. Then after believing in Christ, now if you don’t have any testimony and you have no story to tell, is it possible that you haven’t experienced God’s grace yet? If you don’t have a story to tell, is it possible that you haven’t experienced God’s grace? Maybe all you have is religion. Maybe all you have is religion. But if you have the grace of God, you will definitely have this clear transformation. How did you meet Christ before you believed in Christ? What was the turning point? What happened to you after you met Jesus?

I would love to share my one minute testimony with you. Would you like a sample? Before I met Jesus I grew up in a great family. My father was a very successful businessman. Yet, despite making a lot of money. You look at your watches. One minute I have no peace. I have no joy. I am afraid of death. I feel Empty Then one day someone came to me and talked about how Jesus died on the cross for my sins. That was the day I gave my life to Jesus. When I look back, I realize something came over me. I now experience peace. I had joy, I had meaning in life and I started asking myself what would have happened to me if I had not met Jesus? Do you want to know Jesus? Just take a minute to praise God! Did you see that? You need to write it down. You need to practice. Then I have another testimony, five minutes. I have another testimony, ten minutes. No problem! I just shared a minute's testimony with you.

Now the apostle Paul gave his testimony. Believe it or not, he gave his testimony three times in the book of Acts. Acts Chapter 9, how he came to Christ before he came to faith. What happened to Christ? Today we're going to talk about Acts 22, his testimony. Then, in the next few weeks we'll talk about Acts 26. Why is testimony so important? Let me tell you why when you give your testimony, no one can argue with you because you're not talking about religion you're talking about what's going on in your life you're talking about what God has done to you and that's powerful so the Apostle Paul He preached the gospel through his testimony and he talked about the grace of God.

Now let me share the grace of God with you, okay? Another verse is a verse that everyone is familiar with, let’s take it together: Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; of works, so that no one may boast. What can you learn about grace? Grace is something you don't deserve that brings you salvation. You are saved by faith. Is it possible to know that you are saved? Yes or no? Can you be sure today that you will go to heaven after you die? Can you be sure? You know why most people aren’t sure? They don't understand grace. There are many, many people today who are sincere and they go to church, but they don't know if they're going to go to heaven. Do you know why? They have religion. They don't understand the grace of God, Jesus The Bible is very clear You are saved by faith, please note: past tense. You can be sure. How to determine? Through Faith.

Today I want to explain grace to you. By knowing grace, I hope your faith will grow Next: It’s not of yourselves, not even faith, not even grace You must know: It’s all a gift from God Grace is something that comes from God, not by works, lest anyone should boast . A lot of people stop here. Don't stop here. What's the next section? What is the next verse after verse 9? 10 Smart! What is verse 10 about? look! You need to read verse 10 of your Bible which tells us: We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Grace should never stop at salvation. It continues to bring about good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So ladies and gentlemen what true grace is going to happen to you? Saved and sanctified, you are transformed and then, serve, do good works so I challenge all of you all who have experienced the grace of God.

I want you to be rich in good works I love that you volunteer at CCF, We need Sunday school teachers, We need the Lord Day School Teachers, We need public school teachers. Do you know why? We have a plan to educate the poor so they have a high school degree. We need teachers. We need people to visit the hospital. We need volunteers of all kinds. Will you volunteer? If I were you, the first volunteer job would be to join a volunteer group. This is how you should serve God. Be a leader, be a servant in a group. Just join a group and say: I like serving in a group. If you are good at music, then join the music ministry but just because you join doesn’t mean you will be allowed to sing, okay? I'm just telling you, but just jump in and we'll see what you can do, OK?

Because they're very strict and they have this kind of auditions and that's why I'm afraid of auditions and they might not accept my beautiful voice but I'm telling you we need volunteers. Are you willing to serve God? Well, we have a lot of ministries but it all starts with small groups and someone was talking to me yesterday about Peter, do I start a motorcycle club? Because I like riding motorcycles, I said: Why not? Some of you are members of off road clubs 4wd clubs no problem I challenged someone yesterday: start a golf club Do you like to play golf? Then start a golf club for the purpose of serving God, amen? Now let's look at the apostle Paul. He's called the apostle Paul, the apostle of grace. Did you know that? Paul wrote about grace almost 110 times? Grace you know why? He experienced grace.

Let us read this scripture together: 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle. Look at his humility. Because I once persecuted the church of God. Paul said I wasn't even qualified to be an apostle. Why? I used to be against Christianity but...everyone read: But by God's grace I don't deserve it. Who I am today is by God's grace and His grace is not in vain. It’s not me who works harder than the other apostles. It's God’s grace that is with me. Do you know what Paul is saying? Who I am today by the grace of God Once upon a time I was fighting Christians I was fighting Jesus And then something happened Who I am today by the grace of God What is he doing? He is preaching the gospel now. He is serving Jesus. Why? This is the grace of God.

Ladies and gentlemen, the grace of God has the following points. I want you to know. First, it is undeserved. Please tell me: Undeserved. Second, it is not forced. No one has ever forced God. Grace is given to you. It is given to you freely by God. It is not forced. No one forced God. No one forced God to save the Apostle Paul. No one forced God to reach out to the Apostle Paul. God did it Himself. What you need to know about grace. The next thing is it's transformative. Say it with me: Transformative, it changes you. How do you tell if someone is a fake Christian? very simple. A fake Christian has religion. A fake Christian has religion but no change in life. So you can tell whether you are fake or not. But God loves everyone. If you are a fake Christian, God says, you can become a real Christian today if you understand grace.

If you understand grace, eventually grace must be accepted. You know what Paul said? You have to respond to grace, Paul said, and the grace he bestowed upon me was not in vain. In other words, God's grace was not in vain. He accepted it. He did something about it. I labored harder than all the apostles. You see, grace. There is no conflict with working for God you are not going to heaven by good works it is by grace but because you are going to heaven you are working hard now do you see the difference? One is motivated by love, one is motivated by grace and the other is motivated by fear, no, it should be motivated by grace. So I hope you can learn something from the apostle Paul. What is the topic today? Everyone Reads: Experiencing God’s Grace Can you turn to each other? Tell them: To experience the grace of God You want to make sure you experience the grace of God.

Let me repeat it has these components: True grace is unmerited. Understand? It doesn't come from coercion. No one can force God to give grace to Himself. He loves to give grace to you. You can never force God to do anything. Grace is transformative. It changes you. Finally, grace is to be received by faith. Are you ready?? Okay, let’s look at Acts Chapter 22. He gave his testimony for the second time in his life. It is recorded in the Bible. Now read it together and get ready! rise! Fathers and brothers, please listen, I will tell you now. The best defense is your testimony. You must know what happened in Acts 21. Do you know what happened? They want to kill him! Do you remember? They want to kill him! In Tagalog: Kill him! He was saved by the commander of the Roman army who might otherwise have died.

Do you know what he did? When he was rescued by the Roman army I'm sorry sir, please allow me to talk to all these people who are trying to kill me and talk about how much he loved these people and he started to look at how smart Paul was. Paul called them brothers, fathers. Guys, please listen to me! When they heard him greet them in Hebrew, not Greek, but Hebrew, it was about connecting and they became quieter and they became interested. You see, you need to connect with your audience. Paul wanted to share. By the grace of God what did he do? He talked about his life experiences in a language they could understand. Look at what he said.

Have you ever wondered what Paul was like before he came to Christ? This chapter is simply divided into three parts: before believing in Christ, how I came to Christ, and what happened to him after believing in Christ. So Paul began. Paul said: I am a Jew like you. You are a Jew, and so am I, born in Tarsus in Cilicia. Hey! Guys, I'm cultured. I was not born in the provinces I was born in Tarsus Tarsus is a special city Rome did not destroy Tarsus because it was a fine city, a rich city with culture Rome gave the city special rights If you were born in Tarsus, you can become a Roman citizen so special! Then he said: But which city did he grow up in? Jerusalem Paul is saying: Hey! Everyone! Not only am I educated, I grew up in Jerusalem, the capital of Judaism, under Gamaliel.

I was taught according to the strict laws of our ancestors. Who is Gamaliel? Do you know what Paul is talking about? To relate to these people he's telling them: I'm not a stupid boy, I'm not only educated, I'm taught by the most famous rabbi, the most famous professor, which is Rabbi Gamaliel, history tells us he was the first, he was revered Gamaliel was called the light of the law many times and he would teach the Old Testament so people could understand so Paul is saying: That man was my professor and I sat at his feet I am not stupid I know the Bible that is What he said was taught according to the strict laws of our fathers. I understand the Bible. Serve God zealously, just like you all do today.

Paul is saying: I am devout, I am zealous. Do you understand what kind of person the apostle Paul was?? Educated, cultured, and pious. He continued: I also persecuted those who followed this faith until they died. I locked up both men and women and put them in prison. He was saying: Hey! Everyone! Do you hate Christianity? I used to hate Christianity. I sent these people to jail. I even wanted them killed. Now, listen to me. Why was Paul so against Christianity? Think about it, why? Because of his past, he was a Jew, taught in Judaism, Judaism, the Old Testament teaches that there is only one God. Here is Jesus claiming to be the Son of God.

Here is Jesus claiming to be the Messiah. Here is Jesus claiming to give eternal life. As far as the apostle Paul was concerned, this guy was crazy and he was deceiving everyone. Can you imagine? People worshiped Jesus, he hated Jesus, he said Jesus was a liar, you know why? Why do people worship Jesus? There is only one God! Do you understand the background? He's Sincere and Really Wrong Friends, some of you are sincere and you're religious but you could be really wrong. You see, God's grace will overcome even your wrong ideas. Paul was once really wrong about Jesus in his mind. He never believed that Jesus died and rose again. You must understand Jesus. The way He taught his disciples is unique to you. Any idea why?

Please listen! Jesus was the only one who said this: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to God the Father except through me. What? what are you saying? Then Jesus will say: I will give you eternal life and you will never perish. My heavenly Father gave you to me. My heavenly Father will protect you. I and the Father are one. Wow! What kind of claim is this! Then Jesus will prove that He gives sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf He makes the lame walk He raises the dead Then He says: You crucify me and after my death I will rise again Do you think Paul believed this before?? Of course I don't believe it.

Paul said: These people are liars. So his mission is: to persecute those who follow this doctrine, that is, Christians. What else would they do? Both men and women were locked up and imprisoned. In effect, Paul is saying: Hey! Everyone! This is what the high priest and all the elders can testify to me. They know me. They know who I am. I also received a letter from them to the brothers, which is a letter from them to the brothers. They ordered me to go to Damascus to where I would serve this person. Paul was so zealous. By the way, if you want to prove your Christian faith, look at Paul's life. What changed him?

You see, if you look at the Bible you'll notice the way it's written, it's not a fairy tale, it's not a legend. You know why? Look at the way it's written. The high priest and the elders can testify to me. In other words, everything is verifiable. This is what happened in our Bible. You can verify it even in the day it was written. Then What happened? I was about to arrive in Damascus. As I was walking on my way, about noon, suddenly a great light came from heaven and shone around me. Please note that in Acts 9, he did not emphasize the great light. He only talked about what happened to him. In Acts 22 he emphasized the great light. Why? Because the audience is Jewish, the audience knows that God often describes Himself in terms of honor and glory. The glory of God is so bright.

Paul is saying that the light is even brighter than the sun. What is happening to me? He was saying that and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul! Saul! Why are you forcing me? Grace is unmerited and cannot be obtained through coercion. Who asked God to intervene in Paul’s life? Who has asked Him? Who forced Him? nobody. You know, I look at my life and I used to hate Christians and I didn't like Christians and I was very religious when I was younger but God does something, divine intervention in your life in my life in a lawyer's life. Do you know why? Grace is something that comes from God, right? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Do you realize that sometimes you don't appreciate grace because grace comes in mysterious forms and some bad things can be grace and I bring this up because I know some of you are having all sorts of problems today physical problems, health problems, maybe cancer I know one of our pastor’s wives was diagnosed with cancer and I feel for him You may ask: Why does God allow this to happen? Some of you have all kinds of problems but God is calling your attention to wake you up and that's why you have problems because God knows how to get our attention. How did God get Paul's attention? How did God get his attention? You know God caught Paul's attention... a great light and he fell to the ground and Paul said: Lord! Who are you?

This is the most important question: Lord! Who are you? The Lord said to him: I am Jesus of Nazareth. To make sure that Paul knew who this Jesus of Nazareth was, the one who had been persecuting, the same one who you were persecuting. Ladies and gentlemen, if you were the apostle Paul, You ask: Lord, who are you? Then the voice came: I am Jesus Now tell me: How will you feel? Friends, you will notice something as God's grace will manifest in your life. You will be drawn to Jesus. You will begin to discover who Jesus is. You see, the question is not whether you know the Lord. Do you have a Lord for all of us? We all worship something. We all serve something. Listen to me. Whether you like it or not, you have a Master. You have a Lord. The only question is who is your Lord?

I know a lot of people. Their lord is money. Their lord is sex. What is their lord? Themselves you make decisions not based on the will of God you make decisions based on what you want because you are the Lord of your life my friend you start to experience grace is when you realize sorry I am not the Lord there is someone bigger than me and He is Jesus, you know the Bible tells us that the apostle Paul was shocked that the people who were walking with me saw the light, that's for sure but didn't hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. Did you see that? There were witnesses, there was light, there was sound, but they didn't understand. You know why? God's grace is often designed just for you.

God knows how to get your attention. He asks the second most important question. What is the first? Who are you? Second Lord, what should I do? The moment you ask Jesus, "Lord, what shall I do"? you begin to experience grace because you begin to realize that He is your boss. Lord, what shall I do? Do you know how the Lord answered him? The Lord says: Arise, go to Damascus, and there I will tell you everything you have been commanded to do. You see, God has a plan. He has a purpose for your life. You know that song? "Que Sera Sera" When I was a little girl I asked my mother: What would I become? Will I be beautiful? Will I be rich? She said this to me: Que Sera Sera.

In the Christian life, there is nothing Que Sera Sera. Do you know why? Because God has a plan for you and not what, what is going to come will come you ask the youth of today Que Sera Sera, what is going to come will come No, no, no, God has a plan God's grace for you Life has a plan. When you experience this kind of grace, you will know His plan. Many people think that God's plan is for me to marry this person. After marrying this person, I will live in this place. No, no, no, you want to know. God's will? Do you want to know? Then continue to listen to this sermon message! The Bible tells us: Paul said: I could not see because of the glory of the light. So my companions took me by the hand and entered Damascus. Did you notice? God told Paul: I will tell you what to do. He did not tell him right away. What happened to Paul? He's blinded. If you look at Acts 9 and 26, he's blinded. He can't see. The light is brighter than the noonday sun.

Now listen to me: If you can't see. If you're blind, what's going to get into you? Mind? One of the worst nightmares for any businessman, for anyone, is going blind. When you go blind, you become helpless. You need someone to guide you. I believe that God allowed Paul to go blind. Do you know why? Reveal to Paul: You need help. You know, a lot of business people are very proud and self-satisfied. I arrived last night. I came back from the Pearl Farm in Davao. I was invited to be a speaker at CCF’s couples camp but it was very expensive. I didn’t realize it. It's so expensive to go to Pearl Farm so a lot of the participants are bosses but you know I praise God and they were told: When you come to this camp please follow the rules and humble yourselves and praise God!

You know, slowly but surely, but I mean for Paul to experience the grace of God he had to be humble because sometimes God wants to get your attention and you don't listen and God knows how you will listen and a lot of times it's through trials I tell you Can I say a few words to you about trials? Trials, troubles, they are God's invisible grace. Your trials, your troubles are God's invisible grace at work. You know, years ago I was hospitalized. I've never been hospitalized before. I'm strong. I've never been hospitalized since I got married. But When I was about 33 34 35 I was hospitalized why? I don't know, I got hepatitis. I must have been eating clams. You know clams, a food in the shell.

That's why today when you asked me to lunch, don't give me clams. Don't give me oysters. Don't give me anything in the shell. Because I always thought that's why I had hepatitis and my wife had to help me walk and my wife said: What's wrong with you? I was so tired that I couldn't walk. When I went to the toilet, my wife had to help me. When my wife saw my pee, my pee was as black as coca cola. My wife said: There is something wrong with you. You know, pee should be It was yellow, or you know it but it was red, almost like cola so they rushed me to the hospital very quickly and my uncle who was the director of Philippine-Chinese General Hospital at the time and when he admitted me, he told my mom that he was Called my mother and said: He can't be discharged anymore. I can't live anymore. It's serious. My liver has been affected.

Look at me now. I'm lying in the ward. I have to stay there for at least a week. You know, it's hard to move my hands. You know, what goes into your mind if you can only look up? Imagine being in a hospital and looking up. What pops into your mind? You know, when you look up, what comes into your mind? What do you see when you look up? Tell me no you won't see the sky because there is a ceiling you will see the ceiling and after you see the ceiling you now imagine okay okay you now imagine the sky and then when you imagine the sky you think of God in there I knew God was talking to me in the hospital room. You know what God asked me? Peter, what will you do with your life? I was teaching the Bible but God wanted me to start a church. I didn't want to plant a church.

You know why I didn't want to plant a church? Let me tell you why. If you attend a Bible study class and you don't like the people there, you just have to say goodbye! But if you plant a church and you don't like those people, how do you say goodbye to people? My wife told me: From the day we started the church you couldn't stop, there were people... just looking at you. We saw each other all the time, right? Because in the church, it's a family, it's a community, and you have to love the community. I said, Lord! Whatever you want, you can do it! If you want me to start a church, you see? I know He wanted me to start CCF. That's how CCF started 35 years ago. It's called God's hidden grace in trouble. Some of you are angry with God today because you don't like what's coming to you. Maybe you're having trouble with finances.

Problems in relationships, problems in relationships, if you are angry, can I remind you: don’t be angry, is it possible that God is talking to you? God is trying to tell you something. Can I tell you, after the first service, a woman came to me because she was defrauded of 10 million pesos by her employee and I said: So what is God teaching you? I was shocked! She said: God is telling me: I have to tithe because I didn't tithe so they stole my money. I said: Hallelujah! Because I was about to teach her how to run a business and I was about to teach her, I said: You know what? Let me teach you: You must have an auditor You must have a good accountant. But when she told me, God spoke to her! Have you ever noticed that when you're in trouble, God speaks to you?

So whatever God is saying to you right now, whatever that is, OK! That is grace! Telling you: wake up! Anyway, it was a wonderful thing. A man there, whose name was Ananias, a devout man according to the law and a man of praise to all the Jews who lived there, came to me and stood by me and said to me: Brother Saul, you You can see it! I then looked up and saw him. Ananias said: The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous One who listens to the voice that comes out of his mouth. Now, before I continue. God used Ananias to talk to Paul. God used Ananias to talk to Paul.

If you look at Acts 9 you will notice something about Ananias. Ananias at first refused to talk to Paul. Ananias refused to talk to Paul. Ananias said: Lord! Why should I talk to this person? He'll put me in jail! God told Ananias: No, you have to talk to him. He is my chosen vessel. You know many times God will use people to deliver a message. This is called the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Many times God will speak to others through you. You know God can use a monkey. Did you know this? That would be more dramatic God could have used a donkey or God could have used an angel Of course God could have done that but God didn't use an angel God used a man and the man's name was Ananias I praise God many of you may be saying: I can never be like Paul but you can be as faithful in urging as Ananias…

If God is urging you to talk to someone you better learn to listen to God last night on my way from Davao to Manila Urging me to talk to someone you know why? Because I don't want to talk to anyone I'm tired and I want to prepare for my sermon I'm so happy this guy is sitting next to me He's an American coming from Davao City The Lord told me: you're going to talk to him I said: no! Lord, no! I want to study, I want to rest, I am tired. The Lord said: No! You talk to him about me Lord! Except once! No more tonight! Tonight I need to prepare for tomorrow So I need to prepare today The Lord says: No! Talk to him! I talked. When I asked him a question, one to ten... you know, soft-spoken conversation and we talked about Christianity, I said one to ten, how sure are you of going to heaven? One to ten points. He replied: Eight points!

I said: There are still two points you are not sure about! You see, I found that there were many Christians around him. He married a Filipino girl. She is a Christian. Her brother is a pastor . His own sister and his own brother are pastors. I said: There are all Christians around you! Why haven’t you given your life to Jesus? You see, when the time came... You know, God is amazing, He uses simple, simple people. Fortunately, I opened my mouth to speak and he started talking and talking. So the whole flight we talked about the second coming of Christ and I showed him my PPT document about Jerusalem, Israel In other words, God used that occasion because God loved Him and you know what He promised us?

After we came out of the airport, Pastor JP was with me, and I asked Pastor JP: Pastor JP, can you give him a ride? Because he was flying to Milwaukee and I was upgraded to business class, okay? Free upgrade to business class for one reason, just to talk to this guy, OK? You know, God is amazing! Then the guy told JP that when CCF... we are going to build a new church in Davao, in Lanang, the guy said once that church is built, it will be near my house and I will go to your church. Isn't God amazing? Praise God! My friend God's grace comes in many forms and sometimes you don't like it but remember: you don't deserve it, it doesn't come under duress, it comes from God and He loves you and many times you don't appreciate it but it is Transformative, it will change you Paul was changed and you have to accept it.

You know why? See, what was God’s will for Paul? Let us read together. The God of our fathers has chosen you. This is one of the ways that you will know His will. The grace of God will make you know His will and see the righteous one. You will see Him. You will meet Jesus and hear Him. The Voices That Come Out of Your Mouth The Bible tells us that you will be His Witnesses This is God’s Will for Us: Be a Witness Do you want to know God’s will for your life? You're going to have a relationship with God and once you have a relationship with Him you're going to talk about Him. Let me tell you the story of this man. This man was a lawyer. That was his wife. We were together on that magical island called... I can't even pronounce it: This guy in Vanuatu told me a story. His great grandfather was a pastor. His grandfather was a pastor. His father was a devout Christian.

He was supposed to be a devout Christian but he rebelled because his father was too strict. No drinking, no smoking, no watching movies I mean that was his background was very, very strict legalism so when I went to college he said, I started drinking and I told the Lord... God wanted him to do something he said: No! I won't do what you want me to do He's in rebellion I can tell you something? I said: What happened to you? "The grace of God". I said: What do you mean by "God's grace"? He said: One day I was hanging out with my cousins and we got drunk and we borrowed my dad's boat. Apparently this dad owned a speed boat. Now you have to know that in the back of a speed boat there are outboard motors. Outboard motors can Tilt, move so you can go to shallow water and he said, my friend opened the throttle, full fire and pressed something that wasn't supposed to be pressed so the boat flipped over, jumped up and I said:

What happened to you? I flew out of the ship. When I came down I landed on the propeller spinning full speed and he said, man, I... basically he was dead because when he hit the water you see, by the grace of God, blind God spoke to him. He knew God immediately! If you save me, if I can swim to the boat, I'll do whatever you want me to do. He can only swim with one hand. The other side is badly injured. He shows me his scar. It's terrible, long, and goes on. It’s long but you know what? He said there were three miracles that happened. The first miracle was a paramedic from another boat who saw what happened. He came and took me to his boat. I was covered in blood. The paramedic was a firefighter, but he was. The second miracle of sailing: when we landed on the shore, there happened to be a doctor.

How could it be such a coincidence? There happened to be a doctor. The doctor had a mobile phone. The mobile phone was like a big box. The mobile phone at that time was like a box, a big box. He said: Who would go to the dock to see a doctor? The third miracle: A helicopter came and took him to the hospital. The third miracle happened in the hospital where his family doctor was. The family doctor had just returned from Europe to attend a seminar on AIDS. HIV. The doctor discovered that the United States A lot of the blood was contaminated with HIV. They didn't screen for HIV at that time. The doctor was there. The doctor told the nurse not to give him a blood transfusion. No blood transfusion. I would call his parents. So his parents came and they gave him a blood transfusion. Donating blood he said it was a miracle! I am alive and serving God today. Isn't God amazing?

Look at me. This is God's grace. You don't deserve it. It can't be forced. But you have to respond. Have you responded to God's grace? You know the apostle Paul responded and it's not easy, how do you respond? You are going to be a witness. Now why do you delay? Rise up, call on His name and be baptized to wash away your sins. You have to respond Paul responded like this: He accepted Jesus He was baptized Now don’t misinterpret this verse This verse does not mean that when you are baptized your sins are washed away No, Call on His name and wash away your sins Sin washing is related to calling on the name of Jesus not baptism but baptism is a sign that you believe in Jesus What is my evidence?

Look at what Paul said. In Acts 16, Paul was asked. Everyone reads: What must I do to be saved? What's the answer? Read together: Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your family will be saved. Call on the name of Jesus What about baptism? Baptism is Later After verse 32, the Bible tells us that He was baptized immediately. So the order is: Believe, then be baptized Why is this so important? Because grace must be received, you must respond to grace by faith. The act of baptism is a sign of your faith. It is not baptism that saves you. It is faith that saves you. But you are to show your faith when you call on Jesus... So grace must be accepted.

The Bible tells us: Later, after I believed in Christ, I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple. When I was in a trance, I saw Jesus saying to me, "Get out of Jerusalem quickly and do not delay; because you have done something for me". The people here will not accept your testimony. You know the apostle Paul had a hard life. You know God's grace doesn't mean life will be easy. It can be hard. Paul had a hard life. But he loved the Lord and he was ready. The Bible tells us his testimony: Lord Ah, they know that I imprisoned those who believed in you and whipped them in their synagogues. Then Paul said, "When the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I stood by and rejoiced and guarded those who killed him".

Then Paul said, The Lord said: Go ahead! I will send you far away to the Gentiles. You see the apostle Paul encountered God's grace, which he did not deserve. It was initiated by God, not coerced. Grace changed his life. The Bible tells us: He accepted this challenge. Paul later preached to the Gentiles around the world. My friend, have you responded to God’s grace? You can't respond to God's grace if you don't really understand it. Let me help you understand grace. We're almost done with the four words you must know to understand grace. The first word, say it with me: Justice Next: Retribution Next: Mercy Next: Grace Let me explain to you: Justice… Let’s start with "Retribution".

There was a man who was a pastor in South Korea and this is the true story of when North Korea and South Korea When the civil war broke out between the Communists and the Communists, they captured him. The Communists told him: renounce your beliefs or we will shoot you. I will not give up my beliefs. Okay, we will capture your son. So they took his son. Push his son in front of him and his wife, renounce your faith or we'll shoot your son. Now if you were a father, what would you do? Tell me honestly, if you were that father, give up your faith, or I shoot your son. The son looks at the father: Dad, don't turn your back on Jesus. The wife looks at this father, don't turn away. Jesus boom! They killed the son. After the civil war, the soldier who killed this son was captured and he was court-martialed.

If you were that father, how would you retaliate? Retaliation is when you see this soldier, you shoot the soldier and you take justice into your own hands, right? This is called revenge. What is justice? Justice is when you wait for the court martial to end. That's justice. What does he deserve? What is mercy? Mercy is: I don't want him to be killed. Please forgive him. Mercy is to withdraw what is deserved. What is grace? This is a true story this pastor, his name was Pastor Kim and he went to see the general and he said: General I know this boy killed my son I asked for forgiveness for him I will adopt him this is grace the boy was shocked and the boy said... The boy was really shocked, he couldn't believe it and the father said: Young man I spoke to the general and you deserve to die, it's justice but I ask for mercy to spare you from death but more than that, I want to adopt you boy.

The shocked father said: I only have one son. You killed my son. I have no other son. I want you to be my son. I will raise you to be my son. The young boy became the most productive boy in Korea. One of the pastors do you know why? Because that boy didn't just experience forgiveness. He didn't just experience mercy. What else did he experience? grace. My friends if you knew that you did not deserve God's grace your life would never be the same. Do you understand now why I am doing what I am doing? I do what I do because I am a recipient of grace. What about you? If you experience God's grace please bow your head.

If God has spoken to you and you want to experience God's grace and you have never felt certain about your salvation, do you know why? Because you didn't understand grace. Now you understand grace, and it's because of Jesus. You want to be sure of your salvation. You want to experience grace today. Please raise your hands and I will pray for you. Praise God. Anyone else? In other words, today you finally understand grace. You finally understand grace means accepting favor that you don’t deserve. God’s favor is forgiveness. He wants to save you. He wants to make you His child. Not just to forgive you, but to make you. His child, do you want to say to him: Yes! Please raise your hand. Lift it higher! Praise God! Lift it higher! I want to pray for all of you who are raising your hands that you want to experience the grace of God Lord Jesus...please join me in praying this prayer:

Lord Jesus I need you I need grace I need forgiveness, but most of all I want to experience the grace of God. I want to To humble myself I accept You, Jesus. I accept the grace of forgiveness the grace of becoming your son Father God, I accept Jesus today Lord Jesus, I accept your grace I accept your gift of eternal life I accept your gift, make me your child I understand now that it lies with you Your grace, not my righteousness. It lies in your faithfulness. Your love for me. I accept it, Lord Jesus!

Those of you who have raised your hands, I want to pray for you. I want to pray for you. OK, please stand up, stand up! This is between you and Jesus, and I want to pray for you right now. Today is the day that you experience God's grace. You humble yourself, and I want to pray for you. You know, to receive God's grace, you have to be humble. So if God You must be humble when speaking to you. Please stand up! Don't be too proud to stand up Anyone else? Praise God! I know you are struggling in times like this, should I humble myself? What if someone sees me? Don't care if others see you. It's between you and the Lord. You say: Lord, here I am. I humble myself. Is there anyone else? Is there anyone else? Praise God!

Lord Jesus I pray for this group of men and women, Lord Jesus, please help them understand that grace. Grace is something you don’t deserve and make them realize that we are your children by grace not because we deserve it Lord Jesus I thank you Show me grace! By electing me, by electing them, Lord, it's not an accident that they are here today, so please help all of these people who are standing up to truly experience your grace and assurance of forgiveness of sins, assurance of forgiveness of sins, because of your grace. Give them peace, give them joy, give them new life transformed by grace, change their hearts, change their desires, all in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen! Amen!