His Grace Is Sufficient

This the line of the song talked about look God coming looking for perfection. Well, if he was looking for that, he would not come to where we are. Because many of us probably feel like we've got enough uh loneliness and have made enough mistakes where if it was just us in the building, he still may not show up if he was coming looking for perfection. And then you multiply it by the number of us that are here today. But that's not the way our God operates.

Hallelujah. And he's given us signs like that and the signs of his presence and his goodness that is in this place today to let us know he loves us. I don't know how many times I've heard that in my life. I don't know how many times I've heard it, but I just felt a fresh encouragement from the Lord that he's concerned and he loves us. Would you just bask in that love right now? Just thank him for it and praise him for it. And Lord, you are good to us.

And it rolls out of our heart and off of our lips so many times that we love you. But we really, really do love you. And we thank you for loving us, oh God, the way that you do. Thank God. Second Timothy 1 and verse 9. And then we will turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9. In second Timothy, Paul said, talking about Jesus Christ, who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose.

And would you read that next word with me? grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus. He had a plan from the foundation of the world before the world began. Thank God for grace for salvation. But God doesn't stop there because he is gracious. He doesn't stop there. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9 and just reading a portion of that verse. And he meaning the Lord said unto me as he was praying for the relief from a thorn in the flesh, my grace is sufficient for you.

And so I preach this morning his grace. >> And I don't think it's a bad title at all, but I want it to be more than a title. I want it to be a belief in my belief system that God and his grace is sufficient. Hallelujah. Before you're seated, we've thanked him a lot. Let's do it again. Lord, I want to thank you today. We really mean it from our hearts, God. We couldn't do this enough. We're really appreciative for your goodness, your grace, and your blessings to us that allows us to be here today.

I'm standing here by your grace. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for standing to his word. And you may be seated. Grace comes from a core word in that Greek language that just simply means gift or the giving of a gift or the giving of a benefit, showing favor. A very predominant way of saying this, at least in the church culture, referring to salvation, is the unmarited, undeserved favor of God. Undeserved benefits. We've all received things that we felt like, man, they're being too good to me.

Um, I don't know if you've ever felt like they're paying you too much. Maybe or maybe not. Uh, I heard one preacher that was fulfilling a position and he uh he had a lot of good help around him and uh several ministries to help him. And he said he would get that paycheck and some months he would say, "Man, they're paying me way too much." And another month when things weren't going too good, he'd say, "Is that all they're paying me?" Sometimes we get that undeserved benefit from the Lord.

Max Lacado, the Christian writer, wrote an article called Major League Grace. Here's what he said. Batters hustling to the plate to take their swings. Questionable calls going uncontested. And in the article, he has a question mark behind each of these statements at the front. Umpires being thanked after the game. Major League Baseball. Well, it was for a few weeks during the spring of 1995. Professional baseball was a different game. The million-dollar arms were at home. The Cadillac bats were in the rack. The contracted players were negotiating for more money.

The owners determined to start the season threw the gates wide open to almost anybody who could scoop a grounder or swing a bat. Now, these weren't minor leaguers because they were on strike, too. These were people, men mainly, who went from coaching little league one week to wearing a Red Sox uniform the next week. One manager said his pitchers threw the ball so slow the radar gun wouldn't even pick it up. The players huffed and puffed more than that little engine that could. But my did those players have fun.

The diamond was covered with guys who played the game for the love of the game. They didn't see themselves as a blessing. They saw baseball as a blessing to them. They didn't expect luxury. They were surprised by it. They didn't demand more playtime. They were thrilled to play at all. It was baseball again. What made them so special? It's simple. Maccato says they were living a life they didn't deserve. Those guys didn't make it to the big leagues on skill. They made it on luck. Undeserved favor.

They weren't picked because they were good. They were picked because they were willing and they knew it. Not one time during this period did you read an article about the replacement players arguing over a poor pet pay. I did read one story Lacato said about a fellow who offered a hundred grand to some owner if they would sign him. There was no jocking for positions, no second-guessing the management, no strikes, no lockouts or walkouts. They were just happy to be on the team. And then he says, "Shouldn't we be as well?

>> I'm just happy to be on the team today." The truth really is we're a lot like those players. The scriptures that we read just a little earlier, if they tell us anything, they tell us we are living a life that we do not deserve. Weren't good enough to get picked. People look at us and say they're not skillful. They don't have everything that it seems to take in this world. But I'm so thankful that our names are on the greatest roster of history. >> If your name is written IN THE LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE, >> WOO.

HALLELUJAH. I'll just tell you this about the Steve Willilifford name. It don't deserve to be there. But oh, am I thankful that it's there by the love and the grace and the goodness of God. Paul said it there. He saved us according to his purpose and his grace. In Ephesians, he said, "By grace, not pedigree, but by grace we're saved." Not by number of years, not by who our family is or was, but we are here by the grace of God. I don't deserve to be on the field.

I'm just telling you this. I don't deserve to be on the field, but it's the grace and the goodness of God. My mama was from a good Baptist family and they didn't agree totally with Pentecost, but she was witnessed to by a young girl in the school by the name of Margie Gwyn and who later was Margie McFarland. And Margie invited her to come to that tent meeting. And of all places, Brother Gwyn chose to have the tent set up just across from the house where mom lived with her parents.

And so she went to the tent meeting and Margie told her, she said, "Now Betty, if you feel to go to the altar, you go up to the altar. I'll stand guard at the door in case your parents come." And I don't know what was going to happen after that. They never did come, thankfully. But mama received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, was baptized in Jesus' name. I'm telling you, the grace of God, the grace of God, the goodness of God, the sovereignty of God.

And dad was telling me the other day, his family lived in Tennessee, in a rural portion of Tennessee. And I began to asking about about the roots of the spiritual l legacy that that I've inherited. and he said, "Uh, grandma got the Holy Ghost." Grandma Willifford got the Holy Ghost down there in Tennessee before they ever came to the St. Louis area. And he said her and a friend were out in the woods praying. And God filled Grandma with the baptism of the Holy Ghost out there in the rural countryside of Tennessee.

And then the years roll by and I'm standing in an apostolic pullpit today because of the grace of God. THE GRACE OF GOD THAT KNOWS HOW TO locate us, knows how to TOUCH US, KNOWS HOW TO CHANGE US. That's good, John. You got a reason to run. The grace of God. YES. OH, THINK ABOUT HOW HE FOUND YOU AND WHERE HE FOUND YOU. Think about it. Praise God. By grace, we're saved. In fact, in another place, Paul says, "It's the gift of God. It's not works, lest any man should boast." Salvation is a gift of God.

Oh, I just felt conviction from the Lord. I need to thank him more for the gift. I need to thank him more for the gift. We try to be purposeful when somebody gives us a gift. We say it. We write a card. We write a note. We send an email and say, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." But we can be more purposeful about thanking God for where we are today. It's a gift, God. It's your gift to us. No strings attached to this gift. We are born in sin.

We have sinned. Are we unworthy? Yes. But grace means God forgives. >> Today, God wants to forgive you. Whether you're in this room or whether you're watching on the web, I'm going to say IT AGAIN. GOD WANTS, IT'S A GIFT. He wants to forgive you. You have not done too much. You have not gone too far. His grace is intended for you to bless and transform and fill your life with his spirit. Thank God for his grace. We don't want and we don't need a permissive dismissive grace that is dismissive of wrong and sin.

That's not even biblical. Paul said, "Shall we continue to sin?" And I know that some people have leaned on grace almost as a license or permission to sin. But that's not the kind of grace that God gives. People have become confused about that. Paul said, "What shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" And he follows it up by saying, "God forbid." We need grace that doesn't ignore sin, nor is it lenient to allow for sin. But what is needed is a grace that sees our sin and deals with it.

He sees our wrong and deals with it. I thank God for the medical field. I thank God for doctors. I thank God for a doctor by the name of Dr. Michael Marcus. My doctor sent me to him. My primary doctor sent me to Dr. Marcus because he saw some indications of cancer. The doctor saw it. The doctor dealt with it. Now, I could get mad at him because he named my cancer. That's not why I go to doctors. I'll go to doctors because I want to be well.

I want to have the proper kind of health. I could get mad at him as though it was his fault that I had it. That doctor put me through nine full weeks, 45 days of radiation treatment. On top of that, they had to change the location from out in Clayton to over to Fairview Heights. So, I had to drive 50 miles round trip every day. extra fuel, extra gas, extra time, 50 miles, and been scheduled four year years of follow-up visits. Uh, messing up my calendar, driving additional miles.

Uh, no. I needed somebody to deal with it. I'm not sorry about any of those miles now because THAT COUNT IS ABOUT AS LOW AS IT CAN get by the help of God and by the skill of a doctor. I'M JUST SAYING we need a grace that'll deal WITH IT AND GOD KNOWS how to deal with it. And here's great news. We never hit the bottom of God's grace. Think about the portraits of God's grace. In his fornowledge, God knew David would sin, but he called him to kingship and ministry.

God knew in his omniscience that Jonah would rebel, but he called him as a prophet. He knew Abraham and Isaac would lie, but he still appointed them to be patriarchs. Moses, he knew he would kill a man, but still arranged for him to be a great leader. He knew that Peter would deny him, but he uses him as an apostle, disciple, and preacher at Pentecost. He knew Paul had threatened and hindered and killed, but he appointed him to be a voice and a vessel to the Gentiles.

What all of that says is we have a God of great mercy and great grace. And grace does not justify sin, but it magnifies and clarifies the love and the grace of God. The one line of the song said, "They say it's over for the sinner." That's what they say. But God says, "No, it's not." Somebody needs to just say a no, it's not in your spirit. No, it's not. They say it's over, but that's not what GRACE IS SAYING. THAT'S NOT WHAT GOD IS SAYING.

OH, HALLELUJAH. I feel grace flowing. I feel grace flowing, FLOWING, AND IT'S GOING TO OVERFLOW. Our God's grace is greater than our sin. And all of us in here today are recipients of the grace of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm going to tell you, I don't know how many times he's brought me back, back, back. Said, "I never thought you backslid, Brother Willilifford." Well, imperfection, imperfection seeps its way in. Thank God for his grace. If you're thankful for his salvation, would you I'm going to take some moments right here and would you just thank him out of your heart?

Whatever you want to say for that grace of God. Hallelujah. Thank you Lord. I thank you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I thank you for it. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. God wants to help us in every aspect of life and we do need his help. In that second text that we read, Paul was struggling because of a thorn in the flesh. But here's what he said in verse seven. He said, "Lest I should be exalted above measure." And one of the reasons he's saying that is because at the front of that chapter up a few verses, he talks about being caught away into heaven and seeing glorious things.

And then all you have to do is go a few verses down and he's dealing with a thorn in the flesh. And Paul's explanation of this was lest I should be exalted above measure. God steers Paul and he steers us away from selfdependence. I want to say this to everybody. You have strength. You have skills. You are blessed. You have many good things in your life. Even naturally but spiritually. I'm talking about mainly here. But we always need him. Whether we've served him seven days or 70 years.

We always need him. And I'm seeing some affirmations to that out there. Nodded heads and lifted hands uh and hearts that are saying, "Yes, I do. I need Jesus. I need Jesus." One old song said, "I need Jesus." Every day. Every day. Self dependence. God wanted Paul to steer away from selfexaltation and dependence. And so Paul was realizing and dealing with this tension between self-sufficiency and there's things that we should do and then dependence upon God. Evidently, God could see that it it that it required the restraint of a thorn in the flesh.

So the great apostle Paul tells us there must be a strong tendency and there's a high level of danger of moving away from dependence upon God. You know what that looks like? That looks like praying every day. That looks like reading every day. And maybe even multiple times a day. I need Jesus. Our self-suffic sufficiency grows quietly. A gradual sense of self-sufficiency. A slow drift from the dependency upon God to self-dependence. It happens very subtly before we realize it. We're standing in our own strength needing him.

We feel less and less. The self-sufficient world shouts, "Look at me." But trust and faith says, "Look at him." Looking unto Jesus. Somebody just look to Jesus today. Look to Jesus. Look above the problem. Look above the murkiness. Look above the clouds. Look above all of those things that are Look above the pressure. look up to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Any person who tries to make it on their own own power and abilities will not only fail for themselves, but they will fail for others because other Alex mentioned it a little bit earlier.

We are dispensers of the grace of God as we serve. God gives grace in various ways and many times it is through us in a world that glorifies strength and success. Paul's words challenge our instinct to hide our weaknesses. But Paul's going to talk about it. He said, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." God said that. Or Paul said that. He said, "My strength," or God said that, "My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly will I glory in infirmities. When I'm weak, then I am strong." We tend to want to hide our weaknesses.

But God invites us to open those weaknesses to him. And according to Paul, they become a gateway to God's power. Yes, I'm weak, God. Yes, I struggle there, God. But that's not a roadblock. That's an opportunity for divine intervention for God to come in. I don't know what what area of weakness you feel like you have beat yourself up about, but you need to realize that's a pathway to the power of God. That's a pathway to God's strength being made perfect in our weakness. It's in our weakness that his strength shines the brightest.

Your disappointment and my disappointment can be in a divine appointment with his strength, power, and miracles. Hallelujah. We can depend on him. We do have strength abilities that are God-given. But at the end of the day, all of those natural abilities, we must depend upon Jesus. You know, I believe there is a built-in God dependence in us. There's something that wants to go to God. There's something that needs to lean in on God. There's something that needs to trust God. It's built in and can be covered up.

It can be pushed aside. But true strength isn't found in just appearing strong and perfect, but in humbling ourselves before the Lord. We need, and thankfully, he's willing to provide sufficient grace. We must depend upon it. We need it for our sake and for the sake of others. The grace it takes to save us is the same grace that keeps us going. Paul was going through a trial here. Called it a thorn in the flesh. referred to it as a thorn in the flesh. Lord, take away this thorn from me.

You can identify with Paul's prayer. Maybe you didn't call it and maybe it wasn't a thorn in the flesh, but there's been situations. There have been trials. There's been suffering. There's been testing that you are going have gone through are going through now. And our prayer is Lord take this away from me. It's a constant fight day and night. I want to be free. And so he was hoping to hear, "Child, I've heard your prayer. I'll meet your need." But instead, instead, would everybody say instead?

Instead, instead, Jesus said, "My grace is sufficient for you." Sometimes we get an instead answer. an answer that's not our preference, an answer that says either not now or maybe never, but God is looking for out for your best. And so when you get an instead answer those those seasons when you wonder if the trial, the suffering that will ever end, when the waiting feels endless, the pain is unbearable, prayers seem unanswered, the weight of life presses in on all sides, but know this, God sees you.

God sees you in that trial with that thorn. And in your prayer, you've said, "God, there's nothing wrong with that prayer." Paul prayed it. He said, "God, take away. Remove this thorn from me. Take it away, God." And the Lord, I know what I would have been listening for. Okay, it's done. I've got it. I've taken care of it. But instead, the Lord says, "My grace is going to be sufficient." When the prayers seem unanswered, when the weight keeps pressing in. When the waiting keeps going and going and going, when the pain feels unbearable.

Paul said, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." He's not saying that suffering isn't real. Here's what he's saying. It's not final. Hallelujah. Somebody just lift up your head today. Just lift up your head. You can do it literally or just in your spirit. Just lift your head. He's not saying you're not going through a trial. He's not saying that it's not there and isn't real. What he's saying, it's not final. Somebody just needs to speak that maybe to the devil, MAYBE TO YOUR TRIAL, MAYBE TO YOUR MOUNTAIN.

THIS ISN'T FINAL. THIS ISN'T FINAL. THE present sufferings aren't worth worthy to be compared to the glory God. Here's what we know. He catches every tear. He hears every prayer. He's working when we don't see it and when we don't understand it. Prayers are not the last chapter of our story. I tell you what the last chapter is. Glory. That's what Paul said there. Some of you are dealing with family sicknesses, family limitations, family tensions and struggles, dealing with loss, whatever kind of loss it might be.

But the Holy Ghost is pausing right here. It's not final. It's not final. I know he didn't say, "I'm taking care of it." But really, he does when he says, "My grace is sufficient. He's just taking care of it in a different way than I thought. I don't want to I'm not about to get up there before the throne and say, "Scoot over, God. I want to take sometimes in my prayer. I may do that. Scoot over, God. Here's the way that this could be worked out." But God don't need to scoot over.

He just needs to reach down. Hallelujah. Somebody's going to hear. Somebody either has already or is fixing to hear and instead answer, but God's preparing you for it. It hasn't happened yet. It may not happen tomorrow. But here's what we know. His grace, His grace, His grace is sufficient. Here's what that means. >> Allow me to do it my way is what my grace is sufficient means. It means I I see your situation. I see what it needs and I'm going to provide what's needed for that situation.

>> Here's what my grace is sufficient means. I'm going to be standing by very close through it all with my grace in hand. I will be with you. I won't forsake you. Here's what he's saying. I've looked at the need. I've measured it. And I've measured the grace, strength, and endurance to meet it. So, you're not by yourself. You are not alone. God's grace will help us to make it through every trial. His grace is enough. Jesus had already steilled one storm in the Gospels when Paul was on that ship in the last chapters of Acts.

There's a storm. Couldn't God have done it? Oh, yeah. He could have, but he gave them various instructions. And here's how some of them, they got to shore on boards from the broken ship, hanging on to a board. I'm not good in water. at all. But if I'm on board that ship, you better believe I'm going to be hugging the board. Becky in one arm and the board in the other. Think with me a minute. Have you had those situations where you had to hug aboard, but you made it to the shore?

And I just feel right now to pause and say, I don't know where all this world is going. I know what prophecy says. And sometimes when I read it, I want to think different. I don't want to see Israel surrounded. I I get aggravated in nations that say things about that nation. I don't know how everything is going to play out. I do know this about how it's going to play out. Not like I think it's going to play out, >> but we're going to make it to the other shore, church.

And now I speak to APC right now. We're going to make it to the other shore. Hallelujah. And when I say APC, that means every one of you sitting here because you are the church. We're going to make it to the other shore if WE HAVE TO GRAB A BOARD. HALLELUJAH. Come on. Come on. Would you stand with me and let's just clap hands to the God who is the savior. You're You're the savior, God. You're the savior. Oh, yes. You're the savior. Hallelujah. >> God's not running low on grace today.

I'm going to tell you when I look back at all the times grace covered sin failure in my life. I'm being very honest here. And if maybe if you did the same, it could make us wonder, is your grace supply depleted at all? And I'm here to proclaim today. God's got enough grace. This isn't a license to sin, but every wrong that I've done, every wrong that I've done in my life, it's been forgiven by the Lord. If millions of people commit that same wrong and ask for forgiveness and seek repentance, there's enough grace that covered my sin and mistake to cover millions more if they ask for it.

Hallelujah. Would you mind just giving a hand raise of testimony? God brought you through a trial and you felt his help and grace and you hung on to a board. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever the strongest trial, sometimes the most recent trial seems like the strongest and it may or may not be. That doesn't matter. We don't know how to measure trials truly. We know if they're great. We know how heavy they are. That kind of thing. But but that very same trial that the Lord helped you through if that would happen to millions of people and they called on God, God could help them through that same trial.

I can't help this today. I'm looking on the faces of people that have had I'm going to talk about physical loss in their life, people, family members. >> Probably those things I know those things have kept many people from serving God or from faithfully being I know that that has happened. And so it could well be that that would be your scenario today, but it's not. It's not. You said, "I'm going to keep trusting him. I want to keep believing." Final verse, John 1:16. from his fullness.

Have we all received grace upon grace? I'll replace that grace that's already been used. Oh yeah, I'll replace it again. His grace. I don't like them going out and getting that mana replace grace upon grace. I know I gave you previous grace, but I can do it again. I can give new grace to take the place of previous grace. You haven't depleted the grace of God for your trial, for your wrong, for your sin. You have not depleted. He said it's grace upon grace. New grace for the new day and the new situation.

In other words, very simply, grace just keeps on coming. Hallelujah. It'll be there later today. It's it's right now in this prayer service right now that we're fixing to have. Grace is flowing. Grace is flowing. I'm going to share with you what's been in my mind all week long. All week long. This phrase that grace would flow. that grace would flow in this service. Whether it's trial or whether it's the need of forgiveness, whatever, grace just keeps on coming. Just keeps on coming. There's a song from years back.

Grace was great. Mercy was great. And grace was multiplied to me. At Calvary, mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon was multiplied. There's no shortage. I'M NOT AFRAID TO GIVE THIS ALTAR CALL TODAY. And will will they get touched? Will they get the grace they need? No. No. Come on. If you need some kind of help, some kind of grace, some kind of answer, whether it's repentance or whether it's a hand to hold in the trial that you are walking in and walking through.

Hallelujah. God, we need your grace today. We're not self-dependent. We haven't been in the church so long that we are above needing your help and your grace and your grace today. Yeah. Yeah. Your prayer for grace is saying it's sufficient, God. Hallelujah. You're telling him it's sufficient, God. Hallelujah. Maybe you've been working with an instead of answer. His grace is sufficient. His grace allows him to do it his way. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And would others of you join these that have come with an expression of need?

Maybe just slip alongside somebody. You're a dispenser of the grace of God. Your faith and your prayer, your love, and your support is the grace of God finding a conduit of his love and his mercy.