It's not the heat, it's the humidity. At least that's what they told me in Butts County, Georgia, two weeks ago. I've been away for a while, a little bit of vacation, but a little time preaching at the oldest, one of the oldest camp meetings in the United States, 120 years old. And I've been there before many times and I forgot it is the humidity. It was brutal. And they insist on holding their camp in Georgia, the dirty South.
in the middle of July. So our heat index outside the outdoor tabernacle, you think I sweat now, it was 104 with the heat index. But then I got back a week ago and just spent a week outdoors at a soccer camp here in Michigan, my home. I'm glad to be back. But it was worse in Michigan. The humidity, what is happening? On Thursday, I almost melted.
And then I find out that they say, whoever they are, anyone ever figured out who they are, but they say, this was on some Michigan website, that it's because of the corn. 60 million acres of corn in our state is contributing to the humidity because corn sweats. It perspires. Do you believe that? Well, you take it up with they. They also told us that eggs were bad, and then it was just the yolk was bad, and now eggs are good, so I don't know if I trust the they, but I blame the farmers.
That was for free. Before we get going, by the way, we're in Acts chapter 9. If you have a Bible or a flat screen, if you'll go ahead and turn there. I just want to share one announcement. I've been given permission to share this announcement. Pastor Tim and I have been brothers in arms for about the last 19 years serving together. Everybody loves Tim. He keeps us real. He keeps us straight. He's Mr. Authentic. He keeps me straight, one of my closest friends. And Tim is facing, Tim and Heidi, Tim is facing open heart surgery on August 29th. So you won't see Tim probably all through August, and then there's going to be a pretty significant recuperation.
But I'm sharing this so you can pray for him. Pray for him and for Heidi. That's probably the best response we know that he's loved and he's cared for. And we want him to know that he's loved and he's cared for. Probably not the time to bombard them with casseroles yet, because that's what church people like to do. Oh, you're in the struggle. I got a lasagna, you know, which is awesome. There may be a time for that. We'll let you know when that is time for that. But if you could be praying for them both, in fact, we'll pray for them here because we can never have too much prayer, right?
And so we're going to pray again specifically for them. But we also want to recognize the fact that whether you're from Cadillac or Manistee or those who attend here in Buckley, a pretty significant thing happened in Traverse City last night. A senseless act of violence. And it's easy sometimes to just, you know, well, I wasn't there. I knew someone was there. And then just don't go on Facebook and read all the comments because people are dumb. These are real people. These are our people. This is us. And real people were impacted. And I'm thankful for people that stepped in. And so that's, yeah, let's just go to the Lord in prayer together right now for both of those things. And then we'll get into Acts chapter nine.
Father God, thank you that you are sovereign and that you are in control and that you care about all the things and the people that we care about more than we do. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your grace. God, we lift up Pastor Tim to you. Together we ask for his healing. We ask that you will guide the hands of the physicians and the surgeons and the aftercare because we'd like to have him around for a long time. God, we pray for Heidi. We know this will impact their whole family and there's a lot that goes into it. He's been your servant and so we just ask you for your grace and care to just be poured out on them and that whole situation. God, we also pray for those that are in the hospital today, those that have been released but those that are still in critical condition.
that these are real people with spouses and children and parents. And God, just that fear would not reign in us or in them or in our region. God, thank you that there are still people, citizens that will step up to offer care and protection. But God, this is traumatic. And so we pray your peace upon them. Thank you for the police and the first responders that are having to do something that we couldn't imagine would happen in our area. And so God, we know that there's an enemy that works behind all the so-called senseless acts of violence. And we pray against...
his works, because we trust in you. And that greater is he who is in us than the one that is in the world. And so, God, we just commit all of these things to you in the rest of this service. In Christ's name we pray, amen. So as we come to Acts chapter nine, we come upon one of the most spectacular conversion stories in the Bible. Now, I wanna say this carefully. Whether your conversion happened dramatically, like there was a moment you were dead in sin and then you came alive to Christ, or your conversion story happened gradually, they're all spectacular.
And they all count, right? There's no one who's got, well, my testimony is not that great. Born and raised in a Christian home, accepted Christ. No, outstanding. Someone's winning, right? If it happened at a VBS or at a, you know, as a bedside with your parent or what have you. But this story is spectacular because it really demonstrates the revolutionary grace of God. And that when we're confronted by grace, everything changes. So with no further ado, let's go to Acts chapter nine, starting in verse one.
It says, But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. We'll pause right there before continuing. Saul, you'll remember, was a part of the anti-Christian sect. What we know about Saul is that he was very educated. He was in the rabbi school of Gamaliel. And as I said, he's an educated man. He was a Jew, but he also had Roman citizenship. And he's so against Christians and against Jesus and all those who are being converted that he's pursuing people in order to arrest them. In Acts chapter eight, we already covered this part. It said that he gave approval to the execution of Stephen.
It also says that he was going house to house, arresting men and women, dragging them into prison. And the scripture says he was ravaging the church. So he's not just a little bit against Christianity. He's violently against Christianity. Here it says he's breathing out murder and violence against God's people. Now, what's interesting, I don't know if you noticed this, but it called Christians people of the way. The way. That was the first name of Christians. And so this is just...
This is for free. This is just extra bonus material. But it's so cool because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so his people are people of the way, he who is the way. But it also speaks to the fact that they just didn't believe in him. They were obediently following his way. It wasn't until later that they're called Christians. And so Saul, in his hatred, he's actually gone and gotten official letters from the priest so he can root out this threat to Judaism.
And this also gives us a little picture about the threat that they were because the priest signed over these letters. So Saul's not a vigilante. Saul's deputized. He's got letters. And he's traveling the distance from Jerusalem to Damascus, 135 miles. So if he's walking, it's a minimum six days. So he is committed. He's heard that this way has spread to other places. And so he's going to arrest people, drag them bound back to Jerusalem. He's already been a part of executing people. He's a terrorist to Christians. That's who he is. And then God's grace shows up. A bright light.
that knocks him to the ground, that blinds him. And he hears a voice. And there are witnesses to this. They heard the sound, but they didn't know what it said. But Saul heard it. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? And he goes, I am Jesus, who you are persecuting. And then he gives them instructions. Go to Damascus. Wait there. And so he goes, they lead him to Damascus. He's blind for three days. And during this time, he neither eats nor drinks. Verse 10. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.
And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street called Straight. And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.
But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So Ananias departed and entered the house and laying his hands on him, he said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized and taking food, he was strengthened.
Now, we'll pause one more time before we finish this passage, is this is just amazing how God's sovereignty and his grace is working. Not only has he already confronted Saul on the Damascus road, he hasn't forced him to do anything. He has blinded him. He has confronted him. And now he's neither eating or drinking. He's just praying because he was a praying man before. He was a devout Jew. But now he realizes, oh, wow, I've got it wrong. This Jesus is real. I just heard his voice from heaven and he blinded me. And he's had a vision that a guy's going to come. Well, in God's sovereignty, he also gives a vision to that guy.
a person, a man who's following the way. He's one of the people that Saul was coming to arrest. This is his enemy. And I love how the text goes, in this vision, he heard the Lord say, Ananias. By the way, this isn't what the sermon is about either, but this is just too cool to pass up. Did you see Ananias' response? When he heard the voice, he said, here I am. Church, our equivalent would be, yes, you have my yes. Before he even knew in that saying, here I am, he's saying, I'm your servant, I'm listening, what do you got?
And I would suggest that when you hear the prompting or feel or sense the prompting of the Holy Spirit, when you read something in God's word, when you're encouraged in the next step of obedience, that's always the response. Here I am. What do you got? Not when Ananias heard what he got, he wasn't sure about it. I mean, if he lived in 2025, he would probably say what some of us would say. Well, Lord, I'm in a season of kind of pulling back.
You know, it's busy. It's summer. We got a vacation planned. And this guy was going to arrest me, right? Because that's what we do. The Lord said to his response, which that's what his response. I've heard about this man. He's a terrorist. He's coming for us. He's done much evil to the saints. Maybe Ananias knew Stephen. Maybe he was one of his friends. Maybe some of his family had been arrested. Maybe he was in hiding. And now the Lord says, I need you to go to the street called Straight and go to the house of Judas. There you're going to find this man. He's already had a vision that you're coming. Lay your hands on him so he can receive his sight, be saved, and receive the Holy Spirit. And the very next thing it says, so Ananias departed.
It's okay to have that question. Wait a minute, are you sure? This guy might kill me. This guy might arrest me. No, I've got a plan. He's my chosen instrument to go to the Gentiles and to kings and the children of Israel and I'll show him how much he will suffer for my name. God's saying, I've got a plan. Can I be in charge for a while? Well, thank you very much. And so Ananias follows through and he goes to his house and he says, Saul, he calls him brother, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you told me to come here. He lays his hands on him. Something like scales falls from his eyes. But wait, there's more.
This is not what the sermon's about either. What's the first thing Saul does when he regains his sight? He gets baptized. Now, hold on a second. He hadn't eaten or drink anything for three days. Baptism didn't wait. As some of us would say, well, it's a little embarrassing. Well, I have these, I want to wait and see if this Christianity thing takes first. Some of you have been waiting years to see if it takes.
It's an act of obedience. He gets baptized first and then he takes on food and is strengthened. And then in the last section, it says this, for some days he being Saul was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying, he is the son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests?
But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. Now this is revolutionary grace. This is a complete instantaneous 180. Saul was going in this direction, killing Christians, imprisoning Christians, terrorizing Christians, ravaging the church. And he's confronted by the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. Oh shoot, I'm on the wrong team. I've got the wrong God. I miss the Messiah. My life has changed. And he is literally and figuratively given his sight. He can see now. And he's baptized, completely transformed. And he begins to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder that people were like, wait, are we sure about this guy? I mean, that's bigger than I was for the Packers and now I'm for the Lions. That's bigger than the whole Michigan State to Michigan rivalry. This is death. And we see this radical transformation. Now, the first point, I got four points. If you're taking notes, I hope you are. That's why we provide those things. It helps us remember. The first point is the main point. Because in any text, the main thing is the plain thing and the plain thing is the main thing. I can take you down rabbit holes about obedience and saying yes and baptism. But don't miss the main point of this story.
And that is that no one is beyond God's grace. No one's beyond God's grace. Not me, not you, not that guy at work who's super profane, not that woman that is your neighbor that would never be interested. No one is beyond God's grace. Saul is about as anti-Jesus as you can get. And confronted with the Lord, his life has changed. He is proof in scripture. No one is beyond God's grace. Who is it in your mind that's beyond God's grace? The guy with the knife last night at Walmart? Not beyond God's grace.
There's no violent person. There's no liar. There's no thief. There's no ex-husband or wife. Ooh, I'm getting personal. There's no adulterer, no murderer, no pedophile that is beyond the amazing grace of God. Now it creeps in because we start thinking kind of high of ourselves and we forget how much sin will damn you to hell. Any sin that is not covered by the blood of Jesus. So whether you stole a paperclip or you're a mass murderer, if you don't know Jesus, you're equally condemned.
So God's grace covers all of it. No one is beyond God's grace. Now I know sometimes when I use words, you think I'm just shotgunning and sometimes, as I get older, I'm trying not to do that. But I use the word pedophile on purpose. Years ago, we were preaching, or I was preaching a message at this church back in T1 about the grace of God. And I said something similar, that no one is beyond God's grace. You know, if God can save Jeffrey Dahmer, he could save Adolf Hitler and he can save whoever it was or whoever it is. And I had a guy confront me while I was mowing my lawn.
when we were living at the Parsonage, from church, and he said, hey, you know, you were talking a lot about God's grace, but you don't believe that about child molesters. I said, yes, I do. He goes, no, you don't. Anyone who does that to a child, they go to prison. You know what happens to them there? Come on. You're telling me that a child molester could get saved and go to heaven? I said, absolutely. And he was arguing with me about that. This message is not about child molesters, but I use that as an example, not to say what they did was okay. There might still be worldly ramifications. There might be punishment, and rightly so, in this world. But as far as God's concerned, either his blood covers sin or it doesn't.
And if he can't save a child molester, he can't save me and he can't save you. We have to believe that, that no one is beyond God's grace. There's no lost causes. That guy was so angry with me, he left the church. And that made me sad. May we never be a church that stops believing in God's grace. It's the most powerful force in the universe because it's the very nature and character of God. What is grace? Grace is unmerited favor, to use the theological short definition.
Justice is when you get what you deserve, and none of us want God's justice. Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve. And thank God that he sent Jesus in mercy to be our sacrifice. But the result is grace when you receive a blessing or kindness that you don't deserve. When we sing that song, I'm a child of God, yes I am, it's not because of how good you are. Your best works are filthy rags compared to the matchless righteousness and holiness of God. It's only by God's grace that you're a good Christian or whatever we call ourselves. And it's the same thing for me. God's grace.
shows up for Saul. In 2 Peter 3, it says about God that he does not wish that any should perish. It says in 1 Timothy 2 that our God desires that all should be saved and come to repentance. Grace is for all. Do you believe that? Some of us here in Buckley, I don't know about Manistee and Cadillac, we're going to do it again. Do you believe that God's grace is for all? Now, not all will receive it, but it's available. It's available.
And the reason I'm banging away on that, that no one is beyond the grace of God is because there's so many people who are lost in their sin. And they're people that we know in our family, our friends, our people we work with or go to school with. I came across a statistic just this week. So buckle up. This one's going to hurt just a little bit. It's both encouraging and a little bit of a whoosh to me, right? Barna did a study about a decade ago of unchurched people. And the result that they found was that 82% of unchurched people said that they would seriously consider going to church.
If only they were invited. Ouch. That means people as far away from God as you can get, weren't raised in church, don't know Jesus. 82% said that they would go. So that person, and I don't know if you're thinking about a person right now, that hard case, oh, he or she would never. Oh, I'd invite them, but they would never even come. I'm not gonna waste my time. Don't you be the judge? 82% said they would seriously consider it if invited. Now here comes the, this one hurt. The same study revealed only 2% of church people will ever invite anyone. Are you a 2%-er?
I want to be one. I'm not saying that's all of us. I'm not even saying that's our church, but that's sobering to think about. And so if we believe that no one is beyond God's grace, we've got work to do. We've got work to do. Even Ananias is sitting here saying, are you sure? This is Saul. Go. He's my chosen instrument. I've got work for him to do. So I need you to do this for me. And so the next three points all are kind of built under that one main point. And we see all of these things in the story because the matchless grace of Jesus is not just a hymn. We could go on and on, but
The second thing that we see here is that God's grace meets us where we are. I don't know what situation you came from today, whether you're in Cadillac, Manistee, here in Buckley. I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what your marriage is like. I don't know what you're facing with your finances. I don't know if you've had a relapse. I don't know if you're struggling with addiction, mental health, anxiety, depression, and on and on and on. We need to know and believe that God's grace meets us where we are. He meets us right in the middle of our mess. He doesn't wait till we're cleaned up.
And that's why we invite people. No one's beyond God's grace. God's grace met Paul in the middle, or Saul, sorry, I hadn't done the name changeover. I'll address that in a minute. Met him in the middle of his hatred. His hatred, his violence, his murderous threats, it says in some translations, he's confronted. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Blind, floor, who are you, Lord? I'm Jesus, who you're persecuting. God in his sovereignty chose to confront him in the middle of all his hate. But God's grace does even more than that.
Because there's something implied in the way Jesus identified himself. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now, Jesus has already gone to the cross, died to the grave, resurrected, ascended. He's gone. All we see is evidence of Saul persecuting Stephen, ravaging the church. But Jesus says, why are you persecuting me? See, this is another evidence of how God's grace meets us where we are. Maybe you're not a persecutor. Maybe you're already saved, but you're still going through it. God's grace identifies with you right there.
Jesus personally identifies with the persecuted church. Saul could have said, I'm not persecuting you, it's your followers. No, Jesus identifies with them. That's how he identifies, with his church. You're persecuting me. Who are you? I am Jesus, who you are persecuting. That's why we don't ever have stones to throw at other churches. Don't persecute that church. That's Jesus. I take great comfort in the grace that God shows that in the middle of depression, in the middle of anxiety, in the middle of financial struggle, in the middle of marital problems, in the middle of the cancer diagnosis.
In the middle of death of a loved one, a friend, God's grace is right there too. Do you see that? In John chapter one, it said that when the word became flesh, when Jesus in the incarnation came to earth, he made his dwelling among us. It says in Hebrews chapter four, that Jesus is a great high priest who's able to empathize with his people. That's why I prayed at the beginning of this message. God cares about the things even more than you do. Oh, but you don't know it's my kids. He cares more about your kids than you do. Well, it's not my kids, it's my grandkids. He knew them before you were even around.
He knows every hair on our head. Well, surely no one sees me and no one sees my struggle. God's grace meets the saint right where they are and meets the sinner right where they are. We need God's grace every day. We could spend a week, month preaching about God's grace and we wouldn't begin to plumb the depths of his grace. And when he meets Saul on the Damascus road, God's grace won't force you, I don't believe, to love him. God and his grace won't force you.
to choose him. Saul still had a choice. He could have stayed blind. He won't force you, but God in his grace will sometimes flatten you so that all you can see is him and you have to deal with him. You have to make a choice. That's how God's grace met Saul where he was. Here's the third thing. We see that God's grace saves sinners and shapes saints. It does both. God's grace saves the sinner
but we continue to live by God's grace because his grace shapes us. So what I'm pointing out the fact is that grace is for my salvation, but then I'm not done with grace because then God's grace continues to shape me in my sanctification, the process of becoming more and more like Jesus. You receive God's grace when you opened your eyes this morning when you woke up and didn't die in your sleep. That's a grace of God. You receive God's grace in the fact that you can come and worship together and be encouraged and hear the proclamation of his word and pray together. That's a grace of God. It's a grace of God when he uses voices to encourage you, by the way, to be baptized, because it's a part of your process. That's a grace. Now you can respond to the sanctifying grace of God or just like a sinner, you can refuse. That's true of salvation. It's also true in your sanctification. And the reason that I bring this up is because some of us, we stay stuck. We got saved, but then we're kind of overpowered by our past and we don't realize that his grace also shapes us into who he wants to be.
You talk to mostly men, but I mean women too, that are so paralyzed by their past. Well, this is who I used to be. Well, that failed marriage. Well, actually there was a couple of failed marriages. Now it's probably just better to say single. Oh, God can never use me. I'm wicked. I still struggle. Did grace work for you or not? You're saved by grace. You're being sanctified by grace. And by God's grace, you'll be preserved to be with him for eternity. Too many of us are paralyzed. That's why it's important to look at Saul. Your past is probably not as bad as his past.
Saul is a Hebrew name. You'll notice in the book of Acts from here on, he doesn't go by Saul. It was such a radical transformation. He goes by Paul. That's a Latin name. And some have speculated maybe it's because he would be sent to Gentiles, but he also went to Jews. I think he started going by Paul instead of Saul because of the meaning of the Latin Paul. It means small, humble. That's the name he took for himself. I used to be that murderous Saul. Now I'm small and I'm humble. Saul changed to Paul, never forgot who he was, but he didn't stay paralyzed because of his past.
If you look at what he says in 1 Corinthians 15, right around verse nine, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse nine, this is how Paul describes himself to the Corinthian church. He says, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Now let me pause for a second before I read the next verse, which is even better. If you think you're unworthy, you are according to the world. All of us are unworthy. It's only the blood of Jesus shed on the cross that makes us worthy.
So Paul is referring to his past and saying, you want to see unworthy? I'm unworthy. I persecuted the church. But then look at what he goes on to say. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. Think about that. He's saying, listen, it's only God's grace that's made me who I am. And the grace that he confronted me with on the Damascus road was not vain grace. Because not only was I saved by that grace, I have been changed and transformed by that grace. And that's what he wants for us.
And so if you're stuck, you're saved, but you haven't moved, you have to ask yourself, was God's grace towards me vain grace? Or is it enough? In fact, I wrote down this question. Think about it. If you are saved, but you haven't changed, not even a little bit, are you really saved? Can you meet the grace in Jesus Christ and call yourself saved and not be changed? Because God's grace not only saves the sinner, but he shapes saints.
The last thing, if you're jotting it down, the way this plays out is that God's grace compels us to obedience. It's God's grace that compels us. So in other words, we don't obey God to try to earn anything. That would be duty. We obey God because we desire to please him because of what he's done for us. And so there's a tension in living with the fact of, oh, you don't know who I used to be, but now I'm saved. I can't believe I'm saved. So now I want to act like it. I was a sinner. He calls me a saint. I know I don't look like it, but I want to become more and more like a saint because he calls me a saint.
We talked about that before, how in Ephesians chapter one, he writes a letter to the jacked up church at Ephesus and he calls them saints, even though they're jacked up. That's good news. Good morning, saints, right? No matter what's going on in your life, if you're saved, you're a saint. Now act like one. But it's God's grace that compels us to obedience. For Ananias, we see God's transformation in him. He has the vision. Ananias, here I am. I'm a good saved person. I've got a hard thing for you to do. I'm adding here, but my paraphrase, I need you to go to that terrorist that was coming here to arrest you and hurt you and imprison you. And I need you to go visit him on straight street, lay your hands on him. Are you sure?
That seems hard. No, it's not. My grace saved you. My grace is going to show you how deep and how far it's willing to go. We're reminded of what it says in Ephesians 4 when it says we're called to forgive as God in Christ forgave us. Maybe Ananias knew Stephen. Maybe he had cause to have resentment against Saul. But in obedience, he allowed God's sanctifying grace in him to work through that fear and be obedient and go do what he was told. We don't hear about him again. That was his little moment in this story.
To be obedient, show up, and this guy Saul is gonna become Paul and Paul's gonna go on to become one of the greatest of all the apostles, write most of the New Testament and die a martyr. God's grace compels us to obedience. It was the same grace that compelled Stephen to proclaim the name of Jesus and be killed for it with Saul giving his approval. It's been speculated before. I wonder what that reunion will be like in heaven.
When Paul, or was like, when Paul crossed the finish line after his own death for proclaiming the name of Jesus. And of course, I'm sure Jesus was the first person he saw and there was a great reunion and I don't know all that happens at the finish line, but I assume one of the people he met at some point, hey Steve, how you doing? And there would be no resentment, no anger, just brothers. Just brothers. We see God's grace compelling Paul to obedience.
He went to Straight Street. He waited for Ananias. He was praying during that time. Immediately he was baptized and immediately he proclaimed the name of Jesus at risk of his own freedom and his own life. It's grace that saves. It's grace that sanctifies. It's grace should be your motivation to want to please him. It says in Ephesians 2, I probably quote this one more than any other verse. For by grace you've been saved through faith. It is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. We are not saved by how good we are. It's only God's grace. But you have to continue to verse 10.
When it says, for we are his workmanship and God has prepared in advance good works for us to do. In other words, he didn't save you just to receive grace and do nothing with it. He saved you to receive grace and then respond to him, compelled by his grace to want to obey him, to love him, to serve him and be a conduit of grace to others. Man, I'm fired up about grace. May we always be a grace church. Years this church was known for what we were against instead of what we're for. And there are things that we're against.
because of our love for God and his word and our desire to be obedient to that. But may we be known as a people of grace that believes that no one is beyond it. And that grace is our motivation to obey him. We believe it saves. We believe it changes. So how do we respond? There's multiple ways. If you're not a Christian, I encourage you to receive that grace. You're not too far gone. You're not too far gone. You can pray a prayer as simple as Lord Jesus saved me. Become a child of God. If you are saved, some of us have been resisting.
His transforming grace. We're not like Ananias. We're not saying, here I am. It's time. It's time to choose him, to get in step with him because we need his grace every day to shape us into the saints he wants us to be. For some of us, there's people in our lives that we have not interacted with because we think they're too far gone or they wouldn't be interested. I invite you to repent and become a two percenter because 82% of them said they'd give it a shot if we'd only ask.
So would you bow your heads with me? I've said enough. Why don't you just take a moment and ask God what he wants from you. For you today, maybe it's your Damascus road. Or for you today, maybe like Ananias, he's asking you to take a step of obedience. Will you respond to his grace? Father God, we thank you for your love, for your word, and for your word made flesh in your son. Jesus, thank you for the amazing grace that you made possible by your sacrificial death on the cross.
Lord, I pray for anyone at any one of our campuses or listening online who doesn't know you, that they would respond to your grace and choose to receive it, to be forgiven, to become a saved child of God. God, for all of us, that your grace would continue to shape us into the saints that you want us to be. Help us to never get tired of it and to always be grateful. We ask this in the name of your son. Amen.