GRACE OF GOD SERIES PART 8 IMPART GRACE2008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

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Date: 2008-01-13

Title: Grace Of God Series Part 8 Impart Grace

Teacher: Jerry B Simmons

Series: 2007 Grace Of God Series

Teaching Transcript: Grace Of God Series Part 8 Impart Grace

Think about it this way. How does God talk to you? How does God talk to you? He tells us the truth, but he does so with great love and compassion. God is so gentle with us. You know God with a single word. He created the heavens and the earth. He said, let there be light, and there it was. So you know God with his words. He could do much damage towards us. But what does he do with his words? He imparts grace. In fact, some of the verses we've seen say,

Throughout our study here, refer to the word of God as the word of his grace. His word carries forth and imparts grace. We need to impart grace to cease destroying, to cease the useless and the idle, the worthless words and to build up and edify.

Now, sometimes we justify what we're saying because we know it's not really gracious, but we justify it by saying, but, you know, it's the truth. And can I just share with you that, hey, just because it's true does not mean that it should be said. There's a lot of things about you that God does not necessarily say all the time. Man, Rick, you're such a loser. I mean, you blow it and you're a bum. You're a lousy Christian. I can't even believe you showed up for church today.

God could tell us those things. In fact, they'd all be the truth, right? But does God tell you that every day? Just because it's true, does God say it to you? No, not necessarily. Now, there are times when God has to tell us the truth and it's things we don't like. But you know, those times...

It's the truth in love, but it's also the truth for edification. See, I can tell you the truth and just destroy you and make you feel miserable and discouraged and wish you hadn't have ever come this morning. But that's not the way that God deals with us. He chooses very, very perfectly.

The things that he shares with us, that they would be for edification, that it would impart grace to our hearts, that we would be uplifted, encouraged to draw close to God and walk with him and to be obedient to the things that he puts upon our hearts. Yeah, God tells us the truth and he tells us those things that are hard for us to hear.

Because they are true. But when he tells it, it's for our edification. That's the standard. That's the test. As you and I are speaking and having conversations to people or about people, let this verse ring in your ears. Does this edify? Is this necessary for edification that it may impart grace to the hearers? How does what I'm saying and what I'm sharing build up? How does it show undeserved favor and kindness?

You know, when we're spoken harshly to, we often want to return in like manner, right? We want to spout out back. We want to return that same attitude. And that's what's deserved. But we're to show grace, undeserved favor and kindness with who we are talking to, the people we are talking about. It's dangerous, Christian, to have a critical spirit, to be bitter, to

And to demonstrate that bitterness with your speech. It's destructive. It's dangerous to have worthless and useless words. Paul says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. But what's good for necessary edification? If we would get a handle on this, well, it would determine, it would impact the way the rest of our life imparts grace. Such a powerful instrument.

Let's impart grace with it. Use your words to build others up. Let's move on to the second point of the passage this morning. Jumping down to Ephesians 4.32.

So he says, hey, be careful with your words. He goes on in verse 30 to say, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. In verse 31, he says, here's some things not to do. Bitterness, wrath, these things you got to put away. Again, you're to put off the old nature. You're to walk in the new nature. Walk like Jesus. Follow his example.

And he gives us some more things that we can look at here in verse 32. He says, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. The second point I want to look at this morning, although there's many things we could look at here. The second thing is impart grace with forgiveness. Number one, we impart grace with our speech, but we also need to impart grace with forgiveness. Forgiveness.

Now, he mentions kindness and tenderheartedness, and those are things that Christ modeled for us as well. But I don't want to spend time on those things because, well, what the Lord highlighted for me was this issue of forgiveness. And between kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiveness, very often forgiveness can be the most difficult one. But part of imparting grace is forgiveness, forgiving those who have wronged us.

We have seen, as we have studied about the grace of God, we've seen how gracious God is towards us. And we've seen that we are forgiven by his grace. The fact that he paid the penalty, he took the full expense, paid the entire price, the punishment for our sin. It is finished, Jesus says. It's done. It's paid for. It's taken care of.

So we have been afforded grace at Christ's expense, forgiveness at Christ's expense. And that's why we often say it's grace is God's riches at Christ's expense, because he paid it and we just get all the benefits, one of which is forgiveness. And so just as Christ has forgiven us or God in Christ forgave us, we are to we have received that grace. We are to pass it on.

Remember when Jesus was sending out his disciples in Matthew chapter 10. He sends them out. He says, go and heal and preach the gospel freely. You have received freely. Give. He says the same thing to us as his disciples this morning. Freely. You've received grace freely. You've received forgiveness freely. Give.

Freely give grace, freely give forgiveness. He says, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. Again, we have the model. We have the example. He demonstrated for us how we're to forgive by forgiving us. And now we have a clear picture. We understand as he has forgiven us the same way, the same model. That's how we are to forgive others.

There's no room for holding a grudge in the heart of a Christian. There's no room for bitterness to grow. It's not appropriate because we are to forgive just as God in Christ forgave us. In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus addresses this issue when Peter asked the question, Hey Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? Familiar story. I know we've seen it many times and it's something we're

familiar with, but how many times should I forgive my brother, Peter says. Hey, Lord, up to seven times? Now, we like to picture Peter kind of, you know, hey, seven times. I mean, that's pretty generous. I think that's, I think he's going to be impressed with how many times I'm willing to forgive my brother. The rabbis in that day said, hey, you only have to forgive someone the same thing for three times. That's it. Once the third time, you don't have to forgive him for that anymore. So Peter goes, seven times. I mean, whoo.

He's going to be impressed at how spiritual I am. Jesus says, Peter, not seven times, but 70 times seven. 490, Lord. I mean, that's before we had four gigabyte USB drives. How do I keep track of all those times? And of course, the point is you don't. You just continue to forgive, just like God continues to forgive us. And Jesus illustrated this point by going on to tell a parable in Matthew chapter 18.

And he tells the parable of this servant who owed this unpayable debt, 10,000 talents. And there's lots of speculation about how much that was, whether it was silver or gold or whatever. But hey, the point is, this debt is unpayable. It'd be like you or me owing millions upon millions of dollars. And this servant owes this king millions of dollars. And he goes before the king and the king says, pay up or you're going to prison.

And he just begs for forgiveness. He just says, I'll try. Just give me some time. It's millions of dollars. I make 30 grand a year. So, you know, over a little bit of time, I'll get there. I'll pay it all back. And it says that the king, the parable Jesus says, the king had compassion upon him. He had mercy on him. And he forgave him of this huge debt that he had.

Awesome. Wonderful. That's what God's done to us. We have this huge debt that we can't pay, but God has forgiven us. And then the servant who is forgiven leaves from the king's presence, probably all excited, man, set free. And then he sees this other servant of the king and he sees a servant who owes him like five bucks. And he becomes enraged at the servant.

choking him and shaking him. Pay back what you owe me. Hey, if you don't pay me that five bucks, I'm going to have you put in jail till you pay me back. The parable emphasizing the point, the thing we often hear, a forgiven person will be a forgiving person. This man was forgiven such a great debt, but he held against one of his servants this minor debt, this debt that was inconsequential really.

In the same way, when you and I as Christians, when we hold a wrong that someone has done towards us against them, we are this servant forgiven this great debt, but holding on to this little one that we have, this little thing that we have against the person who wronged us. It's because we lose perspective. When we're wronged, the wrong seems so much greater than the wrongs that we've done to others, doesn't it?

Although we may have made the same mistake or done the same act against someone else, we have our reasons why, we have our justification, and it's just, it's not as...

It's not as bad as what this person did to me. Do you know what this person did? And then he said this and then she said that. And then they told over here. And in our mind, it gets blown all out of proportion. And so it's a five dollar debt that we think is millions of dollars. We've been forgiven millions of dollars, but we think it's just a five dollar debt that we've been forgiven. We forget that we're sinners. We forget the debt that we've been forgiven. And when we recognize the debt that we've been forgiven, we will be forgiving ourselves.

To the servants that have wronged us. Paul says, forgiving one another just as God in Christ forgave you. Now, may I take us back for a moment. Romans chapter 5 verse 20. Where sin abounded, grace abounded. How much? Much more. Listen, Christian. We're to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. And in our lives where sin abounded.

Grace abounded much more. Now, the natural tendency for us, wrongs against us abound. Okay, the first time, maybe there's grace. The second time, maybe a little bit. The third time, that's it. If there's any more, three strikes, you're out. Or maybe one more, I'll give you one more chance. Grace, from our perspective and our natural tendency, grace decreases when sin abounds.

That's the old nature. Going back to earlier in Ephesians 4, that's the futility of our minds, that walking is the rest of the Gentiles. No, God calls us to put on the new nature, his nature, to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. And so when wrongs abound towards us, grace is to abound much more, to overflow and to take care of and to forgive those wrongs that were done towards us. God calls us to put on his nature, his

And where sin abounds, that grace needs to abound much more. Much more. You say, but Jerry, I mean, you got to know what this has happened. And they've done it over and over again. And it's up to seven times. Well, Jesus says 70 times seven. Yeah, but then this and then that. And we have all of these things because, as I shared, forgiveness can be one of the most difficult things for us. But understand this.

God calls us to do it. He's given us the nature for it. We have everything that we need to be obedient to the Lord, to forgive no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the situation, no matter what the wrong, no matter who it is that's done it to us. We are to forgive as Christ has forgiven us to impart grace with our forgiveness. What does God require from us for forgiveness?

First John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He doesn't make us pay back debt. He doesn't. In order to forgive us, he doesn't make us reach these things and accomplish these hard tasks or make us, you know, sleep in the doghouse for a couple of months. He forgives us if we confess our sins. And that is all that should be necessary for you and I to forgive one another.

We like to make them pay, especially, man, if they really hurt us, we like to make them pay. But God says, forgive just as I forgave you. All I require is confession. If they will just admit and recognize their sin, then you are to forgive. You're to impart grace and the slate is to be wiped clean. Even the great debts, even the ones that have stacked up, even the sin that abounds. Grace abounds much more. Impart grace.

And our nature says, I can't do that. That's too difficult. That's too hard. But yes, you can. It's right here. Put on the new nature. God has given you what you need. He's given you the nature you need. Well, that's just not like me. I just have a hard time forgiving. That's a lie. Put on the new man that is in Christ Jesus, the nature of Christ that God has given to you. It's against our flesh. It's contrary to us. But it's a choice that we can make out of obedience to God.

He told us to do it. It means he's given us everything that we need to accomplish it. Forgive just as God has forgiven you. Impart grace. Now, something that I should point out about forgiveness and grace, really. Grace is primarily about relationship.

Although we've looked at grace and ministry and the opportunities and things that God gives us and everything we have is by grace. But the root of grace, the primary element of grace is for relationship. And what that means is that God extends to us grace no matter what, no matter what a person has done, no matter where they've been, no matter how many times they've done it. God gives grace and that means that he gives full access to himself.

Someone just involved in in murder or some other hideous sin or the worst thing that we can think of can turn and receive the grace of God and they have full access to God, full relationship with God. Grace is about relationship. Now, that's important because sometimes we get confused. Forgiveness is not the same as a restoration of trust or privileges.

Forgiveness is about access to yourself. Forgiveness is about a restored relationship. And why that's important is, well, sometimes people wrong us and they wrong us very severely. And they confess. They recognize, I've wronged. I've sinned. We are to forgive. Grace is to abound much more. But that does not necessarily mean that the same trust, forgiveness,

is restored to that relationship or privileges are restored to that relationship. A child molester who has confessed, we don't allow them to serve in children's ministry. The relationship is restored. You can have fellowship with God, but that doesn't mean that you can serve in the capacities that you once did and so on and so forth. You can apply that in many different ways. It's an important point. Grace is about relationship. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.

So impart grace with your forgiveness for the people that have wronged you. Let's move on to the third point here in Ephesians. Impart grace with love. Ephesians 5, 1 and 2 says, Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us and offering in a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.

Here again, we see the principle that we are to follow the example of Jesus Christ. We're to model after God. He says in verse one, be imitators of God.

This is how we're to live. As we learn more about God, we learn more about how we are to live and the characteristics that we're to have. And then he goes on in verse two to say, walk in love as Christ has loved us. And so, again, we see the comparison and the example set for us as Christ has loved us. That's how we are to love. As Christ walked in love, that's how we are to walk in love. And so point number three here in Ephesians five, one and two is to impart grace with love.

Impart grace with love because that's what Jesus did. Love really is the motivation for grace. For God so loved the world that he sent his son. Grace is available to us because God was motivated by his love to send his son to die for us. Love was Jesus's motive. It says he loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to imitate God. We are to follow his example. And so we're to walk in love just as Jesus did. Again, in John 13, 34, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. But it gets worse. He says, love one another and just as he did. And that's sacrificially offering himself that. I mean, that's that's a selfless love. That's that's a pretty high standard to meet. But also remember in Matthew chapter five.

Jesus says, hey, you've heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be sons of your father in heaven. Again, he uses himself as a standard. You love your enemies. You bless those who curse you. You do good to those who hate you. Why?

Because in verse 45 of Matthew chapter five, he says, for he that is God, he makes the sunrise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. It's kind of like I get a cartoon picture in my mind. You know, if there is an unjust person in here, there would be a rain cloud over them, you know, just pouring on just that individual. Now, when he's talking about rain, he means it for good to, you know, grow their crop and things like that.

But here's the point. God, he lets the sun rise and the sun sets for every person, whether they're evil or good. The rain comes for every person, whether evil or good, the just and the unjust. And so we, in the same way, are to love our enemies and to do good to those who do good to us and to do good to those who do evil to us. Jesus says, love your enemies. Walk in love just as Jesus did.

Even when we were at enmity with God, he died on the cross for us. We were enemies. We hated God. And he loved us and sacrificed himself for us. Walk in love as Christ did. And there's so much that we could go into here. And I'm sure that it would be difficult to study. Looking at the love of God and realizing this is what God desires from us. This is how God desires to act.

1 John 3, I think it's 19, says, hey, let's not love in word only, but in deed and in truth. It's to live it out. It's not saying the words, I love you, but demonstrating it. How? By blessing those who curse you, doing good to those who hate you, praying for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Now, just reading those things can get us irritated, can't it? Bless those who curse you. Yeah, I remember that one guy who cursed me. Man, I wish I could...

This person spitefully uses me. And it's so difficult at my workplace. Man, this person. Love. Bless. Do good. Pray for those who spitefully use you. Not faking it. Indeed and in truth. Truly love them. And show it by how you act.

Grace is not just for the good. Impart grace with love to those who are good and to those who are bad. God says, look, you need to show grace to everyone because that's what I do. That's how I do it. When it comes to your fellow believers, love them, impart grace to them, serve them. When it comes to your co-workers.

Love them, impart grace to them, serve them. When it comes to your in-laws, love them, serve them, impart grace to them. When it comes to your neighbors, love them, impart grace to them, serve them. When it comes to you fill in the blank, we are to impart grace with our love, a love that is in deed and in truth. Now, in looking at just these three things, I'm sure that you can see this is a difficult standard.

What God calls us to do, it's not natural for us. It requires that we put off our old nature, our sinful nature, and that we put on the nature of Christ. It requires a real transformation. You can't fake that type of Christianity. It requires God to really do a work. It requires for us to receive the fullness of the grace of God, for Him to change us and make us more like Him. Turn with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20.

In Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul is sharing some things with the elders and leaders from the church of Ephesus. He's on his way to Jerusalem. Probably not going to see them again. He's received prophecy after prophecy, knowing that there's trains, trains, chains and tribulations. Combine that together. There's trains waiting for him. And so there's trouble ahead. But in verse 24 of Acts chapter 20.

Paul tells the Ephesian elders, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. This morning, I would ask you, do you count your life dear to you? Paul, knowing that there's trouble ahead, knowing that there's difficult things ahead, he says, I don't count my life as dear to me.

My life is not so precious to me that I'm not willing to do what God has asked me to do. I'm going to do it. I know it'll be difficult. I know there'll be troubles, but I'm going to do it. And the end result is his goal is that I may finish that. I may do what he what he told me to do, do the ministry and testify to the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of the grace of God. Paul's saying this. Look, I don't care what it costs me. I don't count my life as dear to myself. I don't count my life as dear to myself.

I am willing to do whatever it takes to testify to the gospel of grace, to impart grace to the people around me that they would know of God's grace. I'm willing to do what it takes that they might be saved, that they might know grace, that they might receive grace. Now, in talking about the cost of grace, we looked at Jesus Christ and again, we saw that grace for us is free. It doesn't cost us anything. There's not some high demands that God requires in order for us to receive the fullness of his grace.

It's not based on tears, you know, and you get to this level and you get this much grace. And when you get to the next level, you get this much more grace. No, he gives to everyone the fullness of his grace without cost, without high demands. The only requirement is faith in Jesus Christ. But it was costly to Jesus. It cost him a great deal to offer to us grace.

And as I encourage you this morning to impart grace to others, you need to know this will cost you a great deal. In fact, it will cost you your life. In order for us to fulfill what God has called us to do, we'll have to take on the attitude of Paul. I don't count my life as dear to me. It's like Jesus said, you'll have to lose your life to find it.

If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. He's the example we're following after to impart grace. We need to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. It'll be costly. This is not something that, you know, you can just kind of do on the side. Well, you know, I'm going to try to impart a little bit of grace this week. No, it's where we need to arm ourselves with the same attitude of Jesus Christ. It's where we need to deny ourself, take up our cross and follow him.

Taking on the same attitude of the Apostle Paul, I don't count my life as dear to me. My life is not important. My plans, my hopes, those things, they're great and God may fulfill them, but the most important thing to me is that I may share the gospel of grace. God is challenging us this morning to live, to impart grace to the people around you, to model the grace of God, to let them know about God's grace by how you live and the way you demonstrate it. You're the example now.

They see the grace of God by how we impart grace to them and to one another. Remember Jesus said in John 13, 35, they'll know you're my disciples if you have love for one another. Love is the motive of grace. If you love one another, be gracious, impart grace to one another, and the world will know. You don't have to have a big banner or sign. The world will know because you impart grace. It will speak for itself.

But the cost is, I don't count my life as dear to me. Sometimes in counseling situations, one spouse really struggling. Man, my marriage is so hard. It's so difficult. It's painful every day. And there's struggle. And it's just so hard. I love this person, but it's so hard. And I often share in those situations. Listen, it's hard.

But is it worth staying there that your spouse might be saved? Would it be worth it to endure the hardship, to endure the pain, to endure the difficulty, to see the salvation of that person that you love so much? It puts things back in perspective so that I don't count my life dear to me. The most important thing is not me. Paul says that I may impart grace, that I may testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

The most important thing in your marriage is that you impart grace, that the other person would be saved, that they would be blessed. You might say, well, my job is so difficult and people spitefully use me and I think of great ideas and my boss rips them off. And he is it worth staying there? They might be saved.

Is it worth imparting grace and forgiving them? And where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. And you demonstrate and model the life of Jesus Christ that people in your workplace might come to know Jesus, might see the character of God in you. Because you've put off the old nature and put on the new, you impart grace like Jesus Christ. Because of the grace that he's given to you. Freely you've received, now freely you're giving. And it's a powerful testimony. Paul says, I don't count my life as dear to me.

Only if I may testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Whatever your circumstances, whatever the situation, are you willing to arm yourself with this attitude? It's what God calls us to do. He set the example so that we may follow. Turn with me to one last portion of scripture, Luke chapter 6. We'll close here with this. This passage, well, since the beginning of the grace series that we've been doing,

Pastor Sisko and I, pretty much every day, we've been reading through all the verses in the Bible that have the word grace, that God uses this word grace. And that's how we've been familiarizing ourselves with the grace passages, that we might understand God's grace more and learn to walk in that and love and share that and enjoy and receive the fullness of what God has for us.

This passage here in Luke chapter 6 was one of those passages that was on our list. And we would sometimes look at one another and go, how does this exactly fit? Because the word grace in the Greek is charis. Now, it's not always translated grace. Sometimes it's translated as thanks. Sometimes it's translated as rejoice. Sometimes, here in Luke chapter 6, in fact, it's translated with the word credit. Look at Luke chapter 6, verse 32.

It says, but if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. That word credit, there is the word charis in the Greek. It's the word that's most often translated grace. Verse 33. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners and receive as much back. Verse 35. But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great and you will be sons of the most high, for he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Here's what Jesus says.

And this is something that just dawned on me last night. In fact, it hit me so hard. I thought about it was like nine o'clock last night. I thought I thought about just throwing out everything I've studied so far and redoing the whole message around this passage. I'd encourage you to spend some time and consider this, because for weeks we've been reading this and go credit grace. I mean, what's going on here? It doesn't really add up. It doesn't really make sense. And yesterday it dawned on me.

He says, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. Here's what God's saying. Hey, you only love the people that love you. That's not grace. What what grace is that to you? What credit is that to you? That's not grace. If you only love the people that are lovable, if you only love the people that love you, that's not grace.

There's no reward for that. There's no credit for that. That's not carrying on the attributes and nature of God. That's not grace if you only love those who love you. God says, hey, you only do good to those who do good to you. That's not grace. You only lend if they can pay you back. That's not grace.

That's not what I do, God says. What credit is that to you? That is not grace. You love your enemies. You do good to those who hate you. You lend. You hope for nothing in return. And your reward will be great because you're obedient, because you put on the new nature. You'll be sons of the Most High. Why? Because He is kind to the unthankful and the evil. We think, well, they're evil. I don't need to be kind to them. No, God is kind to the unthankful and the evil.

It's not grace if you only love those who love you. It's not grace if you only do good to those who do good to you. It's not grace if you only apply it to those who... Because that's earned. That's deserved. Someone does something good to you, they've earned the kindness from you. It's deserved. No, instead. Grace is to love those no matter if they love you or not. It's to do good.

Whether people do good to you or not. It's to lend. Whether or not they can return. Whether or not they can repay. It's what God does towards us. And if we do anything else, God says, that's not grace. You don't get any grace points for that. There'll be no reward for you for that. It's only grace. If it's undeserved favor and kindness. God demonstrates his grace towards us.

Over and abundantly more than we need more than we could ever ask for a hope for more than we could ever earn or deserve And then he looks to us and he says there you have that's the model Follow my lead deny yourself take up your cross and follow me impart grace To the people around you. Let's pray heavenly father What a tough challenge you've given to us But I thank you god that you have also equipped us

Lord, you are able to transform us. You've given us a new nature that we can walk in by faith and obedience to you, that we might impart grace to the people around us. God, the results of this type of life, they're staggering to think about. The impact that you can make, the impact that would take place in the people around us. Teach us, Lord, to have the same heart as you did.

To take on the attitude of the Apostle Paul that we would not count our lives as dear to us. It's going to be costly, Lord. We know that. But, Lord, it's worth it to see the people around us come to the saving knowledge of you. Lord, too often we're comfortable, we're content, living somewhat of a lukewarm life, not fully sold out to these things.

Hoping that we can kind of have the best of both worlds and that we'll be blessed and we'll have grace and we'll learn about you and grow and we'll receive eternity. And hopefully a couple people might get saved on the way as they see our life. But we're not really committed and devoted to these principles. God, forgive us. When may we not be satisfied until we awaken your likeness? When may we not be satisfied until we impart grace?

Until as we have freely received, Lord, that we freely give that same grace to the people around us. Help us not to be somewhat committed to these things. Help us not to mostly follow you, Lord. Help us not to occasionally obey you. But God, you have given us so much by your grace. Lord, we ask that by your grace you would transform us. Lord, that you would fill in the gaps where we're weak. Lord, that you would make us like you. Lord, that we might testify.

to the gospel of the grace of God, that your grace might be known by our lives to the world around us. Use us, God, to reach people, to turn them back from darkness into light. Use us, Lord, by our example as you transform us. Lord, you've predestined those that you foreknew to be conformed into the image of your Son. So finish the work in us. You started it. Only you can complete it. Please do it.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.