I know it's you, I know it's me
I know the land of power
For you is my land
I know the land of power
For you is my land
Mother, I'm calling you
I'm calling you in my life
Mother, I'm calling you
I'm calling you in my life
And I will worship you with all of my heart
When I wander through the desert
And I'm longing for my home
All my dreams have gone astray
When I'm stranded in the valley
And I'm crying all alone
Seems like I've lost my way
I'm going running to your mountain
When your mercy sets me free
You are my strong tower
The shelter over me
You are beautiful and mighty
Everlasting here
You are my strong tower
A fortress without me
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
In the middle of my darkness
In the midst of all my fear
You're my refuge and my hope
When the storm of light is raging
And the thunder and storm are here
You speak softly to my soul
Now I'm running to your mountain
When your mercy sets me free
You are my strong tower
The shelter over me
You are beautiful and mighty
Everlasting here
You are my strong tower
A fortress without me
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
Yeah, your face is all I see
I'm going running to your mountain
When your mercy sets me free
You are my strong tower
The shelter over me
You are beautiful and mighty
Everlasting here
You are my strong tower
A fortress without me
Your name is true and holy
You are my strong tower
The shelter over me
You are beautiful and mighty
Everlasting here
You are my strong tower
A fortress without me
Your name is true and holy
And your face is all I see
I can only imagine what it will be like when I die
Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel
When I dance for Jesus
Or when love will be still
When I stand in your presence
Or to my knees when I fall
When I sing hallelujah
When I be at your feet
Oh, I can only imagine
So we've been working through the book of Deuteronomy
And last week we started a three part sermon on the land
And we talked last week about the promised land
And today's sermon could have been entitled the bridge land
But that doesn't really make any sense in common English and so I didn't do that
This is called Graceland
Not Graceland, the mansion of Elvis Presley, that's a different place altogether
But this is Graceland, meaning the land that God has given us by grace
And the land in which grace reigns
I'm going to talk just briefly about a phrase that people have used
And see if you actually know where it comes from or what it means
Has anybody ever heard the phrase, living on borrowed time?
Okay, now do you know where it comes from?
Okay, somebody tell me what it means or what we use it for
Okay, kind of like that, yeah, so like people say
They had a close brush with death maybe
And a motorcycle accident almost got killed, whatever
And then after that they say they're living on borrowed time
Or there's a philosopher that once said that it occurs that people get so old
That they're basically not really able to do much of anything anymore
And they're required to be taken care of by their loved ones
They're in a hospital bed, can't be taken care of
Other than by constant intensive care, that kind of thing
And they say that person is living on borrowed time, meaning they will soon die
So it's kind of a dark thing, kind of a dark phrasing that we say is living on borrowed time
But interestingly enough, it comes from a completely different place
Twice brought back into language, once in roughly the 1600s, it was like 1655
In England, they changed the calendar
And what they did was they took 11 days of the month of May
And added it to the month of April, I think I've got those days right?
So they took 11 days of the month of May and bumped it back to the month of April
Thereby making the months of roughly the same length
And what they then would say that those days were borrowed days
Borrowed from the month of May to add them back in the month of April
Or borrowed from the month of April to add previously to be in the month of May, I don't know which
But bottom line is the first 11 days of May as borrowed days given back into the month of April
And that's where people would say borrowed days
And there's a quote that says, so it is usual among us to ascribe unto March borrowed days from April
Or to April borrowed days from May, right?
However, that's not where it came into our vocabulary from
It later came into our vocabulary in 1898 when the English dialect dictionary defined the phrase and said
A man who lives on borrowed time lives on trespass ground
Except that it did not then go on to describe what trespass ground is
That's getting a little bit more like what you're talking about
Living on borrowed time means that this time does not really belong to us
It really belongs to God, our time, our efforts, where we live, all the things that we're doing
Do not really belong to us, they really belong to God
And so to say that we live on borrowed time like we should have died by now
Is a pretty trivial use when we're actually talking about the fact that all people could well have died
Going all the way back to Adam and Eve and we all, according to what the Bible says, are worthy of death
So I want you to bear that in mind then as we get into the text
I will tell you that this will go by fairly quickly
I didn't practice it quite as much as I might like to
But I'm thinking this is a fairly short sermon compared to what I normally do
So we'll see how that goes
So keep your thinking caps on so you don't miss anything
And we are now in Deuteronomy chapter 28
Amen!
Thank you, Miss Chris, I guarantee you she's hooting and hollering in her house right now
Miss her in the room
Alright, Deuteronomy chapter 28, listen to this
Now it shall be, if you will diligently, that means if you'll work at it
Obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you today
The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you will obey the Lord your God
Couple things in there to notice real quick before we go on
Number one, he's saying if you'll do what you're supposed to do
God will set you up above the nations of the earth
Now that's key because they don't deserve that
They're just ordinary people
They were stuck in Egypt crying out for help
And God said I'm going to take that nation there
They don't deserve this but I'm going to take that nation there
Mind you, as I promised and we talked about that last week
Take that nation there, bring them out and make a people for myself
And said if you will follow my commands, I will set you up
God says, as a nation over or above all the nations of the earth
And then he says that all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you
This is an interesting language there, isn't it?
The blessings that God is promising, not just the ones that we're about to read
But in general the blessings that go with his grace are chasing you
They are pursuing you and we'll come back and talk about that later as well
Verse three, blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country
So it doesn't matter where you are in the land, in the city, country, wherever you are, you'll be blessed
Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground
And the offspring of your beasts and the increase of your herd and the young of your flock
So in other words, everything that all your work tending to the flock and the land then produces will be blessed
Verse five, blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl
So your basket is where you store stuff on the way to the larder or whatever
And your kneading bowl is where you work with the stuff to make it ready to eat
So you're going to be blessed in the bringing in of the product
And you're going to be blessed in the preparing the product for consumption
Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out
So whichever way you're headed right now, you'll be blessed
The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you
That is surely not good news for the enemies of God's people
But those enemies that rise up against God's people will be defeated before them
God will cause it
They shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways
So they're going to come together in a group to stand against us or against God's people
And then they will flee scattered
Their disunity will divide them
The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to
And he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you
The Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself as he swore to you
If you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways
So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord
And they shall be afraid of you
And so notice that not only are we getting all these blessings
But here he says the people of the earth will recognize God's people as different from others
And they will fear God's people
Eleven
And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity in the offspring of your body
And in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground
And the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you
The Lord will open for you his good storehouse the heavens
To give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand
And you shall lend to many nations but you shall not borrow
In other words they would be producing so much that they would have an abundance that they could give to others
But they wouldn't need anything from anyone
Thirteen
And the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail
You only shall be above and you shall not be underneath
If you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I charge you today to observe them carefully
In other words if they would be very intentional about their following the commands of God
God would put them in a reigning position
A position of being in charge, a leading position
Rather than a following position or a position of being owned
And it says and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today
To the right or to the left to go after other gods to serve them
Now I'm fully aware that this passage of scripture could come off like a lot like a health and wealth gospel passage
It would be very easy for us to say that because it is grace, bless you, because it is grace
We will always be blessed
Everything that we will do will be blessed
We'll have blessed produce this, blessed produce that
We'll have more kids, we'll have better kids, we'll have more money from our jobs
Better money from our jobs, better positions, better recognition in the world
All of that could be found in that passage of scripture
But to preach it as a health and wealth message would be to divorce it from what is actually being displayed
Number one, that God is calling us to obedience
This is not a message about obedience, but clearly God says
If you will be diligent, he says in the first part
If you will be careful, he says in the last part
If you will be diligent and careful to follow that which I have commanded you
Then he would do the things that he said he would do
So there is a requirement of faithfulness and obedience to God's people
Which is not found in the health and wealth gospel
This truth that God is laying out for them required them to be his people
If you'll recall from last week, we talked about the promised land and how the promise creates a people
And now God says if you will actually be the way my people are supposed to be
I will tell you what I'm going to do for you
First and foremost, notice that grace of God lifts up a people
Grace of God lifts up a people
Graceland is occupied by a people lifted up
This Israel was slaves in Egypt
Previously to that, they were essentially nomads
They wandered around everywhere, they would sink a well occasionally
But by and large, they did not have a settled home ever
No land, no people identity
They could trace their lineage back to certain key forefathers
But no identity of people
In fact, even when they would come into the promised land
One of the tribes would be split down between the two sons of Joseph
So even the twelve tribes were not unified at all previously
Because one of them was living completely in Egypt as a descendant of Joseph
And the other eleven were living in Goshen in Egypt as descendants of their forefathers
So the tribes were not even united in any way shape or form
And God would take a people disunited, scattered throughout Egypt
Haul them out of a nation that had so many gods
And so many powerful gods and so many chariots of steel
And warriors in bronze armor and spears and swords by the tens of thousands
And God would call them out of that nation and make of them one nation
And then give them a land
Listen to me, that is grace
In Hosea, the prophet Hosea in 11.1 he basically says
And out of Egypt I called my son
So God would not only haul them out of Egypt and make them a new land
Unified together where they were completely disconnected previously and in slavery
And previous to that nomads wandering around having no place
Not only would God call them out, but he didn't just call them his people
He called them his son
And just as today we can be sons and daughters of the living God
They would be sons and daughters of the living God
But they were not getting it because they had a bloodline
They were not getting it because they were faithful in the disciplines or in work or whatever
They were getting it because of grace
God was giving them grace
It can be confused because it says
If you will diligently obey the Lord your God
Being careful to do all his commandments which I command you today
The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth
And so we're thinking God is making a deal
This is the deal
If I will follow the rules
Then God will set me up victorious
And the truth is if you follow the rules some of them are so good
And they make so much sense
That you will actually prosper
In just following the rules of God
And the people that do that
They tied their whole life with never having a relationship with Jesus Christ
And their finances are blessed
The people in Malachi did not have a relationship with God
They were being corrected about not tithing
And even when they began tithing
That the prophet Malachi was talking to
They didn't suddenly become rich
But they were blessed over the years and over the generations
If they were faithful and they were not blessed if they were not
But they didn't have a proper relationship with God either
The point is you can follow the rules
And you may be blessed and get certain things
They do make a lot of sense
For example if you treat your body as a holy temple
Working out, eating right, drinking plenty of water, making sure you get plenty of sleep
Staying away from any more medications than you actually need to
And so if you treat and you don't get into addictive substances and all of that
Your body will do better
Nothing says you won't get hit in a car accident at 40
And be paralyzed for life
But your body will do a lot better
Because you're following the logical steps of recognizing your body as a temple
But if you want your body to actually be a temple
You get that from God and you get it by grace
You cannot earn it, you cannot trade for it
Graceland is filled with the people that God lifts up
Yes, God promised to lift people up
And here he reminds you if I have lifted you up
If I have provided you with grace
Then you have a responsibility to behave a certain way
That's true
My child behaves a certain way
A dad will say to his son, we don't do that son
And what he means is this activity that you're engaging in here
It's inappropriate
We don't want this to happen
I don't do it, I don't want you to do it
Another dad will say son we don't do that
And he'll go over there and do what it is that he does
Even though his son's not supposed to do it
In many cultures it's perfectly okay for anybody over the age of about 16
To spew as many cuss words as they want
But anybody under the age of 16 that uses a foul language
Might get backhanded by their mother
You're not old enough to talk like that
The standards are varied from people to people
I get that
God is saying be diligent and careful to follow my commands
Because I have lifted you up
You are my people
And I will show you how I have lifted you up
And I will bless you in all things
Now our church has been immensely blessed
In many many things
In fact, and I'm not judging anybody
And I'm not telling any stories
But if you were God and you could look at the folks that have struggled in various areas or whatever
They have struggled by choices that they have made in some times
Sometimes the choices that they have made have kept them from going to the places where God is taking them
Grace lifts up a people
You may not believe in grace
You may not believe that God wanted to save you so much that he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you
That would be a mistake
You may not believe that God wants to lift you up from wherever you are
And make of you something that will bring him great glory
Now that can include martyrdom
Which is a terrible thought
It can include persecution for witnessing or struggling being a missionary in a foreign country
Where you don't have things like cell service
Or a grocery store within 50 miles
You've got to grow your own food
Where you're dodging soldiers to AK-47s to tell people about Jesus
Or sneaking Bibles behind enemy lines
That might be the kind of thing that God calls you to
But that would be an amazing thing to be called to
God's grace lifts up a people
The brother of Jesus, James, wrote it this way in chapter 4 in the book of James
He wrote
Or do you think the scripture speaks to no purpose?
He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us
That he gives a greater grace
Therefore it says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble
Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you
Cleanse your hands you sinners
And purify your hearts you double minded
Be miserable and mourn and weep
Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you
And this was written to Christians
To people who were claiming to be Christians anyway
So what he's saying to us is
Listen, I have given you grace
I have lifted you up
Behave like somebody I have lifted up
Oh you continue in sin though I have lifted you up
Mourn, realize that you're blackening our family name
God's grace lifts up a people
And in lifting up a people
He can reasonably have expectations of how we as a people ought to behave
Second thing to see in there is that the blessings of grace
Pursue the people of grace
The Bible says in the book of Proverbs that
A wicked man runs when nobody is chasing him
The truth is we all feel like there's something sort of chasing us in the human race
Poverty, bankruptcy, disease, age
Not about any one particular person
But when I was raising my daughters
Amalia and Alicia I told them I said
Up until a certain point I said you know we don't wear makeup
You don't wear makeup
And they said well why not
And I said well why do people wear makeup
You know why people wear makeup right
There's really two reasons I mean unless you count geisha girls
But other than that there's really two reasons
They wear makeup to look older
They wear makeup to look younger
Now it may be that they're covering a certain facial blemish
Or something you know that they want to
Maybe they're going on camera and they want the camera to reflect on them better
But in their case it was they were wearing makeup to look older
And you don't need to do that
And then when we get older and they wear makeup to look younger
The truth is they probably don't really need to do that
They can there's nothing wrong with it
There's nothing sinful about it
But my wife for example she'll come to me at the end of the day
And she'll say oh I totally forgot to put my makeup on today once in a blue moon
And I'll say you look beautiful all day
All day
And I'm not judging anybody for using makeup
But what I'm saying to you is the blessings of grace are pursuing us
And we're concerned about the things of this life
And we take certain steps
I'll give you another example
People let their health decline
Right?
We get overweight
We get high blood pressure
We have struggle focusing because we malnourished ourselves
Eating too much junk
Things like that
I did that
I have done that
I've done it in the last couple of weeks
Okay?
So the point is we do that
And then we go oh my goodness I've got to work really hard
And for a period of time we die
We work out
We do everything that we're supposed to do
And if we have faithfulness and strength
We stay the course until we get our health where we want it to be
But the truth is why did we need to do that?
We needed to do it because we first disparaged or let go that which was in us
We first our bodies burning fuel all the time
Everything you eat is burning
And anything that isn't good for you
It's either storing in fat to protect you
Or putting it out in excrement one or the other to get rid of it
Your body has a natural ability to maintain you at whatever weight you're supposed to be
And it might not be what the doctor says is your ideal weight
But the bottom line is we have that
Then we go back and work really hard to catch up
Here's what's happening in the world folks
The blessings of God's grace are pursuing God's people all the time
And God's people are literally running away from those blessings
Or playing hide and seek from those blessings
Part of that is because we have mistaken what the blessings are
We think the blessings are the trappings of this world
Praise of human beings, more income, more friendly experiences with people
To saying good things to us
Or we saying good things
Laughing and joking, reminiscing about whatever until the middle of the night
These are not the blessings that God is talking about
Yes, they're blessings
These things, Galatians 6 says, were given to us to enjoy
And that's fine
But guess what happens when you over enjoy them
While you're over enjoying the blessings of this life
You're running away from the blessings of grace that God has given you
You understand?
Many, many years ago now, 22-ish years ago
The Lord convicted me to give up first soda and then candy
Now I'm not saying anybody needs to do that
This was in my own life
In fact, if I could at this point in time eat an occasional piece of candy
I would love to do it
If I would eat, you know, whatever
So you feel free to do as you would
But I just want to use it as an illustration for the moment
After I gave up the soda
I got to eating a lot of candy
The candy tasted really good
And I was using it to supplement to get around the caffeine
And then after I gave up the candy
The next weekend I had like a cupcake on Friday night
And I said, that's the best tasting cupcake I've ever had in my life
And I didn't make the connection
And then about noon, one o'clock or something, we had brownies
I had a brownie and I said, that's the best tasting brownie I've ever had in my life
And you'll hear me say as I sit down
In fact, the day before yesterday I had smoked pork loin
That's the best tasting meat I've ever had in my life
Okay, and you'll hear me say that on occasion
That it's the best
Well, I can taste what I eat now
When I used to drink a lot of soda
And I drank a lot of soda
You may not drink as much soda ever in your life as I used to drink
I would kill two liters of soda in a day, every day
I'd eat a bag of donuts
And also when I gave up the soda
I was eating over a pound of hard candy every day
You may never do that in your life
I hope that's never your situation
But the bottom line is I was eating so much sweets
That my taste buds could not taste the food
I couldn't eat a salad to me
Lettuce had no taste
If you can, you know, like I eat lettuce and it has no taste
Well, it's probably because your taste buds are not doing what they're supposed to be doing for whatever reason
So I could eat salad lettuce and it would go
That's nothing
It literally had no taste to me at all
And after I gave up the soda and the candy, I started having taste
Right? Now I'm not saying that you need to make adjustments like that
What I'm saying is we get involved in things
And we miss the thing that is pursuing us
We chase relationships with people
And miss out on the prime relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ
God is trying to say something to you
Wants to say something to you
Wants to do something in your life that is powerful
It is a blessing that accompanies His grace
You understand that all of us, any of us here
Could be missing a significant Holy Spirit gift
The Bible says the Holy Spirit gives us gifts
That we're spiritually gifted
And you could be missing the cheap Holy Spirit gift
That God has authored in you from the moment you were saved
You might be acting in your Holy Spirit gifts in other areas
You might say you have four
And you have three of them firing on all cylinders, right?
How's that work out for you, RJ?
If you've got a four-cylinder car firing on three cylinders
And all three cylinders are working perfectly
How's that car run?
The fourth one doesn't work
It'll run, but it won't run right
Exactly, it'll run, but it won't run right
There are blessings that come with the grace
That are literally pursuing us
And we're not experiencing them
Because we're busy dwelling on the ones that we already have
Considering ourselves to be well enough off
Counting our worldly blessings
And you should do that because you need to be grateful to God
I'm not saying that
But we get so wrapped up in that
That we don't recognize that God is trying to do something more
And then, sometimes, God will do something to get our attention
When I was taking my revival class at Liberty Seminary
They said this is how revival happens
God's people faithfully do what God's people are supposed to do
Then God shakes up the world to make the world pay attention for a moment
They look and they look at God's people
And they see them still faithfully doing what they're supposed to be doing
And they flock to the church, flock to God's people, flock to God
Because here's a people faithfully doing what they were doing
The world shook and the people were faithfully doing what they were supposed to be doing
And the world looks at those people and comes and says
Well, what do you got that we don't got?
And that's the primary way that revival starts
Not the only way, but it's the primary way that revival starts
I submit to you, God does the same thing in a microcosm in an individual
God will give you trials and troubles and tribulations
He will put you, listen, if you won't listen to God
He'll take you to the place that you're in a pile of ashes
Scraping your swords with a shard with your wife standing over you saying
Just curse God and die to get you to understand that you are not God
And you don't get to say no to God
You don't get to say no to the blessings of God that come with grace
You don't get to put Him down or back Him off
He's God, He created you, orchestrated the borders of your life
Set you up to live where you live
He's God, He wants to do the blessings that come with the grace
And I understand sometimes those blessings are suffering
Sometimes they are trials and tribulations
Sometimes they are martyrdom
Sometimes they are hours and hours and hours of studying your Bible
Or worse, a Bible dictionary of theology
When I was in seminary and God had called me to preach and I knew it
I had to read this dictionary of theology that gave us a book that's like
Five times this thick and hardcover
And I couldn't stay awake, I just couldn't do it
You ask Jerry
I would take the book that I had to read
And I had to read about ten hours a week
I can't, outside preparing for my sermon
I struggle with ten hours a week reading my Bible
And this stuff was, and so and so
Plethora of John said this three thousand years ago about this
And stuff about people that you don't care about
What they said about it
Two thousand years, who cares what they said
Right, boring and written in boring ways
And big liturgical language I could barely understand
And so I would take the book and I would walk laps in my side yard
Around the perimeter of my side yard reading the book
And then I got tired after a while walking laps around my side yard
And I would walk the sidewalk in front of the shopping center
And the big, I walked to Bob Evans and I would sit there and I would eat
Whatever I ordered I would eat and read the book
And then after I got done eating I would get up and I would walk back home reading the book
You see me walking up and down Woodville Road reading the book
Right, it was the most boring time of my life
But I had to do it, I was required to do it
Because that's where God took me
And it was what God wanted me to do
Right, and I knew it was and that was what the professor assigned
And I knew I was supposed to do the work and honor God with my education
And you can list on all the reasons
But the bottom line is I would walk for hours a day
While reading something, and my legs hurt and my feet hurt
And I got tired
But I had to keep moving because I couldn't stay awake reading this boring material
Unless I did and I had to read it
Sometimes God's blessings will take you to a place where you don't really want to be
If you're judging it in the standard of the blessings of this world
But if you judge it in the standard of the blessings of Graceland
Do you want your basket to be full?
Do you want your kneading bowl to be blessed?
Do you want your offspring to be blessed?
Do you want people that hear from you to be blessed?
Do you want the world to look at you and go, what does he have that I might want to ask
In order that I might have what he has?
Do you want that?
If you want that, then you've got to stop running from the blessings of grace
And accept that and sometimes it sucks
I'm here to tell you right now
And this will hurt for some of us
The most traumatic, painful, sorrowful experience that you've ever experienced in your life
The thing that you went through that is the worst thing
That lasted a minute, a day, years, whatever
That thing, that is one of the blessings of God in your life
And the comfort that God comforts you with over that blessing
You will then be able to comfort others
But are you running from the blessings of grace?
You realize God says, okay I saw you there
You went through the crap
You went through the sludge
You were stuck there, I saw you there
And by grace I reached in there
And I pulled you out of there
And I'm prepared to set you up as a people
So that everyone can see
So that people will listen to you
They can be a person of character
So that people will go, oh, he spoke
Josh spoke, what did Josh say?
I want to know what Josh said
Ricky spoke, what did he say?
What does Ricky have to say about this?
People call you up on the phone and go, hey, I got this going on in my life
What do you have to say about that?
God wants to take you from the mire
And lift you up on the pedestal
You're like, I don't want to be on a pedestal
Yes, that would be an okay place to be
Because there you can very clearly give God all the glory
Right? But somewhere in between there
Running from the blessings that God has orchestrated
Out of that nastiness
Out of that terrible thing that you went through
Running from the blessings that come out of that
Bemoaning your situation, complaining, whining, frustrated
Letting, clamping down on your anger
So that when something happens you blow up
All of that
Instead of letting the blessings that God wants you to give you out of that thing
That's when God can set you up
And you'll become the head instead of the tail
Listen to me, if you're still wrapped up in suffering
If there are still things bothering you
If you're still hurting because of experiences that you went through in your life
Then you need to understand you are running from the blessings of God
You need to stop, the Lord says, be still and know that I am God
You need to recognize that that trial and tribulation that you've gone through
Is fueling you
It is making it possible for you to be the person that you are today
It is giving you strength that somebody else does not have
And you can receive the blessings of the grace that God intends for you
In the meantime, as a child of God
Be found doing the things that God has given you to do
Remember the example of revival that I gave you
God's people are found faithful
They follow what God has taught them to do
The world shakes
But instead of being shaken
God's people are found faithful doing what God has called them to do
They worship, they give, they practice the spiritual disciplines
They exercise their spiritual gifts the best they know how
But they are prepared
When we were at Cedar Street Baptist Church in Michigan
And 9-11 happened
And the Twin Towers came crashing down
And Americans began to realize that they were not safe
That on American soil they were not safe
Terrorists perpetrated terrorist activity
And people felt terror in their hearts
And they looked at the church
And our church had 125 visitors the following Sunday
Can you imagine? A church of 250 people
People were standing at the walls
No chairs to sit in on Sunday morning, second services when we usually went
People were standing there
And the pastor preached the sermon that he had scheduled almost a year before
He said nothing about the Twin Towers
He said nothing about the terrorist attacks
He did not preach a message that was expressly the gospel
Or salvation or about the cross
The gospel was hinted at
But it was out of Malachi
In fact, this breaks my heart to this day
I love the man, he was a very godly man
But I don't know what happened that day
Maybe the Lord was doing it
So I'm not judging
But here's what happened
The sermon was about we need money to build the new building
When the world comes looking
They need to stand you, see you standing on firm ground
See you're okay
See you're studying your Bible
See you're reading
See you're praying
See you're serving
See you're giving
See you're faithfully following the ministry lead of God
Doing those things
When you are rocked and still rocking
The rest of the world when it's rocked
Is trying to figure out how to be rocking
And they will look to you and your voice will resound
Right now, they come to us sometimes and we're like
Oh yeah, I had a rough day too
My foot hurts, my pain, I couldn't walk, I couldn't talk
I'm hurting in my relationships
I'm hurting in my finances
What are you doing?
They're coming to you complaining about their life in the world
You should be talking about Jesus
Talking about the blessings of grace
Talking about how yeah, that used to bother me
But it doesn't bother me
When I don't have enough money now
And I'm not saying this is me
I'm saying this is where we should be
When I don't have enough money now
That doesn't bother me
Because I know no amount of money can buy the relationship I have with Jesus Christ
When my health is failing me
That doesn't bother me like it used to
Because no amount of health is going to get me into heaven
You understand the body you're in today dies
And then you get a new body when you go to heaven, right?
So you've already messed this one up pretty good
You've used it, worn it out by now pretty good
When you go to heaven, you're going to get a new one
That's one of the blessings of grace
Unless of course you're still running from the blessings of grace when that time comes
And then you might have a problem
Because what if the blessings of grace don't catch up?
Grace lifts up a people
And that people is responsible to behave a certain way
The blessings of grace pursue the people of grace
And God will use things in your life to get you to stop running away from the blessings
And that's where Romans 8.28 says
When it says, all those who love the Lord are called according to his purpose
All things work together for their good
The reason that is is because you can't imagine
You're like, I don't understand how this thing that God's letting me go through
Or what I'm going through right now can be used for my good
But God can
And maybe it's just designed to get you to stop for a moment
To think for a moment
To accept for a moment
That God is pouring out into you some kind of a blessing
And you've been going, no, it's okay
My cup is full enough
And God sends something to rock your world a little bit
To get you to go, okay God, what is it you want to do next?
The blessings of grace pursue the people of grace
Now, the devil like a lion stalks around seeking whom he may devour
Which he can only do because the people of grace sometimes
Kind of hide toward the edges because they don't want to be a martyr
They don't want to be used too much
They don't want God to use the painful experiences
They just want to forget about it
I went to refocusing at East Toledo Baptist Church not long after we moved back to Toledo
And I sat across from a man who was a deacon, had been a deacon for over 20 years
And one of the activities we were supposed to do was look at our lives
And what we've been through
Painful experiences, good experiences, whatever
And then see what God was doing through those things
And then as a church we were going to combine all that and decide what God was doing in our church
And this man who was a deacon, had been a deacon for over 20 years
Said to our little group, there's like six of us in there
He said, I'm not going to do this activity
I said, what do you mean you're not going to do this activity?
And I was leading our little group even though I was probably not qualified
And he said, the things that I've gone through in my life are so bad
I don't like to think about them
And nobody needs to know them
And so I'm not going to tell you what happened in my life back
Before I got saved or after I got saved or whatever
I'll tell you what's going on right now, that's it
I don't look into the past
And I thought to myself, there's a man who hasn't dealt with this past
He's not free
And if you're not free from your past
If you're not free to use your past for God's glory
Then maybe it's because you don't realize that grace lifts up a people
And the blessings of grace pursue the people of grace
The last thing to see here then is that grace sets apart a people
Interestingly enough, as James said, there is a greater grace
It's kind of like two steps, right?
Grace sets up a people, lifts them up out of slavery, makes a people
Flows out of the promises of God
The blessings of grace then pursue that people
They want to cascade down on you
They want to change your life in ways that will honor the Lord and bring you closer to God
And when that happens and you submit to the blessings of God's grace
Then God will set you apart
He will identify you with His grace and with the grace giver
See, you go to work, go to school
Do the people in your work and at your school identify you with the grace giver?
Do you wear Christian t-shirts all the time?
That's what that's all about, by the way
So that people, when you wear Christian t-shirts, people will go, oh, that person must be a Christian
I submit to you, you ought not to have to wear a Christian t-shirt to be known as a Christian
When I'm traveling out and about, wherever I see somebody wearing a cross, I'll say, I like your cross
And they'll usually say something, oh, thank you very much, whatever
And I'll say, are you a Christian? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ then?
Now, if there's a crucifix, then usually that means they're Catholic
Or maybe it means they don't know that Jesus didn't stay on the cross and he rose again on the third day
The crucifixion is done, but the Catholics use the cross with the Jesus on it
That's called a crucifix because they think that that is still going on
But it isn't, Jesus came down off the cross, was buried, rose again, now He's at the right hand of the Father in heaven
So we use an empty cross
It's different, but the bottom line is I can have that conversation with somebody and they wear crosses
Now you've got gang members who wear crosses and profess to be Christians with the kill people on Saturday
Or sell drugs or whatever
So they've got people who wear Christian t-shirts because they've got them at the goodwill, but they're not a Christian
So maybe the best way for people to know to whom you belong is for you to be bringing grace into the situation
So here's the math, God by grace lifts you up and makes you a people
Takes you from where you were to be who He wants you to be, gets the process started
You realize that the blessings of grace are following you, stalking you, trying to get you, trying to bless you
I'm not making that up right, it was in the text
And then those same blessings of grace flow through you to the world
You start thinking of your money, it's not really your money, it's God's money
Start thinking of your strength, it's not really your strength, it's God's strength
Start thinking of your mind, not really your mind, God's mind
When God owns all of this, then God can use all of this to do what it is that God wants to do
And by the way, what are we talking about that God is trying to do?
He's trying to deliver grace
He's trying to deliver grace, you should be a grace giver wherever you go
And the predominant way or the most important way to deliver that grace is through telling the gospel
What Jesus has done
Now unfortunately, not everybody is going to want to listen, I get that
We went on our vacation trip and we're blessed to go to the US Virgin Islands and then to Florida
Went to Florida, US Virgin Islands, Florida, stayed a little bit and came back home
As I was traveling, I told Sherry, I said, I'd like to just use my passport
I don't think they'll stamp it because we're not going out of the country
What everybody's like to use my passport
My passport is a unique identifier
It's like a driver's license, but a little bit different, a little bit better
It's about citizenship, you got to be verified
To whom do you belong? Where are you from?
Arden has a real ID driver's license
Meaning he can travel certain places using his driver's license that people would normally need a passport to go
And according to in 2025, they say if they actually pull it off because they've already backed it off twice
In order to travel, fly to another state in the United States of America
You will have to have a real ID driver's license or a passport, one or the other
Why?
Because they want to know that you belong where you belong
I submit to you that if you can leave this place, if you can leave the church, if you can leave the mission
If you can leave the Sunday school class, if you can leave teaching the youth group
If you can leave the pulpit and go out in the world
And you can relate to people and there's nothing really different about you
And not people aren't wondering, why is that person being so nice?
Or why is that person sacrificing?
I understand you don't always have an opportunity to do something magnanimous or something huge
You don't always get to pay for somebody's groceries
You don't always get to give a tip at the drive-thru or better yet, pay for the person behind you
You don't always get to do those things
And some people do those things who are not Christians, I understand that
But if you have a pattern of doing something with your money, with your time, with your strength, etc
That's a little different
Someone who is observing you may begin to wonder
To whom do you belong?
That's right, and so to whom do you belong? Where are you from?
And I ask you, to whom do you belong?
Where are you from?
You do realize if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are from Graceland
That's where you are from, you did not earn it
You didn't get saved because you prayed a prayer
Because you committed your life to Christ
That's not why you got saved
You didn't get saved because you repented of your evil work
So you should do that, you didn't get saved because of that
You got saved because Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for sins for everybody who will receive it
That means the worst person you know, the person you can't even stand to be around
Because they drive you absolutely nuts, they're rude, they're mean, they're foul
That person is just as likely to be saved right now in this moment
As you were when you got saved, or as anybody else
Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, right?
They were all just as likely to be saved as anybody else
All they have to do is recognize there's something missing in them for an eternity with God
And accept the something that God is offering, and He will lift them up
The truth is, Adolf Hitler is no more wicked a man than I was when I was 24 years old
You say, oh that's not true, he killed thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people
He brainwashed a nation and supporting people
And they tried to take over the world essentially and tried to eliminate an entire race
That's way worse than you ever were
Now James 2.10 says, for he who keepeth the whole law and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all
Which means if you ever lied, you're just as bad as the guy who fostered a holocaust
Grace, grace is when we get saved even though we don't deserve it
In fact, grace is when we receive any gift that we don't deserve
Like when I bad mouthed my mom on the 24th of December and still got presents the next day
That's grace, it's not mercy
Mercy is when you don't get the punishment you deserve, which we haven't gotten it yet
Even unsaved people haven't gotten it yet
Grace is when you get what you don't deserve, and what was that?
God lifts you up from where you are and puts you in Graceland, pursues you with the blessings of grace
Blessing you in so many ways, that is if you'll just stop running
Grace lifts the people up and there is an expectation
The blessings of grace pursue the people of grace
And grace then sets the people apart and identifies them and they become grace givers themselves
Identified with the grace giver
Notice this is not about a promise, until it is
It's not about a promise, because nobody's promised that they will be saved
The Bible promises that everybody will have a chance
But nobody's promised that they'll be saved
So it's not about a promise until it is
The promise is if you will accept the grace of God, the blessings of grace will pursue you
And God will set you apart as a people identified with the grace giver
It's not about holiness, that's next week, the Holy Land
It's not about holiness, I'm not saying to you, you must get everything right
Work diligently, be careful in order to be pursued by the grace of God
That's pre-Jesus
Now you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, become a Christian
And you will be pursued by the blessings of grace because you live in Graceland
That's what James was talking about
So now if you know you're in sin, weep, don't laugh it off
Get busy, do whatever it is that you need to do
Be the person that God has made you to be
And let Him set you apart as if you had a passport that says kingdom of God
And you're on a journey away from home
Which is the reality
Not just figurative language
And then notice finally, and this goes into our conclusion, that grace is the bridge
It is the bridge between the promise and holiness
Already lifted up, they were called to behave a certain way
And holiness builds in us and grows in us as we follow God
Do the things that God would have us to do, experience the things that God would have us to experience
Surrender to the blessings of grace as God pursues us with them
And he develops holiness in us
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
That's no form of holiness
The wages of that sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
That is a form of grace
And Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly
And in that abundant life is holiness
That we'd be more like Him
Living on borrowed time
God said, in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die
That's what he told Adam and Eve
And then instead of them dying, he sacrificed animals and made them clothes
And sent them out of the Garden of Eden, protected them from the tree of life
That's grace
The Garden of Eden wasn't really Graceland
Because until they sinned, they didn't not deserve it
You see?
They think, well I want to go to Graceland, it's the Garden of Eden where everything is mine
And I can take care of it all the way I think I should
And I can serve God and everything's going to be fine
That's not Graceland
That's pre-fall
That's before they sinned against God
Then they sinned against God and God moved them out of the Garden of Eden
Out to where work would be hard
Out to where suffering would be real
Pain in pregnancy
Contention in marriage
Contention between man and man
Martyr could be a thing, death would actually happen
Listen to me
He moved them out of the Garden of Eden
After sin
Into Graceland
We live in Graceland today
It's borrowed time
What did they do?
What did the Israelites do that saved them from Egypt?
That called them out?
That made them a people?
That brought them into the promised land?
What did they do?
Did they worship God correctly?
Have you read the story of Joseph?
The story of Moses?
And what goes in between?
No!
No, they didn't
That's grace
You don't got to do it
But to get started in it, you got to stop running from God and just say, okay God, I'm yours
I'm going to do whatever you want me to do
And it means if I got to go through places that I don't want to be
I'm ready to do that
I don't want to run from the blessings of grace
Lift me up
And make me one of your people
And the blessings are great!
But also sometimes
They're hard
Peter was crucified upside down
Almost all of the disciples died for their faith
And they're in heaven with God for an eternity
So that's pretty good
I'm asking you today to recognize that we live in Graceland
That God will lift us up if we will allow it
That the blessings of grace pursue the people of grace
And that grace will set us apart as a people for folks to look to
Because we belong to Him
365 days a year
Not just 11 days at the end of April or May
Beginning of May
But 365 days a year
Borrowed time
Living on trespass land
Where we deserve the punishment that we get
We deserve the suffering that we go through
We deserve hell for an eternity
But because of Jesus we receive grace
Father help us recognize this reality
And stand out in every crowd
Everywhere that we go
Everything that we do
Would be different
In the midst of trials and tribulations that we would cease to run
And say, okay God
Do whatever it is that you want to do through this
Help us
We were previously not a people, didn't even have access
And yet
By the grace, not by the works that we would do
Not through spiritual disciplines or hard work or service
But by your grace
We have been saved
Use us and bless us as your people
In Jesus name
I also praise you to come forward at this time
We have a closing hymn
This is our song of meditation opportunity
To make some kind of a decision
I would ask you today
If you are here and you're a Christian
I want you to make this intentional decision
In your life that it works so deep
That you will stop running