I've said this before, but when
I was a, I don't know how old I was, but I think that's the
first hymn that ever just grabbed me, that particular hymn. I love that hymn. I've entitled
this message, Gifts. Gifts. But unto every one of us, Ephesians
4, 7, but unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. In Matthew 7, verse 7, the Lord
said, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.
To him that knocketh, it shall be opened. What gracious promises. And then he said, for everyone,
or what man is there of you, of whom if his son asks bread,
will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he
give him a serpent? If you then, being evil." He's
talking to his disciples. If you then, being evil. Does that resonate with you?
If the Lord said that to you, would you be offended? If you
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more Shall your father, which is in heaven, give good
things to them that ask him? Romans 8, 32, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him freely give us good things? all things. There's
nothing that could possibly prevent him from giving. I think of what
the Lord said to the woman at the well, if you knew the gift
of God, and God's gifts are like no other gifts. Anytime, any gift we give, there's some
string attached. Some string attached. Somebody
says, I'm not like that. Well, I'm sorry, I am. If I give
a gift, it's hoping to get something in return. Maybe Lynn's not like
that. I don't know. I think everybody
is. Maybe that's just a negative
point of view. But, well, no, it's a realistic
point of view. When we give gifts, we hope somehow it's going to
benefit us, or even it's going to make us feel good. You know,
but as far as giving a gift with no strings attached, only the
Lord does that. If you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith that they
give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water. If you knew, you'd ask. And he would give. I think of
James 4, 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God. Anybody here lack wisdom? Let
him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, generously,
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Now, I've entitled this message,
as I already announced, Gifts, and I hope these scriptures have
put us in the asking mode. You have not because you ask
not. Now, in Ephesians chapter four,
verse seven, but unto every one of us, That's talking about every
believer, all of the elect, all of those for whom Christ died,
all of those who have been given a new heart by the Holy Spirit
and regeneration, every single one of them. And to every one
of us is given grace. I love that. Every one of God's
people is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. Now, there are kind of two views of this verse of scripture,
and I would say they're both applicable. He means both. Some think that what Paul is
talking about is spiritual gifts. Every believer has a gift that
is unique to them, that the Lord has given them for the benefit
of the body of Christ. Every believer has that. Some
people will think of what they would call the gifts of the spirit.
And they talk, think about the charismatic gifts, speaking in
tongues, being able to heal, being able to discern prophecy
and all these things that are mentioned in first Corinthians
chapter 12. But let me say this, those gifts are now not in operation. Somebody says, can you prove
that from the scripture? Yeah, I can. In Acts chapter eight,
when Philip came to preach the gospel to those people, why didn't
he lay his hands on them so that they could receive the gifts?
If he could have. Peter and John came down. And the scripture says, when
they saw through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy
Ghost was given. Acts chapter eight. Why does
the scripture point that out? When they saw, let me make sure
you see this, turn to Acts 8. This is important because so
many people claim to have these gifts of healing and gifts of
speaking in tongues and gifts of prophecy and so on. And when
they make this claim, it's phony. It's funny, it's not real. Because
the only way these gifts could be transferred is by the laying
on of the apostles' hands. And they didn't have the full
canon of scripture just yet. And when the full canon of scripture
was given, these gifts are no longer needed. When that which
is perfect is come, that which is impart shall be done away
with. So when people make this claim to have these gifts, like
healing. I've got the gift of healing.
Well, if you did, you'd go to the hospital and heal everybody
there. And if you won't do that, it's because you're a phony.
And that is what's going on during this. Look at Acts chapter 17. Then laid they, the apostles,
laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost,
verse 18. And when Simon saw that through
the laying on of the apostles' hands, The only ones who could
transfer these gifts were the apostles. And when they died
out, these gifts died out, and they're really no longer needed.
Now, I thought it would be Pretty neat to be able to pick up snakes
and have them bite you and it doesn't hurt you. And to be able
to heal people and speak in other languages and all those things.
But evidently it's not needed anymore because the Lord has
not caused it to keep going. But there are gifts mentioned
in Romans chapter 12. And these gifts, every believer
has one or more of those gifts. And I would suggest you go back
and look at Romans 12 very carefully to see these gifts. that he mentions. He also mentioned some gifts
in 2 Corinthians 8, and what a blessing they are to the church.
It's also talking about saving grace. Gifts, well, maybe, but
yes, that's included. That's a scriptural concept,
but it's also talking about saving grace. Unto every one of us is
grace given. Now, let me say this about God's
grace. God's grace always saves. It's not an offer thrown out
there for you to accept or reject. God's grace saves. By grace,
ye are saved. And through faith, and that not
of yourselves, that faith that you have, and every believer
possesses this gift of faith. That not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Every aspect of salvation is
by grace. And whatever grace we have, it
was given us in the measure that Christ gave us. It's all his
gift. I love that verse of scripture
in 1 Corinthians chapter four, verse seven, where Paul says,
who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have
that you didn't receive? Now, if you're a believer, you
do differ from an unbeliever. Who made the difference? It wasn't
you. God made the difference in eternal
election when he chose you to be his before time began. God
the Son made the difference on Calvary's tree when he put away
your sin. He worked out a perfect righteousness
for you, gave it to you, and put away your sin. God the Holy
Spirit makes the difference when he gives you a new heart, when
he gives you a new nature. It's called the new birth, being
born from above. God made the difference. And
you know what every believer says to that? Amen. You know
that's so in your case. I don't have to argue about that
with a believer. Now, an unbeliever may make objections to that,
but no believer will. The Lord alone makes the difference. Now, he said, now, if you received
it, why do you glory as if you didn't receive it? You know,
there is nothing, and I thought about this word. I thought, should
I use this word? But I'm going to. There's nothing more asinine. That's a good word. There's nothing
more asinine than someone to try to give themselves the credit
for what the Lord has done. He gives grace according to the
measure of his gift. Now look back in Ephesians chapter
four, verse eight. And I love the language here.
Wherefore he saith, speaking of the Lord Jesus, And this is
a quotation from Psalm 68, 18. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended
up on high, talking about his ascension back into glory, it
says he led captivity captive. I like that, don't you? He led
captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, when he was raised,
all of his people were justified. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Somebody says, I thought we weren't
justified until we believed. Well, you were justified eternally
in the purpose of God, in the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And the scripture says, he saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And this is why you can't mess
it up. It was given you in eternity. And have you ever, have you ever
thought, I want to give somebody something and you intend on giving
them something and through their ill behavior, you don't want
to give it to them anymore. Well, I have, nobody else has,
I have. The Lord never does that. The
Lord of Denver does that because all you have was given you in
Christ Jesus before the world began. That's when you became
the possessor of it. Somebody says, explain that to
me. I can't explain, man. I just believe it. It's what
the Bible says. And I love the way it says, when
he ascended on high, he led captivity captive. Now, I think this is
very interesting. The only person who knows anything
about captivity is a believer. What do I mean by that? We'll
turn to Romans chapter seven for a moment. Paul says in verse 14, for we
know. Every believer knows this. that the law is spiritual. God's holy law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. And that means sold as a slave
to sin. Now, Paul's giving us his own
experience. Somebody says, well, how could you have been saved?
And say something like that. I've heard so many arguments
that say when Paul said that, he was speaking as an unbeliever.
He was just giving a hypothetical situation. Now, wait a minute.
You know what Paul said before he was saved? Touching the righteousness,
which is in the law, I was blameless. That's what he said before he
was saved. After he was saved, after God had done a work of
grace in his heart, he said, for we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. And every believer knows what
that means. Look in verse 22 of the same
chapter, Paul says, for I delight in the law of God after the inward
man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into, what's that word? Captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man
that I am who should deliver me from the body of this death.
I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with my mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. Now, anybody that has a new nature, and this is what it takes
to understand this. It takes a holy nature to see a nature
captive to sin. You don't see that until you're
born from above. And when you're born from above,
you see that everything about your flesh is nothing but sin
in and of itself. And you can't change that. Isn't
that so? You can't change that. It doesn't
give you an excuse for sin. It doesn't make you think, well,
sin's okay, I can't help it. No, it doesn't do that. You take
full and complete responsibility for your sin. It's all your fault. But you cannot change this thing
of being captive to sin. And that's why every believer's
looking forward to dying. When I die, I'm no longer gonna
have this sinful nature that I'm dealing with now. All I'll
have is a holy nature and I won't have to deal with this anymore.
And that's why we look forward to dying in that sense. If you
really believe that the sin problem has been taken care of by what
Christ did, you can look forward to dying. But in this picture,
we have this picture of Christ ascending, leading captivity
captive. Don't you love that picture?
He leads captivity captive. He takes captive captives and
brings them with him to glory. Look in Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, verse four, but God who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins. Don't miss that. This is where
you and I were by nature, dead, dead. What can a dead man do? Stink, that's it. He has no ability
to do anything to save himself. He is dead in trespasses and
sins. You say to a dead man, if you'll
just accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you'll be saved.
That's foolish. It doesn't even make sense. And
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Even when we're dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved
and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus sitting in heaven right now. Now, I love
I love to somebody says, I'm insure for heaven as if I'm already
there. You know that. No. I'm not as sure for heaven as
if I'm already there. I'm already there in the person of my Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm there right now. That's how
sure I am. I'm seated with him in heaven in Christ Jesus. Now,
he, back to our text in Ephesians
4. Wherefore, when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, I'm gonna
get back to that, gave gifts to men, but now that he ascended,
what is it? But that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. And that's talking about when
he came to this earth, he descended to this earth. I wonder what
people thought when he said, I came down from heaven. If I
said I came down from heaven, you'd say, you're a fraud. But
when he said, I came down from heaven, he did come down from
heaven. I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that by all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. Now he descended down from heaven and here on earth, in
time, in space, he invaded time. And in time, he worked out a
perfect righteousness for everybody he represented. That's my righteousness
before God. The righteousness that he worked
out. That's why I can look forward to judgment. I have perfect righteousness.
I don't have any sin. What about it? It's gone. It's
gone. Every believer, he worked out
perfect righteousness. I love the way he said to John
the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
When Christ fulfilled all righteousness, every believer did. And not only
that, He died and put away the sin of all of his people and
his righteousness becomes their righteousness. He that descended
is the same also that descended up far above all heavens that
he might fill all things. And he gave gifts. Now, these gifts, a lot of times
people like to kind of emphasize a gift that somebody else can
see that can be a blessing to others and so on, and there is
that. But this is more the things like
the gift of life. What a gift. What about the gift
of righteousness? It's called Romans 5 15, the
gift of righteousness. If you're righteous, it's because
God gave you this gift. Christ gave you this gift. If
you have faith, it's the gift of God. It's not the product
of your free will, it's the gift of God. If you have repentance,
He gave you this repentance. He's exalted as a Prince and
a Savior for to give Israel repentance, the remission of sins. That rest
you have in Christ, where you really see His sufficiency and
you know you don't need anything else, that is His gift. Every aspect of salvation is
the gift of God. Now there's gifts like hospitality
and encouragement and generosity, and you can read about those
in Romans chapter 12. And we're to covet earnestly the best gifts.
But I love where Paul said, yet I show unto you a more excellent
way, and he talks about love. But this thing of gifts. Every
aspect of salvation is a gift. I love the way the Lord said,
it's more blessed to give than to receive. And in this thing
of salvation, he's the more blessed one, isn't he? He's the giver. We are the receiver. I love to think about the gift
of the Holy Spirit. That's mentioned several times in the New Testament. Every believer has been given
the gift of the Spirit of God, and everything we experience
as far as our spiritual life comes through the gift of the
Holy Spirit. For instance, the fruit of the Spirit. It's the
fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruit you came up
with. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, it's the gift of the spirit, it's a gift
of God. When you feel poor in spirit, that's a gift of God. When you
don't have anything to bring to the table, that's the gift
of God. When you're unable to mourn over
your sin, that's the gift of God. When you're meek, before
God, whatever he does is right. That's the gift of God. When
you hunger and thirst after righteousness, that's the gift of God. When
you're merciful, that's because you've experienced mercy. When
you're pure in heart, that's because he gave you that pure
heart, that new heart given in the new birth. Peacemaker, persecuted
for righteousness, all those things, it's the gift of God.
All that is because of God the Holy Spirit, his work in us. I think The Lord saying, my peace,
I give to you. The peace he has with God. He
said, the glory which you've given me, I have given them. The glory, now think of that.
Every aspect of our salvation is his gift, his free gift, his
gift given with no strings attached. Now, what I thought about, when
I thought about this thing of giving, the thing that comes
to my mind most powerfully is found in John chapter four. Would
you turn with me there? We're gonna end up in John chapter
four. This is where the Lord said,
if you knew the gift of God, Christ himself is called the
unspeakable gift in scripture. John chapter four. This is one of my favorite stories
in the New Testament. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his
disciples, he left Judea. and departed again into Galilee."
You know, whenever there's that kind of thinking, one's baptizing
more than the other, you know what the Lord will do? He'll
just leave. He'll just leave. He's not gonna have any part
in that kind of foolishness. And that's what was going on.
They were being competitive. Well, so he's baptizing more
than John. I love the way the Lord laughed. He's not gonna
stick around that kind of stuff. Verse four, and he must needs
go through Samaria. You know why he must needs go
through Samaria? Because one of his elect was
there. And he's gonna go after every one of his people. If you're
a child of God, he must needs have gone after you. He went
after you. He must needs go through Samaria. You see the only reason the Lord
must need to do anything is he must do his father's will. This
was his father's will. Verse five, then cometh he to
a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of
ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Now, Jacob's well
was there. We talked about Jacob this morning,
the God of Jacob. Jacob's well was there, been there for centuries. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well, and it was about the sixth hour, it was about noon. Now,
this lets us know something about the true humanity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was wearied with his journey. It was about noon. Verse seven,
there while the Lord is sitting there on that well, there cometh
a woman of Samaria to draw water. Now it could be that this woman
was coming there at that time because she didn't think anybody
would be there. You go on reading, this woman
had issues. She'd been married five times.
She was presently cohabiting with someone that was not her
husband. And I am sure that every time
she came around that bunch, There might be chatter, whisper. Look
at that. There she is. There she is. We
know what she's done, what she's doing. And I can see where she
just wouldn't want to be around that. Can you? I mean, that's
it. So I know this is just conjecture.
But why else was she coming to the well at noon when it's hottest,
when everybody would go in the morning? She just wanted to avoid
how people would treat her. And I can understand that totally.
Go on reading, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus
saith unto her, give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away
unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. You know, she had been ostracized
all her life. The Jews would avoid being around any Samaritans. And if you read the history of
the Samaritans and the kings, they were the people who feared
God and served idols. They feared God and served their
idols. And the Jews just looked down
upon them because they saw that they tried to make a hybrid of
religion and they had no respect for them and they stayed away
from them. And this woman, was surprised that the Lord would
talk to her. Verse 10, Jesus answered and
said unto her, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, thou would have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water. If you knew, you would ask. If you don't know who he is,
you won't ask. But if you knew who he is, you'd
ask. And you know what else? He would
give you living water. That's his promise. Somebody
says, well, I've asked and I haven't been given it. You never asked. You might've tried to strike
a deal with some guy or make a bargain. I'll start doing this
if you do that. That's not asking. If you knew
who I am, you'd ask. And he'd give you this living
water. The woman, verse 11, saith unto
him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with in the well as deep.
For whence then hast thou that living water? She didn't have
any idea what he's talking about. Art thou greater than our father
Jacob? Yeah, infinitely so, infinitely
so. Which gave us this well and drank
thereof himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered
and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. Now that's true of anything in
this world. You can drink, you can desire
something, you can go for it, you can get it, you can drink,
you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna thirst again. There's no satisfaction in anything
in this world. But verse 14, Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life. Now he's talking about satisfaction. Actually being satisfied. Now, I, in my experience, I'm
not satisfied with anything about myself. I'm not. but I am satisfied to be saved
by Christ. I find complete satisfaction
in that. I find complete satisfaction to have His righteousness as
my only righteousness before God. I have complete satisfaction
in knowing that His blood makes me perfect before God. I have
satisfaction in Him. This is what we're talking about.
You're complete in Him. That's the satisfaction every
believer... You know, if I think my salvation is up to me in some
way or up to my works, I have no satisfaction. I'm just scared.
What's gonna happen to me? I must not be saved. But when
the Lord gives me grace to see that He is all in my salvation,
I'm satisfied. Don't need anything else. Verse 15, the woman saith unto
him, she still didn't know what he's talking about. The woman
saith unto him, sir, give me this water that I thirst not,
neither come hither to draw. All she understood was physical
water and not having to work anymore. Verse 16, Jesus saith unto her, go home,
call thy husband and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Thou hast well spoken, I have no husband,
for thou hast had five husbands. And he whom thou now hast is
not my husband, in that saidst thou truly. The Lord is showing her who she
is and who he is. And she says in verse 19, the
woman saith unto him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. How
in the world could you know all this about me if you were not
a prophet? I perceive, and I perceive this,
you are a prophet. But now she starts religious
mumbo jumbo. She still didn't know what he
was talking about. Verse 20, our fathers worshiped in this
mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, woman,
believe me. The hour cometh when you should
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the
father you worship. You know not what we know what
we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh
and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now, worship is impossible for
the natural man. I must have God the Holy Spirit
to worship. That's why I will never say,
come worship with us. I hope God enables you to do
it. But the only way I can worship and the only way you can worship
is if we have God, the Holy Spirit. You know what else is absolutely
necessary in worship? The truth. There is no worship
apart from the truth of the gospel, the truth of the word of God.
This is absolutely necessary for worship. God, the Holy Spirit,
and the truth of who God is, who you are, how he's saved by
Christ Jesus. There is no worship apart from
that. And the woman still didn't know
what he's talking about. The woman saith unto him, I know
the Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come,
he'll tell us all things. I don't know what you're saying,
but I know when the Messiah comes, he'll tell us Jesus saith unto
her, I that speak unto thee, am he. What assurance he gives
this woman. And let me tell you something,
that you'll know if you know Jesus Christ. You'll know he
is the Christ. Now you'll be dead sure of that.
He is the Christ. He is God's prophet. He is God's
priest. He is God's king. You wouldn't
even call his name if you didn't know who he is. Everybody that
comes to him, they come to him because they know who he is.
God's revealed that to him. He reveals to this woman who
he is. And upon this, verse 27, came
his disciples and marveled that he talked with this woman. They
wouldn't have. She's a Samaritan. What's he doing talking to this
dirtbag? That's what they were thinking. Yet no man said, what seekest
thou? Or why talkest thou with her? They had enough sense to
not rebuke the Lord or question what he's doing. The woman then left her water
pot and went her way into the city. You'll leave your water
pot too. The woman left her water pot, went her way into the city
and saith to the men, come see a man which told me all things
that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Now let's stick with this language. She didn't just refer to the
five marriages. She said, come see a man who
told me all things that ever I did. This can only be understood in
light of the gospel. He told me that all things that
I ever did, all it was was sin. That's it. The good stuff, the bad stuff,
it was all sin. Transgressions, the breaking
of God's law, that's the bad stuff. Iniquity, inequity. We read of the iniquity of the
holy things of the children of Israel in the book of the law.
The iniquities are the good things. They're nothing but sins. He told me all things that I
ever did was nothing but sin. Have you ever found that out
about yourself? You know what else he told me?
All things that I ever did were perfectly righteous. without
sin, without transgression, without iniquity. Because when Jesus
Christ kept God's law, everybody he represented kept it as well. And my standing before God is
one who has never sinned. He told me all things that I
ever did. I didn't do anything but sin.
And I didn't do anything but righteousness. He told me all
things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Only the Christ can do this. Then they went out of the city
and came unto him. And in the meanwhile, his disciples
prayed to him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I
have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him out to eat? Jesus
saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me. and to finish his work, say not there yet four months, and
then come at harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift
up your eyes, and look at the fields, for they are white already
to harvest, and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gather fruit
into life eternal, that both He that soweth and he that reapeth
may rejoice together. And herein is the saying, true
one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap where you
bestowed no labor. Other men labored and you were
entered into their labor. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him. For the saying of the woman was
testified, he told me all I ever did. So when the Samaritans were
coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with
him. And he abode there two days, and many more believe because
of his own word. And they say unto the woman, now we believe,
not because of thy saying. For we have heard him ourselves
and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the
world." Now, somebody says, I know I'm saved. I know I'm saved. As soon as you say that, a question
mark will come up. If you're not totally hard hearted,
a question mark will come up. Am I really? You see, faith is
not knowing you're saved. Faith is knowing he is the Christ. Of this they were sure. Jesus
is the Christ. Who so believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. Now, if someone objects, I know
people who believe that he's the Christ, that they're not
born of God. You're wrong. Now, somebody might have a different
idea of what kind of, they might have, they might, it might be
a false Christ they're believing on. You know, that's not like
the Christ of the Bible. I realize that there's plenty
of those out there. But anybody that believes that Jesus is God's
Christ, God's prophet, the very word of God, God's priest, if
he brings you into his presence of God, you must be saved. God's
king, the one who rules and reigns, whose will is done. Anybody that
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be blessed by your grace to know
who you are. And Lord, if we know who you
are, we will ask you to save us and give us all the gifts
of your grace, knowing that you're able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all we ask or think. And we know that everybody that
asks you, it will be given. Lord, give us the grace to begin
asking, beseeching thy son even now. Lord, we We ask for saving
grace. We ask for faith. We ask for
repentance. We ask for love to you and love
for one another. We ask for perseverance. We ask
for the fruit of your spirit. We ask that we might be poor
and mourn and meek and hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Lord, we ask that you'd make us merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers,
and give us the blessed privilege of being persecuted for righteousness.
Grant us thy gift. How we thank you that you so
love the world, that you gave your only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life. In Christ's blessed name, we
pray.