Heeelp!
The Power of Grace
12/10/03
I. Introduction
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel.
In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very large.) When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the little wall.
Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, shoved—but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration.
All this time the boy’s father watched from the living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy’s father. Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”
Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!”
“No, son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.”
With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.
Tonight’s message is called HEEELP! And we’re talking about The Power of Grace. Grace is not only a grace for second chances like we talked about last week, but grace is also this thing that comes to our aid when we need it.
Remember we said that the word grace has various uses- goodwill, favor, loving-kindness, thanks, recompense, reward, and benefit. But grace is also defined as God’s ability added to our ability.
II. What Kind Of Help?
What kind of help is available?
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV 16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Well, what kind of help do you need?
Do you need help with your exams? Do you need help just to make it through the day? Do you need help to finish your chores in time? What about help to figure out how to do your math homework? There’s grace available.
Do you have some important decisions to make? Are you trying to decide where to go to college? What about who to take to the prom? Or should I even go to the prom? Where should I take my date to eat before the prom? What if she doesn’t like Burger King? Decisions, decisions. There’s grace available.
What about financial stuff? How am I going to pay for that extravagant prom date? Forget the prom, what about Christmas presents? What about that Acquire the Fire retreat that’s coming up in a few months? Dad needs a new tie for Father’s Day, where am I going to get the money? I need help. There’s grace available.
What about T-R-O-U-B-L-E? Are you going through any trouble? Is life at home not exactly ideal? Does it seem like everything in your world is falling apart? There’s grace available.
Psalm 46:1 NKJV 1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 121:1,2 1I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
How many of ya’ll can remember going through rough times? Some of you may remember times not knowing when your next meal would be. Some of you might remember times where your parents weren’t getting along and there was a lot of strife and junk going on in the house.
I remember tough times. I remember when my dad lost his job and was out of work for months and months. I remember my brother and I having to work multiple jobs to help buy food for the family. I remember having to comfort my mom when my parents were facing a terrible divorce. And I distinctly remember needing help during that time. And there was grace available.
“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.” – Mike Atkinson.
So there’s help available whenever you need it, but how do I get it?
It’s not like some fairy dust that you sprinkle all over yourself to get that extra boost when you need it. It’s not like Jiminy Cricket that just appears right when you need it. It’s available, but you have to ask for it.
III. How Do I Get This Help?
The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed fervently for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed to be coming. He eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the weather, and to store his few possessions.
But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. “God, how could you do this to me!” he cried.
Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.
“How did you know I was here?” he asked the rescuers.
“We saw your smoke signal.”
This guy asked for help, but then he got angry when action was taken in order to help him, but after all was said and done, he was saved.
But the point is, he asked, he prayed to God to rescue him, and he expected help to come as he scanned the horizon everyday watching.
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV 16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We find grace to help us when we need it after we’ve come boldly to the throne of grace. And I like this, because I don’t really like asking for help. For various reasons, but one of which is being scared that the person I ask will say no. Well, with God, we have a guarantee that when we come boldly to the throne of grace, we’ll find grace, that there’ll be help when we need it. And most of us won’t come boldly unless we know the answer is yes.
I never would have proposed to my wife if I were unsure of her answer. But if I’m convinced that someone will say yes, I have no qualms about asking for help, and that’s where faith comes in.
If I have faith, if I’m fully convinced and persuaded that not only is God able to help, but that He wants to help and will help, I’ll ask Him in a heartbeat. If I know the answer to number 21 on my algebra exam is beyond my knowledge of x, y, or z, I’ll be able to quietly whisper a cry for help in the middle of the test, then I’ll move on and trust that when I come back to that problem, I’ll know how to get the answer.
If I don’t know how much more I can take of the arguing and accusations going back and forth between my parents, I’ll ask God for help, and He’ll give me the boldness to scream, “STOP! Can’t you see what you’re doing to our family?” And help will come.
And you know, sometimes help comes before you ask, that’s part of what grace is all about, getting what you don’t deserve even before you ask for it. Like the prodigal son getting the love of the father poured on him before he asked. But when we are so bold to ask, we can know that we know that we know that help is on the way.
IV. Grace For The Future
Have you ever thought that you were in over your head? Have you ever been involved in something that for a second, you thought you couldn’t do? Have you ever realized that you want to do something in the future that seems completely beyond your ability and what you know? Does it scare you?
It shouldn’t. Why not? Because of grace. Remember, grace is God’s ability added to your ability. So that when you’re faced with something that’s beyond your knowledge or your skill or your training, you can rely on the grace of God to help. And that gives you an advantage over any other student in your classes or any other person in the professional field that you’re going to enter.
Now, there are countless stories in the Scripture of people that God called to do extraordinary things, things that were beyond them or anybody else for that matter.
Moses was one of those people, but Moses didn’t understand this called grace.
Exodus 4:1-13 1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ’The LORD did not appear to you’?"
2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied.
3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground."
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the LORD , "is so that they may believe that the LORD , the God of their fathers-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob-has appeared to you."
6 Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, [1] like snow.
7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8 Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."
10 Moses said to the LORD , "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
God wanted Moses to lead His people out of bondage in Egypt, yet Moses continued to make excuses because he was scared and because it was a job that was bigger than him. But for each excuse, God provides an answer. And His answer is grace. He says, “Moses, you do this, and I will help you!”
Gideon was also a man that God chose to do something beyond himself.
Judges 6:14-16 14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?"
15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
Judges 7: 1-6 1Early the next morning, Gideon and his army got up and moved their camp to Fear Spring. The Midianite camp was to the north, in the valley at the foot of Moreh Hill. 2The LORD said, " Gideon, your army is too big. I can’t let you win with this many soldiers. The Israelites would think that they had won the battle all by themselves and that I didn’t have anything to do with it. 3So call your troops together and tell them that anyone who is really afraid can leave Mount Gilead and go home." Twenty-two thousand men returned home, leaving Gideon with only ten thousand soldiers.
4"Gideon," the LORD said, "you still have too many soldiers. Take them down to the spring and I’ll test them. I’ll tell you which ones can go along with you and which ones must go back home."
5When Gideon led his army down to the spring, the LORD told him, " Watch how each man gets a drink of water. Then divide them into two groups--those who lap the water like a dog and those who kneel down to drink."
6Three hundred men scooped up water in their hands and lapped it, and the rest knelt to get a drink. 7The LORD said, "Gideon, your army will be made up of everyone who lapped the water from their hands. Send the others home. I’m going to rescue Israel by helping you and your army of three hundred defeat the Midianites."
Gideon went from an army of 32,000 to an army of ten thousand to an army of 300, and with that army he was supposed to defeat an army of thousands. And there was no way that that army could do it by themselves, so that’s where grace came in, a grace to help in time of need. God said, “I’m going to help you,” and that’s what grace is all about.
And that’s God’s promise to you, “I’m going to help you!” Whatever it is that’s bigger than you and your own strength, God says, “I’m going to help you!”
Let’s pray.
