Changed Lives

60 Lindale, Texas 7 5 7 7 1 or calling 2 1 4 9 6 3 8 6 2 6 None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends lives changed lives John chapter 1 and Well while you're doing that, let me share with you one of the Outreaches that we work closely with is in Brooklyn the Williamsburg pastor Ben Padilla and they have an outreach center there and this last week it was brought to their attention in front front of the their center that a gentleman had overdosed and they brought him into the challenge center and he was Conscious and so they were slapping him trying to revive him. They put some ice on him and trying to revive him and Phyllis one of the workers who also comes here Times Square Church, she came over and laid hands on him and said in the name of Jesus. I rebuke death and He came out of it just like that and he said get this off of me meeting all that ice he said what's this doing on me get off me he stood up and walked away and let's pray now that he comes and finds the Lord the Lord spared him and He was he was gone he was on his way to death, but it was rebuked in the name of the Lord hallelujah John chapter 1 verse 40 it says one of the two who heard John speak and Followed him was Andrew Simon Peter's brother He found first his own brother Simon and said to him we have found the Messiah which translated means Christ and He brought him He brought his brother to Jesus and Jesus looked at him and said You are Simon the son of John You shall be called Cephas Which translated means Peter Now that verse right there If properly understood is both convicting as well as encouraging Jesus gives us in that one little verse a complete review and picture of a disciple's life past present and future He said you are Simon the son of John now In other words, I know your past.

I Know your birth. I know your history. I know your present I know that you were a Jew.

I know that you're a sinner You're Simon now a quick-tempered Impetuous rough fisherman and Yet Jesus looks at Simon and all of his humanness in all of his sinfulness in all of his unrighteousness and his religiousness and his spiritual emptiness and Jesus speaks prophetically to Simon. He says you are You are What you are Simon, I know who you are I know what you are. And in fact, I don't like what you are.

I don't like what I see But then in the same verse he speaks he looks into the future. He says you are but you shall be I see you Simon being changed and transformed into Cephas into a Peter You see at that moment Simon was about Like the sand on the beaches from which he had fished but Jesus said Simon I'm gonna take that sand and I'm gonna mold it and I'm gonna make you a different man a new man. You're gonna be changed.

You're gonna become a rock Nobody probably knew Simon better than Andrew his brother and that's probably the reason that when he found the Messiah He went running immediately to his brother and brought him to Jesus and on his way He probably was thinking if there's anybody that needs the Messiah. I know Peter I know he needs Jesus if anybody needs change, it's Peter and so he brings him to Jesus and May the Holy Spirit speak prophetically to you as Jesus did to Peter Tonight these words apply to you and to every one of us you are But thank God you shall be hallelujah You are whatever you are Whatever you are at this moment, but you can be changed you shall be I Recall a time when I realized that I was not the hotshot Christian that I thought I was But the Lord through his word gave me a picture of the Simon in me and he seemed to say to me That you are you're this lesson. You're such-and-such and pinpointed my need my sin.

I Shifting sand tossed by the waves of the sea and It's a grievous thing as many of you have discovered it's grievous thing to discover areas of weakness and Sin that you never thought that was there and When Jesus said to this future disciple you are Simon It was like Nathan the prophet pointing the finger at King David and saying thou art the man In John 2 25 It says he speaking of Jesus. He did not need man's testimony about man for he knew what was in a man and He knows what's in us tonight. He knows what's in you.

He knows what's this within me He knew what was in Simon Luke 16 15 says and he said unto them You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts For that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable is detestable in the sight of God Job 34 21 and 22 says for his eyes are upon the ways of man and he sees all his steps There is no darkness or dark shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves And it goes on in verse 25 it says therefore he knows their works and He overthrows them in the night and they are crushed. I Know what it feels like to be crushed under the convicting hand of God and to have him say to me you are You are Simon, I know who you are. I know what you are and Then the full picture of what I am or have done is placed before my eyes It's not a good picture to discover that you're a Simon But Jesus does not only convict he prophesies He encourages He announces he brings good news to Simon.

He says you are that's true But there is coming a change You shall be Simon will be a Peter Flesh will become spirit The weak will become strong the denier will become the disciple of the inner circle and the boastful will become the humble You see the story of The disciple that we know as Peter Is the story of a man whose name was changed and It's the story of every believer who wants to be changed Now tonight you have a name It may be a good name. It may be a bad name or it may be in between But you have a name and I asked tonight. What kind of a name is it and Has it gone from a Simon to a Peter You see whenever our name is mentioned people associate something with that name We either have a good name or a bad name Or maybe some people just can't quite to get a handle on us, you know when our name is mentioned, you know They go like this.

Well, you know, he's he's sometimes this and he's sometimes that Wishy-washy. Yes More wishy than washy Revelation 3 to the angel that the church at Sardis wrote saying I know your deeds that you have a name You have a reputation that you're alive, but you are dead Now the name that I speak of is the character The reputation the testimony that is associated with our name Now in the New Testament the word for name appears 228 times and It's almost always used in reference to God or to Jesus That's the name that is above every other name and that Is the name that we try to emulate so that he we become like Christ So that his name is implanted upon our hearts so that we emulate him Philippians 2 9 says therefore also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name and His name refers to all that he is and all that he has done it refers to his attributes and his character his power and his works and There's a long and wonderful list of names for Jesus He's so vast. He's so mighty He's so awesome in his person.

It takes the writers of the scripture numerous names To give us the full picture of who he is. In fact, one of those names that he is it says he's the Alpha and Omega and Alpha in Greek is the first letter and Omega is the last in other words. It says he's the A to Z He's the A to Z For example, he's our advocate He's our bright and morning star.

He's our comforter. He's our creator. He's our deliverer He's our eternal salvation He's our faith our God our healer our intercessor our justifier our kinsman redeemer our lawgiver He's our manna.

He's our name. He's the name above every name. He's our offering.

He's our propitiation He's the quencher of every thirst He's the Redeemer He's our Savior. He's the truth and You got to go a little bit to find you He's our Urim and Thummim. That means divine guidance He's our victor He's our word.

He's our water He's our wonderful counselor and he's our Mount Zion that we come unto hallelujah The best answer given regarding the name to call him is the one that Moses said. What do I call you? The best one is I am that I am hallelujah But this message is not about the name or names of the Lord but it is about the name that we're known by but we've got to know that name and that character of Jesus that he wants us to emulate Now in the Old Testament one's name often described his character or at least hope for character and I've been fascinated by And sometimes amused by the names given some of the Old Testament Personalities and I've kind of made a study of their names and what they mean in some time I'll preach a message on it, but I give you a couple examples Deborah from the book of Judges was a prophetess and it's interesting that her name means bee as in sting as in bugs and It suggests that she was a busy little body who carried a sting on occasions in fact In Judges 4 or 5 it says and she used to sit. This is Deborah She used to sit under the palm tree In the hill country of Ephraim and the sons of Israel came to her for judgment In other words, she was a woman of God.

She was not a busybody B but she was a bee who dispensed honey and the sons of Israel came to her and they got sweetness out of her God give us more Deborah's in the house of the Lord and Then there's another fella That I want to mention to you and we have a few of them in this church His name is Eutychus And it's come to my attention that Sometimes in the services and sometimes when I'm preaching That there are certain ones of you or individuals we have a few Eutychus's in the church because Eutychus was the fella in the book of Acts that fell asleep when Paul was preaching and If if we have any Eutychus's in the service right now, I got two words for you Wake up Probably didn't hear me anyhow Eutychus was sitting in a window listening to Paul priest and he preached a long time I mean he he was like the preachers that preach here on Sunday he fell asleep and fell out of the window and Died and Paul prayed for him and revived him Do you do you know what Eutychus means? You know what his work his name means in Greek? No, it means lucky It means lucky he was lucky Paul was a preacher that night when he fell out of the window now on certain occasions and in a few select cases a name change took place as a sign of a new relationship that a new Relationship with God had begun Abram was changed to Abraham when he entered into a new relationship with God Now there are three biblical characters that I want to speak about tonight. Two of them had a name change But most of all they had a change of heart and As a result two of them were given a new name and the third one or the second one We're going to mention it had a new reputation as a result of it. First of all, let me tell you about a man who lived up to his name a Man who lived up to his name.

There is probably no other personality in the Bible Who lived so exactly up to his name or we might even say down to his name? Then the patriarch Jacob Jacob was just what his name implied One who got what he wanted by con and by craft and by cunning ways and He learned it. He was taught it from his mother Rebecca Who taught him how to manipulate? Rebecca overheard her husband Isaac speak to Esau Jacob's twin brother to bring him his favorite savory dish she immediately runs and gets Jacob and Quietly, so her husband cannot hear here. She whispers into his ear and she says listen to me Go bring me two choice kids That I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father such as he loves So that he may bless you before his death You see Rebecca's favorite was Jacob and so she does what I have seen certain other Manipulating mothers and Persons do when they are unwilling to let God Perform his will his way either because they don't like God's methods or Because he's too slow for them so they connive and They suddenly work behind the scenes and they get people to do this for them They get people to do that and when it all comes out to their favor, they say oh isn't the Lord wonderful Lord wonderful my eye.

It was a manipulating person behind the scenes beware of manipulating mothers like Rebecca I Have seen them in the church. I've seen them behind the scenes telling Calling the shots in families and in marriages Causing untold troubles and And like mother like son Jacob goes before his father lies and steals the blessing or the birthright and When Isaac informs his son Esau that Jacob has come deceitfully and taken away thy blessing You know what Esau's reaction was he laughs as it were and He says I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised.

He's just living up to his name This is what it says in Genesis 27 36. Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times You see Jacob is the classic con man or con woman He is a picture of those who have used tongue or trickery or whatever to gain advantage Proverbs 11 20 speaks of those who are perverse in heart and that is what Jacob had in his heart And God needed to change him All right there. That's Jacob a man who lived up to his name Let me give you another one tonight a man who didn't live up to his name.

I Refer now to a New Testament character a runaway a Man who ran away from his owner and in doing so committed a capital crime The father's name was Onesimus and Paul wrote one of his one of his letters is contained Is given to us as he writes to Onesimus's owner slave owner whose name was Philemon and There is a book that bears his name of that in the Bible And it says in Philemon. It's only one chapter, but in verse 10 and 11 Paul writes to Philemon. He says I appeal to you for my child meaning my son in the faith Whom I have begotten In my imprisonment Onesimus Who formerly was useless to you? But now is useful both to you and to me Now apparently what happened is that this Onesimus was saved through Paul's prison ministry I believe that maybe some of the outreach workers went out into the Times Square of Rome and saw this fella hanging out with all of the other types like him and Somehow brought him to Paul and he came and had a glorious conversion Not only was he converted but Became if Paul was allowed visitors in his prison So he was there many many times and Paul discipled him They were very very close Paul says that they had a very close relationship Now ironically the name Onesimus means useful or Profitable and yet until he came to the Lord he could not and was not living up to his name and Paul admits this and he writes to Philemon and he says to him that fella Onesimus I know he was no good to you He's useless to you as far as you understand him But I'm sending him back because he's had a change of character But when he called him and said he has not in his past lived up to his name really what Paul was saying Is that he's a good for nothing? He's a waste Now turn with me to John excuse me, Matthew chapter 5 because Jesus used the same term good for nothing and I want you to see that the Lord can take Onesimus's he can take people who had expectations That they were going to turn out to be good, but they didn't turn out that way or he can take a nobody He can take a waste and he can make something out of them Look at Matthew chapter 5 Verse 13 Jesus said ye are the salt of the earth But if the salt has become tasteless, how will it become salty again and There he says that it is good for nothing.

I Never realized this until I was reading this that Jesus called certain people good for nothing It is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men Now This Jesus was talking about the sin of being tasteless or in Jesus words good for nothing and you see Onesimus is a type of person or Believer who never quite lives up to his or her name They show promise But they're like salt that they lose their savor and instead of being profitable they are Unprofitable and I'm sure that you have seen Onesimus's we have seen them come into this church They're like the spring that like the seed that springs up immediately and And They appear to be on their way They appear to be have a changed life, but they never quite live up to it. They never live up to the expectations But my friend you see we are called upon to be Onesimus's the Onesimus's of this earth Now it must have sounded strange for the crowds listening to Jesus to hear him speak of his disciples assault But it was very appropriate The master who had chosen them had also chose has chosen us as an element of purification To prevent decay and There's two or three things about salt that you ought to know that apply and ought to apply to every one of us for example Salt we are told is good. Salt is good the philosopher Homer called salt divine and Plato spoke of it as a substance dear to the gods It was cheap.

It was plentiful it's an indispensable element in the food of both men and animals and without salt public health, especially in Bible days where they had no refrigeration public health would have suffered and Old Eastern Proverbs says if you tie up salt you tie up the world That's what they believed salt in that day was like oil is for us today if you could tie up the world's oil supply you tie up the world and When Jesus told the disciples ye are the salt of the earth He was saying something. He was saying that wherever you honor me there will be goodness and there will be righteousness and you will help to preserve the society and things around you and That's what children of God ought to be. We ought to be the salt of the earth Living up to the expectation that God has placed upon us For example if you're salt at work Your presence in a crowd often will shut people's mouths When I was in high school, I remember that I'd walk into the locker room at gym And all of a sudden every it would get quiet Or sometimes innocently I'd walk up to my friends and I thought they were engrossed in some study Some book or some study instead.

They would be engrossed in a Playboy magazine And they turn around they quote and said you can't see, you know, you can't do you can't see that They put the magazine away Well, I didn't know it then but it was an honor to be treated as such And I want to tell you something if you're an onesimus If you're the salt of the earth Your presence on the job or in your home is a preservative Element to stand up against the flood of iniquity that is there a friend of mine told me the story he said I was in a barber shop and They started telling all kinds of dirty jokes And finally had heard enough and one of the hits bar. He's the one cutting his hair He paused and looked around. He said I got a good one.

He said are there any ladies here and My friend said spoke up. He said no, but there's a Christian here And he said you could hear a pin drop He said that barber shop got to his quiet and I had never heard it So quiet before not a word was said from that on that in that point on Now you say brother down that wouldn't matter in my job Well, listen, let me tell you something. It'd be worse if you weren't there.

It would be worse if you're not the salt of the earth The only reason why the flood of iniquity is not worse in this land is because the salt is still here Second Thessalonians 2 7 says for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work Only he who restrains will do it until it is taken out of the way And that's what we believe That's why we believe that God wants us here in Times Square to be the salt in this city to be a restraining force and listen your salt Wherever you are Another thing about salt. It's cheap, but it's valuable and no matter how insignificant you may feel you are in the church or In the job or wherever the salt is placed on the table And we must never belittle our personal value to God or to man Sometimes you may feel that way You may feel like you're just a mere grain of salt, but let me tell you there's no table. There's no home There's no good me and God wants you to be salt where you are and I want you to know that that when you're not here in the house of God, you're missed You're missed You're the salt of the earth Now, let me go on to talk about the third character I want to call your attention to the name that we started with and that's Peter Peter is a type of person who? Constantly struggles to live up to his name and the expectation that the Lord had for him There were occasions in which Jesus called Peter by certain names We read to you the one in John 1 42 he addressed As Simon because he was not he had not yet forsaken all to follow Jesus In Luke the fifth chapter verses 10 11 Jesus said to Simon do not fear from now on you will catch men and when they had brought their boats to To the land they left everything and followed him and that was the second time Jesus called Simon by his name But note again, he's called Simon as in John 1 42 Because yet he had not become Peter and then in Matthew 16 23 Jesus Called Peter by another name and some of you remember what that name was He called him Satan Listen to it Jesus called Peter Satan.

He turned and he said to Peter get me get behind me Satan You are a stumbling block to me For you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's now the reason for the rebuke is that Peter is that Jesus had introduced talk of suffering and The cross that he must suffer And you see Peter was one Partly he had responded to follow the Lord because he was excited about the position that he would have the rank that he would have a power that he would have and Peter was one who wanted the crown without thorns. He wanted a kingdom without suffering and Peter said no to his message and so in Luke here Luke the 16th chapter Peter says to Jesus when he talked about going to the cross where he talked about dying Peter said shook his head. He said God forbid.

This will never happen to thee and What he really meant was It'll never happen to thee because if it happens to thee it'll happen to me And at that moment Jesus was reminded of the great tempter in the wilderness And this is why Peter is called Satan Satan literally means Adversary and you see Peter's ideas were not God's they were man's and You see Satan is any force which seeks to deflect us from the way of the cross Satan is that influence which turns our back from the hard way that God has set before us and Even a disciple can be like Satan when man's will gets in the way of God's will On another occasion Jesus addressed Peter as Simon three times It's in John 21. You can look at if you want, but I'm sure it's familiar to you three times He calls him Simon. This was the post-resurrection appearance and Peter is acting like a Simon not like a Peter and And three times Jesus asked Peter or calls out he said Simon son of John do you love me more than these? and the these that he was referring to was the fact that Peter had backslidden he had gone out fishing and The call to Peter here is Simon and it's a picture of a disciple acting like a Simon Rather than Peter the rock It was the old Simon the old nature had taken over and Jesus could not call him Peter because he didn't act like a rock.

He acted more like a dead fish But you see all three of these men Jacob Onesimus and Peter were changed men two of them were given a change of name to denote a change of heart and All three of them were called by the name that signified the manifold grace of God in their lives And oh, may we be challenged tonight. May you be challenged? I don't know what you are tonight. I Don't know what your name is tonight, whatever it is whatever you are God can change your name and turn you from a Jacob to an Israel from a Simon into a Peter.

Hallelujah That's what's been happening to some of you If you are or you have been fighting a battle of being a Jacob God can turn you into an Israel Let me ask you tonight. Are you one that battles with the spirit of a Jacob? Jacob who was the manipulator? always scheming for personal advantage Always looking out for number one always looking out for myself And if God doesn't answer your prayers you try to answer them for him One you need one young convert told me one day. He said brother down.

He said pray for me He said I have conned people so much all of my life. I Have manipulated people so much. It's second nature to me.

He said pray for me He said it just oozes out of my life Every time any encounter all I'm thinking about is conning manipulating And what he was saying was please catch me. Stop me. I want to change And you see the church has its share of Jacob's And some of them have come in here and they've been changed hallelujah and some haven't But the first step to change in this regard is to call it what it is To call it what it is.

You got to call yourself by the proper name You know what sometimes kids growing up they have their parents Give them a name that may May not be appropriate for them to do this But you know kids grow up and they have a certain kind of behavior and they're given a nickname sometimes Or brothers and sisters will give them a nickname and you know Sometimes one will say to the other boy, you're you're you're living you're acting in character. You're living up to your name. You've got a certain name Well, if you are a Jacob if you have a certain kind of name then tell it like it is Tell the Lord yes, I am a Jacob.

I'm an manipulator or whatever Because you see when the angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob and Jacob said to him I will not let thee go until you bless me and I've heard that preached in many ways and I've heard the blessing promised to people who are not entitled to it Because they never did what Jacob did This is what happened when the angel the Lord which was the Lord himself Wrestling with Jacob and you know what he was after In fact, I preached a message here one time called victories limp on a whole message just on this and What God was after what the angel the Lord was after was to Jacob to say yes I am what I am. I Admit what I am and I want to be changed That's what he meant when he said I'll not let you go until you bless me I'll not let you go until you get this thing out of my life I don't want it In fact, in fact The angel the Lord came to Jacob and he asked him this one question He said what is your name? Now that would seem ridiculous. Of course, the Lord would know what his name is and The Lord did know what Jacob's name was.

But what he wanted to find out is if Jacob knew what his name was He wanted to find out if Jacob knew that he was a Jacob That he had all this carnality in him and when Jake when he said to him, what is your name? to properly understand it you have to Understand this that when he said to him, what is your name? It was like there was a long pause and Then Jacob answered it, but he answered in it a whisper The original language says that he answered in a whisper And when he said what is your name? he said Jacob in other words the light dawned on him and He finally said Oh What they have been saying about me for 20 years is true. I am a Jacob and When he said that it was here It was like you coming to the altar and saying Lord I lay this thing down I lay my sin down I lay my Jacob down because I don't want to be a Jacob anymore And the moment he said that God said I'll bless you. I'm gonna give you a new name You're Israel from now on Hallelujah Hallelujah.

Oh Has the Lord given you a new name since you've been coming Hallelujah, has he given you a new name? What about Onesimus the Lord turned a waste and no good into a useful servant Paul says of Onesimus I have be whom I have begotten in my prison ministry It means that this runaway this good-for-nothing grain of salt that had lost its favor in God's sight and man's sight this runaway this homeless soul Onesimus got saved and Paul says now he can live up to his name Now his name means something who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me Huh? Oh my friend. It's remarkable what God can do to a nobody What he can do to a waste what he can do to a nothing And change them into an Onesimus and make him profitable Some of you had a bad name. You've had a bad name listen Proverbs 21 24 says this quote proud quote haughty quote scoffer Are his names? He was naming he was saying he are his names.

This person's proud haughty scoffer And I want to tell you tonight if you've had any of those names or any other name God wants to change your character and change your name and make you in an Onesimus In fact tradition tells us That one of the Christian martyrs name slips my mind Ignatius one of the Christian martyrs Wrote a letter. In fact, the letter is preserved. He wrote a letter When he was in Sardis, he wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus and He said in his letter.

He said thank God for the bishop that he has given you whose name was Onesimus and tradition says that this runaway slave Onesimus went back and paid restitution was discipled and Grew in the Lord and became a bishop in the church at Ephesus That's what God can do my friend. That's what God can do Finally, I want you to know how the Lord prophesied how and when Peter would truly become Peter the Rock Now remember also that the concept and let me let me explain this the concept of having one's chain Name change is very very important. It has great significance Babylonian kings in the Old Testament changed the names of their vassal princes Pharaoh changed the name of Joseph.

His name was a Zephanith Pania, that was his Egyptian name Masters also imposed names. They gave their own names to their slaves Perhaps even the marriage custom of the wife assuming the name of the husband rest Originally in this same concept and You see these Old Testament kings did this in order to convey the idea of absolute authority over their subjects and that's why they gave them their own names and You see the same idea is conveyed when the Lord changed Peter's name and He is saying to Peter. I want to take complete and absolute possession of you.

I Want to have complete mastery over you But you see Peter was not cooperating For three and a half years Jesus fought to have Simon become Peter and to become exclusively his But he keeps fighting it his old Simon keeps coming up But as in marriage Jesus wants to give us his name To be linked to him eternally because we accept his complete and absolute authority over our lives If you and I were on the beach with Jesus and as the disciples were in John 21 What name do you think that he would call to us? I think about that What would he call me when he called me a Simon or would he call me a Peter? Would he call me the old name or would he call me the new name? This is what Jesus said to Peter John 21 Verses 18 and 19. He says truly truly I say to you when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished and What he meant by this is that you were Simon the self-willed independent immature Doing your own thing you were headstrong These words are a description of a Simon not a Peter He says when you were younger you used to gird yourself. You walk wherever you wished and If that describes you my friend you are still a Simon.

You're not a Peter You've not really yet fully been changed You're still in charge of your own life because a true child of God does not go at what go wherever he wishes You walk where the master wishes you to walk But note this prophetic word regarding Peter Here is what Jesus means in John 1 42 when he first saw Peter And he said you are Simon the son of John you shall be called Cephas which translated means Peter or rock It was a long journey from John chapter 1 to John chapter 21 But here is Jesus describing describing Peter the rock He says when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished, but when you grow old When you Peter are the rock You will stretch out your hands and Someone will gird you and bring you where you do not want to go Now this he said signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God in other words Peter did become a rock and unmovable always abounding in the grace of God He was martyred and Yet he took his stand and he would not be moved from that rock as a rock Presence of Jesus hallelujah when you've taken care of everything he will reveal himself to you Joseph came closer to his brothers Please come closer to me. I'd make me a Peter Make me a Peter Listen to this wonderful promise in Revelation 2 17 It says he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the church to him whoever comes I will give him some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows, but he who receives it Like Peter Like Peter he wants to give you a new name Go with me one more verse in closing One more verse go with me to first Peter first Peter chapter 4 if anybody If anybody would have written this word Or understood this word in this verse. It was Peter One little word.

I want to give you in closing first Peter 4 10 It says as each one of us has received a special gift Employed employed in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold the manifold grace of God That word manifold is very very interesting and remarkable It's only in the Bible a very few times in Secular Greek it basically means this many colored Many colored it's frequently used to describe natural objects For example a leper skin might be called manifold or using the original Greek word meaning many colored a piece of red granite Was called manifold because when a light would hit it It would show brilliantly all kinds of different shades of color. It was multicolored or many colored the Greek word also for manifold also means intricate intricate or complex and When it's applied to a person, it means that they are artful Resourceful and able to meet any occasion or emergency and As I said the word is used infrequently in the New Testament Matthew 424 and the King James it says that Jesus healed Divers diseases and the word dot divers there is the same word as manifold. It means many Many Also It's Titus 3 3 the same words applied to those enslaved by divers or various lusts Again, it's the same word Peter uses in 1st Peter 4 10 now when Peter uses this word and he translates it the manifold grace of God its application is remarkable and What Peter is saying? Is that the grace of God is a many-colored or multicolored thing and He means by the use of this word that there is no color in the human condition There is no color of your heart There is no shade of evil in your heart that the grace of God cannot match There is no name that you have there is no reputation that you have that the grace of God Is not able to change you from that to something else.

Hallelujah It doesn't matter if our hearts are yellow Or gray or off white Maybe tonight your heart you feel black and blue bruised Maybe you feel yellow. That means a little chicken a little fearful Or maybe you feel blue tonight each of these colors Can symbolize some condition of our heart that is not right But listen to me, whatever the color of your heart the grace of God is manifold The grace of God is a many-colored thing. It can match every Situation that is in your heart every condition that's in your heart He has given us Manifold divers grace Multicolored grace and Manifold also means artful or resourceful or clever and Therefore to speak of the grace of God as manifold means that there's no problem that can arise to which the grace of God is not able to provide you a Resolution hallelujah and change your heart if your heart's yellow tonight You'll make it white praise God if your heart's blue He'll make it to royal blue.

Hallelujah If it's yellow, he'll make it gold. Hallelujah Whatever it is the manifold grace of God is able to change your hallelujah From a Jacob to an Israel from a Simon to a Peter Oh God Do it here tonight to some who are sitting in your presence Let's stand together. Let's stand together father sitting up there and I I used to say when I was