The Glory of God — Don Courville

Grace Made Perfect in Weakness

Good morning, I'm glad to be with you this morning. Let me read you a passage of Scripture that should speak to all of us. It's a passage in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 the Apostle Paul went to the Lord Jesus about His thorn in the flesh and the answer that the Lord gave to the Apostle Paul is one for all of us where he said He said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly.

Therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities and persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak then I am strong.

Heavenly Father. We just confess to you today that we don't always like being weak. We do like to see your power manifest in our life, we like the joy of the Lord to be Manifest and we we like to see you work through us and use us.

But father we pray that your grace would be sufficient for us that we would accept our weaknesses accept our infirmities. And we know that you don't want us to accept Defeat in our life. You don't want us to accept sin in our life habits that displease you.

But you want us to accept the fact that we are weak. You said that without you we can do all things that without. Without you can't do anything the Lord Jesus told in John 15 without me you can do nothing.

But with you we can do all things. So we pray that your grace would be sufficient for us and in a practical real way Father that we would love you with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind.

And with all our strength and we give you this time this morning Lord help us not to look to man but to look to you Father not to look to a radio preacher or to anyone. To set them up on a pedestal. But to continually set the Lord Jesus Christ up as the throne of our life and everything to revive revolve around him Holy Spirit.

We thank you for your minister of ministering of comforting in guiding We we need you now father. I pray for your anointing power that Christ might be manifest that your word might go forth with power that it might not return into you.

But that it would accomplish that would you please Father we pray that you administer to us personally from your word this morning. We pray for any that don't know the Lord Jesus Christ that they would recognize their utter Desperate condition without Christ that you would open up their eyes to see that their good works.

All the busyness in their church and all the activities of their life will not get them to heaven. But it's by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ where you say for by grace He is saved through faith and that none of yourselves is a gift of God and not of works.

Oh Lord that we would not boast. We know there'll be no boasting in heaven. So we thank you now for this morning. Thank you for our time in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I've been going over and studying in this area of giving glory to God and I don't know about you but sometimes it's very hard for me to accept the fact when the Lord is is Ministering to me in and pointing out things and he's always talking to us.

He's always Loving us. He's always encouraging us, but When he'll come along and point out our weaknesses and things sometimes it can almost be overwhelming. Excuse me, and he wants us to accept his grace for that area just like the Apostle Paul He wanted this thorn in the flesh removed it Revealed to him his need his area of weakness and and the Lord said his grace would be sufficient for him.

The Joy of Christ and the Glory of God

I want to share with you today some more in the area of giving glory to God as we're going through several weeks of studying on this in the area of Our daily Christian life just the everyday life and I like to have things practical.

I'm sort of like that. My wife is like that. We like things practical simple. We're not fancy people. We just like things to be practical and plain we do like Things to be clean. We like things to be nice and neat but in the Christian life the the thing that makes it so Dramatic to other people is that our life has a radiance to it in everything we do.

That reflects the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Lord Jesus Christ when he washed disciples feet a lowly servants task in that day. There is just the glory of God manifest in that little simple act, you know.

The Lord Jesus wants us to have his joy he said that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full and If we are living to the glory of God will have the fullness of the of the joy of God in our life.

Some comments I was just reading on last night. I hadn't even thought about sharing this this morning. Necessarily, I thought I might but not to do it on purpose but about this area of the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I wanted to preach on this this morning at church and on the joy of the Lord and Especially in the area of where Christ is divine and and getting into the his relationship to the father with the Lord.

Just he directed me to go another direction. So I'll I'll do it on the radio a little bit of this but The joy of the Lord Jesus as I study in the scripture I've come to the conclusion was that he lived in the realm of the father's love.

His joy was the father. The Holy Spirit God the Holy Spirit God the Father and God the Son were one and they had tremendous joy in each other. Is it like that with you? Do you get all of your joy from Jesus or do you have to get your joy from Jesus and somewhere else?

And if you lose it at this somewhere else then it upsets you. The joy of Jesus chamber says was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of himself to his father. The joy of doing that which the father sent him to do because he said remember I delight to do thy will.

Jesus prayed that our joy might be might go on Fulfilling itself until it was the same joy as his Chamber said have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce his joy to me. When we get into the joy of the Lord, we'll also experience the fact that God is being glorified through our lives.

Chamber said the first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out. Circumstances. You and I have to remember continually the sovereignty of God in relation to circumstances.

He said the cares of this world said Jesus will choke God's Word. Before we know where we are. We're caught up in the shows of things. All that God has done for us is the mere threshold. He wants to get us to the place where we will be his witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.

Be rightly related to God. Find your joy there and out of you will flow rivers of living Water. Isn't that good. Be a sinner for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious stop being a Sanctified prick and live the life hid with Christ.

The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as Breathing wherever it goes. There's the practicality of the of the Christian life being lived for the glory of God. The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it.

We need to focus on our consciousness with God and let him take care of everything else walking with Jesus. Excuse me. Now to take us into the scriptures this morning I want you to turn in your Bible to 1st Peter.

Living Stones and the Believer’s Spiritual Identity

1st Peter chapter 2. We're going to go through some verses that you're familiar with in 1st Peter 2 it's about the verses about the living stones and We've considered that There there are different facets of the Christian life that are necessary for spiritual success.

We've been talking about this. We've we've Studied that we must obey and do what is right. This is doing the will of God and then we must do what is right by faith and love but that's not all we must Do what is right by faith and love for the glory of God and many times in our Christian life We just settle down into sometimes what's been said as a look there.

Lethargic Externalized doing what is right type of routine where we go to church. This is right. We'll do it. We'll read our Bible because this is right. So we'll do it. Well, we're supposed to pray. So we'll pray this is right.

We'll do it and we just we just go through this routine. But the real test of success is not that we just do the right thing and not that we do it by faith and love. But why do we do it? Why do we do it?

Do we do it for the glory of God? Are you doing what you're doing today even right now for the glory of God? And so as we go into this lesson, what we want to consider is some various some factors. In in a practical way of living your life and me to live mine for the glory of God.

So we need some encouragement and the scriptures gives us the encouragement to do that. Now if you're in first Peter chapter 2 look at verse 4. To whom coming as into a living stone. Disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious.

This is the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 3 said if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If you have experienced the new birth and have truly been born again. Then you're going to enter into a realm of being in Christ.

You're a new creature. The old things have passed away your your old life was was dealt the death blow at Calvary. The old nature was destroyed that we might live in the power of the Spirit of God that we might be free that we might Be what Jesus wants us to be that we might be.

Lively stones to whom coming as unto a living stone. Jesus was a living stone. When you get plugged into Jesus, then you become a living stone. Also this allowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious you see Jesus was cast aside by men.

You might be cast aside also. But he is precious the Lord Jesus Christ is precious to those that recognize that he was God. God Manifest in the flesh as the scriptures says Jesus told the Pharisees if you loved God, you'd love me.

Because he came out from God actually he proceeded out from God. He showed him himself to us. What would God look like if he took on a body? He would look like Jesus because that's just what he was now look at verse 5.

He also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Look at down that slip down to verse 9. Why are we doing all of this but ye are chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation a Peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his Marvelous light which in time past were not a people but now are the people of God which had not obtained mercy.

But now have obtained mercy. We're doing this to reveal Jesus to those around us. We are living stones this designates our our nature. Someone said this is our nature. We are alive now before we receive Christ.

We were dead dead in trespasses and sins and through Jesus Christ who is the Living Stone? We've been giving spiritual life. Let me take you back over to the book of John John chapter 3. Let me read you this verse.

New Birth and Life in Christ

He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting life. That's a present possession that you have and He that believeth not the Son of Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth on him my friend without Christ.

You are in immediate extreme danger of going into eternity and Being lost separated from God forever. Which will will be a terrible thing. There will never be another chance your chance to receive Christ is today.

You have no hope of tomorrow you have no hope of next hour. If you have not received Christ and you've been putting it off. Let me encourage you with all my heart to receive Jesus Christ your Savior come to the point where you Recognize it you're lost lost in your sin.

The Bible says the wages of sin is death. That's eternal separation from God, but the gift of God God has a gift for you is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Eternal life is wrapped up in Jesus Christ.

He that has the Son has life. If you have Jesus you have life. Knowing Jesus is life that they might know him. It says in John 17 3. This is eternal life. It's knowing Jesus. Eternal life isn't that you walk the aisle and you pray to prayer.

Eternal life is that you've received Christ into your life. Now walking the aisle and praying a prayer may be the Avenue whereby you Receive Jesus into your life, but many have walked aisles and their lives have never been changed.

Many have had some kind of a emotional experience, but their lives has never never changed when Jesus comes in He changes your life something else as living stones. We were once dead to God. Ephesians 2 let's turn over to Ephesians 2.

This is a tremendous passage. I haven't had much time to study because we've been moving in trying to get our house set up. This week we we finally got a little utility built on this house. We are renting right at the moment had No washing machine hookups.

No place for a dryer or anything. And so we got that done this week and I haven't been able to study. I have a such a desire to get into the word and to pray more and also to get out with people and spend more Time with people and I also have a tremendous desire to go through this passage of Ephesians with you.

But let's just do a little quick quickie on it this morning. Ephesians 2 this is tremendous book. Ephesians and You verse 1 hath he quickened who were dead and trespasses and sins. This is the description of a life without Christ.

You're dead in trespasses and sins. Everything we do is a trespass against God because we're not Relight rightly related with him wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world.

And let me tell you when you get plugged in with Jesus Christ. This whole world is not going to be attractive to you anymore. You see that things of this world are passing away and and without Christ as your Savior.

The best you do is you just try to make yourself happy in this world. You get the entertainment and I don't the entertainment of this world does nothing to me. We've got all of our activities all of our sports all of our events our fashions and our fads and all this stuff.

Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. This is what's behind all of this world system.

It's the Prince of this world who is Satan and in verse 3 He said among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath.

Even as others when you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior He gives you a new nature the old natures dealt dealt with at the cross. Jesus Christ finish it finish it off this old nature. You can't do anything good with it.

So the only thing that we can do is come to God and confess to him that we are. We are desolate we are destitute. We need him to help we can't you know. The devil puts into our minds this idea that we can fix ourselves up to be acceptable God to God.

No, we come just as we are need to sing that song right now. I can't sing too good. So I'm not going to sing it especially without a lot of people around me and with some instruments. But just as I am without one plea you come to God just as you are right now today if you're lost.

You get out on your knees right now and ask Jesus to come into your life. Tell him about your sin. Tell him how you are. He knows anyway, so you might as well tell him just as we are and then in verse 4 but God I Like this but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us.

Even when we were dead in sins had quickened us together with Christ by grace. You're saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When you Receive Jesus as your Savior he places you in Heaven positionally you are there.

You are there in Christ. It's not by your works. It's because of what he did on the cross and the fact that you committed yourself to him. You received him as your substitute as your Savior. You repented of your sins and your self-life and you turn to Christ.

So he's raised you up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Why that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus for by grace.

So you say through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God and not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

And we'll have to stop there. We got to stop somewhere here. This is off my track a little bit this morning. But it's right in the area that God saves you so that you will show forth Jesus Christ verse 10 for we are his workmanship.

It's what God is doing in your life. That's important. Not so much what you are doing. We have so many things that we do sometimes we as Christians. We're the most busy people in the world and many times we are busy at everything.

But what we're supposed to be busy at and that's praying. It takes it takes us a long time to figure out that when we get together, we better pray. When you get together with your brother, you better spend some time praying when you get together with you your sister in the Lord.

You better spend some time praying. Otherwise, we just had a good time together and there may not been much profit in it. So we're once dead to God and in this spiritual birth I in herself our person has been made alive to God according to this passage in Ephesians and in calling us live living stones.

There is an indication of purpose something that's alive has purpose. We've been chosen for a purpose. God chose you for a purpose. He saved you for a purpose and here it is it is that you and I will live and Serve him for his glory and for his honor.

Not our own but for his now. We are a spiritual house. Let's go back to Peter if we can get back over to first Peter chapter 2. We we are we're a spiritual house. This designates our identity. You know in in when they were building Solomon's temple each stone was built away from the temple.

It was carefully chipped and chiseled until it was right the right size and then it was put into the temple. Outside of the temple. It was just a stone. It had a purpose but the purpose was not fulfilled till it was in the temple and you have a purpose in life.

But you will not fit in you will not be right until you are placed into Jesus Christ. He becomes your Savior. He becomes your life. Then you will see your purpose. You will experience something that you've never experienced outside of Christ.

And so as the stone was brought in and put into place in the temple God has placed us into the body of Christ the church when you get saved. You're also placed into the body. You have a purpose. Everyone has a purpose in the local church.

I believe everyone in a local body should have something that they are to do and that they know what they're to do. There's and everybody is just as important. The only thing is we must do it in the spirit.

We must do it living in victory. We must do it for the glory of God. We can't do it in the flesh. We can't do it for ourself. Otherwise it begins to become an offense to others. We begin to grieve the Holy Spirit.

We begin to quench him now. This is. This thing about the temple just reminds us that God has created us as spiritual beings and our basic Characteristic is not related to the material and we need to remember that because we're around material so many times.

But we are spiritual and when we violate any kind of the of spiritual spiritual. Um, let me say scriptural truth. We invite as someone said we invite confusion into our lives. We invite many times Satan to come into our lives or to come into our churches when we do things that are not according to the Word of God and This is why many times we have we bite and devour one another as Paul said he warned them in Ephesians.

We we offend we. We do things that turn people away from Christ. We do not draw people to Christ because we're not operating according to the Word of God as a spiritual house. We are God's temple and he indwells us we belong to him and we need to accept this truth.

The Bible says in the Hebrew Hebrews 3 6, but Christ as a son over his house. He's the head of the church. No preacher is the head of the church and I'm sorry, but there's no Pope as the head of the church.

Only Christ is the head of the church. He's the only one that's to be preeminent in a local church. He is the one that is to be worshiped and adored and the focus is to be drawn to him many times the music in Our churches manifest that we are a worldly church because it draws attention.

We have all of our applause and everything of man and Christ really many times. It's just slowly shoved out and we don't even realize it. Look at this this book of first Peter says that we are a holy a royal priesthood.

This designates our office. We are a holy royal Priesthood we're a chosen generation verse 9 a royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people and I'll get into some things about these verses here, you know a priest is one who has the authority and the ability to represent God to man and man to God and the terms holy and royal teach us that our priesthood is primarily spiritual and Now this is in contrast to the Old Testament priesthood.

Paul was drawn off of the contrast of the Old Testament priesthood to show them how spiritually they were priests they were a believer priest and and They were kings in that they were related to the service of the great King the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a serious failure and a judgment We will bring into our own lives When you and I will fail by our ignorance of the Word of God or either our neglect of the Word of God to be Obedient to do the work of a priest.

This is often a primary reason I believe why many of us do not have God's blessing in our life and why he lives without. Why we will live without spiritual fulfillment because we're not functioning in the capacity that we're supposed to be function as believer priest.

We are a chosen generation. This designates our relationship to God. The term generation indicates that we are a group of people That have been united by God's choice of us. He's chose us and then we when we choose him we get connected into him.

It's not the fact that we are Rejected. God doesn't reject us. He loves us for God. So loved the whole the world that he gave his only begotten Son is the fact that we reject him. He chooses us, but we won't choose him.

Will you choose him? Today to be your Savior. We're chosen by God to be a part of his people. We're chosen by him to do his will and we're instructed here In the great honor that God has conferred upon us and that calling us.

He calls us Kings and priests. He calls us holy and we're not holy in ourselves. We're holy in Christ Jesus. He says we're a holy nature. This designates a nation. Excuse me. We're a holy nation. This designates our character.

The word holy in this verse is not referring to our actions. It's referring to the kind of people that we are in Christ Jesus, you know that we use the term Saints. We are a saint. It's not because you and yourself are a saint.

It's because you are in Christ. This makes you a saint and so the word the word holy could be more Accurately probably presented to us in that we are separated. God has chosen we he has separated us unto himself when we're to live.

Every day when you go to work you're to live like that. Separated to God. Are you living like that? And notice that we are a peculiar people this designates value now. This doesn't mean in our modern terminology that you're you're strange.

This is an old English word that means marked out as purchased personal possession. This is special and behind this concept of being Purchased, you know acts 2028 says that God purchased us with his own blood.

And so this verse Shows us that we are special to God. He purchased us at a high price and the price was the precious blood of Christ and actually the term purchase is referring to the Death burial and resurrection of Christ because this was what he went through to purchase us.

He died for us. He was buried and he rose again on our behalf. He laid down his life for you. You were so special to him. And so he purchased you by paying the price. He paid for your sin. He became actually Sin for us when he died on the cross.

That's why God the Father had to turn his back on God the Son at that one terrible moment when he purchased us At Calvary and became sin for us. He paid the price. The only thing that could be done to save us was we had to have our sins dealt with so the atonement of Jesus Christ Is the sinner of our whole life now all of this?

Should remind us That we have to live very careful than that. We will not mar the the testimony of the death and burial and resurrection of Christ by our daily life. That we will give a testimony that we are a new creature continually.

Practical Christian Living for God’s Glory

Wherever you go, I believe within a few minutes you should be able when you meet somebody you should be able to try to discern their spiritual setting their spiritual condition within a few minutes as you're praying and you're talking you're praying that God will give you insight to this person what Their needs or I was talking to a couple older men last night I was in the place and and within a few minutes I had it pegged in that these men were Spiritual men found out about their church and where they went and things like that and then we talked on from there.

You as a representative of Christ will live for God's glory as you live in the spirit day by day now. Let's let's give some Get into some instructions for living to the glory of God. You see this verse 9.

You're a chosen generation of royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people that you should show forth the praises. This is your daily life my daily life show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness.

Are you living in darkness? Then you need to examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith when we are in the light and we're living for the glory Of God, there's going to be a five at least five major areas.

We we will have fruitfulness in our life fruitfulness always glorifies Christ. John 15 8 hearing is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples since the vine is the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 1 and John 15 the fruit would be a manifestation of his person His character his attributes in your life and in mine, and so this is referring to a living life of Life that lives consistent with the truth.

And this is what throws many people often from from receiving Christ. They look at you or they might look at somebody else or they might look at me and they won't see Jesus. This is why God is showing me.

It's so important that I walk in the spirit all the time. I have a I have a great desire to abide in Jesus presence all the time and It's a real grief to my spirit when I don't do it. Because he's showing me just one time would be enough to send somebody off the other direction the seriousness.

We're to walk in the spirit we're to walk not according to the flesh but in the spirit and Here's something else that will glorify God. Unity will glorify God. Romans 5 15 5 6 now the God of patience and Consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus that you may with one Mind and one mouth glorify God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see God has united us to be one in Christ. Unity is a biblical characteristic of the church. It is a An essential we must have unity. And so if we will allow some kind of personal matter to divide us or Some kind of a little thing like that.

We will not give a true testimony of Jesus Christ. God is glorified when we choose to practice in this area being one in Christ. I don't have time today I was going to take you over to 1st Corinthians 12 and take you down through there and show you the oneness of the body in Christ, but something else we Will glorify God by manifesting self-control and I think I've touched on this in the past in 1st Corinthians 6 19 and 20 says what?

No, you're not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you which you have of God. You're not your own for you're bought with a price and therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit.

Which are God's now this verse does not teach that it's wrong for us to enjoy ourselves. It's not what it's saying. But it's reminding us that the purpose of our life is to glorify God not just to satisfy The demands of the flesh but in in living the fleshly things that going through the world living like we do, you know.

Can we do it to the glory of God? Whatever you do whether you eat or drink do it to the glory of God. Here's another area. Generosity will glorify God. One of the things that is so evident in our lives will be Where our our heart is out of the bones the heart the mouth speaks.

But also does the love of God touch your pocketbook? I had one teacher when I was in college said if it doesn't touch your pocketbook. It's never hit your heart Paul said and in talking in 2nd Corinthians 9 12 and 13 about how the the Christians up there had Sacrificed and they sent down to the Christians down in Judea.

He said this ministration. They glorified God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal Distribution unto them and unto all men. Paul is commending the Christians for taking up an offering for the Saints in Judea.

He spoke of this as causing God to be glorified. When God supplies our need we must be open to his leading in how we spend his money. You say I got my paycheck. Did you get your paycheck or is that his paycheck?

We're to be stewards of our possessions and to learn to give and live for his glory. And then the fifth area we need to trust God in trials. These are practical areas giving being generous in our giving self-control.

Trusting God in trials first Peter 1 7 and 8 if you turn back over there He said that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perished though It be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory.

Trusting God Through Trials

At the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now, how you doing? How am I doing? Sometimes it's sort of embarrassing when we might have to say well Lord I haven't really been living for your glory.

I pray for your grace to help me that I might live for your glory your glory more. Oh father help us in this area, you know, I reaction to our trials. This is it just shows us where our spiritual condition is.

Peter is instructing us here and how we should respond to though to the problems in the test of life by the use of words. He uses the word precious Love and yet believing this is the opposite of the attitudes which ask why?

This is what we want to do many times. Why God? I did you let this happen instead of just saying Lord I love you. I'll trust you in this trial. You know Oh Abraham. He was a tremendous tremendous testimony to To God.

God was really glorified when he's when he took him through the trial of a son. Isaac took him all the way up. You know, he didn't look over it Sarah's wrinkled up body and his old body. He kept looking at God.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God. God was pleased with his life and you know, he could have given way to feelings of hopelessness. He did not allow his inability or that of Sarah's to influence him.

He didn't allow unbelief to hinder him and so what he did is he chose to reject all of these things and he chose to just believe God and God was glorified greatly in that. It was tremendously hard. We need to believe God then and in the area of fruitfulness unity self-control generosity and trials just believe him when these areas are Made known to you now in Closing up.