Encore - 1008- Strengthened by Grace - 2 Timothy 2:1

Hey, thanks for joining us again on the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry Sr., and part of Follower of One. And we have a daily devotional to encourage believers as they head to work each day. Today, I want to talk about second Timothy chapter two, verse one. "You therefore, my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." It's believed that second Timothy is Paul's final letter. He's writing it to Timothy, a young pastor that he's trained up.   Many people interpret much of the book of Timothy as instruction to pastors. And maybe it is. I'm not a qualified to say exactly what Paul was intending to do, but I saw this challenge to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And I wanted to encourage us with that today, as we get ready to go to work, or as we're heading to wherever we're going.    What does it mean to be strong in grace? Christ Jesus is the model of grace for us. He came and died to pay for our sins. He came and did everything in his power to restore our relationship with him.   He is the definition of grace - unmerited favor at Christ's expense. I believe that God calls us to ship his grace into the world.   He asks us to be grace distributors. To be strong in the grace means that we have God's grace in the front of our mind. It's present with us all the time and we're available to bring that grace to bear in the lives of others. Part of the reason why I chose this first today, tomorrow, we will talk about 2 Timothy 2:2, which is about discipling other people.   It's about how we trust the message of Jesus from generation to generation to generation. But today we carry that message in our actions. We're strong in the grace. That means that we live being able to give grace to others. We're available to be patient and peaceful and give people a break, give others the benefit of the doubt.   I'm preaching to myself as I often do, because I don't believe I'm strong in grace, often. I want to be strong in grace more. I want to be present mentally with Jesus. In whatever situation I'm in, whether it's a workplace or if I'm in a store or a restaurant, wherever I am with my family at home, I want my relationship with Christ to be present in my mind so that I'm strong in that grace.   I've got the grace that comes from my relationship with Jesus, ready and available to insert into my relationships with any other person and any other activity. Today in your job and your workplace, I want to challenge you to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Ask God to show you what it means to be strong in grace, and then go deliver that into your workplace, into your work situation.   Let's ship Jesus's grace, to every person that we see today. Let's be people who have a little extra and who can give a little break. We can give an extra moment. We can ask someone to tell us more. We can take an extra second or two or moment or two to spend some time with a friend and just be available to them.   Let's be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, just as Paul reminded Timothy in this book. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people that you work with every day.