Is God’s grace really sufficient?

Steve Brown:
Is God’s grace really sufficient? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Jerry Q. Parries to do the teaching this week. Jerry is a pastor, an author, and has served in ministry for more than 35 years.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey, we have a surprise today, Jerry Parries is here, my beloved friend, you know, we’re friends because of grace.

Jerry Parries:
That is correct.

Steve Brown:
I mean, we discovered that you and I are both weird about grace.

Jerry Parries:
All the way, all the way.

Steve Brown:
And Jerry and I sometimes are not the same politically, not the same socially, not the same philosophically, but at bottom line, we love Jesus. We see grace radical, and that brings us together.

Jerry Parries:
Oh, that’s the most important part about it, isn’t it?

Steve Brown:
It really is. Jerry said to me one time in a meeting, he said, Steve, there were a number of us in the meeting. He said, Steve, you know that a lot of people in my community don’t agree with your political views. Can you deal with that? So easily I get, cause I know what’s important and what’s important is a friend like Jerry and a subject like grace.

Jerry Parries:
Amen. Amen.

Steve Brown:
Okay. Let me have a prayer and then we’ll talk about grace being sufficient.

Jerry Parries:
Yes.

Steve Brown:
Father, we come into your presence and we sometimes forget that you are sufficient and your grace is enough. Remind us this week on Key Life of your presence and your love, and your kindness, and your gentleness and your goodness. Father, you know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast and you know the hard places and the soft ones, the laughter and the tears. Remind us again that you’re sufficient for every need. And Father, we ask for forgiveness for both my friend Jerry and for me from our sins, they are many. We would see Jesus and him only, and we pray in Jesus Name. Amen.

Jerry Parries:
Amen to that for sure.

Steve Brown:
Jerry, we live in some pretty scary times, don’t we?

Jerry Parries:
Oh man, we do. It’s a bit challenging and I just wish that people would fall in love with Jesus because Jesus says this, he says.

If you love me, then you will love others.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Jerry Parries:
And that’s what we need. We need more love, not more hate, not more, you know, we could agree to disagree. We could just love on each other. You know?

Steve Brown:
You know, we maintain a prayer list here at Key Life where people write and ask for prayer or call and ask for prayer. And it’s a long list. You go through it. You just, you’re depressed. I can only do it once a week because there’s so many problems, so much pain, so many family difficulties and financial problems. And it just goes on and on and on. What you’re going to teach us this week, I think, is that grace is sufficient for even those needs, whatever they are.

Jerry Parries:
That is absolutely right. Let me tell you, the grace of God is not only there to forgive your sins, but to help you and carry you through difficult. It’s a supplier. It’s a helper to help you through some difficult moments in our lives. And we all have very much challenges. We were talking in the office before we came in that my life even now as a living testimony is going through a lot of challenges. But God’s grace is sufficient and his grace is carrying me through. And you asked the question, you said, how do you deal with this? How are you doing this? And my answer is, I’m resting in Jesus. I’m resting in his grace. And when you realize how much he loves you, when you realize that he has really been a helper to you and that he loves, when you realize somebody loves you, you know they’re going to be there for you.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, that’s really true. Okay. You got any Scripture for us?

Jerry Parries:
Absolutely. Absolutely. First of all, let me set this up, Steve. I wanted to tell somebody that if you think that you’ve messed up so bad, that what you’ve done is unforgiven, or if there’s something in your life that you just really can’t forget, or something’s holding you in bondage, I want you to know that God’s grace is enough. God’s grace is enough. Paul talks about in II Corinthians 12:7, he says.

Even though I have received such wonderful revelation from God, so to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torture me and to keep me from becoming proud. Three times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time the Lord said to me, my grace is all you need. My power works best in your weakness. So, now I am glad to boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weakness and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and trouble that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I’m strong.

I said a whole lot there.

Steve Brown:
Oh, there is. Do you think that when we go through tough times, He’s bringing us to the point where Paul is? That may be bringing us to the end of ourselves. We can see his power and his faithfulness and especially his grace.

Jerry Parries:
Yes, absolutely. You know, I was thinking that sometimes, as our children do things in their lives and you know that you’ve been trying to tell them that’s not the best thing to do. That’s not, don’t do that. Sometimes you have to allow them to learn that they’ve gone as far as they can go and they come back to you for help. And sometimes Jesus allows us to go as far as we can go. And then we realize, man, I need you. And he said, that’s what I’ve been waiting for. That’s what I’ve been looking for, I’ve been looking for you to come to the end of yourself to realize that you can’t do this on your own, then my grace is sufficient to help you through this.

Steve Brown:
You know, people really don’t believe that, and sometimes I don’t believe it. You know, because I run into the far, you know, the Prodigal Son is a great story.

Jerry Parries:
Yes, it is.

Steve Brown:
And his welcome home is a great metaphor for God’s welcoming us, no matter where we’ve been, or what we’ve done, or how much we failed, or the pain that we’ve experienced, run to him. He said, I was expecting you and I’m so glad you’re here.

Jerry Parries:
And the beautiful part about that story is the father’s always looking for him, always waiting for him. And the Bible says that he saw him a far off. And we saw him a far off, that means that he was looking for him to come back at some point in time. Father may say, Hey, I did that and done that. I know he’ll be back. I remember my daughter, when she went away to college, my wife just was bawling and crying. She was like, cause you know, when children go off to college and she was calling. So, she said, aren’t you sad? I said, I think we better enjoy this moment. She’ll be back.

Steve Brown:
And you think the Prodigal Son’s father said the same thing.

Jerry Parries:
He says the same thing. He’ll be back.

Steve Brown:
And when he came back, you know, we’re not, we don’t have a father who says, all right. We’ve done this before, and I’ll forgive you again, but don’t do it again. I have a friend, late friend, Rusty Anderson, who was with his granddaughter, and she did something that disappointed him. And he said, Honey, don’t do that. And she said, Granddaddy, I’m sorry. And then she did it again, and he said, Honey, don’t do that. And she said, I’m so sorry. And the third time it happened, he finally said, Sorry isn’t enough. And he said, Jesus spoke into his ear at that moment and said, Funny, it was enough for me.

Jerry Parries:
That’s exactly right, man. And that is exactly what I want to share with somebody today. That man, God’s grace for you is enough that he loves you. And no matter what you’ve done in your past, no matter what you did last night, no matter what you did just before you got on to listen to this broadcast, no matter what happened many years ago, God has already forgiven you. He’s already put it in the past. He’s thrown it into the sea of forgetfulness. His grace is really enough. And Paul said his grace is sufficient. And his power shows up more in our lives at our weakest point, if we will it.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, I don’t like that teaching because it means, I don’t like weakness. I don’t like pain. I don’t like being depressed. I want things to go my way. And then when I realize it’s worth every bit of it, when the Father welcomes you home, that’s called grace.

Jerry Parries:
Yes. When God shows up into your situation. It gives you a, a greater hope, a greater appreciation, a greater love for him than you had before, because you know you didn’t deserve it. You know you screwed up, you know you messed up. And he came back anyway, when the Prodigal Son came home, he said, dad, listen, I don’t need to be in the highest part, let me be a servant. And God said, no, I’m going to put a robe on you and put you back where you need to be. That’s grace.

Steve Brown:
Guys. This isn’t new. This is the essence of the Christian faith. Somebody said.

We need far less to be taught than we need to be reminded.

You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Jerry. That was Steve Brown and our good friend Jerry Parries. And very exciting, Jerry will be with us through Thursday this week, teaching on this topic of God’s Grace is Enough. Hope you will join us for all of that. Hey, have you experienced suffering? Maybe you’re going through it right now, or perhaps someone close to you. Well, Jesus did tell us that in this world we would suffer, but he also promised that he would be with us in that suffering. Well, Steve wrote about this in a mini-book called Suffering: When Life Falls Apart. And we would like to send it to you for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that mini-book. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Just ask for your free copy of the mini-book called Suffering: When Life Falls Apart. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy, you can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. And as always, if you can’t give right now or maybe you’re not called to do that, no worries. But pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.