to teach was not aware that he was scheduled to teach. So we're going to go through this in a way that I think will encourage our hearts, just grammatically. You know, as we think of this verse here, the context is Paul reminding the Corinthians that They had made a pledge to help the poor saints in Jerusalem and to just think about it and pray about it and Consider even the Macedonians who first gave in themselves and this is always the way for the believer in Christ is to first yield himself to the Lord to present himself to him and then See himself as a vessel and see what God has given him as a stewardship And to encourage them to that end. He gave him this particular promise and the subject of this verse is God and And it's what God is able to do. And is is a present tense verb, which means God is perpetually able. And as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to recognize who your God is. He is to be your focus day in and day out. What He is able to do in accordance with who He is and what He said in His word is always to be on the forefront of our thinking. You know the peace I enjoy in my life is when I transfer my gaze from the problems and issues and other things to who Christ is and what he's promised and the fact that he's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I ask or think. And so God is able and in this case he's able to make something and what he's able to make is centered in his grace. Now grace is a word that should always bring a smile to your face, because grace talks about us getting something we don't deserve freely. And we know from various places in the Old Testament that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Every resource, both spiritually and physically, belonged to Him. In fact, He is unlimited in terms of that grace. There's four alls in here. depending on your translation. But God is able to make all, and He is the owner of all grace. There's never a time where God's grace can't be sufficient. And that grace He's making actively available to abound. Abound means to increase dramatically. So not only has He got all the grace that is, He can make that grace, which He owns, abound. And notice, who's the object? abound toward you. God's goal is to take His grace, which is unlimited, which is communicated ultimately through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, abound toward you. That would be you. That would be me. You know, the issue in walking by faith is not our faithfulness, it's God's faithfulness. It's God's character. It's God's resources. It's God's goal. It's God's plan. And God being the gracious God is able to take all this grace and abound it toward you. To what end though? That you. That would be you. And that would be me. And notice the effect of this grace here. Always. Not once in a blue moon, not twice on Thursday, and that's it, but always, because of this grace, what is promised here? Having all sufficiency. Not partial sufficiency, all sufficiency. What is sufficiency? Who can tell me what sufficiency is? It means adequate. Receiving everything you need is the idea here. It's the word that God used when talking to the Apostle Paul, who begged the Lord three times that the Lord would take his thorn in the flesh away, and God said, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do one better. I'm going to say my grace is sufficient for you in your trial." That's what we're talking about here. So God is promising because of His unlimited amount of grace, which we don't earn or deserve. It's not a matter of you begging God for it. It's not a matter of you earning it through some faithfulness on your part, because then it wouldn't be grace anymore, it would be deserved. Grace is never merited. We don't go to a throne of worthiness. We go to a throne of grace because of who Christ is and the entrance he's provided in. That's why we can come in utter confidence because of the way Christ made and who he is. He says, you know what? I'm going to give you all sufficiency in all things. So there's not one aspect of your life that you can point to, regardless of your trial, regardless of your situation. You can say, you know what? God's just not coming through here. You know, he's not getting there done. Because God has promised he will not test you above what you're able. That's impossible. But with each testing, he makes a way of escape that you might be able to bear it. End of story. God can't be anything other than who he is. He's the God of all grace. He is the God of all ability. He's going to take this grace, all of it, and He's going to abound it toward you so that, hena clause, you, always having all sufficiency, present participle, you always have it, and all things might have an abundance for every good work. You know, if you're familiar with Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, Ephesians 2, 8 tells us that salvation is absolutely a gift of God. It's by grace. Christ paid for it in full. We receive it through simple faith in Him. It's not of works, otherwise we'd have reason to boast. But verse 10 goes on to say that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of the works which God prepared beforehand that we are to walk in. So God says, you know what, I've got your life all mapped out. I've got all kinds of things for you to do. I've prepared all these beforehand. I want you to walk in these things, and I want you to walk in a way that you're taking advantage of my all-sufficient grace in those things, so as yours is a yielded vessel, God can work in you and through you and give you an abundance in every realm for the good works He wants you to do. So God says, you know what? I'm going to keep dumping the truck in the financial world, so you will use what I give you to further my work, to ministering to others, to give for the propagation of the gospel, to help others in need, whatever it might be. Or I'm going to give you an ability, and I'm going to give you strength, and I'm going to give you a certain material goods perhaps to be used. Or I'm going to give you wisdom so you can share a verse and a promise with a fellow believer and point them to the Lord Jesus Christ so that they have the very thing they need. God says you're going to have an abundance for every good work. I mean, the superlatives in this verse are ridiculous. We could spend weeks talking about all these ones. Every one, in every realm. And too often our approach to God is one of, well, we just don't think He can pull it off. We just don't think He's able. Or, you know, I've been kind of a sourpuss lately. I don't know why God's going to bother with me. Well, if it was based on you, he wouldn't bother with you. But it's not based on you. It's based on him. It's based on who we are in Christ. And he says, you know what? I'm waiting for you to be used. And if you're willing to be used, and you're a yielded vessel, and you're being transformed by the renewing of your mind, you're going to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, so that every good work that I've got slated for you can actually be realized, because I've got an infinite source of resources. I've got an infinite supply of resources for you to be used. Perfect example of everyone coming together for the fall fun day. She mentioned there was awesome helpers, people bought, people brought, people shuttled, people did this, people did that. Everyone came together as a body and so a wonderful afternoon took place which kids were ministered to. and the gospel was presented, and God was honored, and people rejoiced, and there was fellowship going on, and there was great joy because of this very principle right here. And so, so much of our life is how we approach it. What a difference when I wake up in the morning and think, well, I got this to do today, and I got to do this, and this is going to stink, and I feel like this. And then I got this person in my life that's sucking the life out of me or whatever, and I let those things bring me down. So life, I endure that day in a way that reminds me of the movie Airplane, when a guy told a story to everyone, and they went out and killed themselves. Or I can take it for this place. Wait a minute. This is the day God had made. I can rejoice and be glad in it. My God is able. What do you know? He's able not only to save me from hell, but He's able to save me to a heaven that I don't deserve. And on top of that, in the meantime, He's able to make all grace, which He's the author of and He's the supplier of, abound toward little old me, so that me, having always All-sufficiency in all things might have it once every good work. Do you think your day might be a little different if you look at it that way? Because sure enough you're gonna walk out the door and it's gonna be put to the test. It's pouring rain. You got a flat tire or You know, there's a myriad of things that we could cite But God says guess what? I've got you covered and she God's integrity is on the line here. I Paul is telling these Corinthians to think differently about life and recognize the difference you can make by faith when you focus on who your God is and how He's abounding toward you all the grace you need to see His will done. It changes everything. The struggle all of a sudden isn't such a struggle anymore because my focus is now off of me and my circumstances and my focus is now on Christ. and His sufficiency and His grace and what He's able to do. And I'm just a vessel. So every good work He's got lined up for me today, His grace is going to be sufficient. The issue is, am I paying attention? The issue is, am I relying on Him? Am I having a love affair with Him? Am I enjoying Him? Or am I letting the burdens and the things I can't control and the difficulties weigh me down so I miss this very promise And oftentimes the thing that God wanted me to do doesn't get done because my head was buried three feet in the sand thinking about whatever it is I was thinking about when I could have been thinking about my God, His amazing grace, His ability to take that grace and abound it toward me so that every need I have is met in Him. It kind of changes things, don't you think? So which believer are you going to be tomorrow? You've got such a sour puss that your chin is dragging on the curb? Or are you going to say, wow, I've got a God who not only loved me, and not only proved He loved me by dying for me and giving me eternal life for free, but has promised that His grace would be sufficient for what comes down the pike for me today. That's one side of it. And His grace would be sufficient for the things He wants me to do actively toward others and love today. Change is everything. What an encouragement, huh? Wow. Let's all say it together, shall we? 2 Corinthians 9.8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work. Corinthians 9.8. Take that baby off the fridge and staple it to your forehead. Backwards so when you look in the mirror, that's the first thing you see tomorrow morning Be a good day, huh? Amen