Well this afternoon if you would turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1 verse 12. I'm just going to be speaking to you on verse 12 and perhaps a little bit on the verses that surround verse 12. But I want to talk to you this afternoon about the idea that it's Christ who enables you to be able to fulfill the personal ministry that he gives to you. And so I think that in light of Thanksgiving coming, that we then ought to be able to thank the Lord who enables us, which is the title of this message. So let's bow together for prayer. Father, thank you for giving us this time together as a church, as your people here this afternoon. I'm thankful for all of those who have decided to stay and to be present here at your worship. I pray that you will fill all of our hearts with gladness and thanksgiving. at the way that you have led us as a church over the past years and all the things that you have taught us and are teaching us and we pray to be useful in service to you and to fulfill the personal ministry that you have given to each one of us. Each of us has a spiritual gift and so we pray to be able to use it to your glory and to fulfill the ministry that we have been called to in that regard in regard to our gift And Lord, even though we might not see ourselves as able to do these things, we know that you are able to work in our hearts and bring us to the place where we can be most useful to you. And so we pray that you would do that, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. 1 Timothy 1, verse 12, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry. So I want to speak to you this afternoon about this great truth that it's the Lord Jesus who gives his saints enabling grace to be faithful in their work of the ministry that he has called them to. In the case of both pastors and people, this is true. In looking at Paul's words here, we see what Christ Jesus did for him to enable him to be a faithful minister, and through these words we will also see what Christ will do for each one of us to enable us to be faithful to serve Him on the basis of His mighty grace working in our hearts and our lives. Christ gave enabling grace to the Apostle Paul in the following three ways. First of all, Christ enabled Paul in converting himself to Him. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." Now whenever you and I think of the word grace, we should think of God's unmerited favor, which is shown to us on the basis of Christ's finished work of perfect righteousness and his sacrificial death. This is what our justification or our being declared righteous is all about. But what we may not so easily see is that God's grace is his enablement as well. And this grace of enablement relates to your sanctification and the use of your spiritual gift. You're becoming holy and useful to God in service to him by the grace which Christ supplies. So your Christian life is not simply that you stand justified in the righteousness of Christ. That is indeed a very great gift of grace. But what you need to understand is that when God calls you into relationship with himself, that he has a purpose and a work for you to do personally for him. A ministry that he would have you in particular to fulfill. And the ministry of each and every Christian to Christ and to his people in your church and out of it is something that requires his enablement. This is what Paul is talking about here. It requires your receiving wisdom to see what you should do and how you should do it. And it requires Christ's strength to enter into this work of service to him, to strive and to persevere in the things that you would do for him so that you would see them accomplished to his glory. Now this was especially true of the ministry of the Apostle Paul. It was Christ who laid the foundation of his church and now he was building his church by using the apostle Paul. He would give to Paul his own directions, his own personal directions, and his own personal supervision of Paul's ministry. In assigning the responsibilities, this is what he wanted to do with the apostles to begin the actual building of the ecclesiastical organization of the church. He gave his apostles enabling grace in a very special way. a very special and distinctive sense, that as he told them, that they should give directions to all of Christ's church by means of their words and their letters concerning all that everyone in the church should do for Christ. And in order to fulfill their ministry and to exercise their office, these apostles were given gifts to spiritually build Christ's church. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I've laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So you see here, that whatever is built for Christ with your life and your work must all be built upon the foundation of what Jesus Christ has done. But you can also see from these words that Paul himself was given enabling grace to be faithful to the work of the ministry that he specifically was called to and given. He says, according to the grace that was given to me, I laid a foundation and another is building on it, so you should understand that no one can faithfully minister to Christ unless they have been converted to Christ first of all. Many people in our day do not believe that this is so. In fact, there have been many people who have been ministers, pastors, and others who have tried to minister to the Lord and weren't converted to Christ. I'm thinking of men like John Wesley, for instance, that became a missionary and went over to Georgia and then found out when he got over there that he who wanted to preach to the Indians was not converted himself. And then he finally came into that experience where his heart was strangely warmed when he was hearing, I think it was the epistle of Paul to the Romans, as it's understood, by Martin Luther. That commentary, he heard it and he said, my heart was strangely warmed and I knew that my sins, even mine, were forgiven, he says. So he was trying to minister to Christ and yet he didn't know the Lord. Thomas Scott was another man like that who tried to be a minister, a great and eminent minister before he was converted and found that he could not do it. He really had grave questions about the deity of Christ and many other orthodox doctrines. But he eventually came to see that he did not have a heart religion. He did not really know the Lord. So, some people believe that conversion to Christ is optional, or it is unnecessary to ministry, but they don't quite understand, do they? In the Apostle Paul's case, he was confronted by Christ himself, the living, risen Lord, on the road to Damascus. And before he was converted, he wasn't speaking of what he could do for Christ. In fact, he was speaking of what he thought he had to do against Christ. In Acts 26.9, he says, Indeed, I myself thought that I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. But in Philippians 3.12, Paul speaks of pressing on that he may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid a hold of him for. And so salvation, I'm trying to say to you, actually begins with Christ laying hold of you. Now, I don't know if you've ever thought about that. I think most people think about salvation as if they're laying hold of Christ or believing in Christ. And so, they're coming to Christ. But I want you to see and understand that when you do come to Christ, it's actually Christ who's laying hold of you. And He's laying hold of you for His personal and specific reasons to show you what you can do for Him. And I want you to Turn with me over to Galatians chapter 1 and I want to read to you verses 11 to 16. He says, Paul says, I make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from man nor was I taught it. but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God, beyond measure tried to destroy it, and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. So you can see how Paul, before he was converted, was very zealous, but it was not zeal to minister for Christ, but rather he was zealous, as he says here, for the traditions of his fathers, men who were very religious, but they didn't understand the saving grace of God at all. They were religious men. They were unsaved men. They were unconverted men. And Paul was zealous for his own supposed righteousness. And he thought that he was ministering to God. He thought that he was serving God by promoting his own outward morality. But he was only really interested in outwardly keeping the commandments of God. And actually he was fighting against God's righteousness, fighting against the idea that he had to have Christ to be saved from his sins. And then he describes his own conversion. And this is the way he describes it. He describes it as when it pleased God. The God who separated him from his mother's womb and called him through his grace. When it pleased the true and living God to reveal his son in me. He says there that I might preach him among the Gentiles. He didn't consult with flesh and blood. He didn't consult with his former Pharisaic friends about whether he should listen to this heavenly vision. He believed it. He acted upon it. He received Christ and his righteousness by faith, and he was saved. And God had planned these things, it says here in the verses that I just read to you, before Paul was even born into the world. What kind of a ministry He would have Paul's birth, his ministry, and his future usefulness to Christ, to preach him among the Gentiles, to be an apostle to them. All this was intricately linked to his call and his being converted. He didn't go to a seminary, although he was taught by Gamaliel. He didn't consult with flesh and blood as to whether he would undertake the ministry, although he did communicate privately. to the other apostles, the gospel that he preached. It was the grace of God that brought about his conversion to Christ, and he was enabled, I'm saying, to go forward to fulfill his ministry, which had been assigned to him by the Lord. Now, I want to say to you that this is the same way it is with you and I, you and me, but in a lesser way, but just as real. This is what I want you to see. In order to serve God, you must first be converted to God, and you should never attempt to put the cart of service before the horse of conversion to Christ. Conversion must go before service and ministry, so our motives will be right, so that we will have grace to glorify God. We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ. We are saved to serve, and not serving to be saved. And real and true ministry is only initiated by being converted to Christ by receiving this enablement. Our text says, if grace has not changed your heart, you won't be able to glorify God in the way that he desires, in the way that he deserves. But if you will begin by believing in the gospel that Christ has lived a perfect life, of obedience to God on your behalf. If you'll believe that you, yes even you, have many sins to be forgiven of and a heart that needs to be changed and regenerated to love and serve God, then whatever ministry that you undertake that is in accordance with his word, he will most certainly bless it. And second, Christ Jesus enabled Paul by means of the commission that he gave him. I mean by this that Paul was privileged to have his ministry verbally defined for him by a clear voice from heaven. These words are found in Acts 9 verses 15 to 20. I can remind you of them. It says, how many things he must suffer for my namesake. And so Ananias, it says, went his way, and entered the house, and laying his hands on Saul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road, as you came has sent me. that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized. So when he had received food, it says he was strengthened. And then Saul spent some days, it says here with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately He preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. So I hope you can see that Christ was enabling Paul through the words that he gave to him in his commission. And by speaking to him these words, Christ was giving him direct revelation of what his purpose was for him to do. He was to labor for the advancement of his kingdom. He was a chosen vessel. a chosen instrument of Christ to bear his name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. By the human instrumentality of Ananias going to him to speak these words that confirmed these truths to Paul, Ananias laid his hands on him and thus he was set apart to God's powerful working through him. He was enabled to go forward to minister even though he had never been formally trained for it. Even though he had just a few hours before been a persecutor and an aggressor and a violent man, he was now the Lord's servant. So look over also at Acts 22, Acts chapter 22 and verses 6 to 10. This is what it says there. Now it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a light from heaven shone around me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. So I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do. It says here, so now we know that Christ's calling of Paul was an extraordinary call because of this direct verbal revelation that was given to him. And you and I must not expect such things to happen to ourselves. Our commission is to receive what has already been written down for us in the Bible because it is God's revealed word to us and his will for us. There are things, however, that are appointed for us to do. just as much as Paul was appointed to his work and service. God reveals himself to us in relation to what he has commanded us to do in his word. And having given us his word, then he expects that we will understand that he will providentially so order things and lead us into opportunities of service that we will know what it is that he wants us to do. That is our enablement. And we should also pray for opportunities to serve God by asking the Lord in prayer, even as Paul did, Lord, what would you have me to do? It's very important that you as a Christian, whether you're a younger Christian or older Christian, that you understand this, that you yourself should interact with Christ and with God over what the Lord would have you to do personally, and that you would ask Him that in prayer. You show me, Lord, what you would want me to be doing. for you in service to you in relation to the church that I go to and in relation to the people who are outside the church that I might be able to minister to using the gift that you have given to me. That is what we're looking for. And that's why we must pray. We must look outside of ourselves for tangible ways to serve Him. That is in our family, in our church, and in relation to people around us. And we will come to know. his will for us in particular as we look carefully and closely at the scriptures and as we pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into useful service. The way to know God's leading in his will concerning what he would have you to do for him as a young person or an older person is first of all to abide in the commands and promises of the Bible. I hope you see that. The promises and commands will speak to your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit concerning what God would have you to do for him. That is, in a general way, they will instruct you of his preceptive will general and specific. The commandment comes to your mind and then specifically you want to know what you can do to obey God. As you begin to think about helping others, God will bring to your attention what specifically you can do for Him. This is usually I'm saying in connection with the spiritual gift that you have been given personally by Christ. And then as you go about to do His will, He will enable you to do it by giving you the wisdom and strength that you will need to see results from the use of your gift. Now those results may, they're going to be tangible, but they may not always be evident to you. And one of the reasons for that is because God hides pride from man. I mean, sometimes when we have a gift and we are successful in using it, we tend to become a little bit proud about it, don't we? But the Lord can hide that pride from us, and so then we might not think to ourselves that we're accomplishing much of anything, but actually we're doing great good. And that's why you should go about to observe the Lord's commandments to do them because in doing them, you will find yourself using the gift that you've been given. And you will have opportunities to serve the Lord in relation to that gift. But I'm saying it may take you some time to understand if what you're doing is truly seeing the results that Christ is looking for and what you yourself are hoping to see. Now, first of all, you can learn to do God's will in relation to others in the local church. of which you are a part, and I want you to look with me over Colossians chapter 4, and verses 7 to 13. Colossians chapter 4, verses 7 to 13. It says here, Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here. And Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called Justice. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who are of the circumcision. and they have proved to be of comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, for I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis. It says here, now as we think about what was going on in those days in the Church of Colossae, let each of us take notice of what the Lord would have us to do. That is, if you would pray and labor fervently in prayer that others in this church would stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, then you will see these things beginning to take place and they will continue because God is faithful to hear and answer the prayers of the fervent prayers of his people. And further, it's your holy responsibility, it should be your holy desire to, as it was mentioned up here in verse 7, to tell the news about what your pastor or what other godly men in your church are involved in and trying to promote the kingdom of God and the gospel and many good works concerning the furtherance of the kingdom of God and the gospel. That's not gossip. That's supporting the ministry. It's your learning carefully to observe your pastor and other members working together with him in the church that you might learn what they are doing for Christ. so that you might intelligently then pray for them, encourage them, comfort their hearts, and join in the good work that they're doing. It's also important that you see the Christian people around you in the church of which you're a part need to know what the Lord is doing in your life and in the life of your church. So won't you think about how you can convey such information? discreetly and thoughtfully so that others can also pray and help in relation to the Lord's work? Will you not pray for other Christians around you so that they may be able to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God? Will you labor fervently in prayer that God might come and do great things in our midst in terms of promoting the truth of Christ's grace and the truth of His word? You see, God alone can enable you to do this. And then third, finally and briefly, Christ Jesus enabled Paul to labor for him abundantly. Verses 12 to 14 of 1 Timothy chapter 1, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful putting me into ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And this is the verse I want you to see. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. So you can see here that Paul was able to confess openly And frankly, what he used to be like, he was not proud of it, but he was confessing that he would always be amazed at the mercy which he had been shown by Christ Jesus. He confessed that he was once an unbelieving man. He did not believe that Jesus could be the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, the Son of God. Now I wonder, in closing this message, if you are able to express yourself in the same holy way, bearing witness and testimony to Christ's grace. Listen to how humbly Paul speaks of himself and of his labors in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10. He says, by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward me did not prove vain but I labored more than than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me therefore whether it was i or they so we preach and so you believed he says well having heard these things from paul's own lips do you now understand that you must have the powerful grace of jesus christ to enable you to serve your god and minister unto him in relation to others around you, then seek to know the reality of it in your life. Well, let's pray together. We thank you, Father, for the life of the Apostle Paul. Once again, that he was a pattern to us in so many ways. And this one that we're studying here this afternoon is no different, that he was enabled to serve you because of the grace that you gave to him in his calling and commission and his conversion and in all of his labors he saw you giving him help by grace to run his race and to finish his ministry. We pray that you will do the same with each one of us and that we would be looking expectantly to you to see how you might lead us and show us how we can better serve you in this church and also outside the walls of it to people around us and fulfill the ministry that you would have us, and have us to, and have given to us. We pray it in your precious name, Lord Jesus, amen.