01-13-2025 part 1: Self-Control: The Key to Spiritual Growth
In this podcast episode, Dr. David Spoon emphasizes the importance of self-control for young men, drawing insights from Titus 2:6, which encourages them to be examples of good works. He highlights the need for integrity and dignity in teaching, asserting that being self-controlled is essential for positive influence in the community. Nancy shares her experience of leading children's worship at her church, discussing how teaching hymns and scripture not only blesses the children but also refreshes her spirit. The conversation touches on the transformative power of serving others, even when one may feel unmotivated. Throughout the episode, the overarching theme is the call to be vessels of God’s grace and truth, inspiring listeners to actively engage in their faith and share it with others.
David Spoon opens the show with a light-hearted yet profound exploration of faith, humor, and the complexities of life as a Christian. As the host of the David Spoon Experience, he invites listeners to engage in a dialogue about the trials and tribulations of faith while emphasizing the joy that can be found in the journey. David's unique blend of humor and spirituality sets the tone for the episode, as he encourages listeners to reach out for prayer and share their experiences. He acknowledges the power of community in faith, urging listeners to connect with prayer warriors who can lift them up in challenging times.
The discussion takes a deeper turn as David delves into the importance of self-control, especially for young men, referencing the biblical teachings from Titus 2:6. He emphasizes that self-control is not just a personal attribute but a vital part of Christian leadership and responsibility. By sharing anecdotes and personal experiences, David illustrates the transformative power of surrendering to God's will and the grace that comes from acknowledging our shortcomings. His dynamic interaction with callers, particularly Nancy, highlights the real-life implications of these discussions, as she shares her experiences with teaching children about faith through music and hymns.
Throughout the episode, David skillfully weaves scripture and personal testimony, creating a tapestry that reflects the struggles and victories of living out one's faith. He reminds listeners that the essence of the gospel is simple yet profound: God's love for humanity and the call to share that love with others, regardless of the complexities of life. This episode is a heartfelt reminder of the importance of community, prayer, and the unwavering support found in faith, encouraging listeners to find joy and purpose in their spiritual journeys.
Takeaways:
- Self-control is essential for young men, encouraging them to set a good example in their actions and teachings.
- The importance of prayer in the Christian community is highlighted, inviting listeners to share their needs.
- The joyful act of teaching children about faith can also refresh and uplift the teacher.
- David emphasizes that God's grace is more than unmerited favor; it includes a personal, tangible relationship.
- When we engage in service, even when we feel unmotivated, we often receive unexpected blessings.
- The podcast encourages openness about faith and sharing personal testimonies to connect with others.
Transcript
The views expressed on the following program are designed to amplify those of the speaker and not necessarily those of kaam.
David:DJRD Broadcasting are its sponsors.
Nancy:Hello, everybody.
David:When it's cold outside, I've got.
David:Here's what's coming up on today's experience.
David:It's Dr.
David:Dave's.
David:Dr.
David:Dr.
David:Dave's devotional Diamonds of the Day, also known as DD DDDD's where my daily devotions become some of our spiritual reflections.
David:Sound effects placed throughout the show which have nothing to do with life.
David:But the Bible teaches there's a time to laugh.
David:And I get this impression some of you need to laugh just a little bit more.
David:The review of the goofiness which proves Jesus is coming back sooner than you think.
David:If you're a Bible believing, born again Christian, that's exactly what we want.
David:Life lessons for our faith that we could actually use, probably won't.
David:If we sit on our blessed assurance.
David:Humor that will force you to think, why does this guy have a radio show?
David:Because I am a glutton for punishment, that's why.
David:Also Bible trivia for fake and yet somehow real cool prizes, your phone calls and more.
David:Welcome to the davidspoon Experience, local, national and heavenly talk.
David:My name is David.
David:Dr.
David:David Spoon.
David:I'll be your host for the next 5,400,000 milliseconds.
David:Get ready for one of the more bizarre experiences on live radio.
David:Here's the key to the show.
David:We don't know what we're doing.
David:Why are you listening?
David:We have no idea what's gonna happen.
David:You're very brave and we don't care.
David:Well, we do care, but we just act like we don't care.
David:Here for the next few minutes, I wanna talk faith with you.
David:So here we go.
David:We're asking questions about living life as a Christian.
David:That thingy right there.
David:Some of you are saying, are you live today?
David:Are you there today?
David:Dave, are you there?
David:I am here today.
David:That is correct.
David: th day of January,: David:And here's the thing we're gonna simply ask you.
David:As you are out in the listening audience, you must be aware that this show is more facilitated by me than anything else.
David:That means that the great prayers, the great men and women of God are the people that are listening to this show.
David:So our question that we pose on Mondays is, what can our prayer warriors pray for you about?
David:Those people out there that are listening have tremendous faith, tremendous commitment, tremendous confidence in the most high God to be able to do Anything.
David:Is anything too hard for the Lord?
David:No.
David:So what can our prayer warriors pray for you about?
David:It's that simple.
David:And if you want to reach out and let us know or you've got an opinion, a comment, a thought, or a question, try not to keep it something as deep as between free will and predestination, just for the beginning.
David:But we don't want that to die of loneliness, folks.
David:We want you to reach out and give us a call.
David:It's a phone, but it won't hurt you.
David: -: David: -: David: -: David:Talking to Jammin Jacob is like heading into the week with great faith and expectation.
David:Hello.
David:Thank you, David.
David:Happy Monday.
David:Happy Monday to you.
David:I did notice that the music sounds.
David:Seems a little familiar to stuff that we have covered.
David:So I am assuming that there is stuff forthcoming sometime in the next little bit.
David:Yes, yes.
David:I will get a new intro soon.
David:For now, I'm just kind of rotating because I have a handful in there.
David:That's a good call, though.
David:That's the way to do it until you figure out what it is you want to do.
David:You just keep flipping them and flipping them and then just see what works.
David:It's not a problem on this end, and I know it's not a problem for you.
David:So we'll leave it there.
David:We'll keep it simple.
David:Just like we said, if you've got something that needs prayer, you want to reach out to us.
David:You want to use the phone because it's effective.
David:That's why.
David:But you don't have to use the phone.
David:You can also text.
David: -: David: -: David:And the reason we would encourage you to text is because most of the time I'm able to text back, or if I can't text right away on the show, I have that opportunity to text you later on.
David:And so you always have some kind of connection with somebody.
David:You know, we don't have, like, this perfect ministry.
David:I don't want you to get this, like, weird idea.
David:But we do believe that people that reach out should be touched and gotten back to.
David:So we don't want to just put you on a number 633.
David:Number 634.
David:I mean, we just want to be able to be together, loving one another, caring about one another, love, laughing with one another and crying with one another.
David:Because that's what the family of God is.
David:So if you wanna text, you can do that.
David:If you want to, by the way, send an email, you can also, you can also send an email.
David:Email, yeah.
David:Davidemustincrease.org all one thing, David, my name with a circle.
David:He must increase.
David: John: David:We've proved that in the last four weeks by our giving.
David:We're really non profit right now.
David:All right, so here's the bottom line.
David:Why would you do that?
David:We already said one thing.
David:It could be for a prayer request.
David:Perhaps you have a prayer request and you just really, really, really want to get it going.
David:Just really want to do that.
David:See, Joanne and Cordelia, they want to do a better job, be more winners of souls.
David:So we're going to pray for them specifically and for everybody else in this audience that we all might have the bravery, the wisdom, the insight and the awareness to be used by God to share about Jesus Christ.
David:You want to really catch how the gospel is shared.
David:If you look at Acts chapter 2, 3 and 4, you will be amazed how simple it was to share the gospel.
David:We always try to make it super complex.
David:It's like, yeah, this is his story.
David:It's not that complex.
David:God loves you.
David:You're going to hell unless you jump on that lifeboat named Jesus.
David:That truth right there, that is part of the gospel right there.
David:So we're gonna pray for them in a second.
David:But if you've got something you wanna share, maybe the Lord's done something phenomenal for you.
David:I will share my own testimony.
David:I was praying about whether or not I should come in on Friday.
David:It wasn't that I wasn't willing to.
David:I was certainly willing to dressed and ready to go.
David:But the Lord stuttered me.
David:And by that I mean the Lord just kind of stopped me.
David:And it turns out that I was ministering to some, a couple of different people while the show was going on.
David:And ironically, earlier I had just shared with my brother all these different things just to encourage him.
David:And when I turned on the show to check it out, the same introduction on the show was the same thing I had just told my brother.
David:And I was like, oh, that's just the Lord going, just do what you're told.
David:Do the best you can to follow.
David:I got.
David:This is not about you and I doing this perfectly.
David:Have you ever noticed that you don't do it perfectly.
David:Yeah, that's true.
David:But what's great about God is he's got our back and he helps us, right?
David:All right.
David:That's just the truth.
David:It's not that you can't do great.
David:It's just that God has us covered.
David:And there's a comfort in that.
David:There's this rest, this peace, this grace.
David:It's the peace that passes all understanding.
David:You can't even figure out why Sometimes you've got chaos all around you, and you just get this moment of, you know what?
David:God's with me isn't that powerful.
David:It just settles the whole thing.
David:Wow.
David:And you know what I'm talking about.
David:You know that there's things going on in your life.
David:You're like, I don't know how I'm gonna do this.
David:I don't know how I'm gonna pay for this, how I'm gonna talk to this person about this.
David:How am I going to put this together?
David:How am I going to survive this?
David:How's this going to happen?
David:But then there's somewhere in you that connects and taps into the Lord and you recognize immediately, you know what?
David:I can't do it all, but he can.
David:So I'm going to rest in him because he's got me covered.
David:Isn't that beautiful?
David:All right, so let's pray.
David:I want to use their launching prayer pad.
David:I don't know what I'm saying.
David:I want to use their prayer request as a launching pad for all of us to have a little bit more of a attitude that says, I am available to be used to share with whoever needs it.
David:Let's do it.
David:And we all could use this prayer.
David:So you got to say amen.
David:Let's pray.
David:Father, we come before you right now and we thank you and praise you for everything you are doing.
David:You are awesome to us.
David:And we start off by saying, thank you, Father, who art thou in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
David:First, I thank my God and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
David:This is what we start with, Lord, your word making it clear that we start with our praises, our appreciation, our thanksgiving for so many things.
David:Lord, you are way past us.
David:Your goodness is way past us.
David:So thank you for all of that, and thank you for Joanna and Cordea just wanting to be vessels, vehicles that can share your truth.
David:And, Lord, it's good for every one of us to heighten the awareness and to be just in tune that it is your gospel that saves people, not our presentation.
David:So, Lord, Use us as vessels.
David:Let us be used by you.
David:Let us be less selfish and more selfless, being willing to be vessels to be used by you for whatever you want.
David:And give us courage and joy and hope when we share about the redeeming power that has come to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
David:We are the most blessed people on the planet.
David:Help us to share it.
David:We need your help from time to time.
David:It's a little bit of a fight in the flesh and in the spirit.
David:We need your boost.
David:We need you to help us in that.
David:We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
David:Amen.
David:And Amen.
David:Oki Doki Artichokes so as you can already tell, I have no idea where this show is going, even though I think I know where it's going, but I not really sure where it's going either today or tomorrow or on Wednesday or maybe even Monday of next week.
David:I want to talk to you about something that's really important.
David:I know there's a lot of people that are operating with a good sense of optimism and there's nothing wrong with that and everything right with that.
David:But I am going to give warnings to all of us never to put your confidence in man, because the Bible is very clear in Psalm 118, 8, 9.
David:It's better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in man.
David:And we're gonna talk about that down the road, but not quite yet.
David:But the bottom line is, if you've got something you wanna share, if you need prayer, if you've got a praise report, if you've just got a passage that the Lord just blessed you with, you have that opportunity to reach out to us, connect with us, and share, and let the body of Christ connect with you.
David:You can do that by calling.
David:I think we've made that pretty clear.
David: -: David: -: David:6.
David:And you're gonna find some of this.
David:I hope you're gonna find some of this very fascinating as Paul is writing this third letter.
David:So first Timothy 2, Timothy, Titus, known as the Pastoral Epistles.
David:And then Timothy and Titus were a little bit younger.
David:And it's a fascinating element to see what Paul does because he just got done talking about older men, older women, and younger women.
David:And then he, in the conversation pivots by saying this in verse six.
David:He says, in the same way, encourage the young men to be self controlled in everything.
David:Make yourself an example of good works, with integrity and dignity in your teaching.
David:Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed because he doesn't have anything bad to say about us.
David:Now, I want you to catch this, because what Paul does, and for those that don't know, and I thought about this, wrote it down, and then decided I was going to verify it with some other commentaries and scholars.
David:When Paul writes to him, first he talks about the older men, then he talks about the older women, then he talks about the younger women.
David:Now he's talking about the younger men.
David:And he includes Titus in it.
David:Because in the end of verse six and verse seven, he says, make yourself connecting him to what he was just saying.
David:And he says this in verse 6 in the same way, encourage the younger men to be self controlled.
David:Self controlled, Some will say, amazing, amazingly self controlled.
David:Amazingly.
David:That's like sober minded.
David:That's what some translations say.
David:It's discreet.
David:Self Control is an excellent translation.
David:This is where people have problems with translation.
David:Take a deep breath, Sparky.
David:It's okay.
David:Here's the thing.
David:He's trying to say, look, young men, you got to have controls.
David:You got to have some parameters, you got to have some disciplines.
David:Why, I think we all know that young men can have a tendency to go a little ballistic a little quick.
David:I don't think there's anything weird about that.
David:So he's saying, look, I need you to kind of get this together.
David:You're a young man and I want you to understand that.
David:Now, I do think we have somebody on the phone for appraise.
David:Is that correct?
David:Yeah, we'll get to them in just a second.
David:That'll be Nancy.
David:We'll get to them in just a split second.
David:But I want you to listen to what he's saying.
David:He's saying, look, you have to be self controlled in everything you're doing.
David:Don't you know how?
David:Let me say this nice.
David:You know how sometimes I just go off and do what I do?
David:Well, fortunately, I'm in my 60s, so I don't have to listen to the young man part.
David:But the bottom line is there needs to be a control.
David:There needs to be ability.
David:You and I have self control.
David:We are not requ to be ballistic.
David:We go ballistic.
David:We're just not required to do it.
David:And we have the ability because the Holy Spirit lives in us because we acknowledge Jesus Christ and Jesus lives in our heart by faith.
David:And because we surrender ourselves to God, we have the ability to walk in self control.
David:So whenever you say to yourself, I just can't help it.
David:Yes, you can, because he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.
David:And through him we can do all things, including a little self control.
David:Get that?
David:All right, so we're going to take this call, get this praise report.
David:Nance got something she wants to share.
David:Loving it, and then we're going to come back.
David:So I want to dive into this.
David:Make yourself a good example portion.
David:Let's go ahead and send her through.
David:Knock, knock.
David:This is David.
David:Is this Nancy?
Nancy:Yes, it is.
David:Hi, Nancy, how are you?
Nancy:Hey.
Nancy:I'm doing well.
Nancy:And you're talking about self control.
Nancy:And now I feel bad about calling in because I haven't always.
Nancy:There were.
Nancy:There were three.
Nancy:There were three days.
Nancy:Okay.
Nancy:Three days I was in the house.
Nancy:In the house with my husband.
Nancy:So, yeah, anyway, gonna give you my praise now.
David:I love it.
David:That's right.
David:You share the praise.
David:Then you'll just remember the lesson.
Nancy:Yes, yes.
Nancy:I'm going to try to take that to heart and go back to the scriptures and just really drive that home.
Nancy:Okay.
Nancy:Anyway, Sundays, on Sundays, on the weeks that they meet at my church, we have a children's church.
Nancy:And I am the one that goes down and does the music with them.
Nancy:I do worship music with them.
Nancy:And so each week I try to.
Nancy:Or each time I'm trying to figure out what does the Lord want me to teach them.
Nancy:And I was looking through our hymnal.
Nancy:It's a Baptist, Southern Baptist.
Nancy:And it had Jesus loves Me.
Nancy:And I thought, okay, the kids are going to know that.
Nancy:But what I have started doing is introducing them to hymnals.
Nancy:And these are first through fourth grade, fifth graders.
Nancy:Okay.
Nancy:So they're.
Nancy:They're reading somewhat, and I'm showing them how to read.
Nancy:Read the music and read the scripture and read it.
Nancy:And I always bring in, there's a scripture that goes with it.
Nancy:So we read the scripture and then we sing the song.
Nancy:And.
Nancy:And then I ask him questions about it and said.
Nancy:I told him that in that one, it said we're all children of God.
Nancy:So I, I gave him John 1:12 that he who believes.
Nancy:You know, I can't.
Nancy:I can't quote it right now, but you know, you know the scripture.
David:Yes.
Nancy:But anyway, I told.
Nancy:We read that.
Nancy:And I said, you know, God doesn't have any grandchildren.
Nancy:And I said, who's the oldest person you know?
Nancy:And this one kid pointed to his mom who was working in there and I said, no, I don't think that's right.
Nancy:He says, okay, grandma, you know, so anyway, we went, we went through that and I said, you know, even the 84 year old woman you just mentioned, she's a child of God.
Nancy:She's not a grandchildren.
Nancy:So anyway, I'm just, I'm just so blessed when I go down there and sometimes I just don't feel up to it.
Nancy:You know, my energy's down or I've just let the world get to me for whatever reason.
Nancy:But then I go down there and they are such a blessing to me, these children and to be able to, to share the hymns and share the scriptures and that's, that's what God called me to do, is that at this.
David:Time in my life, isn't that amazing that when we like a great, you did a great example there.
David:When we like going to give or we're going to minister, we're going to offer some of our time and there's like, yeah, I don't, yeah, I'm going to do it, Lord, because I know I'm supposed to do it, but I'm kind of like pushing through, just trying to get through.
David:And then when we're doing that, the Lord transforms those moments into moments of regeneration and refreshing for us, even though we were like not really there for that in the beginning.
David:But then we get into it and then we start participating and then the Lord goes, watch this.
David:Not only does that bless him, them, I'm gonna have this turn around and bless you.
David:Where the Bible says those that are refresh others will themselves often be refreshed.
David:And that's exactly what takes place.
David:And it's just like that's the way that God does it.
David:It's like you gave it yourself.
David:I appreciate that.
David:I know you weren't in the mood.
David:Here's a little bit of a blessing right back to you.
Nancy:Right.
Nancy:And that's not why I do it.
Nancy:I'm not doing it to get blessed.
Nancy:I'm doing it to follow what God has told me.
Nancy:I need to do exactly my music, use my understanding of the scriptures and bring this to the children.
Nancy:Because they're not getting it, you know, they're not getting the hymns that I got there.
Nancy:And these hymns are based on scriptures.
Nancy:So I want to make that connection.
Nancy:I want them to be able to look at a hymnal and know what it is to begin with, you know, because everything's up on the screen now.
David:Yeah.
Nancy:And some of these kids are musical and they're starting to learn and they're taking lessons in different things.
Nancy:But anyway, I just want to introduce that to them.
Nancy:And I feel it like that's what the Lord is wanting me to do right now.
David:How awesome.
David:That's so, so, so awesome.
David:I'm gonna pray over you, though, Okay?
David:I want to pray that the Lord just gives you great effect in that.
David:Okay, let's pray along those lines.
David:Let's pray.
David:Father, we lift up Nancy to you.
David:We thank you for her testimony.
David:Thank you that she's acknowledging you.
David:It's you.
David:We always know.
David:We know it's you, Lord.
David:We know it's you.
David:But, Lord, what we're asking for her is not just that element that she's sharing, because it's inside of her.
David:You've already put it inside of her, Lord.
David:But I pray that she would receive blessing upon blessing in her serving and in her doing it.
David:That she would.
David:And she's not doing it for that reason, Lord.
David:We know that she's doing it to honor you, to do the right thing before you.
David:But while she's in that process, engage her with your process presence.
David:Engage her with your refreshing.
David:Engage her with your uplifting.
David:And, Lord, push away some of the darkness and the clouds and the discouragement, and lift up in its place the glory and the grace that comes from you.
David:It's not about here, Lord.
David:It's about there with you when we're all there together.
David:And help her to hang onto that.
David:Be strong, be blessed and continue to bless others.
David:Give her great wisdom and insight beyond what she even has now, even more so that comes from you.
David:We pray this in Jesus name, Amen and amen.
Nancy:Amen.
David:Amen.
David:Love it.
David:Great job.
Nancy:What a blessing you are.
Nancy:Thank you so much for your teaching, your sharing, everything you do.
David:Thank you so much.
David:And that's great, great, great sharing.
David:So excellent job.
Nancy:All right, thank you.
Nancy:Bye.
David:Bye.
Nancy:Bye.
David:All right.
David:So that's just wonderful.
David:How is that not wonderful?
David:That's called wonderful.
David:Okay, now, I only got three and a half minutes, so I'm not going to do the trivia question.
David:But that doesn't matter because I wasn't planning on doing it anyway.
David:Here we go.
David:Back to Titus 2:6.
David:In the same way, encourage young men to be self controlled.
David:Listen to this in everything.
David:Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching.
David:So integrity and dignity.
David:They're very fascinating words in the Greek.
David:And this is where I like the Greeks studies more than anything else.
David:But integrity has to do with sincerity.
David:You might see the word seriousness there.
David:That's not actually the better translation.
David:Integrity has to do with sincerity.
David:Be authentic.
David:And then dignity has to do with gravity, having your feet on the ground.
David:It has to do with being solid in how you approach it and how you share it.
David:Some people are like, well, so you can't use humor.
David:That's not what he said.
David:Stop, stop, stop, stop that.
David:I mean, that's absurd.
David:Did you ever look in a mirror?
David:Of course God has a sense of humor.
David:Look in the mirror.
David:Here's what we need to recognize, though.
David:What Paul is telling Titus is, look, dude, you're young and you gotta be careful.
David:You gotta be a little more self controlled.
David:So make sure you're doing good job of being an example.
David:Specifically, because the pattern of good works is required from church leadership, it's a requirement to have an example of good conduct.
David:So he's like, hey, make sure that you're setting the example.
David:Make sure that you're firmly footed on the ground when you're teaching.
David:Make sure you're doing.
David:When you're teaching.
David:You're doing the honesty thing.
David:Some teachers will teach and they're like, I absolutely know this is the only way this can be interpreted.
David:When it's a two or three element interpretation, like eschatology, it's like, you don't have to say that.
David:You just say, this is the way I see it.
David:Other people see it different.
David:God bless them.
David:As long as we're drawing near, as long as it doesn't have to do with a core doctrine, it's fine.
David:And so then, and if you remember, you probably won't because it was a long time ago, like over a year and a half ago.
David:First Timothy 1:10, 11.
David:Paul said that sound doctrine should conform to the glorious gospel.
David:When people are teaching doctrine, it cannot be exclusionary to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
David: Timothy: David:And then he says this.
David:Your message should be sound beyond reproach.
David:Then any opponent will be ashamed because there isn't anything bad to say about you.
David:They might not like the person that's teaching, but when we're teaching, hey, the goal here is to draw nearer to the Lord and to love one another the way that Christ told us to love one another.
David:Of course, we're supposed to love our neighbor as we love ourself.
David:And we're supposed to love the Lord our God with all Our heart, soul, strength and mind.
David: But then Jesus in John: David:Love one another as I have loved you, which is more than we ever love, right?
David:That soundness, faithfulness, caring for others, and loving God.
David:They can dislike you, but there's not a lot they can say that's wrong with it.
David:Oh, they'll try.
David:Because remember, the devil's a liar.
David:But the idea behind that is just stay solid, be who you are.
David:If you messed up, eat it, own it, and move on from it.
David:Because that's why we're operating in the power of forgiveness.
David:I've made so many mistakes.
David:I have a couple of jokes with my wife about me making one or two mistakes only I've made more mistakes than I can put on a calculator.
David:But you know what?
David:God's grace is better than my mistake making.
David:And he's a better savior than I am.
David:A sinner.
David:That's what I count on.
David:Right, Right.
David:Little more self control, though, folks.
David:We can, because he tells us we can get it.
David:All right, taking a short break, and then we'll come back.
David:You're listening to the David Spoon Experience right here on Kaam 770, the truth station here in Texas.
David:Short break.
David:Don't go anywhere.
David:This is from our good friend Pastor Ray.
David:He wrote this wonderful devotional called When Grace Is Tangible.
David:The word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
David:That's John 1:14.
David:There is more to grace than I ever imagined.
David:Now, I'm going to stop you right there.
David:So I was praying, this is in the last month, and I even wrote it down in my little journal.
David:How I believe the Lord had communicated to me personally that I do not understand the depth of God's grace.
David:So then this devotion comes.
David:I'm like, oh, I just know the Lord's trying to teach me more.
David:All right, let me back it up to what Ray says.
David:There is more to grace than I ever imagined.
David:We sing of amazing grace with the hope and longing that inspires people of all faiths and walks of life.
David:Theologically, grace is defined as unmerited favor, a good, sound concept.
David:But there is something more tangible about grace, something we can picture in our minds.
David:God once told Moses, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
David:Grace, as I discovered in the Hebrew language, is more than a favor granted in spite of our failings.
David:When God says he will be gracious to whomever he chooses.
David:He uses the word which adds a new layer of our understanding.
David:Because hanan means to show favor, mercy, to bend or to stoop in kindness.
David:God is not only granting favor and mercy, but the word picture is of him bending down to us in kindness, like a father getting down on his knees to embrace his children.
David:There's even more to this picture.
David:The root of the word chanaan means to pitch a tent, to encamp, to abide, to dwell, to rest.
David:There is more than God granting favor.
David:He wants to dwell with us, to camp out with us.
David:The God who is so very beyond us, not of this world, desires for his glory to abide with us and in us.
David:God will be gracious to whomever he chooses, and he will come and live with them and dwell with them and camp out with them, whomever he chooses.
David:And when it makes no sense to anybody else, it doesn't matter.
David:Even if it doesn't meet our standard of approval.
David:The Almighty Lord desires to dwell with us, not just rule over us, certainly not to start a religion, but to love us and live with us in a tangible, real way, to show us the way, the truth and the life.
David:The ultimate experience of God bending down.
David:Listen to this.
David:The ultimate experience of God bending down, stoop, stooping down to the ground to dwell amongst us is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the David Spoon experience.
