I get to preach in a lot of different churches. I have never preached for a friend I have known for twenty years. Pastor David and I met in 2006 in Washington, D.C., so I was a little nervous walking up here.
My wife, Vicki, and I lead a ministry called Children’s Cup. My parents started it thirty four years ago. Six months before that, my dad was leading the missions arm of an international organization with a six hundred thousand dollar a month budget. Then God gave him and my mom a dream: if we could feed three or four hundred kids and tell them about Jesus, that would be worth spending our lives doing. They felt the smallness of it and the bigness of it at the same time. Dad had the know how and the relationships. He did not have the resources. God took that obedience and has blown it up. In the first half of this year we averaged about twenty seven thousand kids being fed, and not just fed. They are being given the gospel. I say that to God’s glory. We are standing on great shoulders.
We build care points, and a care point is the safe place in its community. We have sixty four of them, mostly in southern Africa and Latin America. In Honduras the default for a ten, eleven, twelve year old boy is that if you want to belong and matter, you join the cartel. The kids do not necessarily want to. They want to belong, so they do it. We do not do child sponsorship. We do friendship. Those kids do not just need stuff. They need a friend.
Two Boys in Honduras
Two boys, junior high age, hit that fork. One joined the gang. The other one found the care point instead, and he went and told his friend, "You ought to come over to this care point."
His friend said, "I do not know if I can get out of the gang. But I will come check it out."
He came, and he said, "This is what I was looking for. I belong." People embraced him literally when he walked in the gate. Elizabeth ran that care point, and she hugged every kid who came in. She heard his story and it did not bother her. She loved him, and she introduced him to Jesus.
By their senior year both boys were in a program we run for kids about to be launched into life, and within two weeks of graduation every one of those eight kids had a job offer. I went back a few months later and found all eight at the care point on their day off, serving the little kids. A group of eleven, twelve, and thirteen year olds had been watching. After the older ones left I asked them, "Hey, what do you think about them?"
They said, "We want to be just like them."
That is the environment we are trying to build, where kids get a chance to see what they want to become. We call it giving hope, inspiring dreams, and changing worlds.
If I Grow Up
I asked another little boy at a care point what he wanted to be when he grew up. He smiled real big and said, "Me? If I grow up, I want to be a teacher."
I told him the things you are supposed to say as an adult. Study hard, stay in school. Then he started to walk away and I said, "Hold up, hold up, back it up. You said if I grow up."
He said, "Yeah. If I grow up, I want to be a teacher."
He was starting to have hope. When hope takes root, then you can inspire a dream, and our job was to help him understand that God can make him a teacher. Then comes changing worlds. That sounds like it means Children’s Cup is changing worlds, but the real heart of it is that little boy going and changing his. Several of our sixty four care points are run right now by somebody who grew up at one.
My dad used to say, "Hope’s name is Jesus." So when we say we are giving hope, I always see it as giving Jesus.
He Does Not Make Junk
Here is the verse this whole series is built on.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)
We could stop there and go home. That is the whole point today.
This is honestly one of the verses we teach the kids at the care points. God created you on purpose. You are His workmanship. He does not make junk. He does not mess up. He made something beautiful.
Somebody always says, "But you do not know what has happened to me. You do not know the abuse I have been through." The verse still says you are God’s handiwork. God is a very creative being, and He put His artistry to work when He built you. It may be buried under a bunch of junk you have been through and a bunch of bad decisions. It is still there.
Our job with those kids in Honduras is to show them there is something beautiful in them. My job today is to show you that God values you.
It is one hundred percent God’s grace, though, and not our own ability. I have never once looked in the mirror in the morning and thought, you got it, bro. Everything good we ever get to experience is because of God’s grace. Not because I am that talented, that good looking, that smart. That is not why your life is good or bad. God’s grace does it all. If you get that, you got it, and everything else I am going to say is underneath it.
Let me give you a definition of grace that I love. Unearned favor, freely extended, that produces delight. Favor that is an active force, not just a one time verdict.
1. We All Need Grace
Every one of us deserves judgment. Every one of us deserves hell, because sin separates us from God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 (CSB)
That may be a little hard to swallow in 2026, with all the ways people are trying to break down the Bible. It is real. We have all sinned. Sin separates us from God. So we all deserve hell.
Culture tries to trick us into sorting people into good and bad. I love a fundamental athlete. I am from Baton Rouge, so I have to say it: Shaquille O’Neal, shoot a free throw, man. It is a fifteen foot shot and you are standing there by yourself. You look at a guy who is fundamental, no bling, no bad attitude, and you think, that is a good guy. Then you have got Dennis Rodman, and you think, that is a bad guy. I am throwing way back, so stay with me, I am old.
That whole exercise has nothing to do with your eternity.
Adolf Hitler deserved hell. I think we would probably all agree with that. So did Billy Graham. That one is harder to swallow. That man preached, and so many people got saved. Maybe some of us got saved because we listened to Billy Graham, or our parents did. Apart from the grace of God, he deserved hell. He would tell you that himself. He preached it, so I am not saying anything out of turn. Without the grace of God, I deserve hell, and so do you.
We think being bad means you go to hell and being good means you go to heaven. It is interesting that nobody is really challenging whether there is a real heaven, because we are all going there, right? I assure you there is a real hell and a real heaven.
People say, "I will see you in hell, we will have a party down there." That is the most ridiculous twist of a lie. Hell is eternal separation from God. Anything good you have ever experienced in life is because of God’s presence, so you eternally and completely separate yourself from that, and then you have the constant reminder that you could have accepted the grace God extended to you. That is what hell is.
So here we are, and I promise this gets happier. Every one of us deserves that. No way out. Nothing I could do to get myself out of that judgment.
The Noose
Let me paint one more picture, and I am going to read this one because I do not want to miss a piece of it.
Each of us has our own procession that we are on. We have been accused. We have been found guilty. The verdict is true, and we know it. We are being led to the gallows where we are to meet death.
Overseeing the procedure, the judge is seated. Beside him, a thirty three or thirty four year old man slowly rises. He and the judge exchange a quick conversation and both nod in agreement. They embrace briefly, as a father and son. Then the son makes his way over to you and kindly asks your permission to take the noose off your neck. You are stunned, and you agree. He takes the noose off your neck and puts it on his own, and you are released while he is executed in your place.
That, to me, is what Jesus did for us. That is the picture of grace. I did nothing to deserve it. I did not know the son. He just did it for me. The only thing I did was say yes. I gave Him permission.
2. Grace Stepped In, and It Cannot Be Earned
Being nice. Reading your Bible. Praying. Returning your tithe faithfully. Giving offerings. Writing a big check to Children’s Cup. Writing a big check to Rise Church so that as a church you can do great things on the mission field. I am sorry, I elaborated on that one a little more than the others. Going on a missions trip. Serving on Serve Day.
Those are all good things. Please keep doing them.
I have fallen back in love with my Bible. I was a YouVersion guy for about fifteen years and had one on a shelf collecting dust while I read off my phone. But reading your Bible, as good and as vital as it is, does not do what grace does.
None of it will earn you grace. If it is earned, it is not grace. It is a gift of God. By grace are you saved through faith, and it is a gift, not works, because this is all about God. It is all about Jesus.
3. God Is Eager to Show Grace
I love this idea. When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet in John 13, all twelve of them walked right past the basin.
Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him. John 13:3-5 (CSB)
Their feet were nasty and smelly, because that is just how life was then. Before you ate at the table somebody always washed your feet, and there was nobody in that borrowed room to do it. The disciples knew it. One of us is going to have to do this. All twelve walked by. The young one is thinking, somebody older ought to do it. The older ones are thinking, John is the youngest.
Jesus saw all of it. And He got up, took off His robe, got the towel, wrapped it around His waist, and started washing feet.
I do not think Jesus stood up in a huff, threw His robe on the ground, stomped over to the corner and said, "I am getting this towel, y’all stupid losers." I do not see that at all. What I see is Jesus thinking, great opportunity. Not to teach them a lesson, but to show them the full extent of my love. He was eager to show them grace, because He knew it would change their lives.
I have been writing in my Bible margins lately, and it seems like every story I read gives me another reason to write the same two words down. Eager grace. Jesus went out of His way to meet the woman at the well. He was not thirsty. That was not why He went. The woman caught in adultery gets brought to Him, and I always wonder why it is just the woman who got caught. Where is the guy? Jesus looked at that and thought, here is a chance to show grace. And as much as God got upset with the Israelites on the way to the promised land, He kept looking for an excuse to show them grace. Sometimes I write in my margins, you bunch of idiots. Then I read the next verse and think, oh, that is exactly what I did. I am an idiot too.
Maybe we grew up with the idea that God is waiting to drop judgment on us every time we make a mistake. I think it is the other way around. I think He is waiting to show us grace. He is looking for a chance. That does not mean it is good to sin so that grace can abound, and that is the whole of Romans 6, 7, and 8. It means God is looking for a chance to show you grace. He is not looking for a chance to knock you down.
4. Grace Is Not a One Time Event
This is the big one we often miss. We think of grace as the moment. By grace I am saved. True. But it is not just that one time event, and it is not only there to pull you out of the mess you are in. It is also there to propel you forward into the purpose God made you for.
"For I know the plans I have for you," this is the Lord’s declaration, "plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 (CSB)
God has a plan for the kids we work with. God has a plan for you. He has a plan for your kids and for your coworkers. That is His grace, and it propels you forward into what He has for you.
Once grace steps in and we say yes, you can take the noose off my neck, heaven is our destiny. Full time in the presence of Jesus. And somehow I am not the anomaly standing in there, I am not the big wart sticking out. I fit in. No more crying, no more pain, no more cancer, no more abuse, no more evil, and finally being able to understand why about everything.
That sounds amazing. So why does God not just take us to heaven right now? I am in. I think I have the answer. Because He has given us a purpose. That verse in Jeremiah is not only about coming to heaven with Him. He is also saying, I have a reason I want you on the earth. And we need grace to do the work He has for us here. The grace that pulled us out of trouble is the grace that moves us into that purpose.
You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1 (CSB)
Be strong in the grace. That sounds like there is something ahead of me that I need to be strong in the grace for. It is forward motion.
We Live to Help Others Find God’s Grace
That is the purpose. That is why I am here. Heaven would be amazing, and I would love to be there right now. But I live to help other people find God’s grace. I am not saying live with a death wish. I am saying it matters enough that I will spend my life on it.
That does not mean pulling out your Bible for personal evangelism in every conversation. Sometimes that is exactly the right thing to do. Mostly it is noticing people.
Say you live in an apartment and the guy upstairs is loud at night, practicing his dribbling for high school basketball. Do you get mad? Do you thump on the ceiling? Or here is an idea, extend grace. Next time you see him in the hall, ask, "Hey, how is the basketball coming? When is your next game?" Then go to the game and cheer him on. What a difference for that kid to know he is probably keeping people up, and those people are being kind to him anyway.
Love people unconditionally, because God loves you unconditionally. And use your gifts. There are people in this church who are talented at all kinds of things and make a good living at it. Maybe you are a good lawyer. Great, go make a bunch of money doing it, and use that gift to help people find God’s grace. It is not just what you do on a Sunday morning and it is not just what you do on Serve Day. You want your life to be complete? Let your complete life be about showing other people God’s grace.
I wrote this one down and read it back this morning, and I thought, that one needs to linger. The best works always come from the experience of grace. Works are good, so let’s go do them. But the most impactful things we do come from having experienced grace ourselves. The best Serve Day is the one where the people going out are doing it from a place of having experienced God’s grace. That is when you have something that really impacts the city.
Grace is not just what saves you. We cannot earn it. It is all grace and it is all God. And it is also what is moving us forward right now, into the plan God already has for us.
