Luke 18:9-14 Series

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Luke 18:9-4

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

before we go into prayer this morning I want to talk for just a few moments about mercy

more specifically I want to talk about Gods mercy

you know because of Gods mercy we are all given so much more than we deserve

And that's what I'm going to talk about just for a couple of minutes is the blessing we have all because of Gods mercy

first Gods mercy gives us salvation

titus 3:5

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

you see the apostle Paul knew that he had received Gods mercy

he knew that he didn't deserve it but that God gave it to him anyway

You see Paul had made a lot of mistakes before he got saved

He even was responsible for the death of a lot of other christian but then one day on the road to Damascus Paul received Gods mercy

And he was forever thankful and I tell you what so am I

(expound as lord leads)

Gods mercy also gives us help in our times of trouble

Hebrews 4:16

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

You know we have some hard times in this life

Tears that we are going to have to cry (expound as lord leads)

But the good news is that we can all have the help we need in our times of trouble and it is all because of Gods mercy

not a one of has earned the help that God gives to us each day

especially if we was to look at it from the view point of todays society

you see now days everyone has the whats in it for me attitude

well let me ask you all this what has any of us done for God lately that he would owe us the favors that he gives to us each day

I mean he is God

and he don't need us to give him anything

so everything that we are given is because of his love and mercy and grace

I don't know about all of you but I sure am thankful for all the many blessings that God gives to me

Because of Gods mercy we also have all we need to endure whatever comes are way

2 corinthians 4:1

1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

you know sometimes life gets so stressful that it seems like we just can't go on another day

but there is good news and that good news is that we are not alone

we have a friend in Jesus

a friend that sticks closer to us than a brother

he will never leave us or forsake us

and when it seems that we can't go on any farther he tells us to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us

as we get ready to go to prayer I just want to share with you one short story about Henry Ford one day he was driving through the Michigan countryside when he saw a man whose model t ford had broken down alongside the road mr Ford stopped and asked the man if he could take a look and see if he could fix it the man said yes and in just a matter of minutes mr Ford had the model t running again the man told mr Ford he sure was impressed then Henry Ford replied well I should be able to fix it after all I am the one who designed it