Grace Abound

2 Cor. 9:8

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all

things at all times, having all that you need, you will
abound in every good work.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you;
that you, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8
KJV)

2 Corinthians 9:6 The point is this: whoever sows

sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows
bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must
give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or
under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And
God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that
having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may
abound in every good work.

Shalom and good morning brothers and sisters in Christ.

Do you believe that Grace Abound?
My name is Rev. Parsaoran Manullang and I am from
Grace Methodist Church Kelapa Gading Jakarta. Our
church is an English Speaking Church but it considers
small church because we are about 40 people attendance
in average of every Sunday Service.
We really experience what it calls Grace Abound. And
usually when we say small in numbers then we will think
that we just can do few things. Dear friends, I really like
our topic and title today “Grace Abound”. Yes this is
true…. This is exactly true “Grace Abound”. In God’s
grace, HE is really able to bless us abundantly and having
all that we need, sufficient in all things at all times.
In God’s grace, HE is enabling us to support and to be a
big brother of our preaching post in Banjarmasin
Kalimantan. And moreover HE is enabling us to give food
to those who are in need, the marginal, and those who are
living on the trash dumps continually twice a month for
about 100 people in Senen Railway Station Area.
For us, this is God’s grace, this is miracle and this is
Grace Abound. Our church finance is actually just enough
to support the daily programs but God is able to send
many people to support especially those who are in need.
It is only the power of God that can do that kind of thing.
What is grace?
- Grace is a general term for all that God is, made
available to us.
- It is God's character, God's virtue, all God's Being
made available to us.
- To make the invisible Christ visible.
- The life of Jesus Christ in us, supplied to us, living
through us, ministering to our every need, the glory
of Christianity.
 - It is a gift. It cannot be purchased, it cannot be
worked for. It is unmerited. That is the problem.
- That is about the power of God, because comes only
through the channel of grace.
And if it is works, then it is no more grace; if it is grace,
then it is no more works,
So the grace is not like this:
- Lord, if I do this for you, then will you do that for
me?
- If I am faithful to teach Sunday school, or to attend
church every Sunday, surely you ought to take care
of me so that I won't get sick."
God's power cannot come by any other channel than
God's grace. So if it is works, then it is no more grace;
if it is grace, then it is no more works.
The right attitude is like this: "Lord, I'm not much, but
here I am, and all I am I put at your disposal," 

Now. Let’s see how much that God will always (in all
things at all times) give according to His purpose: having
all according what you need, sufficiency in all things,
have enough of everything. He will give you exactly what
you need, but never too much.
Why? It may provide in abundance for every good work.
- In other words, that you may be engaged in work that
blesses, strengthens, and helps others.
 o Doing good,  This will involve speaking the
truth, and practicing love, self-denying love,
toward another

- That is what God is doing in this world

- So friends, when you want to become a good person
and do good work, This verse is declaring that we
must begin our thinking there: "God is able."
- When Paul wrote to these Corinthians he wrote about
the power of God to supply material things they
needed -- money, and material prosperity, whatever it
took to get God's work done. He made a very
practical application of the power of God. It was the
power of God to supply. 
- In this pandemic time, there are many people yet,
many of them Christians, who still desperately need
the power of God to supply. We oftentimes take for
granted the supply of our material needs and we need
to be reminded that it, too, comes from God, and can
be taken away from us as easily as it has been given.
We must not forget that it is God who gives seed to
the sower, and bread to the baker, and makes possible
the sustenance of life at any level. It all rests upon the
power of God at work.
- Friends… do you believe that Grace Abound and
God is able to bless you abundantly especially when
you act your faith to help the needy?
So friends, when you want to become a good person and
do good work, This verse is declaring that we must begin
our thinking there: "God is able."
When Paul wrote to these Corinthians he wrote about the
power of God to supply material things they needed --
money, and material prosperity, whatever it took to get
God's work done. He made a very practical application of
the power of God. It was the power of God to supply. 
In this pandemic time, there are many people yet, many of
them Christians, who still desperately need the power of
God to supply. We oftentimes take for granted the supply
of our material needs and we need to be reminded that it,
too, comes from God, and can be taken away from us as
easily as it has been given. We must not forget that it is
God who gives seed to the sower, and bread to the baker,
and makes possible the sustenance of life at any level. It
all rests upon the power of God at work.
Friends… do you believe that Grace Abound and God is
able to bless you abundantly especially when you act your
faith to help the needy?
There is the power of God to excel, to exceed whatever
we can think. Isaiah said God's thoughts are not like our
thoughts, nor his ways like our ways. We are so limited!
If we could only understand this. We are limited in our
concepts about life, the world, and the universe. We tend
to think that God operates like we do, therefore we get
restless, disturbed and upset when God does things quite
differently. 
I think you already get the point of the verse. He is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or
think. Even our greatest imaginings will be excelled as we
wait upon God to work it out HIS way and never insist on
having your way,
This is God’s promise to us and HE will fulfill it. He will
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
He will excel our dreams, even our imaginations, such is
his wisdom, his power, his might, and his ability to act.

What is grace?
- Grace is a general term for all that God is, made
available to us.
- It is God's character, God's virtue, all God's Being
made available to us.
- To make the invisible Christ visible.
 - The life of Jesus Christ in us, supplied to us, living
through us, ministering to our every need, the glory
of Christianity.
- It is a gift. It cannot be purchased, it cannot be
worked for. It is unmerited. That is the problem.
- That is about the power of God, because comes only
through the channel of grace.
And if it is works, then it is no more grace; if it is grace,
then it is no more works,
So the grace is not like this:
- Lord, if I do this for you, then will you do that for
me?
- If I am faithful to teach Sunday school, or to attend
church every Sunday, surely you ought to take care
of me so that I won't get sick."
God's power cannot come by any other channel than
God's grace. So if it is works, then it is no more grace;
if it is grace, then it is no more works.
The right attitude is like this: "Lord, I'm not much, but
here I am, and all I am I put at your disposal," 

Now. Let’s see how much that God will always (in all
things at all times) give according to His purpose: having
all according what you need, sufficiency in all things,
have enough of everything. He will give you exactly what
you need, but never too much.
Why? It may provide in abundance for every good work.
 - In other words, that you may be engaged in work that
blesses, strengthens, and helps others.
o Doing good,  This will involve speaking the
truth, and practicing love, self-denying love,
toward another

- That is what God is doing in this world

Is God obtaining his purpose with you? Is it all working

out to good works in your life, works that help others,
works that minister to the needs of others? That is what
God is after. Or are you denying him his right to use your
body for his purposes in the world?

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Paul discusses the Christian duty to provide financial

support for Christians in Jerusalem who were facing
economic hardship because of the famine in the 40s in the
first century.
- Historians believe Paul spent close to ten years
raising money for these Christians.
 - The Corinthian church was the first of the churches to
give to the relief effort, and the first to have the
desire to do so (2 Corinthians 8:10-12).
- the importance of caring for the well-being of one’s
brothers and sisters in Christ

“And God is able to bless you abundantly…”

And God is able =generously ; to make all grace ;
sufficiency ;
- begins with God’s ability
- God’s abundant grace.
- God is able to make all grace abound to you
- God is mighty. God is strong. God is able. He is
powerful. He is fully capable. Omnipotent is the
theological word – all powerful. Nothing is too
difficult for the Lord. Nothing is beyond his ability.
He is able to do all that he wants to do.

t has only one kind of power it can operate on, and that is
God's power. If it loses that, it is reduced to the same
power the world or any worldly organization has -- the
power of numbers, the power of political maneuvering, or
the power of moral constraint.

to bless you abundantly= provide all you need.; in all

things at all times
“…so that in all things at all times, having all that you
need…”
so that in all things at all times, having all that you need=
always have everything you need and
- we are content
- we have enough.
- We do not need to be afraid of the loss of what we
have given
- We should not withhold giving because we are
worried that we will not have enough to provide for
our needs in the future.
- This does not mean that Christians will become rich
by fulfilling their duty to give as God has
commanded.
- It just means that what they have will be sufficient
(we will not need to rely on others to provide for us.)
-

“…you will abound in every good work.”

you will abound= plenty left over
in every good work= to share with others.;
-
God will reward us plentifully, both spiritually and here
on earth, for giving charitably as He has commanded.
- We will receive a large number of good things, both
of a spiritual and of an earthly nature.
- What you receive will allow you to make up what
you have given away,
- and you will be able to give again.
- Abounding Grace for Abounding Generosity
-

God’s Eagerness
And God loves a cheerful giver.
- The one who scatters seed bountifully will also reap
bountifully.
- because he is a cheerful giver.
- And he loves to create cheerful giving in us.
What he wants to do is to make all his grace abound to
you.
This is abundant grace indeed! That God himself, God
the Son, being eternally rich, would enter into our
poverty in order to make us rich with his presence
forever! If you ever doubt his goodness, his grace, you
need only look to the cross.
All Grace Abounding
Look carefully at what this says. Savor this! God is
able to make all grace abound to you. It does not say
that he will merely give you grace (as if that would not
be enough). Not just sufficient grace, not some grace,
but all grace. All grace! God holds nothing back! He
gives us “the immeasurable riches of his grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:7)! All
grace, every good gift we don’t deserve and didn’t earn
is ours in Christ Jesus!
But he doesn’t even stop there, in giving us all his
grace. He is able to cause all grace to abound, to
overflow to you! All his grace in unending,
overwhelming, abundant supply.
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before
the Father, …16 that according to the riches of his
glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power
through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you,
being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have
strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that
you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now
to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all
that we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and
ever. Amen.
Glory! We need his supernatural strength to
comprehend the depth of his goodness toward us! All
his undeserved grace in abundant supply! Worship!
The Purpose of Abundance
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all
things at all times, you may abound in every good
work.
There is a purpose statement here. ‘So that’ or ‘in order
that’. God’s grace is abundantly given to us for a
purpose. It is so that in all things, at all times, we
would have all sufficiency to abound in all good work.
God’s abundant giving is to be mirrored in us. God
gives abundantly to us so that we will become
abundant givers like he is.
God’s purpose in causing all his grace to abound to
you is not for you to store it up and horde it. It is not
for you to become a a septic tank, where everything
goes in and nothing out, where the good water flowing
from the kitchen sink gets stagnant and smelly, until it
gets too full and too foul and needs to be pumped out.
God’s design is that you be a fresh mountain reservoir,
with direct access to the ever flowing springs and
streams of God’s goodness, filled to overflowing so
that it can freely flow out to bless others.
Paul tells the elders from Ephesus:
Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you that by
working hard in this way we must help the weak and
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself
said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
We are blessed in order to bless others. By working
hard we must help the weak. He writes to the
Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather
let him labor, doing honest work with his own
hands, so that he may have something to share with
anyone in need.
The contrast here between stealing and working is not
merely a contrast of how wealth is gotten. It is also a
contrast of purposes. Not stealing to have more to
spend, not stealing to supply his own needs, but
working hard in order to have something to share with
anyone in need. The heart of the thief is transformed.
His goal for his income honestly gotten is radically
different.
Paul writes Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:17 As for the rich in this present age,
charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes
on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly
provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do
good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and
ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for
themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that
they may take hold of that which is truly life.
The rich are not condemned for being rich, but rather
are exhorted to not believe in, trust in, set their hopes
on the uncertainty of riches. They are exhorted to use
what they have been blessed with to be rich in good
works, to be generous and ready to share. This is how
to truly enjoy wealth. This is truly living!
The author of Hebrews says
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money,
and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I
will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Free! Freedom to be content with what you have.
Content with the promise of God’s presence. He goes
on to say:
Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share
what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
The privilege of pleasing God. We have the awesome
privilege of pleasing God with what he has given
freely to us.
Abundant Supply for Every Good Work
God’s purpose in causing all his grace to abound to
you is that you might reflect him by abounding in all
good work. We might ask ‘What good work? Which
good work am I supposed to abound in? I certainly
can’t do everything.’ This is similar to the lawyer’s
question when Jesus affirmed that the law requires that
we love God and love neighbor as oneself.
Luke 10:29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to
Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
We want off the hook. So we say ‘Which good work?’
Jesus told a story about a man who had been beaten
and robbed and left half dead, and three different
people’s responses to seeing this man in need. Jesus’
question was:
Luke 10:36 Which of these three, do you think, proved
to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the
robbers?”
Jesus turns the question around from ‘who is my
neighbor’ to ‘where is your heart?’ What kind of a
neighbor are you to the people in your life who have
need? Are you miserly, eager to protect what you have,
focusing on your own potential loss, or is your heart
overflowing, seeing the need around you and leaping at
the opportunity to bless as you have been so
abundantly blessed?
This passage simply and clearly answers this question
with one simple word; all. Every. So that you may
abound in all good work. Every good work.
In fact James goes so far as to say
James 4:17 (KJV) Therefore to him that knoweth to do
good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
If you’re anything like me, you hear this and you say
‘but I don’t have sufficient resources to do it all! Every
good work? This surely must be hyperbole. It can’t
mean literally every good work, can it?
Sandwiched in the middle of this purpose statement are
three more ‘all’ words. Inside the ‘In order that …you
may abound in every good work’ are these six words:
‘in all, always, all sufficiency having.’ To our ‘but I
don’t have enough, I won’t have enough’ God says
‘you will have all you need, all the time, in
everything.’
In another passage where Paul is thanking a church
family for sending him support, he says:
Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need
of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ
Jesus.
When I am focused on my lack and begin to doubt, I
need to ask myself ‘Is Jesus enough?’ What is it that I
really need?
Our thinking tends to be stuck in categories of giving
monetarily. And that is a valid category. But we need
to be open to thinking outside our boxes, as Peter and
John teach us in Acts 3. They were on their way to the
temple to pray when they were interrupted by a lame
beggar asking for money. Here it is in the old King
James, the way I first heard it:
Acts 3:6 (KJV) Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I
none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
He was asking for money. Not many of us can honestly
say ‘Silver and gold have I none.’ But we do hold the
life-transforming treasure of the gospel in these jars of
clay. Peter and John could have said ‘Silver and gold
have I none’ and felt off the hook to walk by and do
nothing. But instead their time with Jesus had
transformed their vision to see beyond what he was
asking for to his real need, to the hope of all things
made new. What has Jesus freely given you that you
can share freely with others?
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all
things at all times, you may abound in every good
work.
Let’s end by savoring these familiar words together:
Psalm 23 (KJV) 1 A Psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.