Grace Within The Garbage
Message Moments & Highlights
The world celebrates power, success, and appearance — but God sees differently. He places His greatest treasures in what seems fragile, weak, or insignificant. Jesus came not in grandeur, but in humanity. His strength was hidden in vulnerability. And today, God still chooses to work through what the world overlooks. Will you let Him reveal the treasure He’s placed in you?
He didn’t come with status or applause. Jesus — fragile, human, misunderstood — walked the earth as a carpenter from Nazareth. But within that fragile frame lived the treasure of heaven, the power of God, and the hope of the world. What the world dismissed as ordinary, God declared priceless. Fragile… yet a treasure beyond your wildest imagination.
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords — not because He demands glory, but because there's no one else like Him. Jesus has overcome death, sin, pain, and fragility, and He offers His life and love freely to all who will receive it. No one else can heal your heart like Christ can. The question is: have you accepted the treasure of Jesus?
Christ came into a broken world to show us that God sees differently than we do. Where we see weakness, God sees worth. Where the world overlooks, He places treasure. In a culture that often values strength, success, and appearance, God’s grace enters the fragile places — the overlooked, the wounded, the misunderstood — and fills them with eternal purpose. You are not disqualified by your brokenness; you're exactly where God chooses to dwell.
Grace Within The Garbage
Understanding God's grace means recognizing that He deliberately chooses broken and imperfect vessels to display His glory. Like precious treasures hidden in common clay pots during ancient times, God places His greatest gifts within human frailty. This profound truth transforms our perspective on personal struggles, past trauma, and feelings of inadequacy.While many seek worth through achievements, social status, or religious activities, genuine value comes solely through accepting Christ's grace. This grace doesn't necessarily make us externally perfect, but rather fills our brokenness with His presence and power. The transformative power of this grace extends beyond personal healing to impact broken relationships, overcome addictions, and even triumph over death itself.This understanding challenges us to stop proving our worth and instead surrender our broken areas to God's transforming power. When we truly grasp this concept, we become effective vessels of His grace to others who struggle with their own brokenness and unworthiness.
Related Bible Verses
2 Corinthians 4:5–7 (NIV)
5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/111/2CO.4.5-7.NIV
1 Corinthians 1:26–28 (NLT)
26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.
27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/1CO.1.26-28.NLT
Ephesians 2:4–7 (NLT)
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/EPH.2.4-7.NLT
Romans 8:10–11 (NLT)
10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.
11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/ROM.8.10-11.NLT
2 Corinthians 4:15–17 (NLT)
15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/2CO.4.15-17.NLT
Philippians 2:6–11 (NLT)
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/PHP.2.6-11.NLT
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Finding Treasure in Life's Brokenness: Understanding God's Grace
Life often feels like a collection of broken pieces, pain, and struggles. Yet there's a profound truth that can transform how we view our brokenness and find hope: God puts His greatest treasures in seemingly fragile vessels.
Why Does God Put Treasure in Fragile Vessels?
The Apostle Paul uses a powerful metaphor in 2 Corinthians 4:7, describing how we are like clay jars containing precious treasure. In ancient times, people would often hide valuable items in ordinary, breakable clay pots - the last place thieves would look for treasure.
This reflects God's pattern: He places His greatest gifts in humble, broken vessels. Jesus Himself came to earth in human form, appearing ordinary and fragile, yet containing the fullness of God's glory.
How Does Grace Transform Our Brokenness?
God's grace has the power to overcome:
Past trauma and pain
Feelings of unworthiness
Broken relationships
Addictions and struggles
Death itself
This grace isn't about making us perfect externally, but about placing His treasure - His presence and power - within our brokenness. We remain "jars of clay," but we contain something of infinite worth.
What Makes Us Worthy?
Many try to find worth through:
Accomplishments
Wealth
Social status
Good deeds
Religious activity
However, true worth comes from accepting Christ's grace. We don't become worthy by fixing ourselves - He makes us worthy by placing His treasure within us.
Life Application
This week, consider:
Where are you trying to prove your worth instead of accepting God's grace?
What broken areas of your life need to be surrendered to God's transforming power?
How can you better reflect God's grace to others who are struggling?
Challenge: Each morning this week, remind yourself: "I am a jar of clay containing God's treasure. His grace is sufficient for my brokenness."
Questions for Reflection:
Have you truly accepted God's grace, or are you still trying to earn it?
What areas of your life still need to be surrendered to His transforming power?
How can you share this message of grace with someone who feels broken or unworthy?
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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And who's ready for the word? I'm ready.
All right. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, 2 Corinthians, 4, 5, 7. We're going to read. Don't always read this over Easter, but it does apply very powerfully. It says this.
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants. For Jesus sake. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the Knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. So Lord, as we come around your word this morning, let it not just be a nice message that we hear on Easter Sunday, God, but let it be something that penetrates our hearts.
Let it be real. Your word is life transforming God. And you want to come and fill every single person here, every single heart. You've got a plan for us, you've got a purpose. And your purpose is that we would know you and that we would be transformed by your love, God, and forgiven and made whole in you.
And so I pray God that as we come around this message that you would speak to us and we leave changed in Jesus name. Amen. I've titled today's message Treasure in the Trash. Grace within the Garbage. Treasure in the Trash.
Grace within the Garbage. I was reading this story a little while ago of a guy and this is the modern day version of this. This guy had. Had bought some crypto, I think it was some bitcoin. He bought it when it was cheap and he had a whole stack of crypto and it was stored on his hard drive.
These codes, however they do it, and he thought, awesome. Gone up in value, go, yes, this is worth millions of dollars now. This is awesome. And without thinking too much about what was going on, he at one stage accidentally took the hard drive and the computer, this old thing that he had, and threw it out because it was old and he didn't need it anymore and he threw it out. And then one day he realized my bitcoin codes are on that hard drive.
And the only way you can access that coin is through by having those codes. And it was only on that hard drive. And he'd thrown it in the bin and it had gone to the rubbish dump. And so this guy, he panicked and he raced down there and he started going through the rubbish looking for this hard drive with millions of dollars worth of bitcoin. And it got in the news because he ended up making an application to the council whether he would be allowed to excavate the whole garbage dump site looking for his hard drive with his bitcoin on there.
And I think the answer was no. And he lost it all. There was treasure in the trash. The sort of, the analog version of that story, which also happened in Australia in Beaconsfield, actually was a woman decided to take some old garbage down. I'm always worried about this because my wife loves taking stuff to the Salvos and the op shops and just going, I've gotten rid of it.
I'm like, what did you get rid of? Well, this woman decided she was gonna get rid of a whole bunch of garbage. My husband, he's a hoarder, and I'm getting rid of it. And so she took this stuff down and this old suitcase, it was just an old dodgy, you know, these suitcases. And it's like the handle's not working properly anymore.
The zip doesn't work. She's like, this is a load of garbage. I'm throwing it away. And she just took it over to the. Well, it must have been better than that because the Salvos did accept it, so it must have been slightly better than old dodgy, right?
And they accepted this old. This. This suitcase, and she was happy. And then one day her husband came and said, hey, where's that suitcase that I've stored in? And she goes, oh, yeah, that.
I gave it to the Salvos. And he races down to the Salvo, where's that suitcase? Someone had taken it for, like, two bucks or whatever it was. He goes, I had sown our life savings of $100,000 in cash into the lining of that suitcase. You've just given away $100,000 of our money.
And I don't know what the end of that story was. They were looking for it. They were trying to track it down. I don't know if they ever found it. But we have these stories, don't we, where we have treasure in seemingly insignificant things.
We store things like that. Some of us store. We try and store our keys or whatever in areas that don't look like they're of any value. And Paul comes to us with this passage here, and verse seven is what I want to focus on. He says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.
I want to focus on that this morning because I think it's very poignant around Easter to talk about this, because we see this in the life of Christ and we see it in our own lives that Jesus Christ came into this world and he was seemingly insignificant. He's famous now, but at the time he was in a little outpost of the Roman Empire and he didn't appear. They called him the Nazarene or Jesus of Nazareth. It was a payout. It's like saying, oh, Adrian from Frankston.
Yeah, like what? You know, who cares? Who cares, mate, right? Jesus from Nazareth, right? He's seemingly insignificant and yet we know that he was an amazing treasure from God.
And then God says to us, I've put treasure inside of you. And so I want to talk to you about these concepts, because I believe God wants to speak to you about who Jesus really is in your life. Is he real to you? Is he a treasure in your life? Some of us are here because we've come along with family and because Easter Sunday, it's a good thing to come to church, and I'm glad you have.
But we know this. This is for all of us. Jesus did not come to be celebrated on Easter Sunday. That's not his purpose. He came to change your life.
He came to transform you from the inside out. He is a treasure greater than gold, greater than anything else. He's priceless. And what he says is that your life can be transformed. There is treasure, if you will let him, There can be treasure inside of you that will change your lives.
We are like jars of clay. So I want to talk to you about three things today. That this idea of being a clay jar, of being just a jar of clay with a treasure in it, what does that show us about God? What does it tell us about ourselves and the kind of person that God's called you to be? And I want to tell you, maybe you've been going through some stuff.
Maybe you don't feel worthy. Maybe you're trying to make yourself worthy. Maybe you've made yourself worthy because of other things you've done, because of how much money you've got, how popular you are, you know, the things you've accumulated, the position you have in your career, in your workplace. I want to tell you those things do not make you worthy. Only Jesus can do that.
So I want to talk to you about that today. And the first thing I want to say about that is this, that we see in this passage. It's a truth about who God is. And it's an amazing truth. God puts treasure, fragile things.
And I've got here a little illustration that my wife helped me with. And so I'd like. Can I ask the Honourable Stephen to. Very carefully. Very carefully, Stephen, Very carefully.
Thank you. You're doing a great job. No, just on there. No, no, just. It's not about you today, Steve.
I know you're an actor. Oh, there's a bit of treasure. There you go. That's for you. Well done.
Give him a hand. Give him a hand.
We have this passage, God puts treasure in fragile things. The apostle Paul uses this illustration, and I don't know many of you in Korea, we've heard this saying, jars of clay. Who remembers, if you grew up in Christianity, this old band. They were awesome band. When I was a teenager.
Jars of clay. Who remembers them? Yeah, a few of us. I used to listen to all their albums. I bought all their albums.
I put it on repeat, and I was like, this is awesome. And then one of them even got into the. Into the, like, secular charts, and it was like, this is unbelievable. We've hit the jackpot. Christian bands in the mainstream anyway.
Most of you don't care because you're too young for that. Well, you didn't follow it. But this. It comes. That band's name comes from this passage.
God has put treasures in jars of clay. And what Paul was talking about, he's saying, this is what God does. These jars of clay he was talking about were not important. They were not valuable. They were old pots.
They were clay pots. They were easily breakable. If you pick that up and just threw it on the concrete, it would smash. In fact, I had another clay pot that I was gonna bring along, and. Cause it was bigger, and it was like, oh, this one's good.
And I was. I'm gonna take this one. And Narelle looks at me, and she goes, you are not taking that pot because that's already got cracks in it. And if you move that, you will destroy it. And that's my pride and joy.
Cause she found it on the side of the road. And she was very proud of herself that someone else's junk became Narelle's treasure in this clay pot. And it was sitting there. She goes, you're not touching that. And it does.
It's got all these cracks down the side, right? Because they're fragile. They're easily broken. And what would happen in the time is that people would have these. These.
These jars, these pots of. Made of clay that were cheap and easily made. And they would just store stuff in there. They'd use them for different storage, and, you know, you'd put different things in there. And sometimes what they do is.
Some of what we do because we're human. All humans, it doesn't matter. 2000 years ago or now, they'd store a bunch of junk in there. It became like a rubbish spot. But sometimes they did that on purpose.
They'd load it up with all kinds of just gunk and junk and whatever's happening, someone's thrown there. Who's that? Jonathan? Hot chalk through his. He thought that was a bin.
He didn't realize it was an illustration that's the whole point. So he threw his hot chocolate cup in there. Thank you, Jonathan. You've helped the illustration today. They would throw a bunch of junk in here and it looked like there's nothing of value.
It looked like there's nothing significant. It's just junk and rubbish. But what they would do is it looked like there was nothing of value. This is just an ordinary clay pot. It's just got garbage in there.
Nothing of value. But they would store within there something of high value, of great value. They'd hide it within there because no one's looking. Where are you going to look? If you're going to come to the house, you're not going to go through rubbish bins looking for treasure, are you?
And so they would sometimes store within there something of great value so that they could hide it within. And. Oh, someone has put something of great value. Here's another one. Who would like another Easter Egg?
Here we go, Anna. Well done. Almost caught it. You did catch it. Well done.
But they would store within there something of great value. And in here we have stored within here something of great value. It is very high value because in here I have something that I'm always worried my wife's gonna lose, but she hasn't. After 20, I lost mine. Actually, within here I have stored my wife's.
Beautiful. Because I made it. I got it designed. No, she helped design it. Actually, my wife's engagement ring and wedding ring.
And there they are. High value. It looks like just a bunch of garbage. But within there something of high value, a treasure. And I can remember, see, these rings are worth thousands and thousands of dollars because my wife made me spend that when we were just.
She was more than worth it. I was very happily. I took my savings that I had and I said, anything for my beautiful fiance. And she said, fantastic. Well, this is the design that I've got in mind.
And men, can I say, get help with the design of your engagement ring, because we don't know what we're doing. Men, we think we know what looks good. Women know what they want. Don't you? Do you know what design of an engagement ring you guys want already?
You've already got it in your heads if you don't have it already. So my wife had it in mind and she had the exact design. And so my job was to go and get that designed and paid for. And I did that for her engagement ring. And then on the wedding ring, she said, this is the design I have in mind.
She wanted diamonds in that. That Matched her engagement ring. And so I went and did that. And for 23 years, these have been a treasure in our house and treasure on my WASP finger. But you know what?
They're not just a treasure monetarily, they're a treasure in our hearts. Because this represents something far greater than. Than monetary value, doesn't it? This represents, as I even look at them, I can remember going to the jeweler. I can remember the times.
I can remember when I put this ring on my wife's finger and it signified our love for one another, our commitment for life. These things hold value between Narelle and I that no one else can fathom. That's their value. It's not just their monetary value. It's the value they hold in our hearts.
And Paul talks about this idea. He says, God has put this treasure in jars of clay. And I want to tell you from a spiritual point of view, I'm going to hold onto these, honey, because I don't know if I. My wife leaves her phone everywhere. I'm going to hold on and just keep them safe keeping for the rest of the day.
Unless you want to put them on. Would you like to put them on? Well, you're going to put them on. That's probably a better idea, isn't it? You'd like to wear your wedding ring and engagement here.
Here you go, honey. My beautiful bride. There you go. Do I. Okay.
I have to put them on. Okay. It's like re. Re. Mar.
Honey, will you continue. Will you continue to love me and live with me and put up?
I will. I do. Ah, there we go, honey. Okay, give us a kiss. Okay.
All right. I'm sorry. To all the non romantic people around here, it was like, come on, mate, get over it. I love you, honey. And here's the thing.
If we look at this, we see Paul talking about something number one. I want to bring it around Christmas because here's the truth. We celebrate this at Easter. But Jesus Christ came into this world and he didn't look that special. He didn't look like he was anything great, but he was actually the son of God.
He was God himself.
This is what God shows us through Christ. One of the things he shows us, that God puts his treasure, the things he values the most, in fragile things. Christ came and became a human being, a fragile human being. And people couldn't see it. They had to have a revelation.
Do you know the revelation God wants to give you? He wants to give you a revelation that the things that human beings value as being Powerful and awesome. And all these things are not the way God sees things. God puts the things of great value and power and strength in seemingly fragile places. Like a little baby, like the Son of God, Jesus Christ, walking around earth being called.
Who's this guy from Nazareth who got crucified and his body broken. Fragile, but a treasure beyond your wildest imagination. It also shows us that this world is a broken place. It's a fragile place, isn't it? We've all been hurt.
We've all been. This world has sin, it has pain, it has hurt, it has all these things. And we wonder why. You know, we get hurt. We've all been hurt.
Do you know why? Because we're fragile. And we don't even know when we're hurting other people. And you look at what's happening, you know, we don't even have our understanding. I was talking even last night about this idea hundreds of years ago.
Not even that. In the. In that far distant past, Christians would have believe in slavery and think it was something that was okay causing such pain and degradation and hurt because they didn't understand and they saw things in the way the world sees things rather than how God sees things. And Christ, the treasure of God, came into this broken world. What does God do?
He puts his treasure in fragile things, in fragile places. That's what we've got to understand. And we see that in Christ. It's not weakness, it's actually the strength of God to do that. And then we take that, and now we take it and apply it to your own life.
Because you're a fragile thing. You're a fragile person, aren't you? The most confident among us are actually extremely fragile. You talk about some of the great celebrities and some of the great performers go behind the scenes and you'll see their fragility. You'll see the insecurities and the pains.
Even today I was talking to some of her friends that have been welcoming on the door. And I was just saying. I said, oh, I'm a bit nervous today. I said, that's right. I've got to go up confident.
That's because we're fragile. You're fragile. You've been hurt, you've gone through things. We've been broken, haven't we? We're just clay jars.
And all of us have felt pain and brokenness. And we've been shattered by sometimes abuse, sometimes by sickness, by things people have said to us, by ways we've been treated, by things we've done that have hurt us and others and yet what does God say? I put my treasure in fragile things. Do you know what that means? It means he puts, he wants to and will put his treasure within you.
Some of us feel unworthy. Some of us feel like that's not true. God says, I make you worthy. Do you realize that that Jesus Christ makes us worthy by the way he treats us? You're not worthy because of everything you've done, because of all your good works, because you've been a good Christian or a good person, or because you've helped others.
That doesn't make you a worthy person. Because you're rich or because you've accumulated wealth or because you've helped this many people, or because you've got this many followers on whatever stream or social media platform of your choice. You're worthy because Jesus says, I make you worthy. And I put my treasure if you let me. And I want to ask you, have you let Jesus Christ become the treasure that he puts in you in your jar of clay?
That's the first message. God puts his treasure within us. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine, shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. I want to tell you that God wants to put his treasure of Christ within us. And that is the greatest thing you have.
Some of us look at all the junk. You know what? God's not looking at the junk. He's looking deep within the treasure. It says this in 1 Corinthians 1:26.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and use them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. God puts treasures in jars of clay.
And guess what happens to those jars of clay when they hold a treasure? They become worth, worthy, and they become loved and they become valuable. And that's what, when Christ enters your life, that's what's happened to you. And if you haven't experienced that, he wants to come into your heart and into your life and be real and be the treasure of your life. That changes everything.
And this is the next thing that we talk about. This is what happens, what happens when that treasure enters you. This is the second thing. Grace overcomes death and the Garbage and the pain and the brokenness. Grace overcomes.
What is the treasure? The treasure is Jesus Christ. The treasure is who he is and who is God. God is love. God is grace.
What is grace? There's a classic kind of theological definition, unmerited favor. I grew up in Bible college hearing unmerited favor. Sounds kind of theological. It just means blessing that you don't deserve, benefits you didn't earn.
Grace is given. That's what the treasure. When God comes into your heart, he goes, my grace is sufficient for you. I give you my grace and my love. You know what it means?
It means you become worthy even though you're broken. Even though I'm fragile, even though I've hurt others and others have hurt me and I can blame them and get all uptight and bitter and twisted and then try and cover it up. The grace of God. If I accept the treasure of Christ, his grace flows. His grace flows.
And you know what his grace does? It produces life. It produces life. This is the message of Christ, the grace of God, the love of God. The treasure that was broken and bruised and killed on the cross.
They crushed him and they killed him. But you cannot kill the Son of the living God because he is full of life and he is full of grace and truth and love. And the message of the cross. The message that we celebrate today on Easter Sunday, on Resurrection Sunday, is that death cannot win. Brokenness does not win.
Pain, abuse, devastation does not win that the grace of God overcomes it all. That is the message of the cross. It's not about and the resurrection of Christ. It's not about following rules. It's not about following a format.
It's not about, have you come to church enough times? And coming to church is a good thing, by the way, should do that. I mean, I do it, but that ain't gonna save you. That doesn't make you right with God. It is the grace of God.
Right? I've gotta listen to some scriptures and I've got a special guest that's gonna come and share something powerful with us. Listen to these scriptures in Ephesians 2, verse 4. This is the message of the gospel. And if you've been coming to church, if you've just come today and you haven't been thinking, this is for you.
This is what God wants to say to you. He wants to say it to all of us. But God, who is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ. From the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved.
For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. Because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages, that's us now, as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. The treasure of Christ who lives in you, has flooded your life with his grace and love, and his grace overcomes death. Listen to this in Romans 8:10.
And Christ lives within you. So even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you've been made right with God. The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same spirit living within you. One more.
2 Corinthians 4 in verse 15. All of this is for your benefit. And as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving and God will receive more and more glory that. Listen to this. For some of us who are struggling, some of us who are going through pain, some of us who this life and the brokenness and the rubbish and the garbage of it feels overwhelming.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. Do you know what the message of jars of clay, the message of the cross, the message of Jesus Christ is?
His life. His grace overcomes everything else. Whatever pain you've suffered, whatever damage has happened to you, whatever brokenness you are carrying here, we're all sick. And without him, we're all going to die. And we're all going to be just trying to overcome and we can't do it ourselves.
But when we accept the treasure of Christ in our hearts and his love and his grace and his forgiveness, his grace helps us overcome. He gives us life, even though the rubbish is still there. Been a Christian all my life. I've still got some rubbish in here, but I've got a revelation. The treasure that lives within me, the treasure of Christ in me beats all that garbage.
I want to tell you, whatever you've gone through, whatever you're going through, whatever you're going to face, young people, the treasure of Christ, his grace, his love will overcome everything, even death. That is the message of the cross and today what I've done. Some of you have heard my dad, my dad, Gavin, you've heard me talk about my dad's life and some of the background, and some of you have never met him or never heard me at all, so this will be news to you, but my dad's moved over to Melbourne and he's coming and he's joined our church. He's been here and serving. And I really felt in my heart as I was praying this week, I felt like the Holy Spirit said, I want you to get your dad up and I want you to share from his own heart and his own life some of his testimony about the grace of God in his life.
And so, dad Gavin, why don't you get on up and why don't we give him a hand? He's going to come and share with us for a few minutes about his testimony. So over to you, dad.
Testing, one, two, three. Well, it's lovely to be here. I just want to say that there are consequences to events that happen in our life. And if you were to do a loud bang right there next to me, I'd probably jump halfway up to the ceiling. You know why?
Because When I was 2 or 3 years old, my mum was ironing and she used to take in clothes and men because I was raised in a dysfunctional family. My dad was an abusive alcoholic, so she used to iron clothes and get us money. And little Gabby came along with the scissors and I cut the iron cord and I can still hear that bang today because it was a miracle I wasn't electrocuted. There was a huge chip taken out the scissors. And so I am very aware that I'm here in this world for a reason and so are you.
I also remember the time when I was 12 years old and my dad decided that he was going to come to church on a youth night. He was drunk as. And we were frightened as kids because we thought, oh, he's going to so embarrass us. But along he came and after the service he said, well, I want to give myself up. I'm here to give myself up.
And we're going, oh, dad, dad, let's just go home, you know. But no, the pastor came and got him and my dad was drunk and he called the minister a psalm, singing you know what to his face, and he said, well, Siddy. My dad's name was Cyril. And he said, well, Siddy, down on your knees, Sidi. So dad got down there and he prayed the sinner's prayer and the pastor prayed over him.
And do you know, I witnessed a miracle. My dad got up and he was as sober, as sober as anyone could be. And he never ever touched a drop of alcohol after that time. So I became aware of God in my life and the goodness of God. And I, you know, time went on.
I've got to be quick because my granddaughter's going to wave at me when my time's up. But I remember there was a time I grew up and I married. And you've heard, some of you have heard parts of this story, but it's really important today. And I married and we were having a child. And then through complications in birth, my little son Andrew was born and passed away.
And two weeks later, my wife passed away with cancer. Now, I want you to remember a date. That date when little Andrew went to be with the lord was the 8pm 28th of September. Moving on, I remarried Adrian and Katrina's mum. And we were in Richmond Temple and I was serving the Lord in music and youth and happy, happy as happy.
You had a lovely home, Beautiful home and happy family. But I used to be part of a team and we were praying because Darwin didn't have a pastor and they'd asked 19 people if they'd go and they wouldn't go. So Anna and I, we said, well, here am I. Send us Lord. So we went.
Now I'm not a number one person. I can stand in the gap if need be. Adrian is the number one. He's able. His temperament is very different to mine and he's able, but I'm not like that.
And so the story is we went there and we did had a wonderful time there. God was good to us. Church grew from 70 to over 500 people. But the tragedy is I burnt myself out. I absolutely burnt out and I wanted out and they wouldn't let me out.
I said I want out of here and no, no, no. So I chose very deliberately to go and commit unmentionable sins, which I did. And then I self confessed and said, now you have to let me go. Which they did. And that became a really sad part of my life because I became angry and bitter and hard.
And the Gavin that you know now was not the Gavin that was then. We moved to Adelaide. I wrecked everything that was around me. I wrecked my marriage, I devastated my family. With Adrian and Katrina, I chose to leave.
I walked away. And for years I became this hard person that just had no contemplation of God, no time for God whatsoever. Can you believe that after what I'd experienced as a child that I could become like that. Well, I did. Time moved on.
And, you know, Adrian and Narelle got married and they were having a child. And as it got near the time, you know what I'm going to say, it was in September. And, Narelle, I'm so sorry that you had to have pain for so many days, but God had a plan. You know the plan. Narelle was in labor for a long time.
And do you know, God's love to me, which started the awakening of my soul and heart back to God, was my beautiful granddaughter Ella was born, yes, at 8pm on 28 September in exact same date time when little Andrew went to be with the Lord. Now, you would have thought that that would have shaken me. Well, it did a little bit. Started to rattle me a little bit. But no, I still harbored resentment.
And do you know, it's only in recent times that I have through my kids loving me, God uses people. And even through all the bad and everything wrong that I did, both Adrian and Katrina just loved me. And I could never understand it, but it was God's love through them loving me. And in recent times, years, I've reopened my heart to God. And do you know, I think I'm a better version of myself than I ever was.
You know why? Because I know where I came from and where I am now. The scars are still there. I remember well the scars of those horrible times. But I have been resurrected.
Romans 8, 11. As Adrian, Pastor Adrian said before, the spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead dwell in you. He shall quicken. Now I'd like to say he will resurrect your mortal body. God resurrected my life, and that's what he wants to do for all of us this morning.
Thanks, Sage.
Well done, dad. Now, you know, I know a lot of that story. Some I didn't know about the electrocution bit, but I'll tell you this. And many of us here, you know, we don't get to find out about each other's deep past and stories, most of us. And we carry it with us.
And I wanted my dad to get up because I go, I do know his story, and I do know this from the moment you know. And he is my dad, and I've always loved him. And God always said to me when I was going through pain and hurt, I always felt my father's, my heavenly father's love for my dad and always said to me, never give up. Never give Up. I've got a plan for your dad.
He's going to come back. You keep believing. You keep believing. Because you know what? The grace of God overcomes every pain.
And I want to tell you this. In your life, whatever you've gone through, whatever you're going through, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than your pain.
You got family members, you got friends. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than whatever my dad was. There was a point he didn't want me to go to Bible college. At one point, he never. There was a time where he didn't want to bar.
Like, he said he was angry, didn't want any. And I said, the grace of God can win him. And he did, and he has. And you're seeing a changed man. And I want to tell you, some of us, we know that story in our own lives, don't we?
And some of us, we need that story in our own lives. And some of you here, it's for all of us. But some of you here, you're going through. Maybe you're angry at God, maybe you don't understand why you've had to go through what you've had to go through. And it's not fair on you.
It isn't fair. It isn't fair to have an alcoholic father who's abusive, who passed away when my dad was just 14 years old. It isn't fair to go through the things you've had to go through. It's pain. It's garbage.
It's rubbish and it belittles you. But Jesus comes to give you life. It's a new life. It's a life that overwhelms the pain. Like my dad said, it's still.
You still know the scars you still carry. Those things we carry within us, our dying bodies, our pains are hurt. But I've got a new life. And I want to tell you I've experienced the same grace that my dad's experienced and so have many of us here. And it is for every single one of you.
For every one of us, we all carry. God doesn't ask us to forget the jars of clay that we are. He asks us to see his grace available within you. Can I ask you this? Have you accepted the grace of God?
Not religion, not a religious figure. Have you accepted the grace, the love of Jesus Christ, and invited him in your heart? And if you never have, today's the day. You can do it right now, you can do it today. And you can leave change.
You'll still Be a jar of clay, but you'll be changed. And some of us here, maybe we've been forgetting that. Maybe we've been caught up in all our pain, shame and our issues. And next week I'm going to speak again about shame and how Jesus deals with our shame. But today he wants to remind you that his treasure, his grace in you is the greatest thing you have.
Remember that. And it overcomes everything else. Here's the last thing I want to say. I'll get Fua and the guys play when we do that. This is what it says in that last part in verse 7 in 2 Corinthians it says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.
All glory goes to the Maker. When we accept ourselves as jars of clay and the treasure of Christ in us, the thing made doesn't get the glory. The one who makes it gets the glory. When Jesus comes and transforms your life, what he's done for you, what happens? We say, God, you're the one, Jesus, you're the one.
I thank you, I live for you. We show the world, we show our family, we show ourselves that God is on the throne, that God is a God of love, that this world's a painful, broken place. But there is a God of love and we give him glory and we give him honor and it flows out of our heart. God doesn't demand glory. It's the only possible way of living.
After you've experienced his love and grace, have you felt that love? Have you been overwhelmed by the love of God? And what do you want to do when you have been? Ah, Lord Jesus, I worship you. We're going to have a moment in a minute where we're going to just have an opportunity to say, God, God, thank you for the treasure that you are in my heart and my life.
Will you come and bring healing and restoration to me, God? Will you help me see your grace? Will you help me receive my grace? Will you help me realize, God, that you have made me worthy? Even though I'm a jar of clay, even though I'm fragile, Jesus, I love you for that.
Listen to this. This is why we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. The one who gave up his life. Humbly. Listen to this Beautiful scripture, Philippians 2, verse 6.
It's talking about Jesus. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. And when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.
You know what saddens me?
People blame God for so many things in this world. They treat him like he's some dictator, like he's someone who's judging. And the heart of God is loving and kind and humble. The heart of God is to give up all of the things he could have and say, I will lower myself and become you. And I will live with you in your pain.
I will become a fragile being. I'll become a jar of clay. And I'll understand what it is to go through pain and hurt in this world. And I'll understand all that. That's who Jesus is.
Not some high and mighty. He's the one that came and understands you more than you understand yourself. He humbled himself in obedience and died a criminal's death on the cross that he didn't deserve and didn't need to do, but he did it. That's the heart of Jesus Christ. That's the heart of grace and love.
And then we get this part. That's the most beautiful thing that we cling to as Christians. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
All glory goes to God, not because he demands it, but because there's no other possibility. He's overcome death. He's overcome sin. He's overcome your fragility and your pain. And now he offers it to all of us free.
Have you accepted the treasure of Jesus Christ? Is he living in your heart? Are you saying he's changed me? There is no one else who can heal your heart but the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why I'm a Christian, brothers and sisters. That's why my dad's come back to the Lord. Because he couldn't resist the lust of God. Because he couldn't. When you try everything else and you try and do it yourself, at the end there's no one else to come back to but the Lord Jesus Christ and say, lord, will you be the treasure in my heart?
Maybe you've been running. Maybe you've been trying other things. Maybe you've been hurt and you've understood God in a different way. Maybe you've blamed him for things that have Happened to you or to others?
Will you see him as he truly is? The Lamb that was slain, the one who humbled himself and died and overcame sin and death and all glory and honor goes to him. Can we bow our heads and close our eyes for a minute?
We're going to say a prayer because there's people all over this place. There's people watching. And today is the day. Today is your day not to become religious, but to accept the treasure of Christ, the treasure of Jesus, the grace of God, to be changed and be given life and hope and joy and forgiveness. To know that within your brokenness there lives someone who's going to overcome it all.
So we're going to say a prayer together. And maybe you've never said this prayer. Maybe you've never been given your life to Christ. Today's your day. Maybe you've been away from God.
You say, jesus, I want you to be my treasure again. We're gonna say it all together. But you say this to the Lord from your heart, not gonna embarrass you. This is between you and God right now. This is your moment.
God's been waiting for you. He's been drawing you in. You're here for a purpose. You're here for a reason. Let's pray.
Dear Lord Jesus. Jesus, I want you to be my treasure. I believe you're the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead.
Forgive me, Jesus. Come into my heart.
I will follow you. Be my Lord and my Saviour. In Jesus name, Amen. If you said that prayer today, giving your life back to the Lord or saying it for the first time, something's just changed in you. Your fragile jar has just received the greatest treasure it can ever never receive.
Life is yours. Forgiveness is yours. Wholeness is yours. We still carry our stuff in these bodies, but you got a treasure that will change everything. At the end of the service, at our Get Connected desk and at the near the bookshop, we've got a Bible.
If you don't have a Bible, you just want some prayer, you come to us, we've got a free Bible we want to give you to help you on your journey. Say, hey, there's something. There's a new relationship I'm going to develop. Can I encourage you as well? We got the Alpha course starting with our growth nights on the 14th of May.
It's a great opportunity to find out more. Free dinner, all that. Sign up for that and say, I'm going to know more. I'm going to find out more about Jesus. He's going to change your life forever.
But you got to do it. You got to take the next step and you'll get to know him in ways that will transform your life for the rest. Rest of us is what we're going to do as we finish.
I don't know what spoke to you the most, but we're all fragile, we're all hurt. Maybe what my dad was saying and that cut to your heart, maybe some aspects of that you said, yeah, that's been in my life as well. Maybe you've been angry at God, maybe you've felt unworthy. It's time to receive and remember the truth. Treasure that he is and say, lord, I give you my heart and my life.
Again. Jesus, come and fill my heart, Lord, thank you. And we're gonna give him glory. We're gonna give him honor. We're gonna say thank you.
You've been made worthy by Jesus Christ alone. You've been forgiven by Jesus Christ alone. His grace is for you. His grace is gonna help you overcome whatever you're facing. Whatever you go to this week, the grace of God is with you.
He's your strength. He's your source. He lives within you. The same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. So we're going to sing this song and I want to invite you.
Maybe you want to stand. We're going to declare it and we're going to say, lord, I'm going to leave this place today, remembering and filled afresh with the Holy Spirit of God and the treasure of Christ in me.
Jesus, Jesus. Name above.
Jesus, Jesus, the name of.
There is none like you. You alone are worthy of all honor and praise. No other name. There is none. There is none like you.
You alone are worthy of all honor. Every.
So before we finish today, the eyes closed, I want to pray for you.
Especially for those who are feeling. If you're feeling fragile, maybe you've got some stuff ahead of you. Maybe you've been sick. Maybe you're just feeling like you have. You haven't been worthy.
Maybe. Maybe you feel like the devil's been on your case, trying to tear you down. Maybe you've got some stuff happening in your family.
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show us that this all surpassing power is not from us, but from God. The treasure you have is. Is more powerful than your pain. And if you're in this place and you say, lord, I need your power. I need your presence.
God, I need you. To come, Lord, I'm reaching out to you. Come and fill me. I want you to lift out your hands to the Lord right now. And I'm going to pray for you.
If you're at home, you can do this right now. Wherever you are, you can do this right now. God is with you. He's there. You say, lord, I need you, Lord, I need you.
Come all over this place. Holy Spirit of God, right now, God, we're asking you. You're our treasure. You're our hope. You're the one we need.
And right now, Holy Spirit of God, I'm asking you, Lord, let us let your Holy Spirit come and fill our hearts. Let your Holy Spirit come and fill our hearts. Oh, Lord, you're our strength. You're our treasure. You're the power God that fills our hearts.
Hearts. Come on, there's more. Joash. God's going to see you through. He's going to see you through every hardship, every.
He knows exactly. He knows the pain. And he says, I'm your strength. You know it. And he's going to strengthen you even more.
And out of that strength is going to flow a giving glory to God that's going to transform lives. Josh, I can see it. In Jesus name, Holy Spirit, God's love is for you. God's grace is for you. He's made you worthy.
He's your strength and your power. In Jesus name, Lord, I pray for every person in this place. I thank you for them. I thank you as we reach out to you, Holy Spirit. You're the treasure of our lives.
You're the grace that fills our hearts with joy and helps us overcome. And we're going to walk out of this place. God, he wants. This is what the Holy Spirit wants to remind you as you walk into your home. He wants you to keep reminding yourself he lives in you.
Christ the Lord lives in you. The Holy Spirit dwells in you. I'm your strength. I'm your tower. I'm the one who gives you strength when you're fragile and broken.
And I will see you through and overcome. So, Lord, we take that truth, we take that strength and we choose to live by it. In Jesus precious name, all God's people said amen. Come on, let's give the Lord a hand. Thank you, Jesus.
Well, thank you for coming today. Why don't we. We're finished, so you can say we are. But why don't we give my dad Gavin a great hand for sharing from his heart. Love your dad.
That's beautiful. We love you guys. There's morning tea out there. The cafe open. Hope to see you next week.
God bless you.