It being the last Sunday, we will soon be in November. It's a great blessing to close this month by worship together this morning.

Luke 2:40. This is the part where when Jesus was still a little boy, he continued growing under the grace of God. As a process of growth of a child, first a baby gets bigger in terns of physical. Each day, we can find the difference of baby's growth. Then a child gets intelligence. They learn lots of things probably more quick than we grown ups do. Thirdly, this what we earnestly hope for is that they will grow with spiritual grace.

As they get older, we want them to know Him better and even to grow bigger and bigger in the grace of God.

Now, back to today's part:

In this place, Paul was talking about Jesus' appearance to many people. After Jesus showed Himself to over 500 people, He appeared to Paul himself who had been an enemy of Christians. He had persecuted lots of Christians, as well as Jesus Himself. However, the Lord chose Paul as one of His disciples or apostles. He claims that he doesn't deserve to be called so, or to receive grace. Grace is something that people get who do not deserve it. One time, some teachers of the law and christian leaders were gathering to talk about what the feature of Christianity was. Then, C.S. Lewis happened to enter the room. Hearing their discussion, he immediately answered, 'it was "Grace".' It's so clear that Jesus' cross is nothing but grace to us!

Then, this grace worked how in Paul? This grace got rid of his inferiority complex totally, which surprised me so much when I found it in the Bible. As one of the Apostles, he had been always suffering from the feeling of an inferiority complex. Since he had not spent any time with Jesus, and Jesus had shown Himself to Peter first, then to 500 people, he thought little of himself. He was not having peace inside. Well, this must apply to anyone. Many of us, or all of us, should have this same feeling. We all have the feeling of an inferiority complex.

Last night, at "Grand Theater", we had a concert by a gospel singer named Lena Maria. She was seriously handicapped from birth; having been born without arms, and with her left leg half of the length of her right. But, her parents raised her to think in proper terms, and now she is one of the most-used Christian singers today. On stage, she boldly said that she was not ashamed of her condition at all, and in fact was rather proud of the confidence she had in the grace of God. -- Yes, God's grace can sweep away our inferiority complexes!

Ep. 2:1-8. Paul was also suffering from the conviction of the sin he had accumulated in his aggressive persecution of Christians. After being born again, he may have been still suffering from that. However, this grace of God again worked perfectly in him, so he could get over this feeling and triumph. We should always remember the parable of the Prodigal Son. In that story, we can find the significance of forgiveness, which is the grace of God. This grace covers over everything. We Christians all have to know and understand this grace of forgiveness, and are not to be like the elder son in that story.

Paul confessed that he had worked much harder than others and that only with the grace of God. As a Christian, we all know how much work he did for God and for us too. Without his work, we might be here today! We owe a lot to his great work. Probably, when we see him in Heaven, we will want to thank him to his face. But, I'm sure that he will say "No, it was not me at all, but the grace of God in me."

Here's a saying "I am nothing, but Christ is all." The more blessed, the more modest we Christians become. We are to be filled with the grace of God personally and as a church congregation.