HOUSE RULES PT 2: Grace For the Worst Of Sinners
| HOUSE RULES · LIVING AS GOD’S FAMILY WEEK 2 OF 11 GRACE FOR THE WORST OF SINNERS 1 Timothy 1:12–20 |
| THE SERIES QUESTION What does a healthy church family look like — and what threatens it? Paul takes the stand in his own letter, and before he says one word about grace, he reads his own record out loud. The record is not the problem with his testimony. The record is the ____________ that he was there. |
| 1 GRACE REMEMBERS vv. 12–13 Grace starts by telling the truth about you. |
“He judged me faithful” (v. 12). The evidence was real. But grace had the _________________.
Paul’s record, in his own words: blasphemer · persecutor · insolent opponent (v. 13). Saul wasn’t rebelling against God — he was convinced he was serving Him.
“Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus counts what you do to His church as something done to His own ____________.
Mercy is the ___________________ of what I had coming. Grace is the ____________ of what I never had coming.
SEE ALSO Acts 7:58; 8:1 · Acts 9:4–5 · Philippians 3:5–6 · Luke 23:34
| 2 GRACE RESCUES vv. 14–16 Grace reaches farther than your sin. |
Grace didn’t trickle in — it overflowed (v. 14). Sin is fast. Grace is ____________.
Grace doesn’t just rescue you from something. Grace ______________ something in you: faith and love.
Say it together: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (v. 15). The qualification for getting help from Jesus is not merit. It is ____________.
“Of whom I am the foremost.” Growing in Christ does not shrink your sense of sin. It ______________ your sense of grace while it keeps your memory ____________.
God did not save you in spite of your story. He saved you so that He would have a ____________ to show somebody else. Not the _______________. The ____________ (v. 16).
SEE ALSO Romans 5:20 · Luke 19:10
| 3 GRACE WORSHIPS v. 17 A testimony that doesn’t turn into worship isn’t finished yet. |
Paul can’t finish his testimony without breaking into praise: King of the ages · Immortal · Invisible · The only God. Not one word about Paul in that verse.
Sometimes we don’t need a new song. We need to remember an old ____________.
| 4 GRACE FIGHTS vv. 18–20 Grace received becomes a life worth fighting for. |
“This charge I entrust to you” (v. 18). Grace is not a feeling you keep. It is a ____________ you carry.
Hold faith and a good conscience (v. 19). Sometimes faith doesn’t collapse first. The _________________ goes first.
Discipline is a form of mercy — its aim is restoration, “that they may learn” (v. 20). Healthy families confront. Healthy families ____________. Healthy families forgive.
SEE ALSO 1 Timothy 6:12 · 1 Corinthians 5:5 · 2 Corinthians 2:6–8
| MONDAY MORNING · REMEMBER. TELL. FIGHT. REMEMBER. Put your name in verse fifteen. Say it out loud this week: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” TELL. Tell one person your story this week. The one person I’ll tell:
FIGHT. Check the rock closest to your boat. What have I gotten comfortable with?
|
| WEEK 2’S ANSWER A healthy family is a house where the worst thing you ever did is not the last word about you; where mercy gets said out loud; where grace turns rescued people into witnesses; and where nobody is allowed to quietly let go of a clean conscience. What threatens it is a house full of people who have been forgiven and have stopped saying so. |
GO DEEPER · FOR PERSONAL OR GROUP REFLECTION
1. Why do you think Paul read his own record out loud? What makes that hard for us to do?
2. Who have you quietly decided is beyond the reach of grace? What does verse 16 say about that?
3. If your worship has gotten thin, is it a music problem or a memory problem?
4. What would it look like for our church family to confront, restore, and forgive well?
This week’s family devotional: Day 1, “What I Was” — same ground, same order, six days to sit in it.
Took a step today? If you received Christ or came to the altar, let a pastor know after service. We’d love to pray with you.
Download: