It's All About Grace

We kicked off our highly anticipated (at least highly anticipated by me) fall series this past Sunday called "A Kingdom of Grace". Today, I simply wanted to share a few key thoughts from the first message. May they encourage and inspire you to know and show more of God's grace today! Oh, don't forget to really think about the questions at the end of this post. Please consider sharing a story or experience by leaving a comment on this post!

God's grace is like a beautiful, multi-faceted diamond. You can gaze at God's grace from any number of brilliant perspectives. God's grace--the sparkling diamond of Scripture--never loses its luster or value over time. God's grace is a priceless treasure; yet ironically it is possessed by the poorest of our world rather than by the richest.

Philip Yancey refers to grace as "our last best word" in his book WHAT'S SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE? He also states in that terrific book that:

[Grace] contains the essence of the gospel as a drop of water can contain the image of the sun. The world thirsts for grace in ways it does not even recognize…

I shared with the congregation that the Christian life is intended to be, in many respects for us, a laboratory for experimenting in and learning deeper truths about the marvelous grace of God. I also shared the following illustration about grace:

What is grace? When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award—yet receives such a gift anyway—that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what is meant when we talk about God’s grace.

Finally, I shared that grace is a "reorienting reality for us as followers of Christ". Grace should reorient the way we view God, ourselves, and the rest of the world around us.

You can listen to the audio of Sunday's message by visiting our church's webpage (Please be patient as we are currently working to launch a new website in January 2011). On the left hand column is "sermon from 9/12/10". Just click on that and the audio file should open up.

So, here's your opportunity to possibly be a part of this sermon series on grace. As part of this series, I will be sharing personal stories about God's radical and radically transforming grace. You can either post a thought, a quote, or a story in the comments of this blog. Or, you can email me privately at newbeginningsbfc@gmail.com (if you want some anonymity).

How has God's amazing grace touched your life? Where and how have you seen God's grace in the world...in your church...in your family? What is your favorite verse from God's Word concerning the subject of grace?