Do you find yourself to be a competitive person with the need to win? Have you ever asked yourself why this is important to you? Similarly, do you tend to compare yourself to others with regard to their status in some arena of life? In this last sermon of the 7-part series on How to Live in Grace, we will look at the difference between the realms of law and grace and how freedom affects how we relate to others.

Having been delivered from the realm of law/standards into the realm of grace -- where the mood shifts from expectation to invitation and the mode of operations switches from rules to relationship -- how do we go about the pursuit of self-realization in a healthy way? If the standards of this world were always dictating how I should see myself, how do I go about seeing and developing myself now?

Now that we've been set free from under the burden and oppression of law, standards and expectations and into the realm of grace and freedom, how do you stay in grace and freedom and not go back to living under law? The answer is what most Christians already know, but often the palpability of it eludes us until we see its distinction from law.

Which would you rather be - the rich young ruler, who has everything, but doesn't have Jesus, or the blind beggar who has nothing, but only has Jesus?

When we hear that Jesus died for sins, we usually think he died for the bad things we do. But what if Jesus died for our failures in life as well? And if that's true what would that mean for all the ways we fail to measure up to the standards and expectations of this world that weigh us down? How does Jesus' work on the cross set us free from failure?

We all experience failure in life. Much of the time, it is not a bad thing; it's part of life. But often our failures latch onto our identity and sense of worth. When that happens, sin is at work, but are we actually sinning? What does Scripture have to say about our experience of failure, sin, and the subsequent feelings of inadequacy?