What you believe about God determines how you experience His grace.

You don’t need to earn your way back.

You don’t need to clean yourself up first.

You don’t need to hide.

The price has already been paid.

Turn toward Him and receive His embrace.

Remember: Mercy is when you are spared a consequence or a punishment that you deserve. Grace is when you receive a gift you did not deserve.

A note from Jonathan: I want to make a quick correction. In my sermon, I attributed this quote to Andrew Murray: “Grace is not something God gives us; grace is something God is to us.” However, after review, I was not able to verify this in his writings. The idea is similar to something A. W. Tozer said: “The gospel is not an invitation to get something from God; it is an invitation to get God.” While the idea still reflects a biblical truth, I should have been more careful when attributing the source.

To go deeper:
Here are a few quotes that I thought were excellent, but did not make the cut:

"But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.” - C. S. Lewis

“God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.” — Andrew MurrayThis Bible Project video on grace is also excellent: Character of God - Grace

God is both perfectly just and deeply merciful. When we truly recognize our need, we can receive His mercy through Christ. That mercy shapes the way we live, and the way we confess and care for one another.

To go deeper:
· Reflect on Ephesians 2:1–5 and Romans 3:23–26. What do these passages say about your condition and God’s response?
· Pray through Psalm 139:23–24. Ask God to search your heart, reveal anything · hidden, and lead you in His ways.
Practice confession and encouragement with a trusted believer (see James 5:16 and Galatians 6:1–2).

Are we waiting or are we resting? Complete trust and dependence on God can cause us to experience spiritual rest. Even when we are silently waiting on God, we can find rest when we fully trust in Him. When we shift our perspective from what we get at the end of the wait, to what we become as we wait, we experience fruit in our lives, such as patience, perseverance, and endurance.

To go deeper:
· Turn Psalm 62 in to your prayer this week and sit quietly with the Lord.
· Pray that God would strengthen you in whatever season of waiting you are in.
· Consider Lamentations 3:26 and ask God what He is doing to refine you.

This Sunday we studied Psalm 19 as a reminder that our lives as followers of Christ are marked by an “Evolution of Knowing God.”

As we mature in our faith, our knowledge of God moves from head knowledge to heart knowledge to soul knowing. While our knowledge of God will never be complete, if we keep our eyes on Jesus, Jesus will help the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts to be acceptable in God’s eyes. By letting God have control of our hearts, minds, and souls, we can then better love our neighbors as ourselves and trust God to provide for all our needs.

To go deeper:
Ask God to lead you in developing the fruits of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)Ask God to protect you with the whole armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-20)Ask God what He wants your next step to be in deepening your relationship with Him.

This Sunday we studied Psalm 145 as part of the Ashrei Prayer, and we looked at how the Word reveals to us what it really means to be Happy and Blessed by seeking God’s Kingdom first.

To go deeper:
Try making your own Acrostic by writing down helpful truths and reminders about God using your name or initials at the beginning of each line.Try reading one Psalm per day, keeping an eye out for the “Blessed” and “Happy” statements that we learned about. Check out “How Great (Psalm 145)” on Youtube or Spotify