Beginning Sunday, February 26, and each Wednesday
and Sunday that follows, a Lenten Bible Study will be
offered to further our study of God's Amazing Grace. The
Sunday 9am morning study will be repeated on
Wednesday evenings at 6pm. We will be studying people
who received God's grace as told in the scriptures despite
the sinful actions of the people. A book will be provided for
each participant.
The word grace sometimes refers to prayer, as when we
"say grace" before a meal. We may speak of an athlete or
dancer moving with grace. People who remain calm in difficult
circumstances are said to show grace under pressure. These uses of the
term grace suggest things that we do. In the biblical understanding of the
term, grace is about God. Grace is God's favor for sinners - favor that we,
as sinners, do not deserve. Sometimes the letters in the word grace have
been used as an acronym for this definition: God's Riches At Christ's
Expense. We do not deserve God's love and forgiveness or the glory of
eternal life in his presence. but these rich gifts were purchased for us
with the blood Christ shed on the cross. The gifts are ours because Jesus
paid the price for them. That is God's undeserved favor for sinners, his
amazing grace.