S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

The gospel message is the good news of God's grace, so it is important to know what grace is and to constantly seek to get a better view of what grace does in our lives. Grace is an essential part ...

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February 05 2016 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jay Saunders

Grace is unmerited favor. It is underserve forgivness. It is endless mercy. Grace cannot be fully comprehended by mankind.

Like God himself cannot be fully understood. He says his ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 Paul said we look at God through a dark glass not fully comprehending Him. 1 Cor 13:12 He will always be a bit of a mystery to us in this life.

But He has through the hand of man given us enough of His thought and enough of His understanding through the scriptures to live in a manner that pleases Him.

That understanding of Him will allow us to be like Him partly on earth. But we will never be equal with our creator and Heavenly Father.

If we have a good Father here on earth, we can emulate all that is good in Him but if we emulate the bad in Him also. We are no better than a previous generation. But by obeying our earthly father in all that is good. We will have favor with Him and our Heavenly Father also. Eph 6:2 Exodus 20:12 Deuteronomy 5:16

Love for our earthly father is the best reason to obey Him. But the threat of punishment might be a greater incentive when necessary to obey him. Because all of us have a rebellious nature that we must reign in.

Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. 1 Sam 15:23 Selfish ambition is another temptation to disobey our parents here on earth. But we have a higher father in heaven and His ways are perfect. If we follow after our Heavenly Father, we may please our earthly Father or not. That all depends on which Father he follows after the most his earthly Father or his Heavenly Father.

When are earthly Father dies we no longer have a guide for good or bad. But are heavenly Father's ways are perfect. Mathew 5:48 By emulating him we can be more perfect but grace is there when we rebel. Acknowledging that rebellion and repenting of it. That is amazing grace put into a viable, reliable action.

Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds but it is never a license to sin habitually. Romans 5:12-21

August 04 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

We Paid Nothing:

As we paid nothing for God’s eternal love and nothing for the Son of His love, and nothing for His Spirit and our grace and faith, and nothing for our eternal rest...What an astonishing thought it will be to think of the unmeasurable difference between our deservings and our receivings. O, how free was all this love, and how free is this enjoyed glory...So then let “Deserved” be written on the floor of hell but on the door of heaven and life, “The Free Gift”. - Richard Baxter

--Source unknown

You Just Get it!

True story. Two pastors were on their way to Atlanta, Ga. for a large Christian men's gathering. One of them had never been in the south before. After staying in a motel overnight, they stopped at a nearby restaurant for breakfast. When their meal was delivered, the pastor who had never been south before saw this white, mushy looking stuff on his plate. When the waitress came by again he asked her what it was. "Grits", she replied. "Ma'am I didn't order it and I'm not paying for it". "Sir, down here you don't order it and you don't pay for it, you just get it." How like the grace of God! Ray Raycroft

God’s Unmerited Favor:

God’s unmerited favor. The Greek words for joy and grace are related; grace causes joy. In the Christian understanding, nothing brings joy like the good news of what God has done in Christ to bring us salvation. Salvation by grace is “through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works...” (Eph. 2:8-9). God’s grace also brings about qualities of conduct in the believer (2 Cor. 9:8; 12:9; Eph. 4:7). The word grace came to be used as a kind of prayer (“grace to you”) in Christian greetings at the beginning and end of some of the New Testament letters (2 Cor. 1:2; 13:14).

The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton, IL; 1984), pp. 250-251.

What Michael said is so true: 

Finally, the Bible teaches that grace is completely unmerited. The gift and the act of giving have nothing at all to do with our merit or innate quality (Romans 4:4; 11:5-6; 2 Timothy 1:9-10). In fact, the Bible says quite clearly that we don't deserve God's salvation. Romans 5:8-10 says, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us... While we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son."

Grace according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary has this one statement:
Favor, kindness, friendship (Gen. 6:8; 18:3; 19:19; 2 Timothy 1:9). God has called us by His grace (2 Timothy 1:9). We are part of a great eternal plan that God determined “before the world began.” God knows the end from the beginning. He has purposes for His people to accomplish for His glory. Suffering is a part of His plan. Jesus Christ suffered in the will of God here on earth, and all those who trust in Him will also suffer. The emphasis in this verse is on grace. God saved us; we did not save ourselves (Eph. 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). He called us, not on the basis of our good works, but wholly on the basis of His grace. It is His purposes that we are to fulfill, and if these purposes include suffering, then we can accept it by faith and know that God’s will is best. This is not fatalism. It is confidence in the wise plan of our gracious heavenly Father. All of this grace was given to us in Jesus Christ. We could not earn it; we did not merit it. This is the grace of God!

May 05 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report