By God's Grace

True story: at home, the last piece of toast would sometimes spark all kinds of family drama. One morning, that lone slice sat between us on the table. My brother lunged for it, and my sister barked, “Pig!” He backed off; she took it. I watched how, in a second, possession became power.

What if grace means rest — not scramble?

What if what God offers isn’t leftovers but lavish provision?

Not just enough to survive, but enough to thrive.

Not merely enough crumbs — but banquet?

That’s the gospel I want you to taste: grace that isn’t stingy, but unstoppable; grace that doesn’t just get you by, but carries you home.

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Introduction — When Grace Becomes More Than a Word

Grace. We sing it, quote it, even put it on wall art. But grace isn’t wallpaper — it’s rescue. In Luke 7, a woman slips into a dinner where she’s not wanted. She weeps at Jesus’ feet, washing them with tears, drying them with her hair. It’s reckless tenderness. When challenged, Jesus does not embarrass her — He explains her: “She loved much because she was forgiven much.” The point is not her shame but His sufficiency.

Paul tells a similar story in a different key. He calls himself “chief of sinners,” then says, “But I received mercy… and grace overflowed.” The two stories sing one harmony: God’s grace is not a thin drizzle; it’s a flood that lifts drowned people to their feet. Today let’s walk the banks of that flood and watch what grace does — how it saves, carries, corrects, and finally delivers us home.

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1) Grace is sufficient to save

Romans says Christ died for us “while we were still helpless.” Not when we had cleaned the mess, but while the stain still spread. That’s why Ephesians insists salvation is “by grace… not of works, so no one can boast.” Imagine bringing a trophy to the ER — no doctor is impressed. We don’t get saved by showing God our trophies; we are saved because God shows us His Son.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that among them were former swindlers and idol-makers — but he puts those verbs in the past tense: “You were… but you were washed… you were justified.” Grace changes our grammar. We are no longer named by what we did; we are named by what Christ has done.

If your past flashes like a neon sign, grace pulls the plug. If your heart whispers, “Too far gone,” grace speaks louder: “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.” Salvation begins with God’s initiative — His loving pursuit of rebels to make them sons and daughters.

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2) Grace is sufficient in hardship

We prefer deliverance from trouble; grace often gives endurance through trouble. Paul’s “thorn” (whatever it was) wouldn’t leave. He prayed once, twice, three times — heaven answered, not with removal, but with a promise: “My grace is sufficient for you; My power is made perfect in weakness.” This is not resignation; it is relocation. Power moves into the very room weakness occupied.

So grace teaches us a new reflex. When the temptation comes, we don’t bargain with it, we run to a Person. Hebrews says, “Come boldly to the throne of grace… to find help in time of need.” Boldly is an odd adverb for sinners, unless the throne we approach is graced by nail-scarred hands. In the night you can’t sleep, when prayer feels like a leaking boat, crawl toward the throne anyway — because grace means the One on the throne steps toward you first.

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3) Grace is sufficient for the work God gives

Callings can feel bigger than our capacity. Good — because grace is bigger than our calling. “Our sufficiency is from God,” Paul says, and then adds that God “makes all grace abound… so you may abound in every good work.” Grace does not merely forgive our past; it furnishes our present. It gives courage to speak, gentleness to listen, patience to wait, generosity to invest, and resilience to begin again when yesterday went sideways.

Paul’s testimony lands the point: “By the grace of God I am what I am… yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” That’s the strange math of service: your hands, His strength; your voice, His truth; your obedience, His fruit. When Christ sends you to do mercy in a hard place, grace travels with you — never as a passenger, always as power.

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4) Grace is sufficient when Christians stumble

Even after baptism, feet slip. First John does not say if we sin we must pretend; it says “if we confess, He is faithful and just to forgive… and to cleanse.” Forgiveness is not God looking the other way; it is God looking straight at the cross and declaring, “Paid in full.” And grace is not a license to sin — it is the very power that trains us to say no. Titus says, “The grace of God… teaches us to deny ungodliness.” The same hand that wipes the slate clean steadies your hand as you write the next line. Where sin increases, grace does not match it drop-for-drop — grace abounds. If you fell Tuesday, grace gets you up Wednesday and teaches you how not to fall Thursday.