Grace Amazing - Jimmy Needham & Trip Lee

Originally Posted in 2011

According to Webster, grace is unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. I love a good definition from Webster but I also asked my students what they thought grace was.

According to my students grace is...

...like love for others when they fall short of the standard. Grace is an undeserved favor and it comes from God.
...providing someone a way out like a warning or get-out-of-jail free card.
...being given something you don't earn and don't deserve.
...having so much love that you forgive something.
...mercy, and God's love for us.
...where Jesus forgives us even when we sin even when we don't deserve it.
...forgiving people when they make mistakes.
...having mercy on those who need it.
...what we need to get to heaven. 
...salvation, love, and what Jesus offers us. We just need to accept it. 

One of my favorite lines in this song by Jimmy Needham w/Trip Lee:

You found my heart in the tomb

Wrapped up all lifeless and bruised

I was the living dead

Couldn't even lift my head

To see You enter the room

That's how it is with us all

We weren't just damaged

We fell dead at the fall

Only the innocent

Can breathe the air again 

Chris Tomlin - I Will Rise

What a promise we have been given by our God. Eternal Salvation. Hope of Heaven. Redemption from an eternity without Him. And none of this is a result of anything we've done (see 1 Cor. 1:26-31 AND Ephesians 2:1-10). It all stems back from Christ raising from the dead (see John 11:25). 1 Corinthians 15 reminds us that Death has no sting and has no victory anymore. 1 Corinth. 15:51-58 (from The Message) says, "But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!"

Sit back and let this song blow you away.

Chris Tomlin - I Will Rise (Official Music Video)


"I Will Rise" lyrics
There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
[x2]

[Chorus:]