Goals:

Grace Alive is a group of students excited about the grace that God has given to us in Jesus Christ. God has made us alive, and our desire is that our lives as students may shine forth the incomparable riches of God's grace revealed to us in Christ.

Eph 2:4-5 "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."

We hope you can join us and find out about the rich, Bible-centered teaching and great fellowship in our group that helps us live exciting Christian lives as God's representatives on earth.

Beliefs:

Spiritual Life: In the Bible, we read, "As for you, you were dead in our transgressions and sins ..." (Eph. 2:1). This is talking about our natural state. On our own, we can never please God. In fact, all we can do is sin. "Dead" means that there's nothing we can do about it – that's our state. Unless a miracle happens and something makes us alive, that's where we'll stay. Again, it's not that what we do in this state is necessarily so bad compared to the people around us, but that our motivations, words and deeds all fall far short of God's standard, and there is no way that on our own we will ever be able to meet that standard. But the Bible goes on to say, "God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ..." (Eph. 2:4-5) God gives new life to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and ask him to save them from their sins. This is indeed a miracle, a new birth, a raising of the dead. To those who believe, God sends his Spirit, placing something of the life of God within us and makes it possible for us not to sin – that is, possible for us to please God and obey him as we ought. So one sense of spiritual life is this: the Spirit of God lives in believers, bringing new life and freedom from continual sin. But there is another sense. If we live in this first sense, we have life, eternal life. It is already ours if we truly have faith, that is, if we trust Jesus Christ and his work alone.

Fullness of Life: Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (Jn. 10:10) In other words, all others but Jesus Christ bring death and destruction, but Jesus Christ brings a full life, a fulfilling life. Without Christ, we can never live life as it was meant to be lived. God created us for a purpose, to serve and glorify him. Unless we have new spiritual life in Christ, we can never realize that purpose, and all that we do will ultimately leave us unfulfilled. So true Christian life isn't some dry, boring existence that is all about rules. It's a vital, active existence, living as we were meant to be. It isn't always easy, but it brings great joy – joy that is unmatched by the pleasure brought by any of the things that attract us in the world. There's no 11th commandment that says, "Thou shalt not have joy." On the contrary, serving God is the only thing that can bring us true, lasting joy.

Definition of Grace:: Perhaps the simplest definition of "grace" is "unmerited favor". God has shown us unmerited favor by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins and purchase a place for us in heaven, which he offers as a gift.

Grace as Unmerited: Why is it unmerited? Quite simply, the Bible says, "There is no one righteous, not even one... There is no one who does good, not even one." (Rom. 3:10,12) It also says, "All our righteous acts are like filthy rags." (Is. 64:6) The real issue, here, is a matter of standards. God does not grade on a curve. His standard is absolute, and it is perfection (Matt. 5:45). It's one thing to say we're doing good compared to other people – perhaps many of us are – and it's quite another to think that we look good to God. And his requirements aren't just outward, either: he judges our thoughts and motivations, as well as our words and our deeds. That's why the Bible says all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. On our own, even when we do what is right outwardly, God is displeased, because our reasons are less than perfect. This is a problem. A big problem. This is the true and living God we're dealing with, the same God who made the universe and gave us life, and he is displeased. Yes, "God is love," but it isn't just some warm, fuzzy love that only gives us what we want. God is also just and he must punish sin. He wouldn't be good if he didn't. Think, for a moment, of a judge. Would you call a judge good if he let off every guilty criminal who came before him? So God's character – that he is good – dictates that he must punish sin. And we see that any favor he shows us is quite unmerited, because we deserve the opposite.

Grace as Favor: What we must remember here is that we don't deserve anything good from God. As long as we go about trying to think we can earn something from God by being good, we'll miss out on the favor which he offers us, because it's just that, a favor. God made us and gave us everything we have, so we could never earn anything from him – the most we could do is just give back to him what he gave us in the first place. But God chose to offer us a favor, and quite a large one, at that. He offers us eternal life, peace, and joy. And he offers it as a favor, something that we could never earn. God became a man and lived on earth as Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect life as the only one who could meet God's standards, because he was God. Then, he died and was punished on the cross as a substitute. What he did on the cross was perform a great transaction, a miracle of divine accounting. God transferred the punishment deserved by his people to Jesus Christ, while at the same time transferring Jesus' perfection and righteousness to sinners who will accept God's favor. It didn't just end there, though. Jesus not only died, but he was resurrected. He paid the price in full, suffering hell, the full wrath of God, while he was on the cross. Then, after being buried, he rose again bodily and ascended into heaven where he is now seated with God and will judge the world. To receive this gift of eternal life from God, this favor, we must first admit that we cannot earn it, and receive it as a gift. We receive this gift by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, and by confessing that he is Lord – that is, giving up our lives to live for him rather than for ourselves.