You know, none of us can earn our way into heaven because eternal life is a free gift when you accept Jesus as the Lord of your life.

Hey everyone, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, and today Rick Warren brings a series called Good News about grace.

You can't truly understand the Christian life until you

understand grace. It's at the heart of your faith and your relationship with God. And in this

series, you'll discover how not to only understand grace, but to experience it and the joy it

brings. So let's get started with part one of a message called saving grace.

I'd like for you to complete these common American phrases for me.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is, all right?

We make money the old-fashioned way we earn it.

Good.

There's no such thing as a free...

You're very good at this.

Okay.

There is no gain without pain.

And this is a very familiar one. God helps those who help themselves. Great. Now, everything

about the American way of life teaches us that you get what you earn in life, that there is no

free lunch, that you make your bed and then you lay in it and in america we are very aware of the values of

competition and winning and we know what it means to work hard and to use elbow grease and we

we value effort and sweat and we tell people you get what you deserve in life. And if you want to make something

of your life, it's up to you. If it's to be, it's up to me. You got it. Now, this is called the

American work ethic. The only problem with the American work ethic is God doesn't operate on the

American work ethic.

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