When a family has done everything possible to improve their financial position,

it's humbling to admit they're running woefully short. Without

financial relief, they run the risk of losing everything. Today on Insight for

Living, Chuck Swindall invites us to consider a biblical response to helping others in need.

That response, of course, is grace. God's grace.

This message comes from the teaching series called Hilarious Generosity.

Over the next few days we'll explore what it means to receive God's grace and how to give it away.

Chuck titled his message, The Charming Joy of grace giving.

Every once in a while I think of how I would love for our church to be known in our community.

What is it that I would like to hear, and I think I speak for many of us what we would like to hear from

those who know of this work that God's doing at this place, not just on our gathering during these Sunday mornings,

but as a church.

I would like to be known as a church of grace, a church where you find a place where you don't have to dress up for God or for others but a place of grace.

I was reading again, Philip Yancey's wonderful book.

What's so amazing about grace this week, and came across a statement

or a few things he said about his own childhood.

My own church tended toward perfectionism, which tempted us all to follow the example of Anonaius and Safara,

in misrepresenting ourselves spiritually, on Sundays well-scrubbed families

emerged from their cars with smiles on their faces even though as we

later found out they had been fighting abusively all week long. As a child I put on my best behavior

on Sunday mornings dressing up for God and for the Christians around me. It never occurred to me

that church was a place to be honest. Now though as I seek to look at the world through the lens of grace, I realize that

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