April 6, 2025 | "Christianity Explored: Grace: How Can God Accept Us?” | Rev. Vicki Harrison
This week in our Christianity Explored series, we wrestle with one of the most important and often misunderstood aspects of our faith: grace. What does it really mean? How can God accept us—just as we are?
Using Mark 10:17–27, Pastor Vicki walks us through the story of a man who asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This man seems to have everything going for him: wealth, moral character, religious obedience. But Jesus responds not by praising him, but by challenging him to give everything up and follow him. The man walks away sad, unable to release what he holds most dear.
In contrast, just before this interaction, Jesus welcomes little children and says the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. The irony is clear: the man who had everything still lacked what really matters, and the children who had nothing were already close to the heart of God.
This message challenges the idea that we can earn God’s love through good behavior or a perfect track record. Instead, grace means God offers us acceptance, love, and new life—not because we deserve it, but because he loves us.
It’s not about earning God’s approval. It’s about depending on Jesus completely. Grace is the undeserved love of God freely given, and it is the only thing that can bridge the gap between our sin and God’s holiness.
If we think we can earn our way to God, we miss the point entirely. But if we acknowledge our dependence, receive God’s grace, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts, we begin to live the new life Jesus offers.
Watch the full message and reflect on the questions below. Let this be a moment where grace takes root deeper in your life.
Discussion Questions
Do you see yourself in the young man in Mark’s scripture? Why or why not?
How are you totally dependent on Jesus? How are you not dependent?
Have you fallen into the trap of thinking God might love some people more than others?
Have you accepted God’s free gift of grace?
How is the grace of Jesus pouring out of you? Or is it?
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More Sermons in this Series
Why did Jesus die on the cross? This sermon unpacks Mark 8 and four powerful reasons the cross matters—substitution, sacrifice, history, and eternity. Discover how Jesus' identity and mission transform our lives today.
Why did Jesus die on the cross? This sermon unpacks Mark 8 and four powerful reasons the cross matters—substitution, sacrifice, history, and eternity. Discover how Jesus' identity and mission transform our lives today.
In this sermon from Mark 10:17–27, Rev. Vicki Harrison explores the radical nature of God’s grace and what it really means to be accepted by God—not by earning it, but by receiving it. Watch the message and reflect on what it means to depend fully on Jesus.
This week at New Hope, Pastor Vicki continues our Christianity Explored series by asking a powerful and personal question: Why did Jesus come?
The answer goes straight to the heart—literally.
In a storm-tossed boat, the disciples cry out, “Who is this man?” As Jesus calms the wind and waves, we’re left asking the same question. Explore the identity and authority of Jesus as revealed in the first chapters of Mark—and discover why it changes everything.
What happens when God says "No" to our plans? In Acts 16, Paul learns a crucial lesson: working for God's Kingdom is not just about effort—it’s about following God's vision. Discover how embracing God's direction leads to multiplication, revival, and a faith that grows in ways we never imagined.
Other Sermons from Pastor Vicki
Pastor Vicki Harrison opens Matthew 5:13-16 and shows us that being salt and light isn't something we do — it's who we already are as followers of Jesus.
Jesus opens the most famous sermon in history by calling the poorest people in the room blessed. Pastor Vicki Harrison launches New Hope Church's fall series in Matthew 5, and the Beatitudes turn every rule about who counts upside down.
Rev. Vicki Harrison opened Matthew 12 with a question that would have stunned the room in Jesus' day: "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" Jesus points to the people around him and redefines family for good. "The church is not like a family," Vicki said. "The church is a family." On Promotion Sunday and the day before school started back, she showed what that means at New Hope Church — a household of households, led by Jesus, where the mask comes off and we actually learn to love each other. Then the whole church gathered for a family photo and prayed over its teachers.
On Communion Sunday, Rev. Vicki Harrison opens Matthew 26 — the night before the cross, where Jesus takes the oldest meal of God's people and fills it with new meaning. "This is my body… this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." The message walks through what actually happens when we come to the Lord's Table: we experience the grace of Jesus, we come together as one body, all people are welcome, and we return to it again and again. It is not a ritual to observe from a distance — it is grace we receive with open hands.
The water was at the front of the room, and one by one people stepped in to say it out loud: I belong to Jesus. Here's what Pastor Vicki Harrison taught about baptism on Sunday — and why the old really is gone.
James 1:19 is one of those verses that's easy to memorize and hard to live: "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." In this message from the Words Matter series, Rev. Vicki Harrison pairs that command with James 3:13-18 — where James contrasts earthly wisdom (bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder) with wisdom from above (pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy). The result is a conviction not just about the tongue, but about the heart posture underneath it.
James 3 opens with one of the most arresting images in the New Testament: a small rudder steering a great ship. A tiny spark setting an entire forest ablaze. The tongue. In this message from the Words Matter series, Rev. Vicki Harrison opens James 3 to explore why the words we speak are not a minor issue — they reveal the state of our hearts, they wound or they heal, and they cannot be tamed by willpower alone. Only the gospel reaches deep enough.
Amos 9 brings the Let the Lion Roar series to a close with a hard word and a hopeful one: judgment is real, but God is not finished. Next Sunday, Pastor Vicki Harrison opens the final chapter of Amos with a message about rebuilding, restoration, and the kind of renewal that reaches all the way into the future.
Amos 5 confronts a people who have drifted so far from God that their religious activity has become hollow noise. But the prophet doesn't leave them there — he holds out an Escape Plan. This Father's Day, Pastor Vicki Harrison unpacks what it means to seek the Lord and live.
New Hope opens its new series in the book of Amos with a message titled "In Pursuit." Amos begins with God roaring like a lion — not in delight, but in righteous anger over injustice. The big question driving the whole series: does God care about injustice? The answer this Sunday is a clear yes — God is not silent; He is in pursuit.
Why did Jesus die on the cross? This sermon unpacks Mark 8 and four powerful reasons the cross matters—substitution, sacrifice, history, and eternity. Discover how Jesus' identity and mission transform our lives today.