EM Worship Service (4/8/18)

There are two kinds of grace, one is common grace which is given to everyone regardless of faith. The other is special grace comes through Jesus Christ. While we cannot reject the common grace, people can reject the special grace. In our texts there are two criminals crucified with Jesus. They look very similar in that they are crucified, yet their eternity is quite different. One received the grace and the other rejected it. 
One of the criminals rejected grace because he was blind by his proud (self-conceit) he had as a descendant of Abraham. (We can conclude that he was a Jew who rebelled against the Rome with Barabas). Proud is the biggest enemy of grace. It makes reject or forget the grace. However, the other criminal received grace because he knew that he deserves the cross (self-awareness), and relied on Jesus. While the former commanded Jesus to save him, the latter pleaded Jesus only to remember him. And the latter was accepted Jesus. 
We evaluate ourselves better than who we are and therefore grace fades away. However, we need to remind that we deserve nothing but the death on the cross. Then we will be able to open our eyes and learn that everything we have and enjoy is from God.