Phillips, Craig & Dean – Your Grace Still Amazes Me

Pastors Randy Phillips, Shawn Craig, and Dan Dean form the trio that is Phillips, Craig & Dean.  Beginning with their self-titled album in 1992, they released a respectable 17 albums.

They won four GMA Dove awards, including Special Event Album of the Year (My Utmost For His Highest, 1995), Worship Song (Revelation Song, 2010), and two instances of Inspirational Album of the Year (Fearless, 2010, and Above It All, 2015).

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Phillips-craig-and-dean-your-grace-still-amazes-me-lyrics.

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1. What message does the song communicate?

It tells us that God is:

• Consistent
• Ally
• Merciful
• Overwhelming
• Loving
• Mysterious
• Patient
• Physician
• Worthy of worship

In response, Phillips, Craig, & Dean yield to God in praise.

Phillips, Craig, & Dean err when they state Jesus’ sacrifice covers over sin.  According to Scripture, it is animal sacrifices that cover sin and Christ’s that remove transgressions.

Score: 8/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Almost all the lyrics align with God’s inspired Word, except for Stanza 1, line 3, where the song speaks of covering sin when Christ’s sacrifice removes it.

Aside from Chorus, this song does not contain a titled structure.  Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each non-Chorus paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Line 1: God is faithful, even when we are not (2 Timothy 2:13).  He is also our friend (John 15:12-14).

Line 2: His mercies are unceasing (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Line 3: While it’s true that His undeserved favor is overwhelming, it is not true that it merely covers over sin.  Under the Old Testament, sins were covered through animal sacrifice. According to Leviticus 4:20, the Hebrew word for “atonement” is transliterated as “kaphar”, which means “to cover over”. This is confirmed in Hebrews 10:4, which teaches us that sins were not removed by animal sacrifices. Jesus’ sacrifice does not cover our shame, but removes it completely (John 1:29 and 1 John 3:5).

Lines 4 and 5: Much like David in Psalm 27:4 and Psalm 65:8, Phillips, Craig, & Dean are captivated by God’s wonders, desiring to stand forever in His Presence and gaze upon His beauty.

[Chorus]

Line 1: God’s undeserved favor is awesome (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23).

Line 2: God’s love surpasses human knowledge (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Line 3: Prostration communicates surrender to God (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).

Lines 4 and 5: Repeats/essentially repeats line 1.

[Stanza 3]

Line 1: God is:

• Patient (Exodus 33:19, Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:16-17, Nehemiah 9:30-31, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 116:5, Psalm 145:8-9, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Romans 9:15, and James 5:11).
• Savior (Isaiah 45:21-22, Hosea 13:4, Luke 1:47, Luke 2:11, Acts 13:23, 1 Timothy 2:3, Titus 2:13-14, and 1 John 4:14).
• Mender (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, and Luke 5:31).

Line 2: That is, He authors and establishes faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Lines 3-5: Praise and worship are how Phillips, Craig, & Dean respond to God’s lovingkindness (Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 30:12, Psalm 52:9, Psalm 86:12, Psalm 89:1, Psalm 115:18, Psalm 145:1-2, Psalm 145:21, and Revelation 5:9-13).

[Stanza 4]

Lines 1 and 2: Borrowed from Ephesians 3:18.

Lines 3 and 4: Essentially repeats lines 1 and 2.

Score: 8/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Those outside Christianity will think it’s Christian because it mentions the Father, sin, grace, Savior, and Lord.  The entire song is written in everyday language and is easy to digest, except for the word “sin”.  For unbelievers, this term means mere mistakes, not lawbreaking.  As for God covering/removing sin, I cannot expect them to know the difference nor that covering is Old Testament, while removal is New Testament.

Score: 7/10

4. What does this song glorify?

While it glorifies God to proclaim His love, grace, mercy, and kindness to the masses, it does not glorify Him that Phillips, Craig, & Dean err when stating God covers sin.

Score: 8/10

Closing Comments

Phillips, Craig & Dean’s Your Grace Still Amazes Me is good overall.  it glorifies God by describing His attributes and acts, including His lovingkindness, grace, patience, endurance, and willingness to mend our broken hearts.  Unbelievers will easily see these points as well.  However, its biggest mistake is by stating God covers over sin.  Under the Old Testament, this was true.  However, under the New Testament, Christ came to remove sin, not just cover over it!

If this error were rectified, I could recommend it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 8/10

Artist Info

Track: Your Grace Still Amazes Me (listen to the song)

Artist: Phillips, Craig & Dean

Album: Let My Words Be Few

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2001

Duration: 5:13

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

02/13/2023 – The original review did not contain introductory text for section 2.  Thanks to Tyeisha for finding it!