Trades

All Glory to God I want to tell you something: your Heavenly Father loves you, and wants you to live. And the Bible says we are saved by grace through faith. Faith means obedience and trust. It is not an emotion. Our Heavenly Father is not interested in emotions. He wants action. And Lord Jesus told us to take many actions, and all of these actions involve GRACE. And grace is UNDERSERVED FAVOR. It means going out of your way to bless somebody that deserves the opposite. Now this contradicts EVERYTHING the world tells us is wisdom. The most famous sermon Jesus gave is called the Sermon on the Mount. And He preached things that weren’t just radical then, they are radical today. He kept using the phrase: “You have heard it said…but I say…” He first stated the way things had been done for a very long time, then talked about how it should be done from now on. For example: You have heard it said, “and eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”, but I say love your enemies, and bless those who spitefully use you” Now that goes against every instinct we have. It violates all common sense. But these actions are not optional. They are life or death. I’ll give you another example - Jesus said: if someone takes you to court and sues you, don’t fight back. In fact, He said: not only should you give your enemy everything they desire, you should give them DOUBLE. He said: if a person sues you to take away your shirt, give them your coat also. And I recently was in a situation where I had to decide whether I was going to obey that order… [Testimony about Nick - I didn’t have enough faith, so I asked our Heavenly Father] I want you to know, that when we obey the orders our Heavenly Father gives us, He always makes a way to obey them. And this is the way our Heavenly Father has ALWAYS been. Even the Old Testament has examples of Godly men doing the exact opposite of what the world considers wisdom, but which please our Heavenly Father. Right before Jerusalem fell the to the Babylonians in 536 BC, there was a wicked king name Jehoiachin. And the Babylonians took him and put him in prison for 37 years. They left him there to rot. But one day, for no apparent reason, the son of the man who put Jehoichin in prison, paid him a visit. And the Bible says this new king gave Jehoiachin a new set of clothing, and brought him to the palace, and gave him a seat at the royal table, and fed him for the rest of his life. The king even elevated this ex-prisoner higher than every other person in his kingdom. Now the Bible doesn’t say why the king did that, but that’s the point. These things have always been pleasing to our Heavenly Father. King David knew how to please our Heavenly Father. The Bible says: when his son Absolom rebelled against him, and started civil war, David ordered that Absolom not be killed. But David’s top general, Joab, ignored that order. When he found Absolom, he killed him immediately. Now this sent King David into a deep depression. He cried out “O my son Absolom! My son, my son!”, and didn’t leave his house for some time. All of his servants heard him crying “Absolom! Absolom!”, and it made them angry. Here his enemy was defeated, and David could only cry and wail, instead of tending to business. His top general Joab came to confront David. He said: you have shamed us all because you love your enemies and hate your friends. He said: if your son had lived, while the rest of us died, it would have made you happy, wouldn’t it? Now the Bible doesn’t say that David answered the question. It says he went and got back to business. But the answer was: YES YES, he would have traded them all just for that one disobedient son. All those loyal to him, he would have gladly sent them to their own demise. Our Heavenly Father is the same way. He always was. He will trade MILLIONS for one person who doesn’t deserve it. And the Bible says it gives Him no pleasure doing so, but He always does what He has to do. That’s who He is. Praise God