TROPHIES OF GRACE
Romans 5:6-8
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
It was a normal day for a rancher… up early to do chores. Edmund Kopp had done it for years. Today started no different than the rest. But it ended much different. While feeding his cattle, Edmund saw a deer that would end up putting his name in the record books for all time.
This buck had been seen around the area for a while and I’m sure others were hunting him. Many big bucks are purposely hunted hard by one hunter or more until they are harvested. That wasn’t the case with the Kopp Buck. Edmund got the rifle from his truck and took the buck home with him. No long hard days in the stand, no pushing the brush with friends and family and no spending hours or days pursuing one of the biggest, most impressive whitetails of all time…. Nope, you might say that this buck was a gift. Edmund was in the right place at the right time. Compared to others that have taken huge bucks, some would say that this amazing buck wasn’t earned. But that’s how it goes sometimes… you take the easy ones with the hard ones.
Edmund’s story is really a parallel to a salvation story. And Edmund’s buck is a story of God’s Grace that brings us salvation.
Verse 8 of Romans 5 above tells us that we were still sinners when Christ died for us. We weren’t anything special. In fact, we were still enemies of God, our self esteem/righteousness was as “filthy rags” when He sent His Son to die on our behalf. Now that’s God’s amazing grace.
Ephesians 2:8 tells us that, it us by grace we are saved, through faith…. What is grace that we are saved by it? I’ve heard it said that, “grace can be defined as the unmerited or undeserving favor of God to those who are under condemnation. This simply means the same as Romans 5:6-8. We didn’t deserve God’s love, no, we deserved death. “But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
Edmund Kopp didn’t really do anything to deserve that 242” record book buck… but he got it. All he had to do was accept it. The same is true of the gift of life from God… all we have to do is accept it. That’s grace.
When Christ died and rose again from the tomb, He offered us a gift of eternal life. We can’t earn it, we can only accept it. Romans 3:23 tells us that, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. That means none of us is worthy. That’s where God’s grace comes in. We’re undeserving, but God offers His love.
If you’ve not accepted that gift, I challenge you today to do it.
If you have already accepted His gift, through grace, you need to be telling others about His gift for them.
Like Edmund Kopp, we don’t deserve the gift we are offered, but when we accept it, our name becomes written in a record book as Edmund’s name is... The difference is, ours is written in God’s record book for all eternity. That’s grace.
We become “Trophies of Grace”, because of God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice.
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Every one of us at sometime in our lives feels as though we are fighting off alligators as we traverse through our day to days struggles. On today’s show we will hear from a friend of our host that has a hobby of catching alligators. He has turned this passion into a place where people can come and be in close proximity to the gators and at the same time attend an amazing event each month.
Once a month, men from the panhandle of Florida, Eastern Alabama and all across the country come together to enjoy a free meal and hear a message about Jesus Christ.
Join us now as we venture down THE TRAIL TO ADVENTURE as well head into the God’s Great Outdoors and into the swamps of the deep south and catch some gators and learn about an amazing ministry.
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