Mercy is not the secretary of Lex Luthor in the Superman cartoons no my friends she is only fictional. Mercy is unexpected kindness. In 1 Samuel 10 Saul gets anointed to be the first king of Israel. Like with most rulers he wasn't completely accepted. 1 Samuel 10:27 "But there were some scoundrels who complained, `How can this man save us?' and they scorned him and refused to bring him gifts. But Saul ignored them." My dad has this saying of "Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope." In the next chapter I found an example of mercy by King Saul that for all the times I have read the Bible I have never seen this. Saul has just gathered an army and fought his first battle as king. The army defeats the Ammonites so badly they are scattered and no 2 are left together. But watch this display of mercy. 1 Samuel 11:12-13 then the people exclaimed to Samuel "Now where are those men who said,`Why should Saul rule over us?' Bring them here and we will kill them." But Saul replied. "No one will be executed today, for today the Lord has rescued Israel." Saul was king and his word was to be obeyed. God is sovereign king over all and I want you to see another example of mercy, the prize won for all on the cross. "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." At this verse you can almost see the judge lowering his gavel to pronounce you guilty. Then as my friend Clyde would say "Suddenly and without any warning whatsoever." or like any good infomercial "But wait there's more." "For the wages of sin is death," the judge's gavel continues it's descent. "But the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." As you stand in the courtroom the gavel hangs in midair and you look and see Jesus on the cross. You behold the greatest example of love in all of history. "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were sinners." Mercy is cause for celebration and happiness for the believer.
For the unbeliever it may not be today but later down the road but at some point in all of our lives God shows us the weight and cost of our sins before a Holy God. I want as you read this to know some things and take them away with you. Salvation is found in only one place. Jesus told them "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:6 Church attendance, being good, keeping the 10 commandments, Buddhist, Islam, another cult, proud catholic none of these things will save you. Salvation is only found in Christ Jesus. Romans 10-9-10 makes salvation clear. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved." You might ask who can be saved. I'm glad you brought that up. Romans 10:13 "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God's mercy is your hope. Don't reject it please!
On all but one of the songs I was able to get the lyrics with it but that one song is okay because Meredith Andrews teaches the song as it goes. the reason for the lyrics aside from my wife Marion loves to do sign language and see the lyrics i wanted all of you to be impacted not by just a song but the words to it as well.
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