In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Jacob and how God had to come after him with a "chainsaw" to cut down the "oak tree" of his sinful ways. The preacher emphasizes that the things we hold onto will grow into a tree and God will have to intervene to remove them, causing pain. The sermon then transitions to the topic of grace, defining it as God giving us what we don't deserve. The preacher encourages the audience to not delay in receiving God's grace and to avoid the detours and struggles that Jacob faced by not dealing with his sin.

I want to start out with some statements. When I became a new Christian, the first day I was a Christian, I met this wonderful Christian brother, you know, maybe just 10, 15 minutes after I got saved, and he had this wonderful smile on his face, and he was so loving and kind. It was an older brother, and I was thinking, wow, someday I would like to be like that. I don't know if it happens to you like that, too. You know, you see Brother KP standing here and, you know, talking about believing God, and you say, well, someday I want to be like this, and to be able to walk by faith. Or, you know, we say to ourselves, you know, someday I will have peace in my heart. Right now there's a lot of turmoil, but someday I will have peace in my heart. Or, you know, we meet people and we have a hard time to love them, and we say to ourselves, someday I will be a loving person, just like Jesus said. And when we think about our life and the things we don't like so much, and the things that happened, we will say, well, someday I will be free of guilt, free of condemnation, free of any hurt in my heart. And some of us have gone through difficult times in our life, and we say, well, someday I will be so free, I will not carry these burdens of the past anymore. And someday, I say, you know, I will be able to freely forgive others and even love my enemies. Someday I will do that. I will be a Christian that will do that someday. And then, you know, someday, right now I'm not like that, but someday I will be teachable, and I will be glad when someone comes and corrects me. Someday. And then, well, you know, there are some of these sisters that are really on fire for the Lord. Someday I will be like that. And I got a long list of someday here, you know. Someday I will no longer be self-centered. I will be just different. And someday I will be gentle and humble in my heart. Right now I'm not like that, but someday. And some of us that are married will say, well, someday I will be this wonderful wife that is so glad to obey her husband and encourage him. Someday I will be like that. And someday my marriage will be a godly marriage. And someday, and someday, and someday. You know, in the evening when we go to bed, well, today it didn't work, but someday, you know. Now I want to ask you, and when is that someday? I mean it very seriously, when is that someday? When do you plan that that someday is coming? Is it that someday one month from now, or one year from now, or five years from now, or 20 years from now? Where will you be 20 years from now? Will you still say someday, someday I will be on fire for the Lord? Someday I will leave my past behind. Someday I will have a humble heart. I want to say something that you know, but I want to say it and I want to scare you. You know, we look at our life and we say, well, this thing that I think someday I will be like this, but right now I'm not. Like maybe I have unforgiveness in my heart right now. But someday, I will not have it anymore. I want to tell you, in our spiritual life, we are not standing still. Everything that is right now in us develops further. It goes further. It is a little seed right now. My unforgiveness is maybe that little, but it won't stay that little. It is a seed, and it will grow into a small plant, and it will grow into a bigger plant, and it will grow into a tree. Everything you hold onto grows into a tree. Think about it. When you get saved, the love Jesus pours in your heart. If you continue in this, it will grow, and you all of a sudden cannot only love your sister or your brother, but then you love the lost world and you love your enemies. It grows. It doesn't stand still. The Bible says it grows into the fruit of the Spirit, our gentleness, our kindness, our love, and also the other things that we hold onto in our heart, the bitterness, the unforgiveness, the unteachability, the burdens we carry. All these things are not standing still. They also grow, and they grow from a small, small seed into a plant, and a bigger plant, and a tree. You know, Galatians 6 verse 7 says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Reaping is always more than we are sowing. It will not stand still. If you think today I'm struggling with not loving my sister or my brother, this will grow. This unloving attitude will grow. If you are selfish today, this will not stand still. It will grow. It will become big and bigger and bigger. Sometimes we say, you know, oh, it's just a passing thing. I will grow out of this. I will change. You know, that's what we say with our children. Well, he got an earache every few weeks. When he gets older, he grows out of it. That's what they said about Danny. When he was little, he had an earache a lot, and then when he was about four years old, he grew out of it. He didn't have them anymore. So we think about, oh, well, I don't need to take it so seriously. Someday I will grow out of it. It's not true. We don't grow out of it. Whatever we hold onto will grow deeper into our heart. We all think about Jacob. You know, I can imagine when Jacob was a little fellow with his brother Esau there. You know, he was smarter than Esau. He could outsmart him. He was a little deceiver, and it was kind of cute. He outsmarted his brother Esau. But you know, this little deceiver grew into a big deceiver. Think about it. In the beginning, it was just the lentils and the birthright. You know, Esau, you get this if you give your birthright to me. And then it became deception. He stole the blessing from his brother by pretending to be someone else. And I mean, that he pulled that whole thing off is amazing to me, you know, with his father. And then 20 years away from home, struggles, running, family. He hadn't seen his family for 20 years. He lost all that. Actually, we see so easy in Jacob's life, the little thing that was there, that dishonesty, this deception grew into a bigger plant and a bigger plant and a tree. And in the end, we see Jacob, the little deceiver that was so cute, you know, outsmarting his brother Esau when they were playing board games or something, you know. He became a master of deception. He really did. And he became a master in running away from God. And then he became a master in avoiding to face the truth about himself. He did not want to know the truth about himself. And then he became a master in not dealing with his sin. He always found a way out. He was winding himself through life. What would have saved Jacob 20 years of detours, heartache, and struggles, and the wrong wife? Also, what would have saved it? You know, it wasn't anything complicated. The answer is very simple. If he would have faced the things in his heart that weren't right, right at that time, you know, after he sold the birthright or gave the lentils for the birthright, he should have gone to his brother and said, you know, I was wrong to hold you hostage, you know. I'm sorry. I want to change I want to wait until God gives me what he promised. Or after he had outsmarted his father and his father found even out, we don't see anything that Jacob went to his father and said, I'm sorry. I repent. I don't know why I've done this. It was horrible. And please forgive me. And go to his brother Esau. Please forgive me. Go to his mother and say, don't ever tell me to do that again. I want to be upright. He could have ended it there. Yeah, Esau wanted to kill him, but he never asked him for forgiveness. He never humbled himself. What happened? He never changed. That means the little plant grew into a bigger plant and the bigger one and a tree and a bigger tree and a huge tree. Instead, Jacob said, someday, someday, I will be a man of God like Abraham and my father Isaac. We don't read that in the Bible, but I think that's what he thought because he wanted to inherit the blessing. He wanted to continue the line of faith. He wanted to be next in line after Abraham and Isaac. Then comes me. That's what he said. He wanted to be in line with father Abraham, father of faith, Isaac, so faithful. He wanted to be in line. And I'm thinking, Jacob probably said, someday, I will be like Abraham. Someday, I will be like my father Isaac. Someday, I will be an honest man. Someday, I will walk in integrity. Someday, I will make things right. When the right time comes right now, it's not right. Someday, I will ask for forgiveness. Someday, I will change. Now, thank God that God went after him. But I tell you, what is easier? Tell me, what is easier to uproot a little plant or to cut down an oak tree? What is easier? If it is a little plant, I need just two fingers to pull it up. If it is an oak tree, you have to go and get the chainsaw. I really mean it. And you know, that's what happened. God had to come after Jacob with a chainsaw and cut down that oak tree. How much pain it cost him. I want to scare you with this. The things you hold onto will not stand still. They will grow into a tree. And then, if you are a child of God, God has to come after you. And he has to come after you with the chainsaw to cut that tree down, and it will be much pain. I still intend to talk about grace. But this is my introduction to grace. The Bible tells us God is a God of grace. Now, when we look in the dictionary, it says, grace is love and favor of God. And of course, we all know grace means that God gives us what we don't deserve. He gives us what we don't deserve. And when we read in the Bible, we find that we have a God of grace. Many scriptures say that, Exodus 34, 6. God is gracious. And 1 Peter 5, 10 says, the God of all grace. Then we have a gospel of the grace of God, Acts 20, 24. Then we are saved by grace through faith, Ephesians 2, 8. We are called by the grace of Christ, Galatians 1, 6. We are strengthened by grace, Hebrews 39. We have studied all this in our other sessions we had about grace. We had trillions of scriptures. And we came actually to the conclusion in one of our studies that nothing in our Christian lives comes to us apart from grace and faith or grace through faith. Now, I just want to say a few things. When and how does this grace come to us? First, John 1, 16 and 17 talks about the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, For of his fullness we have all received and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. I also want to read Romans 5, 1 and 2. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace, or we have obtained our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And then Ephesians 4, verse 7 says, But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. So when we put all the scriptures together, it says grace came to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we were introduced to this grace by the Lord Jesus Christ through faith. When we got saved, we were introduced to this grace and we stand in this grace. Ever since we came to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are standing and walking in this grace. But I want to make a statement. You know, we can read trillions of wonderful scriptures. We have grace for forgiveness, grace for walking with God, grace for our calling. Actually, everything that comes to us from God comes by grace through faith. But when we look at the grace of God, God's grace comes also with a warning label. You know, you ever got a bottle of medicine and you look at it and it says there, warning, don't drive. You know, I had this bronchitis when I came back from India and the doctor gave me these pills. They seem to be very strong. He gave me, there were at least four or five labels on there to warn me. One was saying, take with plenty of water, may cause dizziness, avoid prolonged or excessive exposure to direct or indirect sunlight while taking this medicine. And then it said, don't take this antacids, iron and vitamin supplements, this in two hours of taking this. And then after that, I got a sheet with all the things that could happen to me. It scared me more than the bronchitis almost. When God gives us his grace, there is also a warning label attached to that grace. And I want to read you that warning label. Apostle Paul is writing in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 1. He says in his letter, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says at the acceptable time, I listened to you and on the day of salvation, I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And then he gets into the letter. You know what that warning label on the bottle of grace says? It must be taken now, not someday. When you look in the Bible, God is a God of now, not a God of someday. I don't think we take it very seriously, but God says here, don't receive the grace of God in vain, because God is a God of now. You need to apply it now. You need to take it now, not someday I will be. Someday I might do this. You know, when we look in this letter, we find out Paul is not writing that to unbelievers and saying, you need to get saved. You know, when God's time is there, then you need to get saved. He's writing to people that were already saved. He's writing to believers. He tells them, you received God's grace for salvation. It was there at the time you needed it. You took it and you were saved. And then he says, you know, don't receive the grace of God in vain. What does that mean? What does Paul mean? Paul means the grace of God is freely available to every believer at any time. We were introduced to this grace by the Lord Jesus Christ at our salvation. And ever since, the grace is available to us at any minute. It is like when I want to take a shower, you know, I reach out and I turn the handle on from the shower and now the water pours down. That is like I'm coming, I was introduced to the grace. At my salvation, the shower of grace was turned on and it's not turned off. It pours down. It is now, it is now, it is now available. Not someday. It's pouring on me down now. God is pouring it down continually on me. And Paul is saying, don't take this grace in vain. What he means is, Paul talks to these Corinthians, there are so many things that need change in your life. And when you read the next chapter, the sixth chapter and the seventh chapter, you will realize Paul is saying, come out, leave behind, be a separate people, don't touch these things, leave this stuff behind. In second Corinthians seven verse one, he continues, he says, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. What he means is you started out in grace by turning the shower of grace was turned on, on your salvation. And now it's pouring down on you and you are standing there and you say, someday I will be holy. Someday I will be a separate, separated unto the Lord. Someday I will be loving, someday. And God's shower of grace is there right now to do this in your heart right now. And Paul is saying, you are taking God's grace in vain. It is wasted on you. It's pouring down on you. It is available to you and you are not taking it. That means you are taking God's grace in vain. It's pouring and you are not receiving it for the things that need change in your heart. God wants us to become Christ-like and we all know which areas in our life we are not. I know. If I'm really honest, I can pinpoint you the areas in my life where I'm not Christ-like. And I think if you are honest and think about it, you know these things where you say someday I will be this, someday I will be that. Actually what it means in that areas of my life, I'm taking God's grace in vain because it is available. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the time God wants to change me, not someday. Think about it. How long does it take to be free of hurt, bitterness, or unforgiveness? How long will it take? God's grace, the shower of grace is pouring down right now. How long does it take for that grace to change my heart? It's one prayer away, maybe 35 seconds. 35 seconds I'm from freedom. I'm away from freedom of hurt, bitterness, unforgiveness in my heart. How long does it take to leave my past behind? The burdens I carry. God's grace is pouring down right now. How long does it take? One prayer away. One prayer away. 35 seconds. How long does it take for me to be totally released from guilt and condemnation? How long does it take for me to get into the center of God's will? God wants us to be in the center of his will so he can bless us. Someday, someday, someday, 35 seconds, as long as you can ask God to apply this grace to your heart. How long am I away from walking in obedience? One prayer. How long does it take for me to come into a position for God to bless me? One prayer away. Why do we say someday, someday, and five years from now we are in the same spot we were before, only the problem has grown much bigger. We can have all this now, God says. Paul says it's now. It's available now. Now is the acceptable time. Now. If I only want to. One prayer away. But I need to make a decision and say, okay, I want to stop this someday business. I want it now. I want to take God's grace no longer in vain in that area of my life. I want to be changed now. I don't know. Some of you read my book, Broken for a Purpose. I have some examples in there that you know. You know, I had to forgive someone that really, really, really, really tore my life apart. I had to make a decision. Okay, I take God's grace now and start forgiving right now, even if I don't feel it. It starts with a decision, accepting God's grace. I have used other examples from my life. You heard, some of you heard it. You know, when I was growing up, I was writing my diaries and people heard me a lot. They said things to me that I kept all in my heart, but I kept it in my diary. And when I became a Christian, after two years or so being a Christian, I realized I'm really struggling with forgiving these people. You know what happened? Each time I opened my diaries, I was reading what all they said and done. You know what I did? Oh God, I said, I want to get rid of this unforgiveness, but I can't. Every time I see that person, I'm remembering, you know what I've done? I took all my diaries and burned them, so I don't rehearse anymore what these people done or said. And from that moment on, I didn't have any problem to forgive. I remember I had a very closed heart, but when God said to me, I cannot use you like this. You have to open up your life. I did not know how to do it, but I made a decision one day, from one day to the next, I will open my life up. I accepted God's grace for these things. And there are other things in my life, and I'm sure you have examples from your life, that God, it is one prayer away. We sometimes think it's so complicated, it's so complex. No, it is very simple. God's word is not complicated. We make it complicated. The shower of grace is on, it's available now. It's one prayer away. One prayer from setting me free in that area where I have been struggling and saying, someday I will be on fire for God. Someday I will accept correction. Someday I will be holy. It's not that we learn everything, but we put ourselves in a position for this grace to come into our heart and do that work. You know, if God's grace is available now, what does hold us back? What are the things that hold us back? I mean, only you all can answer that. Sometimes it is pride. Sometimes it's fear. And sometimes it is just, I have been so long in this way, I feel comfortable. If I'm stepping out and trying to be so different, you feel very strange. See, we want to come to God on our terms and say, well, let me slowly grow out of this. You know, when I am a Christian for five years longer, you know, then no, no, God is not doing that. We don't grow out of it. He wants us to apply the grace right now to that area. It's one prayer away. And, you know, it's really not worth to say, well, someday it will happen. I will come someday. You know, I have seen people, they come for the same problem. They struggle with the same thing. Two years later, they still struggle with the same thing. Five years later, struggle with the same thing. Some churches have, you know, these altars, and people come forward to the altar and pray for the same thing, come forward, come forward, confess this, but never apply God's grace, really. They say, someday I will be like this. Someday. You know, the problem is we don't have that much time to say someday. We don't know when the Lord comes back. You know, the Lord may come back by next Tuesday or Wednesday or Sunday. And His grace was available for me, yet I did not take it. I took God's grace in vain in that area of my life. And what about 20 years? Do we want to experience the things like Jacob, that God has to compass the chainsaw and cut down a big tree in our life? I don't know where you are, but, you know, we were introduced at our salvation to this wonderful grace, and ever since our salvation, the fountain of grace is turned on, the shower of grace is continually pouring down on us. And Jesus says, you can take it now for that area where you always said someday, let us not take God's grace in vain. Let us receive it now. And then that someday is now. And you can be free, you can be changed. 35 seconds of prayer. Shall we close in prayer? Lord Jesus, we want to thank you for this wonderful grace that started when we got saved and that continues to pour on us. Lord, I pray that you help me, help my sisters, that we will not say someday, but today, now, we want to receive what you have given us. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.