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The Smartest Trade You'll Ever Make · Grace for My Home | Christian Women, Growing in Faith

• 1:13
  Audrey: Hello, friend.
• 1:15
  Audrey: Welcome back to Grace for My Home.
• 1:17
  Audrey: I am Audrey McCracken, and I'm so glad to be back with you again this week.
• 1:22
  Audrey: I hope that you and your family are doing well.
• 1:24
  Audrey: This week I'm recording early because I have a busy week ahead of me.
• 1:29
  Audrey: We have two birthdays in our family.
• 1:31
  Audrey: My mom and my husband, Michael, both have birthdays back to back this week.
• 1:36
  Audrey: And so we're going to try and get the whole family together and spend some time celebrating them.
• 1:43
  Audrey: And my youngest son, Caleb, has a soccer tournament at the end of the week.
• 1:47
  Audrey: He plays travel soccer.
• 1:49
  Audrey: And so we have a busy time.
• 1:52
  Audrey: And so I wanted to come to you this week and just encourage you in something that the Lord has been showing me, something that He has been dealing with me about in the Word.
• 2:04
  Audrey: I told you last week that my private Bible time, it changes from year to year and season to season, just depends on where I feel like the Holy Spirit's leading me or what's going on in my life.
• 2:16
  Audrey: Currently, I am reading a chapter out of the Old Testament and a chapter out of the New Testament each morning.
• 2:24
  Audrey: Sometimes I read a little more than a chapter, you know, it just depends on where it stops.
• 2:30
  Audrey: And then I try to write down my thoughts, reflect on that, and just hear if God is saying anything through that.
• 2:37
  Audrey: And you know, I don't follow any particular plan.
• 2:40
  Audrey: I just read as I feel, you know, like I feel like a good portion of scripture is, and I stop, which is why it amazes me, and it shouldn't amaze me, I guess, but it amazes me when those two scriptures line up and when God speaks something in the old testament and mirrors it on the same day in the New Testament.
• 3:00
  Audrey: I just think that's really cool.
• 3:02
  Audrey: And only the Holy Spirit can do that, you know.
• 3:06
  Audrey: But this week I read something in the Old Testament, and I wanted to share it with you.
• 3:13
  Audrey: I was reading about Jacob and Esau.
• 3:17
  Audrey: And for most of you, 90% of you, I'm sure, you know the story of Jacob and Esau and who they are who they are.
• 3:24
  Audrey: But just to kind of set a foundation, Jacob and Esau were brothers.
• 3:28
  Audrey: They were actually twins, and they're they were the grandsons of Abraham.
• 3:34
  Audrey: Isaac was their dad, and their mom was Rebecca.
• 3:40
  Audrey: And when Rebecca was expecting, God told her, You are carrying two nations, and the oldest will be the servant of the youngest, which is which was not typical.
• 3:58
  Audrey: There was a tradition in that time that there was a special blessing, and there was a special birthright for the firstborn son, the firstborn male child.
• 4:09
  Audrey: And there it was their right that they held a bigger portion of their inherit of the inheritance, and that they had a special blessing on their life.
• 4:20
  Audrey: But in this situation, God was telling their mom it's going to be flipped with them.
• 4:26
  Audrey: And so she has these two kids, and they grow up to be very different.
• 4:31
  Audrey: And I understand that having three boys of my own, it's amazing sometimes how you could have three children, three boys from the same mom and dad, and they'd be so completely different.
• 4:43
  Audrey: But Jacob and Esau were like this.
• 4:46
  Audrey: Jacob, he hung around the tents, and he was his mom's favorite, and he was more quiet, more reserved.
• 4:55
  Audrey: Esau was a hunter.
• 4:57
  Audrey: He liked to go out in the field, he was hairy man, and his dad showed favoritism towards him.
• 5:04
  Audrey: So they were completely different, even though they were twins.
• 5:08
  Audrey: And one day Esau came from the field and he was famished.
• 5:12
  Audrey: He had been hunting, he hadn't eaten, and he was famished.
• 5:17
  Audrey: Well, Jacob had made a stew.
• 5:19
  Audrey: The Bible says it was lentils.
• 5:21
  Audrey: And when Esau smelled that stew, he said, Give me some of that stew.
• 5:27
  Audrey: I'm famished, I'm about to die.
• 5:29
  Audrey: And Jacob said, Well, I'll give you some of my stew if you will give me your birthright.
• 5:36
  Audrey: And Esau, without even thinking about it, said, Well, what good is a birthright to me if I'm dead?
• 5:43
  Audrey: I can enjoy it.
• 5:44
  Audrey: So give me the stew.
• 5:45
  Audrey: So Jacob reiterated, You're going to give me your birthright for this stew, right?
• 5:51
  Audrey: And he said, Yes, give me the stew.
• 5:53
  Audrey: So Jacob bought Esau's birthright with a bowl of lentil stew.
• 5:59
  Audrey: And it says that Esau ate and he rose up and he went on.
• 6:02
  Audrey: And just think about that.
• 6:04
  Audrey: God had blessed Abraham and Isaac, but he had made them a promise that had not yet come to pass.
• 6:13
  Audrey: And that was a huge promise.
• 6:15
  Audrey: He had promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, that he would be extremely blessed, and that all nations of the world would be blessed through him.
• 6:29
  Audrey: They both knew this was the promise that God had made to their grandfather, and that that was to come down to them.
• 6:39
  Audrey: Well, Esau, he did not, he didn't value that promise.
• 7:00
  Audrey: I don't know.
• 7:01
  Audrey: I don't know.
• 7:02
  Audrey: But I think the point here is that Jacob greatly valued what was important, and Esau did not.
• 7:14
  Audrey: There are things that we cannot see with our natural eyes that are more important than those things that we can.
• 7:40
  Audrey: The most valuable things are those things that are unseen.
• 7:44
  Audrey: And Jacob understood that.
• 7:58
  Audrey: And he highly regarded the things of God, the promises of God.
• 8:05
  Audrey: And see, God could trust him with them because he knew he will protect this.
• 8:10
  Audrey: This is important to him.
• 8:12
  Audrey: He sees the importance of this.
• 8:25
  Audrey: And that's how we have to be with the things of God.
• 8:29
  Audrey: You know, there are so many things out there that are vying for our attention.
• 8:34
  Audrey: And a lot of those things are things that we need.
• 8:36
  Audrey: You know, we need money.
• 8:38
  Audrey: We need money.
• 8:39
  Audrey: Money is how the world operates, how the world system operates.
• 8:44
  Audrey: If we're going to eat, if we're going to have shelter, if we're going to have clothes, we have to have some means of income.
• 8:50
  Audrey: You know, there's nothing wrong with having things, making money.
• 8:57
  Audrey: But when we set our eyes on those things and those become the most important things, and we give up or we forfeit the spiritual things, the heavenly things, the most important things for the immediate things, then we are not pleasing God.
• 9:15
  Audrey: We're acting more like Esau than we are like Jacob.
• 9:19
  Audrey: And Jacob, he was willing to suffer temporarily in order to inherit those things that do not perish.
• 9:30
  Audrey: He could recognize what was important.
• 9:33
  Audrey: And guys, that is wisdom.
• 9:35
  Audrey: Wisdom is recognizing what is important, what is most important, going after what is most important, and making the necessary sacrifices to obtain those things.
• 9:51
  Audrey: Paul put it like this in Colossians 3, starting in verse 1.
• 9:56
  Audrey: He says, Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things from above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
• 10:08
  Audrey: Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
• 10:13
  Audrey: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
• 10:19
  Audrey: Paul is trying to warn us, he's trying to remind us that the things of this world are temporal and temporary.
• 10:27
  Audrey: Doesn't mean we don't need them while we're here, but they are not what we're supposed to be striving for and working towards.
• 10:35
  Audrey: We have we are covenant children.
• 10:39
  Audrey: We have a covenant with God Almighty.
• 10:42
  Audrey: And that is the most important thing that we have here on earth is our relationship with God, is the knowledge of God that He has given us, is the wisdom of God that He wants to teach us.
• 10:58
  Audrey: Those are the things that we need to be searching for, that we need to be striving for to please God.
• 11:05
  Audrey: You know, when I quit my job, it was hard on us financially.
• 11:11
  Audrey: My husband and I at that time were making about the same thing.
• 11:14
  Audrey: And so when we made that decision for me to come home and be with our children, it was not a quick decision or an easy decision.
• 11:25
  Audrey: Now, I do want to preface this by saying that I don't think that's everybody's call.
• 11:30
  Audrey: I know God's not calling everybody to do that.
• 11:32
  Audrey: Same thing with homeschooling.
• 11:34
  Audrey: I loved homeschooling.
• 11:35
  Audrey: I am a huge homeschool advocate, but I don't think everybody's called to homeschool.
• 11:41
  Audrey: And so I'm not trying to put that conviction on you or that guilt trip on you.
• 11:45
  Audrey: I'm not.
• 11:46
  Audrey: What I'm trying to say is whatever God has called you to do, do it and do it with all your heart, no matter what it costs.
• 11:55
  Audrey: Because God sees eternally.
• 12:13
  Audrey: In order that one day when we stand before him, we can hear those words.
• 12:17
  Audrey: Well done, my good and faithful servant.
• 12:21
  Audrey: Then it doesn't matter what we do here on earth, it doesn't matter what we gather or how many people are impressed with us or you know how many followers we have.
• 12:29
  Audrey: It doesn't matter if we can't stand before him and hear those words.
• 12:34
  Audrey: That is the goal.
• 12:35
  Audrey: And so while we're here on earth, we're constantly having to decide what is important, where do I spend my time?
• 12:44
  Audrey: What should I be seeking?
• 12:46
  Audrey: You know, what has God asked of me?
• 12:48
  Audrey: And then whatever doesn't line up with that, it's got to go.
• 12:54
  Audrey: And guys, it's a high calling.
• 12:56
  Audrey: And I don't pretend to have figured it out or hit the mark 100%.
• 13:02
  Audrey: I I'm far from 100%.
• 13:04
  Audrey: But at least I know there's a mark.
• 13:06
  Audrey: You know, if you if you don't know that there's a mark, if you don't know that there's a standard, if you don't know that one day you're gonna stand before the Lord and He is going to judge us based on what He asked of us, then you know we we have no restrictions.
• 13:21
  Audrey: There's no reason to sacrifice now.
• 13:24
  Audrey: But we have a high calling in Christ Jesus.
• 13:28
  Audrey: You have a high calling in Christ Jesus.
• 13:31
  Audrey: He expects more from us because we have we we're his children, and he has an inheritance for us, and he wants us to want that inheritance more than anything else in this world because it's more valuable than anything else in this world.
• 13:47
  Audrey: And we can't forget that.
• 13:48
  Audrey: We can't be like Esau, who says, Well, what good is that?
• 13:51
  Audrey: That's so far in the future.
• 13:53
  Audrey: I need this right now.
• 13:55
  Audrey: Maybe you do need that right now, but can you sacrifice it for what is to be what God wants?
• 14:02
  Audrey: Can you trust that God wants better for you than you want for yourself?
• 14:08
  Audrey: It really does come down to trust.
• 14:10
  Audrey: Can I trust God with my future?
• 14:13
  Audrey: Can I trust that He wants better for me than I want for myself, and that He knows better for me and for my family than we know for ourselves?
• 14:23
  Audrey: See, we have to seek the Lord.
• 14:25
  Audrey: We have to find out what does it look like for me in my season, in my time, in my life, in my home.
• 14:33
  Audrey: What does it mean for me to serve God, to please God here?
• 14:38
  Audrey: And how do I walk that out?
• 14:41
  Audrey: And guys, it's worth the sacrifice.
• 14:44
  Audrey: It is a sacrifice.
• 14:46
  Audrey: It is a sacrifice to obey God, but it's the smartest trade you'll ever make.
• 14:51
  Audrey: You know, think about Jacob.
• 14:53
  Audrey: That was the smartest trade he ever made.
• 14:56
  Audrey: Love him or not, you know, think he did right or not, that was the smartest trade he ever made.
• 15:03
  Audrey: And God's on to tell you, if you will trade the world for Jesus, if you will not care what the world thinks long enough to obey God, that is the smartest trade you'll ever make.
• 15:16
  Audrey: And you'll live in the joy of the Lord.
• 15:18
  Audrey: There's joy in obeying God.
• 15:20
  Audrey: There is a joy that comes on us when we know, even when the world thinks, why are they doing that?
• 15:26
  Audrey: Why why are they why are they living like that?
• 15:29
  Audrey: They could live so much better.
• 15:30
  Audrey: There is a joy that comes on us when we know that we are doing what our father asked, not what man asked, not what, not what a person has put on you, not what the a church has put on you, but what is God asking?
• 15:44
  Audrey: And guys, he will speak to you, he will show you the way.
• 15:48
  Audrey: You know, he wants us to have a personal, a very personal relationship with him, where where we're not looking for everybody else to tell us what is God saying to me today.
• 16:00
  Audrey: He wants to tell us what he is saying to us today, he wants to speak to us directly, he wants to show us what it means to walk with him daily because he loves us so.
• 16:11
  Audrey: Guys, we have a wonderful inheritance in Christ.
• 16:13
  Audrey: Isn't that exciting?
• 16:15
  Audrey: And we have to go after it.
• 16:17
  Audrey: We have to decide that's how we want to live, we have to make the necessary adjustments and sacrifices, but it is so worth it.
• 16:24
  Audrey: Amen.
• 16:25
  Audrey: Well, I hope that this message has been an encouragement for you for your week.
• 16:30
  Audrey: I hope that it's reminded you that any sacrifice you've made for God, it will be so worth it.
• 16:39
  Audrey: Father, in Jesus' name, we come to you today and we thank you for the inheritance that we have in Christ.
• 16:46
  Audrey: God, we thank you that you have blessed us beyond measure.
• 16:50
  Audrey: That Lord, we have an eternal covenant with you, that Lord, we have a promise, that Lord, you'll never leave us nor forsake us, and Lord, that we will spend eternity with you, and that there's nothing in this world that can compare to that.
• 17:06
  Audrey: Father, I pray that you would give us a desire for the things of God, that Lord, you would show us, Lord God, the calling that you've put on our lives, and Lord, that you would help us to make the changes, the adjustments, Lord, the necessary decisions in our day-to-day life in order to finish strong and to finish well, and Lord, to remain faithful to you as we're on this earth.
• 17:31
  Audrey: Lord, we give you praise.
• 17:33
  Audrey: We thank you for your goodness in Jesus' name.
• 17:36
  Audrey: Amen.
• 17:37
  Audrey: Bye-bye.
• 17:38
  Audrey: Have a great weekend.