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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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When you hear the words grace, what comes to mind? When you hear the words grace, what comes to mind? Well, what I want to do is I want to walk us through the miracle of grace and specifically in this devotional, it's that grace that loves. It's becoming a neighbor in a wounded world. Grace that loves by becoming a neighbor in a wounded world.

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2,000 years ago, jesus was having a conversation with a religious leader and the religious leader wanted to show that Jesus was a fraud. Which number one? That's a bad idea. He was the truest of all. That is true, god incarnate. And the religious leader said well, what's the most important commandment? And Jesus, of course, the author of the scripture, the liver of the scripture, said it's to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. And the religious leader said well, who exactly is my neighbor? And Jesus, being as epic and as beautiful as he is, says okay, let me show you who your neighbor is. Now let me pause.

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For a Jewish man of that time, his neighbor instinctively would have been another Jew. No way, it could have been a Gentile, because the Gentiles had caused great harm to the Jews for centuries. And so he was living in the trauma of hurt, a collective trauma. And Jesus comes into that trauma and the gospel drama begins to open his eyes to what love is. We don't have to stay hurt, we can actually become wounded healers. So number one grace crosses the road.

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So Jesus tells this incredible story about a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. And as he's traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho he is assaulted and he is robbed. And as he's assaulted and robbed, a priest and a Levite who had just come from Jerusalem they pass him by. Can you imagine a Jewish man beaten and a priest and a Levite pass him by? Now we know it was not because of contamination laws, because they'd already been to the temple, so there was no need to be afraid of touching a wounded or dead body because they already done their worship to God, but instead they walked by.

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But then Luke 10.33 says but a Samaritan? Oh my goodness guys. What was a Samaritan? He says but a Samaritan, oh my goodness guys. What was a Samaritan? Samaritan was a Gentile, a Jew and a Samaritan in one person. In 722 BC, the northern 10 tribes of Israel were taken into captivity by the Assyrians and from that the Assyria, the Samaritans came into being and so you had a 700-year religious and ethnic feud between Jews and Samaritan. And Jesus says but a Samaritan came up to him. When he saw the man, he had compassion. Can you imagine the enemy supposedly goes up to the enemy and has compassion for him.

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You see, grace crosses the road. Grace doesn't walk away, it walks towards. Religious folks pass by, but grace doesn't avoid pain, it moves towards it. Jesus crossed heaven's road to enter into our brokenness. When grace grabs your heart, you stop asking who is my neighbor and you start living like one Number.

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Two grace gets its hands dirty. The Samaritan put bandages on his wounds and poured oil and wine. So he gets his hands dirty. Think about it. Grace doesn't keep score, it gets involved. Grace kneels in the mess and grace also costs something. Bandages cost money, the oil costs money, the wine costs money. Bandages fix the wound, the oil keeps the wound soft, the wine and alcohol is disinfected to the wound so it doesn't become infected. You see, the Samaritan didn't ask what the man did to end up there, he just loved him. When you know Jesus bandaged your wounds, you can't help but reach for someone else's.

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Third, grace pays a price. He took care of him and he took him to an inn and when he said I'll reimburse you for whatever's extra, it was like several months salary. That this Samaritan puts a supposed enemy into a hotel and pays for it. Man grace pays forward what Jesus paid in full. The Samaritan wasn't just generous, he reflected the generosity of God. Jesus understand, this is the greater Samaritan who paid our debt in full. He didn't come from Jericho, he came from heaven. Man, isn't it beautiful? Ultimately, jesus finds us on the side of the road and he bandages us with the power of the Holy Spirit. He pours the wine, the blood on us to heal our wounds. Why? So that through God's grace, we too can become a wounded healer. Grace that loves Becoming a neighbor in a wounded world. This is Pastor Derwin Gray Marinate on that.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.