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As you sit down, can we not give like a a crazy wit to cheer for New Life Covenant Church pastors Tiffany and Timothy? Wow. Okay. And that goes for all of the staff as well. Nobody's going to be left out. We're equal opportunity congratulators. Tremendous.
This is our home church. This is our hometown. My wife and I were married in this region here, uh, greater Witchah area. And we love the city. We pray for you. Kansas is so important in the plan of God. You know what Kansas means, right? It's an Indian. Kza, the KZA Indian, it means wind people. people of the wind. And boy, does it blow here in Kansas. And I think God wants to send the wind of his spirit in great measure into this region >> all the way from western Kansas all the way up to Kansas City. We'll even take them as well as long as they get a new stadium in Kansas, which would be awesome.
But um yeah, you may not know this, but I actually as a um was I 16 I was 16 year old uh a friend of mine Steve Buskerk and I rode bicycles from Augusta, Kansas all the way to Boulder, Colorado. And we did uh the uh trail route road. We went all the way out there. It took us uh about six days. We slept on side of the road. Almost got killed with 18 wheelers more than once. Uh, but that's my claim to fame. That and marrying Candace. I don't know if I dare get on a bicycle anymore.
Hey, I want Is anybody got a hat that I could have? Oh, I like that hat, bro. Is that the hope hat? All right, come on up. Come on, Hope. No, no, no. I want you, too. What? What do we got? Oh, Jesus saves, man. >> That'll be good going through the airport tomorrow. Thank you. Oh, I got to give you this. And and Miss Hope, you come on up as well. This is the book of Exodus. It's the newest release of the Passion Translation. And I want you to have that read by tomorrow morning. Love you, bro. Good to see you, man. Yep. And uh Lady Hope. Oh, where's the hope? Okay. I I like love. >> Come on up. >> And do you have What we're going to give you is a whammy of the Holy Spirit. Pow. >> Whoa. Give her more, Lord. >> Love never fails, right? I hope this is like a unisex hat, >> Candace. So, what? >> Oh, yeah. Well, that's right. I I I'm not that confused. I'm wear this with with real Kansas pride. Thank you, bro. But let me give you this. This is Do you have one of these? You have a passion trans? >> Okay. What this is is the masterpiece edition. It has like 60 I think it's 50 uh pieces of art embedded in here by worldrenowned artist Ron Diani. His artwork is in the White House all over the world. You'll recognize some of the pieces of art. Um he's the artist that did this and a lot of others. You're going to love this. What's your name? Dorian. >> Everybody say, "Hi, >> Doria." >> All right. What What's on What's on your jacket? Turn. >> What a friend we have in Jesus. Amen. All right. This is our gift to you. We love you. Bless you. Have it read by tomorrow. Oh, I'm collecting hats. I love this. I speak one more time tomorrow. So, everybody bring it. Wear your hat tomorrow and sunglasses so we don't see that you just got up and you're tired and you Anyway, awesome.
Now, how many of you this is the first first session you've been at in the conference? Wave at me if this is your first one. Not very. A few. Okay. Uh, well then the rest of us, we heard Matt today, Matteas Vanderstein. What's that word again? What's that Dutch word? We're all supposed >> fet fetican stru and waffles. I love those little round things. Oh, when his family comes to visit us, they bring I tell them, "Bring me some uh uh Dutch cheese and stuff waffles. Is that what you call?" Struffen. Strup waffles. Yeah, they they interpret it. They bring the right stuff. Matt, would you come on up? Matt shared with us today about the statue of Buddha that fell over as he asked God for a sign. Man, this is so awesome. This is like book of Acts level, power, signs, and wonders. So, we have the we have the tape. We have the evidence. We're going to show it to you. But if you could just repeat that story. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Brian. By the way, I love shoes. No, no, no. Please. No, no, no, no, no. You wear them the whole day. I want to save my nose. I want to save my nose. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Wow.
Well, so for those who were not there um this morning, you know, I I really believe nobody want to take two minutes. don't believe in evangelists when they have the mic but I really want to under time um Dr. Brian really asked me to just to share for two minutes what happened again in Thailand and we showed that just a very little wild video clip. Um two and a half years ago the Lord really started to talk about that he is going to change nations in not like over 10 or 15 20 years but in a very short time and very close nations where Christianity is not big where people getting persecuted and and one of the nations in in Southeast Asia is Thailand with 77 million people 1.2% 2% of the people are Christian. Uh most of them, millions of people, I don't talk about villages, but millions of people are living in deep darkness. Thailand is known as the the holiday resort. People go there from all over the world. But actually, the people in Thailand are the most incredible, most wonderful hospital people. The food is incredible. But we don't see revival there or we didn't see revival there. They call it the graveyard in Southeast Asia for the missionaries because the of the principalities for for thousands of years people are bowing down before statutes very impressive big golden statutes that bring food every day to golden gods and they don't eat it so they take it away again day in and day out. You feel the spiritually climate in Thailand is like it's thick for those people who are sensitive for the Holy Spirit. You feel it's it's it's war there. It's a fight. But when God says it's enough, it's done. I'm going to change this nation. >> He's going to do it no matter what. >> So to make a long story short, and this is what we're going to see all over the world. what's happening in Iran right now. We do believe Iran is is is raising up and we go to we are believing for a massive revival in Iran. I know it. I know it. I know it. That that the head of the snake that Islamic power will be broken over entire nation. It will affect the whole of Middle East. Qatar will be shaved. Come on. Oman will be saved. Dubai will be saved. It's very hard there. two two years ago we tried to preach was police there we had to run to the desert I was fleeing on camels with my whole family can you imagine pastor met on the camel running in the desert away that's what I did okay never mind that's another story so Thailand and so we we were together with Mama Heidi Bacon Sydney Jacob in the conference in Shang Mai just to check out the waters there and we heard there in the glory of God suddenly I I heard that audible voice from the Lord and said Thailand shall be saved was so clear. Thailand shall be saved. >> Thailand shall be saved. They said, "Oh Lord, how give me give me at least a spiritually and a natural sign." And so a month after that conference, the Buddhists uh who are great people, but they need Jesus, very powerful people actually, very powerful religious people, they started to do a big ceremony around one of the biggest statues they were building for years, a golden statue in Shiang Mai, a huge Buddha. This thing was so high that you could see it in the entire town. This thing was a stronghold over entire city. And the day before the officially opening, they did the blessings and all the occult things. This thing is 180 ft high gold. And we cried out to the Lord for for a sign in the natural because you can preach there, but that spiritually stronghold needed to be broken first. >> That veil needed to be taken away. And to make a long story short, when God says something, it's better you obey and then you let God fight for you. >> Hallelujah. >> Don't try to fight. >> He's the best one in fighting things. And so this this religion took it looks so massive. Sometimes religion can to can look so massive and and religion can be so ugly. But my God is alive. >> That's right. >> He's alive. He's bigger than every Goliath. >> And so suddenly it started to rain. And normally, you know, it rains in in July, August, September a lot. And suddenly before the big opening of the statute the the entire nation was there. What happened was incredible. Before the sunrise suddenly the the statute the big one I mean 180 ft. It starts to move forward and forward and it was screaming and no one was allowed to film. Praise God. Some monks filmed it and now it's all on social media. And this whole thing start to collapse and the head broke. This the head the Buddha head was big like this. It broke. It was almost when God was to say I am about to break the head of Buddhism in Asia. >> Amen. And this is not against the people who are living there. It's it's a religion. >> The people in in in Asia are the most wonderful people. Amazing. The food is incredible. THE PEOPLE INCREDIBLE, BUT THEY'RE BOUND BY THIS demonic forces. And this was a sign for us to say yes to Thailand. Yes to the call of Thailand. And only in the last six months through all we literally bombarding Thailand right now with 25 other ministries that I'm have the privilege of of being the director of everyone Thailand for Dr. Billy Wilson and Power 21. We have seen the last six months with our 25 partners over 526,000 people, so more than half million people got reached with the gospel. A quarter of million of people they said yes to Jesus. And we're going to see by the end of this year at least 2 million salvations in Thailand. We believe by the end of 2027 that 10% of all of Thailand are Christian. >> Amen. So Thailand shall be saved. Amen. And what God has done in an entire nation is still doing there because right now there are gospel gospel trucks proclaiming the gospel in Thailand. I do believe for your city. I do believe that this city will be saved. I do believe that this city will be saved. Can I hear an amen? >> That the powers OF RELIGION, THE POWERS OF DARKNESS will be broken. That the head of that snake will be broken. The veil will be lifted. AND PEOPLE WILL START TO CRY OUT FOR JESUS CHRIST, the savior. Dr. Brian, >> man, thank you, man. >> All right, let's let's show the evidence. We got the >> one of the biggest Buddhist statues in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand suddenly flipped over. The statue of this big Buddha is 65 m high. It's like call it 80 ft in America. Huge statue where people worship that it fell down. head broke. The monks who are wonderful people they said this means bad news. The thing is they're almost prophetic. It means bad news for the devil that his head will fall and that the Lord is releasing the darkness with his glorious light which will give his power. When we were in Jakarta just only two months ago, my friend, I remember a group of like global evangelists who came together. He said, "Lord, what is the next nation?" And then the Lord really spoke clearly to all of us. It is Thailand. It is Thailand's time to see Thailand being saved, reaching around 7.5 million people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. >> Come on, let's stand and praise the Lord here. Come on, you Methodist, Lutheran, Baptists, crazy maddics, Pentecostals. Come on. Thank you, Lord. THAILAND SHALL BE SAVED. Witchah shall be saved. >> Now stretch your hands out to this global evangelist. Father, we ask that you would supply the finances needed. Lord, the miracle power, that you would dismantle hierarchies of darkness over that region. Lord, that the the name of Jesus would be greater than the name of Buddha. We thank you, Lord. There's only one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved and it's the name of Jesus. Lord, we ask that you would guard, protect his family, his health, his finances, and Lord, send him out to the nations. Lord, let him be a world changer. LET THE ANOINTING OF REINHARDT BONNKE BE UPON HIM FOR ASIA, FOR Europe more, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Yeah. Keep praying over him. The rest of you can be seated in the heavenly realm. I hope you'll remember to pray for our precious friend Matus Vanderstein. Every time you have a stroopen waffle or guda cheese, you'll think about them and pray for them. Uh, you know, I I so appreciate the way you you've introduced us and loved us and welcomed us and we have so many rich, wonderful experiences here that go all the way back to Pastor Kit who we we cherish, honor his name. Every time I walk by that garden and his memory, it it touches me deeply. He was one of the funnest, most wonderful non-religious pastor dudes you could ever meet. And I think he would be very proud of all the the the kids playing here in the sanctuary tonight with the balloons and the football and everything. I I think he would have really enjoyed being a part of that. But I thank you guys. I really love New Life Covenant Church. We brag on you all around the world. If you're on our social media, you may see little snippets of our weekend here with you and just uh celebrating the goodness of God together. So yeah, 17 years uh I you know we we left the pastoral ministry uh after a really wonderful 18 years as a pastor in Connecticut. Yeah, up there and had a wonderful wonderful time. The church grew uh flourished and it's still doing well today. I'm actually we're actually going back here in uh this month. We're going back to do a a revival conference. They've asked they begged us to come and I said okay. So, we worked it out. Our March schedule is like Candace is working on forgiveness for how I booked our schedule in March. But, um, and after 18 years of pastoring, now we've spent 17 years. Uh, it's going to be 18 by the time the translation is published. But I like that idea of I'd probably just have a like a a U-Haul truck come up with cases and uh just to bless New Life. Um, it's a thorough revision that I'm going through. I'm actually probably at the airport tomorrow. I'll pick up my laptop and work on uh 1 Peter chapter 4. I'm about to finish that. So, I've gone all the way from um really from Matthew to First Peter and in the Old Testament from Genesis all the way up through Esther as far as revising and just going through it one more time. Uh we have a team of three scholars that work with me that uh ensure that we keep it pure and holy. Uh they're my quality control. I didn't think I needed them. I felt like the Lord was, you know, giving me all the revelation I needed, but then after they tore it apart and said, "What? Well, can you prove that?" And uh it's been a real joy to work with them, an Aussie uh scholar and uh another scholar from uh Southern California, um Carl'sbad, I forget where he's at. I think it's Carl'sbad, California. and then uh Kenneth Shrink as well who's so anyway all of that to say I'm really excited about finishing that getting it all presented for you and really for the Lord. It's been an act of obedience for me. I was given a commission to do this. It's all over uh you know uh it's all over everywhere how the Lord called me to do this translation. Who in their right mind would translate the Bible unless God told them to do it? I mean really it's been quite a project. And uh not everybody likes it. That's okay. That's really awesome. I don't really care. I just want everybody to love Jesus. >> And whatever translation you like, believe it. >> Read it. Live it. If you like the the, you know, ESV, the extremely sterile version, then then read it and and do it. Uh or the NIV, the never improved version. And that's okay. But uh the main thing is that we love the word of God. Amen. >> So we're doing a a uh Mediterranean cruise in June. And I just real quick just want to slight commercial here. Let you know that you're all invited. We have just a few spots left. I think three or four. Uh if you'd like to come with Candace and I on a 7-day Mediterranean cruise, we're going to go to uh Footsteps of Paul. We have a land tour afterwards. So, we're going to go to Thessaloni, Philippi, Ephesus, Greece, uh, um, what is that? Santorini. Is that the >> That's in the Bible somewhere, right? We'll find a verse. Third Queens or somewhere. Book of Hezekiah. It's in there somewhere. We're going to we're going to have a really wonderful time. and I'll be teaching about Paul and the letters of Paul, the epistles of Paul on that uh 101 12-day trip. And I hope some of you would would join us. You can go on passionfire.comour and you can get all the info.
Lord, I pray in Jesus' name that the spirit of the Lord would fall upon us that this night would be a night of nights where we encounter the mercy of God as never before. speak to us. Let there be a voice inside of my voice speaking to every heart here tonight in Jesus name. Amen. >> So the scripture that we've kind of focused on my session yesterday, tonight, and then tomorrow morning I'll wrap it up. But the scripture we've been focusing on is Micah 6:8. And Micah 6:8 tells us what God requires of believers, what he expects of man, what he requires of man. In the text, it's actually the Hebrew word Adam. So this is the sons and daughters of Adam. This is what I expect from you. Wouldn't you like to know God's heart? What God wants of us? >> Three things. Promote justice. Love mercy and walk humbly with your God. Well, we did the justice piece tonight. Love mercy. We don't do mercy. We love mercy. I want to talk about loving mercy. It's a river that flows from the throne of God. Actually, mercy is enthroned. It's called a mercy seat. When you worship God in the old co under the old covenant, you would come into the tabernacle. You'd go into a three- room house, the outer court into the holy realm, and then a veil that separated the holy of holies. And inside the Holy of Holies, there was no light switch. There was nothing in there but one piece of furniture. And it was the ark of covenant. I say one piece, but it was actually in two pieces. The ark of covenant. And upon the ark rested what is known as the mercy seat, the lid that sealed the mercy of God. And it God says, "I will come down and I will commune with you between the wings of the cherubm." So over this ark of covenant were these two cherubm with wings stretched out like they're peering into the ark of covenant. And the angels of God are looking into the mercy of the Lord. Angels don't get mercy, guys. They don't understand mercy. We get mercy. We get grace. That's why angels hang out with us because we're teaching them of the ways of God. That may be new to you, but it says in Ephesians 3:10 that we are teaching and instructing the angelic realm of the manifold wisdom of God, the many faceted wisdom of God. They learn it through us. So every one of you is an instructor in angelic seminary. You are a professor training the angels teaching them of what mercy and grace can do in your life. I thought that would be a good point. But so mercy is enthroned in the New Testament. It's not the mercy seat. It's not the ark of covenant. What does it say in Hebrews chapter 4? It's the throne of grace. Mercy and grace are enthroned in the heart of God. His the foundation of his throne is mercy. The foundation of his throne is mercy and grace. He sits there on a throne of grace. That that ought to help you not want to be distant from God. Grace says, "Come on in. I left the door open and the light on. Come on in. The veil's torn. There's no you got to do this to come to me. You just come. Just come as you are. If you can't come pure, come to be pure. But come, come to me. I think it's one of the most beautiful words in the English language. Come. Come. God, when he put skin on and came to walk the earth in the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, what did he say? He said, "Come to me." He didn't just say, "Believe in me." He didn't just say, "Follow me." He said to those who followed him. He said, "Now come, come to me. Learn of me because I'm gentle." We'll talk more about that tomorrow. I'm meek. I'm humble. I'm tender-hearted. I'm easy to please. I'm not who you have thought. I'm here not to sternly lecture you and kick you into righteousness. I'm here to love the daylights into you so that you understand how much I care about you. >> That you ravish my heart as my radiant partner. I love you. I'd rather go to hell for you than live in heaven without you. I'll pour my blood out entirely for you. That's how much I want you to come. So mercy and grace, this may be a little simplistic, but grace is basically God giving you what you don't have. He's giving you forgiveness. He's giving you blessing. He He grace is so empowering. Grace is is virtuous. It's a It's a force, Luke. It It's something more powerful than just, you know, something you say over a meal. Grace is a flow of life and power that flows from God. So grace is giving us what we don't have. We don't have strength. I don't have strength. I couldn't live out in the jungle like that. I hate when it'sund and silly degrees out and I get headaches and I I sweat like a I don't know. Do kangaroos sweat? I sweat. But I God gave me grace. If you want to know grace, just look at my wife. She's lived with me for 55 years. That's grace, bro. Now, mercy, on the other hand, is God withholding from you what you deserve. God keeps back what we have, what our sins deserve, what our failures, flaws, foibless, stumbles, and tumbles, all of the wickedness of our hearts. Mercy says, "I'm not going to pour it out on you. I'm going to put it on my son for you. And so many of us think that God sits in in a courtroom when in fact it's a throne throne room, a throne of grace. And I love this statement. Mercy came into my courtroom carrying a cross. Mercy came to defend me. Jesus Christ, mercy incarnate, the merciful king of my heart. He came into my courtroom where I was guilty as can be. And he came carrying a cross and said, "I don't condemn you. You're mine. Go free. Sin no more." Oh, I love that. That happened 55 years ago, and I'm still basking in the glory of that. In James chapter 2, verse 13, it says, "Mercy triumphs over judgment." Let's say those four words. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy triumphs over judgment. For a lot of religious people, it's judgment triumphs over mercy, right? I don't care. They deserve it. They're going to get what they deserve. Well, you ought to be thankful you didn't get what you deserve or you'd be a bunch of ashes here on the carpet. I didn't get what I deserved. I had mercy. You didn't have to tell me I was guilty. I knew I was filthy. I knew I was guilty. I knew I was fully qualified to go to hell. It didn't really trouble me until a spirit santo the Holy Spirit began to show me, "Oh, you mean that's wrong? Oh, that's wrong. But I'm having fun doing it, but it's wrong." And in a two-eek period of time, he just troubled me. The Holy Spirit troubled me. We call it in Christian Christianes we call it he convicted me. All right? He stirred my soul until the day came August the 871 when I said yes I believe in you. I will follow you Jesus anywhere and everywhere. You're my Lord. And I made uh that epic life-changing decision that I have never regretted or backed away from. But I want to say that mercy is the heartbeat of God. It's a river that flows from his throne. And I'm going to make this personal. I'm going to make this applicable to you. You're not going to leave tonight without realizing that if you want mercy, you better show mercy to others. And that's what Jesus said on the sermon on the mount, right? Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the merciful. I want the Do you want to be blessed? I want the blessing. If if you leave yours behind, I'm coming into the roast and I'm going to take yours tonight on my way home. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the merciful. In what way? Well, they will receive mercy. They're going to get a lot of mercy when they show mercy to others. That's why mercy triumphs over judgment. The word triumph carries a sense of of boasting against like rising above as a banner unfurled like we had the flags here on the platform this evening. It's like the victory uh banner unfurled after battle. So mercy becomes victorious within us when we acknowledge our sin and we're desperate and our desperate need of grace. I deserve judgment but I woke up with mercy kissing me awake. Mercy doesn't cancel righteousness, it fulfills it. This is why mercy triumphs because it sees the end from the beginning. Aren't you glad God treats you not by how you're living right now, but he treats you by the destiny you will have in eternity. Let me try to say it a better way. It's like he sees you not as the struggling hope I make it through the week Christian, but he sees you enthroned, crowned, and robed already. You're seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. You're robed with a designer label garment of lambkin. Ha made exclusively for the bride in heaven. And you are enthroned. You're given a throne at the right hand of God. We're seated at his right hand. my that that's the way we have to live life. We we live it from the we live life backwards. We go into our destiny and that's what Ecclesiastes tells us. We go into the end of our life and we live our life backwards because we see our destiny as something better than just struggling here on earth to pay bills and and hope we don't kill anybody. Oh, I forgot we're in church. Um, so this this God that sees the end from the beginning, he sees you perfect right now. He sees you complete in Christ, lacking nothing, flawless to use the Song of Songs terminology. He puts a crown on your head and he watches you grow up to fit it. It doesn't fit very well, but he'll watch. He'll prosper you. He'll bless you. He'll disciple you. He'll he'll raise you up until that crown fits perfectly and you awake one day in your eternal glory. So he he never treats you according to your history because you don't have one. It ended with three nails 2,000 years ago. You don't have a history. You only have a destiny. So God will always look at you, treat you, and deal with you, not by your momentary mess. Somebody please say, "Thank you, God." >> But he will treat you and deal with you and bless you according to your destiny. He's pulling you up, not pushing you down. There's somebody that does that. That's called the devil, right? The slanderer, the accuser, but God is one who lifts up his people. Throughout the Psalms, he's it says he's the lifter up of our head. In the Song of Songs, he says to the radiant bride, "Take off the veil. Let me see your face. lift up your eyes to me. So this shamed driven, guilt loaded theology has got to be kicked to the curb. And we've got to understand the mercy kiss of God that transcends any season of difficulty, grief, pain, failure, struggle, issues at home that you don't even want to talk about. There's something greater than that. And I'm just so glad that mercy kissed me awake. Mercy, mercy me. Mercy has come to my life. Imagine if mercy triumphed in your relationships, how you treat people, how you see young people, how you see people that may be immature. And I shared yesterday that there's a difference between sin and immaturity. And sin, of course, we we reject. But immaturity we all have to put up with. It's called swallowing gnats so you don't choke on a camel, right? Jesus said, "It's better you swallow gnats." And we have some of those in Kansas because it won't kill you. You won't die if you swallow a gnat or two. You know the missionary story, right? First term of a missionary, they go and a fly is in their soup and they tell the waiter, you know, I I can't eat this. Take it back. The second term, the missionary flies in his soup and he takes the fly out and eats the soup. The third term of the missionary, he says, "Where's my fly?" It's better to swallow a gnat than choke on the camel of self-righteousness. When you condemn people and you withhold mercy from them and you judge them and you become, you know, the the prosecuting attorney that has condemned them, then you're choking to death on the camel of self-righteousness. It's better to put up with immaturity of people. Come on, you you don't need road rage every single day of the week, just Friday rush hour. You know, it's better to swallow a gnat >> than choke on a camel. So imagine if mercy triumphed in your friendships when grace outweighs pride. If it triumphs in churches where restoration outruns rumor. It triumphs in our hearts when we dare to believe that God is kinder than our shame. That he's more gracious than we've imagined him to be. There's a realm God invites his children to live in not ruled by criticism, retaliation, or cold justice, but by the warm currents of mercy, the refreshing breeze that that lifts up the struggling, the heartbroken, the failing, the immature. Scripture tells us that God is rich in mercy. Ephesians 2:4, God is rich in mercy. Rich. You're not going to exhaust it. Thank God I have not exhausted the mercy of God. Actually, I get a new fresh dose every morning. >> Lamentations 3 says, "His mercies are new every morning." Aren't you glad you get a mercy kiss every day? You wake up in the morning. You know what life is like? Here's how I see life. It's an etch sketch. Did anybody ever get etch a sketch for Christmas? Maybe not last year, but when you were young. Okay. You know what etch sketch is? Do they have etch a sketch in Netherlands? Okay. Well, we don't have what's that word? >> No, the the other one binoculars. >> Yeah, that word. We don't have that. Anyway, the etcha sketch. You remember you got the little dials and there's this thing inside got a red border and and you're making something and oh no, somebody hits you or or you goof up. You just shake the daylight out of it and you start over. That's your life. How many more times you need to be shaken? How many more boooos do you need to make and get all shook up over it just so you can start a fresh? See that? That's what mercy does. Mercy gives you a brand new doover. A doover every single day. Oh, that's so good. Aren't you glad his mercies are new every morning? You know, God is into new. >> Uh it's even in the name of this church. God's really into new. Aren't you glad? >> Or he could call you old creatures in I call you old creatures in Christ. My mercies are old every morning. >> Sing unto me an old song. Behold, I do an old thing. Mercy is not just an occasional act that God performs. It is the climate, the ecosystem of heaven. It is absolutely like fresh dew that falls on a weary soul. His mercies are new every morning. Great and beyond measure is his faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23. It's the atmosphere of heaven. So the believer today is called to be a carrier of that atmosphere. If we want heaven to come, it's going to come with mercy. It's not be it's not going to come because you're so cool and he says, "Oh, wow. Gosh, those people are just so cool down there in which I'm just going to send it out." No, it's called mercy, bro. Because he is kind. So I asked the Lord, give me some give me some Bible examples. And he did. And I'm going to let us go home before midnight because we're going to lose an hour tonight. Um, but Jesus was mercy on two legs. Most people look at others through the lens of judgment. I'm going to talk smack to you for just a moment, okay? Most of us tend to look through a lens of criticism when we look at others. Don't look at the person next to you because you'll you'll offend them. We quickly notice flaws. We quickly find something that doesn't quite fit our politics, our, you know, our belief system, our whatever. And then that judgment begins to fester in us. And yet Jesus, he was around really sinful people. And he didn't just pick out flaws. The one thing he hated the most was self-righteousness. That's that's tomorrow. We'll talk about that. But he he was merciful. Do we need examples? I mean the lepers. He touched lepers. Children. He welcome children when all the other bros are trying to Don't bother the master. Don't he's too busy for you squirts. Bring them bring them up on a pl. I want to hear their song. I want to just prophesy Psalm 8 over them because they have the power to break strongholds. He loved children, women. He honored and esteemed and treated them with a dignity that in that culture they had not always encountered. So everything about Jesus was merciful. You think of the woman of course that was caught in adultery, which is so silly. A woman caught in adultery. You can't have adultery with just a woman, right? The woman caught in adultery. Poor gal. She gone down in history. the woman caught in adultery. And she, you know, you get into heaven and here she comes. Hi, I'm the woman caught in adultery. Guess what? I'm here. >> So is he. And then if he believes. But what did Jesus do? Did he pick up some? Yeah, you wretch. You rottens. In the very act, boys and girls, in the very act. Don't make me be more explicit. Caught. Drag her in front of the master. Stones in hand. They're carrying bitterness and stones. What did Jesus do? Bent down and he wrote in the dust. And of course, there's a lot of conjecture about what he wrote in the dust, but I I'm pretty sure it's Jeremiah 17. Those who forsake the Lord will be written in the dust. Yeah. And he either wrote their names or he wrote that verse, those who forsake. The real adulterers were the dudes with the stones, >> not this woman. >> They were the spiritual adulterers that had violated the law of mercy. The gracious God. Exodus 34. the Lord Yahweh. Yahweh, full of mercy, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, ready to forgive for a thousand generations. That's the God of the old covenant. So Jesus showed this woman such mercy. Mercy doesn't deny sin. It restores dignity. It doesn't point a finger. It extends a hand. When you begin begin to look at others with a mercy lens, they begin to see what God sees. It's it's so powerful when you you know prophecy is telling the person their secret virtues, not just their secret sins. There's a scripture that says that the day is coming when every everything all the secret things are going to be made light. they're going to come to the light. And we immediately think it's all that wickedness of people like there's some big, you know, jumbotron in heaven where, okay, today we look at at Matt sins and it's like a fiveh hour thing, you know, and then Joel's sins five minutes, you know, but no, that's not it. The mercy of God is higher than the heavens. That's pretty high. That's pretty high. Extends as far as the east, the west, the north, the south. He's taken our sins as far as the east is from the west. He's removed them for from us. Which is really powerful because if it says from the north to the south, you better worry because you go north far enough, you're going to start going south. >> But the east, you're never going to go west. You're always going to go east. That's how far he's taken our sins from us. I remember the old preacher saying out of uh the is it Micah or the verse that says he he cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea and then he put up a no fishing sign. I like that. I think as as I wrap this up over the next three hours, I I want to I want to highlight your memory. You need to remember you got mercy. Jesus told a parable about a servant who owed an impossible debt so large it could never ever be repaid in his lifetime. And yet this king, merciful king, he canled the entire debt as an act of compassion. He canceled the debt of this servant. But the forgiven servant left the palace. And you know what he did in Jesus parable? He immediately seized a fellow servant who owed him a trivial amount and demanded that he pay him after he had just been forgiven a massive like what a trillion dollar debt. I don't know something that could never be repaid. Not there's not enough American Express cards to to you could do it on. He refused to show mercy. He demanded payment. And that's what Christians do every day of the week. I'm I got to say these things to you. I'm your friend. I love you. But I'm telling you guys, if you don't step into the river of mercy, we become contankerous, critical, cranky, cruddy Christians who have not revealed the heart of God because he showed mercy to you. Look at you. What are you doing in church on a Saturday night? It's because you love Jesus. It's because he washed away your sins. He cleansed you from your nose to your toes. There there's not one thing that stays on you because he took it all away. And here you are basking in the love and mercy and grace of Jesus. So how can we turn around and not give that to somebody in Witchah, somebody in our family, somebody in the family of God. So mercy is not just a commodity that we consume. It's a virtue that we release into the neighborhood. We release it into the city, into the atmosphere over Witchah. We don't come to judge you, Witchah. Jesus said, "I don't come to judge either." Our king didn't come to judge. We're not in the age of judgment. We're in the age of grace. Mercy is rolling like a river through the streets of Douglas, Maple, Senica, throughout Meridian, throughout Oh my, don't get me started on all the blocks of Witchita, but that river of mercy, it's still flowing. And if you just put one foot in, you're hooked. Oh, I love this man, Jesus. Look what he's done to heal me, to touch me, to love me. When nobody else did, when everybody else walked away, he walked in. He showed me mercy. So, every one of us stand in need of having our debt erased. And every one of us are compelled to love mercy. That's what God requires of us. Yeah, there's the verse. Let's look at it. Listen, everyone. Yahweh. Yeah. Yahweh room before you tonight. Almighty God. Yeah, there it is. By the way, the media team has been so fantastic this conference and the worship team. So, as of tomorrow, you are getting a raise. Mercy, Lord, as I depart tomorrow in peace. Think of your life before grace touched you. Remember the places where he healed your confusion. Some of you were suicidal. Some of you had all kinds of sexual issues. Okay? To talk truth, socially broken. relationally broken, not knowing what our life was all about. Some of us were in deep darkness where we wrestled demons. We struggled with anxieties and fears that that crept in uh when we didn't want them to and we became almost a puppet to powers above us, stronger than us. But God came in and grace, he set us free. He broke those chains. He broke the tether to the demonic realm. He broke the connection to this cosmos, this planet, and severed that umbilical cord through our baptism and brought us into a brand new life of victory, peace, joy. Of course, we have our moments, but he's he's set us with princes. He took us out of the garbage pit, right? And he set us among princes. He put us in the high place where kings of glory are enthroned. And we're now his best friend. We're now his lookalike. We're his radiant one. Full of splendor, full of glory. And one day, he's going to split the heavens to come back for you because he loves you that much. All because of mercy. All because of grace. It's the most beautiful scandal in the Bible. David ran out of language. Didn't have enough words to describe it. He just said higher than the heavens. That's how high God's mercy extends. Do you know mercy runs to you? It races to you. And we get this in the prodigal the prodigal story of the prodigal son where the father the merciful father saw the wayward son coming back. You know the story. He demanded his inheritance early, shattered his father's heart. A cultural insult so severe that it was almost saying like, "I wish you were dead already." Pockets full of wisdom. Empty. He ran toward a distant land where pleasure promised freedom, but delivered nothing but sin and grief. Emptiness. Money ran out. Friends disappeared. A famine came. And soon he found himself doing of all things feeding pigs. Feeding pigs. I mean, you should know that that's culturally not cool. I mean, I first thing I do when I come back from Israel is I get bacon and sausage and eggs and I do a a hearty men's breakfast in my kitchen. >> I like hummus, but So the the lowest humiliation imaginable for a Jewish son. I mean he he went from like really a prince because the the father was very wealthy and the inheritance was significant. And he went from enjoying all of that, the father's heart, the father's pleasure, all the privileges and comforts of that home and trashed it all. Went off and did his fling like some of you in this room. And what happened? He woke up one day and he said, "You know, there's there's stuff in my father's house. If I just went back, I wonder I wonder if I asked him if I begged him to take me back as a servant, if he'd let me come." So, he makes the track back to that Jewish home. And and while he's still far off, the father sees him coming. Looking through the window, he sees his son. He races to him. He runs to him. Mercy ran to me. It runs to you. It chases you down. And it kissed him. Stinky kid kissed him. And the Greek text is over and over. He smothered that prodigal son with with kisses of mercy. And he hadn't even said anything. He he was still what, three blocks away? I don't know. hadn't even fully come yet. But the father had to show his mercy to his weward son. Somebody in this room should be thankful that mercy ran to you. It found you in your darkness. It brought you out of shame and despair, pain, confusion, and gave you a purpose. Placed you into his heart. showed you over and over his care and gentle love for you. That's what the father did. Wow. Then he says, "Bring the robe. Bring the ring. Bring the sandals. And let's throw a party." The robe is his identity. He restored his identity. Bring the ring. That's restored his authority. The signate ring, the family crest, the the authority of the house. He gave it back to the son. bring the sandals. That's restoring his sunship, his privilege, his favor to walk now as a son. And
Then he threw a feast. He restored his joy. He restored his joy. You can't have a joy conference without mercy.
Otherwise, it's just hype. It's fun, and I like it. I'll come back. I'll be here. But the real joy, the effervescence of Jesus, the buoyant life of Jesus bursting out of our shell, it comes when we kiss when we have the mercy kiss on our heart and when we kiss one another. It says in the Bible, greet one another with a holy kiss. So the line's going to be right over here for Candace and I. No, it would not be all that holy with some of us. I think the holy kiss is the song of songs. That's my personal feeling that the only kiss that's holy is his kiss coming through us to other people. When we embrace and love, it's a metaphor. When we embrace others in love and mercy, it's as though a holy kiss has come upon them. We feel that when we come here, we feel the holy kiss and it warms us. I was telling Tim, one of the things I really like about coming is, you know, we go all over the world and I'm doctor this or that and I'm the guest speaker and people kind of like, you know, they kind of don't want to look at me or they they're maybe a little intimidated. I don't know why. I get intimidated them sometime. But what I like about here, you call me Brian. I walk down the I'm going to the toilet. I mean, since you opened up that can today, we're all trying to eliminate that out of our minds what you said today. And hey, Brian, I love that because it's home. It's family. That's the holy kiss.
So, uh, down to two hours wrapping it up. I'm gonna end with this. Uh, everybody say Mphibasheth. If you say that 10 times really fast, you will get the gift of tongues and you'll spit on somebody next to you if you do that. I want to talk about a guy, a guy named Mphibicheth. And this is one of the most beautiful scandals, breathtaking stories, portraits of mercy in all the Bible. It's found in 2 Samuel 9. David's been a fascination. I love the story of David. I'm mentoring uh leaders right now online uh with the life of David and how he reflected Jesus. Uh we named our son David. I mean David is to the point where my wife said, "You know, Brian, it's really Jesus." I said, "Yeah, I know. I know. But I David like points me to Jesus. I see Christ in this man. I see his life story. I don't know if you knew, but the you know this um house of David that's on television now. They called me a few years ago and they said, "We hear your uh you like you study and know about David." I said, "Well, yeah. He's one of my my guys." And um they said, "Well, we heard that and we just want to ask you a couple questions." And what they asked was, "Do you really believe that David was an illegitimate son?" I said, "Absolutely." He was not the son of Jesse and the other brother's mother. That he was the son of a concubine and Jesse. And that's why his brothers rejected him. And I said, "Furthermore, if you will," they said, "Well, we're going to do this huge thing on David." I said, "Well, if you will incorporate how David overcame rejection, you will get the heartbeat of the story of David. His brothers rejected him. Saul rejected him. His own mighty men at one point rejected him at Ziglag. You know, 11 tribes rejected him. Only the tribe of Judah at Hebrron received him until finally even his own son Abselum rejected him. So, David's life was a life of rejection. So, I kind of with interest watched that and sure enough they did that and it caused a little bit of a controversy. Uh, so it's my fault, but Anyway, enough of that.
But David has now become king and he takes the throne. And the custom was that you would eliminate the descendants of the competing king or the prior king that would have even the aspiration to take over your throne. I hope I made that clear. But David actually asked the strange question after he was enthroned not just at Hebron with Judah but all the 12 tribes made him king. David founded Jerusalem. There would not be Jerusalem without David. Okay. So he asks this strange question. He says, "Is there any descendant of Saul and Jonathan that I could honor?" They said, "Well, yeah, there's Mphibicheth." Everybody say that. Yeah, but he's uh he's crippled in both legs. You see what happened when Saul was killed, the nursemaid was carrying little Mphibicheth and was fleeing the palace and dropped him and apparently broke legs or in some way he was crippled in both feet. So Mphibicheth couldn't even walk. All right. And he's besides that, he's in a place he's hiding out in a place called Loar. Everybody say lobar. Loar. Low is the Hebrew word. No. Dar is the Hebrew word promise or word. No word. No promise. He was hopeless. Hanging out in low debar. You know what? You're crippled, too. So am I. I got to be carried by grace. I don't have it in me. I can't do what I do unless God helps me, strengthens me. And nor nor can you. You're so dependent. You're codependent. You just don't realize it that you're really codependent on Holy Spirit and the grace of God to make it through life.
So the story is is so beautiful. David says, "Well, go get him. Go get this young guy. I want to show him favor." So imagine the fear rising in Mphibicheth's heart as soldiers come rolling into Loabar to take him before King David. Like, oh no, it's over for me. But David calms his fears and says words that change the atmosphere. He said, don't be afraid, Mphibicheth. I'm going to show you kindness. I'm going to show you mercy because of my love for Jonathan. Wow. So David does the unthinkable. He restores all the land that belonged to Saul. The entire portion of the Benjamite Saul of his inheritance, his land. He gave it to this crippled kid. And he assigned servants to do nothing but take care of this crippled young man. And then he makes a stunning declaration. Says, "You are going to have every meal at my table. You're going to sit with me and my sons at my table." So every evening, the royal family would gather around the king's table. broken, crippled, Mphibicheth, unable to walk on his own, had to be brought in, seated there at the table, and with the royal tablecloth, nobody could see his legs. Nobody knew he was crippled because there's no broken one at the table of the Lord. His mercy restores. His mercy heals. His mercy, it's not there. Your your crippledness, if I could say it that way, is irrelevant to God. Mercy has blotted out your transgressions. It's blown them away like a fog on a foggy morning. And the sins are no longer there. and your broken legs, you're broken, crippled, unable to do this or that. It doesn't matter because you're at the king's table and you look at the table and all these other sons and here is he as a royal family member. You and I are a mafibisha. And we are now taken from Loabar where we had no word, no promise, nothing going for us, no hope. And we're brought to sit at the king's table. Oh, the king's table. So 365 all year long, year after year, Mphibicheth grew up with all the royal princes because David revealed the heart of God. David was a man after God's heart. David understood mercy. And tomorrow I'm going to share another story of David that is perhaps one of my favorite that touches me very deeply. So I hope you all come back then. So that's my message.
Thus endeth the reading. Yeah. I just I want to love mercy. If God says, "Brian, you need to promote justice. You need to stand up for the victim. You need to promote justice." The disenfranchised, those that have been severely hurt, that have endured prejudice and pain because of racism or self-righteousness or gender discrimination. You need to stand for justice, but you need to love mercy. Say, "Lord, help me to love mercy." I want you to really mean it, though. Now, I want you to really mean it. Say, "Lord, help me to love mercy." Let's pray that. Go ahead. Lord, help me to love mercy. That that would be my default. That it would triumph over the criticism I would want to speak, the judgment I'd want to issue. You have bathed me in the sacred oil. You have soaked me in your mercy. I'm dripping in the mercy ocean of God. You have forgiven my great debts. You've made me clean. You've washed me sparkly clean, zestfully clean. Wow. Now give me eyes to see my brother, my sister, my children, my grandchildren, the one who doesn't vote like me, the one who doesn't drive like me, the one who doesn't have the language I speak in. Help me to see them even the the broken that I could bring healing, not criticism. I could bring healing to them, restoration, open prison doors, open blind eyes. Isn't that the foundation verse of this house? But the spirit of the Lord is upon me to do what? To give good news, sight to the blind. open prison doors. Those who are bound to bring them into beautiful freedom, the extravagant, scandalous grace. We serve a God who takes former enemies and brings them inside the triune glory. No king would ever do that. He installed his enemies, converted them, and brought us former enemies. He brought us into the throne room and seated us at his table with our crippled legs and all. That's mercy. Let's stand. Father, I just pray you would kiss our hearts in mercy right now. Mercy drops are falling all around the room. Mercy drops are falling. The the weward can come home. The wayward can come home. The unclean can be made pure. The one who violated can be redeemed. Sinners can be made holy because of mercy. So help us to love mercy so much that we give it. We give it freely even as we have freely received it. Man, I need this. I think I'm going to come to the altar. I think I'm going to come up here. Let me get down. I If you guys want to join me, you can come on down. But I want to love mercy. I want so much mercy that I get accused of being too merciful.