Transcription
Well, good morning. It's a good morning.
You know, it's fun seeing two gatherings back to back because you get to see how the Lord moves differently in each and how he just honors everyone who's in the room. There's different, like, there's core themes right throughout the whole day, but there's different emphases. Is that a word? Emph-different things that are emphasized. My mom was a grammar teacher, believe it or not. But, um, I feel a slightly different emphasis. I didn't actually get through the full word with the last one, and I feel like I need to do my best to actually go through what I prepared. Um, and I'm just going to trust the Lord. So that means that I need y'all to put your thinking caps on. And I will take a, a thing from Caleb here. We're gonna say a lot quickly in a moment. And you know, I'm finding this about life right now in the season that I'm in, uh, with Rachel. You know, business is growing and needs a lot of attention. It's a baby by itself. Then you have two children under three, and, uh, and then, you know, my role here at the Resting Place, and then, oh, wait, hey, I'm a husband. I need to love my wife well. And what I'm finding in this season of life is it's not about the quantity of time, it's about the quality of time that's spent. And I believe the Lord is bringing us into a place where we can handle a lot more in a condensed, um, time frame because of what he's knit inside of us. Because of the wine skin that he's prepared us, we're, we're ready to hear these things, right? So, okay. All right.
Well, so we've been in, where, what, what passage of scripture have we been this whole year? Sermon on the Mount, right? And last week, Caleb gave an, an awesome, awesome word about what true mercy is, right? Extending heaven's perspective, heaven's definition of mercy is not just showing sympathy and mercy for the victim. It's also showing mercy for the victimizer. Because, news flash, every victimizer was once a victim. And an eye for an eye makes everyone blind, right? You ever heard that? Okay. At some point, mercy has to triumph over revenge. It's got to stop the cycle, right? And, and why, why we're speaking on that today is because we're in this funny, it's been throughout the ages. There's always been political tension. There's always been, you know, all these little strivings, all these crazy things in the world. But, but now more so than ever, we're closer to his return than we have ever been. And the earth needs Jesus. And they don't need just a part of Jesus. They need all of him. What Diana was saying is that we're called to mature. That's Ephesians 4. We're called to mature into the full stature, to the fullness of his mature image. God's an infinite being. I can't release all of them. You guys need Joelle. I need y'all. We need Andre, right? We could go. I can point, I can point you all out. You all have a measure of his fullness flooding through your life. And it's all of us coming together as his body collectively that is revealing him to an earth who needs him right now. And when you show mercy only to the victim, or, or maybe you have a bias and you only show it to the victimizer, you are in gross error. Sorry, Silas. I didn't mean to look at you that long. I'm right. Just did. I'm going to tell y'all a story at the end of this and make this practical. Okay.
But before then, let's, let's lay some scripture out. Okay, so here's our core verse speaking this. So today's title is judging with mercy. Okay? Because judgment without mercy is not righteous judgment. It's not heaven's judgment. It's, uh, it's a load of junk. I'll say it that way. It's not helpful. It doesn't build anyone up. It tears everyone down. It creates a critical spirit, bitterness, right? All right. So, go with me to Matthew 7:1-5. I'm going to read it in two different versions. We're going to start in the New American Standard 1995. "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged, and by the standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but not notice the log that's in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take that speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye." You hypocrite, first take out the log of, uh, out of your own eye, and then you will clearly, you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
Okay. Uh, reading the same thing in amplified in the amplified version. "Do not judge and criticize and condemn others fairly, unfairly, with an attitude of self-righteous superiority, as though assuming the office of a judge, so that you will not be judged unfairly. For just as you hypocritically judge others when you are sinful and unrepentant, so will you be judged. And in accordance with the standard of measure used to pass judgment, judgment will be measured to you. Why do you look at the insignificant speck that is in your brother's eye, but you do not notice and acknowledge the egregious log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me get that speck out of your eye,' when there's a log in your own eye, you hypocrite." And then in parentheses, it puts "play actor, pretender." "First get the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
If any of you spent some time in church, you've probably heard the saying. And I'm, I, it's not as sassy this time. I was sassy in the last one. I, y'all are getting the gentle, the gentler side of me today, I guess. But "judge not, lest you be judged." Have you ever heard that? Anyone? Can you raise your hand? Has anyone ever heard that? "Judge not, lest you be judged." Okay. I grew up in the South. I grew up in the Bible Belt, right? But the problem is it's that is that is placed out of context and it becomes a license to not have an environment of accountability. It's, it's like, you know, like Joel sees something, you know, Joel and I have pastored at Carolwood before we integrated in. So, let's say Joel came to me and he was like, "Hey, brother, you're doing something. It's causing others to get hurt and stumble." And I'm like, "Judge not, lest you be judged, Joel." Right? Okay. Then, then what is that? It's self-righteousness. It's arrogance. It's pride. And then I would become a stumbling block. I wouldn't be available to help mature the body. I would actually do the exact opposite of it, right?
So, what, what, what is the Lord saying here? Is he saying that you shouldn't judge? No, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is that you should not evaluate and judge unrighteously with a log in your eye. He's saying, "Hey, let me come help you get the log out of your eye so you're not a hypocrite so that when you do go to your brother, you can get the speck out of his own eye." Right? See, if Joel comes to me and there's not a log in his eye, then he's actually, and I'm really humble and I really want to grow into the image of Christ, when he comes to me and he points it out, what, what he's doing is he's removing that speck, and then I can see it rightly. I'm like, "Oh my goodness, I have totally been doing that. Wow, man. Hey, man, I repent. You, Joelle, and who did I affect?" And then he tells me who I affected, and I go to each one of those people and I say, "Hey, I'm so sorry. I had a speck in my eye and it was pointed out to me by a loving brother, and, and I just, I want to apologize to you." And you take accountability, right? And, and what that does is it actually upholds, holds the standard of righteousness amongst us. That is so important. See, Christ has made you righteous with his righteousness. He has made you holy with his holiness. But here's the thing is that we're growing into his image. Our soul is catching up to the, to the reality of what he's done inside of us, right? And so sometimes our lives don't always reflect the righteousness of Christ. And we actually need not only the Lord to speak directly to us, but we need the Lord inside of our brothers and sisters. And, and, and I, guys, we need each other to not have logs in each other's eyes so that we're not going around religiously and hypocritically pointing at specks in the other person's eyes. You know, "Hey, you got a speck. Get it out." And, and then, but then you're like laughing at me because you don't hear anything I have to say because you see the log that's in my life and you're like, "What?" But when you have an environment that's healthy and holy and pure, then you have people who are letting the Lord, if they have a log, they're letting the Lord pull it out, right? And then they can see clearly. And then there's this beautiful, there's this beautiful unity. It's called the unity of the Spirit, right? Where Deanna can come to me because I'm no longer pridefully unapproachable, right? And because of the healing that she's gone through with Jesus, she can see clearly something that I might need help with, and vice versa, right? And instead of it being this critical environment where everyone walks on eggshells and there's this religiosity, this striving to be better, this striving to, "I better not do that." You know, Dave might say something to me. You know, guys, we're going to make mistakes along the way. It's not an, "if we make a mistake." It's a guaranteed, "you will make a mistake." Every single person in this room. And if you haven't made a mistake, then I can tell you, you got lots of mistakes. Okay. But what happens is when we have an appropriate environment where we can judge righteously with mercy as the end goal, right? With mercy to restore us back to, to the Father's perfect plan, his perfect design. Then what happens is we lose that criticism. We lose that unhealthy toxic environment where if I make a mistake now, I can in humility receive the truth and correction, and I can pivot and I can repent. And if everyone's doing that collectively, you get into an environment where very little mistakes start to happen. And then, and then you, there's, then there's even very little moments you have to even go to each other in gentleness because God's pulling the logs out of everyone's. And then when we can all see clearly and we're not even having to waste energy getting the speck out of each other's eyes, then who do we gaze at? Who are we looking at? Who do we behold? The Son of God. And the more that I can see him clearly, and the more that I gaze upon him, the more I am transformed into his image. Is this making sense?
Okay. All right. Back to the notes. So, the Greek word there for judge is, I'm going to butcher it. It's *krinein*. And I guarantee you I'm saying it wrong. *Krinein*. It is the root word. Every time that judge comes up in the Greek, in the New Testament, it is the root word. Sometimes it has a little bit more tacked on to it to give it context, right? But it's always that root word, *krinein*. And it can mean to evaluate, right? To discern, to evaluate. It can mean to make a decision based off of observation. You know, I observe something, I make a decision, right? It can mean to govern, to make a judgment, right? Uh, you could use it in a legal setting. Okay? But see, here's the thing is that those words only, that, that they, what are the, what do words need? You can't just say the word outright. You've got to have context, right? And here we need context. Okay. So, what is Jesus saying? Is he saying that you're never supposed to judge? No, that's not what he's saying because he literally says at the end of the passage, "pull the speck out of your brother's eye." Right? What he's saying is don't be self-righteous. Don't be a jerk. Don't have a filter when you go so that you can actually see the situation rightly and you can handle it appropriately and lead your brother to being restored, not tearing your brother down. Right? You're going to hear me say a lot of the same stuff in different ways because I'm driving a point home. Okay.
So, what does he do? He's not forbidding all forms of judgment. What he's saying is you need to judge righteously. You don't need to be blind. You don't need to be prideful. You don't need to be hypocritical. And that really, it ties back to what we were talking about last week. It's mercy. Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall what? Receive mercy." You know that person that is so critical of you all the time, you know, they make a mistake at some point. And what happens? Everyone that they've been critical towards, they all go as soon as that person stumbles. Maybe it's like a highly, you know, like let's say it's a highly gifted individual and they rarely make mistakes and, but they, maybe it's at your workplace and they're always critical, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The second they stumble and fall down, what does everyone that they've been critical to go and do? BAM, BAM, BAM. HAHA. SEE, you've been holding us to this standard and they receive the measure that they've given out. That's what religion does. We have, we've been for months now, we've been coming against the spirit of religion. Religion wants you to be hypocritical and judgmental towards your brother. It wants you to not look at the own log in your eye and, and create this like, it's just, it's a, it's a very hard environment to, to survive in. And, and actually, it's ironic that we would be ones who, whom the Son sets free, is what? But we're freaking prisoners. We're religiously bound. Let it not be said of us, right? Let us have a healthy environment that we can go to each other in love, that we can mature. Okay.
Okay. So, you need to understand that God has called you to judge. I've, I've kind of already made the point, but just to really slam that one home. John 7:24, "Do not judge." This is amplified. "Do not judge by appearance superficially and arrogantly, but judge fairly and righteously." I love the way the Passion says that same verse. Uh, John 7:24, "Stop judging based on the superficial. First, you must embrace the standards of mercy and truth." Okay. Uh, 1 Corinthians 2:15, "But the spiritual man, the spiritually mature Christian," this is amplified, "judges all things (parenthesis there, it says, questions, examines, and applies what the Holy Spirit reveals), yet is himself judged by no one. The unbeliever cannot judge and understand the believer's spiritual nature." Right? You know, uh, the, the, the life of Christ is a pleasing aroma to those who are alive in him. It is the aroma of death to those who don't yet know him because you have to be gifted the Holy Spirit to receive the joy of his life, right? To understand it on a deeper level. So as a spiritual one and as a Christian who's maturing, you actually can start to look into political things. You can start look into problems in your community. You can look at your brothers in the church, right? You can look at these problems and now you can rightly judge and begin to evaluate what's happening. Like, where is hell moving in here? How did this become, how did Eore City become what it is? How did Tampa Bay become one of the, the, the like most prolific port cities for sex trafficking? You want to talk about that one? We need some mature Christians who can go into these environments and righteously evaluate what's happened so that we can articulate the wisdom of God to political leaders. And, and even on a higher level, you're actually God's eternal government. That one will fade away eventually, and it'll be you and I that remain with him. Okay.
So on that note, do you know that you're going to judge the universe with Jesus Christ? You'll actually judge angels. All right. 1 Corinthians 6:2-4. "Don't you realize that we, the holy ones, will judge the universe?" Paul's having to address an issue with the Corinthian church because they're, they're, they're legally coming against each other. They're suing each other before people who aren't even believers. Meaning they're subjecting themselves to a worldly earthly wisdom to, uh, uh, uh, bring resolution between each other. What a joke, man. Paul, and so, and here's Paul saying, "Don't you realize that we, the holy ones, will judge the universe?" Man, you know, there's some churches right now that are making people sign NDAs. It sounds like Paul's probably speaking to them. I'm sorry. If you know what I'm talking about, then you do. If you don't, that's okay. "If the unbelieving world is under your jurisdiction, you should be fully competent to settle these trivial lawsuits amongst yourselves. For surely you know that we will one day judge angels, let alone these everyday matters. Don't you realize that you are bringing issues before civil judges appointed by people who have no standing within the church?" Psalms 149:5-9 says this. "Let the godly ones exalt in glory. Exalt in glory. Let them sing for joy on their beds. So from a place of rest. Let them worship from a place of rest. Right? Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with feathers of iron, to execute on them the judgment written. This is an honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord."
Okay, so let's just talk about that verse for a second. Is there anywhere else in the Bible that a double-edged sword appears? Maybe Hebrews talks about the word of God is a double-edged sword. It can cut through bone and marrow, through the soul and spirit to rightly divide a matter. Okay. Hey, talk about in Revelation when Jesus is described, what's his mouth? What's his tongue? A double-edged sword. That's exactly right. So, it's him who passes the judgment. We've got to get the log out of the way so that his righteous judgment can be known to us so that we can decree it and enforce it in the environments that God has planted us. Does that make sense? He's given all of you a measure of authority over something. He's given you all a measure of responsibility. So, when you get the log out of your eye, you can see clearly what he's saying to you and what he's doing. And then you can take the word of the Lord and you can enforce it in that environment that you have responsibility over. Uh, no, no, no, no. We're not doing that in this household. That, that is not who we are. We're children of the King, and we love each other. We don't speak that way to each other. Maybe you're speaking to your kids. Maybe you're speaking to yourself, the way you were speaking to your spouse, right? Okay. We're called to uphold each other. We're called to actually judge amongst each other, and there's an order to this, and it, it deserves. We should, like Caleb is probably gonna hit this in two weeks, and he's going to take us a little bit deeper on this measure. I don't know what he's going to talk about. I know he's talking something about judgment, and I imagine he will probably take us deeper. But here's what, uh, 1 Corinthians 5:10-13. This is a Passion. "Yet in no way was I referring to a..." So what happened is that the, again, the Corinthians, they're starting to, uh, they're starting to exile themselves out of society, and they're not, they're like starting to judge the earth around them prematurely when they need to be the light and salt to the earth. And so Paul's addressing this issue. I'm, I'm giving you guys context. "Yet, in no way was I referring to avoiding contact with unbelievers who are immoral or greedy or swindlers or those who worship other gods. For that would mean that you would have to isolate yourself from the world entirely. But now I am writing to you so that you would exclude from your fellowship anyone who calls himself a fellow believer and practices sexual immorality or is consumed with greed or is an idolater or is verbally abusive or a drunkard or a swindler. Don't mingle with them or even have a meal with someone like that. What right do I have to pronounce judgment on unbelievers? That's God's responsibility. But those who are inside the church family are responsible to discern and judge. So it's your duty to remove that wicked one from amongst you." 1 Corinthians 5:10-13.
Man, does this sound harsh? It sounds harsh if you don't understand God's heart of mercy. If someone's a leader and is practicing in these things and it's not addressed, then it gives license in the spirit realm for that to, to run rampant in congregations. And we got some situations in the major charismatic church right now where this wasn't handled appropriately. We won't name names, but if you know, you know. And God's teaching the body. I'm not, I'm not pointing a finger at them. I'm not showing. Please hear me. It's a lesson for all of us. It's easy to step in. But we got to have, we got to have this environment where we actually in love start holding each other accountable. And I invite you guys, and I need everyone's eyes for a minute. I invite you, if you see something in my life and you know it's gross error, you go and you bring it to Joelle, or you bring it to Victoria, or you bring it to Deanna, and, and let them process. And if it's right, and they'll help you process that, you come and speak to me because if I'm doing that, I'm not meaning to do that. And I want to hear that truth. And, and, and let me, let me say, we've said it from this stage many times, and I'm just, I'm echoing what we've already said. Let it be a precedent that we're not, not critically. I'm not saying don't go and judge each other critically, like get the log out of your own eye, right? But let's have an environment where we actually in love hold each other to the standard of righteousness that Christ has made available because the righteous are what? As bold as a lion. We need boldness in today's land. You know these Epstein files that are coming out, you know why everyone's been quiet? It, it explains, you know, when you think a leader should speak up on, on the side of justice and righteousness, and they don't, and you're like, "That's kind of weird." And then later down the road, everything gets revealed, and you're like, "Oh, no wonder you weren't bold. You were in the thick of it."
God's judging the church right now. And judgment is not bad. It's just rendering the truth of what something is. So if you are corrupt and core and to your rotten sinner, then when he judges and reveals the truth, it'll show that equally. If you have let him come in and pull the log out of your own eye, it's going to reveal his righteousness inside of you. There's going to be works in your life. Like, if you go and cut open, you know, my life, you'll, you'll probably see a lot of good. And, you know, just, I'm going to be transparent with you guys. I've been a little ugly with Rachel in the last few months. And the Lord has really made that very apparent to me. Rachel and I have had some healthy conversations. Rachel's my wife, if you don't know. And I've had to go to Rachel, and I've had to repent. I've had to be honest with her. I'm sorry. And I've, I've actually had to ask the Lord for grace and mercy and to help me because I, I wasn't showing mercy to her in some ways. I had to repent. That's important. Can I be transparent with y'all? Can I be honest about that? Okay. Because I don't want, I don't want us to be hypocrites. I don't want to be a hypocrite because if we're being hypocritical and someone doesn't know the Lord the way that we do, then we're a stumbling block, dude. And unnecessarily. And I don't want to be an unnecessary stumbling block. Okay?
I'm going to go a little bit over. I won't go long. I'm going to tell you a story in my personal life. My father. You guys are going to meet him next week. He's awesome. He's a great man. I'm so thankful for him. I, I am largely who I am today because of a healthy, loving, caring father. And I'm so sorry if you did not have that. And I'm not saying that to rub salt in the wound if you didn't have a father like that. But see, here's the thing with my dad is that this was not fully in existence in my parents' marriage, and it wasn't existent in the churches that I grew up in, and it wasn't existent in my dad's friend group. And so, you know, my, my mom and my dad, they had some little molehills of arguments, things that nipped at intimacy and romance. And they were molehills in the beginning of their marriage, but over time they became mountains. And my dad became swallowed and overwhelmed with with the pain that both he and my mom were inflicting on each other. And all of his spiritual fathers went on to be with Jesus. And there was a season that we didn't have a church family. All these things happened. And my dad made a poor decision. And he left my mom. And he left my mom in a pretty abrupt way. My mom went up to, uh, my younger sister's boarding school for the weekend, and when she came home, my dad was gone. He had moved everything out. Okay. And I'm like, I think I was 23, 24. It's crazy. And oh man, that was painful. Like, oh, that was, I felt like I lost my dad. Like this amazing man, like, like he hung the moon, and I, like, okay. And I remember being really angry with him initially. I remember texting him things like, "I will be a voice in the wilderness that proclaims to you the truth to you constantly, you know, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And I was like, "This is so wrong." You know, and just, I'm going to need about, can y'all give me six more minutes? Is that okay? I want to give this justice because this is a practical thing. Okay. And I was really, I, like, I mean, I ripped into him. I sent him every Bible verse on divorce. I, I like, I was like, "I love you." I was like, "I shouldn't be in this position. You should be the one giving me guidance." I was just angry, rightfully so. But I knew I couldn't stay there. And so I took Caleb's practical step. I forgot to send them to you, Carlos, but last week Caleb showed some practical steps of how to live out of both sides of true mercy. And number, the first point was, "Start with God before you start with people." So I had to pull back for a moment, and I had to go to the Lord, and I said, 'Lord, I need your help because I can't, I can't speak to my father in anger and rage. That's, he's not going to hear it.' And the Lord started to help me process some of what had happened. You know, the ironic thing is that Rachel and I were dating, and, um, we actually went through a mini episode of what my mom and dad went through, and I broke up with Rachel. And, um, after a month, I just knew it was the worst decision to break up with Rachel. And I was like, "Wow, what was, whatever was happening to me was that wasn't heaven." And I went to Rachel one day to just apologize to her, not even to try to get back together. And you know what she said to me? She showed me mercy, and she looked at me and she said, "Jake, Jesus spoke to me and said to be patient and to wait, and I've been praying over you." Do you know she kissed me that day? I had broken trust with her. For her to do that, that was Jesus Christ inside of her. And, and, and I got a perspective on what happened with my father. And I saw in a moment how I could be my dad if I didn't have grace and mercy from the Lord. Wow. You want to talk [snorts] about shifting my perspective? And then I, I still spoke bluntly with my dad, but it was, I was like, "Dad, I, I'd understand if you didn't know Jesus and you hadn't seen him restore and heal so much. It's just hard to comprehend that you did this. It feels like a lack of faith. Like Jesus wasn't big enough to restore your marriage and heal." And so it, it opened this dialogue, right? So the second point Caleb made, "When someone sins against you, forgive first and seek restoration." I had to make an active decision to forgive my dad. And my heart didn't feel it initially, but over time, the Lord helped forgiveness become an actual heart posture. Okay. Um, number three, "When someone is suffering, don't move to, uh, move towards them. Don't move past them." And then I knew, like, because there was like two years where we didn't talk a whole lot, and that was like, I had to grieve that because I talk to my dad like every day, and now I'm talking to him, if at best, once every two weeks. And I was like, you know, I got to be intentional. Like right now, I got to look at my dad like my brother, and I got to be intentional, even if it's a short phone call, to just reach out to him consistently, right? Okay. Point number four that Caleb, um, made, "Refuse partiality, especially when it's uncomfortable." The reason my head, I've only shaved my head twice in my life. The first time the Lord told me to shave my head right when my dad divorced my mom, and he said, "I'm going to bring your parents back together." And I, I shaved it like clean, like Matthew Banning here, right? And he said, "I want you to shave your head." And he brought me to a passage in Acts where Paul did that before the Lord, and it was a thing he and the Lord did, right? And the Lord said, 'I'm making a promise to you. I'm going to bring your parents back together, and no matter what happens, I want you to believe whatever happens between now and then, I want you to believe me for that reality.' And so I shaved my head, and I told my mom that. And for seven years, for six years, I said, "Mom, God's going to bring you guys back." And I encouraged her and I strengthened her in moments with the word of the Lord. And two times I was ready to break, and she was ready to break, and God crashed in, and he was like, "Uh-uh. Keep contending." Praise God because my parents are back together. My dad got remarried, y'all. He got remarried. He had a marriage in the middle of this six-year period that, that died. I didn't judge the woman he married. I, I loved her to the best of my ability. It was awkward. I, like, had step-siblings, and they have children, and my children are with, and like, she's deaf, and like, I couldn't connect with her, and like, and but I just, I chose not to be bitter with her, but show mercy. And then, you know what the Lord's will happened. That marriage didn't work out because it wasn't God ordained, and God brought my parents back together. Okay, I got three more. "Don't rescue people from conversations God is calling them to have." I, I, my dad, when he, especially when he and my mom started to come back, he had to go and apologize to all of my siblings, to me, to a lot of my family members. And I, and I was like, "Hey, this is going to be hard, but like, this is where you're going to have, like, you're not reaping the full consequence of your actions, but you're going to, right?" And he, and you know what? It's brought so much healing. There are so many marriages in my hometown that have been strengthened because they broke. Like all these divorces started happening after my parents divorced, and now all those marriages, marriages of the people that were adults when I was growing up, they're all like, they all have hope now. They're trying to work on things because of what they've seen my mom and dad come back together, right? Okay. See, the earth needs that right now. Those ICE agents you don't like, they're people, too. Those Antifa members you don't like, they're people, too. Right now, the, the, the Lord's going to judge the earth. Right now, we need to judge amongst each other. We need to let the Lord pull the logs out so that we can let his glory shine through so that members and all political arenas, all ethnic groups, all parts of society can see Jesus and they can come together and unify in his love. But if we're divided because we're pointing the specks out of each other's eyes with the log in, and, and then we're wrongly evaluating things happening outside of the church. We're letting the log be a bias and opinion that's not heaven's perspective. Dude, they're not, they're not going to see him. Does this make sense? My dad needed mercy. The earth needs mercy right now. They need pure mercy.
Okay, let's have our prayer team come up. Let's have someone on the keys. All right. So, if anything in this message spoke to you, I need you. I need you to take an act of faith. And this, I can't command you. I'm not going to command you, but as strongly and as closely to a command as I can come without actually commanding you. If anything in this word today convicted you or touched your heart or God started bringing something to your brain or something where you're like, "Oh, I'm not showing mercy there." Maybe it's, maybe you're not even showing yourself mercy, right? If anything, if the Lord spoke to you through anything and you feel like you need prayer, come up here and get some prayer because we want to believe that the Lord's going to do a new thing and a fresh thing, and he's going to show us how to rightly judge a matter. He's going to show us how to walk in true mercy. He's going to mature us in his image. Okay? And if you don't know Jesus, then you will never experience true mercy. So, if you don't know Jesus, I'd also like to invite you to come up here and give your life to him. We got some great people that would love to pray with you in that. So, okay, that being said, I'm going to pray for us, and then if you've got kids and TRP kids, please grab them swiftly because we are 7 minutes over.
Lord Jesus, we just thank you. Oh, man. Thank you, Lord, that you didn't, you showed true mercy to us. Lord, you, you died to redeem the victim and the victimizer in so many different scenarios where those roles play. Uh, Lord, and I just, we need, I'm asking, and, and I'm asking on not only for myself but on behalf of all of us that you'd help us to know what true mercy is, and that you'd help us to judge rightly, Lord. And if we have a log in our eye, would you help us to remove the log? Would you give us a clarity that, oh wow, actually, that is a log. And hey, Lord, I need your help to it. And then would you just give us wisdom and guidance, Lord, because we want to see you clearly. We want to see you rightly. We want to judge matters according to heaven, not according to, uh, pain and suffering and trauma and vices and, whatever else, Lord. So come and have your way, Lord. Come and cleanse us from the inside out. Pull those logs out, Lord. And we love you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. We honor you in this place. We want to be matured into your image. So have your way, Lord Jesus. Have your way. I bless my brothers and sisters, and I bless you most importantly in Jesus name. Hey, I love all of you, and, uh, hug someone before you walk out the door. We'll see you next week.