The Beauty Of Unity | A Better Me | Part 8 | Pastor KJay Johnson | Radiant Church TXK

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Today, if you are take notes, the title of my sermon is "The beauty of unity."

"The beauty of unity." Everyone say, "The beauty... the beauty... of unity."

Do you know that unity is beautiful? There's nothing more beautiful than unity. There's nothing more beautiful than people coming together unified. There's nothing more beautiful than a unified family, than a unified people, than a unified nation.

Unity is beauty. Do you want to know who hates unity? The devil. He hates it. He hates unity. And the devil only listens to the word of God when it can help his plan. And the word of God says, "A house divided against itself won't stand. Neither will a family. Neither will a marriage, and neither will a nation." So if the devil wanted to destroy America, guess what he would do? He would divide it. And if he divided, it would collapse and fall.

Some of the greatest empires that had some of the greatest military prowess. The Roman Empire, they were all tore up from the inside out. The own their own people were destroying it because they couldn't get unified. Anytime there is disunityity, desolation soon follows.

So the enemy wants to disunite, and I expect that out of the world. But the danger is when the church is disunited. In the wake of everything that happened to Charlie Kurt, as tragic as that was, what's even more tragic than that is how the church is divided in a time like this. How could the church be divided? Every time there's a big massive issue that happens in our nation, the church is divided. I'm okay with with with politics being divided. They're always going to be that way. They're not the hope of the world. But the local church is the hope of the world. And if anyone should be united, we should be united. So God expects unity. He loves unity. He responds to unity. And today, I want us to be unified.

Now, in order to get to unity, sometimes things got to get a little ugly. Sometimes things got to get a little raw, and they got to get a little true. And in the ugly, in the raw, in the truth, you can find unity.

So today, we're gonna dive into the word. But I just got one question, and I'mma preach, and it's a good message today. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't. So it's a good message, but I'mma dive into it, but I got a question for you all. If you knew that the heart of God and the spirit of God desire for you to be unified with your brothers and sisters in Christ, even the ones that don't look like you, the ones that don't come from the same background as you, the same tribe, the same nation, the same tongue, the ones that's different than you, even the ones you disagree with, if you knew that Jesus wanted you to be unified with your brothers and sisters, would you do it?

"Yeah," I got three people. The Bible did say, "Where two or three are gathered, he's in the midst." So, I guess that's enough for me to preach. But I believe there's more than three people in this room that want to lean into it. If God showed you he wanted you unified, would you do it?

I'm asking, if God showed you he wanted you unified, would you do it? If God showed you he wanted you unified, would you do it? "Yes." If God showed you he wanted you to unify, would you lean in? "Yes." Are you sure? "Yes."

Okay. Well, then let's go to the word of God. We're going to go to Psalms chapter 133. We're going to look at some scriptures today, and we're going to just see how God feels about unity. And we're also going to look at what God has to say about what's happening in our nation and how we can model God's principle as we navigate the terrains of what's happening in our world right now.

Psalms 133, Old Testament. Give you guys a second to get there. Okay, one second. That's all you got.

Psalms 133, verse one, reads, "Behold, how good, and how pleasant it is for brothering to dwell together in unity." Sisters of God, you're in the brothering phrase. I know it says brothering, so I'm exempt. "That's for the brothers." No, brothering. All of us. These are the people of God. How pleasant is it for the brothering to dwell together in unity? It is pleasant when we dwell together in unity.

"It is like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dw of Hermmon descending upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forever more." Wow.

We see something very interesting in the Bible here because God did something very interesting. God says where there is unity, he doesn't suggest the blessing, he commands one. When God commands a blessing, guess what's going to happen? A blessing going to come. God commanded a blessing. He didn't suggest one. He didn't say, "Oh, there's going to be a blessing. There should be a blessing. There might be a blessing." He said, "When there's unity, there will be a blessing." I command it. I decree it. And when God commands something, you better believe it's going to happen. God says, "Where there is unity, I command the blessing. I command it. I decree it. I implore it." Which means anything that's unified will be blessed. If a family is unified, that family will be blessed. If a marriage is unified, that marriage will be blessed. If a business is unified, that business will be blessed. If a church is unified, that church will be blessed. And if a nation is unified, that nation will be blessed. God didn't suggest it. He commanded it. So good.

God commands a blessing on unity. And let me share how God feels about unity. He said it's pleasant when we dwell together. Which means when we dwell with our brothers and sisters in Christ, when we dwell with those that don't look like us, when we dwell with those from different ethnic groups and racial backgrounds and different socioeconomic classes, when we dwell with those, God looks and he's like, "That's pleasant. That is beautiful. It makes the heart of God smile." And God says, "I love it so much. I'm going to command a blessing. If you unify, I will bless."

Anything that's unified will be blessed. It's a biblical principle. Anything unified will be blessed to the point God said it's like oil on Aaron's head. Aaron was anointed. He was anointed to start the priesthood. And when he got anointed, they put oil on his head. The oil flowed down from his head down to his beard, down his garments, dripped all the way down to his feet. In other words, God says, "When I see unity, it will start at the top, but it will make it to the toes. It will start at the top, but it will make it to the toes, and it will flow down." In other words, when unity starts at the top, it come down to the toes. When the parents are unified, the kids are unified. When the leaders are unified, the nation is unified. When the leaders of the church are unified, the body of Christ is unified. God says it will start at the head, but it will trickle down to the toes. It will slide all the way down the beard and the garments. He said that the oil will flow. The anointing will flow.

What is the anointing? It is the endorsement of God. It is endowed to prosper by God. It's the anointing of God that makes hard things easy. It's the anointing of God that makes ordinary things extraordinary. It's the anointing of God that makes natural things supernatural. It's the anointing of God. It breaks the yoke, and it breaks the chain. There's people that's stuck in devastation, and it's the anointing that breaks the devastation. There's people that's tied up in bondage. It's the anointing that breaks the bondage. There's people that's bound by fear. It's the anointing that breaks fear. There's people that's crippled by anxiety. It's the anointing that breaks anxiety. There's people that's washed away in worry. It's the anointing that washes away worry. When the devil comes in like a Russian flood, the anointing of God raises a standard. Oh, give him a praise break in this place!

It is God's anointing. And God's anointing is the empowering of his spirit. It's the empowering of the Holy Spirit. And it's the empowering of his spirit to do impossible, to do miracles. It's the supernatural working power of God. When something is unified, it's anointed. Which means when you are married and you are unified, there's an anointing that falls on that marriage. There's an anointing that fall, and it don't just fall on the marriage. It trickles down the beard, down the garment, down to the toes. It falls on the kids. So, if your kids are in disarray, you may want to check the oil of the head, because the anointing starts at the head, but it don't stop there. It keeps flowing down. And God said if we would anoint if we would unite, he would anoint. If we would unite, he would anoint.

But not only would he anoint, he said he would bless. He said it's like the do of Hermmon. What is Hermmon? Hermon is the highest mountain in Israel. It's the highest mountain. And Hermmon was a was a pretty cool mountain because what Hermmon was, it was a mountain that was really, really high. And what would happen is the lower mountains like Zion would have desolation. They would be barren. They wouldn't be fruitful. There wouldn't be much produce and much crop that's coming out of them because they're low, and there wasn't a lot of rain. And what her mom would have because of the the climate that was up there and the height of her mind. There was something about the climate and the mixture of the climate would cause dew to fall on her mind. And de was like that water. You know when you go to the grass the next day and you know it's like all misty outside and it didn't rain but the grass is wet? You're like, "How is the grass where it didn't rain?" That's called dew. And that dew would come to the ground, and it would nourish the ground, and it would hydrate the ground even when rain wasn't there. God says, "I will send a blessing that even when rain ain't there, I would anoint you. Even when rain ain't there, I will bless you. Even when you look barren, even when you don't look prosperous, I will bless you without the rain." Why? Because it's the blessing of God. And he says it would be the dew of Hermon. Because what would happen is when the de was on Hermon, the dew would dwell and descend down to the lower mountains of Zion. And now Zion would get due because God has blessed Hermon. God says, "I'm going to give you the blessing of Hermon." That you're going to have due when everything else is bearing, when everything else is dry, when the world is falling apart, when they're fighting, when they can't agree, when they can't get along, the church will be like Hermmon. We will have do. And now all of a sudden, our nation can have due. Our school systems can have due. Our family can have due because we are unified in God.

This is the gospel, my friends. This is the good news. And this is what God does when he sees unity. He blesses it. He endows it. He overflows it. This is what God does when he sees unity. So, as you're tempted to be disunified, as you're tempted to allow what's happening in the world to separate you, just take a second and realize what's at stake is do. And without do, all the mountains are doomed. It's the do that's going to hydrate everything to be fruitful and to reproduce.

Can I go a little deeper? Let's go a little deeper. Let's go a little deeper.

Um, Jesus Christ desired for his church to be united. It was one of the last things that Jesus requested, and one of the last things that Jesus asked for. You go to John 17:20. It says, "I do not pray for these things alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. that they also may be one in us that the world may believe you sent me."

So here's what Christ is saying. Christ is saying, and one of his last prayers, and why is it so important that it's one of his last prayers, is because as a business owner, there's times where I get to go out of town, and I give all the rules and regulations of what needs to happen. And then one of the things I'll be like, "And lastly, make sure you take care of this client in this order." In other words, what I'm saying is, "Forget everything else. Do this. Do this. If you do this, we're still in business when I get back. Do this. Make sure you take care of this guy. Okay?" And it's the last thing you get. So you give all, you know, parents, you going out of town, you be like, "Hey, make sure you do this. Do that. Clean, cook, do, make sure you turn off the oven." Like, "Turn off the oven!" Cuz if you burn the house down, don't matter if the door locked. Don't matter if the windows closed. Don't matter if you put the the the the peanut butter back in the cabinet. Turn off the oven. Make sure you do this. All right, kids. I'm out. Right.

Well, when Jesus was getting ready to leave, he told his people, "Make sure you are one. Make sure you are one. I I get all you want to build the church. You want to do this. You want to be success. You got all the stuff you want to do. Cool, cool, cool. Do all that. I'll be blessing that. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Make sure you're one." And he says, "As I'm in the father, I want you guys to be one in me." And he's saying if you do this, the world would know that the father sent me. He said the proof to those who don't believe would be you guys are one.

Which means there's people in this world divided. They're divided by Democrat, by Republican, white, black, Hispanic, Asian. They're divided by all kind of lines. But then when they come and see Radiant Church or any church or believers dwelling together with one, um, not being divided by all the things that naturally divide us, they're going to look at us, and then they're going to look up and say, "God sent Jesus." That we would be a testimony that God exists because we don't supposed to be united. We don't supposed to be one. We supposed to be on different sides. We supposed to be bickering and going back and forth so the world would see us, and they would glorify our father in heaven. They would see our unity, and it would be a testimony of the presence of God.

So Jesus prayed. I mean, just imagine Jesus praying. In other words, this has to be so hard to accomplish. It made Jesus pray. Jesus prayed. In other words, he couldn't command unity. He prayed for unity. And he said, "I'll command blessing if you will make unity happen." So good. So good.

It is the heart of God. And if you're not sold on this, I want you to know it is the reality of heaven. We're going to look at John getting a vision of heaven. And I'm going to show you what heaven looks like so you can know what earth is supposed to look like because our job is to do on earth as it is what? In heaven.

Okay. So let's take a picture. Let's let's take a peek at heaven. It says, "After these things, I looked and behold a great multitude which no one can number, of all nations, tribes, people, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hand, crying out with a loud voice." See a loud voice. There you go. Amen. "Saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.'"

So they're sitting there, all different types of people, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, all the different peoples of the world, they're sitting there, and they're saying, "Salvation belongs to our God." Translation: God saved us all. He saved us all from different places, from different backgrounds, different races, different ages, different stages. He saved us all. Salvation to our God. This is what's happening in heaven, which means this is supposed to be happening on earth. This is the will of God. This is a picture of heaven. This is what heaven looks like. This is the heart of God. I want you to know that all people are God's people.

All people are God's people. Do you know that we are one blood? Do you know that science says that we are all the same DNA? That us different racially, we all the same DNA. We're all the same. The only thing we are different shades. Some of us are brighter. Some of us are rotisserie like me up here cooking under these lights. But no matter what shade we are, we're one blood, one people, one faith, one baptism. And we got to start being loyal to the blood, not loyal to the skin. Loyal to the blood, not loyal to the skin. Because the bloodline of Christ is greater than the color line of man. The bloodline of Christ is greater than the color line of man. You got people in war over a color of skin.

I want to show you how dumb that is. I AIed how much your skin is worth when you die. Do you know that your skin, I don't care what color it is, white, black, brown, or anything in between, purple, blue, I don't care. Your skin when you die, at best if it's put in the right place, the most your skin is worth is $25. and you're fighting over it. $25 worth of skin. And this skin ain't even you. This just your this just your this just your rapping. The real you is your spirit in your soul.

"You know us black people, we got to stick together." Well, that's that's just a shade of color. "Pastor, you don't love black people." I love God's people. And I love all people. I love all people. Yeah, I love black people, but I also love white people, Hispanic people, Asian people, all people as my God loves all people. Not going to be divided by a color. Not going to be divided by a color that's worth $25. My shoes are worth more than my skin. My shirt is worth more than my skin. And I'm fighting over a color. No. Jesus said, "You are one blood."

We are all the same. Do you know we are all the same? We all come from God. We're all God's kids. And we have to stand together united because if we don't stand together united, we'll fall divided. The hope of this nation is us being one. And it starts with the church. And the Bible says that if we will let the oil start at the head, which is the church, it will fall down down down the sides of the robe down to the toes. Which means our nation would be a recipient of the oil that hits our head if we would go first and lead as the people of God and as the church of God. This is God's will. This is God's will.

So in order to get the beauty of unity, we got to get through some ugly. Can we get through some ugly right quick?

So the question is, if we want the beauty of unity, what stops us from being united? What is the problem? What what stops us? What is the pull? Why can't we be united? Why?

Because the Bible's going to give us wisdom on this. Because if God asks us to be one, to be united, if he's going to send oil, if he's going to send the dew of Hermmon and bless us, then why wouldn't he give us a prescription for blessing? He will lead us. So I'm going to show you why we're not united.

Go to Proverbs chapter 18. Proverbs 18. We going in today. Proverbs 18. And it reads, "The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him." This is such a powerful statement. What what the Bible is saying here is the first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him.

Let me give you the best picture of this. I do a lot of marital counseling. And when I sit in counseling, it is just staggering. I know this because I've canceled so much, but when I sit in counseling, I I I it just never it just never ceases to exist. I sit in counseling, and we get ready to cancel, and and then one of uh the the husband or the wife, one of them presents first, you know, the the issues they're having. And it's just crazy how the human mind, the heart, and the soul works. When the first person presents their case, I'm sold. I'm like, "See!" Like when the wife starts giving her case, "Well, he don't come home. He don't spend time. He don't clean. He don't do this." I'm just like, "This sorry rascal. This sorry, no good." I look at him and smile. "Hey, buddy. This no good man." And I'm listening. And I'm listening, and and just in the inside I'm like, "Man, this this poor lady does not deserve this." But then the cross- examination comes, and now it's his turn to talk. And when he gets done talking, I'm like, "This lady didn't get this man wrong." And then they just keep going back and forth. And I'm just like, and at this point I'm I don't even know who right or wrong. I'm going to go argue with my wife at this point. Like I'm just I'm confused. I am confused, and it's like there's something that seems so right, so clear, so easy until crossexamination.

What are you saying, Pastor KJ? Well, typically in a counseling session, there may be a person that has more truth than another, but rarely have I ever sat in a counseling session where one person was just clearly right and the other one was just wrong. Rarely have I ever sat in a counseling session that way. There was always a tension. There was always points on each side. There was always facts on each side. And and yes, yes, yes, he was wrong, but she didn't go about it the right way. And and yes, she was wrong, but he used he used strong language, and he hurt her feelings. And and there's just so much tension that when you're counseling, it's almost impossible to take a side because there's so much tension that that you don't know where the problem starts, but you know it ends in Jesus Christ. Come on, somebody!

So whenever I'm counseling, it's very difficult. It's very difficult because there's things on each side. And I just want you to know that some of you are called to pray God's will, and God's going to change things. But then some of you guys are called to actually go into the heart of this nation and bring change. And I just want you to know when you do that, you bring change not by lecturing, but by listening.

See, the reason why marriages fight is because everyone has a lecture, but no one wants to listen. The reason why nations fight, ethnic groups fight, racist fight, politics fight is because everyone has a lecture, but no one wants to listen. And guess what? You can be right and wrong at the same time. Yeah, there's been times where I'm arguing with my wife, and I'm right, but my spirit isn't right. And then there's times I've been arguing, I'm just wrong, cuz it's too left foot. But I have to sit and have those conversations and listen. And one thing I can't do is go talk to a bunch of other husbands cuz we're all in perfect agreement. "Yep. Yep. See, see, man, we we provide. We do this. We take care of the house. Mhm. Wo is us." And then you listen to the ladies. "Mhm. Yep. We took care of the kids. We did this. We cooked. We did this. We did that." And it's like, "Wo!" Like, like that's a landmark. And if you a guy, don't you go into a group of ladies trying to argue your point. You would not make it out alive, bro. You just surrender. You be like, "I surrender!" Like, you better surrender. I've tried to argue with a room full of ladies. Barely made it out alive. Scared I might not make it out alive now. Let me move on to the next point.

So, what am I saying? What am I saying? What I'm saying is this: There is always tension, and tension is okay. Tension is okay. But if you want to be a part of the solution, you have to lean into the tension.

Uh, can I get two? Can I get my two people to come up on stage? Let me get my two people up here. Let me get them. Let me get them. Okay. Okay. I'm going to show you guys something. All right. Can you stand right here? There you go. And you face her. You stand right here. Okay. So we have two individuals, and these individuals can't see eye to eye. So now I need a favor. Can I have the truth? Can I have the truth come out? Come here. Come to me. Truth. Come to me. You guys keep looking at each other. Now I want to present the truth of this situation. You guys see the truth. The truth has spoken. You see what the truth is, right? Y'all all read it. I'm gonna show you something else. You see what the truth is?

"Hey, you guys all ready?" "Okay, perfect." "Now, perfect sequence. Now, I need you to read and tell me what the truth is." "The truth is righteousness." "Okay?" "From her perspective, that's how she sees it. That's how she calls it. That's how she sees truth. But now I need you to tell me what the truth is." "The truth is justice." "Wait, wait, wait, wait. What is the truth?" "The truth is righteousness." "What's the truth?" "The truth is justice." "See, this look like your household right here. This what y'all be doing." "What's the truth?" "The truth is righteousness." "What's the truth?" "The truth is justice."

Now, here's the danger. Both of them are looking at the truth, but somehow they have a different truth. How can you both look at the truth and have a different truth? Because you're wondering, because all throughout the nation, even in this situation with Charlie Kirk, you see some people that has a truth, and another people that's having a truth. But if you're looking at the truth, how are you guys having different truths? Devastation happens in the nation, and somebody sees it one way, and another person sees it another way. And I'm confused because if you have the truth, then how are you not in agreement? If everyone is seeing the truth, then why can't anyone agree? Because if we be honest, sometimes racially, culturally, and and and and and backgroundly, that ain't even a word. We interpret situations in our nation that clearly seems like the truth. Because clearly the truth is righteousness. But clearly the truth is justice. This is a problem. And this is why our nation sits divided is because we can't see the truth the same way. Wow.

And here's the problem. The reason why we can't see it the same way is because what happens is we see a truth, not the truth. We see a truth. We don't see the truth. You're preaching. And a truth is truth. It's just truth incomplete. And what happens is when truth is incomplete, no matter what happens, we keep going back and forth because the truth is justice. And the truth is righteousness. And they're both seeing a truth, but they're not seeing the truth. And the reason why they're not seeing the truth is because they can only see from their perspectives. My god. My God. No matter how hard she looks, she just sees the truth is righteousness. And no matter how hard she looks, she just sees the truth is justice. And this is all they see. And they are blinded by their truth. And she cannot understand how she can't clearly see the truth is righteousness. And how she can't clearly see the truth is justice. And they're both looking at what? The truth. Wow. Come on.

But because they haven't communicated with one another, they get a truth instead of the truth. But if they would start communicating with each other, all of a sudden as they would communicate, as they would listen instead of lecturing and communicate, something so powerful would happen if they communicated. If they communicated, they would change places. And when they changed places, guess what happened? Their perspectives would change. Wow. Wow. And when their perspectives changed, all of a sudden, she would see the truth is righteousness, and the truth is justice. And they can both see the truth instead of a truth because they communicate and they listen instead of lecture. Can we make some work for these ladies?

And what happens is sometimes we won't listen. And this is what happens in a marriage. It's because he's on one side, she's on one side. And what I try to do as a counselor is to get them to trade places. So she can see it from his view. He can see it from her view. And even if one of them are more wrong, now you can better communicate to the other person because you know their perspective. But I can't communicate to a person whom I don't know their perspective. The same thing with parenting. They want to go out all night. Y'all can't get on the same page. And it's not that you're wrong parents, but if you don't see your child's perspective, you would never be able to communicate in a way that convicts them, that challenges them and transforms them. So we have to not just see our truth or a truth. We have to see the truth. And the truth is a man named Jesus. Let's go look at him.

We saw their truth. But even in looking at their truths and their perspectives is not enough. We have to look at the truth, and the truth is Jesus Christ. So let's look at the truth when it comes to their problem.

Because check this out. I chose those two words because both of our primary political parties, their creeds are built around those words. The Democrat party says, "We are a party of justice and equality to all." And the Republican says, "We are a party of righteousness and to keep the moral standards of our God." And these are the emphasis. So, so if you're wondering why would somebody vote this way or do this way, it's because one party is saying, "Hey, God's justice, his equality, his fairness, whether you agree with it or not, they're selling the idea that God's justice, his fairness, his equality is coming from this party." And then on the other side, maybe you're like, "How can someone vote that way?" Well, that party is selling that God's righteousness and his holiness and his standards are coming from this party. And what happens is now righteousness and justice are at war. And one party is saying, "Hey, we're bringing justice to the land." The other party is saying, "We're bringing righteousness to the land." And there's a tension and there's a pull and there's a divide.

And what we have to do is step out of our parties and step into the power of God and see what God says about all this, which takes us to Psalms 89. And here's what God says. God says, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Mercy and truth go before your face."

So, here's what God is saying. When these two ladies are debating, and I'm not talking for political parties anymore. I'm just talking about God. Now when these two ladies are in the debate, they both see a truth. But the truth is both sides. The truth is God says justice comes from his throne, and God says righteousness comes from his throne. And that's truth on all sides. So what happened is they were divided because they had a side of God's truth without the whole side of God's truth. And the whole side of God's truth is justice and righteousness comes from his throne. Which means God cares about justice and he cares about righteousness. God cares about mercy and God cares about truth. He cares about both.

So God is a God of justice and God is a God of righteousness. And if we are to be the church, our job is to hold our government to justice and to righteousness. And is the government ever going to get it? No, because the government's not God. God gets it perfect. And then what we have to do is we have to quit being loyal to political parties and actually look at the policies and see which policies line up with righteousness and justice and then we vote our conviction. Yes. And if we would take off of our biases and what we were taught and what we were told and if we took off even our loyalty to the parties and we just read the policies, held them accountable to God's word, guess what will happen? We will all come out with the truth, not a truth. And you have to be willing to do that as a child of God. Which means that as a child of God, you are loyal to one and that is Jesus Christ. And I wanted to rebuke anything that's not him.

I have no loyalty to nobody but the lamb. Only the lamb gets my loyalty. And I am talking to everybody that's not listening to the lamb holding them accountable. "This is what the lamb said. This is what the lamb said. This is what the lamb said." And no party is going to perfectly capture the lamb. But I'm going to vote closely as I can to the lamb while still trying to make change so our land looks like our lamb. Can we give God a shout of praise?

God says truth and mercy. Everyone say, "Truth." "Truth." "And." "And." "Mercy." Oh, this is going to get good. We're just getting started. Everyone say, "Truth." "Truth." "And." "Mercy." One more time. Say, "Truth." "Truth." "And." "Mercy." Mercy.

The reason why both are so vital is because truth without mercy will destroy you. That's good. Mercy without truth will dismiss you. But mercy and truth will deliver you. Ah, truth without mercy will destroy you. Mercy without truth will dismiss you. But truth and mercy will deliver you. If you want to be delivered in the hands of God, it requires truth and mercy. And God says from it wrong, there's justice and righteousness. There's truth and mercy. And you can't lean on the side of one because God is 100% both. And the way God perfectly brings justice and he unites the world is because he has a fine balance of justice, righteousness, truth, and mercy. And when he has a 100% of all four of those, it creates a tension that the world can walk on. [Music] It creates a unity that brings all the people of God together.

Oh, let's go deeper. We're going to get real deep today. Can we get deep today? We're going to get deep today. Let's get real deep.

So, this was this should raise the question to somebody, "Pastor. That's cute. That's cute. But what happens when someone is blatantly wrong or blatantly sinful or break or blatantly against God's word? What happens then? Okay, we got justice and we got righteousness, but what happens when we have the command and then we have sin?" At that point, what happens? Because there are some issues where there isn't a truth, it's a lie. And my view is a or the truth. I don't know if it's the full thing cuz I ain't seen Jesus yet, but it's at least a truth. And that's a lie. So, what do you do in that tension?

I don't know. Let's see what Jesus would do. Let's see what Jesus would do. When you are loyal to only the lamb, you see the Bible differently. Come on now. Because we don't see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. [Applause] And we don't see the Bible as it is. We see the Bible as we are. Because I hear everybody from every tribe quoting scripture at this point. So I don't know what's what at this point. The Bible says in the last days the very elect will be deceived. So just because you got a Bible verse don't mean you have a truth.

So this is how we live our lives. We give devotion to God first. We give devotion to God first. I love I love when Joshua was at war. When Joshua was at war, something so powerful happened. When he was at war, an angel of the Lord appeared. And when the angel of the Lord appeared, Joshua had a question for the angel. He said, "I got a question. I'm at war with my enemy." In other words, "I'm on this side, they're on that side." And he said to the angel, "What side are you on? I need to know which side you're on. Cuz are you help or do I need to swing on you?" Like, "Which side are you on?" Have you ever been arguing with somebody, someone talking in the background, you're like, "Hey, who side you on? Cuz I can swing on you, too. What's up? Like I need to know whose side you on." And he asked the angel, he said, "Whose side are you on?" Oh. And the angel, the angel said, "I'm not on your side or I'm not on his side." He said, "I work for the captain of the Lord." In other words, "I'm on the Lord's side. I didn't come to take sides. I came to take over. I'm on God's side." translation. The question isn't whose side is God on. The question is whose side? Who's on God's side?

It's not whose side is God on. Who's on God's side? And let's say if you feel like, "Well, I'm on God's side." Good. But God's not against them. God said if you're on his side, now he's going to use you to go reach them so they can be on his side, too. Because his plan has always been unity, not division. Because he said, "A house divided against itself won't stand. A nation divided against itself won't stand. A people divided against itself won't stand." If we stay divided, we will come to desolation. We stay divided in America, we will tear down this nation. Preaching.

So the angel of the Lord said, "I'm not on your side and I'm not on their side. I'm on God's side." And I just And I just want to make it clear. I'm not on this side. "What side is pastor on?" I'm not on that side. I'm on God's side. And where God is, I am. And where God ain't, I ain't. I have been given up. I'm sorry, black people. I'm not loyal to black skin. I'm loyal to the lamb of God. [Music] Do you not love black people? Sure, I love black people. white, Asians, and Hispanic. But I love God because guess what? When I die, my skin is only worth $25 worth of sand. That's all it's worth. But my soul is eternal. There's not a price on it. And my soul is your soul. And my blood is your blood. I'm not for one people to be against another people. I'm for all people. That's God's people. and even the people that's not because his desire is for them to still be his people. And what happens is the church starts taking sides. And when we take sides, we alienate ourselves from being able to reach people. God's goal, he said, is not to destroy men's life. It's to save them.

So, let me show you God. Okay, pastor, this all sounds good, but is this your opinion? Of course not. Or I wouldn't say it. We're going to go through your Bible and I'm going to show you your God. Navigate the tension I'm preaching on. Go to John chapter 8. Because as a believer, all you should truly care about is not what the news say. You should care about what God says. If you're loyal to this world, then that's you. But I'm talking to the people of Jesus Christ who's loyal to their king who wants to know what do we do at times like this? And here's how Jesus navigated the tension.

John 8, chapter 3. It says, "As he was speaking, the teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd." So Jesus is speaking. He's preaching. Was preaching to a group of people, and the Pharisees, the people of God of that day, brought a lady caught in an act of adultery, which sounds like she's naked. They bring this naked lady who's caught in the act. In other words, she was in the act of adultery. They bring her to Jesus in front of this crowd as he was preaching. They said, "Teacher," they said to Jesus, "This woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"

Now, they were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him. Wow, that sounds like our nation today. But Jesus stood down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer. Sounds like our nation. So he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone." Then he stooped down again and rode in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?" "No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. go away and sin no more."

Okay, so here's the issue that we have. Jesus is talking to a crowd of people. I did my research on this crowd. This this crowd is unbelievers. So Jesus is talking to this crowd of unbelievers, and he's sitting here preaching for God so loved the world, he gave me his only begotten son that you should not perish and have everlasting life. I come to save you, redeem you, restore you, make you whole, make you one. do this, unite you. Woo, it's beautiful. And then the church heard. I was like, "What Jesus over there doing?" They found a lady in adultery.

So now they bring this lady to the service, strip naked, and they say to Jesus in front of the crowd, "The Mosaic law says if she's caught in adultery, stone her. What do you say?"

Now, what's the trap, guys? Here's the trap. There's a crowd who don't know Jesus, who don't know the law, who don't know the ways of the spirit. And they're like, "This Jesus guy is pretty cool. He's gracious. He's nice. I want to get saved. I want to give my life. I want to get baptized. I want to join Growth Track and serve. I want to go to UFI today." [Applause] And then the church comes and says the Mosaic law says stone her. So it's a trap because if Jesus stones her, he looks cruel to the crowd. And if he spares her, he looks like a coward to the church. So they put him in attention. "Are you going to be cruel or are you going to be a coward?" And the church is on this side, and the crowd is on this side. "Jesus, what do you say?" Because if we can get you to agree with the law to stone her, we can now make this crowd not want to follow you no more.

And if you dismiss the word of God, you're not truly the son of God and we won't follow you. In other words, we got him. We got him. We got him. How do you get out of that?

I would have just been like, "Hard, heart stop beating. Please, like, heart, stop beating." I'll be like, "Lord, just sleep me really quick." Like, sleep me.

What do you do? What do you do? And Jesus did. It's the only thing that Jesus could do in a situation like this. Prove he's God. Prove he's God.

So what does he do? He he crouches down and he starts writing in the dirt. And he's right. And he's right. Jesus, get up. We demand an answer.

I bet the crowd's like, "Yeah, what is Jesus going to say?" Mhm. We went to here, too. What he going to say? And Jesus is right. They said, "Jesus, we demand an answer." And Jesus got up. He said, "All right, all right, all right, all right. Whichever one of you are without sin, you go ahead and cast the first stone to her cuz that is the law. And I didn't come to abolish the law. I came to fulfill it. That is the law."

Then he bends down and he starts writing again. And all of a sudden, those guys with stones in hand looked down and they saw, this is what I believe. This is what most theologians say. We can't we the Bible doesn't say what he wrote. But if I had a stone in my hand and I am a Jewish leader and I memorized the penetuk and I know the law, I would need to see something that indicted me.

So he's looking down and all of a sudden some dude see Ashley. Oh my god, that's my side piece. Tax violation. I ain't paying taxes. Stealing our debt still. And all of a sudden, they would have to see their sins in the ground. And all of a sudden, here's how you know they was exposed. Because the Bible says they snuck out one by one. They snuck out. Yeah.

So what Jesus did was he was caught in between truth and mercy. And he didn't compromise neither one. Mercy on one side, truth on the other side. And Jesus didn't compromise neither one. Why? Because he came to bring 100% truth and 100% mercy. He didn't compromise either one.

In other words, they said, "Jesus, whose side you want on?" He said, "I didn't come to take sides. I came to take over." And now you see this beautiful picture because at this point, Jesus spared this lady's life. He protected her. He spared her. He got rid of her accusers. And he showed her mercy. He showed her mercy. And I'm going to get rid of her accusers. He said, "Neither do I can give you."

Which means there was only one person that had a right to stone her. And he didn't want to. All the people that did not have a right to stone her wanted to. And he said, "Neither do I condemn you." He gave this lady mercy, triumph, and judgment. And he gave her this mercy. And now we're sitting in this tension. And then as she was getting ready to walk off, he hit her with a truth bomb. He said, "Go away and sin no more." Don't forget about that part now.

Because some people want to say, "Yes, Jesus came and he gave her mercy." He also gave her truth. And he said, "Go away and sin no more." Now, if somebody comes, they cover you, protect you, save you, save you from your accusers, don't accuse you, and then correct you. Guess what you going to do? Repent.

Because if Jesus would have said stone her, the crowd would have saw him as cruel and never followed in believe. And if Jesus would have said stone her, and if she so happened to survive that stoning, she would have saw Jesus as cruel and never believed. But Jesus had a way to get everybody on the same page. He showed the church, "I will not compromise the word." He showed the crowd, "I can't show mercy." He showed her mercy. And he then he hit her with a truth bomb and said, "Sin no more."

In other words, I'm not on this side or that side. I didn't come to take sides. I came to take over.

Now, now, now, some of you guys are probably looking at the story. Can I go deeper? Yeah. You're looking at this story and you're like, "Well, well, pastor, it kind of looks like you're kind of maybe saying Jesus aired slightly more on the side of mercy in the sinner than he did the believer." No, I'm not. You just missed it. That's why I'm the preacher and you're not. Um because You see this story and you see Jesus letting her go free and you think he aired on the side of mercy. But if you would slow down and really look at the text, he didn't just let her go free. He let them all go free.

Because when he rode in that dirt, it was a right for everybody there to be stoned. He let them sneak out and he let her sneak out. because he's not choosing these kids over that kids. They're all his kids. He didn't come to take sides. He came to take over.

And there was mercy and truth. Why? Because mercy without truth is meaningless. And truth without mercy is mean. But truth with mercy is meaningful. Truth without mercy is mean. Mercy without truth is meaningless. But truth and mercy is meaningful. Why is truth and mercy meaningful? Is because the Bible talks about in songs that that truth and mercy meet together. They meet together. And it was really poetic. What it was saying is truth and mercy are married. Truth and mercy are married. And truth and mercy has a baby. And when truth and mercy marry together, they have a baby called love. And love is 100% truth and it's 100% mercy. 100% truth and 100% mercy. And you cannot have love if you only show mercy. And you cannot have love if you only show truth. You must show truth and mercy to have love.

Which means you have some Christians in this room and you see sin and you're like, "I'm so merciful. I'm going to dismiss." And you're are not walking in love because love demands truth. And there are some Christians that's like, "I'm so truthful. I ain't letting you make it." You are not walking in love because truth because love demands truth and mercy. And when you're truly walking in love, you show truth and mercy. You protect, you cover, you remove accusers. You don't accuse. And then you speak truth to a heart that receive mercy because mercy melts the heart like wax. And when mercy happened, it opens a door and it penetrates truth straight through the heart.

Maybe your truth is being rejected because it's not married to mercy. Wow. But when truth is married to mercy, it is accepted. Why? Because I've talked to people and some of the most heinous sins with some of the most heinous beliefs. And I've loved them. I've served them. I showed them mercy. But I stood 10 toes on truth and they repented. And how do I know to do that? Because Jesus taught me. Yeah.

And when I look in the nation, I see a ton of mercy and I see a ton of truth, but I don't see them together. And that's our problem. And that's why we're divided as a country. And unlike Jesus and that predicament, when we're stuck between mercy and truth, we pick a side. And you may be like, well, I don't have the wisdom of Jesus. You don't need it. If you had the heart of Jesus, you'll make a way. To not compromise, but to not ostracize.

And this, my friends, is the will and the word of God. I'm going to have to fast forward this sermon. Y'all come back next week cuz I ain't halfway done. I'm on point one. We're going to fast forward this sermon because we got so much more to show you. You guys are lucky that I ain't got time to keep cutting because we could have kept doing that. I got something I want to do before we close. Ephesians chapter 4. Go there quickly. It says there is one body and one spirit. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is above all in through all and in you. But each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. So Paul is saying there's one body which is the church, one spirit, the same Holy Spirit that fills us. One hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and one father of all. In other words, he's saying everything I do is about oneness. Everything is one. Everything is unity because there's beauty in unity. There's beauty and unity. And God's desire is for us all to be one. There's beauty and unity. God's desire is for us all to be one.

But unity isn't uniformity. He don't want us all to look the same. He wants us to be diverse. He wants us to be distinct. Sometimes we say, "Oh, we're we're colorblind." Why would you be color blind when God created colors? You're not color blind. You're color blessed. That our job isn't to ignore race. It's to appreciate it. I appreciate my white brothers and sisters. I appreciate my my Asian brothers and sisters, my Latino brothers and sisters. I'm not blind to your beauty. I appreciate it. I am blessed by your difference. You are different because God wanted you to be. Because God doesn't like uniformity. He likes unity. There's unity in angels. There's unity in creations. There's there's unity in cities, but there's not uniformity. God never makes the same thing twice. He's a creator. He's not a cloner. God wants to do a new thing, an original thing. God loves unity. And there's beauty in unity. There's beauty and unity. There's oneness and unity. So what our job is to do is to take our differences and to make unity of our differences. Our job is to make harmony with one another.

God wants harmony. Everyone say God. God wants harmony. Harmony. God God wants harmony. Harmony. Can I get my Can I get my Avengers? Avengers Assemble. Oh my gosh. What is he gonna do now? Avengers assemble. God wants harmony. Trey, can you send me some of our God? Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with power and love. Our God is anome God. [Applause] Jess, can you sing me some of our God? Our God is an awesome God. He from heaven above with wome Lydia. Can you sing me some of our God? Our God is an awesome God [Music] with power and love. Our God is an awesome God.

Now I'm going to sing our God. I'm playing Let me Not. Let Me Not. Now Trey sung in a register. He sung in a note which is called tenor. And Jess sung in a register called alto. and Lydia sang in a register called soprano which means tra is lower just as higher than his. Lydia is higher than hers. They all sung in different registers. And the beauty of this is in order to have something that sounds amazing, you don't just want teners. You don't just want altos or just soprantos. You want all of them. Because what happens is when they all come together, they can do something greater together than they can ever do apart. What can they do together that's greater than what they can do apart? Because when they sing apart, they can all sing a beautiful song and a beautiful melody, but when they sing together, they can do something so beautiful. They can make a harmony. And the harmony requires all of them to be different, but yet all of them to be submitted to the same key. And if they're different and submitted to the same key, even though they're different, submitted to the same key, they can do what's called a harmony. So instead of them singing separate, we're going to make them sing together, which is so much more beautiful. Can y'all harmonize for us? Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with power and love. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is an awesome God. He from heaven above with wind power and love. Our God is an awesome. All right, come on. Sing, guys. Our God is an awesome God. Heaven [Applause] above wome. Our God is an awesome. All right. Come on. Let's press it right here. Come on. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with wower and love. Our God is an awesome God.

Now watch this. What they just did was a harmony. And they all had distinct different sounds. They all sung in different registers and different notes, but they was held together by one key. And that key kept them in order. That key kept them tied together. That key kept them close. That key held everything together. If one of them left the key, it would sound like a tragedy. It's the key that stops it from being a tragedy. I want to tell you something, people of God. You might be black, you might be white, Asian, or Hispanic, but it's the King that holds us all together. Because in Colossians, the Bible says he holds all things together. Long as we're submitted to the King, we can be together. We can be a little different, but long as we submit to the King. We could be a little different long as we worship the king. Because the king, like the key, holds all things together. And I want you to know something. Even though we may look different and have different backgrounds, we're held together by the king. Like their voices are held together by the key. We can be different long as the king holds us together. We can be different long as we're submit to the king. We don't have to look the same, like the same things, dress the same. Are we held together by the king? Because if we are our differences is not disunityity. It's actually unity. It's the beauty of unity. God said, "I want you brothers and sisters to live in harmony with one another." And that is the call and that's the will of God. So as a church, our job is to live together in harmony.

But then it gets bigger than just our church because you have a harmony, but then you have a symphony. Yeah. And a symphony is when all different people from different places, super diverse, different churches, different cities, different backgrounds, different nations, different places, they all come together. They all come together under the same key. And this is what we're going to show you right now. Because now you can pull in drums, bass, keyboard player. You can pull in all these distinct sounds and voices and instruments and they all work together long as they're tied together by the same key. Come on y'all. Our God is an awesome God. Heaven above turn. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with wind down power and love. Our God is an awesome God. Come on, it's a symphony before God. God is an awesome God. Heaven above power. Our God is an awesome. Come on. This is a symphony before our God. He's an awesome God. Heaven [Applause] above. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above where power is above. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is an awesome God. He from heaven above with the power and love. Our God is an awesome God.

Now that my friends is a symphony before God. That's when all people from different backgrounds, tribes, tongues, nations come together as one. And when you come together as one sound, one people, one heart, one baptism, all of a sudden you are unified before Jesus. And when unity comes, the oil comes. And where the oil comes, the blessing comes. And where the blessing of God is, the presence of God is. This is God's calling. This is God's desire that we will be one. That we will live in harmony with one another. That we won't be divided. That we won't be forced to pick a side. We didn't come to take sides. We came to take over as the people of God. That we're to be a light in the darkness. We're to bring healing. We're to bring restoration. And I'm not asking you to compromise truth because Jesus wasn't asking the Pharisees to compromise truth. He was just asking them to humble it. I'm not asking you to compromise mercy. I'm asking you to humble it. And if you will humble it, what Jesus was trying to show everybody out there, the crowd in the church, he was trying to show every last one of them. And I want to show this to you. [Music] Every last one of you, no matter where you feel like you are, you need the mercy of God. [Music] [Applause] Don't be fooled to think you're so godly and so righteous that without the blood of Jesus, you are smited to hell. Without his blood, you are just as bad as the people you think are horrible. It's the blood of Jesus. It's the reason you can stand. You need his mercy.

But you know what else you need? You need his truth. Because when Jesus was on the cross, he held all four of them together perfectly. The justice of God was poured out on Jesus as he was beat and as he was nailed to the cross. But the righteousness of God was upheld because his holiness demanded a payment. [Applause] And the truth of God, he kept his word that he would rescue his people. But the mercy of God is you get what you don't deserve. And that's salvation. On the cross, he kept righteousness, justice, mercy, and truth all perfectly aligned. And I just want every last one of you to know, without his mercy, you are nothing. And without his truth, you are nothing. But because of his mercy, his truth, his justice, and his righteousness, you get a seat at the table. But you didn't earn it. And Jesus wasn't picking on the Pharisees. And he wasn't favoring the crowd. He was letting them all know all of you are the same. Sinners that desperately need my mercy and desperately need our truth.

And if you're a believer and you don't stand on truth, you need to start. You need to start. The Bible says in the last days that have itching ears that won't endorse sound doctrine, you need to stand on truth. Just because you love something don't mean you can't call it sin. [Applause] [Music] But at the same time, Jesus didn't just care that you had the right morality. He wanted you to have the right methodology as well. And if we would just simply operate this way, we would change a world.

Wow, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed you. Make sure to share it with your friends, your family members, and your co-workers so that they can be blessed as well.