[0:00] All right, this morning we are continuing on in our series Stories of the Kingdom.! Man, we had all those kids and everybody sitting right down here and now we've just got this big empty space. That's all right.
[0:14] If anybody wants to get a better seat, it's open right here. Now you are in the spit zone. So, all right, we are going to look at Matthew chapter 7. We have been in the Gospel of Matthew every week.
[0:27] As we're looking at the parables of Jesus, the lessons that we can learn from them, Matthew chapter 7, good job Preston, verses 1 through 5.
[0:44] You know, it wasn't just you. It's not working for me either, Christopher. Let me see if this got slid down on the wrong thing here. There we go.
[0:57] We got it going. All right. Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 through 5. As you're turning there, I want to remind you guys that there are hypocrites in church.
[1:13] Is that surprising to anybody? Were you all unaware? How many of you would just had no idea that there were hypocrites in church? That's a really nice young man over there. He said, are you kidding me?
[1:26] Yeah, unfortunately there are. How many of you are also aware there are hypocrites outside of church? You know there are hypocrites at Walmart? Hypocrites at Spring Market?
[1:38] It's not just grocery stores. There are hypocrites on city council. Hypocrites at Milano's. Hypocrites at...
[1:48] I don't know. I'm thinking about the pecan shed. I mean, probably not any hypocrites. No, there are. There are. Hypocrites at the open table? Hypocrites in your home?
[2:02] Sorry about that. Look, there are hypocrites everywhere. Do you know why that's true? Because we're all hypocrites. The Bible tells us we are.
[2:15] It says, let God be true and every man a liar. And not just males. That represents mankind. All of us. All of us, all right?
[2:25] We're all liars. It's part of it. We can't help ourselves. The closer we get to the truth, the closer we become like Jesus. Because he is only truth.
[2:38] But why is it that people say, I don't want to go to that church by a bunch of hypocrites? But they'll go every other place. There are a bunch of hypocrites. Why do you think that is? Well, maybe it's because as followers of Jesus, we're supposed to be more like him.
[2:54] So we're kind of setting ourselves up as, hey, we follow Jesus. He wasn't a hypocrite. Why would we be one? Well, because we struggle with the same things that everyone else struggles with.
[3:05] Sometimes, even though we try to follow Jesus, sometimes we find ourselves being hypocritical. Well, in the lead up in Matthew 6, to what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew 7, he talks about hypocrites.
[3:24] Look at verse 1, Matthew 6. You got to turn back a page. Sorry about that. Verse 1 and chapter 2. What did I say? Chapter 6, verse 1 and verse 2.
[3:37] Here we go. Do not, sorry, there we go. Watch out. Don't do your deeds, your good deeds publicly to be admired by others, for you'll lose your reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don't do as the what?
[3:52] Hypocrites do. Don't do as the hypocrites do. Look down at verse 5. When you pray, don't be like the what?
[4:03] Hypocrites, who love to pray publicly on the street corners and the synagogues, where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that's all the reward they will ever get. Look down at verse 16.
[4:15] When you fast, don't make it obvious like the hypocrites do. They try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. Look at how long I've gone without food.
[4:27] I've been on my knees praying that whole time. Sure you have. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. Listen. The consistent command there is don't be like the what?
[4:45] Hypocrites. We can do better. Let's say it together. Don't be like the hypocrites. Hypocrites. So we get this lesson from Jesus in chapter 6. Then we move on to chapter 7.
[4:56] And remember, you always got to take the Bible in context. If you pull an isolated verse or little passage out of the Bible, you can make it try to say whatever you want it to say.
[5:07] But if you read the Bible in the larger context of what it's teaching us, then you can really understand what Jesus was trying to communicate to us. So we read it in this context, and then we see in verse 1 of chapter 7.
[5:22] Do not judge others and you will not be judged. Anybody ever heard that verse quoted to you? Doesn't the Bible say something like, don't judge lest ye be judged?
[5:36] And they always use the King James Version because they probably heard that as a kid and they've never heard another verse since. It's the favorite verse of unbelievers often, non-Christians.
[5:49] They love to throw that at us. You can't tell me what to do because the Bible says don't judge. They probably couldn't quote one other verse of the Bible, but they got that one down. Why is that?
[6:01] Because none of us want to be called out for anything. None of us ever want to be put under the magnifying glass or the microscope and have our lives put on trial.
[6:12] Don't mess with me. Let me do my thing. Okay? You do you, boo. I've never had that said to me. I probably have.
[6:22] For you will be treated as you treat others. So again, we got to read this verse in context. What's he actually saying here? Don't be a hypocrite.
[6:34] Don't judge hypocritically. Y'all, when I do research for sermons, a lot of it comes directly from the Holy Spirit.
[6:44] I'm reading the scripture. He's putting thoughts into my head. I'm putting them down. Some of it, believe it or not, comes from other books that people have written, theologians, they'll go through and read the Bible.
[6:55] They'll make these things called commentaries and they'll put down all these thoughts and a lot of those are guided by the Holy Spirit and so you can glean a lot from that. It can be a real advantage to you as you're putting together sermons.
[7:06] I can also watch videos of other pastors preaching through a certain passage that I'm going to preach through and it's like, hey, if they got something valuable from that, maybe it could apply to us.
[7:17] If their bullet fits my gun, so to speak, maybe I'll shoot it. Anyway, I do that regularly and throughout this passage, there's a church in Georgia, this passage, this series, there's a church in Georgia that also went through a series on the parables of Jesus and I've been getting a lot from that.
[7:32] For this one, I got one from a pastor in Oklahoma, Craig Groeschel. I've used him before. Not putting a blanket stamp on everything that he says is exactly what I would say. I can't say that.
[7:43] I haven't watched everything he'd ever says but this was valuable so I want to share a few of the thoughts that I got from him as well as some that I got from you all and he says this, your harshest judgment often reveals your greatest weakness.
[8:01] I thought that was really good. Have you ever noticed that when somebody is calling out somebody else for something, you often find out later that they were struggling in the same area.
[8:15] Anybody ever notice that? Is it just me? Yeah, me too. So when Craig Groeschel said that quote, I wrote it down like, man, that's good. Now listen to the other things he had to say on this passage because there was a lot of gold in there and I want to share some of that with you but that's the first one.
[8:33] Your harshest criticism often reveals your greatest or deepest weakness. He actually shared this story of a young man that he had been counseling and a guy came to him and it was two roommates, young men, they were rooming together, saved money and the guy came to him and said, Pastor Craig, I'm so mad at my roommate right now and he was so just filled up with anger, righteous indignation kind of thing, you know, and he's just angry.
[9:04] He said, I caught my roommate looking at porn on my computer. How dare he? And he was just, I mean, as hateful as he could be.
[9:16] Not like, hey, let's try to get this guy some help. He's struggling. It was, I cannot believe that he would do such a horrible thing. I don't know all the story, the circumstances of how this happened but he said the very next day it came out that this guy who was so mad at his roommate for doing this had been having a multi-year affair with a married woman.
[9:46] The very area of sin that he was so mad at this guy for, he was having an even way more damaging issue in his own life and had been for years.
[10:02] That's an extreme example but there's a truth there. Often, the very thing that you and I get so mad at others for is something that we struggle with ourselves.
[10:13] So what does he say in verse 3? Lead up to it. Don't judge others. You won't be judged for you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
[10:26] Verse 3. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye?
[10:42] What does he say in verse 5? Hypocrite. Hypocrite. First, get rid of the log in your own eye and then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.
[10:54] Hypocrite. Don't be a hypocrite. Now y'all, we know what hypocrites look like in Texas. Right? All hat and no cattle. Now look, I was born in Fort Worth, lived in Mahea and Corsicana and various parts of the metroplex.
[11:13] It's just a big conglomerate of little towns anyway. So I'm a Texan, but I've lived a lot of other places in my life too. Lived in Central America as missionaries.
[11:25] We've lived in, I lived in California. Look, I was a missionary to California for a while, okay? Might have just been living there at the time, but I felt like I was a missionary because I was coming from Texas, you know? Got to teach y'all how to live out here.
[11:38] And then we lived in Nevada, we lived in Oklahoma, went to college in Tennessee for a little while. We've lived a lot of places, traveled a lot of places. So I've never really been a cowboy, right? I've never been a rancher.
[11:49] My dad was that. He grew up on ranches. He was a cowboy. His brother did rodeo. My dad did a little here and there. But, you know, they lived that life. That wasn't me though. I never had that even opportunity to live that life.
[12:01] But I always had boots and I always had a hat. Always. Always had a cowboy hat and always had boots. Why? Because I'm from Texas and that's what you do, right? You just have that. Even if you don't even wear it that often, you still have it.
[12:14] But there's a difference in those of us who have a pair of boots and a hat and those of us who are actual ranchers, actual cowboys, who actually need the shade that the hat provides and they need the functionality that cowboy boots give you when you're riding horses, right?
[12:40] There's a difference there. We know what it means when somebody's all hat and no cattle. If they don't admit that, they try to pass themselves off as something as they're not, then they're a cowboy.
[12:57] Call them dudes, right? But listen, they're not a real cowboy. They're hypocrites. What's that? Drugstore cowboy.
[13:07] That's right. There you go. Drugstore cowboys. Pastor Craig Owens said this, a Christian who carries the name of Jesus Christ but not the nature of Jesus Christ is a hypocrite.
[13:25] Did you catch that? A Christian who carries his name but not his nature is a hypocrite. I dare say that if we took a poll of all you in this room, every one of you would raise your hand and say I'm a Christian.
[13:42] I'm not going to speak for all of you. There might be a couple of you who are feeling especially honest and you're like, no, I'm not. And that's all right. Just glad you're here today. Maybe you'll learn something about Jesus you didn't know and be drawn to him.
[13:55] But I think most of us in this room would say, yeah, I'm a Christian. So you carry his name, Christ. Christian Christ.
[14:06] Follower of Jesus. But you don't carry his nature. You might think you carry a Christian nature. You might think you carry a church nature.
[14:19] But you don't carry the nature of the person we read about in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That's the real Jesus. So do you know what you are if you carry his name but not his nature?
[14:34] You're a drugstore cowboy. You're all hat and no cattle. You're a hypocrite. In a very serious way.
[14:46] And that's what Jesus is warning against. That's what he's warning against in Matthew 6 and then into Matthew 7. So he says, don't be that.
[14:58] Don't be a hypocrite. Why? Because number one, you're carrying his name without his nature. That is the serious crime here. We just read about his warning against hypocrites in Matthew 6.
[15:10] Do you understand? The examples he gave, there were three. Giving, praying, and fasting. Those were the three big religious expressions you could do back then. Not a whole lot has changed.
[15:21] Now we don't fast a whole lot in America, especially Baptist churches. Right? Look at me. I don't fast a whole lot. You could probably use to fast maybe a little more. But hey, I'm working on a diet plan.
[15:33] We're getting there. Steadily working down. Alright, here we go. Hypocrites are somebody who will do all the religious things, the religious stuff, the religious exercises, but there's no real heart to support it.
[15:49] They're missing the nature of Jesus while they put on this religious show. So, Mark chapter 7 and verse 6. Mark chapter 7 and verse 6.
[15:59] While you're looking there, it's one book over. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Here's the perspective. A religious show earns no favor from God.
[16:10] A religious show earns no favor from God. You can do all those good things, but that's not going to earn you any brownie points with God. You can be in church every Sunday.
[16:24] You can sing the songs. You can give your tithes. But if your heart is far from him, what good is it? It's no good.
[16:37] That is the lesson that Jesus is teaching us. It doesn't accomplish anything that you think it's accomplishing because there's no magic actions that will win you favor from God.
[16:48] There's only a response of the heart. There's only a posture of the heart that will win you favor from God. So where's your heart sitting? Where's your heart sitting today?
[17:00] And that's what he's trying to teach us in Mark 7. Look, we can honor him with our lips all day, but if our hearts are not close to him, let's talk about that for a second.
[17:13] Where is Jesus? If our hearts aren't there, then our hearts aren't close to him. Say, where is Jesus?
[17:24] Well, where was he when he was walking around this earth? Jesus was with the least of these. Jesus was with the sinners. Jesus was with those who were at the bottom of society's caste system, society's order.
[17:44] He didn't call the greatest and the best and the coolest and the most popular. He didn't call those. He called those who didn't make the cut. that's where Jesus was.
[17:58] He went and hung out with what they called publicans and sinners, the outcasts of society. Jesus hung out with the blind, the poor, the crippled, and he helped them.
[18:14] He healed them. He showed them love. He gave them something that nobody else in society was giving them. That's where he was. So if your heart is not going to be far from Jesus, then your heart's got to be where his was and still is today.
[18:32] And I'm living proof of what the mercy of God can do. I'm living proof that God uses those who aren't at the top of the class.
[18:44] If you'd seen my grades in college, I don't want you to see my grades in college. You're going to say that guy's not fit to be our pastor, okay? Look, I tried a lot harder in seminary.
[18:56] I was really engaged and I had better grades in seminary. But listen, you don't have to be the best of the best. Jesus is working with those.
[19:08] He's seeking those who usually are not the richest, not the smartest, not the best in the world's eyes. But he reaches out to them.
[19:18] So if your heart's going to be with him, that's where your heart's got to be. Carrying his name without his nature. A religious show earns no favor from God.
[19:29] Secondly, and there's only two points, by the way, so I'm on the last point already. accusing others, but excusing ourselves.
[19:41] Let's get back into Matthew 7. Why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, you got to get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own?
[19:58] You understand the difference here? A log is small or big? Making sure y'all are with me here. Okay, good. We got a big log. How do you fit a log in your eye?
[20:09] That seems like it would be something you would notice. Right? Can you imagine me walking up to Harlan over here and I've got a big log that's in my eye and I look at Harlan and say, hey Harlan, you got something in your eye, man?
[20:29] He's like, really? Are you sure? Because I'm not sure how you could see it. You might have something in your own.
[20:40] Do you see how nonsensical and silly and ridiculous that is? But do you see that that is what we do when we can't get over a problem we see in someone else?
[20:54] And look, don't make any mistake. This is not you going to someone in love and saying, brother, I know you're struggling this area. I want to help you. You can't just go on in this.
[21:07] It's going to hurt everyone around you. It's going to hurt you. It's going to tear us down. Please let me walk through this with you. How can I pray for you? Who can we go to to get some help? There is a way to do this, right?
[21:18] And we'll get more into that in a minute. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about what you and I do which is seeing somebody do something we don't like and often we'll go to them or sometimes we'll go to somebody else.
[21:35] You see that speck in his eye? Can you believe she did that? I'm not saying y'all ladies ever do that when you get around each other. I'm not saying. Look, guys, truth is, we do it too.
[21:49] How many of you love hearing dirt on somebody else? Don't raise your hand. They might be sitting in this room, okay?
[22:01] Look, how many of y'all love, of course you do. Your flesh loves it. Your nature eats that up. Tell me all the dirty details. Spare nothing.
[22:11] I've got to hear what happened. And the truth is, we love that so much because it helps us ignore our biggest weaknesses.
[22:23] It helps us ignore what's going on in our life that we hope nobody ever finds out about because then we'll be the subject of the gossip. We'll be the ones that they're talking about in the community.
[22:39] So how do we avoid accusing others but excusing ourselves?
[22:51] Well, problem number one, we judge from a distance. We've got to avoid judging from a distance. Y'all, we could spend the rest of our time here. We all do this and it's always damaging.
[23:04] Even if we were right, it's still wrong. Do you understand that? Judging from a distance, what do we mean by that?
[23:16] Making a judgment on something, making a snap judgment without having all the details, without actually knowing the situation. Y'all, like I said, we could camp here the rest of the day.
[23:29] We could preach an entire series about this and I pray that God would help us to change but listen, it is always going to be something we struggle with. We are always prone in our sinful flesh to make snap judgments without having all the information we're judging from a distance.
[23:47] We're not really part of what's going on. We may or may not be even directly affected by what's going on but we still love to sit back on our high horse and pass judgment.
[23:59] And now that the advent of social media is here, we have a beautiful outlet to do that. And we get on Facebook, maybe it's a private group or maybe it's just your broad Facebook page sending it out to all your friends.
[24:18] Whatever your preferred social media outlet is or maybe it's a little text thread that you get on and text to your buddies. Did you hear what happened to, I can't believe they would, what is wrong with them, what are they thinking, who do they think they are, fill in the blank.
[24:37] We are judging from a distance and it's wrong. It's hypocritical. And it's accusing others while wanting to be excused ourselves.
[24:51] Secondly, we judge unfairly. we judge unfairly. What do we mean by this? Well, we mean holding others, let's put it this way, holding those outside God's family to His family standards.
[25:10] This is another one of the points that Craig Groeschel was making. How can you expect those who do not belong to the family of God to live according to God's family standards?
[25:22] His Holy Spirit is not guiding them. His Holy Spirit is not leading them. He's not prompting them. They don't have the same moral compass that the Holy Spirit gives to His children.
[25:36] So why would we expect them to live like they do? But we do that. And we get online and we blast those who are clearly without Christ, holding them, expecting them to live up to the standard that Christ gives to His children.
[25:54] Paul actually had something to say about this in Romans. In Romans chapter 1, he gives this horrible list of all these bad people out there. Go look at it.
[26:04] I mean, it's bad. He didn't leave anything out. He even included disobedient to parents. Just in case you thought that wasn't that bad, kids. He got you on that one.
[26:14] He gives this big list of all these horrible sins and he throws disobedient to parents in there. And then he gets into chapter 2 and verse 1 and he says, you people probably think you want to condemn all those folks, right?
[26:30] You may think you can condemn those people, but you, speaking to the church in Rome, you are just as bad and you have no excuse.
[26:42] The difference is they have an excuse. They are not children of light. They are children of darkness and they're walking in the way of darkness and they're producing the fruits of darkness.
[26:54] You don't have that excuse. You're supposed to be children of light, walking in the light, producing fruits of the light. When you say those people are wicked and they should be punished, you ever caught yourself saying something like that?
[27:12] Maybe about the political arena? I can't believe those people would do those things. They ought to be held accountable. They ought to be punished. I'm not saying that the whole justice system is wrong and we shouldn't hold people accountable for their crimes.
[27:24] I'm saying you can't expect people who are not Christians to act like Christians. Okay? It's not going to happen. If it does happen, it's usually accidental.
[27:38] When you say they're wicked and they should be punished, you're condemning yourself because you who judge others do these very same things. Maybe you don't kill babies, but maybe you don't have the respect for human life that you should.
[27:59] Maybe you don't care about those who are less fortunate and vulnerable than you. You'll have a standard. Well, I hate abortion.
[28:11] I want to get rid of it and everybody who does it or supports it in any way, they ought to be thrown in prison and killed and all that. But you have the same level of disrespect or lack of compassion for others who are less, who are more vulnerable, less able to care for themselves.
[28:37] There's a principle there. Yes, it's wrong to murder. Yes, it's horrible to kill babies who cannot defend themselves. It's unthinkable. But the principle is we value human life.
[28:52] We care about those who can't care for themselves and that goes across the board. So be careful in your harsh judgment of others. Instead, say, how can we as children of God help these people who are clearly struggling?
[29:12] We're going to oppose the legislation when it's there. We're going to do whatever we can to help these people. We're going to help these women who are in this situation. We're going to try to give them alternatives.
[29:24] We're going to reach out to people with the life-changing message of Jesus because that is what can actually help them. Hatred will not. So, you may think you can condemn these people, but you're just as bad.
[29:39] And I think that brings us all the way back to that Craig Groeschel quote I shared with you earlier. Your harshest criticism often reveals your greatest weakness. And you may not even realize it at the time. You ever pointed out something, man, that's so annoying when he does that and somebody's looking at you like, you realize you do that?
[29:58] Somebody I was talking to just recently said, man, they talk so much. I swear, they just will never shut up. They won't stop talking. And I'm looking at the person like, do you realize you don't, do you?
[30:14] You talk quite a bit yourself, man. And look, we all roll with it, okay? And that's a silly example. But the truth is, we often see in others and point out what we hate in ourselves.
[30:31] So, what do we do then? We excuse ourselves. Excusing our sin problems as just part of our identity. That's just who we are.
[30:43] So you don't understand. You don't know me. I was raised that way. I'm Irish, man. I'm Italian. I'm Latino. Whatever it is. You know, we throw it on our heritage.
[30:56] Well, you should have met my dad. You should have met my mom. You would understand why I am the way I am. And we excuse ourselves and we actually, in doing that, and that's not the only way we do it.
[31:11] Man, well, I was just tired. Yeah, I know I said something hateful. I know I did something terrible. But listen, that's not who I am, okay? That was just, it was a one-off thing.
[31:21] It was an isolated incident. That's not me. Have you ever said, that's not me? You don't understand. We're giving ourselves excuse. We're looking at our sin nature that God wants to change and we're saying, no, that's not really a problem.
[31:41] That's just part of me. You just have to accept that about me. When in reality, God wants to change you.
[31:53] And when you excuse it, he can't change it. You are not who you say you are. You are who he says you are.
[32:07] If you have accepted the payment of Jesus Christ on the cross for your sins, and you believe he rose from the dead and he offered you eternal life, you put your faith in him and said, God, I want to be your child.
[32:19] I can't save myself. You need to save me. Then you became the child of God. He now sets the rules for your life. He has regenerated you. He's made you new.
[32:30] He's given you a new nature. And he's saying, this new nature has to replace your old sin nature. So, we judge unfairly because we excuse our sin problems as part of our identity.
[32:45] I'm just stubborn. I'm just impatient. I just get mad sometimes. I run hot. You ever heard that one? I just have a hard time forgiving others.
[32:58] I have a hard time trusting others. I'm just shy when in reality, we're self-absorbed. We're full of fear.
[33:10] And God wants to change us. To do powerful things through us. So, what's the point? Let's look back at Matthew 7.
[33:22] We'll be done. Matthew 7. What does it say about seeing clearly?
[33:34] First, verse 5, hypocrite, first get rid of the log in your own eye. Then you will see clearly. You'll see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.
[33:47] Do you understand that it's never wrong? Let me rephrase that. It's not always wrong to judge. It's always wrong to judge hypocritically.
[34:00] It's not always wrong to judge. We have to judge one another sometimes. Recently, something came out about a pastor in our general area.
[34:12] Something terrible. God, his church, his church, had to pass judgment at that time. They had to make a judgment. There are moments when we have to judge one another.
[34:23] But we do it from a posture of our heart that is trying to be like Jesus. Not trying to place ourselves as better than anyone else.
[34:36] Or as exempt from any criticism ourselves or judgment ourselves. The Bible has something to say about this. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15.
[34:49] We will speak the truth in love growing in every way more and more like Christ. That's how you become more like Jesus when you speak the truth in love.
[35:01] You know what's not loving? Going on social media and bashing one another. That's not loving. You don't speak the truth in love in front of a crowd when you haven't gone to that person privately and spoken the truth in love.
[35:17] Another verse Romans chapter 2 and verse 16 the day is coming when God will judge everyone's secret life. Is that enough for you? Is it enough for you to know that God is coming to judge?
[35:30] The wrong that you see that you have such a hard time accepting that just gets under your skin and you can't bear it and you have to just do something about it?
[35:42] Is it enough for you to know that God will judge it? God will right the wrongs or is that not enough? Do you have to get involved?
[35:52] Do you have to stick your neck into it? There are times when we will have to judge. Something is directly involving us. Something is directly affecting us and it's we have to step in and in the love of Christ with as small a group as possible we have to say we have to deal with this.
[36:12] Please let us help you deal with this. But we can see clearly when we judge how Jesus wants us to judge.
[36:25] When we deal with the issue ourselves and that's not saying you have to be sinless or you can't ever point out anybody else's sin but it's my heart has to be pursuing God for me to be able to go and deal with somebody else.
[36:41] That will allow me to see clearly. And you know what happens when you see clearly? You see the nature of Jesus. So when you go to deal with somebody else's problem you do it how Jesus would.
[36:56] You do it according to his nature. You're not just carrying his name into this conversation you're also carrying his nature into this conversation. This is the truth that I firmly believe and will stand on is being taught in this passage.
[37:11] You want to talk about it with me? You want to dive further? Let's meet up and we'll talk about it. But listen here's our takeaway today. See a problem take it to Jesus.
[37:22] See a problem tell it to Jesus. How many of y'all remember the song? Tell it to Jesus tell it to Jesus there's no other such a friend or brother tell it to Jesus alone.
[37:35] Yeah thank you. There's a couple of you. Old song been around a long time probably hadn't sung a whole lot anymore but there is a truth there that you and I have to wrap our heads around.
[37:46] Do you see a problem? Tell it to Jesus. He'll tell you what to do next. Don't tell it to your buddy. Don't tell it to your girlfriend. Don't tell it to your little friend group.
[37:59] Don't tell it to your Facebook group. Don't tell it to all the people that you think will give you a sympathetic ear. Tell it to Jesus. He'll give you his nature to deal with it.
[38:12] Would you bow your heads with me now? God please get this truth across to us. You warn us more in the New Testament. You warn us more about the dangers of disunity sinning.
[38:26] God more than anything else. This is the kind of thing that can tear churches apart from the inside. We think our biggest threats are on the outside, but God, our biggest threats is each other.
[38:43] We are flawed, sinful people. By your spirit, through your grace, we can stop sinning more and more, but we're never ultimately going to stop sinning until we get to heaven someday.
[39:00] We're still dealing with this flesh. So it's inevitable that we're going to see problems. It's harder for us to see them in ourselves.
[39:13] It's easier for us to see them in others. But God, how we deal with this, it's everything. It's so important. Let us see your nature, not just carry your name.
[39:30] Let us carry your nature. Let it infect us, get deep inside of us, so when we see a problem, when we see something bad happen, our response is not, ha, I knew it.
[39:42] Told you so. Our response is grief. Our response is godly sorrow, and we take it to you. God, there's got to be a difference in how your people handle these problems, than how those without you handle this stuff.
[40:02] Let our church be the beacon, let our church be the ones who are different. Say, I know those First Baptist people, I know they're not going to get online, talk about each other.
[40:14] I know they're going to keep family business private. I know they're not just going to bash what's going on in the community, or what's going on with something they don't like. I know they are going to take it to Jesus and they're going to leave it there.
[40:27] And if it's something that Jesus says, you've got to come together and deal with this, then they're going to do it according to how he teaches them in Scripture. They're going to do it according to his nature and not ours. God, convict us.
[40:41] We'll give you the glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, there might be somebody that you need to go to and you need while our heads are bowed for you to get up and go to somebody else and say, please forgive me.
[40:58] That's what church is about. That's what family is about. Forgiveness, relationships. She talked about how relationships are important in Bulgaria. They're important here too. It's how it works.
[41:09] It's how we relate to one another. Would you bow your heads with me? And we're going to have a moment of quiet prayer. Jared's going to play. He's going to sing something over us. We're going to have a moment of quiet prayer.
[41:21] If you need to come down front, talk to me about something. I'm here. If you just want to stay in your seat, do business with God, if you want to boldly get up and go approach someone, ask for prayer, ask for forgiveness, whatever the Holy Spirit's doing in your heart right now, say yes to it.