REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Holy without Humility
The choice between being right and being kind defines so much of our daily interactions. While society has conditioned us to value intellectual superiority and winning arguments, scripture repeatedly calls us to prioritize kindness, gentleness, and humility in our relationships with others.
Through a thought-provoking exploration of passages like Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12, and Proverbs 11:17, we discover that kindness isn't just a nice suggestion—it's a biblical mandate that directly reflects the character of Christ. "Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you." These aren't just pretty words but a spiritual principle with real-world consequences.
The distinction between correction and condemnation marks a crucial dividing line in Christian relationships. Correction comes from a place of love and helpfulness, usually delivered privately with gentleness. Condemnation, however, stems from self-righteousness and often plays out publicly, especially on social media where vague posts and gossip damage relationships and misrepresent Christ's character. When we treat others harshly or focus on being right at all costs, we fundamentally contradict Jesus' mission: "God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).
Consider how your words and actions today might reflect God's kindness rather than human judgment. Are you known more for your theological arguments or your compassionate responses? Remember, kindness isn't weakness—it's the strength to value relationships over being right. Ask yourself today: what relationship might heal if you choose kindness over righteousness?
Well, I've had a phrase that I've used for a long time and I use it pretty regularly. As a matter of fact, there are some of you who have heard me use it so regularly. You're probably sick of it. But today I decided that I was going to say it from the pulpit, as a formal stance on what I believe the Bible wants us to do and, frankly, how I want you to treat me and how I want to treat you.
Speaker 1:Amen, is that fair? Okay, sometimes you have a choice. You ready Be right or be kind. Amen, you have a choice to be right or to be kind. But see, the world has conditioned us that we should always be right. We live in a society that values being right more than it values being kind. Amen, how many of us like to be right, right. But now here's the thing If we marry a strong-willed partner, sometimes we just have to be okay with not always being right, right, and sometimes that's difficult. I find it really hard to not be right. I find it a real challenge to be able to have a conversation with somebody when I'm looking them in the face and I know that they're stupid, without telling them that they're stupid. Amen, we've been there. Right, listen, I'm going to. Just, I'm already off track. We're going to go there.
Speaker 1:I had a cash interaction with somebody the other day, okay, and I've realized that people are really stupid when it comes to money. So I walk up to this concession stand and I said I'll have a soda and I'll have a bag of popcorn. And the lady goes I can't sell you soda. Now the guy next to her who was was ringing out other people is selling soda, like, apparently she can't sell it. I don't know, Maybe she didn't know how, right, and I'm like okay, that's fine, the water's fine. And the guy goes no, you can sell the soda, it's just $3. And I was to myself I have a choice Be right or be kind. Right, I could have looked at her and said can you not do math? But you know what? It was $1, and it was going to a good cause. So I just let it go.
Speaker 1:Sometimes that's hard to do. Right Now I want to be, because there are people sitting in their seats right now that are already upset with me. Right, oh, no, you gotta be right. Listen, just hear me out. Okay, it can't work 100% of the time, but generally speaking it can I want to say that if somebody comes at me and says that Jesus isn't real, that's a fight I'm willing to pick up, right. I'm not willing to pick up that fight so that I may be right. I am willing to pick up that fight so that they might know the truth and be saved, right? Okay, so there's a reason to be right in some situations.
Speaker 1:But let me give you another scenario. Okay, let's say your elderly grandmother calls you. This is not about my grandma, so I want to be clear. She has probably done this to one of the grandkids, but not me. Okay, let's say, your elderly grandmother calls you and she says my tablet won't work. Right, okay, we're following along. Okay, so my tablet won't work.
Speaker 1:And you say Grandma, did you charge it? And what does Grandma say? Well, yeah, right. So you make the 20-minute trek to Grandma's house. You walk in the house and it's on the charger, with the wrong charger plugged into it. Right, it takes the USB-C and they've got some lightning adapter plugged in. Who knows what they've done, but they think it's charging and it's not.
Speaker 1:Now you have a choice. You can look at her and go Grandma, what are you doing? Why do you have this. You don't even have anything that takes this charger. Throw it away. But it's probably because her husband kept it, because they think they should keep everything right. I got 152 cords that go to nothing in my house. I got a bucket of them, but you never know when you're going to need one, right? So you have that choice to say, you know, to talk down to grandma and ask her, but otherwise you could just say, oh, you know what, grandma, it looks like you might have the wrong chord. Let's find you the right one. Right.
Speaker 1:There's a choice in being right and being kind. Now, it's not always easy to do that, but that's something that you simply don't have to be right about. I don't have to prove that I am smarter than you in something that is so trivial in life. Amen, because there are things that are trivial in life. Listen, I was on social media, matter of fact, I think it was this morning and there was a news article on there, and I'm always there for the comments, right, because it's always split down the middle. But you get to hear who's calling names and see how they're treating one another, and I'm thinking like, if you are a Christian and you're posting these things.
Speaker 1:I have to ask you do you know the value in being kind versus being right? Because let me tell you something, typically, you're not right anyway. You've only gotten a part of the story and you think you know the whole story. Chances are, you don't even have the surface of what's going on. All the time, though, we feel like we have to prove that we have more knowledge than the person sitting next to us.
Speaker 1:Now I want to tell you why it is important to be kind and not always be right. We're going to just we're going to start. We're going to do a marathon run through scripture today. Okay, we're going to start in Ephesians 4.32. It says instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God, through Christ, has forgiven you. Now, this is an important passage of scripture, but we always get stuck on the forgiving one another, just as God, through Christ, has forgiven you. But I want to start with instead be kind to each other. Like we could stop there, and then we wouldn't have to worry about the forgiveness part. Right? If we could just learn to be kind, the forgiveness would be a whole lot easier.
Speaker 1:Our next one is Colossians 3.12. It says since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourself in tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Well, this doesn't say anywhere that we need to be right. It tells us that we need to be kind. Amen, Okay, proverbs 11, 17. Here it is. Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, being right, you're kind of cruel, aren't you? You ever said something to somebody just to prove that you were right and it hurts their feelings or it's mean or malicious. You remember I told you to run it through the filter. Am I gonna regret this later? Does it glorify God? All of those? You guys remember that If we're using that filter every day, we will find ourselves not saying things that are cruel, but always showing kindness.
Speaker 1:The problem is is sometimes the filter just gets stuck on open and if it comes into the brain, it comes out the mouth, right? The problem is, is everything that's etched upon our hearts those are the real thoughts of our body, right? And so the problem is is we're always focused on the brain and not on the heart. We're always focused on thinking kind thoughts and being kind here and doing kindness there, but really, what's in your heart? Have you ever said to somebody oh, you're just lucky you don't know the old Michael, because I'd have chewed you up and spit you out. No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on a second.
Speaker 1:When God came into my life, he changed me from the inside out. Right Now, I'm not saying that the flesh doesn't still take over every now and again right, there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm telling you that when God changed my life, he changed my whole life. He didn't just change part of it. Now I choose to hold onto some fleshly things, but at the end of the day I want God to have full control. So I'm not gonna make excuses for my behavior and say, oh well, that's me doing, no, that's me being selfish, that's me being in the flesh. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:Galatians 5.22 says but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in your lives Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness not being right, faithfulness not being right. Can I tell you that you can know God, be in relationship with Jesus and still be wrong. Right, because sometimes we interpret the word wrong or we use the word as a weapon against those who don't necessarily know Jesus. Amen, hallelujah. Okay, all right, we're still moving. Luke 6.35,.
Speaker 1:This is a hard one. Love your enemies, do good to them, lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High. For he is kind to those who are ungrateful and wicked. For he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. If he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked, why can't we be kind Now? He's perfection, right? So again, there are some things that people say that might bother you and it might make you wanna say something mean to them. But can I tell you that you have to run it through the filter. You have to allow your heart to be changed. You have to allow it to be pliable. Romans 12, 10.
Speaker 1:Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Love each other with genuine. What is genuine affection? What is genuine affection? Right, real it's. It's, it's real life. Like I don't just say to to jenny. Well, you know, I love Tanya, but Right, because that's not genuine. Everything said before the word, but is a lie If I say I love Tanya but I don't love Tanya. I just want to. You know, it's like saying, with all due respect, and then saying something disrespectful. Right, with all due respect, that is the ugliest dress I've ever seen, right? Isn't that true? That's not. This isn't using that statement is not the ability to just say whatever you want.
Speaker 1:Listen, when we're living for Christ, we are saying kind and edifying and uplifting things. It's hard to do because the body of Christ is broken and it's ugly sometimes. Let's be honest with each other, but we have to learn how to be kind in all of those situations, because if we continue to be ugly to them, what are they gonna do to the rest of the world? Be ugly. We can't figure out. Why the world is so ugly is because we're ugly, right? We're ugly to one another. We're ugly, right. We're ugly to one another. We're ugly to the world.
Speaker 1:We think that when we meet somebody who doesn't believe in Christ, that if we yell loud enough or we tell them long enough that Christ is real and we try to convince them of something, that they're going to change their ways. They are not. You are going to sow a seed with love and kindness and joy and patience and faithfulness. You're going to sow seeds. God is going to see that seed grow. He is going to continue to water and continue to water and bring to life the good deeds in their life. Amen, all right, what was that one? Romans 12, 10. 1 Corinthians 13, 4.
Speaker 1:I love this passage of scripture mainly because everybody uses it in weddings, but I think about this as life in general. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. Now I'm going to hang on to this one for a second, because love is patient and love is kind. My wife is patient, my wife is kind. Those are wonderful things, and I know that my wife loves me. Right, I try to be both of those things, and I know that she loves, she knows that I love her. Here's the problem. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. So in my marriage those things work. But outside of that, when somebody gets something that I don't got, especially when I don't think they're as saved as I am, I ain't happy, right? Well, god, wait a second. Why is it that they got X? Listen, we aren't supposed to covet, right?
Speaker 1:I look at some of those other churches. We got one in Berlin. As I go to work, they're building a brand new building. This thing's humongous, right? Every time I drive by, that's the ugliest building I've ever seen. That's the ugliest. Why did they paint that thing white? It is hideous, right. And here's the thing. It's just because I'm jealous of what they got, right. They got brand new windows. I bet they open. I bet they don't get shocked when they turn on a light switch in that building, right?
Speaker 1:But the thing is is why am I that way? I'm that way because God has given them something that I can't understand, right? Why isn't he doing that for us? He's not doing that for us because if he does it for us, we're probably going to waste it. We're going to squander it, right, because we can't fully understand the goodness of God, right? No, I'm not saying us like each of us individually. I'm saying generally speaking. The church is that way, us, our flesh is that way. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:Titus 3, 4, and 5. It says but everything before this was a lie. When God, our Savior, revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things that we had done, but because of his mercy. Listen, he washed away our sins, giving us new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Can you go back one slide for me.
Speaker 1:But when God, our Savior, revealed his kindness and love, when he revealed that to us, we got all of the other things. He didn't just do that because of what we've done. He did it because he is good, he is sovereign, he is righteous and he knew that he could give it to us freely. We didn't have to earn it, amen. If we didn't have to earn it from him, why do other people have to earn it from us? I'll be kind to you when you're kind to me. No, I'm going to be kind to you because you're ugly to me. Going to be kind to you because you're ugly to me. Right, I'll be kind to you because you are ugly to me, because if I continue to be kind to you, maybe you will be kind to somebody else. The only people we want to be kind to are the people who think like us, and sometimes not even them. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Where were we at? Was that 2 Timothy? No, that was Titus. Okay, 2 Timothy 2.24.
Speaker 1:A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be kind to everyone, to be able to teach and be patient with difficult people. How many of us know a difficult person? If you don't raise your hand, you are the difficult person. All right, I just. We need to be clear about that. Clark and Lacey are pointing at each other over here. I have a feeling we're going to have a domestic dispute in the parking lot after church today. A servant of the Lord must not do.
Speaker 1:You know anybody who likes to fight for the sake of the fight. It doesn't matter if they're right or wrong, they don't care, they just want to argue, to argue. Listen, come at me sometime and ask me if Elvis is really dead. I do believe that Elvis is dead, but I will argue with you just for the sake of the argument, because I think it's fun, right, because I think there's enough evidence that I can probably convince you that he ain't dead. But it's just something that some people like to do. Now, that's very minor, but some people like to argue about everything. They like to argue about the word. The word is not something that can be disputed or argued. Right, it says what it says and that's the end of the conversation. But we often want to argue it because we want to be right. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:The last piece that I have on this particular portion Zechariah 7, 9, and it says that's not NLT. I hate to tell you. Thus speaketh. I've got an NLT up here. This is what the Lord of Heaven's army says Judge fairly and show mercy and kindness to one another. Did you get it that the Bible tells us to be kind? Are we all on the same page right now? Great, wonderful. Then we're going to move on and we're not going to waste a lot of time.
Speaker 1:My question to you is are we sharing that mindset today? Each day when I start working, I have two choices to show Christ in me or allow the flesh to take over and show the world in me. My desire is to have more Christ than I have world. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case, right, because when we leave these four walls and we walk into work, sometimes it's very easy to. Maybe you work with people that like to swear, or you work with people who are just like dirty or mean or whatever, and then you just like that's what you become right and you turn that on and off based on the place that you're at right. I don't imagine that any of us like to openly admit that, because we like to have Christ in us and we like for our brothers and sisters in Christ, to think that that's what we are and who we are. I'm going to promise you something. Chances are we already know, because we've seen it somewhere else, right, okay?
Speaker 1:Would you believe this is gonna be a shock to you guys that the world wants more of itself and less of Jesus? Why wouldn't it? Why would it want Jesus? Because if it gets Jesus, it has to give up on the fleshly things and take up the spiritual things. And the world does not. It doesn't have interest in the spiritual things. Because if we start moving into the spiritual realm, then we have heaven on earth. And heaven on earth requires accountability, and accountability gets scary for those who don't believe in Jesus, right, okay? Picture it like this.
Speaker 1:Let's say you go to a dinner party with your spouse, pastor Holly, and Dave. They go to dinner. You go to a dinner party at somebody's house. Dave's over talking to his friends and Pastor Holly has eaten some spinach and it's gotten stuck in her teeth, right? So Pastor Holly's wandering around, she's got this wad of spinach stuck in her teeth, right? That happens. Anybody ever had that happen. You go somewhere, you got food stuck in your teeth.
Speaker 1:Now let's say that Dawn walks up and says to Pastor Holly Pastor Holly, it looks like you might have some spinach in your teeth. And Pastor Holly goes oh geez, let me go take care of that. She runs off to the bathroom and she handles her little spinach ordeal right and she comes back out and nobody's the wiser. Do you realize the importance of what just happened? Most people don't See. What just happened was correction, amen. Don in private said you got something going on and Pastor Holly went and took care of it.
Speaker 1:What could have happened was instead, don saw it and came over here and said Chris, did you see the big old chunk of spinach in Pastor Holly's mouth? You've got to go talk to her. You have to see this. It is absolutely hilarious. And then Chris goes to Tanya and says Tanya, listen, pastor Holly has this great big wad of spinach sticking out of her teeth. You have to go talk to her. It is so funny and pretty soon everybody in the room is looking for an opportunity to go talk to Pastor Holly. What does Pastor Holly think? She's popular, right? Everybody wants to talk to her. Everybody's coming over to talk to her. But really what they're doing is making fun. You know the person that started it might even come over and go, pastor Holly, let's get a selfie together, just so they could commemorate the spinach in her teeth. Right, right Dawn says she can't take a selfie, it don't matter, she wouldn't be the one to do that. But isn't that the truth? And what has happened in that conversation? That's called condemnation right, and what they're trying to do is make somebody feel bad for what's going on in their life rather than helping them fix it. Amen.
Speaker 1:Any of us ever been on the receiving end of that? It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good at all. I would much rather have a corrective conversation and listen as your pastor. There are some people who come to me and say hey, when you read that passage of scripture, I don't think it was quite like you had read it. I always hear those words, but I don't always put a lot of weight into that until I go home and study out whatever it is that they'd shared with me. But I will never, ever blow somebody off because of it. But let me tell you something. If Jenny comes to me and says well, beth told Pastor Holly, who told Tina Newman, who told Chris Crone all of this stuff, and they just can't believe that you blah, blah, blah and I'm not going to hear that. Do you know why I'm not going to hear that? Because I don't know how true it is, from where it started to where it ended right, because that may have not been the conversation at all. I've been involved in that. I've been on the receiving end of that. I've gotten phone calls that say I can't believe that you would and I'm like I didn't, I couldn't believe that I did it either. I was shocked. I was shocked that I had done that because I didn't know I did it.
Speaker 1:It's fascinating how fast we can turn correction into condemnation. Amen, okay, the Bible emphasizes the importance of correcting others with gentleness, humility and most times in private, amen. So we're going to jump into some scripture again real quick. All right, matthew 18, 15. If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. Jenny, what you said about me was hurtful and I'm not sure why you felt that way. But next time come and have a conversation with me. That's a lot easier than saying I can't believe Jenny would say something like that. And I say it to Pastor Roger and Pastor Roger. He goes and tells somebody else, who tells somebody else, who tells somebody, and eventually Jenny hears it. She hasn't gotten correction, she has gotten condemnation right, because this wasn't a private conversation. This became public very quickly, galatians 6.1.
Speaker 1:Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by sin, hear me out, guys. If another believer is overcome by sin, you, who are godly, should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path and be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Now we use this scripture as the reason that we fellowship with people who aren't saved. Right, we want to say well, you know, I go to the bar because I want to be able to give my testimony to all of those people who are drinking. I'm an alcoholic, but I don't drink. When I go, I just tell these people about Jesus, and then all of a sudden, you're drinking and then you can't stop drinking and now you're a drunk. Right, we've been there, we've lived that and it doesn't have to be that. Well, you know, listen, I have these old friends that used to party hard. They did a lot of drugs. I don't hang out with them anymore, but I do still call them or text them because I want to make sure that they know who Jesus is. And the next thing you know you're addicted and you're in this mess of a situation again. Listen, it is our responsibility to gently bring them back to God, to bring them into the fold, but we've got to be careful what we do, because we can't fall back into that trap. Amen.
Speaker 1:I used to tell people that I only smoked so that I could tell people about Jesus. While we were smoking Did that a total of zero times, by the way, but it was a great story, right? It sounded good, you know, because those people probably don't know Jesus, right? So I'm gonna go out there and smoke with them and tell them about. Never, never, once, did I ever do that because I was too busy smoking and gossiping about the people who didn't smoke, right? Because that's a club, that's my safe place. These are my people. These are the people that I know that I can tell them whatever I want, and while they may go tell somebody else, they're not going to sail me down the river and tell them. I told, right, if I tell Pastor Roger that Mike's a terrible card player, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Dale is a terrible card player. He ain't in here. See, I can do that. So if I say that to Roger and then Roger tells Mike, and then Mike tells Marcus, marcus tells Dave of course they already know because they were there. But if we do that, I would trust that none of them are going to tell Dale that I started that because that's my group right. Those are like we were together and if you tell him I said it, I'm going to tell him. You said it. Right, and that's how we do.
Speaker 1:We hold each other over a barrel so we can't like, listen, that's not what God wants from us. He wants kindness, he wants gentleness. All right, okay. Proverbs 27, 5 through 6. An open rebuke is better than hidden love. Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy, right?
Speaker 1:How many of you have those people who are always wanting to spend time with you and send you text messages? Oh girl, you just look so good and I love you so much. And you walk out the room and they're like did you see her good, and I love you so much? And you walk out the room and they're like did you see her Right? Listen, guys are the exact opposite. We'd be in a room with each other calling each other names while we're in the room and when that person leaves, we're like man, he's a good guy, I really like him, but just, we're different in that way.
Speaker 1:But see, a lot of times the enemy will send people into our groups or into our circles and those people will want to destroy that circle because they're jealous of the friendship inside of it. Right, and so that person gets. Their feelings are always hurt, they're always offended by something and they're always well, I didn't get this and I didn't get that. Why is it that everybody else does it, doesn't? It's not about that. Listen, that time of fellowship is to make you stronger, not make you jealous, not make you feel weaker or insecure. Listen, I lived it for a long time in groups of pastors, a long time, and I had to realize that I'm a man among men, that I am equally as anointed as they are, that my calling is the same as theirs is. But the problem is is I felt so immature in that group that took me growing up spiritually.
Speaker 1:And if you're standing in a group of like-minded Christians, offended by something another Christian said to you, chances are you need to mature spiritually. And listen, ladies, I'm going to be honest, some of y'all be mature by age, but spiritually some stuff be rough in your life Because what's happening is you're allowing yourself to be upset with somebody that doesn't even want you to be upset with them. They didn't try, they did or said or acted or whatever. But listen, we're all stupid sometimes, amen. We all do and say things we don't necessarily mean. There is no reason to be offended in Christ. You can be convicted in Christ.
Speaker 1:Listen, if somebody says to me hey, pastor Michael, I really don't like it when you preach with your shoes off because your feet stink Probably a fair statement, right. And I have to take that and I have to process it. Now I can be mad at that person and I can say well, that was a dumb thing to say. But I've said plenty of dumb things and God has forgiven me of all of those things. So why is it not my responsibility to forgive you? Chances are that fell out of your mouth before it ran through the filter and there's no reason for me to be upset with you. You didn't mean it to be hurtful. Now, sometimes we do, but not most of the time, right, amen, okay. Proverbs 15.1.
Speaker 1:A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. If you know me, you know I'm really good at this. This is a gift of mine and I am proud of this gift because you can say something to me and I can hear it and I can go. Okay, my response has to be direct, but it has to be kind, right, I have to be able to tell you that you're not going to say that to me again, but you need, so. There's a level of respect that you're going to have to come to. But at the same time, I want you to know that I'm not mad at you, right, that I'm not condemning you for what you said or you did. That's a challenge, because a lot of people they just go to 10, right, I'm really good about and listen. Longer I'm in ministry, the broader my shoulders get, the more I can take people mad at me Because, honestly, at this point you're not really mad at me. You're mad at the situation, you're mad at the conviction that's happening in your life, but you're projecting that anger on me.
Speaker 1:Listen, people get hurt by the church because they think their pastors are perfect, right, right, listen. People come into the church all the time and they're like, oh well, you got a really young pastor. I'm not gonna tell that story I should, but I'm not gonna. Just gonna move on. All right, that dinner party could have taken a whole different turn. If that dinner party could have taken a whole different turn If, rather than addressing that situation privately, they would have made that lap around the room telling everyone about the spinach in Holly's teeth, everybody would be getting a good laugh, but nobody would be doing the right thing by correcting the situation. Right Now, dave's off talking to his friends and finally Dave wanders over and he's like Holly, you got something in your teeth and she cleans it out, and then everybody in the room goes aw because Dave just ruined the fun, right?
Speaker 1:Have you ever been the butt of a joke that you didn't even know you were the butt of? Listen, one of the popular things in ministry is nicknames. Right? Anybody ever nicknamed somebody in the church? One of the popular things in ministry is nicknames right? Anybody ever nicknamed somebody in the church? Everybody's like I ain't saying nothing, nope, everybody's dead quiet.
Speaker 1:Listen, I know some of you have done it because you've used the nicknames with me, right? Listen, let me tell you something. If that's what you're doing, the maturity in christ needs to come up a notch. Because nicknames are hurtful and you're not saying it to their face, you're saying it behind their back. What good are you as a brother or sister in christ if you're making fun of somebody behind their back? Let me tell you, not everybody in here is perfect like you are. In the eyes of Christ they are perfect, but somehow in your eyes they don't meet your level. Right? Listen, I'm sure there are nicknames for me and I'm okay with it. I don't care. The only thing you can't call me is Mikey. Anything beyond that fair game, all right, because here's the thing If you're picking on me right now, you're leaving somebody else alone and my shoulders are broad enough that I can take it and I don't care what you think about me. All I care about is what God thinks about me. Am I living inside of the will of God today?
Speaker 1:Okay, correction comes from a spirit of helpfulness matched with a spirit of love and caring Amen. So if you're sitting in a room with me and I'm trying to bring spiritual correction to you, if you are offended, that is not real offense, that is conviction. Right, because I am going to be doing that with love and care, with kindness and gentleness. Amen, that's my goal in all things. However, condemnation comes from a spirit of religion and a spirit of self-righteousness. Right, because I am right and you are wrong. I am going to tell you why you're wrong. I'm not going to help you make it right. I'm not going to try to walk you into making it right. I'm just going to tell you why you're wrong and then I'm going to say now get it fixed or pound salt. Right, we ever done that to somebody. You ever been in a relationship where and I don't mean like a romantic relationship, even a friendship where and I don't mean like a romantic relationship, even a friendship where you're like well, if that person doesn't do this for me, I'm not talking to them ever again. Right, that's not how that works.
Speaker 1:Do we talk to people with a spirit of caring or a spirit of helpfulness, with a desire to help them make meaningful change, or do we instead run around telling everybody about their dereliction and their sin? Chances are it's the second one. Right, because if you come to me with something that's going on in your life, I'm not telling other people, because it's none of my business to tell them. It's not their business to know. If you wanted them to know, you would have told them, right? So when somebody asks me what's going on with such and such, or where is so-and-so, or how is this going with such and such, I'm like, hey, you should probably talk to them right Now. Don't get me wrong. I might say, hey, just pray for them. They need some extra prayers right now. But I'm not trying to share your life story, listen, and I would hope that you're doing the same for me, but most of the time you ain't. The problem is we instead like to tell that story and make correction in public.
Speaker 1:How many of you ever posted something on social media? This is my favorite. You ever seen somebody post on social media? It's like some ambiguous statement, like, well, gee, today just got really bad. I wish people would treat me like I treat them right. Just call it what it is. Hey, listen, today I was at church and I heard Jenny call me chubby and it hurt my feelings. And now I'm posting about it on Facebook because I want to bring public correction. I want to bring condemnation rather than real correction. Right, because that's what it is Now.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. And then somebody comments oh, pastor Michael, what's going on? I hope everything's okay. And then I say this oh, this is the one that gets me. Pm me. If you don't have the guts to post it online after you just called, then get out of here with your crap, right, amen? Because here's then what you do, you in private.
Speaker 1:You tell somebody about how somebody's offended you and then you hope that they go and tell everybody else. Listen, you want a rumor to start? Just tell one person that you know will tell everybody else, right? Like, if I want everybody to know how Jenny has offended me, I'm going to tell. All I got to do is find the right person to tell, right? Because then when I tell, they may only tell one person, but that person's going to tell another two. Those two people are going to tell another two, and it's just going to grow really quickly.
Speaker 1:Right, listen, I don't do ambiguous. If I don't like you, I'm going to tell you I don't like you, right? And I don't mean that I don't like you as a person. I don't like what you have done. It's not acceptable. I'm not going to do it on social media. I'm going to call you. I'm going to have dinner with you. I'm going to try to have a reasonable conversation with you, and sometimes those don't end well, and when they don't, that's okay, you just go.
Speaker 1:Well, god, I'm giving this one to you. I've said what I need to say, I've done what I need to do. Now listen, there are times when those don't end well, and then you just have to eat crow because you realize, well, geez, I probably shouldn't have said that, right, because sometimes that self-righteousness takes over and even as a pastor, I'm like well, that's not acceptable, get out. Right, if that's how that works, then I got to go now, because I am probably guilty of more than every person sitting in this building. If you guys only understood the information that I have about so many of you because you've shared it with me personally, it would be unfair of me to use that against you, right? The information that I have about so many of you because you've shared it with me personally, it would be unfair of me to use that against you, right? Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself, all right, I don't even know what I'm talking about now. Can I keep going, are you guys good? Okay, I've only got a few more.
Speaker 1:John 3.17. It says God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. Amen, hallelujah. God sent his son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. Okay, we're going to bring that one back up in just a second, but we're going to keep going. John 12.47,. It says I will not judge those who hear me, but don't obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. Are you guys noticing a theme here? All right, luke 9, 56. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. Is that Luke 9, 56? You sure Nope. So we're going to skip that one. Thank you, jesus.
Speaker 1:Romans 8, 1. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus, and because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Luke 5, 32. I have come to call, not those who think they are righteous, self-righteousness, not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent, amen. Can you pull up John 3, 17 for me again real quick? I want to just leave that there as I give my final statement.
Speaker 1:The Son of God did not come into this world to condemn other people, right, he came to save them. My question is is why do you think he sent you to condemn other people? Why do you think that he said listen, christ was perfect. I promise you I'll talk to you for 10 minutes and realize you aren't perfect, especially if you say things like especially Right, what? And then spell it wrong. If you don't know the difference between there, there and there, don't talk to me about perfection. Right, two, two and two, half and half right. We can joke about this all day long, but the problem is is we sit in our seats and we think that we are perfect and that we have the right to judge other people. Jesus didn't come to judge the world. He came to save the world. What is our responsibility? To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is to save the world and not to condemn the world. Amen.
Speaker 1:Now I'm saying that when you look at somebody that's living in sin, we should know how to talk to them. We should be able to correct them in private, with grace and mercy, with kindness and gentleness, and not with half-hearted social media posts. We shouldn't be poking fun at people who don't believe the same things that we believe, because how do you think that they perceive Jesus if that's how we represent him? They expect a God that is mean, that is hurtful, that is vengeful, that will allow his people to treat people just like we are. That is not what God has called us to do. Amen Today. I expect that when we walk out of here, we walk out different than when we came in. Amen. I expect that when we leave, that God has done something in your life, that whenever you find your tongue about to wag about somebody else inside of this building, that you stop and you think am I going to regret this later? Is this statement going to glorify God or glorify the person I'm about to say it about?
Speaker 1:Mike might be terrible at playing cards, but that's not what he identifies as. He might be the world's worst poker player, but he's really a child of God, amen. Listen, I'm not perfect at everything that I do. I did win two of the three games that we played, but I'm not good at everything. I promised him I wasn't going to say anything, but I said something anyway. I promised him I wasn't going to say anything, but I said something anyway, like Marcus and Dale did. I'm not even sure they were really playing at this point, man. They were just like, just take them.
Speaker 1:No, we know that that's not what we identify as. I don't want to identify as a gossip, right. I don't want to identify as somebody that has nothing nice to say. I want to identify as a blood-bought child of the Almighty who lives for Christ and Christ alone. Amen. I don't want to be worried about what it is that's going on in the world around me. I want to be able to pray God's perfect will for all things, and especially in my life. Right, I want him to work hard inside of me so that I can be more of him and less of myself. I don't want to be the world anymore. Listen, last Sunday I preached hard on swearing and I'm going to tell you what.
Speaker 1:This last week has not been fun for me, because you think that my daughter was bad before. She's doubled down. Her radar hearing has really kicked in. She hears anything that she might even interpret as a swear word. She's yelling daddy, she'd be three blocks away yelling at me and listen. I need that in my life, right, I need somebody who's going to bring some correction, albeit my tiny little daughter.
Speaker 1:But if she's going to hold me to a higher standard, listen, I want her to grow up and marry a man of God her, listen. I want her to grow up and marry a man of God, and we don't. I don't want her to marry somebody like me, because if I don't, the things that are inside of me are not, are not all good. I want her to find a man who will be able to treat her like a princess and not swear around her, amen. So I'm praying that I can be more like the man that I want her to marry Men. If you don't have a daughter, you don't understand. I'm telling Dave, is it true? You want that daughter to grow up and marry somebody better than you? You want somebody that can listen. That little girl was going to teach me how to be a better follower of Christ. Find that in your life today. Amen, let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Father, I just thank you and I praise you for all of the things that you've put in our path today, father, for all of the scripture, all of the word, father, that we would just continue to be able to read and understand and know who you are and what it is that you expect of us, father. We understand that none of us are perfect and that sometimes that flesh will take over. But today, lord, we are leaving here changed people. Father, we're taking control of our tongues. We will learn to bring correction and not condemnation, lord. We will learn how to have kind and gentle conversations in private and not chase people on social media and not argue with people for the sake of arguing. But, father, that we would be able to tell them exactly who you are.
Speaker 1:Lord, I just thank you for continuing to move in this place and lead us so that we can grow. In the mighty name of Jesus, father, I just give you praise, honor and glory this day, father, I pray for traveling. Mercies for every person in this place. Lord, bring us back here at our next appointed time. Fill up your house, father God, and allow us to pour this word into the world. We give you all the honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen. Love you, guys. We will see you at the Lenten service on Wednesday night.