Foundation part 6

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We exist to be daily devoted followers of Jesus who bring people together to teach them the love and truth of Jesus through relationship. It's not about Sunday, it's about the everyday.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We're on part six of foundation series that we've been on in the book of Matthew. This is the gospel of Matthew, uh, the gospel as told by Matthew. Um, if you if you haven't read Matthew in a while, I encourage you to make sure get that on your Bible reading plan, make it happen. But we're gonna be in Matthew chapter five this evening. Uh, this is part two of a sermon titled, The Best Life You Can Live. The best life that you can live. I don't know about you, but that's inspiring to me to think about wow, like God wants me to have the best life that I can live. I mean, that's that's pretty awesome, right? And and last week specifically, we looked at these spiritual attitudes that you and I need to really have, right? And and they're interesting, right? Because I don't know if you remember any of them, but there was one that says you you gotta have the attitude of being poor in spirit, right? You gotta you gotta live your life like you're bankrupt because you understand that it's only Jesus, right, that has the ability to save your soul and mind, right? We talked about the attitude of mourning and understanding that we should mourn over the things that we've done wrong, and we should also mourn over the evil that is in this world and understand that we're desperate for Jesus to come and change us and to change the world around us, right? We talked about the importance of being meek or humble. And the Bible says, not the powerful, not those that have all the weapons or the advanced military, but the Bible says that the meek and the humble will inherit the earth. So we need to be more meek and humble. But we also talked about something else. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little hungry. But um, we talked about hunger and thirst for righteousness, right? That God, God wants us to have a hunger and a thirst for him. A hunger and a thirst for him. I love the psalmist because the psalmist, I love the psalms because they're so they're so passionate. But he says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Have you ever eaten a steak and you guys, you're like, hey, you gotta try this, right? Like you cut a piece and you're at the table with somebody else, you're like shoving it in their mouth, you gotta taste this steak. It's so good, it's medium rare, it's prime cut, it's seasoned just right, right? You want other people to enjoy it, right? But have you ever realized that that's how it is with God? Right? That imagery of Francis Chan holding his daughter, that that closeness, right? That is tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, right? We got a hunger and thirst for righteousness. But tonight we're gonna talk about our spiritual conduct, right? It's one thing to have good attitudes and good types of attitudes, but we also need to have, we need to think about our conduct. So I wanted to give you a definition tonight. Conduct is the manner in which a person behaves. I don't know if you noticed it or not, but my conduct a little bit ago when I made a comment about the bar of soap was concerning to some of you. Okay? You were worried about my behavior in the evening and you were concerned. But I promise you it's gonna get better, okay? All right. But what we believe should be practiced in our daily lives. Don't you agree? If what we believe, it should be practiced, right? Like it's not enough to tell people that you believe in Jesus. Show them that you believe in Jesus. Show them that he's changed your life from the inside out, right? That's what it's all about. Okay, let's get there. So let's let's just take a moment here and let's read our key text. Let's look at this. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 7. Look at that one verse for you tonight. Matthew 5, 7. Before we do that, I want to do something real quick. Matthew 5 opens up. If you're if you're a kid here tonight, sorry, that sounds offensive. A student. If you're a student here tonight, can you just come up here real quick and just just form a little circle down here? Can you do that for me? Come on up here. Look at these guys. No, don't face the crowd. Form a do a circle like this. Do a circle, like this, like this. Like this. There you go. There you go. Now sit down. Sit down. Okay, perfect. Yeah, come on up. Awesome. Look at this. And in uh in Matthew chapter 5, it says that Jesus, I'm not Jesus, but Jesus sat down. And it said that his disciples came and they sat with him. And it was in this kind of a posture that Jesus sat there and he taught his disciples. Now we understand from the text that remember, Jesus had had left the lower parts of Israel because John the Baptist had been arrested, and Jesus went north up to Capernaum around the Sea of Galilee. But while he was up there, he began to testify about the kingdom. He began to heal and restore people and share the good news. And people from all over Israel came to him there around the Sea of Galilee. So he wasn't just there with his disciples, but there was an audience, probably thousands of people in the backdrop. But Jesus sat down to teach the most important group that was going to journey with him for the next three and a half years. He sat down with them because he wanted them to hear and to learn and to grow on the truth of the principles that he was going to share with them. And yes, some seed was going to get scattered out to the crowd, but the importance were these twelve that were sitting right there with him. Because it was through those 12 disciples that Jesus would transform the world. Okay? I want you to have that picture. Students, you're welcome to stay if you'd like, or you can go back to your seat. But in Matthew 5 7, Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Church, I just want to say something here real quick. It's on my heart tonight in a big way. It's kind of a side note anyway. But I really believe that God is wanting to do something among us that should he tarry, would have impact for generations to come. And I want you to see these students down here on the floor, maybe still sitting in the audience. And I want you to realize, church, that you and I, we are, just like Keith said, we're getting older day by day. But it is this next generation that we have a responsibility to equip. It is this next generation that we have to be in prayer over and contend for. It is this generation that God is raising up to impact our schools, to impact our communities, to impact our world. Soon we will be handing over the keys to the kingdom to this generation in every way, shape, and form. But we have a responsibility as moms and dads, as grandmas and grandpas, we have a responsibility to pour into this generation. We have a responsibility to pray for this generation, to contend for this generation, to let the enemy know that he has no place in their lives. To let the enemy know that these kids, as Jesus empowers them and leads them, they will change the face of the earth. In church, we have a responsibility to that. So join me. Let's contend for our kids. I just feel passionate about that tonight. But Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Now, what is mercy? Can somebody tell me? Chris. Okay, so showing kindness, that's okay. Anyone else? Forgiveness? Okay, somebody else. Love? Okay. Donna? Love? What was that over here? Not getting what you deserve. Okay, that's a pretty good definition. Um, so let's let's define mercy for a moment. I got a couple friends over here. I gotta tell you about my first friend. He's not a very nice guy. We're gonna call him Forrest. Now, now Forrest did a bad thing. Okay? There was a loving family that out of the kindness of their hearts decided to go early morning to Roth's and to purchase the best donuts known in Monmouth Independence. And these donuts came home to this to this family who were excited to indulge in the sweet goodness of maple bars. Hold on, just a minute. Just a minute. Of maple bars, of cream cheese bars, and bear claws. This family had graciously placed this box of donuts on the counter. Well, Forrest was told, you are not allowed, Forrest, to have a donut. These donuts are not for you. These are for the good kids that show kindness and love. And Forrest pulled the box of donuts off the counter. And he ate all the donuts. And so this poor family has no donuts to eat. So Forrest is a very bad man. So what do we do with bad people? So what happens when somebody says something mean to you? What do you want to do? What happens? What happens when somebody cuts you off on the road? What do you want to do? What happens when you don't get your way? No, I'm just kidding. Right? All these things, right? All these things happen, right? So this is this is our human nature, right? We we say, hey, you were mean to me, I'm gonna be mean to you, right? That's justice, right? Right? Right? We we want to, man, you hurt us, we're gonna hurt you, right? Uh oh. And so what do we do? Is that the definition of mercy? Is that the definition of mercy? Mercy is when God, out of his loving kindness, withholds punishment that we rightly deserve because of our sin. You see, we joke around, and I was just trying to help out those playing bingo tonight, because I know Forrest is on there. So we joke around and thinking that you know it's silly to pop a balloon, but the truth is, church, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. That's what it says. It says the wages of sin is death, right? But listen to this. I want to I want to share a little hope with you tonight. Ephesians 2 verse 4 says, But God is so rich in mercy. You know, God can be rich in anything, but the Bible says he's rich in mercy. Do you understand the concept of that tonight? Do you understand that that God in his loving kindness, he is so rich in it that when he looks down at humanity and he thinks, oh man, like they they have all sinned against me. And I don't know if this thing's gonna ring all night or what, but it's ringing. Um, but he he looks down on humanity and he sees our sin, but instead of, as the students so politely put it, popping us, what does he do? He extends his mercy and his love. But God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved. Now I want to share a verse from Hosea tonight, Hosea chapter six, because again, our main key text tonight says, Blessed are the merciful, right? For they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the merciful, right? The person living their best possible life is the person who has who lives a merciful life, who extends mercy to the people around them, right? That's what the text is saying tonight. This is kind of a reference out of Hosea 6, 6, which says, I want you to show love and not offer sacrifices. Now, that word love in the Greek is mercy. I want you to show mercy. In other words, you know, how often do we tell God, God, you don't know what I've given up for you? And God says, I don't want you to tell me what you've given up for me. I want you to show love and mercy to the world around you. Okay? That's what he's saying. I want you, and then he says, he goes on to say, I want you to know me more than I want birth burnt offerings. In other words, God is not impressed by our religiousness. God is not impressed by it. God is impressed when you and I walk in faith with him. God is impressed when we walk in obedience to his commands and to his word. Now, there's two things, two stories I want to tell you tonight. Come on, can you help me out with that, bud? Here, I'll take that. Thank you. Thank you. All right, thank you. I appreciate that. Why don't you guys run back to your seats for me? Is that okay? Thank you. Thank you. Let's give it up for the kids tonight. Afterwards, I'll get you a balloon. Afterwards. Afterwards. Yep. Afterwards. Not before. Afterwards. Yep, come on. Thank you, Kamai. I appreciate that. All right. There's two two stories that I want to tell you, and then we're gonna and then we're gonna go tonight. But the first thing I want you to see tonight is this we have to learn to see people the way that God sees you. Did you hear that tonight? We have to learn to see people the way that God sees you. Matthew chapter 9 and verse 9 goes like this. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. Follow me and be my disciple. Right? Now, when when everybody else looked at Matthew, do you know what they were seeing? They were seeing a man who had forsaken his own people, had partnered with the Roman government, and was extorting his brothers and sisters for income. How well do you think people liked Matthew? About just as much as they liked the IRS. That's right. You got it, you said it, right? But Jesus didn't see Matthew the way that others saw Matthew. Jesus saw Matthew in a different light. And he goes on to say, Jesus said, Follow me and be my disciple. Notice he doesn't say, hey Matthew, quit being a tax collector and you can be my disciple. Hey Matthew, why don't you clean up your act and start going to church and then you can be my disciple? No, Jesus just says, Hey Matthew, why don't you come and follow me? And Jesus said, so Jesus said to him, so Matthew got up and followed him. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, right? Matthew is so excited. He's like, Man, you won't believe this, man. This guy, Jesus, he just called me and said, follow him, right? He didn't judge me, he didn't critique me, he didn't tell me I was a bad person. He just simply said, Come and follow after me. And guys, let's get together. We're gonna have a party. We're gonna invite this man over and hang out with him, right? So Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, now remember the Pharisees, they were the religious. They were the ones that were caught up in form. They wanted you to follow the letter of the law, and that's all they could see. Jesus could see something deeper. He could see, he could see the heart. And he says this, why does your teacher eat with such scum? If you didn't catch it on tonight, I'm reading from the NLT. And I love the verbiage here because he says, the Pharisee says, Why are you eating with such scum? Church, when was the last time we positioned ourselves to eat with people that maybe were a little bit different than us? When was the last time we positioned ourselves to realize that we could love somebody by sitting down to a meal and showing them the love of Jesus? Right? That's what Jesus was doing, right? He was he sat down with them in order to do that, right? And listen to what he says. He says, healthy people don't need a doctor, right? Do you guys go to the doctor when you're healthy? I hate going to the doctor. Seriously, right? It's a game, right? It's about money, it's about insurance, right? If you're in the medical field, I'm sorry, but it is, right? But healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people do, right? And I don't know about you, as much as I hate going to the doctor, sometimes when I'm really sick, you know where I go? I go to the doctor, right? Because I need a little help. But Jesus said, healthy people don't go to the doctor, sick people do. Then he added, now go and learn the meaning of the scripture. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know that they are sinners. Church, I want you to catch this with me tonight. When Jesus looked at you, you and I, we were not righteous. The Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags. You and I, maybe we weren't the worst of the worst, but the Bible says that because of sin, we were guilty of death. And God looked at us and he could have called us scum. He could have called us less than lovable, but instead he looked at us and he said, Hey, you come follow me. Right? Jesus demonstrated the mercy of God because he could see people the way that God sees people. And the way that God sees people is the way that God sees you. So if you can learn to see people the way God sees you, you will love people the way that God loves you. Are you with me tonight? Okay. The second thing we're going to do tonight is this is we got to learn to treat people the way that God treats you. Church, do you know that God's kind to you? Do you know that God loves you? Church, I don't deserve to have a marriage and kids and a home and a life. Things that I've done in my story and my history, I don't deserve any of those things. But here's the thing God and his mercy blessed me with the greatest gifts that I could be given through through Carissa and through Isaac and Caleb and their treasures in my life. And not only that, but he's put his spirit inside my life. I didn't deserve that. But that's who God is. But we got to treat people the way that God treats you. Now I'm going to tell on myself because yesterday I was in the car. Some of you know that pastors don't do well behind the wheel. Everybody else is wrong and we are right. I learned that from Keith. We were heading south on ninety-nine. Cruising along at sixty miles per hour. You can fudge a little. When a car proceeded to pull out directly in front of me. I should have shown mercy. I should have slowed down. Did I? Nope. Did my wife make noises in the car? Was I wrong? Very wrong. Very wrong. Yeah. Was I treating others the way that God treats me? No. No. Sometimes I just tell myself, church, because I want you to understand none of us are perfect. I just want you to hear that. But the truth is, remember, we're practicing, right? You know, when you go to the doctor, he's practicing on you. He doesn't know what's wrong with you. He just has a theory, an idea, and he prescribes you what sounds good. And if it doesn't work and it makes funny things grow in your body, he tries something else. Right? That's called that's called practicing, right? That's called practicing. Church, we're practicing Christians. Church, I want you to understand we've got to be so real. Why? Because the world is looking for us to be hypocritical. The world is looking for us to be pharisaical. But church, we're flawed, we're broken. We need Jesus. I need Jesus every day. You know, praise God that instead of, you know, it used to be 10 out of 10 that I got out of line in the car. Now it's more like 4 out of 10. You know, it's getting better. It's getting better, but it's not perfect, but God's working on it, right? That's the point. We got to treat people the way God treats you. Listen to this, listen to this story. This last story I'm going to share tonight. Are you with me tonight? Amen. Matthew 18. I this story just rocked me this week. Matthew 18. Then Peter came to him and asked him, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Any guesses?

unknown 22:58

70 times 70.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

70 times? That's a lot of time. Are you sure, Joseph? Are you sure? I don't know if that's right. That could be a typo. What do you think? Okay. Okay. I'm just playing. All right. He's correct. He said seven times? No, seventy times seven. Like it's it's he's saying there's no limit on forgiveness. There's no limit on showing mercy, right? You just keep doing it, right? And so he goes on to say, therefore, and I love Jesus, because Jesus loved to tell stories, and his stories are powerful. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to the to the date to date with the servants who had borrowed money from him. See, it was oftentimes in kingdoms like this, where the kingdom would entrust a lot of the business of day-to-day life in the kingdom to managers and they would manage things for him. And so he was coming to his servants, his managers, and saying, Hey, I'm come to give, I want you to give an account. How have you been using my money? Have you been successful? Right? In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. That's a lot of money, isn't it? Is that a lot of money? Is it? I mean, if you owed somebody a million dollars, could you ever pay it back?

unknown 24:20

No.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

You couldn't, could you? It's you can't. It's unrealistic, right? So he couldn't pay. So his master ordered that he be sold along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned to pay the debt. Did that seem fair? I mean, he owed him millions of dollars, right? Isn't it the king's right to make a decision like that? But the man fell down before his master and begged him, please be patient with me, and I will pay it all. Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and he forgave him this massive debt. Think about that for a moment. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant. Now I really thought about having us act this out tonight. I thought, Tim, I was gonna use Tim. And I was gonna have Tim try to choke Chris out. You know, it was gonna be great. But when the man left the king, I mean, have you ever shake shake, you should shake Tim's hand tonight. It's like shaking a bear's hand. I mean, the man, I we were here for if setting up for the ladies, and I was helping out with tables, and I'm like, here's a table, you know, and Tim's like one arm just like throwing them. There's a table, there's a table, there you go, guys. No big deal. Beast of a man. Good grief. All right, let's get back on track here. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged him for a little more time. Be patient with me and I will pay it, he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. And he had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. And they went to the king and they told him everything that had happened. And when the king called in the man that he had forgiven and said, You evil, you wicked evil servant, I'm just adding it for a little emphasis, I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I have had mercy on you? Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That's what my heavenly father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from the heart. Church, I couldn't, these two stories illustrate so well, and in any other words that I could form for us to understand this concept of what it means to show mercy. You see, in this story, we are the ones that have the debt that's millions of dollars. In other words, it's so big, it's so large, even if you sold your home and your possessions and everything you had and worked your rest of your life, you could never make enough resources to pay back what is owed for the price of your head and mine. That's what he's trying to say in this in this story tonight. And how often are we just like this man treating other people that have wronged us, that have shortchanged us? We say, hey, they hurt me. Now I'm gonna take an offense and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna keep them at arm's length, and I'm not gonna forgive them, and I'm not gonna love them, and I'm not gonna show them mercy because they wronged me. Well, guess what, church? We've wronged God. In Romans 5.8, it's not on the screen, but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. You see, God looked down from heaven and he saw our sin, church. He saw the things that we had done, the evil, the wickedness that we had done, and yet he willingly sent Jesus. Jesus willingly went to the cross, shed his blood for you and me, extended the mercy of God so that we could be saved. And so, do you think it's quite possible that if this is representation of what God has done for us, that we in turn should extend it to the world around us? You see, remember going back to our key text tonight, right? Blessed are the merciful, right? The person living their possible, the wisest person living the best possible life that you can imagine is the person who is willing to extend mercy to others because they have received mercy. Are you with me tonight? Church, the world needs us. They need you and me to be willing to be the hands and feet and voice of Jesus and extend mercy to the world around us. I promise you, people will hurt you. I promise you, things at work won't always go well. I promise you, even at home, with the people that you love the most, they will hurt you. Students in the room, I promise you, while you're in school from K through 12, that's a long time. I promise you, somebody's gonna hurt your feelings along the way. It's gonna happen. But you and I have to learn we have received mercy, therefore, we need to extend mercy. We have to see people the way that God sees us, and we have to treat people the way that God treats us. Now, I understand the world might be saying that's not fair. That's not fair, right? But that's that is the truth of what God's word is teaching us. Now, I want you to meet my friend. Let's just call him John. We'll call him John. John's not quite as ugly as Forrest. He's got a smile on his face, he's got tongue sticking out. Oh, no, no. Oh, I drew on with his tongue sticking out. He popped accidentally. He was so wicked he popped automatically. But this guy, he's just happy, right? And see, we're oftentimes we would say, hey, we would be just like the crowd, crucify, crucify. And Jesus says, No. I'm gonna give them mercy. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna withhold what they deserve. I'm gonna take it upon my body. I'm gonna bear, I'm gonna bear all their sin and all their shame. I'm gonna take all their evilness and their wickedness upon me so that they can have mercy and have an opportunity for life and wholeness. Church, our conduct. I promise you, you're gonna make mistakes just like me. Maybe you don't have issues behind the wheel, but you have other issues. And I promise you, you're gonna make mistakes along the way. But it's all about practicing. I got a couple questions as we wrap this up and our worship team comes. But let me ask you a couple questions here. Who has wronged you? What do they deserve? Is it punishment? What do we deserve? Who needs your mercy this week? Is mercy what you and I have received from God? Do I offer mercy to those in my life that wrong me? Why not? What needs to change? Before we wrap up and go to dinner tonight, I want you to consider allowing the Holy Spirit to search you from the inside out. I can tell you right now that when I got here this evening, I was I was dealing with some frustration, some agitation. To be quite honest with you, I'm not entirely why it was all there, but it was like it felt like a it felt like a fire inside of me. It felt, it felt like uh at any moment I could just rip somebody's head off. You ever feel that way? But as we gathered in our pre-service prayer time, I just kept asking God to take it from me. I just kept asking God to show me mercy. Church, I just want you to understand something. That's that's how we do business with God. We we ask him to search us. And then when he points on us the things in us that need to change, that's when we we have to make a consideration. Are we gonna have a change of mind and heart? Now, here's the issue. Oftentimes we leave it there. We we we we repent, but we don't start obeying. And so then we go through this cycle where it's like, well, God, I repented, but then then tomorrow comes and you're at it again. And see, you keep this this cycle, this pattern going on in your life because you've yet to really submit yourself and walk in obedience to what he's commanded. And see, if you and I would learn how to allow the Holy Spirit, just like these women that got up here tonight so boldly and said, This is what the Lord pointed out in my life, they're now having the courage not only to have a change of heart and mind, but they're now having the courage to walk it out. You see, it can't just be repentance. We have to learn to walk in obedience, and out of obedience, we live it out each and every day. Church, I promise you there are people in your life right now that need your mercy. You know, earlier this year we we got to say goodbye to my grandfather of almost 91 years. And I looked out over an audience that was carrying a lot of brokenness, hurt, and pain. And oftentimes it is those that we are close to that we that we struggle to offer forgiveness, that we struggle to offer mercy. But, church, I want you to hear tonight, you have been given the greatest gift in Jesus. He's looked at everything you've ever done, everything you ever will do, and instead of giving you punishment, he's given you his mercy. And now what he wants from you and me is a willingness to extend that mercy to those around us. And you, and I trust me, I've been there. I've walked in that pain, I've walked in that anguish. There's been seasons of my life that I've allowed it to consume me to a place of anger because that's what it'll do to you. But if you learn to walk in mercy, yeah, it might hurt for a moment, but my goodness, you're extending the gift of God. You're extending the love of God, you're giving them an opportunity to get right and to be made whole. Church, we've got to live it, we've got to walk in it because it says, Blessed are those who show mercy because they will be shown mercy, right? That's that's the call of God for our lives. I'm gonna invite you to stand with me tonight. You know, I wish sometimes when I do stupid things, that I always had the opportunity to talk to that person and ask for their forgiveness. I was in a work meeting the other day and I a lady said something in a meeting and it rubbed me the wrong way, and I responded harshly. I didn't extend mercy. Right after that meeting, I knew in that moment the Holy Spirit's like, What are you doing, Stephen? So I waited outside her office until she showed up. I knocked when she got there and politely asked if I could go in. I said, Hey, earlier in that meeting, you said something that got me a little excited, and I responded harshly. Will you forgive me? I looked at her dead in the eye. I said, You didn't deserve that. Church, I just, I just want, I just I love you guys. I love you. I love each and every one of you. God loves you more than I ever could. But if you're here tonight and you feel that, man, there's there's these things in your life, maybe it's family, maybe it's somebody really close to you, maybe it's a friend or a coworker, somebody that's wronged you in some way, shape, or form. And man, God tonight, he's asking you, he's saying, Church, there's a world around us that needs me, but they need you to act like me. They need you to show mercy, they need you to show love, to walk in love. And so, church, tonight, if you're dealing with something that's holding you back, I want to give you an opportunity to release that tonight. I want to give you an opportunity to extend that mercy. I want to give you an opportunity to let go of bondage and step into a place of freedom. I want to give you that opportunity this evening. Will you close your eyes for a moment, church? If God's tugging at your heart tonight, just take this moment here. If he's tugging at your heart tonight, would you be so bold to lift a hand? Eyes are closed, heads are bowed. If that's you tonight, would you lift a hand with me? I'm just gonna take a moment here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I see your hands. I see you. I see you, God sees you. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go back into song for a moment. We're gonna sing then declare this song about a change from the inside out. And whatever it is that needs to be shaken off, whatever it is that needs to be broken, whatever it is that you need to let go of tonight. I want you in your space tonight to do just that. I want you to have the courage and the faith. And as Keith prayed over us, we're not walking in fear, we're walking in freedom, we're walking in faith, we're walking in belief. And here's the thing: we all mess up, we all make mistakes, but praise be to God, He's given us mercy, and we can receive that mercy tonight, and we can extend that mercy tonight. So come on, pray with me tonight, Father, in the name of Jesus. Lord, all around this room, God, hands went up, acknowledging God that tonight they need to let something go. God, tonight, Lord, maybe it's bitterness, maybe it's unforgiveness, but God, tonight they need to let it go. God, tonight they want to extend mercy. Lord, tonight they no longer want to be held in bondage. God, tonight they no longer want to be held back, but God, they want to do exactly what you have done for them. They want to extend love, forgiveness, and mercy. So, God, I pray in the name of Jesus, as they release that to you, as they lay that at the foot of the cross, God, I'm praying in Jesus' name. I'm praying for breakthrough, break every chain, break every stronghold. God, in the name of Jesus, release them, I pray, God. Release their mind, release their heart. God, fill them with such love, such goodness, God, that we can be your hands and feet, that we can show the world around us mercy and kindness, goodness and love. God, thank you for what you're doing. We honor you, God. Change us, we pray, change us, we pray from the inside out. Come on, let's sing tonight.