Mike Bickle emphasizes that mercy triumphs over judgment, illustrating how receiving and extending mercy is more transformative than criticism or judgment in all aspects of life. He warns against misinterpreting mercy as a license for wrongdoing, stressing that true mercy aligns with God's terms and leads to genuine repentance and obedience. Bickle encourages believers to respond with mercy to others, especially those who mistreat us, as this fosters freedom in our hearts and relationships. He highlights the biblical principle that the measure we use to judge others will be used against us, urging a shift from a critical spirit to one of kindness and understanding. Ultimately, Bickle reassures that God's mercy is abundant and should inspire us to extend that same mercy to others.

Verse 3, 13, which is the title of this message, it says that mercy triumphs over judgment. I just imagined this trumpet blast from the throne of God over all the kingdom. Mercy is more effective than judgment. In every sphere of life, if the mercy is received. Mercy, if received, motivates more effectively than criticism, than judgment, than warnings and penalties. But if the mercy is received, it's more inspiring, it's more instructive, it's more motivating, it's more transforming. Mercy triumphs in every way. And so one of the primary principles of the kingdom of God is for people to recognize God's mercy in their own life and receive it. And then people who have received it, then they show mercy because they feel the power of it, they understand the power of it in their own life. Now this statement, mercy triumphs over judgment, needs to be qualified. Because some people would take that out of context. And, you know, let boys be boys, nobody's wrong, everyone's right. Mercy, that's not the biblical definition of mercy. It's mercy when responded to on God's terms. When it's mercy that says, thank you, Father, I've sinned, you've given me a new beginning. I set my heart to obey your leadership. Though we stumble in that, but it's the setting of the heart. That's the mercy it's talking about. Because I've seen people take this phrase and it empowers all kinds of crazy lifestyles in the name of I love mercy. No, it's mercy from the biblical point of view. But back to the main declaration, it triumphs. It's more effective in marriage than judgment and criticism. It's more effective in parenting. It's more effective in team building. It's more effective in outreach. In any kind of relational dynamic, mercy is more effective. It triumphs every time if it's presented and received. Now, when it talks about mercy here, it's talking about more than receiving God's forgiveness in a specific area of failure. Now, mercy includes that. When we fail in a specific way, we want mercy. But James is talking about something bigger. He's talking about a whole approach to life. He's talking about a whole paradigm, a whole perspective, the way to view God's leadership, the way to view life. Now, paragraph A, one of the most important aspects of our spiritual life is how we respond when we fail or when we're mistreated. And another very significant aspect of our spiritual life is how we respond to others when they fail. Now, just for a moment, it's not my focus today, is how we respond to God when we fail. The Scripture says that God delights in mercy. We'll look at that in a moment. God delights in it. He delights in extending mercy to us when we fail. But He delights when we receive it and not repel it. You know, some people, they have this religious false humility. And the Lord says, I give you mercy. I give you free cleansing. Oh, no, Lord, not me. I'm so bad. You know, just give me a little cabin on the edge of glory. I won't bother nobody up there. And the Lord says, no, that's not the kind of mercy I'm talking about. I want to freely and fully cleanse you in a way that empowers you, emboldens you with confidence in my presence. God delights in offering mercy, but He delights when we drink deep of mercy. We don't minimize it. I have good news. There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. We have mercy of God. One of His primary principles is mercy. You could use the word kindness. You could use the word love. It's this whole reality of the generosity of God when He looks at us in our weakness. Well, that's not really my focus today on how we receive mercy. That's one of my favorite topics because I need it so much. But my focus today is how we give mercy to other people. People that mistreat us. People that don't give us the honor that we deserve. People that are insensitive to us. The Lord says, I want you to give them mercy. I don't want you to criticize or hold the line in judgment. Give mercy to them. They've not responded to you in the way they should have. But another category is giving mercy to people who fail unrelated to it affecting our lives. Just people who are in proximity to us in some way. We look at their failure and we kind of shake our head. Isn't it terrible? Isn't it sad? It's so sad that He keeps doing that. It doesn't affect our life personally. But it kind of makes us feel vindicated in our weakness to see how weak they are. And so some people get a little bit of energy out of exposing other people's weaknesses because it makes them feel validated in their own weakness. You think, I'm bad. Look what he's doing. And other people, they want to talk about people's weaknesses because it's just in our fallen nature to whisper, to complain. And so that's what I'm looking at right now today is our fallenness. Even as believers, that dimension of our mind and heart that's not renewed. We are so easily critical. It's the nature of humanity to be critical. To see a situation, a person, and to see the negative and to not see the ten positives in that person's life. It's very normal. So what Jesus is really saying or the Scripture is saying, be intentional about operating in the opposite spirit of that which is natural. The natural thing, again, to see a shortcoming that affects us or a shortcoming that doesn't. It's out there. It's in their life. To be annoyed, to be critical, to wag our head. And Jesus is saying, don't go there. I want you to go in exactly the opposite spirit. Pause. Take a step back. Remember the kindness that I have given you in the overflow of your gratitude for that kindness, give that person kindness. The one that's blocked your goals, frustrated your work. The one that has been insensitive to you, that overlooked you. The one that jumped in front of the line and took your position, so to speak. Lord is saying, I want you to show mercy to them. And again, to the person that's a couple steps away that didn't affect your life. Now, still in paragraph A, if we respond with mercy, our hearts are free or our hearts grow in freedom. If we don't respond in mercy to these people that are insensitive, that bypass us, that diminish us, that dismiss us, all of these different ways. What happens is there's a residue of bitterness that begins very subtly and it grows. Hebrews chapter 12 talks about it. Verse 14 says, beware. A root of bitterness. It's a little root under the ground. You don't see it. It's a root. It doesn't have fruit yet. You can't see it. But it springs up and you don't even know it. It says in Hebrews 12, it's on side 2. We're not going to get to side 2 today. I just gave you side 2 just to give you some little extra to look at later. But it talks about the root of bitterness. It's under the surface. It springs up. It troubles the heart. It causes pain in your heart. When bitterness starts moving, and bitterness moves in the lives of many sincere believers. I have discovered and recognized a residue of bitterness in my life on a number of occasions and I was surprised. But the Lord made it clear. Mike, that's a residue. It's a beginning. It's a stirring of bitterness. I go, Lord, I don't do bitterness. I know the Bible. I do forgiveness. He goes, no, no, you did it again. It's springing up in you. It causes trouble. It causes pain. It causes turmoil. We get preoccupied and then we defile other people. It defiles relationships. So the scripture is really clear. That if you'll respond to mercy, see it, recognize it, give it, your heart will grow in freedom. If it doesn't, your heart will grow in pain. A lot of people have a lot of pain. They've never associated it to the way they interpret how people treat them and the fact that they're not releasing those people in a spirit of mercy. I've been there many times in my life. When the whisper of the Lord, I went, oh, no. Will I ever learn this once and for all? I haven't yet. That's why I'm preaching on it to you. It's kind of helping me out here. Paragraph B, the main statement that I'm focusing on today, James 2, verse 13, judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. First, the apostle James starts with a warning. It's a warning that's easy to neglect. It's a warning that's easy to lose sight of. The word judgment, you could put the word criticism. Better yet, unhelpful criticism. You could put the word accusation. You could put the word uncovering faults. Judgment means all of these things. Critical, complaining, uncovering people. But let's look at the warning first. He says, I want you to know, judgment is without any mercy to the one who doesn't show mercy. I know a lot of believers. They whisper a bit about others. And then they're shocked over the years that people do it to them. And they're very indignant. I didn't do nothing. Why are they doing that? And I don't know how it works. I really don't. But there's a principle in the kingdom that James is referring to. James was Jesus' half-brother. Grew up in the same family. James is referring to what Jesus taught. In Matthew 7, verse 2, he says, To the measure that you judge, it will be brought back on you. Now, most people, they don't connect the dots. They sow whispers about people. But when the crop comes back in their own life, it perplexes them. Because they've never connected the dots. Because this is not a subject we overly emphasize. I don't know anywhere where we overly emphasize this. But we need to talk about it more. If we sow criticism, we will reap it. Not even from the very people. But it will rise up somewhere else as the discipline of the Lord. To awaken our heart to the pain of being whispered about. It will come from another source, but it will come for sure. Jesus said, To the measure you do it, it will come back on you. That's how James starts off. Now again, the word judgment refers to unhelpful criticism. And the reason I say unhelpful, Because criticism, pointing out negatives and blind spots, is redemptive. I mean, it's helpful. We do that in relationships. A true friend will point out areas that are blind spots. But we want to do it in the right spirit, in the right motive, in the right tone, the right timing. But we still want to do it. And there's a place in leadership, whether in the marketplace. It's anywhere in the kingdom. Leadership where leaders are assessing situations. And they talk about blind spots. But it's the purpose of correcting in the person and in the organization and in the ministry. So there's a leadership redemptive function in this. The Bible is not against that. That's called leadership. The exhortation is to do it in the right spirit, in the right way, in the right timing. But a lot of folks, myself included, over the years, many times, we just have criticisms. But they're not directly connected to a redemptive solution. We're not a part of the solution. We're just getting it off our chest. We're just venting. And the Lord says, don't. Don't vent. Hold it. Be intentional about moving in the opposite spirit. Another word for judgment is accusation. Now, the devil's called the accuser. Everybody hates the concept of accusation. I've never met a believer that says, yes, I accuse people. I've never met one. That's such an ugly word that has horns on it. You know, accusation. Everybody's against accusation. But accusation and criticism that's not redemptive is exactly the same thing. But accusation is such an ugly word. I'd rather not use that word. Uncovering false. That's a little softer way, but it's the same thing. An easier way to say it is whispering. But it's identically the same thing. That's just a softer version. We all know we whisper. And James is saying, you don't want to do that. It comes back on you in ways that you might not connect the dots. Then he makes the great statement. Mercy triumphs. It's more powerful. It's a more effective motivator. It transforms more effectively. It teaches in a more effective way. Paragraph C. Now, I've watched this over the years. Many of you have. You've been in the kingdom for a few years. You've seen. You've been in relationships where they get intense. Where they're not so fun for a season. I mean, even friends. They get into that moment. Maybe it goes on a few weeks, a few months. Sometimes a few years. Well, here's what I've learned over 40 plus years of walking with the Lord. Many of those relationships, I've seen it in my life and the many others as I've observed. Five or ten years goes by. And that relationship, the situation shifts entirely. Circumstances are very different. That relationship becomes fun again. Gets restored. I've seen it many, many, many times. In lots of different settings out there. Even in my own life. Here's my point. You don't want to get in an intense few months or even a few years. And speak words that are going to hinder the recovery of that relationship. Because so many of them do recover a few years later. But then those words, those whispers are sent out. And it makes the recovery much, much harder. Paragraph D. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 8. This is a pretty big statement here. In 1 Peter chapter 4. Verse 8. Peter says, above everything. Like, wow. Above everything? Peter, aren't you getting a little bit kind of out there? Above glorifying God? Above eternal salvation? I mean, really? Above everything. Peter's not comparing it to those. But he's saying of highest importance is what he's making. Have fervent love for one another. And he says, let me give you one of the most practical, primary expressions of fervent love. Not just helping them when they're down. That's true. Let me give you one of the most practical, primary expressions of fervent love. Love covers people's faults. There it is. Peter says, that's top of the list. If you're in a relationship. And they have sins. I mean real sins. Sins that don't even affect you. Or faults that don't affect you. Or ones that do affect you. Either or. Both that. And you cover them. You don't whisper them. You don't let offense dominate your heart. Because offense, the root will start growing. But you see it. And you think, no, I'm going to move in the opposite spirit. I'm going to intentionally move in an opposite spirit of that. And I'm going to cover. That's a remarkable statement. To be intentional. To not make that fault known. And to not relate to the person on the basis of that fault. Meaning, you see the other ten qualities in their life. You see the fault. But you're not going to make it primary definition of the relationship. Beloved, that is fervent love. That's not baby love. That's not elementary stuff. That's deep stuff. Peter says, I'm going to take you right to the most practical way for love to be mature. That way, right there. I'd rather give the person money. You know, they're in trouble. They bug me. Give them money. But still get to whisper about them. I'd rather even do them favors. But still whisper about them. Peter says, you want to go all the way? Don't whisper about them. Cover them. Wow. Faults that affect your life. That they have. And faults that they have that don't affect your life. That's a remarkable reality. Paul said, I mean Peter said, above all things. This is what fervent love looks like. Now this is, starts in marriage. This doesn't just start out there or in a church meeting. This is in marriage. This is with parents and children. Siblings. Boy, it's really tough in family settings because we're so familiar. Don't relate to them in the primary narrative of the relationship being their main weakness. Don't make that the primary lens of what you relate to. You can see it. You can even talk to them about it. To try to work on it together. That's good. That's biblical. But you're not going to whisper over there, quote, to get a prayer team to help you. Or to get counsel because you don't know how to approach it. Again, if it's leaders above the person, that's all biblical and legitimate. But how many times we whisper to get prayer. We whisper to get counsel. But we're counseling with people that aren't a part of it at all. Or we're whispering to get it off our chest. You know, I just got to have one friend to sin with. I mean, one friend to, you know, help me process it. You talk to somebody and they're real sympathetic when you're talking about somebody. And that person you're afraid you're talking to is sympathetic. I assure you, a dog that will take a bone will carry one. Eventually, they'll hear a whisper about you because it doesn't bother them to carry it. So when somebody is really energetic to hear the story and very sympathetic, just be alerted a little bit. That person, that's, it's not troublesome to them to pass the story on. That's just a FYI about life. I've learned the hard way. Anyway, paragraph 8. I want to tell a quick story. How the Lord, my journey began on this subject. It was 40 years ago. It was in December, one stormy Sunday night. I was a young pastor in a little rural church of about 100 people in the St. Louis area. Oh, I'm just pausing. Oh, those were great days. Anyway, I bailed hay and everything. But one night, I won't tell the story. It'd take about 10 minutes, and I want to give you the 30-second version. It was one of the first supernatural encounters I've had with the Lord. I've had several since then. Not a whole lot, but several since then. Where the Holy Spirit was resting on me in a very strong way, in a very unusual circumstance. And He spoke to me very clearly, confirmed it in a strong way. That He said, I want to teach you what I taught David about my leadership in gentlemen. And I was so mystified by that idea. David? Gentleness? See, I thought of David. I was 21 years old, and I studied the life of David a little bit. I thought of David as powerful, courageous, bold, aggressive. I didn't think of David as somebody who was captured with God's gentleness in God's leadership over David's life. That was a new idea completely. But the Lord made it so clear. And He said, I want you to study the life of David and to recognize this. And the verse the Lord gave me set me on a complete new trajectory in my life. A complete different path than I would have gone on naturally. The verse was Psalm 18, verse 35. David had just come out of 16 months of compromise in the city of Ziklag. 1 Samuel 27 to 30. You could read the story. It was a rough season in David's life. He had elements of compromise in his life in that 16 month period. And the day it was over, verse 35, David said, Lord, your right hand upheld me. In other words, you could have canceled me out. You could have called it quits. You could have turned me over. I could have been disqualified. But you held on to me. And then he went on to describe why God held on to him. He said, Father, your gentleness made me great. This is the day after he's repented and he's fully connected to the Lord. It's not like years later. He goes, it's your gentleness in my life. Lord, you could have been harsh. You could have treated me so much different. You could have let me go, but you held on to me. So the Lord emphasized. He says, study this element in David's life. Have confidence in God's gentleness. Believe in it. And when you see other people's weakness, respond to it through this lens of the gentleness of God's leadership. Again, this was a brand new concept to me. I studied the life of David many times since then. That truth comes to light over and over again. David's confidence in his times of failure and weakness that God would be kind to him in his failure. And then David's kindness to others in their failure because he was in the overflow of gratitude for it. He saw the power of it. It's a remarkable part of the study of David's life. He says, your gentleness made me great. He went on. I don't have it in the notes, but in Psalm 130, verse 3 and 4, he went on to describe it. He goes, God, when you forgive me, instead of writing me off, you empower me to go on to fear the Lord. What if the Lord in our failures wrote us off? Our life would be cut off. Our destiny would be cut off. But the Lord says, no, I don't. I hold on to you. You go on to fear the Lord. Psalm 130, David said. And that's in the sense of which God made him great. Well, about 300 years later, Micah the prophet comes on the scene. And he's making this same point that David made. Micah chapter 7, verse 18. He said, he's talking to Israel while Israel is in a time of great compromise. He said, verse 18, who is like God? He pardons or forgives. He forgives sin. Iniquity and sin is the same thing. He forgives sin. He doesn't crush the sinner. He forgives the sinner if they say yes to his mercy and respond to it. Gives him a new beginning. Gives him a destiny. Then Micah goes on to say one of the most remarkable statements. One of my favorite phrases in the Bible. God delights in mercy. What does that mean? He delights in giving you mercy. He loves it. He delights when you receive it. I imagine God saying, the father to the son. Here, you know, I've sinned. And I'm downcast. And God gives me mercy. And it dawns on me. And I receive it. And my countenance is made bright and strong. Oh, God. And the father says, oh, I love it when that happens inside of him or in her or in them. I love it when that happens. I have such delight in that. The realization in, oh, what a glorious kingdom. What a great God. But the God doesn't just delight in giving you mercy and you discovering it. And your countenance restored to brightness. He's the father. He really delights when you show that other person mercy. He goes, yeah. But Lord, they're insensitive to me. They're blocking me. They're negating what I'm about. They're not honoring me. They're not respecting me. Lord says, I know, I know, I know. I know. But you was not doing any of those right things with me either. And I gave you mercy. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. I remember. That's amazing. Okay, good. Amazing. Now, give them mercy. Don't relate to them as though that's the only issue in their life. Don't make it the primary thing in the narrative, in your relationship with them, that area they're bad in. But give them a chance. Focus on the other things. Again, that doesn't negate talking to them about it, working it out. All of those, that's for another message at another time, how you work those things out together. Don't whisper about them. Don't get into offense. Don't get into a spirit of complaint. Don't fall into fault finding with them. Give them mercy. And you have that positive atmosphere for the relationship to go forward and the wrong things to get healed. He delights when you give mercy to people that trouble you. And when you give mercy to people that don't really trouble your life, but you look at him from over there. Oh, that poor guy. He's such a shame. And you just whisper the story. No, no, no. Don't, don't, don't do that. Mercy. Mercy. That guy needs motivation to change. Give him some mercy. The Lord loves it. Paragraph F. I have two verses here from the Gospel of Matthew. It's a really amazing situation here. Matthew chapter 9, verse 13. The story is, the context of the story, Matthew the tax collector. He's writing his own story in the Gospel of Matthew. He says, there was a guy named Matthew. He said, talk about me. He was a tax collector. You know, he's going, oops. Because, you know, a tax collector was a, they were known as being thieves, cheats, swindlers, liars, because Rome was occupying Israel in the generation that Jesus was, of his ministry, and most of you know that. Roman was an oppressive government on Israel, and they were extracting very severe taxes from them. I mean, nearly enslaving them economically, nearly, not quite, but it was burdensome. But the Roman government said, hey, we don't really know how all the Jewish community works, and all the villages, and we can't get into their bank statements very well. So why don't we get, we don't know the language, we don't know the culture, we don't know the geography very well, so why don't we get some Jewish guys, who know the language, the culture, the geography, get them to join our team, the Roman team, to betray their people, and if they will extract heavy taxes, we'll give them a commission for it. So they get $1,000 out of that poor family, we'll give them a percent, they get $2,000, we'll give them a bigger number. So these Romans, these Jewish guys, they betrayed their nation. They would betray their own mother, they'd betray their own family, because they got a bigger commission, the nation hated them, and rightfully so, because they were helping the bad guys oppress them for their own gain. So the tax collectors were typically rich people, but very immoral people, typically. Well, Jesus goes up north to Galilee, you know, Jerusalem is more in the south, he goes up north to Capernaum, that's where his original ministry base was in Capernaum, up north, next to the Sea of Galilee. So Jesus goes up there, and he makes it his home base, for about a year and a half, and he's out one day, and he sees one of the main tax collectors in Capernaum. Everybody knows the tax collectors. They're mean dudes, and they're liars, and they really pressure you to get more money, and they use the force of the Roman government to take the money from you. So Matthew's walking, and everybody in town does not like Matthew, and the other tax collectors. Jesus comes by, he goes, Hey, young man, hey, I'd like to talk with you. I'd like you to join my team. Matthew's like, what? You're the famous new personality that's emerged in Israel with power and a lot of controversy, I don't quite join you? No, you really don't know who I am. I'm a bad guy. Jesus says, actually, I know more about you than you do. There's a deep cry in your heart for me. And the reason you're going from bad to worse, you've given up that there's ever a chance you could change, there's ever a hope that God would ever use you. Well, I've got good news for you, Matthew. I see your heart. I want you to join my team. Matthew's like, really? Jesus calls him to be an apostle. So in Matthew chapter 9, Matthew is telling the story. He throws a party. He's got this really big house. Why does he have a big house? Because he took all the money from everybody else. So he throws this party to say thank you to Jesus. He invites all of his friends, but he doesn't have normal friends. He's only got tax collector friends and harlots, the folks that are hung out together. He goes, come on in. Jesus walks in. He gets the whole story. Jesus looks at this big house, full of swindler, cheater, immoral people, and Jesus goes, this is amazing. What potential. If they could only see who they really are. Oh, I could show them a new way. And undoubtedly, many of them repented and gave their life to the Lord. But in this party, the Pharisees are really upset. They come marching in the house. You obviously don't know who this guy is. This guy broke my family's bank account. And he lied about it. He had the Roman power come in and back him up. And my family, my mother, and my siblings, their lives are in pain and suffering because of this man. Jesus goes, yeah, yeah, actually I do know that. But God has a bigger story for him. And Jesus made the famous statement. Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners. We've all heard that statement. Well, Matthew goes on and he quotes this phrase in verse 19 that Jesus said. Jesus is quoting from Hosea 6, an Old Testament prophecy. Prophet, I mean Hosea. Where Hosea said, way back in the Old Testament, God says, I desire mercy. So Jesus looking at all these tax collectors and these Pharisees are so mad because their lives are really hurt by these tax collectors. And Jesus said, I'm going to quote Pharisees of passage you know well. They all knew Hosea 6. I'm going to apply it to these harlots. I delight in mercy. I love it. If they will receive it, I love to give it. And I want you to join me in offering them mercy. And these Pharisees are bah humbug on steroids. What? No, I want you to join with me and desire that they would get mercy. Pharisees, no way. Now, here's the point I want to make. Is that Matthew tells the story of his party and his calling. Mark, the gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 2 tells the same story. Luke 5 tells the same story. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the same story. But Mark and Luke don't put this verse in. They don't put the verse in about God loving mercy. But Matthew's like, this is my life song. This is the number one thing he said at my party. Mark, Luke, how come you didn't write that in the gospel? That was the biggest point. Well, three or four months go by. Jesus is in the same area. Three or four months. Just down the road. The word's out. And he loves Hosea 6. I desire mercy. Now this time, the setting is very, very different. It's only three or four months later. Still up in Galilee, just outside Capernaum. The disciples are picking, plucking some of the grain to eat in a field. But it's a Sabbath. And the Pharisees are really upset because to pluck the grain was considered work by the Pharisees. And if they work, then God's going to judge them because they're breaking the Sabbath. So the Pharisees are really stirred up. They come, how dare you break the Sabbath? And Jesus says, well, they have not done anything wrong at all. Matter of fact, the Jews added 39 categories of work related to the Sabbath that aren't in the Bible. The Bible just said don't work. In other words, don't engage in your normal occupation. Take time out to rest and time out to engage with God, reflect on His word. That's what the Sabbath was about. I mean in the most simple terms. Rest in their body and time to reflect on God. Sabbath was a time to study the word and hear from God and build the godly character into your family, into the family culture, etc., etc. But the Jews added 39 categories of work. All these elaborate rules. I mean the tax code, you know, 500 pages, 20 books of new laws. Jesus said those laws aren't in the Bible. These men have done nothing and you've condemned them. Look at it. Matthew 12, verse 7. If you would know what I told you three or four months ago, back in Matthew 9, if you had known to go learn mercy, you wouldn't condemn my disciples right now because you're condemning them right now. Back in Matthew 9, the issue was they were relating to Matthew according to his failure. Matthew 12, they were criticizing people that did not honor and uphold their added religious codes in their culture. They had a religious culture with added codes beyond the word of God. They condemned and wrote people off if the people didn't buy into those codes. And Jesus said, it's the same reality. I want you to have a perspective called mercy. I want you to take a step back. I want you to look at humans through a lens of generosity. Don't write off Matthew in chapter 9 because of his sin and failure. And don't only see him in his sin. And don't write off people who don't embrace all the added extra rules you put in your religious culture. Because my guess is all the religious cultures, even in the kingdom of God, over years, over decades, and generations, things creep in that become more important than even biblical things. And the leaders are not even aware of it, but it creeps in. And people are rejected in a profound way. I mean they're condemned. I mean they're written off. They're called sinners. And Jesus said, don't do that. Now here's what I think is interesting. Matthew, only Matthew quotes this, I desire mercy. Luke and Mark again tell the same story that's told in Matthew 12 about them walking in the grain fields. But Luke and Mark don't tell that. Matthew goes, guys, Jesus said my main verse again. He goes, how come I can see Matthew in heaven? Mark, Luke, on both of those occasions when Jesus made that main statement, you didn't record it. Now maybe I'm way off and exaggerating on that point, but I think Matthew, this was his main song. You know, in the scripture, I don't know if this is a fact, I think it is, but you have to ask Matt Candler because he's kind of like an expert on all the songs in the old Psalms. But of all the songs in the Bible, I believe the number one song that's repeated the most amount of times that showed up at the critical occasions in Israel's history is the song, the Lord is good, his mercy endures. I think it's the most repeated, the most emphasized song in the whole Bible. Beloved, you know that's the song over the kingdom. God looks at your life with goodness in his heart. He's not looking at ways to crush you. He's looking at ways to rescue you. He's not looking at ways for you to crush or write off people. He's looking at ways to talk you in to being kind to them and embracing them. He's good. He's good in the way he treats you. He's good in the way he's motivating you to treat others and me. All of us are in this together. He's good. And his mercy endures. His mercy endures our failure. His mercy endures our sins. And our failure and our sin, it runs so far, but the blood of Jesus outruns it. Mercy endures it, passes it up, and defeats it entirely. And at the end of the day, mercy triumphs in the race. Beloved, this is the song over the whole kingdom of God. His mercy endures. It outran all of our sin and problems and our negativity. It outran us. It triumphed. It won the day if we said yes to it. But it's not just you saying yes to it for your life. He wants you to say yes to it for your family, the ones that are really bugging you, for the people in the marketplace, the kingdom relationships in ministries, the ones that have real weaknesses. He goes, no, no, I want mercy. I desire it. I delight in it and I desire it. Matthew got it. The most sinful of the apostles, whenever he had a chance, he injected that theme into the narrative. I mean, I love it. Matthew goes, that's my life story. I go, Matthew, I love you. Because Jesus said you're condemning people when you don't have a mercy paradigm. Because see, condemnation, it destroys people's confidence. It kicks people out. It kills their motivation. It injures relationship. Jesus says, I don't want you condemning like that. I desire mercy. I want those people renewed. Relationships rehealed. I want a new beginning. That's what I want. I don't want people writing people off and whispering about each other. My kingdom can't grow that way. He can't build big families that way. Let's look at the final verse, paragraph G. And on the backside is just added notes to develop paragraph G. I mean, the backside was so big and empty. I mean, that's torture for me to have an empty backside. So I had to put some verses on there. It just wasn't right. Anyway, we're ending here with John chapter 3, verse 27. What's the context? It's John the Baptist. John the Baptist is this prophet, as you know, that came on the scene of Israel like an exploding light. Suddenly, he's there preaching in the wilderness. Multitudes from all over the nation are gathering to hear him. He has a certain dimension of the power of God in his life. The Bible said he didn't do miracles, but his speaking had presence and power in it. Big crowds were coming. He was baptizing them. And the baptism, they would signify by going down the water and coming up. They were leaving their old life and they were embracing the free salvation of God and they were embracing his leadership over their life. That's what baptism meant in a very simplistic way. So he had crowds. Now Jesus is baptized and he's anointed by the Holy Spirit. Now the crowds have shifted from John to Jesus. John still has people coming, but his meetings are a lot smaller. The new church down the road is really growing big that's following Jesus. The new business down the road, the competitive business, is really getting all the customers. There's a lot of attention. So John's disciples, they come to him. John chapter 3 verse 26 and 27, they go, John, John, we've heard the story. The crowds are going there. The new business, the new ministry, the new school, the new music, the new album, the new, the new, whatever. It's growing, it's growing, it's growing. I'm sorry. John goes, sorry. What were you talking about? He goes, I know your crowds are diminishing. John goes, no, you don't understand. I don't mind. And he gives one of the most profound statements. He says in verse 27, he said, a man can't receive anything unless heaven grants it to him. Whatever the sphere of influence and authority that heaven grants, that's what heaven gives. He goes, I can't join you to go argue and stir up and network and try to get the crowd back. He goes, whatever sphere is mine, no man can take what has been given to me from heaven. But neither can I add to it through strife and debate. And, you know, in a campaigning, going on a campaign to get the crowd back. He goes, no, no, no. He goes, we don't do it that way. See, it's true that you can't make your sphere in God increase beyond what God wants. No matter how much human effort and conversations you have. It is what it is, but it's good because it's from God. But in the same way, your sphere can't be diminished by anybody either. This is a very King David kind of truth. You know, I love to say this about the life of King David. Nobody could stop David. Nobody. The enemy, King Saul, the jealous king, couldn't stop him with all of his army of 3,000 men trying to kill David. He couldn't do it. Because God's hand was on David. The Philistines couldn't stop David. The devil can't stop David. The only man that can stop David in the will of God is David by responding back. If David got into bitterness and David got into a wrong spirit, David can stop David. Beloved, nobody can add to your sphere and nobody can take from your sphere that's been given from heaven. And John was so comfortable in that. He was so relaxed. He goes, the sphere God gave me in His sovereignty, I rejoice in. Now, in Psalm 84, Lord, you saw me before so much in probably the first 20 years of my spiritual life. I quoted it, not every day, that's exaggerated, but many, many, many, many times. I would say, no good thing. I would speak the word over my heart. No good thing will God withhold if I will say yes to His leadership. Whatever He's ordained for me, it might be delayed, but it can't be stopped. Nothing can stop it. It's really saying the same thing John the Baptist is saying. You know, in the last 30 years, I've really grown to have more and more confidence in this reality just by looking and observing what God's done in my life and the life of others. Just observation, looking at my own history in God. The last 30 years, I've had a handful of occasions where a small group of people got together, put together some information to discredit me and pass it around as far as they could. It's happened a handful of times. Some of you have ran into it. And the Lord's always told me not to ever answer it. And I never have, by the grace of God. He just said, nobody can take your sphere, nobody can add to it or take from it if I gave it to you. You can do all the networking and campaigning, but you can't make your sphere bigger than what I ordained. And nobody can attack you and make it less. Now, people can attack and I can get more enemies, but I don't have less friends and I don't have less influence and I don't have less sphere of impact. Now, on the front end, I thought enemies, you know, handful of guys, write all this stuff, put it out. I thought they could infringe upon my sphere and diminish it. A couple of years go by, my sphere is stronger. Stronger. The favor of God is more manifest. I thought, I got more enemies, I got more hassles, but I got more favor in a larger sphere. I thought, oh, I thought they could stop it. The Lord says, no, no. They can't stop yours. You can't stop theirs. I've given every man and woman a sphere of influence. No devil can stop it. They can stop it by responding wrong. Well, I've had several bouts of that over the years on the front end. I used to take Psalm 84, no good thing, or Lord, whatever you've given me from heaven, no man could take. And I was fighting my way, climbing the ladder, so to speak, because I believed it to be true, but it didn't feel true. I felt more fearful. But the more I said it, it realigned my mind and declared the word, 10 years turns to 20, turns to 30 plus, I look back, and every little swirl and uprising of a few folks, I found out it can't touch what God has given me or anybody, but it's a kingdom principle. It's not related to me. It's true of you. So now, 40 years of ministry, I look back, I go, you know, they can do what they do. I'm going to give them mercy. I'm going to actually bless them. I'm going to move in the opposite spirit, because when I got my eyes on them as my source, I got fearful. When I got my eyes on the people resisting me, then I got critical. Then I got, ah, can you believe that? They did this. Did you hear that? And as the years unfold, and I would line myself up with the word of God and the sovereignty of God, I understood, again, they could create a few more hassles, but they can't make my influence decrease. It's given of God. Then I began to rejoice in giving mercy to those that are resisting me. Because I said, Lord, my heart is free if I could give him mercy. When I look at the people as my source instead of God, I get into fear and criticism. I get into anguish and pain. I get all preoccupied. When God is my source, it's this fear you gave me, God. Again, it could be kingdom, it could be kingdom business, it could be any kind of kingdom assignment this applies to. And I'm telling you, the way of life is the way of mercy. Because if I receive mercy and give mercy, even to my enemies, I bless them, even believers that are resisting me, I can bless them, do good to them, operate in the opposite spirit, my heart is alive in all the seasons, and I'm not afraid of enemies like I was in the early days. Because enemies, I thought, oh no, it's all over. 40 years later, I go, no, didn't change anything. Again, gave me a few more enemies and a little more humiliation, little more humility. But I don't have any less friends or any less influence. Lord, none of it hurt anything. And Lord says, yeah, that's what John understood way back then. That's what David understood. So delight in mercy. Where's your team coming up? Delight in mercy. Give mercy to the folks. Don't get caught in fear towards them. Don't get caught in criticism towards them. Don't whisper about them. Just bless them and let the Lord do with them what He does and hope for God's goodness in their life that they do this, that, and the other in their understanding and the Lord does good for them. And you can live with a free heart each step of the way. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord. Well, let's... I want to pray over lives. Some of you, every one of us in this room have a couple people bugging us. I mean, in our life. They're moving in and they're stopping some blessing in our life, we think. And I want us to shift and bless them. And a few of us have some people that are not bugging us but we look at them and we're whispering about them saying, oh, isn't it sad? And the Lord says, I really want you to stop that. I really want you to stop that. I want you to move in the opposite spirit. So I want us to, just as the worship team is going to lead us, just to come before the Lord. Bring those two or three names before the Lord right now. Just like present them before the Lord. Say, Lord, I bless them. I give them mercy. They're more than the one or two things they're doing that bother me. Their life story is bigger than that. Your heart for them is bigger than that. I desire mercy for them because you desire... I proclaim mercy over them. And I say the Lord is good. His mercy endures. His mercy outruns their sin, our sin. The mercy of God endures. That is our glory. And I want to invite anybody to come forward that would like to receive prayer. For the mercy of God to touch your body, to touch your heart, just to touch you and renew you in any way. And I want to also invite anybody in the room that maybe you've never, you've never given your life to the Lord. You can receive this mercy. It's a free gift right now. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection and He shed His blood, salvation is a free gift. You can receive it today. Literally, you can walk out of this building knowing you're in the Kingdom of God. I want to invite you to come forward too. And as people pray, just tell them, say, Hey, I want to know how this works. I want this salvation. And they can talk to you, give you more details. Anybody like prayer, I want you to come on up. Come stand on the front line if you would so the folks that come behind you can stand on the second line. Yeah. Father, we thank you for your mercy. Lord, we declare mercy. Mercy over your business. Mercy over your ministry. Mercy over your family. Your marriage. Mercy over your children. That child that's walking away from the Lord. We declare mercy over them. Beloved, our life is in the hands of our Maker. I'm not on my own understanding. My life is in the hands of the Maker. I give it all to you, God. Trust in that you'll make something beautiful out of me. I give it all to you, God. Trust in that you'll make something beautiful out of me. I'm not on my own understanding. Mercy will free your heart towards other people. My life is in the hands of the Maker. You can enjoy the Lord even with enemies in your life. I'm not on my own understanding. My life is in the hands of the Maker. I give it all to you, God. Trust in that you'll make something beautiful out of me. Yes, I give it all to you, God. Trust in that you'll make something beautiful out of me. So I extend mercy. Mercy. Yes, I extend mercy. To the people that bother me, I give them mercy. I extend mercy. I declare mercy over their life. I extend mercy. I speak blessing over them. Oh, God, I know I can trust you with my life. The stars don't look so beautiful to me. Oh, we love your leadership, Jesus. We just speak the triumph of mercy in those relationships. Mercy will triumph. Mercy restores. You show me grace. You show me love. I want love like you. I want love like you, Jesus. You give to mercy. Undeserving mercy. You show me kindness. You show me love. You delight. You delight in mercy. You delight in me, love. You show mercy, Lord. You delight in mercy. You delight in giving. You delight in giving mercy. You delight in giving love. You delight in giving mercy. You delight in giving love. You delight in giving mercy.