In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of being open and receptive to God's word. He highlights how God often uses uncomfortable circumstances to make us more tender and attentive to His message. The speaker references Jesus as the fulfillment of the law of love and emphasizes the need to walk in the spirit rather than the flesh. He also discusses the significance of Jesus preaching outside of the church, suggesting that sometimes God takes us out of our familiar surroundings to help us truly hear and listen.

Well, um, you know, we're, we're, hey there, we're back in the back of Matthew, um, but, uh, you know, I just, um, um, I want to give a couple little testimonies of things that have gone on in my life, uh, two things from last week. Last Monday, um, I had lunch with one of the teachers at the school where my kids go to school, and the one teacher was Sam's basketball coach, and somewhere around the end of the, of, uh, of the, um, um, season, there was an afterward dinner for all the kids, and we all get together at this little restaurant and, and have dinner, and, uh, and somehow he got to asking Rebecca, well, what exactly does Andy do? And she said, well, you know, but, but, but somehow they got interrupted. He said, I want to have lunch with them. So, so we got together and had lunch, and there was a couple things I really appreciated, and I've never really seen this done before. Maybe all y'all do it or whatever, but, uh, we sat down, and the waitress comes up, and her name was Brandy, and he said, Brandy, he said, um, when, when our lunch comes out, I make it a habit of just praying over our meal, and when I do, is there anything that, that, that you would need me to pray for? And I guess I'd never heard it done like that, and I just really appreciated that. He just, it was so, he wasn't preaching at anybody. He just said, is there anybody, any needs that you have that we can pray for? And she was a little taken back, and she said, well, she said, and she just said, I need to make a hundred dollars today. She said, I'm working, I'm working a double shift, and I have an insurance and she was young, I mean, probably, you know, 20s, probably going to the junior college there, and she said, I've got a car insurance payment and something else that I'm paying, and, uh, and so you'll pray that I, by the end of this day, that I get my hundred dollars. Well, what was neat was the week before, somebody handed me a hundred dollar bill, and I kept it in my pocket, you know, just had it there, I didn't spend it or anything, and immediately when she said that, I thought, I got a hundred dollar bill in my pocket, and so we have our lunch and stuff, and we'll pay for lunch, and then, you know, I just pull out and slip it behind the receipt, and we still talked for a long time after dinner, and finally she came, and she said, come on, can I pick up the receipt or whatever, and I said, oh sure, and she looks at her, and she says, no, she says, I can't receive this, and I said, well, of course you can, and she said, oh no, no, she just was flabbergasted, and it was amazing, him asking her what we could pray for, God already knew before that moment came that there was going to be a need and put a hundred dollar bill in my pocket, you know, if she'd asked for, she said, I need 50, I might have thought to myself, I'll only give an extra tip, you know, ten dollars or something, but because I'm, it just was all put together, and I said to her, listen, God's smiling upon you, and he wants you to be able to work the rest of this day without the burden of having to make whatever you think you've got to make, and he wants you to be at peace. I mean, tell you what, she came over that table, and she grabs me, and she just can't let go, and then she goes the other side of the table, and she grabs the other guy, she grabs him and just can't let go, and it was the neatest thing, but in that moment, I couldn't see, you know, it was coming down the road, and it was such a joy just to do that, and just, you know, to know you've been a part of something. Well, a friend of mine that, when I was a youth pastor here in Houston, he was part of the youth group, well, now he's got a family and works here in town, and we've started meeting at Starbucks in the mornings, and he started going to this church, and this church has a certain day that, I guess, every year, like, you've got to have it turned in by this year, but he said, he said, you know, this church I started going to become a member at, he said, you know, they allow their parishioners, whatever, to put in ministries that they care about, and then the church, 20% of it, they kind of give out to whatever they pray over, and then whatever ministry they're allowed to give, they do, so he sent me this application. I don't ever do things like that, and I thought, well, you know, this person's really into this, and I thought, so I sat with her back, and how can I answer this, and so we get to the question, and it says, why should we as a church give support to what it is God's called you to do, and the testimony I give is this, my boast is in the Lord, and he's the source, and I was just able to say, I can't think of any reason you should be giving to us, and the only reason, I mean, I'm throwing this out as a favor to a dear friend that goes to your church, and I just bless whoever you give to, and if God leads you to give, you're wonderful, you know, but when there's not a hook in it, you know, when you're not looking to people to be your source of provider, then it totally leaves you at liberty to be honest and be yourself, you know, and so I just, I just want to say, I boast in the name of Jesus, because any need that we've ever had that was genuine need, he's always met, and even to the point of sitting at a restaurant and being able to pass something along, and I've got a dear friend who's been a mentor in my life, who lives in Alabama, his name's Bob McLeod, he always puts it this way, it's always stood in my mind, he always says, we're just switching seats on the Titanic, it's all going down, you know, and he always says that when we're buying lunch, and one of us is going to pick up the tab for each other, and whoever gets it, he always says, it's just, you know, it's all going down with the Titanic, we're just switching seats, and so anyway, you know, but when you can hold things loosely, and just go about being content with whatever it is he's given you, and whatever it is he's called you to do, then you can love people, and just walk where he's called you to walk. So let me ask you one question. Yes. Who do you think had more joy, you or the waitress? I think we shared the same, yeah, you know, I think that she got the joy of receiving and knowing that, and this is what I wanted to explain to her, that God heard her cry, and he just happened to put two people here that could meet it, you know, and for us, it's the joy, not of really giving it, it was to be the conduit through which God met me, you know, and it just makes life beautiful, that's the joy of the journey. So as we come to Matthew, and again, just, I'm not going to go through all the Beatitudes like this time, like I have each time as we've gone through it, because we've, I think we've gone through all of them, but you know, just in kind of getting started, as we look at this, first of all, we find that Jesus comes out of the temple, and he comes out to a common mount, and the crowds begin to follow him, and again, I always find it interesting that this first documented message or teaching, you know, he gives outside, you know, it's a very unfamiliar place you would think for him to be preaching. It seems like the perfect place for him to do it is inside the church, and how that relates to me, and there's a lot of ways you can look at it, but sometimes God has to take us out of what's familiar to us, in order to cause our hearts to be sensitive, willing to hear and listen. So many times when we're in the familiar, our eyes are closed because of what we're used to, and we just overlook things, and sometimes God causes circumstances and situations to get us in places where we're uncomfortable, and we're not sure, and it makes us a little bit more tender to what's going on. So they're out there in this place, and they're hearing this man speak, and this is the man that they heard about from John the Baptist, who comes to take away the sin of the world. This is the man whom John said, this is the Lamb of God. This is the one I've been telling you about. This is also the man that you hear rumors about, that had gone to a wedding with his disciples, and they had run out of wine, and he turned water into wine. This is also the man that you hear rumors about. That was the guy that was in the sanctuary. He was in the temple, and he stood up in front of everybody, and he opened up the book of Isaiah, and he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me to bind up the brokenhearted, to preach the favorable year of the Lord, to open up blind eyes, to open up deaf ears, to give the gospel to the poor, and now here we are listening to him, and he starts off this message, and he says, blessed, happy, and I believe, this is my opinion, maybe it's because as I'm going through it, everything I talk about from this point on, always takes me back to this verse, and I think you'll see why later today. Blessed, happy are the poor in spirit. The ones who have been brought to a place of spiritual poverty, to where no longer do they think within themselves, I can fix it, I can do it. They begin to extend their hands, God help me, you know. I'll tell you, just as a parent, and all of us, you know, face this in relation to children. You know, we had a big, we call it our come to Jesus meeting sometimes, when things were going on in the household, and just got everybody together, and everybody's got different ways that they relate to things, but with our children, we just said, listen, I want to set just a basic rule across the board. We don't do spend the nights. Do spend the nights for our household. Listen, there's nothing that goes on late at night, other than needs to be sleeping, and I'll come pick you up at 9 30 at night, and you can stay until then, or 10, but I'm gonna bring you home, and at this age, you're gonna stay in our home, in our beds, and that's kind of just laid across the board, because you know, at this age, there's some elementary school, he wants to spend the night so-and-so, and all this kind of stuff, but that's just what God put in our heart. Well, then you go through all the, you know, struggles, and our girls are wanting this, and that, and this, and that, but I remember there's some things came up this week, and Rebecca and I got to talk, and I said, you know what? What gives me peace is that I'm not their Savior. I'm their Father, and to the best I know how, I want to try and hear the Lord to meet their needs, and to lead them, and guide them through this journey, but you know what? Ultimately, I've got to turn loose of them to the Lord, because only He can turn and change their heart, and I love something someone shared with me one time out of Proverbs. You ever heard this passage? It says, do not become surety for your neighbor. I don't know about you, but every time I've ever heard that passage, it's always in relationship to don't cosign for people, you know, and if somebody said this, they said, maybe it could also mean don't take responsibility for someone else's life, you know. How many times do you and I take false yokes of having to change somebody's heart, or having to fix somebody's life? You can't do that. Only God can do that. Your part is to be in relationship to Him, and when He says, speak, speak. When He says, meet a need, meet a need. When He says, do it, that's your part, but only God, at least in my household, only God's going to save my children, you know. Only He can provide the circumstances where their eyes become open to see Him. My part's to pray for them when He shows me how to speak into their life, but I'm going to tell you, a lot of times we carry this weight upon our shoulders, and we begin through fear to control, and try to control the environment, and I find that even in our house. Sometimes Rebecca and I will get in the same, but we're trying to, you know, the internet and stuff with kids, and now, you know, kids have iPhones in the fourth grade and stuff, and you know, none of us, if I look around, well, not Caleb, a couple of y'all maybe, because y'all are in this generation, none of us had iPhones in high school and junior high. That came out, you know, at least for me when I was like 19 or 20, you know, that stuff came into this, so now it's a whole new thing of trying to figure out how to get through this, and how to speak life, but you know what, you can soak it in out of fear, where you're trying to control everything, that you absolutely drive them into the very thing that you're afraid of, and guys, listen, we've got to bring those things to the altar and say, God, I want to put my confidence in you, and I'm going to pray for my children, that you will meet them, and it doesn't have to be just children, it's whatever it is that's bringing fear into your life. You can't carry that yoke, only God can, and he says you can trust me with it, so I don't know how I got into all that, but as we get into this next part, I'm going to read verses 17 through 26, all right, and then we're not going to talk about all of it, but we're going to hit a couple main spots. It says, do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Now let me ask you this, because this is what I asked my children just recently. We were reading through Proverbs when I talked about the law. Guys, and I'm asking you to answer it, whenever you hear the word law, where does your mind go to? My children said government, and one of my children said rules. Well, all that's right, but when you read it in the scriptures, it's talking about love. You know, Jesus summed up all the ten commandments in this one thing, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. When you see the law, he's speaking about that law of love, and Jesus came to fulfill that law, but without going through all these different things. In Romans chapter 8, you know what it also says? That this law will be fulfilled in you, who walk not in the flesh, but in the spirit, and we're going to see as we progress through this, the end result of this gospel is Christ formed in you, and he's allowing the circumstances of our life to press us, not because he's looking over saying, shame on you, I didn't know that was in your heart, because he's trying to purify and cause us to begin to see why is that resentment there. When I bring that to you, change my heart, turn me to this walk of love, and I want you to know before we get into this, guys, this journey of faith, this journey, this walk with Christ is a supernatural walk. We've taken Christianity, and we've tried to put it in this box, where we just, you know, if you can't do it, then surely God didn't mean it. Guys, surely God didn't mean it, you know, because listen, you know, as we look at this, we're going to see some hard things, and the first thing we're going to deal with tonight is anger. Listen, he says, if it, he says, the law says you shall not commit murder, but I say to you, if you've got anger in your heart, and we're going to look at that, you've already committed this act. Well, Andy, come on, we all get angry, we all have anger, surely God didn't mean that. Surely we live in this age of grace where really it doesn't matter. We just do the best we can, and that's what we've confined it to, but I want to tell you, keep your finger there, because I think this is important. Look with me in Titus 2. I think we have to look at what is grace. Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 2. What is grace? And we learn to say these words, what's God's unmerited favor? What does that mean? You know, we use this terminology, and the reason I want to talk about grace real quickly is because it's God's divine influence upon our heart to do in us that which we are totally incapable of doing ourself, and so when we see the standard of his word, we look at it, and we go, well, that's impossible, and God says, yes, it is, and I intended for that to be that way, because you have to come to the end of yourself, and this promise is fulfilled through faith. Your part and my part is to begin to trust our heavenly father to take this self-centered heart and to turn it into the absolute nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is love. That's supernatural, and I'll tell you, if we will trust him, he will do it. Titus chapter 2, starting in verse 11, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, so what is the grace of God doing? It's bringing salvation to all men, all right? What does it look like? Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself the people for his own possession, and sell us for good deeds. Now, think about this. Here comes grace. Here I come to the Lord, and through whatever the circumstances of my life, I begin to cry out, and I call on the name of the Lord. God hears my cry, and he begins to attend to my voice, and he gives me grace, and for the first time in my life now, I begin to walk, and all of a sudden, things begin to happen like they did before. All of a sudden, somebody, let's say you live your life up to this point with a chip on your shoulder. You've had people that have done you wrong, and you've always got this big thing, and something talks to you all the time. So-and-so's against you. Everybody's out to get you. All of a sudden, somebody says something, and you're in the midst of retaliating, and grace says, stop that. Wait a minute. I've always done that before. I've always taken the weapons of the natural man, whatever that is. Be quiet. Give him the cold shoulder, or it might be an outburst. That's how I've always controlled or taken advantage of or whatever, and now grace says, stop. It's showing me ungodliness. You can't walk that way anymore. A righteous man falls seven times. It keeps getting up. Grace keeps teaching us, and then grace says, not only am I telling you what's wrong, I'm going to instruct you in righteousness. I'm going to begin to show you to forgive. I'm going to begin to show you how to overcome. A great illustration of this, which some of you heard before, is if I was driving, and I saw an old chair on the side of the road, and I pick up that chair, and it's all beaten down. It's somebody else's trash, and I bring it into my home, and I set it there for my wife. I don't want that old chair in the house. It's torn up. It's ripped up. It's broken. She wants it out of the house. All of a sudden, I say, well, wait a minute. I throw a blanket over the top of it. Well, the chair hasn't changed, and just because I throw a blanket over the top of it doesn't mean it's comfortable or somebody can sit in it or that it's presentable to sit in the house, and a lot of times that's what we take with this idea of grace. We just throw it over things with no intention to change. Let me tell you, here's what grace does. It takes the chair outside, and it begins to remove the old stuffing. It begins to sand down the legs. It begins to add new screws and put in new stuffing and new upholstery. It begins the process of changing the chair and making it where it's usable to be able to sit back in the home, and the same way with our life. Here's what grace has come to do. It takes us as we are, broken vessels filled with a lot of heartaches and pains and defense mechanisms, and he says, I'm going to take you step by step, and if you'll let me, I'm going to begin to bring healing and wholeness, and the end result is going to be a life that is conformed to the nature of the one who saved it, the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, so back to Matthew 5. All right, so he says he came to fulfill this law. Verse 18, truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one smallest letter or stroke should pass away from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever teeps and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now stop there for a moment. Think about this. Think about the audience that he's talking to. All right, the audience he's talking to are those that have come out of the temple. They're walking with him. The disciples that have gathered around him are the fishermen and the tax gatherers, you know, the ones that have been telling the off-color jokes, the ones that have been, you know, just rough, and they, you know, maybe they just, they're the common folk that are living just everyday lives, and they're gathered around him, and now he looks at him and he says, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of God. You ever thought about how hopeless that sounds? Think about the pharisees. Listen, those who were pharisees spent their lives memorizing the first five books of the Old Testament. I can understand trying to memorize Genesis, maybe even Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and Deuteronomy. You've got to be dedicated, you know, you've got to be given to it, and all of a sudden Jesus is comparing them. He's saying, listen, unless your righteousness, see the temple over there we just came out of? Unless your righteousness surpasses those of the ones who are leaders and teachers within there, you're not going to enter the kingdom of God. Can you imagine in their heart, it's like, what just happened? We were hearing blessed and happy, and now we've come to this spot. We've come to the end of ourself, and God, we're hopeless unless, unless you do something, and then he goes immediately and he begins to attack self-righteousness, and he says, verse 21, you have heard that it was from the ancients, that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, but whoever commits murder shall be guilty, or shall be liable, or no, you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court, but I say to you, now think about this when you hear the law is passed away. He stops there and he says, listen, you've heard that it was said, you shall not murder. I'm going to tell you, can you see, because the Pharisees and Sadducees, they always follow the crowds to see what's going on. Can you see them in the back, and they're going, I'm glad I'm not like the rest of these people. I'm not, I'm glad I'm not like the old fisherman that's had a rough life and has done some things in his life. God looks at me a little differently, and all of a sudden, in that one moment when, when he feels comfortable within himself, grace comes, the law of grace, and he strips away that outward coat of self-righteousness, and he exposes the truth of the fact that all of us are monsters of iniquity. Now listen, I'm going to tell you guys, I know that, I know there's some things I know that I know that I know. When we come to the realization that every man, we know this in our head, we come to the realization that every man has been touched with a tragedy of sin. Then who do we have to be inferior to? We're all struggling, and we've all been touched by sin, and the wages of it in our life. Even if you have a, even if you have a brown shirt, and you're out teaching the Bible, I'm going to tell you what, we've all been touched by the tragedies. We've all done things that have harmed or hurt other people, or said words that have broken hearts, or whatever the case might be. We all stand unjust before God, and we are monsters of iniquity. And guys, if we don't come to the place where we allow all self-righteousness to be moved from our life, then we will always stand with a stone ready to throw at somebody else. Paul says, and I always come back to this point, he says, God saved me as a pattern. First Timothy chapter one. What is a pattern? It's something you look at, and you get a basic general idea of what it looks like. And he says, I am the chiefest of sinners. Really? Listen, I can take you into the prisons, and I can compare lives. Paul was a religious man, a Pharisee of Pharisees, born a Hebrew. Even into the law, as he saw it in his darkened understanding, he thought he was perfect, because he hadn't murdered, he hadn't committed adultery, he hadn't done these things. But in one moment, as he was on his way to do a religious, zealous deed, thinking he was pleasing God by stamping out heresy, a light shone, and for the first time in his life, he saw himself as God saw him. All self-righteousness was removed, and he saw himself as undone and without hope. And in that place, can you imagine what we should, we all should be able to imagine, we ought to be able to know, what it's like to know that the full wrath of God is upon your life, and God is just in condemning you to the sentence of hell. Have we really come to that place, or do we still find ourselves thinking, well, I know that intellectually, but really God should be grateful that I came to follow him. You know what I mean? Paul says, I'm the chiefest of sinners. And in this place, listen, when self-righteousness was removed, he said, listen, it's not just whether you've murdered somebody, that was never the intent of the law. The intent of the law, even in the Old Testament, they just couldn't see it, was aiming at the heart. It's what's going on inside the heart of man. And he says in the next verse, verse 22, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever shall say to his brother, Arachah, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court, and whoever shall say, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Do you see the progression of this anger? Now, let me give you a personal example. I don't know if I shared this story with everybody, but about August of last year, my wife, while I was in Houston, had taken our son bathing to get, what do you call the inoculations? Immunizations. Now, listen, everybody has their own belief about all these things, and our belief is we wanted to wait until they had to have them. Our mindset was so their bodies could be more adjusted rather than as babies. All of ours have had their shots, but we waited until they go into school. So, Baden had gotten a bunch of shots, but he needed one last shot. And so we began to ask, because our doctor had moved to Colorado, so we said, so somebody gave us the name of a Christian doctor who's real involved at the school and does a bunch of things in Africa, you know, things like that, in this orphanage and stuff. So, we were excited, went there, and I get this call from a wife. First time, the only time in 15 years my wife has ever called me in absolute tears because of the way that somebody had treated her, and just made her feel like a fool, and she was in there to get the shot, and I just can't believe parents that do this. I won't even treat a parent that doesn't do it as children, just goes to, and she just takes her, she just walked out. And when she called me in absolute tears, I'm going to tell you as a husband, what was going on in my heart. I was already planning out the next day, I'm going to that man's office, and I want him to see my face, that I'm her husband, and I don't, you know, I was going through all the things I'm going to say to her, to him, and all the things, and you know what? It started off with a little bit of just being upset, and then as I began to feed it, it became anger, and then as I began to feed it, it was becoming more rage against this man, and what he's done to my family, to my wife. Fortunately, at that moment, I stopped, and I remember Rebecca and I on the phone, and then we did it later when I got home. We just got on knees, and we prayed for this man, God bless him, and Lord help us to forgive, and to turn loose. You know, you think it's all settled and done, you're just going on, I've never seen the guy. Well, this African Children's Orphanage Choir just came into town, and they were sharing different places, and so Monday night, my family, we all went to go see the Children's Choir. All of a sudden, this doctor gets up to introduce it, and Rebecca, I didn't, I don't know who it is, Rebecca does me like that, she says, that's him. Do you know, in that moment, for the next, it was an hour long, about the next 20 minutes, I really, I mean, I don't know how, I really was, I was doing the eye, you know, just looking, trying to, as long as he was up there talking, I wanted him to look at me, and I wanted to pierce through him. I wanted to look right through his eyes, his soul, you know, and I found myself struggling with this anger, because he infringed upon my family, and I felt like unjustly handled my wife in a very unkind way, and all the thoughts in my mind were arrogance and all this stuff. All of a sudden, God, here I am, studying this, about to teach and share, and I just, what's that in your heart? And you know what, Andy? You don't know what he was going through that day. You don't know what he was experiencing. You don't know if that's the practice of his life. You don't know if maybe he was overwhelmed by things, and you just caught him in a bad moment, and here you are, planning murder in your heart. Not murder and trying to kill him, but murder and trying to cut him off. I hope I never see this man again. I'm going to tell you guys, we have justified some things in our heart in the way that we have cut people off. We have excused things by just, I just won't go that way anymore. I just won't put myself around that person anymore, and what we've done is we've created this box in which we put them in, and what we've done, if we're honest, we've murdered them in our heart. We've cut them off from our life. It might be a parent. I'm going to tell you, we're given these opportunities all the time, and the opportunities, listen, are divine moments that God's saying, I'm trying to teach you how to walk in love. Just this weekend, my wife's parents were up, and my wife's mother, she is a mother hen, and she loves everybody until you mess with one of her children, and she will take you out, and so for 15 years, obviously what I do, I travel, and this week, this Sunday, somebody let the cat out the bag, and Rebecca just shook her head, but next week, I'm going to be in Alabama for a wedding, and she found that out. Of course, Rebecca's pregnant. She started chewing on me, and there were other friends around. She just started chewing, so much so that everybody got feeling uncomfortable, and I just tried to keep quiet, and it was really an uncomfortable thing, but you know what? It was a moment for me again, and again, and again. Don't fight back. Forgive. It's your opportunity. Guys, do you know when Jesus was on the cross, do you know how love was demonstrated? Father, forgive them. How many opportunities do you and I have to say, Father, forgive them, but instead, we call down angels. We call down fire from heaven. I'm going to tell you, the scripture has a lot to say about anger, and we really do. We overlook it. We think to ourselves, well, everybody does it. Well, it's just a part of life. Well, it is. I agree with that, but I'm going to tell you, the miracle of this gospel is he wants to change our hearts. He wants to take anger out of our hearts. Look with me in James. Well, let's finish that passage in Matthew 5, and then we'll look a little bit at anger. It says, verse 22, but I say to you that everyone who is, okay, verse 23, if therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there, remember, your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Now, listen right here. It's interesting. You know, the issue is relationship. It's not about whose fault it is, all right? The issue is relational, and all of a sudden, he says, here you are presenting your offering at the altar, and you know somebody else has offense against you. He says, leave your offering there. Go to this one. Seek peace. I'm going to tell you, because people always start asking the question, what do you do when you do all these things? Listen, I can't respond for somebody else. The issue is my heart toward others, all right? In my heart, am I allowing a place of offense? Have I done everything that I can without shifting the blame? To make sure that I've tried every avenue of being at peace with others. I'm going to tell you, you know, I can tell you a hundred stories, but I'm grateful at this point today. If I drive home tonight, and I don't make it home, I truly cannot think of anybody that has art against me or me against them. Now, does that mean I don't have opportunities where those things come, and I've had to go to people? No, but the question is, in every one of our lives, is relationship important to you? Do you love people, and we should, as much as good? Well, we're growing in this, where we begin to love people in the same way God does. Doesn't mean that everybody sees things from your perspective, but have you done what you can to walk at peace with each person? Now, you're going to have people that are hostile against you. Paul said, remember Alexander the coppersmith who rose up against me? Yeah, there's going to be, and always keep in mind, you're not fighting flesh and blood. I was talking to somebody today. You've got to keep in mind with your, um, this situation, that when that's coming through, you're not fighting that person. You're in a place of spiritual battle, and we forget that, and we start picking up our weapons, and we start duking it out, revenge for revenge, slap for slap, fight for fight, and we forget the fact that, guys, this is a spiritual, I'm going to tell you, I do not know how any of us can walk through this world if you and I don't constantly remind yourself that this is a spiritual walk. Every thought coming, and we're going to talk more about this next week, but every thought coming into your head doesn't belong to you. You ever know Ephesians 5 when it talks about the flaming missiles of the evil one? Is he talking about, you know, in Russia, they've got these big missiles, and that's the idea? No, is he talking about North Korea? He's talking about what are the flaming missiles, the thoughts that come into your mind, and the accuser is always standing there ready. When you have a thought of anger, unforgiveness, or bitterness, or resentment, or jealousy, or envy, or whatever, this thought comes into your mind, and the accuser's always sitting there waiting. I can't believe you'd have such a thought. I don't want anybody raising their hands. I'm just asking something for thought. How many of us, when we're honest, have had thoughts in our mind that we're grateful nobody knows about? And I'll answer that question, all of us. Now, all of a sudden, that subtle lie of the enemy, I can't believe you'd have that kind of thought. The thought is temptation, and as long as you live in this world, there are going to be flaming missiles that come toward your mind. It's what you do with that thought. I resist that right now. Listen, as I walk throughout my day, it's become a habit of my life. You can't see it, and it can be happening as I'm sitting in this place. I reject that. I resist that. I choose not to walk in unforgiveness. I choose not to take that personally. I choose to love this person no matter what. I choose not to let my mind go toward those thoughts. I reject that. The scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 10, we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, the thought of pride. How many times has pride come into our life? And you know what? When you're sensitive, you know it when it's happening. It can be educationally. It can be athletically. It can be spiritually. Listen, I can get into a place with a conversation with somebody, and I can think to myself, I know what they do. You know what that is? It's pride. Or how about, I don't have to listen to this person. He's been in prison all his life. What right does he have to say anything to me? What that is, it's pride. Do you know in prison, those guys will listen. I pray to the Spirit of God, and they're measuring things out, but they hear what I say. I'm going to tell you, there's such an absolute gratitude across the crowd. Do you know what's amazing? A man in white stands up, and immediately, they were just talking about this Tuesday night. One of the guys was bringing this out. Immediately, there's a wall. He doesn't have anything to say. He's part of us. He doesn't have anything to say to me. It's pride. If somebody cannot speak to your heart, I'm going to tell you one of the things that happens in the church. We begin to create the church like a business, and I've been in it before. The one at the top, he's got the elders, and under them, you've got the deacons, and under them, you've got the staff, or however it works. I remember one time being in one of these businesses. I said, wait a minute. What about somebody here who needs to talk to somebody there? No, no, no. That's not the avenue you go through. Well, I understand that things can get really busy, but what if this person hasn't worked for that person? If I get to the place in my journey where I can't hear a word from the most unlikely place, and what I'm listening to is pride. I'm going to tell you, when you read through the scriptures, God always seems to choose the most unlikely vessels to speak His word. That's why God's raising up men in prison. I'm telling you, He's raising them up because their lives have been so defiled, and their bodies have been so touched with the paint, and the scars, and the tattoos, and big snakes. I've got a friend that absolutely loves Jesus. He's literally got a cobra tattooed to the side of his face, and his mouth opens up right here with the tongue going right there. Who's going to listen to him? The humble, because the humble are listening for God. It's just like God to choose somebody like that and put him in your midst, because He hides His word from the proud, and He reveals His word to the humble. A humble man is always listening. Look with me in James chapter... Oh, I just keep going off on these little rabbit trails. We'll finish up verse... One of the things I find interesting here, verse 23, if therefore... Matthew 5, Matthew 5, verse... Leave your offering. Verse 25, make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you shall not come out of there until you have paid out the last cent. You know what's interesting there as I think about that, is that it starts off, you're at the altar, and you're praying, and you remember somebody has offense against you. It concludes with you're the one being actually put on trial. If somebody has offense, you go to them, but it says make friends with your opponent, lest your opponent turns you over, you know, and I don't know all that that means. I just found it interesting that at first, it seems like you're the one doing good, and somebody else has a problem, and next thing you know, you're the one that's in the issue that's being turned over. All right, whenever you allow bitterness to have a place in your heart and unforgiveness, whenever you allow anger to come into your heart in relationship with somebody else, it's going to put you into a place of torment. How many of us have spent the evening in our bed having conversations with people that aren't there, arguing with them, and thinking about their argument back to us, and how we're going to respond to them, and we're constantly going over this in our head, and the answer is, God, I forgive. I choose to release them of the bitterness, the anger that's within my own heart. I want to finish up with this last verse from James chapter one, and Ephesians chapter five. I'll look at real quick. You got it? Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6 verse 16, in addition to all taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish the flaming missiles of the evil one. James chapter one, and look with me in verse 12. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Now, as we move forward from that, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. I think it's interesting that this follows into a passage in just a moment about anger and wrath. However, I just want to make this point that when you're in the midst of trial, there's a perseverance to it because there's a suffering involved. Whenever you and I are resisting the temptation to walk in the natural man in the flesh, there's always going to be suffering. I'm going to tell you, you will never, and you can write this down, you will never be free from those that are your friends. And what I mean, I don't mean that, I'm not just talking about physically, outwardly, but as long as anger is a friend to you, and do you know anger can become a friend? Anger just pats you on the back and tells you you've got a reason to be angry. Look what they've done to you. Look, they should have done this, and they didn't. Anger always excuses you and points the finger towards somebody else, and it just pats you on the back, and it tells you you are justified in your anger. All of a sudden, as you begin to resist that, there's a suffering that takes place. I'm going to tell you, in relationship to this doctor that talked to my wife, I felt kindly. I felt justified in my reason to be angry. I felt righteously indignant. This is my wife. I'm the husband. I'm the protector of my home. I need to step in there, and I need to do this. We're going to see in a moment the wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. And when I know God to be our protector and our keeper, and I release that to him, and I forget it releases him to begin to work salvation, healing, deliverance, and lives of others. But as long as I'm excusing the anger of my life, and I'm giving place to it, in that place, I've become in bondage to it. And you know what, guys? It's destroying me. And I'll bet you, and I know there's a couple of doctors, and maybe some of the other are somehow part of that profession. So much sickness in our life is created by bitterness, anger, stress. There's so many other things that can be added to it. I'm not saying all sickness, but I think everybody would agree. There are things that go on in our physical body because of anger or bitterness in our life. And he's saying, listen, you got to forgive. You're the one being in bondage. Even in a church, guys, listen, for a while, there was a little place I was pastoring, and there weren't but eight people for the most part in this little body. You know what's amazing? With eight people, there were still offenses and an unwillingness to sit by each other. How do you hide from things with eight people? I understand in a big place, you just hide someplace. Eight people, and we can't work it out and forgive and just, you know, turn it loose and let it go and choose to bless. No, no. Because I'll tell you what, it's an act of the heart. God, I choose to walk with you. And I'm going to tell you, if you and I would choose to say, God, I look at that, and it says that to have anger in my heart is the same as murder. And as it progresses in my heart, it means, you know, if I let this have place, it's going to continue to ferment inside of me. And so God, I don't know how to overcome. But Lord, I believe your word, and I want to step into the light. And when I'm angry at this person, I'm just telling you what my operation was Monday night. And I'm smiling, but I'm looking. I'm thinking to myself, I'm angry at him. But when I come to you in faith, and I'm asking, I see it because I'm studying it. And I agree with your word that it's not right. Help me to turn loose of this in my heart. I'm going to tell you, listen, guys, sometimes it happens immediately. If you look it up later, First Peter chapter five, where it says the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. Listen, when those flaming darts come at you, resist it, firm in your faith. But then it says this, after you have suffered for a little while, how long is a little while? Well, here's a good illustration. How many of you have had this happen? Somebody, I come in and I see Carla, and she walks straight over to George. And something begins to say to me, she looked right at you and she just ignored you. She talks to everybody else. She doesn't want to talk to you. All of a sudden, you can hear this case is starting to build. Now, in the past, I used to take that to heart. You know what? Because I used to live with a chip almost, not this time. God, I resist. And all of a sudden, it's gone. You go on about your day, and you talk to Carla, and then you just totally let it go. It's gone for a little while. But how many times it's all of a sudden that same thing happened, and you say, God, I forgive. And I turn that loose. She probably didn't even realize. And you're walking, trying to talk over here, and that thing keeps talking to you. She doesn't like you anymore. She prefers everybody else. If she really liked you, she didn't talk to you when you come in. And you say, I don't receive that. I reject that right now. I'm trying to care. I don't receive that. And then it's later. She's not even there anymore. You're going someplace else. You're laying at night. And all of a sudden, you're seeing this image. You're laying there in bed. She walked right past you. You were in front of George. She didn't even say anything to you. And it just starts going. It goes on and on and on. Now, listen, guys. That in itself is not a sin. You're in a battle. And sometimes that struggle of suffering can go on and on and on. But there's a point where it says, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, where do we start today? Grace, will himself strengthen, establish, confirm, and sow. See, guys, that's how we're growing. That's why we have hope in the midst of our trial. God, this is for my good. You are strengthening me in my inner man. Second Corinthians chapter four, these momentary light afflictions are working for me an eternal weight of glory. While I look not at the things which are seen, which are temporal, but I look at the things that are unseen, which are eternal. God, you are working righteousness out in me. And so what I have hope in my sufferings. Now, listen, a lot of times we hear the word sufferings and we think of Syria. Now, listen, there is a genuine suffering going on there. And I want to encourage everybody. And I'm just, you know, because Sylvia has asked this and you just go however you're led. But they've asked for a day of prayer fasting on May 11th. So I share that with you. You take part however you choose to take part in it. I want to take part in it God chose me how to take part. But there's a genuine suffering. And I want you to know the suffering they're going through, though different. It's not any more in God's eyes and the suffering you're going through in learning to resist, learning to forgive, learning to not receive lust in your heart and mind, learning not to live with content, and not covetousness. I wish I had this. Last night, this dear black brother Prince sang this song. It's an old gospel song. Walk with me. I really think I'm the wrong color. I mean, I just felt so at home. And so I got up and I was talking about covetousness. And he says, Lord, I want to covet his voice. I wish I could sing like that. But listen, I was using that as an example because I don't I appreciate what God's given him. But it's suffering and there's different things when we I read that and I choose right now to believe that Lord, you've called me to forgive and there's no excuse for anger. James chapter one, I'll just finish with this verse. It says that verse 21, therefore putting us to know. Verse 19, this, you know, beloved brethren, but let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. God, I just want to close the scene and let you know, however we excuse our anger, it does not achieve the righteousness of God. Turn it loose to the Lord. Let God be your defender. Choose to forgive because it's in that place of forgiveness that it releases God to work in the lives of those who have offended you and hurt you. Anybody got anything they want to add to share? Well, let's pray. Father, I just want us to springboard from the message of the Sermon on the Mount. God, there's so much that is expressed and said. And it's so easy for all of us to look at that and think to ourselves, well, Lord, you know, I can justify myself and that I haven't committed murder, but Lord, how does, how does one live without being angry and without letting that anger fume within our heart? We've learned to excuse these things that are socially acceptable while we condemn those things that aren't. But Father, I ask you to turn our hearts today and help us to see the truth from your perspective in relationship to anger. And your word has said, if we are angry in our heart, we're guilty. Lord, I pray that tonight you would shed light upon this. And if there are people in our heart that we are angry against, Lord, and nobody has to explain it to us. The Holy Spirit expresses that we know when there's anger in our heart towards someone, they have offended us, they have harmed us, they have put in jeopardy things that we love, they have disappointed, they've somehow crossed our paths. Father, I pray that you give us the grace to forgive that person, those people, releasing them, forgiving them, and trusting them to you. And Lord, may we, as we're going to see later, become light and salt because our walk is different in this world. Teach us how to walk in love, Father. We just ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I kind of say this in relationship to anger because I see it so much on Facebook and on people's communications within the church. I'm going to tell you, there's such resentment and hatred and murder in people's heart toward our president and toward congresspeople and senator people because of what we think they've done to America and that we think they've done to things that we... And I'm going to tell you, if you really filter through, there is murder in the hearts of a lot of believers. And you know what, guys? Listen, God establishes authorities. Even whatever, however you think, whether you think Reagan is unjust or Obama, whatever your political aspiration is, God establishes these men. And I can't tell you the things I read and the things, even some things that are absolute, you can tell pictures that have been doctored to bring total disrespect toward. And you know what, guys? We join into this as a church. How much time do you spend praying for your government and the people in leadership? Or how much time do we spend joining in with, I hate that man. That man's just out to this and that. I don't know. I just don't know where that lines up. Now, you can have viewpoints and thoughts and you can pray. And yes, whatever that is, praying that God's will be done and that God remove unjust authorities and all that. But when you have anger and murder in your heart toward other people, I just want to encourage us here, be careful what you're writing and saying about those in authority and the things that you join in with. Is our conversation any different than the conversation in this world? So just keep that in mind.