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Andy Stanley - The Unsettling Solution for Just About Everything: Do You See What I See? Part 3 · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: So we are in part three of this series, the
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Speaker 1: Unsettling Solution for just about Everything. And I like to
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Speaker 1: begin with something that purposely will make all of us uncomfortable.
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Speaker 1: And I've done my best to put together a list
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Speaker 1: of things that will make all of us uncomfortable. And
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Speaker 1: so if at the end of my list, if you're
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Speaker 1: not uncomfortable, I want to apologize ahead of time. And
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Speaker 1: if after I read my list you just want to
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Speaker 1: shout out your adjective because I missed you, you feel
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Speaker 1: free to do that, although it may ruin Christmas for
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Speaker 1: you and draw undue attention to yourself. And even if
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Speaker 1: you're watching from Homer in the car, feel free to
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Speaker 1: shout out your word if I missed you. What do
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Speaker 1: you call a group? What do you call a group
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Speaker 1: of lying, cheating, greedy, covetous, lustful, porn watching, tax dodging, racist, jealous, judgmental, lonely, angry,
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Speaker 1: people who eat too much, who spend too much, think
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Speaker 1: too much, who medicate too much, who worry too much,
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Speaker 1: smoke too much, but who gather to gather because they
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Speaker 1: believe Jesus is the light of the world and they
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Speaker 1: need more light. You call that the church did I
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Speaker 1: miss anybody? Yeah, you should clap Yeah. In fact, if
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Speaker 1: you showed up today and you thought you were surrouded
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Speaker 1: by a bunch of holy people, we just burst your bubble,
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Speaker 1: didn't we big time? In fact, if you showed up today,
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Speaker 1: you're watching today you say, oh, I don't think I
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Speaker 1: really fit with the church. Perhaps you found yourself on
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Speaker 1: my list. It's very odd to me to hear people
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Speaker 1: talk about the church like the church is an institution
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Speaker 1: rather than a group of people that the church. You
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Speaker 1: know people Sometimes maybe you've said this, well, the church
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Speaker 1: ought to do this, and the church ought to do that.
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Speaker 1: The church should do this, the church should do that.
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Speaker 1: My favorite one is when people say, Andy, the church
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Speaker 1: should take a stand, the church should take a stand.
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Speaker 1: And I have a friend nam Joe Nathan Reckford, who
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Speaker 1: I first heard him say this, So I stole this
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Speaker 1: from Jonathan. He said, Andy, generally speaking, when people tell
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Speaker 1: you to take a stand, they really want you to
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Speaker 1: take their stand. Right. So now, when people say I think, Andy,
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Speaker 1: I think the church should take a stand, I always
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Speaker 1: say any stand or your stand, and then they realize, oh, no,
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Speaker 1: I want the church today. If you're not gonna take
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Speaker 1: my stand, don't stand anywhere. Isn't that right? Right? But
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Speaker 1: really they want me is the pastor you know, to
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Speaker 1: take a stand. But here's the deal, and you know this,
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Speaker 1: and if you don't know this, it's time for you
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Speaker 1: to know this. I'm not the church, right, we are
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Speaker 1: the church. And besides that, the church isn't a place where,
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Speaker 1: you know, everybody just all agrees on everything. The church
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Speaker 1: is a gathering of diverse people. The church is a
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Speaker 1: gathering of very imperfect people. That's why you weren't offended
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Speaker 1: with my list. You could find yourself on the list right.
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Speaker 1: The church is a gathering of imperfect people with different
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Speaker 1: views and experiences who really they don't agree on everything.
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Speaker 1: We basically just degree on two things. We just agree
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Speaker 1: on two things. We agree that God sent his son
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Speaker 1: into the world to forgive us of our sins and
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Speaker 1: to help us get beyond ourselves, to forgive our sins,
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Speaker 1: and then to help us get over ourselves. And secondly,
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Speaker 1: we believe the thing that we agree on is that
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Speaker 1: God sent his son into the world, and when he
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Speaker 1: did that, he extended something to us that now we
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Speaker 1: are responsible for extending to one another and others outside
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Speaker 1: the gathering, and that thing that we've been called to
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Speaker 1: extend to others we've been talking about in this series
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Speaker 1: is simply grace. Grace when it comes to relationships, and
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Speaker 1: grace when it comes to us is like the oil
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Speaker 1: in the machine. You know how machines work, or you
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Speaker 1: know enough about how machines work to know why oil
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Speaker 1: is important. If you think about your car engine, the
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Speaker 1: different parts of the engine, of the different parts of
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Speaker 1: the engine of your car, we're designed specifically to work together.
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Speaker 1: But they are so specifically designed to work together that
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Speaker 1: without oil, they build up friction and they destroy each other.
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Speaker 1: And grace is like the oil in a relationship, and
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Speaker 1: grace is like the oil in a local church, and
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Speaker 1: grace is like the oil in society. Grace enables folks
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Speaker 1: who are different from each other to work together without
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Speaker 1: destroying each other. Grace allows people who aren't like each
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Speaker 1: other to like each other. Grace allows people who aren't
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Speaker 1: alike to get along in such a way that they're
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Speaker 1: able to accomplish amazing things even though they have differences.
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Speaker 1: And the cool thing is the amazing thing is the
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Speaker 1: reason we talk about this is at Christmas is that
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Speaker 1: your heavenly Father, God initiated this. Your heavenly Father modeled this.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it's in one of the most famous lines
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Speaker 1: of one of our most famous Christmas carols, God and
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Speaker 1: Sinner reconciled. God and Sinner reconciled. At Christmas, we celebrate
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Speaker 1: the reconciliation of God and sinner. And that could not
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Speaker 1: happen without grace. You can be right without grace, but
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Speaker 1: you can't be reconciled without grace. And aren't you gla
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Speaker 1: because I am just speaking for me, aren't you glad?
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Speaker 1: Jesus did not come into the world to be right.
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Speaker 1: Jesus came into the world to make things right. In fact,
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Speaker 1: within the context of relationships, grace becomes amazing when it's
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Speaker 1: extended to other people. I mean, as I said last week,
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Speaker 1: grace is invisible. Grace isn't even a thing until it's experienced,
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Speaker 1: and it's only experienced within the context of relationships. And
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Speaker 1: when God set his son into the world, he's extended
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Speaker 1: grace to us by sending Jesus to us. And grace
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Speaker 1: is most amazing when it shows up in relationships because
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Speaker 1: it can only be experienced in relationships. And you this
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Speaker 1: is amazing. You are most amazing. When you extend grace
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Speaker 1: to other people. You are most like your father in
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Speaker 1: heaven when you extend grace to most to other people.
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Speaker 1: And in this way, God's amazing grace, his grace to us,
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Speaker 1: God's amazing grace to you is an invitation to be amazing.
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Speaker 1: There's a sense in which grace, or the opportunity to
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Speaker 1: extend grace to other people, is my greatest opportunity relationally,
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Speaker 1: and it is your greatest opportunity relationally. It is your
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Speaker 1: opportunity to be amazing. But and here's the rub, extending
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Speaker 1: grace to other people is not easy for some of us,
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Speaker 1: is it? More specifically, extending grace to certain people is
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Speaker 1: not easy for some of us. And if I can
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Speaker 1: just pry a little bit, extending grace to certain kinds
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Speaker 1: of people, certain groups of people, certain people who embrace
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Speaker 1: certain behaviors, are certain groups of people that remind you
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Speaker 1: of someone who hurts you in the past. All of
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Speaker 1: us have a person or a group of people to
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Speaker 1: whom it is very difficult or challenging to extend grace.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus, this is so amazing. Jesus tells us why.
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Speaker 1: Jesus and one of the most un perhaps and perhaps
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Speaker 1: what is and perhaps what is the most unsettling question
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Speaker 1: asked by anyone at any time anywhere. Jesus explains why
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Speaker 1: it is unsettling, or why it is so difficult for
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Speaker 1: me to extend grace, and perhaps why it's so difficult
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Speaker 1: for you to extend grace. But I got to warn
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Speaker 1: you about this question. This question is a difficult question.
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Speaker 1: This question is like being punched in the nose. And
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Speaker 1: I just want to give say one other, give one
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Speaker 1: other qualifier. If you're not a Christian, and by that
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Speaker 1: I mean you're not someone who is following Jesus, you
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Speaker 1: don't have to play. You can kind of sit back
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Speaker 1: and watch all of us feel miserable when Jesus asked
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Speaker 1: us this question, because where Jesus follow us? And if
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Speaker 1: you're not chosen to follow Jesus, this may be a
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Speaker 1: good reason to never follow Jesus because this question is
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Speaker 1: so difficult. It really is like a sucker punch. It's
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Speaker 1: like he just gets right up in our face. So
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Speaker 1: here's the good news. If you're not a Christian, you
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Speaker 1: can choose whether or not you want to follow or
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Speaker 1: pay attention or you know, answer this question. If you
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Speaker 1: are a Christian like me, we have no choice. So
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Speaker 1: here's the question. Here's a question that takes us right
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Speaker 1: to the epicenter of why it is so difficult for
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Speaker 1: most of us to extend grace to somebody or to
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Speaker 1: a group of people. So are you ready for this question?
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Speaker 1: You're watching a home You're you ready for this question?
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Speaker 1: Because this is this is going to rock you back
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Speaker 1: on your heels. Jesus was the master communicator, and apparently
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Speaker 1: he knew how to land a punch. Here it is.
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Speaker 1: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in
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Speaker 1: your brother's eye and pay a little no attention to
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Speaker 1: the plank in your own eye? Oh? Man, can you
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Speaker 1: just talk about prayer or our Father and have I mean, why? Yeah? Yeah, no, no, no,
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Speaker 1: we'll get to that. Why. This is Jesus now, and
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Speaker 1: this is important to remember because for the next few
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Speaker 1: minutes you're gonna get very upset at me. I just
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Speaker 1: want you to know I didn't say this. I don't
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't ask you this question. This is Jesus. I'm
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Speaker 1: just the mouthpiece, you know. Don't shoot the piano player. Okay,
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Speaker 1: this is this is Jesus asking you and asking me,
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Speaker 1: why do you look at the speck of sawdust in
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Speaker 1: your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank
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Speaker 1: in your own eye? Why do you focus? Why do you,
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Speaker 1: you know, look specifically, why do you give all this
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Speaker 1: attention to get so amped up and ramped up and
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Speaker 1: emotional about the spec the little itty bitty thing that
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Speaker 1: they do wrong in your brother's eye, and you don't
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Speaker 1: pay any attention to your issues, to your problems, to
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Speaker 1: your habits, to your attitudes to the plank and your
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Speaker 1: own eye, to which somebody says, well, preacher, I'll tell
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Speaker 1: you why. Because it's not a spec of sawdust. Okay.
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Speaker 1: She's a Democrat, he's a Republican. That's not a speck
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Speaker 1: of sawdust. That's a forest. Okay, So don't get all
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Speaker 1: upset with me in my response to him or her. Hey, look,
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Speaker 1: he's a white politician. Okay, that's not a spec. I
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Speaker 1: went by their home. They were watching CNN. Okay, so
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Speaker 1: that is an issue for me, all right. He has
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Speaker 1: Fox News on all the time twenty four to seven, right,
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Speaker 1: But for some of us it's more personal than that.
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Speaker 1: For your your response is this is not a spec
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Speaker 1: My dad left when we were eight years old. He
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Speaker 1: never looked back, and my mom had to raise three
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Speaker 1: kids with none of his health. And then when he
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Speaker 1: got old and sick, he shows up and he wants
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Speaker 1: us to help out. I'm sorry, that is not a
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Speaker 1: spec sawdust. That's not a spec. I don't know what
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Speaker 1: those are, but those aren't specs. And rightfully so we
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Speaker 1: should get a little defensive run a question with Jesus,
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Speaker 1: would ask us when he doesn't even seem to know
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Speaker 1: our story right. Secondly, Jesus, you might be tempted to
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Speaker 1: say I don't have a plank in my eye. First
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Speaker 1: of all, that's not a speck of sawdust. And secondly,
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Speaker 1: the reason that I look at this spec of sawdust
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Speaker 1: in my brother's eye and don't pay attention to plank
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Speaker 1: in my own eye is I don't have a plank
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Speaker 1: in my eye. I see the world as it really is.
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Speaker 1: I understand how things really work, I know what's going on.
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Speaker 1: I mean, come on, let's be honest. You don't you
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Speaker 1: don't have a you don't have a log or as
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Speaker 1: we know, I grew up hearing it being taught, right,
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Speaker 1: you don't have a plank in your eye? Do I mean?
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Speaker 1: Come on, You're not in any way influenced by your upbringing, right,
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Speaker 1: or the environment you grew up in or in now? Right.
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Speaker 1: I mean, these things couldn't possibly taint the way you
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Speaker 1: see the world or the people around you, could you
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Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. You're not influenced by your experience, your education,
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Speaker 1: your health, your lack of health, your health struggles, the
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Speaker 1: fact that you've been to get blessed with great health.
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Speaker 1: You're not influenced in any way in terms of how
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Speaker 1: you see the world and people around you based on
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Speaker 1: your success, your failure, your insecurities, your opportunities, your IQ
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Speaker 1: are your EQ, right, I mean some of you don't
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Speaker 1: know what EQ is because of your IQ. But these things,
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Speaker 1: these things, these things don't influence the way you see
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Speaker 1: the world, right. I mean, Jesus isn't talking to you.
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Speaker 1: You don't have a plank in your eye. Other people
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Speaker 1: have planks in their eyes that Jesus is confused for sawdust, right,
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Speaker 1: But you don't have a plank. I don't have a plank.
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Speaker 1: We're fine, right, Jesus isn't even talking to you. He's
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Speaker 1: not even addressing you, is he? Perhaps? But Jesus isn't through.
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Speaker 1: He goes on, He says, how how can you say
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Speaker 1: to your brother? How can you say to your brother
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Speaker 1: in law? How can you say to your sister, your
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Speaker 1: sister in law, your neighbor, that guy at work, the
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Speaker 1: woman at work, your boss, the person that used to
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Speaker 1: be your friend, that ran off and took stuff or
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Speaker 1: took her or took him, They're not your friend. How
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Speaker 1: can you say to that person? Let me take the
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Speaker 1: speck out of your eye. Let me help you see clearly.
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Speaker 1: Let me help you see the way the world really is.
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Speaker 1: Let me tell you how the world really works. Let
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Speaker 1: me tell you what you ought to do. Let me
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Speaker 1: tell you what you should have done. Let me tell
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Speaker 1: you what you should have done so you wouldn't be
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Speaker 1: where you are today. Let me help you see the
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Speaker 1: world the way it really is, because I see the
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Speaker 1: world the way it really is. When all the time
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Speaker 1: Jesus says, He's just amazing, isn't he? When the whole
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Speaker 1: time that you've been critical, the whole time you've had
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Speaker 1: such a bad attitude, the whole time you look at
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Speaker 1: your watch every time you visit, because you told your
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Speaker 1: wife in the car, your husband in the car, we're
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Speaker 1: staying thirty minutes, thirty minutes, thirty minutes, Ready go, we
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Speaker 1: got thirty minutes. Okay, why why? Why? Why? He would say,
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Speaker 1: when the whole time you've had a plank in your
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Speaker 1: own eye. And then, if you're not a Christian, you're
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Speaker 1: gonna love this next part in fay. This may be
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Speaker 1: the favorite, your favorite thing Jesus ever said. You may
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Speaker 1: not even know he said this, And he wasn't talking
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Speaker 1: to you, by the way. He was talking to us
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Speaker 1: if you're not a Christian. But if you are a Christian,
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Speaker 1: he's talking to us. Jesus rears back, and maybe with
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Speaker 1: a smile on his face, I don't know. Jesus rears
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Speaker 1: back and he gives us a two word sentence. He says,
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Speaker 1: you hypocrite, to which all the unchurched people are like,
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Speaker 1: finally somebody has given it to those church people. Who
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Speaker 1: was that again? Jesus said that, Yeah, I called his
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Speaker 1: own folks hypocrites. You send her you fall shorter, right,
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Speaker 1: It's what it means. You did it on purposer over
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Speaker 1: and over. Do you know why God is able to
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Speaker 1: extend grace to you in spite of you? And do
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Speaker 1: you know why God is willing to give you what
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Speaker 1: you don't deserve, even though he knows better than anybody
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Speaker 1: what you do deserve. Do you know why God doesn't
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Speaker 1: overlook sin that God chooses to forgive your sin and
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Speaker 1: treat you as if you'd never send Do you know
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Speaker 1: why God is able to extend great Do you know
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Speaker 1: why God decided to send his son into the world
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Speaker 1: to pay for your sin so that you could be
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Speaker 1: reconciled through grace, Because He could see you for exactly
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Speaker 1: who you are and take all of that into consideration.
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Speaker 1: He knows, He knew all about your upbringing. He knows
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Speaker 1: about your dad and your stepdad. He knows about the
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Speaker 1: environment you were forced into or the environment you were
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Speaker 1: taken out of, or the environment that you can't get
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Speaker 1: out of now, or the environment that you're in now
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Speaker 1: at school, or your fraternity or sorority, or the people
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Speaker 1: that you're surrounded with. Or you showed up in the
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Speaker 1: big city and it's so different than the small town
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Speaker 1: you grew up in and you have to have friends.
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Speaker 1: Nobody can survive without friends. He sees all that, He
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Speaker 1: gets all that. He knows what you've experienced, what you've done,
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Speaker 1: and what was done to you. He understands your health
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Speaker 1: challenges and why that and how that set you back,
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Speaker 1: and it was more difficult for you to connect. It
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Speaker 1: was more difficult for you to excel. It was more
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Speaker 1: difficult for you to connect. He understands what success has
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Speaker 1: done to you. It blindsided you. Most people have a
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Speaker 1: difficult time passing the success test. He understands what failure
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Speaker 1: did to you. He understands the connection between what you
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Speaker 1: were told as a child and your failure as an adult.
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Speaker 1: He knows your insecurities. He knows the opportunities you missed,
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Speaker 1: the ones you took advantage of, the ones you should
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Speaker 1: not have taken advantage as advantage of, and where it led.
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Speaker 1: He knows all about your IQ and your equ He
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Speaker 1: took all of that into consideration, and having taken all
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Speaker 1: that into consideration, and what you did with it and
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Speaker 1: what you didn't do with it, and your heavenly father
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Speaker 1: to extend grace to you. He took it all into
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Speaker 1: He could have taken it all into consideration. He took
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Speaker 1: it all into consideration. And the Apostle Paul looking back
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Speaker 1: on the Crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, the Apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul who understood himself to be the biggest hypocrite of all,
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Speaker 1: even though he knew the law as well as anyone
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Speaker 1: else in the first century, wrote this. But he didn't
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Speaker 1: have us in mind. He had himself and his first
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Speaker 1: century brothers and sisters in mind. He wrote this incredible,
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Speaker 1: incredible statement. But God, and this meant so much to
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Speaker 1: the apostle Paul. But God put on a demonstration. God
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Speaker 1: didn't just say it. God didn't just send it in
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Speaker 1: a letter. God put on a demonstration of love. But
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Speaker 1: God demonstrates his own love for us. And this, while
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Speaker 1: we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Now the
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Speaker 1: verb tense here is really important. And this is this
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Speaker 1: is I still can't get my mind around this. The
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Speaker 1: apostle Paul recognized when he was writing this letter. This
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Speaker 1: is what he recognized while while I was north of Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: unaware of what was happening in Jerusalem, while I was
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Speaker 1: north of Jerusalem sinning Jesus at the very moment I
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Speaker 1: was a sinner, sinning, was dying for the sin that
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Speaker 1: I was sinning. Think about this. This wasn't future tense.
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Speaker 1: This was the apostle Paul realizing because they lived at
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Speaker 1: the same time, while I was still a sinner actively sinning,
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Speaker 1: Jesus was nailed to a cross for the sins I
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Speaker 1: was committing. At that very moment. He understood grace in
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Speaker 1: a way that I'm not sure we can ever understand it,
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Speaker 1: because he lived in the day and age. Imagine that
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Speaker 1: while I was still sinning, Christ died for the sinner.
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Speaker 1: I think if he had written made the same statement
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Speaker 1: with you in mind, and with me and mine and
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Speaker 1: with us in mind, and with the future in mind,
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Speaker 1: I think he might have written it this way. But
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Speaker 1: God demonstrates his own love for you or us in this,
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Speaker 1: knowing ahead of time, knowing ahead of time the sins
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Speaker 1: we would commit and confess and repeat and confess again.
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Speaker 1: Christ died for us anyway, because that's what grace does.
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Speaker 1: That God was able to take your whole story into
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Speaker 1: account and gave you what you deserved least, but what
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Speaker 1: you needed most. And then he says to you, and
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Speaker 1: he says to me, come on, I just want you
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Speaker 1: to do for others what I have done for you.
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Speaker 1: But to be clear, here's what Jesus is saying. He's
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Speaker 1: saying that, look, don't leave here and feel just feel
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Speaker 1: bad about yourself and tell your boy's friend, of your girlfriend,
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Speaker 1: of your roommate, or your fraternity brothers, your sowrety sisters
18:48
Speaker 1: or you know, well, you know what, I'm gonna try
18:50
Speaker 1: to be a better person, and I'm gonna try to
18:53
Speaker 1: be nicer. And you know, my stepfather's coming over for Christmas,
18:56
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to cross my arms the whole
18:58
Speaker 1: time he is there. I'm going to keep you know,
19:00
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm not gonna be rude to him. I'm
19:03
Speaker 1: gonna try to get up to zero. This is not
19:05
Speaker 1: about go home and be a nicer person, and go
19:07
Speaker 1: home and try to be a better person that Jesus says. No,
19:10
Speaker 1: this isn't what that's about. That's not where this starts.
19:13
Speaker 1: This doesn't start with recommitting yourself to being sweeter and kinder,
19:17
Speaker 1: he says. First, he gives us a list. First, before
19:20
Speaker 1: you try to figure out how to extend grace to
19:23
Speaker 1: someone else, You will never get that right unless first
19:27
Speaker 1: you take the plank out of your own eye. And then,
19:31
Speaker 1: and only then will you see clearly enough to know
19:35
Speaker 1: how to extend grace to the people that need what
19:38
Speaker 1: they don't deserve. But what you've been called to extend
19:42
Speaker 1: to them. This is so powerful and just honestly with me. See,
19:47
Speaker 1: I prepared this message about three weeks ago, and it
19:49
Speaker 1: has been on my nerves for three weeks, and I
19:50
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to share the guilt because this is such
19:53
Speaker 1: a difficult question, because I can't get up here and
19:55
Speaker 1: talk about this without saying, God, okay, you know, if
19:58
Speaker 1: we could just get past the Sunday windnight presents this
20:00
Speaker 1: and I can quit thinking about this. But I what
20:03
Speaker 1: are the planks I am carrying around? Because there are
20:05
Speaker 1: people I have a hard time with and what is
20:07
Speaker 1: it about them that actually reflects on something about me?
20:11
Speaker 1: Because planks get in the way of grace. So here's
20:18
Speaker 1: my version of Jesus question. His is better minus shorter.
20:23
Speaker 1: You got planks, You got planks, You got planks. I
20:30
Speaker 1: don't know if you have planks. Jesus says, you probably
20:33
Speaker 1: got planks. That's why there's something you're not looking forward to.
20:37
Speaker 1: Don't miss this because Jesus, I think he is saying, Look,
20:40
Speaker 1: when you begin to see that person the way I
20:43
Speaker 1: see that person, you will not dread the encounter as
20:46
Speaker 1: much as you will see the encounter as an opportunity
20:51
Speaker 1: to do something unsettling. You won't dread that occasion, that dinner,
20:56
Speaker 1: that party, that meeting, that gift exchange. You won't at
21:00
Speaker 1: it as much as you'll see. Aha, here is an
21:02
Speaker 1: opportunity to do something amazing. Here's something opportunity to do
21:07
Speaker 1: something that settling. Here is the one opportunity I may
21:09
Speaker 1: have all year to do for someone what they would
21:12
Speaker 1: not do for me because of what they did to me,
21:15
Speaker 1: that they're not expecting for me to do for them.
21:20
Speaker 1: And here's the brilliance of Jesus teaching. This is why
21:23
Speaker 1: he says first, first, first, first, you've got to examine
21:27
Speaker 1: your own heart. You've got to examine what's in your
21:29
Speaker 1: own eyes. First, you've got to remove the plank before
21:32
Speaker 1: you try to extend grace. If you try to just
21:35
Speaker 1: be nicer and more patient and more kind, but you
21:38
Speaker 1: don't deal with your own planks, this isn't gonna work. First,
21:41
Speaker 1: remove the plank from your own eye. And then did
21:43
Speaker 1: you notice the terminology? And then you will see clearly.
21:48
Speaker 1: Then you will know. Then you will know better. Then
21:50
Speaker 1: you'll have greater insight too. Then you'll have you'll be
21:53
Speaker 1: able to have be a little bit more authentic when
21:56
Speaker 1: you decide to do for someone else what God through
21:59
Speaker 1: Christ has done for you. Here's what I've learned, and honestly,
22:03
Speaker 1: I've learned this the hard way. I'm still learning this.
22:06
Speaker 1: The more aware I am of what God has yet
22:10
Speaker 1: to do in me. In other words, the more time
22:13
Speaker 1: I spend in the mirror of God's word, the more
22:17
Speaker 1: time I spend reading the messages and the teaching and
22:21
Speaker 1: the activities of Jesus, the more I am aware of
22:25
Speaker 1: what God has yet to do in me, The more
22:28
Speaker 1: time I spend on my planks. The less aware, the
22:32
Speaker 1: less aware I am of what He has yet to
22:34
Speaker 1: do in you. The more aware I am of what
22:39
Speaker 1: He is yet to do in me. The less aware,
22:41
Speaker 1: in fact, not only just the less aware. To be honest,
22:43
Speaker 1: the less bothered, the less put off, the less offended.
22:51
Speaker 1: The more aware you are of what God has yet
22:53
Speaker 1: to do in you, The more aware you become of
22:57
Speaker 1: what God has yet to do in you, the more
22:59
Speaker 1: aware you become of the planks that you need to remove,
23:03
Speaker 1: the easier it will be to extend grace to others,
23:06
Speaker 1: because the less aware you will become of what God
23:10
Speaker 1: has yet to do and then because you have focused
23:12
Speaker 1: your attention. This is what Jesus taught on, what God
23:14
Speaker 1: has yet to do and you. This is so amazing
23:17
Speaker 1: to me. This is why I love the Christmas story.
23:20
Speaker 1: At Christmas. At Christmas, Grace came to earth. At Christmas,
23:26
Speaker 1: Grace came to earth to dwell with us in spite
23:31
Speaker 1: of us. And this Christmas you are going to have
23:36
Speaker 1: an opportunity, perhaps to do some in spite of and
23:41
Speaker 1: it won't be effective, and it won't work, and you
23:45
Speaker 1: will find no joy in it unless you first remove
23:48
Speaker 1: the plank from your own eye. Isn't this interesting? That
23:52
Speaker 1: God was more and this is the goal. This is
23:54
Speaker 1: where you have to get. This is where I have
23:55
Speaker 1: to get. This is why this is such an important
23:57
Speaker 1: lesson right before Christmas. Isn't it terry that God was
24:01
Speaker 1: more broken hearted over our sin than he was put
24:04
Speaker 1: off by it? Isn't it interesting that God was more
24:07
Speaker 1: broken hearted over our sin than he was offended by it?
24:12
Speaker 1: That God was so broken hearted over our sin he
24:14
Speaker 1: sent his son into the world to pay for our sins,
24:17
Speaker 1: so that God and sinner could be reconciled. Jesus drew
24:23
Speaker 1: near even though we by choice had been far away.
24:28
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't take sides. Jesus came alongside. Isn't that amazing?
24:34
Speaker 1: And that's what we find throughout the gospels. But there
24:37
Speaker 1: was an exception. There was a group of people that
24:40
Speaker 1: Jesus did not come alongside of. In fact, the kind
24:43
Speaker 1: of running gun battle and the gospels, the group of
24:46
Speaker 1: people that Jesus had the most conflict with. They weren't
24:49
Speaker 1: sinners in the traditional sense of sinners. You know this
24:52
Speaker 1: if you grew up in church. The people that Jesus
24:54
Speaker 1: had the most problem with were people who represented graceless religion,
24:59
Speaker 1: religious people whose planks made it impossible for them to
25:03
Speaker 1: see people the way he saw them. People who had
25:07
Speaker 1: so dumb down God's law that they didn't believe they
25:11
Speaker 1: were in the need of grace. People that had so
25:14
Speaker 1: twisted and manipulated the law of God, they didn't feel
25:17
Speaker 1: like they needed the grace of God. And Jesus had
25:20
Speaker 1: no patience with that group of people. And I don't
25:23
Speaker 1: want to be one of those people. And you don't
25:26
Speaker 1: want to be one of those people. And if you're
25:28
Speaker 1: not a person who's a church person or someone who
25:30
Speaker 1: follows Jesus, it may be because you've run into too
25:34
Speaker 1: many religious people who embraced a graceless religion. Because the
25:40
Speaker 1: truth is, when grace is upfront, when grace is upfront,
25:46
Speaker 1: when grace is out front. There's something very, very attractive
25:50
Speaker 1: about grace and the people who exhibit grace. In fact,
25:53
Speaker 1: your favorite people in the world. I don't even know
25:55
Speaker 1: you or your story. I don't know you or your story,
25:58
Speaker 1: but some of your favorite people. In fact, maybe your
26:00
Speaker 1: favorite person is a person that wears their grace and
26:03
Speaker 1: carries their grace out front. John said that Jesus, as
26:07
Speaker 1: we saw in the first week, that Jesus was full
26:10
Speaker 1: of grace and truth. So I'm gonna ask you one
26:12
Speaker 1: more question, even though this is another pesky question, but
26:15
Speaker 1: I feel like I need to ask you. Jesus was
26:17
Speaker 1: full of grace and truth. What are you full of?
26:22
Speaker 1: Or let me elaborate a little bit. What what comes
26:26
Speaker 1: out of you? What comes out of you when you
26:29
Speaker 1: get shaken up, when you get shaken up? What comes
26:33
Speaker 1: out when you bump into sinners like you? When you
26:37
Speaker 1: bump into sinners like you, the only difference being they
26:40
Speaker 1: have a different list of sins. When you bump into
26:43
Speaker 1: people who kind of get on your nerves, but actually
26:45
Speaker 1: you get on their nerves as well, because you're different,
26:47
Speaker 1: but you get on each other's nerves. What comes out
26:50
Speaker 1: of you when you get shaken up? When you get
26:52
Speaker 1: shaken up, what comes out? And then here's the bigger
26:57
Speaker 1: question for all of us to wrestle with together, Not
26:59
Speaker 1: just what are you full of? Not just what am
27:01
Speaker 1: I full of? But what are we full of? As
27:04
Speaker 1: a congregation and as a group of congregations? What is
27:07
Speaker 1: our church full of? When people think about the name
27:10
Speaker 1: of our church that they run into you and they
27:11
Speaker 1: find out where you can go to church, what comes
27:13
Speaker 1: to their mind? Because, as I said earlier, people and
27:16
Speaker 1: the church specifically, the church is most appealing. The church
27:20
Speaker 1: is most appealing when grace is most apparent. And one
27:23
Speaker 1: of the reasons that you'll invite people to church this
27:26
Speaker 1: next weekend or during the Christmas season and they won't
27:29
Speaker 1: want to come, the reason they will push back has
27:32
Speaker 1: nothing to do with what they read in the gospels
27:34
Speaker 1: about Jesus. I guarantee you, It has far more to
27:37
Speaker 1: do with other Christians they've met and church experiences they
27:41
Speaker 1: don't want to repeat. But here's what we've learned and
27:44
Speaker 1: here's what we've learned together, and here's what we aspire to.
27:47
Speaker 1: The church is always more appealing when grace is most apparent,
27:51
Speaker 1: and we are the church every single day, every single
27:55
Speaker 1: place that we go. So what about you? Are you
28:00
Speaker 1: ready to remove a plank? Are you willing to remove
28:04
Speaker 1: a plank? Are you willing to remove a plank so
28:06
Speaker 1: that you can see clearly in order to benefit and
28:09
Speaker 1: give grace to people around you, People that you're share
28:13
Speaker 1: of wearing the plank, people that you're sure have the plank,
28:16
Speaker 1: and you're the one with the sawdust. Would you be
28:18
Speaker 1: willing to consider that perhaps you have a plank that
28:21
Speaker 1: needs to be removed that is keeping you from extending
28:24
Speaker 1: grace to someone in your life that, honestly, this is
28:28
Speaker 1: no exaggeration, Grace from you could change their life. Grace
28:33
Speaker 1: from you would be an introduction to the grace of God.
28:35
Speaker 1: Grace from you because they know they don't deserve it,
28:39
Speaker 1: because they are so aware of what they've done. It
28:44
Speaker 1: could change their life. For some of you, that is
28:47
Speaker 1: your story. It was the grace that you received from
28:50
Speaker 1: someone who you hurt deeply that ultimately opens you up
28:53
Speaker 1: to the truth of Jesus and perhaps it's why you're
28:56
Speaker 1: back in church, or perhaps it's why you're listening today.
29:00
Speaker 1: I know you got your house ready for Christmas, right,
29:02
Speaker 1: You got your yard ready, you got the lights up.
29:04
Speaker 1: In fact, some of the lights and stuff you put
29:07
Speaker 1: in your yard causes me to have to extend grace
29:10
Speaker 1: to you, if I'm honest, because you have too much
29:13
Speaker 1: stuff in your yard. You really do? You overdid it?
29:16
Speaker 1: I think, honestly, it just makes me jealous because we
29:18
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of stuff in our yard because
29:20
Speaker 1: every year I get lazier and lazier, and you know anyway,
29:22
Speaker 1: so forget that. So the point is your house is
29:26
Speaker 1: ready for Christmas, your yard is ready for Christmas. The
29:28
Speaker 1: question that I want to ask all of us is
29:30
Speaker 1: are you ready for Grace to come to town? Are
29:35
Speaker 1: you ready for Grace to come into your home? Are
29:37
Speaker 1: you ready for Grace to envelop and embrace the people
29:41
Speaker 1: that you're going to see and be around. Are you
29:43
Speaker 1: ready for Christmas? And taking that plank out of your
29:47
Speaker 1: eye recognizing what's going to be difficult for you to recognize,
29:50
Speaker 1: acknowledging the thing that none of us want to acknowledge
29:53
Speaker 1: about ourselves is the best preparation for a season characterized
29:58
Speaker 1: by grace. And here's the thing. If you still feel
30:03
Speaker 1: superior to sinners like you, you still have some work
30:09
Speaker 1: to do. And you've lived long enough to know this.
30:12
Speaker 1: When there is a person that really just gets on
30:16
Speaker 1: your last nerve, oftentimes there is something in them that
30:19
Speaker 1: is reflecting back on something in you. And we all
30:23
Speaker 1: know that. I think Jesus would say, hey, as you
30:26
Speaker 1: celebrate my birthday, as you celebrate my birth, as you
30:29
Speaker 1: celebrate what God did on your behalf during this Christmas season,
30:33
Speaker 1: takes some time to reflect and remove the plank from
30:37
Speaker 1: your eye. Grace really is relationally speaking, it really is
30:42
Speaker 1: the unsettling solution for just about everything. And Jesus was
30:47
Speaker 1: full of grace, and he extended it to people who
30:50
Speaker 1: were nothing like him, and then he asked people like us,
30:54
Speaker 1: who are nothing like him, to extend it to people
30:56
Speaker 1: who are nothing like us and who may not even
30:59
Speaker 1: like us. So let's do that this Christmas season. Let's
31:06
Speaker 1: do something unsettling. Let's be unsettling. Let's give to someone
31:13
Speaker 1: what they don't expect and what they perhaps don't necessarily deserve.
31:19
Speaker 1: And when you do this, you will be like your
31:23
Speaker 1: Father in heaven, you will be part of the unsettling solution.
31:30
Speaker 1: You will be amazing, amazing, just like just like Grace,