The Gavel and the Cross: Why We Must Stop Judging

• Judging Others [00:22:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor engages the congregation in a show of hands to establish that everyone has been judged and has judged others, highlighting the hypocrisy of judging without context.
• Self-Righteousness [00:33:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines self-righteous judgment as being convinced of one's own righteousness in contrast to others, leading to narrow-mindedness and moralism.
• Grace and Mercy [00:33:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation how they wish to be judged, advocating for being judged with grace and mercy based on the totality of one's life and context, rather than isolated incidents.
• [Matthew 7](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7&version=KJV) / Do Not Judge [00:31:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the scripture 'Do not judge others' but immediately provides context, clarifying that this does not mean believers cannot lovingly confront sin in other believers, but rather warns against self-righteous condemnation.
• Judgment and Grace [00:33:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to consider how they want to be judged (with grace and mercy) and challenges them to treat others with that same standard.
• Self-Righteousness and Hypocrisy [00:38:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > He discusses the tendency to nitpick others' sins while ignoring one's own, using the story of the woman caught in adultery and the 'log in the eye' metaphor to illustrate this hypocrisy.
• Compassionate Engagement [00:40:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts writing people off with 'walking with them,' encouraging believers to listen and support those struggling with identity or addiction rather than judging them.
• Self-Assessment and Repentance [00:47:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that before judging others, believers must examine their own hearts ('log in your own eye') and ask God to reveal their own judgmental attitudes.
• Context of Judgment (Believers vs. Unbelievers) [00:50:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between judging the world (which Paul addressed) and the church's role, noting that unbelievers lack the Holy Spirit's guidance, so believers should not hold them to the same standards.
• Grace and Kindness [00:56:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that God's kindness is meant to turn people from sin, and believers should reflect this 'kindness meter' and grace toward others, including those who have struggled with sin.
• Judgment vs. Salvation [01:02:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the human tendency to label people as 'guilty' based on their struggles (addiction, prison, mental health) with God's mission to save rather than condemn, citing John 3:17.
• The Church's Role [01:01:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the church should not wash its hands of those struggling but should come alongside them with love, mirroring the support the testimonies received.
• Repentance and Decision [01:04:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues an altar call for non-believers to accept Jesus' forgiveness and for believers to examine their hearts for self-righteousness.

• Sermon Illustration [00:23:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about being on a red-eye flight from California to Charlotte. He was trying to sleep and became annoyed by a child kicking the back of his seat. He judged the child and the mother harshly, intending to confront them. However, when he turned around, the mother apologized, explaining the child was very sick. The pastor realized he had judged them without having the full context of their situation.
• Sermon Illustration [00:37:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a story about a man at his Statesville campus who, despite claiming to be a Christian, expressed hope that hospitalized victims of a tragedy would 'die and burn for eternity,' illustrating the devastation of lacking grace.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > He recounts the biblical account of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, highlighting that Jesus challenged the accusers based on their own sin ('you who have not sinned') rather than just the specific crime, causing them to leave.
• Sermon Illustration [00:43:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > He uses a hypothetical scenario of a husband complaining to friends about his wife's cooking while ignoring his own failures (like not doing chores) to illustrate double standards in judgment.
• Sermon Illustration [00:45:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about judging another driver while driving, only to be corrected by his mother who reminded him, 'You don't know what they're going through,' leading him to repent of his judgmental thoughts.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his mother telling him not to judge people because he doesn't know what they are going through, leading him to repent for his own judgmental mindset. He also references testimonies from a baptism at the Statesville campus involving individuals with histories of job loss, affairs, prison, mental health struggles, and addiction, illustrating how initial judgments of 'guilt' were transformed by hearing their stories of God's change and salvation.
• Sermon Illustration [00:59:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts four testimonies from a recent baptism at the Statesville campus. These individuals had histories of infidelity, prison, psychotic breaks, and addiction. Initially, the natural human reaction is to judge them as 'guilty,' but the pastor highlights how God changed their lives through forgiveness and salvation, and how the church supported them rather than rejecting them.
• Sermon Illustration [01:02:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of a judge's 'gavel' to represent the authority to judge others. He urges the congregation to 'lay the gavel down' and give that authority to God, arguing that picking it up implies we have more power than Him or place ourselves on His level.

• Pastoral Charge [00:35:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > Self-reflection on whether they treat others with the grace and mercy they desire for themselves.
• Pastoral Charge [00:35:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > Self-examination regarding whether the congregation has treated others with the same grace and mercy they desire for themselves.
• Pastoral Charge [00:43:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > A rhetorical command to stop complaining about a spouse's faults while ignoring one's own, specifically in the context of not bad-mouthing a spouse to others.
• Pastoral Charge [00:54:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to affirmatively respond ('amen') to the idea of showing grace to their past selves.
• Pastoral Charge [00:57:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor calls the congregation to verbally or internally express gratitude and excitement for God's kindness and patience.
• Pastoral Charge [01:05:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > To accept Jesus, his forgiveness, and love by saying 'yes' to him.
• Pastoral Charge [01:05:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > To raise a hand publicly as a sign of readiness to follow Jesus.
• Pastoral Charge [01:06:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > To pray a specific prayer of salvation and commitment to Jesus.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:05:48] Good morning and welcome to CoveChurch.tv. My name is John. I'm one of the pastors here at the Cove.
[00:05:53] So excited to welcome each and every single one of you because God is doing amazing things in our church and in our lives.
[00:06:01] Now here at the Cove, our mission is very simple. It's to introduce our friends to Jesus, learn to follow Him, and to celebrate His presence in our lives.
[00:06:08] We are a church that is all about reaching people and teaching them how to follow Jesus.
[00:06:14] Now, if you're here for the very first time, we're so thankful you decided to come and just hang out with us.
[00:06:18] But don't leave without clicking on the New Here button.
[00:06:21] And just let us know that you stopped by.
[00:06:24] Here at The Cove, one of our core values is that we are generous.
[00:06:28] Each and every single week, our outreach and our global ministry serve and provide food, supplies, and volunteers to multiple community partners across our four local areas and in South Africa.
[00:06:41] Your generosity makes that a reality.
[00:06:43] Whether it's feeding the homeless, sponsoring a child, packing thousands of meals for global relief, or even serving those in need locally or globally, together we're making a difference.
[00:06:55] So I just want to say thank you and encourage you to stay faithful.
[00:06:59] If you've never made that decision to trust God with your finances, you can start that stewardship journey here at The Cove today by partnering with us financially at covechurch.org forward slash give.
[00:07:11] Thank you so much.
[00:07:12] You know, Church, we're in exciting times. Movies in the Cove 2026 is here.
[00:07:18] And at all of our local campuses, we're reaching people all across our communities by showing them movie clips and discovering biblical truths that will transform their lives.
[00:07:29] There's some great family fun. There's candy, free popcorn and sodas.
[00:07:33] So just come visit and even bring a friend.
[00:07:35] But, you know, here online, we're going to have an exciting look back into our series, Judge.
[00:07:40] And we're going to rebroadcast some of our best services from this past year.
[00:07:44] So get ready for some great worship, an impactful message, and a lot of community online.
[00:07:51] Now, if you're watching us, join us in the chat.
[00:07:54] Don't be a stranger.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:08:05] I have some exciting news to share with you.
[00:08:08] For a long time now, we've been praying for the Quick family who had tongue cancer and she's gone through so much.
[00:08:15] Today, she is here attending church with her family.
[00:08:18] Come on, can we worship God?
[00:08:20] And he is a God of promises.
[00:08:22] Amen.
[00:08:22] Come on.
[00:08:23] So we're going to see a new song this morning that talks about how good he is and his promises that he makes to us.
[00:08:29] Come on, let's sing together.
[00:08:30] Put your hands up.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:08:31] Oh, I walk through the valley of death.
[00:08:34] You're always near.
[00:08:42] My help is here.
[00:08:49] Perfect peace.

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:12:06] He is a God of promises.
[00:12:07] And no matter what you're going through today, upon his name and lift up.
[00:12:19] So let's not be afraid to have that faith because there is nothing our God can't do.
[00:12:24] Come on, let's sing.
[00:12:25] Just one word.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:12:26] You call the storm that's around.
[00:12:36] Just one word.
[00:12:38] The darkness has to retreat.
[00:12:41] It's a duck.
[00:12:42] Help us believe.

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:13:07] Mountain that we praise the name.
[00:13:13] Makes a way.
[00:13:16] There's nothing that our God can't do.
[00:13:19] On a deathbed of heart for you to sing this morning,

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:37] I challenge you to sing this next heart with all you have.
[00:14:40] We call upon our souls and say, I will believe.

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:14:47] For greater things, there's no power like the power of Jesus.
[00:14:52] Jesus. Let faith arrive. Let all agree. There's no power like the power of Jesus. I will believe

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:15:04] of Jesus. In your lives, but nothing's impossible. No fear is bigger. No anxiety is stronger than our God. So let's continue to sing of his worthiness.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:17:11] Stories of a Savior, measure for...
[00:17:35] We're making off a brand new series that's going to be so good, and it's called Judged.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:22:46] Now, I want to ask you a question.
[00:22:48] How many, we're going to be honest here and at all of our locations, how many in the room have ever been judged before by a show of hands?
[00:22:58] Every single one of us, no matter where you are, we've all been judged.
[00:23:02] Now, I want to flip the script a little bit today.
[00:23:05] how many of you guys would be honest and say that you have judged others all right that's good that's good I like like we we know what it feels like when it when we judged when we're judged I
[00:23:22] mean man it doesn't feel good does it like it hurts sometimes but what's so crazy we all raised our hand and said, yes, we've been judged. And yes, it hurts. But we all raised our hands and
[00:23:36] said, yes, but we judge. It's funny that we judge others, even though we know what it feels like.
[00:23:44] But here's what happens so often. We will judge people without having the full context of what's going on in their life. Right? Amen. And I'll go back a few years. I was in California and I was
[00:23:59] flying back to Charlotte, and I was taking a red-eye flight. Now, those of you who have ever flown before, you know when you take a red-eye flight, you want to do one thing. You want to
[00:24:08] sleep. All I want to do for these next five hours is sleep. So I'm a little anxious when I'm on the plane, so I have to take some Benadryls to get myself calmed down. Not just one. I have to get
[00:24:24] myself calm down. And so it takes me a little bit of time to go to sleep. And I was so ready after about two hours in, I was feeling it. I'm like, all right, we'll get a good three hours in before
[00:24:35] I land. Then all of a sudden, have you ever had somebody kick the back of your seat or knee the back of your seat on a plane? Can I tell you, it is very, very annoying. And if you do it, stop.
[00:24:45] Anyway, so, so I remember all of a sudden I just kept feeling this. I'm trying to go to sleep and and it's like all in the back, and I feel it kicking, and I'm like, I'm going to say something
[00:24:54] to this person. I'm going to say, I'm going to let them know how I feel about them right now, and I turned around, and you know who it was? It was a four-year-old kid. Now, you would think in
[00:25:03] that moment that I would be like, okay, it's okay. No, I was upset, and I was already judging that kid, but then I turned my attention to the mom, right, and I'm thinking, why in the world would
[00:25:16] You let your child keep hitting the back of my seat.
[00:25:20] If that was my kid, I'd pull that kid up out of that seat, take it to the bathroom, and I'll give it something to cry about.
[00:25:29] Some of y'all know what that's like.
[00:25:30] Some of y'all old school, like I grew up.
[00:25:32] It's like, no, I want to give you something to cry about today.
[00:25:37] Some of your parents are too excited about that.
[00:25:39] Bring it back.
[00:25:41] That's what we need to do.
[00:25:42] That's what's wrong with the world today.
[00:25:44] Bring it back.
[00:25:46] so so so I remember I was like I was so upset at the mom so I'm like all right whatever and I turn back around and then what happens to the kid the kid starts crying and then the kid cries the back
[00:26:03] of my seat kicking it and I'm getting so aggravated about ready to land it's about 30 minutes no sleep whatsoever I'm like I'm gonna say something to the mom I'm gonna fix this mama right now and so I
[00:26:13] turn around and I look at her and she looks at me and she says hey I just want you to know I'm so sorry he's been so sick and we're just trying to get home you know what I did it's okay
[00:26:28] it's all right like here's the thing I was judging everyone I was judging the mama I was probably judging the dad and he wasn't even there like I was like get your child together and here's the
[00:26:41] thing. I didn't have the full context. See, that's so easy for every single one of us. How easy is it for us to judge people? Now, since we are in this series called Judge, I thought that I would bring
[00:26:58] something out that would be pretty appropriate for this today. I got a gavel. There's a lot of power in this. Y'all ever watch Law and Order? Judge Judy? Like there's so much power when you're
[00:27:16] the judge. Because when you're the judge, you can say guilty. And there's so much power in that today. Think about this in our own lives in ways that we judge people. When we look at people's
[00:27:31] lives. And you, it's some of the simple, craziest, silliest things. Did you see that house they bought? How in the world did they afford that? How did they afford that car? I know where they work.
[00:27:46] We have all these opinions. We're like, yep, something shady must have happened for them to do that. They're guilty. And we look at people's lives and what they do. And we're constantly just throwing down the gavel and saying, guilty, guilty, guilty. Don't we do that every day?
[00:28:11] And here's what happens, and we don't realize it, that it just has become part of who we are in everything we do. We just, hey, we got the gavel, and we can say that that person is guilty
[00:28:25] in their life. And there's some other things that are a little bit heavier that take place in people's lives. And we still want to judge them. We look at someone who loses their job.
[00:28:41] Doesn't seem like they can get a job. Doesn't seem like they're able to support their family.
[00:28:45] And you're sitting back and you're having conversation. You're gossiping with other people. You're texting other people and say, well, did you hear he lost his job again?
[00:28:53] there must be something going on with him he can't provide for his family what's wrong with him he's guilty we look at someone who has an addiction and say well been having this addiction for years I don't think they're ever going to change they're going to be the same they're guilty
[00:29:13] we look at someone who's had an affair or going through an affair in their life and we sit back and say, well, I saw that coming. I saw that coming. They are guilty. Did you hear they were
[00:29:29] in prison? Do you know what they did? Do you know why they were there? Oh, they're just awful person.
[00:29:38] They're guilty. I heard that they have some things going on, some mental things that are happening in their life. I don't know what's wrong with them. They just need to get their act together those addictions and things that's going on. Guilty, guilty, guilty. We love to do
[00:30:03] this every single day in people's lives, even though we know how much it hurts us. Well, here's what we're going to do today. Instead of being the judge, we're going to take this seat that's
[00:30:23] always to the left of the judge. This seat is a little more difficult. That's easy because you have power over here. But when you're sitting in this seat and you're sitting on a stand right here
[00:30:37] and you got a prosecutor that's coming at you, see today what we're going to do, we're going to flip the script and we're going to put ourselves in this seat. And instead of taking the gavel and
[00:30:49] telling someone guilty, guilty, guilty, we're going to take the gavel to our own heart. Some of are like, can I leave right now? Can I go home? But, but as a Jesus followers today, we're going
[00:31:04] to understand, and we're going to have to realize that by, by putting some things down in our life and changing the way we think about other people, then we have to realize that we can change the
[00:31:17] world through the power and the love of Jesus. Amen. Y'all believe that today we can get more than two claps. Do y'all believe that today? So, so what we're going to do, we're going to dive
[00:31:29] into some of the words of Jesus today. I hope y'all ready for this. We're going to be in Matthew seven. And this is what he says. He says, do not judge others and you will not be judged for you
[00:31:40] will be treated. Everyone say treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is a standard by which you will be judged. Don't you love this verse? Everyone loves the beginning of this verse because basically it's saying, you can't judge me. Have you guys have ever used that
[00:31:57] before? If somebody says something to you, you're like, hey, hold up. I know it's in the Bible somewhere. I don't know much about Jesus, but I know Jesus said, you can't judge me so I can do
[00:32:06] whatever I want. You ever done that? I know I've done that plenty of times. Tell people you can't judge me. Now, here's the thing. Context is key. Going back to this, context is key. There are
[00:32:16] moments and times as a Jesus follower, as a believer, that if someone that is another Jesus follower or believer, that we can come alongside them lovingly and have a conversation about maybe the sin that they are in. That's what, that's what this verse, that's what it's saying when it says
[00:32:36] to judge not. But here's the thing. I know you're like, man, what? So let's get into that. No, here's, we're going to do that. That's why it's going to be amazing about this series. Over the
[00:32:44] next few weeks, we're going to talk about how to judge, when to judge, all these other things. But today is all about us. Because before we can move into any other direction, we got to check ourselves
[00:32:57] first when it comes to judging. Because what happens so often, and this is the reason, it's one of the words we're going to be talking about today, we have self-righteous judgment. And what is self-righteous what is the definition it's convinced of one's own righteousness especially
[00:33:18] in contrast with the actions and beliefs of others it means that we are narrow-minded and we become moralistic and that that our morals are on a different level a different playing ground than anyone else so there's a few questions that we're going to walk through today
[00:33:41] to check ourselves, and we're gonna ask the first one is this.
[00:33:45] When it comes to being judged, just being honest, how do you wanna be judged?
[00:33:51] How do you wanna be judged today?
[00:33:54] If you were sitting here in this seat, how do you wanna be judged when the prosecutor's coming at you?
[00:34:00] I don't know about you, but I wanna be judged with grace and I wanna be judged with mercy, right?
[00:34:06] I don't want you to look at this one thing, this one instance in my life and judge me on that.
[00:34:13] I wanna go back through the totality of my life.
[00:34:16] Hey guys, hold on.
[00:34:17] I know I'm here and I know I've done this one thing, but can we go back to my childhood?
[00:34:22] Can we go back to how I was raised?
[00:34:25] Can we go back to the things that I've went through, the trials in my life, the weight that I've been carrying?
[00:34:30] Can you go back and judge me on some of those things and just judge me with grace and judge me with mercy?
[00:34:37] I don't know about you, but if I'm in that seat, that's how I wanna be judged.
[00:34:41] Please just give me grace. Please just give me mercy. Matthew 7 says this, do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. Do to others whatever you would like them to do
[00:34:57] to you. So do we, next question, do we treat others with the same grace and mercy that we want?
[00:35:07] Ask yourselves that. This past week, over the last month, have you been treating others the way you want to be treated. And here's the deal. You, you may be 100% correct on your judgment of
[00:35:22] someone. You may be 100% correct. And you look at their life. You've been with them and you say, you are guilty. You are guilty. You may be 100% correct on the assessment of someone and what they're going through and what they're doing. But the question is this,
[00:35:42] how are you treating them? When they're going through that, how are you treating them? What are your thoughts about them? How are you treating right now someone that you know who is struggling with their identity? How are you treating someone right now that is struggling
[00:36:09] through an addiction. So it's very important for us to ask ourselves that question. How are you actually treating them? Are we treating them with the same grace that we want to be treated with?
[00:36:28] Or are we writing them off? Are we washing our hands of them and saying, it's too much.
[00:36:37] They're too far gone. There's nothing else for them. There's nothing else that I can do.
[00:36:43] I'm not going to share too much of this story because it's extremely heavy quite a few years ago we went through a very tragic situation at our Statesville campus and we were all very broken with what was
[00:37:02] happening and going on and someone was actually in the hospital and I remember I was driving into the Statesville campus one day and I pulled up and a guy got out of his vehicle I didn't know him didn't know who he was
[00:37:17] and he got out and he said I heard what's going on. I heard what's been happening. And I looked at him and I said, yeah, I said, to be honest with you, I just feel so devastated for everyone that is involved in
[00:37:30] this story and the situation. And I was, I was just so devastated and everything going on.
[00:37:35] And he looks at me dead in the eyes. He said, I'm a Christian. I know they're in the hospital, but I hope they die and burn for eternity.
[00:37:49] Can I tell you in that moment, I was so devastated that someone who says that I'm a Christian, I'm a believer, that I should love someone says I hope they die and burn for eternity.
[00:38:03] What this man was saying, he was picking up the gavel and saying I'm the judge, I'm the juror, I'm the executioner and that person is guilty on all charges and I was so devastated by that but here's what's crazy guys it may not be that
[00:38:25] situation but man when it comes to judging how easy it is for us to nitpick and look at others people other people's lives and not ourselves it reminds me of the woman and it's in John 8 who was
[00:38:43] who was accused of adultery and she was brought in front of everyone in front of the town and thrown in front of the crowd in front of Jesus and said this woman deserves to be killed she
[00:38:59] deserves to be stoned and put to death and Jesus gets down and he writes in the sins and he looks up at all the religious people and he looks at them and says you who have not sinned cast the
[00:39:12] first stone. Check this out. Jesus didn't say you who have committed adultery, cast the first stone.
[00:39:20] Jesus just said, you who have committed sin, cast the first stone. They started to drop their rocks and they walked away. And Jesus looks and said, woman, where is your accusers? And she said, they have gone. And he tells her just to go and sin no more. What Jesus did in this moment
[00:39:44] is he held their sin and her sin is on a level playing field how often do we look at our life and say my sin is not as great or not as bad as their sin my sin is not as bad as their sin
[00:40:06] I haven't done what they've done that's why it becomes this self-righteous attitude and becomes so easy for us to judge others because we think, hey, we are better than them. That's exactly what the religious leaders were doing at that time. They wanted immediate judgment, self-righteous
[00:40:29] attitude. What about today? If we walk out of this room and instead of casting judgment and saying, I'm done, or I'm better than, or I'm washing my hands of this person, what if we walk with them
[00:40:42] through what they're going through. What if we as Jesus followers, as believers in the room, if we were to be real and say, hey guys, hey, to this person, I may not understand what's going on.
[00:40:51] I may not understand what you're going through, but can I tell you, I'm here with you. I just want to listen. I want to listen with you about your struggles and what's happening in your life
[00:41:04] to just have a conversation instead of writing them off and say, I'm going to be there. Ask a question. Hey, how can I help you today? See, this is what we see Jesus do throughout his entire
[00:41:17] ministry was taking people who were judged and getting and coming along beside of them and loving them and caring for them. That's all that Jesus did. But what did he do? He was looking at
[00:41:32] the religious people, basically saying, guys, what are we doing? Why are we not loving people?
[00:41:38] Why are we judging people?
[00:41:39] Why are we not having conversation with people?
[00:41:42] What did the verse four say again?
[00:41:44] It said, the standard you use in judging is a standard by which you will be judged.
[00:41:50] Jesus, there's so much weight in this.
[00:41:52] Jesus is saying, whatever standard you are basing your judgment on is the same standard that you will be judged on.
[00:42:03] Think about how you are judging or saying something for someone.
[00:42:07] One day at the end of our life, We're going to stand before God and he's going to say, I want to judge you the same way you judged everybody else. I don't know, but that's a lot of weight that should make us think about
[00:42:23] how we should change the way we think, change the way that we judge. Another question. So what standard are you judging others with? Do you judge yourself by the same standards? That's what I was
[00:42:39] saying earlier when it says self-righteous and it's moralistic about your morals are different so often we look and say my sin's not not their sin isn't that crazy that we do that so often we
[00:42:52] will point at someone else and say yeah they're doing wrong but it's not near as bad it's like going around and you ever had somebody that's like uh talking negatively about their spouse in front
[00:43:02] of a group of people and they're just talking so negative negative about their spouse just in front of everyone. And then you sit back and say, I would never talk about my spouse like that ever.
[00:43:11] That's horrible. But then you go home and you and your wife get into it. And then you end up calling your mama and talking about your wife. Can I tell you marriage counseling 101? Don't
[00:43:22] you ever do that? Don't you ever do that? And what we do is we say it's worse than what I'm doing.
[00:43:29] It's funny. You may be like, you know what? I drink. I drink a lot. I get drunk every now and again, but at least I'm not doing drugs. You may be doing drugs. At least I ain't a drug dealer.
[00:43:44] That's what we do, right? It's like we just point and look at everyone else. I'm not as bad as them.
[00:43:49] You know what that is like? That is like basically an example, husband and wife. And all of a sudden your wife is just like, and she's been busy and she's not been cooking like she used to cook. And
[00:44:01] you come home and you jump all over her. It's like, I can't believe you don't have dinner for me again.
[00:44:06] what is wrong with you? Even though she'd been taking care of the kids, taking them to school, taking them to practice, doing everything. Come on, ladies, can I get amen? Been doing everything around the house. Give yourself a hand, ladies. Come on. And you've been doing everything around
[00:44:22] the house. And then he's like, why aren't you cooking for me? Even though you haven't cut the grass, you haven't picked up your dirty clothes, you haven't done 10 other things that you know you should be doing, but what are you doing? Pointing the finger at her, even though you've
[00:44:35] got some junk going on in your own life that you ain't fixing. That's what we tend to do because it's so easy. Now, some of us in the room are like, well, you know what? I don't judge anybody.
[00:44:51] I don't call anybody out, but I sure do think it. Some of y'all walked in today and saw somebody and you had some judgmental thoughts. You didn't say it. Here's where we do this a lot is when
[00:45:03] you're driving you ever get aggravated at someone going down 77 and how they drive now some of y'all are very vocal you let everybody know with your hands how you feel about them they can see in the rear view mirror they can see your mouth going 90 miles an hour
[00:45:25] and you were telling them what for like you you they can see the stank eye in your rear view mirror. They're like, oh my gosh. But now I'm not that way. I'm very judgmental. I'm going to be
[00:45:38] honest with you. I'm very judgmental when I drive for other people, but they don't see it. I'm like how you talk to kids, you know, early when it's like, I'll tell you what, I can't believe you
[00:45:46] better. That's what I do. They can't see it, but I'm like, you're an idiot. Absolute idiot. How in the world did you learn how to drive? Now, here's the thing. It kind of feels good, don't it?
[00:45:58] don't feel good it feels good until somebody's in the car and calls you out like your mama true story I was in the car the other day with my mom and somebody I thought was acting a little
[00:46:10] crazy I'm like oh my gosh mom did you see that being an idiot I can't believe they're in a drive and I was just going off and I thought that my mom since she was my mom would love me enough
[00:46:19] to stand up for me I thought she was going to support me and say Dave honey you're right you're right. Tell them, tell them what it is, what it's like. Tell them. And you know what she did? She
[00:46:30] said, now, Dave, honey, you don't know what they're going through. Don't you hate that?
[00:46:39] You, you don't know what they've been through. They may be dealing with some things in their life. I looked at her the other day and I had to repent for this. I looked at her the other day
[00:46:47] and I said, can you just not let me vent mom? Just let me vent. I, I wanted to judge from a distance no matter what, whether we are right in somebody's face, judging them or whether we're from a
[00:47:04] distance thinking about it, it's still true. And what we have to do, we have to put in the work.
[00:47:14] If we want to show the love of Jesus to others in this world, we have to put in some work today.
[00:47:18] And this is what Jesus was teaching us in Matthew seven. This is why he says, many of you know this verse. It says, and why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?
[00:47:27] How can you think of saying to your friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye?
[00:47:34] You hypocrite.
[00:47:36] First, get rid of the log in your own eye.
[00:47:39] Then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.
[00:47:42] Jesus is saying, you've got to put the gavel down and start looking at yourself.
[00:47:49] You have to look at yourself in the mirror and change yourself first.
[00:47:57] Psalm 139 says this.
[00:48:00] Search me, oh God, and know my heart.
[00:48:05] Test me, you know my anxious thoughts.
[00:48:07] Point out anything in me that offends you and leads me along the path of everlasting life.
[00:48:16] This is what we like to do when it comes to judging others.
[00:48:19] We would love to take this verse and put it on them and change it a little bit because we wanna say that, hey, this verse is not about me.
[00:48:26] Hey, God, search them.
[00:48:29] God, change their heart.
[00:48:31] God point out anything in them to say that they are wrong this verse is about us be real today instead of being self-righteous we need to have a self-assessment of our own life in our own hearts
[00:48:50] in our prayer time ask God before you even leave that morning to say God search me if there's any judgmental, self-righteous attitude in me today. God, as I'm going through my day as that person,
[00:49:08] that coworker, somebody driving, a family member, whatever it is, God, just make me realize it.
[00:49:14] Make me recognize it. And what happens is once you start to recognize it and God starts calling it out in your life, instead of it becoming a habit, he will say, hey, okay, you see what you're
[00:49:28] about to do. And you'll start to recognize it in your own life. And you'll start to see that that judgmental attitude starts to slowly go away. And you'll look at people differently. Romans 2 says,
[00:49:44] this is Apostle Paul. He says, you may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad as you have no excuse when you say that they are wicked and should be punished. You are condemning
[00:49:54] yourself, for you who judge others do the very same things. And we know that God in his justice will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same things? Don't you see how
[00:50:11] wonderfully kind, tolerant, patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin. Well, Paul is saying in this moment, all of you, all of us, all of humanity is guilty. No matter who you are, all of us are guilty.
[00:50:42] And, and so often this is the problem within the church. Who is the church as believers? We are the church is we say we're Jesus followers, but when it comes to the world today, because you
[00:50:55] have to have a little bit, what I say earlier, you have to have context. Context is key. Who was Paul talking to? He was talking to the world. He was talking to unbelievers. If you go back and you
[00:51:10] read Romans 1 and he was talking all about all the sins, everything that they were doing, he even said that they were making up sins. I would say today we would probably think that, man, I believe
[00:51:20] the world is making up sins. It's coming up with stuff. But context is key because what do we want to do as believers? We want to judge the world. We want to sit back on social media and text and type
[00:51:34] and judge the world and culture. Context is key. First Corinthians says this, this Paul, it isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders. Paul is talking about the unbelievers. Why as believers do we hold unbelievers to believer standards? So often we do that. We want to hold
[00:51:58] them to our standards. Hey guys, what happens when we accept Jesus to be the leader of their life, our life? When we accept Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit who comes and lives inside of us.
[00:52:06] What does the Holy Spirit do? Leads, guides, direct us in our life, right? That's what he does on a daily basis. He should be doing that on a daily basis. Guess what? Unbelievers do not have
[00:52:19] what? Holy Spirit. Unbelievers don't have the Holy Spirit to lead, to guide, and to direct.
[00:52:29] This is why it's so important to have a self-assessment, to look at ourselves, to look on our own heart, because guys, take one moment and think about when you were not following Jesus.
[00:52:43] Some of us were crazy, like two kinds of crazy. Like you were wilding out. You were just doing whatever you wanted to do. I got my hand up. Just acting a fool, doing whatever. Guys, I didn't have
[00:53:01] the Holy Spirit leading, guiding, directing me. I was wanting to live my life. Just do whatever I wanted to do. Whatever felt good, that's what I did. Now, take a moment for yourself. Go back in time.
[00:53:17] What if you were able to sit down with yourself back then?
[00:53:25] What kind of conversation would you have with your crazy self?
[00:53:31] What happened?
[00:53:33] What would it look like if you went back with a judgmental, self-righteous attitude and said, You idiot.
[00:53:41] What is wrong with you?
[00:53:43] Get your act together.
[00:53:46] Is that what you do?
[00:53:47] I don't think I'd do that to myself.
[00:53:48] I believe I'd show a little grace.
[00:53:53] I believe I would talk about love I believe I would talk about mercy I believe I would I would talk to myself in a different way and say hey I may not understand what you're going through
[00:54:07] I may not have been there but can I tell you I love you and I care for you and I'm there for you with whatever's going on in your life come on can I get amen is that what you would do for yourself
[00:54:17] I don't think we would I don't think we'd put our fingers at ourself and judge and talk back and talk down on one another, I want to go just for a second. I want to talk to somebody today that maybe really
[00:54:30] quick, just a side note, you've been to church. You quit going to church because of hurt, because you were judged. Maybe you've never been to church before and you're here and you're like, man, that's
[00:54:39] me. I'm wilding out and doing my thing. But I got some unbelievers. I mean, I got some believers that just constantly judge me and are at me. Can I tell you that my hope and my prayer today is this,
[00:54:51] that in this place, whatever room you're in, whatever campus you are in, no matter what you are going through, no matter what you've done, no matter what is happening in your life right now, can I tell you there's a God
[00:55:03] who loves you right where you are.
[00:55:05] He loves you right where you are.
[00:55:07] And can I tell you, my hope and prayer is this, that when you leave out of this place today, you're still trying to maybe figure out life, you're trying to figure out church, you're trying to figure out Jesus,
[00:55:17] you're trying to figure out this whole thing.
[00:55:18] my hope and prayer is that you could call this place your home. Here's the thing. We are not perfect. I am not perfect. I am far from it. But can I tell you each and every day, our goal is to
[00:55:33] strive and show unconditional love like Jesus, even though we don't have it together, but just to show love like he showed me, like he showed many of you here and across our campuses today.
[00:55:46] So I just hope you can find this place to be your home, to learn and to grow and know more about the love of Jesus.
[00:55:55] Now, I want to go back to verse four real quick.
[00:55:57] It says, don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, patient God is with you?
[00:56:00] Does this mean nothing to you?
[00:56:02] Can't you see that kindness, his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
[00:56:06] I love this verse because Paul is just saying, hey, what does it look like?
[00:56:11] I love taking these words and really seeing what it means.
[00:56:15] and it says kindness.
[00:56:16] I love this part about kindness because we talked about treating others.
[00:56:20] Now we're on, what does it look like?
[00:56:22] Kindness.
[00:56:22] If I'm sitting over here and a prosecutor is coming at you, I think some of us today need to look at our kindness meter.
[00:56:30] What's your kindness meter?
[00:56:32] What's your kindness meter look like over the last month, the last few weeks?
[00:56:36] Can you imagine what it'd be if you're sitting in a seat and a prosecutor's coming at you and you're like, last Monday at 1 p.m.
[00:56:43] when that coworker came up to you and said, da, da, da, da, da, what was your kindness meter?
[00:56:50] Ooh, can we not do that?
[00:56:54] Hey, grace, did y'all forget about grace?
[00:56:58] What would it look like if you went up and you were like six o'clock last Friday night when that family member, you know the one, called you because of something they're still going through, been going through it for years,
[00:57:16] and you picked up the phone what was your kindness meter this morning on the way to church when you saw someone on the side of the road with a sign that said they're hungry and need something to eat what was your kindness meter or did you look and have this self-righteous
[00:57:39] judgmental attitude. Paul was saying, what does God do? Kindness. He was tolerant.
[00:57:51] He was patient with us. Come on, everybody in the room, everybody at one of our campuses, how many of you are thankful today for God's kindness, for his patience, for tolerating you, for tolerating me man I'm so thankful for his goodness and his grace and his mercy come on if
[00:58:18] he's ever done that for you come on are you really excited and thankful for that in your life I'm so thankful for that but he's saying hey there are people in this world today that don't
[00:58:34] understand kindness and patience but we are called to give that to others we are called to show that to others, not have a self-righteous attitude, because when we are that to people, it will change
[00:58:48] the world. It will grow God's kingdom. The name of Jesus will become famous because of how we, the church, how Jesus followers, believers, love others and not be so judgmental.
[00:59:05] First John four, verse 10 said, this is real love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. You know, I want to take a moment because earlier
[00:59:21] in the beginning of the message, when I was talking about ways we judge, and there were a few funny ones in there, but there was some I threw in there and it wasn't by coincidence. There was
[00:59:32] some, when I talked about a job, someone not being able to keep a job and couldn't provide for their family. There was, there was moments in there that we would have said guilty. It was some of
[00:59:50] that story that I talked about having an affair and how our mindset would be about that. And we would write them off because of what they'd done, what they're going through. And we'd say they're guilty. There's some in there when I talked about prison and how they were in prison
[01:00:05] and our mindset and the things that we would have thought about them and being so judgmental and be like, ah, don't ever let them be around me. We just said guilty. There's some in that
[01:00:14] part of that story that I talked about that was things going on just mentally and they were struggling having psychotic breaks and and some of the things we look at them and say man what
[01:00:24] is the world is wrong with them guilty the addiction guilty I didn't just throw those stories out there that was an accumulation of four testimonies at our Statesville campus last weekend at our baptism and what was beautiful about everything as much as we had looked back
[01:00:44] and we'd say, they should be guilty.
[01:00:47] About three quarters of the way in this story, we started to hear some things that were changing and have changed in their life.
[01:00:54] Because earlier on, they were talking about what they went through.
[01:00:57] They're talking about what they were going through.
[01:01:00] But about three quarters of that story, they started to talk about how God changed their life.
[01:01:05] They started talking about forgiveness.
[01:01:07] They started talking about salvation.
[01:01:09] They started talking about his unconditional love, even what they were going through.
[01:01:13] And that was part of the story first about God's love, his forgiveness, his salvation, how he changed their life.
[01:01:20] But there was another part of that as well.
[01:01:22] There was a part where they mentioned the church, talking about how people come alongside them, how people love them right where they were.
[01:01:31] Can you imagine, guys, if the church, us as Jesus followers, would have looked at every single one of them and said, on all counts, you are guilty.
[01:01:42] I'm not gonna walk with you through anything.
[01:01:44] guilty. I'm going to wash my hands of you guilty. I don't want anything to do with you. You are guilty. Can you imagine what that would have been like? Can you imagine if they would have done that
[01:01:56] to you? But what took place? Believers, Jesus follower, living out what he has called us to do and their lives were forever changed. God, John 3, 17 says this, God sent his son into the world,
[01:02:13] not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
[01:02:17] I'm gonna read that again.
[01:02:18] God sent his son into the world, not to what?
[01:02:21] Judge the world, but to save the world through him.
[01:02:25] If God didn't send Jesus into this world to condemn it, I don't think he sent me or you to do it either.
[01:02:36] Oh, he didn't send us to do it either.
[01:02:44] So what he is saying for all of us in the room instead of pounding and pounding and keep saying you're guilty, guilty, guilty.
[01:02:52] We got to give up the gavel and we got to lay it down.
[01:02:57] You know who we give the gavel to?
[01:02:59] We give it to God.
[01:03:03] Because when we pick it up, we say we have more power than him or we put ourselves on the same level.
[01:03:08] We give the gavel to God.
[01:03:11] Check our hearts today.
[01:03:13] Lay the gavel down.
[01:03:15] Today, let's make a declaration that we're going to put it down and give it to God.
[01:03:20] Let's make a declaration today that we're going to walk out of this room instead of having a judgmental self-righteous attitude that we're gonna love some people around us.
[01:03:28] That we're gonna be so committed to loving people around us that they will see something different in us that they've never seen before.
[01:03:34] And they will be drawn to us not because of anything that we are actually doing because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us and our lives have been changed and transformed by the power of Jesus.
[01:03:45] And we're showing everyone else that hey, I don't have it together but I'm gonna do everything I can to live like Jesus and I'm going to love you right where you are. Amen. So this morning, let's just go ahead and
[01:04:00] we're going to go to him in prayer. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. And first I want to talk to those in the room who are Jesus followers. God, I pray this morning that we just lay the
[01:04:12] gavel down that throughout this message, even for myself, God, that I come to you daily and say, God, check my heart to remove this self-righteous attitude that I have towards others that we walk out of here today to show us to love others right where they are, to walk with others right where
[01:04:38] they are, to be there for people, to not wash our hands from them. So God, just watch over all of us today in this room. And as we stay in this moment of prayer, I want to talk to those who have not
[01:04:52] yet accepted Jesus into your life. And you're still trying to figure this church out. Maybe that's you. Maybe you've been judged. Maybe you've gone through some stuff, but like I said earlier, there's a man named Jesus who came to this earth and he died on a cross for every single one of
[01:05:04] this room, no matter what you've done, no matter what you did last night, no matter what you did this morning, what he wants is a relationship with you for you to know that no matter what
[01:05:14] on the last days of your life has spent an eternity with a man named Jesus. And if that is you just going to be really quick in this room today, that is you. And you want to accept him
[01:05:26] today. You want to accept his forgiveness and love today is the day to put your yes on the table and say, yes, I want to choose Jesus. And that is you here at our Mooresville campus, Denver,
[01:05:35] Statesville. Even if you're watching online on the count of three, I just want you to shoot up your hand and say, I'm not going to be ashamed that I'm ready to follow Jesus. One, two, three,
[01:05:44] across all of our campuses that are used, just raise your hand. Amen. Amen. Anyone else? Amen.
[01:05:50] Amen. Anyone else? Amen. Got you. I got you in the back. Anyone else? Amen. I got you in the back.
[01:06:00] Across all of our campuses. And if that's you, all you have to do is pray this prayer.
[01:06:04] father today i choose you to be i choose you to be the believer of my life forgive me of my sins and today i will follow you thank you for saving me thank you for setting me free today i'm believing
[01:06:18] that your son jesus came to this earth and died for me father we give this day to you we thank you and we praise you for this time together and it's in jesus name and everybody said amen that was an

[01:06:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:06:35] amazing message and what a clear call to salvation. Let's celebrate those who are making that decision to choose and to follow Jesus. Personally, I just want to congratulate you and help you take your next steps because making that one decision is a major step to a new life living for God, a life
[01:06:52] of learning from and following Jesus. And also we know you're going to have questions and we want to answer them. But your first step is really, really simple. We want to encourage you to tell
[01:07:03] someone about your decision because God wants you to be in community with other believers so tell someone you can even start by letting us know by clicking on the I prayed button in the chat you know your second step is baptism all across
[01:07:19] the Cove we're having baptisms on August 30th so if you live near a regional campus if you want to be baptized just click on the connection button and just let us know that you want to be baptized we're gonna reach out to you we're gonna
[01:07:32] to call you this week and get you all the information that you're going to need. And remember, it's okay to have questions. Ask us. We want to walk with you. We're so excited for you.
[01:07:43] So congratulations. Now join us next week as we continue the message series judged. See you soon.