 Allow me to read Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 through 5 and give you a bit of an introduction and all, and then we'll get into our study. In Matthew chapter 7, beginning at verse 1, Jesus said, Judge not that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look a plank is in your own eye. And then he very gently and sweetly said, hypocrite, and that kind. Just remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Now, why do I feel the Spirit of the Lord put it on my heart to share this particular portion of Scripture with you? Well, let me tell you why. Some of you are aware of this, but in case you're not, recently Christian musical artist Lauren Daigle found herself in controversy. She was a featured artist on the demonic nati show, on iHeart Radio. While being interviewed, she was asked a question, and I don't know if it was what you call a gotcha question or not, but she was asked a question. She was asked if homosexuality is a sin. Now her response to the question has stirred up a great number of people, and here's her answer as it was printed. I can't say one way or other or the other if it's sin. I'm not God. When people ask questions like that, I just say, read the Bible and find out for yourself. And when you find out, let me know because I'm learning too. Now the question that was asked may be connected to her appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show in October. In that show, Ellen hugged her and made her feel cared for, showed her kindness. And we know that kind treatment is always appreciated. It's very attractive because it's always interpreted as love. Well many Christians register disappointment and anger at Lauren saying she's a compromiser. But her defenders are saying, well Jesus taught believers not to judge one another. So the question is, and this is what we're looking at today here in Matthew chapter seven, the question is, is this true? Did Jesus teach believers to suspend judgment and discernment? Are we to accept all sinful behavior and never make mention of it out of love? So with that said, I thought it would be good to look at this passage this morning because I want to provide some understanding of what Jesus would be saying in this sermon. You see verse one where he says, judge not that you be not judged. Verse one is one of the most misquoted New Testament scriptures in our nation. Next to the scripture, wives submitting to your own husbands, it's also the most misunderstood. Today the inability to say something is right or wrong is exalted. It's actually referred to or called tolerance. It's been said that tolerance, thou shalt be tolerant, is the 11th commandment. But we hear the word tolerant or tolerance, but what does the word mean? Well the word tolerance is the ability or willingness to bear with something. In particular, the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with to be able to tolerate with an opinion or whatever that you don't necessarily agree with. That's tolerance. Well, many today believe in a superficial unity. It's glossed over by sentimental love. And this sentimental love has led them to accepting anything that'll accept anything except biblical truth. This is to be expected of those who don't claim faith in Jesus or the Bible. I don't expect a non-believer to necessarily think that the scripture or Jesus's teachings should be believed or followed. But when you find that attitude in the church, it's normally found by those who never read the Bible and never study scripture. This attitude is often fostered by parents who don't teach and don't encourage the church to read the Bible. It's the fruit of fearful pastors, pastors who want to be liked by everybody. It's this attitude, you've got to love everybody no matter what. We used to call that when I was first saved, sloppy agape. Many of those who call people judges are living sinful lives. They don't like being called out. So instead of receiving the Spirit's conviction, they instead claim that people are judging them. So that enables them to continue in sin and even appear to be better than the ones who are making the judgment. Interestingly enough, in claiming to be judged, they judge those who they say are judging them. And they don't seem to know the difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit who awakens you to the reality of something being wrong. And brings you to the point of understanding or thinking you're going to be judged. And so they don't know the difference between God's conviction and man's condemnation or their own self-condemnation. And so that's a big issue today. I read an online post written by a professing Christian and this person was calling Christians hypocrites. They wrote that Christians choose scriptures that appeal to them and then they gave their opinion. And so when they did that, I responded to the post and I wrote to them concerning it. And I encouraged them, as I wrote, to speak to their own pastor, get some clarity on this. They were misusing scripture. They were misunderstanding its meaning. So they responded that they didn't need to do so because they didn't need to be taught. They said they didn't need to go to church. They didn't need to ask a pastor because they knew what truth is. So out of curiosity, I looked at their Facebook page and it was filled with vulgarity. It was filled with profanity. So I wrote. And I told them that they needed to examine whether they themselves were actually Christians and they responded by writing, you're judging me, which is the typical response. And I told Raul, that's just not nice. You shouldn't say that. Well, you know, many who think this way believe what is taught in the Bible doesn't really matter. They often say, well, that's your opinion. Sometimes they may be right. There will always be those who give opinions as if they're pronouncements from God. But what if what is being said is actually what scripture teaches? What if the scripture being used is in context? And what if the person that that scripture is being applied to, what if that person truly needs to hear what is being said? You see, believers have their worldviews formed by what is taught in scripture. Now there are many things that Christians have believed that were obviously wrong. There's no argument about that. Much of this has come due to simply misunderstanding scripture. There were professing believers who fought in crusades and owned slaves. Martin Luther at one time thought that Jews would come to Jesus, but got angry when they didn't. So he wrote a booklet. It was called The Jews and Their Lies. And he gave advice concerning the treatment of Jews. And this is some of what he wrote. This is what you're to do. He said, set fire to their synagogues and schools. Destroy their homes. Burn their prayer books and Talmudic writings. Bid their rabbis from teaching and execute them if they do. Cease protecting them when they travel. Forbid them from lending money and receiving interest. Put them to hard work. So obviously culture and our sin nature conspired to misread and misunderstand scripture. But does this mean there is no proper understanding of scripture? Pastors and teachers are commanded to properly study and properly present the Bible. In 2 Timothy 2.15, Paul said, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. You see, when lovingly performed correction is in reality a deep expression of love. It isn't judging a person when you warn them. It's not judging them when you encourage them to flee sin. There's eternal consequences to stay in sin and to not flee it. From James 5.19 and 20, the writer said, Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, cover a multitude of sins. You see, when people develop their own standards, they judge others by those standards. This was true of the Pharisees. Their traditions actually replace God's written authority. In Matthew 15, verses 7 through 9, Jesus once again spoke in this way. He said, hypocrites, well, did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people drawn near to me with their mouth, honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You see, this Phariseic system produced an appearance of righteousness, which we today refer to as legalism. When we personally decide what is right and what is wrong, we end up self-righteous. Jesus made that clear when he spoke of this attitude in the Pharisees in Luke 16, verse 15. He said, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men. God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. The result is all who fail to live up to my standard are deemed less righteous than me. That produces spiritual pride. I'm better than those who don't meet my standards. So this attitude results in judgmentalism, a habit of condemning other people. Now at this point, I should say Christian love is not blind. It doesn't accept and doesn't tolerate evil. True love actually contains an element of spiritual discernment and love is actually formed and informed by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. In Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, the scripture says, this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Again, love is not an emotional response, it's spiritual, it's informed. Our moral beliefs are built on proper understanding of the Bible. As a matter of fact, the fundamentals and foundations of our morality could be very succinctly spoken of as being the Ten Commandments. In Psalm 119, 104, it says, from your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every evil or every false way. So the biblical foundation gives us the proper criteria for informed judgment. When people say, well, Jesus never taught us to judge, it says right here, Matthew 7, verse 1, judge not that you be not judged. They forget that Jesus in John 7, 24 said this, Jesus said, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. You see, without moral codes, we can never properly judge right from wrong. Without right or wrong, everything's relative, therefore, everything can be right. An example of this is something a friend of mine, Tony Clark, posted on his Facebook page. Tony wrote, ladies, just in case you're confused, God will never send you someone else's husband. There are a lot of people I've heard over the years say, well, you know, God brought them into my life. Really? Yeah, they just happened to be married at that time. And so Tony's saying, ladies, just in case you're confused, God never sends you somebody else's husband, which is true. But today, people will say, how can it be wrong when it feels so right? You see, without a standard of acceptable behavior, nothing is wrong. So in courts of law, we cannot be convinced of someone being wrong. There's no acceptable behavior if we say everything is right. So how can you be judged in court? You see, as a Christian, I'm not surprised that people accept sinful behavior as acceptable. That's the way of the world. Isaiah 8, verse 20 reads like this, to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it's because there's no light in them. And this is the way it's always been. There's sin, and there are those who make excuse for it. What is concerning is that people who profess to be saved can become hardened. They become indifferent. Matthew 24, 12 reads, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Instead of desiring truth and embracing truth, Christians are taking the side of error. In 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 and 4, Paul prophesied concerning that. He said, a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear. They will reject the truth and follow strange myths. We are living in those days today. You see, in this sermon here, the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 7, Jesus is speaking about unmerciful condemnation of other people. And he says, by practicing this kind of judgmentalism, we replace God as the right and final judge. You see, the fact is, we do not know a person's motives because only God can and only God does. And that's the thing that's interesting because I was reading comments, and this is not just with Lauren Daigle, by the way, this is with others, where people will say, oh, they just want to make more money, or oh, they just want to be popular, or they're not even saved. And I find it amazing that somebody can read somebody else's mind. How do they know what's going on in somebody's heart? They don't. So how can they make pronouncements? How come we're so quick to make judgments for people and upon them? But that happens all the time. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 3 and 4, with me it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I don't even judge myself. I know nothing against myself, yet I'm not justified by this. He who judges me is the Lord. And so it's very easy for us to be in a church and be in a pew or listen on the radio or hear some comments or look at the Internet and to read something and immediately say, oh, that's only because they don't know Jesus, or they don't really love the Lord, or they're cowards, or we can sit back and take pot shots. All of us are in one form or another armchair quarterbacks. We all watch from above. We all say, oh, look at, you know, he ran up the middle, he should have gone outside. And we say, oh, if I were the coach, you know, if you were the coach, you'd be fired the first game. What happens is we have this upper view. We think we know and I have to be honest with you, that's even in the church. And so Jesus says, judge not that you be not judged. He goes on to say in verse two, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Self-righteous judgment inevitably boomerangs because we are going to reap what we sow. And that can take place even while we're still alive. People will treat us as we treat them. If I don't exhibit faith in a compassionate way, people will accuse me of simply being harsh. It's inevitable because when you take a stand for righteousness in the first place, people will object. So this kind of stand is what fuels rejection, but it also can result in persecution. If our attitudes judgmental, if it's self-righteous, people will resent us. We can provoke them to be harsh towards us and to begin to look to expose sin in us. They'll treat us as they believe we were treating them. So if you have to bring correction, it should be done with gentleness and it should be done with humility, which brings us back to the situation with Lauren Dago. When Lauren decided to go on Ellen's show, many went on social media to criticize her. Apparently they think that Christians should only talk to other Christians. Obviously, that's not what Jesus did and that's not what Jesus taught. In Matthew chapter 9 verses 9 through 13, Matthew writes, as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me. So he arose and followed him. Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house that, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, shut up. No, he didn't. He said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. And that's the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ. And that has always been the heart of Calvary Chapel. Sinners do not always come to you, so you go to them. It would seem that Lauren believed that her being on Alan's show was an opportunity. And in this I support her. I encourage her. The fields are white for harvest. Alan's show is one of the highest rated afternoon shows with millions of viewers. Well, here's the problem. Alan is an open lesbian and some think Christians should not be on her show. My question is simple. How will Alan and others be reached when Christians think that Alan and others like her are just too evil? Alan was wrong if she thought she wouldn't be confronted. There's a very real impression in the world that we are unloving and self-righteous and for good reason. When Lauren said, I can't say one way or the other, if it's a sin, I'm not God. She was wrong. She could have made a statement. Scriptures clear on the subject, homosexuality is a sin. Leviticus 18, verse 22. We shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It's an abomination. Romans 1, 26 and 27. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. You see, the reason why it's important to share truth and not avoid it is because of eternity. It is the believer's mission to share the good news of sins forgiven and the possibility of heaven. Because if someone rejects the gospel, they have judgment awaiting them. In 1 Corinthians 6, 9 and 10, Paul said, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do you not be deceived? Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. You see, it's not out of hate that we share, but out of love for them. When you look at Paul's list, it's not difficult to find yourself in it. I wonder how many in this room have been sexually immoral. I wonder how many people were idolaters putting something before God. I wonder how many committed adultery. I wonder how many practice homosexuality. I wonder if we have any in here who were thieves or people who were greedy or people who were drunkards. I wonder if we have anybody here who were partiers or somebody who swindled. All of those are names that are found in the list of people who don't enter into the kingdom of God. We need to be aware of it. That's the way we were without Jesus Christ. But Paul made that case to the Corinthians concluding with words of encouragement because they said in 1 Corinthians 6, 11, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God. You were, but you're not. You once were a liar, but you're not. You once were a thief, but now you're not. You once were greedy, you are no longer. You once practiced sexual immorality, but you do not. You have been washed. You have been washed by the blood of Christ. You've been set apart by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you are brand new in Jesus. That's the gospel. That's what we preach to people. That's what we encourage people to, and we need to understand that. You see, if what I read is accurate, Lauren needs to be corrected. She needs to be encouraged. The pressure to compromise is incredible. Opportunities to do so are numerous. The better known the Christian, the brighter the spotlight is on them. But you know what has happened, guys? In our day, the church expects their entertainers to be theologians and make judgment. And the bottom line is the price that these people pay for speaking for the Lord and gaining the living singing for him, well, that's just part of what they're going to pay for doing that. Having people look at them and scrutinize them goes with the territory. And so Lauren needs to realize she's not simply a singer. She's a witness for Christ. She needs to seek the Lord for understanding, and she needs to be willing to pay the price. She needs to spend time in the Word of God. She needs to surround herself with mature believers. You see, if she's going to sing about Jesus, she'd better grow to know him on a deeper level. But we need to remember the same Jesus who forgave tax-gatherers and prostitutes, also cleaned out the temple. Jesus Christ was somebody who called for holiness and righteousness, but he had the most difficult words sometimes for those who professed to know God and didn't live up to what they said they believed. We need to understand that. When correction comes, it should come with gentleness and understanding. In Galatians chapter six, verses one and two, Paul said, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Proper judgment comes with knowing ourselves. If we're ever going to truly help somebody else, we need to be able to see clearly. We have to. So Jesus says, verse three, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye? Look a plank is in your own eye, hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you'll see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So he asks the question, why do you look at the speck? That word speck speaks of a splinter, it could be a twig, sawdust. The word plank is speaking of a beam, a beam that would be used to support the roof of a building. Interestingly enough, the speck that he's speaking about, the sawdust, is from the beam. When you sand down a beam, you end up with specks, you end up with sawdust. And so he's saying that you see something in others that in reality is in you too. Because the beam, when sanded is producing the speck, and the speck is from the same substance as the beam. And so it's been said our sins never seem so ugly until we see them practiced by someone else. There are a lot of people who are saying, oh, this young woman, Lauren Dago, who speaks so much about so many things and sings so many beautiful songs, she should have stood up and she should have not compromised. But I wonder how many, even in our room right here right now, how many of us have ever been interviewed before an audience of over a million people? How many people have had the kind of exposure that this young lady Lauren Dago has, who everything she says is being recorded by somebody and then repeated through social media? Very few people have actually lived under that kind of pressure. Very few people have been interviewed on radio. Not everybody has been interviewed on a radio program. Not everybody has been on television. Not everybody has had reporters speaking and asking and writing and printing. I learned that a long time ago. I've been interviewed many times in various radio programs and stations and all. And they will ask you questions and all. And you better be ready to give a good answer. And there are people out there in that, they call it the nether world. They're out there in the listening audience, hundreds of thousands of people at any given moment are listening to what you're saying. And then they'll call in and they'll begin to challenge and question. Want to argue and want to put you in your place and all of that. You had better know what you're talking about. And sometimes when you're being interviewed, you may misspeak or you may say something that you're still dealing with yourself or try to avoid it. And so we, before we begin to judge people, we need to understand where they're coming from. And Lauren, I believe, made a big mistake. I believe that she compromised. I do. I'm not saying that she didn't, but she should have been prepared. Because those are questions that are asked of us. They're asked of us quite often. You see, not everybody remains faithful when our faith comes under fire. I learned to become, somebody was open my faith by going not to Bible college, but by going to secular college. By being in a secular college class with a non-believing professor, a homosexual professor, for example, who taught the class I was going to at Cal Poly Pomona on marriage and the family. A homosexual man who was teaching on family relationships. And I learned under that, under that fire, how to speak the truth in love, how to be willing to stand up and speak. We know that the person who is speaking to you or asking the question is 100% adamantly opposed to anything that you believe. Who's earned doctorates in the subject that they're teaching. And yet here's some kid in his 20s sitting there saying, this is what the Bible says, this is what God says. I learned that under fire, I still learn it as a pastor to this day. There are people who write me, there are people who question, there are people who want to argue. That happens all the time. Anything I print, there's going to be somebody who's writing a rebuttal. That's the way it is. So you better know what you're talking about and you'd better be ready to defend and you'd better be ready to apologize and to repent when you're wrong. That's just being in the line of fire, that's what happens. And Laura should have known that. She should have known that once she says, I can't really say that there are a lot of Bible believing Christians who are going to respond by saying, that was compromised. But then there are others who will say, you're a compromiser and you did it so that you can make money and you only go out there and we begin to start invading their private life like we can read their heart. And before you know it, we know what God himself knows and that's wrong. To bring judgment on Lauren Dagle for making the comments that she did, she should be corrected and I'll share with you about that in a moment. But out of love and gentleness and kindness, considering ourselves, less we also might be tempted. That's how it works. But there's so many people who never read their Bibles except to correct others. Who don't apply at first to themselves. My mom taught me this a long time ago. She said, David, always remember when a man points his finger at another man, three fingers are pointing back at himself. Always be aware of those things before you make a judgment, before you make comment. We don't know everything, only God knows everything. Only God can read somebody's heart. Who am I to say that this young woman is a compromiser and all? What I want to see is God restore her, God give her strength and use her in a mighty way because God knows we need Christian witnesses in the world today. God knows that. We shoot the wounded. We have a tendency of doing that. We haven't always remained faithful when our faith has been under fire. We shouldn't be harsh in our judgment when one of our own fails the test. In Galatians 515 it says, if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. This treatment of believers undermines the message of God's grace. It divides the church and it also gives reason to reject Jesus to the unsaved world. Correction is necessary. It needs to come, but we must be careful how it comes. And that's where verse 12 speaks to us in this chapter because in verse 12, Jesus said, therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Due to all as you would have them do to you, if your circumstances and theirs were reversed, only those whose hearts are filled with the love of God can keep this commandment. Christianity is not simply words, it's best understood by the actions of believers. The love of the Father is best reflected in his children when they treat others with love. This destroys preoccupation with yourself and is positive in application. Christian love seeks the well-being of others, revealing God's kind of love for us. God so loved the world, the Bible says that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves us and God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us because we are stinking sinners in need of his grace and we need to be those who show grace to others because we've had grace shown to us. So a woman comes walking into a dinner party being hosted by a Pharisee named Simon and this is a woman who stands at the door as she walks in looking for a place because she's looking for the the Messiah, she's looking for Jesus and she finally sees him and begins to walk towards him as he begins to walk towards him. She stops at his feet and begins to weep and as she begins to weep, the tears begin to ball upon her chin and drip onto his feet and as she looks and sees that the tears are beginning to cause rivulets, she bends down and undoes her hair and begins to dry the tears with her hair and kisses his feet and Simon this Pharisee who invited Jesus begins to think within himself that this man truly were a prophet. He would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him for Jesus' sinner and Jesus turns to Simon and says Simon I have something to say to you and Simon says say on. When Simon says say on it's kind of an indifferent whatever you got something to say go ahead say on and Jesus says you know there was a man who lent money to two different individuals one a great some and the other a lesser and when neither had the amount to pay back the one who did the lending completely forgave both of them I want to ask you a question who's going to love them the most? Simon says well I suppose now when he says I suppose that's another mark of indifference and disrespect instead of answering improperly I suppose he's giving him an attitude I suppose the one who owed him the most and this you have spoken correctly Jesus says to him see this woman now to me that's an important phrase do you see this woman why because Simon didn't see this woman Simon simply said if this man were a prophet he'd know she was a sinner Jesus saw her as a sinner yes of course but she's a woman she's a human being do you see this woman? You know Simon when I walked into your house you didn't give me the customary kiss of greeting you didn't anoint my head with oil you didn't wash my feet the three customary greetings of a guest in the home you didn't do any of those things to me but have you noticed she's anointed me have you noticed that she has kissed me and did you notice that she washed my feet with her tears yeah she's got a lot of sin she's sinned plenty Simon in that you're right but let me let me tell you the one who has been forgiven much loves much Simon how much have you been forgiven and who am I to point to somebody else and say oh you should have said this and how come you I'm not walking in her shoes I don't know what provoked her to say what she said but you know that attitude is in the church today I guess we're looking for superheroes we need to remember that that singers are not theologians our singers are not our pastors they are simply Christians who should be under a teacher they should be under the word of God they should be encouraged constantly because they are under the the spotlight and their sins are shown quicker than any of ours we need to pray for people like Lauren we we should stop is the church we should stop shooting the wounded we should be praying if we prayed as much as we spoke against people we probably would see some revival taking place we need to do that and it grieves me it grieves me to see this lack of love and lack of compassion we hold them up and then when they stumble we knock them down we tell them oh we knew you were phony we knew you you just want money I read so many mean spirited comments about this young woman I thought she's in her 20s she's just learning give her a break in Calvary Chapel when I first got saved and I was the long hair I was the doper I was the liar I was the thief I was that the drunk that was my life and I started going to church and right away the church is looking at hippies like me and my friends and we're saying you can't be saved you must not be saved if you were saved you'd have short hair if you were saved you would put some shoes on if you were saved you wouldn't play that devil's music that rock and roll christian stuff that's voodoo music that's what they used to say to us if you're really saved you'd look like a 55 year old stockbroker and for us long hairs for us who are barefooted for us who are Jesus freaks for us who are just saved and now we're that we were lost and now we're found we were blind now we see and my mom needs to know Jesus and my dad needs to know Jesus my sisters need to know Jesus my brother needs to know Jesus my neighbors need to know Jesus I had church people telling me put shoes on cut your hair are you kidding me Jesus loved me the way I am and you know what I'll speak for him and not for you and that's what grieves me about the church today even in Calvary Chapel even in Calvary Chapel we have people who say oh you can't have a tattoo you can't have a piercing you can't oh really really so I have to look like you want me to look like I've had people leave this church because I don't wear a suit and tie I've had him leave this church because we don't have stained glass you know what we don't need any of that you know what we need Jesus we need Jesus that's what we need forgiveness of sins transformed lives the power of the Holy Spirit so we need to pray we need to pray for the church in America today there are so many angry Christians so many angry believers our hearts have to break for the lost and we should stop shooting the wounded if we if we think that what she did was wrong and I think compromise is but I've been in the place where I've had the hard questions where I've been my words in print or my words over the air I know what that feels like you pray and say God give me strength give me the ability to speak the truth in love I don't want to compromise I want to speak faithfully and truthfully Lord but when you've got millions of people around and you have all these eyes on you and you have someone treating you more kindly than the church is treating you Alan was kinder to her than some believers are being it undermines faith pray for Lauren and others like her pray for our brothers and sisters who are out there on the front lines and not even realizing it because sometimes the enemy will kind of pull back and he'll let you start gaining some popularity and then he comes from another direction and this is one of those things that could possibly have happened with Lauren and so no condemnation to her only prayer that God will use her and restore her and that she won't she won't grow to not love her brothers and sisters who are making such unkind comments Jesus said finally he said in verse 12 whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets the writings of moses and the prophets are fulfilled in one expression and that is love in Romans 13 verse 9 the commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness you shall not covet and if there's any other commandment all are summed up in this saying namely love your neighbor as yourself spend time with Jesus remember what you were and if you spend time with him and if you remember what you were you're going to love other people you're going to not be that rigid self-righteous judge you're going to love them you're going to pray for them and one day who knows they may come to you and say this Jesus that you worship can you introduce me to him I see something in you that other people don't have that was the heart of Calvary Chapel when my pastor Chuck lived and that is still the heart of Calvary Chapel love Jesus with everything and love your neighbor as yourself and don't be devouring your brothers and your sisters love them pray for them tell them the truth when necessary and hold fast to them don't give up on them one last thought a man was in battle World War one and as he was advancing towards the enemy he was hit and he began to cry and cry out for help and one of his friends who was in a foxhole heard his friend crying for help and he crawled out and as he crawled out of the foxhole his commanding officer said to him I don't go you're gonna get killed I can't afford to lose another man stay here in the foxhole that's an order but this man crawled out anyway crawled across the field grabbed hold of his friend by the boots and dragged him back and as he brought his friend and dropped his friend's body into that foxhole into that the line it wasn't a foxhole was a line that was dug out the man was dead and the captain says to him you risked your life you could have been killed and this man's dead was it worth it and the man who had done that heroic deed looked at his captain and said to him yes it was sir because when I arrived he looked at me and said I knew you would come for me it was worth it we have people who have been hit we need to crawl out of whatever protective barriers we have and we need to drag them back to safety instead of condemning them let's rescue them let's pray for them let's love them because they're on the front lines we're not we need to pray for them pray for lauren daigle pray for others like her because they have a platform you and I will never have may god keep them faithful as they serve him and may the church not shoot it's wounded