Bayside Baptist Church

Jason King: I heard about a guy named Roger who told the story one day that when he got ready to leave for college, his mom gave him a duffel bag. It was a big canvas duffel bag that she had made for him. She said, "Look, son, this is going to be a new thing for you, but when you go to college, all these dirty clothes you've just been tossing on the floor and somebody's been picking up for you, you're going to have to take care of yourself. So, what I want you to do is I made this duffel bag for you, and as you get dirty clothes throughout the week, throw them in there. This will hold seven days' worth of clothes."

"Keep shoving clothes in there until you get to seven days. Then, when you get to seven days, you need to go to the laundromat. Take the bag to the laundromat, wash your clothes, and you'll be good for another seven days and you can repeat it." So, he did it for the first time. Seven days, he filled up the bag. He grabbed the bag, took it to the laundromat, got everything ready, put the detergent in there, put the money in there, and put the clothes in there. As it started, it started making the most awful noise in the world as he'd put this into the washing machine. He thought he'd messed the whole thing up. This really attractive, pretty young girl who's in school with him came up to him and said, "Hey, I think it'll work better if you take the clothes out of the bag first."

Sometimes, let's be honest, that's how relationships can feel, especially this time of year. Everything is stuffed into this bag all year long, but for some reason, somehow the holidays—maybe it's the gatherings, maybe it's the nostalgia or just the sentimentality of the time of year—it just brings back a lot of the things that we struggle with and it exposes often what's been ignored all year long in our relationships. Think about it. Maybe you're facing some financial pressure with your spouse or some strain with your parents or even your siblings. Maybe it's demands or expectations from the in-laws or disappointment with your kids or resentment towards an old friend or maybe even something towards your boss or your coworker and the holidays just seem to bubble it up to the surface and stress rises and it just seems like that time of year.

One of the single greatest struggles for us and issues for us each day is unresolved tension and strain in our relationships. Because if we're being honest, every single one of us in this place right now under the sound of my voice probably has some relationship that is strained or it's broken. It's not what it should be and we know that. Several years ago, I heard about a law professor at the University of Arkansas Little Rock who got to this point with two of his students where he sued them for defamation, claiming that they had disparaged his name and falsely spread misleading information about him. I don't know all the details about this suit, but essentially there were some things that the students had said about him that were so significant that they couldn't reconcile it that the teacher took the kids to court.

If you're in school, you better watch out. That could be what takes place. Now, I did do a little bit of research after the fact. A couple of years after that suit was filed, my dude took another job and he changed his name. So, I don't know what that means. But it's not just headlines that reveal strained relationships. Spouses in broken marriages often stay together as loveless roommates or choose to end their marriage in a nasty divorce. Severed partnerships often end in litigation between what was former business partners and even friends. Neighbors take to social media, they call the HOA board or even the cops to deal with petty issues with other neighbors that could be resolved through just a conversation. Parents and children don't speak to each other for years over something that seems so insignificant and it ends the depth of a meaningful relationship that's been present for a long time.

Hurt happens and relationships can be broken and strained. Some of you have been hurt in significant ways by somebody else in a church, maybe even this church. Even though you may attend or you're watching online, it's easy to keep everybody at arm's length. You don't expect that from a Christian. You expect more from somebody at church, but yet don't Christians often criticize and speak negatively of other people? Bible calls that slander and it leaves behind a trail of destruction in its wake.

I acknowledge that even in this room, you may look around and there may be somebody in here that you just despise. Maybe a personal issue that goes back to high school or it goes back from a long time ago, or maybe you heard they said something about you and it just drives you nuts, but it's never been resolved. So, even as you come to church, it may fester week after week and it never goes away. It becomes easier to just sweep it under the rug and to avoid it than to face this person. It's not a matter of if you're going to have a strained relationship, the reality of it is when you're going to have a strained relationship. At home, at work, with a friend, a family member, even in church. It's when you will have it and the temptation is to just let time heal the wounds.

But time doesn't heal anything. Time just causes things to fester. Although you hope it may go away because it's just too sensitive or too difficult to face, the reality of it is that it's still there and the holidays bring that out. While we may be tempted to sweep it under the rug and act like it's not a deal, I do believe that Jesus has some words to us today about dealing with this from Matthew chapter 5. So if you have your Bible, you can open that up to Matthew chapter 5. We're going to learn today that instead of sweeping it under the rug or instead of acting like it's not there or just blowing up on people all the time or firing things away on your keyboard or whatever, that there is a better way to face a broken relationship.

He's going to show us that in the midst of that, if you or I are unwilling to try to figure that out and to chase that down, if we're unwilling to reconcile a relationship with someone that's broken, then it really shows a window into our hearts. Jesus is going to tell us what it actually does to us when we refuse to do that. So maybe as we head into the next few days leading up to Christmas, maybe for you today, if you're feeling the angst, you're feeling it from an ex, you're feeling it from somebody in your family or somebody at work or somebody at school or some other way where it's like, man, I just hate that person, I want to encourage you and challenge you to lean in today and to see what Jesus is teaching us.

Matthew 5 is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. It's on the front end of it, but it's this sermon where Jesus is teaching us and He's teaching His followers in this day what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. In other words, there's this alternate way of living that you and I, we look around the world around us and oftentimes we find ourselves acting like everybody else, but Jesus says, "Hey, there is this way that once you come to faith, once you understand the depth of God's love and what He's done for you, it begins to do something inside of you that then comes out of you." He's giving this picture in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 in particular where He's saying, "Hey, you've heard it said it's this way, but here's what the Kingdom of God is like." He's teaching us how to live and to operate by faith.

In the midst of how to deal with a difficult person, I believe that there are two realities that Jesus gives to us today that will help us in dealing with difficult people. The first one is this: you are the most difficult person that you'll deal with. I am the most difficult person that I'm going to deal with. You're the most difficult person that you will deal with. Look in Matthew chapter 5 beginning in verse 21. Jesus says this, "You have heard that our ancestors were told you must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court and if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell."

What is He saying in here? It's a strange place to start, it seems like, but don't miss what Jesus is teaching us, what He's saying to you and to me in this moment. It's tempting to think, "Well, man, how am I going to deal with all those difficult people? How am I going to handle all those difficult relationships?" But Jesus starts a little bit closer to home. It's tempting to think that our responses, that the way that we talk or even think about other people have no consequences at all. That if you think it, it's just a thought and if you don't let it out, it's fine. But Jesus says that's not the case. He says that what you think in your heart, what you have rolling around in your mind, has the same results, the same consequences as if you just do it.

Can we be real for just a minute? Every one of us in this place today deals with this struggle that He's talking about. Every one of us. So, when we gather together, we all bring that, we carry that, we wrestle with that and Jesus is being very clear so that none of us can start to think, "Hey, I'm the exception, that doesn't really apply to me." He's making sure that you and I know what He means by having this in our hearts and by feeling this way, what He means by being guilty. He's saying, "Hey, this applies to you if you've ever been in this situation before," which is all of us because it's impossible not to get angry from time to time, isn't it?

I'm not going to ask you how it went this morning getting to church. I know what you're doing. You're sitting out in the driveway, honking the horn, telling her to hurry up, right? Just take separate cars, it'll be fine. But we get so frustrated, we get angry, you get angry about how your teacher did you at the end of the semester, or you get angry about what your boss—he wouldn't let you off or she wouldn't let you do this or—we get angry and we begin to hold on to these things and it's all of us. Jesus goes on and He says, "Man, you've heard it said," He's quoting the sixth commandment from Exodus 20, "that murder brings judgment. If you commit murder, you'll be held responsible for taking another person's life if you're guilty." Right, we would all agree with that. Yes, that's right.

But Jesus says in the way of the Kingdom, there's another level of truth that we need to latch onto. He steps up the requirements a little bit and He says, "Hey, if you're angry with your brother," and the way that brother is used is not just talking to the dudes. He's talking to everyone in particular who is in Christ. You're subject to the same judgment as if you commit murder. Somebody else who's a part of the community of faith and I think it extends even beyond that in our relationships. If you're angry, if you have a beef with another believer, if you're ticked off at them, if you're carrying something around, even if it's in a passive-aggressive way, He's saying, "Man, you are setting yourself up in a position if you're not willing to deal with that and to let go of that in your own heart." Nothing to do with them, but let go of it in your own heart. He says you are setting yourself up for this kind of judgment.

Anger, just to be clear, is defined as a disturbing and energizing passion in which a strong negative emotion is triggered by the perception that somebody's done you wrong or done someone else wrong or both. He says in this way, you're full of anger that it's kind of seated, lodged in your heart, that you're ticked off, you're furious and it doesn't take much for it to bubble over and nothing good comes from it. You might say, well, it's just over in a second, but so's a tornado and it leaves behind a trail of destruction. That's why James said in James chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, "Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters," the same phrase, "you must all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry." Why is that? Because he says human anger, the kind that we have, that we harbor, that we hold on to, does not produce the righteousness God desires.

You see, almost without exception, your anger and my anger is rooted in wounded or thwarted pride, isn't it? Almost never is our anger a righteous anger and that we're angry over something that makes God angry. Somehow, some way, we're going to try to make it about us, about we were slighted or this didn't happen or this didn't shake out this way and so we're angry. Proverbs chapter 14, verse 29 says this, "People with understanding, with wisdom, with spiritual depth, with an understanding of the spiritual life, people who are wise, they control their anger." But a hot temper shows that you're standing on principles, doesn't it? It shows that you're right and you're going to let them know. That's what the scriptures say, right? No, it says a hot temper shows great foolishness.

We can spiritualize it or rationalize it that it's okay, but the words of scripture remind us, Jesus Himself is saying, "No, man, when that stuff's going on in there, there is a bigger issue than you being right." Jesus talks about what bubbles over in our anger. He goes on to say that if you call somebody an idiot, if you call them a fool, in the original language, the word for insult is "raca." It's a term of abuse or put-down relating to a lack of intelligence. You're just a big dummy. Numbskull is one of the words in the thesaurus that describes that. He says, "But if you call someone a fool," that means you curse someone, that's where our word "moron" comes from and in one translation is "blockhead," to quote the great Bugs Bunny. An ultramaroon or an imbecile, anybody seen that cartoon where he speaks about—literally it's somebody who is foolish or stupid and you're speaking of them in that way.

When that's bubbling up in our hearts and through our words, he says you're inviting God's judgment on your life. It's not just expressing your opinion or how things were or you're just talking about what's up. He says there's a deeper spiritual issue going on there. This word "fool" is actually used in Matthew 7 to describe the one who built his house on the sand, not on the rock of God's word. Proverbs 29:11 continues this thought. He says fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. And so He's saying to us as if that's you, how you operate, if this is just what you do, you let your anger—it's constantly rolling around inside of you and whether you're passive-aggressive or you just blow up or somewhere in the middle, regardless of where you sit on Sunday morning, it shows that your heart is far from God.

Now, Jesus' words to us that ordinary insults may show an attitude of contempt in our hearts towards other people that we don't take seriously, but that God does. Why would He say that? Why would He care if you just get ticked off and let something spout off or you're letting this roll around in your heart? Do you remember what the scriptures teach about what's in your heart is ultimately what comes out of your mouth? So, He knows that if these things are coming out of our mouth, that it's in our heart. If it's rolling around in our heart, it's going to be coming out of our mouths. If your words are full of criticism or negativity or insults directed at other people, He's saying there's something else going on inside of you. His word to you in this moment, His word to us is don't start with them. Don't start with difficult people out there. Start with the most difficult one first.

Now, what He isn't saying is that if you say these exact words, an idiot or a moron, that you're going to hell. That's not what He's saying. I'll never forget when I was five years old in Miss Easley's kindergarten class, I had been watching a lot of the A-Team on television. Anybody A-Team? Mr. T, B.A. Baracus? Y'all know what I'm talking about? The boys, they'd show up and handle business, but Mr. T would always say, "I pity the fool." Y'all remember that? Y'all know what I'm talking about? Some of y'all need to Google that and the A-Team, go check that out. "I pity the fool." I went to kindergarten and I told some fool I pitied him. Miss Easley pulled me aside and she said, "Now, Jace, if you say the word fool again, you're going to hell." I said, "Whoa." I mean that stuck with me. That's not what Jesus is saying, as much as Miss Easley was trying to help me in that moment. That's not what Jesus means.

He's saying what's in your heart? Is that how you're looking at people, that everybody's a moron, everybody's an idiot? Is that how you think about other people? Is that how you think about that person? Is that what's rolling around in your heart? He's saying you need to take another look at your heart if that's so. Jesus doesn't give a pass even if your anger seems justified to yourself or other people towards that person. He's saying if there is anger that is filling up your heart, there's a problem. So, don't dismiss it this morning if that's there. Nobody's throwing shade at you. We're just talking about what the word says, but the Spirit of God meets you when you receive what the word says and you're like, "All right, God, this is where I'm at. I need some help." He steps towards you to help you today. But don't dismiss it because Jesus is talking about something that's really serious in His eyes, even about things that may be intended to be humorous, but that cross the line. He says they're worthy of judgment, even death.

Can I press in just a little bit on this? Because in our day of snarky sitcoms and TV shows and hiding behind a keyboard and letting people have it and the changing societal standards of how it's acceptable to interact with one another, all of this is a lot more commonplace in us than we'd like to admit. We quickly throw out insults meant to get a laugh or say or type things about someone that we would never say to them. We find ourselves expressing our anger in ways that are a lot more passive-aggressive, but nonetheless, they're filled with venom because they're driven by frustration and anger and contempt and that's exactly what Jesus is talking about here. Do you know what the Bible calls that? The Bible doesn't call that living on principles. The Bible doesn't call that about making sure they know who's right. The Bible calls that sin. So don't rationalize it, don't call it harmless, don't call it your right or wink it away or feel justified. The Bible says it's sin and then the Bible furthermore says that the wages of sin is death.

He's saying that the same judgment that's reserved for murder, that we would all say, "Yeah, that person needs to pay the consequences," applies for believing in your heart and even calling someone a fool or an idiot. In other words, doing damage to someone else by your mouth. Not only does it poison your relationships, but it infects your heart and it bleeds over into every area of your life. We can justify it, I know. You would say, "I don't know, you don't know what they did to me. You don't know what they said about me. You don't know how they treated me. You don't know what she said or what he did." But what I'm saying to you is we can easily justify our actions. I have no doubts, we all can. But I don't want you to forget this very important verse tucked in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 17:9, when we start to think, "Hey, it's okay, I got a pass. God is good with me acting this way. Jesus' words don't apply to me," you need to recognize that you're living in this world right here. The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and it's desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

So, can I ask you today, how do you think about other people? Maybe not everybody, but that person or those people? What do you say about them? Are there people that you don't like? Do you say that you hate them or are you constantly criticizing or have contempt for them? When you see them, do you go the other way and avoid them? What's in your heart about your spouse or your kids or your boss or your coworker? That kid on your team or in your class or the preacher or somebody else at the church that you used to go to? A friend who did you wrong, a family member who crossed you, somebody in your life that gets under your skin? He says you and I can escape this judgment. It doesn't have to be this way, we don't have to have the anger welling up in our heart. We can escape the judgment by facing this reality: that we're filled with sin and that what's in our heart comes out of our mouths and conversely, what comes out of our mouths reveals what's taking place in our hearts.

Jesus says it's a serious deal. These verses are commands, not suggestions. They're not nice thoughts that we should consider at some point along the way. Jesus is saying in the Kingdom of God, this is how it works. That for those who are being led by the Spirit of God, who have received the gift of God in Jesus Christ, been made right with God, who now have the Holy Spirit living in them, which is everyone who has received Jesus Christ by faith, that now this is what God is leading you towards. So, these commands are not suggestions and it's not how everybody else should act, but it's how you and I are to live in Christ. And if you and I hear the truth of God's word and the Spirit speaks to lead us in righteousness and convict of sin and we ignore it, if you choose to ignore this in your own heart, Jesus is saying it demonstrates that you've missed the Kingdom of God.

That's not a very fun word this Christmas, but it's necessary because before you can face difficult people in your life—and I have no doubt that all of us have to deal with difficult people—we have to start with the most difficult person, which is ourselves. So, we confess, we repent, we humble ourselves and we trust that His way, His word, is better. Gotta come face to face with ourselves first. But the second reality about dealing with difficult people is this: you have to do everything you can to make a broken relationship right. You need to do everything that you can to make a broken relationship right. Look at the text as it continues in verse 23. He says, "So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and suddenly you remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person and then come and offer your sacrifice to God."

So, what's the way out? We talked about this stuff can accumulate in our hearts and it can lead to broken relationships. So, what do you do if that's where you are right now? If you're walking in that and you're thinking, "Oh goodness, there's somebody in my life that is upset with me." Did you notice what the text says? It says that somebody is upset with you. Doesn't mean that you're ticked off at somebody else. It means that somebody else has something against you. He says, "First," if you're gathered for worship. Did you notice that he said that? He says if you're gathered to bring a sacrifice, to bring an offering in the temple. If you're gathered to worship. To gather to worship means that we come together with others who follow Christ in this place or whatever church you're gathering in and we come to turn our heart and our minds to the Lord. By the words you sing, by the posture of your heart, you and I make a choice to worship, to elevate the Lord over everything and everyone else in our lives, including ourselves. Worship is not just a feeling, it's not an emotion—your emotions are involved—but worship is a response primarily to who God is and what He's done for you in Jesus Christ. It's us offering the entirety of ourselves to God.

It's a wholehearted response to God's love and His mercy. But before you can grasp that, you need to understand why it's such a big deal. That God is holy, that He's perfect, that He's set apart, that we can't approach Him on our own because of the sinfulness in our hearts and our lives. So, we're separated, enemies from God, the Bible says. There's no way that you can climb up the mountain or cross the bridge to get to God. But God sent Jesus, that's what we celebrate at Christmas time. The gift of Jesus who was born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, who died on a cross paying the price as the perfect Lamb for your sin and mine and who was raised to life from the dead, demonstrating that He has power and authority over death. When you grasp this, when we accept this, when we receive this truth and believe in Jesus, that He's the one that forgives us of our sin, makes us right with God and gives us an abundant life now and eternal life forever, you recognize, we recognize that there is no justification for treating other people in the way that Jesus is talking about here.

Instead, our lives are reoriented towards Jesus. Changes how we think and what we believe and how we live. That journey begins with repentance and confession. When we realize that we're messed up, that the problem starts in us and that everybody is carrying the same thing, we're all messed up before God and we throw ourselves upon His goodness and receive His mercy. Embedded in real worship is the fact that we come before God and acknowledge and remember this reality: that you and I are sinful, that God is holy and perfect and that He loved us enough that He sent Jesus Christ to make us right with Him. So now, once you've received that by faith, we begin to orient our lives towards living out that faith. He says in verse 23 if you've gathered for worship, not just come to a service, not just been in a place called a church, but if you've gathered for worship and you realize, the Spirit reminds you in that moment, someone's broken off at you, someone's got a beef with you.

I think it's speaking primarily of someone who is a fellow believer, but it extends to all of our relationships. But the way that he describes here, if you look closely in the text, it's not you that have a problem with somebody else, it's somebody else has a problem with you. And it doesn't come into your mind until that moment. If you have a problem with somebody else, Matthew 18 and other places describe the process for you to go seek reconciliation in that way. This is different. This is you're in the middle of a worship moment and you're praising God, you're receiving whatever He's downloading into your life and you're like, "That person didn't look me in the eyes when I talked to them earlier. Things felt a little weird when I was talking to them, or I heard that somebody said that they were a little broke off at me." There's some way that you recognize and you know that something is not right.

Here's what you do. Verse 24. Jesus says quickly act like whatever that was didn't happen and quickly start trying to figure out where you're going to lunch, what you got on your grocery list and the other things you need to do that afternoon so that you don't have to deal with it. No, that's the American version of that. He says leave your sacrifice there at the altar. You're in this place of worship and offering a sacrifice to God. He said go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God. When you become aware of it, you go and seek to make it right. To reconcile means to be restored or to find normal relationship or back to harmony with someone. To make peace with someone who has a beef with you. You don't wait on them because it's their responsibility and so on. No, when you realize that something has gone awry and somebody has a beef with you, you take the initiative to go see, call, text, have a conversation with that person and seek to reconcile what's been broken.

I love what New Testament scholar John Nolland says. He says, "Worship that is acceptable to God cannot take place against the background of a damaged human relationship which is being ignored." Do you see that? If the Spirit of God is prompting your heart as you're gathered to worship and you're ignoring a strained or damaged or broken relationship and you're trying to worship God, it's not happening. You're not worshipping, no matter how much you're singing, how loud you're singing, even if you close your eyes and lift your hands, no matter how much you say it was good or enjoy the worship, it's not worship, Jesus says, until you follow this command. Then, He says, after you've pursued reconciliation, then you come and worship, you come and offer your gift.

Well, you might be thinking, "Preacher, that'd be too much for me to do. There's no way I can make that happen." But can I put this in the physical, geographical context of where Jesus is speaking these words? Jesus is talking about worship in the Temple in Jerusalem, but He's in Galilee right here, which is 80 miles away. I don't know about you, but 80 miles is a long way to drive, but they didn't have cars back then. So, what He's describing is if you're in the middle of worship and you realize somebody has a beef with you, it is worth a seven-day journey by foot or on the back of whatever animal you're on to go find them and to make it right. Jesus is saying yes, that big of a deal and it's that important. And He says, by the way, it's not a suggestion, it's a command. As a part of the Kingdom of God, when the Holy Spirit prompts you that something is broken in a relationship, that somebody is upset with you, broken off at you, it's your responsibility to go seek to make it right.

Now, I get it, you may be thinking, "Well, what are they going to think of me if I get up in the middle of the message?" It's going to be all right. What if I get up in the middle of a song and I got to go step out in the hallway and call somebody or I need to send a text and then I got to go meet someone, I need to go drive to their house? You know what, it's all right. Jesus is saying right here, if you realize it in the middle of worship, go and seek out reconciliation. You be the one to take the first step towards reconciliation. What if you go to the person and you say, "You know what, man, the Lord laid this on my heart and I was in worship and I really believe the Holy Spirit is leading me and I just want you to know I don't know what's going on, but I want to make it right." What if they say go fly a kite or something else? What if they're unwilling to have a conversation with you or maybe they hear you out but they're just like, "Whatever," and just carry on as normal? Or maybe they don't want to talk about it or they ignore you, they won't respond to your phone calls, they won't answer the door, they won't respond to your texts? What do you do then?

Paul wrote these words in Romans chapter 12, verse 18 that I think will be of a little help. He says, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." That phrase, "so far as it depends on you," it means you can't control how the other person responds. You can't force someone to reconcile. To reconcile a relationship means that both of you choose to walk the same direction, the same route, at the same speed together. But Jesus isn't saying you go fix the relationship, make sure it's—He says you go and seek that out. You go and do what you can do to be reconciled. You got to make sure anger is not in your heart. Remember that stuff will overflow and that'll sabotage it before you start. But even after you reach out, even if they shut you down, even if they blow up on you or blow you off and don't want to hear what you have to say, I do think you need to keep your heart soft and be open to reconciliation. You can do what only you can do, but you need to keep the door open and don't let frustration or anger even at their response begin to bubble up.

Do you remember what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 26 and 27? He says, "And don't sin by letting anger control you." That's what Jesus has been talking about. It's down in there and it comes up and it controls us. He says, "Don't let the sun go down while you're still angry." Why? For anger gives a foothold to the devil. Don't let the sun go down, don't let it fester, don't let your anger give root to all these things that He's talking about. Deal with it and seek to be reconciled. What I want you to hear, church, is that Jesus calls us towards this because He knows that there is something that will keep us, this will keep us from being able to worship Him and to walk in step with Him if we don't take these steps.

So, I want to press in just a little bit with us this morning. I want to ask you a question. Is there somebody right now that as we're talking through this, that God is bringing to mind and you're like, "Ah." Is there somebody that you're like, "Yeah, that person." You see, I believe Jesus is calling you today to step towards them. Maybe you've been avoiding them for a long time. Maybe you haven't talked to them in years. Maybe it's just happened and it's fresh on your mind. But He's inviting you, He's calling you, He's directing you and me today to not let this moment pass by. Remember Jesus says, "Hey, if you're standing there ready to worship and you have a gift that you've brought to the altar and you realize that there's a brokenness in a relationship," He said, "drop what you're doing and go try to make it right."

You know why He would tell us to do that? You know why He would tell you to take the initiative? Because that's exactly what He did for us. We were separated from God, without hope and without God in this world and He sent Jesus because of His great love for you and me to pay the price for our sin, to make us right with God, to offer a gift that if we would receive by faith would bring peace and joy and hope. That's what He invites you to receive today and to give that to others. Let's pray together.