I really liked the message on Sunday that Pastor H. gave so I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. The intro on the folder says this: "Those who follow Jesus Christ will find that the ethic of heaven not only brings personal reward in terms of better human relationships, it also fits the disciple to be of missional benefit to those in need of forgiveness and freedom in this world, while proving the reality of their commitment to Christ."

The first and by far the most applicable one to my life was Mercy and Its Rewards.

Luke 6:36 says, "Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful". So here we see that our model of mercy is Jesus Christ Himself. He led a perfect life of mercy by not arrogantly judging, not assessing our guilt, by freeing and forgiving and generously giving (ooh! it rhymes!).

I myself have a tendency to judge very arrogantly. If I see someone doing something that I think is wrong or inappropriate, then I'll get all proud and think, 'Well, God must really approve of ME, I'M not acting like that. And I'm humble.' And then I realize what I'm doing and have to start all over again. V. 37a of Luke 6 says,"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not and ye shall not be condemned..." Pastor H. used an illustration that I can't remember exactly but it was good! Something about tax auditors.

Not only should we not judge, but we should not condemn people as a result of that judging, whether it should be the saved or unsaved. God has already determined our guilt and we were as guilty as they are and still would be were it not for God's free gift.

The thing I also struggle with is seeing the unsaved in that light. That Jesus came to save them too, not just us "blessed people" and that we need to be missionaries all the time to show them that way.

We should guide them, not as the blind leading the blind; we should teach them, not as students teaching students; and we should heal them, by first pulling out the log in our eyes.

Luke 6:45--"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure or his heart bringeth for that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."

If we have good hearts we can produce good things just like a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruits and a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruits. We are known by our fruits.

The question for applying truth to life was

"When people who know me best see the fruit of my life, what will they conclude about the validity of my claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?"

More to come on that subject...