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out of your word and just give the audience here ears to hear and bless the service and bless the fellowship to proceed and it's all we pray in Jesus name amen amen okay we're in James chapter 3 look down to your Bibles verse 14 it says but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth this wisdom descendeth not from above but as earthly sensual devilish for envying and strife is there's confusion in every evil work but the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy and the fruit of the righteous is sown in peace of them that make peace and tonight we're gonna actually conclude our series on the spiritual gifts according to Romans chapter number 12 and we're actually going over the spiritual gift of the mercy okay which is the final one that we see there we are gonna cover the ones in first Corinthians chapter 12 in the coming weeks but we're this tonight we conclude the ones in Romans chapter 12 now as we mentioned in times past a spiritual gift a good way to indicate or a good indication of what is your spiritual gift is trying to figure out what is it that energizes you what is it that you don't necessarily have to work on being or work on doing and that's typically what your spiritual gift is okay what which of these actually places you in your element I'll go to Romans chapter number 12 if you would Romans chapter 12 but I want you to notice that in James it says that the person with the gift of mercy can be described as someone who is full of mercy okay and often people get this mistaken and think well that means they're just merciful to every single human being and you know they just have a lot of compassion towards people and that can often be the case but if they're not using it in a spiritual manner this could actually become detrimental not only in their personal lives but also in the lives of those around them now look what it says in verse number four of Romans chapter 12 we'll start in verse number six it says with simplicity he that ruleth with diligence and lastly he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness okay now what is a spiritual gift well a spiritual gift is an ability talent that God gives the members of the body of Christ for the edifying of the body of Christ to be a blessing to others it's it's a spiritual gift it's a an ability or a talent that God gives someone that really defines who they are you know it kind of energizes them whether that is prophecy or it's being a servant and they can utilize this gift in the local New Testament Church now the first one that we went over the first week is the gift of prophecy and the person with the gift of prophecy possesses the ability to speak in God's stead with accuracy authority and power these are the people that see things in black and white okay to them there's no middle ground there's no gray area it's either sin or it's righteousness it's either good it's either or bad there's nothing in between and they're committed to the truth regardless if anyone agrees they're very verbally expressive and can be compulsive about it okay and I often say this is the prophets are typically impetuous now what does that mean it means that they often put their foot in their mouths very often actually okay they often speak without thinking become very offensive and often they're not very aware of their surroundings and the people they're actually talking to or how they're talking to them okay this is the Prophet and you know a couple weeks ago or last week I preached a sermon on discretion the sermon on discretion is for the Prophet okay it's for everyone but particularly the Prophet but they're very verbally expressive they have no problem just telling you exactly how they feel exactly what they think exactly what they believe the judgments that they make they judge and evaluate everything and everyone for that matter okay every situation even if even if the situation doesn't directly affect them or has anything to do with them they judge that situation they judge that person they're very nosy when it comes to things like that okay they have a compulsion for honesty integrity and transparency and this is one of the things that's great about the Prophet is that he has no problems being transparent with the people he's speaking to okay he's very open about how he feels he's intolerant of perceived rebellion hypocrisy and denial especially in leadership and has a large range of emotions he's very intense and has passionate extremes so sometimes prophets can either have really high highs and really low lows okay when they have the really high highs is referring to the fact that when they're excited for the things of God they're very zealous they're passionate and they can often inspire others to be the same but at the same time they can actually have really low lows where they're just kind of like Peter and they're just like why quit I go fishing kind of thing you know and they just kind of quit very easily and then you know they they can often make sin look exceeding sinful as well that is the Prophet the gift of ministry or the servant is the person or the person with the gift of ministry possesses the ability to see a need and fulfill it they see external needs of comfort and food and they're quick to meet those needs they're often great team players okay so they operate well in a local New Testament Church because they're not necessarily looking to glorify themselves they don't want the limelight they just play well with others kind of thing okay they're relatively free from their own desires to kind of do their own thing or have their own agenda they're very practical and they find it hard to accept excellence in their own work okay so if you ever work with a servant and you give them a task that task is never good enough for them when they accomplish it is just like it can be beautiful it can be tasty if it's food it could be clean it can be you know the house can be just completely clean or this project can be completely done but in their minds it's not as excellent and they're very hard on themselves because of that so they had they find they find it hard to affirm themselves or to receive affirmation from others so if it's like no you're doing a good job it's great they're just like I don't know you know they don't really think too much of themselves and they're very hard on themselves they're very critical of themselves and they often find something to apologize for when serving others and one of the ways you can spot a servant is if they start the sentence off with I'm sorry I'm sorry or if they you know come to you you ask you for something they finish the sentence with I'm sorry I'm sorry it's like why are you saying sorry there's no reason for you to be sorry but they're very apologetic and and you know they're kind of self-conscious about those things the gift of teaching the person with the gift of teaching possesses the desire to prove all things and hold fast that which is good they want first-hand details and everything okay so everything that I'm sharing right now they actually hate it because of the fact that I'm not you know backing it up with scripture and stuff they're like this is garbage show me where this is in the Bible okay that's kind of how they operate and luckily the Prophet could care less you know so I'm just kidding they want first-hand details they value precision and sharing details and they're usually very articulate and good at writing okay now the teacher doesn't speak all the time but when the teacher does speak he's very accurate and he's able to communicate he or she is able to communicate very well a specific point but they're very good at writing okay so what they lack in a multitude of words in an actual conversation they actually make up for in writing okay and you say well how do I know if I have teachers around me well if you're talking to an individual and they say like two or three words but when they text you it's like a paragraph okay you know when they message you it's just like and it's very detailed emotional just has it's just like who is this person I'll just go I'm just gonna go ahead and say it okay he's not here right now but Michael Kasimov is a teacher okay and the reason I know that if Michael Kasimov you're watching this you know it's true you know Michael Kasimov is a man of few words okay and most of you know that okay he'll say hello and that's about it okay and but but on the group feed the guy has like these paragraphs and books that he just writes and typically I open that feed I look at it and I close it I'm like I'm not doing that I'm not gonna read that okay sorry Mike but that's how a teacher typically operates but here's the thing teachers when they write are very precise very good writers and you know they make great authors and and writers of doctrinal statements because of the fact they're very articulate when they when they pen these things down they often process and make decisions very slowly can slow down impulsive people who jump to conclusions okay so if someone's having a conversation and they're just making these adamant statements the teacher typically jumps in and says well where does it say that what was that from where were you getting that from and the purpose the person who jumps to conclusions slows their role when they're around the teacher for that reason okay is a very safe person emotionally they're not very expressive with their facial expressions okay and and this is one thing that I was actually mentioning last week but it was already after the service is the teachers people can often get offended with teachers because the teacher will ask you a question for example and you'll begin to answer them and they just kind of give you this blank stare like they're not engaged with their expressions at all okay they just kind of look at you and and typically most normal people want some sort of interaction like do you agree with me are you mad do you not agree but here's the thing is the teacher the reason they don't give any facial expression is they're too busy processing everything that you're saying so let me give you an example of this okay Cody is a great example of this all right calling out names tonight and Jacob these guys are notorious for that okay you talk to them and they just look at you and so what I typically do and this is what this is what I tell people who deal with teachers and they get kind of frustrated with that I tell them this look when you answer a teacher just look somewhere else and you know what the teacher will not be bothered by that you can literally look like you know if Cody asked me a question I will literally look at someone else answer someone else while answering him because he doesn't care if I'm looking at him or not he's too busy processing everything that I'm saying but if I pay attention to what he's saying and I look at his facial expressions I'm gonna get offended cuz I'm like are you even listening to me like what do you did but they're just there's like a computer they're just kind of computing everything in their mind okay so don't get offended with the teacher if he doesn't smile or you know just have any type of facial expression when you're talking to them that's just how they are okay that's why it's good to learn these things so that you're not offended when you deal with these people okay let's see here the difference is the so that the teacher could often become confused with the mercy because the mercy is very emotionally driven we're gonna go over that tonight but the teacher is often led by their head so they're just kind of like why are you acting like this if this is what the Bible says this is what we need to do kind of thing okay and they hone in on doctrine and so they tend to be the last one to speak in a group setting now the gift of the Exhorter exhortation the person with this gift possesses the ability to persuade inspire and provoke others to love and good works they have the ability to cross every kind of barrier and relate to people wherever they are they're very horizontal in their focus and are intensely people oriented okay these are the people people okay they enjoy being around groups of people talking to people they're very extroverted they're kind of like the the you know not the center of attention but they're kind of like the the what's that word I'm looking for them the something of the party life of the party thank you they're like the life of the party okay they often communicate very well and they're visionaries okay the gift of giving is the next one the giver possesses the ability to discern the financial needs of God's work and God's people and meet them they minister unto the Lord of their substance they're very independent they stand alone they resist being con manipulated or guilt tripped into any action they're able to relate to a wide range of people these are natural networkers okay they know how to network very well they often become very successful businessmen or women they give well and wisely they give well and wisely but not impulsively and they find great bargains good deals discounts before making any type of purchases and last week we went over the ruler the ruler possesses the God-given ability to set in order the things that are wanting the rulers thrive in an orderly environment and under pressure they route they execute well so they able to take a project put steps to them and get it done now that's great right but the only downfall to that is they often do it at the expense of someone else's convenience okay they often put people under pressure and kind of make people feel a little low and just kind of you know put it in an inconvenient situation where they don't want really feel like doing it or they don't want to do it and the ruler typically just kind of bulldozes over them just to get the job done but they can draw out the best in people as well they know how to capitalize on other people's strengths they're great implementers but not necessarily visionaries and they can often improve the quality of an organization they're very task oriented now today I want to go over the gift of the mercy this is the last one okay the mercy possesses the God-given ability to empathize and condescend to men of low estate now the mercy is very important just like every other spiritual gift is important but one of the reasons why the mercy is as important as it is is because of the fact that every single one of us needs to learn the quality of mercy okay we need to be able to empathize with other people and in fact one of the greatest qualities that we appreciate of the Lord is his mercy towards us is the fact that in spite of our weaknesses in spite of our failures in spite of our shortcomings God is lovingly kind towards us and he's very merciful okay and this is a quality that the mercy has a tendency to naturally express towards others they are full of mercy good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy now let me go over some characteristics of the mercy number one mercies are excellent as I mentioned at empathizing with those that are hurting okay now look at Romans chapter 12 and verse 15 it says rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep be of the same mind one toward another mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate be not wise in your own conceit so the mercy has this ability to weep with those that weep now you may think to yourself well you know what's the big deal with that well you know that means a lot to a person who's actually hurting okay and I don't buy you but I have to work at weeping with those that weep okay if someone is going through a hard time and they're heartbroken you know I have to work at being heartbroken with that individual it doesn't come naturally to me but look there are mercies in this church when you start when you begin a story about something that happened very traumatic in your life they will weep at the drop of a hat okay now some of you are like why like why are they cool because they're merciful that's why they have that empathy to the point where their heart their bowels yearn they're full of compassion and and and they empathize with that person and look this is very much needed because every single individual in our church is gonna go through a difficult time and we need a mercy at our side when we do okay we need someone to be merciful towards us the the last person that needs to talk to a person going through a tough time is the Prophet because if someone's going through a tough time the Prophet will say well that's what you get aren't you like are you involved in sin or something well suck it up dude God's still on the throne souls need to be one to the Lord that's what they do like well did you read your Bible are you right with God what do you got sin in your life yeah oh you're hurting well too bad you know those people who's burning in hell today you know so you need to just put your you know emotions aside they're very like kind of like okay you're the last person I need to talk to you okay whereas the mercy is just like they're just very empathetic okay so you know here here's a good here's a good tip when you're going through a tough time don't go talk to the Prophet okay you can come talk to me though I I've I've worked at this okay I've had 14 years to work at this I won't condemn you I'll want to say it I want to I want to be like but I won't okay I've learned from the mercies the mercy just naturally has empathy towards people sometimes okay and they're excellent at that and we need to have empathy towards people okay we need to rejoice with them to rejoice and weep with them that weep now what does it mean to condescend well to condescend means to put aside one's dignity and superiority voluntarily and assume equality with with one regarded as inferior okay so if you have a person who's just feeling low they're feeling depressed or feeling you know sad they're very depressed and they're low the Bible tells us that we need to condescend to that estate so wherever you are if you're happy and everything is great the Bible tells us that we need to condescend to that man who is of low estate in order for us to weep with them you see the Prophet doesn't condescend to men of low estate we look down on them and say why are you crying for what's the problem whereas if you were to lower yourself to that level of you know sadness and that lowest state you would recognize why they're going through that tough time and therefore you can weep with them that we okay and this is one of the greatest strengths of the mercy the reason they're able to empathize with others so well is because they willingly put their dignity aside they don't mind weeping in front of others okay they don't mind shedding a tear whereas some people would deem that as weakness they don't see it as a weakness they see it as just empathy they see it as love okay now go to Isaiah 53 lest you think well that's only for softies or something you know only soft people are like that no not necessarily because Jesus Christ was the epitome of empathy the Bible even tells us that we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was at all points tempted like we are yet without sin and look what Isaiah 53 verse 1 says it says who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground he has no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and look what it says an acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised we esteemed him not so the Bible says that Jesus was acquainted with grief okay so that shows us that even when we grieve when we go through a tough time Jesus knows how exactly how we feel he empathizes with our lowest state he empathizes with our you know our weaknesses our frailties he empathizes with that he's acquainted with grief and you know what can be said of mercies is they're acquainted with the grief okay it's a great attribute for them to have now you know this intense sensitivity towards others so this is great obviously right because we want people to have be sensitive towards others we want people to weep with others and feel for them here's where it becomes really bad okay this is what we want to talk about this whole time I'm just kidding I'm kidding I'm kidding it's great when they weep with others it's great what they when they empathize with others but here's when I when it becomes dangerous is when they begin to pick up offenses for others okay so what do you mean by that well someone says something offensive towards another brother in Christ and that brother in Christ could just care less about what that person said the mercy because they're so empathetic and sensitive towards people can become offended for that individual believe it or not they pick up the offense for other people they get offended for the people now they get offended themselves sometimes too but more often than not they actually get offended for others for others in the church okay and this happens a lot folks okay in my 14 years of ministry I've seen this multiple times with different people where literally there's a lot of problems that arise because of an individual who picked up an offense for someone else and they can be because of that they can often hold a grudge towards that individual for a very long time okay so it's good that they have a tender heart it's good that they have empathy it's good that they have a lot of mercy and they're full of compassion where it goes into the boundary where it surpasses the boundary of being spirit filled is when they just get offended for everyone so what happens what happens is this everyone who knows that this person or these people get offended for others now they feel like they have to walk on eggshells when they're around them okay and look obviously we need discretion right we need discretion we need to shut our mouths right as a sermon from last week but not at the expense of well I just got to walk on eggshells every time I'm around this individual okay no one should ever feel like they have to walk on eggshells around anyone okay we have to we should have the liberty and the freedom to be ourselves to do the best we can and to serve God according to the dictates of our conscience and to love others freely and to try to live peaceably with all men okay but the mercy who is not spirit filled who is not checking their emotions who empathizes to the point of picking up offenses for others will often hold grudges towards people in the church okay they're easily offended and can hold grudges for a very long time and when I say a very long time I mean years now our church has only been around we're going on four years so I'm speaking of experiences of times past where literally people have held grudges towards others because they've offended others for years they don't get it right with God okay this is very dangerous and it's because they feel a lot of empathy towards that individual and the person whom the offense is the offense was directed towards probably forgot about it they probably don't even care they probably already moved on and even if they did get offended they forgave they moved on they're walking with the Lord but the mercy cannot forget the mercy holds a grudge the mercy holds it in the mercy holds the grudge and has difficulty forgetting you say well what can I do if I'm a mercy and you know I'm susceptible to that well you got to realize this offenses will come okay so don't expect people to walk on eggshells when they're around you don't expect people to just you know constantly watch what they say when they're around you you need to realize that we live in a real world where people will offend you people will offend me people will offend all of us she's part of life and you know what sometimes offenses can be good in our lives because it teaches us how to forgive someone you know it's good that offense has come toward our lives it's good that we get offended sometimes so that we can learn how to forgive another person okay we can learn and exercise our freedom and the commandment to forgive another brother for their offense towards us all right go to Matthew chapter 18 if you would Matthew chapter 18 so mercies are acquainted with grief they're excellent and empathizing with those who are hurting but the downfall to that is this is that they empathize sometimes with the wrong people or they empathize with people because of other individuals offenses towards that individual okay and and that's not right either look at Matthew 18 verse number 7 it says woe unto the world because of offenses for as much it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh go to verse 21 I like what Peter says here I empathize with Peter here then came Peter to him and said Lord how off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times he's like can you give me a cap here you know okay let's just cut it off at seven okay seven times and then after seven then I really let him have it that's basically what he's asking right Jesus say it done to him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven now I don't believe he's actually referring to seventy times seven I think what he's saying is this you just need to constantly forgive your brothers okay and look folks when we talk about forgiving one another we're also we also mean in the Bible I believe also means is that we have to have the right attitude towards that brother too you know it's easy for us to say well I forgive you yeah I guess yeah I forgive you because the Bible commands me to I forgive you as Christ forgave me God forgave me for Christ say yeah sure but it's different when you actually have the right attitude towards that person and I'm not saying you have to be best friends because as our church grows there's gonna be more conflict and you can't be friends with everyone and at that point you exercise the principle that you live peaceably with all men as much as lies within you but you have to recognize this you should have a good attitude towards your brother though right and that should come attached with your forgiveness of their offense towards you or towards another person that you picked up an offense for so if someone gets offended or if someone offends a brother that you love a sister that you love or they offended you you need to be able to not only forgive them but have the right attitude towards them as well don't give them the evil eye when you come to church you know is it well you know I forgive this person but I want nothing to do with that's not the right attitude especially if you go to the same local church right the right attitude is this you know what I forgive this person and I'm gonna try to do my best to forget that and and restore this relationship as best as we possibly can and look sometimes our relationship is irreparable right but that doesn't mean we can't try that doesn't mean we can't endeavor to keep the spirit of unity between us okay and so the mercy needs to learn how to forgive all right they need to learn how to forgive but we need to learn from mercy how to empathize with other people and and look folks you know the the longer we're a church the more we grow the more heartaches people are gonna experience in our church okay and you never want to have this cold attitude towards people when they go through a hard time and just kind of you know just write it off as they're alright it's fine they're saved they're going to heaven they got the King James Bible yeah those things are all true but you know there's there's something called compassion towards people though there's something called empathy there's something called you know weeping with those that weep there's something called you know being kind to other people when they're going through a difficult time and and you know often people do that just because they're overcompensating for some other weakness that they have in their lives they have to make themselves feel like they're extra you know spiritual extra crazy extra hard or something you know and we don't need none of that what we need to do is be hard when we need to be hard be angry when we need to be angry be just when we need to be just and be merciful when we need to be merciful and look I think you know some of us have known each other here long enough that we don't have to fake the funk right kind of know each other already kind of know our weaknesses and our strengths we're brothers and sisters in Christ and so you know we've known each other for long enough that you don't have to try to fake it before your brother okay so mercies are excellent at empathizing with others not only that but mercies can often operate on subjective intuitive feelings what does that mean they often follow their heart okay they often make decisions based upon how they feel not necessarily off of reason okay mercies can often be obstinate for this reason obstinate towards counsel and advice because they rely on their feelings rather than on the facts and this my friend is a fact okay so what what do you mean by that well sometimes you know in my experience counseling mercies or talking to mercies you'll try to talk some sense into them and say hey you know X Y & Z this is what it really is but they're so driven by their own emotions that they will actually be stubborn towards that counsel and towards that wisdom okay because they trust their feelings they're very emotional people and when I say emotional people I don't mean it in a bad way okay because the Bible tells us to be emotional in our walk with God does it not to love the Lord our God with all our heart soul mind and strength okay so we're emotional beings but they're very driven by their emotions and if they're not spirit-filled that can often lead to them following their feelings in something that's not biblical not found in Scripture to their demise the Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it okay go to Proverbs chapter 18 if you would Proverbs chapter 18 so why do we need mercies in the church can't we just do well with all the other ones can't we just survive with all the other ones well you know why we need mercies in the church it's because of the fact that we need people to give other people the benefit of the doubt all right we need people to be able to give people the benefit of the doubt we need people to condescend to men of lowest state and the reality is someone gave you the benefit of the doubt at one time they were kind towards you they were gracious towards you they were more merciful towards you they gave you a chance okay and we need to return that favor as well okay now here's a great thing about a mercy is that they get along with everyone and rarely have any enemies okay they really bump heads with people because they get along with a lot of people okay they live peacefully with all men and for this reason they crave relationships like they you know a mercy is will be one of your most loyal friends okay because they're they have like an emotional tie towards people people that they really love okay and they crave that relationship look at Proverbs 18 verse 24 and man that hath friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother you know I think about in the Bible when it comes to a mercy I think of John okay John resting on the bosom of the Lord okay he was always very close to the Lord almost as you know he had a very intimate relationship with his Savior and you can see that that characteristic there that he craved that close relationship and that's typically how mercies are okay so if you have a mercy in your life you know or if your wife's a mercy don't think oh she's just clingy maybe she's just a mercy you know she just has that desire for a close relationship you know and and don't don't buck that okay that's part of being a mercy that and that's great okay or if you have a mercy in the church who is a who is your friend you know don't think he's like a weirdo or something like that he might be just a really you know merciful person okay you know there's certain people in our church we're getting personal right now all right you know they have no problem if they really love you I mean this is towards the males okay they will literally grab your head and kiss you on the forehead towards the men okay some of you might be like what in the world I'd knock that dude out but I promise you the person who does it Moses you know he's not he's not he's not doing it in an awkward way he's often overwhelmed with so much emotion and I would say like but you know he has a little bit of mercy in him because he has that craving for close relationships to the point where he just he's so overwhelmed by his friendship with you that he will literally grab you by the head and kiss you on the forehead okay he didn't grow up in America okay grew up somewhere else like Siberia or something like that but you know what he's a friend that stick is closer than a brother and that's typically how mercies are you know mercies are are very relationship oriented okay now look if you're married if you're a mercy and you're married to like a teacher you're married to like a prophet be merciful to their teacherness and their prophetess okay because you know you have two extremes you have the mercy who is just very like emotional they have the desire for the close relationship and all that lovey-dovey stuff and then the prophets just cold the teachers just ice-cold he's like I do love you I pay the bills I buy food I give you money to buy food to cook meals that's that's love that's that's how they operate and in the mercy and look if you're if you're immersing you're married to a prophet or a teacher you probably get offended like every day cuz that that's typically how prophets and teachers are so you have to learn to be merciful towards their profitness and their teacherness but in like manner the prophet and the teacher need need to recognize that your emergency spouse needs that closeness needs that relationship needs that intimacy okay needs that friendship all right the Bible says in Proverbs 17 verse 17 a friend love it that all times and a brother is born for adversity and so mercies they crave relationships and that's that's why one of the reasons that like friendships matter a lot I mean friendships matter a lot to me but to the mercy matters like it's like the whole world to them okay knowing that they have a friend who loves them cares for them is there for them means the world to them okay so keep that in mind when you're dealing with the mercy all right you know when you're dealing with mercies just know this is that your words it the closer you are to a mercy the more weight your words have towards that person so what you can say to another person who you're not as close to and you say that same thing to that mercy you can just literally destroy their world because they're very sensitive because you know especially if they esteem you as a brother or as a sister okay so it's good and it's bad all right you got to make sure you walking in the spirit in order to not behave in that manner right number three mercies may attract abuse and exploitation because of their kindness and will often allow injustice to happen they could be major compromises yeah I'll just be honest with you mercies can be made major compromises if they're not careful because they give the benefit of the doubt but sometimes too much the guys like a freaking reprobate and it's just like you know maybe he's a good guy or something you know and look a lot of these liberal churches are filled with mercies filled with mercies a lot of these liberal fund centers and liberal churches are filled with a bunch of mercies who give the reprobate the psychopath the benefit of the doubt they give the pedophiles the benefit of the doubt and it's through their own destruction okay and here's the thing they can often become people pleasers and enablers yeah and let me just talk about this for a minute okay because this is extremely important if you get nothing from the mercy just understand this if you get nothing from the sermon at least get this mercies if they're not careful because they're so merciful compassionate they give the benefit of the doubt they can often be enablers now what do I mean by enablers go to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and this is something that I have I as a pastor have to constantly be working on having a pulse on when it comes to the individuals in our church okay mercies if they're not careful have a tendency to have a knee-jerk reaction when church discipline is being administered do we really have to kick them out are they really that bad can't we just give them another chance I know they deny the Trinity but can't we just can't we do something and the prophet is like hell no the mercy is like I think they're still good in him you know it's like yeah like yeah exactly Luke Skywalker was a mercy dude thinking that they're still good in his dad who killed a bunch of kids and stuff that's how they are he said why do you call them enablers well look at first Corinthians chapter five verse number one it says it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you such fornication as is as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one of you should have his father's wife and you're puffed up and have not rather mourn but there Glenn can you turn that off please thank you that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from you for I verily is absent in the body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you're gathered together my spear with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver one to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spear may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus your glory is not good know you not that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump so what do we see here we see an issue with the church at Corinth where there are fornicators in the church and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that someone should have his father's wife I mean there's just wickedness going on in this church and what do you have no one doing anything about it no one is doing anything about it and in fact it's not that they didn't know about it because it was commonly reported among them so this is commonly reported among them and to add insult to injury they're glorying in the fact that they're not doing anything about it they're boasting and the fact that this person's not being thrown out that they're keeping them in the congregation letting them be a part of the church now the Bible tells us the people who commit fornication extortion railing drunkards idolaters you know people who are covetous these people if they're unrepentant are not welcome in the congregation they need to take a hike okay they need to leave the congregation and and be given over to Satan as it says here for the destruction of the flesh you said what does that have to do with the mercy well mercies if they're not capable careful can become enablers in other words even though a person is kicked out of the local congregation they will still fellowship with that person they will still fellowship with that person they will still keep in contact with that person even though the Bible says with such and one know not to eat that's cultish how is that even cultish there's people that you would not share a meal with outside of these walls because of whatever reason the Bible specifically saying here that if these people are guilty of these sins that there should be no fellowship between you and that person and look and if you don't agree with that there's plenty of other Baptist churches you can go to where they compromise on this and they'll allow you to eat with whoever you want you can go to you understand but the enabler will completely disregard the judgment of the pastor will completely undermine the authority of the pastor and will continue to fellowship and enable the individual that has been excommunicated from a local church why because they're so merciful oh we just need to give them a chance oh we just need to work with this person oh you're just too hard to let me work with that person no that's wicked folks and I remember a couple years ago we had a mercy in our church who when I would call out specific false prophets you'd always get offended about it always I'd say Adam Fannin's a reprobate and all of God's people said and they come and they say why do you think it's a reprobate why is that that's not right it's just like what do you mean did you even look at the evidence because he's because he's wicked have you seen what he's done no have you looked at the videos that they put up no then how do you what why are we having this conversation why are you even talking to me about this go do the research but these are the same people that even when you excommunicate someone from a local congregation they're still fellowshipping with them and let me just make myself very clear I know this is Easter okay but Easter service was this morning and it's time for a change let me make myself very clear like I have to keep a pulse on this as a pastor because I have zero tolerance for that and so like let me just remind everyone that when someone gets excommunicated from from our church for whatever reason they're involved in fornication they're railing they're involved in extortion you know they're drunkards or whatever it may be you know if you continue to fellowship with that person you're actually you know you're actually interrupting God's discipline on that person's life and because you're interrupting God's discipline on that person's life they will not be properly disciplined and they won't they will be unrepentant because they're thinking themselves well who cares what pastor me it says I got so-and-so still fellowshipping with me I got so-and-so still going out to eat with me you know and you know what so-and-so is probably doing yeah he believes that but you know we don't we don't we're not in lockstep with everything it's okay to have a meal it's okay to do this it's okay to hang out no it's not okay and if you are an enabler then you need to enable your body to leave our church because then you're disrupting the order of our church but see a spirit-filled mercy will be merciful not towards the person who got excommunicated who shouldn't be merciful to the pastor like I'm gonna give the pastor actually the benefit of the doubt I'm gonna actually side with the authority on this issue here I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt I'm gonna show him the mercy I'm gonna show him the the the compassion I'm gonna you know agree with his judgment rather than siding with the person who's being judged that's the proper way to do it see at that point that's a great mercy it's not bad being a mercy it's bad when the mercy is merciful towards people who have been churched they've been kicked out for a justified reason that's when it becomes wicked when they begin to enable someone who they know should not be a part of our congregation is doing really bad and yet they persist to do that and look I'm not a Baptist police I'm not investigating every single person I don't need to because you know what at the end of the day in my experience God just somehow reveals it to us something for some reason I'm not talking about like in a vision or something you know like I had too many onions on my burger and then I have this vision or something I'm talking about he just allows me to find that information without even me looking for it I'm just kind of doing my job as a pastor and then information comes across and I'm like all right well I guess I got to deal with this now and don't think don't don't take my kindness don't mistake my kindness for weakness folks to think well oh pastor me he's kind and you know he he's loving we can just kind of just hang out with people like this and he doesn't have a problem with it wrong and look I we will dwindle this congregation down to a very small group if I have to I have no problem with that because the integrity of this pulpit the integrity of the Bible the integrity of me as a pastor will be called into question if I don't fulfill my responsibilities by excommunicating people and not allowing the people in our church to fellowship with them well that that right there sounds cultish no because you have a choice you could either fellowship with them and not be a part of our church and go to some other church am I forbidding you to go to any other church you could go wherever you want I'm just saying that our policy here is that you can't be here if you are an enabler okay you see the purpose of church discipline is to allow them to be disciplined by God but they can't be disciplined by God if you're constantly helping them out oh man pastor talked about you tonight yeah you know hey we're gonna go get some coffee or what let's go hang out but just don't tell anybody you know I don't agree with everything I know you've done wrong but you're working on it right you're involved in fornication I get that but you guys are gonna eventually get married right oh you're involved in a door tree but you know that's eventually gonna break up right I know you got a good heart wrong folks it does not work that way and so the mercy needs to be aware that they don't enable the wrong people enable me folks the mercy should enable the right people right enable the pastor enable the authority and able you know the righteous people in the church not enabled the wrong people okay so I'm not just getting on mercies here mercies are very much important in the church and I'm glad we have mercies and let me just say this my wife is a secondary mercy okay so you know I don't hate mercies all right I think I think mercies are wonderful and some some of the best relationships and friendships that I've had in my Christian life have been with mercies now we bump heads a lot but that's just normal okay and so you know mercies are necessary because they teach us how to empathize with others they teach us to be discreet you understand how to how to have discretion with what we say they teach us how to weep with others okay they teach us how to rejoice with others how to be happy with others but we need to recognize that we can't mercies cannot just you know give the benefit of the doubt to every Tom Dick and Harry that walks through the door there's there's certain boundaries that need to be kept okay so a mature mercy will have true empathy but not at the expense of keeping rules regulations and commands they will observe and respect appropriate boundaries a carnal mercy on the other hand embraces dangerous people they're man pleasers they have inappropriate relationships and can often overreact because of insecurities okay so what's the sermon for today obviously you know this is a different type of a sermon if you're visiting with us today you're gonna have to listen to the other sermons in order for this to make sense but this is more so for like our church so we know how to kind of interact with each other knowing our spiritual gifts but you know at the end of the day this is this is the message okay know the spiritual gift of every single person that's around you so you know how to interact with them and you're not offended by how they're wired a lot of times a lot of conflict in relationships whether in marriage or just in church you know with your brothers and sisters in Christ stems from you not recognizing or you know realizing how people are just wired why is this person such a jerk why is this person so mean why are they like well it's probably just because they're not jerks they're just like a prophet but prophets are sometimes jerks you know why is this person like this well it's probably because they're just a mercy so they're very kind merciful they're very sensitive you just need to take those those things into consideration and I promise you it'll help you in your relationships in church and in marriage with your children if you just understand this principle here okay that's pretty much it let's buy our heads and I were to pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you for the spiritual gifts Lord and thank you for those in our church who have the gift of mercy and Lord I enjoy their company I enjoy having them around but not only that I appreciate when they show empathy towards me if I'm going through a tough time and I'm thankful that they have a tender heart they're tender-hearted Lord and we can learn a lot from that we need to be tender-hearted towards others and condescend to men of lowest state I pray God that you bless us and help us Lord as a church to live peaceably amongst ourselves Lord because conflicts will arise offenses will come there's no avoiding those things and I pray God that you bless us guide and direct our steps and all that we do in Jesus name we pray amen