Lay Down the Stones

Good to see you today. I've been anxious to come here since Tim asked me to

come in and fill in today.

I've been at Lafarge for 22 years. I lived in Lafarge for most of my life,

and I just want to say coming here, even our first Sunday, it was amazing.

You guys have a great church here.

You have a lot of opportunities here. You've got a lot of things going on.

I just want to elaborate what Pastor Tim has been instilling in you in the last

four years, that you've got a purpose. You've got something going on here.

Use what you have.

so with that warning last week, I'm glad that you still showed up,

you know, because we can look at people, we can look them up and go,

you looked up my, you know, you can go on CPAC on Wisconsin to see what my crimes

have been, you know, and look up some old information about me and know.

And we can gather a sense of, we put a judgment together, don't we?

There's so many things these days that divide us and discourage us. Amen?

I mean, everybody has an opinion. Everybody talks about politics.

Even church beliefs are divided these days.

But judging others seems to be the touchy thing these days. And that's what I want to talk about.

And maybe being a little more careful about ourselves. those of the faith,

and even those living in a lifestyle that's against God.

And by saying the Bible is strong about do not judge others.

And now, just like everything else, the verse is taken out of context.

It's not what people think it is. They just want to believe that because they

don't want other people telling them that they're wrong. Amen?

And we don't like to look at it any other way. And we don't like to search to

find the real answer about judgment.

I mean, what has happened with the,

I like the kid's time because it was like, who didn't have a cell phone at one

time, you know, or who, anybody here with the Viewmaster got the original one in your closet.

But anyway, social media has brought out all that.

It just kind of grew like a bad fungus on social media that we could just say

whatever we want about somebody else.

And we look at people How many people here this morning When you were driving

here There was somebody in front of you That was driving real slow And you go

Those people Why don't they get off the road,

We're judging people in every aspect of our life. Or how about this?

We come to church, and somebody says, well, I know I can tell you,

don't worry about it, but that person?

We start talking about people, we come up with judgments, or we see somebody

on the street, or we hear something from somebody else, and right away,

we come up with a judgment in our life without even knowing the person.

And I don't know about you, but our world is changing, And some people,

even churches, say we need to be more inclusive, you know, and I get that.

They say we need to accept everyone for who they say they are,

and they say they need to know that love is love.

And I have to say, I agree with some of that, but I disagree with some of that, you know what I mean?

Because now I know anyone can walk into this church, and I hope that anybody

can walk into any church and hopefully be accepted. because how else are they

going to hear about the word of Jesus Christ? Am I right?

How are they going to know who Jesus is? Because I'm sorry, there's a lot of

churches where people that come every Sunday and they still don't know who Jesus is.

Now, I'm sorry, maybe I was just judging right there. But tell me if I'm wrong.

I mean, the first time that we came here, we just felt like there was,

we had such a good experience.

And my wife, Lori, and I were talking on the way down that day.

I remember it. And it's like, there's kind of this area where how do we know

how far we go with people?

You know what I mean? How far do we go to accept who they say they are in order

to bring them into Jesus?

And anyone can come here to seek

God and worship him. But what if we know about them living in sin? Wow.

What if we know about what's going on there? Because do we allow the liars and

the swindlers, the adulterers, the drunkards, those in sexual sin to just come into church here?

Where do we draw the line in our faith life to include those in sin?

Still not to feel like we're compromising that in our faith,

but still being obedient to God.

And like I said, there's kind of that blurred line there of where we need to be at.

As a church, as a people following Jesus, we are not always sure in our judgment,

that if we are too harsh or too soft in what we think about that.

Let me give you a few examples of what's happened recently, more nationally

or in the world, you know.

I mean, I believe things took a flaming turn of judgment when,

like Charlie Kirk died, when he was murdered.

Now, you can believe and disagree, whatever you want with him,

but hateful comments were made about him after he died.

And even his family, for months, what would happen to us, whatever happened

to us that we started disrespecting people that had died?

And recently, you've seen it on the news, it's still on the news all the time.

My wife started following the Lindsay Clancy case, you know,

before it was on the news every moment of your life.

And, you know, again, I could see both sides about what was going on.

I mean, she murdered three children and then jumped in assuming that she was

going to die herself but is paralyzed.

And here, it didn't stop there in the judgment, because then it was about the

one person that went against the tide of what everybody else was doing.

Judgment is just constantly, and this one really surprised me.

When Dolly Parton died, and the next day there's Christian leaders and Christians

out there saying, well, Dolly didn't go to heaven.

And I'm thinking, like, if you

were so worried about Dolly, why didn't you talk to her before she died?

You know, we need to start telling people about Jesus now.

Because I'm telling you, I've done a lot of funerals over the years. A lot of funerals.

And wouldn't it be something if we just hung out the dirty laundry about everybody?

I wouldn't be doing too many funerals if that was the case. My thoughts are,

is that it's God's job to judge.

Not mine. Even though we have that, you can find it in the Bible,

that we have that privilege, that we need to come to somebody that is a fellow believer,

and if we see them in harm's way, like they've fallen away in some sort,

that we need to confront them.

We need to come and stand beside them and lift them up, try the best we can.

Anybody hit somebody over the head with a Bible before?

Any of those today? Because that's what we do sometimes.

When we get real harsh in our judgment, then we start getting a little bit over

the top with our example and evidence of what our faith is.

Here's what 2 Corinthians 5.10 says.

And this makes it clear for all of us. For we must all appear before the judgment

seat of Christ, so that each of us must receive what is due us for the things

done while in the body, whether good or bad.

How many of us are ready for that judgment? But now I hear from people that

God is all about love and God can't judge. There's people out there promoting that.

There's people out there telling that. So instead of judging people,

dead or alive, why don't we start sharing Jesus so that they know, so that we're sure?

I've had so, going back to funerals, loved ones, relatives, close people saying,

well, I hope they knew Jesus.

"'Why didn't you tell him if he weren't sure?'.

We are a people, whether we're in the world or in part of the church, that are quick to judge.

And we all need to do is look at someone or hear something, like I said, and we've labeled them.

Let me give you an example. In John chapter 9, a man was born blind.

John 9 · chapter mention

And the disciples go, well, who sent?

This man or his parents? Now, they were justified in asking that because in

Numbers chapter 14, it says that it's probably something that somebody's done,

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

that sin has caused that blindness.

And what about Job? What about Job being out there and inflicted and everybody's

coming up, what did you do? What did you do?

That's our first reaction, isn't it? When someone gets into a situation, what did they do?

What did they do to deserve this affliction on them?

But Jesus healed the man without asking who was at fault, if anyone was.

He didn't judge the man.

What I'm hearing these days from churchgoers and even Christians is that those

people are a mess and deserve God's judgment, but I don't hear much room for

healing or restoration by the way of Jesus.

They're eager to condemn more than renew.

Listen, the gray area we battle with is giving too much understanding to everyone,

and someone in sin and not telling them the truth about the sin that they are in.

And how will we have an opportunity to bring somebody to Jesus if we don't look

beyond the obvious at the moment to bring them in to start discipling?

You know, there is a real hunger to know who Jesus is and what it's like to

live the life if you are a Christian here today.

If you're a believer in Jesus, is your life reflecting that?

Because I hope they don't have to just come to church to know that that is what your life is.

They need to come They need to know who Jesus is I want to give you a few more

examples today Of Jesus having encounters with people And he never judged them,

Never said anything condemning to them Where it was real obvious that they could

have See, we can't wait to tell somebody that they're wrong Am I right?

I want you to tell the person next to you, you're wrong.

Because we're all wrong. Amen? We're all wrong.

Yeah. Romans 3.23 says, we've all fallen short of the glory of God. All. Not some.

So, the first one I want to bring up is probably one that you're probably already

thinking of, and the most obvious is the woman caught in adultery.

It was a plan to try to trick Jesus. And how would we look at that?

Because everybody else is out there that was around there, and they're picking

up stones. they're ready.

How big a rock are we carrying?

Because we're like, oh, yeah. Yeah, I've known that woman for a long time,

and she's deserved what she's going to get today. Oh, yeah.

That's the judgment that we're eager to bring into it, isn't it? Well, what's Jesus do?

Jesus does. You know what? Jesus does the craziest thing. He gets down,

and he starts doing something in the dirt.

He's writing something.

And he gets up and he says, whoever is without sin, cast the first stone.

And I have to think that it says that they started walking away.

And I have to think that they're dropping their stones.

They knew they weren't any better. I think that's what we got to keep in mind.

Even though we can try to justify that somebody should get what they get.

We need to start putting the rocks down. Another one is that the woman at the well. Yeah.

Jesus is sitting at the well, and this woman comes there in the heat of the

day. Nobody else come at that time of day.

But you know why she came at that time? She didn't want to deal with other people.

Anybody here that don't want to deal with people? I have days like that.

Didn't want to deal with people. Had five marriages, five failed marriages,

and she's living with somebody right now that she's not married to.

But Jesus didn't ask her if the broken marriages were her fault or the husband's fault.

Instead, he delivers into a conversation about what they believe because this is a Samaritan woman.

And I don't know how much you know, but the Jews and the Samaritans,

they didn't see eye to eye. They didn't really like one another.

And that's why she said, well, why are you asking me for some water?

And Jesus starts telling her about the Messiah. And here's the thing.

I think everybody yet, it's not too far that we don't have this,

but right now I think people that don't have anything to do with church or anything

to do with religion or Jesus have an inkling,

have an inkling about what we believe.

And so there's something in him, like this woman here that sparked her.

She knew about the Messiah. She knew about he was going to return on the mountain

that they worshipped on.

And that inspired her and gave her purpose.

Instead of Jesus condemning her for all the failed marriages,

he inspired her, brought her to a new level, and she went back home and told everybody else.

Anybody remember Zacchaeus the tax collector The little short guy.

Jesus, when he was coming through the town, he didn't say to Zacchaeus,

you know, seeing him up in the tree because he's short. He's trying to see Jesus.

He didn't say, you no good Roman sympathizer.

He didn't say that. You're nothing but a crook.

That's what we would do because we know what he was doing. He was stealing money.

He was living high off the hog. It was the only way that he could find any respect in his life.

No, instead, Jesus says, I need to go to your house.

And Jesus spent time with him. And then he repents, obviously,

because he gives more than the money that he took.

Change Zacchaeus. How about the woman with the bleeding condition?

Years of a bleeding condition that would not stop. She'd been to every doctor

that she could, every physician.

She'd been to everything and spent every ounce of her money,

every resource that she had, until she finally comes into a crowd where she shouldn't have been.

The law says, you're not supposed to be here. But she took a leap of faith.

She didn't grab Jesus. She didn't ask him to heal her. She just touched his gown.

And Jesus felt that. And he wanted to know who it was.

Did he judge her? No. Instead, he says, you're a daughter of Israel.

You know how many people want to hear an encouraging word rather than condemnation?

How many people want to be lifted up that they don't get that?

They don't have those kind of people in their life because they have all these

other people that are Debbie Downers?

Jesus wanted to know who touched her, but he didn't condemn her for it.

And Jesus healed a lot of other people and addressed a lot of other people that,

probably wouldn't have classified who we feel needs to come into the body of Christ.

Another one would be Legion.

You know, the crazy guy in the cemetery, the one they tried to chain up to control

him, the whole village did.

And he confronts Jesus when Jesus gets out of the boat and comes over. It's like, wow.

Cuts all over him. This guy's a mess.

And Jesus cast those demons out of him into the pigs. Remember the story? And the pigs run off.

Even pigs know better than we do.

Ran off a cliff.

You know what's really bad? Is that the people that knew of him came and seen

him fully renewed, sitting with Jesus.

And they're like, oh, no, no.

They wanted Jesus to leave. Sometimes we don't want our problems fixed. Amen.

Sometimes we're just more comfortable in what we know. and they would put up

with the guy in the cemetery that just is going crazy all the time.

Instead of one that's found Jesus, that has given his life to Jesus,

wanted to follow Jesus, and what's Jesus say to him? No, you got to stay right here.

Stay right here and do what you know you need to do by telling them about what I've done for you.

And here is why. There's a difference between judging someone and telling the truth to someone.

One is to tear another down, and the other is to help them up.

The Apostle Paul had this tactic, and I want you to remember this.

This is the New Living Translation, 1 Corinthians 9.22.

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone.

Doing everything I can to save some. Did you catch that?

Finding common ground with someone. You're not going to meet somebody that you

want to come to bring into the church or into the life of Christ without coming.

I'm not talking about compromising your faith. I'm talking about talking to someone.

And I'm telling you to listen.

Listen to people and come to that common ground. And why did he do that?

That some would be saved. Some.

Not everybody. I think of even Jesus. Not everybody followed Jesus. Am I right?

Paul was realistic in knowing that not all would come to Christ,

but some, whoever he could save, bring in.

See, we need to be advocates with others instead of adversaries.

Can I give you one more?

An alternative to quickly judge someone. In Mark chapter 9, a boy is demon-possessed,

Mark 9 · chapter mention

and the disciples couldn't heal him.

And they'd been out before and done it. That was their problem.

But Jesus said the missing element was prayer.

Was prayer. Maybe we need to first pray for somebody before we come up with

a judgment for someone. Amen?

Maybe our days start with prayer for people. We make a list of people that maybe

we ran into the day before or the week before, and we keep making a tally of that.

But because look at Jesus' disciples. Look at them. Look at who sat at the table for the Last Supper.

You have tax collectors, you got hotheads, you got those with personal agendas

into Jesus' kingdom that he was going to bring in. You had a couple of people

who were going to betray him. What a messy crew.

So I ask today, would Jesus invite Dolly Parton to the table?

Even deeper, would he invite us to the table?

Luke 18, verse 27 What is impossible for people is possible with God,

Luke 18:27

We can't make a fair judgment without getting to know the person first We're

told to love others as we are to love ourselves We're supposed to love our enemies,

We can't get to heaven without Jesus It's impossible That makes us impossible

people Will you tell the person next to you You're an impossible person.

Some of you didn't do that because you don't have a ride home.

Listen, before we take communion this morning, I want us to be in the right

frame of mind. Because I don't want, whenever I did this, I never,

we never did it the first weekend of the month. We didn't ever have it scheduled.

I just did it whenever the Lord laid it on me.

And I don't want it to be a ritual. I don't want it to be something where you

just come up and get the bread and you get the cup and we do it and get out of here. Okay?

I want it to be what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11,

where he discusses the sensitivity of partaking in the Lord's Supper.

And in verse 28 of that chapter, it says, Look into your own hearts before you

eat the bread and drink the cup.

And verse 31 tells us why. But if we judged ourselves in the right way,

God would not judge us. That's pretty heavy.

Because we don't like to judge ourselves, amen? Yeah, we don't.

We're easy, eager to throw it around everywhere else, but to look at ourselves.

Because are there any perfect people here today?

Because we used to have it on our sign outside the church, no perfect people allowed.

And we have to, we have to start working on ourselves.

That's what we're going to do here in a minute. But I want you,

before coming up, I want you to take a time of prayer and reflection.

And I know you do that, but please, please ask God, ask Jesus to show the things

that need to be done in your life.

The things that need to change. The things that he needs to take away.

The things that we need to allow to take away, that he can do that. He can take that.

You see, our faith life is a whole life span.

It doesn't happen in that instant that we say that we want Jesus in our life.

A lot of people just quit right there and think that, okay, I'm going to heaven.

No, it's deeper than that.

It's a lifeline or a lifelong experience and work. We're all a piece of work.

And that's what sanctification is Because it takes our whole life To try to

get us to that point Of being more and more holy Blessed Heavenly Father.

I just pray that you work on our Heart, mind and soul,

That you stir our soul That you bring us into a new realm Of prosperity in our

faith That we bring in more people That we push away,

that we look at people with different eyes that we look with them in eyes of faith,

and try to see the deepest of goodness that we see the hurt in them we see the

brokenness we see the celebration of their

and we bring him to your son Jesus I just thank you for this time of wo rship

And we just thank you for those here today. In Jesus' name, amen.