Deepening Our Relationship with God: Justice, Mercy, Humility

"I experience the same issues. I experience the same problems. Life shows up at my door just like it shows up at yours. And there's something about praise and worship that gives me the opportunity to release it to God and say, God, I know you got it, and I don't have to worry about it. I don't have to cry. And so if you see me over in my little corner crying, it's not because I'm crying because something is going on. It's because I'm crying because there's a joy that says that no matter what I'm going through, there's a God that takes care of every single one of my problems." [00:25:26]

"And so, the truth is that many of us have what's called a one-sided relationship with God. We want his blessings. We want his protection. We want his provision. We want his guidance. But what we don't ever stop to do is ask him what he wants in return of us. And so today, what I really want to, I want to talk about a one-sided relationship. I did say that we, we want those things, but we never stop to ask. I want to put a caveat right there, and I want you to know this, is that you can never repay God." [00:31:14]

"Justice in that term, it means righteousness. It means restoring what is broken. It means aligning our hearts to God's heart. Justice. He says, do justice. He says, what I want you to do is I want you to ensure that my people get what's due them. Whether it's protection, affection, whether it's care, whether it's love, whether it's accountability, I want you to do that. And the reason I want you to do it is because justice is a reflection of God's character. He says, I'm a good God. I am a just God. And as a result, justice is a reflection of his character." [00:38:39]

"God says, I want you to do justice. Justice. Look, we're not gonna all be in a position to make some legal change. But what we are in a position to do, is make changes in our life. I love our scripture because he says, do justice. And God gives us an example of what that looks like. If you remember, there's a story that's told back in, it's in John chapter eight. It's a story about a woman that was caught in the very act of adultery. And they brought this woman to Jesus. And when they bring this woman to Jesus, they're assuming that Jesus is gonna commit her to death because that was the crime and that was the punishment at that time." [00:40:55]

"Justice is about lifting people up. Man, we think about the court system, and our mind is all messed up because we think that justice means that somebody's going to get locked up, somebody's going to go to jail, somebody's going to deal with a punishment or a crime, but God says, no, my justice. I want you to do my justice, and my justice says that we're going to restore. My justice says that we're going to lift up. He says, my justice is not the world's justice. I want you to do my justice." [00:42:40]

"Number two, not only does what we do matter, but what we love also matters. This verse says, that we're supposed to love mercy. Love mercy. Man, love. Do love. What we do matters. What we love matters. What we love is that thing that kind of shapes and form us. It's that thing that kind of grabs a hold of us, and before you know it, it influences our values, and our goals, and our thought processes. It begins to influence the things that we do. What we do loves, and it leads us to do certain things." [00:46:39]

"Justice means getting what people deserve. Mercy, however, means withholding judgment from someone who deserves mercy, but extending grace. See, what happens is this, is that God wants us to be merciful, because when that mercy, it's, it's delighting in the grace that He gives us. It's understanding that He is the one who is merciful to us. Steadfast love, committed love, despite what I say, despite how I'm living, despite what I'm doing. Look, we all got things that we need to work on." [00:50:34]

"God's saying, I want you to be better, because there are folk out there that are really hurting, but what I'm going to do is, I want you to have that same mercy. I want you to have that same mercy. I want you to have that same mercy. I want you to love mercy, is what he said. He said, love mercy. And it's tough, right? It's tough, because we live in a world that glorifies grudges, and it glorifies backbiting and division. And God says, I don't need you to do that. I mean, we got a cancel culture that says if you don't act right or the way I want you to do, you out." [00:52:03]

"Man, so when he says walk humbly, man, that requires something different of us. It requires me to step back. I started out when I said, and I said the prayer, I said, Lord, hide me behind the cross. Because the words that come through, let them be from you. Our actions and our walk should be hidden behind the cross so that when people see, they should see Christ in the midst of everything that we do. And so when people see us, they should see God. And it should be intentional. This is an everyday walk." [00:58:29]

"Man, that's the kind of things they tell you, right? Man, you look a little bit further, man, next thing you know, folks are quoting Invictus. Out of the night, they cover me. And Invictus, that great poem, it basically says you are the master of your fate. You're the master of your soul. And people have taken heart to those things, right? Man, man, when you think about the humility of our world says, man, you got to get so many likes in order to be successful. Man, the humility of our world says that you got to achieve, achieve, achieve, achieve." [01:00:24]

"That's what God is saying. He says, I don't want a one-sided relationship where you just call on me when your car is broken down on the side of the road or when your finances are messed up, when your children are not acting right, when your marriage is falling apart. He says, I want you to call on me in every season of life. What does God require of you? He requires your heart, because when your heart is lined up to him, you will do the things of God, you will love the things of God, and you will walk in the path of God. You will walk in the path that glorifies God, and now you will begin to look like God." [01:11:27]

"Thank you because we need that reminder. That it's not always about us. It's not always about our thoughts. It's not always about what it is that we think that we should do. But that we've got to make it about you. And so, Father, my prayer. My prayer is today that as your word goes out, that, Father, that thing, that seed that you've placed in our hearts, that it would begin to grow. And it would begin to manifest in and through us and bring about a change in our lives." [01:16:49]