Follow The Gold

I'm going to invite you to stand as we praise our Savior today, the one who's made everything new for us. Won't you clap your hands as we declare it today? We say, We're standing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, all because of you. Oh, hallelujah. See, I'm clean, unclean. It's not what I have done, but what you've done for me. You've paid it all up on that dream. Oh, hallelujah, I'm clean. Your love has overcome. Your mercy is supreme. I'm dancing in your victory. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, all because of you. Sing it again. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, all because of you. Oh, hallelujah. Cause you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come.

Lord, you took, you took away my shame and you nailed it to the cross. You got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. You took away my shame. Oh, God, and you nailed it. Got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. One more time. You took away my shame when you nailed it to the cross of Calvary. Oh, Jesus, you got me running out the grave. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, here I come. Hallelujah, hallelujah. We're coming closer to you, Jesus. Hallelujah, here I come. I hear you calling my name, Jesus, and I'm running after you. If that's your testimony, lift up a shout. Oh, we thank you for making everything new, God, and we give you the highest praise. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, we thank you, Lord. If you're thankful to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, can you give him one more praise right here? Thank you, Jesus. Come on, put your hands together. Let's continue to sing to our God. We say. I can't tell you, wish I could describe it.

But I can contain it, can't keep it to myself. There aren't enough colors to paint the whole picture. Not enough words to ever say what I found. He's wonderful and beautiful and glorious and holy. He is merciful and good. Who are we talking about? That's my king, yeah. We declare the glory. Give him all the honor. Altogether worthy. Who are we talking about? That's my king. There's no one before him. Yes, we will adore him. All of this is for him. Who are we talking about? That's my king. He will reign forever. I'm not being the wrong scribe without joining the chorus. There aren't enough notes to make the harmony. It's the song of the angels through all of the ages. It's all of earth and heaven's symphony. ♪ Yeah, wonderful and beautiful and glorious and holy ♪ ♪ Yeah, merciful and powerful ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king, yeah ♪ ♪ We declare the glory, give him all the honor ♪ ♪ Altogether worthy, who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ There's no one before you, yes we will adore you ♪ ♪ All of this is for you, who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ That's my God, that's my shepherd, my protector ♪

♪ That's my king, that's my rock, that's my anchor, my defender ♪ ♪ Yes, that's my king, that's my God, yes he is ♪ ♪ That's my shepherd, my protector, that's my king ♪ ♪ That's my rock, that's my anchor, my defender, yeah ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king, lift it up ♪ ♪ We declare the glory, give him all the honor ♪ ♪ All together worthy, who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ We declare the glory, give him all the honor ♪ ♪ All together worthy, who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ There's no one before you, yes we will adore you ♪ ♪ All of this is for you, who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ That's my king, who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king ♪ ♪ Who we talking about, that's my king, yeah ♪ hallelujah, church. If he's been your king in so much more, can you stretch your hands to heaven as we declare it, we believe this about our God. We sing, Christ is my firm foundation. He's the rock on which I stand when everything around me is shaken. Oh, I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus because he's never let me down. He's faithful through generations, so why would he fail? Now, the church said, he won't, no, he won't.

He's an unfailing God today, and he won't fail. He won't fail, somebody let your faith rise and say, he won't, no, no, we believe in God. He won't, he won't fail, he won't fail, he won't fail. We sing, Christ is, Christ is my firm foundation. He's the rock on which I stand when everything around me is shaken. Oh, I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down, no, no, no. He's faithful through generations, so why would he fail? Why would he fail me now? I believe today, he won't, oh, no, no, he won't. He won't fail, he won't fail, he won't fail, oh. He won't fail, he won't fail, he won't fail, oh. Oh, we praise you, Lord. We praise you even in the midst of situations and storms, because we've seen your faithfulness time and time again. We're so thankful to know that we can put our trust in an unfailing Savior. We know because of this rain came, wind blew. Blue in my house was built on you. Oh, I'm safe with you, and I'm gonna make it through. Same rain, came and went. Blue in my house was built on you. I know I'm safe today. I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it. Say, I'm gonna make it through. Because I'm standing strong.

Because I'm standing strong on you. I believe that I'm gonna make it. Not because of me, but because my house was built on you, Jesus. Christ is my firm foundation. He's the rock. On which I stand. When everything around me is shaken. Oh, I've never been more glad. And I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. Oh, oh, oh. Faithful through generations. So why, so why would he fail? The goodness says you won't. Oh, God, he won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. Now, somebody who believes in an unfailing God today, can you give him a great shout of praise right here? This is a victorious and joyful praise, because we serve a good and all-powerful God. Amen, amen. Well, praise the Lord, church. I'm so encouraged in the presence of God today, and I hope you are too. Why don't you take a moment to just bless somebody near you. Tell somebody hello that you haven't seen all week.

Encourage somebody. And we'll be right back to continue with service in just a moment. God bless you all. God bless you all. You have come expecting today. I love all the energy in the room. Praise the Lord. Well, we'd like to take a moment in this time to just welcome all of you that are here for the first time. We just want to take time to say hello. We're glad you're here. And if that's you, would you mind lifting your hands so the ushers in the aisle, they have something to share with you? And we just want to bless you. Praise the Lord. Yeah, great to have you today. God bless you. Yeah, good to see you. So excited that you're here. Listen, I'm Pastor Dave. And on behalf of myself and the pastors and the staff and all of the congregation, we welcome you. And we're so glad you decided to be here today. We're expecting God to bless you and minister to you today. If you haven't already encountered one of the guest experience people coming in, please tap the back of your seat and share some information with us so we can contact you.

And also, after the service, we'd love to invite you right out here, just outside these doors. Right behind the staircase is our Connection Hub. We got some great people there that would love to greet you, answer any questions, and just befriend you and show you around if you'd like to be. And we're glad you're here. Everyone, let's just give another hand. Clap. We're so excited that you've made it to today. And now for the best news of the week, turn your attention to church news. Welcome to Faith Church Orlando. Here's a look at upcoming events. Don't miss Faith Kids Camp this summer. We would love for your kids currently in kindergarten through fifth grade to join us for a week they won't forget. Camp runs Monday, June 22 through Friday, June 30. June 26th, and on Friday, we'll have our Kids Camp Parent Showcase, a special time for families to come together and celebrate what God has done all week. Kids Camp 2026 is packed with team activities, water slides, bounce houses, arts and crafts, preparing a live performance, and most importantly, powerful worship services that will leave a lasting impact on your child's faith. The cost is $150 and includes lunch every day,

a t-shirt, and all activities. Registration closes Sunday, May 24th. Visit faithchurchorlando.com slash events to sign up. Exciting things are happening at Faith. Here's a look ahead. We encourage you to connect, grow, serve, and reach here at Faith. So stay connected through the Faith app or our website. Have a blessed week. Amen. We're gonna clap for the church news, amen. It's a lot of great things happening. And now saints, it's our opportunity to bring to the Lord our tithes and our kingdom builder offerings, amen. And that is a reason to celebrate. God is so good to us. I woke up this morning with a scripture, and all of you know it, it's in 2 Corinthians, that God loves a cheerful giver. I just thought, why? And I thought about, have you ever received a gift before where the giver was sort of like begrudging? Like they didn't really want you to give it. I've seen my kids do that, you know, when they go to the little five-year-old parties, they like the gift better and they wanted to hold onto it. So they sort of give it with that, I don't know if I want to do this. God is so gracious to us. God is so good.

I think the reason why he loves a cheerful giver, because it's an expression of faith in him. We believe he is the provider. We believe he's the source of all that we have. We're grateful for all that he has done for us. How many of you can say amen to that? And so when we bring the tithe and we bring these offerings, we get to do it out of a worshipful heart, out of a joyful heart, and see faith always has a joy in it. So I just want to encourage you as I'm about to pray over your tithes and over the giving to builder offerings, praise God that we get to do so many great things in all the world. Because of this giving, you and I are able to impact the world. Lives are being saved. People are being reached for Jesus. What a joy that we get to partner with our heavenly father in the work that is so dear to his heart. So bring your tithe, bring your offering, not grudgingly, but cheerfully, and let's give unto the Lord, amen. Heavenly father, thank you for everything we have and all that you've done. And Lord, we thank you and we give with a heart that's filled with joy because you are the provider of every need. We believe to reach the world in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, amen. Choose your favorite way. And one of the ways on the screen, God bless you as you give. Thank you so much for giving. If you can stand, we're gonna head into another time of worship. And just begin to lift your hands. God, thank you for your broken body. God, thank you that we have access to your Holy Spirit and that we can sing this. ♪ The precious fountain from God's love ♪ ♪ The precious fountain from Calvary's mountain ♪ ♪ Flowing down to you and I ♪ ♪ It washes us clean, oh what a mystery ♪ ♪ That red blood makes me white ♪ ♪ And isn't it wild, doesn't it make you wonder ♪ ♪ How something so profound could be so simple ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood of the one who died ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood, all the wonderful blood. My precious Jesus, oh, I'm so thankful for the day you saved my life. As I remember, my heart grows tender, tears begin to fill my eyes. And isn't it wild, oh, doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? And isn't it wild, oh, doesn't it make you wonder how something so divine could be so simple? The blood, the blood, the blood, all the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love, oh, the marvelous love. So let the redeemed sing a song, praises belong to the Son. For the blood, the blood, the blood, all the wonderful blood. What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Somebody just say amen to that today.

We get to sing about His blood and His love for us. And we're going to receive communion together at this time. We do practice open communion here at the church, and so if you're a believer, we invite you to participate with us. You don't have to be a member of our church. If you didn't receive the elements as you came in today, just raise your hand. Our ushers are helping us out. We want to make sure everyone receives communion today, if you would like that. And at the beginning of this year, we declared and we decided that we are going to be seekers. We're going to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all the other things will be added unto us. And as we hold these elements in our hand, this is a great time to just kind of take inventory of our life and say, have I been doing that? Have I been seeking first His kingdom, His priorities over our life? And it's so easy for us to get distracted and to get our eyes off of Him and maybe get on our own pursuits, our own desires. But today, can we just sort of just restate that it's all about Jesus today, amen? It's all about Him, and we're setting our sights on Him today. And that's what the blood reminds us of and the bread representing His broken body for us. And so let me read this to you out of 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 26. The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, He took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and He said, this is my body, which is for you. And that's what the bread symbolizes. And do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper, He took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So right now, would you peel back that top layer, grab the bread in your hand? And this, again, symbolizes the broken body of Jesus Christ. God gave to us and for us the perfect sacrifice. His body was broken so that ours could be put back together again. So that our lives could be put back together again, and we could be in right relationship with God. I am thankful for that today. Is anybody thankful today?

So let's hold this bread in our hand and we'll pray. God, I thank you for sending your best for us. And God, we claim the healing that is represented through the broken body of Jesus Christ. Not only does it provide salvation to us, but also it provides physical healing in our bodies. And we claim that by your stripes, we are healed. And we take a moment and we pray for anyone that needs a physical touch in their body today. We claim that healing over them today as we agree together. And Jesus, we remember you. We remember your broken body. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's eat together. You can peel back that foil layer and we're gonna drink in just a moment. Let's pray. God, we know it's true that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And when you sent your very best for us and your son, Jesus Christ, that blood that was shed on Calvary's cross, it was once and it was for all, and it was enough to wipe away our sins. And we thank you, Jesus, that as far as the East is from the West, so far have you removed our transgressions from us. Only through the blood of Jesus Christ, we're forever grateful. And Jesus, we remember you. In your name we pray, amen. Let's drink together. God bless you.

Let's continue to worship the Lord. Can we just lift our hands again in gratitude. Lord, thank you that there's no amount of effort, God. There's no amount of strife, Jesus, that we have to pay unto you, God, because you paid it all. Lord, thank you that we can stand here today and we can boldly declare, we say. ♪ The work you did is finished ♪ ♪ All of our sins forgiven ♪ ♪ And now we get to live it ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The cross was your decision ♪ ♪ But death was not the ending ♪ ♪ You rose and now we're rising ♪ ♪ No wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The work you did is finished ♪ ♪ All of our sins forgiven ♪ ♪ And now we get to live it ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The cross was your decision ♪ ♪ But death was not the ending ♪ ♪ You rose and now we're rising ♪ ♪ No wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ It's the wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪

♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ The wonder of the working blood ♪ ♪ And all precious is the flow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus we say ♪ ♪ All precious is the flow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ The wonder of the working blood. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Church, and I want, in every location, I just want you to think about and let the power of the blood of Jesus, I don't suppose maybe any of us fully understand the power that is in the shed blood of Jesus. We know the book of Hebrews tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. There is no total forgiveness and washing and cleansing of sin. And so when we sing about the blood of Jesus, that's what we're reminding ourselves of,

that sacrifice that Jesus made when he died in our place. that our sins that we could be that we could be separated from our sin that we could live above our sin and just as we were singing it the thought occurs to me that some of us and we need the blood of Jesus applied to our life like right now like you need that forgiveness and that cleansing that can only come through the blood of Jesus and so why don't we do this across every location as we just stand in the presence of God would you just close your eyes I just feel an urgency on this right now if you would close your eyes and and I just want to pray right now that we would apply the wonder working power of the blood of Jesus to our lives and some of you you need forgiveness today some of you need to be cleansed of sin your life has become more controlled by by sin than by the Spirit of God in your life and God has done enough to set you above that and so if that's you today with nobody looking around it at every single location though if that's you and you just would say pastor this include me because I know I just need to apply that powerful blood of Jesus and the truth in it I need to apply that to my life day because I need freedom from sin it's just it's where I'm at just being honest with myself with God with you nobody looking on if that's you hold up your hand right now let me see it I just need the I need to be forgiven today I need cleansing today yeah yeah yeah yeah anybody else come on at every location just lift up your hand I need cleansing today I just need to be cleansed today I need to believe that the power of the blood of Jesus is enough to to save me and cleanse me and make me pure of heart come on anybody need to be pure of heart today let me see your hand yeah yeah awesome awesome why don't we pray this prayer together across every location I am right now as we are just standing in the thankfulness of the blood of Jesus and so pray this with me everybody say Jesus I thank you for your shed blood I thank you for your sacrifice because it purchased my life and I thank you for saving me for setting me above my sin but I live in it no longer I live in your glory to pursue you in your grace in your mercy but I love you and I am

grateful I believe that what you have done is enough well come on say that one more time I believe that what you've done is enough now come on one more time across every location can we give God the kind of praise that he deserves thank you Jesus praise God awesome you can be seated across every location and I'm telling this we just rejoiced a little bit but in heaven I promise the rejoicing was even greater than anything we just did over so many that just prayed and and and surrendered and realized the the power and believed in the power of being cleansed from their sin and renewed in their mind and so man I'm so glad that you are here today I'm glad you are here at every single location and let me just take a moment and welcome all of our locations our Red Bug Lake campus joining this service right now our Michigan Street campus joining this service right now our Narcoossee Road campus joining this service right now and of course today's service will also be streamed at the Central Florida Reception Center campus come on and let's get it all across all of them let's do it like we mean it let's thank God for lives being changed at every location and if you are joining somewhere on a screen somewhere other than that maybe out of town or maybe in town but if you are lean in glad that you are I believe God's got a word for you today as well and if you are joining on a screen somewhere else listen I want to tell you this we look forward to you being with us in person at one of the locations because when you get together with the people of God and experience this it's even better come on somebody say amen yeah and so come out and be with us soon at one of our locations that would be awesome and I want to mention Wednesday night programming because most of our campuses do have Wednesday night programming and this Wednesday night I just want to invite you to come out we've been in a prayer focus really this whole year on Wednesday nights and I'm telling you this Wednesday night will be no exception God is going to do miracles if you need healing in your body if you need God to do a miracle in your life come out to one of our services on Wednesday night and we'll be we'll be worshiping we'll be praying and it'll be awesome and so come out this Wednesday

night seven o'clock at the campuses that do have Wednesday night programming of course here at Curry Ford we do as well something for the whole family on Wednesday nights and so we look forward to to that And then next Sunday, don't miss next Sunday, we're gonna start a new, well, it'll be a different message, Lord willing, kinda, probably this will close out our series, Add Me in Real Life. And next week, I think I'm gonna talk about prayer and just the power and developing that skill set and what that would do for your life. And I'm telling you, if there's one thing you wanna learn how to do, it is to learn how to pray. And so we'll talk about, I think we're gonna talk about that next week, so don't miss that. But we've been in this for a couple weeks, this thought of add me in real life, kinda emphasizing the face-to-face, day-to-day relationships, sometimes our online presence is so pronounced and maybe we spend a lot of time there that I'm not saying that connection doesn't happen digitally or online, I think connection can happen. But I think that the deepest connections in our life are obviously gonna happen probably face-to-face, in real life, doing life with people, and that's what these have been about, how can we do that and best glorify God and certainly get some benefit in our own life and also benefit others. And so week one, Pastor Peter launched it,

let me give you a little review. He just talked about the importance and the power of connecting with one another, and especially in the church and why connecting is so important in the body of Christ. And so if you missed that, go back and watch that message. Then last week, I talked about actually how, like a cheat code on how to deal with difficult people and kinda how to receive what they're giving you, all right? And no matter what somebody gives you, you can receive it in a way that's graceful. Well, this week, I'm gonna talk about not kinda what you're receiving from somebody else, but I'm talking about what you're giving out to the people in your life and kinda what your target is as you are giving out kind of whatever traits in your life and what it would look like, let's say it this way. Like if you took your phone, and like for those of you that have a social media account and you went to your followers, by the way, let me say this, for those of you that don't have a social media account, here's what that means. If you don't have any social media, it just means you're healthier than the rest of us. That's what that means, by the way, all right? I'm believing that more every day, by the way. No, but if you have a social media account and you got followers, right?

And so you would look at that, and so when you follow somebody on social media, you're getting their highlight reel, you're following the best days, their best looks, their best outfits, their best moments. Most of the time, that's what you're following. I want you to think about this. If you looked at your followers, and if one of your followers were to follow you in real life for 48 hours, I'm talking about like two feet away for 48 hours, what does that follow experience look like? Number one, it probably looks a little different than your highlight reel, but that's what I want us to be thinking about is what does that look like for somebody to truly, I wanna be a good follow in real life. I wanna be thinking about what do people in my life need the most? What do people in my life want the most out of me? And that's kind of what we're looking at here. Matthew chapter seven, verse 12, I think Jesus addresses that very thing. Matthew chapter seven, verse 12, this is what the Bible says. "'In everything, therefore, "'treat people the same way you want them to treat you, "'for this is the law and the prophets.'" Let me read it one more time. "'In everything, therefore,

"'treat people the same way you want them to treat you, "'for this is the law and the prophets.'" Today I'm gonna speak on the message titled, Follow the Gold, Follow the Gold. Let's pray one more time. Lord, thank you for your word. May it be applied to our life. May it take root in our life. Lord, I come against every distraction. I come against anything that would block your word from coming in. Lord, give us ears today to hear what you are saying, and I thank you just for a fresh, supernatural prophetic anointing on this word today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, come on, everybody say amen. Amen, yeah, so this is Matthew chapter seven, verse 12, and it's known as the golden rule. Thus our title, Follow the Gold. It's known as the golden rule, and when I've been reading this and studying this this week, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you, the golden rule, I couldn't help it, man. I started thinking about areas and times and situations in my life where I am not so golden. I could think of a couple things where, do unto others as I would have them do unto me, and I can, like, for instance, this is one that probably happens so often, but when I'm, like, driving in my car,

and I need to get over into someone else, into a different lane, I love when people slow down and let me in. As a matter of fact, I expect them to. If I put on my turtleneck. signal that I need to come into your lane I expect that you should slow down and make room for me and when when people do that I appreciate that I mean that's that's how I want people to treat me and that's how I expect people to treat me and yet sometimes when I'm in my lane and somebody wants to come up in my lane it's weird the feelings I have I'm like this is not your lane this is my lane what do you think you're doing and sometimes I am tempted instead of slowing down to letting them in sometimes my sinful nature is tempting me to speed up to purposely not let them in I'm not saying whether or not I would ever give in to such urges but I'm saying they're there and you can believe what you want and I see it I feel some judgment coming this direction don't be looking at me like that y'all have some not-so-golden moments too like for instance when you maybe call somebody on the phone and you expect him to pick up that phone you you call them and then you get sent a voice when you're like I know they got their phone on them I know that they just looked at that and I know they just hit that red button like and we get this this uh this this anger cuz they're not now when you call somebody you expect them to pick up the phone like do you wonder that's what I expect when I call you that you're gonna answer my call and yet when someone calls you what do you do you look at I ain't got time for them right now okay I am NOT getting into all this right now nope not now and I so it's this moment where we know what we want people to do for us and for some reason it's hard for us then to turn around and do that for somebody else let me give you one more sometimes have you ever been traveling before an air travel and you're you're flying to one place and you're getting a connecting flight to the next place and your first flight gets a little behind and a little bit delayed and now your connections really

short and you're like man I hope they hold the plane for me they need to hold the plane I talked to somebody else who is a row behind me and they're trying to catch the same flight so I hope they hold this plane for us even though we're gonna be late and so you want that's what you want somebody to do for you you want the airlines to hold the flight for you however if you were the one on the flight already you're sitting on the plane and they're holding it for somebody else you turn into a whole different set of values I mean you're like what are they doing around here you're getting on there leaving reviews you're talking bad about the flight attendant you're talking bad about the captain you're talking about it that but these people that can't get their act together and get to the airport on time like you got all kinds of things going on it's amazing the difference that happens we know what we want people to do for us why do we why is it such a challenge for us to want that for somebody else and it seems as though Jesus knew that was gonna be a little bit of a challenge for us and so he in Matthew chapter 7 kind of lays out this target in this goal for us in this in this follows social media follows world he lays out this thing of what it would look like for us to be a great follow in real life he calls us to become the kind of person that will be a blessing and a help to others he calls us to develop these characteristics and traits that other people maybe need from us and want from us and I don't know if enough of us are kind of waking up in the morning kind of thinking about this and church before we get into this and we're going to I just want to be honest there are some weeks and some messages where as I'm developing is that I'm writing a man I'm I'm I'm already in victory in that area and I'm like man I can't wait to preach this and I've been living this for years and I'm walking in this space and I'm gonna just I'm just gonna I'm just gonna preach what I've been practicing like there's there are weeks that like might say maybe more more more than not there are weeks like that but there are some weeks when I'm getting ready to preach something and I as I'm preparing it I realized real quick God's preaching it to me Matt realized real quick God's doing it in me before he's

gonna bring it out of me and I'll be honest this is one of those weeks like this has been a challenge to me to to be thinking about that I would wake up each day not thinking about kind of what I need most or what I want most but I would wake up each day shifting that mindset into what does somebody else need or what does somebody else maybe want out of me so first of all let's look at a couple kind of just two parts of this first of all I just want to talk about like why would we do this why do we do this golden rule why why are we gonna try to implement this in our life and I think Jesus gives us the answer there in verse 12 he says and it's a phrase maybe we don't fully understand he says for this is the law and the prophets for this is the law and the prophets why are we doing this because this is the law and the prophets and we'll explain that phrase a little bit more as we go but first of all understand this context Jesus is sharing this towards the end of his sermon on the mount okay so he has been talking about a lot of different things in prayer and fasting and and he's covering a lot of different Christian concepts and giving, and then he's kind of bringing to conclusion, and so this is towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and he's bringing a bit of a conclusion, and in that conclusion, that's where he's saying, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Now, at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, towards the beginning, and kind of more part of the introduction, so this is now chapter five, in verse 17 of chapter five, look what Jesus says here. We're gonna see this phrase again. He says, do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. There's that phrase again, the law and the prophets, the law or the prophets.

He said, don't think I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them, and so at the introduction of the Sermon on the Mount, he says, hey, the law and the prophets is going to be fulfilled, and then at the conclusion towards the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, he's saying, this is how it is fulfilled, is when you treat others the way you would have them treat you. So we're gonna fulfill this. This is how you fulfill it. Now, this verse is important. It's called the golden rule, so it is a big deal, but it is also one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible, because some people make the mistake, because Jesus says, this is the law and the prophets, and as he's summarizing the law and the prophets into this one sentence, some people make the mistake and think this is the sum total of Christianity. If you do this one thing, if you'll just treat others the way you wanna be treated, that's all that matters, and then, man, when you get to heaven, it's gonna be nothing but high fives and just accolades, because you just did this one thing, and that's not true, scripturally, okay? Matter of fact, we see it's not true in another interaction Jesus has in Matthew 19. Some of you know this story, but Jesus, this rich, young ruler comes to Jesus and says,

teacher, I'm ready for eternal life, and I'm ready for this, and so Jesus has this conversation with him, and he says, well, Jesus says, you know the law, you know the law, and he's referring to, right, he's referring to here the law and the prophets? This guy says, rich, young ruler says, I do, and I've kept all of it, man, I've done all of it, and so here's this guy who has kept this entire, he's saying, man, I'm doing well at this Old Testament law, I'm following all the rules really, really good, and yet Jesus doesn't stop there, and Jesus doesn't go, okay, then, that's all we need. No, Jesus asks him for one more thing. Jesus kind of moves his faith towards the New Testament here and says, I know you're doing okay with that, but I'm asking you also, and Jesus gets to something that's very, very important to him and says, I want you to give that up, will you give that up for me? And it's his wealth, and this rich, young ruler goes away sad because of the one more thing Jesus asked him to do. So this is not the sum total of Christianity, it's not, the golden rule is not God's plan for redemption, okay, it is an important character trait, it is a worthwhile target in your life, but our why does not include, it's because it's the whole expression of our Christianity, so that's not why we do this. So let's get into that phrase, the law and the prophets, because that's what Jesus said,

we treat others the way we want to be treated, and this is the law and the prophets. And so this phrase, the law and the prophets, was a well-known term, it was a well-known phrase in Jesus's day and in that community. So when Jesus said the law and the prophets, they knew exactly what he was saying, and so when someone would use that phrase, the law and the prophets, they almost consistently, almost always were referring to now the entirety of what we call the Old Testament, okay? So that's what, when Jesus said the law and the prophets, that's what they're hearing, yeah, what we know now as the Old Testament, it's the law books, it's the prophetic books in the Old Testament, and so when he says the law and the prophets, he's talking about the Old Testament, and we see him do this again in Matthew chapter 22, and we're gonna read this one, and let's go verse 36. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? They ask Jesus. So Jesus replies, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. There's a Golden Rule-esque, a Golden Rule-style second command that Jesus gives. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Verse 40, look what he says. All the law and the prophets hang. on these two commandments. What's he saying? Everything we know as the Old Testament hangs on these two commandments. Now, I do love that in this Matthew 22 passage that Jesus adds, okay, what's the greatest commandment? Let me give you two, and I'm gonna make it one. And the first part of this greatest commandment is you gotta love God. And can I say this? I love that Jesus adds this prequel, he adds this prerequisite. You've got to love God if you have any hope of loving people like you love yourself. You got to love God first. As a matter of fact, your desire to follow the golden rule can never trump your love for God. Your desire to love the golden rule can never be above and take away from your love for God. In other words, sometimes you may have an evil want or desire in your life, and you're like, man, I want that evil thing, I want that unclean thing in my life, so I'm gonna give that unclean thing to somebody else's life, because I'm gonna do to them what I want. No, when Jesus said, do unto others as you'd have them do, there is an assumed redemption of your desires

going on here. And so first, you've got to love God. And when you love God, it will give you a chance at then treating other people the way you wanna be treated. But Jesus says this sums up, this summarizes what we know as the Old Testament. Now, he doesn't say it summarizes what we know of as the New Testament. So there are plenty of things that we can still pursue and implement into our life that we can read in Scripture. But what Jesus does say is that, and so there was like 613 commands in the Old Testament. And what Jesus does say is that all of these, these things can be summed up with treat somebody the way you wanna be treated. What's he saying there? He's saying this, that there is a goal to all of those rules in the Old Testament. But ultimately, the goal for all those rules in the Old Testament was to create a person who would do life, putting others above themselves. That was the goal, to do somebody that would do life and just have a preference to make sure that other people, their wellbeing is as important as my wellbeing. That's kind of the point of all those rules. And so Jesus says it's summed up in that it's a short family for these 613 commands that you're gonna just care about what other people are experiencing. Now, in Jesus's day, there were popular rabbis

that taught not the golden rule, but there were popular rabbis like one rabbi named Rabbi Hillel, but he taught a silver rule. And so the silver rule was this, it was different. Silver rule was what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor, okay? What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. Now, Jesus takes this silver rule and he bumps it up to like this gold status. He bumps it up to this higher level. And now it's not just about don't hurt somebody. You know how you don't like to be hurt? Well, don't hurt somebody else. No, he takes it up a notch and he says, you know how you like to be benefited? You know how you like how to be treated and how to be loved and how to have good things? Do those good things for other people. So he's bumping it up a notch. And as I compare the silver rule and the golden rule, some of you are like, can we just go with the silver rule? Cause that one seems easier. Like that's how most of us live our life. Most of us go, I don't hurt people. I don't do anything to harm anybody. So I'm probably a pretty good person. That's the silver rule. And some of us are going, I'm better at that one than the golden rule.

And then yet some of you are hearing this message and you're going, is there a bronze rule that we can look at? Cause I'm not, so if I was making up the bronze rule, the bronze rule, let's say the bronze rule is, go ahead and treat people bad cause they'll learn from it. That's the only way they can learn. Some of you are like, yes, I'm down for the bronze rule. I operate in the bronze rule all the time. Like, okay, no, no, no. Jesus is calling us to higher level than a bronze. He's calling us to higher level than a silver. We're not satisfied just to be on the boxes at the Olympics. No, we're gonna go for gold. Somebody say amen. This positive obligation. Silver says avoid harm, but this golden rule says, I'm not just avoiding harm. I'm gonna pursue other people's good. Come on, I'm not just gonna avoid hurting somebody. I'm gonna pursue helping somebody. The golden rule is not a new law. That's not what Jesus was doing here. He is giving a new way to look at the old law. I like that Jesus transforms all these thou shalt nots into this proactive pursuit of my neighbor's highest good. That's why we tried to implement this target, this golden rule into our life. Now, how do we do that?

Well, he says how, and we've been saying how. Treat people the way you want to be treated. That phrase and this verse serves. It's this like functional definition of a person living under the kingdom of heaven. It's this functional definition of somebody, because of my allegiance to the kingdom, I'm going to prioritize the welfare of others as much as my own. Amen, we can give God praise for that, sure, yeah. Like, and again, as I'm being honest, and as we were honest with ourselves, like, we're not, enough days, we're not waking up with that mindset. How can I prioritize someone else's life and needs and wants? William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army, and they're still doing great work today, but this was back at the turn of the 20th century, and he founded this incredible organization, and around early 1900s or something, there was going to be a international conference of everybody who's involved, a leadership in the Salvation Army, and so he is set to be there at the conference, and he's planning on giving a address to all those people who are serving in that organization, this international conference. Well, as the conference grew close, he got very, very ill, and he was unable to travel,

and he was unable to be there at the conference and speak, and so what he wanted to do is he wanted somebody to read his message then, since he couldn't be there, and so he wired it, which was the main means of communication, long-distance communication back then, and so he wires his message to someone so that they can stand up amongst the international conference and read his message, and so someone steps up, and they say, William Booth could not be with us here today, he's sick, but I have his message here, and I will be reading it to you, and the person looked down at that piece of paper that they were going off of, and they looked back up, and they said, this one word was the whole message, it was this, others, and he just let the room kind of absorb that, others. Others is really the central part, maybe the main character in this rule that Jesus gives us. Do unto others, like that we would shift our mindset, and to say that we live in a selfish society, I guess society has always been selfish, there's always been a bend towards self, that's, man, that's in there, that's in our sinful nature is to be selfish, and so if that's our natural bend,

it means that we have to be intentional and wake up going, I know that today I'm gonna want somebody just to treat me, I know today I'm gonna focus on that first part, how I want to be treated, how I want to be treated, but I'm not gonna let that be the definition of my life, no, I'm gonna be determined to also think about what do people want and need from me, what are others going through, that I'm gonna live my life thinking that way, and you can do it, God has helped you to do that, his spirit in your life will help you to do that, matter of fact, in the 90s, scientists discovered these mirror neurons, is what they're called, and it's cells in the brain as they were watching brain activity, there are cells in the brain that fire a certain way when you experience something, when you experience maybe a moment of great pleasure, or enjoyment, or you experience a moment of pain, these neurons will fire in your brain, and what they found as they were studying these neurons firing is they found, okay, these neurons fire when you experience pain, but then they said these same neurons will fire when you see someone else experience pain, have you noticed that before? So in other words, like the same neuron

that if you were walking and you stubbed your toe, and you're like, oh man, you watch someone else walk across your living room and they stubbed their toe, have you ever noticed that you almost kind of feel it, you're like, oh man, no, I know, I'm not saying you do, but almost, like it's like I can almost feel it, what is that? It's those mirror neurons firing, and you know what, when someone experiences something good in your life, when, matter of fact, when you see somebody that maybe is encouraged, or you see somebody that gets a particular blessing, and you hear about it, you kind of walk away a little bit encouraged, and a little bit blessed, what is that, it's a mirror neuron firing, and so Jesus has hardwired this neuron firing, this empathy, he's hardwired that into us to help us fulfill our pursuit of this golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, in other words, I can trust these desires and this empathy that I got in my life. life to help me figure out what I need to do for somebody else? Can I say it this way? Because again, we get so focused on ourself. But there is a way of living with this empathy, it's called empathy ethics. Empathy ethics says this, I am gonna see,

and I'm gonna use my desires, I'm gonna use my feelings, I'm gonna use my experiences, I'm gonna use that as a yardstick, I'm gonna use that as a target to how I treat and serve somebody else. That's empathy ethics. Let me give you examples of stuff, okay. In other words, sometimes we're like, man, I just wish somebody would help me from time to time. I just need help. And you know what I would say to somebody that's maybe has that thought a lot? Man, I just wish somebody would help me. I would say this, help somebody. That God maybe is putting that in you so that you can help somebody else. Man, I wish somebody would talk to me. I come to church and nobody even talks to me, and I'm so lonely, and I just wish somebody would talk to me. Here's what I would encourage you to do. Talk to somebody. Oh, that's a neuron firing, and you go, man, I want somebody to talk to me. And God's going, okay, then you can be sure of this. There's somebody else that wants somebody to talk to them. And so why don't you go talk to them? And then as you see them, they're firing with that connection, you're gonna be experiencing that connection as well. I wish somebody would just pray for me.

Nobody ever offers to pray for me. And if you feel like nobody ever offers to pray for you, I just feel like it could be God calling you to pray for somebody. So you need to watch for somebody who's going through something and say, hey, can I pray for you? And what you might find is as you start to do unto others as you would want somebody to do unto you, man, that may start coming back your direction. I wish somebody would encourage me. I'm so discouraged, and I'm so down. Can I encourage you with what to do? When you feel like you need encouragement, maybe you go find somebody and encourage them, and just use that empathy as a guide for what you can do for somebody else. Some of you say this about your spouse. I just wish my spouse paid more attention to me. Some of y'all aren't gonna like this, but I'm gonna tell you what to do when you start to have those feelings of I wish my spouse would pay more attention to me. What you need to do is pay more attention, come on, to your spouse. And as you pay more attention, well, what does our selfish nature do? What does the enemy whisper into your ear? They're not paying attention to you. They don't care about you. So what do we do?

We just separate. We just get further and further apart. We just drift, because they're not paying attention to me, so I'm not gonna pay attention to them. I'm doing unto others as they are doing unto me. That's not what Jesus said. No, isn't it amazing how the golden rule will help us in our marriages? If we'll just do unto others what we would have them do unto me. You want somebody, your spouse, to pay more attention to you, then pay more attention to them. There's young people a lot of times, I heard all through the years, young people will say, man, I just wish my parents trusted me. And young people aren't gonna like this, but if you want your parent to trust you, then you should try trusting them. So then, oh, I got some parents on me now. All of a sudden, all of a sudden, the parent's like, preach, preacher. Well, let me get real. Like when you, a young person, when you go to your parents and you say, hey, I wanna do this on Friday night, and your parent says, hey, I don't feel right about that environment. I just don't feel like that's the best place for you to be. You know what you could do?

You could trust them and say, you know what? Mom, you're probably right. I trust you, I trust your judgment. Now, let me tell you what will happen when you do that. First of all, make sure it's a soft landing for them when they faint, because your parents are gonna faint when you say that. But what is that? It's the golden rule. I'm treating somebody else. I wish you'd trust me, so I'm gonna trust you. It's what I want. And if I'm following Jesus, and listen to me now, we don't do this to get something out of it. We do this because this makes us like Jesus. Can I say that one more time? We don't do this stuff to try to manipulate somebody into doing something. You have lost the golden rule if you think this is about manipulation. No, this is what I want to do so that I can be, come on, be like Jesus. And I sat down, I sat down this week, and I just started writing down some things. Like, what do I appreciate in people? And I wanna give that out to people. And as I started writing some of these traits, these character traits and these behaviors, I had a bunch of them written down, and then I was reading in Romans 12,

and I found that so many of them are right there in Romans chapter 12. For instance, like Romans chapter 12 starts with, love must be sincere. I want somebody to be loving and sincerely loving. Like, what that means is non-hypocritical love. You're not gonna love me one way when we're in the room together and then treat me a different way when we're not in the room together. No, you're gonna be sincere. It's gonna be the same way. It's gonna be consistent with good times, bad times, ups and downs. You're gonna still love me. Like, I wanna give that to people and I want people to give that to me. Paul goes on to say, hate what is evil and cling to what is good. I had written down kind of a thought of like discernment. I want somebody to kind of know right and wrong. I want them to be able to do that. Like, I want those people in my life to understand that when they sin against God, they're not just sinning against God, they're sinning against me. So if I can give that to somebody else, that understanding of right and wrong, and it's gonna make your life better as I make right decisions.

Verse 10, Paul says, be devoted to one another in love. I'd kind of written down a thought of like loyalty. Like, I want somebody to be devoted to me. Like, devoted in love. We're gonna stick with me in the good times and the bad. Verse 10, he goes on to say, honor one another above yourselves. What's that? Deference. I don't know if I wrote that exact word, but that concept was there that, man, somebody that will kind of put me right there with them. It'll kind of, they'll surrender a little bit to me, and I wanna do that for somebody else. I still remember in my marriage counseling, Jamie and I, when we were getting ready to get married, and they taught us that marriage is not 50-50, it's not a 50-50 thing, it's 100-100. 100% of the time, I'm deferring to you and trying to honor you, and 100% of the time, you're trying to honor me. What is that? It's the golden rule. It's amazing how it'll help us in our relationships. Verse 11, he says, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. I just, I had written on spiritual. Like, I like to have spiritual people in my life, and I'm gonna tell you this. I want you to hear me, look at me.

When your fire for God burns hot, you're gonna be a better friend to people. When your fire for God burns hot, you're gonna be a better husband. When your fire for God burns hot, you're gonna be a better parent. When your fire for God burns hot, you're gonna be a better employee. I mean, just having that spiritual connection with God is gonna make you what you have to offer people so much more. I like verse 12. He says, be joyful in hope. I tell you, I had definitely written down positive. I want a positive mental attitude around me. I can go anywhere and get negativity. I can go anywhere and get, oh, things are falling apart. It's all bad. It's gonna be horrible. I can get that anywhere. No, I need some people in my life that say, no, God's gonna turn this thing around. God knows what he's doing. God's in control. God's gonna do this for you. I want can-do people in my life. Some men, the people in your life need that from you. He says, be patient in affliction, verse 12. I talked about that last week, just mercy, just providing some margin for error for people, providing some leniency for people.

You can go back and I spent more time on that last week. Next in verse 12, he talks about being faithful in prayer. I mean, somebody knows how to get ahold of God. I want them in my life. Somebody knows how to pray. When I'm going through something, hey, can you pray that this, I want somebody knows how to pray in my life. And if I can be that for somebody else, man. Next one, Paul says generosity. Well, he says, share with the Lord's people who are in need. I put down generosity. I want generous people in my life. Pastor, are you talking about money? No. If we think generosity is only about money, we are missing so much of generosity. No, generosity is what do somebody else need? I'll just, and I'll be extra transparent here, but I was talking to a youth pastor in the last couple of weeks at a different church in a different state and he was discouraged. And in that talk of him discouraging, I was just trying to bring some encouragement there. And he said, man, with my pastors, I haven't really, I don't hear much from them. I haven't heard really much encouragement lately. He said, matter of fact, the last couple of times we've talked it's been more corrective. And so I just wonder if he's liking what I'm doing

and I just don't know. And he was just being discouraged in that. So I gave him some advice. I said, listen, you can't live for that. You gotta find your encouragement in the Lord and know that you're pleasing God. And if your pastor doesn't say it, he may not, but you're gonna have to get that from God. And I said, secondly, then go to your pastor and just oftentimes say, hey, how are things? I'll give you the ability to speak into my life. And what do you want to be different? And that way you'll know what maybe his expectations are. So that was my little practical advice I gave to that youth pastor. But I walked away from that conversation and it stuck with me. Because I couldn't help but think how many of my staff members would say the same thing or feel the same thing. Man, I just don't know what he's thinking. I just wish I could get some encouragement from time to time. And as I, as that just sat in me, I felt conviction. And so much so that I'm, I'm just saying, I'm saying that so much, so I'm saying it out loud and kind of put myself on the spot because they're hearing this right now. My staff members are, a lot of them are hearing this. But I want, I mean, I want to be.

I wanna be, I wanna get good at this. I wanna be good at the golden rule and when someone needs encouragement, I wanna be the first to give somebody. I wanna be generous with that, come on. What do people need in your life? What do people want? They're, as they follow you in real life, what are they getting? The last one that Paul says here is he says, practice hospitality. What is that? I just would simply, I had written down present. Presence, that's what hospitality is. I'm welcoming you into me. And I think a lot of times we miss, we're not present anymore. Some of you, you're not present enough with your families. For some of you, you might need to put the phone down when your kids are running around and it's time to be present there. There's an adage that I've tried to live by for a bunch of years that just says this, wherever you are, be all there. Wherever you are, be all there. That's to me is practicing hospitality. I want to give that because I want to receive that from people. I don't know what your list looks like. Maybe it's different than my list, but I do know this.

I do know that you have one. I know that there's things that you crave from your relationships and what God is telling us, what Jesus is telling us in Matthew chapter seven is those things that we crave from people, let's be the ones that give that out first. And I wanna pray that you're able to do that. Would you pray with me right now? Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for your word and I ask you to help us to live this out in Jesus' mighty name. Jesus' name. Church, I want us to take just a couple of minutes and place Jesus on the throne of our life in this area. I want us to ask for God's help. As a matter of fact, if you would, would you quietly stand together here in the presence of God? Why do we do this? Not to manipulate somebody else's behavior. No, we do this to be like Jesus. It's really about him. And so I want us to sing this song that just says, it's about you, God. That's the why we do it, it's the how we do it. We want to be like you. And as we sing it, if you want prayer today to be more like Jesus, if you need healing today, you want prayer, you can feel free to come forward as we sing this, but I want all of us

to have a moment where we allow this word, not just to hear it, but to be a part of our life. So come on, let's sing this together today that it's about him. It's all about him. It's all about him. Come on, sing it. You want prayer today at any hour of your life? Come on, step forward. Our prayer team will probably come as well. But you need prayer today. You need to be more like him today. You need healing in some relationships. You need healing in your body. You need healing in your life. Come on. You need healing in your life. ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Everything bound before your name ♪ ♪ It's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Forever and ever you will reign ♪ People are coming, you can still come. Pastor Dave's gonna come and pray for those that are coming to receive prayer today. But I wanna say this. Listen, we got seven days between now and next Sunday. I just wanna challenge you for seven days. Put this into practice. And maybe somebody that normally you'd just walk by them and not think much about it.

No, be praying about when you step out your front door, who can I do unto in a way that I would want somebody to do unto me? Let's practice that well this week. Pastor Dave, let's pray. Hallelujah. Father, we thank you for the privilege of hearing the word of the Lord today. Lord, give us grace to be doers of this word and change our lives, change the lives around us and change the lives of our city. God, we ask your grace for it in Jesus' name. We wanna take the gold standard. We wanna live according to the golden rule like you told us. So God, grant your servants grace. Bless these that have come forward. Lord, we thank you for strength to them. Bless them in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen, amen. Praise the Lord. What a great day in the Lord today. Thank you to be in doers of the word as you go today. Be a blessing to someone. God bless you. And if you're with us online, we love you. We're so glad you're with us today. We're part of our family. We wanna encourage you. If you've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through this service, please scan that QR code

on the screen, share some information so we can share some things with you. And also, if you need any prayer, please. Reach out to us in whichever way you can so that we can be a blessing to you. God bless you.