Murder Conviction

This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Welcome to All In with Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message is about to begin, and we invite you to prepare your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak to you today as you seek to live your life all in for Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley. Well, I'm glad you're here today. We're walking through a series of messages that I'm calling Kingdom Culture, and I hope you have your Bible. If you do, we're gonna be back in Matthew chapter five today. We're walking through the words of Jesus in what many people call the greatest sermon Jesus ever preached. It's the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter five. And so far in this series, we've seen Jesus kind of lay the foundational groundwork for what life should look like for those of us who follow Christ. He's told us that we've been called out of a culture, the culture of the world, but we've also been called into a new culture, his Kingdom Culture, which means that our lives should be lived differently today

because of what Jesus has done in us and is now doing through us. Hey, so far in this series of messages, Jesus has been very general and very generic kind of in his comments. He's told us so far, you are to be salt, and you are to be light, and you should pursue a new kind of righteousness, not through law, but through grace. But now as we continue reading in the text, we see Jesus going from being very general in his commentary to now being very specific in his commentary. In fact, over the next several weeks, we'll be walking through six critical areas where Jesus points directly at our heart, directly at our hearts, which represents the roots of who we are. And we're gonna hear him say that the roots of who you are are even more important than the perceived fruits of your life, who you portray to be. And so he's gonna explain what he means by that, and he's gonna be tackling different topics such as adultery, divorce, honesty, revenge. We're gonna hear Jesus talk about loving your enemies as we walk through this text. But first, I want you to notice before we get there, the very first thing that Jesus mentions in this message is on the subject of murder. He starts with the subject of murder.

Now, when you hear the word murder, let me ask you, what image pops into your mind? What image pops into your mind? Somebody say it out loud. A lot of mumbling in this house, amen. You know what image pops into my mind? I automatically, for some reason, think about OJ. I think about, oh, anybody else think about OJ? Maybe it's because of the time I was born, I don't know. Maybe it's because I was glued to the TV. When I hear murder, I got Johnny Cochran, I got the white Ford Bronco, I've got the slowest police chase in the history of the world. But that's just what I think about. I think about OJ trying to get away. I think about the juice is loose, amen. But that's just what pops into my mind. Here's something I can tell you about murder. Trying to get away with murder is human nature. Trying to get away with murder is human nature, and that's been true since the beginning of time. I mean, think back to your Bible. I can give you examples like Cain and Abel, or David and Uriah. Every time you see murder in the Bible, you then see someone attempting to get away with that murder, and the same is true in today's world. Read the news. Whether you're talking about Scott Peterson

or the Menendez brothers or Casey Anthony or Ted Bundy, whenever there is murder, there's usually an attempt to get away with that murder. And that's true even when the suspect is obviously guilty. You're like, why in the world would they try so hard to get away if they know that they're guilty? And the reason we try to get away with murder is because we know there's still a chance that I might get away with this. There's still a chance that I can get away. Criminals know, hey, if the glove don't fit, you must acquit, amen. That's the way it works, and that's the way we respond to murder even today. From Matthew chapter five this morning, Jesus is talking about murder. And when you listen closely to the words of Jesus, he's gonna make it very clear that most of us, believe it or not, are guilty of this crime. Matthew chapter five, let's begin reading in verse 21. Jesus says, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, do not murder. And whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Now in your Bible, when you read this verse, you're gonna notice that the word. Do not murder are bold look down at your Bibles. You see how it's bold Well, that's because Jesus in those words. He was quoting the Old Testament You're gonna notice that quite a bit over the next several weeks is Jesus is reading the word

He will either quote from the law or he will or he will quote the Pharisees Interpretation of the law in fact five times you're gonna see Jesus say these words you have heard Like he just said you have heard and then he's gonna follow that up by saying but I tell you Did you notice that he was telling the crowd? Hey, you've grown up hearing the Pharisees say this That's a reference to their interpretation of the law But then Jesus goes on to say but this is what I say Which is apparently different than what the religious leaders were teaching the people in the first century Some people read that verse and they think that Jesus is actually contradicting the teachings of Moses They believe that Jesus is contradicting the words of the Old Testament But I want you to hear me say this he was not at all In fact Jesus in this message wasn't denying what the law taught He was deepening what the law taught and the first example that he uses to Emphasize his point was right here on the subject of murder Now you probably remember that the first crime ever committed in the Bible was murder now that wasn't the first sin But it was the first social crime that was recorded in Scripture and that crime by the way Resulted directly from man's personal sin and we see that the result from that We're still reaping the bitter results from that that sin even today. I don't have to tell you that you know that right? I mean in fact in our country alone today 25,000 murders were hat will happen on American soil this year and those numbers are consistent year after year And those are just the murders that we know about the ones that have been recorded when you do the math That's about 70 people every single day that are murdered in the United States and that figure doesn't include suicides It doesn't include abortions. It doesn't include accidents I'm just talking about people killing other people in this country 25,000 every single year by the way that officially makes America the murder capital of the Western world It's a sad fact, but it's true And yet if you were to ask the average American today, have you ever murdered someone? They would quickly tell you no Absolutely, not. I've never murdered anyone But if that question were asked in front of Jesus Jesus would be like hold on just a second don't answer so quickly Because that might not be true

Here's what you're gonna hear from the mouth of Jesus today Murder doesn't start with your hands. It starts with your heart It doesn't start with your hands. It starts with your heart. It's not just an act It's also an attitude and for that reason all of us believe it or not are in danger of Being convicted of murder if we don't address it on the front end So, how do you and I prevent a murder conviction in our lives? That's what we're talking about today from Matthew chapter 5 if you're a note-taker and I hope you are I want to walk you through an outline that we've created to help you Remember what Jesus is trying to convey to us today and the first section I want you to put this at the top of your notes. We're gonna look at the progression of anger the progression of Anger now before we jump in. Let me just say this. I want to make this abundantly clear It is absolutely possible for you to be angry without sinning if you agree with that say amen You're like I've never done that but I hear it's possible. Amen, but it is possible We know that because Paul says in Ephesians 4 be angry and do not sin Which tells me that it can be done I hear anyways of other people that have done this and it's it's worked out pretty well Jesus himself demonstrated that it is possible to have righteous anger Obviously without sinning you read about that Matthew chapter 21 verses 12 and 13 when he's cleansing the temple after the money Changers were dishonoring God So the Bible clearly teaches it is possible for us to have righteous anger and not sin against God But the question we have to ask is what exactly is righteous anger? What is righteous anger? Let me give you a definition for righteous anger today. It's anger over sin Oppression or wrongdoing that aligns with the heart of God It's anger over sin oppression or wrongdoing that aligns with the heart of God In other words if something makes God angry it ought to make us angry You say what makes God angry? There are a lot of things I'll tell you right now Babies being aborted ought to make us angry. Children being abused ought to make us angry. People being sex trafficked ought to make us angry. Elderly people being taken advantage of,

it ought to make us angry. And the list goes on and on and on. Here's the thing, when our anger is righteous, when it's controlled, when it's seeking resolution, I do not believe that anger is seen by God as being sinful at all. But that leads me to another question, and that is, when does our anger become sinful? Like, what is the line for anger where it goes from righteous anger to sinful anger? Let me give you a list from scripture that'll hopefully clear that up. The first thing I would say is when it leads to malice, slander, or hatred. The Bible talks about that in Colossians chapter three. When our anger crosses that line, and now we are hating people, we are slandering their name, we have malice in our heart, guess what? That's crossed the line into sinful anger. Also, when it stirs up strife and leads to division. Let me say it this way. If your anger with someone has caused division in that relationship or in your life, then that most likely is sinful anger. Also, when it controls you instead of you controlling it. And some of us have experienced that. When we are so angry, we lose our ever-loving mind, amen? But you're like, man, that anger is controlling me. I am no longer controlling it. The Bible says in Proverbs 16,

when you get to that point, you need to hit the pause button. Listen, that's the kind of anger that Jesus is warning us about in Matthew chapter five. Because he knows this is something that all of us are going to have to deal with. All of us will be faced on how we deal with the anger in our life. Let's keep reading in verse 22. Here's what Jesus says. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister will be subject to the court. Whoever says you fool will be subject to hellfire. Now, I'm gonna be honest. When I first read that this week, this was my fleshly thought, are you ready? I thought to myself, I can get away with anger if I want to. I can get away with hating someone in this life. I can be angry with them. I can insult them. I can even mistreat them if I want and legally get away with it. I'll never go to jail for being angry with someone. I'll never be convicted by a judge for calling someone a name. And let me just say, all of those statements are completely true in this life and in this culture. But here's what Jesus just said, are you ready? He says, the judge of all judges will convict us

if we allow anger or if we harbor hate in our heart. He's saying this, he's saying, you think you can get away with murder, but the Lord says, trust me, you won't get away with murder. Jesus says this, you don't have to kill someone to be guilty of murder. In other words, he's saying, I'm not just looking at your hands, I'm listening to your words and I'm looking into your heart. And this says, if you insult a brother or sister, or if you even call them a fool, you will be subject to judgment. Hey, when the Bible talks here about insulting your brother or sister, I want you to circle that word, insulting, that's actually the word raca in the Greek, R-A-C-A, raca. And it's a word that really doesn't have an equivalent in the English language. So when you read insulting a person, you're like, well, that's not that big of a deal. And it's really not, an insult's not that big of a deal to us, raca is a much stronger word than we get with the word insult. In fact, when you break down that word raca, it's treating another person as if they have no value at all. It's talking down, it's cutting down, it's using your words to make someone feel small or even feel worthless. But once again, Jesus isn't just focused on the specific words that you use,

he's pointing to the heart behind the words. And right here, he's talking about those times when you get angry, those times where you say something that you know you shouldn't have said, those moments where you shoot venom out of your mouth and you curse someone else because you're angry or you're upset. Jesus is saying to us, whoever says you fool will be subject to hellfire. The Greek word for fool, that's another interesting word study. That word fool in the English is actually the word moros in the Greek, M-O-R-O-S, moros. That's where we get our word moron. You ever called somebody a moron? Don't wanna admit that today either, that's fine. Well, 2000 years ago, this was a word that... People used, especially in the religious community, and they used it to talk down to other people. The word moros, it literally, it really, it means morally wasted people. Morally wasted people. And so remember, in a religious culture, you wanted to be the high and the mighty. You didn't want to be the low people in the totem pole. So the religious people would look down at the small people that were beneath them, and when they got mad at them, they would call them moros, right? You are beneath me, you are a morally wasted person.

It'd be like you getting mad at someone that you saw as beneath you today, and you calling them trash. You're garbage, you're worthless, you're hopeless. Man, have you ever done that? Have you ever lost your mind? You've lost your cool, you've yelled something at someone else that you're not proud of, something that was demeaning and belittling and hurtful. Have you ever done that? Man, I have, a lot. And that's why, for me, as a person who's done that in the past, I can look at that and I can read that, and it's almost scary to read the words of Jesus. Because what is Jesus saying here? He's saying, if you've done that, you'll be subject to hellfire. Well, what in the world does that mean? Well, if that's a little intimidating or a little scary, let me clear up something regarding the wording of that phrase. If you've been saved, Jesus is not saying here that if you get angry with a person that you're going to hell, so relax. Everybody take a deep breath, all right? That's not what he's saying. He's not saying that this is the one particular sin that causes you to lose your salvation, but he is saying here, if you harbor hate in your heart,

he is saying here that you have enough guilt in your heart to send you to hell. In other words, Jesus is saying, you have the same level of guilt in your heart as a murderer has in his heart. That's why John says in 1 John 3, everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. He's saying, when you get to that level of anger, you've gone too far. You're saying, does that mean if you murder someone that you can't go to heaven? That's not what he's saying. He's saying, if you have hate in your heart, you're on the same level of guilt as a murderer, and guess what? If you don't have forgiveness for your sins, and you haven't experienced the forgiveness that Jesus offers for those sins, he's saying that guilt is enough in and of itself to send a person to hell. Hey, don't miss this today. Jesus is warning us. He's saying, unchecked anger will be judged by God. Unaddressed anger will be judged by God, and if we go to the throne without having forgiveness of the sin in our hearts, we will not only be guilty, we will be thrown into hell forever.

Jesus starts out here by talking about the progression of anger, and now we're gonna hear him talk about the priority of reconciliation. In verse 23, Jesus said, so if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. So right here, Jesus is addressing a situation that I believe happens far too often in the church. Remember, he's talking to believers. He's talking directly to the people who are following him, and he's saying, if you have something against someone else in this family, in fact, he goes beyond there. If you have something against someone that's not in this family, and then he takes it to another level, and he says, or even if you, if someone out there has something against you, and you know about it, then you need to stop what you're doing, and you need to go make things right with them right now. Right now. I mean, that's what Jesus said. This is one of the few times in the Bible where you and I are told that we ought to prioritize

something over worship. Isn't that interesting? Right here, he says that reconciliation with them ought to be number one, and coming to worship ought to be number two. In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14, it says, pursue peace with everyone and holiness. Without it, no one will see the Lord. No one will see the Lord. Do you understand what he's saying? God's word tells us if we are angry with someone else, and we're not pursuing peace with that person, that we will not see the Lord in the way that God wants us to see the Lord. We won't experience the Lord in a way that God wants us to experience the Lord. In other words, you won't be right vertically until you are right horizontally. Does this make sense? Listen, if you've ever tried to worship while you were angry. If you've ever walked into a place like this while you are fuming and smoke was coming out of your ears You understand what I'm talking about? Hey, you know you can be in this environment all you want You can be surrounded by thousands of Christians with worship music playing with the waters of baptism stirring Hearing people praying listening to Bible preaching, but if you hate the person next to you, guess what? You're always gonna feel a disconnect between you and God and that's what he's warning us about Hey, there are several times in your Bible where God talks about Things that can build a barrier between us and him You can know him you can be a relationship with him

But God warns us and he said but there are things that if unaddressed or unconfessed They can build a barrier between you and me. One of those things is loving sin and Psalm 66 18 It says if I had not if I had been aware of the malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened He said hey this right here is one of those things that causes me to plug my ears If we don't address it, then God says I won't even listen One of the other things is just disobeying God's Word disobeying God's commands Proverbs 28 9 Anyone who turns his ear away from hearing the law? Even his prayer is detestable Have you ever thought about your prayers being detestable to the ears of God? He said that's not only a possibility. That's a reality if we're on unwilling to obey the Word of God if we're unwilling to align our lives with the Word of Truth and he says guess what even your prayers are detestable Another one is pride in your heart Pride in your heart builds a barrier between you and God James 4 6 says God resist the proud Which means man if I want Jesus to to press into me and I want to press into him and I want to be in Close relationship with him. I need to check the pride in my life Because he says if you have pride in your in your heart, it's unaddressed. It's unconfessed. You're not dealing with it You're not pursuing the right path and he says guess what you are putting yourself in a position where God is resisting resisting and not embracing and Another one is one we're talking about today and that's simply refusing to reconcile. What did we just read in verse 24? He said first go and be reconciled and then come and offer your gift He said this is priority and it needs to be your priority today You say why does God care so much about me? Going back to the people in my past and apologizing. Why does God care so much of me about me? Reconciling with people that maybe I just haven't gotten along with in the past and you know what the Bible says It's not that he cares about the words of your apology He cares about the position of your heart and the Bible is saying to us today that a divided heart Cannot bring a worthy sacrifice You can't bring a worthy sacrifice if you haven't addressed that which God tells us to address It's sin and when you don't address sin, he says there will be a division

Read the words of Isaiah 59 with me today he said but your iniquities are separating you from your God and Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen now What a scary picture that is because I'm unwilling to do what he's asked me to do Now you've got a picture of God with his his fingers in his ears and his eyes are covered and he's saying even when you Come to me. I won't address what you're bringing to me until you address what I've asked you to address first And that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying before you can truly worship You must first reconcile God wants your heart before he wants your offering Therefore if you're unwilling to address the rift in your relationship, he said there will always be a barrier between you and God So what exactly is God calling us to do? Let me give you some simple action steps from his word Are you ready? The first one is you got to recognize the rift. You got to recognize the rift You got to be aware of the broken relationships in your life for some of us This is easy even talking about this You've got certain people that are popping up in your mind right now for some of us It's going to require some homework and say man I need to be aware of the broken relationships in my life And if there's bad blood then I need to know about it because once you know about it You don't just recognize it The second step says you've got to respond to it and the Bible says we ought to respond with repentance Respond with repentance. That's seeking forgiveness. That's pursuing forgiveness You say well that person doesn't deserve forgiveness. We'll talk about that in just a second But here's the second step once you recognize the rift you got to respond with repentance But finally, you've got to restore the relationship. And sometimes that can be done, other times it can't, but it's really the pursuing of your heart, pursuing that reconciliation so that you can prepare your heart for worship. Here's the thing, God calls us to be bridge builders, and he calls us to rebuild the bridges that have been burned

and he tells us forgiving others not only reconciles us with them, forgiving others will reconcile us with him. So understand, God expects us to forgive other people, even when they don't deserve it. A lot of people say that, why would I forgive them, they don't deserve it, and you're reminded, you know what, God calls me to forgive in the same way I've been forgiven. In the Lord's prayer, he connects our forgiveness of others to the forgiveness that we receive from God. The Lord's prayer says this in Matthew 6, 12, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, right? So he connects our forgiveness of others to the forgiveness we receive from God, and here's what scripture's gonna teach, ready? God's forgiveness of us ought to automatically lead to our forgiveness of other people. As we've been forgiven, God expects us to forgive, and when we don't, I believe God views our lack of forgiveness as nothing short of hypocrisy. If we're not willing to give it, then why are we so willing to accept it? You say, Jordan, you're asking me to do something that I cannot personally do. They do not deserve the forgiveness, and God's like, hello, neither do you, right? Neither do you, but that's the forgiveness I gave you, and if you're willing to accept it,

then God expects you to give it. In Matthew chapter 18, it says Peter approached Jesus and he asked, Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sinned against me? As many as seven times? I tell you, not as many as seven, Jesus replied, but 70 times seven. There have been times in my life where I didn't want to forgive somebody, and I was like, how many times have I forgiven them? And I start counting, I'm like, what is 70 times seven, right, bust out the calculator, right, and you're trying to figure out do I forgive them or not? But what we've got to realize is that when Jesus spoke these words, he wasn't calling us to forgive a legalistic number. He was calling us to limitless forgiveness. It's the same way that Jesus forgives us. Let me ask you, have you received the forgiveness of Jesus in your life, yes or no? And if the answer is yes, are you willing to extend that same forgiveness to others? Hey, let's get real personal today. May I ask you a question? Is there someone in your life that you have failed to forgive? And are you allowing that anger in your heart to block you from God's best? If the answer is yes, Jesus would say, before you put your offering in the plate,

before you send that next check to support a ministry, before you sing another song, before you hear another sermon, go and be reconciled with your brother or sister first, and then come back, then come back. And you know what, when you come back after that, your worship will be different. He talks about the progression of anger, the priority of reconciliation. But the third thing he's gonna speak on is the price of unresolved conflict. And man, this is where he really drives the point home. Verse 25, Jesus says, reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you're on the way with him to the court, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly, I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny. Right here, I believe Jesus is communicating that you and I and his followers 2,000 years ago, we ought to have a sense of urgency in our life when it comes to doing what Jesus is calling us to do. We ought to have a sense of urgency and passion to make things right with other people. And Jesus is saying, do it now before it's too late. In this passage, look at it. Jesus is referring to someone who had been accused of owing another person money.

Now, in Bible days, if you were convicted of stealing, if you were convicted of taking someone's money and not paying it back in time, you were automatically thrown into prison. Now, here in America, especially in our early days, we had something known as debtor's prison. That was a common thing in America. If you didn't pay what you owed, if you stole money from someone, you went to prison. You went to debtor's prison. And once you were locked up, it was really a catch-22. And I say that because. Once you were convicted, there was no time limit on your punishment. The only way that you could get out of prison was to pay back your debt. And the problem with that is, while you were locked up, you couldn't work. And if you couldn't work, you couldn't earn money. And if you couldn't earn money, you couldn't pay your debts. And if you couldn't pay your debts, you couldn't get out. You see the problem here? So in effect, if you went to prison for owing someone money, it was most likely going to be a life sentence without parole. And everyone that was listening to Jesus on that mountainside, they knew exactly what he was talking about. That's why in this story, Jesus advises us to settle. He uses that word, settle quickly, settle quietly, settle finally, before it gets to court on the day of judgment. Because when you don't address that which needs to be addressed, and you allow it to linger until the day of judgment, here's the point, Jesus is saying, it's going to be too late. You see, Roman law said that a plaintiff at any point could bring an accused person before

the judge. If someone owed you money, at any point, you could take them to court. You could take them any time. But the law also read that those same two people could settle anything on the way. That's the way that it was written in the law. You could settle it on the way. And that's why Jesus chose to use the same words. So you could be on the front steps of the courthouse with that person, and if you chose to settle the case between the two of you, it would legally be settled and done. But the minute you walked into the courtroom, the minute you brought it before the judge, that was the moment where it was no longer in your hands, and your fate would be determined by him. You get it? Here's the message Jesus has for us today. He's saying, settle it now, or suffer the sentence later. This is your choice. It's our choice. If it's there, he said, settle it now, or you'll suffer the sentence later. So once again, Jesus gets a little personal here. And I believe he's asking the question, is there someone in your life that you need to call this week? Is there someone in your world that you need to reconnect with? Is there someone in the past that you need to forgive? Because if so, Jesus is saying, why wait? Do it now. Do it now before it's too late. You know, when the painter Leonardo da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, the story is told that he had an intense argument with a fellow painter, a rival painter, if you will. These guys apparently had a huge feud.

They hated each other, and everybody knew about it. It was like a Hatfield and McCoy a long time ago, but these guys were at each other all the time. And da Vinci began to think of a way to really stick it to this guy. He wanted to humiliate his rival. So he came up with a devious plan to do just that. He decided that he was going to paint the face of his enemy in this portrait as the face of Judas Iscariot. So it would be captured forever so that it would always be remembered that his enemy to him was just like Judas was to Jesus. I mean, when people came by and looked at his work, even while it was still in progress, they immediately knew who Judas was. This guy was very famous. So people would walk in and he would be painting and working on this portrait, and people would look at Judas and they would start to laugh. They thought it was hilarious. Like, that's your enemy and you put him as Judas. Wow. And history says that da Vinci got great joy out of watching people make the connection because he portrayed this man as the most evil person he could think of. But you know, as he continued on his work with this painting, he saved his very last face for the face that he wanted to paint with perfection. It was the face of Jesus. But when it came time to paint that face, he couldn't do it. It's like he drew a mental blank. For some reason, he could not see the face of Jesus. Therefore, he could not paint the face of Jesus. So finally, God convicted him and he showed him that the trouble he was having stemmed all the way back to him painting the face of his enemy as the face of Judas. He realized in his time with the Lord that his hatred and his bitterness, it was what's

keeping him back from being able to clearly see the face of Jesus. And so, you know what? He went back and he painted over that man's face just a nebulous face that no one recognized. And then he took action and he went back to his enemy. He looked this man in the eyes and he said, you know what, I wronged you and I need to apologize and ask you to forgive me. And history says after that conversation, these two men were reconciled. They were never best friends, but they were right with one another. After all that, Da Vinci went back to his canvas and he said, the moment I arrived at that canvas, I could clearly see the face of Jesus and he painted the face of Christ and he finished one of the world's masterpieces of history. And you know what a great picture to us. What a great reminder to us that reconciliation is truly cheaper than regret. Reconciliation was what God has called all of us to. And he tells us, do it now. Don't wait until tomorrow. He said, do it now. Even if you're in church, even if you're in a community group, he's saying, leave your gift in front of the altar and go now to be reconciled with your brother and sister. And then come back and when you do, worship will be different. This experience will be different. Your relationship with him will be different. You'll be able to clearly see the face of Christ. Let me ask you today, what is God calling you to do? This is one of those messages where I believe has homework and I believe God may be calling some of us to action today. Father today, give us courage to be the people you've called us to be. In this new culture, the kingdom culture in which you've called us, Lord, I pray that our response will be obedience. And I pray the results will honor you.

Lord, many of us are fearful about what that encounter will look like. Lord, I pray we'll trust you with the results. Obey the Lord and leave all the results to him. God thank you for your word. Thank you for instructions that apply to our lives. Thank you that God, you understand where we've been. You understand where we are. And God, thank you for having great plans for us in the future. Lord, I pray we can experience those plans as we obey you, as we pursue you, as we allow the word of God to direct our lives. God, let us live a life that will honor you today. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen. As a pastor, the best advice I can give you for your daily walk with Jesus is to start each day in the word. While this may seem obvious, many people struggle to find the time to pause for just a few moments every single morning and to spend time with the Lord. I want to help you find the right balance to start your day by offering easy to read daily inspiration through the all in daily devotional email. You know, each daily devotion includes a passage of scripture and some food for thought commentary that can be read very quickly. These few minutes can help center your mind on Jesus and prepare you to face the day's challenges. You can subscribe right now by scanning the QR code on the screen or by visiting our website at goallin.tv. I pray these devotionals bless and encourage you. And thank you once again for tuning in. And I look forward to seeing you next time on this station for a new episode of All In next week. Until then, may you stay strong in your faith with Jesus and continue to go all in with him.

Hey, we never want to end our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to know Jesus as your personal Lord and savior. If you'd like to make the decision to trust Jesus and want to know more about what it looks like to follow Jesus, get in touch with me right now. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen so that we can pray for you and also put information in your hands right away. Today, we celebrate your decision and look forward to being a part of your personal journey of going all in with Jesus Christ. This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. We hope today's message encourages you as you strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ.