Integrity

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Good morning everybody. Shabbat Shalom. It's good to be with you this morning and to continue our series on the Torah of the Kingdom, the Sermon on the Mount. But normally in my sermon I pray a little bit down further in the introduction, but something just kind of hit me when we were singing that song, Jesus, Lamb of God this week. Last night Tanya and I had the opportunity to go watch episode one and two of season five of the Chosen the Last Supper, kind of a pre screening and so we spent this week binge watching season four because we were behind and I, you know, spoiler alert.

I mean if you've read the book, come on. But there was a moment when it came to the depiction of that moment, the last few moments of John the Baptist's life. They've got him strapped down, he's prepared basically to lose his head and the soldiers are kind of mocking him and prodding him for a final comment, etc. And there's this moment just before it happens where he turns his head and there's a window to the left and he sees a lamb walking on the hill, obviously illuminated, obviously gift from God. And I thought about how they depicted that precious moment when a man was facing his most critical crisis, his own mortality, his life and death, when he's facing the end and all he has to do is turn his head and see and remember the Lamb of God and a big smile crosses his face.

I don't think anybody here is about to lose their head. But some of you have come here today pressed down by the world. Some of you have come here today with issues that you just wish you could get off your back, issues that just seem to be oppressing you and you want relief, you want rescue, you want it gone.

Well, I can't promise you that Yeshua is going to take it all away, but I can promise you this. There's yet a smile for your face if you will just turn your head and remember the Lamb of God. He is everything. And so I want you to pray with me now because this is going to be a sermon where we have to lay some things down and that might require us to find our courage by turning our head and seeing the Lamb of God. Will you pray with me, Abba?

Father, thank you so much for this Shabbat, this church family that comes together to honor you, to recognize you, to remember you, and to draw strength from your word. Abba, my prayer is today that everything that is said is an absolute, true reflection of the intention of your son's heart. And mind and soul, when he spoke the Sermon on the Mount, when he preached the Torah of the Kingdom. Lord, I don't want to say what I want to say. I want to say what you want to say and what you said.

So I ask, Father, for you to be here in this moment, even for those who feel pressed down, like the world is about to end them, somehow, may they find the strength to look up and see you, the precious Lamb of God. In the name of Yeshua, the Messiah, I pray, Amen. When I first preached this series on the Sermon on the Kingdom, I preached it at the Sunday church, Northside, and we started a little earlier in Matthew so that I could lay the foundation of how much the priority of Yeshua's life and message was the Gospel of the kingdom. I'm 62 years old, I'm Bible college educated. I've been preaching for many years.

But I had never taken note of just how overwhelming overriding that theme is in everything he does. And even by now, in our study of the Sermon on the Kingdom, you should begin to realize that everything that he's saying and doing is framed in the context of the kingdom, a kingdom that is made up of people who are called beyond the limited and often false interpretations of the religious leaders of his day. And may I add, the religious leaders of our day.

Jesus described the Pharisees in Matthew 23 as having seated themselves in the seat of Moses. And just a reminder, if you don't know what that means, it means that they were given the authority to render halakah, to give the interpretation for how the instructions in righteousness, the law of God was supposed to be taught. Jesus said of them in Matthew 23:2, he says, the scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. Therefore all that they tell you do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say things and they do not do them. They are not only false interpreters and false teachers, they're liars.

Jesus begins his scathing denunciation of them by pointing out that they lack what Jesus deems essential to genuine kingdom people. Today we call it kingdom character. And the first act aspect of that we're going to look at today is integrity. But notice that he even tells the people, in spite of the Pharisees narcissistic seating of themselves in the seat of Moses and their wonky interpretations and rulings, the people were to live in obedience and compliance to their interpretations, meaning adhere to their halakhic interpretations of law. Remember, Jesus said, I have not come to nullify, but to fulfill.

Now, you have heard me say over and over again that righteousness involves an act of giving. And when we come to a study of kingdom character, when we come to the study of integrity, you may be wondering, well, Brent, how does the topic of integrity, how is that a manifestation of righteousness? If righteousness, if the action of righteousness always involves the act of giving something, how does integrity fall into that category? You've all said it, I'm sure, at one point in your life. Help me out here.

I give you my word. That's righteousness. I give you my word. And the question we have to ask today is, are we giving righteousness when we give people, our word is our word, our bond.

You see, righteousness involves the quality of the word we give.

So let's read what Jesus says about kingdom character in Matthew, chapter 5, verses 33 through 37. Again, you have heard the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Trust me, I've tried.

But let your statement be yes, yes, or no. No. Anything beyond this is of the evil one. Now, Yeshua is actually referencing two different Torah commandments. The first one is from Exodus, chapter 20, verse 7, which is a part of the Ten Commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished, who takes his name in vain. Now, growing up, we learned this commandment in the context of not using swear words or using his holy name as a byword. I remember when I was a kid, we had moved down from Iowa and I don't know, kindergarten, first grade. First time I came home and my mom said something, told me to do something I didn't want to do. First time I said, well, gah.

That was the last time I did that. Not only was it the incorrect response to my mom, it was also too close to, well, God. It was a euphemism and it was not permitted in our household. And that's just the way it was. And so for us growing up, taking the Lord's name in vain, you know, I never imagined.

I mean, we went from people more and more. You never used to hear, oh my God, and now you just hear it everywhere. I never believed we would get to the place where our culture would be so insensitive to our values that they would use Jesus Christ as a byword.

In my first ministry, I had a mom come up to me and she said, you're not going to tell me what? Believe what my little son told me. What was that? He said, mom, I know when you can say Jesus Christ and when you can't. And so she was intrigued.

And so she asked him, well, tell me, honey, when can you say Jesus Christ? And when you can't, he he said, well, when you're praying, you can say Jesus Christ. And she said, well, when can you not say Jesus Christ? And he looked at her and said, when you run over the cat.

I mean, spot on.

But there's actually another context to this commandment. It was also taking the Lord's name in vain. It also meant using his name to take a vow you did not intend to fulfill. If you invoke the sacred holy name of God, knowing full well to cause someone to have confidence in the word you have given, and you have no intention of fulfilling that word, you have taken his name in vain. Because as believers, we bear his name.

But there was another commandment in view for Jesus on that day. Exodus 20:16. He said, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. God didn't just rescue Israel from Egypt, he was forming them into a nation. And a nation cannot exist without laws and without a judicial system.

One foundation of a just judicial system is that it must be so highly respected that when someone is called to give testimony, they wouldn't even consider perjuring themselves because of the sacred responsibility to speak the truth in that environment.

This commandment is literally the glue that was to hold them together as a nation of law. Without it, chaos would ensue. Jesus comes along and he renders a legal Holoka for his kingdom disciples that demands strict compliance and fidelity to the kingdom character of, of integrity. Now, if you don't aren't familiar with halaka, it comes from the Hebrew word holek, which just means to walk. The decisions, the interpretations, the applications that the scribes and Pharisees gave were Holakic rulings.

That's what it meant to sit in the seat of Moses. They had the authority to make those decisions. Now, as important as Jesus words are today, before we look further at them, I want to show you as quickly as I can how impactful they are throughout the rest of the New Testament. And I think this is really important because so far we've, in the Sermon on the Mount, we've covered murder, we've covered adultery, we've covered divorce and the breaking of life covenants. And now we're talking about the integrity of the word.

We give. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 15 through 20, Paul opens his second letter to the believers in Corinth, explaining that the persecution that he and his companions had suffered. And he's writing to them, and he is telling them that he intends to come back and see them again. So he was going to start in Corinth, which is in the southern region of Greece, make his way to Macedonia, but somehow that didn't happen the way he thought. So it appears that the people in Corinth may have been questioning his integrity.

And that bothered him. And it ought to bother us. Even if the thing we say our heart is fully intending to do. Sometimes life happens. And because of our passion for our word being our bond, if something happens outside of our control, we should let that person know that, listen to what he writes.

In this confidence, I intended at first to come to you so that you might twice receive a blessing, that is, to pass your way into Macedonia and again from Macedonia, to come to you and buy you to be helped. On my journey to Judea, I think he thought he was gonna go up to Macedonia, come back to Corinth, and from Corinth, which was one of the port cities, he's gonna make his way back to the Holy Land. But that didn't happen. And so he said, therefore I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what purpose do I purpose according to the flesh so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time.

What he's saying is, I'm not talking out of both sides of my mouth, but as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who is preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but yes in him. I just think this is cool. You know, sometimes, you know, I tell people, well, I'm going to call you at 3:45. That happened to me yesterday.

I had an appointment to call somebody at 3:45. And at 4:00 I realized Chris Franke and I were still yammering on the phone.

So we know whose fault that was.

And when I realized it, Pharisees.

When I realized it, I immediately ended my conversation with Chris and immediately called the person that I was speaking to that, I had told I would call 3:45. And I apologized because my word is my bond. But sometimes life happens, and I appreciate the fact that Paul talks about that. Sometimes circumstances make it difficult to fulfill our intentions. And when that happens, it ought to matter enough to us to make sure the person whose word we did not fulfill understands.

Why would it matter to Paul? Because Paul was a Pharisee in a good way, and his Messiah had clearly said, don't be like the Pharisees who say one thing and do another. And he didn't want that reputation following him. Jesus turned. I believe he uses this phrase yes and yes, yes and no, no.

I think this was a common thing that people knew. And if that's true, then Jesus turned that common phrase around and used it to teach his Kingdom disciples Kingdom character. You shall not be known as yes, yes, no, no people, but as your yes is your yes and your no is your no. Because when the how it was used in the culture was oh, yeah, yes, yes, no, no. You never know which one they're going to be.

That's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying your yes is your yes. Your yes and your no aren't just a loophole to give you an out from what you've said. Paul doesn't stop there. He uses their potential misunderstanding of his actions to reinforce why as Kingdom disciples, we cannot live that way.

Second Corinthians, chapter one, verse 20 through 22. For as many are the promises of God in him, they are yes. Let me just stop right there. How many of you are thankful today that the promises that God made to you are yes, yes, no, no, who knows no in God they are yes. Therefore, also through him is our amen to the glory of God through us.

Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us in God, who also sealed and gave us the spirit of God in our hearts as a pledge? Paul says you don't have to wonder if God's yes means no and his no means yes.

Paul is juxtaposing with a question. How can we be the recipients of God's kingdom? The yes people, the people who understand God's covenant, loyalty and grace to us, and then turn around and be people who. Who don't know how to keep our word, whether it's in our home, our schools, our place of business. It matters.

The scribes and Pharisees said one thing and did another. They weren't just hypocrites, they were liars. And we can't be that. They had their disciples. But we are disciples of a different rabbi.

Our word is our bond and we cannot take his name in vain.

You see, it's just not the use of a euphemism. Oh my gosh. Gah. Oh my God.

It's more than that. It's like murder isn't just murder. It's what's going on in your heart and mind. When we act that way, we are taking the Lord's name in vain, whether we mention his name or not, because we bear his name.

I'm just trying to show you how impactful this teaching was because again, it's kind of like murder. You know, the first one, he. You know, the one we all thought, well, I don't have to worry about that one so much because that's the one I probably won't do, hopefully. And if you have, please go turn yourself in. But James writes about it in James 5, 7, 11, and he's closing out his letter for how they ought to be patient until the coming of Yeshua and wait for the harvest and do so without complaining.

Okay, but listen to what he says. Listen to the emphasis he puts on this. But above all, everybody say above all. Now you know what that means, if you get around to it.

Of first importance above all, what does that do to this topic? I mean, something has happened in James life so that he looks at this topic as an absolute kingdom. Disciple. Above all, my brethren, do not swear. And he's not just talking about cussing, talking about making oaths either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but your yes is to be yes and your no is to be no, so that you will not fall under judgment.

What's he talking about?

What is he referencing when he says that we might fall into judgment? Remember the commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished. Who takes his name in vain? Church, Are you getting a sense of the price tag on this topic above all? I know it's not easy.

I grew up with a man who was so integrity. He was irritatingly integrity. He wouldn't steal a paperclip. He set that bar really high. We were driving.

He was driving with me back to Cincinnati, Ohio, so I could go to Cincinnati Bible College one time. And the car I had was a three on the tree. 1973 Dodge Dart Stick shift. That thing was geared so weird. Sit straight up was 60 miles an hour, but the speed limit was 55.

And every time when I was driving, the minute it got over that you're speeding. And I said, dad, it's really hard to keep this. That thing pointed at 55 because it's like five more miles and I'm there straight up, very easy. The thing was geared real easy. Eventually I went to sleep.

The greatest moment of my life when I woke up and saw him driving 60 miles an hour. Like you are human.

Nobody keeps and walks in integrity. Perfectly, he admitted. Well, you're right. This is really hard to keep at 55. Yeah, we had our loophole anyway.

But in all seriousness, this is serious. Listen to what Jesus says about the looney tune interpretations given by the scribes and pharisees in Matthew 23. He says, Woe to you, blind guides. Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.

What? He said, you fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified? The gold. And you say, whoever swears by the altar, well, that's nothing. But whoever swears by the offering on it, then he's obligated.

And Jesus very gently and tenderly says, you blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering? My friends, narcissism will always render false interpretations. And you have to know that.

Why would they even render such instructions? Because they're creating loopholes to get out of their vows.

Remember when you were a little kid and you'd hold your hand behind your back and maybe this, you know, what we used to do, and you'd say something and then you'd say, I had my fingers crossed. If I had my fingers crossed. That just nullified what I said. The Pharisees, they were the original finger crossed guys. They found more ways.

Oh yeah, you're right. But the thing is, I didn't swear by the gold of the temple. So, okay, that's on me. But I can't fulfill that vow. Are you with me?

They're creating loopholes so that they can look religious. I mean, they looked very religious when they swore by the gold. And then they turn around and break their word. But listen to what Jesus says. Therefore, whoever swears by the altar swears by both the altar and by everything on it.

Whoever swears by the temple swears by both the temple and by him who dwells within it. See how you're what he's saying? You, you are invoking God. And whoever swears by heaven swears by both the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. My Friends, if you bear his name, you can't use loopholes to keep you from keeping your word, because when do you profane his name and you swear falsely?

Of all the things that Jesus could have taught, of all the things that he could have clarified. Hey, guys, I want to. I want to talk to you about the. The kosher diet. He could have said, hey, I want to talk to you about making sure you're worshiping on the right day in which you know, is Pentecost on Sunday, or can it be above all, above all, your yes is yes and your no is no.

That's doing righteousness.

You see the seriousness of what their interpretations are doing. Do you remember last week and how Jesus doubled down on the men of Israel who had put their wives, whom they had given their yes to in the position of having to become commit adultery because they would send them away? Their interpretation of divorce created a huge stumbling block for the women they had been in life covenant with. Now their interpretations caused people to stumble by taking the name of the Lord in vain, which shall not go unpunished, by teaching them ways to nullify their vows. Folks, this is the leaven of the Pharisees.

You know, we're getting ready very shortly to enter the season of Pesach, the season of Passover. And many of you will begin to clean out the old leaven. You'll go through your house, and that's great. But if you get all the physical leaven out of your cupboards and we don't get that kind of leaven out of our lives, it's worthless.

But they couldn't see it. Why? Narcissism. They were interpreting the law in a way that made life easy for them to get around, having to be honest and true to their word and their bond so that they could say yes and actually mean no.

Jesus started his instruction in Halakah with the commandments against murder. Like I said earlier, the one that most of us think isn't relevant to us and showed just how relevant it is. And now he takes a topic. And let's be honest, most of us culturally, you know, in 2025, aren't going to. You don't show up here and tell Pastor Chris, today I'm bringing an offering so that I might make a sacred vow unto go and I'm going to kill this lamb.

Well, I couldn't find a lamb, so we're going to use a guinea pig. But, you know, it's the same thing. We don't do that. That concept of swearing and making oaths is alien to us and we run the risk of thinking it doesn't really impact our lives. In the same way, we can make the mistake that Jesus corrected in thinking thou shalt not murder doesn't relate to me.

I mean, this relates to everything we do. Because when you leave this place, you go into a world that is looking for someone that bears his name.

And when we give our word, it should be our bond. And when we cannot keep that word, then the value we place on our integrity should require us to make sure that the person we have misspoken to understands that was not our intention. The writer of Hebrews gets involved. He says the integrity of God's word is given as a sign that he would fulfill his promise to Abraham. Hebrews 6, verses 13 through 18.

For when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. I swear to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, so help me, me. That's what he said, saying, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you. And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one that is greater than themselves.

And with them an oath given as a confirmation is the end of every dispute. Let me stop right there. The writer of Hebrew understands that our word is our bond. And once that is given as a pled, the discussion is over. Trust can be given.

People should have that faith in us. We should have that faith in God. In the same way God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have the strong encouragement to take hold of the hope that he has for us.

Because God's yes is yes.

God showed that unlike Paul's good intentions, there is no oops circumstance that changes his commitment to fulfill everything he has said he will do in you. If you've forgotten what that is, go read Romans chapter 8. The integrity of his word is his oath and his bond.

Verse 33. Back to the sermon on the kingdom or on the Torah Again you have heard the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at all. Either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great King. Jesus has set the stage by Setting up a juxtaposition between his interpretation and the scribes and the Pharisees and what a difference it makes.

Theirs is driven by self centered narcissism. They interpret God's laws and instructions in righteousness and their obligation to it in such a way that they can get around it.

Sure glad we don't do that.

I'm sure glad we don't ever take the gifts of the Lord that were given for his glory and make it about us.

I'm sure glad that. That we have never become so narcissistic. That we've shown up to assembly and felt like everything that was in here, the music that was chosen, the volume of the music, how long he spoke, how funny he was, whatever that. Everything that happens in this hour and a half. Yeah, two hours, whatever.

I'm supposed to like all of it.

I'm the standard of which worship songs should be chosen.

You cannot possibly be the standard for which worship songs should be chosen. Do you know how I know? Because I am.

Yeah. Folks, we do it too. We find a way to make it about us. We have become the most narcissistic society that has ever existed. I want to share a few things about how it impacts us.

It undermines our integrity. Narcissists say one thing and do another one. And anybody that's had to deal with a narcissistic person has experienced one or two or both these types of narcissists. One is a wounded narcissist and the other is a wildfire narcissist. I'll explain what I mean by that in a minute.

Remember, narcissism makes you interpret life through the lens of me first. And pretty soon, when you're living in a me first reality, integrity becomes an option only so long as it serves your purpose. You know, the religion of Islam has a teaching. There's a story that their founder, I won't even mention his name, made a treaty with one of his enemies after teaching his people that they should never make a treaty with their enemies. And they called him out on it.

And so he added a new law, a new interpretation. It's okay to lie to people if it's to get a foothold. We've seen this in Israel. There's no peace process in Israel. There's piece by piece by piece.

Western nations just haven't figured that out yet. Narcissism finds a way to make it about themselves. It impacts us because it makes us a stumbling block to others. The scribes and the Pharisees were so self Centered that their interpretation set people up to fail. My friends, trust is an anchor for healthy mental and emotional and spiritual health.

You deprive a child the ability to trust when as their parent, you have deprived them of the ability to trust. If you deprive them of trust now in your word, you will make them not able to be trustworthy in their adult life. When your word is not your bond and your child grows up not knowing what truth is, they will grow up and not live trustworthy lives.

Narcissism will make you guilty of bearing false witness against others. Narcissists are known for constantly and consistently accusing others of what in fact they are the ones doing. Ever been there?

In one of my ministries, we were trying to hire a youth pastor and one of our leaders fell in love with an applicant. Because the way this applicant came in and presented what his youth ministry would be like was he used a flip chart. The exact same way that Elder showed insurance when he went out on sales call. And he loved him. And I had red flags all over my spirit about it.

All I did was say, hey, we've got some other candidates, let's slow down. And immediately he accused me of doing what he was doing, trying to control the outcome.

You could all come up here and give your own examples. They will accuse you of plotting against them and they actually believe that. And so they do it in their heart and mind against you. They doubt your good intentions about them, but they are the ones who spend all their time thinking negative about you. And you don't have, you know, you find these people come over there.

What are you talking about? I mean, you are relevant, you are valuable, but I don't have time to spend my life thinking about how to hurt you.

They hold evil thoughts about people and then they intentionally try to wound them. Why? Because their interpretation of reality is not accurate. Because it's through the darkened lens of self centeredness. Why is that so important?

Because righteousness is selfless living, not self focused living.

The irony is this, that those who sat in the seat of Moses had the ability to bind on earth and have it bound in heaven. Meaning they had the ability to either put light loads or heavy loads on people, and they put heavy loads on people knowing full well they had no intention to lift them for them. But they already had their exit clause for themselves.

I use two words to describe narcissist. The first one is wounded narcissist. And I want you to know that when I use that term, I mean it to be a term of grace for this reason most people who struggle with this self centeredism that is so prevalent with the Pharisees do so because something happened to them in their childhood or their early years that violated their sense of self and violated their understanding of trust. The, the arrogant, conceited person is just a person who gives themselves compliments because they don't trust that you will. They, they, they talk about themselves all the time because they don't see, think you find value in them.

They make sure you know about their accolades, their positions. Every you know, they are the people that fight to get positions in community, things, church, it doesn't matter. Because what they, they are so wounded. They believe they've got to find a place of position and then people will like them. And the reality is that when they do that, all the people that they want to like them are running the other direction and they don't even realize it.

It's because they're wounded and nobody should want to pounce on a wounded person. And that's not what I'm trying to do today. But the wounds that we experience as kids, whatever they may be, do not become our alibis and our justification for hurting others when we become adults. It just doesn't work that way. At some point we have to turn our head from the pain of our experience and see the Lamb of God, the one who can heal it, the one who's not mad at you, the one who didn't abandon you.

Whatever that was that happened to you happened, he was there with you.

The wildfire narcissist is the person that was also wounded, but has just decided that they're hurt because of their hurt. They just no longer care who they hurt. And they are literally like a wildfire.

I've been in many ministries, several actually. But in my years of ministry, there has been. I have never seen any church scenario where there was a conflict where narcissism was not the cancer causing it. Somebody in leadership or somebody in the pew was saying, I want to make it all about me. And they were willing to just burn the place down to get their way.

Worship team, you can come back if that's you today. Wounded or wildfire doesn't matter. Yeshua loves you so much. He allowed the worst narcissistic religious group of people ever to turn him over so that he could die not only for the sins that you have committed, but that he could die for the sins that have been committed against you so that you could find healing and freedom from that which was done to you. That has created a Prison that you are in of self obsession.

And when we get in that, that self obsession, people don't trust us. They don't want to be in relationship with us. Why? Because your word is no longer your bond. They don't go into that, that relationship thinking that you really care about them because they already know you care about you.

I know this is real direct teaching, and I know it's. It may be hard, but what is happening with the Pharisees is a. It's a warning to us not to let our hearts become so self obsessed with our own pain and our own hurt that pretty soon we start building loopholes to get out of the call to righteousness to which Jesus calls us. Our pain becomes an excuse. For the Pharisees, it was their position.

They had to protect their position, their place, so they would do whatever it took.

It's easy to judge them for placing stumbling blocks in front of people and not even be willing to look at ourselves.

And may I be so bold as to say, if we. If I am not willing to look at myself.

If you're sitting there thinking, this doesn't apply to you, you're the one in the room, it applies to the most.

If we walk out of here and say, well, that's. That's another commandment like murder doesn't apply to me. Man, have we missed the boat.

I think that a lot of times what drives narcissism is fear.

Fear that someone won't find us valuable, relevant. And church, I want you to hear me. I want every wounded heart to hear me. That is a lie from the pit of hell. And there's no gift, there's no position.

There's no great thing that you have to do to make the Father love you. He already does. You say, but, Brent, I've hurt people. Yeah, he knows that. That got nailed to the cross 2,000 years ago.

But I've sinned against people. Yeah, he shed his blood to cover that 2,000 years ago. But people have hurt me. And by his stripes, we are healed. Come on, church.

Amen.

We can look at this top. Oh, vows and terror. Okay, yeah, I'll try to be. I'll try to be better.

But if not keeping our word means that we're taking the name of the Lord in Vain, I believe it's 29 Isaiah 29:13 that Jesus will quote later in Matthew 15. And in the Masoretic text, it adds that their worship was in vain because they honored him with their lips, but not with their lives.

In the same way we take his name in vain. When we don't keep our word, we render our worship vanity if we don't come before him in humility. For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are poor in spirit. Those who are willing to admit they're broken, those who are willing to admit they're wounded. Those who are willing to admit they've been self medicating but will come and lay it down at the feet of the Master and let him heal that hurt.

Will you pray with me before we sing?

Yeshua, thank you.

Thank you for being the Lamb that we can lift our eyes and look to when it just feels like the world is wanting to cut us to pieces, when our soul is just so bruised and wounded within us and we just can't seem to find a straight path to think or to feel. Lord, help us to look up and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and all of its effects. Father, for those who are in here who are ready to do that today, for those who have never named you as Lord and Savior, called on your name and repented and followed you in baptism, calling on your name, Lord, I pray that you will begin to lay it on their heart to come to that place where they're ready to accept and walk in the love and the flow of forgiveness that you have. And for those, Father, who have already claimed you, who are filled with your spirit's presence but still fight the flesh. Will you take us into a new season?

Maybe we haven't let you. We fought to keep you out of that part of our heart, out of that part of our mind. Lord, we want to let you in. Give us the courage to do that as we stand and sing and may our worship not be in vain. Amen.