Mercy

In this talk, Pastor Ben Stuart walks us through Daniel 9 and its prophecy. He reminds us of what has already happened in history and what is yet to come in our future, revealing what happens when we repent.

Join Ben Stuart as we return to our Believers in Babylon series. This week, we see Nebuchadnezzar ask Daniel to interpret another dream he had that disturbed him and the effect that it ultimately had on the king. Most importantly, we see God’s heart towards the Believer and the Babylonian.

Through Revelation 14, Louie Giglio helps us see Jesus is the lamb at the center of Heaven and His grace is the fulcrum. We don’t get to decide how our eternity plays out but His plan and heart for us is to be with Him forever.

Louie Giglio walks through Revelation 12-13, calling us to patient endurance, faithfulness, and wisdom in the last days. A moment will come when we must decide whether to truly lay down our lives for Jesus or live according to our flesh. What will you decide?

This week at church, we journeyed from the book of Genesis to Revelation to see God’s unfolding plan from the very beginning; from the story of the fall of man to the Seven Trumpets in Revelation, God’s judgment and mercy are always found close together.

What is the cost of your devotion?  What is the price for your betrayal?  Holy Week should call us to reflection. It is a chance to pause and to feel ourselves all at once swept along by the echoes of church history and purely present in our current state. While the world around us rushes by, hurried and hurtled through another day, another week, another year, we are invited to momentarily stop time in that way that only happens when we are in the presence of the one who holds it.  Will you?  And if you do, will you weep? Will you shed a tear as you consider this man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3)? Will you grieve and mourn your own sin for which He paid the price (James 4:8-9)?  I wonder, would you even weep for his betrayer, Judas?  Judas, a man like any other. Judas, who walked with Jesus. Judas, who must have witnessed miracle after miracle, who had to have felt the calloused hands of the Savior as they embraced, who surely cracked a smile or laughed alongside the Son of Man over dinner. Judas, who was paid a paltry fee (the same fee due to the owner of a slave in the instance they were accidentally killed by an ox (Exodus 21:32)) to lead the King who came not to be served but to serve, to slaughter.  Would you weep for this Judas? In the grand context of Holy Week, it is easy to dismiss the suffering of the guilty while celebrating the suffering of the innocent. But for a second, consider your own life. Even for those of us who walk with Jesus, who have given our lives over to him in adoration and obedience, have you not traded His love, his purposes, his plans away for even less? This week is a week to focus on Jesus, but in doing so, how can one fully embrace the sweetness of the sacrifice without acknowledging the severity of the separation that it solved? Judge not Judas lest you for even a moment consider yourself above the same betrayal. Then, in realizing your sin, pour out your praise upon Jesus even more graciously, for he has saved you from it. The grace you know and are tempted daily to take for granted Judas never knew. The relationship with the Father you ebb and flow to and fro from was never felt by him. In his omnipotence God used the pride of Judas, but that does not mean he was absolved from the consequences.  Make no mistake, Jesus was not fooled by Judas. He was not snookered at the last moments of his life into a trap he never saw coming. No, fully aware of what he would do, Jesus chose Judas as one of the twelve (John 6:70-71) and invited him in. Perhaps that is our merciful message to walk in today. The King is not threatened by your sin, nor is He casting you out of the city walls because of it. Instead, he calls you even closer, inviting your questions and confessions. Judas cast his coins at the feet of the high priests; you are invited to cast yours at the feet of the one who holds the authority over Heaven and Hell. He is not demanding your perfection. His is enough.  Sit with his presence today, and thank him for his mercy. Ask to be conformed to his image, made daily more and more like the savior. In these quiet moments, consider where you have sold your affection for pennies on the dollar and what you are willing to walk away from on the altar of devotion. Then turn your eyes once again to Jesus, and in a whisper, if need be, thank him while you yet have breath to do so for Judas does not.

Why is Good Friday called good? As a child, I remember feeling confused by Good Friday. To me the idea of Jesus being hurt and killed seemed anything but good. Even now as a mother to 4, I’ve seen the same question in the eyes of my children as we’ve discussed the events leading up to Easter.  For many families of small children, we can be tempted to gloss over the brutality of Passover week and simply celebrate with peeps, pastels, and baskets rather than talking about the historical fact and life-transforming truth of these important days.  You might wonder if talking about the cross will make them feel sad, overwhelmed, or even scared, but as we seek to raise our children to be Jesus followers, it’s important that we find the words to teach our children the whole story. Especially the story of  Good Friday and Easter as our faith hinges on these incredible true events in history. Here are a few ways to start a conversation in your home…  Begin with scripture. There is always power in the Word of God. Around the dinner table or in a moment that isn’t rushed, take a few minutes to slowly read Luke 22-23 together and give space for conversation and questions. Don’t worry if you can’t answer every question; this is a time for the whole family to grow. And if the kids have the wiggles and don’t seem like they’re catching it all, don’t fret or get frustrated.  Your obedience in opening the Word in your home is planting seeds in their hearts, and I promise they are catching more than you think.  Invite your kids to tell the story back to you in their own words and see what parts of the story captured their attention. Then, read the account of the crucifixion again from The Jesus Storybook Bible or another children’s bible that paraphrases scripture in language geared specifically towards kids.   As a parent, you know your own kids the best, so use simple age-appropriate words they can easily understand. While you don’t have to use graphic detail, our kids should understand the weight of what Jesus experienced on the cross on our behalf. It’s important to connect Jesus’ death on the cross to our sins.  Without understanding sin, we cannot fully grasp the significance of Jesus’ love and his sacrifice on the cross. Remind your kids that Jesus was perfect and never sinned yet, he chose to die a brutal death on the cross for our sins. As it is so beautifully written in the Jesus StoryBook Bible, God loved us so much that he gave his “Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love” to Jesus.    Spoiler alert! We know how the story ends, so we call Good Friday, good. The hard, heavy, and beautiful truth is that Jesus died for our sins, but we don’t despair or lose hope because Jesus didn’t stay dead — he rose from the grave and defeated death once and for all. Jesus is alive! Help your kids see the whole story, both the ache of the cross and the joy of the empty tomb. Jesus’ act of love on the cross and rising from the dead means that we now can have life forever. This is the gospel, the Good News.   Jesus said “Let the little children come to me”, and He is still calling children to Himself. The work and revelation God does in our children’s hearts is not cute; it is holy.  In discipling our children, we must talk about the cross, sin, and hope of Jesus often in our home, don’t simply save it for Easter weekend. We are Easter people every day of the year. As a parent, I’ve experienced God using these conversations with my children to impact and sharpen my own faith. The more we talk about the things of God in our home, the more we all will grow in our relationship with Him.    Resources // Jesus Story Book bible –  Incredible resource for families that explains the thread of Jesus through scripture from Genesis to Revelation in a way that kids and parents can both understand and enjoy.   Bible Project – For older kids, teens (and parents!), the Bible Project offers incredible short and free videos that help visually explain scripture. Your kids will be captivated by the storytelling in these videos which will lead to great conversation. Luke 19-23 Video Sacrifice and Atonement

As a child, I often sensed something was missing in my life. I had amazing grandparents and an incredible aunt who supported virtually every endeavor I pursued. They showed up at every basketball or baseball game I played in, every quiz bowl, and talent show, no matter how far they had to travel to do so. While they were present and consistent, my father was not. I can’t remember a major moment when he showed up: over the years, mounting disappointment led to a hardened heart and resentment towards him.   My relationship with my father remained fractured throughout my adolescence as I began to seek male guidance and acceptance. Fortunately, I had other male mentors who showed up in my life when I desperately needed to be affirmed and taught how to be a man, but this did nothing to ease the sense of frustration with the lack of involvement of my father. After I married and became a father, my father’s lack of involvement became even harder to fathom; I couldn’t imagine not being there for my kids, especially my son.   Later in the same book, Yancey stated, “Forgiveness is not the same as pardon…you may forgive one who wronged you and still insist on a just punishment for that wrong. If you can bring yourself to the point of forgiveness, though, you will release its healing power both in you and in the person who wronged you.”  One day, while processing my father’s lack of involvement with my mentor, he asked me a question I never thought to ask my father: Why? Why weren’t you involved? Why didn’t you show up? Why didn’t you care? My mentor didn’t just encourage me to ask my father those questions; he told me to forgive him, not for his sake, but for my own. I knew this would be difficult after years of holding on to my right to be angry, but it was necessary for any reconciliation or redemption of our relationship.   I did the work to forgive my father. It was difficult; it took months of counseling, personal reflection, and realizing that I had been forgiven on a much grander scale. If Jesus forgave my sinfulness, how could I not be willing to offer forgiveness to others?  At the end of the day, there is nothing that my father could say that would erase decades of frustration, disappointment, and hurt. Yet, as a believer, I knew one of the greatest indicators that I am a follower of Jesus whose life has been changed through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on my behalf is that I can forgive those who have wronged me without expecting anything from them.   Forgiveness is far more than a means to mend broken relationships with others; it is godly.  For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. John 3:16-17  Genuine, underserved, unreciprocated forgiveness is godly. God didn’t say before Jesus could come on our behalf that we must make things right with Him; He knew we couldn’t do such a feat, so he showed us forgiveness on a level we can’t truly comprehend. He showed us grace. God’s grace, or undeserved favor, can’t be earned and is impossible to grasp, but he gave it to all who believe in Jesus. He forgave.  Matthew 18:21-35 tells the story of a servant who owed a king a massive debt. A debt so large it would be impossible for the servant to repay. Faced with what could only be described as complete ruin, the servant fell to his knees before the king and begged for patience, offering to pay back everything he owed. At this, the king took pity on the man, forgave his entire debt, and let him go.  Amazing! The king showed the servant mercy and grace and forgave his debt. However, the story doesn’t end there. The servant forgiven was owed a far lesser debt from a fellow servant. Instead of extending the same grace and forgiveness he was given, the forgiven servant grabs the debtor and demands him to repay his debt. When the debtor similarly begs for mercy, he isn’t met with mercy; he is imprisoned for his unpaid debt. Word of what occurred would make its way to the king. The king, deeply disturbed by the lack of mercy exhibited by the servant, revokes his earlier forgiveness and has the servant handed over to the jailer to face the full weight of his debt. This powerful parable speaks to the forgiveness we’ve been shown by God the Father and how we should extend grace to others.  This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.  Matthew 18:35 God has not called us to forgive just because it’s a nice thing; rather, he expects us to forgive because He forgave us—specifically, forgiveness from our hearts. This type of forgiveness is deeper. It doesn’t expect to be paid back. It’s genuine and complete.  To be completely transparent, I struggled to do this with my father; the disappointment, frustration, and hurt were deep-rooted. But I remembered who I am: a child of God because of God’s undeserved forgiveness, which he bestowed upon me. How am I representing Him if I don’t forgive? So, I did. While my relationship with my father is still a work in progress, I have a peace about our relationship that I wouldn’t have otherwise.  Why? Because forgiveness from the heart has a way of softening the heart and healing the hurt. Here are five points I hope you can take away from this article:     God has forgiven you, so you should forgive others.     To forgive is to show others compassion.     There is a consequence of unforgiveness.      Forgiveness is a choice and demonstrates the condition of your heart.     Forgiveness does not guarantee reconciliation, but it does open the door to the possibility. Forgiveness is a worthy endeavor. It’s more than a sweet or caring gesture; it’s biblical and godlike.

I felt as if I was the only Christian struggling. There was this expectation I had set for myself that as soon as I gave my life to Jesus, sin should be in the rearview mirror. I was dealing with pride, seeking validation and affirmation from the student ministry group I was leading. I was experiencing greed, terrified of offering up my finances to the Lord while barely being able to pay rent. I was envious, scrolling for hours on Instagram and comparing myself to others. Yet, I would show up to my small group every Monday night, recite what I learned in our study from that week to my leader, and stare down at my hands as soon as prayer requests rolled around, unwilling to share the many sins seemingly taking hold of my heart.  Have you ever put on your Christian mask and hid behind Christian jargon to distract from the fact that you’re struggling? Everything changed for me one night when I was sitting in that very same small group. A woman I knew to be a devout Christian who led in various capacities confessed to the sins she was struggling with. I had never witnessed such boldness and courage in admitting weakness before. Slowly but surely, women spoke up from different spots in this living room, sharing their experiences with the same sins and confessing to others. What initially started as one woman bracing for impact, expecting judgment to be poured out from all sides, ended in a room full of compassion and confession.  The enemy knows that shame grows in the dark. As he tends to our shame, whispering lies into the guilt that has festered in the shadows, it grows bigger and bigger. It’s time to open the door and let the light of God’s mercy pour in. Through confession, we see God’s power shine and the enemy’s true frailty. The room we once thought we were alone was filled with Him and His people the whole time. There is power in confession. Here are three ways we can tangibly see that power in action. 1.Confession allows mercy to flood in.  Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13  When we struggle with sin, the enemy swoops in to feed us the lie that confession will only magnify our brokenness. He encourages us to live lives hidden away from God and people. We are misled into thinking there is a place to hide our uncleanliness from the creator of the universe. Adam does this very thing in Genesis 3. After eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam realizes his nakedness and hides from God. In verse 9, God asks Adam where he is. Not because He doesn’t know but because He wants to bring awareness to Adam’s attempt to hide his newfound sinful nature from God. God knows when we are going to sin before we even sin. He is alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, and He exists outside of time. To Him, we look like children playing hide-and-seek behind a sheer curtain with our shoes sticking out from the bottom. He can see us fully and is waiting for us to walk out from behind the curtain and come to Him, showing us how merciful He really is. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 Throughout Scripture, we see that confession is the highway to mercy, fruitfulness, faithfulness, forgiveness, and grace. When we cast light on our darkest sins, we invite in the mercy of God. 2.Confession leads to repentance. The enemy can use confession as merely a means of excusing our sins. But confession is only the first step. While it’s a mighty and valiant step for us, it would be a miss for us to stop there. After we confess our sins, we are called to repent. Repentance helps us take accountability for our actions before God and reminds us of our dependence on Him. We cannot overthrow our sins without Him as our advocate and defender. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul writes from Macedonia to the Church in Corinth, rejoicing in the Church’s repentance.  As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 Paul knew that godly grief suffers no loss, but worldly grief produces death. We should feel sorrow regarding our strife with sin—that is what leads us to repentance, and repentance leads to life, which is where joy enters.  We can rejoice that there is no loss because Jesus Christ already died on the cross for our sins, and in Him, we have freedom from the bondage of sin. When we repent, there is a holy celebration for tides changing and hearts shifting for His glory and our good. Confession isn’t a one-size-fits-all. As we continue to struggle with sin throughout our lives, confession may be more challenging in some seasons than others. But He is patient in His pursuit of you, gently and kindly leading you to repentance because He knows that it brings us closer to Him. And in that nearness and intimacy, the fruit of repentance begins to bud in your life. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8 3.Confession invites in community.  Another lie we may believe is that confession leads to isolation. After accepting Christ as my savior, I convinced myself that if I let people see my brokenness, they wouldn’t want to be around me. Scripture repeatedly shows us the opposite, and the woman from my bible study was the model example of how grace shown in a community of Christ’s followers can actually lead to revival. James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  There is healing power in confessing our sins to other believers, and we’re called to stand with our brothers and sisters in the fight, carrying each other’s burdens. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 As we pursue confession to experience healing, we can walk away with a few practical steps: Confess your sins to God and allow mercy to flood in.Kneel before Him in repentance.Seek community with believers and confess your sins to them. Confession isn’t an action item to check off on our long to-do list for the day; it’s a catalyst for transformation, and an open door for God to step through that leads to healing.  Let’s pray. Jesus, help us to have the strength to confess our deepest sins to you and remind us of the abundance of Your mercy. We know you are a kind, loving Father whose intent is never to shame us but to call us to more. Where condemnation tries to creep into our hearts, conviction is victorious, helping us to look more like You. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Why were the angels so excited at the birth of Jesus? Because they understood what the savior had come to do. Join us as Ben Stuart finishes our series through the book of Mark with a hopeful message on Christmas Eve.

In the grand scope of scripture, the writer of Hebrews commands us to exhort or encourage one another. We see this call to encourage as not a gentle suggestion but a guardrail to keep us from deception. The truth is encouragement keeps us and protects us. It is one of the means by which God pursues us. Using Hebrews 3 and Exodus 17 as a guide, we will embark on a journey over the next six days to understand the means, gifts, and lessons of extolling one another.

This seven-day devotional from Louie Giglio draws on examples of men and women in Scripture to show how God is in the business of giving fresh starts to people who need a comeback.