Living In The Tension (Robert Madu)

got Pastor Robert Madeu in the house. Him and his wife Taylor are with us, and he spoke here three months ago at the beginning of this pandemic, and he's spoken here multiple times, so I think it's official. We no longer call him a special guest. We call him family. Pastor Robert will do. Him and his wife, the Medusa are having a ministry that's happening all around the world. If you haven't had a chance to meet Pastor Robert, he's probably the sincerest, most genuine, and maybe one of

the nicest people you'll ever meet. But even more important than that, he loves the Word of God. He's a preacher, and we get the distinct privilege of him opening up God's word and sharing it with us. Today, So Elevation Church, you know how we do it. Let's put our hands together, Let's get ready and welcome Pastor Roberts Madou. Come on, somebody bless the Lord today. Wherever you're watching, Come on, would you give God just the best praise that you're God.

If you're in your living room, give him praise. If you're in your kitchen, give him praise. If you're in the car, give him praise. Come on, No matter what you're facing right now, his name is still worthy. He deserves the glory, the honor, and the phrase God, we lift you up because you are here Boom. I'm telling you I sense the presence of the Lord right here. I don't know where you're watching from Elevation Church, but I want you to know God is with you. His

presence knows no limits, His presence knows no bounds. He is there with you right now. He can I tell you have a reason to give God praise today, He said, Robert, what are you talking about? You don't know what I'm facing. If there is still breath in your body, come on, you got a reason to give Him praise. If you woke up this morning, you still got a reason to

give him praise. I feel you. I've had moments, especially in this the last few weeks, I've just had to say, Lord, I don't know if I got it in me to lift up my voice. I had to talk to myself. I mean, you know, you're only crazy if you don't talk to yourself. Now, do like David did and say, Bless the Lord on my soul and all that is within me. Bless his Holy name. And I think in times like this you need to lean into his presence,

lean into his word. And I'm believing He's going to speak to you today and your life is never going to be the same. Amen. Amen, we got some people in the room. Y'all can be seated. I'm absolutely honored to be back at Elevation Church. There is no place like Elevation Church. I get tempted to move to Charlotte every time that I come here, and it's pretty amazing. Pastor LB mentioned that I am a part of the

family now and last time I was here. We're at the beginning of COVID nineteen, this virus we're trying to figure out. Then the challenge of the virus was how do we stay apart? So we can stay together. Now here we are again back at elevation, and there's another virus, virus of racism has been embedded in this nation. Now the challenge is we got to come together so we don't fall apart. And I'm telling you where my hope is in. My hope is in the Church of the

Living God. Come on, if you're looking for hope and look to Jesus and then look to you. We are the hope of the world. And I'm believing what Jesus prayed his last prayers, that we would be one, that we would come together. And to that end, I'm excited to minister God's word to you today. It's gonna be good. I want you to lean in. I hope you like who you're watching the Word of God with today. If you don't, just move to another section e faan wherever

you are. But this word is gonna bless you, it's gonna encourage you, and I want to jump straight into it. I do bring your greetings from the country of Texas where I live and there with my incredible wife who is here today help me. Thank God for my wife, Taylor. She's here with me. We left the kiddos at home. And you know there's no seminary class you can take on how to lead in a pandemic, how to lead

in so much turmoil. But here's what I love is that Elevation Church is best blessed with the best of the best. I want you to help me thank God for Sir Stephen and Holly Fredick, who have set the pace, who have set the tone not just for Elevation but for the church at large. If they're incredible leadership and how they've led so well. And uh man, if you got something to be thankful for, be thankful for the gift that is in Pastor Stephen Fredick. Every word he

preaches has minister to our souls. This minister to me and you will not find a better preacher. And I'm thankful for his friendship. Come on one more time, even in the chat, just say thank you so much, Elevation Church. Thank you so much Pastor Steven and Holly, and I'm

glad to be here today. I want you to go with me to the Gospel of John today, John chapter number eight, and I want to look at verses one through eleven John Chapter eight one through eleven, and then I want to look at John chapter one, verse fourteen. After eight, starting at verse one, will land of verse number eleven, and then John chapter one, verse number four teen. It says, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Now early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And when they set her in the midst they said to him, teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stone. But what do you say this, they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse him.

But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger, as though he did not hear, straight up, ignoring him. So when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them he was without sin among you. Let him throw a stone at her first, and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out, one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the

woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, he said to her, woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one. Lord. Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you? Go and sin no more? Can you say? Amen? He found wherever you're watching. And then John chapter one, verse fourteen, just one verse of scripture. Here it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory.

The glory is of the only begotten, of the Father, full of grace and truth, Full of grace and truth. Jesus is full of grace and truth. Think of all the adjectives that we could ascribe to Jesus. Come on, we can say he's a provider. We can say he's a protector. We can say he's our peace. We can say he's our shelter. We could go on and on. But I love John because he skips the commas, makes it clear and concise, and says, when you see Jesus, you will see two things, grace and truth. I had

an encounter with Jesus. That means you had an encounter with grace and truth, the tension of grace. And I want to talk to you today from this idea living in the tension, living in the tension. There's so much tension right now, political tension, economic tension, racial tensent. What do you do with grace and tru living in the tension? I mean working out one time and I had my weights in my hand, and the trainer, while I was holding the weights, put this thing as from the devil,

put one of those resistance bands on me. While I'm holding the weight, I said, I already got the weight in my hand, what is this for? It just just put the resistance band. And I had the resistance band on it, and I thought it was good because it was already heavy. And the trainer said, no, no no, no, no, you got to keep the tension in the resistance band. That's what it's for. So here I am already holding a weight but also having to deal with the tension.

What do you do when you're living in the tension. That's what I want to talk about today. So let's pray as we go into this. Father, thank you for your word speak today all the Epham said, Amen, Amen. Living in the tension, like many preachers during this quarantine and shelter in place and gathering restrictions, I've had to adjust how I preach and how I communicate. I've learned to calm myself down and preach while sitting in the stool. I've learned not to say touch your neighbor, but to

say type in the chat. Because we've had gathering restrictions. I've learned that although we have awesome people here in the room, I've learned to make sure I stay connected and locked in to the camera. In fact, in this room right now, we got camera. There's one, two, three, four, about four, five, about eighty cameras in this room all over. And these cameras are able to get different angles while

I'm preaching, different angles. While I'm preaching to be able to connect to you different angles, these cameras will get different shots. It doesn't change me. It just gives you a different angle of me, a different view. And this is what I love about the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because all four of these gospel writers are talking about the same Jesus, but they give us different angles.

Say give us different views. These four cameramen, if you will, They're all have their view on the same subject who is Jesus, but they're able to give us different angles of who this Jesus is. I love almost like four film directors who've been given the same subject to film, but if given their own cinema cinematic license to film it, they give us a different view of who Jesus is. That's why. If you like long documentaries, please read the

Book of Matthew. Because Matthew he's writing to a Jewish audience, so he begins this long process of letting you know that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. If you like sci fi movies, please read the Book of Luke, because Luke is the doctor, and so Luke goes into detail to explain these miracles that Christ did, how his miracles could do what medicine could not do.

If you like action pack movies, please stay in the Book of Mark, because Mark is all about Jesus in action, of Jesus who will roll up on you and does not play games with you. He's all about the actions of Christ. But John, Oh, John, is a love story. John is a romantic chick flick. I love the Gospel of John. Who else but John, the disciple that always had his head on the chest of Jesus. He can hear his heart beat. That's why John's gospel pulsates with

the personality of Jesus Christ. He gives us insight that none of the other gospel writers give us love. Who else but John would tell us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. I love John. John does not give you Jesus earthly lineage. But John wants you to understand that he is God in the flesh. He wants you to understand that he is divined, that he is a deity.

That's why when he begins his gospel, it's almost like he's retweeting the Book of Genesis, because he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without him was not anything made that has been made. And in the verse fourteen he turns all the way up and says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us the word. Let me pause, right there, the

word became flesh and it dwelt among us. How many you know there is power in that verse right there, that the word became flesh and it dwelt among us. That is deeper than a Christmas verse. There is power in the fact that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Hear me, The only way we can have hope in the dark world is because the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The only way we can have life and hope is because the word became flesh

and it dwelt among us. You understand that the incarnation is the greatest picture of empathy. People want to know, how can we change what's going on in our world today? We need empathy, and that's what Jesus did in his carnation incarnation. He understood that he could not redeem us from heaven. He had to put on human skin and feel what we feel and know what we go through. And the word became flesh and it dwelt among us.

Thank God for a savior who can feel what I feel, and know what I go through, and can understand when I'm weeping that night because I'm seeing senseless murders. Can understand why tears come down my face and sometimes I don't want to lift up my hands. He knows what it feels like to have heard and pain because the word became flesh and it dwelt among us, some of y'all and not getting to see if I'm sick. If I'm sick, please don't just throw me a medical book. No,

get me a doctor. You know why, because that doctor personifies the principle that are in the medical book. Soucie. If if I'm in trouble with the law, please don't just give me a law book. Give me a lawyer. You know why. That lawyer personifies the principles that are within the law book. Somebod y'all gonna get it in a minute. If I'm about to lose my mind, please don't give me a book on psychology. Give me a psychologist, because that psychologist is going to personify the principles that

are in the psychology book. Do you understand when humanity was lost in our sin and we had no hope of redemption, we needed more than just the law. We needed more than the Ten Commandments. We needed Jesus because Jesus personifies the principles in the Word of God. He is the word made flesh. Oh, and it made it dwelling among us. And the word was made flesh. That's what empathy is. It's the word becoming flesh. He knew he could not read EMUs and be removed from us.

He had to come where we were, and he put on human skin, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Would you just slap your neighbor or whoever you're watching with at home and make sure you know him, and just say the word became flesh. Now tell him the word became flesh and it dwelt among us. We beheld the wonder of his glory, the only begonden of the Father. Then it says this that he's full of grace and truth. He's full of grace and truth. And

there is the tension. How in the world can Jesus be full of grace and truth? Hold up John, Those two words don't go together, grace and truth. How can Jesus be full of grace and truth? On one of these things is not like the other. Grace and truth. This is beauty and the beast. How can Jesus be full of grace and truth? On the surface, these two words do not go together, grace and truth. Come on, just for a moment, would you consider if you can

the grace of God? Come on, if you can even fathom the grace of our God, to think that, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, that God's grace can meet you right where you are. How many you know there's something incredible about God's grace. If grace doesn't make tears well up in your eyes, you don't know what grace is to no matter where you've been, that God can reach you, no matter what you've done,

that his grace can come to you. Come on, that God would go through a hell that he didn't deserve so that we can receive a heaven that we don't deserve. There is something about the grace of God to the point that his grace has been lavish upon us. Ooh, some people are rich in other things. God is rich and grace. His grace will never run out. His grace can meet you right where you are. That we can approach the throne of Grace with confidence, with boldness. There's

nothing like the grace of God. Amazing grace, How sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me. His grace is powerful, His grace is intoxicating. His grace is wonderful and the right. When you're resting in his grace, then you got His truth, his standard, his holiness that is so high, that is so perfect, that is so flawless, that on your best day, your righteousness is as filthy rags. On your best day, your righteousness is ratchet. How in

the world can you deal with grace and true truth? Oh? Yes, His truth will set you free, But how many know it generally will tick you off before it does. People can't handle the truth. Come on, Amama, only one during this COVID nineteen that was forced to look at yourself when everything went on pause and you begin to see some things, some truth that you did not like. Oh, I'm telling you a lot of us can't handle the truth. Truth is appealed that everybody wants to give out, but

nobody wants to swallow. Even right now in the world, we're looking at some truth that is ugly. To deal with the truth hurts. His grace is wonderful, amazing grace. But then you God truth how can he be full of grace and truth? This paradox attention is in the grace and the truth, And if we're honest, most of us go to one of the extremities, grace or truth. Yeah, you got the grace people, you know where you are.

You grace people cannot wait for the shelter in place and all these gather restrictions to be gone because you just want to hug everybody. You want to love on everybody. All you grace people. You're like, grace, Grace, Come, why can't we all just get along? Can't we just hug it out? Oh grace. People are quick to forgive, they're quick to love. Always got a smile on your face, talking longer than you should. The people, oh grace, grace, grace all over the place, and they just want to love.

But the problem with the grace people is sometimes in an effort to show grace, they lower the standard of truth. Then you got the truth people, and all you truth people, you will tell it like it is. Truth people aren't afraid of anybody. Truth people will let you know what they think about you. I mean, they will slap you

and not wait to see you hit the ground. Truth people will get on your Instagram or your Facebook page and never like the picture or said anything nice, but they will let you know what they think about you. In one post truth people are so quick to put their finger in your face and let you know, I'm gonna tell you about you. I'm gonna tell you who

you really are. But the problem with the truth people that they're so busy touting their truth and pointing their finger that they forget they're gonna need the grace that they refuse to give the tension of life is how do you balance grace and truth? Because grace without truth ceases to be grace. Truth without grace crushes people and ceases to be truth. Let's say another way, Grace without truth is meaningless. Truth without grace is me. Grace and

truth is medicine. And Jesus says, I Am the total amalgamation of grace and truth, and it brings and in the world where everything is divided, where there's chaos, how many know we need some believers who are tethered to the tension of grace and truth, showing grace when it's needed, speaking truth when you have to. Oh, not fifty percent truth, fifty percent grace but one hundred percent truth, one hundred percent grace, because hear me, the Gospel flies on the

wings of grace and truth. We need both grace and truth, the tension of grace and truth. It's like the strings on a violin grace. If it's too loose. If it's too loose, how many are you gonna get an ugly sound out of that string? But if you tighten it too tight, truth, people, you're gonna pop the strings on the violin. But if you got the perfect tension, all of a sudden you will hear beautiful music. And the world right now is a list for believers who are

full of grace and truth. Jesus lived in the tension of grace and truth. This is what the teachers of the law could not understand. They could not understand how this rabbi, this rabbi who was supposed to uphold the truth, how he kept hanging out with shady, messed up, disfunctional tax collectors and prostitutes. They could not comprehend that if he's supposed to uphold the truth, why in the world

is he hanging out with mess up people. This is what the teachers of the law could not comprehend because you do know that Jesus had a reputation for hanging out with shady, messed up people. Come on, if you got issues, you are in great candidate to be connected to God because he always just had this draw, this pull of marginalized, messed up people they loved coming to Jesus.

And I think we have to ask ourselves at the twenty first century church that if we are not attracting the type of people that Jesus attracted, are we really preaching the same gospel that Jesus preached Because sinners and tax collectors have messed up people that were just drawn to him. He loved them. And one day he's in the temple teaching and he sat down to teach, and it says all the people came to him as he

sat down to teach. All of a sudden, in the middle of his message, the Pharisees, the pretentious, pompous, stuck up teachers of the law, they burst in the middle of the temple with the woman who has just been caught in the act of adultery. They come in, they throw the woman in the middle of Jesus preaching, and they say, Jesus stop the sermon. You know how religious people do. They always look like they smell something in the room. They always look like they just caught a

whiff or something. Just Jesus, stop the sermon. In the middle of the message, they throw this woman in front of Jesus and say, we just caught her in the act of adultery. The law of Moses commands us that she should be stolen. But what do you have to say in the middle of his message. I don't know how you read the Bible. Here's how I read the Bible. When I read the Bible, I jump in the page of the Bible. Okay, I imagine what it would be

like to be in that situation. Can you imagine on this illustrious Sunday morning, if while I'm preaching, all of a sudden, in this side door, somebody comes in and says, Robert, stop the sermon. We just caught a woman in the act of adultery. Throws her in the middle of the elevation church and says, what do you have to say? Hey, uh, you're looking for Pastor Ferdick. I'm a dou Ferdick gum. Now people get us confused all the time. Now can

you imagine the shock, the tension in the room. See church, people don't know how to deal with tension. Can you imagine what the service would have looked like that day? Can you imagine the gas forever the people that turned their head. Can you imagine how many people say, oh, my goodness. Can you imagine the shock in the room. Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been her? Surely she wanted to meet Jesus, but not like this. She's forced in the middle of the

temple in the church. And I submit to you, of all the people that were shocked that day, of all the people that sucked in air, there was one person who did it, and his name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. He was not shocked. In fact, I think the whole thing was a set up, not by them, but by an awesome God who is trying to reveal that I know how to live in the tension of grace and true. I think this is a good place to insert this thought that Jesus is not shocked by

your sin. I don't know who needs to hear that today, but Jesus is not shocked by your sin. I know you're shocked by the messed up things that you did. Some of you did it last night. But can I tell you, Jesus is not shocked, nor is he appalled, nor is he going at your sin. He can handle it. In fact, he came from heaven to Earth to defeat sin, death, hell, and the grave. Jesus is not shocked, nor is he intimidated by your sin. I know you're shocked, but please

don't think that he was. Oh, he is not shocked by your sin. See they thought they could get Jesus and pull a TMZ moment and make him go, oh my. He is not shocked by your sin. A we get shocked, yeahanity does. Because we have the tendency to look at sin in categories, don't we, feeling like there's big sin and there's little sin. With humans look at sin and categories. But that is not how Jesus looks at it. He

just sees sin at sin. In fact, that is the great qualifier of life, that all have sin and fallen short of the glory of God. But we look at sin in categories, don't we. We look at sin and flavors and flavors. I'll never forget back when I could go to restaurants and eat and my father and I he travels with me sometimes and we try to hold each other accountable and we try to eat healthy, and I never forget. One day we said, hey, we're gonna eat right on this trip. We're not gonna eat bad.

We go to this restaurant and I leave. The waiter says, hey, do you want to deserve? I said, oh, no, I'm good. I go to the restroom. I come back. My father is eating pecan pie. I said, man, when you do my Nigerian fathers, even Compa said what you're doing? What we said, we're gonna eat healthy? Why in the world are you eating this for Compile? Of course my dad, it's only he could do it. And Nigeria says, good wordy about me. Okay, don't worry about me. I said, okay,

it's cool. And the waiter came back said do you want some dessert. I said no, I'm good. I'm good. She said are you sure. I was like, no, I'm good unless you got cheesecake or something. She said, oh, we got cheesecake. I said, oh, go ahead and bring that cheesecake out real quick, ken and she brings out the cheesecake, and there I am eating the cheesecake. Now, how crazy would it be for me to be judging my father eating pecan pies when I got cheesecake all

on the side of my face. Wouldn't I look ridiculous to me? I can't believe you are eating that cheeseca. At least mine has a strawberry on it. I'm getting my fruit. Wouldn't that be crazy? Because I mean, my body does not care whether it's cheesecake or pecan pie or keelm pie. They don't care about the flavor. It's just counting the calories. And it's easy to look at somebody that doesn't have the sin that you have or

the issue that you have and to judge them. But can I tell you what you make all of us just come to the Throne of Grace and said, know that all of us have sin, and all of us have all in short, and all of us have something. Oh, but it's easy to judge people that don't have the flavor of said that you have. And they came in and thought they were going to get a reaction out of Jesus said, we just caught this woman in the act.

What do you have to say Jesus, and all of a sudden tension is in the room and they're waiting on Jesus' response because they had planned this out for a long time. Oh, they had been waiting for this trap. They were waiting to trap. In fact, that's what the text says. All this was to trap Jesus. And let me tell you why. I got to give the Pharisees and the teachers of the law a little bit of credit because this is a good trap. Oh, this is

a brilliant trap. Because you understand that the teachers of the law were actually right, because Moses law was clear that the punishment for adultry was to be stone. It was in Leviticus, it was in Deuteronomy. They knew the word, or they had the word memorized, the first five books of the Old Testament, the whole Penitive they had it memorized because they knew the word. They were profound and the word. They knew it down to the letter. Or

they knew the word. They knew they were right. But isn't it crazy how you can be right and wrong at the same time. Isn't it crazy how you can know the letter of the law but not know the spirit of the law, isn't it crazy? Like my grandmother said, you can know the word but not know the author. And they had forgotten who the author was, and they throw this woman down there like haha. We got them trapped with the law. We got them trapped in the world.

And it is a good trap because if Jesus stands up and says, hold up, wait a minute, do not stone this woman, he is now trampling on the law of Moses. And they already downloaded his podcast where he said, I did I come to a boist the law. I came to fulfill it. On the other hand, if Jesus says, you know what you're right, get a big rock, knock

her out. All of a sudden, this savior who's known for his grace and his mercy and his compassion, all of a sudden, this Savior says, come to me, no matter who you are, now the message has come to me, and get stoned to death. So what is Jesus gonna do? He's caught in this predicament of do I uphold the law or do I protect the woman? What do I do? He's caught in this tension of do I trample on the word, or do I trample on this woman? Can

you see the tension that he is facing. Oh? If that was me, I don't know if life has ever hit you with a situation where you say, I don't know what in the world I'm gonna do about this. If this was me, I would have been nervous. I would have been sweating. I would have been looking for a theological book to help me out all. I would have been nervous because I am an ordinary man. But how many know Jesus was not an ordinary man. He was God in the flesh. He was the beginning and

the end. He was the Alpha and the Omega. See, this is what I love about the God that we serve. It's not just that he has power. I'm glad that he has power and wisdom. Oh it's one thing to have power, it's another thing to have power and wisdom. Anytime you have somebody that has power and no wisdom, you need to be scared of that leader. But thank God that he has all power and he has infinite wisdom. And when you put that together, that's a god you

should worship. That's a god you should turn. That's a god you can trust because He's got power and wisdom. So my question is, why are you stressing about what you're stressing about when you got a God who has all power and he has all wisdom. He knew before the pandemic you were going to be in that situation. But how many know He is working it out for your good. He's gonna make sure that in the end you are going to win. I'll thank God that all things work for the good of those that love the

Lord and are called according to his purpose. I'm glad he has power, but I'm glad he has wisdom too. Can I just stay here for a minute. I love that he has wisdom. Do you realize that your God has never thought of anything that he didn't already think of. God has never thought of anything that he didn't already think of. Because if he could think of something that he hadn't already thought of, that means he could learn something.

And he can't learn anything because he knows everything. He I'm saying another way, nothing has ever occurred to your God. God has never said, you know what just occurred to me? No, he knows everything. That means you can trust him even in the darkest season of your life. That he will work it out. They thought they had him trapped, so they demanded an answer. They said, Jesus, we caught it

in the act. What do you to say? The Bible says Jesus standing there, Sez the woman, ashamed and embarrassed, sees the Pharisees with hatred in their eyes. What do you have to say, Jesus? His immediate response to get down, and he starts doodling in the dirt. All the while they're demanding an answer. Jesus, we ain't playing. Lord Moses says, you should be stronge. What do you have to say? She just starts doodling. It takes us. He acted as if he didn't hear. That's a cute way of saying.

He ignored them and just starts doodling. And I think they thought his silence meant that they got him. They're like, oh, we got him. Come on, Jesus, tell me she should be stole. What do you have to say? What do I have? So he just starts doodling in the third And I don't know who this is for today, but some of you need to take a cue from Jesus and quit being so quick to react to your critics.

Sometimes the best thing you can do when the enemy comes in your life with all kinds of drama and all kinds of chaos, sometimes the best thing you can do is just turn your back and get on your knee and remind yourself that God is the author and the finisher of your faith that He's got you. Quit being so quick to give a reaction to the enemy, because you do know that's what the enemy wants in your life. He loves to come in your life with

chaos because he wants you to give a reaction. But how man you know you don't need to give a reaction. You need to give a response because there's a difference between a reaction and a response. Come on, somebody, There is a huge difference between a reaction and a response. The enemy wants a reaction. He wants you to react the chaos and the drama that came into your life.

But don't be a reactor. Be a responder. Oh can I tell somebody in this season it is important that in all the chaos, you don't react, but you give a response. There's a difference between a reaction and a response. A reaction tends to be quick. It tends to be a knee jerker. It's fast. There's a difference between a reaction and response. A response is deliberate. You're slow when

you respond. That's why. And this season is so critical to remember what God said and James says, he says, be slow to speak, slow to speak, slow to anger, because when you give a reaction, that's what the enemy wants. There's a difference between a reaction and a response. Enemy wants your reaction. Have you notice, thank God, a pandemic has shown us what the essential workers are. Have you notice that they call them an emergency response team, not

an emergency reaction team. Can you imagine if it was an emergency reaction team and you called ninemal ones saying no one, hep, hep, hep, my daughter just got cut. Hap hot help, and the person along the line talking about want me go down, let me go down, we'd be like, oh, I called you. Now they don't give a reaction. They give you a response, and the enemy wants your reaction. But Jesus never reacted. He responded, he took a knee, and he just doodles in the dirt.

Now we got a pause here because I'm about to land the plane. Everybody wants to know, right what was Jesus writing in the ground that day? Oh, come on, this is a hot topic in theology. Everybody wants to know he's Dolars and theologians have postulated what they think he wrote in the ground. There's so many different theories. Some people think that he wrote, love the Lord your God, though of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, Love your neighbor as yourself. Some people say that he wrote the

Ten Commandments. Some people say that he wrote Jeremiah seventeen three. Those who forsake you are written in the dust. There's so many different theories. One theory is that he wrote the names of all of the men who gathered rocks that day, and next to their name he wrote their particular sin, so that when they looked in the ground and they saw their name and what they did next to their name, they were like, you know what, I

wasn't even try to be here anyway. I have some stuff, how shy do I don't know if that's true, but I like that theory. After studying and reading everything I know to read, I have to be honest, I don't know what Jesus wrote that day. Which, by the way, you do know sometimes it's all right for you to say I don't know. I don't know what he wrote that day, And to be honest, I don't care, because I don't want to be so busy trying to figure out what he was writing that I miss out on

how he was responding. Because when the law caught this woman in the act of her sin, Jesus' response to the law was to immediately get down on the ground and touch the dirt. And after he touched the dirt, Bob says something interesting. It says, he raised himself up and then he gave a response to the accusations of the law. When this woman was caught in the act of sin and the law wanted to destroy her, jesus immediate response to the law was to get down on

the ground. He didn't say anything, He just got down and he touched the dirt, and then he says, he raised himself up and gave a response to the accusations of the law. Did you hear what I said? When this woman was caught in the act and the law wanted to destroy her, Jesus' immediate response was to get down on the ground. He was the only one that was willing to get down on her level and meet her where she was. And he touched the dirt, and then he raised himself up and gave a response to

the accusation of the law. Come on, this is the gospel, this is you, this is me. Humanity is this woman. We were all caught in the act. And if the law had its way, it would have killed us, it would have destroyed us. But Jesus' response was to come down from heaven. He came down to earth and humbled himself. He touched the dirt. We are made of that dirt. He could feel our humanity. And then he raised himself up on a truss and gave a response to the accusation of the law. Oh I am that woman. You

are that woman. We were caught in the act, and Jesus' response was to come down to where we were. Oh, what would our world look like if people would just come down and humble themself and relate to other people. He came down and touched the third and then he raised himself up. He raised himself up to the point that he says, no man takes my life, I lay it down. He raised himself up on the cross, and he offered a response to the accusation of the law.

When he raised himself up, he looked at him and says, he who's without sin among you, you'd be the first to cast the stone, says One by one, starting with the oldest, even to the last, they dropped their rocks and walked away. He didn't even wait on him to drop the rock. He went right back down to doodling in the dirt, and every single one of them walked away. He who's without sin among you, you'd be the first to cast a stone. What is Jesus saying with that statement?

What is he saying? You know what he's saying. He's saying, I see you, I know what you did. You think you want to uphold the law. You're using this woman, You've dehumanized her to trap me, and you want to uphold the law. I am the word, I am the law. And if you really cared about the law, the law was clear that if somebody was caught in the act of adultery, that there had to be two witnesses seeing them in that and the law was to bring the woman and the man and stone both of them. So,

if you're really about upholding the law. Quick question, were the man where is it with? Many believes that this whole situation was a trap. It was a set up, not just to get Jesus, but they trapped this woman. And the reason the man wasn't there is because he was in on it. And Jesus could see to the core of who they were, and he says, I know what you did. You set this whole thing up. And in one statement, they were forced to do the most powerful thing any human can do, and that is to

look at themselves. Oh what would our world look like if we all looked on the inside of us the truth asked for his grace. One by one they came to the understanding, I'm not different than this woman who's on the ground. They dropped their rocket and walked away, and Jesus was left alone with the woman left alone in his presence. And I can see her because I think her head was down the whole tome, tears coming down her face. I don't even think she noticed that

they had left. Because sometimes you can go through so much and be beating down so much, and be so tired and so much pain, you don't even realize Jesus has already taken care of the thing that you've been crying about. I don't even think she noticed that they were gone, and I think he had to get her attention, say woman and A, hey, where are your accusers? I can see her going Jesus, you don't understand what's going

on the world. You don't see all. She realized Jesus had taken care of the thing that she was weeping about. I don't know who this is for today, but you need to understand. Jesus is taking care of the thing that you're weeping about, that you're crying about that you keep beating yourself up about. Jesus is handling it. One by one, they dropped their rocks. She realized they were God. She said, I have no Lord. Are you gonna condemn me? Neither do I condemn. You? Go your way and sin

no more, not sin no more. Neither do I condemn you. Walk shamefree, knowing that I did not come to condemn you. And that woman walked away after encountering grace and truth. You know what I wish those religious stuck up Pharisees would have done. They were right to check them and drop their rock, but they shouldn't have walked away. They should have came and knelt at the feet of this savior who is full of grace and truth and received him right where he was. Thank God for a savior

who is full of grace and truth. This savior, he's reaching out to all of us today saying, have an encounter with my grace and truth. He's speaking to the church today saying, will you be tethered to my character and will you start to show grace and truth. Oh God, I'm praying in this season where the world is so dark, that we would respond with grace and truth to the people around us. Give us the wisdom of when to

show grace and when to speak truth. That's what we need this time and in this season, living in the tension of grace and true. I'm just gonna ask, wherever you're watching this, that your head spowed, your eyes closed. No matter where you are, maybe you're watching and you feel like this woman so much shame, condemnation. Enemy has been tormenting you about mistakes in your past. Can I tell you that if Jesus was a condemner, God would have sent a condemner in the world. But he didn't.

He sent a savior. No matter what you're facing, no matter what you're going through, This wonderful Savior who is full of grace and truth. His arms are open to you today. If you need to receive him. I want you just right where you're watching, maybe friends are there. Just lift up your hand and just as a response to say, I need to give this savior my life,

my life. Thank you God. Maybe you're watching the day and you say, you know what I need to be a person that lives in the tension of grace and truth. You've surrendered your life to Jesus. But maybe you're too much grace and don't speak the truth when you need to it. Maybe it's too much truth and you're crushing

people and you don't have the spirit of grace. But I'm believing in this season especially, the voice of the Holy Spirit is going to be so strong of the inside of you to let you know when to operate in grace and truth and live in the tension of both. If that's your heart's cry, you'll just lift up your head and say, Lord, let that be mean, Let that be mean. Father. I thank you for your word, but I thank you in the midst of a world that

has so much tension. Father, we can get strong or as we live in the tension of grace and truth in Jesus' mighty matchless name. Come on, somebody, say amen and give God some praise to the Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast,

you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.