Canceled Judgment

But the interesting part about this whole little scenario slash game is that , without really knowing the answers to those questions , you guys judge them based off how they look right , and you all would be lying if you said I would never do that , I wouldn't judge them . You judge them all right . Let's be real .

You're looking at Derek and Corey going hmm , who's more likely to play basketball ? Well , corey looks more physical than Derek because Derek's skinny , so Corey most likely would be able to play basketball . Right , we judge based off appearance .

So when I asked you those questions , you looked at Corey and Derek and you began to judge them based on how they looked right . No one wants to admit that because you don't want . You are all holy and righteous and perfect people and this message means nothing to y'all because you all are perfect at this . We judge them based on how they look .

All right , I'm just going to admit it for you . We judge them based on how they look . And can I ? Can I be real ? We're going to talk about judgment tonight , and so , if you are taking notes , I want you to write down the title of my message , and it's this Cancelled judgment , cancelled judgment . Can you say that for me ? Cancelled judgment . Say it All .

Right , we're going to be louder than that . Say it one more time . Cancelled judgment . We do this all the time . We're talking about judgment tonight . We judge people all the time . Whether we know it or not , we are constantly judging people . We judge people based on how they look , right , you judge people on their facial features . Somebody got a pimple ?

We're making fun of them . Right , that's what you do . We judge people . If somebody doesn't have the right nose structure , we're judging them . If they don't got the perfect lips , we're judging . That's why . That's why all this hey , you laughing , but I'm being real . That's what we do . Why do you think people get plastic surgery ?

Because they don't want people judging how they look . We judge based on what people wear . If you're not wearing the newest shoes , ouch , I'm going to judge you . If you're not wearing the best jeans or the nice shirt , I'm going to judge you , like we judge , based on what people drive . Corey just got a brand new BMW and I'm judging him .

Right , I'm judging Corey's car because he got a nice car and I'm driving a Ford Explorer , a mom car . Right , judge me ? Okay , we judge people based on what they drive . If you're not driving a BMW , like Corey , what are you doing with your life ? All right , that's what we're saying . Right ? If you drive , what's ? Derek got A Honda Civic . Where is Derek ?

I just want to make fun of Derek all night . Where is he ? Did he leave ? He left , derek got a Derek . Derek can't drive , but he's got a car . He's got a Honda Civic . I just make fun of him because it's kind of fun . Oh , there he is . Hi , derek . Everybody say hi Derek .

We weren't just talking about you , but we judge people on how they talk to people . You ever judge somebody based on how they talk ? No , just me . Am I the only one ? Yes , I'm the only one . This message is just for me , then . But we judge people all the time .

I know we do this and I know you do this , whether you want to agree with me or not , but we are constantly judging people , maybe not out loud , maybe not directly to their face , but in our head . We are judging people and I want to read a scripture verse to you . You want to read it ? You want to hear a scripture verse ?

Yeah , yeah , get rid of your phones , but yeah , you're still talking . How's that going to work ? I want to read 1 Samuel 16-7 . Alright , 1 Samuel 16-7 says people look at the outward appearance , but God looks at the what , the what . I can't hear or see it . He looks at the what , the heart . Oh , so people look on the what . What do people look at ?

And God looks at what the heart , interesting . So people , we're people , right , I'm a person . Am I a person ? Are you a person ? We're people . Right , we're all people . So people look at the outward appearance , right , so we're all people , right , y'all are people , people . Are you a person ? Nick ? You're a person , all right , you guys people .

John , you're a person , right ? Okay ? So it says people look at the outward appearance , but God looks at the what , the heart . So this is telling us right here . So you don't have to listen to me , listen to the Bible . The Bible says people look at the outward appearance . So that , basically , is saying God is telling us .

We as people , we are judging people based on how they look . We are judging people based on what they wear and we are looking at the outward appearance . But see , god judges a person by their heart . What does that mean ? What does that mean Is God is judging you based on how you act . God is judging you based on how you treat people .

God is judging you based on whether you not judge somebody by how they look . And God is judging our hearts . He doesn't judge you based on the mistakes you made . He judges by the heart . There's a story in the Bible , in chapter or the book of John , chapter 8 , that I want to read to you .

Maybe you've heard this story , maybe you haven't , but if you're , if you've never heard this story , I want you to give your attention to me , and so , if you aren't paying attention , I want you to start paying attention .

Alright , I want to read this story to you and it's about Jesus encountering this woman , and this woman did something really bad , and these people were trying to get Jesus to basically say go ahead and do something to her . So let's just I'm just gonna read it to you .

It says Jesus went to the Mount of Olives early in the morning he came again to the temple . All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them Describes , and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst . They said to him teacher , this woman has been caught in the act of adultery .

Now , in the law of Moses , command us to stone her . So that ? So what do you say ? So these people are basically asking Jesus , can we kill this woman ? Tell us if we can kill her right now . So what do you say

? They asked Jesus this . They said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him . So , jesus , he bent down , he wrote with his finger on the ground and as they continued to ask him , he stood up and he said this to them let him who is without sin among you , be the first to throw a stone at her .

And once more , he bent down and wrote on the ground . But when they heard it , they went away one by one , beginning with the older ones , and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him . Jesus stood up and said to her woman where are they ? Has no one condemned you ? Has no one thrown a rocket you . She said no one , Lord .

And Jesus says neither do I condemn you . Go and from now on , sin no more . I want to tell you the significance of this story , because maybe you don't understand , maybe you don't see what happens in this story , but can I encourage you with this ? First is we should be looking through the lens of how Jesus sees people . What do I mean by that ?

In this story , we see that Jesus , he is teaching people and the Pharisees and scribes who are these people ? Those people are the religious leaders who think they know better , who think they're so wise , who think they're so smart , who think they know exactly what to do and how to do it .

So they bring this woman to Jesus and says hey , this woman has sinned and she's done something very terrible and in the law we are supposed to stone her and kill her . What do you want us to do ?

So Jesus doing what Jesus does , which no one can really fully understand , he gets up and he tells them those who have not sinned can throw the first stone , those without sin can throw the first stone . And we see in the story what happened is , as they began to leave , every single person just began to left . Why ?

Because they have sinned Every single one of those people that were condemning this woman and wanting to kill this woman . They have sinned , so they began to leave . And then we get to the end of the scripture and it says Jesus asks her where is everybody ? Where did all these people go ? Why are they not here ?

And Jesus is like why has no one condemned you ? And she says no one is here , lord , I don't know why they're not here . And Jesus then replies says neither do I . And can I tell you something ? If anybody in that circle could have killed her that moment and could have condemned her and thrown rocks at her , it would have been Jesus .

Because Jesus never sinned . Jesus has never sinned in his entire life that he was on the earth . He never once did anything he wasn't supposed to do . He never once committed a sin . But can I tell you , in that moment he could have done what everybody was asking him to do . But instead , what did he say ?

He says neither do I , I'm not gonna condemn you , I'm not gonna judge you . See , jesus didn't see what this woman did . He wasn't looking at her mistake . He wasn't looking at what this woman had done , what he was doing . He was looking at who she was . He was looking at who this , who this woman was on the inside .

See , can I encourage you with that , jesus ? He sees you for who you are and not what you've done . And I think I need somebody in this room to hear that right now . Jesus doesn't see you for what you've done , he sees you for who you are . And that's what he did with this woman . He knew this woman .

She wasn't just titled as a person who committed adultery . No , she had so much more than that . So he let her go and she says go and sin no more . See , jesus saw this woman as a human who made a mistake . It was in desperate need of love . She was in need of somebody to help her .

She was in need of a savior , in need of somebody to take that weight off of her , to take that sin away and love her .

So I think we all need to challenge ourselves with this tonight , because every single one of us in here , we judge people all the time , and I think we need to challenge ourselves the next time we want to judge somebody , the next time we want to look at somebody and judge them . Because Jesus says , he who is without sin cast the first stone .

We need to ask ourselves should we really be judging these people ? See , all of us , we sin every single day , all of us . So who are we to judge people ? Who are we to make fun of somebody ? Who are we to question what somebody does something ? Who are we to make somebody's fun of somebody's appearance ? Who are we to question what somebody wears ?

Who are we to judge people ? See Jesus , he calls us to live a life of mercy , not of judgment towards others . What does mercy mean Means ? Despite what somebody has done to you , you're going to forgive them anyway . You're going to love them anyway . You're going to give them grace anyway .

There's a scripture verse in James 2.13 that says For judgment is without mercy To one who has shown no mercy . Mercy triumphs over judgment . Mercy is better than judgment . Being kind to somebody is better than judgment . Loving somebody is better than judgment . Loving people that nobody else cares about is better than judgment and will go farther than judgment

. I want to ask you something , and many of you you were maybe here on Sunday when I said this , but I want to ask you something and I want you to raise your hand to this question how many of you in here like to be judged by people ? Raise your hand . Wow , okay , that's the answer I expected . No one raises their hand .

None of us want to be judged , right ? None of us want to be judged . None of us want to be made fun of . None of us want to be bullied . None of us want to be questioned about the way we look or the way we talk or what we do or what we say . And I think we all can say no to that question .

But I want to give you a scripture verse that's kind of interesting , that maybe you've heard . Maybe you haven't heard , but this is actually in the Bible and it says in Matthew 7.12, . So whatever you wish that others would do to , you do also to them .

If I just asked you that question in Matthew 7.12 , or I asked you that question do you like to be judged ? Nobody raised their hand , but yet we continuously judge people , we continuously make fun of people , but it says right here so whatever you wish that others would do to , you do also to them .

So if we don't want to be judged , if we don't want to be made fun of , then why are we doing it to other people .

I think some of you all in here need to have a real heart check , and I hope you're listening , because I think so many of us in here and I am included in this , I know my leaders are included in this is we have a heart check that we need to do when it comes to judging people . I look at people all the time and I judge them , and God .

As I've been reading this scripture , as I've been working on this message , I have been allowing the Lord to do a heart check in me . I've been allowing the Lord to question my motives . Why am I judging somebody ? Why am I allowing myself to go down that path ? Why am I doing this ?

Because if I wouldn't want somebody to do it to me , then why would I choose to do it to somebody else ? And I think we need to ask ourselves that question , and I think if a lot of you were real honest with yourselves , you would say that , yeah , I do judge people and I shouldn't . I shouldn't treat people the way I treat people .

I shouldn't live that life of mistreating my friends or mistreating people that I don't even know . There's a scripture verse in Romans 14-12 that says this . So then each of us will give an account of himself to God .

Therefore , let us not pass judgment on one another any longer , but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother .

See , we are not to judge others , can I tell you , god is the only one that can judge us , and one day I'm just going to be real honest one day we're going to die , and one day , if you have invited the Lord into your heart and you have followed Jesus , you are going to enter into heaven and you are going to come before the Lord and he is going to

judge us on how we judge people . And I don't know about you , but I don't think I can safely say that I can go into heaven and say , man , I never judged somebody before . See , and we will be judged based on how we judge others .

I want to say this to you See , who you are now , right now , in this moment , is not who you're going to be in 10 years . I kind of talked about this a little last week . Who I was in high school is not who I am today , right . So who you are right here , right now , in this space , you will not be this person in 10 years .

The friends that you surround yourself with ? They will not be the same person in 10 years . The people that you don't even associate with at school , but you just maybe glance out , or maybe the people you judge or make fun of . Those people aren't going to be the same in 10 years .

And the reason why I'm saying this is because why should we judge somebody else as they are learning and growing and who they're going to become ? Each and every single one of you in this spot , in this seat , you are learning every day who you're going to be . Whether you're a young man or a young girl , you are going to learn who you're going to become .

You're learning in high school who you want to be , how you want to treat people , how you want to act , who you want to surround yourself with . And can I tell you , if you are not , every single day , learning how to be a human being , learning how to be a man , learning how to be a woman , you're doing yourself with this favor .

And I say this because somebody else is also learning . So if they make a mistake , maybe they did something to you , man . They're learning how to be a friend . Can I let me put it this way , even adults are still learning .

So your parents , whoever's in charge of you , they're still learning how to raise you , because , can I tell you , every single time you hit a new age , it's a new age for them to raise a kid . So when they make a mistake and they do something you don't like , man , they're still learning .

So why would we judge our parents and get mad at them for a mistake that they made ? Each and every single one of us , we are learning every single day who we're going to be , every single day , and we should not judge people based on who they're going to be or who they are right now . See , we need to focus on our own walk with God .

We need to focus on who we are going to be and stop invading other people's lives .

Some of you are too invested in other people's lives that it's just weird , and I'm not going to call out my wife here , because she can do whatever she wants , but every once in a while , she'll talk about somebody and she'll see something on Instagram and I'm like why are you still following them ? And she's like I'm just invested in their life .

I'm like , if I don't care about somebody's life , I'm not going to follow them . If I don't need to follow them , I'm not going to follow them . She follows people that she hasn't seen in 15 years . I'm like why are you still following that person ? They're not even in your life . But some of you , you have invaded other people's lives too much .

You're more worried about what other people are doing . You're more worried about judging other people's lives . You're more worried about seeing somebody else's story on social media and going , oh , they can afford that . It's so easy for me to look at Corey's car and go can he really afford that car ? He can really afford a BMW , really .

But who am I to judge him ? I don't know what he does . I don't know how much money he makes . I don't know what he's doing with his life . It's not my place to judge Corey . It's his place to just buy a nice car if he wants it . Who are we to invade other people's lives and question other people's decisions and choices ?

And I want to say this as we close Some of you all in here , you need to focus on your relationship with God , because I believe some of you are lacking in your walk with the Lord , but yet you're out here judging everybody else for how they're living their life . Some of you all don't even have a relationship with God .

Some of you all come to church , sit in this room and goof around I see you goofing around . Some of you all come in this space and you don't even listen to me .

You can do whatever you want , but can I tell you what happens in this space , what happens in this environment right here , can change your life if you choose to listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth .

And I say that because I wish somebody would have told me that when I was choosing to skip out on youth group , I wish somebody would have come up to me and said oh , you're an idiot , stop ditching youth group and go listen to the dude that's talking to you , because what he's saying right now could potentially change your life for the better .

Nobody say that to me . So I'm saying it to you .

For those that don't listen right now , for those that think this is the dumbest thing ever , and why are we sitting here , can I tell you what is being said right here , right now , can really change your life and you can really learn how to be a better person If you choose to soak up what is being said and take it and apply it to your life when you

leave . That's what church is about . It's inviting Jesus into our heart and saying you know what , lord , I need somebody to help me because , can I tell you something ? Life is hard . You all have experienced it . Some of you all have hard lives .

Can I tell you , we just filmed an episode of the podcast today with Corey , derek and Mackenzie and we just talked about our stories . Can I tell you , corey has had a hard life . Derek has had a hard life . Mackenzie I mean , I'm just kidding she's had a hard life too . I'm just joking , but those three leaders over there , they've had hard lives .

They've had crap happen to them . Derek and Corey both almost got arrested . Derek did get arrested . Like we have people over here that are I'm just kidding , but we've every single one of us in this room have a hard life . Amanda , her life isn't easy . Austin's life wasn't easy . Jeremy's life isn't easy . My life was never easy , jeffrey . I just said Jeremy .

I was like that's not your name , jeffrey . I was like wait a second , thomas , every leader in this room , man , so I know that your life is not easy . So can I tell you that in this moment , you have an opportunity to soak up what the Lord wants to speak into your life . You have an opportunity to say you know what ?

I don't know what's going on in my life right now . I don't know what's happening in my life right now . Maybe my life is perfect . Maybe your life is perfect , great . Maybe your life sucks . Maybe you got some hard hands that were dealt to you . You didn't ask to be in the home life that you're in , but yet you're in it .

You didn't ask to be with the siblings , but yet you got them . You didn't ask to maybe go to the school that you're going to , but you're going there . You didn't ask to maybe have the grandparents that you got , but you got them .

But can I tell you the person that's gonna never change and that's always gonna be the same as Jesus , and the beauty of the things that we do in this room , the reason we do the things in this room is for you to have an opportunity to have an encounter with God . See , I wanna encourage you with this before we spend some time worshiping .

Judging others will not make your life better . I think a lot of us . We think if we judge other people , our life will get better . My life , maybe . You just say to yourself my life is terrible , so I'm just gonna take it out on other people . Can I tell you that's why bullies do what they do .

If you didn't know this , that's why bullies do what they do is because their life , they have some stuff that's in their life that they don't wanna deal with , so they just take it out on other people . There's a reason why people do what they do , but so judging others will not make your life better , so you will only make your life worse .

So seriously ask yourself the next time you wanna judge someone . Ask yourself the next time you wanna judge somebody . Ask yourself the next time you wanna make fun of somebody . Man , do I really wanna go down this path right now ? Do I really wanna be that person ?

And I think we just need to take the opportunity to remove the judgment from our lives , remove the eyes of judgment and put the eyes of Jesus on .

Can I tell you , jesus is a man who loves you , but not only does he love you , he loves the person you're sitting next to , he loves the person in this room that you don't even know Some of you don't even know people in this room . Can I tell you they love that person . He loves that person too .

Can I tell you the person that is at school that sits by themselves every week , every day Jesus loves that guy too . The homeless people that go to the fridge every day out here , man , jesus loves them too . The person that cuts you off in traffic for my drivers out there , jesus loves that guy too .

Can I tell you , for the person that maybe wants to cuss you out and yell at you and call you all the names under the sun , jesus actually loves that person too . Here's your advice Journey .

So , when somebody wants to mistreat you , when somebody wants to say something about you , when somebody wants to start rumors about you , when somebody is mistreating you , can I tell you you know what you should do . You wanna know what to do . You turn around and you choose to love them like Jesus would love them . That's your guidance right there . Why ?

Because that's the one thing that those people are gonna see and they're gonna go wait what Like they can call you like ? Literally , the next time you wanna get in a school fight , don't even

try to fight . The next time you do something and somebody comes up to you and they call you every name under the sun and they wanna cuss you out and before they even start throwing hands . You know what I'm saying . Defend yourself , but do this first , instead of starting like that .

When they come up to you and they say those things to you , the first thing out of your mouth should be man , I forgive you , man , I don't wanna fight right now . This is so stupid . I forgive you for whatever it is that we're going through . Let's just be friends and call it a day . Can I tell you , they will be so shocked .

They will be so shocked that you just said that they wanna know what to do with themselves . They will not have any idea on what to do . They might still beat you up , I don't know . But fight them back . Okay , defend yourself . That's all I'm gonna say . But we should treat people the way that Jesus wants to treat people .

And can I tell you , the way Jesus treats people is the way every single one of us wants to be treated right . We just said none of us wanna be judged right . We don't wanna be judged for who we are . We don't wanna be made fun of that's being Jesus to people . If you didn't know , jesus never judged anybody . He never cussed anybody out .

He never made fun of people . The only thing that he did was when people got mad at him , he would turn around and love them . He would turn around and give them mercy and forgive them and love them , despite them being punks and idiots and jerks for trying to make fun of them .

See , god loves you and God loves everyone , and so I want you to take this message to heart , because I think in your generation , it's so easy to judge people , it's so easy to make fun of somebody , and so what we're just gonna do for a moment is we're just gonna spend some time worshiping my leaders .

They're not gonna really be at the front , they're just gonna kinda stand off in the back or on the sides here , and if you want to have prayer , you can go up to a leader . But what I'm actually gonna do is I want everybody to get out of their seat and we're gonna come up to the front .

That's what we're gonna do , and we're gonna spend time with this team who's taking time to worship or to practice and worship , and so you can stand up , come to the front . But just for a second . Just try to be quiet . I know you're getting up and moving . Find a space in the front , come on .

Find a space you can spread out if you need to spread out , but just for a moment . Here's what I want . Here's what I want . If you're gonna find a time to be distracting right now , go sit back down , okay , cause I don't want anybody to be distracted in this moment , cause what we're gonna do is I'm gonna create an environment for you to worship .

What does worship mean ? I'm gonna teach you for a second . While we got some time . The team's gonna lead us in a song that maybe you've heard before . Maybe you haven't heard Shh group in the back . If we're gonna talk , sit down , shh , okay . I'm dead serious . Worship is a time for us to come into a moment in like this space .

Whether you want to raise your hands or not , that's up to you , but what is an opportunity for is for you to just man .

I do judge people , right . This is what maybe I would do if I was worshiping right now . Okay , as the song is being played , man the Lord . I'm just going to allow him to speak to me . Maybe I do judge somebody .

Maybe a story does come to mind where I've made fun of somebody , bullied somebody , and now is my opportunity , in this moment , while we're singing , to surrender that to him . Did I say what ? You know what , lord ? I give this to you , god , I don't want to judge people anymore . I don't want to live that life . I don't want to treat people like that .

And it's your opportunity to look at the words and to open yourself up to allow God to speak . And can I tell you , just like when I speak in a message , in a moment like this , can I tell you , the most powerful things that I've ever experienced from God has been in a worship environment .

So , in this space , take it seriously , just like I said , with the message if you listen to me , man , your life will be changed . Can I say in this moment , your life will be changed . Why ? Because you're allowing yourself to be open to what God wants to speak to you .

You're allowing yourself to be open to the potential of changing who you are and allowing God to change who you are . I know it can happen . I've seen it happen . This is the last thing I'm going to say before I pray is that if you want that change to happen , then you have to do something about it , and this is what this opportunity is for .

Our leaders are in the back . Our leaders are in the room . Find a leader if you want somebody to pray for you . If not , keep this space quiet unless you're singing . I don't want to see any distractions , I don't want to see any talking . Let's just take a moment to encounter God right now .

Lord , I just thank you for what you're doing , lord , I just thank you for who you are . And God , right now .

I asked it in this moment that you would speak to every single student that's in this space , god , that you would open their heart to hear from you , god , that you would open their heart and that you would speak to them , god , that they would hear from you , that you would change them and that they would encounter you in this moment , right here , right now ,

as we worship . So , god , we give this moment up to you for the next five minutes or so and God , we say have your way and do what only you can do , and in Jesus' name , and we all said amen .