The Speck Of Saw Dust In Your Brothers Eye | When Wheat & Weed Are Sowed Together

Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye?" When all the time there is a plank in your own eye, you hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. That is from Matthew 7 that's verse 1 through 5 and it's a humbling one for sure. He's calling on us not to judge. Matthew 7 is titled "Judging Others". I have recently prayed. A lot of my prayers look like asking God to show me where I'm deceived, to show me where I'm off. The hardest part about that is it's a really scary prayer because you can get exposed pretty quickly. It doesn't always happen immediately but it will happen. So there's that Bible verse. I've been in a Bible study where we're diving into Matthew and that's really been on my heart. He tells us many times in the scripture that if we want to be forgiven, we must forgive. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, you're a heavenly father also. Forgive you but if you do not forgive others, their sins, your father will not forgive your sins which is Matthew 614. So we're diving into how easy it is to be a hypocrite and how easy it is to be judgmental. There was a tweet from the Pope and transparently I'm not Catholic but it was a really good tweet and I can't find it but something along the lines of him saying, you can practice Sabbath all you want. You can fast all you want. You can do all these sacrificial acts all you want but it says in the scripture that the Lord desires mercy. He does not desire sacrifice. And if you continue to judge and you continue to use your words to bring people down or to speak poorly about people, those sacrifices are just exactly that. They're sacrifices. He tells us in the scripture that that all of these parables, all of these principles are to be taken very seriously. You're not to put one above the other and it's so easy to judge. I'm reading another tweet from the Pope. It says, Jesus teaches us that true righteousness consists in love and that within every precept of the law, we must learn to identify a call to love. It is not enough to refrain from killing a person physically. If one then kills with words and undermines the other person's dignity. So killing is not just killing physically but it's also if one then kills with their words and undermines the other person's dignity, it's no different. Now, again, I've prayed for this. This is kind of, this is very relevant to the story that I'm going to share with you today. And when I first started this podcast, I was kind of looking back at some of the old podcasts. I used to just share things that I was learning. It was really just a documentation of process and now a lot of the time, it's a little bit more structured and I have more to say, but back in the day, it was just me ripping things that were on the top of my mind. And this is something that has been on the top of my mind. So I've been going to church and this is kind of a call to action for anybody who's faithful to find a church. I have been resistant to finding a church because I'm a big fan of of 2819, which is online. It's the one I listen to and I am just kind of hesitant to put myself in a situation to be in a church where maybe they aren't super backed by the scripture and whatever you want to say there, like it's my own opportunity there that I've been kind of resistant to finding a church in Arizona. And recently we found a church. We said, you know what, we're just going to go try one out. And what do you know? We found a church that we really loved. And the first, the first sermon that we heard at this church was all about grace. The last couple of sermons they've been doing are about grace. And this sermon was about how kindness is a tangible expression of grace. How we express grace horizontally is through kindness. Jesus came to us in kindness. The fruit of the spirit is kindness. And again, kindness is a tangible expression of grace. There's physical kindness, which is acts of kindness, doing good to those around you. And then there's relational kindness revealing itself and how we act and treat people, how we interact with them. He said in this sermon to put Christ on display, which I really loved. He referenced Romans 2.4. And the takeaways there is that Jesus was tolerant and patient. He referenced Psalm 103 8 through 11, his loving kindness, compassionate and gracious, Ephesians 432, tenderhearted and forgiving. And so we're clear on how Jesus was. He was kind. He was tolerant, patient, tenderhearted, forgiving, compassionate and gracious. It's a call to action to us to be the same for other people. He then goes on to talk about what kindness looks like in marriage and your work in the church. And there's a lot of great things there. Take the road of kindness. He says, demonstrate the grace of God. Grace begets grace. The more that you are graceful, the more grace you receive, right? Just demonstrate Christ like kindness. Put Christ on display. A person who is nice to you, but is not nice to the waiter, is not a nice person. I loved that. He also said to be careful to remember how easy it is to fall back into bad habits. And he said, last thing I'll share from the first sermon, if you have trouble being kind, spend more time with God. If you have trouble being kind, spend more time with God. Because if you are struggling to be kind, it's a good tell that you haven't experienced God's kindness. And maybe it's a reminder that we haven't sat in the presence of God enough because we are all sinners. We are all imperfect. And how easy it is to find the speck of dust in your brother's eye and not see the the one in yours, right? And when you're so quick to judge, I think it's a like he said, it's a good call to action for us to maybe slow down and to experience God's kindness, Jesus' kindness in our own life and his grace in our own life because I am imperfect in so many ways and have a lot to be forgiven for. So therefore I shall forgive. Pretty simple. Those are basic principles of the Bible. It's easy to forget though. Fun fact, as I'm looking through my notes, I just want to share this as well. The Bible is 66 books over 1600 years, over three continents, and around 40 different authors, which is just incredible. I just want to share that that's a fun fact about the Bible, how in depth the Bible is. Now this sermon was all about grace again. It was about the parable of the good Samaritan. And there was a study done where there was 40, there was these students and they were they were late to preach. Basically, I think their preacher isn't their late to preach. I'm not going to say this perfectly, but you can take the message. They're in a hurry. We've talked about the ruthless elimination of hurry. And there's somebody that they hired as an actor to lay down in the street, sick and hurt, and lay in the way of these pastors or these preachers who were on the way to deliver their sermon. And remember, they're late. And the study showed that only 40% of these students stopped to help the actor. 40%, which is insane. And it goes hand in hand with the parable of the good Samaritan. Now a fast forward and just kind of give you some some background in the parable of the good Samaritan. It says, this is in Luke 10, 25 through 37. It says, on one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I'll say that again. What must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law? He replied, how do you read it? And he answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. You have answered correctly, Jesus replied, do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And reply, Jesus said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. Now just some background, the the path from Jerusalem to Jericho was known as a place where there were robbers. There were a lot of bushes. I want to say I'm looking at my notes. It was 20 miles long. It was somewhat of a bad road. And when people knew this, right? And so it says, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho where he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes. They beat him and they went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road. And when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So be very clear, they're the priest passed by on the other side. So to a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side, but a Samaritan as he traveled came where the man was. And when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandage his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out two denari, just so you know, denari was the usual daily wage of a day labor. And he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have had. And so a priest in a Levite walk by him and a Samaritan stops and helps him. So right away, the Samaritan had compassion. That's worth saying here. The Samaritan helped a Jew. He had compassion and background information for you as well. Samaritans were viewed as back in the day. one foot in one foot out. They drove the Jews crazy. In John 4.9 it talks about Samaritans as emoral. Jews had no doings with Samaritans and so it's funny to recognize that the priest in the Levite walked past him and the Samaritans was the one that had compassion. The Samaritans was the one that was action oriented. He got moving. The Samaritans was the one who provided physical help. He sought to completion without blame or question. This Samaritans showed grace. He didn't look at this guy and say, "Oh, you idiot. Why are you walking on this path by yourself when you know that people get robbed here?" And he helped him. Right? And so it's so funny that these two, the Jews and the Samaritans were kind of against each other from what I'm understanding and the Samaritans was the one that helped this individual. And so the question is, is who really is my neighbor? And here's what he says, "Nabers are anyone in our sphere of influence. Whoever is right in front of you, anyone and everyone that he puts on your path." Say that again, "Your neighbor is anyone and everyone who he puts on your path. Neighbors are anyone who needs grace." Now as I kind of tie up what this sermon was about, he made a joke about when he was in Detroit, it was a really tough town and he would call people EGR. He would say this in his church. They were people that needed EGR. Extra grace required. And he jokes about how one day he's praying and he comes to a realization that he, the pastor is also in EGR. Somebody that needs extra grace. And the whole point is we all need extra grace. It's more of an even ground than you would ever recognize. We all need extra grace. This is a call to action to keep your eyes on your own paper. I literally wrote my notes here, Drake, "You need to pray to be more graceful. Pray for forgiveness because of my tendency to judge whether or not you show grace to those around you. Your neighbor determines the quality of your walk with God." I was humbled very quickly because I like to think that I'm somebody that walks with God. I'm somebody that's in the scripture. I'm somebody that's praying. Somebody that's trying every single day to be the best I can be. And he said, "Whether or not you show grace to those around you, your neighbor will determine the quality of your walk with God." He said, "Through showing, through loving those around us." I'll say that again. He said, "Through loving those around us shows what kind of grace you have felt. If you can't show grace, it's because you haven't received grace. Once again, if you can't show kindness in grace, it's because you haven't experienced God's kindness in grace. Truly, you haven't actually received his grace." And I think about this a lot with in the scripture how it talks about whitewash tombs. I've talked about this on my podcast before. Kind of your intention that you have. What's your intention? What is the inside of your cup look like? And are you somebody that is walking with grace? Now here's the funniest part. And this is what the podcast is about. My first note that I wrote for this podcast is, "Saad us and your brother's eye." Jesus is grace. He's kindness. Grace means loving your neighbor. Well, literally God has a sense of humor. I have prayed for God to show me where I'm off. I'm sitting in the sermon and we start the, we start, start church with, with worship. And there's a woman next to me who is belting out singing. She's louder than the people singing on stage. She's ahead. She doesn't know the word. She's reading them on the screen and she's belting it out loud. Immediately, my eyes go to her and I'm judging. I'm calling myself out here. I'm judging. I'm like, "Wow, she's really into this and she really wants to be heard. But who am I? Who am I to judge that?" Immediately. I'm like, "Okay, Drake. Chill out, man. Have some grace. Have some kindness. She's worshiping. Who are you to judge somebody in their, in their space of worship?" Right? She should get to sing along. Like, that's, we're encouraged to sing along. And I'm, I'm the guy that's just starting to get comfortable with, with worship. I've never been a big guy that sings along with it. And so, yeah, I'm finding my own path there. And I kind of just had this moment where I was like, "Wow, she's really belting out there. Drake, keep your eyes on your own paper." Okay, so we sit down and the sermon starts and the sermon was probably 40 minutes. And for 40 minutes, this woman sat on her phone and texted for the entire 40 minutes. And I'm distracted. And I'm looking at her. And I'm disgusted. I'm frustrated. I'm trying to hear a sermon about having grace. And, and about how if you haven't, if you, and about how loving your neighbor, right? And how your neighbor is everyone. Your neighbor is anybody in your sphere of influence. Your neighbor is anybody he puts on your path. Your neighbor is is again, anyone who needs grace. And here I am during the sermon while he is talking about grace, judging literally my neighbor who is sitting right next to me for being on their phone. I have no idea what they're texting about. She could be texting her mother who is sick. She could be checking on her kids. Who am I to judge that? And I just had this moment where I was like so frustrated with myself because it's so easy to look at other people's paper. It's so easy to judge. But remember, the measure that you use is the measure that will be used to you. And I think back to when I used to be in church, after my career, I'd be, I had just started going to church again. And I'm in church and I'm like scrolling on my phone. It's Sunday. So I'm checking the NFL scores back when I used to watch football at the time. And I'm checking the scores of the football games. And it's like, well, the measure that I use is the measure that I will be, is what I will be measured to. And I'm measuring her in this moment for being on her phone. And I'm so quick to forget all the times that I was checking NFL scores in church. And it's just like humbling. And I'm obviously calling myself out. But I just think it's funny how easy it is to focus on what other people are doing and how empty that is and how easy it is to forget all the things, all the shortcomings you've had, right? And when you are slow to give grace, have you even received grace, as what he said in the sermon? And it just humbled me. And then I, as I've prayed for God to open my eyes in the areas that I'm off, well, it's very clear to me that I'm very off there. And I have a lot of room to grow on the grace that I give to others. And I just thought I'd share that. I hope that you hear that story. And maybe you reflect and just ask yourself, are you somebody who is graceful? Are you somebody that's understanding and kind? I finally refocus on the sermon. And then she throws a mint in her mouth and she starts chomping on the mint as I'm trying to listen to the sermon. I'm like, oh my God, I'm being tested, literally, I'm being tested. And I'm laughing to myself. But I also get in the car with the kale and afterwards. And I'm frustrated about it. And then I watch an old man hit somebody's car and then drive away in the church parking lot. And I'm literally looking at me, kale and like, you know how bad I want to judge this guy? And how bad I want to like, like, what are we doing? We're in a church parking lot. And this is happening. And this is where it's like, we are also imperfect. And this is the entire point of grace. We are imperfect. And we will never be perfect. And Jesus was the only perfect man. And, you know, it's, it's humbling for sure. Jesus requires mercy. He wants mercy. He doesn't want sacrifice. Sacrifice is literally an Old Testament sacrificing animals. Sacrifice is, oh, I practice Sabbath because it says in the scripture, you should be practicing Sabbath. You should be fasting. It says in the scripture. And when we fast, but really what he wants is a loving relationship and open heart posture, a graceful heart. He wants mercy. And it's just easy to forget what that actually looks like. And it's easy to just judge other people. And so that's the first place that my eyes have been opened where I'm off. Right. Now today's Bible study, we talked about the parable of the weeds. And what's so awesome is I listened to Philip Anthony Mitchell's sermon last night on the parable of the weeds. And he's super intense. And I love him for it because he's so grounded by the scripture. And he does such a great job of breaking it down. And so here I'm going to read you the parable of the weeds. And before I read this, I just want to preference that there's the parable of the sower that comes before. It talks about a sower who is Jesus, who is God, who is sowing the seed. He does not discriminate. He gives the seed to everybody. He sows it on the path, which is hard. He sows it on a rocky ground. He sows it into thorns. And he sows it in the good soil. The rocks, the path as a hardened heart, a closed off or distracted cynical heart. The birds are the evil and the doubt and they snatch it away immediately. They eat the seed right away. These are individuals that are closed off in cynical who don't even allow themselves to receive the word. Remember, the word is sowed from God. And it is available to everybody. And then there's a rocky ground. This is a person who receives the word with excitement, but has no depth. They might be moved emotionally. Oh, I'm excited to read the scripture and have it in my Instagram bio. But then when hardship occurs, their faith fades rocky ground. And the parable gives an example of a it blooming right away. The seed falls into the rocks. It blooms. But because it's not rooted, the sun comes up and it kind of withers away. It dwindles away because the sun fries it because it's not rooted. And that is what it looks like to be excited about the word, but not actually be rooted and grounded in it. And then there's thorns which represent distractions. You could call these worries, money, pleasure, comparison, the pursuit of comfort. You can also call those thorns anxiety because anxiety does not come from God. It's a distraction. You can also call those thorns comparison. Whatever it is, you understand what I'm saying. But there is, it doesn't bear any fruit because of this distraction. And then there's a good soil. This is a humble and receptive heart. Someone who listens and understands and applies God's truth. This life multiplies blessings by 30, 1600 fold. It says that in the scripture that's Matthew 13, 1 through 9. Now we're going to move on to the parable of the weeds, which is Matthew 13, 24 through 30. I got in this Bible study and I asked him like, I'll let you guys kind of start. What did you take away? And nobody had anything to say. They were confused by this parable. Well, the The parable says that Jesus told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the weeds. And he went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, "Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?" "An enemy did this," he replied. The servants asked him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" "No," he answered. Because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn." And so there's the parable again, nobody really had much to take away there. Now, I'm going to share with you my notes from Philip Anthony Mitchell. And again, this will be linked in the show notes below. Talks about two farmers. There's one farmer who sows good seed and there's one farmer who sows weeds. Now in the first century AD, in the agricultural world, disciples would have been familiar with this scenario. There were farmers that would sow wheat, grain, and then there would be another farmer who had some kind of animosity who would come at night and sow weeds into the field. And so there's farmer A, who was farming, sowing the wheat, and then farmer B, who has animosity who comes at nighttime and sows weed into the field. Now back story, back in the day there was something called "Darnell Wheat." Only found in the middle east, and when you sow it into the ground, it looks identical to wheat. It looks identical to it. So you literally can't even tell. Well, they are grown and you cannot tell them apart. The Darnell Wheat has poison in their roots. Only once they are fully grown, can you tell that one is weed and one is wheat. Once fully grown, they are too intertwined in their roots. And if you decide to try and separate them too early, you might pull out a weed and destroy the crop. How about that? Side note, there's a podcast from Founders Podcast where he talks about Jesus and he talks about how knowledgeable Jesus is and how Jesus literally understands things about agriculture that are insane. Remember, this guy was a carpenter. So it's one of those moments where you just realize how intelligent and amazing Jesus was. And once they are fully grown, these roots are so intertwined that it's almost impossible to pull these apart. It's extremely challenging without destroying the crop. And so when the wheat is finally harvested, they put it into the barn where it is safe. And when the weed is pulled apart, they put it into the furnace and they burn it for fuel. They burn it in the furnace. There's something there, right? Now, a couple of things I want to make sure we understand. It says, again, I'll go back to the parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. Good seed. So the seed he sowed is good. And obviously, the enemy sowed weed, weeds against or amongst the wheat. Now as we move on, we go to verse 36. This is when Jesus is exposatory teaching. He's explaining line by line, verse by verse, what's going on. There's three parables that are told after the parable of the sower. And yet the disciples only want to hear about one, which is the parable of the weeds. Very interesting. I also think it's worth noting that these disciples were hungry. They were hungry for knowledge. They were hungry to understand the teachings of Jesus at an even deeper level. Obviously, Jesus spoke in parables. That was as a judgment for the rejection, but it was also to fulfill prophecy. And so Jesus calls us to understand him at an even deeper level. I found that interesting. And so the reason that we have a deeper explanation of this is because these disciples are hungry for more knowledge, and they're seeking him for knowledge. They are seeking him for insight. It's a call to action to us to continue to seek him for insight and to seek him for knowledge. I also think it's worth saying that verse 36 shares, then he left the crowd and he went into the house. So he withdrew from the crowd. This is similar to when he walks on water. This is the perfect representation again of ministry and replenishment. He pours out and then he withdraws from the crowd. He pours into them before he goes and walks on water. And then he goes to the top of the mountain and sends the disciples into the water and he prays in the presence of the Father. Hustle culture is not virtuous. Being on all the time is not virtuous. This is what I'm trying to tell you guys that I'm praying for God to open my eyes on the areas that I'm deceived and that I'm hearing Philip Anthony Mitchell talking about how Jesus withdrew and sat in the presence of the Father and is constantly replenishing himself with God's grace and God's presence, something that I don't do enough, something that has been an intention of mine because I know that Jesus does it and Jesus is the way the truth in the life. You know, and it's not just that he's the truth, but he is the way we are supposed to live like him. If you are a Christian, you believe that you are supposed to live like him. And if he is sitting in the presence of the Father, how much more often do you think you and I need to sit in the presence of the Father? So that's a tangent again, verse 36 and Matthew 13. They are seeking out one parable, which is the parable of the weeds. He's pulling away from the crowd. He's representing ministry and replenishment. And it's a good reminder that these disciples are seeking him for knowledge and seeking him for insight. Now verse 37 says, he answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world and the good seed stands for the people of kingdom, of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one and the enemy who soes them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are angels." That's Matthew 13, 37 through 39. So we're very clear. The good seed comes from the son of man. The seed is good. The one who sowed the good seed is the son of man. Now some backstory, he calls himself the son of man. This is a title that comes up in the Old Testament, especially in Daniel, and it's a tagline for God Almighty. So when he's calling himself the son of man. Now as we go on, he is the one who's sowed the good seed. Make it very clear. The field is the world, the world. It's his world. And the good seed comes from the sower. He is the sower. So he is the one that sows the good seed. Jesus is the one doing all the sowing. So therefore he is the one that deserves all the glory. Remember this, all glory to God. You're doing it for his glory, not your glory. It's to glorify him in the greatest way. Stewards your gifts faithfully in the way that honors God, humbling. Again, it's his world. It's his seed and any good that comes from it is because of him. Now back to the parable of the sowers. Of the sower, it talks about how he sows the seed, which is the word, the word. It's available to everybody. He doesn't discriminate, but based on your heart posture determines how you receive the word. If you have an open and open and receptive heart posture, you receive the word and you receive the harvest at 30, 16, 100 fold, whatever that means. We don't really know. But first he sows the word and then he harvest followers from the word, the ones that have an open heart posture. Then he takes these followers and now you are the seed. We are the seed. And he sows that seed us into the world. Matthew 13, 38 through 39. Let me read this again. The field is the world and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil ones. So what is he saying? The field is the world. Who owns the field and the parable, the sower. God owns the world. Psalm 24 says the earth is the Lord's. And so we are very clear the world belongs to the Lord. He then takes the good seeds and he sows them into the field. He harvested them into the world. He took you and I, people that are believers, it says in the scripture, the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. He takes the people of the kingdom and he harvests them into the world. Understand it is more concentrated in certain areas. And so everyone who has been saved, you have been planted by the Lord and the planting is not by accident. My Bible study is with a bunch of athletes and so obviously some of these guys are, and girls are going through adversity. And I think it s a really great call to action for all of us, even if you're not going through adversity to recognize that he is an intentional God. And in every way that I try to explain him and use language to explain him, it s not going to do it justice. So can you just have faith in him and how great and intentional he is and understand that he planted you, the people of the kingdom, into the world, not by accident, but intentionally. And Philip Anthony Mitchell calls us in this sermon to bear fruit, be fruitful wherever you have been planted. I don t know where it is in the scripture, but it says basically something along the lines of whoever does not bear fruit is not worth him, right? Make a tree good and its fruit will be good or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad for a tree is recognized by its fruit. There we go. Matthew 12, 33. So he s telling us he sowed us into the world intentionally, be faithful wherever you have been planted, planting a strategic and purposeful. Now this is the interesting part. It says the weeds are the people of the evil one and the enemy who so's them is the devil. The devil so's the weeds into the world. In the parable he s sowing these weeds at night into the field, but when he s explaining this, the evil one is sowing the weeds, he is sowing the [BLANK_AUDIO] evil ones into the world. So we're clear. The evil one, the devil, shows the weeds. And he likes to stir trouble when he undetected. He does it at night. It says that in the scripture. The scripture calls us to pay attention and to be vigilant. You think about how I talk about how our mind is a creative Eden. And you can literally think about how the devil plants weeds and your creative Eden, which is your garden. The scripture calls us to pay attention and to be vigilant because the devil will plant weeds when you are not expecting it. I have a great friend of mine, Jack Moss. He told me that the devil is patient. The devil is patient. If you give the devil an inch, you will take 10 miles. He will plant weeds. He is planting the sons of the evil one. So make it very clear when people try to understand why there's evil in the world. All you have to do is go reference to parable the weeds. Among the children of God are the sons of the devil. It's in the scripture. In the same field, it could be in the same team in the same classroom. It could be on your YouTube. The Darnell Weed says that we cannot tell. It mimics the weeds. And so the world is fallen and the sons of the devil are with us. I mean, all you have to do is go look up Jeffrey Epstein and understand all the people that are connected there and understand that the sons of the devil are absolutely with us and they are sewn into the world. Rape, murder, false religions, false prophets. I mean, it's out there. It says it in the scripture. The harvest is the end of the age. And so what does this confirm? It confirms the existence of the enemy. And it also says that it will end. And that the harvest is coming. And if you are not with God, you are against him. It says that very clearly. This is Matthew 12, 30. Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I can tell you every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven but blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but anyone who speaks against a Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Either in his age or in the age to come. He makes it clear. If you are not with me, you are against me. And Philip Antony Mitchell goes on to tell you that you should be taking this very seriously. Which is when I'm tying this up, tying this together with my prayer of show me where I'm deceived. And I'm so focused on always growing my business. I'm so focused on all these worldly things. And at times I don't prioritize the Bible. At times my behaviors don't align with the scripture. And in the scripture it tells us that when you receive the word and you live by the word, it is like building a house on a solid foundation. And it tells us that when you receive the word and you don't live by it, it's like building a house on sand. I'll read it to you right here. It's Matthew 7, 24 through 27 I believe. Therefore, whoever, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down and streams rose and the winds blew and blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash. You can hear the words, but if you don't live by it, you're building a house on sand and you will inevitably wash away. And this is when I'm judging my neighbor. I know that it's wrong yet I'm still judging. I mean, I think the whole point of grace is that we are imperfect and we will never be enough. And our sin is not greater than his blood. But that doesn't mean that we can just keep intentionally sinning and just let it, we have to take our thoughts captive and try. We have to try to be better here. And I just think it's so easy for me to not keep my eyes my own paper. I think it's so easy for me to follow other teachings and maybe not take other ones as serious. And I've been challenged and I feel like my prayers have been answered and I'm very clear in the areas I could be better. I was doing my morning pages this morning and I just was like taking Thanksgiving in it. I was living in Thanksgiving for the clarity. Even though it's hard to hear, I wrote down the great quote from PJ Fleck, the hard part about being the standard is that you are the standard. You know, I talk about this stuff in podcasts. I make videos about it and I'm not perfect. And sometimes it's frustrating for me that I can be this much of a believer and still be so imperfect. But I think that's the entire point is, it's a never-ending pursuit. And we have to choose to live with grace every day. And if I'm not graceful, it's because I'm not receiving his grace and that all of this is meant to be taken very seriously. And so I think it's a great breakdown of the parable of the weeds. Once again, I think you should read it for yourself and then you should watch that sermon from Philip Anthony Mitchell was so good. And above all else, I just wanted to get on here and document some of the things that I was learning that I too see the sawdust in my brother's eye and don't see the one in my own. And it's a call to action for me to just slow down and to sit in his presence more and to be more Christ like to be a display of Christ. And also just that that information is available for you out there. You just have to be willing to go deeper. It's so amazing that this is literally like a couple paragraphs, the parable of the weeds. And we just made a 40 minute podcast here and probably 20 of them were about the parable of the weeds. And there's so much to the scripture. Once again, Jesus is so intentional and so bright in so many ways. It's meant for you to dive deeper into it. He speaks to us in parables. It's said in a sermon, Jesus is speaking in parables as a judgment for their rejection, but also to fulfill prophecy. He's calling us to understand it at a deeper level. And I just thought that that was a really amazing breakdown. And obviously this entire podcast was about faith and maybe that's not for everybody is you're here to learn more about mental performance. But I do just think it is so easy to see the sawdust in your coach's eye, in your teammates' eye to judge other people to focus on everybody else's paper. And maybe that's all you take away from this podcast that there is evil out there in the world. And it's their fighting for your attention. And there is an opportunity for us to keep our eyes in our own paper and to be more graceful and to remember that the measure that you use will be the measure that you are measured too. It's how you'll be measured. If I'm measuring somebody in their worst moment, well, then I too will be measured in my worst moment. And you can do all these great things, all these great, it's called sacrifices or practices, but not one is greater than the other, other than love the Lord your God with all your heart and then to love your neighbor. And naturally when you love the Lord your God with all your heart, it's second nature to love your neighbor. That was the other thing he said in the sermon that humbled me. And so if you can't love your neighbor, are you actually loving your God, loving the Lord your God with all your heart and everything you have? Something to reflect on, it's certainly something I'm reflecting on. So if you found any value in this, just go ahead and share this with somebody that you think needs to hear it. I'm continuing to post on YouTube. I've heard from a lot of you guys that you want me to post to YouTube videos on here. I will make sure that I do that above all else. I just want to make sure that I can serve as many people as possible. And I just am so grateful for you guys. I love you guys like crazy. And what a beautiful Monday it is to get to share this stuff with you and start my day with the word. Appreciate you all, keep stacking them and stay in process. Talk to you soon.