Sermon on the Mount Series - Matthew 7:1-12

Oh, I'm thankful for a God who dwells at the center of our lives. And he feeds everything in our lives. He's there to to help us, to strengthen us, to give wisdom that we need, to provide for us. He's he's at the center. And when we make him the center, he will come and inhabit that place and feed every part of our lives.

Can we thank him for that another time, Jesus? We thank you. We thank you that we're able to be in relationship with you. Thank you, Lord, that as we open our hearts to you, Lord, you you will come and you will fill our hearts, Lord. You will fill our lives to fullness.

I thank you for it, Jesus. I thank you for it, Jesus. Amen. Thank you, praise team, for setting up the theme of of what I will be speaking on tonight. So, so very well.

You can be seated. We are continuing and getting near the end of our sermon on the mount series. It will, I think, officially conclude next week with Reverend Reaver. Are you on the docket next week? He is.

Okay. So, he's going to finish us off as it were, just as it were. Okay. Don't finish us off, but you know how he can be. We're going to continue in our discussion of the sermon on the mount tonight.

And and my my passage is uh Matthew chapter 7:es 1-12. We'll read that here in a moment. But just kind of as a recap as a where we where we are, where we've come from, Sermon on the Mount, of course, is a collection of teachings where Jesus is inviting his followers really to a greater righteousness. In other words, he he's answering the question, how do we live in right relationship with God and in right relationship with others? That's what he's answering in this entire sermon on the mount.

Every every passage has to do with right relationship with God and others. And while Jesus's teaching does not offer us a solution for every possible scenario that could come up, wouldn't that be wonderful? Think of how big that book would be. You'd have to have a a a very large and complex charting and reference. Okay, I'm having issues with um I mean you could just with a sibling and then you got to cross reference.

Okay, there's that passage and then I gota cross reference to well my sibling is is a sister. Okay, well we find that p and my sister is older than me and find all this nuances. So he doesn't offer solution for every single problem that we would ever come up against that that would be impossible. It would be too big of a a book and an undertaking. But these teachings offer us a compass.

They offer us a true north, if you will. And the sermon on the mount shows us the kingdom way. And as it shows it to us, we we quickly discover that it is radically different from our human way. Jesus shows us the supernatural way to live here on earth. And because it's supernatural, that means it's not at all natural.

It goes against our nature. And so tonight, I have the privilege and the challenge of teaching from Matthew chapter 7:es 1 through 12. It's a passage that tackles hard but important topics. topics that if I am honest have confronted me and shown me my growth points. So I have carefully and prayerfully prepared and approached these teachings of Jesus while also echoing the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 verses 12-4.

By teaching this tonight, I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I do press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us. I in no way set myself up as the example of the righteousness that we are going to discuss. But I do set myself up as an example of one who is attempting and pressing to attain that righteousness.

And I'm not alone in that. We are all on this journey and we're pressing towards that righteousness. And so I want to invite us to pray before we read this passage and and dig in. And I want us to pray to receive God's message clearly and that we would have open hearts and minds for his clear instruction. Can you do that with me?

Open yourself to his word. Lord, I thank you for your word. It is a lamp to our feet. It is a light to our path. You will guide us.

The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. And Lord, I come simply and humbly to your word tonight. And I ask that you would make your message plain to my heart. I want to receive the message that you have for me in the pages of your word.

And and I ask that you would open my heart and my mind. That you would show me me. That you would show me you in this passage. And that you would show me how to apply you to me in this passage in Jesus name. Amen.

I'm going to go through all 12 verses really quickly and then we're just going to kind of walk through them. So, Matthew chapter 7 verse one, judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye, hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. I told you there were some hard topics. I tried to warn you. There were some hard topics.

All right, let's take verses 1 and two. Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. On the surface, it sounds like Jesus is saying, "Don't ever judge or evaluate people." But we know Jesus has a lot to say about judging or evaluating others.

In fact, in in Matthew 19, he will tell his disciples, "You will judge the earth." So, what do we do with this seemingly contradiction? Because don't judge that you be not judged. If he's saying, "Don't ever judge or evaluate people." It would actually be in conflict with other teachings and behavior of both Jesus and the apostles. Brother Carden wrote a book on the sermon on the mount and he he generously gave me one of those and it this his book helped me with this point because he explains that Jesus is concerned with how judgment is dispensed not that it is something to be disposed of. Jesus is not saying don't ever judge or evaluate don't do away with that but rather how you do it is the important part.

This passage and others is about proper administration of righteous judgment. Since we know the Bible will not fundamentally contradict itself, this is an indication we need to dig a little deeper into these verses. And a good guide for how to dig deeper was discussed in the Hermetics series last July. Can still be found on YouTube if you need a refresher. Encourage you to do that.

But when reading scripture, we should acknowledge that we will likely need to clarify and define terms. The word judge can mean something different to every individual depending on your upbringing and your experience. Whether you're talking about a courtroom or a beauty pageant or a Bible quizzing tournament, uh it can be viewed negatively or positively depending on the context and the scenario. A multitude of factors go in and inform us how we define the word judge. So again, suffice it to say, we bring 21st century meaning to the word judge and to the phrase judge not that you be not judged.

But when seeking to understand anything and especially something as important as God's word, it's important that we acknowledge the definition or meaning that we give to a word may or may not be what the Bible means. So, we're going to look at two key words in these first two verses. The word measure and the word judge. We're going to start with the word measure. To make his point about judging, Jesus uses a marketplace image.

He says with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Now, our modern marketplace and grocery goods, those measurements are mostly by volume and not weight. We use gallons and cups, quarts, teaspoons, tablespoons, and so forth. But the markets of Jesus' time mostly used measurements of weight. So there would be a scale and on one side you put the weight let's say a pound and on the other side of the scale you put the item being purchased and then you they are measured against one another.

And this is a very important concept in scripture. In fact, in the in many of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, there's usually always a section where they're accusing the Israelite leaders of corruption and injustice, and they'll often bring out faulty weights and measures or unbalanced weights and measures because it's really the perfect way to cheat someone. So, as the seller, you've got this scale. And if your pound weight is not actually a true pound, but actually only a quarter of a pound, your buyer thinks that they are getting a pound of hamburger, but they're actually only getting a quarter of a pound. So by using a faulty weight or unequal measure, I as the buyer have cheated you, I as the seller rather have cheated you out of what is rightfully yours and I am treating you with less than full integrity.

And that's one of the key parts of what Jesus is saying. So when we link that with what Jesus is saying about judgment, when we link this idea of measurement, scales, balances to what Jesus is saying about judgment, it really enriches the idea considerably because he is communicating that judgment is about fairness and balance and integrity, trueeness with what we say we believe and what we actually do as a result of that belief. So that's the word measure. Let's let's go to the word judge. The word translated as judge that Jesus uses here is a Greek verb called kronos which then results in a couple of nouns also in Greek.

One of those nouns is judgment. There's also another noun. It's it's uh the root word is chrysus which uh or chrisos or however you Greekly say it. It's all Greek to me. But that's actually the word it it it where we get the word crisis from and it means decision.

So there's this idea of judgment, evaluation, decision that's happening. And that word uh crisis where we get our word crisis, we sometimes think of that as something that bad that has is happening. But the original is actually just meaning a point of decision. You've come to a a a crisis moment where you need to make a decision. That's why it's called a crisis.

But the word judgment again about is about evaluating a situation perhaps something someone has done or something as simple as whether or not it's safe to cross the street. You make a judgment call. You have a chrysus in in your life. Do I cross the street here now or do I wait till the the walking person shows up on the What do I do? I've come to a crisis moment.

I need to make a judgement. I I need to evaluate this uh situation carefully. You're judging. You're evaluating between good and bad perhaps or between better and best perhaps. And again, the most basic meaning of the of the root word for judge is this this idea to discern or to evaluate and make a decision between one thing and another thing and then to act on it.

And again, you're trying to find the good. And in trying to do what? In trying to do that, trying to find the good and make a decision, we evaluate based on usually implicit and unstated set of values. Your values are telling you what is good, better, and best or bad or worse. Now let's link that judge with the marketplace image where the weights are telling you what the right quantity or decision is.

In judgment you don't have weights but you do have values. You have some sort of way of filtering things so that you can decide and make decisions. And that filtering system is your values things that you value. So if you are judging someone, what you're doing is you're observing their behavior and you are making a decision about it, whether it's good or bad or good or better, but you're basing that on some measure that you have in your mind that's on the other side of the scale. The problem is that many times the decision we make about another person, their behavior or whatever it may be is based on assumption of their motives.

And that is a faulty weight and an unbalanced scale. We need his values, not our own. As we are evaluating, as we are in relationship with one another, we need to do that with his values, not our values. From scripture, we know that it is impossible for us to fully know our own motives, let alone those of someone else. And maybe you're like me.

I have a tendency to be much more generous and flexible when I evaluate my own behavior and much less generous when I evaluate the behavior of others. I told you the scripture confronted me and I have some growth points. Okay, this is one of them because I can kind of discern my own motives kind of. And if I can only kind of discern my own motives, how well am I really qualified to evaluate the motives underneath another person's behavior? When Jesus says don't judge, he's saying don't judge or evaluate with your own set of values.

The values on the other side of the scale are extremely important. And he's telling us we need to be very skeptical of any time we're coming to a conclusion about someone else's motives because it's very likely we're going to get it wrong. And in fact, it's very likely we're getting our own wrong as well. Remember the story of Jesus going into the temple with the whip and he's just clearing the temple. I mean, he's just going gang busters on those people.

He's judging them is what he has done. He has judged their behavior. It does not match up with what the word of God says. And he has judged them. And then he goes in and he clears the temple to align them with proper behavior.

I can trust Jesus to go into the temple and drive out those who are distorting its purpose with a whip whip. I cannot really trust myself to do so. Jesus illustrates this with a parable in Matthew 13. He says, "The kingdom of God is like a field of wheat, but then an enemy came and swed all these seeds that grew up that look exactly like wheat, but they're not. And the workers come to the owner of the field and say, "Hey, do you want us to weed out the false wheat?" And the owner says, "No, because you're going to do a poor job.

You're going to hack out a bunch of wheat, too. So, just wait for the harvest and let the harvester sort it out." And when his disciples ask, "What in the world are you talking about? What does that mean?" He just straight up tells them. He says the kingdom of God is complex and you're not going to be able to tell who's truly living consistently with it and who's not. It's not going to be simple and it's not your prerogative to evaluate it.

So the evaluation of a situation is one key part of the definition of the word judge and we need his wisdom and we need his values to help us do that. And the second key part of that word judge is the concept of condemnation. The apostolic study Bible offers this. The context of this passage demands that to condemn is the intended meaning of the word judge. So you could insert the word condemn rather than the word judge.

Condemn not that you be not jud condemned. For with what condemnation you condemn, you will be condemned. kind of like that. So you could think of it in in those terms. In Jesus's earthly ministry, he openly judged people in the evaluation sense.

We've talked about the the temple and those that were buying and selling. But though he judged them in an evaluation sense, Jesus always practiced judgment without condemnation. Case in point is John chapter 4 where Jesus speaks with the woman of Samaria. Yes, he pointed out her sins under the law. He judged her.

He evaluated her behavior and how it aligned with the word of God. So he evaluated her lifestyle, but he did not condemn her or execute a sentence upon her. So when the Bible speaks of prohibiting judgment, judge not, it is instructing us that judgment should not come from my biases, my cultural heritage, my opinions or my preferences. Proper exercise of judgment is always based on the word of God. How is the behavior, the situation, the context aligning with the word of God?

That has to be what's on the other side of the scale. The aspects of judgment that are expressly prohibited to us in that phrase judge not is this idea of sifting through the motives trying to discern the heart of another when we can't even fully know our own heart. We should not do that. We should not do that. And then also this idea of condemnation, condemning someone or pronouncing a judgment or a sentence upon them and then acting as if we're the carriers of that judgment and that sentence this role belongs solely to Jesus Christ.

So rather than evaluating making a decision about others and bringing about the consequences, Jesus is asking us to take a posture of generosity and to give others the benefit of the doubt that we all know how to give ourselves. And he'll circle back to this a little bit later when he says, "Whatever you want to others to do to you, do to them." It's the same idea. So obviously you you can discern in your own self. We need his help to properly discern, evaluate, and judge from his perspective. He's going to explain that a bit in the next three verses.

In verses 3, four, and five, he says, "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? First, remove it from your eye. That way, you can see better for the speck in your brother's eye." This metaphor of the plank, beam, log, or whichever the version, however the version renders it that you read, that plank in your own eye is obviously an intentional overstatement meant to overwhelm the speck in someone else's eye. And it really it highlights where our responsibility in discernment and judgment actually lies. Jesus does not forbid all evaluation or judgment of others.

However, the person who feels grieved and humbled over their own sin is better able to help remove the speck from others. What Jesus is ruling out here is pride that views oneself as better than others. Jesus statement, don't judge others, is against this hypocritical, judgmental attitude that tears others down in order to build oneself up. He's not saying that we should just ignore and overlook the wrong behavior of others, but he's issuing a call to be discerning rather than negative towards others. If he were teaching that we should never evaluate or that we should overlook wrong behavior, why would he have also taught that we should expo expose false prophets literally in the next passage in Matthew chapter 7?

Or why would Paul teach that we should exercise church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5:1 and2. So it's clearly not what Jesus is teaching here. Rather, Jesus is he's actually elevated judgment to a higher plane and and really made it more exacting. The that's a direct quote from the Dr. Cardon back there.

His book helped me so much. Jesus is teaching that righteous judgment begins with introspection. Take this next paragraph from my life application study Bible. Jesus tells us to examine our own motives and conduct instead of judging others. The traits that bother us in others are often the habits we have ourselves.

Our bad habits and behavior patterns are the very ones that we most want to change in others. And then it gives some questions. Do you find it easy to magnify others faults while excusing your own? If you are ready to criticize someone, check to see if you deserve the same criticism. Judge yourself first and then lovingly forgive and help your neighbor.

Did I mention we were talking about hard topics, challenging practices? He goes on and it almost seems in verse six he kind of veers off topic. It's the it's the verse about don't give what is holy to the dogs or cast your pearls before swine. So again, it it seems like he kind of veers off topic a little bit, but this verse actually continues this topic of righteous judgment, this parable or riddle, whatever you would call it in verse six is is about two things that are incompatible. And Jesus is helping us in this verse.

He's helping us with our posture towards those who do not share our same godly or biblical values. Remember, our values are important as we judge others, as we evaluate situations, it's important that we come to that with righteous and godly values. So, as we come to others that may not share those values, this verse is helping us to do that. To the Jewish mind, pigs and dogs were ritually impure. Dogs are associated with death, particularly in Psalm 22, which Jesus actually quotes when he's on the cross.

And pigs were not kosher, they were unclean. And what he's doing here is he's helping his followers understand that not every person or audience will be able to receive what you wish to share with them. And you've probably experienced this. So perhaps Jesus is sharing with us in this don't give what's holy to dogs or cast your pearls before swine. Perhaps Jesus is helping us know how to interact and communicate with those we are reaching for with the gospel message of salvation.

He is guiding us towards connecting with others with a focus on shared values. In other words, find the common ground with the individual with whom you are speaking. They may not agree with you about all the points of doctrine. They may not agree with you about our outward holiness lifestyle. They may not agree with you on your stance on certain political uh figures or political agendas.

They may not agree with you there. But find the common ground and talk about that. Let that lead the discussion. and let that be the entryway to create relationship. Because what he says is they'll trample the holy doctrine.

They'll trample the precious gospel or the truths of God's word that you're trying to present. They'll trample them under their feet because they don't share the same values that we do yet. And he also says, "Lest they turn and tear you in pieces." If if we go after them about uh the fact that they whatever holiness distinction that we may try to hammer down someone's throat or weigh the we view God or the oneness even if we go after that and we try to uh just really hammer that down their throat, but they don't share that value, it's possible they're going to come back with their own rebuttal. And if you don't really know your stuff, you you may actually turn and begin to follow. So he's he's telling you find the common ground.

Find what you share in common, the shared values that you have, and capitalize on that. Let that be the way forward. Let that be the the subject or the topic of conversation. Try to discern, judge, evaluate what you have in common before and above the points where you differ. Just a good teaching of Jesus.

These are judgments that we are called to make and for which God gives us his wisdom. We will lean heavily on his wisdom if we're truly living out Matthew chapter 7 verses 1-12 and really all of scripture. Judgment involves wisdom which is why he includes verses 7 and 8. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. While there is of course a broad application of this verse inviting and even instructing us to petition him for all types of needs, the immediate context of this instruction to ask, seek, and knock is this discussion of judgment. A topic that we are seeing is extremely complex and intricate, but not impossible. When we ask for God's help, living out God's kingdom, all of these teachings from the sermon on the mount can be so complex.

So, we must ask, seek, and knock for his wisdom. As we've walked through this sermon over the past several weeks, what teaching or concept has challenged you the most? Which point resonates most deeply with you? Which ones have been the hardest to accept? God is not expecting that you will readily agree with and immediately know how to practice every instruction.

But he is expecting us to align with it by asking for his help by asking for his wisdom to know how to practice what he has preached to us. When James, the brother of Jesus, echoes the sermon on the mount in his epistle, he states it this way in James chapter 1 vers5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. You can see the similarities in ask, seek, knock, for he, he who does, they will receive. And James echoes the words of his brother Jesus to say, if you lack wisdom, ask it of God.

He gives liberally and without reproach. it will be given to you. We do not naturally have supernatural wisdom, but God knows that his people need to grow in wisdom, and he is willing to give it as we are willing to ask for it. Wisdom is a God-given and God- centered understanding of the practical issues of life. I'm going to say that again.

Definition of wisdom. Wisdom is a God-given and God- centered understanding of the practical issues in life, including those he is targeting in this passage, which is relational issues. Issues that we have in relationship with him and with others. Again, the sermon on the mount is about a greater righteousness, right? Living with God and others.

And when we ask for this wisdom, he will give it to us. This is a prayer request. He loves to answer and he will do it every time. So if you want a perfect record of answered prayers, ask for wisdom because he will answer that every single time. He gives it liberally, James said.

And that's really the point of the next three verses, verses 9-2, where he says, "What man is there among you if his son asks for bread, give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, you give him a serpent. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him." We can be confident that our father will provide for us what is best according to his will. Jesus is showing us the heart of our heavenly father. He is not selfish, begrudging or stingy. And we don't have to beg or gravel as we come with our requests.

He is a loving father who understands, cares, and comforts. And it seems to me that these verses describing the care and the compassion, the love of a heavenly father are a very sharp contrast to the type of judgy behavior he's warning against. He's already told us, "Don't condemn others based on your evaluation of them. Don't bring the consequences of their wrong behavior." And here we see a heavenly father knowing full well the depth of our brokenness and the extent of our weakness caring rather than condemning. He may have every right in the world to ignore our prayers to condemn our behavior and to act with contempt toward us.

But he's modeling for us the better way, the kingdom way built on unconditional love. When we don't deserve good things, he still gives the good things to those who ask him. And ultimately, he is calling me us to do the same. Do I have a right to behave the way that I do towards someone who has offended or hurt me? Can I withhold kindness and warmth when I'm agitated by another?

Can I hold their wrong or their weakness against them? The answers are no. The way of the kingdom is love. Because Jesus is saying, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets." That verse, the golden rule as it's been coined, succinctly states the core objective of the entire law in the Old Testament.

It's not that every situation can always be boiled down to this phrase, but it does serve as that compass we talked about. It will keep you oriented correctly and keep you moving in the right direction. And this verse actually links with Matthew 22 36-4 when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is and he says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Here in chapter 7 verse12, he says, "This is the law and the prophets. Whatever you want men to do to you, do to them." We can do that. We can live that verse out when love is our greatest and weightiest value. When love is the judge.

Did I mention these are hard topics? It's hard to live out. It confronts us right where we are. At least it has me. I feel the challenge of these scriptures.

But we have a resource for the challenge shown in verse 7. Ask for his wisdom. Seek for his wisdom. Knock on his storehouse of wisdom. Would you stand with me?

It's only natural and it's right that we should be challenged by scripture. and the kingdom way. Because how did Jesus start the sermon or before he started the sermon? He said, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In other words, turn around, go a different direction. Your impulses are going to take you one direction, but the impulse of the kingdom is love.

And it's going to lead you in a different direction. And this is this is challenging for us. So, I had the privilege of opening this series and we ended with this verse that's really a prayer and I want to end it just seems right to me. It's not that I couldn't think of another conclusion. So, just borrowed, copied and pasted one, but the words of the psalmist in 119 verse 173, he prays this.

Let your hand become my help. For I have chosen your precepts. We've chosen the kingdom way. We've chosen the kingdom ethic and the kingdom impulse. And that is love.

It's not condemnation. It's not self-seeking. It's not envy. It's not any of those things that come oh so naturally to us. It is a supernatural thing that we have chosen.

And so we need his hand to be our help in this. We need his wisdom to know how to properly discern a situation, a relationship issue. We need his wisdom to lead us forward to be led by love and not our own bias. or our own ideas. So, I don't know what has surfaced for you in in this teaching and perhaps it will take you some time to crunch and think on it and and continue to pray about it.

But if something has come to mind that you say, "Yeah, I could I could use God's wisdom for that for that situation to to discern what I need to do or to really just to properly evaluate the situ. I I could use God's wisdom." We're going to ask him for that. We're going to ask. We're going to seek. We're going to knock right now.

And what he said in scripture, for everyone who asks, they'll receive. and everyone who seeks, they're going to find it. And everyone who knocks, that door's going to be open to him. Can we ask him for his help because we've chosen his way. Lord, I thank you so much.

I thank you for the grace of your word and the and the the grace your posture towards us and love and you accept us and invite us in perfect and imbalanced as we are. I bring myself to you, Lord. you you know and I know that I need this teaching probably more than anyone in this room. And so I'm asking for your wisdom, Lord. Plant my feet in right places.

Plant my feet in love. Lord, I pray that you would help me to give me wisdom to properly discern and evaluate situations and and contexts and scenarios that that I find myself in. I ask for your wisdom, Lord. I seek for your wisdom through worship and through Bible reading and through uh study. I I seek for it.

And Lord, I'm knocking on the storehouse of your wisdom. Please answer me and please give me the wisdom that I need in order to move forward in love because I want to love my neighbor as myself. It It's your commandment to me. I want to live that commandment. I've chosen to live that precept and that commandment.

So, let your hand become my help and show me the way to do that. a way that honors you and the way that honors others. We pray for your wisdom. We ask for it in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. He's heard us. And here's an important point.

He wants to be involved in it, too. He wants to be involved in your relational issues. He wants to be involved in the situations of your life. He's I guess to put it, he's knocking at the door of your heart. Will you knock at the door of his wisdom?

He will open that door to you. Thank you for your kind in attention and indulgence of hard topics. I appreciate it. Uh you're wonderful, wonderful audience.