“Don’t Write Back” by Sam Fleury

In Don’t Write Back, Sam Fleury teaches from Matthew 5:7 on what it means to be merciful. This message explores why we often want justice for others and mercy for ourselves, how grace and mercy are different, and how followers of Jesus are called to forgive, release revenge, and live with active compassion.

• (00:00) - Continuing The Beattitudes
• (00:43) - Matthew 5:7 and Mercy
• (00:58) - The Workout Class Story
• (03:25) - Justice for Others, Mercy for Ourselves
• (05:16) - Blessed Are the Merciful
• (05:41) - Mercy in a Controversial Context
• (07:03) - Jesus Disrupts Our Natural Tendencies
• (08:03) - Mercy Is Giving What You Received
• (10:08) - Receiving God’s Grace and Mercy
• (13:23) - When Justice Becomes Revenge
• (15:31) - Turn the Other Cheek
• (16:25) - Blessed to Be a Blessing
• (19:22) - Mercy Is Giving What Is Not Deserved
• (24:17) - The Label Without the Character
• (27:04) - The Unforgiving Servant
• (33:05) - Mercy Is Giving What You Desire
• (34:47) - Active Compassion in Real Life
• (38:21) - If You Need It, Feed It
• (39:05) - God’s Mercy Is Greater
• (40:07) - Jesus Shows Mercy on the Cross

Creators and Guests

Host

Sam Fleurry

Sam is an Associate Pastor at Project Church.

What is Project Church?

A life-giving Jesus community for a new generation of people in Sacramento.

Join us every Sunday
Old Sacramento: 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM & 11:45 AM @ 1200 2nd Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
South Sacramento: 10:00 AM (English) & 11:30 AM (Spanish) @ 6528 44th Street, Sacramento, CA 95823
Online: https://www.youtube.com/projectchurchsac

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;09;10
Sam Fleury
No better place to be than in the house of God on a Sunday. Happy to be here with you guys. Want to take a moment? Welcome, everybody. If you don't know who I am. My name is Sam, and I serve as a pastor on staff here.

00;00;09;10 - 00;00;26;06
Sam Fleury
And we're continuing our series in the Beatitudes today, which have been great. I'm going to give you a little roadmap before we get into our message today. The roadmap. If you've been here for any weeks leading up to today, the first three weeks of this series and the Beatitudes, we've been going line by line. The first three were all inward focused, heart focused.

00;00;26;06 - 00;00;43;02
Sam Fleury
So Jesus is focusing on the heart. Last week, Pastor Christi preached a message that was kind of the transition where Jesus was sharing. When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, then it leads to all the external things in our life. So today we're going into the next three weeks, all the external things that Jesus showed us, how we are to live as followers of Jesus.

00;00;43;02 - 00;00;58;15
Sam Fleury
And so today we're jumping into this idea in Matthew chapter five verse seven, I can know better articulate what Jesus is talking about than equating it to my own life. How many in here you know, men and women, we work out very differently. Yes, you know this. I like to go to the gym and lift weights that are heavy.

00;00;58;15 - 00;01;14;11
Sam Fleury
I like to scroll in between my sets. I like to take my time. I like to shoot basketball. I like to mess around with the gym. My wife is on a schedule. Every time she's there, she shows up to the gym and she's always going to a class. I don't know if in here I got some class takers, but she's a class taker, 45 to an hour.

00;01;14;12 - 00;01;31;05
Sam Fleury
She's going to go hard the entire time. So we were going to the gym for a while, and she was always trying to persuade me to join one of these classes, and she come out and drenched in sweat and tell me how hard it was and how sore she was. And be honest, I made fun of her. I did, because I'm like 45 minutes to an hour and you're sweating like that.

00;01;31;05 - 00;01;44;13
Sam Fleury
I said, there is no way. So she was like, all right, you don't believe me? I need you to join me for one of these classes before we leave this gym. Said, no problem. But I was like, the only issue is. So I join you in that class and I don't break a sweat, and it's light work like I'm expecting it to be.

00;01;44;14 - 00;01;57;15
Sam Fleury
I don't want you to be intimidated. I'm an alpha male. God made me this way. Okay? It's nothing to say about you, but it's everything to say about me. Okay, so a couple weeks go by in our last day of the gym came up and she said, remember? You said you were going to join me for a class.

00;01;57;15 - 00;02;17;17
Sam Fleury
I said, let's do this thing. So I go in there first 15 minutes. They have done approximately 9412 squats in 15 minutes. They've already run around the room like 17 times. And the ladies yelling at me, and I'm like, who hurt you? Why are you yelling at me like this? So 30 minutes go by and on the outside I'm trying to look like I got this together.

00;02;17;17 - 00;02;32;17
Sam Fleury
She be looking over at me. I'm like, this is easy. Light work, light work on the inside. I'm dying. I'm like, when is this over? I'm staring at the clock and I get the grace of God. I get a call on my phone. So I looked down and thank God it's the Lifetime Kids Academy. They say you need to come pick up your son.

00;02;32;18 - 00;02;51;20
Sam Fleury
He needs help with something. My wife goes, you know what? You work out. Let me go get him. I go, no, no no no no, honey, honey, let me serve you. You stay in class, okay? I'm gonna go down. I'm gonna take care of this. Don't even worry about it. If I go down. And what should have been a 3 to 4 minute visit took me 27 minutes, and I get back to class with three minutes to go, and I go hard for another three minutes.

00;02;51;20 - 00;03;08;13
Sam Fleury
I walk out and she goes, wasn't that a hard class to go? I told you, light work. She said, Sam, you missed half the class. And I'll say, I'll be honest with you. I said the entire time you were talking about how hard these classes were, I was just judging you. I thought they were easy. I thought it was easy until I took the class.

00;03;08;13 - 00;03;25;17
Sam Fleury
And then I realized there were a bunch of a bunch of psychopaths for an hour, just going crazy hard. Like it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. And it was funny that as I was thinking back to this a couple of weeks ago, that it's so for so many of us in life, we judge things when we're not in it, but the moment we're in it, we need mercy, don't we?

00;03;25;20 - 00;03;41;14
Sam Fleury
There's this funny thing in life that when other people do, or let's say this one other people do wrong. We want justice when they do wrong, but when we do right or say, let's say this when other people do wrong, we want justice, right? When we do wrong, we want mercy in that. In that workout class, I needed mercy.

00;03;41;14 - 00;03;56;09
Sam Fleury
And I find this, that a lot of times, whether you've seen this happen in your own life, play out or not, this happens on a daily basis. Think about it. You show up to the office on a Monday and you show up late in. The first thing that comes out of your mouth is, man, traffic was awful today and so you think you're going to get mercy.

00;03;56;10 - 00;04;10;29
Sam Fleury
Somebody else shows up on Tuesday and they go, man, traffic was terrible. You go, you dishonored my time. I've been waiting here for 15 minutes. You wanted you wanted mercy, but you wanted justice when they did wrong. Maybe for you. It's a year to leave church on Sunday today, and you're going to get in your car and drive down the freeway.

00;04;10;29 - 00;04;27;03
Sam Fleury
I hear about it every week, by the way, and you're going to accidentally, accidentally cut somebody off on the freeway, right? And they're going to give you the spirit fingers, if you know what I'm talking about, and you're going to put your hand up in the mirror and you look back, I'm sorry I didn't see you. But if somebody does that to you, this jerk, how could he cut me off?

00;04;27;04 - 00;04;42;18
Sam Fleury
My kids are in the car right now. You want. You want mercy for yourself. But justice when other people do wrong. Maybe for you, it's in relationship. When you apologize, it's been a disagreement. You apologize. And when you apologize, you want them to receive it quickly and go. You know what? You're forgiven. You've done nothing wrong. We're good.

00;04;42;18 - 00;04;58;20
Sam Fleury
Let's move on. But when they apologize to you, you go. I got to analyze this for a minute. I got to make sure you mean it. I got to make sure you feel it. And isn't it funny in life that we want mercy when we make mistakes. But when other people make mistakes we want them to feel the wrath of justice.

00;04;58;21 - 00;05;16;26
Sam Fleury
I think this is exactly what Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter five, verse seven. I want you to open up to your Bibles, Matthew five seven, one verse, approximately ten words. And we're going to we're going to read this together. And at the 830, I had them read it out loud like we were in class. So that's what we're going to do again today, because I want this to get into your heart today.

00;05;16;26 - 00;05;36;26
Sam Fleury
And obviously I'm a man of God. I'm a pastor. I've memorized the scripture, so no need for me to look. Don't be intimidated, but it's just part of the job. You know something? Chapter five, verse seven says it like this. You got your Bibles open, throw it on the screen. Read it out for me. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy one more time.

00;05;36;27 - 00;05;41;09
Sam Fleury
Blessed.

00;05;41;11 - 00;06;01;10
Sam Fleury
Yeah. I want this to get into your heart today. Jesus. When he said this, you gotta understand that Jesus was talking to a crowd that was predominantly Jewish people. These Jewish people were under heavy oppression from Roman people at the time. So imagine this. The Jewish people, the oppression of they're facing is three main things. One is military intimidation.

00;06;01;11 - 00;06;25;13
Sam Fleury
The Roman people are allowed to publicly shame and condemn and injure the Jewish people with no repercussions. There is no accountability if they mess up a Jew, if they fight, if Jew, if they publicly executed you, there is no problem. They are allowed to do that. The second thing is, is they are heavily taxing the Jewish people, meaning that anytime they just thought of a new law, a new bill, they would pass it and the Jewish people would have to pay all the extra taxes.

00;06;25;13 - 00;06;40;19
Sam Fleury
So it doesn't matter how much money they were making. We live in California. We know how this feels. It didn't matter how much money they made, they were making less money. And then the other way that they were doing it, the Romans were then politically dominating the time, meaning the Roman people were passing bills, making creating new laws.

00;06;40;19 - 00;07;03;19
Sam Fleury
And every time they did that, there was no representation from the Jewish people. So they had to abide by all the laws that they had no say in whatsoever. So in every realm and every aspect, the Jewish people are now under the oppression of the Roman people. So you understand that when Jesus shares this, to be merciful to the Jewish people, to us today we read this in its inspirational, but to them it was controversial.

00;07;03;20 - 00;07;22;29
Sam Fleury
Like, are you kidding me? Be merciful to these people. And that's what makes the Beatitudes so incredible. If you've been here for any amount of weeks, you've ever read the Beatitudes before. The Beatitudes are amazing because what they do is they call us to live a life different than what we're ingrained to do. In fact, I would say this that Jesus, when we allow him into our hearts, he disrupts every narrative that we want to live.

00;07;23;00 - 00;07;42;08
Sam Fleury
He disrupts our normal human tendencies. Where you and I, maybe our tendency is to give justice to people. Jesus calls us to give mercy to people. When the world tells us to be unforgiving, God tells us to be forgiving people. And the Beatitudes in their entirety. Is Jesus trying to show us what it looks like to follow him into love?

00;07;42;08 - 00;08;03;29
Sam Fleury
People in this life. So you understand that we're going here today. My main thought for the day I want you to take, take away from today is this that's showing mercy is not about fairness. It's all about faithfulness. The first thing that we see in this scripture, where Jesus says in Matthew chapter five verse seven, the first thing that we see is that mercy is giving what you have already received.

00;08;04;01 - 00;08;23;21
Sam Fleury
I don't know if you know this, but in life, nobody in this room and nobody on this planet sucking oxygen today can ever give something that they haven't first received. If I were to ask you for money today and you had none, you couldn't give me any. And the Bible shows it's time and time again all throughout the New Testament that you cannot give something away that you haven't first received.

00;08;23;21 - 00;08;47;21
Sam Fleury
I would say it like this. You can't really fully and completely and purely love somebody until you've received God's love for yourself. You can't be faithful to people and tell you've received the faithfulness of God in your life. Parents in the room. Let me talk to you for a moment because this is my season of life. You will never be able to be patient with people around you, patient with your wife, patient with your husband, patient with your kids.

00;08;47;21 - 00;09;07;01
Sam Fleury
Until you realize how patient God has been with you. Some of you, you're just making the decision to follow Jesus in your late 20s, 30s, 40s, maybe 50, in the room. God's been really patient with you, hasn't he? Pursued you your whole life? But you can't give something to anybody that you haven't first received. In fact, Jesus speaks to this exact idea.

00;09;07;01 - 00;09;26;22
Sam Fleury
If you go to Matthew. Yeah, Matthew chapter 22, verses 38 through 39, Jesus talks about the two greatest commandments in all the scriptures. He said, all the commandments can be put together in these two things. The first he says, this is love the Lord your God with all of your help me out heart, mind and soul. And he says, the second is similar.

00;09;26;22 - 00;09;46;11
Sam Fleury
He says that you would love your neighbor as you love your. Do you read that? And ever think to yourself that what Jesus is really trying to say is that until you get until you find God's love for yourself, you can't love anybody else. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. It's no wonder that some people have a hard time loving people because you don't love you.

00;09;46;16 - 00;10;08;05
Sam Fleury
It's not a surprise to me that people have a hard time forgiving other people. Why? You haven't forgiven yourself. And Jesus says you got to give what you have gained from me. You can't ever give something if you haven't been receiving in your own life. And as I'm reading the scriptures and I meet with people on a daily and weekly basis, it becomes really apparent to me that God does not have a releasing problem.

00;10;08;05 - 00;10;26;10
Sam Fleury
Did you know this? God is a good giver. God is generous. God is kind. God gives us what we need whenever we need it. But God does not have a releasing problem. We have a receiving problem. A lot of us in this room for you. Maybe you have a you have a hard time receiving God's grace, receiving God's forgiveness for yourself.

00;10;26;10 - 00;10;47;20
Sam Fleury
Because maybe in your own mind, you think to yourself, you're unworthy of God's love. You're unworthy of God's grace. Because while nobody in this room maybe really knows the depth of your heart, you do. You know your mistakes. You know your proclivities, you know your failures. And you think, man, if people knew about me, the things I know about me, there wouldn't be forgiveness for me like we talk about.

00;10;47;20 - 00;11;01;22
Sam Fleury
So maybe for you, it's that you don't you think you're unworthy of God's love, unworthy of God's forgiveness. For some of you in the room, maybe it's a it's not that you feel unworthy, but you think you need to earn God's love. You need to earn God's forgiveness. Now, we talk about this in church, and we we think this is a really churchy thing.

00;11;01;22 - 00;11;17;09
Sam Fleury
But let me make this practical for you. A lot of people in here, you wake up and if you haven't prayed enough, haven't read your Bible enough, you have been denying all the PCL requests to serve in their church, and you've been shown to church every week. You think, man, if I start reading more, I start tithing more.

00;11;17;11 - 00;11;33;01
Sam Fleury
I start showing up to church. If I do these things, then I have earned God's grace. But it's a flawed way to think about it. We can't think of God as good when we do good and bad when we do bad. God is good when you're good, check it out. God is good when you're bad. God is good when you're unfaithful.

00;11;33;02 - 00;11;54;18
Sam Fleury
God is good when you make mistakes. God is good when you fail. But for some of us, we believe the lie that God is only good when I'm good. For some of you, maybe the lie that you believed is simply that you come in here and you hear a message about how God forgives you and God graces you, and God's got a great future for you, and all you're ever doing is looking in the rearview mirror of your life, looking back at all the things that you've done and you're saying, no, no, no, no.

00;11;54;20 - 00;12;18;20
Sam Fleury
That forgiveness, that grace that we talk about that is too good to be true. And so you never enter into the things that God has for you because you're too busy looking at your passing. And nobody could forgive the things that I've been through. But friends, hear me loud and clear. God does not have a releasing problem. A lot of times we have a receiving problem, and I think that's exactly why, when Jesus opened up in Matthew chapter five, he goes on record to say, blessed are the merciful.

00;12;18;21 - 00;12;40;24
Sam Fleury
I need you to understand something. There's an implication when Jesus says this you can't give something that you haven't received first. And so when Jesus says, blessed are the merciful, the implication is, is that you have already been given mercy. Can I tell you for a moment the good news of what Jesus did on the cross, for you and for me, dying for our sins, setting us free and giving us a hope in a future.

00;12;40;28 - 00;13;02;04
Sam Fleury
What happens on that cross for you and for me, was so significant that not only does it change our past, and not only does it change our future, but he says in the scriptures that his mercy for you and I is new every single morning. Think about that before you woke up today and brush your teeth. His mercies were new for you that before you got up and prayed any prayer.

00;13;02;06 - 00;13;23;05
Sam Fleury
His mercies are new for you before you got up to get to church today. Think if that will make things right. His mercies were new for you. Did you know that before you ever did anything, his mercy was new for you, and this is the goodness of God that you don't have to do anything, work for it, or even try to earn his mercies for you, aren't you?

00;13;23;05 - 00;13;48;03
Sam Fleury
Every single morning. And so I think that's why this becomes so controversial. You see the mindset of the Jewish people that Jesus is talking to you at this time. Their mindset was very similar to the mindset that people have today in 2026. The mindset of the Jewish people at the time was that justice meant revenge, that we are even when we get even when I get back at you, we're good.

00;13;48;03 - 00;14;06;05
Sam Fleury
This is justice. When you get the penalty for the thing that you have done. And yet, as we're thinking about this, this is how we live today. What do they say? Hurt people? Hurt people. You hurt me. I'm gonna hurt you back. You disappoint me. I'm a distance myself from you. Some of you. You know what I'm talking about.

00;14;06;11 - 00;14;26;08
Sam Fleury
Some of you have lived this way your whole life. Where your thought process is maybe not been in this idea, but you've lived it unintentionally. That justice means revenge. Or maybe somebody does you wrong that gossip about you. They say something about you, they hurt you, they take advantage of you. And your thought process is, is that if you do me wrong, I'm cutting you out of my life.

00;14;26;08 - 00;14;49;06
Sam Fleury
You will have no room to get that close to me again. And our mindset has been that justice means revenge. But people who follow Jesus in this room. I'm talking to you for a moment. I know that there's something here that maybe you haven't made that decision yet, but in this room, for those of you who have made the decision to follow Jesus, I need you to understand something that if your aim is only to get even with people, you'll never get right with people and followers of Jesus.

00;14;49;06 - 00;15;10;18
Sam Fleury
We are called to get right with people. We are not called to get revenge. We are not called to get even. We are not called to get back at people. We are called to get right with people, to pursue people, to love, people, to forgive people. Do you know why? Because just like you're imperfect. I'm imperfect. Just like your spouse is imperfect in our job.

00;15;10;18 - 00;15;31;18
Sam Fleury
And our duty in the sight of our highest calling is to reconcile and to redeem relationships. And I think that's exactly why, just a little bit further down, if you're reading Matthew chapter five, if you're taking notes, write this down. Go back home later and read it. It'll complete the message Matthew chapter five, verses 38 through 42. Jesus addresses this exact idea when he says this.

00;15;31;20 - 00;15;58;01
Sam Fleury
He says, you have heard that it was said, and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say right here, if anyone slaps you on the cheek, turn to them. The other also, he says, if somebody tries to sue you for the shirt on your back, give them your coat. Also, if somebody asks you to go one mile, go two miles.

00;15;58;01 - 00;16;25;00
Sam Fleury
What is Jesus trying to show us? That showing mercy is not about fairness, it's about faithfulness. It's about giving what I've gained from God. It's about giving to others what God has all graciously already given to me. Mercy is showing is showing faithfulness. It's not about fairness. I remember a couple of years ago, my wife and I, we've moved into our our our brand new home at the time, and we're walking through and everything was exactly the way we wanted it walking through.

00;16;25;00 - 00;16;41;07
Sam Fleury
And they're asking us, do you like the way this looks? Do you like the way that looks? And so we're signing off on everything, and towards the end we leave. The next day we're getting ready to move into our home. And I'm walking through and I'm like, this house is immaculate. But I turn to my wife. I said, Carly, I see all the appliances.

00;16;41;07 - 00;17;02;06
Sam Fleury
I just don't see the fridge. Do you know where did they put the fridge? In the garage. Like, where's the fridge? I'll walk upstairs. No washer, no dryer. I'm like, Carly, where are the appliance? Are they. Are these getting delivered later? She said, Sam when they did the walk through they action now man. Selective hearing. Right. They said when when they walked through they told you that they did not purchase or supply you with a refrigerator or a washer dryer.

00;17;02;07 - 00;17;17;18
Sam Fleury
That was your responsibility. Now, this was bad news because I was at my I was past my budget on this house and my friend had just moved in down the street. We have a little community that's forming. He calls me. He goes, Sam, I love this house. It's incredible. Do you love yours? They go, it's amazing, bro, I said, I said, what do you love most about it?

00;17;17;19 - 00;17;35;13
Sam Fleury
He said, well, before I get there, I want to tell you something. I have a question. Do you have a fridge in your home? And I go, no, I don't, do you? He goes, this is weird. Said right before we moved into our house, we we purchased a fridge and then we got here and realized they gave us a fridge.

00;17;35;20 - 00;17;54;05
Sam Fleury
So I put them on me. Are you kidding me? He's got two and I got nothing. Put it back up, man. Praise God he's good, isn't he? So faithful, so good, so good. Bless you brother. He goes. Well, the reason I'm calling you is because we don't need the second fridge. Would you. Can we give this to you?

00;17;54;05 - 00;18;11;02
Sam Fleury
I go, man, are you sure? Like, that's a that's a huge commitment. That's a that's a hefty purchase. Are you sure? He's like, Sam, I don't need two fridges. God has given me more than I need. He said this word. He said, I am blessed to be a blessing. And I want to remind you in here today that if God has given you grace, God has given you mercy.

00;18;11;03 - 00;18;26;23
Sam Fleury
God has given you forgiveness. God has met you and been kind to you. You are blessed to be a blessing. God has given you more than you need. You are not meant to keep that for yourself and say, God's forgiven me, but I'm not going to forgive anybody else. God has grace me. I'm not going to grace anybody else.

00;18;26;24 - 00;18;49;24
Sam Fleury
Trust me when I say this. You are blessed to be a blessing. I remember in that moment it came true to me when I was when I was writing this message, what Jesus says in Luke chapter seven verse 47, Jesus says this say whoever has been forgiven little loves little. But if you flip that statement on its head, what Jesus is trying to say is that whoever has been forgiven much loves much.

00;18;49;26 - 00;19;04;12
Sam Fleury
If God is forgiven you, given you grace, given you mercy, if God has given you a great amount of it, can I just implore you today? You need to give that out to people around you. Well, pastor, you don't know what they said. I don't care what they said. Do you know what they said to Jesus, who died on the cross?

00;19;04;12 - 00;19;22;04
Sam Fleury
For the ones that were condemning him and crucifying him, the ones that threw rocks at him, he still forgave them, showed them mercy. You can do it to friend. And it's hard and it's difficult. And this is why the Beatitudes are so incredible, because it contradicts what we really want to live in life. But whoever has been forgiven much, Jesus said, you will love much.

00;19;22;05 - 00;19;41;10
Sam Fleury
The second thought is this is that mercy is giving what isn't deserved. Mercy is giving what isn't deserved. You see, the Jews at this time we've been sharing. They were marginalized. They were severely mistreated. And so they had this idea that the day our Messiah comes and at this point, they weren't entirely sure if Jesus was the Messiah.

00;19;41;10 - 00;19;56;26
Sam Fleury
But what they believed is when the Messiah comes, he's not only going to make everything right, but in their mindset. What right was was he was going to judge Rome for all the injustice that they had ever done, and then he was going to judge them and overthrow Rome and bring all the Jewish people to be the leadership of the nation.

00;19;57;01 - 00;20;25;06
Sam Fleury
What they believed was that making things right meant Jesus is going to make things even. He's going to get back at them for all the wrong that they had ever done. And as I'm reading about this, I think that the Jewish people, again, are very similar to what we were in this day, because if God met their expectation and judged Rome and overthrew their government and condemned them for all the things that they'd done and raised up the Jewish people to be the leaders that they wanted to be, and they met that God met that expectation, it wouldn't have really fulfilled the depth of their heart.

00;20;25;08 - 00;20;41;16
Sam Fleury
And I want to tell you today that God might do a lot of work in your life, but the very thing that he's asking you and I to do is to get right with people. See, God doesn't just want to meet your expectations in life. What I find is God wants to exceed your expectations and what God can do when he heals and restores relationship.

00;20;41;16 - 00;20;59;00
Sam Fleury
When he makes you whole and right with God. What begins to happen is you live a completely transformed life and watch this transform. People transform the world. A lot of times we are praying for God to change the world. But have you allowed God to change your world yet? Have you allowed him to change your life yet your heart?

00;20;59;01 - 00;21;21;15
Sam Fleury
Yet? You see the first thing that when they were expecting Jesus to come and judge and overthrow Rome and he wasn't going to do that, the first thing that Jesus says was this be merciful. Imagine that you think God's going to make everything right. And then you hear Jesus say, be merciful. I'm like, If I'm the Jewish people, if I'm the disciples, I'm like, Jesus, be merciful, your God.

00;21;21;16 - 00;21;39;13
Sam Fleury
You gotta be kidding me, right? To the people that stole from me, the people that hurt me, the people that misspoke about me, the people who have oppressed me. You want me to show mercy to the people who have never shown me mercy. And yet I feel this is where the heart of God is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Show the mercy.

00;21;39;15 - 00;21;55;12
Sam Fleury
Show them grace. Show them my goodness. But we gotta understand the difference between grace and mercy. I think even in church, there's a lot of times that we take grace and we take mercy, and we think they're the exact same thing. And while they are similar, let me tell you, they are very different. If you're taking notes, here it is.

00;21;55;12 - 00;22;14;22
Sam Fleury
Grace is receiving what you do not deserve. You don't deserve a second chance of life. You and I don't deserve forgiveness. You and I don't deserve to be eternally rewarded, to be with God. But because of his grace, we get that grace is receiving what we do not deserve. But on the contrary, mercy is not receiving what you do deserve.

00;22;14;24 - 00;22;33;24
Sam Fleury
What are you and I deserve? Anybody grew up with siblings in here and you get in a wrestling match and you cry for mercy. They got to let go, right? Mercy is not receiving what you do deserve. Mercy is God saying you don't deserve salvation? You don't deserve forgiveness. But I'm still sending my son to the cross for you, to free you, to forgive you, and to give you a second chance.

00;22;33;25 - 00;22;53;22
Sam Fleury
Mercy is not receiving what you and I do deserve. But we gotta understand who needs. Who needs mercy, right? Is it the worst of the worst? Who needs mercy? Biblically, we see all throughout the book of Romans. If you're trying to find the whole pathway to salvation, go home. Read the whole book of of Romans 1516 chapters. It'll change your life.

00;22;53;24 - 00;23;10;15
Sam Fleury
Paul talks about this who needs mercy? The Bible tells us. And what Paul was saying in Romans was that each and every one of us in this room, we've all sinned. Haven't we? We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And then later in Romans, Paul says that the penalty for sin is death. What is death like?

00;23;10;15 - 00;23;31;04
Sam Fleury
You just died in natural, normal life. No no no. Death, meaning separation from God eternally meaning you and I don't deserve to be in heaven. To be united in a relationship with Jesus. But thank God for his grace, then God for his mercy that we get a relationship with Jesus that doesn't just change eternally, but it changes us here on this earth as well.

00;23;31;04 - 00;23;52;06
Sam Fleury
But there's a big difference that you got to understand that. That mercy is what gives you what you do not deserve. So what am I trying to say here? I'm digging into this topic because I need you to understand that you and I, we often have a hard time measuring who deserves mercy and who doesn't, because we want mercy when we do wrong, and we want justice when other people do wrong.

00;23;52;08 - 00;24;10;20
Sam Fleury
And we can't accurately measure who deserves and doesn't deserve mercy. And that's why the book of Romans is so important, because it tells us all of us need mercy. All of us need forgiveness. In fact, I'm going to have Blake. I'm going to have you because you're the first guy. Come on up here. Blake. This is my guy.

00;24;10;20 - 00;24;17;19
Sam Fleury
Blake. Put your hands together for Blake.

00;24;17;21 - 00;24;34;22
Sam Fleury
Yeah, yeah, they'll watch yourself. Don't worry, bro, it's safe here. What a lot of people don't know. It's my guy right here. A lot of people don't know. Sunday mornings. I'm already a pretty happy person. Blake knows we play basketball together, and I don't need coffee on Sunday mornings. And when I'm preaching, I'm like, I should not drink coffee.

00;24;34;22 - 00;24;50;19
Sam Fleury
I'll talk faster than I normally do, so I'm going to avoid coffee. So Sunday mornings when I'm preaching, I avoid food. And I just go on a complete fast on Sunday mornings and it is a good idea. Thank you. And the reason I do this is so that I am locked in. I'm zoned in for when I'm preaching, and so a lot of times they'll just bring me water.

00;24;50;20 - 00;25;03;28
Sam Fleury
Like saying you need to drink water. If you're not eating, you're not drinking to drink some water and it's hot outside. It's going to be hot this week. So I bought some water. I wanted to bless Blake with some water today. This is not a brand sponsor, but a sencha. Essentia is the best water. We don't know this, but I was going to give you some water, so take it.

00;25;03;29 - 00;25;38;21
Sam Fleury
Take a drink of that before you do. Just. Just smell it. Just smell it. Was it smell lights. Smells like. Smells like vinegar. Bitter. Nasty. Right? Isn't it funny how water looks just like vinegar. And then if you drink vinegar, it'll disgust you and repulse you and make you sick. But if you drink water, it'll refresh you. And this is the problem sometimes with Christians that we carry the label that we've been forgiven, but we don't forgive people, and we have the label that we're forgiven, but we don't have the contents to prove it to people.

00;25;38;25 - 00;25;59;12
Sam Fleury
A lot of times this is why people. Thank you, Blake. Give it up for Blake one more time. It's no wonder to me why people have a hard time with Christians. They walk around. I've been forgiven. I've been given a second chance. But you don't ever forgive anybody, and you don't ever give second chances. And you carry the label, but you don't have the character to match it.

00;25;59;12 - 00;26;22;10
Sam Fleury
Do you know what that's called? Hypocrisy and the poison of hypocrisy. Is that what should refresh you? What should refresh the world? Which is the good news? Welling up and living that out and sharing that with people around you instead of you refreshing people. All you do is repulse people. And we gotta stop carrying around the label that we've been forgiven, given mercy, given grace, given a second chance, and not giving that to anybody else around us.

00;26;22;10 - 00;26;45;17
Sam Fleury
How pretentious. How prideful of us to walk around transformed and to be people in progress, and to point the finger and to say they can never change. Friend, let me just remind you for a moment God changed you. Did any. And if God could change you and God could change me, God could change anybody. So I think that in this place, we can't just carry the label of something.

00;26;45;17 - 00;27;04;24
Sam Fleury
We gotta have the character to match it. In fact, Jesus illustrates this perfectly later on. The scriptures in Matthew chapter 18 read this when you get home. I'll give you a lot of Scripture today, Matthew chapter 18, verses 23 through 35. Jesus tells his parable, and the parable is called the unforgiving servant. There's this man, you see, that is a master.

00;27;04;24 - 00;27;22;13
Sam Fleury
He has a lot of funds, and he has given generously to people. And the Bible tells us this, that this man went to go collect the debt that somebody owed him, and the death of this man owed him was, the Bible says, 10,000 bags of gold. Now, the equivalent of 10,000 bags of gold in this day was $1 billion.

00;27;22;13 - 00;27;41;13
Sam Fleury
How do you get $1 billion in debt? I don't know, but this man is $1 billion in debt. Until the master comes, I'm going to collect what you owe me. And the man says, I don't have the funds. I don't have the money. Just give me a little bit of time, he says. I'm going to have you thrown into prison with your wife and your children until you can repay me every last penny you owe me.

00;27;41;13 - 00;28;06;09
Sam Fleury
The man drops down on his knees and he cries out for mercy. And it says that the master is so moved with conviction, so moved with empathy and compassion, that he tells him stand up, and he forgives his debt and releases him to walk free. This same man, forgiven of $1 billion debt, walks down the street in this parable, and he finds somebody that owes him a measly 100 silver coins, the equivalent of $10,000.

00;28;06;12 - 00;28;25;15
Sam Fleury
And he says, I need you to repay me my debt now. And the man goes, I don't have any money to repay you. Give me a little bit of time. And instead of him showing compassion and mercy, he has that man, his wife and children thrown into prison until they can repay every dime that they owe him. So the master that had forgiven $1 billion debt finds out about it, and he brings him back.

00;28;25;15 - 00;28;44;29
Sam Fleury
He says, how could you not forgive somebody that owed you such a small debt? And I forgave you all the things that you've ever done. Friend, I want to remind you that this is the gospel in its entirety, that God has forgiven you a great debt, a large sum that you owed. And it is our duty to forgive people the small things they've done us.

00;28;44;29 - 00;29;05;20
Sam Fleury
You as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus. You can't walk around bitter and resentful because somebody gossip about you one time. Do you know what God forgave you of? Do you know the debt that you owed him and to walk around and to not forgive people, the small things that they have done, and to be reminded of the great debt that God has paid for you.

00;29;05;22 - 00;29;27;25
Sam Fleury
This, my friends, is the poison of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy will tell you that you don't have to give what you've gained, what you've received. I don't have to give a second chance even though you were given one. I don't have to give mercy even though you were given mercy. Hypocrisy is what leads people saying, I can't be a part of the church.

00;29;27;25 - 00;30;01;14
Sam Fleury
I can't rock with the people who follow Jesus because we at times will not give out the very things that God has given us. And this is what hypocrisy will do. I actually love the way that this theologian and pastor John Stott says it. He says this. He says the church is meant to be a community of forgiven sinners, not a community of self-righteous people, self-righteous people thinking you've earned your salvation, thinking you've gotten yourself right with God, thinking that your Bible reading and your church attendance and your tithing that's gotten you right with God.

00;30;01;14 - 00;30;23;22
Sam Fleury
Can I tell you there's nothing that you could ever do to repay what God did for you on the cross, except for one? Do you know what it is? Have faith and believe that's the only repayment that Jesus wants from you. And for me, we can't walk around thinking we've earned it. We've discerned it deserved it. Nothing will push unbelievers away like prideful believers who think they've earned their salvation.

00;30;23;24 - 00;30;41;27
Sam Fleury
C imagine followers of Jesus today. Just imagine this. Imagine followers of Jesus today who've just decided in their hearts, I'm going to forgive people that have hurt me, that have wronged me. There's another quote from another pastor who says this forgiveness seems like a great idea until you got to do it.

00;30;42;00 - 00;31;11;15
Sam Fleury
Imagine you settle in your heart. I'm just going to forgive these people. I'm going to let it go. I'm going to move forward because all unforgiveness does is trap you in a cell and you got the key in your hands, and yet you're not escaping it because you have decided to not forgive them. Imagine followers of Jesus today who just decided in their heart, I'm going to keep no record of wrongs, even though they keep saying things and keep doing things and keep acting a fool and keep doing things that they shouldn't.

00;31;11;15 - 00;31;27;15
Sam Fleury
I'm going to wake up every morning and I'm going to have a blank slate in my mind. I actually met with somebody recently and they were like, Sam, what do you think about so-and-so? And I said all these great things that I love about this person. And they said, I just met with this person, and this guy said, X, Y, and Z about you.

00;31;27;15 - 00;31;42;16
Sam Fleury
And they were not great things. And so they asked me, felt like a test from the Lord. They said, now what do you think about him? Am I response was simple. I said, I already told you what I thought about him. I didn't change my mind. He could think what he wants, say what he wants, believe what he wants.

00;31;42;20 - 00;32;04;00
Sam Fleury
But mercy is I'm keeping no record of wrongs. I think what I think about you and that's it. Federal in stone. Imagine followers of Jesus who just settled it in their heart, that I'm going to serve people and give to people who can never, ever, ever repay me. I'm going to continue to step out. I'm going to continue to give what I feel like I don't want to give without any expectation that you're ever going to repay it for me.

00;32;04;01 - 00;32;23;22
Sam Fleury
Imagine if we live with that kind of mercy. Do you know why this is possible? Because Lamentations chapter three. We've already talked about this. The Bible mercies are new every single morning. So I got a simple thought for you. If God's mercy is for you and me are new every single morning. Imagine if your mercy was new every single morning.

00;32;23;24 - 00;32;40;29
Sam Fleury
Imagine if you shared new mercy with people. Imagine if you released people from the things they said and did. Imagine if you live with such radical mercy where people had to ask, why are you doing this to me? I can only imagine that parable. Or Jesus says that this man releases a guy of $1 billion debt. He would be like, what?

00;32;41;01 - 00;33;05;16
Sam Fleury
Why would you ever forgive me $1 billion? That's radical mercy. And to be attitudes. Are Jesus trying to interrupt the natural inclination of the human heart? Because we want repayment and we want justice in Jesus was saying, that's not what it's about. It's not about fairness. It's about faithfulness. My last hour today is mercy is giving what you've desired.

00;33;05;16 - 00;33;24;19
Sam Fleury
You see the end of the Scripture. Jesus says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Do you see the equation here? Now, I don't want to make Scripture an equation that you do this and do this, and God will do this. It's not what I'm trying to say, but Jesus lays it out here. He says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

00;33;24;20 - 00;33;44;07
Sam Fleury
What is he saying? That if you give mercy, you will get mercy? And Jesus was trying to show us the recipe for receiving it. And why was he doing that? Because each and every one of us, we desperately need mercy, don't we? Maybe you don't know this in your own life. Let me help you. You need mercy because you and I send a whole lot, don't we?

00;33;44;13 - 00;34;10;18
Sam Fleury
We need God's mercy. You and I need mercy. Because in our natural tendencies and inclinations, everything in this life is trying to drift us away from God, because we ought promotions and money and relationships and things and followers and stuff and everything is vying for our attention. And we need mercy to keep us close to God. We need mercy because the older you get, the more aware you become of this truth that you are inconsistent on your best days.

00;34;10;20 - 00;34;30;05
Sam Fleury
We need mercy to be consistent in this life. We need mercy so that we're not identified by our lowest moments. I love that in the scriptures, Jesus shows us every single time he encounters somebody that the Bible says they are known for their sin. Oh, that's a sinner. Oh, that's a thief. Oh, that's a liar. That Jesus never called them by their sin.

00;34;30;05 - 00;34;47;22
Sam Fleury
He always called them by their name. And this is what happens when you receive mercy, that you're not defined by your lowest moment. You're defined by what God says about you. And I love that. When Jesus was sharing this, this beatitude with the with the Jewish crowd, he actually used a Greek word for merciful, which is Lehman and Lehman.

00;34;47;23 - 00;35;08;11
Sam Fleury
It meant active compassion. It meant seeing the brokenness in the depravity of people around you, and watch this being moved with love. Not with judgment. I can illustrate it this way that about a month ago, we got a group of guys here that we play basketball at a 24 hour fitness down here, six in the morning on Wednesdays, you're free to join us.

00;35;08;11 - 00;35;25;03
Sam Fleury
It gets a little crunchy out there, a little ratchet out there. Six in the morning. We're playing basketball to about a month ago. And there's a guy on my team talking crazy. Goes to our church. I love this guy. There's a guy on the other team talking crazy. And I look at my watch, it's like 622. I'm like, this is nuts, bro.

00;35;25;05 - 00;35;42;05
Sam Fleury
Like, I haven't even had coffee at y'all are talking crazy and it's going on the whole game into the game comes and this guy on the other team snaps. I'm like, we all saw that coming. And these guys square up like they're going to fight. And I'm like, dear Lord, 632 in the morning and they square out. They're getting ready to fight.

00;35;42;05 - 00;35;57;04
Sam Fleury
And I try to, I try, I, I try to be a peacemaker. I don't always do it. Sometimes I'm a troublemaker, but I try to be a peacemaker. Now get in the middle of them and separate them like yo yo yo yo yo. I'm like, we're just playing basketball. It's not that deep. Like, we love hooping. We love playing together.

00;35;57;04 - 00;36;10;08
Sam Fleury
In about 30 minutes, we're all going to gather around and pray like, let's just chill. And this man on the other team turns on me like he's going to swing on me. I'm like, yo, this is why I don't. This is why I don't get involved with this stuff. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Please don't hit me.

00;36;10;08 - 00;36;27;11
Sam Fleury
You're going to crumple me. You know several reasons I talking back and forth. I'm like, this is crazy. But we all go sit down on our side. They all go sit down on their side, and they're all talking about how crazy that dude is and all that got out of control. And I'm just thinking to myself, in that moment, nobody acts like that over a game of basketball.

00;36;27;11 - 00;36;45;10
Sam Fleury
That's crazy. I said, there's got to be something deeper going on. It's everybody sitting down. I just get up and I walk across the court. I'm like, this is using my death certificate or this going to lead this man to the Lord, I don't know. So I go across the court breaking barriers. I walk across the court. You know, I just said, hey, man, like, I want you to know, like I'm for you and I'm with you.

00;36;45;10 - 00;37;00;23
Sam Fleury
I'm for him. Even though he's a little crazy. I'm with him and like, I love you. We've been whooping for a while. I like you, I like whooping with you. Like you're welcome here anytime. And he stands up, I'm like, oh, here he comes. And he daps me up. He goes up. That was crazy. I apologize for that.

00;37;00;25 - 00;37;15;01
Sam Fleury
Go, man. Don't even worry about like this. If there's any place in the world we should let things out. Let it be here. And he tells me he knows I. Last week my dad died and I have just been balding it up and it all came out today. We got to talk about that and we got to have a conversation.

00;37;15;01 - 00;37;42;28
Sam Fleury
We got to pray together. And it just made me think of that moment, how many times in life that we are so quick to take offense. It leads us to never making a difference in his life. Like if you would just be slow to speak and quick the listen the way Scripture tells us to what Paul talks about in first Corinthians, if we would be slow to speak and quick to listen, if we were to be slow to taking offense, slow to being offended at people, slow to being angry with people, slow to being vengeful with people, do you know the difference you can make?

00;37;43;01 - 00;38;01;06
Sam Fleury
I think you do, because I think right now there's many of you that you're thinking about your workplace and you're thinking about your marriage, and you're thinking about your family where you are so quick to be defensive. But if you would be slow to speak, you might just be able to make a difference in somebody's life. And this is the lemon that Jesus was talking about.

00;38;01;06 - 00;38;21;01
Sam Fleury
And so his promise was simple, that if you give mercy, you will get mercy. Side of reaping and sowing that if I so mercy. I'm going to receive mercy. So let me say it like this. This is practical for every area of your life right now, that if you need it, feed it. If you need forgiveness, check this out.

00;38;21;02 - 00;38;38;05
Sam Fleury
Go forgive somebody. If you need mercy today, go give mercy to somebody. Say if you need. If you need to see God's generosity and financial well-being in your life. So a seed of faith today, financially, whatever you need seed today that will help you. Because it's not just about giving mercy, but this is every area of your life.

00;38;38;05 - 00;39;05;12
Sam Fleury
And this is exactly what Paul talks about, is I close in Romans chapter five, the first message I ever preached. At 19 years old, I preached this verse because it's changed my life. Paul said this. He said, where sin once abounded, grace abounded all the more. Do you know what this means? That there's a lot of sin in our life, a lot of mistakes in our life, a lot of moments of failure in our life, but none of them are greater than God's grace in your life.

00;39;05;14 - 00;39;24;07
Sam Fleury
I would say like this that your sin can never outweigh God's grace. Check this out. Your faith in God can never outweigh his love for you. He loves you more than you have faith in him. He forgives you more than you've got sin in your life. In fact, I love the way that this quote says it right here.

00;39;24;09 - 00;39;46;12
Sam Fleury
Charles Spurgeon, a great theologian. He says this God's mercy is so great that you might soon rather drain the sea of its water, or deprive the son of its light, or make space too narrow than to diminish the great mercy of God. What is he trying to say? You can never lose God's mercy as long as you're here.

00;39;46;12 - 00;40;07;08
Sam Fleury
You're long as you're breathe. And as long as you're alive. God's mercy is available for you. And the greatest demonstration of God's mercy is when Jesus went to the cross for you and for me, friend. And Jesus uttered the most powerful prayer that humanity has ever heard, with his arms stretched wide on a cross, nails penetrating his hands, and his feet are crown of thorns on his head.

00;40;07;08 - 00;40;27;17
Sam Fleury
He looks at all the things that people have done, the people that have heard him wronged him. And he's hanging on that cross and he praises prayer. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. People don't know what they're doing when they wrong you, when they hurt you, when they misspeak about you. Sometimes when you people, you misspeak against people, you do things to people that you shouldn't.

00;40;27;18 - 00;40;44;08
Sam Fleury
You don't really know what you're doing. And Jesus on the cross, showing the ultimate sign of mercy says, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Did you know that this mercy that's available for you, it covers all of your mistakes. This grace that's available for you is greater than all the guilt that you could possibly carry.

00;40;44;09 - 00;41;02;24
Sam Fleury
This faith that Jesus calls us to live carves a future for you that you never believed was possible. But it starts by one thing confessing God, I'm a sinner and I need your grace, and I need your mercy. Can I have you close your eyes all over the room today? You come in here today and.

00;41;02;26 - 00;41;23;27
Sam Fleury
You're hearing this message about grace, and you're hearing this message about mercy, and you're thinking to yourself, man, I need that grace to receive what I do not deserve. I need the mercy to not receive what I do deserve. I've got a past. I've made decisions that have hurt me. I've made decisions that have hurt God. And today I want to surrender my life to him and receive this grace.

00;41;23;27 - 00;41;38;01
Sam Fleury
That trance radically transforms my life. If that's you with every eye closed, every head bowed, you said, I want to surrender. Make Jesus the Lord of my life. Would you just put up your hands real quick? Thank you. I see those hands for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. A lot of hands.

00;41;38;01 - 00;42;06;12
Sam Fleury
Thank you. Jesus. Anybody else? Will you repeat this prayer with me? Say, Jesus, thank you for your grace and thank you for your mercy. I didn't earn it. I certainly don't deserve it. But today I repent. Sit in this, I repent, I repent. Come on, say that I repent, God, of all my sins that have kept me from you.

00;42;06;12 - 00;42;31;11
Sam Fleury
And today I'm choosing to make you the Lord of my life, to follow you even when it cost me something. Today I receive your grace, change me, transform me, and use me for your glory. Say that again. Use me for your glory in Jesus name. Can you say amen? Amen, Amen. Come on. We stand up to our feet.

00;42;31;11 - 00;42;47;07
Sam Fleury
And here's what I'm going to do. I got the host team up here. And just as we're in a moment of worship in a moment, I got the host team up here, and they've got these cards that said, I've made a decision. Listen, we want to partner with you because if you make a decision but you don't get connected and know how to walk this thing out, you're going to get lost in this journey.

00;42;47;07 - 00;43;00;22
Sam Fleury
We want to help you grow in your faith journey. So today, if you made the decision to follow Jesus, put your hand up real quick and just wait a minute. Don't be ashamed. This is the greatest decision you can make. And as they come by, they'll give you a card. Fill that out. Please. Bring that to the info table as you leave so we can partner with you.

00;43;00;22 - 00;43;09;26
Sam Fleury
But come on, let's spend a moment. Let's worship God.

00;43;09;29 - 00;43;13;08
Chrissy Cole
Thank you for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.

00;43;13;09 - 00;43;16;20
Chrissy Cole
We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.

00;43;16;23 - 00;43;32;28
Caleb Cole
Yeah. And if it did, we want to ask that you would do something for us. First of all, if you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe. Like this video. But also, we would ask that you would consider financially supporting what God is doing through Project Church. You can give in a variety of ways.

00;43;33;01 - 00;43;48;07
Caleb Cole
You can text project to 97,000. Right now. You can give to our Church Center app, or you can give on our website project church.com/give. Thanks so much for being a part of our online community. And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.