Mrs. PIE

Embracing God's Love: Cultivating a Merciful and Approachable Faith Through Self-Reflection and Scripture

• Shelley Jeffcoat • Season 3 • Episode 74

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Have you ever pondered why Christians often struggle with being perceived as judgmental? Let's confront this challenging question together in our latest episode, where we unpack the essence of being truly approachable in our faith. By reflecting on the teachings of Jesus, particularly from Matthew 11:28-30, we explore how our attitudes can either invite or alienate those seeking solace and understanding. It's time to evaluate if we are living as beacons of God's love, embodying the fruits of the Holy Spirit like mercy and compassion in every interaction.

Join us as we scrutinize the repercussions of critical behaviors, especially on social media, where divisive and negative tones prevail. Our conversation underscores the necessity of living a faith that extends beyond church walls, urging a shift towards being compassionate ambassadors of God's love. With guidance from scriptures such as James 2:13 and Romans 15:7, we invite you to embrace a more merciful and welcoming approach to your faith journey. This episode is a heartfelt call to action, encouraging self-reflection and growth, and closes with a sincere prayer for guidance in mirroring God's grace and mercy in our lives.

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Speaker 1:

Happy Saturday. Happy Saturday, y'all. So, hmm, this message this morning starts out with a question, and it's what does it mean to be approachable as Christians? I'm taking this from a you know, believer perspective. What does it mean to be approachable? Hop into this teaching this morning. I ask that you'll give us wisdom and understanding and a heart that wants to hear from you about what we need to do to be more approachable as Christians. What does it actually mean? How does it impact your kingdom? Lord, amen, all right y'all.

Speaker 1:

So if this video runs too long and you're on the TikTok streets, please watch the rest of it on YouTube. Streets, on Mrs Pye, and if this is blessing, you drop something in the comment and let me know. Just let me know how you're doing. I'm trying to decide if I want to come on. I only have a handful of people on TikTok. I'm trying to decide if I want to come on and do a live every now and then, just to see how people are doing and try to connect.

Speaker 1:

But the question is what does it mean to be approachable? So, obviously, because we're all on social media and this is going to lean into some of the messaging for next week, and can I just this is a Christian to Christian message, christian to believer, whatever you call yourselves. But I'm looking at some of the things that people are saying on their social media and I mean what is going on with Christians right now? If I was someone who was on the outside looking at us, I would not want to approach a Christian. We seem to be so overly judgmental, critical, mean-spirited, and this question came up. I literally was like Lord, how are we supposed to draw all men to you, how are we supposed to be the light, how are we supposed to be the salt in the earth when some of the things that we're saying, some of the things that we're doing, it's worse than what the world is doing? Can I just just be honest. Y'all come for me. Later I'm going to show you some scriptures where we're trying to go with this.

Speaker 1:

So I want to be the kind of believer if I'm calling myself Christian or whether you're calling yourself evangelist, evangelical or whatever title you, wherever you're going with, okay, someone who gave their life to Jesus and he's the Lord and Savior and ruler in your life. That's what I'm talking to right now. But I want to be the kind of Christian that people who are going through things, whether they are believers or unbelievers, that when they know that I'm a safe place for them to come to talk to I'm a safe place, that they will look at my life and they will see God's mercy and his goodness, they'll see the fruits of the Holy Spirit and they will be drawn to me because they want to know the God that I serve. I want to be the kind of Christian that's approachable on the job, where I don't have like an attitude, I have joy and not the fake stuff. Not the fake joy where you know you only smile at certain friends that look like you, right. Not the joy where you only get along with the people who vote like you, not the people who are the same level as you in the church. Be the kind of approachable Christian that literally people will see me and they see Abba, they see Yahweh and they want to know more about you, know how I'm making it through life, and they would want to draw from this grace and me in turn, me learning about other people and connecting right. You think about the fact that the Lord, that the Lord, god, the word, says he sent his son right, sent Jesus here, so he had to come off his throne to come down to our level. And a lot of us. We're so high on our thrones we refuse to come down to anybody else's level because we're so high-minded. Come on y'all. That's on my heart. We should be approachable. People should feel like they can speak to you, they can share a weakness with you and not be judged and told that you're just going straight to hell because you've sinned. We should live lives that are merciful.

Speaker 1:

So here are three scriptures I'm going to share with you Christians, just to put this in your Bible study this week, or give you something to think about. Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30, says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. The door is open for everybody. Okay, the door is open for everybody. And it says the Lord says I will give you rest. So I think about that. You know again, we're supposed to be walking this thing out. We are his ambassadors. Christ is in me. You know all the things you know. God is in me. I serve all the things right.

Speaker 1:

So when people come to you, are they finding rest? Are they finding judgment? When people come to you, are they finding chaos? What you Are they finding chaos. What do they find? Are they even coming to you? Are you the kind of Christian at this point? Are people even coming to you? Just be honest. Are people drawn to you? Are they drawn to the light you carry and ask and you're saying there's something different about you? Or they just you feel like you know people are, people are running away from you and we can't make the excuse that okay, well, god's just taking people out of my life. Yes, yes, god does take people out of our life, but sometimes we're the problem and he's taking those people out. For that reason, we're the problem, we're the problem source. So he's saving other people, removing them from us, moving them from us.

Speaker 1:

James 2, verse 13,. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy triumphs over judgment. You want God to show you mercy. You've got to show mercy to his children and his children, those who he has called. They're not going to look like who you think they are. It might be an unbeliever today who you judge. That's living the most reckless, sinful life and they live, they're in a part of a certain community and they're going straight to hell like that's your judgment. But you don't know God's hand on that person's life, so you might end up cursing someone who's carrying something you don't even have and judgment comes to you. So you've got to be merciful with the people around you the poor, the sick, the needy. Judgment will come upon you. Romans 15, 7,. Therefore, welcome one another, as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God, in the same way that he's welcomed us into his kingdom of heaven. Right, we're to welcome each other. Listen, we're in this season, it's that time of year, it's that time of a four-year span. If you're watching this in 2024, around this time is where in the US there's a lot of political upheaval happening, people choosing which side, and then there are also times where we're just called.

Speaker 1:

There's a different sense of urgency. I mean, I could come on and do all the cutesy marketing things and say the hey, sis, and you know, play the games. You know, play the games, y'all. Let me just be for real. I could come on and just be like I prophesy this and I prophesy that I could do that, but that's not what he's asked me. That, but that's not what he's asked me to do. That's not what he's called me to do. What he's called me to do is to bring a sense of urgency about us being approachable to believers and unbelievers. Why? Because our role, our responsibility, is to represent him in the flesh here on earth, and we are not excelling in that right now. And I want to do better, and I want to do better. I want to be the kind of Christian. I want to be able to walk this thing out, walk the talk.

Speaker 1:

A lot of us know scripture back and forth. When you close that book and you come out of your prayer closet or you come into the parking lot after you've finished that Sunday service, you're met with your real self and people see the real you. And so you might not think you're being judgmental, but every time you share a post on social media that's tied to some weird conspiracy and filled with judgment and filled with hate for someone else and you think you're doing a good thing. Oh man, I'm telling you, when you're showing zero mercy to other people and all you can think of is how you want to own someone else. I watch this with older women against younger women. I watch this with mothers against daughters. I watch this with the manipulative posts that people put out. It's like their clickbait, where they're urging if you don't like or share the post, you're pretty much going to hell and you were never a friend.

Speaker 1:

We've fallen into these traps. These are things of the world and it builds up chaos and it doesn't make us approachable. People don't want to be around mean people. People don't want to be around mean people. People don't want to be around miserable people. People don't want to be around judgmental people.

Speaker 1:

And if you're trying to live a life that as an ambassador of God, if you truly ever in your life had an encounter with the Lord Jesus I know when people have had a real encounter with him and I'm telling you, if you have ever in your life had a real, true encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have ever been graced with his angels, literally from heaven, right, if you have ever had that encounter, you cannot look on people the same way, because you start to understand that, though someone you might think isn't worthy or worth it, and you have created an enemy among yourselves, god has a different plan for every single person, and you could end up cursing someone who's carrying the kind of grace that you're hoping for. If you ever had an encounter with Jesus, you would come to know that his heart and his concern is for us to take care of each other and love each other with mercy and no judgment. You would understand that this kingdom of heaven that you seem to be building, trying to build on earth, is never going to happen, because it is not the kingdom of God. We are in temporary status, if you will. This is not our home. You would truly understand that he really just wants us to love and take care of each other. This temporary situation that we're in, this earth that we live in this is temporary. If you truly understood, you would know that he doesn't want you cursing your neighbor, cursing people on the job.

Speaker 1:

So I pray, I pray, I pray, I pray that you'll get the urgency, that you will turn around and repent for what you're doing. All of us, of us, lord, god, so I, as I close this, close this out today, lord, it is so heavy on my heart and I repent for my own sins. Lord God, anything that I have said or done and my own actions that make me unapproachable, where people don't want to come to me to learn more about you, if they don't, they don't even if they don't see you in my life, if they don't see the light of you in my life, lord God, I don't want the light of you in my life, lord God. I don't want to live a life of being a bitter Christian or unapproachable Christian, or judgmental Christian. I want to be the kind of person, lord, that truly represents your heart among your people. So I pray, lord God, that the person who is hearing this message this morning, that you'll speak to each of them and show them what they need to do, lord God. I thank you, lord God, for gracing me this morning. Thank you for your mercy and your goodness towards us. We don't deserve it at all and you do it because you love us. I close this, lord, with just blessing your holy name, amen.

Speaker 1:

So those scriptures again. I'm going to give it to you one more time so that you can go back and study Matthew 11, 28 through 30, james 2, verse 13, and Romans 15, 7. What does it mean to be approachable as Christians? I love y'all so much. I really do. Don't take harsh teaching. The harsher teaching I give y'all, the more I love y'all. I really do. I really do love y'all, but I want us to come up a little bit higher and those who are meant to hear this will hear it. And I know who you are. All right, I love y'all. Take care, have a.