This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.
So, how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now. Welcome to Masculine Journey. We are glad that you're with us tonight.
We're actually glad anybody's with us. We had people bailing like all day. We kept getting emails and saying, hey, our tax, rather. We're not going to make it. I'm not going to make it.
But then Bill, our friend Bill from down in Charlotte area, showed up and helped us have another full crew here.
So we're glad to have him. The Lord does provide. He said Cannapolite. Cannapolite? Isn't that what you call somebody from Cannapolis?
Cannapolite. They don't do words that long in Cannapolis. The big city of Enochville. Yeah. There you go.
North Cannapolis.
Now growing up in Charlotte next to Gannapolis is Huntersville, which we called Hooterville. And Work pretty well.
Now I've insulted two towns. I should go home now.
Well, you should have gone home earlier. Not like everybody else. They only have three, huh? Yeah, there go ahead. Go ahead.
Robby, you had something you wanted to say? Actually, no. Oh, okay.
Well, I'll give you something to say. As we often do here at Masculine Journey, someone comes up with a topic and then they aren't here for that topic.
Now, albeit there was a good reason, and I'll give him that, but it does happen from time to time.
So no one's as good of explaining the topic as the person that did it, but Robby's going to do his best to try to do that. I will. And actually this is part of a series, as you might recall, last week We did this idea of comforters with the idea of these. For Words that are in this 95th Psalm that are related to one another, and those words are. Actually, loving kindness.
And justice or righteousness, which are very related ideas and words. And then truth. as well as peace. And those things all kind of work together. It you know when you are feeling At peace, you know, when you sense that you okay, I'm being told the truth, you know, when people are being kind to you, and all those affect one another.
When people start being kind to you, then you You know, your ears kind of get blocked to the truth, et cetera, et cetera.
Well, one of those, which really was the main thing that Darren was experiencing, was a lack of justice that he had experienced within his family. uh a member of his family had been targeted by a scheme. And Naturally, as a result, he wanted to take justice into his own hands, as we often do. But quite clearly, God said. you know, justice is mine, saith the Lord.
And what I thought there in Was extremely eloquent, and I love the way he said this. How could I possibly think? that my justice could be anything like God's justice, because God's justice is infinite justice. His loving kindness is infinitely loving-kind.
So it's a fascinating combination when you think of here's this. infinite justice, but at the same time it's infinitely loving and kind. And at the same time, it brings infinite truth. to ultimately bring ultimate infinite peace. Which are all concepts that are obviously above my pay grade.
So, what makes me think I ought to be administering this justice? You know, is to set up my clip. Mm. Because here we see it's all God's justice because just a little boy, and he's just being a little boy. Probably anybody who.
Old as me might remember the Justice, what was called the Ransom of Red Chief, right? You remember that, Jim? They. this kidnapper kidnapped this little boy and he just drove him nuts like he was going to get a ransom for him. He ended up the people ended up having to pay him to get him back.
It was how petty was.
Well, this is how Christopher Lloyd felt when he decided to make Dennis the Menace his hostage. And Dennis the Madison. I have to set this up a little bit because it's very visual. But Christopher Lloyd is trying to. Turn him into his hostage.
And of course, Dennis has a slingshot like he always carries in the comics. And he's going to show. You know, his new friend, how this works. He shoots a barber, which goes off the wall. He doesn't realize the wall, the thing pings Christopher Lloyd in the head.
And while he's screaming and yelling and stuff like that, Dennis mentions that the fire seems to be dying down.
So he throws a piece of wood on the fire, which causes another piece of wood to catch up and catch Christopher Lloyd on fire. I realize that here's God's justice happening because Christopher Lloyd's trying to hurt Dennis. But believe me, it's not the way things are working out. Dennis is certainly hurting Christopher Lloyd.
So he jumps in this, what looks like a river, but it's actually like a. A concrete You know, way they take out sewage out west. And so he just slams into the concrete. And so then he goes on to explain that there's not going to be any accidents. He's going to tie him up so that doesn't happen.
And then in the process of tying him up, Dennis explains to him that this isn't right. And so Christopher Lloyd ends up the one tied up. And then of course There's a handcuff involved. and a missing key that ends up in a pot of beans. And we'll just take it from there.
I'm sure glad I ran into a grown-up. It's gonna work out real nice. You can be my hostage. Cool. Uh Board.
Put a cork in it. You're giving me a headache. I don't have a cork. Shut your mouth. I've got a screenshot.
I'm a real good shot, you wanna see? Huh?
Okay, I'll tell you when I'm locked. Uh Um Your fires get impune. My dad makes a fire with its pink and bubbles it around it. It's big. It's gonna be no more accidents.
Turn around. You're doing it wrong. Get lost. I tied up lots of guys in my life.
Okay, but I bet you never pop a five-year-old. I'll just get out. What do you do differently? First you gotta tap each leg bites. You can't get out of that at all, right?
Nope. Told ya. Thanks.
Now let me loose.
Okay. Get the handcuff key. Where is it? From my bag. What the hell?
Yeah. Oops. Wow. Kill you. How?
You can't even move. Open up. I can't. How great? It's the only way we're gonna get the key You can't waste food.
Plus you have to eat your dinner. Yeah. Yeah. Of course the scene goes on, but the point of it is is that And God If you chat, you know, trace this through the Bible, his justice. is perfect.
And it and it always has to do people reap what they sow. And If you think about Especially the word just I used this clip, I was thinking about how Shadrach, Meshech, and Abagango, they went. into the fire.
Well That idea of fire burning but not consuming comes actually back from Exodus 3, where. You know, Moses sees the bush that's burning. But it doesn't it isn't consumed. I don't know if you've ever given any thought to the altar. That Is explained again later in Exodus that they're going to make this altar.
They make the altar out of wood. And then it's overlaid with a little bit of brass, but that would be in no way possible. That here we got the fire of God coming down. This thing's being kindled constantly. Giant barbecues, but guess what?
The wood. It burns, but it's never consumed. And Jeremiah says, the word of God is actually a fire, and it's inside of you, and you're never consumed. And thus we get the picture of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego go into the fire. They're not consumed.
However, The phone right now. Yeah. Wow, right in the middle of that. But however, what does happen is the ropes. that are binding them.
you know, are burned off. And As we'll find later, that the people that Well, I guess it happened immediately. The people that were so excited to throw him in the fire It burned them up. Right? Because the fire was, you know, according to Nebuchadnezzar, it had to be 10 times hotter or whatever it was.
And again, they're all. They're all Char broiled. And so it's one of those things like Haman in the book of Esther. He makes. this unbelievable gallows.
Well, who ends up on the gallows? It's Hayman, right? And in some way, if you think about it, That's also infinite loving kindness. Because I don't know if you've ever heard this, but The idea that part of the reason that Adam needed to die after he fell was he didn't want Adam to suffer. any longer than he had to being in the condition that he was.
That he just kept on going on. Life becomes more and more and more miserable. And maybe you've been around really older people who keep saying, man, I don't know how much more of this I can take. To some extent, death is mercy to certain people. And you can imagine Haman was just making his own life and his wife's life and his daughter's life and everybody else's life more and more and more and more miserable.
And so at some point, God knows exactly when that is and how that should work. And so at the end of that. equation, which is I'm sure where Darren was was trying to get to, where we're all trying to get to. with all our comforters. is will we trust God with it?
Well, we trust God with His justice. Or will I need to take control of my own flesh? You know, that c that's kind of where I left it. Thank you. I um for me when I think about judging people.
I really realize that when I Watch my or see myself um judging other people's motives. Right. I'm I'm I try not to judge people, but then when I try to assign why they're doing it, then I'm judging them.
Well, they're just doing that because they had this problem. They're just doing that because of this. I don't know the truth. I'm missing truth. I'm missing all sorts of stuff there, but I'm trying to.
Judge them, even though I'm not trying to judge them. I know that doesn't make sense, but when you really Look into yourself and say, okay, God, where do I judge people? He'll show you the opportunities to say, okay, this is where I'm doing it. I like to call mine speculation. Thank you.
So it doesn't sound like judgment, but it is. Yeah, no, that's true. I couldn't think of the word Andy couldn't think of earlier.
So anyway. I just like to do that to Andy because he likes to shake his head there. Bill, what do you think about this topic of justice? Do you have anything you want to add to it?
Well, I think we all struggle with it, I believe, you know. It's Um I remember Gordon MacDonald, a fellow that's written many books, Christian books. He came out on stage at one of the.
Well, we'll have to get back to that one. I did what I do to Harold D. You. We have to tell that story when they come back. The second time.
Yeah, I'm going to do it next time you're here, too. I'll ask you something right before the break, and then we'll go into break. Justice real world down. Yeah, we will. Yeah, justice is coming my way.
I know it is. Go to masculinejourney.org. We'll talk to you after the break. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there.
I think sometimes as men, we feel like we're on our own and we've got to do everything ourselves, and the weight of the world is on our shoulders, and it's our job to fix everything and make everything right and have all the answers. And I think when you come here, you just get really honed back in and reminded that God really is for us. That a good father helps you, and a good father makes sure you have all the tools you need, and a good father comes through for you when you need him and you just feel less alone. Register today at masculinejourney.org. Justice will roll down.
Oh, justice will roll down. We had upon those mountains with the mighty riverside. It will roll down. It will roll down. That's hard to believe that was only 30 seconds.
That is Justice Will Roll Down. It got me thinking about Boulders again, what we which we beat that to death last week.
So we won't bring it up. Absolutely. That was Sandra McCracken that sang that song, and it was Justice Will Roll Down. That's all I know about it. Other than justice will roll down.
And that's what we're talking about: that God's justice. Is perfect in timing, obviously. It's just not usually our timing, or in the way that we think it should be. And so that leads us to your clip, Jim, if you want to set it up anything on that clip. I do.
I'll come back to you, Bill, after I talk to. I'll go ahead and go to the test. All right, Bill, you were saying a story. I asked you what you thought about justice, and I cut you off right in the middle of what you're talking about.
Well, and I'm not sure. I probably was going more towards judgment than justice, but Um Gordon McDonald came out on stage at a seminar I went to. And his first words were Some of you think I'm too fat, some of you think I'm too old, some of you think I'm this, some of you think I'm that. And I was sitting there thinking, wow, that's exactly what I was thinking. Me, me, I think justice in our flesh, in the weakness of our flesh, I think.
We kind of like the Old Testament version of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Then being patient for God's justice.
So It's it's a it's a Great concept to dig deep into for sure because. Obviously, God's way is not our way, and it's much better than our way.
So. That's pretty much it. We'll let Jim carry on. Oh, there you go, Jim. Justice and judgment.
Well, we have McKenzie talking to God in his. uh First Nation impersonation.
Well, you might want to mention it's the movie The Shack. The movie The Shack. I was getting to that, but I'm real slow sometimes. In the Shack. But.
McKenzie is talking to God in the shack, and this is his male impersonation, because that's what McKenzie needed guidance from, and that's what he's getting. But he he had his daughter murdered. and he wants revenge, not justice. And God's gonna talk to him about For clarity, he didn't have his daughter murdered.
Okay. No, no, his daughter got away. His daughter was kidnapped pretty much out from under his. Control and murdered. And his supervision.
So he was blaming himself, too. All right, here we go. He killed my daughter. I wanna hurt him. I want him to hurt.
But he heard me. I want you to hurt him. I know you do. But he too is my son. And I want to redeem him.
Redeem him. He should burn in hell.
So we're back to you as the judge.
So you j you just let him get away with it. Nobody. gets away with anything. Everything bears consequences. Yeah.
But he did. It was horrible. I'm not asking you to excuse what you did. I'm asking you to trust me. to do what's right.
And to know what's best. And then what? Forgiveness doesn't establish a relationship. It's just about letting go of his throat. Merc.
The pain inside is devouring you. Robbing you of joy and crippling your capacity to love. You're not stuck because you can't. You're stuck because you won't. You don't have to do this alone.
I'm here with you. I don't know how. Just say it out loud. I forgive you. Mackenzie.
You're such a joy. Even if out loud as a whisper. not understandable. McKenzie is a mess and It this has ruined his marriage, all the hate that he has, and he was going out. there to Try to kill the guy.
when uh God intervened. And he'll do that for us. recognize the Desire for revenge. I've gone after it a few times. But it is very important to also recognize that we have no clue what's going on.
compared to God in particular. And if we are truly looking for justice, we have to leave it. to God, not to try to do it ourselves. I've um It got to the point where I don't want to call our justice system a justice system. It's a legal system.
Because quite often there's not justice there. We were talking about that before we got together. People that should not go to prison do. People that should go to prison do not. But as God said in that clip, That what was it he said?
Nobody gets away with any of that. He liked that but couldn't remember where it was, so I thought I'd I'd let uh Our buddy jumps in there, and we don't get away with anything. And God will be just, but He'll also be, as was pointed out beautifully, He'll be merciful, He'll be loving. And we can Count on him.
Well, thank you, Jim. There's two thoughts I had as you were talking. One, if you had a mobster name, it'd be Jimmy Two Glasses. Why do you have a pair of glasses on your neck?
Well, that thing about getting old you're talking about, one of them is so I can see things in the distance and the other so I can see things up close. I just assumed you forgot one was there when you were wearing the other one. No, and honestly, that was a great clip. I loved it. I like that movie.
I'm kind of surprised there would have best actor nomination there somewhere for at least one of those people in that clip. But anyway. Yeah, the the movie had such great impact. Uh I thought they really did a good job taking it from the book. And rolling it into the movie and not losing the impact of it.
And so that was one of the scenes for me that also had. Makes me question. you know, what am I really looking for here? Andy, you haven't talked with us yet. You want to talk to us or no?
I'll just share a scripture. I think we read something from Psalm 85 last week. Um this is similar but different, but um 89, 14, Psalm 89, 14, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Mercy and truth go before you.
So let's look at what we're talking about. Very little, very few times it seems like God does instant justice. Mm-hmm. I mean, there's There's our systems that Jim was talking about that we try to bring justice about, and that takes time. But even then a lot of times It may not even be on this side of heaven when justice is actually uh dealt with.
Um And mercy and truth go before him. To me, that just tells you: you're given every opportunity. Yeah, you may have done it wrong, but he's giving you every opportunity. To write that and what's in play there. is how the person offended handles it.
Which is us, which he asks us to forgive, asks us to, like in the clip. trust him with that and not try to take it upon ourselves. And essentially, we become more like him in patience in meting out justice or trusting him with it. And it's just something we struggle with because we feel like we've been wronged and we need to handle it. He does it just doesn't work that way.
And I think it takes a lot of faith also to get you to the point to where you say, okay, I do truly trust God that he'll handle this. And then I don't it's not my responsibility. to let that pain eat me up inside he was talking about there is to just let it go.
Now there's a fascinating angle to the word Judgment. which you put next to judgment or we were certainly talking about those. Is it you know, from a Hebrew standpoint where you look at the word, It has to do with looking for the glory of God in something. Oh, yeah. Like Bill just said, You're too old, you're too fat, you're too...
whatever, right? Rather than wow, that guy Has This gifting, wow, that guy, look at how he does that. Or, you know, we look at that a lot in boot camp, is we talk about it, that to some extent we're. looking for God's glory and calling it out in another person. And truly, what God explained in the shack was, I want to redeem him too.
In other words, that guy was building God's image the same as I was. But something's you know, been hurt. put down whatever, there's still the raw ingredients involved. that can bring out the best. I'll never forget when I heard that the first time.
at boot camp I thought man I have a tendency with my wife. To look at, man, I can't deal with this anymore. Right? And I went home thinking, Wait a minute, I need to be looking for her glory. I need to be trying to find You know how God is reflected by her.
And I saw that in the way that she Tended to kids and those kind of things. And I thought, wow, how amazing was it? You know, that I married a woman that her glory is to raise children. Like, you know. that that would raise my family.
And that's her glory. God gave her that gift. And as I saw that, I said, you know, Tammy, you really like this. And she was like, oh man, I love kids. And so I said, have you ever thought about working in a daycare?
or working at the church in the nursery and she b immediately Right, she lit up, took on those tasks. In fact, she was doing it today with a little girl. I've just felt so. Like man. I got to do something actually worthwhile instead of Having all this judgment going on inside of my head about my wife, I was actually getting a chance to.
you know Work with God in calling out the glory of somebody rather than pretty easy to see somebody's faults. You know I That's a good point. And I look at it a little bit differently. in the fact that another thing that we get from boot camp is wounding. And you have, you know, you were talking about trying to figure out what's behind something, but I think that's important to do because a lot of times people do what's been done to them, hurt people, hurt people, and to have mercy in it much more so.
I mean, I know that I used to didn't even consider that whenever I would make a judgment on somebody.
Now that's usually what I go to first, but I think the glory part is really important too. And you might come out ahead if you ask God rather than trying to figure it out. For me, I think the difference is what I'm looking for. If I'm looking for evidence, Yeah. To support how I already feel, I'm not doing the right thing.
If I'm looking to see, okay, what's God doing in their life? That's totally different. Go to masculinejourney.org. We'll talk with you next week.
