Mercy

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 Masco and Journey. We're glad you're with us this week.

At least somebody's with us. It's just got three of us in studio than our friend Mitch on the line, which we'll talk to in a minute. But yeah, I'd like to say we're small and mighty. But if you watch it online, you know we're not really small. We're not really small.

I mean, Mighty's up for questions. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, you definitely can see we have a face for radio if you ever log into the YouTube or the Facebook round. Absolutely. Absolutely.

My friend, you guys know David, but David was telling me he had a guy at work who's been listening to the show, and he's like, who's the guy with the white hair that's always on it every week? He's like, which guy with white hair? He said, we have the white hair guys and the no-hair guys. That's right. That's the extent of what we have on the show.

He wasn't talking about me. Yeah, you and Andy and Danny were kind of ruled out, right? We're the no-hair guys. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

We are continuing our topic of one-word topics. Last week we did Justice. And this week we're doing Mercy. And so it'd be interested to see where it goes. But before I do that, we have on the line Mitch.

Mitch, it's a pleasure to have you back. You've got some stuff coming up I'd like for you to share with us if you have a moment. Sure, yeah. We have our annual father-daughter camp down there at Camp Harrison, which is great, beautiful place. not too far from you.

And it's for kids. 6 to 16. I mean, we have some that are in their 20s that come just to spend time with their dads. But yeah, that's coming up September 11th through the 13th. We'd love to have guys from your area.

come if a guy has a daughter and you know a lot of times Guys have a difficult time. having that connection and finding that place to really connect with girls. and we we make it really easy. have it in a great place where a lot of fun activities happen, whether they just like to hike and fisher. really want to engage in go at it, you know?

Daughters. Yeah, so I mean, we had a girl that was five. Two weeks ago, we had one in Indiana, had ours in Indiana. And she was a little young, but it was great. She had a blast, had her birthday, turned six while she was there.

Um but usually probably the average age is twelve to fifteen, somewhere out in there and not a thirty six-year-old daughter. No, well, you know what? My daughter's 25 and she has not missed one since she was five years old. And we've been doing this for 20 years.

So Yeah, you got a 25-year-old then. Yeah, yeah, and she's married, but she still comes to father-daughter camp, which is great. And you know, a lot of times we just hang out, we go for a hike and Maybe we fish or just sit around uh the fire, you know? Yeah. That sounds awesome.

What's the date on that? Yes, so it's the eleventh through the thirteenth of September. There are just a few more days if this week is kind of the last week for registration, but Yeah, the 11 through the 13th.

So it's Friday night through Sunday. They come in, you know, dinner starts around 6:30. People come in around 5:30. Get them enough time to drive down. And then.

And then we go through Sunday around noon. And let everybody out. But it's a great Saturday, beautiful camp if you've been there to the YMCA camp. Uh campaign. That's awesome.

Now, question, what if you Uh have a grandfather and granddaughter. Would that be okay? Yeah, that's totally cool. You know, we've got a lot of guys. We have guys who bring Yeah, I bring granddaughters.

We have guys who bring um you know, like a daughter who's um Connected with their family, but doesn't really have a dad in the family. We've had that before.

So, certainly, that's a a possibility. It's fun to see uh granddads come with their granddaughters 'cause they they they act like kids too. They enjoy just having just as much fun as everybody else.

Well, just two different energies there. You know, you have one that's got high energy, one not so much. Exactly. But you you'd be amazed.

Sometimes you see some of the granddads outrun the dads because I think the dads are a little worn out. Yeah, well, the grand dads know they can go home and rest. The dads aren't going to go home and rest. Speaking as a granddad with three granddaughters in that age group. Yeah.

Yeah it it you know uh I would not be outrunning anyone. I might be outrunning someone to a cot. Right, exactly. And it's a beautiful place. They have great Great cabins, super comfortable, great food.

You can chill as much as you want. There is a daddy-daughter dance. Saturday night.

So it's kind of like a beach party theme.

So you wear your favorite Hawaiian shirt and You know, stand around or dance around or do whatever you want, but the girls have a blast and watch a movie and have some more, so it's a It's a good time.

So, but yeah, that's in boomer, so not too far away.

Okay, so how would they register for that? Thank you. Just go to our website, which is missionuprising.com. And just go into the events, and I can send you a link to it. Underneath our events are our outpost, our men's retreat we do in Indiana.

And then all of our different events, father, son, father, daughter, marriage getaways and all that, and a women's retreat. But They get down at the bottom, they can click on that, and all the registration information is there. And if you know, somebody's struggling financially and you need some help, that's also don't don't not sign up just because of Money. Absolutely. Because we know it's expensive, but we we don't want anybody to miss out.

So we have some resources. uh for scholarships as well. Hey, do you know when your next women's event's going to be?

Well, we have one coming up in Indiana here in just a few weeks. We do one once a year in North Carolina. I think I don't know if we have the dates yet for twenty twenty seven, but it's usually in April in the in it's the same camp. And then in Indiana, we have one september seventeenth. That'd be a little bit of a drive for people.

Oh, yeah. Unless they just want to want to enjoy the drive.

Well, yeah, I know. Yeah, we'd love to have people come. If you want to see corn and soybeans, that's the place to go. Exactly, it really is. A beautiful place for that if you like flatland and farms.

Yeah, good windmills. Last time I was there, there was more windmills than I remembered from before. Yeah, we were just headed to Chicago, and we see a lot of them up there. But, you know, it keeps growing. It's good for the farmers.

They're making some money. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Darren, we're on your topic of mercy. And so do you want to share anything about that?

Well, I mean, I was the person that invented mercy. Everybody that's ever met me has really thought of me as a very merciful person. Yeah, I think they say the people that need to do it the most. Is that what it is? Yeah, I think I was the one that actually wanted to do justice because I was feeling the need for some justice a few weeks ago.

And then I missed that show.

So. Um Yeah, the topic of mercy, obviously, very, very confusing. It doesn't sound confusing. Most people think they know what mercy is. I know I did until Robby told me that I didn't.

And then, and so, and vice versa, I think. But honestly, it's one of the things that. It can be one of the most complicated definitions in the history of the world, and it can be one of the simplest. And the reason I think both of those work is because there are multiple definitions. Biblically, there are multiple definitions of mercy, and we'll talk about those tonight.

But. Cheers. Yeah. I'm going to start with just this definition. When I've been Pastoring churches, other things over the years.

One thing that I tried to always do, because I'm not a complicated guy, I'm pretty, you know, simple-minded. Um I tried to, you know, teach that way. And I came up a number of years ago with. I don't remember who told me, it probably wasn't original with me, but basically. I started describing to some friends and Bible study groups and things like that as.

That grace is when we get something we do not deserve.

So, grace is when I get something I don't deserve. Right? Salvation. We think of grace. Mercy is when I don't get something that I probably do deserve.

Like punched in the mouth. You know, you say the wrong thing and, you know, you deserve the pot against the head if you're, you know, saying it to your wife. But you don't get that, so she's merciful. with you. We walk the line of grace and mercy every day with God.

And there's so much more to those. And the very simplest definition that you'll hear on this show anyway of mercy is when you don't get something that you do deserve. And I mean, I deserve death, right? I've sinned. I've sinned a lot.

And I deserve. No grace. But I get it. I deserve justice. But I don't.

And so that is where God has been very, very merciful. um for me and Robby in keeping with the father-daughter Camp has the first clip where he's going to talk about it from a little different, from a much deeper theological perspective. Right. You don't get much deeper than this. You don't.

It's in the depths. It's a couple fathoms. Dive, dive, dive. Yeah, so. Yeah, that's it.

You know, it's an interesting idea, this idea of mercy. And I actually this clip That we're going to play changed my life because it gave me an understanding. We only have two minutes, so we won't be able to get you in before the bread. That's okay.

Well, I can still set it up. You can set it up unless I keep interrupting you. That's okay.

Yeah. I'm going to show you mercy.

Okay, thank you. Yeah. I was hoping for grace, but okay. You know you're my favorite, so it's all right. I was really trying to understand grace because for years I'd heard all these different things about, you know, like you just said, you know, it's.

you know being given something you don't deserve, right? you say grace, or you see a a royal person that that they say it's her grace. Like and I and I'm just in a in a point of total confusion trying to and so I'm doing this deep Bible search, da da da da, and I I'm I'm really Trying to chase this down, and I'm watching. this particular Sunday afternoon with my granddaughter, Lila. I'm watching Barbay Barbie Barbay Barbay Barbie the mermaid pearl princess.

Right. movie, all of a sudden I see how Barbie is treating different people and how it brings out the best in them, And she's treating them. With this unbelievable favor. Like, even when they treat her horrible, she's still treating them like she's their favorite, like they're her favorite. And all of a sudden, I remembered.

like some of the most godly people I ever met. When I was around them, I always felt like I was their favorite. Like I could understand... understand that wow I have great favor when I'm in this person's presence. Right.

In when you feel that way, like I'm your favorite. Then you also sometimes experience mercy. Mm-hmm. And you sense mercy at a different level when it comes from a person who is showing you grace. And when I began to process the fact that Jesus is full of grace, infinite grace.

Mm-hmm. Then all of a sudden like, oh my goodness.

Well through this clip, which Barbie's going to encounter stonefish when we come back, and you'll have a chance to see from the depths of Barbie. That is a cliffhanger among cliffhangers. You can't wait and miss Barbie. If you want to reach out to us, go to mascoonjourney.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. This is my third camp, and as always, it's fantastic because one, it's a getaway from day to day. Two, I get to be around brothers, and three, I get to intentionally spend time with my father. Do the camps feel the same when you come to each one?

No, they don't. And that's what I was worried about with my second one: is it going to be the same exact stuff as the first one? And it wasn't. It still feels different because God is wanting to speak to me in a different way no matter what. And this time, He's really been digging in on me growing up without a dad in my life and him really trying to impress on me what it means to have a father that loves you in your life.

And that's been really difficult for me. And I'm still going through that and unpacking a lot of that and what that actually looks like in my life. If you're available, You need to come to this. If you're listening to me or listening to this show, you need to register for the next one. You need to be down here.

You need to experience this. It will legitimately change your life every time you come. Register today at masculinejourney.org. Praise the Lord. His mercy is mine.

Stronger. New Every more Our sins there are many. His mercy is Mm-hmm Welcome back to Masculine Journey. That is a song I really didn't know, and Darren was telling me he loved this song. And then we realized there's a whole bunch of people that sing it, and I still have never heard it that tells you anything about my Christian music background.

It says a lot more about me than it does about the song. It's one of my tractor songs. When I'm on the tractor out in the back 40, I'm listening usually to like Shane and Shane or somebody like that. I figured you were listening to like, she thinks my tractor's sexy. No, well, I don't have a green tractor, so you know, I mean, that's getting back to Barbie.

Okay. Ha ha ha ha.

So we left her here, O Barbie. She actually in this. Typical situation, the the evil stepmother s sh was you know, stole her she was the king's daughter and she was stolen at birth by the evil witch. um not unlike Satan, right? And then ta told lies her whole life, not unlike most of us.

And she gets invited to the ball at the at the castle without her when her mom's out of town. And so she's headed to the ball. Right? And she's been given this unusual gift, Barbie has, of being able to bedazzle anything. She can put pearls on anything.

So when you listen to this clip, she's going to meet the stone fish. He has poison spikes. You're going to hear a sound when she decides to put pearls on those spikes. And of course, this will be the mercy part of the equation, but I just want you to see Grace and Mercy in action as you can hear how she treats. the most poisonous fish in the sea.

Okay. Okay. And then the result the change of being treated with grace and mercy. Here we go. A stone fish?

One of the most poisonous- The most poisonous! Make that the most poisonous fish in the sea! Yeah. That's right, lady. You're looking at the face of certain Doom!

Nice to meet you, Mr. Doom. That is one powerful voice you have. Aren't you gonna move it? I vote with him.

Aren't you listening? Yeah. Each one of my poisonous spikes means a terrible, horrible end! Hmm. Much prettier.

Yeah. Uh-huh. What? What have you done to me? Yeah.

What have you done to him? I just de-spiked your spikes.

Now no one needs to be scared of you. Oh, great. Just great.

Now what am I supposed to do? Just be nicer. Stop trying to frighten everyone. Get to know your fellow fish. Easy for you to say.

But everyone runs from me. Once no one's afraid of you, I bet you'll have loads of friends. I dunno. It all seems wrong for a stonefish. And I'm not so good at friendliness.

We're heading to the city. There's lots of fish there, mister Doom. You could practice being friendly on them. Uh The name's Spike. Uh, you don't mind me coming along?

I'd be honored. Yeah, and to some extent it's my story, right? That I was covered in spikes and I was bedazzled, but nonetheless. You can see the way she treats him is in no way in response to the way he's treating her. And it and it It reminds me of the story of mercy, like a personal story that I will never ever forget.

As you know, I taught special needs kids for years and years. And these people are actually adults. Um Ryan, the hero of this particular story, was probably about 35 at the time. And for some reason, unbeknownst to anybody in the class, and he was autistic, he had stolen his mother's car keys. And he threw him in a closet.

And he shut the closet and that closet locked. And nobody had a key. We searched all over the church. Finally, we found somebody with a key when she came and opened that door. Ryan attacked.

And this this is the most friendliest kid, hugged you till the the cows came home, but r something came over him like I've never seen a lot worse than Mr. Stonefish right there. And he came running over, he slammed that door so hard. After it was opened, that the whole building shook. And then he turned like he was going to attack his mother.

And I stepped in front of him.

Now at this point in time, I'm 6'5 ⁇ , 260 pounds. And Ryan is maybe five eight and, you know, a hundred and forty. He throws me down like I'm a random audience. Like, what in the world? I mean, you know, just superhuman strength, to quote Mr.

Morelli. And. I'm down for the count and I look up as he heads for his mother and she looks up at him. with absolute grace and mercy, and says, Does somebody need a hug? And she said it in the most loving voice you have ever heard in your life.

and Ryan melted in tears in her lap. Wow. Just bawling. I've never seen how she Could possibly in this circumstance, I mean, he's literally attacking his mother, and she says, Does somebody need a hug? And boy, did he.

And I How many times is exactly You know, that argument that you and I had, Doug, if you'd I mean, Darren. I hate it when you try to change my name, Robby. Do you remember that time? I'm sure you do. If you'd have just said, Does someone need a hug?

Yeah, that's exactly what I needed, you know. But the point is. is that here comes this unbelievable graze. And then you're shown mercy. Right.

And I uh I really find sort of the difference In the leper that Jesus healed. To me, there are two levels of mercy that are talked about in the Old Testament. And one of them has to do with compassion, and the other one has to do with loving kindness. And the compassion is to say, I'm going to heal you from leprosy. But oh the loving kindness of touching him.

Mm-hmm. Right? That there's there's levels of that. Mm-hmm. That.

you know, again, to touch a leper. It is almost unthinkable. But that's the kindness of God, right? Mhm. Yeah, it it was pretty amazing to read back through and realized he touched him before he healed him.

Right, when he was still in his dirty place, right, when no one else had touched him in years, if ever. and to share something a little complicated, but I think you'll enjoy. If you go look in Leviticus 13. where they're talking about how to be healed from leprosy. What the If the whole person was covered in leprosy, It says that the high priest was to inspect them in Leviticus 13.

And then, if you read in your New King James Version, or 99 out of 100 versions, say, and they will, and the, and the, If they're covered in leprosy completely and it's turned white, the priest is supposed to pronounce according to the translation you'll read. them clean. But in the original language, and I've had a long discussion with an Orthodox Jew on this. He doesn't pronounce him clean, he cleanses. The word pronounce is not in the is not in the Hebrew.

He claims them. Mm-hmm. In other words, that priest has got.

some godly Mercy. available to them as God's junior partner. Yeah. And so Jesus was the high priest. of that man.

And he was fulfilling the picture of literally cleansing the leper. Which is, you know, it's just beyond cool. It's just beyond cool. Before we move over to something else, Mitch, what thoughts do you have on the topic? That's interesting as you guys were talking.

I was thinking about we were just in Jamaica a few months ago after Hurricane Melissa, and we built homes there. And I remember one of the first homes we built. These people were the demand that we were building for Um They just became internally focused. Afraid people were going to rob them, afraid of what their neighbor was going to take, protective of their. what they had.

These are you know not necessarily Christians. that we were building for. And After And this is the grace of the mercy type of Um loving kindness, but also taking care of someone who had such significant loss. And through that process, I saw him soften first. Then I saw him work on his own house, and then I saw him say, wherever You guys go to care for another family.

Come and get me. I'll come help.

Okay. And so I saw God's mercy. Um Sure.

soften him. and then invite him in. and then encourage him to reach out.

So it was like the Holy Spirit was was working through everybody who was there. Um And his mercy was being poured out on this man. And it changed him. And so it's similar to what you're saying. It's like we were being used, and then he was being used.

Um To offer that mercy to others.

So that's the thing that. how it can change, how it can shift someone's heart. Um and motivate them. to represent him to others. That's awesome.

Thank you, Mitch. It really is. That's powerful. Yeah. Yeah, it was it was really cool.

Before we end up this show, I do want to throw out there, if you know of any masculine clips we could use, please and not Barbie clips, could you please send us something on that? Send us a list. Very funny. After hours, it's all in that movie. I thought Spike was pretty masculine.

He had a high-pitched masculine voice, B.S. Yeah. He did. As far as Barbie goes, he was probably pretty masculine. Yeah.

Yeah. Within the context of the movie. Yeah, yeah. You had to see it, I guess. That was a great clip, Robby, and I've told you that before.

I've really enjoyed that clip. Probably as much as a Barbie movie as I want to watch, to be quite honest, but that clip was pretty powerful.

Well, you want to go to another clip of a movie that you might or might not want to watch. Yeah, not quite yet because we're going to run out of time. We'll have to do that in the after hours. Darren, final thoughts on Mercy before we head out?

Well, ultimately, I. Here's what I would like for our listeners to to take home with them. Is it's impossible to give people mercy without grace and without love and without loving kindness, without the love of Christ. You can not give them what they deserve and maybe call it mercy. But it's not really mercy.

Unless you're doing it out of love and humility, understanding that you too need some, and so because I need it, it's a whole lot easier for me to give it to somebody else when I'm in that posture.

So, this week, spend some time asking God to remind you of people in your life that's shown you grace. It's shown you mercy. and when he's called you to do it and if he's calling you to do it now. Right? Just say, God, who are you calling me to show grace, to show mercy to, and help me define that in my world?

We'll talk with you next week.