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Amen All right, we're there in Deuteronomy chapter number 16 and of course on Sunday mornings We've been studying now for many weeks this subject of Emotional intelligence, and we spent the first several weeks learning about emotional intelligence just specifically What it means and all of those things, but the last several weeks We've been kind of in a new phase of this series And we've been dealing with some specific areas in which emotional intelligence is needed And required if you remember a couple of weeks ago. We learned about Emotional intelligence with regards to conflict resolution, and how emotional intelligence is needed For conflict resolution, and then last week we learned about Emotional intelligence with regards to dealing with gossip and dealing with gossips and of course emotional intelligence We've been learning that it's different. We define it as the ability to Recognize and regulate our own emotions and also our ability to recognize and regulate ourselves around the emotions of others and This morning. I'll again deal with a very specific subject in which emotional intelligence is needed and this morning We're going to be learning about judgment and discernment Judgment and discernment and another word that you might use as a synonym for judgment in the Bible is the word justice justice or judgment Or Discernment you're there in Deuteronomy chapter 16 look down at verse number 18 Deuteronomy 16 18 the Bible says this judges and officers Shall thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee Throughout thy tribes, and I want you to notice this phrase here at the end of verse number 18 And they shall judge the people with just judgment They won't judge the people with just judgment and this this idea of Just judgment is actually seen all throughout the Bible. We there's different terms that we see Here we see just judgment Jesus used the term righteous judgment and You would consider you would think that if it's judgment or if it's justice that it would be just you wouldn't think that You would have to make the statement now Let's make sure we have just justice right because that's what he's saying just judgment the word judgment There is in reference to judgment, but the reason that That Moses here in Deuteronomy 16 the Holy Spirit of God says we need to have Just judgment we need to have just justice or the reason that Jesus said we need to have righteous Justice is because of the fact and this is something that I learned over the years in ministry Is that most people just naturally have very unjust justice they have very unjust? Judgment, and this is something that we as Christians need to understand and need to learn especially if we're going to be people that are emotionally intelligent because Making judgment calls is something that is going to be Required in every area of life if you have people around you You're going to have to be able to make judgment calls be able to Determine and discern what is right? What is wrong sometimes in areas of authority who is right who is wrong and things of that nature? So these are things that we need now. I've often been shocked by how Unjust people tend to be sometimes people say things to me, and I'm thinking myself whoa like I can't believe that You don't get this or I can't believe that you can't see this But the reason I think that maybe there are some things that people don't grasp with regards to judgment Is because I think some of these principles do require emotional intelligence They require the ability to not only recognize and regulate your own emotions But also to recognize and regulate yourself around the emotions of others so what I'd like to do this morning Is I'd like to give you five guidelines or five principles for emotionally intelligent judgment Emotionally intelligent judgment or justice or discernment however you want to think about it. We're talking about the same thing Let me just say this for a more thorough list On guidelines for justice because I'm gonna deal with five this morning, but if you're interested in this subject I actually preached an entire sermon series I preached like a seven week sermon series on the subject of judgment back in the beginning of 2023 it was a series called judgment and And and I I went through a lot of these principles back then again This is one of the reasons why I'm so shocked because I think myself man you spend seven weeks preaching on one subject And it seems like nobody listened to anything And that's just how it is from time to time But I would encourage you to go back and listen to that series if this is something you're interested in or maybe something you feel Like you struggle with because obviously this is one sermon I spent an entire sermon series on that subject and specifically in that series I preached a sermon called judgment calls and a lot of the things I'm gonna be preaching this morning I taught in that series in that sermon in fact in that sermon. I gave ten principles in this sermon I'm gonna give you five and the only reason I chose to go with five versus the ten is because I Picked out the five that I believe require emotional intelligence There's some things that don't require emotional intelligence, but these five things require emotional intelligence We're learning about emotional intelligence, so I'd like to give you these five guidelines regarding emotional intelligence and Judgment or justice or Discernment now you're there in Deuteronomy 16. We looked at verse number 18 Let's look at it again Deuteronomy 16 18 judges and officers shall thou make thee in all thy gates Which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment Now let me let me just go ahead and say this and and exercise a little bit of emotional intelligence Yes as a pastor sometimes. I'm really shocked by like whoa that is that what you just said is so unjust It's crazy to me You know I do understand that these principles of justice are things that I think about a lot because as a pastor I'm often finding myself in a position of being a judge and Doing a lot of conflict resolution and and judging in a situation So I realize that my job requires me to think about and consider these things a lot And I understand that maybe some of you aren't in those positions But either way these are things that every Christian needs to know because you can't be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and be Unjust you can't be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and be an Unjust person those things are not compatible if you're going to be a follower Christ you need to be a righteous person You need to be a just person so these are things that we need to understand notice verse number 19 Deuteronomy 16 and verse 19 the Bible says this thou shalt not rest you say that word rest there That's word rest is an older word We don't use a lot today in this context But it's where we get the word wrestling or wrestle and the idea is to twist or to To like like a wrestler well well They'll twist and they'll turn and they'll try to pin someone down the Bible says to not do that With judgment thou shalt not rest judgment because when we try to twist and turn Judgment in order to make it fit what we want it to fit that is unjust That is the definition of being an unjust person thou shalt not rest judgment look at this phrase thou shalt not Respect persons thou shalt not respect persons now when the Bible says thou shalt not respect persons What is that talking about? It's not talking about being disrespectful like don't say yes, sir. Yes, ma'am You know that's not what it's talking about obviously we should be respectful people and I do think that You know it's appropriate to say yes, sir. Yes, ma'am, please. Thank you Those are all good things when the Bible says here thou shalt not respect persons The idea is this that when it comes to judgment or decision-making you'll you will not give more respect To one individual than to another he says thou shalt not rest judgment thou shalt not respect Persons all of this has to do with justice. Of course notice this neither take a gift Neither take a gift. What does that mean? It means look sometimes people give you things or they do nice things for you and it's good to give people gifts It's good to do nice things, but when it comes to judgment and making calls of justice, you know The Bible says neither take a gift. Here's why for a gift does blind the eyes of the wise and look These are common sense things. It's it's even in our law today If you're gonna go stand before a judge, you literally can't just hand the judge Hey judge, here's here's a thousand dollar gift for you right before you make a decision on my case That's illegal because of the fact that a gift does blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous The idea here is that we should not allow things Personal I like this person. I respect this person. This person gave me a gift this person did something for me We should not allow those things to motivate us to rest or to twist Judgment keep your place there in Deuteronomy We're gonna come back to it Put a ribbon or a bookmark there and go with me if you would to the book of Leviticus Leviticus chapter 19 if you go backwards Deuteronomy then you have the book of Numbers then the book of Leviticus Leviticus 19, by the way We're gonna look at a lot of passages right from Deuteronomy and and Leviticus. These are Books of the Bible that people often refer to as boring or people don't like to read them But you'll find that there's a lot of practical principles in these books that maybe you should read So that you can actually know how you're supposed to act as a bible-believing Christian Leviticus 19 look at verse 15 Leviticus 19 15 notice what the Bible says here ye shall do no look at it Unrighteousness in judgment again, you would think why would even have to say that Wouldn't you just think like if you're going to do judgment you're going to be just but most people are not just when it Comes to judgment and here God is telling us you shall do no one righteousness and judgment thou shalt look at again not respect the person of the poor Nor honor the person of the mighty But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor and look here. He gives two extremes Because we tend to think like oh people have respect of persons for the mighty right nor honor the person of the mighty People that have money people that have power people that have influence we should not just lean towards them And they're famous or they're popular and we should not just you know lean towards them and give them justice But here the Bible says hey don't don't Have respect of persons even of the poor So you shouldn't just like lean toward the other extreme because what happens in societies is we had all you know for a long time The the man right the the rich man the strong man the influential man He was getting all the help and everybody was linked so and then and then we'll turn around We're like well now if they're poor they're innocent. Well, that's injustice, too You know the truth of matters is that there are some poor people that are innocent and there are some poor people that are guilty Do you understand that? There's some rich people that are innocent and there are some rich people that are guilty and whether they're rich or poor Whether they're black or white whether they're famous or or nobody knows them None of that should come into effect when we're dealing with justice Because justice should have no respect of persons. No unrighteous judgment He shall do no unrighteous judgment thou shalt not respect the person of the poor. So what are we learning here? What's the first principle and again these things I've learned Have to do with emotional intelligence because I think you need emotional intelligence not to know this Not to know this and please understand what I'm about to say to you because nothing I'm going to say to you this morning is Going to be like this epiphany. We're gonna be like wow, really? I didn't know that we weren't supposed to Nothing that I'm gonna say to you requires intelligence Because everyone should be able to pretty much understand this the moment I say it it does require Emotional intelligence you say well, why does it not require intelligence when it does require emotional intelligence? Here's why it does not require intelligence because you get it You understand it the things I'm going to say to you. They're not complicated. They're not they're they're on the on the bottom shelf They're easy for you to grasp The reason that you need emotional intelligence is because emotional intelligence Reminds us in the moment it takes Emotional intelligence not to understand but to remember and to apply it in the moment So what do we need emotional intelligence for in in judgment? And if you'd like to write these down I'm gonna give five statements. They're not alliterated, but you can write these down if you'd like Or be unjust whatever on the back of your course of the week There's a place and look this sermon is for all of us that need justice But I but but but literally I've done this long enough where I realize there are some people who have just decided their minds I will be unjust Like you you think it's crazy But there's literally people out there who live their lives and say I will be a respecter of persons I will always side with my friends always side with my family I mean they could murder they could kill they could walk into a grocery store with an Ak-47 and kill a bunch of people and and but but but they're my family so they've done nothing wrong Like people literally live their lives that way So if that's you this morning, there's there's no hope for you And honestly, I hope that your friends and family never do some heinous crime because you'll probably end up in prison For aiding and abetting it's ridiculous but these are So I look I just realized there are some people out there who literally live their lives who just decided Like I will be unjust and if that's you then this sermon is not for you, but for everyone else Who actually thinks like honesty and integrity and justice and righteousness and these things are good things Then maybe you'd like to write these things down number one. It takes emotional intelligence to remember that Justice must be applied without consideration of how much you like or dislike a person It requires emotional intelligence in the moment in the heat of the moment to remember That justice must be applied Without consideration of how much you like or dislike a person and look you think I'm making this stuff up But I've literally in my lifetime as a pastor. I've had people say to me Well, I like so-and-so so they must be right like and they weren't it wasn't a joke It was like there was a situation and they're like so-and-so's my friend. So they must be right. I'm thinking myself wrong Now so-and-so may be right but they're not right cuz they're your friend That's ridiculous That's insanity That I like that is on a level of like Twilight Zone that to me is just crazy Like I think myself someone needs to like strain you up and put you in a padded room need to take these sound boards off this wall and Put you in a padded room because for you to think I like so-and-so I don't need to see any evidence. I need to talk to anybody. I don't need to be told anything I like them so they must be right you are crazy You're crazy. It's craziness Justice Must be applied without consideration of how much you like or dislike person It should be applied without consideration of whether they're related to you or not It should be applied without consideration of how long you've known them or how much you like them or how much you did dislike them Justice should be done with no respect of persons Jackal said this we should be loyal to principles not people We should be loyal to principles not people and it doesn't matter Who the person is? Justice in our country is often represented like in a courthouse or something like that by a statute of lady justice And I'm not advocating for statutes of lady justice or if somebody's gonna email me, you know, that's a false cut look I'm not I'm not saying it's it's a good thing. I'm just saying in our country That's how we've chosen to represent justice. I didn't choose that. Okay, somebody else chose that But lady justice, but if you think about lady justice, you know, if you go to a courthouse You'll probably see an image of lady justice or a statue of lady justice. You know, what is it? It's a woman Who has she's holding a sword in one hand and scales in another hand and These represent her authority to punish the sword is is it's picturing her authority to punish and to to bring punishment upon those that are guilty and the scale represents balance The fact that we don't just punish people just because we'd like them or don't like them that we actually Look at the evidence and look at it and make sure that it's a balance and that it's fair and that it's right But you know, what's interesting the most interesting part of that whole Image to me is the fact that she's blindfolded Lady justice is blindfolded With a sword in one hand a scale. What is that? What does that represent? It represents the fact that justice is blind. It should be blind It shouldn't matter who the person is That's being tried and look and when it comes to us making decisions about what's right what's wrong what should be done What shouldn't be done it takes emotional intelligence. It doesn't take a lot of just Brain intelligence to understand what I'm saying to you but it does require emotional intelligence to remember that justice must be applied applied without consideration of how much you like and don't forget this one or dislike If the person Justice should be blind It doesn't matter if it's your spouse. It doesn't matter if it's your daughter. It doesn't matter if it's your son. It doesn't matter It none of that matters and and here's what people and this is the part that to me is insanity People connect these these ideas Well, I love my wife. I love my husband. I love my son. I love my daughter. I love this person I love that person. So therefore they can never be wrong. That's crazy That's crazy. Look there is nothing wrong You a normal emotionally intelligent spiritual individual should be able to say hey son I love you and I'm loyal to you, but you're wrong Those things do not contradict It's you shouldn't have this idea says like hey daughter or hey wife. I love you So you do nothing wrong and I just stick my head my head in the sand and pretend like everything you do is right That's ridiculous. And the Bible doesn't teach this go to Proverbs chapter number 27 Proverbs chapter number 27 If you open your Bible just right in the center You're more than likely found the book of Psalms right after Psalms you have a book of Proverbs So look, I'm not sitting here telling you Oh so you're saying that we shouldn't love people or not be loyal to people you should love people and you should be loyal to People and and and I hope you understand and and and consider the fact that as a pastor I love you and I'm loyal to you but I'm not going to be an unjust person and And the Bible doesn't even teach that let me give you a proof That this idea that if I love someone then I must pretend like they do nothing wrong is not even scriptural biblical It's just insanity Proverbs 27 verse 6. Look at it Proverbs 27 verse 6 Faithful are the wounds Doesn't the word wound sound like it hurts It sounds like Lady Justice with her sword in one hand Faithful are the wounds look at it of a friend But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful You know what the Bible actually teaches the Bible actually teaches that if you actually love someone and you're actually Loyal to someone and you actually care about them and you're actually their friend. You're not gonna lie to them You're not gonna pretend like oh you're good and everything you do is right and everything you do is righteous That's actually being their enemy The kisses of an enemy are deceitful the Bible says Faithful are the wounds of a friend because if you actually love someone you're gonna say I love you and I care about you And I don't want you to go down the wrong the wrong road. But listen to me. I love you, but you're wrong This is not good. What you're doing is not good what you're saying. You shouldn't be saying that now I'm not saying that look keep in mind all the other sermons on emotional intelligence I'm not saying you need to insert yourself into situations that don't involve you or whatever But I'm saying this when it comes to matters of justice and judgment and you are in a position to make a decision It is wrong for you to say well, I love this person. So therefore don't show me anything. I just they're right You're an unjust person It makes it takes emotional intelligence to remember that justice Must be applied without consideration of how much you like or dislike the person and in fact if you actually love the person You're gonna be just because faithful are the wounds of a friend But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful see some of you have surrounded yourself with people that aren't your friend They don't love you. You know what they love they love to be liked That's what most people surround themselves with they surround themselves with people that like to be liked and because they like to be liked They're never going to say anything to you that makes you not like them and Then you show up at Verity Baptist Church, and I'm up here Just telling you you're wrong about this wrong about that. You're wrong about this, and you're like pastor. He managed doesn't like me Hey, you've never known a better friend than pastor. He met us. I'm such a good friend to you I'm just wounding you every Sunday I'm like the best friend you've never had Because faithful are the wounds of a friend The kisses of an enemy are deceitful So we learned that it takes Emotional intelligence to remember that justice must be applied without consideration to how much you like or dislike a person and listen to me Husband or wife or mother or father if you say well, I'm not willing to I know my wife is doing these things And they're terrible. I know my husband doing these things, and they're terrible I know my kids are doing these things, and they're terrible, but I'm not willing to and you are a bad person You're an enemy. That's what the Bible calls you Not a friend go to proverbs 15 14 Powers 14 so number one justice must be applied without consideration how much you like or dislike the person and again I'm not saying that you need to insert yourself in situations that don't involve you remember all the other sermons We've learned is that your place is at your problem if it's not your place And it's not your problem, then then here's the proper response is don't have an opinion Otherwise people ask me. What do you think about this? I'm like. I don't have an opinion about that You don't have an opinion not one that I'm going to share with you Justice mess must be applied without consideration how much you like or dislike a person number two And again, it doesn't take intelligence to understand this, but it takes emotional intelligence to remember this it takes emotional intelligence to remember that number two You should not believe everything you hear Now you know that I mean who doesn't know that Like maybe a six-year-old doesn't know that right Look, maybe a five-year-old doesn't know that maybe a six-year-old doesn't know that but you're a grown man Or you're supposed to be You're a grown woman I Mean you're old and you don't know this You're running around acting like a five-year-old six-year-old look yes five-year-old and six-year-olds don't understand that You should not believe everything you hear, but let's just be honest with ourselves This is why five-year-olds and six-year-olds believe in Santa Claus This is why they believe in the tooth fairy This is why they believe in in in the Easter Bunny, right? At Some point you go up and realize Or not everything that I'm told is true See it takes emotional intelligence to remember that you should not believe everything you hear Proverbs 14 15 Are you there look? I'm not trying to offend you. This is the Bible remember faithful or the wounds of the friend Proverbs 14 15 look what the Bible says the simple believeth every word Know what the word is simple mean the word simple is King James Version talked for the dumb the ignorant the unlearned the simple believeth every word Here's the compare and contrast, but the prudent man Looketh well to his going See a simple person. They just they're just told something and they run with it What does the prudent man do he's told something, but he looketh well into it He doesn't just believe everything he's told She doesn't just believe everything she hears it takes emotional intelligence to remember that you should not believe everything You hear go back to Deuteronomy chapter 19 if you would Let me give you some principles on this and again. This should be easy to understand I Know it's not difficult to understand, but it does require emotional intelligence to remember this Let me give you some sub points with regards to this you should not believe everything you hear first of all Don't believe in accusations simply because it was made You know that anybody can accuse anybody about of anything And this is the culture we live in like we live in this culture today where if you get sued People just automatically like well you must have done something wrong And it's like you can get sued you can go to court you can win the case you can have them pay you $10,000 for bringing a fraudulent lawsuit against you and people will still say like well you got sued you must have done something wrong Maybe I'll just sue you for any reason People can accuse you of anything, and it takes an emotionally intelligent person and Maybe someone that's older than five years old to remember that you should not believe everything you hear and You shouldn't just believe in accusations simply because it was made Deuteronomy 19 and verse 15 look at what the Bible says Deuteronomy 1915 one witness shall not rise up against a man for an iniquity for any iniquity So what what is God saying when he says one witness showed up well I got one person here, and they said okay, but one witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity What does that mean here's what it means? Just because someone says it doesn't make it so Don't believe in accusations simply because it was made or for any sin in any sin that he said it What is it the Bible telling us the Bible's telling us it just because an accusation is made doesn't mean That we should believe itself now. Just now don't don't go on the other extreme An accusation is made well, then it must not be true. No. No here's the point when accusations made You don't know if it's true or not Do you understand that? This is why our country has a principle people are innocent until proven guilty Why why are they innocent until proven guilty because you shouldn't believe in accusations simply because it was made Keep your place there in Deuteronomy go with me to 1st Timothy chapter 5 1st Timothy chapter 5 you can find the t-books They're all clustered together in the New Testament 1st 2nd Thessalonians 1st 2nd Timothy Titus 1st 2nd Thessalonians 1st 2nd Timothy Titus 1st Timothy chapter 5 Put a ribbon or a bookmark or something in 1st Timothy because we're gonna come back to it And we're gonna leave it and come back to and I want you to get to it quickly 1st Timothy chapter 5 Here's specifically for a pastor. This is what Deuteronomy was talking about look at it here Deuteronomy 1st Timothy 5 19 Against an elder look at it receive not an accusation But before two or three witnesses, so if you don't have two or three witnesses the Bible says against an elder Which is a pastor receive Not an accusation. What does that mean to receive non-accusation? It means you don't even listen to it Now why does God say this about about pastors? He says it about elders and people in in in position of authority because we have the tendency to piss people off that's what it comes down to and Then so we upset people and then what do they do make accusations against us say things that aren't true And look the Bible says that you should not believe in accusations simply because it was made Keep your place there in Deuteronomy keep your place in 1st Timothy if you would we're gonna come back to those go to Matthew chapter 26 Matthew 26 Let me say this you should not believe everything you hear you know sub point a don't believe in accusations because it was made sub point B Realize that false accusations are common False accusations are common go to Matthew 26 why you turn there you remember the story of Jezebel Remember Jezebel in 1st Kings 21 she had to the Bible says sons of Belial who falsely accused Naboth of blaspheming God and the king Because she wanted to steal his vineyard and give it to her weak husband Ahaz remember that story So look there you have a situation where there were two witnesses, and they were both lying And we'll talk about that here in a minute, but just because there's two witnesses doesn't mean that even that doesn't mean it's true But we need to remember that false accusations are common look at Matthew 26 59 This is about the Lord Jesus Christ the sinless Lamb of God Matthew 26 59 Now the chief priests and elders and all the council look at it salt false witness against Jesus Why because they didn't like him So they were willing to have unjust judgment They saw a false witness against Jesus to put him to death verse 60 But found none yea though many false witnesses came It's always shocking to me how willing people are to be false witnesses Though many false witnesses came yet found they none and Then the Bible says at the last came to false witnesses And they were to get two guys to at least get their stories to match So look you should just realize that false accusations are common And again, I'm not saying that we should then go on an extreme that says well nothing and no one ever accuses is wrong Look the point is this you shouldn't just believe everything you hear just because an accusation is made doesn't make it so You should realize that false accusations are common and the Bible says That false accusations need to be dealt with harshly go to Deuteronomy 19 Deuteronomy 19 and Look at verse 16 And you say well, why do they need to be dealt with? Harshly, we'll use a little emotional intelligence Why do false accusations need to be dealt with harshly use some emotional intelligence, what if the false accusation is against you When did you want that dealt with harshly? Deuteronomy 19 16 look what the Bible says if a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him That which is wrong Then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord before the priests and the judges which shall be in those Days and the judges shall make diligent inquisition due diligence looking into the matter and Behold if the witness be a false witness, so they look into and they find out. Oh, you're lying This is a false witness and have testified falsely against his brother Look at what the Bible says then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother So shalt thou put the evil away from among you This is how seriously God takes laws He says if you stand up and give on and make get you you give testimony Because you're trying to get somebody else to be put to death and they find out your line then they're gonna put you to death That's what God said You say why because false accusations should be dealt with harshly Look at verse 19 and you shall do unto him as he thought to have done unto his brother So shall thou put evil away from among you And those which remain look at verse 20 shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit No more any such evil among you that I shall not pity him But life shall go for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot You know, you said what is being described here in Deuteronomy 19? justice It's justice Go back to 1st Timothy 5 1st Timothy 5 Remember we saw the same thing for an elder obviously in the New Testament. We're not a country So we don't put people to death. All right So, how do we deal with here? We have Church discipline 1st Timothy 5 19 against an elder received on accusation But before two or three witnesses the context is Deuteronomy 19 is where he's getting that from verse 20 then that sin What is the sin here those that are accusing an elder falsely then that sin the Bible says rebuke before all Look at how matches Deuteronomy 19 that others also may fear So if you bring up the what the Bible saying if you bring a false accusation against the pastor and then it's found out that You're lying then you should be brought before the congregation and should be rebuked publicly Because this type of behavior should not be allowed And look the emotionally intelligent go back to Deuteronomy 19 if you would the emotionally intelligent Application to don't believe everything you hear you say well if I'm not supposed to believe everything I hear Pastor because I'm the simpleton that just believes everything If it's on YouTube, I believe it was on Facebook. I believe it. Somebody whispers it in my ear. I believe it If that's not the response and what is the response here's the response give people the benefit of the doubt Here's the response choose not to make a judgment call until it's proven Here's the response say well. Hey people are innocent until proven guilty but the way that most people want to live their lives is say you're guilty until proven innocent and Then when you're proven innocent, they'll be like yeah. Yeah, but there's more to it That's wrong That's injustice Deuteronomy 19 So that's number one justice must be applied without consideration to how much you like or dislike the person look I realize you said pastor. I know that I know you know that But you remember that It requires emotional intelligence to remember that number two. You should not believe everything you hear. Here's number three Here's number three and I want to spend a little bit of time on this because this one I have found to me I don't understand why this is complicated Again I do this on a daily basis But I have found that this this tends to be the most confusing to people so I want to spend a little bit of time On this one to make sure you understand it. It takes emotional intelligence to remember that You need two or three legitimate witnesses Before you start looking into a matter You need two or three legitimate witnesses before you start looking into a matter, and I'm saying that very purposefully because Because here's the first sub point if you want a sub point letter a two or three witnesses do not convict They simply open up an investigation. Are you there in Deuteronomy 19 look at verse 15? Look what the Bible says One witness shall not rise up against a man for and for any iniquity or for any sin in Any sin that he's in it? So one guy stands up and says so-and-so did this. What do we do with that? Nothing? That's what the Bible says you said well, that's not just That's what God says And look God is saying this because he realizes that their false accusations are so prevalent One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity for any sin for anything that he's in it At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established now when the Bible says established here that doesn't mean that we convict them and And the context makes that very clear I'll show that to you in a minute Established just means that it's opened up or settled established means settled like okay now we got to investigate this one person says it it's like We don't believe everything we're here. People are innocent. We've been guilty. We're not just gonna run with gossip here Understand why I preach on gossip last week But two or three people say, okay now we need to look into this now The matter has been established if a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong Then both of the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord before the priests and the judges Which shall be in those days verse 18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition That's questioning and investigation. So when do the judges make diligent inquisition? When one witness rises up against a man, no when one witness rises up will you do nothing? When do the judges make diligent inquisition? At the mouth of two witnesses and at the mouth of three witnesses, then they don't convict they don't say okay Well, you're guilty. Well, two people said it so you must have done it. No at that point they look into it They make diligent inquisition and behold if the witness be a false witness and that testified falsely against his brother. We just read that So just cuz they just cuz two or three witnesses arise doesn't mean that the person did or didn't do it at that Point we start investigating because guess what two people or three people could be lying So you make a diligent inquisition, so what do we learn from this? Two or three witnesses do not convict They simply open up an investigation You say well pastor I have one witness so I want to interrogate someone wrong You're not even supposed to ask a question. You're not even supposed to look into it if you only have one witness Look, I'm not making this stuff up. It's in the Bible. I Realize this is out of the scope of some of your emotional intelligence But I'm fully confident that this is not out of the scope of your intelligence You may not have the emotional intelligence to want to apply it But I know everyone in this room if you're older than five years old to be able to understand this You have one witness. What do you do with that? Nothing? That's what the Bible says That's what the Bible says Well, what do we have two witnesses then you investigate then you begin to ask questions Then you look into a matter do two witnesses convict No Do three witnesses convict no two or three witnesses do not convict they simply open up an investigation if you only have one witness You don't seek another witness Well, I have one witness. Let me try to find another witness. That's opening up an investigation If you have one witness you don't question or interrogate someone that's opening up an investigation I've literally had people say to me. Well, we have this one witness. Can we take so-and-so and ask questions? No, you cannot No The Bible is clear about these things You have one witness. What do you do with it? Nothing? You say why because false accusations are prevalent. They're common I've had people ask me this even just recently I said somebody asked me this and I want to explain this because I feel there's so much confusion here So what about technology can technology serve as a witness like video or pictures? Can can a picture of something serve as a witness can video serve as a witness and look, let me be clear About my position on this. I believe we live in 2024 and I absolutely believe that video pictures technology can serve as a witness I Think that video could be a witness of something or a picture could be a witness of something but This is the part that requires some emotional intelligence If You're going to say that video or picture requires can can be a witness Then here's what you need to understand that video or the picture needs to stand on its own So what do you mean by that? I mean that I should be able to take that video or that picture and Show it to a police officer Show it to a jury show it to a lawyer show it to a random person on the street and without your Commentary and without yours backstory and without your they should be able to look at it and say yeah Like they should be able to look at it and say You should be able to show so I'm not literally done this where I've taped Somebody said here's a video of somebody doing something and I'm looking the video I'm like, what am I supposed to be looking? I don't what am I looking at? Well, let me tell you the story. No, I need to be able to look at it and just you don't need to tell me the story and If I take this rant if I take this video to random people that I trust And I'm like look at this. What do you see? Literally, I've taken video to multiple individuals that I trust my wife our trustees People on our staff that I trust and I'm like look at this and literally just this is the response again. What am I looking at? like exactly Look I believe video and pictures can be witness, but they need to stand on their own Otherwise, they're not a witness. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? And Look, this is the part and people get mad at me and they you know want to just attack me on these things or whatever But I've literally over the years and this has happened multiple times. This is what I'm the example I'm gonna give right now. I'm choosing this example because it happened multiple times. So if you've done this, I'm not picking on you I'm just this is just an example that obviously is prevalent. So I think it should be dealt with But I've literally had people send me a picture Where someone's holding a beer bottle? and they're like kick this person out of church for being a drunk and My response is always like hey this person may be a drunk. They may not be a drunk, but this picture doesn't prove They're a drunk I'm not saying they're not a drunk But you know what this picture proves is that they took a picture with a beer bottle in their hand Now I'm against drinking anything. I think it's stupid to drink. I think you're not but it's not budweiser. It's budstupider So I'm not sitting here saying like I think it's okay to drink I think it's retarded to drink I think it's dumb I Think you're an idiot in an imbecile if you drink you shouldn't drink Read the Bible. It's a Bible is clear But somebody holding a picture if I show up the picture to someone and I'm like Is this person a drunk? They're like, well, I don't I don't know they got one beer in their hand Do you understand what I'm saying to you? the picture Should be able to tell the story now if you're showing me a mugshot that they got arrested for a DUI Okay, that's a different story Yeah, maybe they are drunk But people will say things about technology and images and video and they're like this proves and I'm looking at the picture I'm like doesn't prove any I'm not saying they are or they aren't I'm just saying it doesn't prove anything It doesn't show anything It doesn't now you send me Seven pictures. Here's Monday. They have a beer in their hand. Here's Tuesday. They have a beer in their hand. Here's Wednesday They have a beer in their hand. Here's their okay. That's showing something. You understand what I'm saying to you One random picture with a beer in their hand and by the way, don't take pictures with beer in your hands you idiots But one random picture with a beer in your hand doesn't prove anything And people get mad at me because I look at I'm like this doesn't show any what are you serious? We want me to do with this. This isn't a witness and look people are confused by these things and And I get it, I guess I literally had someone said to me there was they showed me a piece of technology and There was nothing Again, I'm not saying that the individual was or wasn't doing what they said they were doing. It's just the video They didn't show anything and I'm like this this video is not a witness Because this video doesn't show what you're saying it shows and then they're like this what they said well, I'm a witness Like okay, then what did you see? I saw the video you saw this video. Yeah, the video shows nothing, right? What are you witness of nothing The video shows nothing you're watching a video that shows nothing and now you're telling me. Well, I'm the second witness No, you're not you're an idiot And look if you don't understand principles of justice you should not be making comments of things you don't understand And it's not just look. I literally had a pastor. I had a pastor say to me There's two witnesses to this thing and I'm like, well, who are the witness? Well, there's this one guy that saw it and then the pastor said and then he told me so now I'm a witness Like that's not being a witness. That's called being a gossip What did you see I didn't say what what did you well they told me That's not a witness. Look again. I don't understand what's so hard to get about this stuff, but that's not a witness If we want to get technical, you know what that's a witness of that is a witness You can testify to the fact that this person said this to me But you can't testify to the fact that this person did that because you didn't see it And again, maybe I'm a genius and everyone else is just you know, an ignoramus, but I don't think that's the case You know what? I think the case is that the things I'm telling you right now are not hard to grasp with your mind But you choose to give a blind eye to people you like Or people you don't like not because you're dumb because you're emotionally dumb That's what I think Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 8 Ecclesiastes chapter 8 because none of this stuff is that complicated the stuff I'm saying to you right now. It's not that hard to grasp really It's like okay if I show this picture into 10 random people are they gonna without your backstory Are they gonna just come to the same conclusion? No, right because the video you're showing me shows nothing because the picture you're showing me shows nothing Now the video shows something then I think it can be a witness but look, you know what a witness is? They stand on their own. They tell their own story. That's what that means That's what that means And if you don't get it then get out of the Justice League, you know, get out of the justice system and Let people who are actually intelligent make these decisions if you just can't grasp it It takes emotional intelligence to remember that justice must be applied without consideration to how much you like or dislike the person It takes emotional intelligence to remember that you should not believe everything you hear it takes emotional intelligence to remember that you need two or three legitimate witnesses before you even start looking into a matter and witnesses do not convict and Technology can be a witness if it tells a story and stands on its own like a human witness But if we look at the picture we look at the video and we're like, what am I looking at that's not a witness Number four it takes emotional Intelligence It takes emotional intelligence to remember that here's number four The reason you need someone neutral to deal with problems is because no side will have the right balance for with regards to punishment it Takes an emotionally intelligent person to remember and This is one that I will give it to people like if you don't deal with these things on a regular basis then yeah I get it. Maybe you don't remember this But it takes an emotionally intelligent person to remember that the reason You need someone neutral to deal with the problem is Because no side will have the right balance with regards to punishment. Are there any ecclesiastes 8 look at verse 11 Ecclesiastes 8 11 because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil The Bible teaches that we need to have justice. We need to have Punishment sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily when it's not executed speedily The sons of men their heart is fully set in them to do evil but here's what you need to understand about about justice and punishment is that people Who lean towards the guilty party, so let's say the guilty party is someone you like Your friend your family member Then they're always going to lean towards the punishment being too soft you understand that and People who lean against the guilty party So let's say you don't like the guilty person. They're not your friend. They're not your family member They hurt your friend. They hurt your family member. They're gonna lean towards the punishment being too hard So this is why look this is why it requires emotional intelligence for someone to say Hey, you know what pastor? I'm too close to this situation That person they're my friend. They're my relative. I'm too close to it, so I'm just gonna trust you or someone else who's neutral Because it does take an emotional intelligent person to remember that the reason you need someone neutral to do To deal with problems because no side Will have the right balance with regards to punishment if you're leaning towards the if you like the guilty person you're gonna lean towards Being too soft, and if you don't like the guilty person you're gonna lean towards being too hard You understand what I'm saying to you in The legal system there's a term called recuse or recusal Where a judge removes themselves from a case it's called recuse or recusal or recusing themselves They remove themselves from a case due to potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality Where the judge maybe has a connection to one side so they say look I can't be impartial here I'm gonna lean towards the person I know the person I like I can't be I can't give equity here There's a conflict of interest here So then the judge says I shouldn't I shouldn't judge this because I'm too close to it That requires emotional intelligence in your life and in my life Where you say hey, this is dealing with something that I'm too close to so I'm just gonna defer to someone. That's neutral and And what's frustrating to me is that the people who are closest to it. They're always telling you like what you're doing wrong No understand this You're never gonna. You're not gonna be impartial you're too close to it, and you know what I've learned in ministry Here's what I've learned in ministry because I make a lot of judgment calls in ministry Here's what I've learned when both sides are pissed off at me when both sides are unhappy I know that I'm striking right the right balance Like that's my goal sometimes Just to like have everybody mad at me Because cuz here's the thing like if I'm making one side real happy and the other side really Unhappy that I'm probably leaning in the wrong in one direction Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm making this side real happy and the other side not happy I'm probably leading that direction, but when I'm just like no one's happy People tell me you're going to stop over you're going too hard. I'm like that's probably where I'm supposed to be then Probably right in that sweet spot Where I'm striking the right balance Because the reason you need someone Neutral to deal with problems is because no side will have the right balance to regard punishment You know you should have enough emotional intelligence when there's a situation going on and you're close to it to say you know what? I'm a little too close to this I'm gonna recuse myself from this pastor. I'm just gonna trust you and your judgment because I'm I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna lean in a proper direction because of impartiality and look It's normal to be impartial towards people you love or like, but that's why judges say I can't take this case There needs to be someone else takes this case because I'm too close to it There's a potential for conflict of interest or a lack of impartiality So number four the reason you need someone neutral to deal with problems is because no side will have the right balance with regard to punishment and Then number five let me give you the last one and we'll finish up go go back to Deuteronomy 19 Deuteronomy 19 and look at the very least you guys who want to go into ministry someday you need to learn this You need to learn how to give proper judgment You need to learn these things and you also just need to be comfortable with people being mad at you all the time Because that's just the way leadership is people are mad at you all the time you can't do anything right everybody's angry at you all the time And that's okay Deuteronomy 19 Deuteronomy 19 verse 17 Then both the men between whom the controversy is Shall stand before the Lord before the priests and the judges Which shall be in those days You know what the Bible says here the Bible says that before a judge was allowed to make a judgment He had to hear both sides Looking for 17 then both the men then both the men Between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days so a judge was not allowed to make a judgment call to make a decision until He had heard both sides Here's statement number five It takes emotional intelligence to remember that if you haven't heard both sides or all sides of the story. You're probably missing something That takes emotional intelligence Go go to John chapter 7 if you wouldn't in the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John John chapter So we're gonna look at two verses in John and we'll be done John chapter 7 Notice what John 751 says John 751 Matthew Mark Luke John John 751 Doth our law Judge any man. This is a reference to the Old Testament law Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and Know what he doeth You know what I found in personal relationships is that people they'll be told one thing by one person and they'll run with it and They'll act like it's gospel Like well, this person said it so it must be so Well, you're an unjust person Because an emotionally intelligent person realizes that if you haven't heard both sides of the story you're probably missing something and Look, I I find myself in these positions all the time I've said this to so many people in our church And in fact, there are five people in this room that you've I've said this to you And and I'm not I don't think this is bad or negative Sometimes I'm sitting in my office. Somebody's telling me something and I'll say to them like hey I appreciate you telling me that and I believe you but obviously I'm only here in one side of the story and Usually people are like, yeah. I know I know you know, you got to talk to the other person or whatever Because it takes an emotionally intelligent person to realize that if you haven't both heard both sides Then you're probably missing something and look our law. It doesn't judge a man before it hears him You understand that? I've only heard one person, but I've already made my decision. That's wrong And look it's crazy to me how many times people will make a decision They'll make a judgment call based off what one person told them one story They heard you don't bother to ask any other questions. They don't they're just they're like, well, he said it Well, she said it so must be solid must be right And you know what I used to tell people when I was younger in ministry I used to tell people that you should not assume that you're being told the whole story when you've been told One side of the story you should not assume that you're being told the whole story Let me show you how I have progressed in my ministry When I was younger in ministry when I was less mature in ministry. I used to tell people If you've only heard one side of story, you're only got one side You're only just your friend told you what happened. You should not assume that you're being told the whole story That's what I used to tell people you know what I tell people now. I tell people in fact Not only should you not assume that you haven't been told the whole story if you've only been told one side of the story You should assume you've not been told the whole story You should assume listen to what I'm saying you should assume you've not been told the whole story Because it used to be that A husband came into my office and said this is going on and this is going on and my wife This is my wife that and I'm like man. That's terrible. Well good night. You married the antichrist like oh, man And Then I bring my wife into the office because I don't meet with ladies alone And I bring the wife and then she tells me her side of story. I'm like whoa Well, you didn't leave you didn't you didn't say that part You should assume you're not being told the full story I'm not saying people are bad or evil look It's just human nature to embellish its human nature to leave out the details that make you look bad It's human nature to exaggerate the details that make the other person look bad. That's human nature So look I used to tell people like well I'm going to talk to this person and I used to say like well don't assume you've heard the whole story now I tell people you should assume you've not heard the whole story You should assume that Because not not Nine times out of ten ten times out of ten in my experience and I've been doing this for Fourteen years here in a few months, and I've done this a lot ten times out of ten ten times out of ten When you hear the other side you're like oh wow yeah, well, they didn't mention that And they left that part out and Yeah, they gave you this detail in this detail in this detail But not in the right order or in the right sequence, and it's just human nature So when people come to me and say something and sometimes people need to come to me and say something cuz I'm the pastor I Just assume I'm not being told the full story. Thank you. That's not an attack on you It's an attack on your sin nature Because the truth of the matter is this That it takes emotional intelligence to remember that People often leave out the parts that make them look bad They often exaggerate the parts that make them look good They embellish the parts that make the other person look bad They minimize the parts that make them look bad. It's just human nature so an emotionally intelligent individual Realizes that if you haven't heard both sides or all sides of the story You're probably missing something and that's not to say that it's necessarily your job to go find the other side of the story You just need to know Well here's what I heard, but I only heard it from this person I Don't know maybe there's more to the story. There's probably more to the story. I would assume There's more to the story John chapter 7 verse 24 will finish up Nothing I said to you this morning was Just this breathtaking like pastor. You need to write a book like this is just wow You are just the most intelligent person. I've had none of these things. I've never heard none of that come on Come on If you're older than five years old all of this makes sense It's not hard to grasp It does not require a high IQ. It does not require a lot of intelligence To understand the things I'm saying to you But you know what it does require is emotional intelligence to remember emotional intelligence to remember That justice must be applied without consideration of how much you like or dislike an individual That you should not believe everything you hear That you need two or three legitimate witnesses Before you start looking into a situation and two or three witnesses does not necessarily convict That the reason you need someone neutral to deal with the problem is because no side is going to have the right balance with regards to punishment And if you haven't heard both sides or all sides of the story You're probably missing something It's not hard But it takes emotional intelligence to remember these things John chapter 7 verse 24. We'll finish up here John 7 24. Here's what Jesus said judge not according to the appearance But judge righteous judgment Righteous judgment, really Jesus? Why would you have to tell us isn't all judgment going to be righteous? No No, it's not There's lots of unjust people out there who are happy to be unjust And Jesus said we must be careful to judge not according to the appearance But judge righteous judgment. This is why I have to have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father Lord I pray you'd help us to be a just people Help us to be people of integrity and character And help us to have some emotional intelligence to remember some of these things Just because I love someone doesn't mean that they're without sin And just because I've been told something doesn't necessarily make it so Just because an accusation is made doesn't make the other person guilty And help us to have emotional intelligence When dealing with relationships with judgment with justice We love you the matchless name of Christ we pray Amen