Ron Tovar 0:01
About three years ago, my father at 94 years old passed away, went to be with the Lord. And when I was talking to him or asking him Well, when I speak at your memorial service, what would you like me to say? I mean, our family for generations are going to be together and what do you want me to tell them? And, and as the worship team was singing, and it was seeing a nice surrender, I just began weeping because that was my father’s message. He said, Tell our family, to surrender to God. Tell our family not to backup not to flinch, but give everything they have to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was because I have. And as Joe was talking, I was thinking that it wasn’t time for Joe to surrender his last breath. And just as, as he, all of us are here, all of us are here. And by the mercy of God, and that’s what I’m going to talk to you about today. God’s mercy. You know, when when I was young, and I first heard the idea of mercy I, I learned it in a memorize prayer. That’s how I remember that word. Mercy, it was a prayer that I had to memorize, and repeat many times. So I could have been saying snow cone, it had about the same effect on on my heart on my soul, just didn’t mean a whole lot to me. And I really went through many, many years without thinking about God’s mercy. But I want to give you a word definition for mercy, which is, it comes from dictionary.com. It’s not like I’m so profound or smart, you know, I know how to steal things off the internet. So mercy, actually that word is it’s a noun, a noun. Now, I got to think back to to the third grade. Remember, oh, some of you I know are like really smart and have all these letters, pasture name and all this stuff. So this is just basic bear with me. And now on a person, place or thing, right? That’s, that’s what a noun is. Is that right? Third grade was about 67 years ago or something like that, or no. But anyway, a person place or thing so mercy, is it a person? It’s not Is it a place, it’s a thing. It’s an it’s a, it’s a substance that’s, it’s a thing that is not tangible. It’s a thing that you can’t open up your heart or your mind or someone else’s, and grab a hold of it and go, this is a big hunk of mercy. You can’t You can’t do that. And, and grace is the same way. And love is the same way. It’s something that you can see, but you can feel it. And when you and when you experience it, you know it. Faith is a substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. So Mercy is is something that it’s it’s something and that didn’t go on to go on with that definition. It’s compassion, compassion. God is compassionate to us. Empathy, there’s the word empathy, walking in another man’s moccasins. That’s how I learned it. Compassion that God has towards us mercy, compassion, same thing. To extend that it means a kindly forbearance. Now there’s a there’s a thing that I need sometimes, there’s a thing that I longed for, sometimes, that word forbearance means to abstain from, to forego to keep from to refrain from to withhold from that now put all that together and and your relationship with God. God abstains from squashing me like a bug. God, oh God, four goals from from punishing me as I should be punished. My wife says I’m perfect. And I agree to keep to keep fighting
Hey, good God, God for goals, he keeps us from what the constant How many times have you sinned and done something wrong and, and God just kind of covered your play. You know, and you go God, thank you thanks for that one. And he refrains from God is a God that is wholly impure. He is wholly impure. And just think of this stench of, of man’s heart. I did I have done, I’m not now but we’ve pre COVID, I was spending an hour a week with 18 men on probation. And now we’re a week and I did that for six, eight years, maybe longer than that. And when you talk to men that long, some of them for five years, some seven years, just spending that time with them and, and hearing the deep recesses of their heart, you find out that the heart of man is evil, it is very dark into and as it’s been said, by other speakers, if we were to project our thoughts on that thing up there, and everyone could see them our sins, our deepest, darkest evil that runs through our mind and the one that we harbor and concupiscence. And hold on to and let it play out until it becomes sin. If we were to do that, probably no one would like us anymore. You know, that’s how I feel about myself. However, because of forbearance, because of mercy, God accepts us in the beloved, how many are accepted in the beloved. That means he accepts you in and wraps his arms around you. You know what my prayer for you tonight is, is that when you go to bed tonight, and you lay your head on the pillow tonight, this is my prayer for you. That God gives you a hug of God gives you a hug, and, and you feel the warmth of His love. And you feel peace. When you lay your head to rest, that’s my prayer. You can accept it. Or you can say, Oh, this guy’s poco loco from the other end of town. But you can you can you can walk in it, you can dwell in it, surrender, surrender, to continue with that compassion or kindly forbearance shown towards an offender or an enemy or other person in one’s power, compassion, pity, or benevolence. You know, there’s, there’s a YouTube that went viral. And there was a there was a protest, it’s, we see those right? A little bit. There was a protest, and it was, it was a protest, people were protesting against racism. And, you know, nowadays, those kind of protests, they used to be all ethnic. They were all blacks or Browns or whatever. Used to be protests like that. Now, they’re, they’re diverse. There’s all kinds of people in those protests. Well, this was one of those. And I think half of them were white, that were protesting. And Along came a guy with a group of kkk people, members or whatever. And he had SS tattooed on his on his arm, he had a leather vest, and he had a confederate flag, a T shirt with a confederate flag in the front. He didn’t have believe in across his own thinking a little different. I told the guy the other day, if you’ve catch me without a T shirt that says something like this, I’ll give you $10 catch me anywhere. You know, I’m always advertising. But anyway, he came walk in and he and he met with these people. He sort of strayed from the others and somebody hit him. And another person hit him and they had these big long doll poles, you know, like you hang your clothes on. And people were hitting this guy and they were kicking them. And this 18 year old black girl and you and she was aggressive looking. I mean, I wouldn’t want to mess with that lady. She was 18 she dove on top of him and covered his body with hers. And all the protesters stopped and it stopped hitting and kicking. And she screamed at him and said Lee Malone stop.
And they backed off. Someone was filming and it went viral. It was a couple of months later, this young lady that was 18, she was in high school. She was in a coffee shop. And a young man walked up to her, a white young man walked up to her. And he said, Thank you. And she said, Thank you for what? He said, that was my dad, that you threw your body across and cut and protected him. I just want to thank you. And don’t you know that that’s how Christians and believers and you and I are to win souls, man by man. Man by man. Family by family. And, and that’s what she was doing. She changed the thinking of one young man. And, and that’s what we do. That’s what we do. And for him, we bond together. we strengthen each other. We edify each other. We pray for each other, we cry together, we call out to God together. We enjoin them prayer, because two are stronger than one and a three fold cord cannot be easily broken. So, mercy. When did it begin? in your life? So a question and a thought I had when, when did mercy begin? Some people would say, Well, you know, I’m from the streets. I’m from violence. I’m from all of the bad things. You guys, when you guys were praying and collecting money, and praying for the last I was there. I would you guys paid a lot of money for me to be here. So listen, good. So, when did mercy begin? Some would think well, when I accepted Jesus, oh, I experienced the mercy of God my life, because my life was dark, and it became light. Oh, that’s when God demonstrated His mercy or when Jonathan sorella was gasping for breath and trying to get one more day of life and he was unconscious didn’t know we’re all praying. I was praying for you, Joe. I don’t know you but I was praying for you. And in God had mercy. But as I went to began, the Bible says that he knew you before the foundation of the earth. very mysterious concept. He knew you before the foundation in the earth. So when? When was that? Where were you? You know, Bill Cabo wasn’t always so cute. Like he is before the foundation of the earth, he had a different form. I would imagine maybe Tonio Antonio Banderas, I don’t know, whatever. But he was different. And so were you and so as I but God newest, it’s hard to understand that but you remember some of you that had kids that wanted them, you know, you knew that they were they were going to be born and and you went and you bought you went to the baby shower, and I didn’t like that part. It had baby showers and, and then you get this crib and, and then you go in, assemble it with a screwdriver, we’d have screw guns back then. And you and you go and put all this stuff together. And, and because the baby’s coming, paint the room put this up, put that up, because the baby’s coming. And you have all these hopes and dreams. And then this the baby’s born. And within two days, the baby becomes like Adolf Hitler or Napoleon. Because they start controlling the house. They cry and everybody scurries around and runs their diaper gets wet and whatever and that’s all mercy that you’re expressing mercy, thinking about pre thinking the baby’s coming now. Now let’s help the baby do what he needs and, and they’re pooping in their diapers in some regard. I don’t know about that. And, and and you change them and all that. There. There’s some guys over 60 still walking around acting like they got dirty diapers, crying and complaining and all that. But all of that is encapsulated in God’s mercy. You were you were he knew you before the foundation of the earth you were born. You went through all that baby process and somewhere along Live someone
lined you up and you figured out there’s rules and guidelines and whatever. Some of us had dad, some of us did it. Some of us were abused, some of us weren’t, some of us grew up in, in good nice families and others didn’t. And, and whatever was lacking in our life, we have this resentment thing and, and and we don’t get it. And there’s this in gratitude that hovers over all of us even today. Mercy for you began today, when you took that first breath. And every single breath you take, and since that first breath today, is by the mercy of God, just the simple thing of being able to process and think, and the processes of thinking are God’s mercy, the beauty and wonder of a person who doesn’t agree with you. And, and you can sit down and you can talk and have a conversation. How beautiful is that? God’s mercy that we can think and process and, and forgive and listen and all that. There’s two things, you know, the I’m gonna read you some thoughts that I had when thinking about mercy. There are two things for sure. In life, two things for sure. the stupidity of man and the mercy of God. I’ve done some stupid stuff. Some really stupid things. I’ve said some stupid things. And and I said some really stupid things to my wife. I’m not the only one. Why are y’all looking at me?
Unknown Speaker 16:51
Amen.
Ron Tovar 16:53
I got an Amen. Honey, I got one. She’s looking. So um, but you know, there is the holy spirit that has a way of smoothing things over. Did you ever see or do something really dumb and stupid? And then and then you prayed and you ask God to forgive you and, and then you got to the place where you’re gonna apologize or whatever, and got it already. Holy Spirit already prepared that, you know, that’s the Holy Spirit. That’s God’s mercy. God’s mercy was, was with us all along, up until today, even right now. I’m here, sharing with you, because of God’s mercy. There’s no other way that that could be. You just couldn’t be like that. It was the mercy of God here was the thought that I had. It was the mercy of God that drove Jesus to the cross. That was his mercy to the cross. He had you in mind. And to the crossing God’s mercy was the beginning. It was in the beginning, His mercy does not grow as you behave better. Think about that for a minute. You can become what you think is a better Christian. And once you start thinking that you’re a better Christian, now you you’ve sinned in thinking that you’re better. Who invented all that? Now I am, I am a good strong Christian I I am walking with when we start thinking like that. Now we’re in Galatians chapter six man when you think you’re strong, watch out. What about that scripture that in Romans 12, verse 22, that says, The weak are necessary in the church. What about that? Ever been the weak one in the church? Ever been the one that didn’t measure up to one that the one that you felt like you were the, the worm of the whole church, like, I’m the worst guy in this old place? God’s mercy, that compassion, that forbearance that relieving you from that? You know, I’m sharing this with you. And when you or I, if you’ve been there, I have in a dark place where you have lost everything. Where there, there’s no way out. There’s nothing you can do you. You just messed up. If you’ve ever been in that place, but Having a life controlling problem by a divorce by rejection of parents, rejection of our children. You know, I’m still trying to work on that one. I don’t understand how I’m worse than my kids are to their kids. I can’t figure that out. But, but these things can play on us. And, and if you’re in that place where you have no way out. You don’t need to read a book about mercy, calling out to mercy. You don’t need a definition about mercy. You have no way. No answer. But Jesus, when you’re at that place, mercy is all you have. Mercy is all you have in working with these guys, that that I’m telling you about. lost everything. Have a felon attached to their name. Family rejected them. They’re all alone. No one, many people don’t want to talk to them. They’ve disappointed and disappointed and disappointed people. What do you have left? What What is left in life, all that’s left in life is Jesus. And all that’s left in life is miracles. You gotta have miracles. But we get in this whole hum lithological thing that that that we just take for granted God’s mercy. And it converts into in gratitude, really be conversant in gratitude, don’t throw tomatoes at me. In gratitude, when when in gratitude sets in, we just you know, that’s the way it is. It’s the normal, it’s here, things work, right?
I pay my bills every month, and it’s, I just keep paying them it’s on auto pay my life’s on auto and and everything just goes fine. And it’s it’s, it’s all cool. Well, isn’t that Mercy is not God’s mercy. One disruptive thing can throw that whole thing out the window. So sometimes when things go wrong, you’ve got to drag your wounded soul to the gates of mercy. To get your wounds healed, and, and, and but and through those wounds. He can deliver you from anxiety and depression and things like that. Yet last night, my wife and I were watching this, this movie about a soldier, I think it’s called welcome home Joe or something like that. Maybe you’ve seen it. It’s about a soldier who was in Iraq and, and the torment when he came back all the things he saw, and all of that some of you veterans understand, I I just have an from a distance, a view and opinion. But at the end of the movie, he kills himself. And then there’s this little blurb that says that veteran 22 veterans kill themselves every day, every day. And as we’re working with police officers, which I had to ask God to help me to forgive, because sometimes they took me places I didn’t want to go. As as we’re working with police officers, we find out that they suffer from the same thing. And, and if you’ve been delivered from depression, guess what? No one can help a guy in depression better than one that’s been delivered. Did you suffered depression and you’re on the high end of it, and I’m feeling good today. Hey, go call some depressed people. You know, it takes alcoholic to know an alcoholic, a drug addict can spot a drug addict. 50 feet away. A person who’s having marital problems can note a guy who’s going through it to one who has a child that’s a black sheep hears and detects things. And so we unite. We get together we encourage It’s my dream. And maybe, maybe I’m being foolish. But it’s my dream and my hope that from this little talk right here. We share God’s mercy with somebody whether it be on the freeway on the way home, or whether it be at the store at stater brothers or, or at Denny’s or wherever we go whatever we do, God’s mercy. God’s mercy you can’t share mercy unless you’re violated in some way, you can’t be merciful again, unless someone imposes their tries to impose their will on you. You can’t be merciful unless someone insults you or does something that all these things that Pete talks about all the time, carrying the cloak another mile, if they slap you on the right cheek, give him the other cheek and all that he says like that, for us to express mercy, some of those things have to happen. So there’s this process with including mercy and grace and forgiveness and repentance that God has for us to to cause us to mature called perfection maturity. And, and you know, you can’t buy your way out of it. There’s no money to buy your way out of that process. There’s no shortcut out of that process. I’ve done and Todd 12 step classes, Celebrate Recovery. I’ve never been a drug user, but I did abuse alcohol, some but 12 step classes in different groups, and I don’t know how long, maybe 10 years, 15 years, something like that. But I’ve taught something that I don’t really believe. You know, I believe it’s one step. Just one step. It’s Jesus. Some people need 12 steps, because they don’t want to accept the first step, which is Jesus Christ is Lord. I got delivered from alcohol. When I accepted Jesus,
I got delivered from anger and hatred and violence. When I accepted Jesus that day. Two weeks later, I looked at my life and I go,
Hey,
what happened?
I pulled those cigarettes out of my pocket that I’ve been trying to quit for 15 years and throw them in the trash. Two weeks later. I looked at my, the way I was talking and I go, man, I felt this light. Just wonderful contrast to how my life was. I the anger was gone. The hatred was gone. Mercy, God’s mercy. It’s God’s mercy. You know, I’m going to read you the scriptures real quick. Jesus talked about it too. He said, In Matthew 913. He said, But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. He says, go and learn what it means. Did you ever go and learn what it means? Jesus told us go learn. It’s almost like Paul in in Romans chapter 12. When he says, I beseech you by the mercies of God. I’m begging you. Hey, Hey, you. Hey, you, doctor, hey, you construction worker, hey, you fruit picker? Hey, you, you know, by the mercies of God. Present your body is a living sacrifice. He says, Jesus says go learn what it means. This thing mercy, compassion, empathy, forbearance go learn what it means. And when you learn what it means. Go spread it around. He also said, If you only knew that in Matthew 12, seven, If you only knew the meaning of desire, a meaning of quote, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. You wouldn’t have condemned the innocent. You only knew the meaning of it. I think we better go learn the meaning of it. And I am incapable I’m not. I’m not qualified. I don’t really know how I’m doing my best right now. To try to to direct you because that’s all a person can do. I don’t think really anybody teaches anybody anything. I think that we can just point you in a direction. Go learn. Go find out. And when you find out when you know and understand mercy. Go up to your wife and demonstrate mercy. Go to your children and demonstrate mercy and the one that you don’t know and that black sheep in your family and that person who who via laded your space? When salted you? Do we have to be right? Do we have to win the argument? Do you have to be Captain carnitas of the show? You got to do the whole deal got to be john wayne and in the story, do I have to come out to hero? Or can I humble myself before many people and, and open doors to win souls. It’s about winning souls. It’s not about an egocentric life about what I feel what I care how I do. That’s not Jesus. Jesus is said three things to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and make disciples and obey. He didn’t say Go into all the world and be a Republican.
He didn’t say good all the world, going all the world and because become this or that or anything. He said, going to all the world and preach. That’s what he said, preach the gospel and say going to all the world and hate and be delivered from eight. How do we deliver from hating myself? From hating specific groups? I even hated Mexicans. And I’m one. So how do you do that? How do you deliver yourself from yourself? So, here, here we go. Find mercy, find out what Mercy is there. There are some political people that say things that I don’t like, really, because they are against what I believe. Now stepping on toes. I don’t believe the same. And maybe there’s some in here in this room that don’t believe like I do politically? Is that why we got together? Is that why we’re here? We’re here because we believe that the word of God is the word of God. We believe that. And there are some people that believe some things about the Word of God, not the same way that I do. And they have the right to be wrong. Doesn’t everyone have the right to be wrong? And are we not here to instruct and to teach and to nudge? The best thing we can do is nudge. nudge, nudge people into truth. Even those that are deceived. I’m very hurt today. I’m very hurt today, because I read something yesterday about Manhattan, how they, they change the laws about prostitution. And it’s not illegal anymore. And I’m very distressed because they change the marijuana laws. Because I think marijuana is a gateway drug. And you may not think that but or you may but this is my thinking on that. Laws are not made. And I spent a lot of time with criminals. Okay. Laws are not made to keep criminals from committing crimes. I don’t know if you knew that. Laws are made to keep people who are not criminals from committing crimes. You cannot keep a thief out of your house if he wants to get in it. He wants to break into your house and steal from you. He’s going to break into your house and steal from you. But as to keep honest people honest, so that the honest guy who’s going for a walk and sees your door wide open and then sees your most precious things right there doesn’t go Hey, that doors open, there’s no one around abl go in and take a look. So when when they relaxed the laws for prostitution, we all know that prostitution has been around forever. We all know that we all know that people break the law and they go do it. But now the regular people, the masses, it’s not illegal anymore. See all the signs for marijuana this and marijuana, that and all that. I come from a drug culture. I come from being slammed against a car at 10 years old and searched in because my whole family was related to things. And I come from that. And it all began with pot. So that’s why I have that thing. That’s my personal experience. So So when when I see billboards, and I see people going, Oh, this and that, and it’s all cool. Oh yeah. All right. It’s all cool. So what’s the next level? prescription drugs, I get really mad, that grant that senior citizens are getting hooked on drugs by by doctors, prescribing drugs. And now my 8595 year old grandpa is is is, is a drug addict when he spent his whole life not doing drugs. And and then I say, well, the people of God gotta rise up. We got to hold our own self to that standard, that I will not cross those lines, I will not do this. And where else are we going to? Where else am I going to find guys that are more qualified, that are going to hold the line? They’re going to say no, when when temptation comes and knocks on the door, right now the devil and people are devising more schemes to try to
fool us, pull us into evil, pull us into things that, that are, are not the cause habits and vices, where the devil gets a grip on us. So as you know, God’s mercy, we have to demonstrate we got to be different. and demonstrate that we that like these lines are not to be crossed, that when you pick up your phone, it upsets me because I can put on messages that I’m sharing the word and then it’s over. And now there’s some girl with about two ounces of clothes on in the next video. On on the phone. And, and then there’s another one and another one. And pretty soon a person gets roped in a lot of a lot of things going on. So if you’re plagued by any of those, I would say hold on to the Lord. seek His mercy. seek His grace, get in his presence, get delivered, get healed. Remember I said earlier, evangelize those that have already been evangelized. We need to stand up and, and hold fast to God’s word and promote God’s word. I’m going to finish with this. A Saint Augustine said trust the past, to the mercy of God, the present to his love. And the future to His providence, Providence is is that influence of God, that the divine influence of God in your life? Charles Spurgeon said God’s mercy is so great, that you may sooner drain the sea of its water or deprive the sun of its light, or make space to narrow, then diminish the great mercy of God. I’m going to finish with this scripture and then we’ll pray. Micah six eight says he has shown me he has shown you, oh man, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God. I asked the Lord to to help us in a desperate way that I can learn God’s mercy. And I can practice it to you I’m I’m embarrassed to practice a tea. I reluctant to practice mercy. I have difficulty doing it. It’s not easy for me. I’d rather sit back and be quiet. I would rather not say anything. And just say all. I’ll be merciful to them. But I just you know, right here. But God wants us to express it. To spread it like Pete always says spread heaven. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. And my prayer is going to be I’ll tell you ahead of time what the period is going to be. Like, like the trucker said, Let’s get her done. You know, let’s get her done. Let’s get with it. Let’s pray. Lord, we come to you and although we are not, and all that we are and we ask you, Lord, to be merciful to us.
You’ve been merciful to us. But we asked you to help us to see it. To recognize your mercy, to not be ungrateful, to rejoice in your goodness, to be thankful moment to moment that we’re still breathing and we’re alive and, and stop focusing on the negatives and, and rejoice in the positive things in the blessings that you’ve given us all. We can breathe, we can lift our arms, we can hug our family, our loved ones, as we have the strength right now give us the strength to hug our family and our wives and our children. And those that were mad at and forgive those that that have hurt us and, and stabbed us in the back and done things that make us feel bad and angry and cause roots of bitterness. Help us to demonstrate mercy, Lord, help us to press the reset button. And I pray for this band of brothers right here, Lord, that begin right here in the interaction before we leave, and that your mercy spread throughout the county, throughout the state throughout the world. let it begin right here Lord, a spirit of mercy and grace, forgiveness, repentance in Jesus name. We thank You Lord, Amen. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai