1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,760 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning 2 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,000 in to our podcast. 3 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,680 Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that will 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,800 change your life. 5 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,080 And now get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team. 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,760 Hey church. 7 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:31,760 Thanks man. 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,200 It is nice when somebody says hello back, that's always a good start. 9 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:42,280 Just give me half a second here, it's always that first initial clumsiness as we come up. 10 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:48,360 I might actually start with a little bit of prayer today. 11 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,920 Feels like one of those weeks. 12 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:58,640 Heavenly Father, we thank you that we have the opportunity to join together like this. 13 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:08,360 I pray that the words that I speak today will glorify you, will be of you and from you. 14 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,120 I am merely your vessel. 15 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,800 Amen. 16 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:16,040 So I want to speak today. 17 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,160 I'm going to start by talking about a date, not that long ago. 18 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,480 January 1st 2020. 19 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,680 Seven children in Sydney went out for a walk to get ice cream. 20 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,840 It was a nice treat to end a hot summers day. 21 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,640 On the other side of town a gentleman by the name of Samuel Davidson has been on an all 22 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:40,240 day bender and he heads out in his youth to do a quick ATM run. 23 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:45,280 During the process he runs red light, crosses a double lined road, accelerates to 130 kilometres 24 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:50,160 an hour to pass a vehicle he considers is moving too slow and he loses control of the 25 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:51,840 youth. 26 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,360 His vehicle mounts the curb. 27 00:01:54,360 --> 00:02:02,000 Anthony, Angelina, Anciena Abdullah and their younger cousin Veronica never stood a chance. 28 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000 All four pass away at the scene. 29 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,480 Three younger siblings that were all with them are rushed to the hospital with various 30 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:12,040 injuries. 31 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,240 One spends almost 80 days in hospital in recovery. 32 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,680 How are you feeling? 33 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:25,560 A little bit mad yet? 34 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:31,160 Davidson records a blood alcohol reading of 0.182 at the scene. 35 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:37,760 A 12 hour binge of beer, vodka and cocaine ends here. 36 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,840 How about now? 37 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,760 A little bit mad yet? 38 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:46,760 This was the kicker for me. 39 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:55,000 Davidson's computer on board the youth shows that at the time of the crash the accelerator 40 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,400 was fully depressed. 41 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:04,160 No attempt had been made to put on the brake in the five seconds preceding or post the point 42 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,680 of collision. 43 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,520 As a result for innocent lives taken countless others altered forever. 44 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,520 Families broken. 45 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,680 How about now? 46 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,840 I'll be honest. 47 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:30,720 That story just rises a sense of anger in me that I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit. 48 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,000 As a parent there's just genuinely no tragedy more or less imaginable. 49 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:40,880 I just think of my own experiences, my own time with my kids, swimming lessons and laughing 50 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:47,520 at the dinner table and I love used before bed and those are all gone in an instant. 51 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:53,200 These families are now forced to live out a nightmare that is absolutely beyond belief. 52 00:03:53,200 --> 00:04:00,560 Now as a human being there's no doubt you hear a story like that of the Abdulers or 53 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:06,200 something awful that's happened to a friend or something that's hurt you deeply and you 54 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:12,400 see that the title of today's sermon is peace over anger and there is part of you that goes 55 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:20,680 I cannot fathom in that instance trading one feeling for the other. 56 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,800 Now part of that is natural by the way. 57 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,720 We as people we have an inbuilt fight or flight mechanic. 58 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:35,440 We're actually hardwired to elicit emotions like fear and panic and anger quickly. 59 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,960 Joy, happiness, peace. 60 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,080 They take a little bit more time to register. 61 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:47,440 And social psychologists have actually proven that emotions not just that feeling within 62 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:54,000 us but those motions, fear and anger they spread much quicker than emotions like joy 63 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,680 and happiness, emotions like peace. 64 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:04,560 That's how are we meant to choose a path of peace when the wide road of anger is so available 65 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,080 to us. 66 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:12,240 Now Romans 12 says that we can and we should choose the path of peace. 67 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:20,280 We do so because evil and anger perpetuate their own cycle but peace breaks it. 68 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:25,880 When we hear words like never meet evil with evil you could just as easily read that as 69 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,480 never meet anger with anger. 70 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,040 Why do we not want to do this? 71 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:35,240 It's because these emotions and their reactions they tend to intensify as they go on. 72 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:41,200 They don't tend to soften, they tend to intensify and they escalate and that kind of creates 73 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:46,560 that perpetual cycle of anger within us. 74 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,880 Little example Thursday. 75 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,640 Thursday sucked for me personally. 76 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,560 I got home grumpy from work. 77 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:55,560 Kara's like amen. 78 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:57,760 I had an early start to the day. 79 00:05:57,760 --> 00:05:59,240 I had a late finish to the day. 80 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,720 I was like maybe I'll just sneak in the food shopping. 81 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:07,600 My mind is swirling because earlier in the day, Tim, Pastor Tim and I had had a text exchange 82 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:14,920 in which we realised that we have very different definitions of edit and rewrite. 83 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,440 These are, we've cleared the air there now. 84 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,400 So we've had some very different definitions and now it's 8.30 at night and I am actually 85 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:27,120 staring down the barrel of a blank page that is meant to hold a sermon that I'm preaching 86 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,640 right now. 87 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:31,480 Then Kara says are you okay? 88 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,480 I'm fine. 89 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:34,480 I'm fine. 90 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,520 I'm fine because I was totally fine. 91 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:38,520 I was not fine. 92 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:45,080 A decision needs to be made in this moment which is I can either escalate or I can look 93 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:53,600 down at to a laptop with a header that says peace over anger and go, are you an idiot? 94 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,600 Lucky for me, I mostly chose that. 95 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,000 Now anger again is perpetual. 96 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,400 Peace is a cycle breaker. 97 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,560 I didn't have, I didn't actually have a bad day. 98 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:06,560 I had a long day. 99 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,240 I didn't have a bad day. 100 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,640 What I had though was a day that kind of had a series of little moments that I then let 101 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:17,680 set my mindset towards disappointment and anger. 102 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,160 And it turned to the negative and then I just kind of let anger take the wheel there for 103 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:22,160 a minute. 104 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,520 I wonder if you can relate. 105 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:34,440 These small moments and then that transition to anger was super quick. 106 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:40,800 And it only took like one small shock to the system to provide me with a little bit of 107 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,440 clarity to create that little circuit breaker. 108 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,520 And then it kind of makes you realize if you take that moment to reflect of like what would 109 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,600 have happened if I had in that exact moment responded with really explosive anger instead 110 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,640 of my little underlying anger instead. 111 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,640 Instead of choosing to try and align a little bit closer to that path of peace. 112 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,840 How quickly could I have done like really, really, really long standing damage to those 113 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:08,720 people around me and to myself like that? 114 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,160 Which leads us to Jesus, right? 115 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,560 Like, thank God, hopefully in this room we always do. 116 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:20,760 But in this exact moment, Jesus says, but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn 117 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:22,360 to him the other also. 118 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:23,800 Now, why? 119 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,240 Because Jesus is asking us to do two things with this statement. 120 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,000 He's asking us to rise above actual acts of injustice. 121 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:35,520 But because he knows us better than we know us, he's also asking us to rise above perceived 122 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,560 acts of injustice. 123 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:42,880 He knows how quickly we can take that one bad moment and we twist that in a bad way 124 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:50,280 or take it to its extreme and in that we turn a brother to an enemy or a co-pastor or a 125 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:51,280 wife. 126 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:52,280 Right? 127 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:56,480 There lies, but it doesn't take long to get ourselves there. 128 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:57,680 Right? 129 00:08:57,680 --> 00:08:59,720 And that's why we turn the other cheek. 130 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:07,000 So that if we do respond at all, we respond with hopefully nobility and humility and not 131 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,960 anger and frustration. 132 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:14,320 Because sometimes through the peaceful act of simply not responding, we can turn people's 133 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:19,160 expected reaction to us, from us to those that reflect Jesus, which is really what all 134 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,840 of this is always designed to point back to. 135 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:30,800 Because the path of peace actually aligns and resolves with this kind of next point, 136 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:35,640 this fact is that we can actually just trust in the justice of God. 137 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:39,080 Now Paul tells us specifically, we never take revenge. 138 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:45,160 We never take revenge, but God takes revenge, but isn't God a loving God? 139 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,920 Yeah, of course he is. 140 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:52,760 His love for us is also why at times he is an angry God. 141 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:57,400 And we don't need to take revenge because God is angry about the things that make us 142 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:58,400 angry. 143 00:09:58,400 --> 00:09:59,400 Okay? 144 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,440 And I think we hear that sometimes and I do. 145 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:03,440 This is where I got stuck. 146 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,200 Like, this has been a week. 147 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:06,200 I get stuck on a bit of this. 148 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,760 You hear things like God's anger and wrath and this and you just kind of get stuck because 149 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:11,840 I don't want to think of God that way. 150 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:12,840 I didn't. 151 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:13,840 Right? 152 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,080 And then when I reflect, I went, I'm actually really glad that God at times is an angry 153 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:26,000 God because I want a God that sees evil and injustice in the world and says no. 154 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,640 And he gets mad about it. 155 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:35,320 AWTOSA has this beautiful line, which is justice is not something God has. 156 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:40,480 Justice is something that God is. 157 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:47,800 So, where does that leave us? 158 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:55,240 It leaves us wanting a God that sees pain and abuse and chooses to say no and sometimes 159 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,720 has to meet that with anger. 160 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:03,680 Now I want God to be the one that carries the wrath and desire for justice over me, not 161 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:07,200 over me, but instead of me, if you will. 162 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:13,520 Because truth be told, I just think that God is better at being angry than I am. 163 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:22,760 Because God is just and loving and impartial and he loves you and he loves me with a passion 164 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,440 that we just simply can't understand. 165 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:32,160 So I want you to run an exercise for me, which is just think of the person in the world that 166 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:34,840 makes you feel the most warm and fuzzy. 167 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,520 When you see them or when you get a hug from them, it could be your partner. 168 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,480 It made me think of my granny Audrey is kind of this person. 169 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:42,480 She was this big woman. 170 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:43,480 She was beautiful. 171 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,720 But when she hugged you, she just like wrapped you up. 172 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,160 It was amazing, right? 173 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:58,680 And I want you to think about that and just think about how personal that felt, how deep 174 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:01,720 those kind of loving embraces can feel from someone. 175 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,440 You know when you hug someone, you kind of get little tingles on the back of your neck. 176 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:06,960 That kind of love, right? 177 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:14,320 That's that for me, that's that little earthly reminder of God's love for us. 178 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:19,080 And then that reminder that we have to have, that God loves our enemies and those that 179 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:23,440 perpetrate things against us, just like that as well. 180 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,800 That's not just for us, it's for them too. 181 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:36,880 Now I find it hard to muster up the same kind of enthusiasm for that kind of love. 182 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:38,440 I'm happy to be the benefactor. 183 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:47,280 I'm happy to be the recipient, not so enthused to be the provider. 184 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,360 But we actually need that mindset. 185 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,840 We need that thought of the path of peace. 186 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,240 We want our hurts and our wrongs to be set right. 187 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:02,000 But more often than not, we want them set right in a way that appeals to us, in a way 188 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,480 that makes sense to us. 189 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,520 But God doesn't work that way. 190 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,800 God's not only the breaker of chains, He's the breaker of cycles. 191 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:16,600 And if we can just learn to trust Him to do just that, we're edging ever, ever closer 192 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:22,040 to that very narrow path of peace that we're pursuing. 193 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,880 And if we can see that path and we can recognize what it is and we can recognize our need to 194 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,880 walk it, how do we do so? 195 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:29,880 We can do that. 196 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:31,280 There's two really obvious ways for me. 197 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:33,240 One of them is going to sound really familiar. 198 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,800 One's probably slightly easier on its face than the other. 199 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:42,000 So we'll start with that, which is you can pray for those that you are angry with. 200 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,240 You're going to notice a theme the longer you're encountering, Henley. 201 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:46,680 But often one of these is going to be prayer. 202 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:47,680 Enjoy. 203 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:48,680 Right? 204 00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:53,800 It's really hard to choose peace over anger. 205 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:54,800 Really, really hard. 206 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:59,880 Now, it's especially hard because we know now that our very impulses, our very humanity, 207 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:02,280 has us wired against that. 208 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:08,560 So we are tuned towards instant and negative reactions. 209 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:13,040 So that then our duty becomes to not just sit in that, take that to God. 210 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:14,960 Now, this is a starting point. 211 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:15,960 We take it to God. 212 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,800 And what if we did that and we prayed to begin with, if we're not ready to jump straight 213 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:26,640 to the person that we are angry with, what if we prayed for us, for our own anger, for 214 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:32,160 our own evils, for the things that have been perpetrated and acted against us? 215 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:33,160 Start there. 216 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:35,400 Just start praying. 217 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:40,280 Can I find the peace to rise above this? 218 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:47,520 To either not respond at all or to be able to respond with a touch of the divine that 219 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:52,800 may allow us to respond with peace, maybe even love. 220 00:14:52,800 --> 00:15:01,880 And then maybe that'll allow us to pray for the perpetrator themselves. 221 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,320 So again, that steps really, really hard. 222 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:05,520 So we don't start there. 223 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,200 We build to it, right? 224 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:09,840 We start with that sense of peace. 225 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,520 We start not necessarily by praying for them or praying for this release, but maybe we 226 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,800 can pray like, hey, God, can you meet them where they are? 227 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,520 That recognition that maybe we can't, maybe we're not ready yet. 228 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,400 And maybe it's about chipping away, right? 229 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:34,040 Maybe I can pray that maybe I can just start to see them the way that God sees them. 230 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,920 Maybe if I can start to see them a little bit the way that God sees them, maybe I can 231 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:41,320 start to see them as that beloved child of God that I hopefully can recognize that I 232 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:42,320 am. 233 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,760 And maybe I can start to see a little bit of that in them. 234 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:52,400 And you'll know, church, that these steps don't involve praying for justice, imploring 235 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,880 God to change the outcome to meet our personal desire. 236 00:15:55,880 --> 00:16:02,880 All we're doing in this prayer is trying to align ourselves with Jesus' vision for 237 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:08,400 His church and for His people. 238 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,240 I don't know if you've ever done anything praying for these people that have hurt you 239 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:15,520 or tried to pray for a situation you're not sure how to resolve, somebody at work that's 240 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,360 bothering you, a family member, et cetera. 241 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:23,440 It's actually really hard to pray for someone and not feel your heart soften just a touch. 242 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,200 To not feel yourself feel that little bit warmer. 243 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:33,120 At the minimum you should start to see their own humanity. 244 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,720 Maybe if we're lucky we'll see that identity as a child of God. 245 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:44,120 A child of God you may be at odds with, odds with, but a child of God nonetheless. 246 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:48,840 And if you find yourself able to break that cycle through prayer, you may find yourself, 247 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:53,560 you may find yourself able to go with the most radical act of peace that you can offer 248 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,920 another human being. 249 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:01,520 And that's forgiveness. 250 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:06,080 Nelson Mandela says that resentment is like drinking poison and hoping that it will kill 251 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,760 your enemies. 252 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:15,400 Now if resentment and anger are the poison we need an antidote and forgiveness is the 253 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:21,640 best antidote that God can offer us and in turn that we can offer others. 254 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:26,600 Matthew 6 14 tells us if you forgive others their transgressions your heavenly father will 255 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:31,160 forgive you. 256 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,240 Because make no mistake we have been forgiven too. 257 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:36,720 We have hurt. 258 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:38,040 We have sinned. 259 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:39,960 We have chosen anger over peace. 260 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:47,400 We have chosen the world over Jesus time and time again and yet still we are forgiven. 261 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,640 Still we are loved. 262 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,800 Will Jesus choose his peace for us? 263 00:17:53,800 --> 00:18:00,160 I didn't make this a point on a slide but I want to make it a point in what I say. 264 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:09,000 If you are a Christian, forgiveness is a non-negotiable. 265 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:15,280 God's love and forgiveness of us is the very heart of the gospel. 266 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,760 How can we receive this is true. 267 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,760 Allow it to create a very foundation for our lives and then just go I am going to let that 268 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:26,400 stay and sit with me. 269 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,680 Forgiveness is a gift that has been given to us but God's vision was never that we just 270 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,800 kind of get it and take it and keep it. 271 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,280 There is an endless supply. 272 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:42,040 The idea has always been that we are to dole that out as much as we can. 273 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:52,240 You can continue to give it and you will never ever dwindle your own supply. 274 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:58,400 Forgiveness is the hardest but surest way to provide a consistent reminder to someone 275 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,560 of the narrow path that we are looking to follow and a way that we can shine a light 276 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,560 onto that path for others. 277 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:14,520 Ben, you can come back up. 278 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:23,520 The Abdullas chose the narrow path of peace through prayer and a trust in the justice 279 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:28,520 of God which actually culminated in the most radical act of peace imaginable, that forgiveness 280 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:33,160 we were talking about. 281 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:38,160 On the 2nd of February, if you remember back in the beginning of the story, that car crash 282 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,520 happened on the 1st of February. 283 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:47,680 On the 2nd of February, 36 hours after the crash, three of her children's bodies are 284 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:52,960 not yet laid to rest and Lila Abdullas speaks to the media from the roadside vigil of the 285 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,200 crash site. 286 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,880 This is her quote. 287 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:06,480 The guy, I know he was drunk driving on this street but right now I can't hate him. 288 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,880 I don't want to see him but I don't hate him. 289 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:16,360 I think in my heart to forgive him but I want the court to be fair. 290 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:18,920 It's all about fairness. 291 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,680 I'm not going to hate him because that's not who we are. 292 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:29,880 So husband Danny, Danny and I were so blessed to have six kids. 293 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,200 We love our kids so much. 294 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,640 We tried to focus on their spiritual side more than anything. 295 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:44,320 We tried to teach them to pray the rosary, to read the Bible and to share God's faith. 296 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:48,720 Now her husband Danny took sharing his faith one step further than I can possibly imagine. 297 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:55,480 I've spent hours pouring over this story and articles and stuff in the buildup to this 298 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:56,480 and it still shocks me. 299 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:04,760 Once convicted, Danny Abdullas went and visited Samuel Davidson in prison. 300 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:08,880 Again his quote, for me it gave me not closure but it helped me move along in my life through 301 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,480 the journey that I'm in. 302 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:20,280 He said the main reason for his forgiveness of Samuel Davidson aside from his faith was 303 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:26,080 that he did not want the feeling of revenge and bitterness and anger in his household that 304 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:34,320 could be passed down to his kids. 305 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:42,320 Danny Abdullas knew that he and his family needed an antidote. 306 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:47,800 He had a desire to walk a journey to break that cycle of anger to ensure it didn't become 307 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,240 a legacy for his children. 308 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:58,000 He did so with a choice to walk the narrow path of forgiveness and that ended miraculously 309 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:03,040 not only with a visit to Samuel Davidson to forgive him in prison but in Jesus' name 310 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:14,160 Samuel Davidson is now also a follower of Jesus. 311 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,040 Now if you're like me you're probably sitting there going, man what those Abdullas, those 312 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:23,600 comments they've made, the acts that they've taken, that is amazing. 313 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:31,960 And it is amazing but it shouldn't be. 314 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:38,560 It doesn't look like it on its face but they actually chose the simpler path, not the easy 315 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:47,640 one but the one to them was the only path. 316 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:54,600 A radical act of forgiveness being the closest approximation they could offer of Jesus' 317 00:22:54,600 --> 00:23:00,440 own radical act of forgiveness. 318 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,160 Abdullas took the weight of our sin on his shoulders. 319 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:10,080 An innocent man put to death forever ensuring that our cycles were broken too. 320 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:14,840 The most extreme example of peace and forgiveness that could possibly be shown, literally creating 321 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,240 that path of peace that we so desperately need to walk. 322 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:23,760 As Jesus hung, mounted to a cross, now is driven through his hands, his crucifixion 323 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,600 the result of a wrongful arrest and a sham trial. 324 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:34,840 His executioner sat mocking him and even then not anger but an intercession on their behalf. 325 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,680 Refusing even then to give in to anger he prayed, forgive them father, they know not 326 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:45,480 what they do. 327 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,600 He hung on that cross not just for us but for them too. 328 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:55,600 He ended up just hanging on the cross for the Abdullas and their kids. 329 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,920 He hung on the cross for Samuel Davidson as well. 330 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:10,120 No anger, no retaliation, forgiveness being laid as the very stones that line that path 331 00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:15,520 of peace under our feet. 332 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:20,200 We recognize that we have a God that conquered death but far too often we choose to show 333 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:25,800 through our actions that we don't always believe he can conquer the deepest and darkest fears 334 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:32,440 in our hearts and in us. 335 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:39,440 So as we come to a close today and we stand in worship, I need you to see that this chosen 336 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:44,520 path of peace is not just for the benefit of those that may have wronged you but it 337 00:24:44,520 --> 00:25:11,760 is for your benefit too.