WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.559 This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.719 to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast, 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.560 you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.240 beginning to end. Chip titled today's message, 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.780 How to Overcome the Evil Aimed at You. As we 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:19.800 get started, I want to ask you to go to a place 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:23.460 that you may not really want to go, but I'll 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.760 tell you in advance, it'll be worth it. I'd like 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:29.179 you to lean back just a little bit, be reflective. 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:33.500 And I want you to answer this question in your 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:35.659 mind. Feel free to even close your eyes for just 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:40.200 a moment if it's helpful. Of all the people in 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.259 your life to date that you would say have hurt 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:50.280 you the most, who comes to your mind? Who's wounded 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:55.920 you? Who's lied about you? Who's walked out on 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:02.659 you? Who's taken your money? Who's gossiped about 00:01:02.659 --> 00:01:07.340 you? Who sexually or physically abused you when 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:12.780 you were younger? Who's been ungrateful and humiliated 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:18.000 you in front of a group of people? Who said things 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.799 at a Bible study or even at church that produced 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:27.120 incredible pain and disunity and you were made 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:32.260 to be the person who was at fault? Who's betrayed 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:38.939 you? Have you got it? I don't mean to pull off 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:43.680 a scab. I don't mean to conjure up things. For 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.480 many of you, some of these things are pressed 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:52.159 down pretty deeply. I want you to follow along 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:55.519 and I want to read to you what I think are the 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:59.099 most radical words that have ever come out of 00:01:59.099 --> 00:02:02.189 any person's mouth. that has walked on the earth. 00:02:03.349 --> 00:02:06.189 They're familiar to some of you, which is unfortunate 00:02:06.189 --> 00:02:09.650 because they lose their power. So as I read these, 00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:12.310 I want you to think about who wounded you, but 00:02:12.310 --> 00:02:14.729 I want you to think about what it would be like 00:02:14.729 --> 00:02:19.189 if you were living in an occupied country and 00:02:19.189 --> 00:02:22.169 your possessions were being taken away from you 00:02:22.169 --> 00:02:25.270 and you were being rejected by family members. 00:02:25.849 --> 00:02:28.370 all because you believed that this itinerant 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:30.930 preacher was in fact the Messiah, the God -man 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:33.689 that came to save the world, and you knew you 00:02:33.689 --> 00:02:35.650 needed to follow him, and as a result of that, 00:02:35.789 --> 00:02:38.409 everything from the persecution, being walked 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:42.849 into the Colosseum, to being excommunicated from 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:47.129 your Jewish family, this is what Jesus would 00:02:47.129 --> 00:02:51.469 say to them. And here's what he's saying to us. 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:56.090 Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:02:56.650 --> 00:03:00.830 You have heard it said, love your neighbor and 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:05.169 hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies 00:03:05.169 --> 00:03:10.969 and pray for those who persecute you. And then 00:03:10.969 --> 00:03:13.969 he gives the reason why. That you may be sons 00:03:13.969 --> 00:03:18.430 of your father in heaven. He causes the son to 00:03:18.430 --> 00:03:20.669 rise on the evil and the good and he sends rain 00:03:20.669 --> 00:03:24.430 on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you 00:03:24.430 --> 00:03:26.949 love those who love you, what reward will you 00:03:26.949 --> 00:03:29.889 get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:32.689 And if you greet only your brothers, what are 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:35.710 you doing more than others? Do not even pagans 00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:41.810 do that? Be perfect. The word is teleos. That's 00:03:41.810 --> 00:03:44.770 our word for mature. Has the idea of something 00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:48.849 or someone fulfilling its ultimate design. Be 00:03:48.849 --> 00:03:51.469 mature, be perfect, even as your heavenly father 00:03:51.469 --> 00:03:55.580 is perfect. Now as you pull out your pen and 00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:57.219 pull out your notes, I want you to write something 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:00.960 down because you need to really get this. It 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:06.219 is not hard to be a Romans 12 Christian. Get 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:08.759 that out of your mind. Some of you think it's 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.960 really, really, really hard and you're thinking 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:14.979 it's been, I mean, surrendered to God and separate 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:18.620 from the world's values. It is not hard. It is 00:04:18.620 --> 00:04:24.769 impossible. Write that word down. It's impossible. 00:04:25.750 --> 00:04:28.769 Because if you don't think it's impossible, you'll 00:04:28.769 --> 00:04:32.490 try to be one. And you'll try to be one out of 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:35.730 your self -effort and your flesh and your energy 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:38.569 and your personal discipline and your willpower. 00:04:39.149 --> 00:04:41.370 And the people that get good at it are called 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:47.129 Pharisees. And Romans 12 was never written to 00:04:47.129 --> 00:04:51.350 help you in your power or my power to have a 00:04:51.350 --> 00:04:55.920 stronger moral code. It was a profile, it was 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:59.579 a picture, it was a snapshot of what happens 00:04:59.579 --> 00:05:03.779 to a person when they experience the mercy and 00:05:03.779 --> 00:05:08.360 the grace of Romans chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:14.459 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. It's a faith response. Notice 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:16.480 in your notes, Romans 12, Christians focus on 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.930 relationships, not rules. Or religious activity. 00:05:21.110 --> 00:05:23.269 It doesn't mean there aren't any rules, and it 00:05:23.269 --> 00:05:25.069 doesn't mean as a follower of Christ there aren't 00:05:25.069 --> 00:05:27.649 some religious activities. But the focus of any 00:05:27.649 --> 00:05:30.750 rule or any religious activity is to cultivate 00:05:30.750 --> 00:05:33.709 my relationship with God and my relationship 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:36.990 with people. Even my relationship with myself 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:42.069 in a healthy, healthy way. In fact, you could 00:05:42.069 --> 00:05:44.470 summarize Romans 12 Christians, their highest 00:05:44.470 --> 00:05:49.850 aim, our highest aim, is love. You know, when 00:05:49.850 --> 00:05:52.529 Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment? 00:05:52.550 --> 00:05:54.730 Do you remember what he said? Love the Lord your 00:05:54.730 --> 00:05:57.329 God. How? With all your heart, with all your 00:05:57.329 --> 00:05:58.970 soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:03.089 And what else? And love your neighbor as yourself. 00:06:04.829 --> 00:06:08.230 You know, if you took everything that's in Romans 00:06:08.230 --> 00:06:11.250 12, as we do just a quick review here, because 00:06:11.250 --> 00:06:14.370 what happens, you know, pretty soon you forget 00:06:14.370 --> 00:06:17.350 what we talked about two or three or four sessions 00:06:17.350 --> 00:06:22.649 ago. Really, Romans 12 is a snapshot of, in my 00:06:22.649 --> 00:06:25.930 mind's eye, it's the Apostle Paul taking the 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:28.990 Sermon on the Mount and the Apostle Paul out 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:31.170 of his conversations with the resurrected Christ 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:36.350 in Arabia. And Jesus told them to love God, love 00:06:36.350 --> 00:06:40.269 themselves, love others. And Paul's a very brilliant 00:06:40.269 --> 00:06:43.610 didactic guy writing to a Roman audience, and 00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:46.449 he knows it's got to get real practical. And 00:06:46.449 --> 00:06:49.490 so he says, let me show you what it looks like 00:06:49.490 --> 00:06:52.889 to love God in everyday life, it means on a certain 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:55.430 day at a certain time after you've received his 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:58.709 grace and been born spiritually, that you say 00:06:58.709 --> 00:07:02.589 to God, I surrender all, I'm all in. Because 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:06.250 that's the spiritual service God desires. And 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:08.949 that's what it means to love God. And he says 00:07:08.949 --> 00:07:10.949 there's a competition for that love. Remember 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:14.500 the world system that wants to seduce you? and 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:16.459 tell you through the lust of the flesh and the 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:19.000 lust of the eyes and the pride of life that real 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:21.980 significance and real success and real power 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:25.000 and real happiness is gonna come. And he says 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:26.920 you have to refuse the love for the world. If 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:28.540 any man loved the world, the love of the Father's 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:32.019 not in him. And then in verses three through 00:07:32.019 --> 00:07:36.069 eight, he talks about loving yourself. Looking 00:07:36.069 --> 00:07:38.329 not just in the mirror and saying, I'm fearfully 00:07:38.329 --> 00:07:39.889 and wonderfully made, but looking in the mirror 00:07:39.889 --> 00:07:42.490 of your soul through the lens of God's word and 00:07:42.490 --> 00:07:48.529 saying, I'm forgiven. I'm adopted. I have the 00:07:48.529 --> 00:07:51.029 spirit of the living God inside of me. I've been 00:07:51.029 --> 00:07:53.970 sealed. I have spiritual gifts. I'm the object 00:07:53.970 --> 00:07:58.370 of his affection. I am in Christ. God the Father 00:07:58.370 --> 00:08:00.930 now looks at me in the same way that he looks 00:08:00.930 --> 00:08:03.490 at his son Jesus. I am righteous in his eyes. 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.920 That's a sober self -assessment, and yet in a 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:11.079 fallen world. And it goes from loving God and 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:13.639 not loving the world and loving yourself to loving 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.800 the family, the body of Christ, radically serving 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.819 one another. And then finally, we're going to 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:23.100 talk in this session, what's it look like practically 00:08:23.100 --> 00:08:26.019 to love your enemies? Open your Bibles, if you 00:08:26.019 --> 00:08:31.199 will, to Romans chapter 12. He begins to clearly 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:34.059 tell us how to respond. to the evil aimed at 00:08:34.059 --> 00:08:37.720 us in verse 14. In verses 14 to 16, he's going 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:40.039 to give us a positive command. This is how you 00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:42.220 respond to that person that came to your mind 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:45.179 that I started this message with and asked you 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:47.679 to think about. And he's going to say, here's 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.759 how you respond to that person. Now, I'm going 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:53.019 to warn you, it's going to sound ridiculous and 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:56.639 impossible. Bless those who persecute you. Bless 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.120 and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:04.169 and mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony 00:09:04.169 --> 00:09:07.970 with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:11.250 to associate with people of low position. Do 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:14.830 not be conceited. He's going to say, you need 00:09:14.830 --> 00:09:17.629 to bless them, and that's how. Then he gives 00:09:17.629 --> 00:09:21.350 a negative command. The temptation when our enemies 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:23.470 and people have hurt us, there's a temptation. 00:09:24.190 --> 00:09:26.990 And he's going to hit it right between our eyes. 00:09:27.309 --> 00:09:32.669 Verse 17, do not repay evil for evil. Be careful 00:09:32.669 --> 00:09:34.490 to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 00:09:35.309 --> 00:09:37.570 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, 00:09:37.669 --> 00:09:41.769 live or be at peace with all men. Do not take 00:09:41.769 --> 00:09:44.250 revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's 00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:46.909 wrath for it's written, it is mine to avenge, 00:09:46.929 --> 00:09:50.629 I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary, 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:54.029 here's how you're to treat that person that is 00:09:54.029 --> 00:09:57.110 in your mind. If your enemy's hungry, feed him. 00:09:58.230 --> 00:10:02.230 If she's thirsty, give her a drink. In so doing, 00:10:02.250 --> 00:10:04.190 you will heap burning coals upon their head. 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:07.090 And that doesn't mean God will blow their brains 00:10:07.090 --> 00:10:08.870 out. We'll learn a little bit what that really 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:12.190 means. And then there's a supernatural result. 00:10:12.389 --> 00:10:14.809 There's this thing that when you act the way 00:10:14.809 --> 00:10:17.649 Jesus acted toward his enemies, because Jesus 00:10:17.649 --> 00:10:20.070 lives in you by his spirit, and you do it in 00:10:20.070 --> 00:10:21.769 the power of his word and authentic community, 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:25.909 he says, do not be overcome by evil. And it's 00:10:25.909 --> 00:10:28.750 an evil world. But he says there's something 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:33.870 more powerful than evil. overcome evil with good. 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:37.049 Now what I want to do in the remainder of our 00:10:37.049 --> 00:10:41.129 time is I want to break down very specifically 00:10:41.129 --> 00:10:46.409 and practically what it looks like to bless those 00:10:46.409 --> 00:10:49.210 who persecute you. That's the first and positive 00:10:49.210 --> 00:10:52.830 command. And the command is this, bless them 00:10:52.830 --> 00:10:55.909 that persecute you. That's what you're called 00:10:55.909 --> 00:11:01.799 to do. In verses 14, 15, and 16, he's going to 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.580 give you three specific ways to bless them. The 00:11:05.580 --> 00:11:08.019 word bless, by the way, this is not like, you 00:11:08.019 --> 00:11:10.360 know, someone sneezes and you go, oh, bless you. 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:14.039 This is not that, okay? This word literally means 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:19.179 to desire the salvation of another person. It 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:23.139 means to desire and long for God's blessing and 00:11:23.139 --> 00:11:26.480 favor to be upon them. I mean, it's like for 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:29.269 that. enemy, that actually their life would work 00:11:29.269 --> 00:11:31.350 out well, that if they're married, their marriage 00:11:31.350 --> 00:11:32.769 would get deeper. If they're a parent, their 00:11:32.769 --> 00:11:34.370 kids would do well. If they have a job, they 00:11:34.370 --> 00:11:37.230 would. I mean, it's blessing. That's what you're 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:42.200 praying. And when it says the people who are 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:43.799 cursing you, these aren't people that are just 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:46.659 using curse words at you. The idea of this word, 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:49.919 bless those who curse you, it's people who socially 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:52.899 ostracize you because of your faith. It's people 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:55.740 who verbally humiliate you because of your faith. 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:58.019 It's people that in the first century and many 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.720 places around the world, people who undercut 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.299 you and actually persecute and want to kill you 00:12:03.299 --> 00:12:06.220 because you're a follower of Christ. He's saying, 00:12:06.299 --> 00:12:09.460 what I want you to do is bless them. And there's 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:11.679 three components here. The first component of 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:16.220 blessing others is forgiving them. This is hard. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.940 Forgiving them. I mean, if you're to pray for 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:24.379 and blessing is for their salvation, if you want 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:25.879 God to forgive them, guess what? You've got to 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:29.320 forgive them. And you know that little section 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:32.820 sort of in, we call it the Lord's Prayer? Forgive 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:40.179 us our sins just as we forgive others. See, the 00:12:40.179 --> 00:12:44.419 premise is going to be, and this is the key to 00:12:44.419 --> 00:12:48.440 loving your enemies. You and I have to come to 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.440 the point where we really grasp how merciful 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:55.980 and God has not given us what we deserve. And 00:12:55.980 --> 00:12:57.799 there's part of it where it's a dark place you 00:12:57.799 --> 00:12:59.480 need to go and you kind of need to look at your 00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:01.559 motives and some things that you've done and 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:03.879 some stuff that you have begged God, oh God, 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.720 please. Please don't let me get the consequences 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:09.259 of that one. Oh, God, pick me up and cleanse 00:13:09.259 --> 00:13:13.820 me. And he has. And then what he's going to say 00:13:13.820 --> 00:13:17.460 is, I want you to do for that person what I've 00:13:17.460 --> 00:13:20.799 done for you. Now, people get very confused when 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.600 it comes to forgiveness because they tell me 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.139 things like, well, my husband walked out on me. 00:13:26.179 --> 00:13:29.139 He's not paying any child support. You know, 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:32.100 my boss sexually harassed me, and I went to HR, 00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:34.879 and they kind of glossed over it on this one, 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:37.259 and so I'm living with this, and every time he 00:13:37.259 --> 00:13:39.700 makes some sort of comment, I'm forgiving him, 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:42.000 but I feel very angry, and well, I'm forgiving 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.500 him, but so how do you square this forgiveness? 00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:49.919 Or one of my folks sexually abused me, and I've 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.750 forgiven him, I think, 144 times. Then the phone 00:13:53.750 --> 00:13:55.809 rings, and it's a certain time on Sunday afternoon, 00:13:55.929 --> 00:13:57.289 and I think it's going to be them, and I get 00:13:57.289 --> 00:14:01.690 knots in my stomach and this anger. Forgiveness 00:14:01.690 --> 00:14:05.429 has three phases. Jot these down, please. Phase 00:14:05.429 --> 00:14:11.330 number one is a choice to forgive. It is not 00:14:11.330 --> 00:14:13.889 emotional. It has nothing to do with your feelings. 00:14:14.169 --> 00:14:17.789 It is a choice. By the end of our time together, 00:14:17.909 --> 00:14:20.350 many of you will open a section in your Bible, 00:14:20.409 --> 00:14:24.009 and you will say, I forgave. Blank today. And 00:14:24.009 --> 00:14:28.289 you'll put a date because it's a choice. The 00:14:28.289 --> 00:14:30.549 second thing is the forgiving process. So you 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:33.629 forgive and then it's forgiving. That's a journey. 00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:36.769 And that journey is where your emotions catch 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:40.470 up with the choice that you've made. Because 00:14:40.470 --> 00:14:42.769 you can forgive and you do that and you say, 00:14:42.870 --> 00:14:46.399 and the word means to release or to loose. In 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.820 other words, I'm going to take back my desire 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:51.740 for them to get paid back, and I'm going to release 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:54.179 them from that like God has released it. And 00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:56.779 so, I'm not going to say anything negative about 00:14:56.779 --> 00:14:58.639 them. I'm not going to wish negative for them 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:00.720 anymore. I'm going to release them to God, and 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:02.320 I'm going to forgive them the way God's forgiven 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:05.700 me, freely. And so, it's a choice. But then, 00:15:05.740 --> 00:15:08.419 you know, when they drop off those kids and… 00:15:09.019 --> 00:15:11.139 They've kind of poisoned the kids against you, 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.740 and then you get this letter in the mail, and 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:15.840 you hear about this guy that, you know, stole 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:17.580 a bunch of money from you, and he's vacationing 00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:19.700 in Hawaii, or you read about him in Forbes, and 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.519 you just go, does it mean you haven't forgiven? 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:26.080 No, it means you're on the journey. And the journey 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:28.279 means when you bless, you begin to pray for him, 00:15:28.299 --> 00:15:32.610 is the journey. You pray for him. When I first 00:15:32.610 --> 00:15:34.990 experienced this, I got betrayed in a tremendously 00:15:34.990 --> 00:15:38.230 hurtful, painful way. And I got stuck and I couldn't 00:15:38.230 --> 00:15:40.549 get out of it. And I had a good friend walk me 00:15:40.549 --> 00:15:42.929 through this passage and teach me how to do this. 00:15:42.990 --> 00:15:45.389 And so I started to pray. And my prayers honestly 00:15:45.389 --> 00:15:49.070 start out like this. Dear God, give that sucker 00:15:49.070 --> 00:15:55.870 what he deserves. I'm serious. Heavenly Father, 00:15:56.029 --> 00:16:01.759 take him out. And as I continued to pray, the 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.519 Holy Spirit was making evident that that was 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.100 not exactly what blessing was all about. But, 00:16:07.139 --> 00:16:09.100 you know, part of it, too, is you need to be 00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:11.179 real with your emotions with God. I think some 00:16:11.179 --> 00:16:13.240 people think, you know, God has a sanitized room. 00:16:14.539 --> 00:16:16.539 I got news. He can handle whatever you can bring. 00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:21.100 And what he appreciates is authenticity. And 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:22.960 sometimes it's painful and it's raw. Read the 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:28.399 Psalms. And then I got to where, oh, God. Would 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.539 you just help him see how wrong he is and bring 00:16:30.539 --> 00:16:33.120 him? And I mean, I had to pray. Every time I 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:34.539 heard something about him, the anger would come 00:16:34.539 --> 00:16:37.039 up. No, I've forgiven him, but I've got to keep 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:38.940 processing. And you know, it was two or three 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:40.740 months later, God, would you bless his marriage? 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:47.240 Would you? And I began to pray. And then I, for 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:50.639 me, I just decided every Lord's Supper, I would 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.840 never take the Lord's Supper until I prayed honestly 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:56.139 and from my heart to bless this man and his life. 00:16:56.590 --> 00:16:59.850 in his marriage, in his kids. And all I can tell 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:03.490 you is that over time, he moved out of state. 00:17:05.329 --> 00:17:07.529 He didn't change, I don't believe, but I did. 00:17:08.589 --> 00:17:11.410 See, there's poison in your soul when there's 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:13.890 bitterness and you've been wounded. And as someone 00:17:13.890 --> 00:17:17.190 wisely said, when we refuse to forgive, it's 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:19.230 like we drink poison and think the other person's 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:23.869 gonna die. Could I just make a comment? Because 00:17:23.869 --> 00:17:25.789 I think there's a lot of confusion about forgiveness 00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:28.470 and emotions and, well, I don't feel like I've 00:17:28.470 --> 00:17:30.950 forgiven him. Forgive is a choice, and then you 00:17:30.950 --> 00:17:35.130 bless them. You pray for them. We're going to 00:17:35.130 --> 00:17:36.710 learn in a minute you not only pray for them, 00:17:36.750 --> 00:17:39.269 but you start doing good things for your actual 00:17:39.269 --> 00:17:40.950 enemies. Like if they're hungry, you feed them. 00:17:41.009 --> 00:17:42.809 If they're thirsty, and there's specific ways 00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:44.829 that you do good things for people who don't 00:17:44.829 --> 00:17:47.809 deserve it. But I'd like you if you would think 00:17:47.809 --> 00:17:53.470 about Jesus in the garden. He died to forgive 00:17:53.470 --> 00:17:57.349 you and to forgive me. And sometimes we make 00:17:57.349 --> 00:17:58.950 this, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know. 00:17:59.049 --> 00:18:01.670 Can I let you in on a little secret? He didn't 00:18:01.670 --> 00:18:05.029 feel like forgiving you. Did you ever think of 00:18:05.029 --> 00:18:09.630 that? He's in the garden. He's sweating like 00:18:09.630 --> 00:18:12.029 drops the stress like blood coming out of his 00:18:12.029 --> 00:18:16.170 pores. And he's fully God, but he's fully man. 00:18:16.349 --> 00:18:18.549 He didn't die with some S on his chest like I'm 00:18:18.549 --> 00:18:21.650 going through the motions. As a man, he could 00:18:21.650 --> 00:18:25.329 die. But as God the Son, he knew that when he 00:18:25.329 --> 00:18:27.490 was going to get on that cross, your sin and 00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:29.890 my sin and the sin of all people of all time 00:18:29.890 --> 00:18:33.150 would be placed upon him. He became our sin offering. 00:18:33.369 --> 00:18:36.329 And when the moment sin came upon him, the Father 00:18:36.329 --> 00:18:38.529 would turn away and for the first time in eternity. 00:18:39.150 --> 00:18:41.549 The Father and the Son would be separated, and 00:18:41.549 --> 00:18:43.970 he would experience that isolation and the price 00:18:43.970 --> 00:18:47.410 of sin. And as that was coming, let alone getting 00:18:47.410 --> 00:18:50.009 beaten within an inch of his life, and let alone 00:18:50.009 --> 00:18:52.950 being humiliated and stripped naked and a crown 00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:55.690 of thorns and being public displayed, we think 00:18:55.690 --> 00:18:57.630 that's the big deal. That's the small stuff, 00:18:57.690 --> 00:19:00.450 and it's horrendous. And do you remember what 00:19:00.450 --> 00:19:04.309 he prayed? Father, let this cup pass. You know 00:19:04.309 --> 00:19:08.259 what he's saying? I don't want to do this. I 00:19:08.259 --> 00:19:13.480 don't feel like doing this. Forgiving and loving 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.500 isn't doing what you feel like. It's choosing 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:19.420 to give another person what they need the most 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:23.119 when they deserve it the least at great personal 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.859 cost. And when God says to forgive this person, 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:28.799 all we're doing is we're stepping in the same 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.559 path of Jesus. And we're doing for this person. 00:19:31.579 --> 00:19:34.240 They don't deserve it. Of course not. Neither 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:37.599 did I. Neither did you. And so the process of 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:42.460 forgiveness is a choice. Second, forgive. Forgiving 00:19:42.460 --> 00:19:47.420 is a process. And then forgiven is it's done. 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:51.420 And here's how you know when it's done. You can 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:55.180 spontaneously rejoice at blessing in their life. 00:19:56.220 --> 00:19:58.259 I've been praying. This was my first real battle 00:19:58.259 --> 00:20:00.299 with this. I've had multiple ones since. I guess 00:20:00.299 --> 00:20:02.599 the older you get, the more betrayed and difficult 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:05.410 things you get in your life. In this particular 00:20:05.410 --> 00:20:07.309 situation, it had been about nine months since 00:20:07.309 --> 00:20:09.089 I went through this betrayal, and I was hurt 00:20:09.089 --> 00:20:11.390 and angry, and I'm taking the Lord's Supper, 00:20:11.430 --> 00:20:13.130 and I'm praying for this guy every, I'm praying 00:20:13.130 --> 00:20:15.589 for him more than my mom, you know, because the 00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:17.309 anger fantasies would come up, and every time 00:20:17.309 --> 00:20:19.089 they would, I'd start praying for him and blessing 00:20:19.089 --> 00:20:21.450 him, and so I was, it was right before I was 00:20:21.450 --> 00:20:23.309 supposed to speak, and a guy thought it would 00:20:23.309 --> 00:20:25.069 be a positive comment, I suppose, and he goes, 00:20:25.109 --> 00:20:26.750 oh, did you hear about so -and -so? This really 00:20:26.750 --> 00:20:28.809 good thing happened to him, and I did the good 00:20:28.809 --> 00:20:31.509 Christian thing, like, oh, wow, great, and my 00:20:31.509 --> 00:20:35.119 insides were going, oh, yuck. That stinks. That 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:37.380 is so unfair. After what he did here and he got 00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:39.640 blessed over there. Well, see, I'm not done. 00:20:41.420 --> 00:20:44.819 Two years later, I don't know why this always 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:46.359 happens to me in church. Two years later, I'm 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:48.339 in church and a guy walks up to me. Did you hear 00:20:48.339 --> 00:20:50.700 about so -and -so? I said, no. He said, this, 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:52.960 this, this, and this happened to this guy. And 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:54.859 before I could think, before I could process 00:20:54.859 --> 00:20:58.019 joy, I said, oh, that's great. And I meant it. 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:00.859 I stopped praying before the Lord's Supper. I 00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:06.200 was done. I was done. Forgive, choice, forgiving, 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.900 process where your emotions go up and down. As 00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:14.660 I bless and pray, forgiven, it's done. Some of 00:21:14.660 --> 00:21:18.539 you are gonna get out of prison today. Some of 00:21:18.539 --> 00:21:20.420 you have been pushing this down and that's why 00:21:20.420 --> 00:21:23.519 you're depressed. Some of you eat when you're 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.119 not hungry because you've been pushing this stuff 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:28.480 down. Some of you have ulcers and migraines and 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:32.500 there's lots of physical causes. But a big part 00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:34.839 of why our bodies don't work very well and why 00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:37.119 we do stuff that doesn't make sense and, you 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.579 know, we have sanctified, quote, addictions and 00:21:39.579 --> 00:21:42.880 not so sanctified addictions. And a lot of it 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:46.160 is rooted in this lack of forgiveness and be 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:50.200 willing to release these people. And you can 00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:55.140 start that today. The final thing he says, not 00:21:55.140 --> 00:21:57.779 only do you forgive them, but he talks about 00:21:57.779 --> 00:22:02.099 identification. And so it's not just where you 00:22:02.099 --> 00:22:04.299 mentally are doing this. I mean, this gets like 00:22:04.299 --> 00:22:08.480 from hard to crazy hard. He says, rejoice with 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.099 those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. 00:22:10.140 --> 00:22:12.900 Christians, we usually quote that and we think 00:22:12.900 --> 00:22:14.500 it's how we're supposed to treat one another. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.140 You don't need any commands to rejoice with people 00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:18.839 that you love. And you don't need any commands 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:20.779 to weep with people that you love that have cancer. 00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:24.859 The context here is this is how we bless or treat 00:22:24.859 --> 00:22:29.420 our enemies. And so your boss who ripped you 00:22:29.420 --> 00:22:34.910 off, who did terrible things to you, who actually, 00:22:34.990 --> 00:22:37.049 you know, stole a couple of your patents, took 00:22:37.049 --> 00:22:38.730 credit for it, launched another company, went 00:22:38.730 --> 00:22:41.650 public, got mega -wealthy rich, and you lost 00:22:41.650 --> 00:22:43.490 out, and you've been brewing over this forever. 00:22:44.069 --> 00:22:47.130 Or your mate that walked out on you and married 00:22:47.130 --> 00:22:50.690 some little hottie, male or female, and now is, 00:22:50.710 --> 00:22:53.049 you know, on the beach while you don't have any 00:22:53.049 --> 00:22:59.069 money. Is this real stuff or not? Right? And 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:01.109 then they get cancer or they're in an auto accident. 00:23:02.730 --> 00:23:05.089 You know what this says? You rejoice with those 00:23:05.089 --> 00:23:07.430 who rejoice, you weep with those who weep. What 00:23:07.430 --> 00:23:09.269 would happen if you walked in that hospital room? 00:23:11.190 --> 00:23:12.769 Said, you know, I know it's been five years. 00:23:13.730 --> 00:23:16.170 You can't believe how much I've prayed for you. 00:23:16.250 --> 00:23:20.130 You don't have to tell them why. And I want you 00:23:20.130 --> 00:23:22.009 to know that I have forgiven you for what you've 00:23:22.009 --> 00:23:24.710 done. But when I heard about this cancer, I felt 00:23:24.710 --> 00:23:27.450 compelled by God to come tell you that Jesus 00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:29.730 really loves you and I would love, would you 00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:35.029 allow me to pray for you right now? Can you imagine 00:23:35.029 --> 00:23:38.490 them scratching their head? Or when something 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:42.250 good happens to them, rejoicing with them. You 00:23:42.250 --> 00:23:44.470 know, maybe they remarry and they burnt you but 00:23:44.470 --> 00:23:46.490 they have a kid and they have a baby and something 00:23:46.490 --> 00:23:48.269 happens and you've completely forgiven them and 00:23:48.269 --> 00:23:51.049 you're praying for blessing. What if you jotted 00:23:51.049 --> 00:23:55.019 a note and said, I really. I praise God. I've 00:23:55.019 --> 00:23:56.779 been praying for your family for two years. And, 00:23:56.819 --> 00:24:01.220 you know, it's exciting to see this blessing 00:24:01.220 --> 00:24:04.660 in your life. And for some, because here's the 00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:07.079 disclaimer, if you were sexually abused or this 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:09.220 person hurt you or did something, there's some 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:12.299 people you can't get involved with. But you could 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:15.720 send them an anonymous gift. Because here's what 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:19.779 it does. It changes you. And before you keep 00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:22.420 looking at me like this is the... craziest stuff 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:24.519 you've ever heard. Isn't this what Jesus did? 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:28.660 Didn't Jesus come to a planet and those who were 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:31.440 his own did not receive him but rejected him? 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:35.940 So we are his enemies. Paul would call us while 00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:40.119 we were still his enemies, Christ died for us, 00:24:40.180 --> 00:24:42.839 Romans 5 .8. And so why were his enemies? What 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:45.460 did he do? He went to weddings and rejoiced with 00:24:45.460 --> 00:24:48.059 us. He raised little kids from the dead. If you're 00:24:48.059 --> 00:24:49.799 hungry, why don't we just feed everybody right 00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:53.380 here? Or With Lazarus, what did he do? He wept. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:59.180 See, Jesus wasn't playing, okay, when you clean 00:24:59.180 --> 00:25:01.500 up your act and when everything gets okay, then 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:05.220 I will love you. He rejoiced with those who were 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:07.980 rejoicing, and he weeped because it is the kindness 00:25:07.980 --> 00:25:12.180 of God that leads to repentance. People will 00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:15.619 probably, this is so counterintuitive. This is 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:19.880 so bizarre. When you... by his power and his 00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:22.700 grace, choose to do this, something happens, 00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:25.900 and the grace of God works through you in ways 00:25:25.900 --> 00:25:27.960 where, you know what, people start to believe 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:31.160 maybe this Jesus is real. And so it begins with 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:33.339 forgiveness. And then there's identification. 00:25:33.660 --> 00:25:35.940 And then notice the very last part, verse 16. 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:39.460 He says there's an association that you need 00:25:39.460 --> 00:25:43.220 to be very careful. He says live in harmony with 00:25:43.220 --> 00:25:46.460 one another. Do not be proud, but willing. Circle 00:25:46.460 --> 00:25:49.289 that word associate. with people of low position. 00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:52.730 And then as though, you know, do not be conceited. 00:25:52.769 --> 00:25:55.609 In a fallen world with evil people, and especially 00:25:55.609 --> 00:25:57.910 those that don't know Christ and are very antagonistic, 00:25:57.990 --> 00:26:00.250 the Apostle Paul is saying, we need to be people 00:26:00.250 --> 00:26:03.970 that don't just cling to our rights in the fray 00:26:03.970 --> 00:26:07.009 of life. I mean, it's a selfish, dog -eat -dog 00:26:07.009 --> 00:26:09.630 manipulative world. I mean, welcome to the NFL. 00:26:09.950 --> 00:26:14.089 So how does a Christian live that out? If possible, 00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:17.470 he says, live in harmony with one another. And 00:26:17.470 --> 00:26:20.049 then here's the deal. When you're blessing your 00:26:20.049 --> 00:26:22.930 enemies, see this, if you're not careful, it 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:25.150 can be like, you know what, I'm gonna do this. 00:26:26.009 --> 00:26:28.769 I'm gonna jot a card. I'm gonna visit them in 00:26:28.769 --> 00:26:30.730 the hospital. I'm gonna pray for them every day. 00:26:31.130 --> 00:26:34.410 You know what, I'm sort of this wonderful, spiritual, 00:26:34.509 --> 00:26:37.769 amazing person loving this scumbag of the world 00:26:37.769 --> 00:26:43.430 who walked out on me. That's kind of the opposite 00:26:43.430 --> 00:26:48.039 of do not be conceited. See, This is hard for 00:26:48.039 --> 00:26:55.359 some of us. On a given day, the very thing that 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:59.059 that person did to you in a moment of weakness 00:26:59.059 --> 00:27:02.559 and under pressure, you could do that to someone 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:11.019 else. So we come not as the superiors. We come 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:14.460 associating with, connecting with our humanity. 00:27:15.390 --> 00:27:18.369 people of low position, and we're not conceited, 00:27:18.390 --> 00:27:22.029 but it's with humility that we bless them with 00:27:22.029 --> 00:27:26.049 a sense of, but for the grace of God, I would 00:27:26.049 --> 00:27:29.470 be doing those things to others. Doesn't this 00:27:29.470 --> 00:27:32.390 really just sound like Jesus? Doesn't it just, 00:27:32.490 --> 00:27:34.509 isn't there like a trail being blazed that we're 00:27:34.509 --> 00:27:38.690 to follow? And so that's the positive side. Bless 00:27:38.690 --> 00:27:42.589 those, and notice, who persecute you. They're 00:27:42.589 --> 00:27:46.740 after you. The second command is a negative one. 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:51.400 Don't take your own revenge. Verses 17 through 00:27:51.400 --> 00:27:55.180 20. Don't take your own revenge. I mean, it's 00:27:55.180 --> 00:27:59.559 just a command. Do not repay evil for evil. And 00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:01.599 then he's kind of like in a fallen world. He 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:03.980 says, be careful. Circle that word above it. 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:07.900 Literally, it's take thought. New American Standard 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:11.240 says, respect what is right in the sight of all 00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:14.230 men. if possible, as far as it depends on you, 00:28:14.309 --> 00:28:17.410 live with peace with everyone. And then he goes 00:28:17.410 --> 00:28:19.190 on to say, just wait a second, don't take your 00:28:19.190 --> 00:28:20.869 own revenge, but leave room for God's wrath. 00:28:21.789 --> 00:28:23.630 He's the one who's going to be the judge. He's 00:28:23.630 --> 00:28:27.589 going to mete out justice. Here's the point. 00:28:28.710 --> 00:28:31.269 Personal retaliation is a prohibited response 00:28:31.269 --> 00:28:35.809 for God's people. Personal retaliation. In other 00:28:35.809 --> 00:28:38.930 words, they did evil to you, you get them back. 00:28:39.779 --> 00:28:42.880 They did evil to you, you get them back. They 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:44.980 did this to you, you say bad things about them. 00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:47.460 And if you're a Christian and you have some experience, 00:28:47.539 --> 00:28:49.940 you can do it in such passive, aggressive ways. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:53.980 And you add a verse to it. Throw in, it's a prayer 00:28:53.980 --> 00:28:58.000 request. It works, believe me. And you just go 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.940 left -handed like this and you whack them. Because 00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:04.980 your real goal is revenge. It's payback. You 00:29:04.980 --> 00:29:06.960 use your power, you use your intellect, you use 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:12.400 your relationships, you use nuances. And you 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:15.299 go like this, one more drink of poison, please. 00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:19.460 It's going to kill him sooner or later. But it 00:29:19.460 --> 00:29:25.579 doesn't. Never pay back evil for evil. Instead, 00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:29.529 take thought and consider how people think. Respect 00:29:29.529 --> 00:29:31.849 and realize that they don't have your values. 00:29:32.009 --> 00:29:35.009 They're not going to act the same way. The field 00:29:35.009 --> 00:29:38.690 is not level. They're really focused on them. 00:29:39.549 --> 00:29:41.690 Sometimes I hear Christians get all upset about 00:29:41.690 --> 00:29:43.450 non -Christians living like non -Christians. 00:29:45.009 --> 00:29:49.970 That guy's really greedy. She's so sexually immoral. 00:29:50.349 --> 00:29:52.930 I can't believe that, I mean, he just drained 00:29:52.930 --> 00:29:56.309 the whole company and all the employees. Oh, 00:29:56.349 --> 00:30:02.809 my. So what were we like before Jesus was controlling 00:30:02.809 --> 00:30:06.309 the interior of our life? Take thought for how 00:30:06.309 --> 00:30:09.150 people think. It will help you live in harmony 00:30:09.150 --> 00:30:12.349 with them. Personal retaliation is prohibited 00:30:12.349 --> 00:30:16.950 for two very important reasons. One, it usurps 00:30:16.950 --> 00:30:21.650 God's role as judge. Vengeance is mine. God says, 00:30:21.690 --> 00:30:24.420 look. I'm just. Yes, I'm holy, I'm compassionate, 00:30:24.460 --> 00:30:26.980 I'm slow to anger, but I'm just. And the word 00:30:26.980 --> 00:30:30.279 justice is rooted in a concept. You know, the 00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:34.220 scales of justice. Justice is rooted in a very 00:30:34.220 --> 00:30:38.259 clear concept of retribution. Retribution is 00:30:38.259 --> 00:30:41.960 simply this. When you do evil stuff, evil consequences. 00:30:42.380 --> 00:30:45.859 When you do good stuff, reward. Every man will 00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:50.329 get what they deserve. So, You just need to say, 00:30:50.369 --> 00:30:53.470 I need to take the ball of judgment, hand it 00:30:53.470 --> 00:30:56.869 to God, and say, I'm tired of trying to figure 00:30:56.869 --> 00:30:59.150 out all the ways in my anger fantasies and different 00:30:59.150 --> 00:31:02.269 ways to get back at my boss or my ex or one of 00:31:02.269 --> 00:31:04.809 my kids or the person who abused me, and I'm 00:31:04.809 --> 00:31:07.089 going to put that ball in your hands from now 00:31:07.089 --> 00:31:09.190 throughout eternity, and I'm going to trust that 00:31:09.190 --> 00:31:13.210 since you are just, that you will do what's right. 00:31:13.289 --> 00:31:15.730 I will never get a raw deal, but I'm stepping 00:31:15.730 --> 00:31:20.980 out. You own it, God. I release it to you. You're 00:31:20.980 --> 00:31:25.019 fair. You're just. And either on this side of 00:31:25.019 --> 00:31:29.920 heaven or on this side of after death, the scales 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:35.220 will be absolutely and perfectly balanced. You 00:31:35.220 --> 00:31:39.400 can release that wound and that hurt and your 00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:42.380 desire for payback because he knows all things. 00:31:42.500 --> 00:31:46.160 He knows all the whys. He knows all the circumstances. 00:31:46.420 --> 00:31:49.809 And you don't. And you can give that to him. 00:31:50.910 --> 00:31:53.569 But there's a lot of us, if you demand to be 00:31:53.569 --> 00:31:55.470 the judge, then God doesn't get to be the judge. 00:31:57.029 --> 00:32:00.450 And when you judge people and you decide you're 00:32:00.450 --> 00:32:04.730 gonna pay them back, you reap what you sow. The 00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:07.210 second reason that personal retaliation is prohibited 00:32:07.210 --> 00:32:09.710 is because it's an ineffective means of bringing 00:32:09.710 --> 00:32:13.509 about peace. I mean... Look at this passage and 00:32:13.509 --> 00:32:15.789 how many times it was about oneness and one another 00:32:15.789 --> 00:32:18.410 and live in harmony. God wants us to live in 00:32:18.410 --> 00:32:20.809 a very fallen, evil world where we're the kind 00:32:20.809 --> 00:32:22.369 of people that bring peace and we don't cling 00:32:22.369 --> 00:32:24.430 to our rights and we're the kind of employees 00:32:24.430 --> 00:32:26.690 that people say, wow, we'd like 100 of them because, 00:32:26.789 --> 00:32:29.829 you know, everyone's, you know, gossiping and 00:32:29.829 --> 00:32:31.670 doing this and that and wanting that and wanting 00:32:31.670 --> 00:32:33.690 this and they're a real hassle. But man, alive 00:32:33.690 --> 00:32:35.849 these Christians. Man, they make the company 00:32:35.849 --> 00:32:38.869 smooth. They're loving, they're selfless, they're 00:32:38.869 --> 00:32:41.230 caring. They're not doormats. This isn't peace 00:32:41.230 --> 00:32:43.049 at any price. They take a stand on principle. 00:32:43.190 --> 00:32:46.009 They take a stand on values. You don't ever run 00:32:46.009 --> 00:32:48.630 over them. But man, they're people of integrity. 00:32:49.390 --> 00:32:52.329 They bring about peace. You want these on your 00:32:52.329 --> 00:32:54.309 softball team. You want them in the city league. 00:32:54.390 --> 00:32:55.869 You want them helping, you know, running the 00:32:55.869 --> 00:32:58.349 rec center stuff. They're just good people. And 00:32:58.349 --> 00:32:59.849 when they get a little offended, they're not 00:32:59.849 --> 00:33:01.869 so insecure that, you know, they're always causing 00:33:01.869 --> 00:33:04.329 problems. They kind of look at people and realize, 00:33:04.529 --> 00:33:06.269 you know, take thought for where that guy's coming 00:33:06.269 --> 00:33:10.160 from. That's not even worth the time. Probably 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:12.980 ought to pray for him. He's going to go home 00:33:12.980 --> 00:33:14.519 and scream at that nine -year -old for probably 00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:16.500 five hours because he missed one ground ball. 00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:19.859 We're not going to mess with that stuff. We're 00:33:19.859 --> 00:33:21.480 going to make this a great environment. Do you 00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:27.460 get it? See, when you tit for tat, evil for evil, 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.019 evil for evil, you know what it's like? It's 00:33:29.019 --> 00:33:31.799 like there's a little fire brewing. It's like 00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:34.359 ticking, you know, one of those big fireman hoses. 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:36.660 And instead of water coming out of it, you fill 00:33:36.660 --> 00:33:42.359 it with gasoline. And that's what people do. 00:33:42.539 --> 00:33:44.019 They do it in their families. They do it in their 00:33:44.019 --> 00:33:45.380 marriages. They do it with their in -laws. They 00:33:45.380 --> 00:33:47.279 do it at work. They did this. I did this. We 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:51.519 did this. Sit in some coffee shop. Just sit in 00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:54.720 a coffee shop sometime this week. This is sort 00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:00.380 of raw to say. And listen to other people. I 00:34:00.380 --> 00:34:01.940 mean, you can't help it because they're so close. 00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:04.759 Because usually you try and concentrate. And 00:34:04.759 --> 00:34:07.319 see how many conversations. I bet it's in the 00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:11.780 80 percentile of when people are talking. that 00:34:11.780 --> 00:34:13.599 they're talking about someone that's not at the 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:15.940 table, about your mom did that, and she did that, 00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:17.579 I can't believe your sister, and she did that, 00:34:17.659 --> 00:34:19.679 and you know, Bob, who's the supervisor, can 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:20.980 you believe they're doing that at work, right? 00:34:23.559 --> 00:34:27.159 And then they carry this attitude, and they poison 00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:30.340 their own soul, and I would say it's really true 00:34:30.340 --> 00:34:33.119 of a lot of us. And Paul says, don't do that. 00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:37.800 It's ineffective. In fact, he goes to the other 00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:40.039 extreme and he says, in fact, if your enemy's 00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:41.619 hungry, I mean the person who's wounded you, 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:47.559 help them. Give them some food. If they're thirsty, 00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:49.679 give them a drink. In so doing, you heat burning 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:53.659 coals on their head. This picture of burning 00:34:53.659 --> 00:34:56.500 coals is not, as I said, it blows out their brains. 00:34:56.940 --> 00:35:02.199 It was an Egyptian ritual in the time, ancient 00:35:02.199 --> 00:35:06.659 Near East. If a person in Egypt, in this culture 00:35:06.659 --> 00:35:09.440 realized that they had offended someone, there 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:12.800 was an argument, and they were wrong. Then they 00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:14.920 would build a fire, and they'd take the coals 00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:17.239 out of the fire and put it in a pan, and then 00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:18.719 they would take a towel and put it underneath 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:21.820 the pan, and they would put on their head, and 00:35:21.820 --> 00:35:25.360 they would walk through the village, symbolizing, 00:35:25.380 --> 00:35:28.840 I'm burning the bad thoughts out of my mind. 00:35:28.980 --> 00:35:33.619 I was wrong. We would use the word, I repent. 00:35:34.329 --> 00:35:38.329 I have a metanoia. I've had a change of mind. 00:35:39.389 --> 00:35:41.510 And see, this is what you see happen in Scripture. 00:35:42.530 --> 00:35:45.690 This is when you do good for people and they 00:35:45.690 --> 00:35:47.670 know deep in their heart and their psyche that 00:35:47.670 --> 00:35:50.309 they don't deserve it. Well, it brings about 00:35:50.309 --> 00:35:53.090 a shame, even in evil people. This is a picture 00:35:53.090 --> 00:35:55.789 of David. And David's running for his life. And 00:35:55.789 --> 00:35:58.530 all he's done is won battles and cared for Saul 00:35:58.530 --> 00:36:00.829 and cared for the king of Israel who was Saul. 00:36:01.010 --> 00:36:03.469 And Saul really went off the deep end and he 00:36:03.469 --> 00:36:05.150 was chasing David and he's trying to kill him. 00:36:05.170 --> 00:36:07.730 Know the story? And so, you know, he's running, 00:36:07.789 --> 00:36:09.909 running, dodging, dodging. Well, finally he gets 00:36:09.909 --> 00:36:12.730 surrounded and he finds himself and there's this 00:36:12.730 --> 00:36:15.230 cave. So he and his men are all the way in the 00:36:15.230 --> 00:36:18.320 back of this cave. And Saul's got him surrounded, 00:36:18.380 --> 00:36:19.980 and it's like, man, guys, this is kind of it. 00:36:20.900 --> 00:36:23.760 We're done if they find us. And lo and behold, 00:36:23.900 --> 00:36:25.860 Saul comes into the cave, and the Bible's pretty 00:36:25.860 --> 00:36:28.639 graphic. He relieves himself. And I don't know, 00:36:28.659 --> 00:36:30.119 maybe he took a nap afterwards. I don't know 00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:32.019 exactly how it all happens. The text doesn't 00:36:32.019 --> 00:36:35.900 say. But David's buddies, they go, hey, God's 00:36:35.900 --> 00:36:40.480 delivered him. This is it. Nail him. And David 00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:43.099 says, see, David gets this. I'm not the judge. 00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:46.769 I will not touch the Lord's anointed. His buddies 00:36:46.769 --> 00:36:48.409 were saying, God's put him right here. I mean, 00:36:48.409 --> 00:36:52.010 this is an answer to prayer. Knock him out. David 00:36:52.010 --> 00:36:56.690 says, no, no. But he gets close to Saul, gets 00:36:56.690 --> 00:36:59.250 out his knife, and he cuts a little section off 00:36:59.250 --> 00:37:03.050 the bottom of his robe. Saul leaves the cave, 00:37:03.230 --> 00:37:06.889 goes down, peace. There's a ravine, gets on the 00:37:06.889 --> 00:37:09.849 other side of Rean. David steps out from the 00:37:09.849 --> 00:37:15.329 mouth of the cave. Saul, Saul, why? What have 00:37:15.329 --> 00:37:18.530 I done? God brought you in this cave and he holds 00:37:18.530 --> 00:37:21.849 up, look at your robe. I could have killed you. 00:37:22.650 --> 00:37:24.769 And then he makes this very interesting statement. 00:37:25.590 --> 00:37:29.570 He says, let God be the judge between us. If 00:37:29.570 --> 00:37:31.630 you are more righteous than I, then I accept 00:37:31.630 --> 00:37:34.849 full responsibility. May God take me out. But 00:37:34.849 --> 00:37:40.030 what have I ever done? See, he gave good for 00:37:40.030 --> 00:37:45.210 evil. Very interestingly, Saul begins to weep. 00:37:46.030 --> 00:37:48.909 It's like in this flash, in this moment, he realizes 00:37:48.909 --> 00:37:53.090 the truth. See, when people do evil things, they 00:37:53.090 --> 00:37:56.230 repress it. Then they go into denial. And there's 00:37:56.230 --> 00:37:58.190 demonic stuff that happens with people that do 00:37:58.190 --> 00:38:00.690 progressively evil things to where they don't 00:38:00.690 --> 00:38:02.510 think they're doing anything evil. And it's addictive. 00:38:03.309 --> 00:38:06.769 And in this moment of grace, Saul, he weeps and 00:38:06.769 --> 00:38:08.989 he says, David, you are more righteous than I. 00:38:09.769 --> 00:38:11.889 Unfortunately, it's a very short repentance and 00:38:11.889 --> 00:38:16.570 a temporary repentance. But can you imagine if 00:38:16.570 --> 00:38:20.130 we said, you know what, God? I'm going to forgive 00:38:20.130 --> 00:38:23.269 so -and -so. And then you started on the journey 00:38:23.269 --> 00:38:26.349 of praying for them. And then maybe even anonymously 00:38:26.349 --> 00:38:28.730 doing something good for them to bless them. 00:38:29.550 --> 00:38:32.409 And even, you know, we tend to demonize people 00:38:32.409 --> 00:38:34.989 when they've hurt us. Have you realized that? 00:38:35.110 --> 00:38:37.329 You know, they've really hurt us, so everything 00:38:37.329 --> 00:38:39.269 they do is terrible and everything we do is good. 00:38:40.389 --> 00:38:43.050 And we kind of reframe the whole story. Most 00:38:43.050 --> 00:38:45.789 stories aren't quite that clear. Doesn't mean 00:38:45.789 --> 00:38:49.230 they didn't do something terrible. But what would 00:38:49.230 --> 00:38:51.150 happen? What would happen just where we live 00:38:51.150 --> 00:38:55.929 if we loved our enemies, if we blessed them, 00:38:55.989 --> 00:38:59.980 if we said, God, you be the judge? If we were 00:38:59.980 --> 00:39:05.099 free. Well, here's the supernatural result. Is 00:39:05.099 --> 00:39:10.360 good will overcome evil. Now, I realize that 00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:14.420 what I've said so far, for some of you, is there's 00:39:14.420 --> 00:39:17.639 still a little bit of a, you don't really understand. 00:39:18.780 --> 00:39:21.340 You can't possibly grasp what I've been through. 00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:25.260 And you know what? I don't. But some lessons 00:39:25.260 --> 00:39:28.599 you learn later in life and some early. And this 00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:32.400 lesson I learned as a very young Christian in 00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:35.880 a powerful way that shaped my future. I came 00:39:35.880 --> 00:39:38.639 to Christ in the summer right after high school. 00:39:39.219 --> 00:39:41.480 I went away to play basketball on a basketball 00:39:41.480 --> 00:39:44.980 scholarship. I was a freshman, and if you could 00:39:44.980 --> 00:39:46.519 do pretty well, you could make the traveling 00:39:46.519 --> 00:39:50.260 team. And a guy came in. It was supposed to be 00:39:50.260 --> 00:39:53.079 the big hero. Came from inner city, New York. 00:39:53.380 --> 00:39:56.389 He grew up in the projects. He'd been to Vietnam. 00:39:56.750 --> 00:39:59.429 He'd been in prison some. He was supposed to 00:39:59.429 --> 00:40:02.130 be this rehabilitated drug addict and drug dealer. 00:40:02.469 --> 00:40:04.309 And the reason he came, I played at a smaller 00:40:04.309 --> 00:40:06.730 school. The reason he came to our school was 00:40:06.730 --> 00:40:09.349 because his nervous system was kind of damaged. 00:40:09.369 --> 00:40:11.409 His reflexes were just, I mean, they weren't 00:40:11.409 --> 00:40:13.030 terrible, but they just weren't all that good. 00:40:13.230 --> 00:40:15.949 He had a 40 -inch vertical leaping. It was about 00:40:15.949 --> 00:40:19.429 6 '7", 6 '8". I mean, there's times where I thought, 00:40:19.469 --> 00:40:21.409 man, that guy's going to just knock his head 00:40:21.409 --> 00:40:25.449 on the rim. And so something happened in his 00:40:25.449 --> 00:40:27.110 life. I don't know if it was Vietnam. I don't 00:40:27.110 --> 00:40:30.050 know if it was upbringing. But he hated Christians. 00:40:30.210 --> 00:40:32.789 I don't mean he disliked or had a, he hated Christians. 00:40:33.289 --> 00:40:35.469 And I'm like six months old in the Lord, okay? 00:40:35.690 --> 00:40:38.210 I mean, we're in basketball season now. I'm just 00:40:38.210 --> 00:40:40.269 brand new. I'm just reading my Bible in the morning. 00:40:40.369 --> 00:40:41.849 I haven't even made it all the way through the 00:40:41.849 --> 00:40:44.070 New Testament. But I've decided I'm gonna, you 00:40:44.070 --> 00:40:46.550 know, this is, he's my savior. I'm gonna walk 00:40:46.550 --> 00:40:50.210 with him. So this guy finds out I'm a Christian, 00:40:50.309 --> 00:40:52.809 and he starts, he knew a little bit of the Bible, 00:40:52.909 --> 00:40:55.710 and he would quiz me on that, and then it got 00:40:55.710 --> 00:40:57.710 to just humiliation. If you've ever been in a 00:40:57.710 --> 00:41:00.130 locker room, you know what guys talk about and 00:41:00.130 --> 00:41:03.289 all that, and he liked to say my name in a way 00:41:03.289 --> 00:41:10.929 that sounded like a cuss word. Chip. Chip. Come 00:41:10.929 --> 00:41:14.380 here. That's the way he talked to me. And then 00:41:14.380 --> 00:41:16.559 it was, I became, when you're a freshman, you 00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:18.780 have to do whatever the older guys. So I kind 00:41:18.780 --> 00:41:21.760 of became a slave. So it was like, put my bag 00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:23.679 on the bus. And then I'd come back. You know 00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:26.420 what? I want my one shoe out of that. I'd go 00:41:26.420 --> 00:41:28.380 back, get the shoe. I don't really want that 00:41:28.380 --> 00:41:30.400 shoe. And he would just mess with me. And at 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:33.039 the training table, go get me a Coke. Get me 00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:35.480 a second helping of meat. And then he would just 00:41:35.480 --> 00:41:37.260 ridicule. Like the coach would walk out the door 00:41:37.260 --> 00:41:39.219 like before. He goes, hey, we got a big game. 00:41:39.260 --> 00:41:41.219 I wonder if this skinny little white virgin is 00:41:41.219 --> 00:41:42.460 going to be helpful. You know how them Christians 00:41:42.460 --> 00:41:46.820 are. And guys, multiply 10x what I just said 00:41:46.820 --> 00:41:49.340 and you'll get to where we really lived. And 00:41:49.340 --> 00:41:53.679 I hated his guts. And so my answer was, my hero 00:41:53.679 --> 00:41:55.480 was Pete Maravich. And so I did all those drills 00:41:55.480 --> 00:41:57.639 for years and years and years and could handle 00:41:57.639 --> 00:42:00.500 the ball. And so in warmups and things, behind 00:42:00.500 --> 00:42:02.579 the back as hard as I could because I knew his 00:42:02.579 --> 00:42:05.000 reflexes weren't very good. Bam, right through 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:07.739 his hands and to his face. You know, and then 00:42:07.739 --> 00:42:09.500 I'd be on the break and I'd slam one through 00:42:09.500 --> 00:42:11.139 my legs and I'd watch it come right up and the 00:42:11.139 --> 00:42:13.380 coach would yell at him and, you know, no look 00:42:13.380 --> 00:42:16.619 pass. You know, it was really fun. Because, you 00:42:16.619 --> 00:42:19.619 know, and he was humongous. I mean, I hated him 00:42:19.619 --> 00:42:22.599 so much that, I mean, honestly, I would have 00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:27.519 done this like, hey, Jerry, come on. You want 00:42:27.519 --> 00:42:30.260 some of this? But it was like, it would be like 00:42:30.260 --> 00:42:35.019 a three -second moment. And I'm smarter than 00:42:35.019 --> 00:42:38.769 that. I mean, he, So let me finish the story 00:42:38.769 --> 00:42:41.090 because there's a major point where I learned 00:42:41.090 --> 00:42:43.690 about this passage because it gets real serious. 00:42:44.889 --> 00:42:48.550 I'm coming in from the gym and here is a room 00:42:48.550 --> 00:42:51.750 and across the hall from mine and I just crossed 00:42:51.750 --> 00:42:53.349 to get to mine and the door's a little bit open 00:42:53.349 --> 00:42:55.409 and there's all this smoke, you know, greenish 00:42:55.409 --> 00:42:57.210 blue smoke coming out of it. Everyone's smoking 00:42:57.210 --> 00:43:01.650 dope and he's in there. Well, if he gets caught 00:43:01.650 --> 00:43:05.570 even smoking grass, He's on probation. He'll 00:43:05.570 --> 00:43:08.389 go back to prison. And I didn't think of that, 00:43:08.409 --> 00:43:10.349 but I just walked by, and I was unlocking my 00:43:10.349 --> 00:43:12.670 door, and I felt this on the back of me, and 00:43:12.670 --> 00:43:14.369 he turned me around, and he grabbed me underneath 00:43:14.369 --> 00:43:16.829 the neck, and he lifted me up against the wall 00:43:16.829 --> 00:43:20.590 so I could be up where he is. And he got about 00:43:20.590 --> 00:43:23.389 this close to me and said, if you tell anyone 00:43:23.389 --> 00:43:28.110 what you just saw, I will kill you. And I've 00:43:28.110 --> 00:43:30.190 killed a lot of people, and it's not that big 00:43:30.190 --> 00:43:35.280 a deal. Do you understand? And you know, I'm 00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:37.159 18 years old. I just came to play basketball 00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:40.679 in college. And I'm scared to death because there 00:43:40.679 --> 00:43:45.079 was no bluff in this guy. And I started getting 00:43:45.079 --> 00:43:47.519 like ulcers in my stomach and I couldn't sleep 00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:50.980 at night. And I had anger fantasies. I had, you 00:43:50.980 --> 00:43:54.920 know, I mean anger, like really bad, you know, 00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:56.880 like doing something that you would regret the 00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.639 rest of your life. And it dominated my life. 00:43:59.780 --> 00:44:03.699 And I went to my There was a guy that was making 00:44:03.699 --> 00:44:06.440 disciples, and I was in a Bible study, and I 00:44:06.440 --> 00:44:08.440 just shared the whole story. He said, do you 00:44:08.440 --> 00:44:11.739 want help? I said, are you kidding? Yeah. He 00:44:11.739 --> 00:44:13.340 says, well, what I'm going to tell you is really 00:44:13.340 --> 00:44:15.920 hard, but I guarantee it'll work. I said, man, 00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:20.000 I'll take anything. He grabbed a Bible. He opened 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:23.719 to Romans 12. He read verses 14 to 21, and he 00:44:23.719 --> 00:44:27.480 explained what I just explained to you. And I 00:44:27.480 --> 00:44:31.480 looked at him like, are you on drugs? Bless this 00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:34.460 guy, I want to shoot him. I said, you said you're 00:44:34.460 --> 00:44:36.960 willing. And he said, it's not a feeling, it's 00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:40.179 choice. So at this table right now, you need 00:44:40.179 --> 00:44:42.739 to forgive him. Because God wants to forgive 00:44:42.739 --> 00:44:45.039 him. I said, I don't think God, okay, yeah, okay, 00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:46.539 I'm sure God really does want to forgive him. 00:44:46.579 --> 00:44:49.860 I just don't. And I willfully chose to forgive 00:44:49.860 --> 00:44:53.119 him. And he says, now you need to bless him. 00:44:53.199 --> 00:44:55.900 So I prayed for him every day. And then Jerry, 00:44:56.099 --> 00:44:58.500 for the next four months of our season, never 00:44:58.500 --> 00:45:01.019 had to ask for anything because I got his bag. 00:45:01.099 --> 00:45:03.539 Jerry, you want this on the bus? Jerry, you need 00:45:03.539 --> 00:45:06.440 anything else? Jerry, need another Coke? Hey, 00:45:06.579 --> 00:45:09.280 what can I do for you, Jerry? I mean, I'm here 00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:12.219 for you. When he would go in the shower, all 00:45:12.219 --> 00:45:13.820 his dirty clothes, you had to put them in this 00:45:13.820 --> 00:45:16.179 mesh bag, and I took all the sweaty stuff, gave 00:45:16.179 --> 00:45:18.000 them to the trainer, took his clothes, folded 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:19.739 them, put his shoes next to it. Didn't say a 00:45:19.739 --> 00:45:23.079 word. I just blessed him and blessed him and 00:45:23.079 --> 00:45:24.599 blessed him and blessed him. And when he said 00:45:24.599 --> 00:45:28.039 stuff to me, I just, by the grace of God, I didn't 00:45:28.039 --> 00:45:31.280 say anything back. No more behind the back passes. 00:45:31.420 --> 00:45:34.960 No more no look passes. Jerry, good shot. And 00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:36.539 after, you know, like after a month or so, he's 00:45:36.539 --> 00:45:39.699 going, you trying some Christian trick on me? 00:45:40.579 --> 00:45:44.340 I said, no, I'm just, you know, Jesus said that 00:45:44.340 --> 00:45:46.699 I'm to love everybody and I'm just doing my best. 00:45:47.460 --> 00:45:52.010 Chip. Disgust. Well, I'd like to say, you know, 00:45:52.010 --> 00:45:54.409 this is one of those stories where two and a 00:45:54.409 --> 00:45:56.409 half months in, he walked into the locker room, 00:45:56.489 --> 00:45:58.590 note down, oh, Jesus, please forgive me. That 00:45:58.590 --> 00:46:01.550 story ain't going there. Okay? Because that's 00:46:01.550 --> 00:46:05.489 not this story. Two months, three months, nothing 00:46:05.489 --> 00:46:09.030 changed. He just ridiculed me all the time, except 00:46:09.030 --> 00:46:12.650 one thing. About a month into it, I changed. 00:46:13.929 --> 00:46:18.070 My hate was gone. My fear was gone. I got out 00:46:18.070 --> 00:46:21.150 of prison. I actually saw, I wonder, I mean, 00:46:21.150 --> 00:46:24.030 this guy was brilliant. He used to wear this 00:46:24.030 --> 00:46:27.769 skull cap. He was an amazing artist. And I actually 00:46:27.769 --> 00:46:30.409 got to where I could say, I wonder what happened 00:46:30.409 --> 00:46:33.409 to this young man, where he came from and where 00:46:33.409 --> 00:46:35.289 he's been. He'd take his shirt off. He had a 00:46:35.289 --> 00:46:37.869 scar that went from here all the way around to 00:46:37.869 --> 00:46:41.849 here. I had no idea what he'd been through. And 00:46:41.849 --> 00:46:43.789 I had no idea how other Christians treated him. 00:46:43.829 --> 00:46:47.349 All I knew is I got to the point where I actually 00:46:47.349 --> 00:46:56.530 cared about him. Why? I blessed him. I prayed 00:46:56.530 --> 00:47:00.269 for him. I did good. And when you do that, God 00:47:00.269 --> 00:47:04.090 does something in you. We closed the season and 00:47:04.090 --> 00:47:05.909 we always closed with a big tournament in a major 00:47:05.909 --> 00:47:08.409 city and had a big coliseum and all the teams 00:47:08.409 --> 00:47:10.110 in our conference would come and you'd play a 00:47:10.110 --> 00:47:13.369 bunch of games and we were eliminated and I mean, 00:47:13.389 --> 00:47:16.170 you gotta remember, this is like mid -70s and 00:47:16.170 --> 00:47:21.559 so it's, Jerry and I, you know, I'm only six 00:47:21.559 --> 00:47:24.300 foot tall, so I've got my platforms and my blue 00:47:24.300 --> 00:47:26.280 leather jacket and my apple hat, and, you know, 00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:28.480 I'm sort of strutting. And Jerry is, you know, 00:47:28.500 --> 00:47:30.579 he's like 6 '7", 6 '8", so he's got his platforms 00:47:30.579 --> 00:47:33.460 and his fro and his hat, so he's like 7 '2", 00:47:33.460 --> 00:47:35.340 you know. So this was just the world we lived 00:47:35.340 --> 00:47:37.599 in, and, you know, it was real windy, and I remember 00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:39.639 him, I just, you know those images in your mind 00:47:39.639 --> 00:47:42.420 sometimes? I remember him taking his leather 00:47:42.420 --> 00:47:44.119 coat, because it was windy, and put it up here. 00:47:45.139 --> 00:47:50.300 He turned to me, he goes, Chip. I said, yeah. 00:47:51.579 --> 00:47:53.539 He said, you know, there's only two people I 00:47:53.539 --> 00:47:56.619 respect on this whole team. I've been messing 00:47:56.619 --> 00:47:59.940 with these guys' minds. They are so punks. He 00:47:59.940 --> 00:48:03.000 said, me, because I am evil and I know it, and 00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:07.039 if there's a hell, I'm going there. And you, 00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:11.039 because I disagree with everything you stand 00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:15.760 for, but you actually live it. And I would never, 00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:19.940 ever want to be a Christian. But if I ever even 00:48:19.940 --> 00:48:24.400 thought about it, I'd be one like you. And he 00:48:24.400 --> 00:48:26.860 said, you know what? I'm done with you. It's 00:48:26.860 --> 00:48:30.079 no fun to diss you anymore. So you're done, kid. 00:48:30.519 --> 00:48:37.059 Get out of here. It's you. And here's what I 00:48:37.059 --> 00:48:42.480 want to tell you. God wants you to love your 00:48:42.480 --> 00:48:50.079 enemies for your good, for his glory. This is 00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:53.000 Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend, 00:48:53.059 --> 00:48:55.500 for over 30 years, Living on the Edge has been 00:48:55.500 --> 00:48:58.440 committed to one mission, helping believers understand 00:48:58.440 --> 00:49:02.079 what it truly means to follow Jesus. Not religious 00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:04.980 activity, not trying harder, but relational, 00:49:05.219 --> 00:49:08.739 practical, measurable Christianity that transforms 00:49:08.739 --> 00:49:12.889 every area of life. Messages like today's exist 00:49:12.889 --> 00:49:15.190 because partners believe this mission matters. 00:49:15.449 --> 00:49:18.309 When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping 00:49:18.309 --> 00:49:21.389 Christians discover God's power, peace, purpose, 00:49:21.670 --> 00:49:24.750 presence, and perspective. You're investing in 00:49:24.750 --> 00:49:27.230 clear biblical teaching that moves people from 00:49:27.230 --> 00:49:30.989 confusion to clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing 00:49:30.989 --> 00:49:34.090 God's best. Would you join this mission today? 00:49:34.570 --> 00:49:38.690 Give online at livingontheedge .org or call us 00:49:38.690 --> 00:49:43.929 at 888 - 333 -6003. You can also mail your gift 00:49:43.929 --> 00:49:48.030 to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta, 00:49:48.309 --> 00:49:52.690 Georgia, 30024. Want more content throughout 00:49:52.690 --> 00:49:55.989 the week? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and 00:49:55.989 --> 00:49:59.510 YouTube. Just search for Living on the Edge on 00:49:59.510 --> 00:50:02.610 Facebook and Instagram. And then for all of our 00:50:02.610 --> 00:50:05.210 video content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube 00:50:05.210 --> 00:50:08.280 channel when you're there. Well, that wraps up 00:50:08.280 --> 00:50:10.920 today's episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching 00:50:10.920 --> 00:50:13.840 message coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon 00:50:13.840 --> 00:50:20.199 Podcast. Today's program is produced and sponsored 00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:21.739 by Living on the Edge.