From the intensity of sports to the demands of parenting, you'll hear personal stories and reflections illustrating how a single moment of frustration can cause a ripple effect of regrettable actions. We need the vital balance of being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slower to anger. Anger can be a force for good when shaped by love, but to define that anger we must explore how to defend what truly matters. This message is about aligning our emotional compass with the example set by a patient and loving God, fostering a tranquility that goes beyond conventional understanding.
From the intensity of sports to the demands of parenting, you'll hear personal stories and reflections illustrating how a single moment of frustration can cause a ripple effect of regrettable actions. We need the vital balance of being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slower to anger. Anger can be a force for good when shaped by love, but to define that anger we must explore how to defend what truly matters. This message is about aligning our emotional compass with the example set by a patient and loving God, fostering a tranquility that goes beyond conventional understanding.
Hey, what up? It's Mark Carter on, the Pastor of Fierce Church. Welcome to our podcast. I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2:So there is an old folk tale about Genghis Khan. If you have read anything about Genghis Khan, or maybe just watched Mulan, you know that he was I believe it's a Mongol warrior. I should have done a little more research to have that correct. But anyway, he was this really strong military leader, right? And he loved and trained you see that hawk on his arm. In that time Hawks were like scouts for you and they would watch the perimeter and he trained it and this was like his best friend, y'all Super close with him. He was with that hawk all the time. Well, he had brought all of his warriors out for like a hunting day, for a fun day, right. So they're out in the fields, they're hunting, they're doing all this great stuff, and as they're out there they're not finding anything. And now everybody's getting hot and tired. And so Genghis Khan sends all of his men home. But he decides he's going to take the longer way.
Speaker 2:So he and his hawk began this traverse back home, but through the forest, and he was looking for water. He knew up up ahead they're supposed to be this brook. So he goes and he's searching for the brook and he gets to the place where the brook should be, but the brook's kind of dried up. Now again, he's already tired, he's really hungry and he is thirsty. It is a hot summer day. And so he finds this trickle and so he pulls out his cup. Now, a little bit before this, the hawk had flown off it like disappeared. And that's what hawks do, right, they fly. So it's just flying about.
Speaker 2:But he gets his cup and he begins to fill it up by the brook. And he gets it where it's almost completely full. And then he goes to put it by his mouth and whoosh, the hawk flies through, knocks the cup out of his mouth. Now again, he's hot, he's tired, he's very, very thirsty. His water source is now gone. It starts to get a little grumpy. But he goes back and does it again, fill, tries to fill it up all the way, gets it to his mouth, whoosh, the hawk knocks it out of his hand. Again, he does it again, and this time he's like I'm not even waiting for the full cup. He gets it, it gets about halfway, puts it up to his lips, whoosh, the hawk knocks it out. Now, at this point, he's, he's, he's mad, he's livid, he's really, really thirsty. His hawk should know better. And so he grabs the cup out again, grabs his sword out this time because he's like now listen, if I'm going to get my water, this hawk is not going to get in my way. So he fills up his cup one more time, pulls it to his mouth. The hawk comes down, but he pulls his sword and, whoosh, instead of the hawk knocking it out of his hand, he strikes the hawk and cuts it in half. At this point he's like I am not waiting for the water to appear, I am going farther upstream, like something's blocking the water. I'm going to get to where it's easy. He gets upstream, he sees the water is full, but what is in the water? A dead, poisonous snake that has completely destroyed his water source. And what was the hawk doing for him that entire time? Saving his life.
Speaker 2:Isn't that what we do with anger? He said I have learned a sad lesson today, and that is never to do anything in anger. This is kind of based off a true story that James Baldwin retold. But that's what anger does to us, right? We start to get frustrated. We start to get frustrated and it builds, and it builds, and it builds and it builds and anger explodes ultimately often and it destroys. I have had so many circumstances in my life. I think it's really unique that Pastor Carter asked me to preach about this about a month ago, and maybe you don't get the opportunity to preach, but when you have a topic that you preach on, the Lord is really, really gracious to teach you some things about that topic. Which means I had a lot of opportunities to control my anger this past few weeks and it was hard. It was really really hard. But we see anger all around us, right, like if you were totally honest, have you displayed anger throughout this week? Anybody raise your hand, anybody. Just this morning, yep, okay, so anger's all around us.
Speaker 2:Case in point, let's take a look at Thomas Nope, I said that wrong Travis Kelsey. There's pictures everywhere. Sports. He got mad at his coach and he just was yelling in his face or you know, it appears in driving. How many of you are driving around and you get really honked off and you're like why did they cut me off? And it's funny, like you're just driving around, trial a lot, and then somebody cuts you off and like all of a sudden you've exploded right, and it like sets the rest of your day off or maybe at work, like why could they not just attach the thing to the email the first time? Or why did we have to have that meeting? Couldn't they just have sent an email? Right, like all those things. Or perhaps with your kids. This picture's kind of funny to me. The dad is like because if there's anything that takes you to the end of yourself, it's parenting. Right, it is God's great sanctifier. Bless the Lord. Or maybe it's with your friends. Now I think this is another funny one. Could I be wearing any more clothes Like?
Speaker 2:Our friends have a unique ability to really make us frustrated, right, the people who are closest with us have an opportunity to really get to the nitty-gritty. As I was sermon prepping this week, I was sitting at Panera and one of the guys was like all right, I'm out, it's time to take my grouchy butt home. But that's not. Those weren't the words you said. I'm going to keep that beautiful for you, anyway, because we get angry, right. Or perhaps you need one more example. We have Anakin Skywalker, who started out really great, right, and then turned to the evil Darth Vader, because he gave over to his anger, right. So anger is everywhere, anger is everywhere, but we have got to find a better way. We got to find a better way. So we're going to look to James today. James is in the New Testament and he's actually the brother of Jesus and he comes to us and he says listen, he gives us a little dance move. He said ready.
Speaker 2:My dear brothers and sisters understand this. Everyone should be quick to listen, say that, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to speak and slow to become angry. Right, quick, slow, slow, quick, slow, slow. I can't dance. Quick, slow, slow, quick to listen, just listen, so to speak. You know how many times I had to tell myself that this week. So to become angry, take a beat, erika, take a beat, be quiet.
Speaker 2:Now the second half of that verse, the way that I memorize it as a kid is for a man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires, which to me sounded like okay. So if I get angry then I won't have a blessed life. Well, I mean, I guess it's okay for me to get angry if I don't care that I won't have a blessed life. But this version that I read this time was for man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. So when I get angry, I'm not allowing God's righteousness to come about. I'm actually saying like no, god, I don't want you to get involved in this. I just want to be angry and I want to solve it, but it's not going to be solved the way it ought to be.
Speaker 2:Anger is a common occurrence, absolutely. It's a natural occurrence, even for us. It's a response to something. But the Bible says that while it may point out something that's going wrong, it may reveal something that's going wrong. Our anger actually can't accomplish God's perfect righteousness. Okay, lord, so what do we do? How do we work on this? Well, we're going to make some agreements about anger first.
Speaker 2:I feel like we need to kind of set the stage about anger. First of all, anger is actually not intrinsically evil. Did you know that? Like? It's not evil in its very nature. If I held up a bullet right here, the bullet itself is not intrinsically evil, right, like the bullet if it's just sitting on a table can't do anything. But if you put a bullet into something, a bullet becomes deadly. Our anger is the same. We can have anger, but if we shoot it out at other people or we shoot it out, it actually rots us. We'll get to that in just a second. But it's not intrinsically evil, actually righteous. Anger can be powerful. It can move us to compassion towards somebody else. It can move us to stop injustices.
Speaker 2:Right Proverbs 16, 22 says whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he who rules his spirit better than he who takes a city. It's not the fact that we're angry, but it's the way that we wield our anger. Right John Keller says anger is love in motion toward a threat to that which you love. It's generally motivated in its best state by love and protection. God models this for us.
Speaker 2:The Bible says that God has anger. He has frustration towards sin, which is against his very nature. When surrounding nations hurt his own people, he has anger. When people worship idols, he has anger. He's a jealous God. When there is injustice occurring, he has anger. But God's anger is different because it's slow. Here's what he says. He actually introduces himself to his people like this in Exodus 34, verse 6, the Lord, the Lord, the very highest, most powerful Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. He displays anger. But what is his anger? It's slow and it's abounding in love and faithfulness. But here's the thing Our anger it's malformed. It's not God's anger, it's our anger and it's a little jacked up.
Speaker 2:So St Augustine talks about in book four of Confessions, kind of a disordered love that he says you have made us for yourself, o Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. He's saying we want God, our hearts, they're not at rest until they have God, so they're trying to find all the other things that would satisfy, that would make them feel at peace. And so we have all of these other loves, all of these other things that try and pull our attention, that try and pull our hearts. We attempt to get rest from all the things around us, but then our love gets disordered because it's not squarely on the only one who could actually handle our expectations and the one who can satisfy it. Instead, what we do is we elevate the good to the ultimate, like our spouses or our job, or our place in the world or our friendships, right, and we place on them the weight of our joy, our satisfaction, our significance, our security, our self-worth. And that's how we justify our anger, because it's important to us. In that moment, that thing that has become our ultimate is at risk.
Speaker 2:Tim Keller says about anger when you turn a good thing into an ultimate thing. When you love something and look at something in a way you should only look to God. That's when your emotions are totally over the top. You had moments like that before where you know in that moment, oh my goodness, my emotions are totally over the top here. This is not an appropriate response. That's when they're completely magnified and completely uncontrollable. They're completely disproportionate. I have had moments where if you took a picture of my face when I'm yelling at my kids, I would be insanely embarrassed if you saw my face. It is completely not appropriate to what's happening in that moment. But isn't it unique how our anger, it just shoots right through and it begins to destroy.
Speaker 2:A really good question to ask yourself in the moment of being angry is who or what am I defending? Who or what am I defending? Getting angry at work, I had to ask myself this who or what am I defending? And you know what I was defending my own pride, my self-worth at my job, my place in the organization. But I was at risk. I was the one I was trying to protect.
Speaker 2:But that's not the way it needs to go and often when we get angry in these moments, we are detaching from the reality and the long view of life. We go for the juggler, we elevate the problem and we forget the person with whom we're angry. Anger is a destructive agent. Okay, so we agree. Like anger isn't necessarily intrinsically evil, god has anger himself. And thirdly, it's a destructive agent, like a bullet it actually can wound and it can kill and destroy.
Speaker 2:So let's jump into the proverbs. There's a few different proverbs that we're gonna look at really quick and then we're gonna get to what we're gonna do about this. So here's what the proverbs say about anger it destroys the body. In Proverbs 14.30, it says a sound mind makes for a robust body. A sound mind, a calm mind, a restful mind, but runaway emotions corrode the bones. Proverbs 15.18,.
Speaker 2:A hot tempered person stirs up conflict, but one slow to anger calms strife. Anger destroys our community. When we are intentionally trying to stir up dissension, when we are a hot tempered person, it just creates strife. Anger destroys even our own wisdom Isn't this crazy? In Proverbs 14.29, it says whoever is slow to anger has great understanding but he has a hasty temper, exalts folly, exalts folly. That hit me, okay, erica, when I like go off and lose my temper, I'm exalting folly. I'm saying folly the wrong way. The not great thing to do is the best thing to do. An anger is destructive.
Speaker 2:In our intelligence, even Proverbs 25.38, it says like a city that is broken down and without walls, leaving it unprotected, is a man who has no self-control over his spirit and sets himself up for trouble Like y'all. I mean, come on, if you really thought about it, would you want to set yourself up for trouble? No, like I don't. I mean, I don't really want to set myself up for trouble. I don't want to leave myself open to all kinds of problems. But when we respond in anger, when we don't control our tongue, we're like a man who has no self-control over his spirit and sets himself up for trouble. I have some hope for you today. You want to hear the hopeful part. Yes, okay, well, hey, god can handle your anger and he can handle the outcome. He can handle the outcome. He can handle everything that is going on around you. He is big enough to handle it. Okay, so let's jump back in to James one. We're gonna do verses 19 through 27, but we're gonna take it in chunks. So again, verse 19,.
Speaker 2:My dear brothers and sisters understand this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, for human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. So if we're gonna get to this, if we're gonna get to the antidote of anger, the very next verse is say therefore, the church I grew up in, the pastor used to say if you see a, therefore, you gotta find out what it's there for. It's there because, if you want to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, here's your solution. Read yourselves of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent and humbly receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
Speaker 2:So our antidote to anger number one today is rid the junk. Get rid of the junk, get it out. There is so much in our lives that, y'all, it's just not edifying. That's like the Christian word, but it's not like building us up, it's not encouraging us, it's not like helping us to go on the path that's good. It's like tearing us down and destroying us.
Speaker 2:Here's what Genesis four seven says Sin is crouching at your door. It desires you, but you must master it. So, y'all, what do you think right now, if you were to stop and pause for a second? What do you think is crouching at your door. Are there things in your life that you're like, oh, maybe that's a compromise, maybe I shouldn't have that around me or think about that. Matthew five, 29 through 30.
Speaker 2:Now this is Jesus speaking at the servant on the Mount. Listen to this. This is bold. This is like level five stuff right here. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away I'm sorry, wait what Gauge it out, throw it away. It's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away, it's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. God Jesus is saying in that moment like, hey, this is serious. Like if something is causing you to stumble, if there is junk in your life, get it out. And it may take some intense, crazy actions, like not actually gouging out your eye and not actually cutting. That's hyperbole. It's hyperbole, okay, but it's serious. Like if there's something in your life that is causing you to think evil thoughts, get rid of it. Colossians three, five says put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry. Ask yourself, what is it around me that I shouldn't do, watch or have? If Jesus were sitting right next to me, would you watch that show you've been watching? If Jesus were sitting right there, which he is Right?
Speaker 2:My husband and I were trying out this TV show and y'all we use a filtering service called Vid Angel in order to watch a lot of our shows, which is awesome because you can take all the hell out. That's. We're like get it out. We don't wanna hear language, we don't wanna see sex, we don't wanna see like gory stuff, like we just don't want it. And we were using all of our resources to get rid of all the bad things that we've done. And we were using all of our resources to get rid of all the bad things that we've done. And we were using all of our resources to get rid of all the bad things that we've done. And we were using all of it. Right, we had the filters, like to the nines, everything out.
Speaker 2:And even with the filters, after a few episodes, we were like I don't know that I actually feel better after watching this show. It's not building me up at all and it's actually making me feel more okay with the evil nature of the people. They're like the anti-hero and I don't know. I just don't think we need to like be okay with the anti-hero. We're brand of the night and so you may have different convictions here, but that's the thing like listen, wait on the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:What is the junk in your life that he's asking you to rid? Get rid of it. It doesn't help you, it makes it worse. So, number one, we get rid of the junk. And number two, we receive the word he says humbly receive the word implanted in you which is able to save your souls. Humbly receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Y'all got word is not easy to swallow, sometimes right Like gouge your eye out. That's not an easy thing to hear. God is saying listen, my ways are higher, my thoughts are higher, my plans for you are greater. I don't want you to live in the junk. So humbly come up under my leadership and remember I know best.
Speaker 2:Anger is often acting without actually considering God's way. Here's what Philippians 4, 8 through 9 says. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing Fix your thoughts. This is what you should be thinking about. Think about what is true, what is honorable, what is right and pure, what is lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. When we keep our eyes fixed on who God is and the things that he's taught us and he's calling us to man like, when we receive that word, it changes who we are from the inside out.
Speaker 2:Psalm 19, verse 7 says the law of the Lord is perfect. Reviving the soul. How many of you want some soul reviving? I want some soul reviving and I find when I get into God's word it does revive my soul. It transforms me from the inside out. Reviving the soul.
Speaker 2:The testimony of the Lord is sure Y'all, you can stand on it. It is trustworthy and it makes wise the simple. I'd like some wisdom. I don't want to be a simpleton. So if I get in His word, if I receive the word, if I be in it, it's going to make me wise. So James continues to go on and he says in verse 22, he starts out so therefore, be doers of the word and not hearers only. So humbly receive the implanted word, but be doers of the word, not hearers only just deceiving yourselves. So if all you do is hear the word, you're not actually being transformed. Do it, because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like someone looking at his own face in a mirror, for he looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. We're going to take that apart. Hearers here's what they do.
Speaker 2:There's a book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. It's by Donald Whitney and JI Packer and y'all. The cover of this book looks so lame. It looks so lame and you're like that's not a book that I want to just pick up. Spiritual Disciplines. I don't really want discipline, right, but there is so much gold in this. And actually our worship team met on Thursday and had a training meeting kind of a thing, and we talked about being hearers of the word, loving, enjoying God's word, and he outlines in Spiritual Disciplines these five different things about hearers.
Speaker 2:They hear the word and maybe this could be a challenge for you this week and over the next few months Hearing those who hear. They prioritize coming to church because they know if I get in God's place and I hear God's word, it's going to wash over me and I'm going to be transformed by hearing. Then, if I read it, I begin to see it differently. It begins to kind of reorient my mind and my ways. So I get into it. Then, studying it, I begin to understand. Oh okay, he was talking about these people in this context. And, oh my goodness, when I'm in this context, that's when it really hits me and it can begin to transform me even more than meditating on it.
Speaker 2:This word is like a cow who's chewing. You've ever seen a cow chew? They just keep chewing and keep chewing and keep chewing. They're meditating on their food. But we need to meditate on God's word. We need to think about it and think about it and think about it, because as we think about it it begins to transform our minds.
Speaker 2:And then, memorizing, you get it down in your bones so that when the hard stuff hits, god's word comes back. You're like oh yeah, my God shall supply all my needs according to his glorious riches. Oh, yeah, that's right. He watches out for the widows and orphans and takes care of them in their time of need. Yeah, that's right. Oh yeah, no, god says that he doesn't leave us alone, he doesn't abandon us. You can bring that back up because you've memorized God's word, but let's keep going.
Speaker 2:In James 1.25 it says but the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it. Say perseveres, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer who works. Say doer who works. I want to be a doer who works. That's just a silly phrase, but there we go. This person will be blessed in what he does Blessed. I want to be a hearer, I want to absorb God's word, but I also want to be a doer. And y'all. If I'm totally honest, this is where I struggle the most. Man, if I could just sit and study God's word for hours like that just lifes me so very much. But I was telling my small group the other day I really really stink at the application and I really really stink at the Lord getting into my heart and I'm like, oh, I get that that's what I should do, but I don't know God, I don't, we'll be good, right, that's where I stink at this. But I need to be a doer.
Speaker 2:Here's what Philippians 4-9 says Keep putting into practice. This is a present, continuous, over and over and over. Keep putting into practice all that you have learned and received from me, everything you've heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. If we want to be transformed, we got to rid ourselves of the drunk. If we want to not have anger, we got to rid ourselves of the junk. We got to humbly receive the word, because it will give us God's peace. James continues, he's like okay, we're almost there. We're almost there y'all.
Speaker 2:If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is worthless, it's useless. He deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this To look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained from the world. James is saying hey, listen, y'all okay. So here's what you do If you rid yourself of the junk and if you receive the word, here's what your life should look like. It should not look like someone whose mouth just spews things. It should not look like someone who doesn't control his tongue. You should control your tongue. It should look like you care about those less fortunate than you. You should care about those, like widows and orphans, who don't have anybody else to look out for them, and you should care about remaining unstained by the world. It should be something that marks you as a Christ follower. That's what we should look like If a doer is getting it right. It should look like holding your tongue, watching out for the needy and remaining unstained by the world.
Speaker 2:Now we're going to come back to verse 23. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like someone looking at his own face in a mirror, for as he looks at himself and then turns away, he forgets what he's seen. Let's see, this is not working as easily as I planned. Oh well, here's my mirror. Look, it's revealed. Now you know what this is. Sorry for those of you over there. It's like totally glaring in your eyes. So this is my mirror, and it's said that men look at themselves in the mirror about 27 times a day, whereas women look at themselves in the mirror about 34 times a day. And if we have our phones, we're probably looking at ourselves a lot more. And if you're a junior high girl, you're looking at yourself in a selfie, kind of constantly. Right, okay, so a mirror.
Speaker 2:When I look at myself in the mirror, I see yay, god's beautiful creation. But you know, actually more often than not I'm seeing all my flaws. I see the things. Man, I need to fix that piece of my hair. Oh gosh, my earrings aren't in the right place to fix my jacket Right.
Speaker 2:When we look in the mirror, we are assessing ourselves and we're figuring out what needs to change. God's word is the perfect mirror and as we look to it, as we keep our eyes fixed on him, he reveals the things in us that need to change, the ways that we don't look like Jesus and we need to be transformed. But if we are just hearers and not doers, we are staring at the mirror for just a second and turning away and forgetting the very thing that he's asking us to change. We need to be not just hearers but effective doers. I'm going to try and cover this up, because you know what I'm going to do. Take this down, because all y'all over there are blinded. We'll fix it later, but don't do that in real life.
Speaker 2:Look in the mirror, keep looking in the mirror. Keep looking in God's word. Here's what's beautiful 2 Corinthians, 3, 18. This is what Paul tells us about looking in God's face. He says and we all with unveiled faces taking off the space, looking clearly at Jesus' face, we all who, with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord's glory, we're being transformed. We are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord. The very Lord transforms us and makes us more like him. When we look straight into the presence of God, when we rid ourselves of the junk, when we embrace the word of God, receiving it, and we just keep looking directly at him, it says our faces are changed from glory to glory, ever-increasing glory.
Speaker 2:Now you may be saying, hey, erica, ok, that's great, that's great, but I'm still angry because there's still injustice in the world. Yeah, yeah, and I'm not telling you that you're not going to be angry. But what were our dance steps? Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. What do we do about all this injustice as it still exists when we entrust the injustice to God? We just sang that song you reign above it all. You reign above it all, over the universe and over every heart. There is no higher name. Jesus. You reign above it all. We can entrust the injustice to God.
Speaker 2:Just a few weeks ago, pastor Carter actually preached an entire message about God's justice always coming to pass. You could actually go to our YouTube channel. The title is called the End of Evil. It was so good to remember. God does not leave the guilty unpunished.
Speaker 2:We can choose to be like Jesus man, someone who had all the right in the world to be angry at the injustice that was happening all around him and happening to him, right Like he could have gotten angry, there was some really shady stuff that went down all around him and to him, but he didn't withdraw. He didn't come with guns blazing. He came gentle and lowly, he told the truth and ultimately he absorbed all of our rage. He didn't pay it back. 1 Peter 2, 23 says when he was reviled, he did not revile. In return. When he suffered, he didn't threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He knew his father was totally in control. He knew his father had a plan that was greater than anything he could think about. Jesus said the most beautiful example he entrusted himself to he who judges justly. Another really incredible person to look to and to see how they entrusted themselves to he who judges justly is Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
Speaker 2:This is just an excerpt from one of his sermons. Let me read it to you. Jesus said love your enemies, that you may be children of your father who is in heaven. Of course you say loving these enemies is not practical. Life is a matter of getting, even of hitting back, of dog eat dog. Maybe in some distant utopia the idea will work, but not in the hard, cold world in which we live.
Speaker 2:My friends, we have followed the so-called practical way for a long time now. Time is cluttered with the wreckage of communities which surrendered to hatred and violence. We are going to follow another way. We will not abandon our righteous efforts. With every ounce of our strength we will continue to rid the nation of the incubus of segregation, but we will not, in the process, relinquish our privilege and our obligation to love. While abhorring segregation, we will love the segregationist. That's the only way to build a beloved community.
Speaker 2:To our most bitter opponents we will say we shall meet your physical force, your soul force, due to us what you will, and we will continue to love you. We cannot obey your unjust laws, because non-cooperation with evil is much more a moral obligation as it is to cooperate with good. But throw us in jail, we'll still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community and beat us. We will still love you, but be assured that we will wear you down. One day we will win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and so our victory will be a double victory.
Speaker 2:The great military leaders of the past have gone, and their empires have crumbled and burned two ashes, but the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing. May we solemnly realize we shall never be sons of our heavenly Father until we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us as he did for us. Whew, that man was wise. He was wise. Dr King rid himself of the evil that was so prevalent around him. He humbly received the word that was planted into him and because of it his life was transformed and our nation's future was transformed. We have a debt to pay to him because he matched the heart of Jesus for his community. You and I can do the same.
Speaker 2:And when we entrust all of these things that make us angry to a God who judges justly, here's what he finishes saying about himself in Exodus 34. The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, who is slow to anger, abounding in faithfulness, love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. Injustice abounds, but we can entrust ourselves to a God who judges justly, and we can choose to be slow to anger. He's slow to anger toward you and he will ensure that justice comes to pass, so that you can be slow to anger and entrust the outcome to him.
Speaker 2:Shall I pray with me, god. We know that this side of heaven, like we're just still gonna deal with anger and frustrations. But, holy Spirit, we need your help Because by our very nature, we're quick to anger and we're quick to frustration. Would you slow us down? Would you cause us to lean more into your presence, into who you are? Help us to rid ourselves of the junk that's all around us, that we have embraced and Jesus caused us to humbly receive your word, to not just be hearers of it but doers, and to be transformed in ever increasing glory into the image of your son. So, god, we've seen what you can do. Come and do it again. Transform us, transform our community, in Jesus' name amen.
Speaker 1:Hey, thank you so much for joining us today. If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation, check out Fierce Church. We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person. Also, if you're looking for leadership development related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry. It's because of you that this is possible. You can click on the link in the description to give now or visit Fierce Church for more information.
Speaker 1:If you enjoy this podcast, why not subscribe? Share it with your friends? Click on the share button, take a screenshot and share it on social media or wherever you would share such things. Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it. Don't give up. Hang on to Jesus. He won't let go of you. Jesus loves you so much and we love you. I hope someday we get to meet in person. Thanks again for listening. Just.