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Fierce Church Sermons
Like Your Father in Heaven | Applause of Heaven
Loving your friends? Easy. Loving your enemies? That’s a whole different story. But Jesus calls us to something greater—to love the people who have wronged us, betrayed us, or hurt us just like HE loves us. 💛
So… how do we even do that? How do we pray for someone who’s hurt us? How do we stop letting bitterness control our lives? 🤯
In this message, we’ll break down what Jesus meant when He said "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." This is NOT about pretending the pain didn’t happen—it's about learning how God’s love transforms us so we can live in freedom.
Today is also the day that we are ending our current Sermon on the Mount series. When we first started it was called Plaws of Heaven and when we first started I was like, yeah, we're going to go through Matthew 5, 6, and 7, because that's where the Sermon on the Mount is and we're 11 messages in and we're just finishing up Chapter 5. So we've got some other stuff to talk about as we get into Easter no-transcript, the peak of the Mount, so to speak, and Jesus is going to challenge us. If we're going to be citizens of heaven, it is time to love our enemies as the Father loves his enemies. Can we just review some of the things we've talked about in this series? We talked about how Jesus fulfills the law and also heightens it, so he's the only one who can actually completely obey the law and he does that for us. And then he challenges us with the law that Moses gave and he says actually there's an internal version. It's much more challenging and you're going to need God's help to do it. You're going to need the Holy Spirit to be able to pull this off. You're going to need grace-empowered obedience. You're not just trying to fulfill all the rules. He's saying no, I want you to do some virtue ethics on the inside, which means it's not just that I do the right things, it's that my heart is wanting the right things, because that's what it means to be a son or daughter of God. Jesus starts on the inside and he works out rather than the outside in.
Speaker 1:We talked about how there's a contrast between kingdom citizens. Those are people that are trying to, with Jesus' help, being conformed to the Sermon on the Mount. These kingdom citizens are embracing ways that don't make any sense to the world. They're embracing grief. They're embracing humility. They're embracing suffering, seeing that there's meaning in it. They're saying I have these challenges and sometimes people are radically opposed to me, and yet I see it as a path to blessedness. That's what kingdom people see. It doesn't make any sense to the world. These are folks that are very careful. They're learning to. You know, I'm just going to try to always be honest. I'm going to try to never verbally cross my fingers. I'm not just going to try to not commit adultery. I'm going to try to protect my heart always from I'm not going to do perfect, but I'm going to try to always protect my heart from walking in lust or anger or hate. There's going to be things I'm going to have to cut off. I'm going to have to be diligent and almost a version of violent with myself, or at least my appetites and the things that I'm after. That's what Sermon on the Mount people do.
Speaker 1:There is a sense for these kingdom people also. They're beginning to realize when they seek to follow Jesus, somehow God uses their obedience to shine a spotlight on their heavenly father. They don't want a spotlight. It's not about being famous. But as they continue to act and seek to be like Jesus and be conformed to his character, even in their thinking, god says as you do this, I will glorify your father, who is in heaven, as you partner with me. And lastly, I might say that there's a preview in it. There's a preview as we are attempting to, with Jesus' help, become more and more like Jesus Christ, the people of God, as they look more and more like him.
Speaker 1:The Sermon on the Mount teaches this is a preview of the kingdom to come. This is what everyone's going to be like, this in the kingdom, when God finally wraps everything up. Everyone's like that now in heaven, but someday everything's going to be over and God is going to reign over his entire heaven and earth. Heaven's actually going to come to earth and everybody. There will be no evil, there will be no wickedness. Everyone will be virtuous from the inside out, completely, perfectly. It's preview. But in the meantime we're to practice, we're to practice, we all get to practice and we all get tests. I don't know if you think about this very much. You get tests all the time, tests where God's like okay, let's see how they respond. I've been trying to teach them virtue, ethic, character. Let's see how they do.
Speaker 1:One of the most difficult ones for me sometimes. I think it's the one I'm maybe least good at sometimes, but it's also the one that I maybe least notice that I'm in it. It's the test of loving my enemies the way the Father loves his enemies. That's hard to do, man. It's hard to intuit. Sometimes I'm just like I'm into a tussle or I'm into some drama or I'm into some kind of conflict with somebody, whether it's even I'm just mad at some stranger, or there's some kind of like some longtime friend that I'm not doing well with. I have a hard time realizing oh wait, a minute, dope, you're in a test. You need to pass the test. You're not even paying attention. You need to pass the love your enemies test. And even when I do it, dude, I got to tell you it's hard for me. Like, loving my enemies is one of the hardest things. It's pretty easy not to steal, like even when I realize that, oh, dude, you're getting a little your anger's controlling you. Man, you better back up. Okay, that's not that hard to figure out.
Speaker 1:But this long-term loving someone the way Jesus loves them, when they're someone who is oppositional to you, is really hard. And one of the things that makes it hard for all of us is when someone has hurt us or someone has wounded us. We are really good at magnifying, in, honing in on this is how bad they are. This is what they did, and we stew on that and we meditate on that offense and it becomes larger and larger in our eyes. In fact, we don't even really see very clearly all the good that is in them. Often anymore we can start to see them only as an enemy.
Speaker 1:What's so dangerous about this is what Patrick Lencioni calls the fundamental attribution error, and this means. What this means is, when I look at you doing something wrong, I assume they're doing that thing wrong because of their character. That's the kind of person that they are. However, when I look at me doing something wrong, I say, well, that's a little bit circumstantial, my heart is right and my environment is jacking me up. I look at you and I say, man, they's a little bit circumstantial, my heart is right and my environment is jacking me up. I look at you and I say, man, they're just a horrible person. When it's me, ah, but they don't know my heart, I'm pretty good. In fact, we all flatter ourselves and we tell ourselves, ah, man, I mean you're pretty good at loving people. Look at the people around you. I mean even the people just riding your life. Most of the time you're probably pretty loving.
Speaker 1:And what we don't see very often for some of us, is that Jesus says, oh, you love the people around you really well, that's not even a big deal, that's not even very hard. Everybody does that. That's normal humanness. Humans love the people that are good to them and nice to them and like nearby them. Most humans, they're pretty good at loving the people around them, kingdom people.
Speaker 1:They take it to a whole different level. They take it to the yeah, but can you love your enemies? Can you refuse to? I will not give my heart over to hate. What about the people that are persecuting, the people that are giving you a hard time? The people that are persecuting the people that are giving you a hard time, the people that are making your life less convenient, way more difficult? Like, dude, you don't even need to be in this trial. Why do you have to do this anyway? Why do you have to have that person at work? Why do you even have to put up with this again and again and again? Oh, my gosh, are they going to shut up? We're being a version of persecuted. Well, you know, in Jesus' time, whether you were a Greek or a Jew, everybody thought it was okay to hate your enemies, like, of course they're your enemies. Man, what else are you going to do? Yes, hate your enemies.
Speaker 1:And Jesus comes along in his hot spot in the Sermon on the Mount, and this is what he says. You've heard people say love your neighbors and hate your enemies. Now, let's just pause right there, because that's what the people have heard, but that's not even what God's word says. Okay, he's referencing Leviticus 19, 18. Listen to what it actually says. It says do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Notice two things. One the real text includes love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Notice two things. One the real text includes love your neighbor as yourself. And he didn't say anything about hating your enemies. You see now, this isn't what this message is about.
Speaker 1:But sometimes we kind of hear what is spiritual, we kind of know what God says about something, and Jesus says sometimes you don't even know at all. That's why you need to go back and get in the Bible recap, because you need to understand. This is really what God's word says. But let's keep going, because that's a different message, verse 44,. But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you, whether it's the person at the checkout line, whether it is that client that gets under your last nerve, anybody that mistreats you at all. Go ahead and love them and pray for them. Then you will be acting like your father in heaven.
Speaker 1:He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. He sends rain for the ones who do right and the ones who do wrong. And why does he do this? God actually loves people that are from a certain point of view, they're his enemy, meaning they're oppositional to his ways and they don't care what he thinks. Yes, they're still his creature and he still loves them. But they're a version of, they're oppositional to God. And God says I love them anyway. See, I send rain, it's not just random. I send all the good things into their life because I love them and I'm patient and I don't want anyone to perish, and so I'm just patient with my enemies. I'm always rooting for them, I'm always hoping any minute now they're going to turn to me. He says if you love, only those people who love you, will God reward you for that.
Speaker 1:Even tax collectors love that. And just to clarify, most people know this. But tax collectors are baddies in this time. Okay, for the most. It's not like the tax man that you know. These Tax collectors are baddies in this time. Okay, for the most. It's not like the tax man that you know. These are folks that are essentially legalized thieves. They can just take whatever they want whenever they want. They're bringing a ton of difficulty to the people of Israel.
Speaker 1:He says if you only greet your friends, what's so great about that? You see how like Jesus is, like no big deal, dude. Rah, rah, rah, good job. You are an actual human and you love people that are nice to you. Don't even unbelievers do that, but you must always act like your father in heaven. So what is Jesus asking us to do? Well, it's right there, first, verse 44, but I tell you to love your enemies. He's asking us to love our enemies.
Speaker 1:Now, this love word oh my gosh, this is one of the best words in the Bible. Some of you have heard it before. It's agapau. It is the verb form of agape. It is the God level love. It is the love, the kind of love that God loves his people with. It is a kind of love that it's okay. It's not romantic love, it's not friend love, it is self-sacrificing. I'll always do what's right for this person. Whether they know it or not, whether they thank me or not, even if they're hurting me, I will do the love thing. It is an action, it is not a feeling. Jesus is not asking you to feel something for anybody. He's asking you to love folks. He's asking you to have spirit, birth, action, and it's a good thing that we don't necessarily need the feeling. He's not saying feel love. He's saying I need you to just go ahead and act the way God would act and choose to do what's best for somebody. And I want you to do it here. It is Sermon on the Mount. I want you to do it so you become like your heavenly father. I want you to somebody say practice. I want you to practice so you become like your heavenly father.
Speaker 1:It always seeks the other person's good. It's always seeking to what would be best for them. Probably a picture of it that you're familiar with, a version of it. It's a little bit cheating, but when you see, like a mother or father with a brand new baby, they're doing all sorts of good things for this little creature, even though it's highly inconvenient for them. They don't want to change the diaper, dude, that's not like what they want to do, but they're self-sacrificing. They're up all night. They're doing it because it's agapowing that baby. I'm loving that baby, whether or not I think anything is great about it for me, just because I want what is best for them. It seeks the other person's highest good.
Speaker 1:When John writes, let us not love with words or with speech, let us not agapow with words or with speech, but with actions. And in truth he's saying hey, man, most of the time with agapow, words don't count, it's actions. Now, you can. I shouldn't say that you can never do that with words. Sometimes that's exactly what somebody needs in order for them to receive love. But for the most part he's saying hey, man, don't just give words lip service to stuff. It's modeled by God himself. Did you notice that you don't have it there? But Romans 5, 8,. God demonstrates his own agapow love for us in this. While we were still sinners, christ died for us. Jesus is the picture of agapow love. Let's all say that together, agapow.
Speaker 1:Now imagine you're punching the devil in the face. Agapow, agapow. You can even punch your enemy in the face if you agapow them in the face, because that's what they actually need. It's the smackdown Some of you know.
Speaker 1:If you've got a birthmark and you change a lot about your appearance, if somebody knows that birthmark, they're still going to be able to tell it's you. You can change your hair, you can change what you're wearing, you can change what you smell like, but if they know where that birthmark is, they know that it's you. If you go to a different country and you see the golden arches of McDonald's, you kind of have a good idea. It might be a little different, but it's going to be mostly the same thing. It's easily recognizable, it's easily identifiable, and Jesus says that's the way I want my citizens to be, of the kingdom to be. I want you to be easily identifiable. And the way that they're identified is they agapow, just like their father in heaven, who agapows his own enemies. That's what they do. How can you tell it's them? Well, I can tell, because they're always loving even the people that are against them. That's the birthmark, that's the brand label, that's how I know that it's them. And do it to become like your heavenly father. Then you'll be acting like your father in heaven. This gets pretty cool. So stick with me, okay.
Speaker 1:Some of you most of you probably have seen a version of this that says therefore, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. What's missed in the English version of that is the word that is being translated. Perfect in English is not helios, which is holiness. Okay, it's not helios, it is telios. What that means is okay. Jesus is actually like doing a little switch on the religious elite that are listening. They're expecting him to say yeah, be actually following all the rules. Exactly. Be helios. Be so holy that you just kind of shine and he says no, don't do that. Be helios. Be whole like your father is whole. Be like your father, wholly, not H-O-L-Y, w-h-o-l-e-y, l-y, w-h-o-l-e-y, l-y. Be whole like your father is whole. So imagine with me Okay, you've got an almost ripe apple, but it's not really ripe yet.
Speaker 1:So we could say it's not perfect, but it's whole. There's no bites out of it or anything. It's not perfect, but it's whole, but it's whole. There's no bites out of it or anything. It's not perfect, but it's whole. Or you've got a decorative plastic apple that looks really really good. It looks in some sense perfect. It looks helios. The problem is, it doesn't matter how helios it is, dude, it ain't a real apple, it is not whole. Okay, one of them is a whole apple and one of them is not even an apple at all.
Speaker 1:God wants us to be not perfect and shiny. He wants us to be real and whole. He wants us to be really like God, even if it's imperfect or not quite ripe yet. Someday you'll be completely ripe, but right now you're not quite ripe, but you're still whole because you're practicing being like whom? Like your Father, who is in heaven. Is everybody hearing this today and that's got to be I mean, my friends, that's got to be one of the goals of our life. That's what we're applauding Marvin and Kathy for is their whole lives. They've chased Jesus and become more and more like Jesus. That's what we should all be. That's the goal for all of us. Let's get more like our heavenly father.
Speaker 1:Some of you know about Ken Griffey Sr and Ken Griffey Jr. Ken Griffey Sr, some of you know he was a three-time all-star, won the World Series twice in the 1970s. He's pretty dope. But then he had a son, ken Griffey Jr. Ken Griffey Jr might be one of the most iconic players in baseball history 13-time All-Star, 630 career home runs and a Hall of Famer. In fact, in 1990, they were both playing for the Seattle Mariners they got a back-to-back home run father and son. Is that trippy or what Like that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, let's pretend that you don't know necessarily who Ken Griffey Jr is going to grow up to be, and he's just a little boy. You know his father is awesome and he's just a little boy and you could suspect some, you could predict some things you could be like. You know he's positioned to really be a great ball player. He's got the right DNA. He's got the right stuff inside of him to be a great ball player. But if Ken Griffey Jr never practices, he's never going to be like his father. But if he just practices, he's already positioned. He's already got the right DNA in him.
Speaker 1:My friends, you've already got the right DNA in you. If you've trusted Christ and received his spirit, you're already positioned in the right relationship with God, the Father, through Christ. Now all you got to do is practice. If you want to grow up to be just like Jesus, all you got to do is practice. It's already in you. Maybe you just better get out in the yard and practice something. You better get out there.
Speaker 1:And that might mean sometimes there's people that just can't pay you back and you're going to I don't know. You're going to give them money. You're going to give them emotional counsel. You're going to do something for them because you're agapowing them. You're acting like your father would. Maybe you've got a neighbor who dude their dog comes and pees on your bushes and they turn yellow all summer long because of that dog and you're going to bring that neighbor a meal because you heard that they were sick and you're not going to bring up the dog at all, because you're agapowing your neighbor. But Jesus gives us one of the most important must, be super important, because it's the only one he lists.
Speaker 1:One way to agapow our enemies is to pray for them. Pray for them, isn't that what he said? Pray for them, verse 44, and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Why pray? Because prayer. Now, this might trip somebody out. If you'll hear this you'll be like, oh, that's a religious thing to say, but if you believe it, I think there's some real manna in it.
Speaker 1:Dude prayer is one of the most. If you actually pray for somebody, it is one of the most loving things you can possibly do. It is getting them something from God that they are not going to get on their own. It is going to God as a go-between and say you got stuff, they need stuff. Can I have some stuff to give to them? Can I direct your power into their life? Let's bypass, don't worry about me. Let's get your power, god, into their lives. Praying for somebody is redorulously powerful. It's redorulously loving.
Speaker 1:Now the problem is when it's your enemy. When it's your enemy, you don't really want to do nothing for him at all, like if they say, hey, man, you're going to the store. Can you get me a gallon of milk? You'd be like I'll tell you what. Why don't you go play in traffic? That's what I wish you would do. I ain't getting you no milk. I don't want to bring you milk. How about this? Jump out the window, enemy. Why would I do something for you? Look at all you're doing for me and God says no. That's the very person that you need to do something for, and the best thing you can do is direct my power toward them. Do something amazing for them. So what I wanted to give you was a prayer for my enemy.
Speaker 1:I've had people that were enemies. I'm not talking about Al Qaeda, but they're just people I'm in conflict with or it's not going well, and here's a prayer. Let's go through them one by one. Some things I think that are genuinely beneficial, because you can play. Oh, god, bless my enemies. But what the heck does that mean? Here's some actual blessings for your enemies.
Speaker 1:Number one God, we're in a little bit of tension, whether they know it or only I know it. Would you soften their heart toward the Lord? Sometimes, when people in attention, they don't even know they're in a test and so they're not really open to the lord god. Whatever they do, the best thing for them in this difficult time is for softness to you. They need you more than they need anything else. So would you give them softness? Would you give them genuine self-discernment? That means, if there's like when I've got an enemy, I think they're doing some stuff wrong. So, god, if you agree with any of that or there's more that you want to talk about, help them clue in via the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:Hmm, I'm pondering my own ways now and I'm actually drawing some clusions, and maybe Carter's not such a maniac. There's actually things that God might want to communicate to my heart. God, would you give them conviction where they need it? I might be wrong about a lot of things. I think about my enemy, but you know what they actually need to hear from your spirit and conviction. Guys, to clarify, conviction is where you're not trying like. The spirit of God comes on your conscience. He's like this this is wrong, this you need to turn away from. You made a mistake here. You need to turn around and go back. That's conviction. God, would you give my enemy conviction where they need it?
Speaker 1:Now, as some of you know, even if we have conviction, that doesn't mean we're going to be able to get rid of any sin. See, god has to convict us, but then it's God himself who has to help us get the sin out of our lives. So, god also convict them and then also help them. By the grace of God, put to death the deeds of the flesh or whatever it is they're doing, and then God, even as hard as this is, and even though I don't, oh, my flesh doesn't even want anything good to happen to them, would you work this together for their good. So it was actually a blessing to the rest of their life, even that this happened. Now, that's really hard. What's even maybe a little bit harder after you pray, that is, and also, lord, do all those things for me, because I want conviction and I want self-dissertment. I might be a psychopath and so I need to know it from the holy spirit of god, and I need grace to put to death all my own sin. That's some things. You can pray for your enemy. If you want to pray for money or anything else, you can pray, but I believe those are really some of God's priorities.
Speaker 1:Now what I'm going to spend the rest of the message talking about is ways we can actually love our enemies. That's a hard thing to discern sometimes. What do I send them? An ice cream cone? How do I do that? Here's some specific ways. Okay, we're going to go through them, and the big principle behind them is you've got to put off the old and put on the new. Okay, I don't know if we talk about this very much, but it's a principle of putting off the old and putting on the new. I want to read you a definition of it. It's the daily spiritual practice of shedding sinful patterns and mindsets shaped by the sinful nature and intentionally embracing Christ-like character and behavior through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. That means I'm shedding sinful stuff and I'm putting on Jesus-y stuff.
Speaker 1:I'll give an example that might make a little bit more sense when I would come home from the factory when Kenzie and I were first married. Or I would come home from the railroad, because I'd been working outside all day and I was soaked through and it would hit my wife in the face when I walked through the door. It was like oh, bro, bro, you need to get out of those clothes and go get in the shower before anything else happens Like this is. I love you, baby, but this is hard on all of us. Okay, so go get in the shower. And what I did was I would, I would take off the old and to come under the shower and come out and put on the new, and then I was good to go. Then we could have a great night, as long as I got rid of the old and put on the new.
Speaker 1:In a kind of a way, when we carry around sinful patterns and habits, that's like the old stank and clothes, and God's like get out of those, please, and get in the shower. And the shower is repentance. And then he says now, through the help of the Holy Spirit, I want you to put on the Jesus-y clothes. Act like Jesus would Stop doing that and start doing this. And then you've put off the old and you've put on the new. So here's some things to put off when we've got an enemy that we're trying to love. We put off rejecting retaliatory tactics. I'm going to go through all six of these and I want you to pick which one is most difficult for you. So we're going to do six of them. You're going to pick the one that's most difficult for you. The first one is rejecting retaliatory tactics.
Speaker 1:It's a little bit like last week, but Galatians 5.19 talks about the fruit of the sinful nature. So here's some specific enemy-related fruits of the sinful nature. One is just hatred, just hostility, just like I just don't want anything good to happen to them. If they're around, I'd kind of be like hold them back. You might say I wish I could punch you in your pretty teeth. That's what you're thinking.
Speaker 1:Or discord, that's another fruit of the sinful nature. That's when you've got this heart set of like I'm just never going to agree with you, no matter what. Even if I agree with you, I'm not going to agree with you. I'm like dead set at us not agreeing. That's discord or jealousy. Sometimes we're bothered by somebody and we don't know why. And sometimes it's jealousy. You're like, if you've ever like muttered this in your spirit who the heck do they think they are? That might be jealousy, dude. That might be they're getting some reward for something that you're like why do they get that? They're such a putz. Well, that might be jealousy. And so you know, put that off.
Speaker 1:Dissensions this is where we stir people up against an enemy. So this is a little bit more wicked. This is where I'm mad at this person and you know what? Y'all should be mad at this person too, because they're such a scrub, or even just internal. It can happen in real life, but it can also just happen in your heart. It happen in real life, but it can also just happen in your heart. It is a factious spirit, it is a just. I never want to be a part of their group, ever again. I'm creating distance from now until eternity. Let's get rid of them.
Speaker 1:And, guys, in all these cases there's an emotional revenge that God doesn't want us to take. He wants us to overlook whatever they've done. And if you sense yourself doing any of those, the first thing to do is get rid of those, put those off and put on the fruit of grace. Even if they were gossip about you, don't gossip about them, don't rat them out. So that's number one rejecting retaliatory tactics.
Speaker 1:Here's the second one. Is this hard for you Asking that it not be held against them? Yeah, this one's a little bit hard. This is one of the hardest Like, yeah, this one's a little bit hard. This is one of the hardest like god, I'm trusting you're a god of justice, so, even though you see where I'm being wronged. Um, I know you're gonna get them eventually, god, so that makes me feel better. But when I agapow my enemy, I say, um, can you just not make them reap what they're sowing right now? That's pretty huge, that's pretty agapow. Isn't that what jesus does for you and me? Though I'm going to race through these a little bit quicker just so we can get through them. But maybe they excluded you or they abandoned you and you're like but God, jesus, forgave me of all that stuff. I'm asking you to forgive them of all this stuff.
Speaker 1:What about the next one Stepping into vouch for someone who has publicly opposed you? We won't go there, but you can find it in 2 Samuel 16. Shammai curses David publicly and David actually later on restrains his men from killing this dude, even though it would probably feel real good. Have you ever had somebody oppose you publicly and then you go and vouch for them? That one's a hard one, dude. I've had that twice in my life that I'm aware of. I've probably failed this test a whole lot, but I remember two times in particular, where it sounds crazy. Somebody needed something to get a job or to get some kind of an in with something, and what they needed more than anything was they needed a pastor to vouch for them and we'd been not good and we hadn't gotten good. And yet I get this call hey, can you vouch for so-and-so because they need to do the thing, or whatever. And I got to tell you, guys, it's not easy but by the grace of God, I discerned. I think I'm in this test right now. Yeah, you know I'm going to withhold everything that I want to say, but I do know there's great things about their character and I think that let's talk about those things and if you feel good about it later, even if you don't feel good about it right now, let's do a couple more.
Speaker 1:Being an agent of healing to the one who tried to hurt you Can you imagine this? Okay, so the people are coming to arrest the soldiers are coming to arrest Jesus Okay, that feels a little bit offensive. And Peter cuts off one of the soldier's ears. Jesus stops the whole party Let me just help my enemy here and he heals the dude's ear. That must have been like that's super. That's an amazing example of you're fighting me right now and I'm going to go ahead and try to be profitable to you and try to be gentle with you.
Speaker 1:What about confronting when it would be easier to just forget it? It sounds weird because, well, don't I want to like give them grace. You do, but sometimes the way to agapow somebody is to tell them the truth that seems like nobody else will tell them. You love them. This is what Jesus did with Peter. Peter, let's just talk about me. Here's you and here's what you did. And sometimes I got to tell you, dude, I've super been hurt in the past because I knew there were people who loved me around me. That didn't say what everybody wanted to say and it made me actually lose respect for them because I was like, weren't you the freaking spiritual leader? Like, where were you, dude? Why didn't you tell me this, whether it was a pastor, whether it was just a more mature friend, why didn't you have my back? I thought you loved me.
Speaker 1:So careful, just walking through that, when somebody really needs you to do it, it might be Agapala to do it. Let's do one more Benefiting those who reject you. I don't know if you've ever been ghosted by somebody. It doesn't feel particularly good. That means. For those who don't know what that means, that means someone just pops off your radar on purpose to try to not be ever seen by you or talk to you again. Well, I can feel like a lot of rejection, but let's say that somebody does reject you like that. Let's say that you've got an ex-spouse that just completely rejected you and yet their family member calls you up because they need help with something, they're moving or whatever they're doing, and you're like you know what? I should just tell you to go.
Speaker 1:But I can agapow this whole situation. Right now I'm going to love them by loving you, by being the exact opposite of what my flesh wants to be. So I don't know which one is hardest for you they're all hard for me. But, my friends, we can do it if we remember this one principle. It is the principle found in 1 Peter 2, 23.
Speaker 1:When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him. Who judges justly? That's what you and I can do with our enemies. We can agapow, love them and we can entrust. My God knows what's going on here. My God sees and my God rewards, and maybe my heavenly reward would be better than whatever consequence they might get, unless I pray that they get out of that consequence. I think maybe I'd prefer that reward. We can get weary with it, though, because it's so long and there's so many and there's so I mean, am I in this again?
Speaker 1:Let me give you a bit of encouragement from my wife's example. My wife is about to finish her master's degree in nursing. With her patience throughout the last few years, she's had some great ones, and she'll come home and sometimes she'll tell me about the really ornery ones, or the really bad ones, the really difficult ones, and one of the ways that she gets through those really difficult ones is she knows I have to provide care for this person, but I'm also going home, my shift is going to end and this person is going to be somebody else's problem. I'm going to go home, I'm going to have a great life, I'm going to have a great husband, I'm going to have great kids, I'm going to have an awesome time, and this poor schmo is going to still be stuck here.
Speaker 1:My friends, it sounds silly, but do you have an enemy right now? Do you have somebody who's persecuting difficult person? One thing that might help you is to remember God has asked me to take care of this person right now, just for a bit. But my shift is almost done. I don't have to do this forever. It's likely they'll pass out of my life soon, or I'll just die, and when I die I'll death be done, or maybe they'll die.
Speaker 1:Whichever one, this is not permanent. So maybe that's a word for somebody. Your enemy is not permanent, dude. So love them now, like you have them now. Love them now. Love them in a way that they're going to feel it Because God is a rewarder.
Speaker 1:And here, at the end of the applause of heaven, if we will embrace the spirit of God's help to prompt us hey time to agapow. That one Time to agapal. That one time to agapal, that one time to agapal. That one, my friends, we will not only have the applause of heaven, but maybe even better, you and I will be becoming like our Father in heaven. Let's pray. Oh, this is a hard test, lord, but I know that your spirit is able to help us. This is what your spirit is for it's to teach us to love our enemies. And so, god, we're all at different places and we'll all do different good on this, but we're asking for help to see, to be alert when it's time to love our enemies and you'd give us creative ways to do it. That blesses your heart and shapes us to be more like our Heavenly Father. In Jesus' name amen.
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