WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.839 Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Gerlock and Pastor John Anderson. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:06.160 Welcome to the Resurrection Church Podcast. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:10.560 Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racine, Wisconsin. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:22.399 So whether you're listening on a walk, driving to work, or just folding some laundry, or avoiding folding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds you that resurrection isn't just something that happened. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.559 It's something God is still doing. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.079 Enjoy this week's message. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:27.199 Good morning, everybody. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:28.239 I'm my name is John. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.399 I'm one of the pastors here at Resurrection. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:36.240 And uh, if you have your Bibles with you, we're in uh the Gospel of Matthew in the fifth chapter. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:38.560 And we are so happy to have you here. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:45.280 Um, as Pastor Ryan mentioned at the beginning, and as you can see behind me, we are in uh a sermon series called Back to the Basics. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.359 And next week, Pastor Ryan's gonna bring it home. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.600 We're gonna wrap it up as we head into the fall. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.439 And all summer we've been talking about what it means to follow Christ. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:02.240 And as we prayed about it, and as we've we've observed the excitement here at Resurrection, we thought it would be important to get back to the basics. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:11.439 Something that too often I think as followers of Christ, we ignore when we create our own narrative as to what church is supposed to look like to best fit our needs. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:16.000 And so today we're gonna talk about being peacemakers. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:22.959 We're gonna learn from our Savior about peace, the Beatitudes, this story that maybe many of you have heard before. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:36.319 Jesus gives these words blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:42.079 And then Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:44.719 The peacemakers. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:48.480 I want you to hold on to that word this morning, peacemaker. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:55.280 Because I think Jesus is saying something here that our world desperately needs, something that I needed to be reminded of this week, even last night. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:02.480 And I think if we're willing to be truthful and honest with ourselves as a church today, something that many of us desperately need as well. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.079 But as we enter God's word, let's do so faithfully in prayer. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:07.680 Will you pray with me? 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:10.800 God, you're so good. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:17.759 New mercies promised to us every day, your steadfast love that endures all things given to us each and every second of every day. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:20.800 God help us to cling to that promise and nothing else. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:27.199 Help us for a few moments here to learn more about who you are, O God, in Christ. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:29.520 What it means to follow you, O Christ. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:38.719 Help us as a church to be equipped so that we can go out into the world that so desperately needs to hear the good news of Jesus and share it by the very way we live. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:44.560 As always, I pray the meditations of my heart and the words that pass through my lips or yours, O God. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.080 It's in Christ's name I pray. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:50.080 Amen. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.120 On March 4th, uh, 1865. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:55.120 I don't think any of us were born then. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:58.960 Um, although we did celebrate Roy's 100th birthday last week. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:07.439 On March 4th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln stood in front of the United States Capitol and delivered his second inaugural address, something worth reading. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:13.759 What struck me in this, as I was looking for great moments of peace uh this past week, is some of the words that he said. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.560 If you don't know the story, and I think many of us do, the civil war had raged for nearly four years. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:26.240 Hundreds of thousands of Americans were dead, cities were destroyed, families had been divided, quite literally, a nation had torn itself apart. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:30.800 But by March of 1865, everybody kind of knew where we were headed. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:32.400 The Union was going to win. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:35.039 Uh, the Confederacy was collapsing. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:39.280 In fact, just uh just over a month after his inaugural address, uh, Robert E. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:41.520 Lee would surrender at Appomattox. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:43.199 So we know where things are going. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:52.319 And if you read the story, not knowing what he's about to say, you might think here's the moment, at least in the culture I'm living in right now, where Lincoln can go, I was right. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:54.479 I won. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:56.319 You were wrong. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:59.280 Look what you did, look what this cost us. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:06.560 But as history records, our president says, with malice toward none and with charity for all. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.759 And then he talked about what will become of us in the future, what would come next. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:21.439 He spoke about the work of binding up the nation's wounds, about doing the difficult work necessary to create what he called a just and lasting peace. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.000 I don't know the first thing about being a president. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.519 I don't know the first thing about being a president during a civil war. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:35.360 But I have to imagine that it will bring up all sorts of emotions that aren't holy. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:40.480 And when I read these words in the midst of that troubled time, I'm blown away. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:49.199 Lincoln seemed to understand something that I think we have a really difficult time remembering, which is winning and peacemaking are not the same thing. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.000 In fact, they're never really the same thing. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.560 No matter how you feel, if your goal is just to win, peace was never your agenda. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:58.720 And I wonder if someone needs to hear that today. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.279 I tell you what, church, I need to hear it. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:02.879 I need to hear it. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:08.160 I so often need to make sure that you know I was right. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.120 Did you know that I was right? 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:22.959 And I'm not making eye contact with my wife right now, but I and I laugh and you give me some grace, but the reality is that's how you also destroy a marriage. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:26.480 That's how you destroy a relationship. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:32.639 You can win an argument and lose a partner, you can prove somebody wrong and never be any closer to them. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:38.560 You can get the last word, you can send the perfect text, you can craft the perfect knockout punch response. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:46.560 You can walk away absolutely convinced that everyone now knows that you were right and never, never make peace. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:06:04.240 And I wonder if sometimes we become so obsessed with figuring out who's right and who's wrong, who's winning and who's losing, who's on our side, who's on theirs, who's in and who's out, that we've forgotten that Jesus never really asked us to be good at winning. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:07.519 In fact, Jesus never commanded us to be good at winning. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.800 He did command us to be really good at loving, though. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.720 And then he gave us a model for how to love, his very life. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:22.959 And right here in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will become children of God. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:35.839 Not blessed are the winners, not blessed are the people who always get the last word, not blessed are the people who never experience conflict, not even blessed are the people who just keep peace enough so that everyone seems happy. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.040 Now, blessed are the peacemakers. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:43.600 And that next part, for they will be called children of God. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:07:06.879 In other words, Jesus seems to be saying that one of the ways the world should be able to recognize God is by the way that we enter into broken places and offer peace, by the way we handle disagreement, by the way we treat people who don't see the world the way we do, by the way we respond when we've been hurt, by the way we work to put broken things back together. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:11.360 How many of us have sat in a conversation talking about those people? 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:18.000 Our God calls us to something bigger, our creator calls us to something better. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:24.800 Jesus models for us a new way of living, and if we're actually gonna go back to the basics, then we gotta look at what Jesus teaches us. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:27.199 Do you just want to win? 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:30.720 Do you just want to be right all the time? 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.600 And I'm asking because I struggle with it. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:37.360 My understanding of God is the only understanding of God that matters. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:42.399 It's 114 churches gathering for worship in Racine and Racing County right now. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.519 Winning, making peace are not the same thing. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.319 Matthew doesn't waste much time getting to this moment, by the way. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:55.839 If you don't know the gospel of Matthew, the first four chapters move quick. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:02.160 We get this whole history that that comes from the tribe of Judah all the way down through David and to Jesus. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:15.839 And then Jesus' birth and the story of these wise people, these leaders, kings, we don't know exactly who they were that come from a far-off land to meet this toddler Jesus, bestow some gifts upon him. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:20.800 And then Jesus is baptized by his cousin and he's proclaimed as the one that God is pleased with. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:29.199 And then he's sent into the wilderness, and he's tempted, and he's told that he can have all the things the world has to offer. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:32.320 And he rejects that temptation. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:39.120 And then he comes out of the wilderness and he immediately begins teaching and healing, gathering followers. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:55.360 And by Matthew 5, by Matthew 5, we find this crowd, we think maybe thousands of by the way, not just Jewish people, but Gentiles, which are anyone that's not Jewish, but a lot of Greek people, people from that area, the scripture records the places they had come from. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:57.759 And they're all gathered together. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:03.919 And I think it's as if Jesus knew I got to start at the basics before the basics were even the basics. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:06.559 This is what life in the kingdom of God looks like. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:12.080 And he knew the moment he began this sermon, there were gonna be people there that did not like what he had to say. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.240 Because his kingdom was one of sacrifice, not domination. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.919 His kingdom was one of service, not being served. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:25.039 And so he begins to outline what it looks like. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:34.240 Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, and people gathered there must be looking at each other and waiting for the punchline. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:36.399 Those people aren't blessed. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:43.360 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.639 And these aren't eight steps to get God to love you enough. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:50.639 Jesus isn't saying do these things correctly, and maybe God will bless you. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:57.360 No, he's saying the beatitudes describe a kind of life that can only be described as a kingdom life. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.840 When you receive mercy, how can you not become more merciful? 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:09.600 If you've accepted the grace of Jesus Christ, why wouldn't you extend that grace dramatically and lavishly to a world that needs it? 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:14.960 When we've been forgiven by our Savior, our creator, why wouldn't we be quick to forgive? 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:21.039 We become peacemakers because we have encountered the Prince of Peace. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:22.720 And here's where I think we get at lost. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.919 I think sometimes we think we're supposed to be peacekeepers. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:27.600 But we're not. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.480 We're supposed to be peacemakers. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:32.799 Peacekeepers, they don't want conflict. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:35.360 No politics at Thanksgiving. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:36.000 No? 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:40.159 No one laughed at that, which means you guys probably should talk about politics at Thanksgiving. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:44.320 A peacekeeper says, Can everybody just get along? 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:47.200 But a peacemaker says, No, man, something's broken here. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:48.240 Something needs healing. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.039 And this might be a difficult conversation, but can we have it? 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:56.320 And can you actually listen to me and receive what I'm saying and be curious as to how I got there before responding? 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.840 A peacemaker lovingly enters into a conversation. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:03.200 A peacekeeper just keeps pretending everything is okay. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:05.039 How exhausting is that? 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:11.039 Biblical peace is not just the absence of conflict. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:17.200 In fact, we encounter the real meaning of peace in the word shalom, which is defined by many words. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:19.279 It means a wholeness. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:31.759 In Hebrew culture, to offer shalom to you, to offer true shalom, would be to offer my whole self and to hope that your whole being is brought into community with God and then by reflection of God's nature, me. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:34.720 It's about restoration, putting things back together. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.519 Things becoming the way that God intended them to be. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.519 From the very garden, creation was perfect. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.519 But then what happens after they try to be God themselves and eat from the tree? 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:44.799 They're hiding. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:46.799 They're not being honest. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:54.000 And then just a chapter later, a brother kills another brother because of jealousy and then arguments. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:55.679 No peace. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:03.360 Remember, church, Jesus wants us to be peacemakers, but he also wasn't someone who avoided conflict. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:08.000 This is not a God who just sits back and has this laissez-faire idea of love. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:09.679 This is a God who encountered conflict. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:18.879 This is a God who flipped tables, who challenged religious leaders, who confronted hypocrisy, who defended people, who defended people that others wanted to condemn. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:23.600 A Jesus who said difficult things, maybe is saying a difficult word to you today. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:26.960 A Savior who said a difficult word to me this week. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:31.919 This is a Jesus who walked directly into places that everybody else avoided. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.320 So peacemaking, it cannot mean never making anyone uncomfortable. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:42.399 In fact, if you think following Christ is supposed to make your life easy, spend some time with me in a one-on-one. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.840 We'll walk through the story of Christ and what's called the way of Christ. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:54.320 Because love requires difficult conversations and justice requires us to speak, and peace requires truth. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:57.120 I actually think it's simpler than we make it, though. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:00.879 I think sometimes reconciliation doesn't have to be this long letter. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:04.159 Sometimes reconciliation can begin with I'm sorry. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:06.559 Or you hurt me. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:09.360 Sometimes it can begin with I forgive you. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:17.200 Have you ever had anybody just forgive you for an action that you know you were wrong in doing before you asked for forgiveness? 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.360 That's an incredible feeling. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:26.000 That's by the way, what our God offers to us each and every day. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:30.480 It's important to remember that sometimes what happened wasn't okay. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.320 But you don't want hatred to reign over your heart anymore. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.759 That's different from avoiding conflict. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:38.879 That's peacemaking. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.000 And then Jesus says something that I got tripped up over this week. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:43.440 He calls us children of God. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:44.799 And he could have said anything there. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:47.200 He could have said, Be a peacemaker and your life will be easier. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:48.879 I'd be like, I'm all in for that. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:51.519 Be a peacemaker and you'll never have stress. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.679 I'm like, down, sign me up. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:14:00.159 But no, he says, peacemakers are children of God. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:13.279 And I think as a parent, I've learned it's it's maybe because God knows that when God's children are about making peace, that our Heavenly Father, our Creator, will be reflected through our very lives. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.600 We will look like our parent. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:23.200 I think about my kids, and I'm not sure my wife had this in mind when she signed up for this, but my boys, they act a lot like me. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:37.279 And so every day, Andrea is assaulted from four different directions from some of the best jokes she's ever heard, and a lot of biting sarcasm and some uninvited advice, uninvited advice. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:39.759 Um, the mannerisms, expressions, all these things. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:57.279 But church, as a follower of Christ, the same is supposed to be true of us, that we would look like Jesus, that we would walk toward brokenness, that we would be curious about someone else's opinion, even if it is wildly different than ours, that we would actually be a people who are about forgiveness and not revenge. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:13.039 When you listen instead of immediately needing to win, when you bring people together, when you refuse to participate in hatred, through your actions, people can catch a very, very small or large glimpse of God, and that's what we're supposed to be about. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.759 And here's where the gospel comes crashing into this. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.919 In Christ, God reconciles the world to himself, says Paul. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.720 God doesn't stand far away waiting for humanity. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:26.080 God comes to us in Jesus, and then God lives with us. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:36.559 God enters into our sin, God enters into our death, and on the cross absorbs all of it, all of it, the very worst of humanity, and responds with Father, forgive them. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.799 That's our God, the ultimate peacemaker. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:47.919 Before Jesus ever says, Go and be peaceful, go and make peace, Jesus greets the disciples, greets us, and says, What? 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.759 Peace be with you. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:53.120 We don't manufacture peace. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:55.440 We receive it. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:00.320 And if you've received it, then why wouldn't you be a people that would want to make it? 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:02.000 Carry it into the world. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:03.279 And this is not easy. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.440 I know Paul knew this in Romans. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.039 Paul says these really honest words. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:15.039 He says, Look, if it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.320 If it is possible, because sometimes it isn't. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:25.440 Sometimes you can't control whether someone will forgive you, whether someone's going to apologize, whether somebody is willing to reconcile. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:27.440 That's the reality of life. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.200 There's also relationships that you need to separate from to have healthy boundaries. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:39.519 All of these things are healthy and normal, but peacemaking, peacemaking, Paul says, should be your first response that you would seek to make peace. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.240 Not what should they do, but what can I do? 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:43.679 Have I listened? 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:44.720 Have I apologized? 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:45.440 Have I forgiven? 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:46.960 Have I owned my own part? 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.120 Have I refused to gossip? 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.320 Have I stopped recruiting people to my side just so I can show them how wrong they are? 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:56.879 Have I left the door open for grace? 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:01.200 Maybe you just need to ask yourself today, are you a peacemaker or a peacekeeper? 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:04.000 Because one of them reflects Christ. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:08.079 And one of them reflects humanity trying their best to do it alone. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:16.079 Is there a relationship today where God might be inviting you to take one small step toward reconciliation? 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.440 Is there someone you need to listen to rather than convince? 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.039 And maybe the uncomfortable one, are you bringing more peace into the world in your home? 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.440 In your workplace, in your social setting? 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:29.200 Are you bringing more peace into the world? 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:34.319 Or are your conversations and the people you surround yourself with, are they creating more division? 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.559 Stating out loud who's in and who's out. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:40.720 God calls us to something better. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.599 We live in a culture that rewards outrage. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:45.680 That's not who our Savior is. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:48.400 Don't be about anger just to get attention. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:51.440 Don't be about division just so that people pay attention to you. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:52.559 Don't do that. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:59.759 We're encouraged to do something better, not sort people into categories, but to recognize that we are all created by the same God. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.440 Worthy of the same gift of the cross and that empty tomb. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.279 It's not us versus them. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.920 It's us and thank God God. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:12.480 This is hard to do. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:20.480 I I didn't really understand this as a follower of Christ, in part because I didn't start following Christ until I was in college. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:26.480 Now, many of you know I've known Pastor Ryan uh for a long time, uh, since uh we were in grade school together. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.279 And Pastor Ryan was always outspoken about his faith. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:38.799 I've told you this before, but it was in college that I really understood how how his faith had changed him, at least in a way that I didn't understand till much later. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:51.119 I used to get really annoyed with Ryan, um, and that continues today, because I would I would you ever just want to have an argument? 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.279 You ever just want to have an argument? 00:18:53.680 --> 00:19:02.000 And and and Pastor Ryan refuses to enter into those, and I I can't speak for his spouse, but I at least with me, he refuses to enter into those. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.799 And not, by the way, not in avoidance though. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:14.000 I've sat with Ryan in moments in the church where he has modeled for me, you might be right, but they also might be right. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:16.799 I remember early on that I had to know all the things. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:24.480 I had to know all the right things, and I had to know the right authors to read about the right things, and I had to make sure I was saying all the things that lined up with the way I understood faith. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:29.440 And Ryan would irritate me over and over again by saying, Yeah, but what about this? 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:36.000 Or I would come in hot and angry about something that he said, and he would receive it and say, I never thought about it that way. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:48.799 And it would become more and more infuriating until I realized that he was just doing what was natural for him because Christ had been such a part of his life for so long. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.119 He listened, he received, he tried to understand. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.640 He didn't always agree. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:59.279 He offered questions, a different perspective, reminded me that life is rarely black and white. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.839 He cared more about the person sitting across from him than ever winning the point. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.960 In fact, I don't think winning an argument matters to him. 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.559 But people, people feeling seen does. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:14.880 I think it's why in my mom's last days she would thank God out loud for Ryan. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.559 Because she knew that in Ryan I saw a glimpse of Christ that I so desperately wanted to embody. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.519 I think all of us have someone like that in our life. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:24.960 I hope and pray you do. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:36.160 Where you just know they're gonna be slow to anger, where they're gonna sit with whatever you threw with them, and they're gonna digest it, maybe even pray about it like we should. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:38.319 And then they're gonna ask questions. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.680 I'm gonna bring the band up. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.839 We're gonna sing about the love of God. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:47.759 And and next week, Pastor Ryan's gonna wrap up this series. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.759 And if you're a visitor, please come back. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:21:01.119 Um, if you've been with us all summer, if you've been doing the devotions or the Bible reading plan, we just hope that you've recognized that the way of Christ is actually a lot simpler than we make it. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.440 Don't let me complicate it or Ryan or or or even the church. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:07.440 I pray that you would go back to the words of Christ. 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:09.680 Look at his life, look at the way he lived. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:11.839 Be a people of peace. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.519 Surprise people with the way you see them, even when you disagree. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:20.160 Apologize to your spouse if you act like a knucklehead. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:26.960 You don't always have to be right, and you don't always have to win because we have a savior who did that for us. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:36.559 Instead, be a people who looks like Christ, because there are people out there that haven't encountered him yet, and you very well could be that glimpse into who he is and what he offers. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:37.359 Amen. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:42.480 Let us pray to our Savior, and then let us sing to our great God. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:46.960 Oh God, do a work on my heart. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:48.880 Put aside my ego. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.799 Let me claim you as the only one worth worshiping. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:54.880 You've already won, oh God. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.640 You are the way and the truth and the life. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:20.160 Help us to be a people of peace-making, not just peacekeeping, to confront those things that are unjust, to listen to those ideas that we don't understand or agree with, and to receive all people with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and unconditional love that you so powerfully and humbly modeled for us on the cross. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:22.400 We love you, oh God. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:24.799 It's in Christ's name we pray. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:26.319 Amen.