SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the First Love Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: It's a joy to be with you this morning in the House of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to everybody who has already served and who has already brought us into presence this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I remind you that you're welcomed in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: You are not tolerated, you are loved, and you are welcomed in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Love has already decided that you are worth loving, and God is love.
SPEAKER_00: And before we even get to the text today in the liturgy, I am so grateful for that portion that we read together, reminding us about God's own spirit within us.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the Spirit of God that we are capable of radical love.
SPEAKER_00: We are capable of loving our enemy.
SPEAKER_00: We are capable of loving the other.
SPEAKER_00: We are capable of loving ourselves and seeing the love that is around us that God has showed us.
SPEAKER_00: So I hope this morning that you will hear the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And the Spirit will allow you to see things maybe that you have never seen before, and allow you to experience this intimate love that the writer of 1 John reminds us of.
SPEAKER_00: God is love.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, this is what we know.
SPEAKER_00: God is love.
SPEAKER_00: This scripture even reminds us, and you read it with us, that anyone that knows love knows God.
SPEAKER_00: And this is an invitation into life in the spirit that we would be people who are absolutely transformed by love.
SPEAKER_00: That we would become people who are the essence of love, that everything we do and everything that we say would be mandated by love.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Heather and I were uh we're uh spending some time praying and talking in the bed, and um uh I think she said something that was really powerful, and so I wanted to go write it down, and so I reached over to my phone and it was just out of reach, and then instead of grabbing it, I knocked it down.
SPEAKER_01: And when it fell, it made such a bang, and it just made me so angry, and and I just blurted out uh you know something that I I wouldn't repeat in the pulpit, shouldn't say anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: And I heard myself, and I was I was in this moment of just the presence of God and love.
SPEAKER_01: And and when and I said what I said, it was like it was like Sesame Street.
SPEAKER_01: One of these things just doesn't belong, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And and and it made me realize, you know, a lot of times we look at that stuff as, oh, you better watch your language because God's watching.
SPEAKER_01: But it's really just about what frequency do you want to be in, God's or the world's, you know, in darkness or in light.
SPEAKER_01: You know, where do you want to be in tune?
SPEAKER_01: And so I was in tune to one place and quickly changed channels to something that was not holy and nice.
SPEAKER_01: And so really it's not about God wants you to do that just so you can earn some points, but it's do you want to live in that place?
SPEAKER_01: Because you know what?
SPEAKER_01: You can if you want.
SPEAKER_01: That's how good God is.
SPEAKER_01: You can live there, you can be angry, you can be someone who holds a grudge who's unforgiving, but you give up being full of God's love, being full of the grace that was given to you that you can share with others.
SPEAKER_01: So for us, I look at those things.
SPEAKER_01: It's not failures as much as just points on the road to remind me that where do I want to be?
SPEAKER_01: Who do I want to be?
SPEAKER_01: Do I want to be that person that's unforgiving?
SPEAKER_01: Do I want to be angry?
SPEAKER_01: Do I have wanna do I want to have bursts of wrath?
SPEAKER_01: Or do I want to have just a flow of grace and love?
SPEAKER_01: But it's your choice, and you can choose that harsh way, but you know what?
SPEAKER_01: What we sow, we also reap, right?
SPEAKER_01: What frequency we stay in is what we attract and what we bring around in our lives, and so you can have that kind of uh unforgiving, wrathful behavior towards you, or we can move into this place that the Spirit of God is inviting us to.
SPEAKER_01: And when we read that, do you do you see the beauty of it?
SPEAKER_01: And do you see why I would hang on to that trash, that right to just let out some curse words once in a while, or just tell somebody what I really think?
SPEAKER_01: Do I really want to hang on to that and exchange it for that beautiful place of love in God?
SPEAKER_01: I I don't want to.
SPEAKER_00: What you were calling us to remember, though, is what the scripture tells us about what is the evidence of the Spirit of God?
SPEAKER_00: You know this.
SPEAKER_00: What are the fruits of the Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, tenderness, long-suffering, self-control, all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's beautiful to be able to look at this maybe funnel and say, where is the presence of God in my life?
SPEAKER_00: How do I attune myself to that presence?
SPEAKER_00: And we do this partially by remembering the words of Jesus, remembering the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning, when we look, we're in this season of Pentecost and we're coming to an end.
SPEAKER_00: And so um I want to tell you the end of living in the spirit is not happening, but just the end of this particular uh focus because we're coming up on Advent.
SPEAKER_00: And um, get excited about that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to like warm you up toward this excitement of Advent because I'm already on a 10.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just tell you for Advent.
SPEAKER_00: But even more than Advent, it is the power of living in the Spirit, because there would be no Advent without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It was the Spirit that came upon Mary, and Mary was able to say, Be it unto me according to your word.
SPEAKER_00: And we have this immaculate conception.
SPEAKER_00: It is life in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We are all to birth Christ in us.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us is to offer ourselves and say, What does it look like for love to be birthed in the world through me?
SPEAKER_00: And so life in the spirit is not uh put on uh on the shelf or off to the side.
SPEAKER_00: It is, though, just another beautiful expression.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning, where we reach the text, we're reading in Luke's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: This is also mirrored in Matthew, but Luke, who is giving a larger audience, offers us a unique perspective.
SPEAKER_01: You know, right before we go there, you said something, and it was a reminder to me when you when you referred to Mary and you know her willingness to uh uh surrender, to comply, to consent.
SPEAKER_01: And um, we wouldn't have the miracle of of Christ in our lives without Mary's consent to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And you won't have the miracles of God in your life without consent to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And that means that I surrender my will to that's you know, agreements when you agree, consent's when you're gonna go, you know, and surrender that your own stubborn will.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just see that as such an uh important point to bring out.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sharing that, to remind us that we have to be willing to be in that place of good.
SPEAKER_01: God's not gonna go where he's not invited.
SPEAKER_01: And you have that right to hang on to your stubbornness and your anger and your words that that do give you a moment and of satisfaction, but end up poisoning your situations, amen?
SPEAKER_01: So, like I like as we look into this today, look at where I could where am I willing uh to give my consent to God, and where am I yet unwilling to surrender?
SPEAKER_01: And we might see that as a as uh, you know, instead we shake our fists and say, God, why aren't you working in my life?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're not consenting to you're not surrendering to the Spirit for those things.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke chapter 6, coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plane surrounded by his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't pay attention to the writer of this story and to the people that he was writing to, maybe you would miss the fact that he was telling you this was the second part of the act.
SPEAKER_00: Moses came down from a mountain and gave the people the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes down off the mountain into the plain and says, Now this is how I want you to live.
SPEAKER_00: It was the Ten Commandments that Israel was shaped by, and Jesus is saying, as my followers, as people who follow me to God, you will or need to be shaped by these things.
SPEAKER_00: He stood in a plain surrounded by disciples and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, and even this would startle you if you understood the geography and the people there, and even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we could easily say that our prejudice would be like nobody there cares about God and his ways.
SPEAKER_00: No one there in Tyre and Sidon is like us because we follow God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the scripture here is telling us, and Luke the writer, wants us to know that there are people that are outside the margins, outside the boundaries, and they are there too, listening to the words of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And they had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments.
SPEAKER_00: Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed, and everyone was trying to touch him.
SPEAKER_00: So much energy surging from him, so many people healed.
SPEAKER_00: And then he spoke.
SPEAKER_00: Something, again, in this particular time, the empire, and that people with just hordes of money would call themselves blessed.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the people called them blessed and almost called them, and often did, called them gods.
SPEAKER_00: They are so powerful that these are the people, and Jesus is saying something completely different.
SPEAKER_00: You're blessed when you've lost it all.
SPEAKER_00: Because God's kingdom is there for the finding.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he's not saying that he's blessing the losing of it all or systems that take away from people, but he's saying when you look for more, when you look for God, it's there for the finding.
SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, every time uh, you know, our our one of our kids might say, I can't find you know, the other shoe, like, what have you done with it?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you lost it because you're not paying attention.
SPEAKER_01: You don't care about it.
SPEAKER_01: You don't care, you know.
SPEAKER_01: If you cared about your shoes, you'd know where they were.
SPEAKER_01: And I think in that uh in that sense of uh you'll begin to lose things not when they're taken from you, but when you stop caring about them.
SPEAKER_01: And God's not against you having stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But I've been around church my whole life, and some churches' doctrine are just about you getting stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You come to that church and they try to teach you how to confess, get stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And and I really believe that the kingdom is about us learning how to lose things.
SPEAKER_01: And when I lose it, it's I just didn't even care enough to tell you where it is.
SPEAKER_01: I I don't need that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I my whole yard a few years ago was filled with vehicles.
SPEAKER_01: Now, hardly any of them ran.
SPEAKER_01: But I had Jeeps, trucks, motorcycles, you you name it.
SPEAKER_01: And and my desire to have that stuff caused me nothing but pain.
SPEAKER_01: Every time I'd go outside to run one of them, the battery'd be dead, or a tire would be flat, or the tag sticker wasn't renewed, or some reason.
SPEAKER_01: And so collecting all that stuff that was supposed to make me happy, you know, Lord bless me, you know, I'd want to give a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Look at all God's given me.
SPEAKER_01: But those desires always left me wanting.
SPEAKER_01: Now, again, I'm not saying you can't have stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I I got a real nice truck out there I drive, I got one vehicle now, and I could get the tag on that once a month, and I can keep the tires aired up in that, and and it's it's a a joy to not have to chase after all this stuff, and just to lose the desire for all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I feel so much lighter, and I see in my life as I'm getting older that God's not taking these things away from me, but I'm just removing the obstacles from the joy that I've always wanted them to provide for me.
SPEAKER_01: And those things never will.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: So what if we can just really not look at this as like, oh, it's gonna be taken from me, or what am I not gonna have?
SPEAKER_01: But but what am I gonna have when I replace my foolish passions for what God really wants to pour into my life?
SPEAKER_01: Anyone anyone agree with that?
SPEAKER_00: You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Then you're ready for the messianic meal.
SPEAKER_00: You're blessed when the tears flow freely.
SPEAKER_00: Joy comes with the mourning.
SPEAKER_00: Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me.
SPEAKER_00: What it means is the truth is too close for comfort, and that person is uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: You can be glad when that happens.
SPEAKER_00: Skip like a lamb, if you like.
SPEAKER_00: For even though they don't like it, I do, and all of heaven applauds.
SPEAKER_00: And know that you're in good company.
SPEAKER_00: My preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.
SPEAKER_00: But it's trouble ahead if you think that you have it made.
SPEAKER_00: What you have is all you'll ever get.
SPEAKER_00: And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna let that one sit there for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Yourself will not satisfy you for long.
SPEAKER_00: And it's trouble ahead if you think life is all fun and games.
SPEAKER_00: There is suffering to be met, and you are going to meet it.
SPEAKER_00: And there's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them.
SPEAKER_00: Popularity contests are not truth contests.
SPEAKER_00: Look at how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors.
SPEAKER_00: Your task is to be true, not popular.
SPEAKER_00: To you who are ready for the truth, I say this.
SPEAKER_00: Love your enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.
SPEAKER_00: Let them bring out the best in you.
SPEAKER_00: What is the best in you?
SPEAKER_00: It is the best in me.
SPEAKER_00: It is Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Spirit, it is love.
SPEAKER_00: The best in all of us is the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gives us a path, a way.
SPEAKER_00: When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person.
SPEAKER_00: If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it.
SPEAKER_00: And if someone grabs your shirt, gift wrap, your best coat, and make a present of it.
SPEAKER_00: If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.
SPEAKER_00: No more tit for tat stuff.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words of Jesus, beloved, who echoes the words of God who told us, revenge is not for you.
SPEAKER_00: Do not avenge yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Tit for tat stuff?
SPEAKER_00: No, we're not living like that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We're not babies, we're not children.
SPEAKER_00: There is a maturity that we are being called to, and it is this live generously.
SPEAKER_00: That we are to live generously with the world that is selfish, that we are to live generously with people who do not honor and respect, that we are to live generously in this way.
SPEAKER_00: We are living like Christ did in the world.
SPEAKER_00: But these are the truths that Jesus said, listen, this is what it's going to look like.
SPEAKER_00: This is what you're gonna look like if you follow me.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way it is loving enemies, living generously.
SPEAKER_00: When someone comes to beg from you, give that person what you have.
SPEAKER_00: And when things are wrongly taken from you, do not demand they be given back.
SPEAKER_00: However, you wish to be treated by others is how you should treat everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, when people talk about this, they call this the golden rule.
SPEAKER_00: However, you wish to be treated by others is how you should treat everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: How do you want to be treated?
SPEAKER_00: This is how we are supposed to live.
SPEAKER_00: We are not supposed to treat people the way they treat us.
SPEAKER_00: We are supposed to, and the invitation is to live higher, to live connected to the source of all goodness.
SPEAKER_00: God is love, beloved, and we are to be connected to that love.
SPEAKER_00: Are you really showing true love by only those loving those who love you back?
SPEAKER_00: I think here Jesus got to meddling because there are people that we can be loving to, and they're very loving toward us.
SPEAKER_00: But how loving are you toward people who are spiteful and hateful toward you?
SPEAKER_00: Even those who don't know God will do that.
SPEAKER_00: Are you really showing compassion when you do good deeds only to those who do good deeds to you?
SPEAKER_00: Even those who don't know God will do that.
SPEAKER_00: If you lend money only to those you know who will repay you, what credit is that to your character?
SPEAKER_00: Even those who don't know God do that.
SPEAKER_00: Love your enemies and continue to treat them well.
SPEAKER_00: And when you lend money, don't despair if you're never paid back, for it is not lost.
SPEAKER_00: You will receive a rich reward, and you will be known as true children of the Most High God, having his same nature.
SPEAKER_00: For your father is famous for his kindness to heal even the thankless and the cruel.
SPEAKER_00: This tells us a lot about God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is telling us who God is, that God will heal and is kind to those who are thankless and cruel.
SPEAKER_00: And he's advising us not to be ingrates or cruel.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting us to be people who practice the giving of thanks, who recognize that every good thing that we have is because we are connected to an abundant God.
SPEAKER_00: About this invitation to surrender and give up cruelty in any form and choose instead the way of love.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus came to show us how to live as people, he did not ask us to bring our anger, our fear in our ego and just put different words on it.
SPEAKER_00: He invited us to surrender to a transformation so that our consciousness, that everything about who we are, would be transformed by the light of Christ, by the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: For your father is famous for his kindness to heal even the thankless and the cruel.
SPEAKER_00: Show mercy and compassion for others.
SPEAKER_00: Just as your heavenly father overflows with mercy and compassion for all.
SPEAKER_00: Here's where the book of Leviticus gets handy.
SPEAKER_00: When you're talking about someone else, I would like all the plagues, whatever, I want them all fixed, I want them all straightened out.
SPEAKER_00: Mercy for me, justice for everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we think.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, Jesus said, no, mercy for all.
SPEAKER_00: Mercy for all.
SPEAKER_00: There is a way of living that we can avail ourselves to, that we can be the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is who God is overflowing with mercy and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: When you close, the scripture says this, when you close your heart out to another human being, you have essentially cut yourself off from God.
SPEAKER_00: We have to live people we have to be people with open hearts toward all people, with mercy and justice and compassion flowing through us.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, Jesus prayed, you know, Father, make us one like you and I are one.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's God's goal that you and I be one with each other.
SPEAKER_01: And and there's certain people, certain politicians, certain people in your neighborhood, certain people in your path that make that really difficult.
SPEAKER_01: But it's still our goal.
SPEAKER_01: And it's still the thing that if we can cooperate with that, you know, find a common ground if possible.
SPEAKER_01: And no one's saying you put yourself in a dangerous situation, but there's a there is a place where we can find compassion for other people, and it's through the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: And that oneness is God's goal, and so I realize that when I cut people off, not just in traffic, but that's part of it.
SPEAKER_01: When I exclude people in my life, that I'm I'm cutting myself off from me, because I'm one with them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm cutting myself off from God, who's in them just as God is in me.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I I think uh of, you know, if you ask me who are my enemies, I can think of a few people that have just hurt me lately.
SPEAKER_01: Um and I can either wish consequence on them, or I I say, God, well, if we're one, then what what are they what have they done to me that's that I do to other people?
SPEAKER_01: How am I like that in the world?
SPEAKER_01: And asking that question is very risky.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do it if you're not serious.
SPEAKER_01: Just forget I said that.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you do ask that question, God will show you.
SPEAKER_01: And it's ugly when you see those kind of behaviors you that you do to people.
SPEAKER_01: And so allowing that enemy to just be forgiven and released releases me.
SPEAKER_01: And it's and it's a it's a really a grace that you have those pains in the neck in your life.
SPEAKER_01: That's hard to believe, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: But I I thank you, Lord, that you're showing me these short-sighted parts in my personality and in my behavior that are hurt.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to hurt people the way that I've been hurt.
SPEAKER_01: Help me see this thing and repent and turn from it.
SPEAKER_00: We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend?
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.
SPEAKER_00: There's an ancient story in the Midrash.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, a man comes to the rabbi and says, I want to pray for my enemies, but I hate them.
SPEAKER_00: I want to do what's right, but I just, he said, from my bowels, like from inside of me, there is a burning anger.
SPEAKER_00: And how do I pray for them?
SPEAKER_00: And the rabbi said to him, pray whatever you want for them.
SPEAKER_00: And then at the very end, add, and may you do that to my children too.
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
SPEAKER_00: We'll just ruin that right back in, right?
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, if what is going to happen to them also happens to the children that I love, well, it changes things.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so good.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus tells us the same kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Love your enemies because you would love your children.
SPEAKER_00: Love your enemies because you would practice loving brother and sister.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, forsake the habit of criticizing and judging each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting because a lot of Jesus' followers I know are really good at judging other people.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I feel like they've practiced it.
SPEAKER_00: And look at me right now, judging them for judging others.
SPEAKER_00: This is a train we just have to get off of, beloved, and we just have to say we cannot participate in practices that bring us to a perfection that we don't want.
SPEAKER_00: Our idea is not that we would know the difference between right and wrong or who's good and who's bad and who's in and who's out, but that we would be people who hung around the tree of life, that we would eat of the Spirit of God, that we would be people so full of love and light, that God would be present among us.
SPEAKER_00: Forsake the habit of criticizing and judging others, and then you will not be criticized and judged in return.
SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful for that part.
SPEAKER_00: Because again, I want all the mercy and all of the compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look at others and pronounce them guilty, and you will not experience guilty accusations yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive over and over, and you will be forgiven over and over.
SPEAKER_00: This is the practice that Jesus invites us into practicing everyone's innocence.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very difficult path, my love.
SPEAKER_00: But there is Jesus all along the way.
SPEAKER_00: Practicing the innocence of everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of declaring and making sure that someone is guilty and you know the facts so that you could judge them as guilty.
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing to practice their innocence?
SPEAKER_00: You will have to see them a completely different way.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I think that you would have to see them through the eyes of Jesus, who already prayed for us.
SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us how to do this.
SPEAKER_00: When he is being crucified by people who were excellent at crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: People, the Romans were experts at crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: And they are crucifying Jesus, and Jesus says, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: I beg to differ, they do.
SPEAKER_00: They know how to inflict cruelty.
SPEAKER_00: These people practice cruelty.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, they don't know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: He asked us to look up something that is above that and go, they have no idea of what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the way for us, this is a practice for us, this is a path for us, for us to be people who practice the innocence of others.
SPEAKER_00: For us to be people who say, and how does a person become innocent?
SPEAKER_00: They are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are people who practice forgiving the offenses that other people have, that we ourselves would be forgiven over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive over and over, and you will be forgiven over and over.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you stop being the judge, then those people walk in in forgiveness until we hold them to this uh unrealistic standard.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I think sometimes there are people that listen to us preach this message over and over, and you just it doesn't compute because you've learned to practice being angry, you've learned to practice unforgiveness, you've practiced your whole life in a certain path.
SPEAKER_01: And as you're in that path, you keep getting the same responses.
SPEAKER_01: You're you're in a circle, you're negative towards people, and when it's proof, look, the world's just negative because you're sewing that and you're you're walking in a path, and what we're honestly saying to you, and this is not magic, but it's literally you deciding to live in a place of I'm just gonna forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Just going to accept, you know, and you shift, and and you begin to find that people are kinder to you.
SPEAKER_01: And then the truth is there are still mean people, but they can't get me anymore.
SPEAKER_01: They can't affect me.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm in a path, I'm in a different path.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just walking here, and I refuse to give it up for their momentary anger.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've shared this story a bunch, but it was really enlightening for me to, for my whole life, I lived in Chicago, and there's always road construction, and there's a blinking light that says 500 feet, that that lane's going to end.
SPEAKER_01: And there's always these people that speed up right to the barrier, and then they put on their blinker.
SPEAKER_01: And you got to let them in.
SPEAKER_01: I would tailgate the car in front of me so close that you would think I was an indie driver.
SPEAKER_01: You know, how they follow one another so close.
SPEAKER_01: And I was not, and they could come over to be like, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01: This is not that good of a car anyway.
SPEAKER_01: You could deny it.
SPEAKER_01: I will not let you in.
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to give justice to those people.
SPEAKER_01: Wait in line like the rest of us did.
SPEAKER_01: And I've shared this with you that God opened up my heart a while back and said, What if that was your brother Danny?
SPEAKER_01: I love my big brother Danny.
SPEAKER_01: He's actually on his way here.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to be here for about a week and a half.
SPEAKER_01: So you can see my handsome older brother.
SPEAKER_01: If you come to church next week, that's a good reason to come to church.
SPEAKER_01: And Danny is my older brother.
SPEAKER_01: He's my hero.
SPEAKER_01: And if Danny made that mistake, I'd let him in anyway.
SPEAKER_01: I might give him a hard time about it later.
SPEAKER_01: Like, why'd you cut in front of all of them?
SPEAKER_01: But he still gets in.
SPEAKER_01: You know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I love him.
SPEAKER_01: He's my brother.
SPEAKER_01: And God began to help me see that every one of these people out on that road are my brother.
SPEAKER_01: They either made a mistake or they're just being a jerk right now.
SPEAKER_01: But even when my brother's being a jerk, he's still my brother.
SPEAKER_01: And I still love him.
SPEAKER_01: I shared this with my brother that how this has been changing me.
SPEAKER_01: And I was on the phone with him again just the other day.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, What's this jerk doing?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I mean, it's Dennis.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I'll let him go.
SPEAKER_01: And he's beginning to see that the people on the road are his brother, his sister.
SPEAKER_01: And it's contagious.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens is we begin to live in a different place.
SPEAKER_01: And so I will not give up that joy that I carry in my heart to try to exact some kind of judgment on somebody else that I wouldn't want judged on me.
SPEAKER_01: If I forget or I'm in a hurry and I squeak up a, I know I should turn over, but I really want to get, and I I want, I flip on the blinker and open, hope for the opening and the generosity of somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: And we want that for ourselves, but will we carry that kind of idea into our daily lives?
SPEAKER_01: And how can we just live in a different place?
SPEAKER_01: And it's a practice if you're used to being if your family of origin was just angry and you just were suspect of all people, it it takes a while to give that over, but it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01: It's worth it to find a different pattern, a different place to live.
SPEAKER_01: Do you hear what I'm saying to you?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, come on, church.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive over and over, and you will be forgiven over and over.
SPEAKER_00: I remind you that the wisdom in this verse of forgiveness does not negate the wisdom of leaving abuse.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture says that only a fool sees danger coming and doesn't run from it.
SPEAKER_00: You can leave an abusive situation when someone is harming you and still forgive them.
SPEAKER_00: It does not require you to stay in a situation when you are suffering continual harm.
SPEAKER_00: That is not loving toward yourself.
SPEAKER_00: It is not loving toward the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so this verse doesn't tell you to expect the status quo.
SPEAKER_00: It in fact tells you to expect the miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: Expect the plan of God to start unfolding.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive and get out of harm's way.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive over and over and expect the miracles of God, the healing of God, the eyes that need to be opened, the peace that comes.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus asks us to give up, forsake the habit of criticizing and judging others.
SPEAKER_00: Give up the habit of hating enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Give up the habit of separating yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, love your enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Instead demonstrate love to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it looks like to live the Jesus way.
SPEAKER_00: For us to follow what happened into the book of Acts when it says in Acts chapter 2, verse 42, and all the people, all of those who followed, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the prayers, and to the breaking of bread, to this understanding that everything is for all.
SPEAKER_00: And we practice these things, reminding ourselves at the table of the Lord, every good thing is available to us.
SPEAKER_00: Every time that we come to the mystery of the table and we say, This is the truth, when Jesus said your sins are forgiven, they are.
SPEAKER_00: And we become the Jesus to the world when we are people who practice radical forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: I recently heard this woman sharing that she had been uh extremely abused by an uncle as a young person.
SPEAKER_01: And after 37 years, she finally was in the presence of that uncle, and she was able to confront him.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I didn't even realize that that happened or that I had hurt you.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, What I realized at that point was he had no effect from what had happened, but his abuse continued to happen to me for 37 years.
SPEAKER_01: And she said it was then when I realized that releasing it sets me free, not him.
SPEAKER_01: He has his own issues to deal with, but for us to not allow and to stay a victim is your power to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Now, not to walk back into that situation at all, that's not at all what we would ever say, but you know what?
SPEAKER_01: If if I can put that in God's hands, and I can release, and it's difficult, I know what I'm asking you to do because there's things that's happened in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe not that horrible, but there are things that I've had to release, and it was for my own good that I could stop being the victim and start being the overcomer.
SPEAKER_01: And we overcome through that gift of just forgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And and as you do that, you can walk in what God has, or we we stay stuck, many of us, for years and years.
SPEAKER_01: And that trauma shows up in our health, in our all of our behaviors.
SPEAKER_01: It just permeates every bit of our life.
SPEAKER_01: And so we want to get that poison out.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that happened to you, and I'm sorry that that happened to you, but I don't want it to continue to happen to you.
SPEAKER_01: And our way of escape is to hand that over to God and let Him show you how to be that overcomer.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: And that's not easy, but it is absolutely possible.
SPEAKER_00: These are the words of Jesus: forgive over and over, and you will be forgiven over and over.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus invites us to think and to consider a different way.
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like to live in a world where children were not abused?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus invites us to live there.
SPEAKER_00: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00: We stop abusing children.
SPEAKER_00: That's how it happens.
SPEAKER_00: We do not let our anger be taken out on someone who is vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we forgive.
SPEAKER_00: But beloved, stop abusing children.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's radical, but think about it with me.
SPEAKER_00: We have the power right now that no child has to go hungry.
SPEAKER_00: No mother has to put a baby to bed with an empty belly.
SPEAKER_00: We know this because there is abundance.
SPEAKER_00: And we have the power to change things.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we get ideas from our culture that we are powerless.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we are not.
SPEAKER_00: God is love, and love is the ultimate power.
SPEAKER_00: And we are powerful in our love and in the way that we can live differently.
SPEAKER_00: And so the idea is not that we would say it is okay for women to be abused, for children to be abused.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: God has given us a path, and the path is for equality for all people, that every single person would have the equity and would have dignity, and this is what love calls us to.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus calls us to forgive sins, to look past ways of doing things that harm people and then live differently.
SPEAKER_00: We read this in the verses together that Thomas led us in in 1 John, where it says you're gonna love somebody now, demonstrate it.
SPEAKER_00: It is not loving to abuse children, it is not loving to abuse women, it is not loving to abuse anyone, it's not loving to be cruel.
SPEAKER_00: Love is not cruel, beloved.
unknown: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Love does not throat punch, ever.
unknown: Yes, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Love is kind, love is tender.
SPEAKER_00: God is love and his compassion and his mercy are for all people.
SPEAKER_01: It begins with us.
SPEAKER_01: I I was uh Heather and I were on vacation this week, and uh I saw this little kid, a wiry little kid, and kind of reminded me of me and and some of my kids when they were little, you know, just kind of had a lot of energy.
SPEAKER_01: We were waiting in line for a while.
SPEAKER_01: So he started doing that thing where he just stretched, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And one of his stretches, he came and he hit his mom on the uh shoulder.
SPEAKER_01: And she turned and she tied into him uh with threats of violence, and uh it was so uncomfortable that I I was so uncomfortable, and then I realized it was it grieved Silas so bad, he was uncomfortable, Heather was uncomfortable, everybody around us was, you know, and she allowed herself to surrender to anger, to whatever to grief she felt he did.
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't know what he had done back all day long in that vacation, but I do know that when I looked at that little boy's face, he was so broken, so ashamed, and he said, I was stretching.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and she I don't want to hear it out of you, you know, and he wasn't able to communicate, and I just saw the brokenness and as he sat back down, and if you say another word or do another thing, and he just he gave up.
SPEAKER_01: He just he was broken, you know, and and I see that and I wonder just how much now that mom's not a child trafficker, you know, she's not involved in in these horrendous things, but we're but maybe we say to ourselves, well, if I'm not doing that, then I'm okay.
SPEAKER_01: And and we have to be the beginning of the transformation.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just not gonna allow that kind of meanness in my life at all.
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm gonna I want love to be the choice that I make.
SPEAKER_01: He just needed some little extra attention from his mom.
SPEAKER_01: He was bored.
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing wrong with a 10-year-old kid waiting in line 20 minutes and being uh a bit agitated.
SPEAKER_01: That is absolutely age-appropriate behavior.
SPEAKER_01: And if we can just look at that, and even if it's not, can we love that child through this tough moment in their life?
SPEAKER_01: Or do we have to bring anger?
SPEAKER_01: You know, and you know, I'm I wish I could preach to that lady.
SPEAKER_01: She's not here, so you gotta hear it.
SPEAKER_01: But I wonder where we surrender to those kind of things of anger when we forget that the little brother or little sister we have is age-appropriate for what they're doing, or maybe they just need a little attention, or or the or the person at work, or or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: How can we how can we be part of the solution and stop cooperating with that being the norm?
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've heard men in men's meetings say, Well, you know, I try to be kind, but you push me so far, you've got to understand that's what you're gonna get.
SPEAKER_01: And then all the men, well, you know, that's true.
SPEAKER_01: You do get what you get, you know, and everybody, we got what we do, pat each other on the back, because you might be the one confessing that next week and you want that grace.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of us saying, no, as men, we are not going to use our strength against the people that we say that we love.
SPEAKER_01: That we are not going to be a part of any kind of meanness and anger and hatred.
SPEAKER_01: And we we justify it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you gotta understand, you push me too far.
SPEAKER_01: No, you gotta understand there's a grace that is further yet than we have ever been pushed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus demonstrated that on the cross, and it's available to you and I, amen?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I stood behind that woman and prayed for her.
SPEAKER_00: Not in a way of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what happened.
SPEAKER_00: That one touch on the shoulder makes you exclude, but I just tell you that doesn't happen until you feel like you are so overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_00: What if all of us were just full of forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't need my judgment, she needs mercy, she needs help.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe she needs a nap.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe she needed food.
SPEAKER_00: These are all things that God tried.
SPEAKER_00: When Elijah, one of the prophets, was acting up.
SPEAKER_00: I love this part of the story, and I'm telling you, it's a way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He Elijah starts saying things like, No one understands how much I do for you, God.
SPEAKER_00: I am the only one who speaks your word.
SPEAKER_00: I am the only one who does this.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody else does what they please, and they do all these things.
SPEAKER_00: And he just starts in this tirade.
SPEAKER_00: And God responds to him and says, I would like for you to go to the river, and I would like for you to sleep, take a nap.
SPEAKER_00: This is literally what God says to him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, and then I'm gonna send a snack.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna come from the birds, but the birds are gonna bring you a snack, and then you're gonna eat it.
SPEAKER_00: And after you get up from the snack, we're gonna talk and eat the snack, we're gonna talk.
SPEAKER_00: But I do want you to know you're not the only one.
SPEAKER_00: I just remind you, you should rehearse this all the time when you feel like you are at your wit's end.
SPEAKER_00: Do I need a nap?
SPEAKER_00: Do I need a snack?
SPEAKER_00: And do I need to be reminded I am not the only one?
SPEAKER_00: This is a way of liberation.
SPEAKER_00: This is a way of getting through things.
SPEAKER_00: And it is one of the reasons why it's so beautiful to have the communion table.
SPEAKER_00: You will not eat an entire meal here.
SPEAKER_00: You will not be full, but it will remind you that there is bread and that there is wine and that there is enough.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.