SPEAKER_01: The church in America has failed millions of people because all we talk about is you need forgiveness, you need forgiven, you need forgiveness, and you're like, Yeah, okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you have equated asking God for forgiveness with being a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Just because you have a conscience and you feel guilty sometimes, that doesn't mean you've ever been converted.
SPEAKER_01: Listen very carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of people that know they need forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Evidence of conversion is do you have the capacity to live out what the Bible requires?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm saying to you, you don't need a relationship with Christ just for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: You need a relationship with Christ for capacity, because apart from the indwelling presence of God, you do not have the capacity to do what the Bible commands.
SPEAKER_01: Things like love your enemies.
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen, church, let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We know that you'll provide because that is your name and your nature.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us that one of your names is Jehovah Jirah, which means the Lord our God who provides.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're not making stuff up and putting pressure on you.
SPEAKER_01: We're just saying what's always been right and true about you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so you're faithful, you're a good, good father.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, uh, life can sometimes feel like an 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: football game.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going good, and then you go in halftime and make some corrections, and things get different.
SPEAKER_01: Let today, let this morning be like halftime.
SPEAKER_01: We come in, we make some corrections, we hear truth from the word, and it alters and informs the rest of our life, the second half.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we trust you for what is to come.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, say what we need to hear now so that we'll be different then.
SPEAKER_01: This is our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Make it our experience in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You have a seat, you got a Bible, take it, open up to Matthew chapter five.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're our guest, let me say thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we are preaching through the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the Sermon on the Mount, probably it was no, probably, it's the greatest ethical teaching in the history of humanity.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the Sermon on the Mount, if you're not familiar with it, a lot of people talk about it like John Lennon's over there strumming a guitar singing, give peace a chance, while Rodney King announces, can't we all get along?
SPEAKER_01: Uh when in reality, the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most threatening things Jesus ever says.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're in Matthew chapter 5, and uh, so far he's had these six antithetical statements where he begins by saying, You have heard of old, and then he says, But I say unto you, he's not changing the rules, he's not changing the law.
SPEAKER_01: What Jesus is doing is saying, Hey, these religious guys, they've twisted this thing, they've got it so jacked up where they're making money and you guys aren't being helped by this.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus scrapes all the paint off the barn and gets down to the get down and says, This is what it's really all about.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh today we're at the last of his anthetical segments.
SPEAKER_01: We'll finish Matthew 5.
SPEAKER_01: Um somebody said to me this week, man, how many sermons have you preached for this one chapter?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I I don't I don't keep up, I just say what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Well, is the next chapter getting any better?
SPEAKER_01: Not really.
SPEAKER_01: Uh good news because here's our trajectory of where we're going.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get this after the new year because our friend Chris Brooks is here next week, and then we start advent.
SPEAKER_01: But chapter five has been internal, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Chapter six is external, and chapter seven is eternal.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll get there uh in the in the new year.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to talk to you this morning about the reassuring power of enemy love.
SPEAKER_01: The reassuring power of enemy love.
SPEAKER_01: More than anything you say or do, the thing that demonstrates the genuineness of your Christianity, uh, that demonstrates to the world that you actually are a Christian, is how you treat people you consider your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: And so I put these two words together, enemy love on purpose, because I want to kind of rub you the wrong way and make you think about how you love people that you treat as an enemy.
SPEAKER_01: The re because there's this reassuring power that comes from that.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says it like this in Matthew chapter 5, verse 43.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who's in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: For he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
SPEAKER_01: For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
SPEAKER_01: And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, you therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: No pressure there, amen.
SPEAKER_01: There's three things I want to point to in the text around this topic of the reassuring power of enemy love.
SPEAKER_01: And the first one is simply this enemy love is evidence of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_01: Enemy love is evidence of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_01: That you have this capacity to love your enemies is an indication.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me be very clear.
SPEAKER_01: Loving your enemies is not a means of salvation, it is evidence of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So when he says right there, and it starts off in verse 43, he says, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: Here, verse 45.
SPEAKER_01: So that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a math equation that allows you to work out a system where you get to go to heaven, all right?
SPEAKER_01: This is what I mean when I say loving your enemies is not a means of salvation, it's evidence of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Said differently, as Christians, we should conform to the character of our father instead of the willingness of our culture or what people talk about and endorse on TikTok and on socials, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I know that sometimes I say things like when I talk about, hey, the the reassuring power of enemy love, some of you may be like, oh, you may turn to your wife and say, Can you believe this guy?
SPEAKER_01: Like last week, some people, I know this you you find this hard to believe, but sometimes I say things in here on Sundays that some people that go to church here that I love and they love me, they find hard to believe.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Last week, some people cornered me after church.
SPEAKER_01: It was like, I mean, really, really?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, What really what?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you expect I should take these people to dinner?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Case of Texas, and that over the top.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, golden corral.
SPEAKER_01: How about that?
SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Good, because here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: If you just hate people that hate you, if you're just stuck in retaliation and payback, you you're you're always gonna have this gnawing insecurity about what you your your conversion experience.
SPEAKER_01: And so last week what I said was, and I and I meant it.
SPEAKER_01: And to be like in that over the top, I mean, do you really mean?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Because you you when you treat people that you can you that you think are your enemies, you you demonstrate love to them, it messes with their head, and they're like, no, wait a minute, we we we we can't keep going on like this.
SPEAKER_01: And so I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And they roll their eyes, they're like, Are you sure?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Oh yeah, they got a great salad bar at Taste of Texas.
SPEAKER_01: They have pineapple on it year-round.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know where they get it from, but it is delicious.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, I said, if we can't afford that, then it's too expensive.
SPEAKER_01: Go to Golden Crowds, one in Rosenberg.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just the whole idea of just blessing somebody, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Bless those that persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what that's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, sometimes you're not very realistic.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Okay, if I said back to you, sometimes you're not very Christian, would you be offended?
SPEAKER_01: And then they're like, oh, oh.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, listen, this is like a buffet.
SPEAKER_01: Take all you want, but be prepared to eat all you take, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm down with it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: When I what I mean when I say enemy love is evidence of authentic faith, here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: And now I know, and one of the ladies standing there, she goes, Okay, wait a minute, where do you get stuff like that?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, right out of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Come again.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, You guys, I'm gonna give you the context and I'll read you out of the Bible where I got that idea.
SPEAKER_01: I have no original ideas of my own.
SPEAKER_01: I steal them off in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: So in the Bible, in 2 Kings, in the Old Testament, there's a book called 2 Kings, and there's a guy named Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: He is a prophet of God, he hears from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Syria is attacking Israel, and so God tells Elisha, hey, they're waiting in an ambush over here, so tell the army to go this way.
SPEAKER_01: And so they do.
SPEAKER_01: This happens for days and weeks and months.
SPEAKER_01: And the Syrian army is like, dude, we cannot catch these people.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, somebody in a big big war council meeting, Pete Hegeseth, stands up and says, Hey, here's what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: God's telling that guy Elisha, and he's telling them where to go.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we can't kill him.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Well, let's kill him.
SPEAKER_01: Where is he?
SPEAKER_01: They said, He's camped on the outskirts of town.
SPEAKER_01: So they go out there and they got him surrounded.
SPEAKER_01: His servant comes out of the tent early one morning.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Uh-oh, ruhro.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes back in the tent and he says, Hey, dude, it's been nice working with you, but we're goners.
SPEAKER_01: Look outside.
SPEAKER_01: And he walks outside, and the Bible says, now, by the way, hear this.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that Elisha saw into the spiritual realm.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you get stuck in the physical realm, all you see is the physical.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna struggle with anxiety and depression and fear and worry.
SPEAKER_01: But when you start looking into the spiritual realm, you start saying things like, Oh, my God will provide.
SPEAKER_01: Everything I need, my God will provide.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha looks around and he says this.
SPEAKER_01: His servant's standing next to him, and Elisha says, They're surrounded by uh uh the Syrian army.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Oh, those who are for us are more than those who are against us.
SPEAKER_01: And his servant is like, Here, let me smoke some of that.
SPEAKER_01: What'd you just say?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Those that are for us are greater than those that are against us.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, and then Elisha prayed two prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, he said, Lord, open this my servant's eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And he did.
SPEAKER_01: And then, secondly, the Syrian army begins to come down the mountain on them, surrounding them.
SPEAKER_01: There's just two dudes.
SPEAKER_01: And then God Elisha prays this prayer.
SPEAKER_01: God, open my servant's eyes, close the eyes of this enemy army.
SPEAKER_01: And God struck them blind.
SPEAKER_01: And they're right there, and then it gets better.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha walks up to them and they're blind, and they're like, hello, uh, we're just blind riding horses.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey guys, this is not the city you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: I can lead you to the city you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: Follow me.
SPEAKER_01: And they do.
SPEAKER_01: And he, I mean they're blind, what are they gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: And so he leads them back to his hometown.
SPEAKER_01: We'll pick up reading right there, because I want to read this in the Bible, because you'll think I made it up.
SPEAKER_01: This is 2 Kings chapter 6, starting in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: It says, As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, Oh Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see.
SPEAKER_01: So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elijah, My father, shall I strike them down?
SPEAKER_01: Shall I strike them down?
SPEAKER_01: He was a little bit eager.
SPEAKER_01: Can I kill him?
SPEAKER_01: By the way, here's what that sounds like.
SPEAKER_01: Shall I do what comes natural?
SPEAKER_01: Christianity isn't you is not you doing what comes natural and then your whole life and then asking for forgiveness later.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Shall I strike them down?
SPEAKER_01: He said, You shall not strike them down.
SPEAKER_01: Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow?
SPEAKER_01: Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
SPEAKER_01: So he prepared for them a great feast.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, when it says set bread and water before them, it's not like prison rations, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's a euphemism for get these guys a meal, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So when he says bread and water, look at verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: So he prepared for them a great feast.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel makes you capable of not doing what comes natural when it comes to treating your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: They prepare a great feast for them.
SPEAKER_01: When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and then went to their master.
SPEAKER_01: Hear this last part.
SPEAKER_01: And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_01: You get struck blind, and then all of a sudden they lead you into their hometown.
SPEAKER_01: And then this God who blinded you opens your eyes and you're like, dude, we're in the enemy's camp.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, You guys hungry?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been to Taste of Texas?
SPEAKER_01: I highly recommend the eight-ounce filet.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this thing is delicious, right here.
SPEAKER_01: And then they walk away and they're like, uh, we're good.
SPEAKER_01: We're never gonna come back.
SPEAKER_01: We're good, y'all good.
SPEAKER_01: Peace out.
SPEAKER_01: Deuces, no more.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: When you bring the supernatural to bear on the natural, people don't have a frame of reference for it.
SPEAKER_01: People are like, ah, so can you imagine them going back and reporting to their king?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, so what happened?
SPEAKER_01: Well, their God struck us blind, and then he restored our sight, and then they fed us, and then they sent us home.
SPEAKER_01: Any questions?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I mean when the Bible says that enemy love is evidence of authentic faith.
SPEAKER_01: The reason they didn't come back on raids anymore, they're just like, let's leave these people alone.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want any part of this goodness, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Again, you don't need to be a Christian to do what comes naturally, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That you know you need forgiveness doesn't make you a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Needing forgiveness doesn't make you a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: What makes you a Christian is that you have the capacity to treat your enemies differently.
SPEAKER_01: And when you have that capacity, you fulfill that responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing the Bible says enemy love is how God loves.
SPEAKER_01: Enemy love is how God loves.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 45.
SPEAKER_01: After he drops this on them about being sons of their father in heaven, he says this, for he God makes his son rise on the evil and on the good.
SPEAKER_01: He sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
SPEAKER_01: You ever watch TV and wonder why wicked people just keep crushing it, keep printing money?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, because God's not discriminatory.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, Oh man, I'm just gonna do this for all the people that vote Republican and watch Fox News.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: He says, hey, here's the deal, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Enemy love is how God loves.
SPEAKER_01: He says, for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
SPEAKER_01: And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
SPEAKER_01: When I say enemy love is how God loves, look at how God treats the evil, the unjust, the tax collectors and Gentiles, by the way, tax collectors were like people you grew up with who conspired with the Roman occupiers and they enforced the tax.
SPEAKER_01: If the tax was 5%, they added extra two and skimmed the 2% off the top so they could live in a bigger house and send their kids to better schools.
SPEAKER_01: You hated these people.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus comes along.
SPEAKER_01: I told you the Sermon on the Mount is super threatening to the status quo.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes along and says, You guys aren't any better than these tax collectors that you hate because you love what they love and you greet what they greet.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Well, I don't I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01: Uh again, look at how God treats the evil, the unjust, the tax collector, and the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: And then ask yourself, how do I treat these same people?
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me when you got baptized or you went through confirmation or catechism.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see how you treat people who don't agree with you, look like you, or think like you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, how do you love the people you want to consider your enemy?
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's two questions we have to answer today.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, who do you love?
SPEAKER_01: Right out of verse 46.
SPEAKER_01: Who do you love?
SPEAKER_01: And if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
SPEAKER_01: Who do you love?
SPEAKER_01: Now, see, one of the things that keeps us from loving is our desire to be right.
SPEAKER_01: But enough about marriage, amen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of the things that keeps us from loving people is this desire we have in us to be right.
SPEAKER_01: And and and listening there carefully, I'm not saying lay down the truth and say, oh, I don't want to be right, I just want to love everybody.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: No one's helped by that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, like I had a conversation just in the past couple weeks with a guy about abortion.
SPEAKER_01: The topic of abortion came up, and I'm like, I don't think about abortion that often.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, when you say the word abortion in a church, some people are like, yeah, get them.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you are like, uh, don't get us, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because the law of averages says there's a good chance there's people in this room who've had an abortion, and I want you to know you're not a second-class citizen, God's not mad at you, you're not not, there's not a cloud or shadow over your head, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to check out and just hold your breath emotionally for the next two minutes.
SPEAKER_01: The guy said, So, where are you on abortion?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh, I I probably have a weird take on abortion, but but go ahead.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, I and he goes on and give me this big case.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Here's my my my thought about abortion.
SPEAKER_01: It's very Eucharistic language that people use when they justify abortion.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Euchar, what?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Eucharistic, like Lord's Supper Communion.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Oh, no, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What's what's it bully down?
SPEAKER_01: What does it come down to for you, the whole abortion thing?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, it's bodily autonomy, I mean it's a woman's body.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Women say, This is my body, my body, my right.
SPEAKER_01: And at the last supper, Jesus said, This is my body, and yet he offered his body to be broken, and yet in abortion, you break somebody else's body.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure you should use the whole this is my body language.
SPEAKER_01: It's highly eucharistic for me as a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And then he looked at me and said, You know, sometimes talking to you is really frustrating.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Do you think you're the first or last person who's ever said that to me?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Why?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Why are you talking like this right here?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're just talking.
SPEAKER_01: You asked me a question, and all of a sudden I said 30 seconds of stuff, and you're all amped up.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Can I ask you a personal question?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Have you ever had a woman get an abortion because you got her pregnant?
SPEAKER_01: Because abortion is not just a women's issue, it involves a man.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not important.
SPEAKER_01: It's very important because you have a lot of passion but not much logic.
SPEAKER_01: And it makes me think you had an experience.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what if I did?
SPEAKER_01: It wouldn't change a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Because you see, I love you, and I'm gonna hold on to what I think is the truth and still love you.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, the Bible says that love rejoices in the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, that's enough.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You brought up the topic?
SPEAKER_01: You asked me a question, I just answered.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Oh, I cannot believe this.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Listen, I don't want to be right, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I want to be loving, but I'm not gonna apologize for what I believe is the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Well, oh, okay, let's just go on.
SPEAKER_01: So the question, who do you love?
SPEAKER_01: My fear is that some of us uh is that we'd rather be right in this world than rewarded in the next.
SPEAKER_01: And you want to fit in in this world that keeps you from loving the things you should love.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself the simple question: is the way you love people gonna be rewarded in heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus asked two piercing questions we need to hear today.
SPEAKER_01: And the first one's right here in verse 46 What reward do you have for how you love?
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself today the simple question is the way I love people going to be recognized and rewarded in heaven?
SPEAKER_01: The second question Jesus asked is in verse 47 is who do you greet?
SPEAKER_01: Who do you greet?
SPEAKER_01: What do you what do you mean greet?
SPEAKER_01: That's that's not a very American word we use.
SPEAKER_01: He says, and if you greet only your brothers, uh, and what more are you doing than this?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the Gentiles do that?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you greet the same six people every time you come to church.
SPEAKER_01: You sit around the same six people.
SPEAKER_01: Now I ain't mad at you, I'm not saying you can't sit in the same place all the time, but I'm not that guy.
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible says it kind of gets at us and says, hey, yeah, I mean you talk to the same people.
SPEAKER_01: If you come to the midweek meal, you sit with the same people at the midweek meal every time you come.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's a second piercing question that Jesus asked.
SPEAKER_01: And now, by the way, people that talk to each other, and I don't I'm not saying don't talk to your friends, like, oh, here come Pastor Neil, we're talking to my friends, but I always have to come by, and usually there's clusters of Grand Parkway people who are standing in the middle of the aisles.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I walk by and say, Hey, could you guys move out of the way and go, we're talking.
SPEAKER_01: You do the same thing every Sunday, get out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: People can't get in the building.
SPEAKER_01: You're so focused on talking to the same six people you talk to every Sunday, you've missed that there's a world around you.
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, talk about me when I'm gone.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care, but just get out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you y'all did this last week.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you shushed us last week.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because you talked to the same five people every Sunday in the same place.
SPEAKER_01: Right in front of the door.
SPEAKER_01: There's a world around you.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: The second piercing question piercing question Jesus asked is right here in verse 47.
SPEAKER_01: What more are you doing than others?
SPEAKER_01: The others, by the way, is the unjust, the evil, the tax collector, and the gentile, which is the non-Christian.
SPEAKER_01: How is the way you greet and love people any differently than that?
SPEAKER_01: Now I know sometimes the Bible can feel out of touch, not very relevant because it's 2025 and we were progressive and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But when I say what do you mean by your enemies?
SPEAKER_01: Most of you will go, I don't have any enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you do.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you who your enemies are.
SPEAKER_01: It's the people you avoid right now.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: It's the people, whether it's here at church or at work, it's the people that you avoid.
SPEAKER_01: You're just kind of like, no.
SPEAKER_01: You get invited to something, and your first question is, who's gonna be there?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the holidays are so hard because some of them are coming to your house, you can't avoid them.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're enemies now that we don't use the word enemies, but it's the people that we now look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying somebody stopped me after the first service and said, Hey, are you saying we gotta be no, you don't have to be best friends with people, but listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: As a Christian, you're not allowed to have enemies.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot reconcile that with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: You just cannot.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I I I would say it like this the easiest way to go to hell is to be friends with people who love like you love.
SPEAKER_01: Did I lose you there?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, Well, what the easiest way to go to hell is just to be friends with people who love like you love.
SPEAKER_01: They never call you.
SPEAKER_01: Like years ago, you know who Ross King is, singer-songwriter comes here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Ross and I used to do a Bible study at AM called Chapel.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of the college pastors there in town just started a thing on Sunday nights at the All-Face Chapel there on campus.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, I just want something a little bit deeper.
SPEAKER_01: Would you and Ross?
SPEAKER_01: So, sure.
SPEAKER_01: Every Sunday night I drive to AM, teach the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It was great.
SPEAKER_01: And then my the part I enjoyed that, but I really loved uh getting dinner with Ross afterwards because he's a great conversationalist and he's kind of quirky and observant.
SPEAKER_01: And at dinner one night, Ross said to me, uh, hey, uh, but but but by the way, Ross stutters, and he and when he gets past he stutters even more, he's like, But but by the way, you you you being around you is like looking in a funhouse mirror.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I remember we're eating at Benegan's in college.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if Benegins is still in business, but but Benegans used to exist, and they had a thing called the Monte Cristo, which is basically a deep fried sandwich.
SPEAKER_01: You should go to hell for eating.
SPEAKER_01: That but I got it every time.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but we're sitting there, I'm eating my Monty Christian my raspberry jam on it.
SPEAKER_01: And Ross says, You're you're like when I hear you talk, I get around you.
SPEAKER_01: It's like looking in a funhouse smear.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Okay, is that good or bad?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, I don't like the way I look.
SPEAKER_01: And he's cutting his food and he goes, and I want to blame you and take it out on you and attack you, but it's really me.
SPEAKER_01: And the conversation was so intense there for a second.
SPEAKER_01: The waiter came over and he's like, Hey, sir, is everything okay over here?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Bro's coming at me with a silver.
SPEAKER_01: Did you see that?
SPEAKER_01: And he and Ross is like, No, it's just so good.
SPEAKER_01: It's just like delicious because I have to face things about myself I don't want to face.
SPEAKER_01: So I just I say it's behind your back.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to say to your face, you're like a funhouse smear.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I think.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, No, it's a great compliment.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I was at a funeral about a year ago, and this guy walks up to me, and I was like, Why do you look familiar?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Yeah, I'm a weather man here on I think channel 13.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Travis Herzog.
SPEAKER_01: This is my wife.
SPEAKER_01: He said, We used to come to chapel at all at AM.
SPEAKER_01: You and Ross King led it.
SPEAKER_01: He said, It was a very formative time in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We were just dating, and I just want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know this is your church, but man, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: That was super.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh man, I love that, but I also love the after after conversations over dinner with Ross King.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I bet that was interesting.
SPEAKER_01: It was.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question: Who do you spend time with?
SPEAKER_01: That's like looking into a funhouse mirror.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you see yourself in ways you don't want to see yourself, but you're like, uh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: I I needed that.
SPEAKER_01: Again, the easiest way to go to hell is have friends who all love like you do.
SPEAKER_01: They're never gonna call you on that.
SPEAKER_01: They're never gonna say, oh man, I don't think you get to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing the text says enemy love is God's nature.
SPEAKER_01: Enemy love is God's nature.
SPEAKER_01: Look at uh verse 48.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you hear that and your first thought is, oh geez, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's natural.
SPEAKER_01: That is unattainable.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to hear that and just think, what's the use?
SPEAKER_01: I'll never measure up.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just quit now and save the drama.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, there's two things I want you to understand before we're done this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the first one, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus incites a pre-evangelistic despair that prepares us for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Aren't you glad you shaved your legs to hear that sentence?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, I saw that from Martin Luther.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not that smart.
SPEAKER_01: Martin Luther, the great reformer, would tell his people, by the way, the commands of Jesus should incite in you this pre-evangelistic, before you come to faith, despair.
SPEAKER_01: You should see the demands of the gospel and go, there is no way I could do that.
SPEAKER_01: So when people say to me, man, I could never live like the Bible says, I don't go, oh yes, you can, buckaroo, you just gotta do steps one, two, and three.
SPEAKER_01: No, I say, you're exactly right, you can't.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, you should not only embrace that you can't, you should feel some despair in you.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, is this helpful?
SPEAKER_01: Actually, it is.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: When you grasp the requirements of God, you should realize how insufficient all your morality, all your moral achievements are compared to God's standard.
SPEAKER_01: And this compels you to ask God for mercy.
SPEAKER_01: So what happens is that we got we we ask God, who is the standard, by the way?
SPEAKER_01: He says, right here, you therefore must be perfect as your neighbor is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: No, as your heavenly father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: To quote the great theologian Mike Tomlin, the standard is the standard.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And so when you understand, again, Martin Luther's right.
SPEAKER_01: It just incites in us this pre-evangelistic despair, like there is no way.
SPEAKER_01: It makes you realize how insufficient your moral achievements are, compels us to ask God for mercy.
SPEAKER_01: So we ask God, who's the standard, to forgive us for breaking the standard.
SPEAKER_01: And get this He gladly forgives us.
SPEAKER_01: This is biblical Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing you gotta understand when you hear you hear something like that and you think, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need a relationship with Christ just for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: You need a relationship with Christ for capacity.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's a lot.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I put it in my notes so you can see it.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need the church has failed you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: The church in America has failed millions of people because all we talk about is you need forgiveness, you need forgiveness, you need forgiveness, and you're like, yeah, okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you have equated asking God for forgiveness with being a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Just because you have a conscience and you feel guilty sometimes, that doesn't mean you've ever been converted.
SPEAKER_01: Listen very carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of people that know they need forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Evidence of conversion is do you have the capacity to live out what the Bible requires?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm saying to you, you don't need a relationship with Christ just for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: You need a relationship with Christ for capacity, because apart from the indwelling presence of God, you do not have the capacity to do what the Bible commands.
SPEAKER_01: Things like love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I would say that forgiveness, listen very carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness for sin is not your biggest need.
SPEAKER_01: Is it a need?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Is it real?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: But look at me, you do not want to obligate and relegate your Christianity just to sin, forgiveness, sin, forgiveness, sin, forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: That's all you ever think about.
SPEAKER_01: You should ask yourself, hey, is there something more that Christ requires of me, makes me capable of?
SPEAKER_01: This is why you need capacity.
SPEAKER_01: Like this happened right here this week, Thursday, afternoon, late.
SPEAKER_01: We're off on Friday, so it's like Thursday at 4:30.
SPEAKER_01: I'm on a glide pattern for the airport, the landing gear's down.
SPEAKER_01: And Travis walks in my office and says, Hey, I got a call from Helping Hands.
SPEAKER_01: And so I said, Yeah, we did the Super Bowl Sunday then.
SPEAKER_01: We collected soup and gave it to them.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: They're wanting to know.
SPEAKER_01: They've been kind of really hit hard since the government layoffs and everything layoffs in the area, wanting to know if we could do anything to help.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Absolutely, we can we'll find somebody and do something.
SPEAKER_01: And so called the guy and he's like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What do you need?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, I need food.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, okay, it's a food bank.
SPEAKER_01: They need food.
SPEAKER_01: Great question, Neil.
SPEAKER_01: What do you need?
SPEAKER_01: Uh there ain't no off position on the genius switch here, kids.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, when do you need it?
SPEAKER_01: He said, as soon as possible.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, tomorrow's my day off.
SPEAKER_01: You think if these people voted Republican, they wouldn't be in so much need?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they should watch more Fox News programming and they wouldn't be.
SPEAKER_01: So I said, Yeah, I'll be there tomorrow with a load of food.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, We'll be here from 9 to 2.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'll get there.
SPEAKER_01: And so I go to get the church trailer, go to Sam's, three flat beds later, I'm loading it up.
SPEAKER_01: Arturo Santinz, a man in our church, walks by.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Pastor, you need help?
SPEAKER_01: Dude, I'm sweating like Mike Tyson in the spilling bee.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: We load it up.
SPEAKER_01: Got 500 pounds of rice on the back of the trailer, so it's pulling my truck up.
SPEAKER_01: I come by.
SPEAKER_01: I go to my house, I'm soaking wet.
SPEAKER_01: I go to my house and change, take a shower to go deliver the food.
SPEAKER_01: We go deliver food that gives us, it's an incredible facility.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, we give away clothing.
SPEAKER_01: We're the only place in Fortman County that gives away clothing for free.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, we'll probably be doing a men's clothing.
SPEAKER_01: We got lots of women's clothing.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get much men's.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, men's got those size 36 pants and they think they're gonna get back in them.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Just enjoy the 38th and give the other ones away.
SPEAKER_01: But I'll be hitting you up in January for all your clothes.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, and I don't want your junk.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want the stuff that's got tears in it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Don't be that guy.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: But I'll yell at you in January about that.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're standing there and we're we're helping them get it all loaded to give a tour, tell us about the process.
SPEAKER_01: And the guy says, So, what's happening at your church today?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: We're off today.
SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't say, Wade Burgess is home, enjoying a day.
SPEAKER_01: No, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel gives you the capacity to not let everybody know when you're doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: That's harder than doing the right thing sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes when you do the right thing, you're like sound the trumpet.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, You don't sound the trumpet.
SPEAKER_01: So in law said, Oh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I hadn't been there much today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've been at Sam's having strangers ask me, sir, what are you doing with all this food?
SPEAKER_01: If you help me unload three cases, I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01: No, somebody said, How do you get to get hey?
SPEAKER_01: The greatest thing that God does is not forgive you your sin.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, we're about done.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me?
SPEAKER_01: The greatest thing God does is not forgive you for your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Stop thinking about God just in terms of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: He gives you the capacity to learn from your sin and not sin that way anymore.
SPEAKER_01: This is the greatest thing about God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when the text says you must be perfect as your father is perfect, it's both a command and a promise.
SPEAKER_01: The Greek here is future indicative.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, uh, okay, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Uh hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, verse 48, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, think when I say the Greek is future indicative, I just say that so you'll know.
SPEAKER_01: You'll go to lunch today and go, our pastor is very smart, he has degrees.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: Future indicative, it indicates what the future is going to be like.
SPEAKER_01: I say it to myself like this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: The fact that he is gives us hope that we will be.
SPEAKER_01: The fact that he is perfect, it's a command and a promise.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the command, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, you therefore must be perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Command, as your heavenly father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: There's the promise.
SPEAKER_01: But because he is, we will be.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: The task is to see God's commands through the lens of his promise.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't see God's commands through the lens of his promise, it's just gonna feel like, oh my gosh, I'm pushing a boulder uphill.
SPEAKER_01: But if you see God's commands, see, some of you disqualify yourself from things God created you for.
SPEAKER_01: Because you hear, therefore, you must be perfect.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, were you watching this weekend, bro?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, he was.
SPEAKER_01: And the command is real.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, because the promise is real, the command is real.
SPEAKER_01: I told people this in marriage counseling.
SPEAKER_01: I told somebody last week, dude's like, is there any hope for us?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, how do I know?
SPEAKER_01: I said, when you start loving your wife like Christ loved the church, and she said, How do I know what he's doing?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Because he gives himself up for you.
SPEAKER_01: He says no to himself to say yes to you.
SPEAKER_01: And she started giggling, she said, That's hard for you, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Yeah, I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Because you're a selfish sinner.
SPEAKER_01: And he looked at me and he put his head down and he said, What'd you just say?
SPEAKER_01: You're damningly self-centered.
SPEAKER_01: You want what you want, and so does she.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all's marriage is like two ticks and no dog, you're just trading blood.
SPEAKER_01: But here's how you know.
SPEAKER_01: I said, He said, I said, I'm gonna talk about this on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, but our marriage.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm gonna talk about this thing.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is real.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta see the commands through the through the lens of his promise.
SPEAKER_01: God can so work in you, sir.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Yeah, I'm listening.
SPEAKER_01: God can so work in you, he can so work in you that all of a sudden you begin to give yourself up for your wife, and because you you don't need to be a better husband, you need to be a godlier man.
SPEAKER_01: And if you become a godlier man, your marriage will get better.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, how do you know?
SPEAKER_01: I said, when the tide comes in, all the boats get lifted.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, So there's hope.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely, there's hope.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and it's not, I'm gonna love my wife like Christ loved the church, whatever that means.
SPEAKER_01: It's nitty gritty.
SPEAKER_01: And give myself up for her.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I said, You seem a little disoriented.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, I don't even know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: And she reached over and put her hand on his shoulder and she goes, I got some ideas.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, and we'll be done on that note today.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: And they're walking out, and he said, I want to hear.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you're a bad guy.
SPEAKER_01: I think you want to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't think you come from a long line of men that do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, my family, I said, You're from a family of providers, not leaders.
SPEAKER_01: That you live in a big house doesn't mean you're doing all the right things.
SPEAKER_01: Because a big house appeals to a woman for a certain period of time, then she realizes we got more needs than a big house.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Yeah, I don't know what you mean by leaders.
SPEAKER_01: Provision is a part of leadership, it's not the sum total of leadership.
SPEAKER_01: And I said again, you gotta see God's commands through the lens of his promise.
SPEAKER_01: And when he says right here, what he says to them, what this principle applies here, when Jesus says you therefore must be perfect, don't hear that and be like, oh, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01: But because your father, your heavenly father, is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a Christian, the Bible says in Philippians 1 6, he who began a good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's never gonna leave you alone, he's never gonna stop working on you, in you, to change you.
SPEAKER_01: Again, and we're done.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did not come and go through all he went through just to forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's part of it.
SPEAKER_01: But look at me.
SPEAKER_01: He came to live inside of you by his spirit, and he gives you a capacity you've never had before.
SPEAKER_01: So my wife says to me on a Sunday afternoon, men, when the good football game is just now kicking off at 3 30, crazy, selfish, goofy things like, hey, do you want to go for a walk?
SPEAKER_01: I honestly just think, are you are you saved right now?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm on my couch, I got the remote, I got the air on 68, it's blackout curtains, and here comes my wife.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you want to go for a walk?
SPEAKER_01: And here is my gut level honest answer.
SPEAKER_01: Are you stupid right now?
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: I don't say that, ladies, don't email me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I just think to myself, what?
SPEAKER_01: I was in a room all by myself, and you came in here and introduced stupid into my equation.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: But I don't say that because she's smart.
SPEAKER_01: She says, you know, we got a DVR.
SPEAKER_01: You can record that game.
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me change.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, good man.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: How about she be a good woman and just shut up and leave me alone?
SPEAKER_01: Let me watch like eight hours of a that's my personal man fantasy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, yeah, because, and here's why uh I because I I don't just tell people in marriage counseling, well, I'm laying there on the couch in the dark with the remote, and I got my dog laying beside me, and my wife comes in, you want to go for a walk?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, happy clappy chihuahua, go away.
SPEAKER_01: I hear the voice.
SPEAKER_01: This is the this this is the capacity part.
SPEAKER_01: The voice of God says, Hey, this would be a great time to give yourself up for her.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then we get about half a block down the street, and she goes, Are you all here?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, give me about 50 more steps.
SPEAKER_01: And I am.
SPEAKER_01: I love her.
SPEAKER_01: I think she's sometimes she ain't right in the head.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but here.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't get married.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't marry my wife for her to meet my needs.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't.
SPEAKER_01: I married my wife to spend the rest of my life meeting her needs.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what she did?
SPEAKER_01: She married me to spend the rest of my life meeting my needs.
SPEAKER_01: So when she comes in the room, she says something, she expresses a need, I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: And so she didn't give me commands.
SPEAKER_01: She asked things of me.
SPEAKER_01: But I have the marriage I have, because I see my wife's needs through the lens of the promise of what it could be.
SPEAKER_01: And I stole that right from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Because when Jesus says right here in verse 48, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: You don't think, oh, there's just no way.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Because he is, you can be.
SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest, just relax.
SPEAKER_01: We like to teach the Bible, and then we give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: That's for your consideration, contemplation, lunchtime, conversation.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, just ask the Lord, Lord, what have my name on today?
SPEAKER_01: What do I need to think about?
SPEAKER_01: And spend the next minute thinking about it.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, our confession today is that enemy love is not language that we use.
SPEAKER_01: Because we practice enemy hate.
SPEAKER_01: We're competitive, we keep score, we like to win.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible's very clear when you live that way, you're losing, you're not winning.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, uh, do in us whatever you gotta do to change how we love and who we love.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you now for this halftime talk.
SPEAKER_01: Now we get to go out here and enjoy the rest of the game for your glory and our good.
SPEAKER_01: So we say thank you in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to give us a five star rating in review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our Circling Back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.