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June 20, 2025 35 mins

Wesley Tenney-Free unpacks Paul’s exhortations in Romans 12.

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Let's hear the word of the Lord together.
Let love be genuine.
Hate what is evil.
Hold fast to what is good.
Love one another with mutualaffection.
Outdo one another in showinghonor.
Do not lag in zeal.
Be ardent in spirit.
Serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope.
Be patient in suffering.
Persevere in prayer.

(00:21):
Contribute to the needs of thesaints.
Extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you.
Bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice.
Weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with oneanother.
Do not be haughty, but associatewith the lowly.
Do not claim to be wiser thanyou are.
Do not repay anyone evil forevil, but take thought for what

(00:43):
is noble in the sight of all.
If it is possible, so far as itdepends on you, live peaceably
with all Beloved.
Never avenge yourselves, butleave room for the wrath of God.
For it is written vengeance ismine.
I will repay, says the Lord.
No, if your enemies are hungry,feed them.
If they are thirsty, give themsomething to drink, for by doing

(01:04):
this you will heap burningcoals on their heads.
Do not be overcome by evil, butovercome evil with good, the
word of the Lord.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Thanks be to God.
Thank you, ian.
Holy Spirit, give us eyes tosee, ears to hear and tongues of
fire to proclaim your word.
Amen.
Good morning church.

(01:36):
When I opened up the scripturepassage for this week, I was met
with a slight surprise.
Our passage begins with adirect three-part instruction
Let love be genuine.
Hate what is evil, hold fast towhat is good.
This passage surprised mebecause it just happened to be a

(01:57):
Bible verse I've been trying toreckon with in my own faith
life over the past few yearsGod's funny that way
Particularly the instruction tohate what is evil.
I'll be honest, I've used thisverse as an excuse at times.
There are a few passages in ourscriptures that lend themselves
so easily, when taken out ofcontext, to justify righteous

(02:19):
anger and establish ourselves asholding a moral high ground
Hate evil.
It feels incredibly simple andparticularly relevant when the
world around us is so full ofwrongdoing.
But if one pauses for a momentand reflects on either of those
two words, the verse begins tofeel a little more opaque.

(02:42):
What is evil exactly?
And is Paul, by inspiration ofthe Holy Spirit, really
uplifting hatred as a virtue?
What would that do to our souls?
This past week, like the pastfew years has felt unusually
full of political shock.
From immigration raids andcitywide protests to threats of
wider war in the Middle East andmilitary parades in our

(03:05):
nation's capital.
The devil has crammed a lot ofsuffering and confusion into
like six days and I know I'm nottelling you all anything new.
Maybe you came to church thismorning in hopes of a reprieve
from these things, and I fullyunderstand this desire.
I respect that.
But I assure you a reprievethrough dissociation is only

(03:25):
going to be temporary.
A healthier approach, if youhave the bandwidth to join me
this morning, is to processthese things with God, not to
spiritually bypass them.
This, I hope, is what we canbegin to do together in the next
30 minutes.
My aim this morning is to helpus begin clinging to goodness a

(03:48):
genuine, authentic love possiblein Christ.
So, with care and gentleness,let's dive in.
Hate what is evil.
This is an emphatic admonitionto us church.
Paul uses strong vocabulary hereHating literally apo.
Stugontes means to positiononeself away.

(04:12):
Apo, in disgust and loathing.
Stugontes Paul applies it to aword for evil, paneros.
That references evil's effectsand felt power in the world, its
injury toil harm For my graphicdesigners or physicists in the
room.
You can consider panairos likea vector quantity for evil.

(04:33):
It has a direction to it, avelocity.
To complicate matters, the rootof the former word for hatreds,
digontes, only appears oneother place in our scriptures,
in Titus 3, among a list ofvices one should avoid.
So what the heck is Paul doinghere?
What is he suggesting?
Why the strong language?

(04:54):
It feels to me like Paul isutilizing this language for two
reasons.
First, the wording works wellas an antonym to the following
phrase hold fast or cling towhat is good, as opposed to be
turned away from and discussed.
Paul identifies two differentdirections.
We can will our emotions and hematches them with words of

(05:17):
equal intensity and velocity.
Second, I want to suggest thatPaul is being realistic, having
seen both sides of persecutionhimself, the giving and the
receiving of it.
Paul was no stranger to stronghatred.
He knew its power personallyand had fallen for the enemy's
temptations in it.
He knew the facade benefits ofhatred for both the oppressor

(05:41):
and the oppressed.
If you've been feeling deepanger in your bones at what's
going on in the world, thenplease know this language is for
you.
Paul knows you're burning.
May you feel seen by the HolySpirit in these verses.
Our culture, I've noticed, seemsto have two competing

(06:03):
narratives for hatred.
The first is to outright rejectit.
Hating, I've noticed, seems tohave two competing narratives
for hatred.
The first is to outright rejectit.
Hating, in this view, is wrongunder any circumstance, since it
is an act of the will whichnecessarily corrupts the agent.
Any Star Wars fans in the roomyeah, I see a couple.
Ooh, force be with you, mer,and I have been watching through
this franchise.

(06:24):
We just finished the Clone WarsTV show.
It's pretty good.
But this view of hatred isexactly what Star Wars suggests.
Take, for example, jedi MasterYoda's famous quote Fear is the
path to the dark side, fearleads to anger, anger leads to
hate, hate leads to suffering.
Juxtapose this with thetempting exhortation from the

(06:46):
bad guy Sith Lord Sidious, laterin the series Good, use your
aggressive feelings, let thehate flow through you, give you
power.
The franchise as a whole positsthat any use of hatred, any use
at all, is necessarily anembrace of evil.
And Star Wars isn't alone.
As I mentioned above.

(07:09):
Even the Book of Titus liststhis as a vice.
One particular thinker I want touplift from this narrative is
Howard Thurman, an influentialmystic and pastor from this past
century who held the deepundercurrent to the United
States' civil rights movement.
Raised by his grandmother, whowas a slave and pastorally the

(07:30):
mentor of MLK Jr, thurmanencountered the temptations of
hatred frequently and he writesa whole chapter on it in his
book Jesus and the Disinherited.
This text was itself written inthe context of challenging
conversations Thurman had beenhaving with Gandhi in India, who
was suspicious ofChristianity's capacity for

(07:51):
recreating caste systems and wascurious why Thurman would so
deeply believe in the God ofthose who had enslaved his
family.
Thurman describes hate as oneof those hounds of hell that dog
the footsteps of thedisinherited, in season and out
of season.
Hatred often begins in asituation in which there is

(08:13):
contact without fellowship,contact that is devoid of any
primary overtures of warmth andfellow feeling and genuineness.
To put this in Paul's terms ofour scripture today, hatred
would be void of the mutualaffection verse 10, and the
hospitality we are to extend tostrangers verse 13.

(08:35):
It would be fully contrary togenuine, authentic love.
The header for our passage,thurman, continues to identify
hatred's development.
Contact without fellowshipleads to a lack of sympathy
between people, for I can onlysympathize when I see myself in
another's place.
The absence of sympathy enablesthe expression of ill will

(08:57):
between people, which becomesthe embodiment of hatred.
After long resentment andbitterness, hatred can become a
sense of vitality for a person,an energy shifting one's whole
personality, if you let it.
Star Wars shows this well inthe transformation of characters
to the dark side, where theycan even get new names,

(09:18):
reflective of their personalkinds of hatred.
Indeed, once a person begins tosource their vitality and sense
of self through hatred, hatredenables the conscience to, as
the prophet Isaiah woes, callevil good and good evil, put
darkness for light, and lightfor darkness put bitter for

(09:39):
sweet and sweet for bitter.
Thurman summarizes the effectas such.
Hatred destroys finally thecore of the life of the hater.
While it lasts burning in whiteheat, its effects seem positive
and dynamic, but at last itturns to ash, for it guarantees
a final isolation from one'sfellows.

(10:01):
It blinds the individual to allvalues of worth, even as
applied to oneself.
Hatred, by its essence,destroys, and this cannot be
from a God who bears life.
So again, what might Paul bedoing here?
The second cultural narrative Isee for hatred is where I think

(10:23):
Paul can give us a littleclearer guidance.
I'll summarize the narrative assuch If one does not hate evil,
one is complicit in evil.
Charges of complicity resoundover social media and indeed
here in our streets in Princeton.
This narrative for hatred is inmany ways what drove the
student encampments and counterprotests in our town,
multiplying the bad fruits ofxenophobia, particularly

(10:46):
anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
This narrative for hatred thatone will necessarily be on the
wrong side of history unless onedoes something against it has
helped radicalize a generationin one direction or another,
following the exact descriptionsof lost fellowship Thurman
names above.

(11:07):
It's a phenomenon of our timesthat children cut off parents
and siblings cease to speak withone another because of
political difference, because ofa felt immorality or power of
evil upon our oss influencingthe other.
This is not the kind ofauthentic love Paul uplifts for
us in our passage to live inharmony with one another, to, if

(11:30):
possible, so far as it dependson you, live peaceably with all.
No, this kind of narrative forhatred that threatens complicity
has in many ways beendistortedly warped by the devil.
For one, it condemns, and weknow from earlier in Romans 8
that there is now nocondemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus.

(11:50):
So if this hatred isauthentically loving, it should
be empty of any condemnationfrom the Christian's mouth.
That's a good first check forus church.
Are we condemning others?
If so, our love is not genuine.

(12:13):
A pure hatred of evil will notbeget condemnation.
So what does it mean to hateevil?
Is hatred not that which birthsevil, that which condemns us to
complicity in the complex sinsof our times?
Or rather, is hating evilmerely to recognize evil for

(12:37):
what it is, namely the undoing,the nothingness, the lacuna
exposed in separation from God?
I want to suggest to you allthis morning that, for Paul,
hate is the proper affection,emotion one feels in response to
this separation from God.
Hate is the emotion ofperishing, of depravity, of
chaos, of sin exposed in evil.
It is what we should feel whenwe encounter the vectors of

(13:01):
injury, toil and harm.
When we see evil for what ittruly is and by this I mean how
it's, that which is not of God,we should feel some repulsion, a
distancing of sorts away fromthis lacuna and back into the
loving arms of the Father, theone who is the source of all

(13:25):
that is, of all life, of allcreativity, abundance, existence
, virtue, goodness, the one whoheals injury, calms toil, bears
peace.
Truly, paul highlights thedirectionality of hatred from
evil and to goodness in God.
Hatred in this sense is amarker of genuine, authentic

(13:46):
love, for it pushes us back intomutual affection for one
another Literally Philadelphiain the Greek familial love,
brotherly love and supports usin holding fast to what is good.
Hence Paul writes to us howauthentic love, hatred of evil,
holding fast to what is goodnecessarily results in blessing

(14:06):
those who persecute you verse 14.
Associating with the lowlyverse 16.
Offering hospitality tostrangers verse 13.
And not repaying anyone evilfor evil, verse 17.
Indeed, paul goes so far as toquote Proverbs 25, 21.
If your enemies are hungry,feed them.
If thirsty, give them somethingto drink, for by doing this,

(14:30):
you heap burning coals on theirheads.
That's how we are to satisfythe burning of hatred within us,
church.
A purifying kindness for thosewho've brought us harm.
Nevertheless, the concern ofTitus Thurman, star Wars,
remains.
What does this hatred do to thesoul?
The critical distinction churchlies in where hatred directs

(14:54):
our attention.
Does the vitality energy ofhatred originate from evil or in
cleaving to God's goodness?
In his earlier letter to thePhilippians, paul exhorts us,
brothers and sisters whatever istrue, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just pure pleasing,whatever is commendable, if

(15:15):
there is any excellence and ifthere is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things.
We are to turn towards the good, the true and the beautiful.
This is a good second check forus, church.
Are our hearts and mindscontinuing to dwell on evil?
If so, our love is not genuine.

(15:36):
A pure hatred of evil, rather,will turn us to God, and this is
precisely how chapter 12 ofRomans begins.
Verse 2 reads do not beconformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing ofyour minds, so that you may
discern what is the will of God,what is good and acceptable and

(15:58):
perfect.
This is God's will for us.
In our hatred of evil beloved,never avenge yourselves, but
leave room for the wrath of Godverse 19.
This is the whole point ofPaul's long list of virtues in
today's passage.
They are to give us guidelinesand boundaries to help see what
constitutes a genuine, authenticlove and, in turn, what it is

(16:21):
to, as the psalmist says, hatewith perfect hatred.
Over the course of my life, Idon't know how many times I've
heard others plainly tell meangry, give it to God, yet leave
unexplained how exactly to dothis.
It doesn't feel all that easy,after all, when the anger is

(16:41):
building up in my bones.
Giving anger to God and therebyignoring my anger is again a
form of unhealthy spiritualbypassing.
Similarly, I don't know howmany times I've seen this
theological cliche used tojustify the passive reception of
abuse.
Let me state this clearlychurch, if you're in a
circumstance of abuse, giving itto God means something tangible

(17:03):
.
God can empower you to pursuesafety and help If it is so
possible.
Paul writes in the prior verselive peaceably with all.
Paul and the Holy Spirit, whogave Paul these words,
recognizes the establishment ofhealthy boundaries.
Furthermore, simply giving evilto God or giving your hatred to

(17:27):
God does not justify politicalor systemic inaction.
We are not like Pilate to seethat we can do nothing than wash
our hands before the crowdsaying I am innocent, see to it
yourselves.
No, we are to be involvedpolitically and systemically.
The prophet Amos tells us, likePaul, hate evil and love good.

(17:48):
Next line establish justice inthe gate.
When we hate evil and love good, this is to have an effect on
the public realm in such a waythat renews the society around
us.
That's why Paul's list ofvirtues for us this morning has
so many one another's andinstructs us to extend
hospitality to strangers.

(18:11):
Hating evil and loving good is acommunal practice.
This is a third good check forus, church.
Are we bypassing our emotionsand circumstances in the name of
giving our hatred to God?
If so, our love is not genuine.
A pure hatred of evil, rather,will enable us to overcome evil

(18:32):
with good verse 21, and recoveran ability to love one another
verse 10.
Only when we've given ourhatred of evil to God genuinely,
tangibly, through the actionsPaul lists for us here.
Are we able to hate virtuously?
I'll repeat the concern whatabout our souls?
How does this kind of hatredaffect our formation?

(18:54):
To respond directly to thiscritique, hatred catalyzes a
kind of vitality.
Yes, hatred offers an energeticvivification and
self-actualization.
It does change our wholepersonality.
However, when truly given toGod, hatred does not catalyze
the energetic personality fromevil.

(19:15):
When truly given to God,hatred's power is directed
towards goodness.
God's goodness becomes the fuelfor how our personality shifts
and grows.
In this way, it repels us fromevil and helps us cling to the
good.
Its fruit indeed does look likezeal and being ardent in spirit

(19:38):
, yet nevertheless serving theLord.
Its emotions.
This is where the simplicity ofGod can be helpful.
It's a theological concept thatall these different parts of
god are the same.
God's love is god's mercy isgod's righteousness.
Godly hatred looks and feelslike all the other fruits of the

(19:59):
spirit.
It must beget love, joy, peace,patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulnessleness andself-control in our souls.
This is a fourth good check forus, church.
Do we feel like our souls aredeteriorating in sin?
Are we or others noticingbitterness in us?
If so, our love is not genuine.

(20:21):
A pure hatred of evil feelslike the peace of Christ and all
the other fruits of the HolySpirit.
If it helps, imagine the way akid might be repulsed by their
broccoli and turn joyfullytowards the chicken nuggets.
Their emotion is less about therepulsion, more about the yummy
bite they're about to take.

(20:41):
The same goes for our hatred ofevil it's less about the power
evil has over our lives and moreabout God's power over our
lives as such.
The author from Psalm 139 aboveimmediately writes, following
the claim to hate with perfecthatred, an invitation to God.
Search me, oh God, and know myheart.

(21:03):
Test, test me and know mythoughts.
See if there be any wicked wayin me.
Lead me in the way everlasting.
Again, do not be overcome byevil, but overcome evil with
good.
Church, verse 21.
I welcome you to invite God tosearch your hearts, for our God
Jesus Christ has indeed overcomeevil with good.

(21:26):
The Psalms encourage elsewhereyou who love the Lord hate evil.
He guards the lives of hisfaithful.
He rescues them from the handof the wicked Church.
God's got you, yes.
This brings us to the core ofan authentic love which hates
evil and clings to good, ourLord Jesus.

(21:49):
Have any of you ever wonderedhow to pray those angry psalms.
Again.
This is one of those things.
After being in church for along time, I've heard people
offer to me pray the psalms.
It brings the whole of youremotions before God, and I agree
this is true.
The psalms can do this, butnobody ever really explained to
me how to use the psalms for allmy emotions.

(22:12):
The cursing psalms, orimprecatory psalms as the
scholars call them, can at timesfeel wrong to pray.
If we're praying earnestly,however, our prayers do need to
be the whole of our experiences,including our hatreds, for our
prayer is our primary means oftaking on the mind of Christ and
becoming one with his spirit.
Our ability to pray these angrypsalms comes not from our own

(22:37):
will alone.
If the prayer is earnest, itcomes in the spirit, and these
psalms are the word of Godbreathed by the same spirit.
In this way, the psalms notonly bring the entirety of our
human experiences before God.
The psalms reveal how God hasbrought the entirety of God's
self before us in Christ.
At the end of our passage inRomans today, paul quotes the

(23:00):
song of Moses Moses' farewelladdress to the young nation of
Israel Vengeance is mine, I willrepay, says the Lord.
And indeed this is what happenson the cross.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, anotherdeeply faithful Christian from
this past century, a martyr ofthe Holocaust and no stranger to

(23:20):
hatred, himself writes in hisbook Life Together, insofar as
Christ is in us, the Christ whotook all the vengeance of God
upon himself, who met God'svengeance in our stead, we too,
as members of this Jesus Christ,can pray these psalms.
Church, we can pray honestlyand openly in our hatred of evil

(23:45):
, authentically giving it to Godthrough Jesus Christ, by
recognizing the sacrifice Christmade for us and becoming one
with him in it.
That's how we pray the angrypsalms.
We go before God because Godcame before us.
We can hate before God becauseGod poured out hatred of evil on
the cross.
Hate before God because Godpoured out hatred of evil on the

(24:09):
cross.
In praying these psalms, werecognize not only our own
emotions but the presence, thefullest depths of the
incarnation of Christ among us.
This is a beautiful mercy.
Romans 12 starts with this mercytoo.
By the mercies of God, paulinstructs us present your bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy andacceptable to God, which is

(24:32):
your spiritual worship.
This is the heart of the matter.
Church.
Only when we've sacrificedourselves.
In light of God's mercy has ourhatred been made complete?
First, in sacrificing our ownsenses of hatred and justice,
we've given it to God.
Well, we've given it to theproper agent for vengeance.

(24:53):
God will repay it, and actuallyGod already has on the cross.
We, church, are the body ofChrist.
This means we are a crucifiedpeople.
Christ's cross is the weightand the form of our prayers.
Second, church God has, inChrist's resurrection, hated

(25:17):
with perfect hate, fullyrepulsed from the powers of evil
, even evil unto death.
Christ overcomes Church.
Jesus is alive.
Jesus is alive.
The source of all life overcamethe loss of all life.
He hated evil in a way we nevercould.

(25:37):
He ended it.
It is finished.
He says have you noticed that inour weak attempts to hate evil,
we more often than notreplicate it?
Thurman noticed this Hatred, heconcludes, cannot be controlled
once it is set in motion Likefire beyond control that,

(25:59):
burning in our bones, setsablaze everything around us.
If proper hatred is that feltrecognition of the gap between
us and God, there's nothing wecan do to bridge that gap.
The first psalm tells us theway of the wicked will perish.
We must be humble to acceptthis.

(26:20):
Our imperfect hate, our attemptsto end perishing can only
replicate perishing.
Christ, though, bridges the gap.
God comes to us.
Only by Christ can hatredperish perishing.
Only by Christ can hatreduncoil toil, deprive depravity

(26:46):
of its power.
The only one who can bring anend to endings like sin and
death is the one who is thebeginning and the end.
Our Lord Jesus.
We, church, are the body ofChrist.
This means we are a resurrectedpeople.
Christ's victory is theperfection of our power to
overcome.
So, church, let's pivot.

(27:08):
Let love be genuine, hold fastto what is good.
Augustine writes Our hearts, oLord, are restless until they
rest in you.
It would be improper to readthis passage of Romans proclaim
for you all that good overcomesevil, yet leave untouched the
many ways Paul explores goodness.

(27:29):
So, church, if you would extendthe grace of listening to me
for just a little longer I knowI've covered a lot of territory
and depth.
I want to offer threereflections on how we might rest
in God by clinging to the goodand loving authentically.
First, romans 12 follows asimilar progression of thought

(27:51):
to what we read in Paul's firstletter to the Corinthians, in
the context of a discourse aboutthe church being the body of
Christ with many members andmany gifts.
1 Corinthians 12,.
Paul offers a list of ways thatlove appears when sincere.
1 Corinthians 12.
Paul offers a list of ways thatlove appears when sincere.
1 Corinthians 13.
Many of us are likely familiarwith this passage from weddings

(28:12):
or Hobby Lobby wall ornaments.
So it might sound empty at thispoint in our American culture,
but trust me, it can be apowerful reminder of God's
desire for us.
Love is patient, love is kind.
Love is not jealous norboastful.
Love is not arrogant nor rude.
It does not insist on its ownway.

(28:34):
Love does not rejoice in thewrong but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believesall things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends.

(28:54):
In Romans 12, 3-8, paulsimilarly writes of how we are
one body in Christ with manymembers and many gifts.
Then he offers the passagewe've explored this morning.
One biblical scholar expressedit this way they rewrote it a
little bit.
It's what they mean when theytalk about form criticism.
They like to play with the wayit looks on the page.

(29:14):
That looks a little bit morelike a Hobby Lobby wall ornament
than the first slide does.
But in all seriousness, thepower of this parallel is that
in both literary contexts,paul's exploration of love and
goodness operates as aqualifying measurement of our

(29:37):
life together as a church,community Prophecy, ministry,
teaching, exhortation,leadership, compassion these
gifts that Paul names for us inRomans 12, 8, that we explored
last week, are founded upon thesolid rock of Christ's love.
So this is a fifth good checkfor us, church.

(30:00):
Do our gifts in our lifetogether as a community, reflect
the actions Paul lists for usin these verses 9 through 13?
If not, then our love is notauthentic and our gifts are
false.
A pure devotion to goodnessexpresses itself in these
actions.
So I invite you to pause for amoment and reflect.

(30:22):
What are some gifts or talentsyou frequent?
Head over to the next slide.
Please, craig.
Name one or two, maybe writethem down Genuinely.
Take a moment for this.
You can think about them,identify them.
What's a gift or talent youfrequent?

(30:43):
Now run through this list ofactions.
Is your gift, say, teaching asan example?
Affectionate, honoring,diligent, zealous, joyful,
perseverant, prayerful, generous, hospitable?
Maybe one of these actions hasroom for growth?
I invite you to pray over thatawareness this week in your time

(31:08):
with God.
Second church.
I want to highlight that thesemarks of authentic love, made in
living sacrifice to God are ourspiritual worship, as it says
in 12.1.
So I ask, do we corporately canmove to question two, utilize

(31:28):
our gifts to draw out thesequalities of love from one
another?
So I ask you to pause againjust for another moment and
reflect.
Which of these qualities wouldyou like to see more of in our
church community?
Which of these qualities do youalready see our church doing

(31:48):
well?
Take a moment and write thatdown, or leave a note for
yourself.
Mentally.
I invite you to pray over thatawareness this week as well,
maybe with a prayer partner fromour church.
That's a way we can pursue thegood together and cling to it.

(32:11):
I want to invite the worshipteam forward.
Third and finally, church.
I want to offer us a chance todwell in the goodness of perfect
, authentic love, to practicewhat we've explored this morning
.
I invite you to identify amemory that was truly good and

(32:34):
beautiful.
Maybe it's that delicious smellof homemade cooking from when
you were a child, that fun beachtrip you took with friends back
in college.
Maybe, fathers, it's that firstmoment you held your kid Happy
Father's Day.
Once you have that memory, Iinvite you to pray and welcome

(33:01):
Christ's Spirit to it, sogenuinely.
Let's take a second for that.
I want to give you a minute.
Identify that memory, openhands, offer it to God.

(33:28):
Can you notice God's presenceanywhere in it?
How is God holding you in thebeauty of this memory?
Now listen, listen to God.

(33:52):
If you could describe God'spresence in one word what?
would it be mine's beauty.

(34:14):
Anybody else have some words?
Feel free to share them out.
Loving Steady.
Enveloping, Enveloping yes, thischurch is authentic.

(34:42):
Love, steady, enveloping,beautiful.
This is how we overcome evil.
Practice listening for God'spresence in the midst of the
good, the true, the beautiful,those sweet memories, those
sweet moments with God likethese that we explored together.

(35:02):
Then, when you're ready, Iinvite you to do the same in
circumstances that aren't asnecessarily full of love, those
ones that initiate that feelingof hatred in our bones, and
don't dwell on the evil in thosecircumstances, but search for
the Father's loving arms.
Get to know God's presence.

(35:24):
Listen for how the Holy Spiritmay be moving us into redemptive
, resurrected life together.
Listen for the sweetness ofGod's words in those memories.
No-transcript.
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