Love Your Enemies // Matthew 5:43-48

Join us as we continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:43-48

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen.
Thank you, brooklyn.
So much for bringing the word.
Y'all give her a hand.
I want to honor her.
Sorry, let me grab my tableover here.
How y'all doing tonight?
Fantastic, all right, wonderful, all right.
So let's, we are awake andready tonight.
So hard shift.
This intro is a little heavier.

(00:22):
I'm just going to warn you, butrecently we passed the
three-year anniversary for thewar in Ukraine, so some of you
might keep up with the news andknow exactly what I'm talking
about.
For those of you who don't,there's a really, really
terrible war going on, despiteyour views on it and our
involvement in it.
It's a horrible thing, and lotsof people are suffering from

(00:42):
some horrible stuff, and one ofpeople are suffering from some
horrible stuff, and one of thesestories about the terrible
things that have been going onin this war is that, just after
the invasion on February 28th of2022, in a small village and
I'm going to butcher thisChupakiva maybe, there was a
Russian soldier named Vadim, andthey had just invaded, and so
they were moving forward at avery rapid pace, and him and

(01:05):
some of his squadron weredriving around in a car that
they had stolen from one of thepeople that lived in that
village and as they're drivingaround, they see this
62-year-old man named OleksandrOleksandr, I believe and he's
riding his bike.
And so the soldiers are justfilled with bloodlust.
They don't even know whatthey're doing, they've been
thrust into this war and they'rejust ready for violence.

(01:26):
And so his buddies start tourge him on to shoot this
innocent bystander andultimately he does.
He shoots him and it kills himimmediately and at one level.
These type of events happenedall across the country,
especially in those first fewweeks of the war.
But what makes this one standout is that, after shooting,
alexander Vadim and his friendstried to get away on foot and

(01:48):
they actually got caught andthey were apprehended and then
ultimately, in May later thatyear, he stood trial for a war
crime.
And there's a point in thistrial and you can look it up and
this has all been documented.
He's standing before the judgeand he's also standing before
the man whom he killed'sgrieving widow, and he had

(02:09):
obviously come to terms withwhat he had done.
And he has this moment where helooks at the widow in the eye
her name was Katerina and hesays I acknowledge my blame,
will you please forgive me.
And in that moment you couldhear a pin drop in that room
because nobody knew what wasgoing to happen next.
And she looks him back in theeyes and gently but honestly

(02:30):
says hey, I feel sorry for you,but I just cannot forgive what
you've done.
So why am I telling you thatthis morning or tonight?
Rather Sorry, I preached onSunday, my time's off.
So why am I telling you thattonight?
Because the reality is, whileit might not have been something
to this extent, we have all hadpeople in our lives that have
hurt us, that have wounded us,that we would consider our

(02:52):
enemies.
It might have been a parent whowas supposed to be there, was
supposed to care for you, andleft.
Or it might have been a friendwho was supposed to have your
back, only to turn around andspread rumors or gossip.
It might be somebody who pickson you.
I don't know where you are, butI know that every single one of
us have had that situationhappen and we know what
Scripture says that we shouldforgive, that we should be

(03:13):
loving, but when rubber hits theroad, it's one of the hardest
things that we're called to do,and that is where we're at in
our series on the Sermon on theMount.
We're talking about Jesuscalling his followers to love
their enemies, and so what we'regoing to see is three things
specifically what he calls us todo so I kind of already spoiled
it loving their enemies.
Two, why he calls us to do it.

(03:35):
And then three, how we canactually follow through.
So what he calls us to do, whyhe calls us to do it and how we
can follow through.
So if you have your Bible,let's go ahead and open up to
Matthew, chapter 5, verse 43,what Brooklyn just read earlier.
We're going to walk backthrough it as you do that again
to just catch you up.
Maybe this is your first time,maybe you've been gone for a
couple weeks.
We have been walking throughthe Sermon on the Mount.

(03:55):
The Sermon on the Mount is acollection of Jesus's teachings
that he would have given.
Some people believe all at once, some people believe all at
once, some people believe amonghis ministry.
Whatever you believe, these arehis teachings on how his
followers are supposed to viewthe world, and he is giving not
just a way of doing things or alist of rules, but a completely

(04:16):
different way of viewing theuniverse, and you saw that in
the Beatitudes early on.
Everything that we think islike stuff that we should avoid.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,blessed are the meek, blessed
are the poor.
Rather, he says no, thosepeople have it good.
And then we've seen lately hey,you're supposed to be salt and
light, and these are all thesedifferent ways when it comes to
lust, when it comes to how wetreat people like Caden talked
about two weeks ago, notretaliating, just all of these

(04:39):
counter-cultural ideas of howJesus's followers are supposed
to be different from everybodyelse.
And tonight we get to how we'resupposed to be different when
it comes to how we treat ourenemies.
And so I'm going to readthrough that text real quick one
more time.
Verse 43 says you have heardthat it was said love your
neighbor and hate your enemy,but I tell you, love your
enemies and pray for those whopersecute you that you may be

(05:00):
children of your father inheaven.
He causes his son to rise onthe evil and the good and sends
rain on the righteous and theunrighteous.
If you love those who love you,what reward will you get?
Are not even the tax collectorsdoing that?
And if you only greet your ownpeople, what are you doing?
More than others Are not evenpagans doing that.
Then be perfect, therefore, asyour heavenly father is perfect,

(05:22):
and so would you pray with mereal quick, lord.
God, we thank you for your wordtonight and we pray that you
would help us to just see whatyou have for us, lord, that we
would be encouraged, we'd beconvicted, we would be called
closer to you and, lord, that wewould just be able to have open
hearts and ears to your truthtonight.
Lord, we love you, we praiseyou and praise things in Jesus
name.
And everybody said amen.
So little tip.

(05:44):
Whenever you're studying theBible and you don't really know
where to start, one of thethings I like to do is just ask
questions.
Right, how many times maybe?
You're in English class, theytell you the big five questions,
whatever who, what, when, where, why.
You ask those same questionswhen you're reading Scripture,
and you'll find a whole lot ofdetail and information, and then
you just start asking morequestions, and so that's a
method I like, and so let's juststart.

(06:05):
Right, who's saying this, jesus, and what is he saying?
Well, let's look at verse 43.
You have heard that it was saidlove your neighbor and hate
your enemy.
But I tell you love yourenemies and pray for those who
persecute you.
And so he's following the sameform from the past five weeks
where he quotes this OldTestament command.
And so for our purposes, thatwould be Leviticus 19.18, where

(06:26):
it says love your neighbor asyourself.
I am the Lord.
However, this time's a littlebit different, because there's
nothing in Leviticus 19.18 abouthating your enemy, right?
That's not in there.
In fact, that's nowhereexplicitly in the Bible.
In fact, a lot of people thinkthat this was kind of a popular
add-on, for how people wouldinterpret this verse Like they
would take love your neighbor iskind of like this patriotic I

(06:49):
don't know if you know what I'mtalking about here but like
nationalistic, like we're goingto love our fellow Israelites,
the people who are in our ethnicgroup in our country, and
everybody on the outside we'regoing to hate.
So we're going to love ourneighbor, we're going to stick
together.
And so Jesus is saying, hey,I'm going to flip that on its
head.
I tell you to love your enemies, right?

(07:10):
So I'm not just saying loveyour neighbor, I'm not just
saying not hate your enemies,I'm saying love your enemies and
pray for those who persecuteyou, which would be,
specifically people who wouldlike harm the Israelites.
Or, for Jesus's day, they wouldthink of the Romans, who were
the occupying force of the land,who would beat, abuse and steal
from the people who lived therejust because they were in

(07:30):
control.
And so what Jesus was reallydoing here is he was redefining
what they thought of as theirneighbor, because it was common
for Jesus' audience, and reallyus today, to define neighbor as
narrowly as possible.
I'll love the people that looklike me, that think like me,
that talk like me, that comefrom the same part of town as I

(07:53):
do, that believe the same thingsthat I believe and we do the
same thing.
Right, think about the lunchroomat lunchtime.
You look at the tables.
Who sits together?
Right, you have the sports kidsover here.
You have band kids over here.
You have the rednecks over here.
You have this over here, thatover here, everybody kind of
groups up with people that theyfind similar or people that they
feel like they click with.

(08:13):
Right.
You go to a little bit laterand you start to become friends
with the people that you shareactivities with.
Right, I'm friends with peoplethat I do sports with, or I'm
friends with the people that Iwork with.
Like we tend to have thistendency to group up into these
little bubbles.
But Jesus says, no, yourneighbor isn't just the people
that you click with, saying hey,everyone is your neighbor, even

(08:34):
your enemy, right, because theenemy is the opposite.
Like that's the furthest awayfrom whom these people would
consider their neighbor, likethis is the opposite end of the
spectrum.
So what he's in fact saying isthat everybody is your neighbor,
which then forces us toredefine what Jesus means by
love.
Because, for us, we think aboutlove as this emotion.
Right, we view love as a way wefeel about people that we

(08:57):
really like, the way we feelabout people that have something
to add to our lives or thatmake us laugh or provide some
benefit.
Like it's a feeling, it'semotion.
That's why we use these phrasesfall out of love or fall into
love or, you know, I just can'thelp but love this person
because we think of it like anemotion.
But for Jesus, love isn't aboutbeing kind to people who are

(09:19):
like you or who are already yourfriends or who feel safe to be
around.
Real love cares about peoplewho seem difficult, different or
even scary to you, because thetrue test of love is not how we
treat people outside our issorry.
Let me restart, because thetrue test of love is how we
treat people outside our comfortzone, not just the ones inside

(09:42):
of it.
And so ask yourself who is thatfor you?
Who's outside of your comfortzone that, if you're honest,
you're very happy to leaveoutside?
Maybe it's the person at yourschool who's rude to you, the
person who gossips, the personwho starts rumors right, the kid
who everybody thinks is a bully.
Maybe it's the person you findyourself constantly competing
with.
This is Bernie.

(10:04):
Everybody's trying to beat eachother academically.
I got to have the highest classrank.
I got to get into thisorganization.
I got to get into this school.
I got to get this spot on theteam.
I got to get this spot on theband.
Maybe it's the athlete from theschool across town.
Maybe it's the person in yourclass who very vocally hates
Christians and everything westand for.
Maybe it's a parent, a familymember, a faculty teacher, coach

(10:26):
.
But just ask yourself, who inyour life do you view as your
enemy?
And then understand that ifyou're a follower of Jesus, he's
calling you to love even themand we'll talk more about this
here in a few moments.
But love is not a feeling, sohe's not just saying, hey, you
need to somehow change yourfeelings, but it's an action,
it's something that you go do,it's a choice.

(10:47):
And specifically he gives theexample here of pray for those
who persecute you.
And so, whoever that is, whatwould that look like?
To just start praying for thatperson?
And it'd be hard.
If we're honest, there's peoplein our lives where the thought
of me praying for that personmakes me like gag a little bit
in my mouth.
But the key is, prayer changesus and as you do that, you'll

(11:08):
notice God will soften yourheart towards that person and
you'll be completely changed.
And that doesn't mean it willnecessarily change them, but
that's not the point.
And so I'll say what I saidearlier.
I know this is one of thehardest things that we can
possibly do loving our enemies,because you might not feel like
that person deserves a lot oflove.
But the truth here is that whenJesus here in a moment, gives
us we talked about what he'stelling us to do when he gives

(11:31):
us the why, it makes everythingclick right.
And so let's go back to verse 44.
Jesus says but I tell you, loveyour enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you maybe children of your Father in
heaven.
He causes his son to rise onthe evil and the good and sends
rain on the righteous and theunrighteous.
So notice what Jesus doesn'tsay here.
He doesn't say, hey, love yourenemies so that they'll become

(11:54):
your friends.
He doesn't say, hey, kill themwith kindness and they can't
stay mad at you.
He never makes any sort ofpromise or any sort of statement
that says, hey, if you lovethem well enough, then they
might be nice to you or theymight, you know, come to faith.
He just simply says, hey, lovethem.
Why?
To be like your Father inheaven.
See, he's not calling hisfollowers to a love that depends

(12:17):
on circumstances or anythingelse.
He's calling them to do good totheir enemies, despite
circumstances or results orreally anything that has to do
with that person.
And that reason is exactly whathe said because you're to be
like your father in heaven.
And so, see, that's the type oflove that Jesus had.
And he goes into this exampleabout bringing rain and sunshine

(12:39):
.
You're like, what in the worlddoes rain and sunshine have to
do anything?
But the example is that God isso loving that he has this thing
called common grace that evenfor the wicked, even for the
person who wants nothing withhim, he still lets him live.
He sustains the systems thatkeep his heart beating and his
lungs turning oxygen tosomething the body can use.
He gives us all the chance toexist, even if we don't choose

(13:01):
them, because he is loving andbeyond even just common grace.
Romans, chapter 5, verses 6through 8, says you see, at just
the right time, when we werestill powerless, christ died for
the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die fora righteous person, though for
a good person, someone mightpossibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his ownlove for us in this.

(13:21):
While we were still sinners,Christ died for us.
And then to skip down intoverse 10, for if, while we were
God's enemies, we werereconciled to him through the
death of his son, how much more,having been reconciled, shall
we be saved through his life?
See, god's love for us was notbecause, hey, we were trying

(13:42):
really hard.
Like man, he went to church.
You know he meant well, hemight have like slept in a
little bit and missed the firstpart.
You know, yeah, he makes a fewmistakes here and there, but he
really he felt bad about it,like that wasn't God's love.
God's love was we werecompletely separated from him.
We were dead in our sin.
We didn't even want him.
We were running in the oppositedirection.
We were actually the languagethe Bible uses is enemies of God

(14:04):
.
And in the middle of that hesent his son.
Jesus, lived a perfect life,died on the cross, took our
punishment, the death wedeserved by making and choosing
for us to be enemies of God.
He took that so that we can gethis reward.
And so when you see and startto understand, hey, that is
God's incredible, justabsolutely mind-blowing love.

(14:26):
And scripture calls us hischildren.
He's our father.
There's this reality thatchildren look like their parents
.
And so if you look at our kids,christine and I if you've seen
Leighton, you probably haveshe's probably like run up to
you and like asked for foodbecause she loves to mooch off
people.
Or if you've heard Michaelscreaming because he doesn't
have food in his hands, becausethat is also something he does

(14:48):
very often, you know that theylook like us.
Leighton is Christine's mini-meand Michael is my mini-me.
Now let me ask you Satan isChristine's mini-me and Michael
is my mini-me.
Now let me ask you do they looklike us so that they can be our
kids?
Like is their appearance whatmakes them our kids?
No, that is who they are.
They were born that way.
Their identity is what leads tothat appearance.

(15:10):
And in the same way, when wetalk about being children of God
, there's this truth that whenwe place our faith in Jesus as
our Lord and Savior, we trust inwhat he did for us on the cross
, trust that it's enough toforgive us of our sins.
Scripture says that you areborn again, that the old you is
dead and gone and that you are anew creation in Christ.
And as a new creation in Christ, you become a child of God.

(15:31):
And that is who you are.
And because that is who you are, you then live out those
characteristics.
Right?
Those characteristics don'tmake you his kid.
The fact you are his kid iswhat leads to those popping up
in your life, because you wantto be like the God who loved you
.
And so, if you're a Christian,your motivation to love your

(15:54):
enemy has nothing to do withwhat that person's done.
Right?
That parent that you have agrudge against, that friend,
that kid at your school, lovingthem.
Forgiving them has nothing todo with them, how they act, how
they respond to theircircumstances, but rather it's
motivated by your desire, ifyou're a Christian, to be like
the God who loved you enough tosave you when you were his enemy

(16:17):
.
And so, yes, loving our enemiesis hard.
It sounds impossible, but itbecomes a whole lot more
possible and it makes a wholelot more sense when you
understand it's got a whole lotless to do with that person and
a whole lot more to do with agood God who's that exact same
way and we're living out hischaracteristics.
In fact, this is one of theways that you can be assured

(16:39):
that you belong to him, not thatany one moment you're going to
be perfect or that you're alwaysgoing to have the easiest time
ever forgiving people, but ifyou look at over time, hey, I am
growing in God's direction, I'mgrowing into his image.
You have assurance that, okay,I know I'm one of his because
I'm starting to see the fruit.
So, that being said, it's onething to know what you're
supposed to do love your enemiesit's another thing to know why.

(17:02):
So that you can be like yourfather in heaven, so that you
can be like God, reflect him tothe world around you.
But the real question then, fora lot of us is okay, well, how?
Sing them a song, bring themsome chocolates, give them some
roses?
What does it actuallypractically look like to love my
enemy?
What if this person wantsnothing to do with me?
What if this person doesn'tknow I exist?
Well, thankfully, jesus landswith some negative examples that

(17:24):
I think we're actually going toget some practical application
from.
So we're going to finish verse46 through 48.
46 says this if you love thosewho love you, what reward will
you get?
Are not even the tax collectorsdoing that?
And if you greet only your ownpeople, what are you doing more
than others?
Do not even pagans do that.
Be perfect, therefore, as yourheavenly father is perfect.

(17:46):
And so Jesus actually givesthree negative examples.
One he says basically, if youlove those who love you, what
reward will you get?
And so it's this idea of I'monly gonna love the people that
love me back, I'm gonna love thepeople that treat me well.
And he says are not even thetax collectors doing that?
Which tax collectors?
I won't go into it, but theywere seen as like really bad

(18:06):
people, and Jesus still reachedout to him Like he loved his
enemies and how he loved taxcollectors.
He's just using an example here, and in verse 47, he says if
you greet your own people, whatare you doing more than others?
Do not even pagans do that, andpagans are basically
unbelievers.
They don't believe in God.
So he's saying, hey, if thewhole call of this sermon is for
you to be different and you'reonly loving people that love you
and talking to people that wantto talk to you, you're not

(18:27):
different than anyone else.
I'm calling you to somethingmore.
And so if we flip those twoexamples on their head, one is
to love people that don't loveyou.
Back, right, and I'm not sayingthat you stay in an unhealthy
relationship or unhealthysituation, I'm not saying that
you grovel, but I'm saying, hey,that person who doesn't want
anything to do with you, thatperson who might have wounded

(18:48):
you deeply or who might not lookanything like you or talk
anything like you, how can youlove them If love is an action
like we talked about?
What's a way that you can servethem?
Is there a way that you canmeet their need?
That teacher who you alwayshave conflict with man, instead
of just talking about how muchyou can't stand them.
Is there a way you can help,like clean up after class?
Or is there a way that you canhelp to?
Hey, I'm gonna know, I'm goingto listen, I'm going to try to

(19:18):
make her life easier, I'm goingto follow the rules, whatever it
is.
How can you actually step out inlove to someone who has no
desire to give that back to you?
That's selfless, right?
I think about my love forLeighton.
Like Leighton can make me laugh, and she can, you know she can
make me smile.
But or let me use Michael, forexample.
Like he ain't doing the dishes,right.
Like he's not going out.
Like clocking in at his nine tofive to help pay rent right,
he's a baby.
He throws up and pees and poopsand sleeps and screams when I

(19:41):
don't give him food.
But I still love him, andthat's the picture of our
father's love for us is it's notcontingent on something that
that person's gonna give me backbecause we have nothing to
offer God Yet.
So because we have nothing tooffer God.
So we wrap our heads aroundthis idea of how can I reach out
to people who have nothing tooffer to me.
They're not going to help meclimb the social ladder.
They're not going to help meget ahead in my school, they're

(20:02):
not going to necessarily help meget into the club I want to get
into, but I want to love thembecause God calls me to and I
want to be a light to them.
So then, secondly, it's to greetthose who don't greet you.
If Jesus says, hey, you know,part of this is, if you're just
greeting people who greet you,that's wrong.
Well then flip that on its head.
What would it look like togreet people who don't greet you
and you're like, okay, so Ijust go around and say hi to

(20:24):
people.
But see the idea behind thiswhen we're talking about
greeting someone, what is that?
You're initiating conversationwith them, you're opening a door
to a relationship to hopefullyget to know them better, to get
to learn about who they are,what they've been through, and
so, to apply this, think aboutare there people in your life
who maybe they're notnecessarily your enemy, like

(20:45):
there's no animosity to them,but maybe they're just never
gonna necessarily be in the samesocial circle?
That you are right.
They're the person new toschool, just moved here, doesn't
have any friends, has noconnection.
How can you practically justreach out and start that
conversation with them.
We would call this and this isone of our key values in the

(21:05):
youth ministry inviting othersin right, have that conversation
with them.
And it doesn't have to be crazy, you don't have to like drop,
hey, I'm going to share thegospel with you in 15 seconds,
right now, maybe, but maybe it'sjust through hospitality.
And what hospitality is, guys,is it's inviting people into our
world.
If you're a Christian, it'slike hey, do you want to come to
church with me?
No pressure, I'm not expectingyou to get saved tonight, but I

(21:28):
just want you to come and take astep into our world and see
what it's like.
And when they're here, you lovethem, you make them feel
welcome, you make them feel likethey belong here, like they're
heard.
Guys, that's how the earlychurch blew up, is they just
brought people into their worldand as they did that, they saw
something that the rest of theworld didn't have to offer.
They saw a kindness, they saw agentleness, right, imagine if

(21:50):
the person you have the mostanimosity with, all of a sudden,
you come up to them hey, Iwanna like apologize, I wanna
make this right.
I'm gonna treat you better thananybody else.
What do you think they're gonnathink?
Man, something's differentabout that person, like
something's different aboutConnor, like he actually like
cared about me, he actuallytried to fix things.
Like, why is he different?
Why does nobody else treat methat way?
And it opens the door allthrough just starting that

(22:11):
conversation and initiating thatrelationship, and so we'll
close with this.
The question would be well, whatabout that very last line right
, be perfect, as your heavenlyFather is perfect?
Is Jesus preaching sinlessperfection, that in order to get
into heaven, we have to doeverything right, we have to
check all the boxes, and if youmess up, even once you're out of

(22:33):
there, well, no, you read therest of the Bible.
It's very clear.
That's not how Jesus viewedthings.
That's not how any of hisapostles viewed things.
I don't believe in this passagethat Jesus is calling for
sinless perfection.
Scripture is clear, 1 John,that we are going to have sin on
this side of heaven.
But I also think that Jesus ismore than just using this sermon

(22:53):
to paint a picture that youneed him Like.
Sometimes people will paintthis of like.
Yes, he gives all of theseimpossible ideas so that you
realize you can do none of thiswithout him, and there is an
element where he's trying to getyou to see your need for
dependence on him.
However, to say that's all he'sdoing would mean none of the
stuff he just said actually madeany difference, which would be
a colossal waste of time.
So he obviously has somemeaning in these commands on

(23:16):
lust and oaths and retaliationand all that sort of stuff.
So then the question is what inthe world is he talking about?
This whole section, right?
We're wrapping up a big chunk ofthe Sermon on the Mount tonight
.
What is the point?
Well, to understand, you haveto know that the Greek word for
perfect is often also translatedmature, whole or complete.

(23:36):
See, jesus is calling us togrow into the kind of people who
reflect God's love ineverything that we do.
He's not just giving a set ofrules here, as if you could ever
perfectly obey them.
Rather, he is setting an idealbefore his followers.
He's saying hey, this is whatthe kingdom of God looks like.
This is God's heart.
Do you notice how he's donethat?

(23:57):
Every single time, he said hey,this is the law, but here's
God's heart in giving it.
This is the reason why becauseGod cares about other people.
God cares about how we treatpeople.
God cares about how we keep ourword.
God cares about all these sortsof things, and so what he's
doing is he's giving us thispicture of God's heart and
setting it before us, and he'scalling us to it.

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And the truth is that when youplace your faith in Jesus, you
receive the Holy Spirit and nolonger is it you just trying to
climb and run after God, but Godis holding on to you and
through the power of the HolySpirit, he cleans you up little
by little, changing you intosomeone who can actually live
out this type of life Maybe notperfectly on this side of heaven
, but over time, will grow intosomebody who is not mastered by

(24:44):
lust, who is honest and keepstheir integrity, keeps their
word, who treats other peoplewell.
Actually grow into that type ofperson and see these people are
being called to be different.
His followers us as hisfollowers.
If you're a Christian, you'recalled to be different, but not
different by just howdisciplined or how moral you are
, different by your allegiance.

(25:05):
Right, you're not a slave tothis world.
You're not a slave to theculture, a slave to what people
think.
You are a servant of the God ofthe universe.
Yahweh, you're a servant ofJesus and as you are his servant
, you become his child, and tobe his child is to love him and
to look like him.
We're called to want his heartthat's the whole point of this

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to align our will and align ourheart with what he sees the
world as and how he views it,not to just try and squeeze God
into this box.
If I want him to look like thetype of God I want him to look
like, and as you do that, he'llchange you from the inside out.
But all of it begins withbecoming his child, and I'll
close with this.
We're about to pray, but thetruth is none of this is

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possible without first becominghis child.
You cannot be a source of loveto others without having a
source of love yourself, and werun to so many different things
to be a source of love and asource of life.
We run to another broken guy orgirl.
We run to so many differentthings to be a source of love
and a source of life.
We run to another broken guy orgirl.
We run to a sport.
We run to our parents.
As great as they might be, theycan't fill that hole.

(26:09):
We run to inclusion in a group,we run to money, we run to
distraction, you name it.
We run to all these sources butultimately they are wells that
will run dry very quickly andleave you empty and lacking.
And, guys, there's no amount ofself-help, there's no amount of
willpower that's going to beable to build those bridges back

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or mend those wounds that we'veall faced from people when
they've hurt us.
It's just God, it's just arelationship with him, changing
your heart from the inside out,and it's resting in the fact
that we have a God who's notsitting up in heaven ready to
throw a lightning bolt at us,ready to just smite us the
second we mess up, but a God wholoved us so much that he sent

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his son to die for us, lived aperfect life that we could have
never lived right.
He's the one person in all ofhumanity to actually have earned
heaven.
Yet at the end of his life hedied on a cross and it wasn't an
accident.
He didn't stumble intoJerusalem and get hung.
He chose to go to the cross.
Why he despised the shame ofthe cross, for the glory set
before him that was you and me,because he loved you, and he

(27:18):
didn't just love your potential.
He didn't just love a fewthings about you and he didn't
just love your potential.
He didn't just love a fewthings about you.
He's God.
He knows every single detail,every thought you've ever had,
every secret that you wish youcould take to your grave,
everything that you wish.
Nobody knew about you, all ofthe fears and insecurities that
you worry.
If anybody ever found this outabout me, they would reject me,
they'd cast me out.
And the offer of God is to befully known and fully loved, not

(27:44):
for the image you put up, notfor the appearance you project,
but for the fact that he lovesyou because he chose to, he
created you in his image.
He wants you to have arelationship with him, and
resting in that then allows youto be able to offer that love to
other people, even the personthat you feel like you could

(28:05):
never forgive.
That.
The bitterness and the angerfrom that relationship just
weighs you down day and day andday and day.
You can be set free, but itstarts with becoming his child.
And so here, in a moment, we'regoing to go to small groups and
we're going to have discussionand all that sort of thing.
But if that's you and you say,hey, I need to make that
decision.
I'm not a child of God we liketo throw that term around.

(28:27):
Not everybody is children of God.
In fact, biblically there's twocategories children of the
devil and children of God.
And the thing is with sin.
We are all born broken, we areall born in sin and we all start
out on the other side of theequation.
But in his mercy, he gives usthe option to place our faith in
him and be saved and become hischildren.
So if you've never done that,that's the first step, and so
I'd encourage you find a leader,have that conversation.

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Let us walk through that withyou, because you're not supposed
to do it alone.
Or maybe you just say, hey, Ineed to talk about somebody that
I need to forgive, or somebodythat I need to make a plan to
actually love this person andtry to mend that bridge, or
whatever.
But I just encourage you here'swe go to small groups, let's
have those discussions.
Don't just hold on to it.
Don't try to figure it out onyour own.
It's not what we're meant to do.
So I'm going to pray for us andwe're going to small groups.

(29:09):
All right, lord, god, we thankyou so much for who you are and
all that you've done.
We thank and Lord that throughyour love, we're able to offer
that love to other people, god,even the people that have hurt
us, even people that havewounded us.
Lord, that that we can turnaround and we can love them,
despite how they act or whatthey've done, or the

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circumstances or anything else.
And, god, I pray you would giveus the ability and the courage
to actually walk that out thisweek.
If we need to have aconversation we leave here, give
us the give us the words andthe courage to actually walk
that out this week.
If we need to have aconversation when we leave here,
give us the words and thecourage to do that, lord,
because we want to be your salt,your light in the world around
us.
And, father, if there'ssomebody in the sound of my
voice right now that is not yourchild and they know, hey, I

(29:54):
need to make that decision wouldyou give them the boldness to
step out in that tonight, father?
Or maybe somebody who has, andthey need to take the first step
towards the waters of baptism,would you give them the boldness
to make that decision, whateverit be.
God, we just pray for courageand obedience to respond.
Lord, we love you and praiseyou.
We praise things in Jesus' nameand everybody said Amen.