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Touching Lives with James Merritt

James Merritt - Perfect Love

January 5, 2025 | S25:E1

James Merritt - Perfect Love
Touching Lives is the international broadcast ministry of Dr. James Merritt.
#Enemy #Love #Challenges #Religion #Trials-HardTimes #SpiritualGrowth #LoveyourNeighbor #inActive #TouchingLiveswithJamesMerritt #JamesMerritt

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Touching Lives with James Merritt | James Merritt - Perfect Love | January 5, 2025
  • ...
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  • Male announcer: welcome to the international broadcast
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  • Ministry of "touching lives" with dr. james merritt.
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  • Here at "touching lives," our mission is to touch the lives of
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  • The lost and enrich the faith of the found.
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  • And now, here is pastor, author, and speaker, dr. james merritt.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • James merritt: i came across an online article with a title,
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  • "ten tips for life's greatest challenge."
  • 00:00:30.045 --> 00:00:33.482
  • And those kind of things always intrigue me.
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  • And so i thought, "okay, what does this person think is
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  • The greatest challenge that we face in this life?"
  • 00:00:39.822 --> 00:00:42.858
  • Now, you may have a different opinion than what this man said,
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  • But i think you would agree it has to be right up there
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  • At the top.
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  • Do you know what he said life's greatest challenge is?
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  • He said it in three words: love your enemy.
  • 00:00:58.173 --> 00:01:02.644
  • Can you imagine telling a family who lost a loved one in 9/11 to
  • 00:01:02.644 --> 00:01:08.450
  • Love osama bin laden?
  • 00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:10.752
  • Can you imagine telling the parent who lost a first grade
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  • Child in a school shooting to love the murderer?
  • 00:01:15.324 --> 00:01:19.094
  • Can you imagine telling a woman who's been sexually abused and
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  • Assaulted to love the abuser?
  • 00:01:23.732 --> 00:01:26.668
  • Can you imagine telling a now single mother of four young
  • 00:01:26.668 --> 00:01:30.873
  • Children to love her ex-husband who just walked out on her and
  • 00:01:30.873 --> 00:01:34.276
  • Left her for a younger woman with no source of income?
  • 00:01:34.276 --> 00:01:38.947
  • Let's be honest.
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  • That's tough.
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  • That's just marine level hard.
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  • That's navy seal stuff.
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  • And it is different, which is why we're in a series on
  • 00:01:49.057 --> 00:01:53.462
  • The sermon on the mount we're calling, "get used
  • 00:01:53.462 --> 00:01:55.464
  • To different."
  • 00:01:55.464 --> 00:01:56.798
  • I was talking to a pastor, a buddy of mine, he called me from
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  • Florida, this morning.
  • 00:01:58.734 --> 00:02:00.102
  • We were talking and he asked me what i was preaching, and i
  • 00:02:00.102 --> 00:02:01.904
  • Was telling him about this series and i said, "man, i'm
  • 00:02:01.904 --> 00:02:05.040
  • Gonna tell you something."
  • 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:06.375
  • I said, "the more i get into this and the deeper i
  • 00:02:06.375 --> 00:02:07.976
  • Get into it," i said, "the more i realize it's impossible to
  • 00:02:07.976 --> 00:02:12.447
  • Live the christian life without jesus.
  • 00:02:12.447 --> 00:02:14.416
  • You cannot do it."
  • 00:02:14.416 --> 00:02:16.585
  • And what we're going to hear today from the mouth of jesus
  • 00:02:16.585 --> 00:02:18.787
  • Doesn't get much more different at all.
  • 00:02:18.787 --> 00:02:22.224
  • And let me tell you why.
  • 00:02:22.224 --> 00:02:23.592
  • Jesus says, "love your enemy."
  • 00:02:23.592 --> 00:02:26.461
  • Now, it's one thing to love a friend.
  • 00:02:26.461 --> 00:02:30.799
  • It's one thing to love a best friend.
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  • It's one thing to love a relative.
  • 00:02:34.136 --> 00:02:37.739
  • It's an altogether different thing to love your enemy because
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  • I'm gonna tell you something true about every one of us in
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  • This room.
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  • It's not easy to love the unlovable.
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  • It's just not.
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  • There was a man in the neighborhood and he was always
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  • Bragging about how much he loved all the kids in
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  • The neighborhood.
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  • Well, one day he was pouring a new driveway of cement and,
  • 00:02:54.690 --> 00:02:57.559
  • While it was finished drying, he thought he'd go out and run
  • 00:02:57.559 --> 00:03:00.028
  • Some errands.
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  • So, while he was gone, some of these little kids that he said
  • 00:03:01.363 --> 00:03:03.465
  • He loved so much, came running through his yard, they ran right
  • 00:03:03.465 --> 00:03:07.269
  • Through that freshly poured driveway.
  • 00:03:07.269 --> 00:03:09.338
  • They-- some of them even stopped and wrote their initials and
  • 00:03:09.338 --> 00:03:11.740
  • Their names in it.
  • 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:13.075
  • Well, the time he got back, the cement had hardened with
  • 00:03:13.075 --> 00:03:15.310
  • All those footprints, all those initials, all those names.
  • 00:03:15.310 --> 00:03:18.347
  • He realized he was gonna have to break the whole thing up and do
  • 00:03:18.347 --> 00:03:20.849
  • The whole thing all over again.
  • 00:03:20.849 --> 00:03:22.284
  • Well, this man went ballistic.
  • 00:03:22.284 --> 00:03:24.419
  • He was screaming, he was walking back and forth, he was yelling
  • 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:28.257
  • At the top of his lungs.
  • 00:03:28.257 --> 00:03:29.825
  • I mean, he was about to pull his hair out.
  • 00:03:29.825 --> 00:03:31.393
  • Well, you could hear him all over the neighborhood.
  • 00:03:31.393 --> 00:03:33.228
  • So one of his neighbors rushed over and he said, "man,
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  • What happened?"
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  • And he told him.
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  • He said, "wait a minute.
  • 00:03:37.899 --> 00:03:39.234
  • I thought you said you love all these children."
  • 00:03:39.234 --> 00:03:41.637
  • He said, "oh, well, i love them in the abstract.
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  • I don't love them in the concrete."
  • 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:45.941
  • Now, it's hard to love the unlovable.
  • 00:03:45.941 --> 00:03:52.080
  • And you know what would be easy?
  • 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:53.749
  • It would really be easy if jesus had said, "hey, just love the
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  • People you wanna love.
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  • Just love the people you choose to love.
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  • Just love the people that love you back."
  • 00:04:02.824 --> 00:04:06.328
  • I mean, that would be great, but that's not the world we live in.
  • 00:04:06.328 --> 00:04:09.998
  • And so jesus is about to tell us something about love that you
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  • Don't hear in hollywood, you won't read in most
  • 00:04:12.768 --> 00:04:16.538
  • Romantic novels.
  • 00:04:16.538 --> 00:04:17.873
  • You won't hear it from most psychologists.
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  • Jesus says, "real love is perfect love."
  • 00:04:20.108 --> 00:04:26.848
  • And let me tell you how i know that.
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  • The bible says god is love.
  • 00:04:29.451 --> 00:04:34.122
  • Well, if god is love and god lives in you, then your love
  • 00:04:34.122 --> 00:04:39.428
  • Ought to be perfect.
  • 00:04:39.428 --> 00:04:41.396
  • Real love will be.
  • 00:04:41.396 --> 00:04:42.931
  • So let me tell you what we're gonna learn today, and it's not
  • 00:04:42.931 --> 00:04:45.400
  • An easy lesson.
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  • It's not easy for me.
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  • It won't be easy for you.
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  • Those of you watching online on tv, right now, it will not
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  • Be easy.
  • 00:04:52.140 --> 00:04:53.508
  • But here's the lesson.
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  • Perfect love loves everyone perfectly, even the most
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  • Imperfectly unlovable.
  • 00:04:59.147 --> 00:05:01.483
  • Perfect love loves everyone perfectly, even the most
  • 00:05:01.483 --> 00:05:05.821
  • Perfectly unlovable.
  • 00:05:05.821 --> 00:05:07.723
  • So if you're gonna love others the way god loves others, oh, by
  • 00:05:07.723 --> 00:05:12.394
  • The way, if you're going to love others, the way god loves you,
  • 00:05:12.394 --> 00:05:17.199
  • You're gonna have to take some radical steps.
  • 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:21.503
  • Here they are.
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  • The first thing you're gonna have to do, if you're going to
  • 00:05:23.205 --> 00:05:26.108
  • Love the way jesus loves, you're gonna have to embrace your foes.
  • 00:05:26.108 --> 00:05:31.580
  • You got to embrace your foes.
  • 00:05:31.580 --> 00:05:34.416
  • Now, jesus begins-- we're in matthew chapter 5.
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  • Jesus begins with those familiar words he's been saying over
  • 00:05:36.752 --> 00:05:39.788
  • And over and over.
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  • It was what was commonly taught that day, matthew 5:43.
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  • He says, "you have heard that it was said," we keep hearing him
  • 00:05:44.493 --> 00:05:47.562
  • Say this over and over and over, "'love your neighbor and hate
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  • Your enemy.'"
  • 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:53.268
  • Now, the first half of that statement is actually found in
  • 00:05:53.268 --> 00:05:57.072
  • The old testament.
  • 00:05:57.072 --> 00:05:58.407
  • In leviticus 19, we read these words: "do not seek revenge or
  • 00:05:58.407 --> 00:06:02.577
  • Bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your
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  • Neighbor as yourself.
  • 00:06:05.781 --> 00:06:07.315
  • I am the lord."
  • 00:06:07.315 --> 00:06:10.285
  • You say, "well, what's the problem?"
  • 00:06:10.285 --> 00:06:12.387
  • Well, once again, the pharisees had come through like champions.
  • 00:06:12.387 --> 00:06:15.824
  • I would really say losers, because they had distorted what
  • 00:06:15.824 --> 00:06:19.394
  • God had said about who we ought to love and how we ought
  • 00:06:19.394 --> 00:06:22.397
  • To love them.
  • 00:06:22.397 --> 00:06:23.732
  • Here's what the pharisees were teaching.
  • 00:06:23.732 --> 00:06:25.100
  • They interpreted that verse to mean, okay, i know we've got to
  • 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:27.836
  • Love our neighbor or say everybody gotta love
  • 00:06:27.836 --> 00:06:29.738
  • Your neighbor.
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  • But if you have to love your neighbor, that means you also
  • 00:06:31.106 --> 00:06:34.276
  • Get to hate your enemy.
  • 00:06:34.276 --> 00:06:35.777
  • That's what they were teaching.
  • 00:06:35.777 --> 00:06:37.145
  • If someone is your neighbor, you love them.
  • 00:06:37.145 --> 00:06:39.214
  • If there is the-- your enemy, you hate them.
  • 00:06:39.214 --> 00:06:41.716
  • Well, the first problem with that interpretation is hating
  • 00:06:41.716 --> 00:06:44.619
  • Your enemy is never even found in the bible.
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  • You won't find that said one time.
  • 00:06:46.555 --> 00:06:49.057
  • But the second problem was, the problem with what they said was
  • 00:06:49.057 --> 00:06:52.828
  • They totally misunderstood what the word "neighbor" meant,
  • 00:06:52.828 --> 00:06:56.031
  • Because when they said, "love your neighbor," here's what
  • 00:06:56.031 --> 00:06:58.266
  • They meant.
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  • Your neighbor is someone that you like.
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  • Your neighbor is someone that lives close to you.
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  • Your neighbor is someone that does you good.
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  • Your neighbor is someone that's on your side.
  • 00:07:06.808 --> 00:07:09.544
  • So he-- they were talking about a friend or a relative
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  • Or someone you like that lived right next door to you.
  • 00:07:12.314 --> 00:07:15.050
  • And of course, it included every jew.
  • 00:07:15.050 --> 00:07:18.653
  • So the first question we have to ask when the bible says, "love
  • 00:07:18.653 --> 00:07:21.790
  • Your neighbor," there's a question, first of all, we've
  • 00:07:21.790 --> 00:07:24.593
  • Got to answer: "well, who's my neighbor?"
  • 00:07:24.593 --> 00:07:27.963
  • Well, guess what?
  • 00:07:27.963 --> 00:07:29.297
  • Good luck.
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  • Good news.
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  • Jesus actually answered that question.
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  • If you remember, there was a lawyer that came to jesus and
  • 00:07:33.969 --> 00:07:37.439
  • He asked this very question.
  • 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:39.875
  • Listen to what he said: "but he wanted to justify himself.
  • 00:07:39.875 --> 00:07:43.211
  • He wanted to justify himself, asked jesus, 'and who is
  • 00:07:43.211 --> 00:07:46.615
  • My neighbor?'"
  • 00:07:46.615 --> 00:07:49.251
  • He thought he had jesus.
  • 00:07:49.251 --> 00:07:51.219
  • He thought he had pinned jesus against the wall.
  • 00:07:51.219 --> 00:07:53.455
  • "okay, bud, you say, 'love your neighbor.'
  • 00:07:53.455 --> 00:07:56.024
  • Who's your neighbor?"
  • 00:07:56.024 --> 00:07:57.359
  • Well, you may know the story.
  • 00:07:57.359 --> 00:07:58.727
  • Jesus said, "let me tell you a story."
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  • It's the story of the good, what?
  • 00:08:00.328 --> 00:08:02.864
  • The good samaritan.
  • 00:08:02.864 --> 00:08:04.199
  • He said, "let me tell you about the--" you know, samaritans.
  • 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:06.134
  • Samaritans were to the jews then, what a nazi soldier would
  • 00:08:06.134 --> 00:08:10.672
  • Be to a jew in 1945.
  • 00:08:10.672 --> 00:08:13.375
  • Get that in your mind.
  • 00:08:13.375 --> 00:08:14.743
  • Jesus said there was a samaritan and he's walking down the road
  • 00:08:14.743 --> 00:08:18.179
  • To jericho and he got mugged and he got beaten and he got robbed
  • 00:08:18.179 --> 00:08:22.250
  • And he got left for dead.
  • 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:23.952
  • And he said this priest came by.
  • 00:08:23.952 --> 00:08:26.121
  • He walked on the other side of the road.
  • 00:08:26.121 --> 00:08:27.722
  • And this levite came by and he walked on the other side
  • 00:08:27.722 --> 00:08:30.358
  • Of the road.
  • 00:08:30.358 --> 00:08:31.693
  • But then jesus said this samaritan came by.
  • 00:08:31.693 --> 00:08:39.234
  • This jewish man who had been beat, it was a jewish man that
  • 00:08:39.234 --> 00:08:42.804
  • Was beat.
  • 00:08:42.804 --> 00:08:44.539
  • He takes this man to a place of rest, tells the man, "i'm gonna
  • 00:08:44.539 --> 00:08:48.910
  • Pay for this man.
  • 00:08:48.910 --> 00:08:50.712
  • Don't charge him anything.
  • 00:08:50.712 --> 00:08:52.347
  • Here's some money to pay up front.
  • 00:08:52.347 --> 00:08:54.049
  • If he still owes, i'll pay you when i get back."
  • 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:57.686
  • And everybody's breath was taken away.
  • 00:08:57.686 --> 00:09:00.221
  • Because what was the moral of that story?
  • 00:09:00.221 --> 00:09:02.557
  • It was very simple.
  • 00:09:02.557 --> 00:09:03.925
  • Jesus was saying everybody is our neighbor.
  • 00:09:03.925 --> 00:09:06.461
  • Say that out loud.
  • 00:09:06.461 --> 00:09:07.996
  • Everybody's our neighbor.
  • 00:09:07.996 --> 00:09:09.364
  • Everybody's our neighbor.
  • 00:09:09.364 --> 00:09:10.832
  • Everybody is.
  • 00:09:10.832 --> 00:09:12.167
  • See, you can choose the neighborhood that you live in
  • 00:09:12.167 --> 00:09:16.237
  • And you can sometimes choose who you decide you want to live
  • 00:09:16.237 --> 00:09:19.207
  • Next to.
  • 00:09:19.207 --> 00:09:20.742
  • But at the end of the day, i got news for you.
  • 00:09:20.742 --> 00:09:23.144
  • You don't really get to choose your neighbor.
  • 00:09:23.144 --> 00:09:26.715
  • As a matter of fact, you don't have to choose your neighbor.
  • 00:09:26.715 --> 00:09:30.885
  • God has already chosen your neighbor for you because
  • 00:09:30.885 --> 00:09:34.823
  • Everybody is your neighbor.
  • 00:09:34.823 --> 00:09:37.559
  • Not just your family, not just your friends, not just your
  • 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.196
  • Best buddy.
  • 00:09:41.196 --> 00:09:42.530
  • Yes, even your foes, even your enemies, they are considered to
  • 00:09:42.530 --> 00:09:46.201
  • Be a neighbor.
  • 00:09:46.201 --> 00:09:47.836
  • Now, the mistake was they-- the mistake they made, they just
  • 00:09:47.836 --> 00:09:51.272
  • Assumed, "well, since we're only commanded to love our neighbor,
  • 00:09:51.272 --> 00:09:55.477
  • We don't have to love our enemies.
  • 00:09:55.477 --> 00:09:57.479
  • And if we don't have to love our enemies, the only alternative is
  • 00:09:57.479 --> 00:10:00.315
  • To hate our enemies."
  • 00:10:00.315 --> 00:10:01.883
  • So let me just make this real simple.
  • 00:10:01.883 --> 00:10:03.818
  • What the pharisees were teaching is what we used to teach kids.
  • 00:10:03.818 --> 00:10:07.055
  • And that is, it's okay to be bigoted.
  • 00:10:07.055 --> 00:10:10.392
  • It's okay to be prejudiced.
  • 00:10:10.392 --> 00:10:13.395
  • If you're not jewish, if you don't speak the same language,
  • 00:10:13.395 --> 00:10:16.364
  • If you don't have the same color of skin, if you don't use the
  • 00:10:16.364 --> 00:10:18.833
  • Same type of accent, you may be an enemy but you are not
  • 00:10:18.833 --> 00:10:23.038
  • A neighbor.
  • 00:10:23.038 --> 00:10:24.372
  • And then jesus comes along and says, "no, even if someone is
  • 00:10:24.372 --> 00:10:27.008
  • Your enemy or you think they're your enemy, you are to love them
  • 00:10:27.008 --> 00:10:31.279
  • As a neighbor."
  • 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.381
  • Now, that's hard enough.
  • 00:10:33.381 --> 00:10:35.550
  • That's enough right there to just make you wanna gag.
  • 00:10:35.550 --> 00:10:38.119
  • But then jesus says, "oh, by the way, while i'm in the
  • 00:10:38.119 --> 00:10:40.455
  • Neighborhood, let me tell you how to love your enemy."
  • 00:10:40.455 --> 00:10:43.525
  • So he says this: "but i tell you," remember what i told you?
  • 00:10:43.525 --> 00:10:47.095
  • You better buckle up when you hear him say that.
  • 00:10:47.095 --> 00:10:49.497
  • "but i tell you."
  • 00:10:49.497 --> 00:10:50.832
  • You know, i was telling this pastor friend of mine today, i
  • 00:10:50.832 --> 00:10:53.001
  • Said, "i can imagine every time jesus said, 'you have heard it
  • 00:10:53.001 --> 00:10:56.638
  • Said,' every pharisee was going, 'here we go again.'
  • 00:10:56.638 --> 00:11:01.910
  • And then when jesus said, 'but i tell you,' everybody buckled
  • 00:11:01.910 --> 00:11:05.380
  • Their seat belt."
  • 00:11:05.380 --> 00:11:06.715
  • "but i tell you, love your enemies."
  • 00:11:06.715 --> 00:11:09.417
  • Now watch this.
  • 00:11:09.417 --> 00:11:10.752
  • "and pray for those who persecute you."
  • 00:11:10.752 --> 00:11:16.091
  • You mean, i don't just tolerate them?
  • 00:11:16.091 --> 00:11:17.992
  • No.
  • 00:11:17.992 --> 00:11:19.327
  • I don't just ignore them?
  • 00:11:19.327 --> 00:11:20.795
  • No.
  • 00:11:20.795 --> 00:11:22.130
  • I don't just leave them alone?
  • 00:11:22.130 --> 00:11:23.498
  • No.
  • 00:11:23.498 --> 00:11:24.833
  • I don't just do them no harm?
  • 00:11:24.833 --> 00:11:26.201
  • No.
  • 00:11:26.201 --> 00:11:27.535
  • Jesus says, "no, i want you to be proactive.
  • 00:11:27.535 --> 00:11:29.471
  • I want you to pray for those who persecute you.
  • 00:11:29.471 --> 00:11:32.440
  • When they curse you, you bless them.
  • 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:35.977
  • When they hate you, you do good to them.
  • 00:11:35.977 --> 00:11:39.380
  • When they go low, you go high."
  • 00:11:39.380 --> 00:11:42.784
  • Now let me just stop and help you out on something,
  • 00:11:42.784 --> 00:11:45.754
  • Clarify something.
  • 00:11:45.754 --> 00:11:47.155
  • And this gives me comfort, to be honest with you.
  • 00:11:47.155 --> 00:11:49.691
  • There's a big difference between liking people and loving people.
  • 00:11:49.691 --> 00:11:54.729
  • I don't know about you, that comforts me, because jesus never
  • 00:11:54.729 --> 00:11:58.466
  • Commanded that we like our enemies.
  • 00:11:58.466 --> 00:12:01.369
  • He did say we love them.
  • 00:12:01.369 --> 00:12:02.704
  • That's a big difference.
  • 00:12:02.704 --> 00:12:04.072
  • See, liking somebody, that's an emotional response, right?
  • 00:12:04.072 --> 00:12:06.407
  • Some people you like, some people you don't.
  • 00:12:06.407 --> 00:12:09.043
  • Listen, will rogers, you know, the famous comedian, famously
  • 00:12:09.043 --> 00:12:12.113
  • Said, "i never met a man i didn't like."
  • 00:12:12.113 --> 00:12:13.815
  • He only-- probably only met two, because i met people
  • 00:12:13.815 --> 00:12:17.051
  • I don't like.
  • 00:12:17.051 --> 00:12:18.419
  • Listen, i don't care how nice you are, i promise you,
  • 00:12:18.419 --> 00:12:20.421
  • Everybody in this room, you know somebody you don't like.
  • 00:12:20.421 --> 00:12:23.057
  • I know people i don't like, okay?
  • 00:12:23.057 --> 00:12:25.293
  • You're a florida gator, it's hard.
  • 00:12:25.293 --> 00:12:27.462
  • It's just hard.
  • 00:12:27.462 --> 00:12:28.997
  • That's a joke, but it's serious.
  • 00:12:28.997 --> 00:12:31.065
  • Now, we don't like people we don't like, that's an
  • 00:12:31.065 --> 00:12:34.068
  • Emotional response.
  • 00:12:34.068 --> 00:12:36.137
  • And if you like someone, you can let them know it.
  • 00:12:36.137 --> 00:12:38.072
  • And guess what?
  • 00:12:38.072 --> 00:12:39.440
  • If you don't like someone, you just don't let them know it.
  • 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:41.376
  • You just don't say anything, you can fake it.
  • 00:12:41.376 --> 00:12:43.645
  • But jesus says love is not like "like."
  • 00:12:43.645 --> 00:12:48.216
  • "like" is an emotion.
  • 00:12:48.216 --> 00:12:49.784
  • "love" is an action.
  • 00:12:49.784 --> 00:12:51.419
  • You can't fake love.
  • 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:52.787
  • I may not like everybody.
  • 00:12:52.787 --> 00:12:54.322
  • I'm commended to love everybody whether i like them or not.
  • 00:12:54.322 --> 00:12:57.559
  • That's what perfect love does.
  • 00:12:57.559 --> 00:12:59.928
  • So, if you're going to love perfectly, the way god loves you
  • 00:12:59.928 --> 00:13:03.531
  • And the way god loves others, first thing we gotta do and it
  • 00:13:03.531 --> 00:13:06.534
  • Is so hard, you've got to embrace your foes.
  • 00:13:06.534 --> 00:13:10.104
  • You've gotta love them if they hate you.
  • 00:13:10.104 --> 00:13:12.106
  • You've gotta pray them when they don't want good to happen
  • 00:13:12.106 --> 00:13:14.509
  • To you.
  • 00:13:14.509 --> 00:13:15.844
  • You've got to go before the lord, you're to bless them
  • 00:13:15.844 --> 00:13:20.048
  • When they curse you.
  • 00:13:20.048 --> 00:13:21.416
  • You have got to embrace your foes.
  • 00:13:21.416 --> 00:13:22.750
  • Not easy.
  • 00:13:22.750 --> 00:13:24.586
  • But jesus said, here's the good news: when you embrace your
  • 00:13:24.586 --> 00:13:30.892
  • Foes, you will emulate your father.
  • 00:13:30.892 --> 00:13:34.929
  • You'll be just like your father.
  • 00:13:34.929 --> 00:13:36.664
  • Jesus said, "here's the motivation to do what i'm asking
  • 00:13:36.664 --> 00:13:39.434
  • You to do."
  • 00:13:39.434 --> 00:13:40.802
  • Here's what he said.
  • 00:13:40.802 --> 00:13:42.136
  • He said, "that you may," that is if you love your enemies, "that
  • 00:13:42.136 --> 00:13:44.372
  • You may be children of your father in heaven.
  • 00:13:44.372 --> 00:13:48.509
  • He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good.
  • 00:13:48.509 --> 00:13:51.546
  • He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
  • 00:13:51.546 --> 00:13:55.516
  • Now, jesus makes a very simple statement: "do you really wanna
  • 00:13:55.516 --> 00:13:59.220
  • Be like god?
  • 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:00.555
  • Do you really wanna be godlike?
  • 00:14:00.555 --> 00:14:01.923
  • Do you really, really wanna be godly?"
  • 00:14:01.923 --> 00:14:03.758
  • Oh yes, i do.
  • 00:14:03.758 --> 00:14:05.126
  • He said, "okay, if you're gonna be like your father, you're
  • 00:14:05.126 --> 00:14:07.395
  • Going to love your enemies.
  • 00:14:07.395 --> 00:14:09.364
  • Because when you love your enemies, you're acting just like
  • 00:14:09.364 --> 00:14:12.333
  • Your heavenly father."
  • 00:14:12.333 --> 00:14:13.701
  • Now get this straight.
  • 00:14:13.701 --> 00:14:15.770
  • Jesus is not saying that what gets you into the family of god
  • 00:14:15.770 --> 00:14:20.241
  • Or what gets you after you become a child of god is
  • 00:14:20.241 --> 00:14:23.044
  • Loving people.
  • 00:14:23.044 --> 00:14:24.479
  • Because frankly, in that day, when people would speak about
  • 00:14:24.479 --> 00:14:27.515
  • Other people, they'd rarely use adjectives like we use today.
  • 00:14:27.515 --> 00:14:30.151
  • For example, instead of saying about someone, "he's a peaceful
  • 00:14:30.151 --> 00:14:33.821
  • Man," the jews would say, "he's a man of peace."
  • 00:14:33.821 --> 00:14:37.692
  • Instead of saying, "well, she's a kind woman," they would say,
  • 00:14:37.692 --> 00:14:40.962
  • "she is a woman of kindness."
  • 00:14:40.962 --> 00:14:43.665
  • So when jesus was saying, "hey, if you will love your enemies,
  • 00:14:43.665 --> 00:14:47.335
  • You will be children of your father," here's what we say.
  • 00:14:47.335 --> 00:14:50.872
  • He was saying, "when you love those who hate you and you bless
  • 00:14:50.872 --> 00:14:54.442
  • Those who curse you, you pray for those who persecute you, you
  • 00:14:54.442 --> 00:14:58.079
  • Are a child of the father.
  • 00:14:58.079 --> 00:15:00.748
  • You are father-like, like father, like child.
  • 00:15:00.748 --> 00:15:05.153
  • You're emulating your father."
  • 00:15:05.153 --> 00:15:07.322
  • So get this straight.
  • 00:15:07.322 --> 00:15:08.656
  • You are not like god, you're not like your father in heaven,
  • 00:15:08.656 --> 00:15:11.759
  • Because you love other people.
  • 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.629
  • You love other people because you're like your father
  • 00:15:14.629 --> 00:15:17.865
  • In heaven.
  • 00:15:17.865 --> 00:15:19.233
  • And oh by the way, jesus said, "you do know that god loves
  • 00:15:19.233 --> 00:15:23.304
  • Everybody every day?"
  • 00:15:23.304 --> 00:15:25.807
  • And they didn't believe that.
  • 00:15:25.807 --> 00:15:27.141
  • Jesus said, "no, he doesn't."
  • 00:15:27.141 --> 00:15:28.509
  • Oh yeah, he does.
  • 00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:29.844
  • The sun shines on russia and china just like it shines
  • 00:15:29.844 --> 00:15:32.246
  • On america.
  • 00:15:32.246 --> 00:15:34.682
  • It rains in north korea just like it rains in america.
  • 00:15:34.682 --> 00:15:38.786
  • God gives air to the muslim just like he does to the christian.
  • 00:15:38.786 --> 00:15:44.125
  • I talked about dr. king last week and i got to talk about him
  • 00:15:44.125 --> 00:15:47.195
  • One more time.
  • 00:15:47.195 --> 00:15:49.163
  • Gotta be clear, dr. king had his faults.
  • 00:15:49.163 --> 00:15:52.166
  • Dr. king had his failures.
  • 00:15:52.166 --> 00:15:53.668
  • Dr. king had his oral moral issues.
  • 00:15:53.668 --> 00:15:55.303
  • We get all that.
  • 00:15:55.303 --> 00:15:56.637
  • I know that.
  • 00:15:56.637 --> 00:15:58.206
  • We all do.
  • 00:15:58.206 --> 00:16:00.074
  • But i'll tell you something about dr. king.
  • 00:16:00.074 --> 00:16:03.745
  • God gave that man a lot of opportunities to practice this
  • 00:16:03.745 --> 00:16:06.981
  • Principle of loving your enemy, probably as much as any man i've
  • 00:16:06.981 --> 00:16:10.651
  • Ever read about in my lifetime.
  • 00:16:10.651 --> 00:16:13.488
  • So dr. king is sitting in jail in montgomery, alabama.
  • 00:16:13.488 --> 00:16:17.658
  • He'd been beaten, he'd been arrested, and all he was doing
  • 00:16:17.658 --> 00:16:22.163
  • Was boycotting a bussing company because they segregated seats on
  • 00:16:22.163 --> 00:16:26.100
  • The bus.
  • 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:27.435
  • He wasn't breaking the law.
  • 00:16:27.435 --> 00:16:28.803
  • He was peacefully demonstrating, peacefully protesting, but they
  • 00:16:28.803 --> 00:16:32.306
  • Beat him and threw him in jail.
  • 00:16:32.306 --> 00:16:35.443
  • So while he's in jail, he wrote a sermon and he titled it,
  • 00:16:35.443 --> 00:16:40.248
  • "loving your enemies."
  • 00:16:40.248 --> 00:16:42.316
  • And what he says is so profound, i want you to listen to what
  • 00:16:42.316 --> 00:16:46.120
  • He said.
  • 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:48.222
  • He said, "to our most bitter opponents we say: 'do to us what
  • 00:16:48.222 --> 00:16:51.893
  • You will, and we shall continue to love you.
  • 00:16:51.893 --> 00:16:56.264
  • We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws because
  • 00:16:56.264 --> 00:17:00.435
  • Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as it is
  • 00:17:00.435 --> 00:17:03.771
  • Cooperation with good.
  • 00:17:03.771 --> 00:17:05.773
  • Throw us in jail and we shall still love you.
  • 00:17:05.773 --> 00:17:09.510
  • Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall
  • 00:17:09.510 --> 00:17:13.181
  • Still love you.
  • 00:17:13.181 --> 00:17:14.549
  • Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at
  • 00:17:14.549 --> 00:17:17.318
  • The midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead and we
  • 00:17:17.318 --> 00:17:21.889
  • Shall still love you.
  • 00:17:21.889 --> 00:17:24.492
  • But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity
  • 00:17:24.492 --> 00:17:29.397
  • To suffer.
  • 00:17:29.397 --> 00:17:30.731
  • For one day we shall win freedom, but not only
  • 00:17:30.731 --> 00:17:34.702
  • For ourselves.
  • 00:17:34.702 --> 00:17:36.037
  • We shall so appeal to your heart and conscious* that we shall win
  • 00:17:36.037 --> 00:17:39.941
  • You in the process and our victory will be a
  • 00:17:39.941 --> 00:17:43.544
  • Double victory.'"
  • 00:17:43.544 --> 00:17:50.184
  • Yeah, i'm your pastor and i'm gonna tell you, i don't know
  • 00:17:50.184 --> 00:17:56.090
  • That that's what i would have written in jail.
  • 00:17:56.090 --> 00:17:57.592
  • I'd have been writing something.
  • 00:17:57.592 --> 00:17:59.594
  • I'm not sure it would have been that.
  • 00:17:59.594 --> 00:18:02.396
  • Say whenever you will, that's the spirit of jesus.
  • 00:18:02.396 --> 00:18:08.769
  • That's what it's like to be like your heavenly father.
  • 00:18:08.769 --> 00:18:13.608
  • So i have some, call it bad news.
  • 00:18:13.608 --> 00:18:17.011
  • I just call it reality.
  • 00:18:17.011 --> 00:18:20.948
  • I don't care how nice you are.
  • 00:18:20.948 --> 00:18:24.585
  • I don't care how sweet you are.
  • 00:18:24.585 --> 00:18:27.889
  • I don't care how mild-mannered you are.
  • 00:18:27.889 --> 00:18:31.159
  • I don't care how good you are.
  • 00:18:31.159 --> 00:18:34.562
  • If you truly live for jesus the way you ought to live for jesus,
  • 00:18:34.562 --> 00:18:40.468
  • You are going to make enemies.
  • 00:18:40.468 --> 00:18:45.306
  • The worst thing i've ever heard said about anybody and i've done
  • 00:18:45.306 --> 00:18:49.343
  • Funerals and i've heard this said about people: "he didn't
  • 00:18:49.343 --> 00:18:53.881
  • Have an enemy in the world."
  • 00:18:53.881 --> 00:18:59.053
  • What a sad thing to say.
  • 00:18:59.053 --> 00:19:01.856
  • What a bad thing to say.
  • 00:19:01.856 --> 00:19:06.260
  • If jesus didn't get out of this world without enemies and he
  • 00:19:06.260 --> 00:19:09.397
  • Lived a perfect life, why should you think you will?
  • 00:19:09.397 --> 00:19:13.834
  • Why should i think i will?
  • 00:19:13.834 --> 00:19:16.370
  • There are people in this room, i've been your pastor for
  • 00:19:16.370 --> 00:19:20.675
  • 39 years this year.
  • 00:19:20.675 --> 00:19:22.376
  • Thirty-nine years, i've been your pastor.
  • 00:19:22.376 --> 00:19:25.012
  • You can give testimony: i made some enemies.
  • 00:19:25.012 --> 00:19:28.916
  • I have made some enemies.
  • 00:19:28.916 --> 00:19:31.152
  • I've got my anonymous mail.
  • 00:19:31.152 --> 00:19:33.754
  • I've left people in-- i've had people leave the church because
  • 00:19:33.754 --> 00:19:36.557
  • They didn't like the way i preached.
  • 00:19:36.557 --> 00:19:38.593
  • I've got some-- i've kept some of these letters, not
  • 00:19:38.593 --> 00:19:41.162
  • The anonymous ones, they're not worth it, but the ones that at
  • 00:19:41.162 --> 00:19:43.531
  • Least sign it, i'm tell you, i've got some letters that would
  • 00:19:43.531 --> 00:19:45.633
  • Curl your hair.
  • 00:19:45.633 --> 00:19:48.603
  • And i don't say that to brag.
  • 00:19:48.603 --> 00:19:50.104
  • I don't mean it that way at all.
  • 00:19:50.104 --> 00:19:53.140
  • But if you're looking for an easy, no briars, all roses, all
  • 00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:58.913
  • Smooth, no bumps, all friends, no enemies.
  • 00:19:58.913 --> 00:20:02.083
  • If that's the way you're looking to serve jesus, check out.
  • 00:20:02.083 --> 00:20:05.219
  • It doesn't work that way.
  • 00:20:05.219 --> 00:20:06.854
  • Not in this world, not in this culture, not in this atmosphere,
  • 00:20:06.854 --> 00:20:11.292
  • Not in this environment.
  • 00:20:11.292 --> 00:20:15.596
  • Because when you stand up like me and you say, as i said this
  • 00:20:15.596 --> 00:20:23.337
  • Week in a tweet, "i would no more vote for a pro-abortion
  • 00:20:23.337 --> 00:20:29.644
  • Candidate than i would vote for a pro-slavery candidate
  • 00:20:29.644 --> 00:20:32.179
  • In 1865."
  • 00:20:32.179 --> 00:20:37.218
  • You think i got some heat?
  • 00:20:37.218 --> 00:20:40.755
  • You think i got some vile comments?
  • 00:20:40.755 --> 00:20:45.459
  • Do you think i had some people block me?
  • 00:20:45.459 --> 00:20:47.361
  • Absolutely.
  • 00:20:47.361 --> 00:20:49.964
  • And i'm not saying this to brag, and i'm not trying to be
  • 00:20:49.964 --> 00:20:51.899
  • A martyr.
  • 00:20:51.899 --> 00:20:54.101
  • But i'm telling you, the more i read my bible, the more i read
  • 00:20:54.101 --> 00:20:56.737
  • This new testament, and the more i read about how jesus wound up,
  • 00:20:56.737 --> 00:21:01.976
  • Not in a fancy hotel, not with a gold watch, but on a cross, the
  • 00:21:01.976 --> 00:21:11.319
  • More i realize, but if i'm gonna stand for jesus and i'm gonna
  • 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:16.157
  • Preach the truth, that i'm gonna tell what i believe god says is
  • 00:21:16.157 --> 00:21:18.993
  • Right, i'm gonna make enemies.
  • 00:21:18.993 --> 00:21:20.995
  • So are you.
  • 00:21:20.995 --> 00:21:22.697
  • So the bad news is if you live long enough, you stand for
  • 00:21:22.697 --> 00:21:25.032
  • Jesus, you're gonna make enemies.
  • 00:21:25.032 --> 00:21:26.667
  • It may be the boss at work who mistreats you.
  • 00:21:26.667 --> 00:21:29.236
  • It may be somebody who spreads vicious lies about you.
  • 00:21:29.236 --> 00:21:31.906
  • It may be a family member who abused you.
  • 00:21:31.906 --> 00:21:34.141
  • It may be somebody just simply opposes you because you
  • 00:21:34.141 --> 00:21:36.544
  • Follow jesus.
  • 00:21:36.544 --> 00:21:37.878
  • And what i've learned is i can't control who my enemies are.
  • 00:21:37.878 --> 00:21:41.582
  • I cannot control how they treat me.
  • 00:21:41.582 --> 00:21:44.051
  • But i'll tell you what i have learned.
  • 00:21:44.051 --> 00:21:45.619
  • By the power of the one who died for me and who, by the way, died
  • 00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:50.391
  • For my enemy, by the grace and the power of the spirit of god
  • 00:21:50.391 --> 00:21:54.462
  • That lives in me and the power of the one who came back from
  • 00:21:54.462 --> 00:21:57.431
  • The grave and wants me to forgive my enemies, even as he
  • 00:21:57.431 --> 00:22:00.668
  • Forgave ours, i can always respond with perfect love
  • 00:22:00.668 --> 00:22:05.606
  • Because that's what a child of the father does.
  • 00:22:05.606 --> 00:22:10.945
  • And i want to tell you something.
  • 00:22:10.945 --> 00:22:15.282
  • What a difference.
  • 00:22:15.282 --> 00:22:17.385
  • Can you imagine the difference it would be in washington, dc,
  • 00:22:17.385 --> 00:22:24.492
  • If everybody just decided two things.
  • 00:22:24.492 --> 00:22:26.894
  • Number one, we may disagree to the hilt, you're not my enemy,
  • 00:22:26.894 --> 00:22:31.098
  • You're my neighbor.
  • 00:22:31.098 --> 00:22:32.666
  • And number two, i'm gonna love you just as much as
  • 00:22:32.666 --> 00:22:36.036
  • I love myself.
  • 00:22:36.036 --> 00:22:37.405
  • What a change.
  • 00:22:37.405 --> 00:22:39.507
  • What a difference.
  • 00:22:39.507 --> 00:22:41.475
  • That's why i'm so in love with the bible, so in love with
  • 00:22:41.475 --> 00:22:44.745
  • Jesus, because let me tell you something.
  • 00:22:44.745 --> 00:22:46.213
  • I'm gonna say this and we're gonna pray.
  • 00:22:46.213 --> 00:22:49.350
  • What i told you today, this stuff works.
  • 00:22:49.350 --> 00:22:54.688
  • Some of you know this quick story and i--i can't even go
  • 00:22:54.688 --> 00:22:57.258
  • Into details.
  • 00:22:57.258 --> 00:22:58.859
  • Teresa and i saw one of the greatest miracles we've seen
  • 00:22:58.859 --> 00:23:01.695
  • Ever in the last year of our life.
  • 00:23:01.695 --> 00:23:04.365
  • We turned two bitter enemies, bitter, who we drove down the
  • 00:23:04.365 --> 00:23:13.441
  • Street wouldn't even look at us.
  • 00:23:13.441 --> 00:23:16.210
  • We turned two bitter enemies into friends because we decided
  • 00:23:16.210 --> 00:23:23.050
  • We were gonna do what jesus told us to do.
  • 00:23:23.050 --> 00:23:25.519
  • Just love them, just pray for them, just bless them.
  • 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:31.926
  • So who's your enemy today?
  • 00:23:31.926 --> 00:23:34.328
  • Who's that person you go to bed, thinking that, you know, if they
  • 00:23:34.328 --> 00:23:36.997
  • Fell off a cliff, wouldn't bother you a bit.
  • 00:23:36.997 --> 00:23:41.135
  • That husband that walked out on you, that boss that's trying to
  • 00:23:41.135 --> 00:23:45.239
  • Do everything he can to get you to leave the company, that uncle
  • 00:23:45.239 --> 00:23:49.210
  • That sexually abused you.
  • 00:23:49.210 --> 00:23:53.214
  • You can't control what they do to you.
  • 00:23:53.214 --> 00:23:55.249
  • You can control how you respond to them.
  • 00:23:55.249 --> 00:23:58.519
  • It's different but it works.
  • 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:02.723
  • Heavenly father, the bible says that one time i was your enemy.
  • 00:24:02.723 --> 00:24:09.997
  • When i was in sin, i was your foe.
  • 00:24:09.997 --> 00:24:13.767
  • But you embraced me.
  • 00:24:13.767 --> 00:24:15.669
  • You sent jesus to die for me.
  • 00:24:15.669 --> 00:24:18.372
  • I thank you for it.
  • 00:24:18.372 --> 00:24:20.875
  • With your heads bowed, with your eyes closed.
  • 00:24:20.875 --> 00:24:24.044
  • If you're here today and you've never trusted jesus christ as
  • 00:24:24.044 --> 00:24:28.782
  • Your lord and savior, can i just be honest with you?
  • 00:24:28.782 --> 00:24:31.385
  • Until you do that, you're an enemy of god.
  • 00:24:31.385 --> 00:24:33.621
  • That's what the bible says.
  • 00:24:33.621 --> 00:24:34.955
  • You're enemies with god.
  • 00:24:34.955 --> 00:24:36.323
  • But good news.
  • 00:24:36.323 --> 00:24:37.858
  • He loves you.
  • 00:24:37.858 --> 00:24:39.627
  • He's praying for you.
  • 00:24:39.627 --> 00:24:41.495
  • He died for you.
  • 00:24:41.495 --> 00:24:43.564
  • He wants you to be a part of his family.
  • 00:24:43.564 --> 00:24:46.000
  • He wants to turn you-- listen to this.
  • 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.701
  • Not just from a friend, an enemy into a friend.
  • 00:24:47.701 --> 00:24:50.504
  • He wants to turn you from being an enemy to being one of
  • 00:24:50.504 --> 00:24:53.007
  • His children.
  • 00:24:53.007 --> 00:24:54.475
  • But you gotta pray to give-- you gotta give your heart to christ
  • 00:24:54.475 --> 00:24:56.710
  • To do that.
  • 00:24:56.710 --> 00:24:58.078
  • You've got to admit you need a savior.
  • 00:24:58.078 --> 00:24:59.880
  • If you're watching right now online or you're in this room
  • 00:24:59.880 --> 00:25:02.249
  • And you've never given your life to jesus christ, you have never
  • 00:25:02.249 --> 00:25:05.152
  • Trusted the lord, why don't you do it right now?
  • 00:25:05.152 --> 00:25:09.123
  • Why don't you say something like this: "lord jesus, thank you for
  • 00:25:09.123 --> 00:25:13.294
  • Loving me, even when i was your enemy.
  • 00:25:13.294 --> 00:25:16.664
  • Thank you for dying for me, even when i was your foe.
  • 00:25:16.664 --> 00:25:22.336
  • And i thank you right now that you're turning me into one of
  • 00:25:22.336 --> 00:25:26.006
  • Your children because i'm giving you my life today.
  • 00:25:26.006 --> 00:25:30.878
  • I confess you as my lord.
  • 00:25:30.878 --> 00:25:34.281
  • I believe in my heart that god raised you from the dead.
  • 00:25:34.281 --> 00:25:38.252
  • I trust you right now to save me.
  • 00:25:38.252 --> 00:25:41.355
  • Thank you for giving me eternal life.
  • 00:25:41.355 --> 00:25:44.158
  • Thank you for forgiving me of all of my sins.
  • 00:25:44.158 --> 00:25:48.662
  • And now, lord jesus, i forgive everyone who has ever done me
  • 00:25:48.662 --> 00:25:54.768
  • Harm, who's ever done me wrong.
  • 00:25:54.768 --> 00:25:58.005
  • I have no enemies.
  • 00:25:58.005 --> 00:26:00.074
  • I only have neighbors.
  • 00:26:00.074 --> 00:26:02.810
  • Announcer: to watch an extended version of today's message from
  • 00:26:02.876 --> 00:26:05.312
  • Dr. james merritt, go to touchinglives.org.
  • 00:26:05.312 --> 00:26:09.350
  • Announcer: around the world, we're experiencing record levels
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  • Of cultural confusion, political tension, and
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  • Christian persecution.
  • 00:26:18.892 --> 00:26:20.561
  • Today, we invite you to partner with "touching lives with
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  • Dr. james merritt," so we can keep broadcasting the truth of
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  • God's word around the globe.
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  • With your support, we can continue bringing our broadcast
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  • To those who desperately need to hear the message of salvation,
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  • True biblical teaching, and daily encouragement.
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  • And to thank you for your financial gift, we're thrilled
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  • This journal is designed to be your companion on your daily
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  • Journey with god, and we'd love to send it to you as a special
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  • Together, we can touch hearts and change lives.
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  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:02.069 --> 00:27:08.308
  • Announcer: touching the lives
  • 00:27:11.979 --> 00:27:13.914
  • Of the lost and enriching
  • 00:27:13.914 --> 00:27:15.616
  • The faith of the found.
  • 00:27:15.616 --> 00:27:17.384
  • This is "touching lives"
  • 00:27:17.384 --> 00:27:19.019
  • With dr. james merritt.
  • 00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:21.989
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:21.989 --> 00:27:27.428
  • ...
  • 00:27:28.362 --> 00:27:28.362