Latest / Wesley at FSU & TSC / "How To Be A Person :: A Better Way" | Sunday Service | November 1st, 2026

Transcript

"How To Be A Person :: A Better Way" | Sunday Service | November 1st, 2026 · Wesley at FSU & TSC

• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: We are finishing our sermon series this week on how to be a better person.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: And this week we're talking about a better way.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Now, for the past couple weeks, we've been doing this.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Kara went over this last week.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Didn't Kara do a great job last week?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so here's the weeks that we've been going through.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: That first week, we talked about being a living sacrifice.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: This is all from Romans 12, by the way.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: And those first two verses kind of set the framework for all of it.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: The next week we said, you are not the whole body.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Say you are not the whole body.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we all need to hear that so often.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: We are not the whole body.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Then we talked about stealing back our zeal.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Steal back our zeal.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then last week we talked about showing up rejoicing and weeping with those who rejoice and with those who weep.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: This week we're going to talk about a better way and we're going to end the entire chapter.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if you have done what I asked you to do from the beginning and you've been reading Romans 12 the whole way through every day, not like I can halfway believe it, yeah, uh, you're going to recognize all this.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: But I think this is actually some of the most challenging parts.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I will tell you that when we wrote out this uh schedule to do and we were talking through, planning it all through, I did not realize that it would come two days before the midterm elections.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that's gonna be really telling when we read these next couple verses.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to read the entire chapter of Romans 12.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: It'll be up on the screen.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: I will go as quick as I feel like I can.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I encourage you, if you have a Bible, to turn to Romans 12 with me and read the text.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Here now the reading of God's word.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, brothers and sisters, because of God's mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: This is your appropriate priestly service.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Say, transformed by the renewing of your minds.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you're gonna act like you believe it, so that you can figure out what God's will is, what is good and pleasing and mature.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each of you, this is Paul talking, by the way, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each of you.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: We have many parts in one body, but the parts don't all have the same function.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: In the same way, though, there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: We have different gifts that are consistent with God's grace that has been given to us.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: If your grace is if your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: If your gift is service, devote yourself to serving.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: If your gift is teaching, devote yourself to teaching.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: If your gift is encouragement, devote yourself to encouraging.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: The one giving should do it with no strings attached.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: The leader should lead with passion, the one showing mercy should be cheerful.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Love should be shown without pretending.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hate evil and hold on to what's good.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Love each other like the members of your family, be the best at showing honor to each other.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Don't hesitate to be enthusiastic, be on fire in the spirit as you serve the Lord.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Be happy in your hope.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: Stand your ground when you're in trouble and devote yourselves to prayer.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Contribute to the needs of God's people and welcome strangers into your home.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Take a bag home with you at the end of this.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: Bless people who harass you.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: Bless and don't curse them.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Be happy with those who are happy and cry with those who are crying.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Consider everyone as equal and don't think you are better than anyone else.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, associate with people who have no status.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Don't think you're so smart.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Don't pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: If possible.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: To the best of your ability.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Live at peace with all people.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Don't try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: It is written, Revenge belongs to me.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: I will pay it back, says the Lord.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: If he is thirsty, give him a drink.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: The word of God for the people of God.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks be to God.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: Let's pray over the preaching of God's word.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh God, your word is a lamp and to our feet and it's a light and to our path.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: May it speak to us and speak through us for the establishment of your kingdom on this earth.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight and in your sight alone, O God.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: You are our rock and you're our redeemer.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we love you because you first loved us.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Be with us, oh God.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: We pray this in your holy name.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: I love being an American.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Except for like election seasons.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is we're not the only people that have to deal with it.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: But election seasons are so gnarly, bro.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: You turn on the TV and you're gonna see an advertisement telling you what one party believes.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna tell you that that person not only that they disagree with that person, but that that person is a bad person, that that person is incapable of being a good person.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: And the very next ad is the exact opposite way.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Where you got the other team saying, hey, that person, a bad person, a weird person, incapable of being a good person.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I get it.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: We're just playing a game, right?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're just playing a game.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: The reason that you're gonna hear, like, get out the vote, get out the vote, and you should.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: You should vote if you have not voted, you should vote on Tuesday so that your vote can be counted because that is the right that you're given as an American citizen, okay?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: So you should do that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of the games are not that they actually want all of democracy, like they don't want everybody to vote, they just want their side to vote.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Do you hear me saying everybody does it, each side.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Some sides do it worse than others, certain seasons and certain others, but every side does it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so you feel like you're just trapped in this place where you're being controlled by one side or another.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that seeps into the soul of ourself in this country because it seeps into the way we interact with each other.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: I have so many friends who like may vote or think differently on one side than I do.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And the world will tell me like, you can't be friends with them, you can't go to your church, their church, you can't sit next to them, you can't sing the same songs with them, you can't hang out with them.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's what the world is trying to tell us by drawing a deeper and deeper division.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so, with that framework, I want to go back to the last four verses here.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Because these four verses speak to the way in which we're supposed to interact with each other.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about not being above others, we talked about not thinking too highly of ourselves.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: Paul is very practical in his explanation here in Romans 12, and then he goes to probably the most worldly defeating process that we see.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it is easy to see up here and much harder to do.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: This is verse 17.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Don't pay anyone back for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for everyone else, what everyone else believes is good.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: And if possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: First point I would make this morning.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Pursue peace whenever possible.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's what he's trying to say.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Pursue peace whenever possible.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: I actually think, like in just our realm of the way in which we think about church and what a preacher might say, we would think about actually just the first two words there, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: Pursue peace.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: But Paul does this really interesting thing in which he allows for some space that he doesn't often do.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Paul is very opinionated about things.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't allow for a lot of room here, but he does here.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: He says, Pursue peace whenever possible.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: If at all possible, he says, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Live at peace with all people.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of love how much room he gives there.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Because I don't know how many arguments you've had with people, or how many disagreements you've had with people, or how many people in your life where you're like, I am trying to pursue peace, but there is just not a world in which we're going to be able to align.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so he gives some space to say, peace might not always be possible.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: But if it is, pursue it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: This is really interesting if you know the story of Paul.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Paul has this companion who travels with him in ministry named Barnabas.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, not Barabbas, by the way, Barnabas.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: Barabbas is the guy that they say, release Barabbas when Jesus is under the okay, Barnabas.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: And Paul travels with Barnabas.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: Barnabas is a partner in ministry.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: They are besties, you know, they are doing all their work together.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: And then they have this disagreement in Acts 15.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: And the disagreement is that there is a man that's one of them wants to take along named John Mark and the other doesn't.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: And they're bickering back and forth about whether they can bring John Mark along or not.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it gets to the point where they decide they can't be in ministry together.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so they have to part ways.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a practical move.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's really easy for us to say pursue peace with everybody until you sit into this place where you're like, well, is it possible in that realm?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is a big question in the world as well.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: What does it look like to pursue peace with Iran?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: What does it look like to pursue peace between Israel and Palestine?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: What does that look like?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I love this kind of like push that Paul's saying, he's saying, hey, if it's possible, pursue it whatever.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that sometimes it's not.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: But whatever possible, pursue it.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it kind of looks like these two have to work together, don't they?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm gonna continue to pursue peace until I have to take a step back.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm gonna continue to pursue peace until I have to take a step back.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to say this about peace as well.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Peace is not necessarily the same thing as reconciliation.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: This is the next slide.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: Peace is not necessarily the same thing as reconciliation.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Reconciliation is a hard thing, it's an important thing, but it's a little bit different.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: There are times in your life in which you have to separate yourself from a situation in order to be at peace yourself.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it may not be fully reconciled, but sometimes, if necessary, to pull back so that you might be at peace yourself.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Some of you have had relationships like this, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: The second point I would make, go back, Mason, sorry.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the second point I would make is that pursuing peace doesn't mean tolerating harm.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: I want to say this and uh this speaks on both sides uh of the gender aisle.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: But truthfully, honestly, I feel like women need to hear it more.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: If I can just be honest there.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the most peaceful thing that you can do is remove yourself from a harmful situation.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really easy for us to throw out these like church words like peace.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, just be at peace with one another.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: Just be at peace with one another.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: And how many people have stayed in a harmful relationship or a harmful spot in their life because they're just trying to keep the peace?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: But are they truly at peace themselves?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: I will tell you that navigating this discernment path here, like trying to figure out where do I do this and what do I do this, that's it's it's not real easy.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's not tied up with a bow.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: The only way you can do it is by coding it with prayer, especially if you're in a situation like that, coding it with prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your paths.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: But he says, be at peace with one another as long as it's possible.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: Next verse, verse 19.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: Don't try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: It is written, Revenge belongs to me, and I will pay it back, says the Lord.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then he quotes another passage from the Old Testament.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Don't try to get revenge.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Don't try to get revenge.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Man.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't revenge a pattern of the world?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't the revenge the pattern that the world wants us to do?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because if they do something to me, then I have to do something back.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Can I tell you about a story of peace that actually happened in this realm, in this space, like in this room in that parking lot.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: That I think deals with the tension here between peace and revenge.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: We had a uh young lady who goes to school here but doesn't come to Wesley and saw a bunch of cars parked out there in the grass lot.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if you park your car out there in the grass lot, hopefully you know that you have a parking pass that you have to display.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, they will take temporary ownership of your vehicle and charge you, I don't know, 140.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: What is it now, guys?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: 140, 150 dollars to get it back.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And uh if you don't have one of those, by the way, and you would like one, come find me after after church because you came today.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I will give you one.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we had uh we had somebody who who did that, and um, she didn't have a parking pass.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: And we have a company that comes and they roam tow.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: They sometimes come and get permission for it, but if we're not here or whatever, they just they're allowed to take the car as long as it's not showing the pass.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Some of you have made the mistake of not showing your pass, and you've had to pay the penalty uh that happens.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so she came in horrible timing right before Wednesday night dinner.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: And she found a couple of people and kind of got passed off back and forth because we were in the middle of trying to gather into the circle, literally, like a gathering in the circle to meet, and um finally determined that oh, her car must have been towed.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: So we gave her the information to go get her car from the tow yard, which is not exactly next door, um, and a little sketchy if I'm being honest with you.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh we got her all that information and and honestly, like I kind of thought it was resolved.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: This happens like once a week, twice a week around here at least.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: And um next day, I guess next day, next two days, I get this very, very intentionally written email.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh a couple little correspondence happens back and forth, and we're just trying to explain the situation, and then finally she responded with a lot of legal language, uh, with a threat to sue and all this.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so we're sitting in the office trying to discuss what do we do, you know.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that came up in that uh was well, should we try to match her energy in our response?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: I really struggle with that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: Trying to match her energy.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to match her energy.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to get her car out.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to match her energy.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I responded back in a quite a novel of an email.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that I said is like, here, listen, we we feel like we have enough signs up, we're gonna be better about signs, we're gonna put more signs, which is why those other red signs are up there, by the way, that you've seen.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: So please don't hit them.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Very important not to hit those signs.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: They will damage your car and we'll have to get new ones.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I responded to her, I said, listen, honestly, I'm just in the I'm in the business of peace.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm in I'm not in the business of anger, I'm not in the business of revenge.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not trying to just get back at you.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not trying to one up you so that we can have a legal argument that ends up in the court system.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Are you kidding me?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, I don't want to be in that, I'm just in the business of peace.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so we offered to do something that we don't often do, which is pay to get her car out and give her her money back.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: And there was this moment in her response that just like shredded me.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: Because all of that, like, well, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna threaten this and I'm gonna do this, when we just responded with just a hey, could we just be at peace?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: A whole transformation happened in her email.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: And she was like, I just I feel very differently about your church now than I did.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Paul tells us, if at possible, be at peace.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Don't try to get revenge for yourselves, but leave room for God's wrath.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Mason, we go to that second point there.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: If possible, don't try to get revenge.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, keep going.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's the text.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 20.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: Go to the past 20.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: In your work as a person, as a Christian, one of the things you have to decide, and you often have to decide this at the hardest of times.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm telling you now because it's not the hardest of times, so when the moment comes, maybe the light bulb will go off and you'll remember this, is that you have to decide to not retaliate.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: You're not even going to tolerate retaliation.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: I made the point to the teaching team on uh Tuesday that uh if you look at what happens with Jesus when he's arrested unfairly, he's taken and he's beaten.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Does he fight back?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: No, he actually sits there and he doesn't even have like a quip.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't because that's what we're really good at.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like we just have a comeback, you know?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like we have something else we can say.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't even have that.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: What does he have?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Just the ability to take it, to refuse to retaliate and don't get revenge because revenge is the Lord's.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: Revenge is the Lord's.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I want to point you to um uh a kind of a delineation between two terms that I believe is the next slide.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: We often talk about needing to get justice for unjust situations when we're in these situations, like it's just not fair that that happened.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: That is true.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the world.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: It is not fair that that happened, so we have to get justice, and sometimes we confuse justice with revenge, don't we?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes justice is seeking, like we have we have the right intentions of justice, but we seek after with missiles and bombs.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: But justice is something of God, and it addresses the wrongdoing, and God says, Hey, I'm gonna take care of it.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: But revenge is of the world, and it wants to make someone suffer.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see the difference?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we can participate in that justice, and we absolutely should.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's a work of God, and we should participate in addressing the wrongdoing.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: But there is often a time in which we want to retaliate, which then causes harm to that person, and therefore becomes revenge.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: And we can do it in such subtle ways.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't always have to be bombs.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: We can do it by spreading a new gossip or a new lie about another person, and we all do it.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And he says, Don't.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: My children do this all the time.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Dylan, do not say that to her.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: She said it to me.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know what I'm saying?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: We all do it, but with grown-up words.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: Justice is of God.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Now there's this weird part at the end of this.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to talk for a second.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because what Paul does is he um references Old Testament passages here.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: He does this often, Jesus does this at a time, quotes the quotes the prophets and many others.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: But um he says here, this is uh in the middle of 19, it's written, Revengeable onto me, I'll pay it back, says the Lord.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then he cuts off for a second, and then he says, Instead, and then he quotes Proverbs 25 if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: If he is thirsty, give him a drink.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: And by doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Now let's just back up for a second, okay?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: In the beginning of 20, instead, if your enemy is hungry, uh feed him, if he's thirsty, give him a drink.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: And by doing this, you'll pile burning coals of fire upon his head.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm a little confused.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: If our enemy is coming after us, don't get revenge, he says.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: If he's hungry, give him something to eat.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: If he's thirsty, give him something to drink, and then burning pile burning coal.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: What are we burning his head off?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't understand.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Do you are you with me?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that doesn't, I don't, that doesn't make a lot of sense.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of scholarly like takes on this as to what this actually means.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: The only other place this exists is in Proverbs 25.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: But I think the one that I could get on board with the most is a little bit of that kill them with kindness mentality of like, hey, I'm gonna give you something that you know you don't deserve.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give you food when you hated on me.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give you something to drink when you hated on me, when you said lies about me, when you hurt me.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: And instead, I'm just gonna give you what you need.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: And he says that will bring this kind of feeling of pain upon them, in which they understand the harm that they've caused.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: You will pile burning coals of fire upon his head.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good is how he closes out this chapter.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus captured.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus put on trial.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus whipped and beaten remains silent.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: They take him up the hill.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: They place him on a piece of wood.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: They take one hand and they put it here and another hand and put it here.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then they lift him so that he is hanging by his arms.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: He will eventually asphyxiate, not being able to breathe.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And he hangs above them.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he says the most remarkable words in all of the gospels, as he's being unfairly killed, he says, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: When we as humanity sinned against God, God had the opportunity to wipe us.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Controlled by evil.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And what God said is that I refuse to retaliate.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: I refuse.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, what if I were to defeat evil with good?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: With good.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: For they don't know what they're doing.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: When someone hurts you, you have the choice to retaliate, to get revenge.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's a pattern of the world.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying stay in an unhealthy situation.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said before, you need to get out.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: But the pattern of the world is to get revenge.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: What if instead we were to do the same thing Jesus does for us as our sins place him on that cross?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: What if we were to do the same thing in the situations where somebody's hurt us, where somebody said something bad about us, where somebody has gossiped about us, where somebody has lied to us?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: What if instead we would say, just Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: Can you think about how the political realm would be shifted next the next day by that type of behavior?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Can you think about how the church would be shifted the next day if you thought about that kind of behavior?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because it no longer becomes about winning and losing.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: It no longer becomes about left and right.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: It no longer, it only becomes about the forgiveness given to us on the cross of Jesus Christ.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing that can shape us.