Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Steering Clear of Murder Msg 1424 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Steering Clear of Murder Msg 1424 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: When you receive your worshipfuld of this morning, you found
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  Speaker 1: an outline that is in it. I'd like you to
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  Speaker 1: place that at the third chapter of the Book of
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  Speaker 1: James over toward the end of your New Testament. Just
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  Speaker 1: place it there at chapter three. Will begin the message
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  Speaker 1: there shortly, and then once you've done that, please turn
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  Speaker 1: to Matthew chapter five. We're going through the Gospel by Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: and we have come to the immortal Sermon on the Mount,
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  Speaker 1: which Jesus delivered there most likely on the northern shore
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  Speaker 1: of slope up leading up from the Sea of Galilee.
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  Speaker 1: And there was a crowd that gathered his disciples and
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  Speaker 1: others as well, and there he delivered a counter cultural
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  Speaker 1: kingdom life message for those whose ears had never heard
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  Speaker 1: such teaching. They have been used to the traditional humdrum,
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  Speaker 1: monotonous kind of delivery that they have been raised with,
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  Speaker 1: and suddenly they find someone passionate about a transforming message
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  Speaker 1: that would change the entire direction of their lives. Once
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  Speaker 1: you find Matthew chapter five, locate verse twenty one. I
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  Speaker 1: will read from there through twenty six as we stand
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  Speaker 1: together for the reading of scripture. Matthew five twenty one
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  Speaker 1: you have heard that the ancients were told you shall
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  Speaker 1: not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be allowable
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  Speaker 1: to the court. But I say to you that everyone
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  Speaker 1: who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before
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  Speaker 1: the court. And whoever says to his brother you good
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  Speaker 1: for nothing shall be guilty before the supreme Court. And
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  Speaker 1: whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go
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  Speaker 1: into the fiery hell. Therefore, if you are presenting your
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  Speaker 1: offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother
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  Speaker 1: has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar,
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  Speaker 1: and go first be reconciled to your brother, and then
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  Speaker 1: come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your
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  Speaker 1: opponent at law while you are with him on the way,
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  Speaker 1: so that your opponent may not hand you over to
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  Speaker 1: the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you
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  Speaker 1: be thrown into prison. Truly, I say to you, you
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  Speaker 1: will not come out of there until you have paid
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  Speaker 1: up the last cent. Penetrating words that are of interest
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  Speaker 1: to all of us who often struggle with anger, please
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  Speaker 1: be seated. Back in the mid nineteen fifties, there was
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  Speaker 1: a team of five young men. We had come to
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  Speaker 1: know one another in college, and were led by the
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  Speaker 1: Lord to pursue a tribe in Ecuador known as the Aucas.
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  Speaker 1: In the process of time, they with their wives moved there,
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  Speaker 1: and before they departed to begin that very significant connection
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  Speaker 1: with the tribe of Savages, they met together for prayer,
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  Speaker 1: husbands and wives, and they sang one hymn, It's for Him,
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  Speaker 1: that will be played for us by the brass choir
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  Speaker 1: this morning, Be still my soul, the Lord is on
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  Speaker 1: thy side, taken from Psalm forty six, verse ten. Let's
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  Speaker 1: be stilled before the Lord as we bow for prayer.
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  Speaker 1: As was true of those five our father, we acknowledge
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  Speaker 1: we also face an unknown future, each of those men
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  Speaker 1: becoming martyrs in their desire to reach those who had
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  Speaker 1: never known the Savior. And we move into a world
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  Speaker 1: that has lost its way, has long since left the
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  Speaker 1: teachings of the scriptures. And it's our desire to live
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  Speaker 1: for you in this hostile environment in such a way that,
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  Speaker 1: if nothing else, their curiosity would be drawn to how
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  Speaker 1: we might live so differently in a world of the
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  Speaker 1: majority who live the same. I pray for courage in
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  Speaker 1: this congregation. I pray for wise decisions to be made
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  Speaker 1: before anyone enters the workplace this week. I pray that
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  Speaker 1: our hearts will be right before you, and that we
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  Speaker 1: will not be ashamed of our convictions or of the
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  Speaker 1: good news that has transformed our lives. We need wisdom
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  Speaker 1: to do this lest we come across as prudish, holier
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  Speaker 1: than thou. I pray that you will give us an authenticity,
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  Speaker 1: like Christ, who lived and spoke in such a way
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  Speaker 1: that people could not stay away as he drew to
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  Speaker 1: himself those who would follow him if he were to
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  Speaker 1: live today, Maybe may we be among those in that number.
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  Speaker 1: May hear May we hear his word above all others.
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  Speaker 1: May we follow his teaching more faithfully then we follow
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  Speaker 1: our conscience or what we may have been taught in
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  Speaker 1: years past. May we be willing to devote ourselves to
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  Speaker 1: the way we should go to please You Lord, not ourselves,
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  Speaker 1: not people, but maybe please you in the process, Maybe
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  Speaker 1: learn how to do it in such a winsome, gracious
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  Speaker 1: way that others are drawn through our good works. To
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  Speaker 1: you and your son, Jesus, help us this week, especially
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  Speaker 1: as we move inexorably toward that Friday night when we
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  Speaker 1: gather around the cross and the tomb, and we devote
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  Speaker 1: ourselves afresh and anew to him who loved us and
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  Speaker 1: gave himself for us. We desire that this message go
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  Speaker 1: beyond our own property and beyond our own neighborhood. And
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  Speaker 1: while infiltrating this area, may we be faithful to carry
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  Speaker 1: it beyond use the gifts that we give for that purpose.
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  Speaker 1: And now, as we sit still before you, may we
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  Speaker 1: rehearse in our minds the week that has passed. May
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  Speaker 1: we prepare ourselves for the sowing of the seed. May
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  Speaker 1: we not be defensive or preoccupied as we hear your
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  Speaker 1: son from your word, teach us how to live in
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  Speaker 1: this world for your greater glory and for your sake alone.
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  Speaker 1: We pray this, and we give our gifts through Christ,
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  Speaker 1: our Lord. Everyone said, amen, I have several shocking questions
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  Speaker 1: to ask you, so hold on tight. Are you a murderer?
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  Speaker 1: Do you do it so often that you don't even
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  Speaker 1: remember the last time you took another's life? What is
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  Speaker 1: your preferred method of killing? Poisoning your victim, burning him
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  Speaker 1: or her, beating stabbing that individual? How long is your record?
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  Speaker 1: Truth be told, some of you would qualify as a
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  Speaker 1: serial killer. If those questions offend you. Those statements make
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  Speaker 1: you defensive. You are a self righteous pharisee. Those are
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  Speaker 1: the kind of questions Jesus would ask his audience, knowing
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  Speaker 1: that they would shatter all vistages of self righteousness and hypocrisy.
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  Speaker 1: If you're a follower of Jesus, if you submit to
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  Speaker 1: his teaching, you would quickly acknowledge the truth he speaks.
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  Speaker 1: And rather than saying, how dare you ask me, that
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  Speaker 1: you would answer guilty is charged. Before we look at
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  Speaker 1: some of the things he taught. I would like for
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  Speaker 1: us to see what James writes in the third chapter
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  Speaker 1: of his letter over here in the New Testament. And
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  Speaker 1: when I do that, I want to show you where
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  Speaker 1: you've been hiding your weapon. I'll cut to the chase
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  Speaker 1: and say the weapon is hidden behind your teeth, going
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  Speaker 1: down to your throat, all the way to your heart.
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  Speaker 1: It is your tongue that kills, that poisons, that beats
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  Speaker 1: and stabs others. Look please at James three in verse five.
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  Speaker 1: The tongue is a small part of the body, and
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  Speaker 1: yet it boasts of great things. See how great a
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  Speaker 1: forest is set a flame by such a small fire.
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  Speaker 1: The tongue is a fire. That's why I say you
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  Speaker 1: may burn your victims. Is the very world of iniquity.
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  Speaker 1: The tongue is set among our members as that which
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  Speaker 1: defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course
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  Speaker 1: of our life, and is set on fire by Hell itself.
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  Speaker 1: Look at the next statement. Every species of beasts and birds,
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  Speaker 1: reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has
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  Speaker 1: been tamed by the human race. But no one that
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  Speaker 1: includes you and me, no one can tame the tongue.
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  Speaker 1: It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With
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  Speaker 1: it we bless our Lord and father, and with it
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  Speaker 1: we curse men and women who have been made in
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  Speaker 1: the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both
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  Speaker 1: blessing and cursing, My brothers and sisters. These things ought
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  Speaker 1: not to be this way. Look at the next chapter,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, verses one and two, equally convicting. What is
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  Speaker 1: the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it not?
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  Speaker 1: The source? Is not the source your pleasures that wage
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  Speaker 1: war in your members? It means your desires translated pleasures.
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  Speaker 1: Is it not your desire that wages war in your members?
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  Speaker 1: You lust and do not have. That's a picture of covetousness.
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  Speaker 1: There's a result you commit murder. Look at that you
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  Speaker 1: covet because you cannot have. You commit murder to make
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  Speaker 1: it happen. You're envious and cannot obtain, so you fight
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  Speaker 1: and you quarrel. The picture of not only the human race.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and say it many a group
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  Speaker 1: of Christians, if we are known by criticism of one thing,
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  Speaker 1: it is our inability to solve our own quarrels, to
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  Speaker 1: restrain our tongues from saying things that make us sound
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  Speaker 1: exactly like the world around us. We shrug it off
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  Speaker 1: by say, well that it is the way I was raised.
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  Speaker 1: That's heard it all my life. You know, get over it.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be so sensit. Wait a minute. Some of you
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  Speaker 1: have come from volatile homes. I acknowledge that I happen
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  Speaker 1: not to have been from a home that yelled at
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  Speaker 1: each other. But some of you knew yelling all the
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  Speaker 1: way through your growing up. Ears. My heart goes out
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  Speaker 1: to you because you not only hear it, You pick
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  Speaker 1: up a habit and you're not shocked by it, and
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  Speaker 1: that's why you do it. You heard cursing. I don't
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  Speaker 1: believe I heard a curse word in my home. Out
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  Speaker 1: throughout my growing up years. Some of you heard cursing frequently.
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  Speaker 1: You witness tongue lashing, we call it. You set in
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  Speaker 1: groups where other people are spoken of in such ugly ways.
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  Speaker 1: It is like they are verbally assassinated and they're not
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  Speaker 1: even there to defend themselves, and you participated in that.
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  Speaker 1: How easy to do that. It is so accepting in
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  Speaker 1: this day and age. Tragically, even in Christian circles, you
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  Speaker 1: might think I've been a little hard on us. Look
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  Speaker 1: at Romans chapter three on your way back to Matthew five.
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  Speaker 1: This is not James. This is now Paul doing a
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  Speaker 1: post mortem analysis of depraved humanity. It's an ugly picture.
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  Speaker 1: As he works his way down from the head to
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  Speaker 1: the feet, he's describing humanity in its raw reality. Were
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  Speaker 1: it not for the power and work of Christ in
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  Speaker 1: any one of our lives, this is the lifestyle we
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  Speaker 1: would live, and tragically, this is the habit many have formed.
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  Speaker 1: Romans three ten. There's none righteous, not even one meaning
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  Speaker 1: righteous in yourself, meaning so righteous? What a deception. There
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  Speaker 1: is none who understands. There's none who on his own
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  Speaker 1: seeks after God, you have all turned aside. Together they
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  Speaker 1: have become useless. There is none who does good. No,
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  Speaker 1: not one keep reading. It's more penetrating. Their throat is
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  Speaker 1: an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. Look
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  Speaker 1: at that the poison of asps is under their lips,
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  Speaker 1: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. And all
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  Speaker 1: the way to the feet that are swift to shed blood,
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  Speaker 1: destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path
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  Speaker 1: of peace they've not known. There's no fear of God
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  Speaker 1: before there. That, in a thousand other reasons, explains why
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  Speaker 1: I have the privilege every day of my life, and
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  Speaker 1: certainly every week when Sunday comes to announce the good
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  Speaker 1: news that you don't have to live like you were born.
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  Speaker 1: You are not a victim of your old nature. If
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  Speaker 1: you have Christ living within, he has come to deliver
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  Speaker 1: you by His grace from that kind of lifestyle. Whereas
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  Speaker 1: you have in your old nature always the tendency to
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  Speaker 1: speak evil, to spread poison, to assault and attack, there
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  Speaker 1: can be restraint through the work of God deep within
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  Speaker 1: your heart, so that the tongue, like a bucket going
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  Speaker 1: down into the well of the heart, can bring up
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  Speaker 1: that which is beautiful and good, encouraging and lovely and affirming.
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  Speaker 1: But on its own it will not do that. As
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  Speaker 1: with all of this in mind that we go back
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  Speaker 1: to the Sermon on the Mount, Chapter five of Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: and if I may remind you of where we were
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  Speaker 1: last time. Religion has a strong foothold in most people's
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  Speaker 1: lives who are reared around churches and religious teaching. Much
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  Speaker 1: of the teaching is incorrect. Rather than giving you a
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  Speaker 1: way to live that is under the power of the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: you and I were given lists things we should do,
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  Speaker 1: things we should not do, so that the doing of
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  Speaker 1: things characterized our lives. It was all about how we acted.
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  Speaker 1: You don't do this because it doesn't look good. You
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  Speaker 1: don't say that because people will form opinions. It's all
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  Speaker 1: about the actions. Whereas true religion, genuine Christianity, goes deeper
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  Speaker 1: than the mouth, than the fists, than the feet, goes
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  Speaker 1: all the way to the inner man, where we have
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  Speaker 1: a chance to realize there can be a control. And
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  Speaker 1: when you come to Christ, listen to me. The Spirit
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  Speaker 1: of God makes his residence in your life, and he
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  Speaker 1: lives there to control your emotions, to restrain your rage,
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  Speaker 1: to calm your tendency toward retaliation, and to give you
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  Speaker 1: genuine peace, so that you're speaking peaceful terms, encouraging terms,
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  Speaker 1: loving words. You can't do it on your own. Try
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  Speaker 1: all you wish without Christ to live like Jesus teaches,
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  Speaker 1: you will be one frustrated individual. You must have Jesus
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  Speaker 1: living in your life for there to be the kind
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  Speaker 1: of restraint that you need. Now, then all of these
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  Speaker 1: who are listening to Jesus teach and his sermon on
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  Speaker 1: the Mount had been reared under rabbis who learned their
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  Speaker 1: lessons from the Pharisees and the scribes. They read them,
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  Speaker 1: they listened to them, They were tutored and mentored by them.
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  Speaker 1: So they parroted what they had been taught and seen
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  Speaker 1: before their eye. Everything was about the act. So when
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  Speaker 1: they address or when they address murder, they addressed the
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  Speaker 1: act of murder, not the motive behind it, not the
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  Speaker 1: thoughts that lead to it, not the anger that stems
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  Speaker 1: from the heart and leads two assaulting others. They weren't
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  Speaker 1: taught about that. They were taught the act of murder,
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  Speaker 1: because that's that's what the law teaches. You shall not kill,
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  Speaker 1: meaning you shall not murder. And along comes Jesus and says,
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  Speaker 1: but I say to you, you are to be different
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  Speaker 1: from that. It isn't simply the act. I want to
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  Speaker 1: dress behind the scenes the hidden motive of the heart.
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  Speaker 1: You see, the Pharisees dealt with the letter of the law.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus came and taught about the spirit of the law.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to pull a pen from your purse
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  Speaker 1: or your pocket, and I want you to mark some
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  Speaker 1: things in this fifth chapter that I want you to
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  Speaker 1: remember when we get to them in days to come.
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  Speaker 1: But now I just like you to mark them. You
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  Speaker 1: will see on the outline where I'm going, because in
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  Speaker 1: this sermon Jesus tells them what they've been hearing, and
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  Speaker 1: then he corrects that teaching with his words that are
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  Speaker 1: introduced by what I call a literary clue. There are
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  Speaker 1: six of these clues that go together. Look at your Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter five, Verses twenty one and twenty two would be
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  Speaker 1: the first. I'll not read at all, but simply the
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  Speaker 1: first lines verse twenty one. You have heard twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: But I say to you what they had heard was
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  Speaker 1: what they had grown up with, what they had listened to,
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  Speaker 1: what they had witnessed among the Pharisees what the rabbis
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  Speaker 1: had taught them. And along comes Jesus, who says, there's
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  Speaker 1: more to it than that. It's not an act, it's
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  Speaker 1: an attitude, which he addresses. Look again verse twenty seven,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty eight. You can mark this you with your
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  Speaker 1: pen or pencil. You have heard I say to you.
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  Speaker 1: And here he addresses adulterrey twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty
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  Speaker 1: nine thirty adultery. They taught this, which was about the
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  Speaker 1: act of adultery. Jesus taught that, which is about lust
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  Speaker 1: that leads to adultery. You don't control your lust, you
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  Speaker 1: are guilty of adultery, just as if you don't control
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  Speaker 1: your anger, you are guilty of murder. Until you see that,
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  Speaker 1: you won't understand the seriousness of this teaching. There's a
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  Speaker 1: third verse thirty one, verse thirty two. It was said
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  Speaker 1: verse thirty two, but I say little change in wording,
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  Speaker 1: rather than you have heard. But it was said the
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  Speaker 1: same thing, but I say to you. And then he
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  Speaker 1: corrects the teaching regarding divorce verses thirty three and thirty four.
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  Speaker 1: Mark that, yeah, you have heard verse thirty four, but
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  Speaker 1: I say here he talks about oaths. Look at thirty
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  Speaker 1: eight and thirty nine. You have heard verse thirty eight,
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  Speaker 1: But I say to you, and here he talks about retaliation,
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  Speaker 1: an eye for an eye, or tooth for the tooth,
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  Speaker 1: And that's the way the Pharisees taught. But he said
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  Speaker 1: there's a better way. Let me tell you about it.
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  Speaker 1: There's another. You have heard. It was said you shall
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  Speaker 1: love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say,
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  Speaker 1: that's forty three and forty four. Got them, all, six
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  Speaker 1: of them. We're looking at the first of six where
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  Speaker 1: we learn how to steer clear of murder. Until you realize,
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  Speaker 1: and that was the purpose of my shocking questions, until
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  Speaker 1: you realize that you can commit verbal murder, you will
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  Speaker 1: know ever really take the tongue seriously. You'll never really
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  Speaker 1: give attention to how it can be restrained. You'll pass
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  Speaker 1: it off with a shrug. You'll say, compared to so
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  Speaker 1: and so, I'm under control, or in light of what
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  Speaker 1: my dad used to say, I'm a lot better. We're
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  Speaker 1: not comparing people with people. We're listening to the teaching
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Okay, so let's deal with murder here. The
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  Speaker 1: outward act is in verse twenty one. All your growing
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  Speaker 1: up years, all those times in the synagogue, all those
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  Speaker 1: days in church, we would say, you have heard the
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  Speaker 1: ancients were told you shall not commit murder. Murderers, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: the taking of the life of another, don't do that.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever commits murders shall be liable to the court. What
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  Speaker 1: does that mean? In small communities, the court consisted of
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  Speaker 1: about three people. Medium sized communities that grew to about seven,
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  Speaker 1: and in larger cities it was as many as twenty
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  Speaker 1: three that filled the court. And you stood before the court,
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  Speaker 1: and you suffered the consequences if you, in fact took
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  Speaker 1: the life of another. The law says, don't do it,
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  Speaker 1: and the Pharisees taught the law, but they never went
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  Speaker 1: behind the scenes and dealt with anger. That's why many
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  Speaker 1: of them were filled with anger. You question that. They're
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  Speaker 1: the ones who led to the crucifixion of Jesus. They're
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  Speaker 1: the ones who hated the Messiah. They're the ones who
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  Speaker 1: found fault in what he taught because he exposed them
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  Speaker 1: in their self righteousness. He shattered their self righteousness, and
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  Speaker 1: they despised him for it. They teaming up with the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Romans nailed him to the cross, hopefully to silence him.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: On the contrary, they set the message free. But now
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Jesus comes along and says, there's more to it than
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: an act. There's more to it than putting a gun
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: in someone's chest and pulling the trigger. There's more to
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: it than poisoning someone. Let me go further. Now it
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: gets very convicting everyone who is angry with his brother.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: So let's keep this among the family. Your brother would
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: be your fellow Christian. Your sister would be your fellow Christian.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Everyone who is angry with his brother or sister in
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the family of God shall be guilty before the court.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: He even goes into detail. Whoever says you good for nothing,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: that's an insulting statement. We would call it airhead. It
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: means an empty headed individual. That's an insulting statement, shall
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: be guilty. Whoever says you fool, fool, isn't someone that
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: just does something mischievous. A fool says in his heart,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: there's no God, you godless so and so so. It's
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a it's a pronouncement of condemnation of another person. It's
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: what we do in a burst of temper. It's what
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: we do when we take off all the restraints. This
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: is road rage in action, except it has to do
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: with the tongue. Now you can begin to get the picture.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: You see it. It's an inner attitude, has to do
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: with an anger which broods let me go further, an
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: anger that won't forget. Some of you could name book,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: chapter and verse of an event that happened, of where
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: it made you anger, and you have carried that anger
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: to this day. You even know the words that were said.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Anger that won't forget. Or it's an anger that refuses
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: to forgive and be pacified, or it's an anger, worst
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: of all, that seeks revenge. I don't know if you're
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the kind of person who holds a grudge, but if
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: you are, I plead with you, on this day in
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: your life, to break that habit. Holding grudges is a
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: horrible way to live, and it's a dreadful way to die.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: I did a little research this week on the Hatfields
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and McCoy's. There's sort of the notorious example of a
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: feud between two families. The Hatfields lived in Kentucky near
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the Big Sandy River at the Fork, and the McCoy's
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: lived in West Virginia because one of the members of
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: a family fought for the Union rather than the Confederacy.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: The group on the other side that was on the
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: side of the Confederates hated him when he turned. When
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: he returned from battle, having lost a leg, he was
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: killed by a Hatfield. Body was found January seventh, Get
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: this eighteen sixty five. Stay with me. Thirteen years later,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: in an argument over the ownership of a hog. In
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: June eighteen eighty two, McCoy brothers killed a relative from
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: the other family. The few had escalated when a Hatfield
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: married a McCoy. I bet that was fun when the
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: two got together in the families. Can you imagine? August nine,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two. There's the reason I'm giving you dates.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: August nine, eighteen eighty two. Another murder followed a fight.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: This led to a revenge killing of several that same day.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: No forgiveness, no reconciliation, only loading up the weapon for
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: another shot. Eighteen eighty six, a McCoy shot at and
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: killed a Hatfield. January one, eighteen eighty eight, a McCoy
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: killed nine was killed by nine Hatfield attackers as a payback.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: January seventh, eighteen eighty eight. A hatfield killed was killed
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: by McCoy January eighteen, eighteen eighty eight. Another killing February eighteen,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety a hanging, similar killings, acts of hatred, ongoing fights,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: lingering offenses. Finally, June the fourteenth, two thousand and three,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: there was an official truce declared, and one of the
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: members of one of the families says, sometime you do
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: have to fight, but you don't have to fight forever.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: It was signed by more than sixty descendants from both
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: sides after the feud had lasted one hundred and thirty
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: eight and a half years. That's what happens when you
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: hold a gudge. Oh yeah, you're not that violin. I
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: know that. I know that, and I'm also I need
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: to clarify too. While we're all sitting here shredded and guilt,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I need to add here that not every skirmish is
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: a is a verbal murder. I mean you'll have arguments.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: It's not talking about arguments. I mean if you're married,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: if you're just married, it goes with it. And the
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: longer you're married. It's interesting, isn't it. The skirmishes a
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: cur back and forth. It's the case of the old
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: guy that had been married to this older lady fifty
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: years and he had retired and she was sick of
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: having him around, and she said to him, just get
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: out for a while. I need a break. So we leeve.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: He leaves and he goes to a store and he
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: steals a can of peaches. And he comes home and
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: he opens the can of peaches and he's eating them.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: She said, what are you doing? He said, I'm eating
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: these peach and she said, where'd you get him? He said,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: I stole him. She hit the ceiling. She turned him in,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: pressed charges, took him for the cops. The cops got
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: him for the judge, and he stood before the judge.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Judge said to him, as he got the picture, how
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: many peaches in that can? The old guy says six? Okay.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: He said, I'm gonna teach you a lesson. O man,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you in jail for six days. His
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: wife's in the back of the court saying he also
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: stole the can of peace. Little marital anger there going on.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: You understand, that's why you laugh. You understand we're not
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: talking about that, you know better. We're talking about those
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: times that fire could have been coming out of your
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: mouth like a dragon. We're talking about those moments when
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: you seethe deep within and you cultivated a hatred for
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: another person. This is what we're talking about. We're dealing
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: with murder in the heart. You see, when you're a Christian,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: you learn not to shrug sins. You don't do that.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Mature Christians don't shrug off sins. And even though you're
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: a strong believer in grace, and there's no one right
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: now on this planet stronger in grace than I am,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: but I will tell you, as a grace loving believer,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: you don't dare shrug off sins that cheapened grace. That's
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: why Jesus says what he does and uses words like
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: this that strike the heart. Let it see what it
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: says now, imperfect Jesus Christ fashion. He flips the story
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: around when he gets to verse twenty three, and he
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: no longer looks at you in your anger. He now
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: looks at the person you've offended, the person you said
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: those things to. Look at twenty three. It's a conditional sentence.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: If and you're in church, you're reaching into your wallet
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: or your checkbook to write out your gift for the day.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: In those days, you had a gift that you brought
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: and offering to the altar. That's what it's saying. If
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: you are presenting your offering at the altar and there
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: remember at that while you're engaged in worship, amazing about
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the mind, you're suddenly stung with memory. You blink your
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: eyes and you see another face on your eyelids. You
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: begin to be pierced in your heart. When you're in
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: the middle of a song or a time of silence,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: or in a sermon, you're about to present your offering
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: at the altar, and what happens. You remember your brother
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: has something against you. You are the offender, and you
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: remember that, oh, I've had that happen and I know
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: you have. What do you do? Do you sort of
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: shrug and pray and ask the Lord to help him
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: understand that it was just a bad moment. No, doesn't
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: say that you wait a few days and think, maybe
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: have a chance to make contact or doorable open. Maybe
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: you write a letter. No doesn't say that there's no
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: wait here. Do you leave it up to him to
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: come or her to come to you and say, you
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: know the other day when you said so and so
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: that was very hurting, that was difficult, and I can't
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: quite get No. No, the responsibility is not the other person's.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Please observe the verse and let the verse say what
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: it says. Look at the verbs. Leave you're offering and
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: go first, be reconciled at that order of importance. First
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: be reconciled, and then come and now present your offering
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: full circle. You're in the middle of worship and you realize, oh,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: and you're convicted. It's come from the spirit of God.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: You've said or done something that was cutting, and you
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: know you were wrong, and you know the other person
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: was hurt, was offended. Your mind has the ability to
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: picture all of that. You go, what do you use
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: to say? It says you go first and be reconciled.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: You turn enmity into amity. You turn the offense into
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: a resolution. You reconcile with this brother or sister you
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: have heard. May I add you don't try to justify
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: what you did, And let me say this. You don't
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: blame him or her for something they had done that
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: caused you to do that. What caused you to do
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: it is your own anger, unrestrained. That's what you're dealing with.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that I've come to realize
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: that what I did was absolutely wrong. I have no excuse,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: and I want you to know that I care very
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: much that we rebuild a relationship that I have destroyed.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: I don't want that. I don't want that to happen,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: and I'd like you to forgive me, please, I'd like
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: to seek your forgiveness. I'd like to make that right.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: And then what do you do? You come and present
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: your offering back at worship. I'm going to pause here
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: and let you think that through my words are saying
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: one thing to one person and something altogether different to
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: someone else. It may be something between you and one
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: of your children now grown. It may be with an
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: in law. It may be with your parents. It may
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: be with a former friend who's no longer a friend.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: May have been a roommate in college or classmate school,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: maybe a fellow soldier when you were serving in the military.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: The possibilities are endless, but you don't leave it there.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: You make it right. Please observe this is one of
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: the few times and all the scriptures, you stop your
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: worship to take care of a higher priority. You see,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: it's a tendency of the hypocrite to stay in church
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: and just to go to more church services rather than
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: you know what, more important than my attending a church
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: service is attending to this offense that I've caused. And
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: if I may be so bold as to say it,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: some of you have left a trail of offenses. You're
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: the serial killer, and you justify for whatever reason they
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: ought to grow up or well, you know you should
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: have seen what they did. Stop all that. Until you
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: come to terms with this, you will not fulfill what
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Jesus is commanding. He goes further. Look at the next
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: two verses. Now you're no longer at church. Now you're
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: going to court. And now it's not another brother. This
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: is an opponent. I take this individual to be person
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: who is without Christ. May not be, but I'm suggesting
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: that make friends quickly with your opponent. Look at the quickly.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: There's urgency written all over this instruction. Urgency, Urgency, urgency.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you're
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: with him on the way, so that your opponent may
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: not hand you over to the judge. These are all
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: picturesque words to describe what happens. And the judge turns
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: you over to the officer, and then you be thrown
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: into prison. Truly, I'll say to you, you won't come
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: out of there until you paid the last cent. What
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: does that mean? What's the prison? What's the prison? Look
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: at Matthew eighteen. Hold your place here right quick. Now
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: turn to Matthew eighteen. This is the section where Peter
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: says to Jesus, how many times do I forgive my brother?
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Seven times? Jesus says seventy times seven, meaning an infinite
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: number of times. And what if I don't, What if
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: I don't forgive? This is the other side of the coin.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Look at it. Look at what he says. Chapter eighteen,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: verse thirty four. Toward the end of the passage, his
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: till he should repay that which was owed him. It's
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: a story of a debt. Now, he adds, my heavenly
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: father will do also to you if you do not
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: forgive brother from your heart. It's about forgiveness. And you
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: see the words in verse thirty four, handed over to
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: the torturers. That's the prison. That's the prison where some
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: of you live. You're eaten up with an acid maybe
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: an acid of resentment or bitterness or grudge holding or blame,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: and it's all you can do to smile through a
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: day because this is just your lifestyle. You become that
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: kind of individual. You've been turned over to the torturers.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: It's a horrible way to live. I know I've been there,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and I've come to realize that that is not the
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: way I want to live my life. That it's certainly
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: not the way I want to die. As a pastor,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: you're with people when they're dying often, and you hear
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: things that you wish you could share with everyone, words
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: of regret. It's remarkable how death will bring all of
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: that to the surface. Listen to me today. This is
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: for you right now to prepare for the rest of
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: your life. I encourage your cultivating reconciliation with others. Is
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: it humiliating, Yes, it can be. It's certainly a humbling
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: you begin with. I come today to acknowledge I said this,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and I had no right to say it. You weren't
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: even there, but you heard about it, and I'd hear
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: you'd heard about it. I never made that right. Or
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: it may be I remember that day when we had
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: that terrible argument, and I made some statements that were condemning.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: How wrong I was. I want to make it right.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: Please forgive me. I don't want to spend the rest
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: of my days churning, as he would put it, in
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the prison of torturing. Now, as I close this message
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: the serious note, I want to offer three principles that
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: I think will help us respond correctly to Jesus' command.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Here's the first. The principles of kingdom living go deeper
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: than the external. The principles of kingdom living go deeper
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: than the externals. You can always count on this. Jesus
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: does not deal with externals. Man looks on the outward
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: appearance the Lord what looks on the heart. You can
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: be sure of this. Your acts acts are not the
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: first focus of our savior. It's the hidden person of
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: the heart. It's the things you think. It's the attitude
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: you cultivate. It's the deep resentment. It's the revenge, it's
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the grudge, it's the blame. The principles of kingdom living
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: go deeper than the external. Here's the second. The potential
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: of anger is far greater than mere words. The potential
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: of anger is far greater than words. You're going to
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: try to justify yourself by saying, I just just a
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: throwaway comment. No wa, wait, that's not what Jesus calls it.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: And if you wonder the condition of your heart, listen
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: to your tongue. Your tongue is like a bucket, and
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: your heart is like a well, and it goes down
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: into the well and it brings up what's there. That's
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: what is a concern to our Savior. And if you
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: know the Lord and you live like this without concern
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: for that, you grieve the Holy Spirit. That's not legalism,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: that's biblical truth. You grieve the Lord who wants to
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: give you take full control of your whole life. Believe me,
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: it's a great way to live. There's nothing like it.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: The potential of anger is far greater than mere words.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: Here's a third. The power of reconciliation is stronger than revenge.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: The power of reconciliation is stronger than revenge. Saint Patrick
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: was a fifth century British Christian missionary and a bishop
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: of Ireland. He came to be known as the Apostle
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: of Ireland. We only know him at the holiday or
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: at the day we acknowledge and we're green. We call
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: it Saint Patrick's Day. You owe it to yourself to
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: study the life of Patrick. Tradition has it that he
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: had this prayer inscribed on his breast plate. Listen to
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: this magnificent prayer. Each line begins with God, God be
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: in my head and in my understanding. God me in
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: my eyes and in my looking. God be in my
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: mouth and in my speaking. God Be in my heart
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: and in my thinking. God be at mine end and
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: at my departing. Fast forward to your day of departing.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: I know it's difficult for you, who are strong and
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: healthy and younger, but Russia ahead there will be a
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: day you depart. How great to know that there were
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: no skeletons left. How great to know that you're sleep,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: by the grace of God, was marked by forgiveness, reconciliation
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: and peace. What a way to die? Thou with me?
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Will you please sit very still for a few moments.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: I understand that I have spoken strong words today, and
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: I have done so only for your good. Had I not,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: you probably would not have given me the attention that
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: you have given, not to me but to God's word.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: It's time for you to reign in your tongue. It's
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: time for you to come to terms with your anger.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: You're envy, your bitterness, your blame. It's time. As we
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: read in Romans three, we discovered that we can't do
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: this on our own. James even says you can't tame
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: your own tongue, so you need help from within the
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: presence of Jesus. Christ can fill your life and give
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: you the power you need to address the things that
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: you know deserve your attention. If I may speak on
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: behalf of those you have offended, Please do what is right.
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: Please deal with this. If first you must come to Christ,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: then come to Christ. Trust him. He will forgive you.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: He will set your feet on the rock and will
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: give you a confidence and refreshment that you've never known
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: before as you clear your conscience, if you know the
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: Lord's a great moment for you to confess this to
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: him and then begin the process of urgent dealing with it.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: If we can help you with that, that's why we're here.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: Just call on us a father. We end on this
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: sober note, because this has been a serious message. Can't
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: imagine how Jesus must have spoken these words and how
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: they must have been heard by those who discovered what
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: they had never been taught before, and what they must
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  Speaker 1: have done about it. Help us to know kingdom. Living
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  Speaker 1: in a world that's lost its way, give us the
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  Speaker 1: ability to live in such a different way that the
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  Speaker 1: very works of our lives, motives of our hearts, words
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  Speaker 1: from our mouths strike curiosity in the lives of those
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  Speaker 1: who don't know you, who seek to find out how
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  Speaker 1: there can be such a difference in what they are
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  Speaker 1: witnessing and what they live with. I pray that good
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  Speaker 1: will come from these words of counsel, that these who
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  Speaker 1: hear these words will be faithful to follow through for
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  Speaker 1: your greater glory. As Christ instructed his name, we pray
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  Speaker 1: everyone said Amen. Amen. The preceding message, Steering Clear of Murder,
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  Speaker 1: was copyrighted in twenty fifteen and twenty twenty one, and
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  Speaker 1: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by
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  Speaker 1: Charles Rswindaw, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of
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  Speaker 1: copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.