How to Overcome the Evil Aimed at You

0:00This is the Chippengrim sermon podcast brought to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast, you'll hear Chips teaching unedited and from beginning to end. Chip titled today's message, How to Overcome the Evil Aimed at You. As we get started, I want to ask you to go to a place that you may not really want to go, but I'll tell you in advance, it'll be worth it. I'll get a lean back just a little bit, be reflective, and I want you to answer this question in your mind. Feel free to even close your eyes for just a moment if it's helpful. Of all the people in your life to date that you would say have hurt you the most, who comes to your mind, who's wounded you, who's lied about you, who's walked out on you. Who's taken your money, who's gossiped about you, who's sexually or physically abused

1:07you when you were younger, who's been ungrateful and humiliated you in front of a group of people, who said things at a Bible study or even at church that produced incredible pain and disunity, and you were made to be the person who was at fault. Who's betrayed you? Have you got it? I don't mean to pull off a scab. I don't mean to conjure up things for many of you. Some of these things are pressed down pretty deeply. I want you to follow along and I want to read to you what I think are the most radical words that have ever come out of any person's mouth that has walked on the earth. They're familiar to some of you, which is unfortunate because they lose their power.

2:08So as I read these, I want you to think about who wounded you, but I want you to think about what it would be like if you were living in an occupied country and your possessions were being taken away from you and you were being rejected by family members, all because you believe that this itinerant preacher was in fact the Messiah, the God man that came to save the world, and you knew you needed to follow him and as a result of that, everything from the persecution being walked into the Colosseum to being excommunicated from your Jewish family, this is what Jesus would say to them. And here's what he's saying to us, Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, you have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. And I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

3:10And then it gives the reason why, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. He causes the son to rise on the evil and the good and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Or not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, the word is tele-os, that's our word for mature, has the idea of something or someone fulfilling its ultimate design. Be mature, be perfect, even as your heavenly father is perfect. Now as you pull out your pen and pull out your notes, someone should write something down because you need to really get this. It is not hard to be a Roman 12 Christian, get that out of your mind. Some of you think it's really, really, really hard and you're thinking it's been, I mean,

4:13surrendered to God and separate from the world's values, it is not hard. It is impossible. Write that word down. It's impossible because if you don't think it's impossible, you'll try to be one. And you'll try to be one out of your self-effort and your flesh and your energy and your personal discipline and your willpower and the people that get good at it are called Pharisees. And Romans 12 was never written to help you in your power or my power to have a stronger moral code. It was a profile, it was a picture, it was a snapshot of what happens to a person when they experience the mercy and the grace of Romans, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. It's a faith response.

5:14Notice in your notes, Romans 12 Christians focus on relationships, not rules or religious activity. I mean, there aren't any rules and it doesn't mean as a follower of Christ, there aren't some religious activities, but the focus of any rule or any religious activity is to cultivate my relationship with God and my relationship with people, even my relationship with myself in a healthy, healthy way. In fact, you could summarize Romans 12 Christians, their highest aim, our highest aim is love. You know, when Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment? Remember what he said, love the Lord your God, how? With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And what else? And love your neighbor as yourself. You know, if you took everything that's in Romans 12, as we do just a quick review here, because what happens, you know, pretty soon you forget what we talked about two or three

6:16or four sessions ago. Really, Romans 12 is a snapshot of, in my mind's eye, it's the Apostle Paul taking the sermon on the Mount, and the Apostle Paul out of his conversations with the resurrected Christ in Arabia. And Jesus told them to love God, love themselves, love others, and Paul's a very brilliant, didactic guy writing to a Roman audience, and he knows it's got to get real practical. And so he says, let me show you what it looks like to love God in everyday life. It means on a certain day, at a certain time, after you've received his grace and been born spiritually, that you say to God, I surrender all, I'm all in, because that's the spiritual service God desires. And that's what it means to love God. And he says, there's a competition for that love, remember the world system that wants to seduce you, and tell you through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the

7:17pride of life, that real significance, and real success, and real power, and real happiness is going to come. And he says, you have to refuse the love for the world, if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And then in verses 3 through 8, he talked about loving yourself, looking not just in the mirror and saying, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, but looking in the mirror of your soul, through the lens of God's word and saying, I'm forgiven, I'm adopted. I had the spirit of the living God inside of me, I've been sealed, I have spiritual gifts, I'm the object of his affection, I am in Christ. God the Father now looks at me in the same way that he looks at his son Jesus, I am righteous in his eyes. That's a sober self-assessment, and yet in a fallen world. And it goes from loving God and not loving the world and loving yourself to loving the family, the body of Christ, radically serving one another.

8:18And then finally, we're going to talk in this session. What's it look like practically to love your enemies? Open your Bibles, if you will, to Romans chapter 12. He begins to clearly tell us how to respond to the evil aimed at us in verse 14. And verses 14 to 16, he's going to give us a positive command. This is how you respond to that person that came to your mind that I started this message with and asked you to think about. And he's going to say, here's how you respond to that person. Now I'm going to warn you, it's going to sound ridiculous and impossible. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. He's going to say, you need to bless them and that's how. Then he gives a negative command.

9:19The temptation when our enemies and people have heard us, there's a temptation. And he's going to hit it right between our eyes. Verse 17, do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live or be at peace with all men. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath for it's written. It is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary, here's how you're to treat that person that is in your mind. If your enemy's hungry, feed him. If she's thirsty, give her a drink. In so doing, you will keep burning coals upon their head and that doesn't mean God will blow their brains out. We'll learn a little bit what that really means. And then there's a supernatural result. There's this thing that when you act the way Jesus acted toward his enemies because Jesus lives in you by his spirit and you do it in the power of his word and authentic community,

10:22he says, do not be overcome by evil and it's an evil world. But he says there's something more powerful and evil. Never come evil with good. Now what I want to do in the remainder of our time is I want to break down very specifically and practically what it looks like to bless those who persecute you. That's the first and positive command. And the command is this, bless them that persecute you. That's what you're called to do. In verses 14, 15 and 16, he's going to give you three specific ways to bless them. The word bless, by the way, this is not like someone sneezes and you go, bless you. This is not that, okay? This word literally means to desire the salvation of another person. It means to desire and long for God's blessing and favor to be upon them.

11:25I mean, it's like for that enemy that actually their life would work out well, that if they're married, they're married, deeper, if their parents, their kids would do well, if they have a job, they would, I mean, it's blessing. That's what you're praying. And when it says the people who are cursing you, these aren't people that are just using curse words at you. The idea of this word, bless those who curse you. It's people who socially ostracize you because of your faith. It's people who verbally humiliate you because of your faith. It's people that in the first century and many places around the world, people who undercut you and actually persecute and want to kill you because you're a follower of Christ. He's saying, what I want you to do is bless them. And there's three components here. The first component of blessing others is forgiving them. This is hard, forgiving them. I mean, if you're to pray for and blessing is for their salvation. If God, if you want God to forgive them, guess what? You got to forgive them.

12:28And you know that little section sort of in, we call it the Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our sins just as we forgive others. See, the premise is going to be, and this is the key to loving your enemies. You and I have to come to the point where we really grasp how merciful and God has not given us what we deserve. And there's part of it where it's a dark place you need to go. And you kind of need to look at your motives and some things that you've done. And some stuff that you have begged God, oh God, please, please don't let me get the consequences of that one. Oh God, pick me up and cleanse me and he has. And then what he's going to say is, I want you to do for that person what I've done for you. Now people get very confused when it comes to forgiveness because they tell me things like, well, my husband walked out on me. He's not paying any child support or my boss sexually harassed me.

13:31And I went to HR and they kind of glossed over it on this one. And so I'm living with this. And every time he makes some sort of comment, I'm forgiving him that I feel very angry. And well, I'm forgiving him. But so how do you square this forgiveness? Or one of my folks sexually abused me. And I've forgiven him, I think 144 times and then the phone rings. And it's a certain time on Sunday afternoon. And I think it's going to be them. And I get knots on my stomach and this anchor. Forgiveness has three phases. Jot these down please. Phase number one is a choice. Two, forgive. It is not emotional. It has nothing to do with your feelings. It is a choice. By the end of our time together, many of you will open a section in your Bible and you will say, I forgave blank today and you'll put a date because it's a choice. The second is the forgiving process. So you forgive and then it's forgiving.

14:33That's a journey. And that journey is where your emotions catch up with the choice that you've made. Because you can forgive and you do that and you say, and the word means to release or to loose. In other words, I'm going to take back my desire for them to get paid back. And I'm going to release them from that like God has released it. And so I'm not going to say anything negative about them. I'm not going to wish negative for them anymore. I'm going to release them to God and I'm going to forgive them the way God has forgiven me freely. So it's a choice. But then when they drop off those kids and they've kind of poison the kids against you and then you get this letter in the mail and you hear about this guy that stole a bunch of money from you and he's vacationed Hawaii or you read about him in Forbes and you just go, does it mean you haven't forgiven? No, it means you're on the journey. And the journey means when you bless you begin to pray for is the journey, you pray for. When I first experienced this, I got betrayed in a tremendously hurtful, painful way and

15:37I got stuck and I couldn't get out of it and I had a good friend walk me through this passage and teach me how to do this and so I started to pray and my prayer is honestly start out like this. Dear God, give that sucker what he deserves. I'm serious, I'm serious, you know, heavenly Father, take him out, you know, and as I continued to pray the Holy Spirit was making the evidence that that was not exactly what blessing was all about and but you know, part of it too, you need to be real with your emotions with God. I think some people think you know God has a sanitized room, I got news, he can handle whatever you can bring and what he appreciates is authenticity and sometimes it's painful and it's raw, read the Psalms and then I got to where, oh God, would you just help him see how wrong he is and bring him and I mean I had to pray every time I heard something about it and the anger would come up, no, I've forgiven him but I've got to keep processing

16:38and you know it was two or three months later, God would you bless his marriage, would you and I began to pray and then I for me I just decided every Lord's Supper, I would never take the Lord's Supper until I prayed honestly and from my heart to bless this man and his life and his marriage and his kids and all I can tell you is that over time he moved out of state, he didn't change, I don't believe but I did but see there's poison in your soul when there's bitterness and you've been wounded and as someone wisely said when we refuse to forgive it's like we drink poison and think the other person is going to die. Can I just make a comment because I think there's a lot of confusion about forgiveness and emotions and well I don't feel like I've forgiven him, forgive as a choice and then you bless them, you pray for them, we're going to learn in a minute you're not only pray for them but you start doing good things for your actual enemies like if they're hungry

17:40you feed them, if they're thirsty and there's specific ways that you do good things for people who don't deserve it but I like if you would think about Jesus in the garden, he died to forgive you and to forgive me and sometimes we make this you know Jesus loves me this I know, can I let you in a little secret, he didn't feel like forgiving you. Do you ever think of that? He's in the garden, he's sweating like drops the stress, like blood coming out of his pores and he's fully God but he's fully man, he didn't die with some S on his chest like I'm going through the motions as a man he could die but as God the Son, he knew that when he was going to get on that cross your sin and my sin, the sin of all people of all time would be placed upon him, he became our sin offering and when the moment sin came upon him the Father would turn away and for the first time in eternity the Father and the Son would be separated and he would experience that isolation

18:43and the price of sin and as that was coming let alone getting beat within an inch of his life and let alone being humiliated and stripped naked in a crown of thorns and being public displayed we think that's the big deal that's the small stuff and it's horrendous and do you remember what he prayed? Father let this cut pass you know what he's saying? I don't want to do this I don't feel like doing this forgiving and loving isn't doing what you feel like it's choosing to give another person what they need the most when they deserve it the least at great personal cost and when God says to forgive this person all we're doing is we're stepping in the same path of Jesus and we're doing for this person they don't deserve it of course not neither did I neither did you and so the process of forgiveness is a choice second forgive forgiving is a process and then forgiven is it's done and here's how you know when

19:49it's done you can spontaneously rejoice at blessing in their life I've been praying this was my first real battle with this I've had multiple ones since I guess the older you get the more betrayed and difficult things you get in your life but in this particular situation it'd been about nine months since I went through this betrayal that I was hurt and angry and I'm taking the Lord's supper and I'm praying for this guy every I'm praying for him more in my mind you know because the anger fantasies would come up and every time they would I'd start praying for him and blessing him and and so I was it's right before I supposed to speak and a guy thought it would be a positive comment I suppose he goes oh did you hear about so and so this really good thing happened to him and I did the good Christian thing like oh wow great and my insides were going oh yeah that stinks that is so unfair after what he did here and he got blessed over there well say I'm not done two years later I don't know why this always happens to me in church two years later I'm in church and a guy walks up to did you hear about so and so I said no he said

20:50this this this and this happened to this guy and before I could think before I could process joy I said oh that's great and I meant it I stopped praying before the Lord's supper I was done I was done forgive choice forgiving process for your emotions go up and down as I bless and pray forgiven it's done some of you are going to get out of prison today some of you have been pushing this down and that's why you're depressed some of you eat when you're not hungry because you've been pushing this stuff down some of you have ulcers and migraines and there's lots of physical causes but a big part of why our bodies don't work very well and why we do stuff that doesn't make sense and you know we have sanctified quote addictions and not so sanctified addictions and a lot of it is rooted in this lack of forgiveness and be willing to release these people and you can start that today the final thing he says in not only do you forgive him but he talks

21:57about identification and so it's not just where you mentally are doing this I mean this gets like from hard to crazy hard he says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep Christians we usually quote that and we think it's how we're supposed to treat one another you don't need any commands to rejoice with people that you love and you don't need any commands to weep with people that you love that have cancer the context here is this is how we bless or treat our enemies and so your boss who ripped you off who did terrible things to you who actually you know stole a couple of your patents took credit for it launched another company went public got mega wealthy rich and you lost out and you've been brewing over this forever or your mate that walked out on you and married some little hottie male or female and now is you know on the beach while you don't have any money and you know is this now is this real stuff or not right

22:58and then they get cancer or they're in an auto accident you know you know what this says you rejoice with those of rejoice you weep with those who weep what would happen if you walked in that hospital room so do you know I know it's been five years you can't believe how much I've prayed for you you don't have to tell them why and I want you to know that I have forgiven you for what you've done but when I heard about this cancer I felt compelled by God to come tell you that Jesus really loves you and I would love would you would you allow me to pray for you right now can can you imagine them scratching their head or when something good happens to them rejoicing with them you know maybe they remarried and they've burnt you and but they have a kid and they have a baby and something happens you've completely forgiven them and you're praying for blessing what what if you jotted a note and said I really I praise God have been praying for your family for two years and you know it's it's exciting to see this blessing in your life and for some because

24:04here's the disclaimer if you were sexually abused or this person hurt you or did something there's some people you can't get involved with but you could send them an anonymous gift because here's what it does it changes you and before you keep looking at me like this is the craziest stuff you've ever heard isn't this what Jesus did didn't Jesus come to a planet and those who were his own did not receive him but rejected him so we are his enemies Paul would call us while we were still his enemies Christ died for us Romans 5 8 and so why were his enemies what did he do he went to weddings and rejoiced with us he raised little kids from the dead if you're hungry why don't we just feed everybody right here or with Lazarus what do you do he wept see Jesus Jesus wasn't playing okay when you clean up your act and when everything gets okay then I will love you he rejoiced with those who were rejoicing any weep because it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance

25:10people will probably this is so counterintuitive this is so bizarre when you by his power and his grace choose to do this something happens and the grace of God works through you in ways where you know what people start to believe maybe this Jesus is real and so it begins with forgiveness and then there's identification and then notice the very last part verse 16 he he says there's an association that you need to be very careful he says live in harmony with one another do not be proud but willing circle that word associate with people of low position and then as though you know do not be conceded in a fallen world with evil people and especially those that don't know Christ and are very antagonistic the apostle Paul saying we need to be people that don't just cling to our rights in the fray of life I mean it's a selfish dog eat dog manipulative world I mean welcome to the NFL so how does a Christian live that out if possible he says live in harmony with one another

26:17and then and then here's what here's a deal when you're blessing your enemies see this if you're not careful it can be like you know what I'm gonna do this I'm gonna jot a card I'm gonna visit them in the hospital I'm gonna pray for them every day you know one I'm sort of this wonderful spiritual amazing person loving this scumbag of the world who walk out on me that's kind of the opposite of do not be conceded see this this is hard for some of us on a given day the very thing that that person did to you in a moment of weakness and under pressure you could do that to someone else so we come not as the superiors we come associating with connecting with our humanity people of a low position and we're not conceded but it's with humility that we

27:20bless them with a sense of but for the grace of God I would be doing those things to others that doesn't this really just sound like Jesus doesn't it just isn't there like a trail being blazed that were to follow and so that's the positive side bless those and notice who persecute they're after you the second command is a negative one don't take your own revenge versus 17 through 20 don't take your own revenge I mean it's just a command do not repay evil for evil and and then he's kind of like in a fallen world he says be careful circle that word above literally it's take thought numeric and standard says respect but it's right in the side of all men if possible as far it depends on you live with peace with everyone and then he goes on to say just wait wait a second don't take your own revenge but leave room for God's wrath he's the one

28:22who's going to be the judge he's going to meet out justice here's the point personal retaliation is a prohibited response for God's people personal retaliation in other words they did evil to you you get them back they did evil to you you get them back they did this to you you say bad things about them and if you're a Christian and you have some experience you can do it in such passive aggressive ways and you add a verse to it throw in it's a prayer request it works believe me and you just go left-handed like this and you're welcome because your real goal is revenge it's payback you use your power and use your intellect to use your relationships you use new ounces and you go like this one more drink of poison please it's going to kill him sooner or later but it doesn't never pay back evil for evil instead take thought and consider how people think

29:29respect and realize that they don't have your values they're not going to act the same way so don't the field is not level they have they're really focused on them sometimes I hear Christians get all upset about non-Christians living like non-Christians that guy's really greedy she's so sexually immoral I can't believe that I mean he just drained the whole company and all the employees oh my so what were we like before Jesus was controlling the interior of our life take thought for how people think it will help you live in harmony with them personal retaliation is prohibited for two very important reasons one it usurps God's role as judge vengeance is mine God says look I'm just yes I'm holy I'm compassion I'm slow to anger but I'm just and the word justice is rooted in a concept you know the scales of justice justice is rooted

30:33in a very clear concept of retribution retribution is simply this when you do evil stuff evil consequences when you do good stuff reward every man will get what they deserve so you just need to say I need to take the ball of judgment hand it to God and say I'm tired of trying to figure out all the ways in my anger fantasies and different ways to get back at my boss or my ex or one of my kids or the person who abused me and I'm going to put that ball in your hands from now throughout eternity and I'm going to trust that since you are just that you will do what's right I will never get a raw deal but I'm stepping out you own it God I release it to you you're fair you're just and either on this side of heaven or on this side of after death the scales will be absolutely and perfectly balanced you can release that wound and that hurt

31:39and your desire for payback because he knows all things he knows all the wise he knows all the circumstances and you don't and you can give that to him but there's a lot of us if you demand to be the judge then God doesn't get to be the judge and when you judge people and you decide you're going to pay him back you reap what you sow the second reason that personal retaliation is prohibited is because it's an ineffective means of bringing about peace I mean look at this passage and how many times it was about oneness and one another and live in harmony God wants us to live in a very fall and evil world where we're the kind of people that bring peace and we don't cling to our rights and where they kind of employees that people say wow we'd like a hundred of them because you know everyone's you know gossiping and doing this and that and wanting that and wanting this and they're a real hassle but man alive these Christians and they make the companies smooth they're loving their selfless they're caring they're not doormats this isn't peace at any price

32:41they take a stand on principle they take a stand on values you don't ever run over them but man they're people of integrity they bring about peace that you want things on your softball team you want them in the city league you want them helping you know running the wreck center stuff that they're just good people and when they get a little offended they're not so insecure that you know they're always causing problems they kind of look at people and realize you know take thought for where that guy's coming from that's not that's not even worth the time probably out of prey for him he's going to go home and scream at that nine-year-old for probably five hours because he missed one ground ball we're not going to mess with that stuff we're going to make this a great environment you get it see when you tit for tat evil for evil evil for evil you know what it's like it's like there's a little fire brewing it's like ticking you know one of those big firemen hoses and instead of water coming out of it you fill it with gasoline and that's what people do they do it in their families they do it in their marriages they do

33:44with their in-laws they do it at work they did this I did this we did sit in some coffee shop just sit in a coffee shop sometime this week this is sort of raw to say but and listen to other people I mean you can't help it because they're so close because usually you try and concentrate and see how many conversations I bet it's in the 80 percentile of when people are talking that they're talking about someone that's not at the table about your mom did that and she did that I can't believe your sister and she did that and you know Bob who's the supervisor can you believe they're doing that it worked right and then they carry this attitude and they poison their own soul and I would say it's really true of a lot of us and Paul says don't do that it's ineffective in fact he goes to the other extreme then he says in fact if your enemy's hungry I mean the person who's wounded you help them give him some food if they're thirsty give them a

34:48drink and so doing you heat burning coals on their head this picture of burning coals is not as I said it blows out their brains it's it was an Egyptian ritual in the time ancient near east if a person in Egypt in this culture realized that they had offended someone there was an argument and they were wrong then they would build a fire and they take the coals out of the fire and put it in a pan and then they would take a towel and put it underneath the pan and they would put on their head and they would walk through the village symbolizing I'm burning the bad thoughts out of my mind I was wrong we would use the word I repent I'm have a meta noya I've had a change of mind and see this is what you see happen in scripture this is when you do good for people and they know deep in their heart and they're psyche that they don't deserve it

35:49well it it brings about a shame even in evil people this is a picture of David and David's running for his life and all he done is one battles and cared for Saul and cared for the king of Israel who was Saul and Saul really went off the deep end and he was chasing David he's trying to kill him know the story and so you know he's running running dodging dodging well finally he gets surrounded and he finds himself and there's this cave so he and his men are all the way in the back of this cave and Saul's got him surrounded and it's like man man guys this is kind of it we're done if they find us and I've lo and behold Saul comes into the cave and the Bible's pretty graphic he relieves himself and I don't know maybe he took a nap afterwards I don't know exactly how it all happens a text doesn't say but David's buddies they go hey God's delivered him this is it nail him wow and David says see David gets this I'm not the judge I will not touch the Lord's anointed his buddies were saying God's putting him right here I mean this is an answer to prayer

36:50knock him out David says no no but he gets close to Saul gets out his knife and he cuts a little section off the bottom of his robe Saul leaves the cave goes down peace there's a ravine gets on the other side of the ring David steps out from the mouth of cave Saul Saul why what have I done God brought you in this cave and he holds up look at your robe I could have killed you and then he makes this very interesting statement he says let God be the judge between us if you are more righteous than I then I accept full responsibility may God take me out but what have I ever done see he gave good for evil and then very interestingly Saul begins to weep it's like in this flash in this moment he realizes the truth see when people do evil things

37:52they repress it then they go into denial and and there's demonic stuff that happens with people that do progressively evil things to where they they don't think they're doing anything evil and it's addictive and in this moment of grace Saul real he weeps and he says David you are more righteous than I unfortunately it's a very short repentance and a temporary repentance but can you imagine if we said you know what God I'm going to forgive so and so and then you started on the journey of praying for him and then maybe even anonymously doing something good for them to bless them and even you know we tend to demonize people when they've heard us have you decide have you realized that is it you know they've really heard us so all everything they do is terrible and everything we do is good and we kind of reframe the whole story most stories aren't quite that clear doesn't mean they didn't do something terrible but what would happen what would happen just where we live if we loved our enemies if we blessed them if we said God you be the judge if we were free

39:01well here's the supernatural result is good will overcome evil now I realize that what I've said so far for some of you is there's still a little bit of a you don't really understand you can't possibly grasp what I've been through and you know what I don't but some lessons you learn later in life and some early and this lesson I learned as a very young Christian in a powerful way that shaped my future I came to Christ in the summer right after high school I went away to play basketball in a basketball scholarship I was a freshman and if you could do pretty well you could make the traveling team and a guy came in it was supposed to be the big hero came from inner city New York he'd grew up in the projects he'd been to Vietnam he'd been in prison some he was supposed to be this rehabilitated drug addict and drug dealer and the reason he came I played it a smaller school the reason

40:05he came to our school was because his nervous system was kind of damaged his reflexes were just I mean they weren't terrible but they just weren't all that good he had a 40 inch vertical leaping it was about six seven six eight I mean it was there's times where I thought man that that guy is going to just knock his head on the rim and so something happened in his life I don't know if his Vietnam I don't know if it was upbringing but he hated Christians I don't mean he just liked or had a he hated Christians and I'm like six months old in the Lord okay I mean it's we're in basketball season now I'm just brand new I'm just reading my Bible in the morning I haven't even made it all the way through the New Testament but I've decided I'm gonna you know this is he's my savior I'm gonna walk with him and so this guy finds out I'm a Christian and he starts he can do a little bit of the Bible and he would quiz me on that and and then it got to just humiliation if you've ever been in a locker room you know what guys talk about and all that and he liked to say my name in a way that sounded like a cuss word cheap cheap come here that's what he talked to me

41:13and then it was I became when you're fresh when you have to do whatever the older guys so I kind of became a slave so it's like you put my bag on the bus and then I'd come back you know what I want I want my one shoe out of that I'd go back get the shoe you know I don't really want that shoe and he would just mess with me and get the training table go get me a coke get me a second helping me and then he would just ridicule like the coach would walk out the door like before he goes hey we've got a big game I wonder if the skinny little white virgins gonna be helpful you know how them Christians are and guys multiply 10x what I just said and you'll get to where we really lived and I hated his guts and so my answer was I my hero was Pete Maribitch and so I did all those drills for years and years and years and could handle the ball and so in warm-ups and things behind the back as hard as I could because I knew his reflexes weren't very good bam right through his hands into his face you know and and then I'd be on the break and I'd slam on through my legs and I'd watch it come right up and the coach would yell at him and you know no look pass you know this is really fun because you know and he was strong because I

42:19mean I hated him so much that I mean honestly I would have done this like hey Jerry come on you want some of this but it was like it would be like a three-second moment and I'm smarter than that I mean he so let me finish the story because there's a major point where I learned about this passage because it gets real serious I'm coming in from the gym and here is a is a room and across the hall from mine and I just crossed to get to mind and the doors a little bit open there's all this smoke you know greenish blue smoke coming out of it everyone's smoking dope and he's in there well if he gets caught even smoking grass he's on probation he will go back to prison and I didn't think of that but I just walked by and I got it was unlocking my door and I felt this on back of me and he turned me around and he grabbed me underneath the neck and he lifted me up against the wall so I could be up where he is and he got about this close to

43:21me said if you tell anyone what you just saw I will kill you and I've killed a lot of people and it's not that big of deal do you understand and you know I'm 18 years old I just came to play basketball in college and I'm scared to death because there was no bluff in this guy and and I I started getting like all sorts of my stomach and I couldn't sleep at night and I had anger fantasies I had you know I mean anger like really bad you know like doing something that you would regret the rest of your life and it dominated my life and I'm I went to my there's a guy that was making disciples and I was in a Bible study and I just shared the whole story he said do you want help I said are you kidding yeah he says well what I'm going to tell you is really hard but I guarantee it'll work I said man I'll take anything he grabbed a Bible he opened a Romans 12 he read verses 14 to 21 and he explained what I just explained to you

44:27and I looked at him like are you on drugs bless this guy I want to shoot him he said I said you said you you're willing he said and he said it's not a feeling it's choice so at this table right now you need to forgive him because God wants to forgive him I said I don't think God okay yeah okay I'm sure God really does want to forgive him I just don't and I willfully chose to forgive him and he says now you need to bless him so I pray for him every day and then Jerry for the next four months of our season never had to ask for anything because I got his bag Jerry you want this on the bus Jerry you need anything else Jerry you need another coke hey what what can I do for you Jerry I mean I'm here for you when he would go in the shower he was always dirty clothes you had to put him in this mesh bag and I took all the sweaty stuff gave him to the trainer took his clothes bolder and put his shoes next to it didn't say word I just blessed him and blessed him and blessed him and blessed him and when he said stuff to me I just bug grace of God I didn't didn't say anything

45:29back no more behind the back passes no more no look passes Jerry good shot and after you know like after a month or so he's going you trying some Christian trick on me I said no I'm just you know Jesus said that I'm to love everybody and I'm just doing my best cheap disgust well I'd like to say you know this is one of those stories where two and a half months in he walked into locker room no down oh Jesus please forgive me that story ain't going there okay because that's not this story two months three months nothing changed he just ridiculed me all the time except one thing about a month into it I changed my hate was gone my fear was gone I got out of prison I actually saw a wonder I mean this guy was brilliant he used to wear this skull cap he was an amazing artist and I actually got to where I could say I wonder what happened to this young man where he came from and where he's been

46:34he'd take his shirt off he had a scar that went from here all the way around to here I had no idea what he'd been through and I had no idea how other Christians treated him all I knew was I got to the point where I actually cared about him why I blessed him I prayed for him I did good and when you do that God does something in you we close the season and we always close with the big tournament in a major city and at a big Coliseum and all the teams in our conference would come and you'd play a bunch of games and we were eliminated and I mean you got to remember this is like mid-70s and so it's Jerry and I you know I'm only six foot tall so I've got my platforms in my blue leather jacket my apple hat and you know I'm sort of strutting and Jerry is you know he's like six seven six eight so he's got his platforms and his fro and his hat so he's like seven two you know so this is just the world we lived

47:35in and you know there was real windy and I remember him I just you know those images in your mind sometimes I remember him taking his leather coat because it was windy and put it up here he turned him he goes cheap I said yeah he said you know there's only two people I respect on this whole team I've been messing with these guys minds they are so punks he said me because I am evil and I know it and if there's a hell I'm going there and you because I disagree with everything you stand for but you actually live it and I would never ever want to be a Christian but if I ever even thought about it I'd be one like you and he said you know what I'm done with you it's no fun to diss you anymore so you're done kid get out of here she you and here's what I want to tell you

48:40God wants you to love your enemies for your good for his glory this is living on the edge with chipping room friend for over 30 years living on the edge has been committed to one mission helping believers understand what it truly means to follow Jesus not religious activity not trying harder but relational practical measurable Christianity that transforms every area of life messages like todays exist because partners believe this mission matters when you give to living on the edge you're helping Christians discover God's power peace purpose presence and perspective you're investing in clear biblical teaching that moves people from confusion to clarity from exhaustion to experiencing God's best would you join this mission today give online at livingontheedge.org or call us at triple eight three three three six zero zero

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