← ONE | A Potter's House Church
ONE | A Potter's House Church
The Beatitudes: Living From the Inside Out - Dr. Anita Phillips (Wednesday Bible Study)
01:22:56
Loading summary
Transcript34 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:04]
B
Hey good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy and I'll be back with you at the end.
- [00:54]
A
So I brought my actual Bible outside tonight, but I'm probably still gonna use my iPad. So for one, the print is a lot smaller than I remember it being. I have had this Bible since I was 19 years old. My father gave it to me as a gift. It is a Scofield study Bible. That's what it's called cause Mr. Scofield apparently wrote the study notes and my mother's father gave her one and she used it preaching when I watched her hold this leather black Bible growing up and I wanted one. And so my dad got this for me when I was 19. I've had to have the COVID put back on. It's highlighted so many places it's barely any non highlights. But it's the only Bible that works for me in my hand. I try other ones. I can't find stuff so I wanted to use it but man, it's the Prince Mall. It used to be big. My eyes must have changed since 19, but I got it out here anyway just to bring it with me. We're gonna talk tonight about a segment of Jesus Sermon on the Mount called the Beatitudes. And I'm so proud. I made little slides and everything. I'm so proud of myself. I made those myself. So don't talk bad about any graphic artist or any other person. It was me. It was nobody but me. Nobody but me. But I want to talk to you about the Beatitudes, the topic of living from the inside out. And before we get into it though, the verse that I actually want to start with is Matthew 7, 24:25. It should sound familiar to you after the song that we just sang so we can skip to that next slide. I Can see. There we go. Matthew 7, 24, 25. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. This is Jesus speaking. I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat upon that house. And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Rain came, wind blew. My house was built on you. That's the words that are being sung this scripture. It's good to know what we're singing. It's good to know what we're singing. And so when I saw this verse tonight at the end of chapter seven, I said, oh, brother Kyle, I'm a need to hear. Thank you, sister Morgan. I want us to sing this together. And I believe you'll never sing the song again the same way after tonight. Because the verse that it starts with 24, Jesus says, therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built upon his house upon a rock. And then after you have hearkened unto his sayings and you're doing what he said, you can declare, rain came, wind blew. My house was built on you. It's a posture where we have followed through with what Jesus has taught us. And it puts us in this safe position. It puts us on a firm foundation. It's not just a place we jump up and go. It's a stance that's rooted in direction in the Word. And so these are actually the concluding, nearly concluding verses of what is known as Jesus Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount was Jesus first big message. And it runs from Matthew chapter five, all the way through Matthew chapter seven. So it's long, and there's a lot of stuff in there. The Sermon on the Mount is this foundational teaching that Jesus gives. So let me tell you kind of where it is in Jesus's ministry. At about 30 years old, we know Jesus starts his ministry. John the Baptist is also 30 years old around that time, because they're only six months apart. John the Baptist and Jesus are cousins. And John the Baptist is out declaring and making the way of the Lord in the wilderness. And then he says, look out. I'm baptizing you with water. But another one's coming who will baptize you with fire. And that person is Jesus. He's the fire baptizer. And so Jesus comes to be baptized by John. John baptizes Jesus, and then immediately following that, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, where he spent 40 days in the wilderness. He comes out of the wilderness, he starts calling his disciples to. He does a bunch of miracles. People follow him. He goes up on a mountain, he sits down and he teaches this message. So just give you that quick. This is his first big sermon. He sits down and spends these two chapter. Well, three chapters, because it's five, six, and seven. So it's three chapters that this sermon goes. And so I wanted you to just kind of have that backdrop of where it is. And it's really important because this is Jesus introducing what it means for the kingdom of God to come. Some of you have heard the Lord's Prayer before and let it be as on earth as it is in heaven, and all the things he's teaching about that in these three chapters that's in here. It's a whole lot of stuff in here. But we're going to do at the beginning tonight, which is the Beatitudes. But I want you to have the context, because Jesus is making this transition from the law, where everyone was only able to be right with God if they followed the law. And the law being those ten commandments that Moses got. And you probably saw the movie if you haven't read it in the Bible. And we'll get to those. But Jesus is making this transition where it's not about what you do, is why you did it and how you did it. It's a heart gospel, and this is a shift. And so his entire Sermon on the Mount is about going from being controlled by the law the way that the religious people of the day wanted to do it. And. And it's very relevant still now to this heart posture. He is redefining what it means to follow God. It's about inner transformation, not just external religion, not just behavior. And Jesus will conclude this whole three chapters by urging listeners to live out his Word. And then he's comparing that obedience and the outcome to building a house on that firm foundation that we were just singing about. And so it's not Jesus saying he's getting rid of the law. He's not saying no more Ten Commandments. We can do whatever you want. That's not what he's saying. He In Matthew 5:17, he says, Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. And that word fulfill. Get this. That's made me so excited because we have been talking so much about fish and nets and what God's calling us to do in this community and in the world. That word fulfill literally means to cram nets full. Isn't that cool? Metaphorically, it means to fill up and all of those things. But its literal meaning, the Greek word translated as fulfill is to cram the nets full. And so he is not coming to destroy the law or the prophets. He's not coming to destroy. He's coming to bring an understanding of God that will cram the nets full. That pulled us in because he loved us, and that will pull others in because it's about love. When he talks about the law being fulfilled by Moses, how many people know who Moses is? Most of us heard about Moses, right? Moses got the law from God. When we say the law, we talk about the Ten Commandments. One of the reasons that we knew that Jesus is who he said he was was because of all of the Old Testament predictions from the prophets about the Messiah and what it would mean and how he would look and how he would show up. And Jesus is constantly showing that he is the guy they were talking about. So they had a checklist. When the Messiah comes, it should be this, it should be that, it should be this. And even though they had the checklist, obviously a lot of people still missed it. But if you pay attention, it was right here. They just. It was right here. And we're going to see why we miss that stuff sometimes. But it's amazing, the parallels that we see between Moses and Jesus and because it's because Moses received the law and Jesus is fulfilling the law. So we see these threads between Moses and Jesus. Moses went up on a mountain, Mount Sinai, and he was there alone with God for 40 days. And he gets the law from. From God and he puts them on the tablets and he comes down with the Ten Commandments in His hands. Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness and then comes out and goes up onto a mountain in Galilee to do this teaching. He goes up, Moses goes up and comes down with ten Commandments. Jesus comes down, goes up, and teaches us how to move forward, forward from there. So I am going to read a little something because this is so amazing to me how he kind of flips the law. He absolutely flips it. I'm going to skip that up. So I did the 40 days on Sinai. He did the 40 days fast. Moses was the leader of these 12 tribes. He has all the 12 tribes of Israel out there in the. Out there in the desert. Jesus comes and gets 12 disciples. And so he's showing. We get to be those people, right? They were the literal children of Abraham, we get to be adopted into the family of God. And so he brings these 12 disciples together. And that represents how he brings us in as disciples. We get to, we get to be a part of that. Moses was a prophet of God. When the Pharisees hear Jesus speak, they say, why does he speak with such authority? Because he himself is fulfilling all that the prophet spoke. He's God himself. So the God that spoke the law to Moses, that he chiseled on the actual commandments, now here is Jesus, God himself, giving us the fulfillment of this law, unpacking in a way that we can actually live it out as it was meant to be. But the law with Moses had an external obedience focus. Jesus is coming to bring us heart level ethics. There's a difference between ethics and laws in many of your professions. I know in my profession as a therapist, there are lawyers, doctors, in many of our professions we have what we call a code of ethics. It's not about the law, it's about doing it the right way for the right reason. And so we'll say, well man, I wonder if I have a client. And a client comes in and they're so grateful for the work we've done together. And they bring me a gift and I'm like, should I take this gift? It's not against the law to take the gift. I don't go to the law book, I go to my code of ethics. The code of ethics says it's not that it's a law breaking to do it, but will it change the relationship balance? If you take this, will it change the heart connection, the heart posture of the work that you're doing? So stay with your ethics. Ethics are a higher standard than law. And so Moses got the law because we did not yet have Jesus to come in and bring us back into relationship with God after the fall. So we had to be controlled externally. But now Jesus is coming to reconnect us directly with God. And so now we're going to be living from the inside out. So he's bringing us ethics. Ethics are a higher standard. And finally it was about blessings and curses. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses was talking about blessings and curses. And I'm going to skip to that real quick. I don't have it on the slide, but I want to read it. And then we're going to look at what the blessings are that Jesus is bringing to us. Because so many of us are following Jesus but don't realize that we really are still doing it in a law based way. And we want to have all of the freedom that Jesus died to give us. We want to let go of those things. This chapter is super long. Where are my things? Oh, my gosh. I didn't highlight it. Hold on. Thank you. I love Bible study because I kept taking my time. All right, there we go. And it shall come to pass if thy. Verse 1. Deuteronomy 28, verse 1. And it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to. To observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high, above all nations on the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. So this is God saying, follow my laws, and then you'll be blessed. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kind, the flocks of thy sheep. We want. Whatever that means. Bless, bless, bless, bless. Shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when you go when thou comest in. Blessed shall you be when you go out. These are the blessings that are being promised if you follow the law. But there's a very different set of blessings being promised by Jesus, and they don't sound quite as exciting. Pastor Ebay. But we gotta trust Jesus, that it's a good idea. So let's go back to Matthew chapter five. But I wanted you to see those, and I didn't bring them all. But just some of those parallels with Moses. It's a huge, huge, important deal for us to recognize how Jesus fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament and how he is the final say. The Ten Commandments are up here. Now, some of you may not know all of them, so I figured I'd put them up. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them. And, you know, we have really blown this. There are a lot of graven images of Jesus. We've blown this. I'm just gonna put it out there. And it has not been good, because every time somebody makes an image of Jesus, whether it's carved or painted, it's giving. It's projecting the look of. He said, don't do it. Don't do it. What's in heaven was we didn't need to do it because it causes problems. I was in Rome last year over the holidays and we went to the Vatican and as we walked through, they were explaining to us that the paintings of Jesus looked the way they did because the Christians wanted to get the people to accept Christianity. So they made images of Jesus that looked like a combination of. Of different gods and the Roman. And so they showed us the different Roman God statues. And they were like. So the Jesus that Michelangelo painted has this God's head, this God's arms, this guy, because he was trying to make an amalgamation of an image that would seem familiar to them so they'd be more willing to accept Jesus. He don't need our help like that. And it has been challenging, and we know all the challenges that it's brought. So we. We have messed up with this commandment. I'm just saying. Anyway, Number three. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor thy father and mother, those who are special. And I'm going to tell you why in a second. Number six. Thou shalt not kill. Number seven. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not. You shall not. You shall not. But here's what's interesting. When Jesus came in the Sermon on the mount, in chapter 5, verse 21, he says, Ye have heard it said by them of old time. Even Jesus called them old timers. You have heard of them, said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. So he's quoting the Ten Commandments. That's why I wanted you to see them. Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. Verse 22. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Two things here. One, Jesus goes from the thou shall not language to the what you shall. He starts speaking affirmatively. This is really important because this is one of the places that we lose our. Often lose the opportunity to truly be transformed in the grace that Jesus brought. We come and receive Jesus, but we're trying so hard to get it right that we're still living a thou shall not. We're so focused on what we shouldn't do, and we're living with this kind of negative language, and that just weighs us down. And I preached about this before. It's really hard to not do something you're staring at all the time, trying not to tell me what I should be doing. Tell me what, who I should be being. And so Jesus goes from thou shalt not kill. He says, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause is, is in danger of judgment. Skip to verse 27. He does it again. Ye have heard that you have heard, it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already. So he's going from the thou shalt not to look what you are doing. What am I doing? If we would ask ourselves that question. As we want to of course remove sin from our lives, we want to keep the boundaries that God sets for our relationship, relationship with him. Boundaries keep relationships safe. And but us keeping the boundaries that Jesus sets for our relationship with him says that we trust him. We don't always understand it. It might seem unfair, but it's because we are looking at what we can't have versus what God knows about how he made us and how we thrive. So when we talk about not committing adultery, and this is specifically adultery, so it's referring to someone who is married having sex with someone they're not married to, he's saying if you just because you didn't do it, but you are thinking about it, you are looking at it, then you guilty internally, what's going on? And for those who are not married, when we talk about fornication, sex outside of marriage, listen, people get real stressed, why can't I do it? I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. But I have found it really interesting, particularly over the last, I'd say four or five years, we've seen it increasing. Where I hear people see them on social media posting, talking about choosing abstinence for non religious reasons, it has not become uncommon. Has anybody seen that? Where people are like, look, I'm protecting my energy now they protecting energy. I'm presenting my body. I'm not just gonna give that now. I was like, oh, I don't want soul tie ain't got nothing to do with Jesus. People are realizing this is a poor choice. It has not gone well for me. Jesus. Nowhere in the picture I see people talking about I haven't had sex in two years because I am not going to get into another ragged relationship giving away my energy, giving away my body, giving away my focus. And Jesus Ain't nowhere around. But they have discovered that what was said here is actually good for you. See, this isn't all about what you can't have. Many of you who may struggle sometimes, whether, like, I should commit this sexual sin or not, because it's wrong, because it's right. Because it's wrong. Cause it's right. Ask yourself this question. Would this be an emotionally healthy decision? No. Okay, we're done. You know, draw the lens back a little bit. That just don't do it because I said so. That's for little, little kids. When my kids were 2 years old, if they tried to stick their finger in the socket, I gotta pop that hand. I'm not like, listen, baby, electricity flows through here. And if you do it. Now, as they got older, they come to understand that. So some of us, we need to come on and grow up more in God. And it's not just what he's trying to keep for us, but me understanding that he designed us. He made us, he created us. He knows what helps us be well. And so I'm going to trust him that there's wellness for me in what he asked me to do versus being stressed about trying not to do. Do you see what I'm saying? Jesus is making that flip. And so he does this multiple times in this chapter. I'm not gonna read all of them because that's not the focus of the message, but I wanted you to see how Jesus is changing the language from thou shalt not to what we need to do. So with all of that, see, this is why my Bible can't come out. I got notes for days in here, and I can't take them out like, I probably preached this sermon 15 years ago. Look at July 27, 2014. Sin is not your problem. Obedience is. That is wild. You trust yourself more than you trust God. The fight for a sinner is sin. The fight for a Christian is obedience. Well, fresh bread, it's always fresh. God doesn't test us with sin. He tests us with obedience. Can God trust you to do what he asks you to do? It's not your sin he's worried about. It's your will that he worried about. Well, the title of the message was Unlearn Fear and Beat the Odds. Look at God. Stick that back in there. Just lay that right there. I'm so glad I brought my Bible out tonight. I asked him to make that bread. I said, the bread is always fresh. He fulfilled that right, didn't he? So all of that context, I want us to now take to talking about the Beatitudes, because this sermon on the mount that runs through Matthew 5, 6 and 7, which positions Jesus on a mountain with the 12 disciples he just called after 40 days of fasting, talking about the law, fulfilling Moses law, and all of that flip begins with what's called, we call the Beatitudes. The term Beatitudes comes from the Latin word which means blessedness or happiness. And each of the Beatitudes verses begins with blessed are they. And so that's why we refer to them as the Beatitudes. But the word Beatitudes is not in the Bible. So I just want you to know that sometimes we think it's in the Bible. It is not. But Matthew 5, 3, 12 is where we see these teachings. So knowing now that Jesus is coming to fulfill the law and to flip us out of the not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, and flip us out of the behavior orientation to the heart orientation, this is how he begins the sermon that ends with rains came, winds blew, my house was built on you. This is how it starts. Each Beatitude begins with that word blessed. So when you talk about I'm blessed, hashtag blessed, we'll see. Because the Beatitudes are outlining this countercultural vision of flourishing, humility, mercy, purity, and a longing for righteousness. And so the first one is Matthew, chapter 5, verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? That I'm not going to try and pronounce any Greek words, but I can tell you that the word literally poor literally means beggars, people who are utterly dependent on someone else. And in spirit is speaking to us, being humble and recognizing our spiritual need. The fact that we really don't have anything outside of God. And the Bible tells us that God is the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth. And so we have to pay attention to what is true. And sometimes we get into the spirit of error because we think something's true that's not true. We're calling it the Spirit of truth, but it's really error. But we. And that's first John 4 and 6. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God here is not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and not the Spirit of error. So if you. Sometimes it can help to understand spirit, if you make it kind of synonymous with the word truth, because God's spirit is truth. And so if I am poor in spirit, I'M thinking I don't, I don't trust my truth. I'm working on it, I'm wrestling with. But I need to be constantly pulling on God. There's a humility here that says I'm pulling poor in spirit, but that will make give me the kingdom of heaven, that my grasp on truth, my belief about what's true. I'm doing my best to make sure that I don't pull that for myself based on my experience, based on my culture, based on the moment. But what does God say? And then there's a humility that even with God's truth, that keeps me poor because I am doing the best I can to understand the God's truth. We get into a lot of arguments across the body of Christ about doctrine and what you believe the Bible says and what you believe the Bible says. You say, this is the truth. Women can't preach. Women can preach. This is the truth. It is. God is three in one. This is the truth. He's one in three. This is the truth. And everybody's trying to understand stuff that is too big for us. And so we do our best to comprehend what God is saying. But if we remain poor in spirit, there's a humility about it that lets us be teachable, that lets us say, I thought I understood this, but now I understand it better more broadly, more deeply. And so when I meet people and I sit with other theologians and we're going back and forth about, well, what do you think this means and what do you think? I try to stay very humble in that even if I really firmly disagree with the position that someone else has come to, I assume that they got there with the best heart towards God and we're all trying to get it right. But Dr. Anita, but if they say this, that's just wrong. Listen, there are some things that I do feel strongly about, but I'm not going to decide that because someone else came to a different conclusion that I judged their heart on how they got there. Because at the end of the day, if they really truly believe this thing, this is wrong. And I really believe something else is wrong. God's going to hold us both responsible. My Bible says whatsoever is not a faith is sin. And so I may see somebody else doing something that I, I don't feel released to do. And I believe the Bible's there and God's going to judge me. So we're poor in spirit. This is me working out my salvation with fear and trembling, doing my level best to fulfill to my best understanding What God is asking me to do. Poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For each of the Beatitudes, I wanted to give you another verse just to link to it. Psalm 34:18 is going with this one. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save us such as be of a contrite spirit. These Beatitudes are heart states. They are not mindset. Poor in spirit is emotional. It's a humility. It's an awareness of my limitations. The law works up here. Grace works in here. Because heart goes before mind. Our emotions precede our thoughts. Everything starts here. But before Jesus came to get here and transform here, all that could, we could. All that God had to work with, with us was, was here. And so law was here. So that is our first one. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The next one is Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. This is a different bless than the ones in Deuteronomy 28. Boy. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. That word mourn is not just about someone having passed away. It's a deep grief and it's meant to be intentionally broad. Yes, it could be the death of a loved one, but more often this word is used to mourn sin. I have failed. I have failed the standard, and I'm so brokenhearted about it. But if my heart is broken for what breaks God's heart, he's going to comfort me there. So blessed are those who mourn that when they because they shall be comforted, it can be about sin. It is also about injustice and suffering. When you see an injustice in your home, in your church, in your city, in your country, when you see an injustice, we mourn that. We don't look away. We don't avoid that emotion. This is a state of heart. And so blessed are those who mourn injustice and suffering. Jesus word here is meant to capture what's called a gut level lament. It's not uncommon for us to see Jesus described as having a bodily emotional response. He talks about him being moved with compassion in his bowels, like his body is moved. So he's talking about that kind of mourning. It is good to mourn when we see suffering injustice. It's good to mourn because it should move us to doing something. We shall be comforted. How are we comforted when we mourn? Well, when we let other people know that we're mourning, people come together and there's comfort in relationships. So God does comfort us, but we are also comforted with each other when we let people know we're mourning. My three closest girlfriends are so close, not because of all the fun we've had together, but because of how we've held each other up in pain. How when one of us was mourning the loss of a relationship or the loss of a loved one or the loss of a job, we were there for each other, we listened to each other talk about it over and over again, we cried together, we didn't get tired of it, we held each other up, we prayed, and that was comfort for each of us. So our joy together, our fun times are escalated because of the closeness that was merged when we were mourning. And so not only do we want to allow the mourning, but we want to tell people how we're feeling and connect and be comforted and move and comfort others who are mourning. Sometimes we're being comforted, sometimes we're the comforter. But it's not just about death, sin, brokenness, injustice, suffering, lament. Psalm 147:3 he healeth the broken heart in heart and bindeth up their wounds. So it is okay to mourn. God says that we are blessed. When we mourn, we'll be comforted. Don't hold it back. Don't hold it in. I'm mourning this month. Many times our bodies recognize the time of year. Does anybody ever have that experience? Maybe something traumatic happened a certain time of year or you lost someone and before you even realize it here you start feeling a certain way. June has been historically, has had some rough experiences. And so a few days ago I was like, what is wrong with me? And I was like, ugh, my body's ahead of me. It's June. So I feel this. I'm mourning. I feel my body mourning some old losses. I'm still, I'm blessed though. Cause I'll be comforted. It's okay to mourn. It's okay to mourn. Don't hold that in the next one. Matthew 5:5. Blessed are the meek. So we've been poor in spirit. We're mourning, now we're meek. I bet next time get that hashtag bless T shirt. I'm be like, are you poor in spirit? Are you mourning? Are you meek? Okay. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. This is a good one. Meekness is strength submitted to God. It means I could do it, but I won't. I could send that two paragraph text, but I won't. I could take back and demand back the Money that I lent to someone because I feel like they're not using it right, but I won't. I could defend myself physically, verbally, but I won't. Meekness is strength submitted to God. It is the refusal to dominate others, the courage to stay tender under pressure. See, this is internal. It's not just that you didn't do it, is how you didn't do it. This is the part. This is tough stuff. This is harder than the law. But the fruit is better. It's sweeter. The fruit is sweeter because it says that the meek will inherit the earth. The fruit is sweeter, but how do we remain meek? Jesus was meek in the wilderness when he was being tempted. If you haven't read his temptations, Matthew, chapter four and Luke, chapter four, Jesus is driven into the wilderness to be tempted. And one of the first temptation, the first temptation is the enemy coming to him. He's 40 days hungry, hasn't eaten in 40 days. And he says, turn these rocks into bread. You can eat that right now. Jesus could have done it, but he didn't. He remained hungry. He said, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. He said, unless God tell me to do it, I'm not doing it. Even though I could do it. Even though my father. Well, he's got. But his father says that he was in the son position. He was meek about it. He wasn't like, I could do it. I won't. But just know I could. Y' all know what I say if the neck is stiff. Neck is in. Jesus is out. Neck is in. Jesus is out. It's how. It's meekness that the strength that I have, the gifts that I have, the capacity that I have, God gave it to me. And how dare I utilize it in a way that doesn't please him? And if I desire that, let me mourn that. Oof, you're with me now. Let me mourn that and then become meek. God, help me realize how to use the gifts that you've given me. I don't want to wield them. Wrong. I am. I am so fallible. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to. I don't want to let you down. That's meekness. Let me. I'm not going to do anything unless you tell me to do it. Make me meek. Matthew 11:29. Jesus describes Himself this way. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle. That word, gentle Is the same word translated as meek in the Beatitudes. Here it's translated as gentle. Jesus says, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Meek has a gentleness to it. Gentleness. And so we know what gentleness feels like. It's hard. Imagine you're super mad. You're like really, really, really mad. And then I give you this tiny, fragile thing and ask you to set it down without breaking it. It would be hard because when you're mad, you're just. Oh, you're so tense. And so you might have pulled it off barely, but if you were gentle. It's hard to be gentle when you feel mad. And so we got to learn to process those emotions and get back to a gentle place. Meekness. Meekness. Strength. Submitted to God. I refuse to dominate. I refuse to misuse my strength. I could, but I won't. And I don't want to. Meek doesn't want to. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I like Psalms 37, 31 as one of the many backups on this one. The law of God is in his heart. It's a different place than your mind and your hand. If we can get it in our hearts and we're really living it out, none of our steps shall slide. Hallelujah. So we don't need a thou shalt not. The law of God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. Where my heart is. Everything else happens from there. The next one. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Those who hunger. That word hunger means intense desire. And thirst means strong longing to have an intense desire and a strong longing for righteousness. That word is not rightness. It's not about not sinning by itself. It's about justice. Again, justice is in here quite a bit. Justice and right relationship with God and others. Blessed are those which have an intense desire and a strong longing for justice and right relationship with God and others. I don't care what happened. How's the relationship? The only way for us to maintain healthy relationships with each other is to err on the side of the relationship. More on the side of being more than on the side of being right. Because you can be right by yourself, but you need to be righteous with somebody. The relationships matter. We have to elevate relationships. That's not saying I'm gonna let somebody treat me poorly, be toxic. I'm being abused and I just have to stay here. That's not what we're saying, but we can, even in Those relationships where there needs to be boundaries because there is an abusive element and we put in a boundary. But we can use righteousness to inspire the boundary and not fury. Oh, I was like, dang, it is not healthy. It is not right relationship for me to remain positioned to receive abuse. And so that's not healthy. So I'm going to move. That's boundary. But I don't have to hate you to do it. And a lot of us are only able to walk away from or put boundaries in relationships on a day we're really mad. But once we're not mad no more, we fall right back into the same place because we need. We feel like the anger is the only way we can get ourselves going. But if you hunger and long thirst for desire, right relationship with God and other people, it will. You'll need it. This isn't right relationship. I will miss you. There's aspects of this that I love, but it's not right. And I long for right relationship. And as we lean into that with God and our relationship with God becomes more than following rules, it becomes the thing you feel from here, the thing you can't live without. Your joy, your strength, then we can translate that to our relationship with people. And so you can walk away from an abusive situation and set a boundary because you desire right relationship and not because I can't stand you. Because guess what? It takes two. Two. Tango, baby. And so there's never really. I don't like to say that a person is toxic because they can't be toxic all by themselves. And they. If they're just alone in their room, who are they being toxic to? Think about it. You know, they say if a tree falls in the forest and nobody's there to hear it, did it really fall? You know what I mean? If I'm just alone in my talk. This toxic toxicity we speak of is what starts happening when we're interacting, but you are also interacting. And so we may have a toxic relationship, but that's different than saying, this is one toxic person, like data toxic one is not you. And then you're like, why do I keep meeting so many toxic people? Maybe when you combine with somebody and y' all combine with each other, nitro in the glass by itself is fine. Glycerin in the glass by itself is fine. But if I pour nitro and glycerin in the same place, boom. Because when they come together, we got a problem. So if you find yourself in a toxic relationship, perhaps remove an ingredient. Oh, bless God. Blessed are they. Who have an intense desire and a strong longing for justice and right relationships with God and other people. Something in this relationship is not right. We're producing something together that ain't right. So let me remove myself from the equation because I long for right relationship for myself and for you. And together, this is not working. That's different than you toxic. I gotta get away from you. Is this helping anybody? Because a lot of times we're trying to get away and we're trying to, but we're like, they're toxic. And we get convinced and our friends told us, but then they do something nice. You're like, well, they're not all toxic. You're right, they're not. And you're not all non toxic. But together, remove an ingredient, dismantle this system if that's what needs to happen. Now, if y' all are married, go do some counseling. Let's try and, let's try and both become something different to make something different. But if it's just someone you're dating or it's a long term friendship or things like that, listen, you are helping yourself and them because you long for right relationship with God and other people. And we're producing something together that's not right. You can't be right for me if I'm not right for you. Think about that. Because we'll get in and just be like, I just feel like that they're the right person for me. But if they don't think you're the right person for them, if either y' all both right for each other. You notice. Okay, back to the Beatitudes. Y' all didn't know there was good relationship advice in here. Justice, right, Relationship with God. They shall be filled. Now that word filled means fully satisfied, like a feast. So they which hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. Like hungry, thirsty people get filled. They'll be fed. You will feel satisfied. You will feel satisfied in this pursuit of justice. You will feel satisfied in these relationships, in this relationship with God because it's right relationship. Blessed are those which hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Matthew 5:7. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Showing merciful there means showing compassion and forgiveness. Oh, the F word. That's the real F word right there. Forgiveness is tough for some of us. I actually believe that forgiveness is hard for most of us as humans who are fallen in need to be renewed by Jesus. Maybe it's harder for some than others, but I do believe it can be a challenge for all of us. Because many times when people seem to be really good at forgiving and they forgive easily. And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand because I want to go ahead and tell you what I'm about to say and that I wasn't talking to anybody that I see in this room. Forgiveness means that it's like I'm releasing a debt. I'm letting go of a debt. But how can I let go of a debt if I don't know the amount? And sometimes people say, I forgive easily. It's not that you forgive easily. It's that you are refusing to look at the damage that was done. Because if you really, really looked into what happened, you're just like, you know what? It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. But in order to forgive, you have to know what happened. You have to be honest about the thing that broke. So it was like, I forgive you. Really, what you're saying sometimes is, I just don't want to feel bad anymore. I don't want to think about it anymore. I just want to let it go. I just want to hurry up and be back in the relationship. I want it to feel good. I don't want to feel bad anymore. So let's just forget it. But if you really stopped and realized, dang, this person just, I lent this person half of my life savings and they squandered it. I need to. That's real. If I'm a forgive, I need to actually look into what happened. So that's why I say I think forgiveness is harder for some people than they think. Because it's not really forgiveness. It's just washing and pushing it under the rug. And that's not the same thing as forgiving. Forgiving is looking into the face of the offense and actually letting it go. That's a big deal. And then you may need to decide, are we together creating right relationship? And then perhaps there needs to be a boundary here. Forgiveness doesn't stop us from exploring that. But make sure it's real forgiveness. So blessed are the merciful, the forgiving, ones, the compassionate ones. Another challenge with another way. And I'll share this that I often. Are you telling. I am over time already. The devil is a liar. I'm saying, no way. I'm sorry, I gotta keep going a little bit more. We gotta get through all of them with forgiveness. Another thing that helps me when I'm struggling to forgive is. I really just. I will remember, like, something that God forgave me for that was really bad. And I just bring that right back to my memory. And I stand there with God for a minute and I'm just. And I just place my hand on my heart and say, God, change my heart. I forgive them because you forgave me for this. Please let it be. Make it true. I confess it, Lord, I forgive. Help my unforgiveness kind of thing, like, work it in me, because I do sometimes need his help. We need his help to do these things. Blessed are the merciful. In Jesus time, mercy wasn't celebrated. Roman culture was about dominance and retribution. And so mercy was seen as a weakness. So this is a big deal for Jesus to say this. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, the word pure, oh man. Clean, undivided, sincere. I love that. Sincere, they shall see. That means experience, behold, perceive God, the ultimate divine presence. So pure isn't just about, I didn't do anything wrong. It's about sincerity and cleanness. Psalm 51:10. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, I need your help. Created me a clean heart, oh God, renew a right spirit within me. Notice how the word heart comes before the heart state comes before the spirit state. That's important. If you go to your Bible King James Version, and you look up every verse that has the word heart and the word spirit in it, the word heart comes first every time. Because your heart is the soil in the garden of your life. The spirit is the seed. So your heart state is going to influence how your spirit life is doing. That's why. That is why it's critical to recognize that all of these Beatitudes are taking us into heart spaces. These are emotional states, heart postures, and from here, everything else flows. So how we're feeling matters. And so it's like, well, you can't always go on how you feel. You are always going on how you feel. You are. Okay, you are. Even if you do something different, you're going out of fear, obligation or guilt. Go look at. Go listen to that Easter message again. But we're doing it. So we have to cleanse our hearts and purify our hearts. But we want God to help us to create a clean heart, pure heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Matthew 5, 9, for they shall be called the children of God. Peacemakers is not about passively avoiding conflict. Peacemakers are active agents of reconciliation. That Greek word there for peacemakers is actually a compound word. It's two words put together. The word that means peace and the word that means to make or to do. Peacemaker. And it's nowhere else in the New Testament. This is the only time that this compound word appears in the entire New Testament. Be a peacemaker. Those who actively create peace reconcilers, those who bring wholeness into brokenness. Peacemakers are not simply peaceful people or avoiders of tension. They're not people pleasers or appeasers. Peacemakers are bridge builders. They work across divides between people within families, in churches, across ethnic lines, political lines. They engage in restoration relationally, emotionally, spiritually. They are courageous healers. They're willing to enter into pain, into conflict, into injustice, to bring healing, not just harmony. A phrase that we could use. Creative restorers. They bring shalom. We say that every Sunday. Shalom, Shalom. But shalom is not peace is a narrow, lightweight translation of what shalom is. Shalom is an entire ecosystem of things working together. The Garden of Eden itself was shalom. Everything working together to create harmony. So it's peace within you, peace between others, peace with God, peace with your environment, everything connected. And shalom is a state of existence. And so it's just this wholeness, safety, flourishing. Be a peacemaker, a shalom maker. It's a big job and I Love it. Colossians 3:15. Let the peace. That's a big peace rule in your hearts. It starts here. To the which we are also called in one body. And be thankful. Next one, Next one. Blessed are the those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. My God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Persecuted, harassed, pursued, oppressed for the sake of righteousness. This is not the same as your haters. This is not the haters. And believe me, I'm so glad we don't see that word as much because. Cause it was getting out of hand. Ain't nobody got that many haters. There just aren't that many people hating on you. There's just not. There's just not. There's just not. There's just not. That's like super personal. Nah, they're just. Maybe they have issues and they aren't good at being in right relationship, but that's their issues. They're not personally like you are their reason. I promise. I think that most people think about themselves as other people think about themselves. So as much as you think people are thinking about you, they think you think about them. Everybody is thinking about themselves more than thinking about other people. So just what I'm saying, but anyway, the persecuted for righteousness sake, for the sake of righteousness means because of loyalty to God's ways. Because of loyalty to God's ways. Now, it's not persecution if you went out there and started it. So if you're standing in front of an abortion clinic with a sign that says, you are a murderer, God hates you. And then someone comes out and says to you, that's horrible, you should get out of here. You're not being persecuted for righteousness sake. No, you're not. I need us to get clear about that because you out here not even representing God correctly, you out here trying to start fights with people in inflammatory ways, that's not being persecuted for righteousness. I'm sure nobody in this room, but I was just putting it out there because of loyalty to God's ways. Maybe that means a boss wants me to do something unscrupulous. I just can't do it. I'm sorry. And maybe it ends up costing me my job unfairly. I'm blessed. I'm blessed that I stood on my place. That doesn't mean I'm marching around with my Jesus hates you T shirt on all day. And then when people get offended, now I'm being persecuted. That's not that. But when I stand on righteousness, I will not breach my code of ethics. In the short time that I've been living in California, on more than one occasion, I've turned down an opportunity to be involved in an entertainment space because somehow a client ended up being involved in the deal. I have a code of ethics as a therapist that forbids me from crossing into a business space. And so when the thing came to me, it's like, oh, this is amazing. This will be so great. And then I'd look at the people and I was just like, but you know what? Yeah. I don't think I'm in the mood for this project, but thanks. My ethics, I didn't announce it, and maybe no one would ever have known, but my ethics as a counselor, as a therapist, and as a woman of God, I can't have that coming back around here. But what I say, God will. If he has something like that for me, it'll come another way. It'll come another way. But I'm not going to change, change my relationship with someone that I've been pouring into because everybody that I counsel also knows me as a minister too. So I have to do that. Okay. Righteousness sake. That's okay. All right, so that's all of them. I made it through because I'm way over time. Blessed, Blessed. This is how we can be blessed. This is our stance. And I think you can spend this next four weeks between now and the next Bible study. You can keep chewing on this. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom heaven. Amen. This is the stance that we want. This is what Jesus came to teach us in our first steps toward fulfilling the law, towards cramming the nets. Because if we take this heart posture, man, it's going to cram the nets. People will easily know us by our love if we are in this position. And it will be a lot easier to stop worrying about what we shout. Not this is about what we are. Blessed are they. Be this. And that brings us back to where we started. Matthew 7:24, 25. Cultivating this heart posture, we can say, and the rain descended and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not it was founded upon a rock. Amen. Amen. Amen. I've messed with the Q and A, but we still doing it. Let's go. And I don't even know that I'll have all the answers, but if I can't answer your question, I'll ask. Pastor Ed will answer it because his wisdom's in the house. Rain came. So you guys have a question, you can come line up here. Can we give another round of applause for the Word? The Word. Thank you, guys. Love this Bible. Hey, Creative restorer. Yes. Yeah. Creative restoration. Yes. The peacemakers. Okay, we got our first question on up. Girl, come closer and closer. How are you? Good. How are you? Oh, thank you, Briana. Y', all, this is a dancing sister, in case anybody don't know. A beautiful dancer. Thanks, y'. All. My question is that it starts the be the beududes with Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And the. And the first one is being like the promise that you receive. And it ends with the same thing. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven for the persecuted one at the end. So I'm just wondering why that is. I don't know. Why those two both got the kingdom of heaven. Yeah, but Daggett, I want the kingdom of heaven. That's a good question. You know that one, Pastor, I don't know why they both got the kingdom of heaven. That is a really good question. I'm gonna dig into that. Blessed are they which are persecuted first. There's the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit, but there's the kingdom of heaven. Let me look at it for a second. They both turn attention to God, work, spirit starts it, and it's a spirit ending. These are vertical, and there's horizontal field in the middle. I think that's interesting, but I'll take. I'm gonna. I'm gonna play around with that some more. Thanks for asking that one. I'm excited about digging that in. See, when you talk about Bible study, I thought about this, and maybe I'll do this one day. Like, just come and sit down and like, let somebody ask me a question and then show you how I study the Bible. Like how I would go about getting that answer. You know what I mean? So, like, first thing I did was like, I glanced over top of them. It's fast. Cause there's people waiting. But I'm like, what are some of the patterns that I see and how these are organized? And I'm going to start building up. Like, maybe one day we'll just do that. Maybe we'll. We'll switch out some of the other leaders. So you can see, like, how I actually start going through here to find the answers that I come to. Because, you know, I'm looking for stuff just like you. Yeah. All right, we'll do that one. Hi. Yeah, my question is pertaining to Matthew 5 and 7, Colossians 3 and 12, Matthew 5:7, and Colossians 3:12. Yes, ma'. Am. Okay. And my question is, how can one forgive and repeated offended and. Or what are the steps towards forgiving a repeated offender? Yeah, for sure. So we know with the Bible, you know, that we got that whole 70 times 7 situation. I mean, my Bible does say it. It says that we will forgive 70 times 7. And that's 400. That's. What's. That? 490 times. So I mean, that qualifies as a repeat offender. So the fact that we would have to do it is one thing. How to do it emotionally is what you're saying, how to do it. So I am always saying forgiveness is something that I've had to work on and getting better at. First of all, I adjust my. Why? Because a lot of times it's harder to forgive when we are remaining angry or renewing our anger based on why we think they did what they did. And so I go back to how I remember something that God forgave me for that was really bad and then also remember my own motives. And so I have a quote written in my bible that says we judge other people by their actions and ourselves by our intentions. Yeah, that hurt, right? Because when we did it, we were like, well, I didn't mean to. Well I was trying. Well I didn't realize. But when they did it, you're, you're like, you did it. Right. And so I try to give the same explanatory grace to somebody else's internal world that I give to mine because I don't really know what was happening inside of them. So that's one of my personal steps because it helps to reduce my anger spinning and my fury keeps my nervous system stuck on hot, which makes it harder for me to calm down and start to let something go. So I have to be careful what attention intentions I attribute to other people. And maybe they are horrible evil sociopaths or maybe they are trauma survivors who never got help and they're lashing out at the world if that makes it easier for me. Because 70% of our life is imaginary, we make up a lot of stuff. We make up why we think they did it when they did it. We make up what we think is coming. We, I think like good 70 of our life is imaginary. So if it's going to be imaginary, imagine something good so you can stop hurting your own feelings. I'm serious, just imagine something good instead of something bad because you just hurting your own feelings. And then I got to forgive again. So that's one of the ways I do it. Another thing that I do is I am checking to see if there need to be boundaries put in place where this person doesn't have the opportunity to keep hurting me. Because very often we do confuse unforgiveness with, with pain. So just because you're still in pain doesn't mean you haven't forgiven. I say this a lot. If I hit you with a car, if someone hits me with a car and breaks my leg, I can forgive them. But I'm still got, I still got months of physical therapy. So just cuz I'm still in pain doesn't mean I didn't forgive. So don't let the, the, the healing process convince you that you didn't forgive. If you chose to forgive, you did forgive. Now if you're in physical therapy and you start fantasizing about hitting them with a car, that's not forgiveness. Do you see what I'm saying? And so I don't know if I'm answering your question. Well, we are required to do it, but I'm a preventionist when it comes to forgiveness. I try not to get offended in the first place, I try not to get hurt because forgiveness is so hard. So I'll be like, you good, you good, you're good. Yeah. And sometimes I just lay on the bed and cry and ask God to work forgiveness in me because I don't have it. I need the grace to forgive. Yes, ma'. Am. Okay, sorry. So my question is about Matthew. Oh, I'm Shayla, by the way. Hi, Shayla. Blessed are the meek. They shall inherit the earth. That's something for me, personally. I. I wouldn't say I struggle with, because, like, in most cases, I'm okay, but, like, I have, like, you know, somebody does something to you and you want to, like, mash their energy or something like that. I try not. I don't do it. But, you know, a person that continues to do something and, like, how in those type of situations, do you continue to do it? I experienced a lot in work because, you know, microaggressions, stuff like that. Because you're what? Microaggressions in workspaces where I'm the only person that looks like me in a space a lot, then, you know. Yeah. Sometimes with a person that you know, too. Yeah. I do understand when you keep being hit, you keep being hit, you keep being hit, and you're like, I want to use my strength in response to this in a way that is me taking retaliation. In that case, is there room to actually shift gears and be a peacemaker? So because peacemaking is not passive. That's good. So hearing this explanation of what it means to be a peacemaker, an active agent of reconciliation from that whole content that actively create peace, bring wholeness and brokenness. Like, there's work to do. Bridge building. Are we speaking? Is there opportunity to speak up? Is there opportunity to bring programming into that space? Can you get into peacemaking mode and actually have that happening from heart? Because it's always going to be, where's the heart? Space. But maybe there's peacemaker work to do there instead of meek work to do. That's good. Yeah, but it's all about heart. In 2020 and 2021, I had the opportunity to do a lot of DEI race kind of conversations. In white led and often white majority attended churches. And let me tell you, it was peacemaker work. There was a lot of meekness. There was loneliness, because in order to do it, I always made sure that every time I walked into the session, I had sat in the presence of God long enough to actually feel loving, feel gentleness. And then after the session was over, very often that had drained and I needed to refill. But I didn't want to come without doing it, because otherwise I would have been bringing my strength and the. The breaking down it took to be like, I really am sitting in the presence of a brother and sister in Christ right now. I had to do it from here. Jesus died for all of us. Like, it's so much. It's real work. You can't. We gotta be in the emotional space, the heart posture, to do some of this stuff and then go out and do the work and then go back. And sometimes you need space to heal and be refilled into that posture before you come again. But it's necessary still to have the heart posture. Even though they said some ridiculous stuff. I had somebody ask me, well, if we do these changes at our church, will it still be a safe place for white people? Look me dead in my face. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. Yeah. So on breaks, I didn't socialize. I went to my prayer closet on breaks. Oh, Jesus. You know, because I'm just like, God, help me meet this person right where they are. I've been. I've. Yeah. I'm not saying it's easy, but it made me blessed. That's real. Yeah.
- [66:22]
C
Do I hold it or do you hold it? Okay, cool. Yeah. Hi, my name is Valenzo Hawk. We briefly met at the. The call to conference.
- [66:33]
A
Oh, familiar. Yeah. Yeah.
- [66:35]
C
But. So it's not necessarily a question, but I just wanted to say I'm glad you mentioned heart posture, because it's her, me and my friend Raven. He's not here right now. He's. We're. If you see me, you probably see me with him. But anyway, he's back home. His father recently passed away, so he's dealing with that right now. So I'm coming, like, alone recently. So. But, you know, just trying to still show up and kind of be a spirit in a sense of that.
- [67:00]
A
So thank you.
- [67:01]
C
But, yeah, like I said, I'm really glad you mentioned the heart posture thing. Cause I recently started taking YouTube seriously and whatnot like that. And I have a segment called Locked in with the Lord, and it's Pretty much me, like, I got baptized in March, so I'm really like. And so it's pretty much me, like, kind of going through, like, kind of reading the Bible more and kind of like, you know, learning that more and kind of expressing kind of journeys I've gone through and kind of tribulations and things I learned here as well. Because you guys are pretty awesome. All of you are really good. And. But yeah, I just wanted to say, like, I literally shot a video today about the heart posture thing, and I was literally speaking on that earlier today and almost didn't come today because, you know, my friends, like, any. All that stuff.
- [67:48]
A
Stuff.
- [67:48]
C
So I'm glad I came. I'm glad you mentioned that. And if anybody is into YouTube and stuff, you should check out my channel.
- [67:57]
A
But, yeah, thank you.
- [67:58]
C
I'm just glad that you. You mentioned that. It's. My name is Valenzo Hawk. That's the channel.
- [68:04]
A
Okay. Bruh. Yeah, you're just chatting now. Verland, good to see you again. Thank you. And. And don't let that word heart posture get lost or. Or disconnected from your emotional state, because sometimes the word heart has been used in church circles as a synonym for motivation. Like, did you. With the right heart or the wrong heart, did you have a good heart or a bad heart that's too narrow? It literally is centered around how are you feeling right now. And if you're feeling angry, it's okay to have painful emotions, but feel them, allow them. Punch a pillow, do your crying, all the. Do your journaling, talk to God, all of that. And allow that stuff to flow through to make room for meek, to make room for peacemaking. Spend that time. Yeah. Hi.
- [68:59]
D
Well, thank you so much for taking the time to teach this. It's really blessed me a lot.
- [69:03]
A
Oh, I'm glad.
- [69:04]
D
My question is still kind of has to do with forgiveness.
- [69:09]
A
Next Bible study.
- [69:12]
D
But specifically when you don't really feel like you have a safe space to communicate what the specific offenses have been. And I found that this has been more difficult in relationships where somebody has a certain level of a position of authority over you, and they will get offended or feel some type of way if you are truly honest with the problem of what is going on. So then the issue doesn't really get addressed. And so you tell yourself, okay, I'm over it. But then something happens again, which sparks up the same thing all over again. So it's like this perpetuating cycle.
- [69:55]
A
Yeah.
- [69:55]
D
So when you're in that situation where you can't necessarily necessarily, like, leave the situation because you have to still continue to interact with this person. Like, how do you. How do you deal with that? How do you go about that? Because that's been a challenge.
- [70:08]
A
So if it's like a boss, you can't leave work, Things like that, or.
- [70:12]
D
A family member or whatever it might be. Yeah.
- [70:15]
A
Okay. Well, couple things. It is really wonderful when we can have a healing conversation with someone, let them know how we were hurt, how we were wounded. And then they say, I'm sorry, like, please forgive me. And then you do. Like, that's a wonderful experience. It is not as common as we'd like it to be. Sometimes, even when we're allowed to say what has hurt us or offended us, the person doesn't respond in a way that helps us in the forgiveness process. But Luke 23:34, we find Jesus hanging on a cross. Wow. Wow. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The old saints used to say, it's tight, but it's right. This is not one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I'm gonna be frank about that. It's not one of my favorites, but it is there. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. There was no conversation. No one asked Jesus to forgive them. And they did seem to know what they were doing. He had been whipped, stabbed, like, it seemed to me they knew what they were doing, but they didn't know what they were doing. You know what I mean? They didn't know. If they had known, but they. They wouldn't have did it. But they didn't know who Jesus was. And so for him to be able to say that, father, forgive them, but they know not what they do. I mean, man, Jesus hanging on the cross. And when he did that, like, that heart state. And I'm not saying I have achieved it, but this is as we try to get to where Jesus is. Jesus's suffering wasn't even over. He didn't say, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Into thy hands I commit my spirit. Like, he didn't even do that on the way out, like. And he still had some more pain. It wasn't even over yet. I know. And so God grace us. Supernatural empowerment. That grace is. God grace us for this divine thing you ask us to do, which is to forgive. Help us to see people differently, that you died for all of us while we were yet sinners. Give us that revelation to help us to forgive those who know not what they do. And then, remember, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. And we can get caught up in that moment. But I, I had a boss. I can't. I'm not gonna say her name, but she had like a. Her name. Her last name was like a car. Cartoon names. I want to tell you so bad, like a villain in a movie. But anyway. And I can't do it. But it got to a point where she was attacking me so badly. We just, we had to go to the. We just had to go to scripture at that point. It was no weapon formed against me can prosper. It was the reminder that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and that cast those things down in the name of Jesus. It caught me having to get to my office a little early and walk those halls before anybody got there and said, I am the child of God and Satan. You will not torment me in the place that I work. Remember, I would say when you start feeling like you are powerless in your prayer, it's usually time to also remember your spiritual warfare. And so we keep our hearts clean. But the reason we wrestle not against flesh and blood is because when we do fight, forgiveness becomes hard because we're looking at them instead of what the enemy is trying to do against me through them and against them too by making them miserable. And so there's both sides. I forgive them. God help me. Work forgiveness through me. I forgive you. And also devil. We're not going to do this here. We're not going to do this here. If I truly cannot put boundaries in this relationship, I don't have peacemaker space. We going to do some spiritual warfare in here, but that's not a reason for us to stay in an abusive relationship. I'm always gonna come back to that. But that's what I got for you. That's what I got for you. This forgiveness thing is hardcore tonight. I haven't been making my podcast for a couple years. I promise I really am coming back soon. I really am. I really am. I'm missing it, but I have an episode called the F Word. My podcast is called in the Light with Dr. Anita. If anybody wants to go and dive into, deep into forgiveness, I have an episode on that.
- [74:52]
D
Hi, Pastor Anita.
- [74:53]
A
Hi.
- [74:53]
D
Firstly, I just want to thank you. This is my first time ever doing like a Bible study, so it's welcome.
- [75:01]
A
Any other first time Bible studiers? Yes. We gotta start welcoming our first time Bible studies on Sunday. Welcome. Thanks for bringing that up. Hi. Hello.
- [75:14]
D
I wanted to ask on the topic of forgiveness.
- [75:19]
A
We're back. We're back. Hey, listen. It makes these beatitudes tough. How original.
- [75:24]
D
Nah, joke.
- [75:24]
C
Anyways.
- [75:27]
D
On the opposite end of forgiveness, whether you're being forgiven or whether you are the forgiver, what does reconciliation, true reconciliation in the Lord look like and feel like?
- [75:38]
A
Yeah, no, that's a great question. Reconciliation. I love that you said reconciliation in the Lord, because again, sometimes, just as forgiveness has sometimes been misused and even made a weapon of abuse at times in the church, and it has sometimes because of misunderstanding, how hearts work. And so it's like, hey, you gotta forgive them. And sometimes we need to heal a little to get the strength to forgive. Right? So sometimes I use this example, you probably heard me use it, where if we rescue a young woman or young man from sex trafficking, they've been handcuffed in a hotel room for months, and we rescue them the first, we don't say, hey, I need you to forgive the people who've been holding you. That's not our first statement. We don't. We know that's ridiculous. We know this person needs to get to safety, make them feel safe, get them in the position, you know, like, feed them, take care of them, heal, like, take them to the doctor. All the things down the line. At some point, there may be conversation about that, as in their Christian faith, but that is not our first moment. And so sometimes the church has rushed to that in a way that has overstepped people's pain, and we should not do that. We want to acknowledge pain. So I just felt like I needed to say that. So. But reconciliation also has sometimes been abused in that it means that I must stay in a situation where I'm going to repeatedly be harmed. That is not right relationship. Righteousness is about justice and right relationship with God and other people. And so reconciliation means that my heart, I have clear forgiveness. I may not be able to stay in relationship with this person if they continually are going to wound and abuse me. However, I want my heart to be such that if I saw them hurt on the street, I would be like, oh, my gosh, how can I help you and not step over you saying, karma got you or you recently what you sow. Now you're using scripture. See what I'm saying? So reconciliation is about hearts, but not always about proximity. That's good. And so we need to. But we could try it, because we would be surprised when we really get that good forgiveness thing worked. And heart, we might be surprised how much we can interact with someone who's wounded us. But if they are really not a Safe person to be in relationship with at the state that you're in at this time. Reconciliation is about my heart being right in the space. I don't have hatred towards them. And if I saw them on the side of the road hurt, I would run to help them with pure heart and love. Gotta check that. Does that help? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm always checking that stuff. You know, it's just I. There's things that I just. I've had people do some things to me that in this life that were really, really awful. And my friends were mad for me, which I appreciate. But I had to manage my view because I can't afford to have hardened spaces in my heart. Because the hardened spaces in my heart make it harder for me to hear God. And when I can't hear God, I am a wreck. And so this isn't just about them and me. It's about God in me. I need my heart to be soft all the time. And every time there's another person, Person in the world who I'm like, that piece of my heart is not as available to God. And I'm hungry and I'm thirsty for God. So don't forget that part, too. Thanks for coming up. I hope it helps some. We'll have to do a whole forgiveness one. Yeah, but this is so. But it's so true. Pain and the unforgiveness and pain can make these Beatitudes really hard to walk out. Yeah. Hi, pda. Hi. My question's also about forgiveness. Okay. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It's not. It's a joke. It was a joke. My question's about meekness and the difference between feeling meek and keeping your mouth shut and choosing not to speak up for yourself without feeling like a pushover and like you're being taken advantage of. Yeah, so. No, I hear you. So the pushover taken advantage of usually has some fear in it. And that's different than I have the strength to do this or hurt you. But I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to dishonor God with this pushover scatters. I'm scared to come against you because I don't want to. You see what I mean? There's usually some fear in that. And that's why this emotional awareness is so humongous, because we really got to stop and say, what am I feeling right now? And be able to identify that and be like, oh, no, that feels like fear. Fear. That feels like intimidation. Meek is. I. I know I could hurt, but I don't want to. Yeah. Welcome. Yep. Everybody, I need to pull out our emotion wheels this week or your vocabulary list and look at all the different feelings, you know, because knowing where we are emotionally and sometimes just sitting in our prayer closet in the presence of God and say, God, just help me get in touch with what's happening here. A lot of times we try to leave our emotions outside of our prayer closets. Please don't do that. Please don't get yourself together before you go to God. What is the point of going to God? I got it. I can't. I can't. Let me, because I'm about to. I want to go to God in faith. What? Just. Just go. First of all, he already see you. The Bible says we are naked before him. And so we don't. We bring all your stuff. Bring all your stuff to God. He will help you sort through your emotions. And it's okay to feel more than one thing at a time. I might be scared over here, but meek over here in this different area. Just. We gotta be in touch with what's happening in our hearts in order to get into this posture, this blessed posture that Jesus is teaching us about. All right, we are gonna wrap. We're gonna wrap. Thank you guys for coming out and having this exchange change and I'm. And for inspiring what we need to look at in the future, like digging into forgiveness, digging into how we study something, and letting you guys see our process. I'm really actually excited about doing that.
- [81:54]
B
Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community from full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast. You can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Terry Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders, and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But, hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.