Relate Community Church
Relate Community Church
Triggered and Trapped | Week 2
Vengeance is Mine
Offense is the Greek Word SKANDALON: the bait that triggers a trap to close when an animal touches it
Avoiding an offense is impossible but living offended is a choice.
When we feel wronged, it feels right to get revenge.
If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times. Genesis. 4:24
It’s right to want justice , but it’s wrong to take revenge .
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2
Do not repay anyone evil for evil… If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:17-18
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19
1. It’s right to want justice, but it’s wrong to take revenge .
Revenge doesn’t remove the pain; it actually magnifies it.
2. It’s God's Job , and He is very good at it.
Responding to evil with evil doesn’t overcome
it. It only adds to it.
Come, therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit… we shall see what will become of his dreams! Gen 37:20
You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. Genesis 50:20
1. Leave Room = Give God the Opportunity to Avenge Us.
2. When You Take Revenge, You Remove God.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21
Discussion Questions:
Growing up, how did your family handle payback? (Examples: siblings getting even, playful revenge, or getting even.)
Romans 12:19 says, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord.” Why is it so hard to believe God will handle it?
Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Gen. 50:20). How can that perspective change the way we look at people who have hurt us?
How can long-term unforgiveness or hidden bitterness quietly erode spiritual maturity, even in seasoned believers?
What would it look like for you to “step over the offense” and leave room for God?
This week, what’s one way you can redirect that energy into something good?
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Well, you made it to church. You made it. It's good we may. Also, we have almost made it to September Almost. We're there tomorrow. It is good to be in the house of the Lord and it is good to be able to see all of you guys every week. I look forward to this. I can't be honest with you enough or stress enough to you guys that for Angela and I, this is the joy of our life to be able to be your pastors and to be able to serve with you, serve you and see the things that God's doing.
Speaker 1:I love coming through the 21 days of prayer in this last month just watching God answer prayers, watching you take steps of faith, watching you get closer to God, depending on God more. And I know that 21 days of prayer was hard. It just pressing in and staying focused and reordering our habits and our routines. It's difficult, but it will pay off. So I feel like it's always the thing I have to say. And when we hit the end of 21 days of prayer, don't let that be the like, don't relax. Prayer's not over. Now we can go into the rest of day 22, 23, 24, and continue praying, continue just believing God to do great things in our life. We are his people and we're following him, and that's what our life is for. We're here to follow him. So I'm glad that you made it to church today.
Speaker 1:We're going to dive into week number two of Triggered and Trapped and we're going to dive deeper today and shift gears just a little bit and I hope to take you into some things that challenge you. But I want you to know that I love you and that I'm just letting you know that everything we talk about today and the challenge today is so that we can grow, so that we can be stretched, so that we can be better equipped to do the work of God in the world today. I think we need it more now than ever. Who could say amen to that? That is obvious. Also, say welcome to everybody. If you're a guest today, if you're new at Relate, we love new family members. We love guests. If you're just hanging out for a little while, if you're here for two weeks or two months or two years, we're just thrilled that we get to be a part of something that God is doing right here. So we love that you're here. If you're watching online, same. It matters that you chose to worship and to dig into God's Word with us today. Otherwise, pull out your notes. Today we are Note-Taking Church and your notes will be week number two of Triggered and Trapped.
Speaker 1:Last week we talked about the bait. We talked about the bait on the trap and, just for a reference point, this is the kind of trap I want you to be picturing in your mind. As we talk about a trap, we talk about the trap that the devil sets first, the trap that all of us will step into. Really, this is not that big, it's not that dangerous. It's the only legal trap that I could find. Otherwise, I looked for a bear trap and it was illegal to buy, to sell one, to buy one. But imagine this, but bigger. And if it's in place and there's no bait, there's really no temptation to trigger the trap. But every day you and I are faced with traps all around us and there's so much bait all around us and there's so much bait.
Speaker 1:And the bait that the devil uses so often to trap us spiritually, to trap us emotionally, is offense. We get trapped by taking, we want to take the offense. It's a very tempting thing to want to grab that offense and hold on to it. But the problem is when we do that offense creates bitterness. It creates a wound in us that's not as easily gotten rid of as just avoiding the trap. Matthew 24, 10,. Jesus said this when he was talking about the end times. Like later times, he says that and then, like in those days, many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another. That's a progression that I don't want you to be trapped in. I don't want you to step into it. I don't want you to reach for the offense and then be pulled into betrayal and hatred. He also said in Luke, chapter 17,. Jesus said it's impossible that no offenses should come. We live in a like. Our world is permeated with offenses online, on television, in person, at work, at home. There's so many things that are offensive. But here's the deal Last week we talked about this that the stronger person, the wiser person, will overlook an offense.
Speaker 1:What does that mean? It's to step over an offense. So if I'm walking through life and, oh, here comes an offense, there's a trap there, I recognize it. I want to trigger the trap, but I know that I'll get trapped in it. So what am I going to do? I'm going to step over it or pass over it. And the way we do that is with love. Love covers a multitude of sin. Love has the ability to let me build a little bridge over an offense, not to pretend like it doesn't matter, not to pretend like it doesn't mean anything, but to not take the offense. So today we're going to take that deeper. We're going to go deeper. Everybody say let's go deeper. All right, we're going deeper.
Speaker 1:And for those of you who got your notes out, you're ready to write this down, here's your title, that is Vengeance is Mine, vengeance is Mine. Today we're going to talk a little bit about vengeance being avenged, getting even. We're going to talk about what revenge is. Is the first thing I want to point out to you, just to start the conversation, is this that we love revenge. Well, pastor Sean, that seems a little extreme. I'm telling you we love a good get even story. We love a good revenge story, and I'll prove it to you. How many of you it's a human thing how many of you can just complete this statement? I don't get mad, I get. You know what I'm talking about. How about this one? Revenge is a dish best served cold. You know, y'all know.
Speaker 1:It's just about every superhero movie is a story about a guy who gets bullied or a people who are in trouble and can't stick up for themselves. And here comes someone who has gotten stronger and they get to come back and put it in everybody's face and put things in order. One of the biggest blockbuster movies in the last few years was the Avengers, the whole series. The Avengers literally to avenge. I got the definition of avenge here it's to inflict harm in return for an injury or wrong done to oneself or another. The highest caliber of hero in our culture today is someone who can inflict harm in return for injury to oneself or another. We love the idea that we can avenge and stick up for and bring justice where there is no justice. In fact, it's something that we teach our kids even at a very young age. In fact, you probably grew up hanging on to, clinging to, loving stories of revenge. You just didn't know that they were stories of revenge. One of those? How many of you like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Everybody. And you're going to say the first one, not the second one or the second. You're like I don't care about that.
Speaker 1:The story itself, the book. You think that's not a story about revenge, pastor Sean, but it is. It really is. That's not a story about revenge, pastor Sean, but it is. It really is All the kids who don't deserve being treated well or don't deserve to get a prize or don't deserve to be there. It literally is a story of kids getting what they deserve, over and over and over each kid who has a bad attitude or very entitled kids getting something that is way beyond what they deserve. But we enjoy them getting what's coming to them. That's the same for many, many other stories. I could give you a list Never ending story Matilda, goonies, cinderella, home Alone. Home Alone is literally a story of revenge and payback the entire time. Paint can to the face. Yes, we love a good story of revenge.
Speaker 1:Here's why, when we feel wronged, it feels right to get revenge and so putting things right. We love that. We love things being right. We don't want them to be wrong. As a kid, someone hits you, bites you, steals something from you. You want to hit them back. You want to take your stuff back. You want to put things in order. This has to be fair. Kids are all about this being fair or unfair. We live in a world where we want to make it fair Even. We'll go even beyond that. We like not just getting even, we want it to be more than even If somebody hits me. I want to make an example out of them. I want to. I want to hit them back to where they never want to hit me again. Here's an example of that in the Bible, genesis, chapter 4, verse 24.
Speaker 1:This is a descendant of Cain. So God blessed Cain. Basically, whenever he was cursed, he didn't bless him, he put a protection on him so that no one would kill him. He said if anyone touches Cain, then I will avenge Cain. Basically this that I will avenge Cain seven times. So everybody knew don't touch Cain. But a descendant of Cain was so full of his own self, so full of his own ego. It says if Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech 77 times. In other words, if my grandfather was going to be avenged seven times, if anyone touches me, it'll be 77 times to them. Like you're not going to mess with me.
Speaker 1:And I feel like that is a lot of our, the mindset or the attitude that we carry ourselves in, that you don't mess with me. You see, this area it's literally permeates our culture. It's a huge part of what it means to be human, what it means to be American, what it means to live in our culture. It's a huge part of what it means to be human, what it means to be American, what it means to live in our society From the very big things to social injustices or world justice, all the way down to the very small things, and I see this every day in our life. Angela and I, we celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary this week. Awesome, I love her. Y'all. We've been dating since we were around 16 years old, so that's even before we were married. We've been together for a very long time and I can tell you this that we've been asked several times this week what's your secret? I don't know what the secret is.
Speaker 1:I think that I could give you lots and lots and lots and lots of different things, but I can tell you one of the things that does happen, for good or bad, is that we play a little too hard with each other. Sometimes we play a little rough with each other. Sometimes we play a little rough. You play too much. That's what I always tell her, and then I sometimes am the one who plays a little too rough. I'll give you one example, and that is oftentimes if one of us is frustrated. It happens both ways, probably equally, so don't get offended for her or for me. It happens all the time.
Speaker 1:But we're playing too much and oftentimes one of us gets frustrated. As an example, like if I've lost my keys and I can't, or if I've lost something, I'm like where's my belt? I'm frustrated, what's going on here? Often after that's resolved, so like not in the midst of someone being frustrated, but like, let's say, an hour or two later we're back and having a conversation. We're dealing with things.
Speaker 1:Usually if, if I'm upset, she'll bring it up later, like, oh, are you upset? Or she'll just poke me a little bit and let me know that oh, did you find your belt? Or like kind of making fun of the fact that I was a little irritated earlier and grumpy about something. And then it's always followed by the punchline too soon and it goes back and forth and back and forth and then we just we laugh about it later but about I remember about a month ago she was really frustrated. She was upset about something that I had said. It was all me, I said something that was a little over the line. We were playing a little too rough, just poking at each other, making fun of each other. Just a little bit she got her feelings hurt and then she wouldn't let go of us. I said, babe, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, like, why is she so upset about this? And finally it came out that I'm not that upset. I just don't want you to bring this up later and say too soon. She didn't want me to use it later, so she was unwilling to let go of it and so I said she said I'll be okay as long as you promise to not bring it up later. Just let this go. And I said I promise I will not bring this up, guys, if about 45 minutes later she brought it up and joked with me that I was the one that was upset, I was not upset. And then she said too soon. She said too soon. My immediate response was oh, you're going to get some payback. This is coming back to you. You won't know when, you won't know where. We have this thing that I'm going to give you back what you've been giving me.
Speaker 1:The problem is that that type of revenge, that type of getting even whether it's on a small scale or I'm not really talking about the joking. I'm talking about when it really matters to me and I have to put this right and I grit my teeth and this means everything to me and this is the hill I'm willing to die on. That type of mindset is a huge trap and when it traps us, it's really difficult to get out of. It creates wounds. It literally puts, it puts stones and wounds in our heart that we have to work to get out. It's very, very dangerous when someone wrongs you.
Speaker 1:Have you been hurt by something? I don't want to go down a list of all the possibilities, because it's endless. Have you been hurt by something? I don't want to go down a list of all the possibilities, because it's endless. The possible offenses that happen to us are endless and we take this and not only do we just get offended and we walk away. Well, I'm never talking to them again. Usually we want to get back. Usually we want to make it even. We want to give them back more than we want to make them hurt like they hurt us.
Speaker 1:Someone lies about you, shares a secret about you, backstabbed. If you've ever, if there's ever been an affair in your relationship, it's often with the people that we love the most, and yet some part of us wants to put this wrong right. Write this down. This is how I wrote it down. It's right to want justice, but it's wrong to take, take revenge. It's wrong to be the one that initiates the payback. But if I don't do something to right this wrong, how will this wrong be made right? In other words, that's what stops us from like. Somebody has to do something about this.
Speaker 1:This can't just be left unfixed. How often have you felt that way? How often have you felt like this feels so bad? This is an injury to my soul. This is an injury to my heart. You've said something, done something, taken something from me that this has to be put right. I can't just leave it because this feeling is so heavy. I can't just leave it because this feeling is so heavy. That's really.
Speaker 1:It's something that our society champions All the way back through history. If we look at Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, he said this to take vengeance on one's enemy is nobler than to come to terms with them, for to retaliate is just, and that which is just is noble. Basically, it's a high standard in society that we should get vengeance. Put things right, be someone who stands for justice. However, in the New Testament, this is actually true. In the Old Testament, we even say you might even bring up right now. Well, pastor Sean, what about an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? Things have to be put right. Yes, yes, I'll agree and I'll show you why that is true. But there is a but on the end of that. When we hit the New Testament and Jesus comes to change culture, he comes to change society, to shift us to a new mindset. Watch this.
Speaker 1:Jesus says something that this, probably more than anything else, shocked the world. But to you who are listening, I say notice those who are listening. A lot of people don't want to listen to this. He says love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you. That means don't take vengeance. It's not like stop trying to bring revenge or put things right. He also said if someone slaps your cheek, what do you do? Turn the other cheek, like don't slap them twice as hard. That's what we want to do. Well, I'll let you slap me, but I'm going to slap you back. The world is full of bitterness. But, pastor Sean, if I don't make this right, who will? No one cares, like I do. No one's seen what I've seen. Romans 12, 2,.
Speaker 1:Paul doubles down on this idea that we have to be different and we have to take a different road. He says Later, in the same chapter, he says this Stop trying to fix the wrong. I'm going to tell you how that makes sense, because a lot of you might be sitting there saying that doesn't make sense. Someone has to stand up for what's right. And then Paul says this if it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone, not like as long as they're willing to apologize and be reasonable and stop hurting me no, because they're not, the world's an ugly place, unreasonable. And stop hurting me oh, cause they're not. The world's an ugly place. This almost feels like Paul and Jesus there. It almost feels like they're saying uh, to be a hippie, to just be, hey man, just love everybody. It almost sounds like it's too good to be true. If you love life, man, then life will love you back. That's not what they're saying. That's not the principle that Jesus wants us to live by. I want you to hear this.
Speaker 1:This is going to be our key scripture today. Here it comes Romans 12, verse 19. Paul says do not take revenge, my dear friends. But what? But leave room for God's wrath. For it is written it is mine to avenge, I will repay. Who is I? He says it is mine to avenge, I will repay. Who's supposed to repay? Who's supposed to avenge the Lord? God says it's his. But how often do we repeat vengeance is mine, I will get you back? How often do we put ourselves in God's position? We take him right off the throne of our heart, the throne of our life and the throne of our life, and say no, no, no, no, god, I got this, don't worry, I'll get revenge for all of us. So here's your point number one.
Speaker 1:We've already said it it's right to want justice, but it's wrong to take revenge. It's right to want justice, but it's wrong to take revenge. We want revenge because we want to put things right. That's only right. That's it feels like the right thing to do. And here's the problem.
Speaker 1:When I'm offended, there's really two problems. If you hurt my feelings, there's two problems. There's the problem that's in you to create the hurt feelings in me, and then there's also the hurt feelings in me. So both of those problems. Here's the issue. We want to fix the hurt in me by fixing you. I want to get you back so that I'll feel better. You hurt me. I want to feel better, so I'm going to fix you and then that will make me feel. We think that will make me feel better, but that's the trap. Here's what happens Actually.
Speaker 1:Modern science gives us a good picture to this. The University of Zurich says this that they did a study of an economics game where people are paired against each other to earn money and fight, and they fixed the game to where the competitors and the people in the study could actually cheat. Some of them were given the ability to cheat others out of money, and then the people who were cheated were given the ability to get revenge. And so they were not studying the economic game or the dynamic. They were really studying revenge and what their brains all wired up. They were studying the response of the brain to being having the ability to get immediate revenge on someone, and the study found this. The study found that all of the uh, the participants reported feeling great about getting revenge right away, like that was the. That was the point of the study that the research showed that getting revenge makes you feel really good in that moment. But later, when they'd come back, three months later, they talked to them again and almost universally it was found that all of them hung on to it. The revenge did not their ability to get payback did not fix the fact and the hurt that they felt from being stolen from.
Speaker 1:So the long. This is proven out and not just this study, but it's proven out over and over in life that it might we want to get revenge. It's an itch that wants to be scratched, but in the long run it doesn't have the effect that we want it to have. Ultimately, this that revenge in the moment is quite rewarding, but in the long term it never releases you from the trap of offense. Revenge doesn't remove the pain, it actually magnifies it. You can get revenge and it gives you a little relief from one side of that equation, but it does not address at all what's going on in your own heart. That wound stays open, it becomes bitter, something else begins to grow there.
Speaker 1:And if you're that one who thought well, pastor Sean, I like what you're saying, I love what Jesus is saying, paul's saying all sounds good, but you don't know what was done to me. I know that there are offenses that are like all offenses are not equal, because I can get offended at something you say or something you wear or the way you smell, but that's not quite the same thing. It's on a totally different level, as whenever someone breaks your life, whenever someone completely abuses you, whenever someone goes to the level of taking something from you that can never be given back. There are cases of abuse and rape and abandonment and things to do with children. Those are the type of things that cause all of us to want to rage against the machine, to say I will fight whatever I have to fight to make sure that this injustice is put right. That's what we want to do. That's the way we feel. In other words, all of what Jesus said sounds good, except if it's bad enough.
Speaker 1:Here's what I would present to us today that there is no offense so bad that the truth of what love can do is erased. The truth is that God wants justice more than you and I want justice. He's a God of justice. In fact, he's a God. He is sitting on a white throne of justice. He is a judge, he is the judge and he is better at giving judgment and bringing justice than all of us put together. I think what happens is we just don't trust God to bring justice. We don't. Well, he's not going to do to them what I would do to them.
Speaker 1:Watch this. I'll read it to you again Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room, leave room. Everyone say leave room, leave room for God's wrath. For it is written it is mine to avenge, I will repay. And the moment you step into that position, become the avenger. The moment that you step in and you become the one that you will repay, then you haven't left room for God to do it. So here's number two Not only is it not right to take revenge. Number two, it's God's job and he's very good at it. It's God's job, he's the righteous judge in all things. He's better at it than us. In fact, I would present to you today not only is he good at it and way better than us, we're bad at it. It hurts us, it doesn't look good on you whenever you're walking in revenge and vengeful.
Speaker 1:I wrote this responding to evil with evil doesn't overcome it, it only adds to it. We start responding to evil with evil. We haven't fixed anything. In fact, we've compounded the problem in our own self, spiritually, emotionally. Dr Martin Luther King Jr said this returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. Are you seeing the concept? When Jesus says to love your enemies, he's not saying that your enemies aren't going to get what they deserve. He's not saying that there won't be justice. He's not saying to just forget about it, pretend like it doesn't hurt. He's saying focus on you, work on love and let God be vengeance. It's his job. He's saying let me take care of that part, like, in other words, I want you to, I want you to be healthy and full of love and I'll take care, god. It's like he's saying I'll take care of the dirty work If you'll trust me enough. Uh, but a lot of times we want to take the dirty work into our own hands. A lot of times we want to take that job back. It's his job and he's good at number three. That job back. It's his job and he's good at Number three. Leave room. Give God the opportunity to avenge us.
Speaker 1:I feel like today's message is so practical, so practical in the face of stuff we literally deal with every single day. It could be as simple as scrolling through social media and you see something oh man, I don't like that. Listen, you have a choice in that moment Okay, god, this is totally unjust, but I'm going to let you handle this, don't be well. Today I'm going to be God's sword and we're going to take vengeance together. Don't just let that go. That doesn't help you, it doesn't help them, and some of you have gotten pretty good at vengeance. That's not our job, that's not what we were created for. Can you scroll through and just say, okay, god, I'm going to trust you with that? Can you hear a conversation and not decide that well, I'm just going to give them a piece of my? Can you just say, god, I'm going to trust that, I'm going to trust that whole situation in your hands? That's a true trust of whether or not we, whether or not we, are truly following Jesus. Do we trust him enough to actually let him handle the things that we think only we can handle? Him enough to actually let him handle the things that we think only we can handle? If someone is being abused. I'm not saying ignore all the problems, let's take people out of harm's way, but I don't have to be the righteous judge to punish everybody who's done all the wrong things. There's a difference. Punish everybody who's done all the wrong things, there's a difference.
Speaker 1:A great story in the Old Testament where we see this unfold in just a matter of a few short chapters is the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. He has a dream. God says this is what, this is what I have for you. You have purpose, you have a calling. I'm going to mark your life. And he accepts it, actually, probably too much. He starts bragging to everybody of what God's going to do and how big he's going to be, and his brothers get mad and watch what they say in Genesis, chapter 37, verse 20.
Speaker 1:His brothers decide come. Therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit, not just for the sake of we hate our brother, but because we shall see what will become of his dreams. They were jealous of him. They didn't want him talking anymore. They were trying to kill his dream. They were intentionally hurting him and something good that was happening in his life His own brothers, his own family, and instead of him rotting in prison and plotting revenge against his brothers, instead of him laying at the bottom of that, well beaten and abused, instead of him laying there thinking I'm going to get them back the moment I get a chance, what does he do? Some part of him sees that trap and steps over, overcomes it, overlooks it, passes over it and just continues to follow. God, god, what are you doing in my life? Where is that purpose? Where is that calling? Because your calling, your purpose, is too big to lay it down or to exchange it for a small offense. No offense. I say small offense not because it's just a small thing. Even the biggest offense is small compared to your purpose, but it will rob you just like that.
Speaker 1:Just 13 chapters later, watch what. Watch what Joseph says to his brothers when he has the opportunity to, to have his, his vengeance, he could destroy his whole family. He could send them off and say you should have never messed with me. Now, who? Now? Who's in control? He says you plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what has happened.
Speaker 1:Most of us are not willing to let God be in charge. Because, why? Because we want our pretty woman moment. Because we want our pretty woman moment. You messed up, bro, big mistake. Most of us want that moment where we can just put it right in their face. And some of us like to shove it in their face and some of us like to do it just a little bit underhandedly, to where we're not being that ugly. We just we want you to know that. We know, we all know, we don't have to even say it, but I know that you've got what you deserve. You can write it in your notes this way Revenge promises control but delivers carnage.
Speaker 1:But if we can trust God and leave room for him to put things in order Y'all remember that song. When I was a kid we used to sing a song he's got the whole world. But how often do we take the world back and say God, nope, you can't handle this. God, I need to listen. Let him take vengeance, Let him leave, leave the room for him. But it requires that we step back and say okay, I don't, I'll, I'll keep my hands off. God Number four, I will invite the band back to join me.
Speaker 1:When you take revenge, you actually remove God when you take revenge, you're well. I would never remove God, but you would, I would, we all would. Sometimes we're so emotionally charged, we're so emotionally invested in bringing justice where no justice is that we'll take God right out of the equation and we don't trust him to fix it. How much time and energy have you wasted plotting revenge that you'll never get? How much of your purpose and your calling has been exchanged for what God wants to do His own way?
Speaker 1:Sometimes someone passes me in traffic or in a traffic jam. I get cut off. I could spend the next 20 minutes through traffic trying to catch up to them and cut them off. It sticks in us. It's like this thing that I have. It's an unpaid ticket. I need to give them their receipt for what they. I just have to. If we could just let God give all the receipts. St Ambrose said this that no one heals himself by wounding another. Stop trying to be the one that fixes it. I think we can trust God. He's trustworthy to fix and bring justice. Stop trading the things and bring justice. Stop trading the things.
Speaker 1:When I was 17 years old, I started working for the church when I was 16. Really, I was volunteering around the church at 15. And then, when I was 16, I was hired by the church A little while later, started dating Angela, and the staff at the church realized that I was dating the pastor's daughter, and so all of the people that I worked for which was a handful of people like my manager and their boss and the pastors above them were all worked for the senior pastor, which was her dad. We all worked for the senior pastor, which was her dad, and so all the people that were on the staff thought I was getting special treatment because I was now dating the pastor's daughter, and so I felt like I got extra scrutiny from them. In fact, my first job at the church was cleaning, and I got more scrutiny for cleaning the church than anyone else got for cleaning the church. I thought why is my life so hard? Why do I have to put up with this? I'm just trying to serve God and live for God and yet I'm getting criticized.
Speaker 1:And also I would get if random things went wrong at the church. It fell on me. It must have been my fault somehow, because it just I was the guy who would catch all the responsibility for everything. That wasn't even my fault. My direct supervisor in cleaning the church would take toothpicks I've told this story before but take toothpicks, and literally like 10 toothpicks every week. He would take them and then he would hide them in the church, like at the edge, like where the wall meets the carpet, right at the edge, and then when it was time to check to see if the building was cleaned, the list was this not looking at all the things I did clean, it would be okay, let's go find my 10 toothpicks. And if they were there, I was written up.
Speaker 1:And so I held it in my heart like this guy, I've got to get him fired, I've got to get him out of here. This is crazy. I took it personally. Every time someone would blame me for something or throw some responsibility on or accuse me of something that I didn't do. I just took it personally. But there came a point where God dealt with me, like are you going to deal with these people or are you going to let me deal with these people? And I had to finally just settle it.
Speaker 1:At 17 years old, I had to settle it. It probably took me until 18 or 19,. Truthfully, I had to decide that. Why am I here? Because it's a weird thing to work for the church and separate the fact that this is my life and my calling and my career choice. At the moment, I had to decide am I following God for the reason to follow God, or am I just trying to make a paycheck? Am I just trying to climb the ladder of success and try to make money and live my life and date this beautiful woman? I finally decided, god, I'm here because of you. I'm trying to pursue you with my life. I'm going to let everything else be in your hands.
Speaker 1:I did the very best that I could and I felt like in looking back it was a little bit. I didn't have nearly the problems that Joseph had, but sometimes injustice has happened, but God has a way of resolving those. Sooner or later. Those people were moved, those things moved around and my hard work was rewarded. But it wasn't because I got vengeance, it wasn't because I needed to be avenged. It was because God manages.
Speaker 1:We say that God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. But it requires that you yield to that process and trust him enough to work the things behind the scenes before you get your hands involved and and we say, well, god, I want to work things for my good. I promise you he wants justice more than you do, more than I do, and he will. He will put us that. He'll make things not just fair. The Bible says that we walk in favor. It's going to end good if I can just trust him. I might have to go through prison, I might have to go through the darkest day. I might, like Paul, I might have to be in a jail cell. But remember what we just read recently at midnight they praised and the doors opened and God did a miracle. Sometimes he has us in the worst places for a purpose.
Speaker 1:Last verse is this Romans 12, 21.
Speaker 1:Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So what are you going to do about it today? Here's my practical challenge for you in closing is this I'm going to give you three steps to take, a practical to grow in this idea. Number one I want you to name who you want revenge against. Like I don't have to list all the things, but throughout the message, I feel like the Holy Spirit has highlighted things, situations in your life where you need to trust God with it. Some wrong that's been done to you, some one probably come right to the top of your mind.
Speaker 1:Number two here's what I want you to do about it. I want you to tag God in like a tag team. That means you have to get out of the ring. That means you have to say God, you're in, I'll be out of it. You can't both work on it at the same time and then leave room for him to act. That's number two. Get out of the way. And finally, number three you get to focus on the love in overcoming, letting your heart be healed.
Speaker 1:So, number three, redirect your energy to something good. Get pointed in the right direction. Don't let your purpose get derailed. Don't let the devil or the enemy or the world steal your calling and the things that God has marked for your life because of an emotional response to something small or something huge. Nothing is big enough to steal the purpose that God has for you. Would you stand up on your feet and I want us to close in prayer and in worship Whatever of those, whichever of those three things I need you to focus on today. Maybe it's to decide which one. Maybe it's to decide to get out of the way and let God have some room. Maybe you're sitting at the place where you need to just redirect your energy towards something good and trust God. So, as we worship, I just want you to let the Holy Spirit speak. Would you respond and yield to his desires for your life? And let's move forward today and let go of revenge, let go of vengeance, because it's his.
Speaker 2:Let's worship. For your spirit, I, holy, anointing the power of your presence. For your spirit I, for your spirit, I, and let our love redeem From the siren, sing. We can hear the wind blowing, blowing, blowing. Move upon our praise. Sunsets on the sea. We can hear the wind blowing, blowing, come on, sing it, let our hearts be promised and we can see it Blowing, blowing, blowing Upon our praise, sights and darkness. See, we can hear the wind blowing, blowing. We need a fresh wind, the fragrance of heaven. Pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out, holy and worthy. The power of your presence, pour your spirit out pour your spirit out.
Speaker 1:So I want you to, if you would just open your hands in front of you as a sign of surrender to God. There's some things that you need to let go, and this is just a symbol for yourself to see I'm letting go of this, god, my hands are open, I'm available, I'm surrendered to you. I want us to pray and just let go of some things today. Trust him, god, it's out of my hands, it's in your hands. So, lord, right now, we just respond to your word. We don't want to walk in offense, we don't want to take revenge, we don't want to be the one that avenges injustice and evil. So, god, today we put those things in your hands the hurt, the wounds in our heart, the things that people have said, the abuses that have taken place in our lives. Maybe years and years, decades ago, things may have happened. We've been hanging on to them for too long. So today, god, we trust you, we love you, we embrace your calling and we'll follow you with our hands open. We say every one of those things belongs to you. In Jesus name, before I let you go, I want to give an opportunity for any person in the room or watching online. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, you've never given him your life.
Speaker 1:I want to invite you today to take a step of faith and begin following Jesus in a way that will change you forever. Not only do we get to follow him on earth and walk through life with him and be made whole, but also when this life is over. He promises eternity is over. He promises eternity, and all that's required is that we say yes to him, that we believe and follow him. God sent his son to die on a cross to pay a price that none of us could pay, and we can freely receive that gift of life. We'll confess with our mouth here in a moment. We'll say a simple prayer that will begin the process of a journey of faith that will lead us into eternity.
Speaker 1:So if you've never said that prayer, if you've never made that commitment and that dedication with your life, I want to encourage you. Would you join us today with every head bowed and every eye closed? Would you just repeat these words with me Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to die on a cross for my sin. Today, I yield to you and I receive that gift of life, and from this moment forward. I ask you to lead me, forgive me of my sin, and I'll follow you all the days of my life In Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen. I'm glad that we got to take that step together and I'm excited about what God's doing in us as we refuse to take offense and we walk and follow him through life. I'm looking forward to don't forget to get signed up for small groups. Check out the board on your way out, and the directory is open today. I will see you guys.