Please stay with us as
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3ABN presents
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this closed captioned program
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Hello, my name is Michael Kontes
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and I want to welcome
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you to Faith Chapel.
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Today we're going to look at
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how Jesus would want
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us to deal with conflict.
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Let us pray.
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Father we come to Thee
now and we thank Thee for the
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opportunity of
opening up the Bread of Life
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and learning how You would
want us to be here on Earth
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and how to deal with conflict.
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Be with us now
in Jesus name, Amen.
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Has anyone ever hurt
you? Has someone offended you
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or sinned against you?
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Probably not, right?
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I'll bet all of
us have been offended
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by someone and someone has
sinned against us at some time.
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Today I'd like to share with you
the most overlooked commandment
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in the Word of God.
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Let us open up
to Matthew 18:15-17
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This is so very important for us
as Christians to realize God is
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giving us a mandate, He's
giving us a commandment here.
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The same as in Matthew 28 where
Jesus gives the Great Commission
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where He tells us to go into
the world and to all nations
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to make disciples
and to baptize them.
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Here Jesus is telling us
to go to our brother if he has
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offended us, go to our sister
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if she has
offended us. And Go Alone
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not with our posse,
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not with 7 or 8
people to make us feel good,
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in attack mode,
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but go alone.
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Why?
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Why does the Word
of God say, 'alone? '
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I'd like to share
with you what I believe
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what the Bible reveals to
us, why we are to go alone.
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First and
foremost when we go alone
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we do not expose
our brother and sister
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and make the
circumstances harder.
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We go in love and in care
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to really heal the
relationship if possible.
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Now this does not
guarantee that the relationship
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will be healed automatically.
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But, it ensures us that we
are following the Word of God.
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Now some of us might be saying,
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"Well Pastor
Mike, is email okay? "
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"or can I get on my mobile
phone and call the individual? "
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Brothers and sisters,
the Word of God does not say
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that we can get
on our AOL account,
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our Juno account, Earthlink
account, whatever account
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and send an email
to a brother or sister
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who has offended us.
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It does not say
to get on the phone.
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It says to physically go
to our brother and sister and
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to resolve this situation.
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Now, if I was the
pastor of your local church
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and we're preparing
for communion next week
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and you came to
the communion service
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and I decided to use
Wonder bread and Coca-Cola
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for the symbols of communion
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would that offend you?
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I'm sure it would.
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And I'm sure it
would offend God.
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I would be
committing a grave sin.
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Because the Bible
mandates how we are
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to have the communion service.
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Yet, we as people so neglect
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going to our
brothers and our sisters
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and to share with
them alone because
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we do not want to
lower our walls and have God
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transform our hearts.
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Now, this is a tough situation
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because as we lower our walls
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and make ourselves vulnerable
to our brother or to our sister
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we might get hurt.
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In fact there are times
when a brother or sister
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might not even
accept what we're saying.
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Should that stop us?
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Should that stop us from
following the biblical protocol?
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You see I
believe we do a great job
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following the second part
of this verse where it says,
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"go with two or three. "
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And even then we don't go
about it with the right spirit.
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We take two or three
witnesses with us so we can show
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our brothers or
sisters who are coming with us,
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"Look how this person is
going to respond to me. "
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"Look at this person, what
they're going to say to me. "
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"I told you so! "
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Yet we neglect to realize
how Jesus approached others.
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You see many times when we
go to our brother and sister
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we want the situation
to be fixed automatically.
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But we have to
realize that sometimes
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and most of the
time I should say
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it's in God's timing.
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As we read the Bible
we are told over and over
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that God bore with
Lucifer long in Heaven
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before Lucifer was expelled.
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We also as we read the
Scriptures find out that
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Jesus bore with
Judas for a long time.
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Judas was a thief.
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We're told in the book of
John that Judas was a thief.
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Judas was stealing from the bank
account that the disciples had,
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their 'Swiss bank account. '
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Jesus knew about it.
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But did Jesus
expose Judas to the group?
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No He didn't.
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Jesus tried to win Judas over.
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Now we must serve God from
principle and not feelings.
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Sometimes the
person who has offended us
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doesn't even know they've
offended us, has no clue.
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And I'd like to share
with you a personal story
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that has happened to me.
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I had a very good friend of mine
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say something a while
back that really offended me.
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I decided to go about fixing
this situation through email.
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I sent my email.
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The friend of mine replied back.
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Didn't like what was said.
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I replied back to that email.
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Next thing you know we have
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seven correspondences
going back and forth
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about how we've hurt each other
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and how the other
person is at fault.
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When we go to the
individual who has hurt us
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in an humble
spirit, face to face
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and we lay down the sword
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and allow Jesus Christ to
work a transformation process
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in this conflict resolution
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where we can sit down and
look at someone eye to eye
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we are allowing God to be God.
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Many times, once again,
we don't like to do that.
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We would rather go to a
brother and sister in the church
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and share how we've been hurt.
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"Did you know
Brother So-and-So hurt me? "
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"You know Sister So-and-So,
you know what she said "
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"to me last week? "
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We get a scar touched upon
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and we begin to put our
own spiritual ointment on
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the same way when we
go to others in the church
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and try to garner sides.
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And we begin to
divide the church in half
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because we are not humble enough
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to go to our
brother and our sister
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when we have offended them.
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I can share with you
another personal note.
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If my wife and I did
not practice this principle
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in the Bible, we'd be at odds
with one another all the time.
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We'd carry things with us
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we'd begin to build
resentment towards one another.
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It would ripen into malice.
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And next thing you know I
am at odds with my helpmate.
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But Jesus said if your
brother, if your sister
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if your wife, if your co-worker
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whoever offends you,
you are to go to them
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with a humble contrite heart.
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And share with them
what they have done in hopes
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that the relationship
will be strengthened.
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You see ultimately we
carry our character to Heaven.
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I also believe we
have an opportunity
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to carry
relationships to Heaven.
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And what God is trying to
have us learn here on earth
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is not only how to be holy
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but how to be holy to others.
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Usually when we choose not
to go to our brother or sister
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when this has taken place
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and we go to the church
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and we spread what
people have done to us
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and the church begins to divide
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I can share with you
that Jesus is hurting.
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When Saul was going
around killing Christians
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Jesus meet Saul on the
road to Damascus and said,
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"Saul, why do you persecute
me? " in the book of Acts.
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We're also told
by the writer John
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that if we hate our brother
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without a cause we
are committing murder.
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Many times it is our pride
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and our selfishness
and our past baggage
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that keep us from
practicing this first principle.
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I think as a church
many times we can do
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the second part
of this commandment
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"take two or three "
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and "take it to the church "
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We can go through the motions
and go through the proper steps
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and say we've done that.
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But we neglect the first part
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of this commandment
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which is to go
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and go alone.
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Do we care enough for our
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brothers and sisters to go alone
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or do we care
more about ourselves?
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Another experience I'd
like to share with you is
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when I've done this commandment
in the way God wants me to do it
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I have seen
relationships restored.
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I don't know about
you but when I read
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the Bible from
Genesis to Revelation
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God is in the business
of restoring relationships.
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Isn't that right?
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God is trying to restore us
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with the relationship that
we have broken away from Him.
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And in turn God wants to
restore harmed relationships
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that we have with others
and that others have with us.
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There was an
opportunity that I had
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to go and to
share with a brother
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something that he had done to me
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and I went to him
and basically, friends
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we had a heart to
heart conversation
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where tears were shed and
there was opportunity of healing
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and I'm closer
today with this brother
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than I was in the past.
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Because every
experience we have with someone
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we're either growing
closer to that individual
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or we're slipping away.
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So when we have a
very delicate situation
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that arises when a
brother sins against us
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or a sister sins against us,
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really what it boils
down to is: do we care enough
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about the
relationship that we have
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with this brother or sister?
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Many of us have multiple friends
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and sometimes
what we do is we say,
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"Well you know what,
they did it, I'm going to "
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"love 'em at church, I'm
gonna smile and give 'em a hug "
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and then when we
have the opportunity
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to put a dagger in their back
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spread seeds of discontent
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that's the first
thing that we do.
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That's not what Jesus
would have for us to do.
00:13:45.73\00:13:50.72
Jesus would want us to
humble our hearts once again
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let down our pride
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and have
restoration from conflict
00:13:57.90\00:14:01.75
come about in such a way
00:14:01.78\00:14:05.20
that ultimately the
unseen and unfallen worlds
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can look upon us and say,
00:14:09.60\00:14:11.34
"You know what,
look, Mike's a son of God "
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"because he's
practicing that commandment. "
00:14:15.30\00:14:17.53
Now I will also share with you
00:14:17.56\00:14:20.18
that because this is also an
imperative in the Greek language
00:14:20.21\00:14:22.94
and which makes it a commandment
00:14:22.97\00:14:25.23
I like to call this
the '11th commandment. '
00:14:25.26\00:14:28.46
This commandment, I believe,
shows us truly in a mirror
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if we love God or if
we love ourselves more.
00:14:38.15\00:14:42.02
This commandment shows
us, do we love ourselves?
00:14:42.05\00:14:44.91
or our brothers
and sisters more?
00:14:44.94\00:14:48.52
Now, you say, "Mike, you're
being pretty strong today. "
00:14:48.55\00:14:52.84
"You seem like you
have the answers for this. "
00:14:52.87\00:14:55.85
Yeah, unfortunately I have
the answers because I've done it
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so many times the wrong way
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that God has impressed upon my
heart how to do it the right way
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There's a story in the book
of Acts where Paul comes across
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and he notices that Peter
is being a little obstinate
00:15:16.07\00:15:21.98
towards the Gentiles.
00:15:22.01\00:15:24.48
And Paul pulls Peter aside
00:15:24.51\00:15:27.84
and begins to tell
him what's going on.
00:15:27.87\00:15:32.70
Paul was offended at the actions
of one of his fellow disciples.
00:15:32.73\00:15:42.21
Paul could have very
easily turned his shoulder
00:15:42.24\00:15:45.09
and neglected Peter.
00:15:45.12\00:15:47.17
And Peter would have
missed an opportunity to grow.
00:15:47.20\00:15:50.16
Ultimately friends, when
we have these circumstances
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come across our path,
we're told among others, by a
00:15:55.37\00:15:58.52
19th century Christian writer
once said, and I paraphrase,
00:15:58.55\00:16:04.84
that if we are to take
every situation that comes
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across our path as having the
Hand of God allow this we could
00:16:08.01\00:16:15.43
look upon these situations
through a different glass.
00:16:15.47\00:16:18.85
Instead of
looking at it half empty
00:16:18.88\00:16:20.50
we could look at it half full.
00:16:20.53\00:16:22.06
So when a brother or
sister sins against us
00:16:22.09\00:16:24.61
we don't have to look at it as,
00:16:24.64\00:16:25.76
"Oh my goodness
I've been so hurt! "
00:16:25.79\00:16:27.90
And I go out and begin to
pull out my spiritual 9mm's
00:16:27.93\00:16:33.25
and going after my
brother and sister in church.
00:16:33.28\00:16:35.17
If I could humble
myself for one minute
00:16:35.20\00:16:38.22
go in prayer
00:16:38.25\00:16:39.47
and ask God, "God what
would You have for me to do? "
00:16:39.50\00:16:42.28
and I'll share
something else friends
00:16:42.31\00:16:43.86
God would not
have us to do anything
00:16:43.89\00:16:45.65
that goes
against the Word of God.
00:16:45.68\00:16:50.04
So if the Word of God says,
'When our brother and sister '
00:16:50.07\00:16:52.93
'have offended us we are to
go to our brother and sister, '
00:16:52.96\00:16:56.21
we are to go!
00:16:56.24\00:16:59.18
Once again, we could
come up with excuses.
00:16:59.21\00:17:01.01
Now there are some situations
00:17:01.04\00:17:02.86
I have to admit
are very difficult.
00:17:02.89\00:17:05.10
Someone could say,
"Well, Pastor Mike "
00:17:05.13\00:17:07.21
"the person who offended
me is now over in Europe or "
00:17:07.24\00:17:09.95
"over in South
America and I don't know "
00:17:09.98\00:17:13.88
"if I'm going to be able to
see this person face to face. "
00:17:13.91\00:17:16.27
These are tough situations
and the only answer to that is,
00:17:16.30\00:17:18.96
you need to take that to prayer
00:17:18.99\00:17:21.06
and see what Jesus
would have for you to do.
00:17:21.09\00:17:23.13
Maybe, if this
person has offended you
00:17:23.16\00:17:25.84
you could take it into prayer
00:17:25.87\00:17:27.27
and the burden could
be released then and there
00:17:27.30\00:17:30.62
and in due time God
can begin to orchestrate
00:17:30.65\00:17:33.84
events to bring this
person back into your life
00:17:33.87\00:17:36.09
where you're not
so emotionally charged
00:17:36.12\00:17:38.56
or you'll start throwing daggers
at your brother or sister.
00:17:40.82\00:17:43.07
Maybe in God's timing the
emotions will have settled
00:17:43.10\00:17:48.05
you'll be able to
explain to a brother or sister
00:17:48.08\00:17:52.93
in the proper manner.
00:17:52.96\00:17:55.64
Now this is one point
I do want to bring out
00:17:55.67\00:17:57.40
also and that is,
when we go to our brother
00:17:57.43\00:17:59.16
or sister alone, we need
to go in a humble manner,
00:17:59.19\00:18:03.61
not with 'guns a blazing! '
00:18:03.64\00:18:06.25
"DO YOU KNOW
WHAT YOU DID TO ME! "
00:18:06.28\00:18:08.94
No, that's not the protocol
Jesus would have us take.
00:18:08.97\00:18:13.28
We're to go to our
brother and sister and say,
00:18:13.31\00:18:14.88
"You know, there's a
situation that has arisen "
00:18:14.91\00:18:18.29
"that I need to
bring to our attention "
00:18:18.32\00:18:21.15
and I'd like to talk to
you about it if that's okay. "
00:18:21.18\00:18:24.06
"Could I have prayer
before we talk about this? "
00:18:24.09\00:18:28.39
And we go into prayer.
00:18:28.42\00:18:30.78
Now if the person at that time
00:18:30.81\00:18:32.49
senses that this is going
to be a heavy conversation
00:18:32.52\00:18:35.25
and the person says,
00:18:35.28\00:18:36.25
"Now's not the right time can
we set a time for next week? "
00:18:36.26\00:18:40.55
We're not to get huffy and puffy
00:18:40.58\00:18:42.25
"Oh my goodness,
Brother Jack offended me "
00:18:42.28\00:18:45.56
"because he didn't want
to settle the conflict. "
00:18:45.59\00:18:47.92
Well Brother Jack may be busy.
00:18:47.95\00:18:49.39
He may already
have things on his list
00:18:49.42\00:18:52.76
to do for that day
00:18:52.79\00:18:56.38
and we have to be patient.
00:18:56.41\00:18:58.37
I think that's a word we
hear throughout the Bible
00:18:58.40\00:19:01.34
in fact if I'm not mistaken
00:19:01.37\00:19:02.94
Revelation 14:12 says, "Here
is the patience of the saints "
00:19:02.97\00:19:06.95
"here are they that keep
the commandments of God "
00:19:06.98\00:19:08.60
"and have the faith of Jesus. "
00:19:08.63\00:19:10.70
Here are they that keep
the commandments of God!
00:19:10.73\00:19:15.39
The commandment being, 'Go
to our brother and sister '
00:19:15.42\00:19:20.78
'Alone. '
00:19:20.81\00:19:22.87
And we are to go to them
and we are to be patient.
00:19:22.90\00:19:25.96
Meaning, in God's timing
00:19:25.99\00:19:30.04
all things work together
00:19:30.07\00:19:31.70
for good.
00:19:31.73\00:19:32.77
As a pastor this is very
00:19:34.37\00:19:38.05
very difficult
commandment to sometimes teach.
00:19:38.08\00:19:46.04
The reason being
is that sometimes
00:19:47.84\00:19:51.70
we may not model it ourselves.
00:19:51.73\00:19:54.77
And this is where I believe
00:19:54.80\00:19:56.63
that the leaders of the church
00:19:56.66\00:19:58.86
should be the first to be
practicing this commandment.
00:19:58.89\00:20:05.75
As a pastor when someone
comes to us and wants to say,
00:20:05.78\00:20:08.48
"Pastor Mike, I want to
let you know that last week "
00:20:08.51\00:20:12.05
"Susie offended me and
this is what Susie said to me "
00:20:12.08\00:20:15.00
and members begin to
start sharing what's going on.
00:20:15.03\00:20:20.59
What do I do? How do I respond?
00:20:20.62\00:20:24.20
Do I care about
gathering information
00:20:24.23\00:20:27.12
and I sit back
and allow this member
00:20:27.15\00:20:29.13
to begin share
with me all the beefs,
00:20:29.16\00:20:31.18
so I have my little black book
00:20:31.21\00:20:33.18
of what has been
taking place in my church?
00:20:33.21\00:20:35.75
Or do I stop the
member right away
00:20:35.78\00:20:41.82
and say, "Sister So-and-so "
00:20:41.85\00:20:43.54
"I believe that
God wants you to go "
00:20:43.57\00:20:46.59
"to Susie and talk to Susie. "
00:20:46.62\00:20:49.03
"You see we're told in Matthew
18, if someone offends you "
00:20:49.06\00:20:53.49
"you are to go to them alone. "
00:20:53.52\00:20:55.36
"And by coming to me
there's an opportunity "
00:20:55.39\00:20:59.13
"where I could share
it with someone else. "
00:20:59.16\00:21:01.66
"Do you want me to
share it with someone else? "
00:21:01.69\00:21:03.25
"No Pastor. I don't want you
to share it with someone else. "
00:21:03.28\00:21:07.89
"You need to go and
speak to Susie yourself. "
00:21:07.92\00:21:11.98
Now let's take
this to a higher level.
00:21:12.01\00:21:13.42
From a pastor perspective let's
go to a Conference situation.
00:21:13.45\00:21:16.05
Let's say there's a member
00:21:16.08\00:21:17.52
who's upset at a pastor.
00:21:17.55\00:21:20.40
And they go knocking
on the conference door
00:21:20.43\00:21:22.10
or wanting to speak to
the Ministerial Director
00:21:22.13\00:21:23.92
or the Conference President.
00:21:23.95\00:21:25.95
"Elder So-and-so "
00:21:25.98\00:21:28.07
"I need to talk to you
about Pastor Michael. "
00:21:28.10\00:21:30.52
How should the conference
leader approach this situation?
00:21:30.55\00:21:35.97
I believe once again,
the Bible tells us how.
00:21:36.00\00:21:39.10
I believe that the
Conference President
00:21:39.13\00:21:42.96
or the Ministerial Director
or anyone in the conference
00:21:42.99\00:21:45.23
should be able to
say, "Brother So-and-so "
00:21:45.26\00:21:47.58
"Sister So-and-so "
00:21:47.61\00:21:48.65
"it sounds like a
real delicate issue. "
00:21:48.68\00:21:51.36
"But being in the
position that I'm at "
00:21:51.39\00:21:54.54
"and being that Jesus
Christ is my Lord and Savior "
00:21:54.57\00:21:57.74
"I need to point you
back to pastor Mike. "
00:21:57.77\00:22:00.92
"You need to go
to Pastor Michael "
00:22:00.95\00:22:02.94
"and you need to settle
that with Pastor Michael. "
00:22:02.97\00:22:04.89
"And you know, if Pastor
Michael does not listen to you "
00:22:04.92\00:22:08.39
"you need to take
two or three witnesses "
00:22:08.42\00:22:11.69
"and you guys
need to go together "
00:22:11.72\00:22:14.38
"and you need to share
what he's done to you. "
00:22:14.41\00:22:16.12
"Hopefully he'll get
a chance to hear you. "
00:22:16.15\00:22:18.15
"And you know if you go
with two or three witnesses "
00:22:18.18\00:22:21.35
"and Pastor Mike
doesn't listen to them "
00:22:21.38\00:22:22.90
"you need to take it
to the church body. "
00:22:22.93\00:22:25.10
Now, I also want to
share about this commandment,
00:22:25.13\00:22:28.93
it's not just going
to our brother once.
00:22:28.96\00:22:31.08
The reason why is
many times we can go
00:22:31.11\00:22:34.04
with the wrong
spirit as I've said.
00:22:34.07\00:22:35.84
We can go one time and
we can be huffy and puffy
00:22:35.87\00:22:38.08
and if our brother
doesn't listen to us
00:22:38.11\00:22:40.89
we can automatically
think we're going to shift
00:22:40.92\00:22:42.98
into taking two
or three witnesses.
00:22:43.01\00:22:45.24
I believe we can go multiple
times to our brother and sister.
00:22:45.27\00:22:48.46
If Jesus can bear with
Judas for three and a half years
00:22:48.49\00:22:52.30
we can sure try to
emulate that example.
00:22:52.33\00:22:56.51
Amen?
00:22:56.54\00:22:57.51
Also, if Jesus and the Father
00:22:57.52\00:23:00.82
could take thousands of years,
00:23:00.85\00:23:03.46
maybe five thousand years,
00:23:03.49\00:23:07.95
no, not that long
00:23:07.98\00:23:11.86
maybe a week, two weeks,
three weeks, maybe a year
00:23:11.89\00:23:14.57
to allow Lucifer in
Heaven to run his course.
00:23:14.60\00:23:22.72
They gave him time.
00:23:22.75\00:23:25.51
That's a principle
that God shares with us.
00:23:25.54\00:23:29.88
When someone offends us
we are to give people time
00:23:29.91\00:23:33.03
to maybe realize
what they've done to us.
00:23:33.06\00:23:36.35
But we have had
that scab so scratched
00:23:36.38\00:23:40.53
and so hurt
00:23:40.56\00:23:42.31
the experience that has
00:23:42.34\00:23:44.87
brought so much pain to us
00:23:45.76\00:23:47.21
and then all the
other experiences
00:23:47.24\00:23:49.16
that if we have not gotten
victory over from the past
00:23:49.19\00:23:53.59
to begin to build up and then
00:23:53.62\00:23:55.27
we want to go to
our brother and sister
00:23:55.30\00:23:57.16
upon edict and have them
fix the situation then and now
00:23:57.19\00:24:03.21
Yet the Bible says, "Here's
the patience of the saints. "
00:24:05.25\00:24:09.44
We are to keep the
commandments of God
00:24:09.47\00:24:11.40
and have the faith of the Son.
00:24:11.43\00:24:15.86
Now, as we're preparing to close
00:24:15.89\00:24:20.56
I just want to share with you
00:24:20.59\00:24:22.90
the only way this
commandment can be kept
00:24:22.93\00:24:28.40
is through the power and
strength of the Holy Spirit.
00:24:28.43\00:24:33.37
We have to allow the
divine power of Jesus Christ
00:24:33.40\00:24:37.55
to help us look at the situation
00:24:37.58\00:24:42.71
through His eyes.
00:24:42.74\00:24:45.47
So many times we
look at it through
00:24:45.50\00:24:48.06
our goggles and our perspectives
00:24:48.09\00:24:50.50
and that which
causes anger and malice
00:24:50.53\00:24:53.85
because we have
been so offended.
00:24:53.88\00:24:55.78
Yet, brothers and sisters
00:24:55.81\00:24:59.08
have you ever offended God?
00:24:59.11\00:25:01.03
I can share
with you that I have.
00:25:01.06\00:25:03.46
And I know that God
has been patient with me.
00:25:03.49\00:25:05.56
And God has allowed
00:25:05.59\00:25:09.32
He's allowed me to come around
00:25:10.05\00:25:12.16
to see that He is worthy
00:25:12.19\00:25:16.73
of my worship,
worthy of my obedience
00:25:16.76\00:25:20.22
and worthy of all my devotion.
00:25:20.25\00:25:24.17
So when we begin
to look at others
00:25:24.20\00:25:26.46
through His eyes
and through Matthew 18
00:25:26.49\00:25:32.34
we begin to realize that our
God is the God of reconciliation
00:25:32.37\00:25:38.86
as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5
00:25:38.90\00:25:41.04
God is in the business
of reconciling the world
00:25:41.07\00:25:44.26
to Himself!
00:25:44.29\00:25:46.79
God is in the business
00:25:46.82\00:25:48.44
of reconciling you and I to Him.
00:25:48.47\00:25:54.66
The Father is in the business
of reconciling families.
00:25:54.69\00:25:57.49
How many families
have been destroyed
00:25:57.52\00:26:01.80
over Christmas
dinners, Thanksgiving dinners
00:26:01.83\00:26:05.42
anniversaries, birthdays
because someone said something
00:26:05.45\00:26:09.92
and lo and behold, the
two brothers and sisters
00:26:09.95\00:26:12.70
did not talk to one
another for ten years.
00:26:12.73\00:26:15.09
I am from Greek
descent and was raised
00:26:15.12\00:26:19.86
to think when someone
hurt you, you discarded them.
00:26:19.89\00:26:24.04
You didn't pay
attention to them anymore.
00:26:24.07\00:26:26.69
even if it was a
family member because,
00:26:26.72\00:26:28.64
'they crossed the line. '
00:26:28.67\00:26:32.33
'They hurt you. '
00:26:32.36\00:26:33.76
And so now you draw boundaries
and stakes in the ground
00:26:33.79\00:26:37.59
and you don't allow these
family members to come anywhere
00:26:37.62\00:26:42.12
over these boundaries.
00:26:42.15\00:26:46.40
What if God had done the
same thing to Adam and Eve?
00:26:46.43\00:26:51.59
What if God had done
the same thing to us?
00:26:51.62\00:26:57.15
I'm only going to allow
you guys to get so close.
00:26:57.18\00:26:59.57
Because I know you are going to
bring a lot of pain to my heart.
00:26:59.60\00:27:07.71
You see the Bible
says in the Jeremiah 31
00:27:07.74\00:27:10.24
"I have loved you
with an everlasting love "
00:27:10.27\00:27:13.72
God does not
look at us as we are.
00:27:13.75\00:27:18.19
God looks at us
as who we can be.
00:27:18.22\00:27:21.25
When Jesus came
across through the Gospels
00:27:21.28\00:27:24.20
when He looked upon Nicodemus
00:27:24.23\00:27:27.68
He saw who Nicodemus could be.
00:27:27.71\00:27:29.38
When He saw Mary Magdalene
He saw who Mary could be.
00:27:29.41\00:27:37.39
The lady at the well,
He saw who she could be.
00:27:37.42\00:27:42.50
The question today to you, to us
00:27:42.53\00:27:49.11
when someone
offends you do you see
00:27:49.14\00:27:53.10
who they can be?
00:27:53.13\00:27:57.48