Sermon Transcript

Open your Bible to Ephesians chapter 4. And, as you’re doing that, let me ask you a question. Just think of the conglomeration of people that you ran into this week, and let me ask you this question: How many of you would say, “I wish there were more people in the world who told the truth. I wish that I could trust people, because when they open their mouth, I can trust that what they are saying is true…”? Does anybody wish there were more people like that?

How about this? Do you wish there were more people in the world who wouldn’t blow their top and lose control and just be angry all the time? Have you noticed there’s a little increase in the population who just seem to be angry all the time? Yeah.

How many of you would like to see more people in the world who are more generous—and stole your stuff less? Do you lock your doors at night? Yeah. Why? Because there are thieves out there, right? And so, that’s a deterrent.

How many of you would like to be in a crowd of people and not hear profanity and filthy language? Don’t you wish the Lord would clean that up? Yeah.

And then, one other thing: How many of you wish there were more people in the world who would actually forgive you when you mess up? Would you like more forgiving people?

Alright, well, we’re going to do some work on those this morning. My job is to try to increase the population of people who fit those distinctives. What I just described to you are supernatural character qualities that distinguish us as followers of Jesus Christ. We’re not born into the world telling the truth. We’re actually born into the world just kind of bent toward lying. We’re kind of bent toward anger. We’re bent toward having a potty mouth. We’re bent toward revenge rather than bitterness. And so, everything that we just listed above—those five things—are things that we learn from Christ—supernatural things.

If you were here last week, we looked at a passage of Scripture where we said there are some things we are to put on and put off. How many of you remember that glorious “sin sheet” I gave you last week? Did you appreciate that? Was that a little painful for you? Seventy-eight different sins that we’re supposed to put off—and replace them with something else?

Actually, in the context of Ephesians chapter 4, there are only five things. You say, “I wish you would have told me! You increased it to seventy-eight sins!” Well, that was kind of a comprehensive thing about the whole Scripture. But, we’re going to look at five things that, in this context, we’re to put off and put on, and they’re things that we have to learn.

Look at verse 20-21, in Ephesians chapter 4. It says, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. . .” [ESV] Do you see it, in verse 20? We’re to “learn Christ.” Verse 21, we’re to “hear from Christ,” and we’re to be “taught in Christ.” This morning, I have already prayed and asked Jesus to be our Teacher. This morning, I am not your teacher; Jesus is going to be our Teacher. And, unfortunately, that means this morning we are all going to school.

How many of you parents are excited when the kids go back to school? Yeah. How many of you kids are excited…I won’t even ask! We already know the answer to that question. We’re all going to school this morning, and we’re going to be taught by Christ. He’s our Teacher, and we’re going to learn five lessons at five different stages of school. The first place we’re going to go is elementary school.

 

1. Elementary School: Learn to tell the truth (v. 25)

 

In elementary school, we’re going to learn to tell the truth. That means we’re going to have to:

           Put off falsehood and put on honesty.

 

I want you to see it in the Scripture. Look at Ephesians 4:25: “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” Now, at the most basic surface level, we understand what this means, right? It means, “Don’t lie! Don’t tell things that are not true!” But, let me tell you at a deeper level what that means: it means that what we speak is in agreement with Jesus, because Christ-followers have given Christ the right to define reality.

Did you know that there are some people who live in a fantasy world? They are not in touch with reality. They live in a world where they just kind of make up their own existence, and they don’t understand the reality of what is going on in their life. They present a better image of themselves than they actually know is true. They think that they are in a better place with God than they actually are. They think that they’re further down the road with Christ than they actually are. They’re living in a fantasy world, and they’re deceived—maybe—by their pride, and they think they’ve got nothing to learn. That is fantasy. That is falsehood that has to be put off.

We understand that Jesus Himself did not only speak the truth, Jesus was Truth. Jesus defined truth. He actually said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” He is the Truth! So, being a truth-teller—or laying aside falsehood—means I’m bringing myself in alignment with what God has said is really true—about the world, about me and about my sin.

So, here’s the question: Why do people lie? I’ve thought of three different reasons. Here’s number one: They may be afraid that they’ll be rejected if someone actually knew the truth about who they were. So, they present a better image about themselves, they kind of create a narrative about themselves that’s not really true. Maybe you lie on a job application because you’re afraid you won’t get the job. Or, maybe you lie or present an image to a boyfriend or girlfriend because you want to date. There are all kinds of different ways that we present a false view of ourselves to other people. Other people lie because they want to power up. They want power, to gain advantage, and so they create a narrative to use it as leverage to get to a better place.

But the main reason–and I think the main reason we need to look at here today–we lie is because we are attempting to cover the truth about our sin. In our home, with our children, we disciplined our children for one sin more than any other. Do you know what it was? Lying. Why is that? Because we love them too much to allow them to cover their sin.

We knew that our children (probably just ours, probably just yours) were so deceitful that, if they could learn to lie, there’s no sin they wouldn’t commit. Because if they can somehow escape the consequences of their sin by covering it up (or thinking they can cover it up) they will commit any sin. And the same is true for me, the same is true for you. If you become a good liar, you’ll deceive yourself into thinking your sin will have no consequence.

This is so serious that the book of 1 John actually addresses lying in a trilogy of reality. Let me show it to you. First of all, in 1 John 1:6, John says, “If we say…” –what part of the body do you use when you’re saying something? Your mouth! So, there are words coming out of your mouth. You are talking–“…we have fellowship with him [God] while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

            And so, the first thing we learn—if we refuse to learn from Christ—is we learn to lie to others. So, again, we present a false image of ourselves. And it’s so easy to do in church, because you’re supposed to be on your best behavior around here. You come in and you put a mask on, and you pretend to be something other than what you really are. And what you are on Sunday is not true to what you are on Thursday, and that is how we lie to others. Now, if you start to lie to others, that’s just stage number one in the development of a liar.

Stage number two, according to 1 John chapter 1, is (not only will you learn to lie to others) we will learn to lie to ourselves. Look at verse 8: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Do you know, if you get really good at lying to others—do you know what the next step is? You will actually start to believe your own lie. You repeat the lie so often that, all of a sudden, that fantasy world that you presented to other people seems like reality to you. And so, you become immune to confessing your sin before God.

And the third stage of the development of a liar is this…now, notice, we’re still right here in 1 John. We’ve looked at chapter 1, verse 6; chapter 1, verse 8. Two verses later in 1 John chapter 1, verse 10, Scripture says this: we will learn to call God a liar! John says, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” You say, “I would never call God a liar! That would be a blasphemous thing!”

Wait, wait, wait! If you’re sitting in church and you’ve got your Bible open, and God’s Spirit begins to weigh heavily on your heart and begins to say, “Psst! Remember Thursday? You sinned!” And you, “I do not remember Thursday! Oh, oh, now I remember. But that wasn’t sin!” Do you know what you just did? You just called God a liar!

You say, “That sounds so serious!” Listen, when God loves us enough to whisper in our ear and say, “You have sinned,” laying aside falsehood is agreeing with God, at that point. Otherwise, do you know what we’ll do? We will argue with God. God says, “That was sin!” and we’ll say, “God, that’s not sin!” and instead of telling the truth (saying what God says is true) we make up an excuse or we deny that we committed that sin.

You see, Jesus is the One who defines the reality. Some of us are so intellectual or so sophisticated, that now we’ve gotten to the point–we’ve lied to others for so long or we’ve lied to ourselves for so long–when God speaks through His Word, we say, “Oh God! That might have been sin in 1934, but that’s not sin today. I mean, that might be sin in Texas, but not in northern Indiana. That’s sin for my brother-in-law, but that is not sin…” What are doing? You are deceiving yourself and you are calling God a liar, rather than receiving what God says is true.

So, what we’re going to learn in the elementary school of Christ, where He is the Teacher, we’ve got to learn to embrace the truth; and then we’ve got to learn to speak the truth. We’re going to lay aside falsehood, and we’re going to embrace honesty: honest to others, honest to myself and honest to God.

That’s why our small group ministry is so important around here. If you’re not in a small group, you need to be in one. And the reason why some of you don’t want to be in a small group is because you don’t want to tell the truth. You know in that small group, you’re going to have to look somebody eyeball-to-eyeball, and they’re going to ask you, “How did it go Thursday?” And someone who lays aside falsehood and embraces honesty, what do they do? They get honest, they get transparent, they get vulnerable, and they say, “Here’s what happened. It was sin! Would you pray for me? Would you encourage me? Would you call me next Thursday and help me to do the right thing?” That’s how it works around here in a small group that is pointing us to Christ Jesus.

So, that’s elementary school. Is everybody ready to graduate elementary school? Are you sure? Because you know what’s next? Middle school! How did it go for you in middle school? Was that a great experience for you? Kind of a blur? Well, here’s what you’ve got to learn in middle school. Remember, Christ is our Teacher, and He is going to teach us. We are going to:

 

2. Middle School: Learn how to handle anger. (v. 26-27)

 

That means we’re going to have to:

             Put off anger and put on trust.

 

I’ll explain how trust and anger work in just a minute, but look down here in Ephesians 4:26: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” Now, as you look at that verse, some of you are so familiar with that verse that the most obvious meaning has escaped you. First and foremost, do you see what this verse is telling you to be? This is a command in Scripture.

All in favor of obeying commands in Scripture? Alright, what is the command in the first two words? “Be angry!” Some of you are like, “Yes! I got one right! Man, I had a great week obeying the Bible! This is awesome! Skip to the next one. I’m good on that one!” Now listen—you’re looking like, “Now, wait a minute! I thought anger was sinful!” Look at the verse. Apparently, in this verse, anger and sin are two different things. This verse is commanding us to be angry!

Listen, if you’re a person who never gets angry, you’ve got a worse problem than the guy who always is blowing his top. Do you know what your problem is? You’ve gotten indifferent; you’ve become blind to the things in this world that God gets angry about. This verse is a command to be angry! You ought to get angry when a child is abused! You ought to get angry when a church dies for a lack of vision and leadership and bold proclamation of the gospel. You ought to get angry when this world and this culture blaspheme the Name of God! That ought to break your heart, and there ought to be something in you that gets angry about that.

But if you’re just numb to those things, possibly it’s because you’ve gotten calloused and insensitive and indifferent. You’re so cold, and far away from God, that you don’t even get angry at what God gets angry at. That’s a problem! So, first and foremost, this is a command to be angry.

Now, in the Scripture, this is how we understand this–I learned this from my good friend Tim Downs; he just really helped me understand this. In the Scripture, anger is used for one of two purposes. First of all:

 

To protect what is good.

 

And, secondly:

 

To protest what is evil.

 

That’s how you [can] be angry without sinning. But do you know what happens in our fallen humanity? We get it backwards: we protest what is good, and we try to protect what is evil, and we get angry. And we try to manipulate and control, and we try to step in, and we get angry because we’ve somehow lost control over something that we want to have that God’s trying to take away, or He’s trying to give us, and we don’t want it. So we end up sinning and getting angry—and blowing our top.

You see, in Scripture, anger is a warning light. How many of you, after church today, will go to the parking lot, crank your car, and on your dashboard, your engine light will be on? Raise your hands, be honest in church. Raise ‘em proudly in church! Look at all the hands here. How many of you, that engine light has been on for over a year? Be honest; we’ve got to go back to elementary school if we’re not honest in church here.

Somehow you try to rationalize it: “Oh, there’s probably something wrong with the bulb in there.” No! The manufacturer put that in there to tell you there is something wrong that needs to be made right! Anger is the warning light on the dashboard of your soul. And when you feel anger starting to rise within you, it is an indication–there is something wrong that needs to be made right!

Now, it may be something wrong in you that needs to be made right, or it may be something wrong out there that God wants to use you to make right. So, anger, in and of itself, is not sinful. The question is, how are you going to respond to the anger? What are you going to do to make it right?

In Genesis chapter 4, there is the story of two brothers, Cain and Abel. They were the sons of Adam and Eve, so this is second-generation humanity right here, okay? And, sure enough, one of them had an anger problem. The reason we know that is because of the story. Cain brought an offering to God and it was rejected. His brother’s offering, Abel’s, was received by God. When Cain saw that his brother got blessed by God, Cain got angry.

The reason we know that is because God came down and asked him a question. Here’s the question God asked him: “Cain, why are you angry?” Now, how many of you are smart enough to know that, when God asks a question, it’s not because He doesn’t know the answer? Do you understand that? God knew the answer to that question, but Cain needed to know why he was angry.

Before Cain could answer the question, God said this–He gave Him a warning: “Careful how you answer, Cain. Sin is crouching at your door!” So, God gives this word picture of a ravenous animal that’s just waiting down in the bushes to pounce on its prey and devour and control him. So, God says, “Why are you angry? Careful! Sin is crouching at your door.” And then God said, “Cain, you must master it!”

Can I ask you this morning…are you an angry person? Next question: Why? Why are you so angry? Careful how you answer! Sin is crouching at your door if you don’t handle that anger—if you don’t master that anger. There are a lot of negative emotions: sadness, fear, anxiety, worry, despair. You know, all of those emotions—if you got honest with somebody that loves you– “I’m sad, I’m fearful, I’m anxious.” What’s the natural response of somebody who loves you? It draws them to you, right? It makes them want to come around you, right?  “Let me pray for you. Let me encourage you. Let me see if I can help.”

But, for men especially—for some reason, men channel every emotion into the one masculine emotion. What is that? Anger! We’re just always angry. We kick the cat, we punch a hole in the door, let loose a tirade of evil speech. Why do we do that? Men, listen! Anger does the opposite of those other emotions. Anger doesn’t attract sympathetic listeners—it repels them. And it destroys the unity in whatever relationship you have.

You see, in order to have a relationship, there has to be trust, there has to be truthfulness and there has to be peace. And so, this trust is what brings us together, but we destroy that so often by our anger.

Now, in this passage, it says, “Be angry and do not sin,” and then it tells us one of the reasons why. The next thing it says is, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger…” You see, apparently anger has a shelf life. How many of you, right now, at home in your refrigerator, have something in there that should have been thrown out long ago? Raise your hand. Honesty in church, just like me. I think I’ve got pizza in there from like eight, nine, ten days ago.

Do you know what happens when something is stored longer than it should be stored? It begins to mutate—and becomes dangerous—and poisonous. Well, apparently, the shelf life of anger is less than twenty-four hours. Paul says, “Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.” Don’t store it, don’t put it in there so you can use it tomorrow, because it mutates and becomes dangerous. You are not supposed to store up anger. God didn’t design anger to be stored. He designed it to be used to show you there’s something wrong that needs to be made right. So he says to not let the sun go down upon your anger.

Then, the next verse gives another reason why. Because if you do, you’re going to “give opportunity to the devil.” The enemy of your soul wants you to be angry, because the enemy of your soul wants to destroy you through your anger. The New International Version translates it this way: “Do not give the devil a foothold.”

            Have you ever climbed one of those rock walls, where you’re trying to grab the next foothold? You see, the devil is trying to scale the wall of defenses in your heart. He wants to take you out; he wants to take you down! He wants to destroy you; he wants to destroy your marriage; he wants to destroy your families. How many families and marriages and churches have been destroyed because of unresolved anger? The devil gained a foothold, he scaled the wall, and he defeated you–the archenemy of your soul.

So, we’ve got to put away anger. We’ve got to put on trust, and trust that it is the Lord’s job to protest what is evil and to protect what is good. I play a role in that, but so much of that is out of my hands. I can trust that the Lord is doing that. That’s what we learn in middle school—we learn how to handle our anger.

Here’s the third place where we’re going to go. We’re going to go to high school, and here we’re going to learn from Christ:

 

3. High school: How to handle possessions. (v. 28)

 

We have to:

 

                  Put off stealing and put on sharing.

 

Ephesians 4:28: “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” You see, apparently a thief has two problems, because in this verse, God gives two solutions to deal with the two problems a thief has.

A thief is lazy. He wants to possess something that somebody else worked for. And so, that’s the reason the solution for a thief is to let him work with his hands. To learn how to provide for himself. To not live with the mentality that it is somebody else’s responsibility to give him what he needs. You obtain what you need through the hard work you labor through your hands.

The second problem a thief has is that he’s greedy. And he thinks that what somebody else has can provide for him two things: security and satisfaction. Now, if you’re a Christ-follower, those two myths have been debunked because we know that, no matter how much we have, we will never have enough to bring us absolute security and absolute satisfaction. A thief needs to learn this.

So, how do we apply it? I mean, the most basic level is—do I really even need to say this?—don’t rob a bank! Okay? Don’t take stuff that doesn’t belong to you. Some of you are like, “Okay, next! Next! I’m not a thief!” Hang on, wait. You knew that you weren’t getting off that easy, right?

Now, think about it: do you have anything in your possession that belongs to somebody else…in a drawer, in a bedroom, in a garage, in a tool shed, in a toolbox, on the hard drive of your computer? Are you using an account, using somebody else’s user name and password? Put off stealing and put on sharing.

Are you an employer? Do you pay your employees fairly for the work that they provide for you? Are you an employee? Do you work hard for the pay your employer’s giving you? Have you paid every contractor and every service provider for what they have provided you? Are you a contractor and a service provider that has provided everything for which you have been paid? Is there some way that you are stealing time, stealing honor or credit? Are you a husband who has stolen love that you owe to your wife? Are you a wife or a husband that has stolen physical intimacy that you owe to your spouse?

Some of you students–what you call “research,” God calls “plagiarism.” You’re really good at “cut, paste, bam! Stamp.” You say, “No, no, no. My neighbor was a Christian, and they learned this principle…and they shared! They’re sharing!” But see, when you put your name on it at the top, now you’re back in elementary school—and you’re not being truthful! Are you learning from Christ? Put off stealing and put on sharing.

And by the way–it’s bad to rob a bank, but it’s just plain stupid to rob God! If you’re not paying your tithe to the Lord and giving back to the Lord that which rightfully belongs to Him, you are stealing from God. Bad choice! He sees and knows about all of it.

We need to go to college. In college, from Christ we’re going to:

 

4. College: Learn how to use words. (v. 29)

 

So, we’re going to have to:

 

            Put off tearing down, and put on building up.

 

Look at verse 29: “Let no corrupting…” corrupting means damaging poisoning, polluting words. Don’t let this “talk come out of your mouths, but only such [a word] as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” If we could only understand how powerful this principle is! How often are we tearing others down by being critical and fault-finding. Not just talking to them in negative tones, but by talking about them and tearing down a reputation, or tearing them down.

As Christians do you realize—we are on the same team! Why would we tear each other down—in the same family, in the same church? If we knew how powerful our words were. If we knew what Proverbs 18:21 says. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”

            And it’s powerful, not only to tear somebody down, it’s powerful to build somebody up! Don’t you love it when somebody comes alongside of you and notices something you did and thanks you for a job well-done—and encourages you, says, “You’ve got so much potential! You could go so much greater. You’re such a great leader! You do that thing better than anybody else!” Don’t you love it when people are building you up?

Listen, here’s the 30-day challenge I want to give you for this point. Write it down! For the next thirty days, I want you to resist the temptation to speak a negative word to or about any other member of your family for the next thirty days.  

• Spouse
• Children
• Coworkers
• Church family
• Those who do not share your worldview.

 

Do you think that might have an effect on the atmosphere in your home?

And then, the second half of the assignment is this: For the next thirty days, find something every day for which you can build somebody up and speak a positive word as simple as: I love you. I believe in you. I forgive you. I appreciate you. Thank you for doing this. You mean so much to me. Here’s the biggest reason that I love you. Here’s the biggest reason I appreciate you. Get real specific. Do you think that would change the atmosphere in our homes? I think it would.

Alright, we’re in college. We’ve got one more place to go to school. Here it is:

 

5. Grad school. Learn how to deal with hurt. (v. 30-32)

 

And in Grad school we’re going to learn how to deal with hurt.

 

                        Put off revenge and Put on forgiveness.

 

Alright, now this is PhD level work, right here. How many of you have, at any time, ever been hurt? “Mmm, yeah. A hundred-percent!” So, here’s the thing: You can’t prevent your heart from getting hurt, but you can prevent your heart from getting hard. And we do that by putting off revenge and putting on forgiveness.

Look at Ephesians 4:30: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. . .” Now, I love that, because almost everything we’ve talked about in this section of Scripture is horizontal—it’s about our human relationships, right? But do you understand what this is saying? God is watching us. The Principal of the school is aware of what’s going on, and it grieves the Holy Spirit when He watches us not telling the truth–taking credit for things we didn’t work for–for being angry–and, most of all, for not forgiving each other. It grieves the Holy Spirit!

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [Paul says], by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander be put away from you…” Could there be anything else? Oh, yes! One more. “…Along with all malice.” This is like the junk drawer—everything you could possibly think of, that destroys relationships! He says, “Put it away!”

And then, put on—verse 32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,  forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Bitterness is harboring hurt. It means to store a wrong done to you for future use. And maybe the way you get revenge is not by punching somebody in the nose; maybe it’s withholding your love, maybe it’s withdrawing from them. People have a lot of creative ways to deal with hurt. Some people are very aggressive, and they want to go fight. Other people just want to withdraw and back completely away. There are a lot of different ways that bitterness can look.

Listen. The only way that God has ever given us to deal with hurt is to forgive, and to forgive means two things: It means we cancel the penalty associated with the hurt. And so, whatever you think that person owes you (for whatever that person is indebted to you–whatever obligation occurred when they damaged you) to forgive means to completely cancel the debt, and treat them as if the debt was paid!

And the second part of that is to pay the price. The damage has been done, now you pay the price to repair the damage in your own heart, or in the family, or in another relationship. You say, “Trent, you do know what they did to me!” True, I don’t know what they did to you. But I do know what you, by your sin, did to Christ. So, on the cross, as Christ paid for your sin, as your sin hurt Him, what did He say from the cross? “Father, forgive them!” “They don’t even know what they’re doing!” [from Luke 23:34] We are to forgive just as Christ has forgiven us.

1. S. Lewis put it this way, when he talked about forgiveness. He said:

 

 “Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin…”

Do you know what he’s saying? It doesn’t mean that you deny that the hurt happened. It doesn’t mean that somehow you just forget it (it is impossible to forget and forgive). The reason you have to forgive is because you can’t forget!  You daily have to forgive, which means that you look right at the sin that somebody else has sinned against you.

 

“…The sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all of its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it. That, and only that, is forgiveness, and that is what we can always have from God if we ask for it.”

 

Only someone who is forgiven has the power to bend the forgiveness horizontally and forgive others.

So, there is something that is true about school. I mean, there are lectures and there’s classwork and there’s homework—but here’s the thing. There are always tests. Do you know what is going to happen this week? You’re going to get tested in all five of these. Your anger’s going to be tested. Your ability to tell the truth—and to believe the truth—is going to get tested. Your ability to forgive is going to get tested. And it is a process, and it is progress. We never get to the point where we don’t have something to learn from Christ.

Would to just bow your heads for a moment? This is tough stuff! But this is the most basic of Christian character that distinguishes us from a world that’s lost its way. Maybe the first step for you is to simply believe the truth of what God has said about you. Have you been arguing with God throughout this process? “I didn’t steal that! I didn’t say that! I don’t tear down!” Are you being truthful? Are you being honest with God? “I’m not bitter!” Really?

We’ve asked Christ to be our Teacher, and so if you’ve felt a sense of conviction, it hasn’t been my words—it’s been Christ’s. You didn’t learn that bitterness from Christ. You didn’t learn to lie from Christ. You didn’t learn to steal and horde and be stingy and greedy from Christ. We’ve been taught by Him, and today we need to put off, and we need to put on.

If there’s someone who came to mind when you thought of the hurt, you need to release that hurt to God and tell God on them. You say, “But if I do that, I’ll be letting them off the hook!” No, you won’t. You’re just letting the off your hook—they’re still on God’s hook. Are you angry? Why don’t you trust the Lord? It’s His job to protest what is evil, protect what is good.

Lord, today, all of us could identify an area where we’ve sensed Your conviction. I certainly have. I pray, God, that You would remind us that You are the One who forgives. You’re the One who turns the liars into truth-tellers. You’re the One who turns angry people into people who trust. You’re the One who makes us generous. You’re the One who makes us generous. You’re the One who gives us the ability to forgive. I pray all of that for my friends here today–even for someone here today who may have never experienced your forgiveness. God, would You break through their hearts? Draw them to Yourself, and show them that fresh starts and new beginnings are possible because of what You did on the cross for us. I pray in Christ’s Name, Amen.