Participants:
Series Code: AFH
Program Code: AFH000016A
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00:01 A good father takes time to play.
00:05 He has strong integrity. 00:08 He is someone that is truly dedicated. 00:12 He is not afraid to show his love. 00:15 He is a caring provider. 00:18 And he is a kind spiritual leader. 00:23 These are just a few ways to describe a father's heart. 00:34 Hi and welcome to A Father's Heart. 00:35 I'm your host Xavier. 00:37 And today, we're going to be discussing 00:38 a very sensitive topic about racism, 00:41 how do you teach your kids, 00:43 how do they deal with it, 00:44 when you yourself are in a state of cynicism 00:47 and wanting to know what to do next. 00:50 And with me to discuss that are my friends Denry and Paul, 00:53 how are you guys doing today? 00:55 Good day, man, doing well, doing well. 00:56 Blessed to be here. 00:58 You know, we like to acknowledge 00:59 the elephant in the room. 01:01 Let's talk about racism, how... 01:03 I know we've experienced that at different levels, 01:06 that's a given, 01:07 we've experienced it outside of church, 01:08 in church, in the world, outside the world. 01:11 However you look at it, we've experienced it, 01:12 but how do we teach our kids 01:15 to deal with it without becoming cynical? 01:18 I think one of the major dangers 01:20 is that when we look at racism, 01:23 we always look outside, there are people races outside, 01:26 the world is racist, the church is racist, 01:29 schools are racists. 01:30 But we never really take in consideration ourselves, 01:34 could we be racist, 01:35 could we cause cultural separation, 01:37 could we call sexism. 01:39 You know, when we look at Genesis, 01:40 you know, chapter 3, 01:42 the first thing that was introduced was insecurity. 01:45 You have to be better than what God made you, 01:48 and I think that's what bruised racism, 01:50 the other person is not better or I'm not good enough, 01:53 so because I'm not good enough, I need to bring you down. 01:56 And so with my children, I try my best to lift them up. 02:00 But I don't lift them up to a point where I tell them, 02:02 "Hey, you are better than other people," never, never. 02:05 I say, "You are equal to other people, 02:07 God has created us equal, He's given us different gifts, 02:10 He's given us different abilities, 02:12 so use that to help to beautify the world 02:16 and to lift His kingdom up." 02:19 Oh, I concur definitely, 02:20 especially on the matter of being realistic, 02:24 having a realistic definition 02:26 of what racism or what prejudice is. 02:29 I reflect on my own rearing, I grew up in East Flatbush, 02:33 Brooklyn, and a very diverse, 02:37 a very ethnically diverse community, 02:38 very integrated 02:40 as far as the multiplicity 02:42 of cultures and ethnic groups, 02:44 yet very segregated as far as our neighborhood divides 02:48 and so on and so forth. 02:50 I had to learn a realistic understanding 02:53 of racism or prejudice, 02:56 and I try my best to instill that to my child, 02:59 wherein I'm saying, most often, 03:02 whoever is the minority group will fall victim 03:06 to that type of behavior. 03:07 We as a minority 03:09 may be more sensitive 03:10 to those actions, or sufferings, or whatever, 03:13 but whenever you are a majority, 03:17 you are at risk of demonstrating 03:19 those type of traits and behavior. 03:21 So I start with letting her know 03:23 that racism is a human problem, 03:27 it's not just a black problem, a white problem, 03:30 Spanish problem, Asian problem, racism is a human problem, 03:34 and the only way we can overcome it 03:37 is in and through the life of Christ. 03:40 Yeah, and I like that. 03:41 It's true, you know, but at the same time, you know. 03:44 How do I teach my girls? 03:47 You know, I've been told to go mow somebody's grass, 03:51 I've been told... 03:54 I've been called every name in the book, 03:55 you know, and different... 03:58 I have a different complexion, 03:59 as I say I joke about I change colors in the sun 04:02 'cause my dad's black 04:03 and my mom's very light, very light skin 04:07 'cause of Italian background, 04:08 you know, and I've been told 04:10 and called many different things, 04:11 and I never experienced racism before, 04:16 growing up in Puerto Rico, I didn't experience it. 04:18 When we moved out of there, my parents had told me, 04:21 "Hey, where we're going, 04:22 you might encounter people that look at you differently 04:25 or talk to you differently." 04:27 You know, for me, I didn't know what that meant. 04:30 And then when I experienced it for the first time, 04:32 I didn't know whether to be angry... 04:34 Yeah. 04:36 Or as my Christian... 04:37 as a Christian home, 04:39 how do I turn the other cheek 04:41 'cause you're slapping both my cheeks, 04:44 like how do I turn the other cheek. 04:46 And looking at my kids now, my girls, what do I tell them? 04:51 You know, not only are they female but they're also... 04:55 One is darker than the other, 04:57 what do I tell these girls? 04:58 How do I bring them up to understand that 05:01 it is a sin problem, 05:03 a human problem to be Christ-like 05:06 and see beyond abomination 05:09 that racism is love their fellowman 05:12 and not knock out their fellow man? 05:14 Yeah. 05:16 You know, how do you teach your kids to not be jaded 05:18 like we are at times as adults, how do you keep them innocent? 05:22 You know, the beauty of what you said, 05:24 turn the other cheek is that we are... 05:27 I think most people miss Matthew 5, 05:30 but the whole entirety of the Bible, 05:32 the entirety of the Bible is not to them. 05:35 When you're reading the Bible, 05:36 God is not speaking to them or to others, 05:39 God is speaking to you 05:41 and you turn the other cheek, 05:43 you forgive, you respond this way. 05:46 So yes, there's going to be racism, 05:49 there's going to be sexism, 05:50 all of the isms until Jesus come. 05:52 Let's just put... 05:54 Let's just be honest with ourselves, 05:55 you know, it's important to speak out against it, 05:57 let people know, you know, this is wrong. 06:00 But we need to have a similar attitude 06:02 like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and most of them... 06:05 And they sampled themselves in Jesus Christ, 06:07 the attitude of Christ. 06:08 He spoke out against sin but how did He respond, 06:12 when He was treated bad, He turned the other cheek, 06:15 when He was attacked... 06:16 For example, I never forget, you said they make fun of you, 06:20 tell you to go mow the lawn or go plant a fountain 06:23 or something like that, a couple of guys, 06:26 we were walking into a building, 06:27 and we came through the side door, 06:29 and the guy jokingly said, 06:33 "Are you guys coming to rob the building?" 06:35 And I could have responded and said, 06:37 "Is this a black issue?" 06:39 Because it was three of bullied were black guys, 06:41 but I was like, you know what, 06:42 Jesus is teaching us 06:44 to these things are going to be in the world, 06:46 whether He meant it by humor 06:49 because I've done some of that, 06:50 you know, make those racial humor jokes 06:53 and not trying to insult anybody 06:55 but just out of humor. 06:57 So I didn't want to mess up his day that day. 07:00 So I forgave them, let it go, moved on, and just, 07:03 you know, made of it. 07:05 So the Bible always speaks to you respond, 07:08 the world is going to be messed up, 07:10 but you as a Christian need to respond this way. 07:14 Yeah, very important 07:15 that we're also nurturing our children 07:18 the appropriateness of balance. 07:20 I struggled in life not to acquiesce 07:23 to one extreme or the other 07:25 because I experienced a lot of racism 07:29 through law enforcement, 07:30 through civil authorities, through neighbors, 07:32 through teachers, medical practitioners, 07:35 on and on and on and on. 07:36 I experienced a lot of that. 07:38 But I think the greater tragedy 07:40 is when we get to the point 07:41 that we acquiesce to one extreme or the other, 07:44 where we're being, if I can say, 07:47 preoccupied with justice to an extent 07:50 that we are constantly, constantly engaged 07:53 in some form of antagonistic reaction 07:57 or we are completely passive 08:00 where we're not doing anything about it. 08:02 We started by talking about the... 08:05 Did you say pink elephant? What color was it, bro? 08:09 He didn't mention the color, he just said elephant. 08:11 Yeah, the elephant, all right, the elephant. 08:14 We started talking about the elephant in the room 08:16 and I think the bigger elephant 08:17 in the room today is the fact 08:18 that the church remains a microcosm of its society. 08:22 And if you find racism in society, 08:24 for sure you're going to find it in the church. 08:27 Nobody likes to talk about racism in the church, 08:30 but it is present. 08:31 Yeah. 08:33 It is in some sense, we may excuse, it's okay, 08:35 it's just a mass is just to let you know, 08:36 no, it's also within even our legislated infrastructure, 08:40 and there are things we need to do proactively about that. 08:42 So it's important for me to let my daughter know, 08:46 "Hey, look, there once was a time 08:48 when I was waiting for God to cure others of racism." 08:54 You see, I assume within this it being a predicament 08:57 or a result of sin as part of sanctification. 09:02 It's something that we all must overcome 09:05 before we are saved, so to speak. 09:07 Yeah. 09:09 Well, I don't think I feel that way as much anymore. 09:11 I have a different perspective of humanity, 09:15 and what sin is, and how sin impacts us, 09:18 and how the grace of God works within all of that, 09:20 and it may be within our best interest 09:23 to stop waiting for people to be cured and start acting. 09:28 So what is it that we can do on our part to ensure 09:32 we are being intentional 09:34 about not demonstrating that behavior or practice? 09:37 Yeah. 09:38 Book of Isaiah chapter 1, God says to His people, 09:41 "Look, you know, your Sabbaths and all your offerings 09:45 and everything that you're bringing to Me, 09:46 you know, they're making Me sick. 09:49 I'm not even able to receive them because 09:51 you are not demonstrating in your life true benevolence." 09:55 In another part of Isaiah, He says, 09:57 "You are neglecting to demonstrate justice, 10:00 you're not being engaged 10:03 and involved in speaking up against social injustice." 10:08 And I think that's one area 10:09 that we as a church as well as fathers, 10:13 we have got to take prime initiative in doing so. 10:17 We've got to speak up against injustice, 10:19 but we've also got to give 10:21 our children a nurturing balance 10:23 not to overreact or acquiesce to the extreme 10:27 where we ourselves 10:28 or they end up acting prejudicially 10:31 or demonstrating some racist behavior 10:34 because of how frustrated they are 10:36 over the predicament of racism. 10:38 One of the beautiful things 10:39 that I've been doing with my daughter, 10:41 I do my similar... 10:42 My three children are different shades, okay? 10:46 And I have a daughter, two boys and a daughter, 10:49 and I know how the world is, I know how the world is. 10:53 And so my wife and I, we've been telling our kids 10:55 that their skin is beautiful, their mind is beautiful, 11:00 their heart is beautiful, 11:02 you know, their personality is beautiful, 11:04 and I said because God made you beautiful, 11:06 and I also let them know, 11:07 no, you are not more beautiful than the other person, 11:11 you're not better than the other person, 11:13 you're just as beautiful, you're just as equal, 11:15 and I told them, "Could you do me a favor? 11:17 When you play with your friends, 11:19 could you tell them that their skin is beautiful, 11:21 that their hair is beautiful? 11:23 Let them know." 11:24 You know, the beautiful thing about discipline, 11:26 it's one-on-one. 11:28 When we read the Bible, God is not saying, 11:31 "Oh, let's go out and change the world one time 11:34 with a big sermon." 11:35 No, it's one-on-one. 11:37 So how do I respond to you? 11:40 I demonstrate the love of Christ to you 11:43 no matter what you bring to me, 11:45 I'm going to demonstrate love of Christ to you 11:46 and hopefully, it's contagious. 11:48 Now you go now and bring it to him. 11:52 And so that's the beauty. 11:53 If we start the one-on-one... 11:56 I pray that that that become contagious. 11:58 Amen. 12:00 And I think that's critical 12:01 because this was going to keep us sane, 12:04 Yes. you know? 12:06 And I'm reminded of... 12:08 When I speak to my girls about this, 12:11 I try not to speak to them in a biased tongue 12:14 which is very, very difficult. 12:16 You know, being a police chaplain for five years, 12:19 I worked with a lot of great police officers 12:22 that don't care what skin tone you are, 12:24 they just care about what you do 12:26 and what you do wrong. 12:27 But that's not the reality that we live in. 12:30 Yeah. 12:31 You know, a lot of them hide behind a badge. 12:33 The department that I worked in was a big county 12:37 and not every single one of them 12:39 subscribed to treating everybody equally, 12:42 the power trip, 12:44 you know, and when I got arrested 12:46 by my own department 12:48 due to a bar brawl back before I knew Christ, 12:54 one of my best friends is still there, 12:56 he said he would have handled it differently, 12:58 simply because the one person that did apprehend me 13:02 and chose to treat me like I was nothing, 13:05 slammed me everywhere, I mean, 13:07 I have bruise, cuts, tasered, 13:10 everything, the works, so to speak. 13:12 You know, and now working as a chaplain for them, 13:16 my girls don't know the difference 13:17 between the chaplain and officer, 13:19 they see the uniform. 13:21 And I'm trying to teach them, 13:22 you know, that it's not a badge issue, 13:26 it's a heart issue, you know? 13:28 But then again, when I see things, 13:32 you know, posted online, 13:33 when I see videos, when I see this, 13:36 you have the one handful of people 13:39 that, you know, jump the gun automatically 13:42 to say the officer is guilty. 13:44 But then you got the other ones, 13:46 you know, that are correct as well 13:48 saying that they were treated unjustly. 13:50 For me, I stand in the middle 13:52 because I bleed blue as they say, 13:55 and I'm also a civilian. 13:58 You know, how do we teach our kids? 14:01 How do you teach them that the very people 14:03 that are supposed to serve and protect you might kill you? 14:07 Mercy. 14:09 But you will not know what they're... 14:11 You know, and it goes beyond 14:14 saying yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, 14:16 it goes beyond that, 14:18 how do you teach them and train them 14:20 that to walk with Christ in such a way 14:23 that if their life is unjustly taken... 14:26 Mercy. Mercy. 14:29 That it's okay because there's a kingdom 14:31 and a crown waiting for them, 14:33 how do you teach your kids that? 14:35 I'm going to let you... 14:36 Senior. 14:37 Yeah, that's hard teaching as they would say in scripture. 14:45 I have more testimonies and more stories 14:48 than time would allow to share. 14:51 I try to direct my own daughter 14:53 and other youth that I have mentored. 14:55 I've been very involved in mentorship, 14:57 we keep mentioning this referencing, 14:59 which is also very important, mentor our young men. 15:04 You will see things in life 15:05 that will give you a balance to understand. 15:07 We all have negative experiences, 15:09 but you have to look at both sides. 15:12 And God has allowed me some experiences in life 15:16 where I have learned in a very transparent manner 15:20 what human nature is like. 15:26 It's important that we instill 15:30 that sense of you are not alone, 15:32 you're walking with God, you're always with God. 15:36 We have to teach our children 15:39 the necessary traits of survival. 15:42 I'll be it whether you're living 15:43 in whatever urban community you're living in, 15:46 and there's an equal threat once you step out your door, 15:49 at least that's how it was when I grew up. 15:51 It's real bizarre 15:55 that you can hear people say in some sense today, 15:59 "I'm worried about my child going outside today 16:01 because I don't know 16:03 if a police officer is going to kill him." 16:04 Mercy. You know. 16:05 But there are people saying that. 16:08 In my teen years, it was more, 16:11 "I'm nervous about going outside today 16:13 'cause I don't know if somebody, period, 16:15 who it's another gang member, 16:17 or somebody from another neighborhood, 16:19 or that don't like me, 16:21 or another race that don't like me 16:22 or whatever and yes, 16:23 inclusive of that were civil authorities. 16:26 But now today, it's been amplified, 16:28 in the sense, we're people... 16:29 The greatest concern especially for a young black men, 16:33 or Latino men, or any minority group seems to be 16:37 "I'm afraid of law enforcement, 16:39 I'm afraid of what can happen to me." 16:41 So yes, I tell my daughter once again to be realistic, 16:45 once again to be careful of her surroundings 16:48 or whereabouts, her behavior. 16:50 But within that, yes, like yourself, 16:53 I think there's a degree of 16:56 me accepting the worst scenario 17:01 and the only thing I can do about that is pray, 17:04 you know, that my child not be a casualty to racism 17:08 in any form from any particular group, 17:12 civil, or social. 17:16 Yeah, you know, 17:17 we as Christians subscribe to grace. 17:21 And when I look back over my life, I see grace. 17:24 Yes. 17:26 And when I was a young teenager, early 20s, 17:29 and I was very core into, you know, black revolutionists, 17:34 living in Harlem, 17:35 you know, just getting tired of the racism, 17:38 the anger was brewing up, 17:40 you know, just felt helpless. 17:43 Coming from Jamaica at a young age 17:44 but raised in Harlem, New York, 17:46 you know, just get, 17:48 you know, when people talk about police brutality now, 17:51 it's only because of social media we see, 17:53 but this thing been going on for decades. 17:55 I agree. I agree. 17:57 Decades, maybe almost over a century based on... 18:00 Depending on time, 18:01 but so I remember one time I was thrown against a wall, 18:06 you know, I was frisked, I was searched 18:08 just because literally 'cause I'm black. 18:12 And so our children hear these things 18:14 and our children see these things, 18:16 and so instead of going down into the core 18:19 and bill out that anger like I had 18:22 'cause there's many times 18:23 I could have been killed by police, 18:26 there's been times I could've been killed by my own 18:27 by others. 18:29 But when I... 18:30 So instead of brewing up that part, 18:33 I really try to demonstrate to them 18:37 how Jesus would respond to this. 18:38 Yes. 18:40 I mean, let's just be honest, 18:41 this is why I began saying at the beginning 18:43 that we need to search in ourselves, 18:45 even the purest heart, 18:46 human being is full of some kind of racism, 18:50 some kind of division. 18:51 When sin entered this world, look at the response. 18:55 We supposed to be great, right? 18:56 The first thing Adam does is does what? 18:58 He blames his wife. 19:00 The next chapter, we go into Cain and Abel. 19:03 And then it just gets worst after that, and it just builds. 19:07 Division started in the kingdom when Satan override, you know? 19:10 So this division thing is to our DNA. 19:15 So the only solution 19:17 is a heart transplant from Jesus Christ. 19:21 Only solution. 19:23 It's true, it's just so difficult. 19:25 I mean, it's hard like one of the things 19:27 that I try to instill in my girls 19:28 is know your roots. 19:30 Yes. 19:31 You know, for me, I struggled so long 19:33 knowing who I was, 19:34 I knew I wasn't in Christ and... 19:36 But what I wanted to, you know, where do... 19:37 'cause I look at my mom, 19:39 she's, you know, Italian, so she's very light, 19:41 my dad is dark, he's black, 19:44 and I kept asking my dad, "You're black, 19:47 where do you come...?" 19:48 "I don't know, son, I'm just Puerto Rican." 19:49 I'm like, "Dad, you're black, 19:51 what do you mean you don't know where you come from?" 19:53 I remember, a couple years ago, 19:54 I went to visit my family, sat down, 19:57 they brought out a whole photo album 20:00 of my great grandfather and my great grandmother. 20:04 My great grandfather was super dark, 20:07 you know, and my aunt shared with me, 20:11 "Well, you're here 20:13 because of your great great-grandmother 20:17 being raped." 20:19 Mercy. 20:20 Mercy. "She was a slave. 20:22 So you're here because..." 20:25 I didn't know how to take that. 20:27 Is it a blessing that I'm here, yes, 20:29 but is it a blessing that I'm here 20:30 because a relative of mine got raped, 20:34 you know, and I started to cry 20:36 because it's like something clicked. 20:39 You know, fast forward to that, 20:41 you know, experiencing racism in the church 20:45 where I'm told by my brethren, 20:49 "You're not dark enough," 20:50 or "You're not light enough," you know. 20:54 It's all this skin issue, even though it's a sin issue, 20:59 we looked at... Look at the skin issue 21:02 and I'm like make up your mind, 21:04 you know, and I did, I told my girls, 21:06 "Know your roots and make it up in your heads 21:10 that even though they see your skin 21:12 and they may see who you are, 21:15 it doesn't matter 21:17 because Christ is the one that you need." 21:19 Yeah. 21:20 And yeah, that sounds pretty and fluffy 21:22 but realistically that's where it's coming down to where 21:26 it's either you're going to let everything affect you, 21:30 or you're going to be of no use to your family, 21:33 or you find some way to muster up the strength 21:37 to hang on even just to the garment of Christ 21:41 and just "Help me, Lord, 21:44 'cause I'm ready to fight." 21:45 Mercy. Yeah. 21:46 I'm ready to go out there and decimate this 21:49 but we battle not against flesh and blood. 21:52 Amen. Amen. 21:53 What can I do to control, 21:54 you know, how do you teach your kids to rise above? 21:58 Yeah, I think as pastors talked about this before 22:02 and that is understanding 22:03 that if you're the pastor of a church, 22:05 you're also the leader of a community. 22:08 You should be the leader 22:09 within that surrounding community of the church. 22:11 We ought to be involved 22:14 and we ought to have direct access 22:16 to all people groups within that community 22:19 and be engaged in ensuring that we're doing what we can do 22:23 to break down those walls, 22:25 to build new relationships within varied ethnic groups, 22:29 take time to find out in your community 22:32 if there is a specific minority group 22:36 that is being marginalized, 22:38 this group in a trailer park, a group of... 22:43 farmers or farmhands 22:46 or a migrant population, a refugee population, 22:51 you know, we should do our best to be engaged 22:54 in building bridges and taking down walls 22:57 that keep those divides, 22:59 and we should be a voice of advocacy. 23:01 Yeah. 23:03 Intentionally, not by accident, 23:05 which is what I see often happen even within our church, 23:08 usually when we are involved in something 23:11 that relates to some civil issue 23:13 that needs attention, we're kind of there by default. 23:17 We're not there intentionally, and that that has to change. 23:20 We have to be intentional 23:22 about how we go about addressing those issues 23:24 and I pass the same degree of responsibility 23:27 and accountability to my child. 23:29 Yeah. 23:30 And I'm so grateful how we were talking yesterday about, 23:32 you know, this whole, the one day 23:35 where your son or your daughter was a little toddler crawling 23:38 and you were perplexed about the ambiguity 23:42 of what's going to happen over the next 20 or 30 years 23:44 and now here you are today, 23:46 daughter is 21 years old, 23:48 his kids are approaching teen years, 23:50 yours are toddler still yet. 23:52 But it's good to step back 23:53 and look and see the fruit of the product, 23:56 of how God has helped you within that nurture process, 24:00 within His pouring out of grace and His sharing of wisdom 24:04 and the biblical principles that we hold fast to us 24:06 as we train and nurture our children. 24:08 Hopefully, one day, yes, they will walk 24:11 and demonstrate the integrity that pleases God. 24:15 All of us or especially those of us who are pastors, 24:18 if you're a pastor of a church, 24:20 you are the leader of a community 24:22 or you are a community leader, 24:24 you should be involved 24:26 in the social climate of that community, 24:29 you should be observant or even searching 24:33 to see if there are groups that are being marginalized, 24:36 that group in the trailer park, 24:38 or that group of migrant farm workers, 24:41 or maybe a refugee group that has settled in the community. 24:46 We need to be involved in intentional 24:49 about breaking down walls that cause divide, 24:53 and we need to be building bridges, 24:55 and we need to be intentional about it. 24:57 I think it's a tragedy that often in the church 25:00 when we are involved in some area of civil need, 25:05 we're there accidentally, we're kind of there by default. 25:08 We're not there by some intentional proactive plan 25:12 that whereby we really cared, 25:15 we need to get beyond also within our church structure 25:18 to be sure that we not foster environments 25:22 that are integrated based on tolerance. 25:25 Now what I mean by that is we have to do more 25:28 than tolerating the presence of other people. 25:32 This is another unfortunate fact. 25:35 Even in many of our integrated congregations, 25:38 people are mixed and integrated in there, 25:40 but they're kind of tolerating each other, 25:42 they have not truly welcomed the presence of each other, 25:46 whether black, or white, 25:47 or Asian, or Latino, or whatever it is. 25:49 We're kind of just there tolerating each other. 25:51 That has to stop. Yeah. 25:53 So I try my best within being responsible 25:57 and accountable to nurture those values 26:00 to my daughter also 26:02 that she needs to be both responsible 26:04 and accountable for how she responds to her society. 26:09 I think it's very important. 26:11 And if we demonstrate that within our congregations 26:13 and within our communities, 26:15 then we are helping to be part of the solution 26:18 and not just part of the problem. 26:20 Yes. 26:21 And a lot of efforts towards, 26:23 as I spoke earlier and mentioned, 26:24 this natural inclination, 26:26 this human inclination to swing towards 26:30 one extreme of the pendulum or the other, 26:33 not to acquiesce to the group that's, 26:35 you know, like you were saying, you get that sense of, 26:37 "You know, man, I'm so fed up with this, 26:39 I want to fight," 26:41 you know, and we got to be careful. 26:43 We got to fight constructively, not the fighting that's, 26:46 you know, matching violence for violence, an eye for an eye. 26:49 That goes nowhere. 26:50 You know, we lift up this book, 26:52 we open it, and we can see 26:54 from Moses and Zipporah all the way 26:57 through to Peter's wrestling 27:01 with this problem in the New Testament. 27:03 So even in Scripture, it's evident. 27:06 And what we have to do is just be committed 27:10 and dependent to the grace of God 27:13 and to ensure that we're allowing Christ 27:15 to live in and through us, demonstrating His love. 27:20 The point that you brought out in Isaiah, 27:24 and Isaiah keeps talking about it, 27:26 there is another part that we swing to, 27:29 and this is the part I believe that God hates the most, 27:31 indifference. 27:34 Indifference. 27:35 I teach my children, I demonstrate to my children, 27:38 I want beautiful things I want one of my churches, 27:41 we have a variety of different races, 27:44 different culture, and I express them 27:47 the importance of bringing that to the table. 27:50 Bring it to the table in worship, 27:53 bring it to the table 27:54 in how you deliver the Word of God, 27:55 you share the Word of God. 27:57 Let's talk about the beauty of each other. 27:59 Man, and we can keep going on and on 28:02 'cause we're going to have to pick this up again. 28:05 Stay prayerful, and show the love of Christ. 28:08 Thank you for watching. |
Revised 2020-12-02