A Call To Love Like Jesus

This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Welcome to All In with Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message is about to begin, and we invite you to prepare your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak to you today as you seek to live your life all in for Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley. You know, we just walked through a storm, and normally when you go through a storm, trees tend to fall. Especially if you live in East Tennessee and you have pine trees on your property, you understand that when the winds blow and when the waters come, those trees tend to topple down. And the reason a pine tree falls down is because it has a really shallow root system, and so we're familiar with big trees that tend to fall in a storm. But today I was reminded on my way to church, I was reminded that there are bigger trees that don't fall very often. In fact, have you ever heard of a sequoia tree? I brought a picture so you could see what I'm talking about. There are sequoia trees right now in California that are 1,300 to 1,500 years old. I'm talking about massive trees that are 300 feet tall,

big trees, beyond anything that we can see on this side of the United States. And you have to ask the question, how are those trees so old? And how are those trees so tall? How have they made it through all the storms and all the winds and all the rains for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years? Well, I think if you're like me, the first thing you think is, well, it's because of the root system. Those massive trees must have massive roots that go tens, if not hundreds of feet down into the ground. And yet I did a little research, and you know what's interesting about the sequoia tree? On the average sequoia tree, the root system only goes four feet under the ground. Four feet. So you've got a 200 to 300 foot tall tree, massive in every way, and the roots are only four feet down? What's the secret? Here's the secret, you ready? The roots are still holding the tree up, but they're designed in such a way where the roots of this tree are intertwined with the roots of the tree to the right and the left. You never see a sequoia tree standing all alone in the middle of a field. Sequoia trees are right next to one another.

That's because the roots are holding hands, and they're holding those trees up. You know, when I think about a sequoia tree, I think about how God designed the church, how he designed us. He doesn't design us in such a way where you're all by yourself, isolated as a believer on an island. No, he said, I'm gonna put you in the church. I'm gonna put you next to a man and a woman. I'm gonna put you in community so you can lock arms with one another, so you can sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron, and together, we've been designed to represent Jesus to this world. You know, in Matthew chapter five, we've been walking through the sermon on the mount, and we've heard Jesus preaching this sermon to first century believers, showing them that we are called, as followers of Jesus, to be the church. And as the church, our job is to represent Christ to a world that desperately needs to see Christ, amen? This world needs to see Jesus. This world needs to experience Jesus, but they don't need to experience just us. They need to experience the Jesus in us. So in Matthew chapter five, Jesus begins to show us what it looks like to be Christ to the world around us.

He said, you, as a follower of Jesus, you are the salt of the earth. He said, you're the light of the world. And Jesus, so far, has shown us how he is. He's called us out of a certain culture, and he's called us into a kingdom culture, and he has designed us in such a way where we don't look like the rest of the world. Today, Jesus is gonna talk about the way that we love other people, and he's gonna show us how naturally we've been wired to love a certain way as a part of this world, but now we're not in that world, and so the love that we have and the love that we demonstrate, it looks different now because of the Jesus in us. So today, if you're taking notes, we're gonna be in Matthew chapter five. We're gonna begin in verse 43, and in this message, I want us to see four key characteristics of the love of Jesus, the love that he's called you and I to demonstrate to the world around us. If you're taking notes, the first way is this. He's called us to love without limits, to love without limits, and he's gonna talk about that beginning in verse 43. Jesus says, you have heard that it was said,

love your neighbor. And hate your enemy, but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you Now I want to point out once again that Jesus begins this teaching with a key phrase He says you have heard that it was said Now we've seen him do that several times so far in the Sermon on the Mount And the reason he uses that phrase is because he was addressing some things in the Old Testament that were being Misinterpreted by the religious leaders of the day we know them as the Pharisees so in this passage This is what Jesus was telling the people He was pointing out that the the the original command that was written back in Leviticus chapter 19 it was it was supposed to say one thing and the Pharisees were making it say something else Look back at the original command in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 real quick It says do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community But love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord that was the original command in the Bible that Jesus was referencing right here That was a passage in Scripture that every single Jewish person would have grown up knowing grown up hearing even studying in school And so Jesus is pointing back to something that's familiar But then notice after quoting Leviticus Jesus then points out that the Pharisees were actually teaching something that was different than what the Bible originally said They were adding their own flavor. They were adding their own Interpretations and they said not only should you love your neighbor? Here's where they added, but you should also Hate your enemy hate your enemy. So that's what Jesus is addressing here Hey, let me just go ahead and make this very clear nowhere in your Bible does it tell you that you should hate your enemy Nowhere in the Old Testament Does it ever say to them you should hate those who are against you those who aren't like you? So in that day and in that culture the Pharisees were taking liberties with God's Word and they were adding to Scripture That's a bad deal They were adding words that were based off of their own personal bias and their own personal prejudice The interpretation of Scripture didn't line up with God's definition of Scripture and the Pharisees in that day They they agreed that that you should love your neighbor, but then they had something else to say

They're not arguing with what Leviticus says They're not arguing with the fact that we should all love our neighbor They were teaching that but then they added this last part that says and you should hate your enemies You see who is your neighbor? That was the question the Pharisees were asking and what happened was They realized that that word neighbor could be interpreted to mean several things For the Pharisees they were very clear to say Gentiles are not your neighbor They would tell the Jewish community Gentiles are not your friends in fact There was a common saying for Pharisees in that day that went something like this if a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea Let him by no means lift him out for it is written Thou shall not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor, but this man is not your neighbor That was a common idea for the Jewish people in the time of Christ So you see the Pharisees they're teaching that it's okay to be prejudiced. That was the teaching of the day They were saying if a person is not Jewish if they don't have the same color of skin that you have if they don't speak In the same language if they don't have the same type of accent then they are not your neighbor That was the practice and that was the teaching of the day But then Jesus steps up and Jesus speaks up in verse 44. And what does he say? He said this is what they're teaching But I tell you Love your enemies Hey, let me ask you a personal question today You don't have to say this out loud But who would you consider to be your enemy right now? Who would you consider to be someone that is against you someone is opposed to you someone? That you just straight-up call an enemy in your heart You said well, I'm not gonna say that out loud and you shouldn't especially if you're sitting next to him right now But let me just ask you honestly before the Lord who is that person that you're just like

It's probably them Maybe it's a co-worker that disrespected you. Maybe it's a family member that betrayed you Maybe it's someone you just don't like their personality. You don't like being around them Maybe it's someone of a different background or a different culture or someone who has an opposition Using political view, who is that person in your life? See, the Jews in that day were being taught that the Pharisees, all of those people that were against them, they were considered to be not neighbors, but enemies. And the religious leaders of the day were saying to the people, you should hate those people. So whatever it is that pops into your mind, the religious leaders, imagine going to church and your religious leaders and teachers saying, hey, who do you hate? Who do you hate? You should hate them all. If they're against you, you should hate them. The Gentiles, hate them. The Romans, hate them. The Samaritans, the religious opponents, the personal adversaries that you have in your life. If they're against you, you should hate them. And yet Jesus says, these people are not your enemies. Even your enemies are your neighbors. And God has an expectation for us as believers, and this says God's expectation is for you not to hate those people, but to love those people. So the person that pops into your mind, ask yourself this question.

What would it look like to actively love someone I consider to be my enemy? I mean, can you even imagine what it would be like just to leave this place today and to intentionally speak a kind word to that person? To intentionally go out of your way and to forgive them, even though they never apologized for what they did? Can you imagine what it would be like to change your quiet time with the Lord, to now include a prayer of blessing over the person that you've grown to dislike over all these years? Can you imagine what it would be to write a handwritten note encouraging them and loving on them and being a blessing to them and putting that in the mail? You're like, I could not do that. I cannot love my enemy. Of course you can't. Not in your own strength, not in your own power. Hey, loving our enemies isn't something that we can do on our own. It's something that requires the Holy Spirit's power working in our life. Would you agree with that? Say amen. You're like, it's gonna take the Holy Spirit for me to do that. Guess what? That's true for all of us. But the Bible says through him, guess what? All things are possible.

That means you can do what God is calling you to do. However, it will require the Holy Spirit's power at work in your life. Through him, all things are possible. And yet Jesus right here, he's talking about a love that is possible. God calls us to love without limits. He also calls us to number two, pray for persecutors. Check this out. He's saying pray for those who persecute you. Remember last week we heard Jesus say, go the extra mile, even though the Romans who oppress you can only require you to go one mile. And now today we've already heard him say, don't hate your enemies, even though that's your natural tendency, but rather love your enemies in the same way that Jesus loves you. But now Jesus is gonna take this to a whole nother level. And he tells these Jewish believers, check this out. He says, pray for those who persecute you. Now, I personally think this had to be one of the most counter-cultural and difficult parts of all of Jesus's teaching that day. Because really he was challenging human nature. He was challenging our innate desire to combat injustice and to combat the mistreatment of people. See, in that day, Jewish people had many persecutors because they were living under Roman occupation. We talked about this last time.

We know that every single day they were abused. Every single day they were mistreated by the Roman powers. And it's hard for us to put ourselves in their shoes. But imagine for just a second that every single day that you wake up, you know these soldiers can force me into physical labor. The tax collectors, they can rob me legally. Even the religious leaders, they can call me a heretic. They can ruin my reputation. I mean, that was the reality for the Jewish believers that were following Jesus in the first century. For the Jewish Christian, it would have been very natural for them to hate their enemies. Very, very natural. And it would be totally unnatural for them to pray for these people. But when Jesus spoke these words, he was challenging the cultural standard of what it means to love. And he was showing us that kingdom love is a love that is higher. It's a love that is deeper. And it's a love that is so different than any other kind of love that's experienced in this world today. Hey, get this today. Love isn't limited to those who are easy to love. Here's the message that Jesus has for all of us today. Love isn't limited to those who are easy to love. Jesus says, when you hear God say, love your neighbor,

that word neighbor, it doesn't only include those who look like you. It doesn't only include those who sound like you or speak like you or believe like you or vote like you. That word neighbor, it includes everyone. It includes the person who bullied you in high school, the one who mistreated you in that relationship, the one who persecutes you because you walk with Jesus. He's saying God calls you to love those people. It's not a natural thing to do so. And yet God calls us not to the natural, but to the supernatural. And let me tell you, when a person loves someone who is unlovable, when a person demonstrates the love of God to a person that is undeserving of that kind of love, man, that is a supernatural testimony that does nothing but bring glory to God. Have you ever seen something like that? Have you ever walked in a relationship where you're looking at someone and you're like, how could you treat them so well? How could you love them so well? That is just, it's a testimony that says, man, loving like Jesus, it's not something that's natural, it's supernatural, and you give glory to God. You know, in the Greek language, there are four different terms that are translated love. The first term is a word that most of us have heard.

It's the word phileo. And this word means brotherly love. It's a friendly love. If you have a buddy, you love that buddy, it's a phileo kind of love. The second word is storge. And storge is a familial love. I love my kids this way. My kids love one another this way. Storge defines that kind of love. The third kind of word is eros. And that is a romantic kind of love. It's love, right? It's not just love, it's love, right? You know what I'm saying, it's a different kind of love. It's just a husband loves a wife, a wife loves a husband, it's a romantic kind of love. And the fourth word for love is agape. And agape is the highest form of love in the entire Bible. It's a sacrificial love that's both selfless and unconditional. That's the kind of love that Jesus has for us. That's also the kind of love that Jesus calls us to demonstrate to other people in our life, even those who persecute us. He says, love them like that. You know, I heard a story about a woman who had some chickens, and one day her chickens broke out of the pen. And they started running all over the yard,

and a couple of those approached the neighbor's yard and his fence. Well, the problem is the neighbor wasn't a nice guy. The lady who owned the chickens, she was a great lady. She loved the Lord, she was a church-going lady. She shared her faith, she prayed for people, and she'd been praying for her neighbor for a long time. Because this guy, he didn't love the Lord, he was outspoken, he was agnostic, he wanted nothing to do with the Lord or the church. In fact, he even said, he said, I don't like this lady. I hate this lady that I live next to. He hated her, when she talked to him, he hated her church, he hated her Jesus, he hated her Bible, and he hated her chickens. Well, long story short, that day when the chickens got out, one of those chickens crossed over the fence into the neighbor's yard. And knowing what you know about this neighbor, it shouldn't surprise you, he finally grabbed that chicken by the neck. He wrung the neck of that chicken, and then he proceeded to throw that chicken over the fence back into her yard. Well, it just so happens that she saw the whole thing happen. She was in her backyard when it happened. In fact, that chicken landed right at her feet. And so she's thinking, how do I respond to this? I mean, that was uncalled for.

The chicken's now at her feet, and she decided, you know what, I'm going to his house. And later that night, that's exactly what she did. She walked over to his, on his property, she knocked on his door, and when he opened that door, that lady was holding a big bowl of her famous chicken and dumplings. And in that moment, she extended the bowl to the man, and she said, sir, you know, it's occurred to me today that in all my years of living next to you, I've never come over here and given you a home-cooked meal. She said, today seemed like the perfect opportunity to cook for you my famous chicken and dumplings. And so I wanted to bring this to you, and I hope you'll enjoy it. Well, in that moment, the man's heart was softened, he opened the door, he invited her in, and at the dinner table that day, that lady led that man to Jesus. You're like, man, how can something so good come from something so bad? Here's what Jesus said in verse 43. You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Hey, get this today. Kingdom love doesn't wait. For others to be kind first Kingdom love doesn't wait for them

Listen, if we're gonna love like Jesus, we must love those who disagree with us We must love those who mistreat us. We must love those who betray us and yes even persecute us But what does it look like to pray for a person that's persecuting you? What does that look like? You know, it's just a change of perspective Let me give you some just practical action steps that you could take in praying for those who persecute you number one Ask God to bless them and not to curse them. Now. Some of us have probably prayed the opposite prayer We're like Lord. Just take them out. Take them now All right, strike them down get them out of my hair and just eliminate them right now We've probably prayed those prayers. Maybe you haven't I have okay, we're this is confession for the soul But this is a great way to pray for those who persecute you ask God God bless those people don't curse them But bless them the second one seek their good not their downfall. It's kind of the same thing It's changing your perspective as you change your prayers You're saying Lord I pray good things for them not bad things for them And the third thing is also related to prayer and that is intercede for their transformation not their destruction Once again Lord, I'm not saying to destroy them right now I'm saying transform their heart and allow them to see what's happened Allow them to become the person you've created them to be you're praying for transformation not destruction Hey, let me tell you why it's so important that you and I pray for our enemies and pray for those who persecute us It's not just for them. It's for us Listen, those prayers have the ability to transform our hearts. Amen Hey, I realized a long time ago I can hate somebody and I can choose to hold a grudge against someone or I can choose to pray for that person and when I do that I'm choosing to be set free from the bondage of my own resentment and that's just the way that it works Hey try it out You cannot actively hate someone at the same time. You are actively praying for someone. It is a hard thing to do I've never been able to pull it off You can't actively hate someone at the same time. You are genuinely praying for God to bless that person But that's what God tells us to do. That's the love that he calls us to demonstrate In fact, Jesus not only tells us to do that. Jesus models that for us

You remember Jesus on the cross? You remember what Jesus prayed that day in Luke 23 34? He said father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing While being flogged while being beaten while being crucified on the cross Jesus chose to what to pray for those who persecuted him think about that and In the same way, he's challenging you and he's challenging me to the to do the exact same Your prayer may not change the other person immediately, but you know what it will do. It'll change you It'll change your heart and it'll prepare you for whatever it is that God has next Jesus says love without limits. He said pray for those who persecute you and the third thing he says is reflect the father reflect the father Verse 44, but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your father in heaven For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous Hey right there when Jesus says we must love our enemies so that We may be children of our father in heaven. I want to point something out real quick He's not saying that this is what gets you into the family of God He's not saying this is what makes you a child of God in that day. People would speak Differently than we speak today You know today we we use adjectives all the time. They rarely use adjectives like we use today For example, instead of saying this is a this man right here He is a peaceful man a Jew would say he is a son of peace Or looking at a lady over here. She is a kind woman. That's how we would say it today But a Jewish person would say she is a daughter of kindness you get the difference So right here the implied meaning of this message was when you love your enemies You are like your father you are father like That's what Jesus was saying when you love those who don't love you back and perhaps you love those who even hate you He's saying then you are like your father in heaven Now don't misunderstand what Jesus is saying here He's not saying you are like God in heaven because you love other people But flip that flip that on his head he's saying you love other people because you are like your father

in heaven. It's Christ that transforms our heart. And when we love Christ, the love of Christ comes out. You see, 1 John 4 says it this way, God is love and the one who remains in love remains in God and God remains in him. He is our source of love. And when you love God and you look to God to see how he loves other people, here's what you'll discover. God loves everybody. God loves everyone, not just the good people. God loves the good and the bad. In fact, in Psalm 145, verse 15, it says all eyes look to you and you give them their food at the proper time. Verse 16, you open your hand and satisfy the desire of who? Of every living thing. Think about that. He loves everyone, the good and the bad. It says God causes the sun to shine on the extremist in Iran, just like the sun shines on the Christian in America. He sends rain on the ISIS terrorist in the same way he sends rain to the Tennessee Christian. And the truth is God sent Jesus to die for them just like he sent Jesus to die for you. And he tells us in the same way God's love and grace falls on both the evil and the good,

our love and grace should do the exact same thing without discrimination. That's what Jesus was teaching that day. He was saying anything good that comes to anyone anywhere, it comes from the hand of Almighty God. In verse 46, he goes on to say, for if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don't even the Gentiles do the same? Here was the message that day. If you only love people who love you back, if you're only kind to people who are kind to you, Jesus said you're no better than a pagan unbeliever. You know, it's unfortunate, but even when we try very hard to be good to people and nice to people around us, there will always be people in this life who are mean to you. Have you experienced that to be true? There will always be people that say mean things, do mean things, they do things out of spite, they'll do things to hurt you intentionally and not. And the truth is we as believers are going to respond to those who hurt us. We're going to. And chances are really good that we're going to respond in one of four ways.

The first response says this, if they hurt me, I will hurt them even more. I'm going to call this vindictive vengeance, all right? This says, if you hurt me right here, I'm coming up on, I'm going to the top rope, I'm going to wear you out, right? You hurt me a little, I'm going to hurt you a lot. Vindictive vengeance. And sometimes that is the response of people. The second response says, if they hurt me, I'm going to hurt them exactly the same. This is the old eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth principle, right? It's what we're going to call retribution. If you do this to me, guess what? I'm doing the exact same thing to you. You slap me on the right cheek, I'm going to pop you on your right cheek. It's just eye for an eye, it's tooth for a tooth. And that is a response of people today. A third response says, if they hurt me, I'm just going to ignore them and have nothing to do with them. Otherwise called the silent treatment. Some of you are born with that spiritual gift, all right? The silent treatment. I'm going to call that hardened indifference. And we just say, guess what? You hurt me, I'm disappearing. I'm going to do my own thing.

I'm going to stay away from you. And that is a response of some people. But there's a fourth response that says, if they hurt me, I will love them and I will serve them. And that is a foreign response in this world today. But it's also the response that represents the love of Jesus. Hey, in this verse and in these verses, Jesus says, we as followers of Christ, we ought to love in a way that mirrors the character of God. When you look at our love and look at our response, people ought to point to that response and say, that looks like the character of God. It's a love that is impartial. It's a love that's unconditional. And it's a love that is radically different than anything else we experience in this life. You know, when Martin Luther King began his mission of standing up for civil rights, many people who were full of prejudice subjected him to some incredible injustices. His home was bombed. Did you know that? He was labeled a communist. For 13 years, every single day of his life, he lived under the idea of people who were racist. Killing him because he had constant death threats Martin Luther King was stabbed by a member of his own race. He was jailed more than 20 times and Yet he still kept his faith in Jesus. He still trusted the Lord You may not realize this but most of the sermons that Martin Luther King preached and wrote

he he wrote them while while sitting in a jail cell and Yet Martin Luther King was the one who said these words love is the only force Capable of transforming an enemy into a friend Now, I love that statement. I think there's a lot of power to that statement, but if I could I would add one simple word To what Martin Luther King said so many years ago. I would add the word supernatural Supernatural love and the reason I would add that is because natural love human love it doesn't have the capacity to transform a heart The love that's experienced in this world it really at the root of it It doesn't have the ability to transform a relationship the supernatural love does In other words, the only way you can truly love like Jesus is to be empowered by Jesus With a supernatural love that has the ability to transform That's the love Jesus is talking about. It's a love without limits He tells us as believers pray for those who persecute you and Represent the Father who saved you Let me give you one final thought today Jesus says and live your faith check this out live your faith You know Jesus sums up this radical teaching with a radical comment a radical statement one that really makes me pause He says in verse 48 to his followers. He said hey followers be perfect Be perfect Therefore as your heavenly Father is Perfect first time I read that I was like dude, no pressure, right? I mean think about that. Jesus is telling you be perfect When you do a little research you discover that that word perfect doesn't necessarily or literally mean perfect At first glance it almost appears like Jesus is calling us to the impossible, but he's really not in this passage He uses a word translated perfect. But in the Greek, it's the the word teleos literally means to be complete to be fully developed Or to be mature That's what that word means It's kind of like a diamond If you were to talk to a jeweler and ask the question, is there such thing as a perfect diamond? Every jeweler is gonna tell you sure there there's a perfect dirt. There are perfect diamonds out there

But you know what? There's no such thing as a flawless diamond Those in the jewelry business use that word perfect all the time to describe the clarity and the cut and the color But every single perfect diamond Still has imperfections Right here. Jesus isn't calling for sinless perfection but he is calling us to have a love that is complete a love that is fully developed a Love that is mature That's the love that we're called to a love that reflects the heart and the character of God the Father Now, I know some people are hearing this today and they're thinking man that kind of love is impossible But may I just tell you it's really not Listen, whatever God demands from us God delivers to us Which means today if you know him if he saved your soul and currently occupies your heart then the Bible says you my friend are a child of God and like your father You have that supernatural love within who you are If you know Jesus you can choose love over hate if you agree with that say amen If you know him you can choose it. You can choose love over hate. You can choose grace over revenge Amen, you can choose forgiveness over resentment. You can choose those things why because of him Not because you're so great. It's because your God is so great It's not because you have the willpower. No you have God's power That's what we read in Romans 5 God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has given to us Do you get this today? If you have the Holy Spirit, he pours that love into who you are And if you have the Holy Spirit you have everything you need as a kingdom man and a kingdom woman to demonstrate kingdom love It's only possible because of Christ You know many of you know the name Chris Leggett Chris was the young man who grew up in this church In fact while he was attending class at Cleveland State one day He went on a mission trip with our church to Guadalajara, Mexico Mexico and on that trip he felt like God was calling him into missions to be a missionary somewhere around the world

So in Guadalajara, Mexico as a young man, Chris Leggett, he surrendered to God's call He put his yes on the table and said God I'll go wherever you send me But for the rest of my life, I want to serve you. I want to serve your people I want to share Christ with other people. I want to make disciples I want to live my life for Jesus in a way that will literally reshape eternity So as he surrendered everything to Jesus He didn't realize this but but God would then call Chris to be a missionary In one of the most difficult places on planet Earth to live for Jesus Well fast forward to the story on June 23rd 2009 Chris was walking near the school that he ran in West Africa When out of nowhere, he was suddenly attacked On that day two Muslim extremists associated with Al-Qaeda They approached him and attempted to kidnap him and when he resisted they shot him multiple times killing Chris Leggett on the spot His assassination Was a shocking tragedy to this church It was a shocking tragedy to the city It was also a shocking tragedy to that West African community that he was serving as well You see at that point he had spent many years serving those people teaching them working with the children providing job training Caring for the poor he demonstrated the love of God through the fruits of the Spirit in his life in multitude of ways And yet that's exactly why he was targeted that day He was targeted and he was hunted down simply because of his faith in Jesus Christ Now you can't even imagine what that must be like for Chris Leggett's family I can't even begin to think what it must be like for a father or a mother to receive that news But this past week I had the privilege of sitting down with Chris's dad Jay Leggett

And just having that conversation almost an hour Just thinking about Chris's life his call his ministry and the tragedy that they experienced together You know, there was a point in our conversation where I just looked at Jay and I said Jay You know what in the flesh you guys had every right to be filled with rage In the flesh you had every right to demand revenge and to cry out for for justice You had every right to be filled with anger in your heart And he said you're right we could have taken that road But instead of taking that road We chose to take another road Once he was killed the family released a statement and this is what they said in a spirit of love We express our forgiveness For those who took away the life of our remarkable son In a moment where they could have said anything This is what they said They didn't excuse the crime. They didn't pretend it didn't hurt But they chose to love their enemies Instead of being consumed by hate As I heard that story I thought to myself, you know, what a great example for every single one of us today What a great example of what Jesus calls us to do in this text You see Jesus calls us to love in difficult ways. He said love when it's hard to love Love when it hurts Love when they don't deserve to be loved He's saying love like Jesus See that kind of love isn't natural that kind of love isn't even recognizable in this world most of the time And yet Jesus calls us as followers of Christ to a kingdom love that this world desperately needs to see You see kingdom love forgives the unforgivable kingdom love prays for people that are hard to pray for the kingdom love also transforms And kingdom love is what changes everything

so this week As you walk with the Lord as a disciple of Jesus I believe all of us have a choice to make We can love like the world We can love like Christ The question is who is God calling you to love differently today? And are you willing to put your faith in action? And to actually do something and respond in a way that puts a smile on the face of God today Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? I want you to think about the person that popped into your life for mine earlier, that person who right now you would say is an enemy, you're like, well, not my enemy, but I'm not necessarily buddy-buddy. No, don't excuse it, address it. Who is that person in your life? And how is God calling you to respond by faith in demonstrating this kind of love? Say, Lord, don't make me do it. That's a great indication that you're on the right track. Father, today, I pray that your word would be a seed in our heart and that it would grow as we follow you and trust you as a follower of Jesus Christ. Lord, you've called us to be salt. You have called us to be light. You've called us out of one culture and into a new culture. And God, today, you are challenging how we demonstrate love to those who are hard to love. And God, I just pray that you would give us courage, that you would give us the willingness to trust you in doing difficult things.

Lord, there are a lot of people on this planet that we could call enemies today, and yet, God, you've called us to demonstrate love in a supernatural way that is completely unnatural to us as humans. So, God, help us to look like you. Help us to love like you. Help us to demonstrate what it is to be changed by you and continue to transform our hearts as you grow us up. Lord, we love you. We're challenged by you. And I pray that we will have the faith to follow you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said, come on, amen and amen. At All In, we are committed to spreading the gospel across the globe. However, we also recognize the importance of addressing basic physical needs for those that we aim to reach. During my travels, I've witnessed firsthand the struggle that many people face in obtaining something that many of us take for granted, clean drinking water. In numerous communities overseas, clean water is very scarce. And that's why our ministry prioritizes providing clean drinking water to those who have the greatest needs. Last year, I led a team to Africa to commission a water well near Nairobi, Kenya. And let me just tell you, it was a joyous moment

to see the clean water flowing and to see the smiles on the faces of the people that live there. This year, All In partnered with our friend, Pastor Brian Mills from Together We Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. And he led a team to another community in Africa to commission our second water well as a part of this project. Brian shared how impactful it was to witness hope being spread among the people as they watched clean water flow from that well. And really to see this impoverished community, this forgotten community be remembered in the name of Jesus. I want you to know that our mission is to provide clean water to communities in Africa, and we're gonna continue doing that for years and years to come. The need is immense, and we are determined to continue providing pure water to as many poor communities as possible. Listen, once clean water is available, we can then take the gospel to those communities and share the living water that Jesus spoke of, ensuring that these communities will never thirst again. To keep building wells, we need your financial support. Your contribution to All In helps us fund mission projects and bring the good news of Jesus to a world that has so many needs. So please support us by following the steps

on the screen right now. Your generous giving, no matter the amount, is deeply appreciated. Thank you in advance for your support. Thank you for going on this journey with us. Together, we can make a significant impact for the kingdom of God. Hey, we never wanna end our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. If you'd like to make the decision to trust Jesus and wanna know more about what it looks like to follow Jesus, get in touch with me right now. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen so that we can pray for you and also put information in your hands right away. Today, we celebrate your decision and look forward to being a part of your personal journey of going All In with Jesus Christ. This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. We hope today's message encourages you as you strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ. All In. All In. All In. All In. All In.

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