In The Presence of My Enemies | Sunday, September 14, 2025

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Anthony. Good morning, everybody. You can have a seat. It is so good to see you all this morning and to be back with you. Last Sunday, Pastor Garrett taught for me while I was near Pensacola, Florida. My friend Neil Spencer pastors a church just outside of Pensacola, and I was there sharing through the Scriptures. It was a real blessing, but man, is it humid there! It is a blessing to live in San Diego, California. Even when it's hot here, it still cools down at night. Praise the Lord! We are blessed to live in paradise.

I took my son to the barber yesterday to get him a haircut, and they kept eyeing me while I was in there. Someone asked me the other day, "Pastor Miles, are you trying to look like Jesus?" I replied, "Well, there are worse people you could look like." Although I am a bit older than Jesus was at the time of His crucifixion, He certainly looked a lot better than I do. So, praise the Lord.

When your work involves writing a lot, you spend a significant amount of time reading, writing, and putting messages together, whether here or at other places. Sometimes, as you sit down to write, you find that your mind is distracted by everything going on in your life or in the world. It can be almost impossible to get anything down on paper. I have a rhythm that I follow, and I usually sit down on Fridays to finalize my message. However, when I sat down this past Friday, I found myself in one of those circumstances where it was very hard to focus.

You don't even have to pay much attention to the corporate news media or social media to understand why my mind was distracted last Friday. This week marked the 24th anniversary of 9/11, but that memorial of one of the most horrific events in our nation was overshadowed by another event that occurred less than 24 hours prior. This new event will likely be listed among the most horrific in our nation's history. Regardless of your political views or team affiliations, what happened on Wednesday is deeply troubling, and it should be. I had a conversation...

I was speaking with someone after the first service, and she expressed that this is just horrible and terrible. I responded, "That's exactly your response. That ought to be the case." At the most basic level, we already know that a 31-year-old husband and father of two young children was savagely assassinated on Wednesday before a crowd of more than 3,000 people. Many of them had devices with high-definition video cameras running, and the video was broadcast to billions on social media within seconds.

At the time, I was in my office in a meeting, and I had my phone on do not disturb. I had another meeting scheduled to follow the one I was in, and it seemed like my next meeting was late. When I looked at my phone, it was filled with tons of messages. One of them was from the gentleman I was supposed to meet, and he said he was running late. He also mentioned that he thought Charlie Kirk had been assassinated. It was shocking—truly shocking.

I also received a text from my 16-year-old son during that time, which simply said, "Did you see the video?" I thought, "Oh gosh, I wish that he did not see the video." However, he and most of the people at his school saw it within seconds. There are moments in our lives that become so deeply etched in our minds that we remember exactly where we were when they happened. I think that for many people, this will be one of those events.

Of course, for most of us in this room, one of those events was definitely what happened 24 years ago on 9/11. I'm sure all of you remember exactly where you were when you got the news about what was happening that Tuesday morning. I was not old enough to know or be a part of what happened to Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, or John F. Kennedy before that. Some of you were, and you know exactly where you were when those events took place.

It seems rare that such deeply etched memories in our minds are associated with good things. Perhaps for some of you, the moon landing in July of 1969 would be one of those events, but it is pretty rare for it to be something positive. As we go through the Scriptures here on a Sunday, it is my desire not to just jump from passage to passage or text to text topically, especially not directed by events happening in the culture. However, there are events that occur which feel like they need to be addressed in some way.

Typically, I try to figure out, okay, Lord, is there something in the text we're in? Last Sunday, after our series this summer through the Nicene Creed, we returned to the Gospel of Luke. I genuinely believe that God wants to speak to us through the Gospel of Luke this year. We had stopped going through Luke when we started Luke chapter 5 at the beginning of the summer. Pastor Garrett restarted in Luke chapter 5 last week and covered a couple of great sections in the chapter.

So, we have this text that we are supposed to be in here this morning. My prayer was, "God, I believe that you providentially have us in this passage for such a time as this. Help me to see what it is in this passage that you would like us to look at and consider." As I went through the text for myself, I sensed that God has a message for me, but I think it's not just a message for me; it's for us as a church, and I believe it's for the larger church as well. It is a message that we need to hear.

This message is connected to the idea of a deep memory etched in our minds, seared there in such a way that we can't shake it. We remember exactly where we were at the time that the events of the Gospel happened, somewhere around 29 AD, nearly 2,000 years ago. This was less than a hundred years after a major event that became one of those searing memory events for the people of Israel. It happened in 63 BC.

In 63 BC, the great Roman statesman and general Pompey the Great led his legions from Rome into the land of Israel, into Canaan, into Judea. He had been doing battle in Syria to quell an insurrection against the Roman Empire. Then, a conflict arose in Judea, prompting him to take his Roman legions into the region. This ultimately led to him laying siege to the city of Jerusalem in 63 BC, resulting in the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. Israel was now under Roman occupation, and this was less than a hundred years prior to Jesus's ministry.

I think it's not far off to say that there were probably some people, though they were old, who were still alive in Jesus's day after that event. There were certainly people whose parents had lived through that, and they knew very clearly the impact it had on their lives.

Stories about what happened and how things changed after the Romans took control of the land reveal the extreme hatred, animosity, and antipathy toward Rome among the people of Israel during Christ's day. This context helps us understand the deep longing among the children of Israel in the first century for the coming of the Messiah. They were looking for the one whom the prophets of old foretold, the one who would come to bring liberty to the people and establish a kingdom above all kingdoms.

The people were yearning for an anointed Messiah who would cast off the shackles of Rome. This was their daily prayer during Jesus's time. They longed for independence from the oppression and occupation of Rome, regularly praying for the Messiah and constantly on the lookout, thinking, "Maybe it's him. Maybe it's him." Then, all of a sudden, this man shows up on the scene, seemingly ticking all the boxes, creating great anticipation among the people.

However, nearly a century after Rome's conquest, the people of Israel had learned to tolerate the occupation. Even though they despised it, they had adapted to living under the thumb of Rome. They had learned to coexist with Roman soldiers in their land, homes, and communities day in and day out. There were rules imposed on the people; for instance, if a Roman soldier asked you to carry his goods, you were required by Roman law to carry them for at least a mile from one marker to the next.

While they hated this oppression, they had learned to live under it. Some had not only learned to endure it but had also found ways to profit from it. Among the children of Israel, one of the most notable groups profiting from Roman oppression was the Herodians. When Pompey took over the land of Canaan, Rome installed an Idumean king named Herod, and his family continued the Herodian dynasty until the time of Christ and beyond. Herod and his family served as vassals or puppets of the Roman Caesar.

There was a political ruling body that was well connected to Herod and the Herodian dynasty. They were called the Herodians, and they lived mostly in Jerusalem, the capital of the nation of Israel at that time. The people of Israel did not like these Herodians, who were politicians of their own people but had Roman favor. They made money off of Roman taxes and enjoyed protection from the Roman military. To the common people in Israel in the first century, the Herodians were despised as compromisers. They were seen as Jews in name only.

In addition to the Herodians, there was another group you may have heard of if you have ever read through the Gospels. They were called the Sadducees. If the Herodians represented the political power of the Jews in Jerusalem connected to Rome, then the Sadducees represented the priestly power also connected to Rome. They were associated with the temple and the religious ruling body in the city of Jerusalem known as the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees had political power and authority, but they were also part of the aristocracy and the educated elite of Jerusalem, connected to the instruction of the Scriptures from the temple.

In the first-century Jewish world, there was no such thing as separation of church and state or religion and state. In fact, that concept is relatively new; it is a very American and Protestant Baptist idea. The separation of church and state grew out of our own history here, making it a foreign concept in most of the rest of the world. The Sadducees were very closely aligned with Herod and the Herodians. They received monetary wealth and protection from the Romans, and they were looked down upon by the common people. In turn, they looked down upon the common people because they were the scholars, the lawyers, and held positions of authority within the religious ruling body.

In the United States, we have three equal branches of government. However, in Jerusalem and Israel in the first century, there were not equal branches of government, but rather three levels of government. There was the Roman governor, who had power and authority over the rule of that area. Under the Roman governor was the puppet king Herod and the Herodian dynasty, along with their group of politicians, the Herodians. Beneath them was the Sanhedrin, the religious ruling body.

The Sadducees had the greatest power and authority because of their money and control within the Sanhedrin at the time. Underneath the Sadducees, there was a third group known as the Herodians. Both the Herodians and the Sadducees were centered in Jerusalem and did not venture far from the city or the surrounding region of Judea. Most of the population lived in the northern part of the nation, around the Sea of Galilee, or in the very fertile area known as the Jezreel Valley.

Among the common people, there was another group that had learned how to profit and thrive under Roman oppression. They were called the publicans. The publicans were wealthy individuals who lived among the people. While the Sadducees and the Herodians were in Jerusalem, at least a three-day journey from Galilee, the publicans were present in the everyday lives of the normal Jews.

Publicans tended to be affluent members of their communities who had the resources to bid when the Roman government sought tax collectors. The Roman government did not send their own officials into occupied territories to collect taxes; instead, they contracted with local individuals to receive the taxes. If you were a wealthy person, you could bid with the Roman government to be one of those tax collectors. You would pay a set agreed-upon amount in advance to the Roman government, based on the population size and other factors, and then you would go and collect taxes from the people.

Of course, to make a profit, you would upsell the taxes a little, adding a surcharge. This is how tax collectors made their money. If you think tax collectors are not well-liked in 2025, consider that in the time of Jesus, publicans among the children of Israel were despised. They were considered traitors for turning on their own people. There is an old joke about publicans: they are different from Republicans. Publicans take your taxes, while Republicans give them back, but that is a totally different matter. These individuals were extracting taxes on behalf of their oppressors.

Occupiers, their neighbors, their family members, and their friends looked at them as traitors. They considered them corrupt. Many of these individuals were wealthy before they became publicans, before they became tax collectors. However, they increased in wealth as tax collectors. People would look at them in their nice clothing and their nice homes and despise them, thinking, "You're living that way because you've taken from us." Thus, they were considered corrupt and regarded as unclean. They were identified with sinners.

There is a great example of this later on in the Gospel of Luke. Someday we will get there; it's in Luke 18. It might take six years, but we will get there. In this passage, Jesus tells a story about a religious man, a Pharisee, and a tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. The religious Pharisee, when he prayed, said, "I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men. I'm not like extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or that tax collector over there." They equated tax collectors with unjust extortioners and adulterers. They hated the tax collectors.

The majority of the population in Israel was not pro-Roman. They hated Rome and despised those who aligned with Caesar in their nation. There was a populist movement in first-century Israel, which was most closely aligned with the worldview of the religious group called the Pharisees. If you've read through the Gospels, you've heard of the Sadducees, which we just talked about a moment ago, and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were more closely aligned with the average people; they were the moderates and conservatives. They believed not just in the Pentateuch, the law of Moses, but also in the traditions of their forefathers, their founding fathers, and their patriarchs, and they held to those things. Most of the people were aligned with them.

Now, further right of the Pharisees among the common people was another group called the Essenes. I think every generation has its separatists. The Essenes were the separatists who decided to leave everybody else and flee out into the desert. They lived near the Dead Sea in a place called Qumran. If you've ever heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, they are associated with this group.

The ones who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls were the Essenes. They separated themselves from all the other people because they were apocalypticists. They were looking forward to the apocalypse and planned to hide out until it cleansed everybody else. Then, they would have things the way they wanted. These are the people that moved to Idaho, just so you know. They are the Essenes.

Further right of the Essenes were the Zealots. Among the Zealots was a group called the Sicarii. Sicarii comes from the root word that means "the daggers," referring to the daggermen. They were the assassins who would go and kill those connected to Rome. They were the rabble-rousers of the time.

These groups made up the nation of Israel, along with the common people who did not like Roman occupation. Unlike the Herodians, the Sadducees, or the publicans, who profited from it, these common people deeply desired and prayed for the coming of a Messiah. They were looking for someone who would liberate them, get rid of Roman oppression and occupation, and restore things back to the way they were—make Israel great again. They were always on the lookout for a Messiah.

Now, this guy shows up, and he seems like a perfect candidate for the Messiah. The people of Galilee were hopeful. They were not fond of the wealthy, educated elite of Judea; they were looking for a populist Messiah who aligned with their worldview. This man had been going around preaching, and not just preaching, but doing so in a way that disrupted the religious elite. He was saying things that challenged them, and they liked him.

On top of that, he began to heal the sick and cast demons out of those who were oppressed. The people were amazed by him. But, and there's always a "but," then Jesus had to go and do this.

If you would open your Bibles to Luke 5, verse 27. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one, or you can look at the screen. It's on the screen. Luke 5:27 says, "After these things, he, Jesus, went out and saw a tax collector, a publican named Levi sitting at the tax."

In the office, Jesus said to him, "Follow me." The publican left everything, rose up, and followed Him. Oh man, why did you have to go and do that? We really liked you. You can be certain the public opinion polls dipped after this one. He called a tax collector to follow Him.

Earlier in Luke chapter 5, before we left the Gospel of Luke at the beginning of the summer, we saw when Jesus called a group of fishermen—four of them: Andrew, Peter, James, and John. This took place in the town of Capernaum, located on the northwest tip of the Sea of Galilee. He called Andrew, Peter, James, and John, saying the same words that He now says to Levi the tax collector: "Follow me." I guarantee there were people in Capernaum, although it was not a huge town, who were not happy with this. They believed He should have called people who were more elite, powerful, and well-spoken, but instead, He called the tradesmen. That was mark number one. If He were the Messiah, would He really call fishermen to be with Him?

After that, Pastor Garrett taught on this last week, if you were here. Jesus was approached by a leper in Capernaum. Lepers had an illness that was terminal. For the people of Israel at that time, and for many others in various places around the world, we are often tempted to think like this as well. A person with such an infirmity was not just seen as sick; they were thought to be suffering because of sin. Something they did must have caused this. This is a very deep way of seeing the world. Even Jesus's closest followers thought this way.

In John chapter 9, there is a man who was born blind, and Jesus was asked by His followers, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" You see, there is that thought. People would look at the leper with this terminal illness and think he must have done something bad, or else this wouldn't have happened to him. This is the same thinking that Job's friends had. If you read the Old Testament book of Job, it is clear that they believed Job wouldn't be suffering if he were a good man. We've all been confronted with this kind of thinking before.

This leper, this sinful, sick man, came to Jesus. Garrett touched on this last week. Jesus touched him. In their view,

If you touched someone in this position, their illness, their sickness—not just their physical sickness, but their spiritual illness and sickness—it would defile you. How dare this guy? First, he calls these tradesmen, and now he touches a leper. Of course, when he touched him, he healed him; he no longer had leprosy. But even still, in the minds of the people, that is shocking.

Pastor Garrett also hit on another great story, also in the city of Capernaum. A man was brought to Jesus who was paralyzed. The people would have associated the infirmity that the man had with sin. Clearly, whatever you did caused this condition. And what did Jesus do when this man was brought to him? He not only healed him, but he also said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Outside of the temple structure, outside of sacrifice, he required nothing of him at a cost. That is not the way this is supposed to go. Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Those things were unprecedented; they were outside the norm.

But why on earth would you call a publican, the most despised and hated person in Capernaum? Why would you call this guy to follow you? At every single step in the story, Jesus seems to push a little bit further outside of the lines. First, he touches an untouchable, and then he forgives like only God can, without requiring any cost or sacrifice from him. Now, he invites a traitor to be his disciple. Touching a leper was scandalous. Forgiving the paralytic was outside the norm, maybe even a little bit outrageous. Calling Levi was unthinkable. He wasn't just sick; he wasn't just unclean. He was a collaborator, a traitor, a sinner—the kind of person that zealots, the Sakari, would assassinate. Yet Jesus looked at him and said, "Follow me."

One of the key things you recognize about Jesus, as we explore our series in the Gospel of Luke, which we've been calling "Meet Jesus," is that it is important to see him as he is revealed. How is he revealed? Just like this. Point number one: Jesus approaches the reproached and includes the excluded. I think that's really good news for us because maybe you were the reproached or the excluded, and you're the kind of person that...

He reaches out to and includes. But the story gets worse. I mean, he didn't just call Levi the publican, the tax collector, to follow him. Look at verse 29, Luke 5:29. Then Levi gave Jesus a great feast in his own house, and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with him. Their scribes and Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

I love this. This Levi the tax collector is referred to in other places in the Gospels as Matthew the tax collector. His name is the same or different, but the individual is the same. Matthew the tax collector is the one we believe is the author later of the Gospel of Matthew.

What is so great is that later in the Gospel, we're going to be introduced to some of Jesus's other disciples, men like Bartholomew and Thomas. We're also going to be introduced to one called Simon the Zealot. Grasp this: he had Levi the publican and Simon the Zealot. The collaborator and traitor who received the taxes and gave them to Rome was on his team, and the guy who was part of the group that would assassinate those tax collectors was also part of Jesus's team. That's amazing. I mean, that's big.

You might know this: years ago, on the Supreme Court, a woman named Ruth Bader Ginsburg had her best friend on the court, Antonin Scalia. They could not have been further from each other ideologically speaking, and yet they were best friends. It's such an amazing thing here in this band that Jesus puts together. These followers that he calls include Levi, the tax collector, and later he calls Simon the Zealot. Under normal circumstances, these individuals would have hated one another, yet Jesus calls them to be his followers. He reaches out to the outcasts and includes the excluded. And now he's partying with a publican. He's in the home of this tax collector.

Enjoying a great feast, there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with Him. Jesus's group consisted of the people He interacted with, the people He spent time seeking to reach: publicans, zealots, tradesmen, lepers, and sinners. Never forget this point.

Number two, Jesus befriends and blesses the untouchables and unforgivables, and He calls the unthinkables. Of course, when He does this, what is the response from the religious people? The scribes, who were the recorders of the Scriptures, and the Pharisees, who not only sought to keep the law of Moses but also adhered to the traditions of their forefathers, were not pleased. They wanted to follow the founding fathers, if you will.

These religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, complained against His disciples. I think this is interesting; they didn't complain against Jesus. Somehow, it was apparent to them that He would not listen to their complaint, so they directed their grievances to Jesus's followers. At this point, we know there are five of them: Peter, Andrew, James, John, and now Levi. They approached at least Peter, Andrew, James, and John and asked, "Are you eating with sinners?"

The Pharisees, the religious leaders who governed the synagogue in Capernaum, posed this question to Jesus's followers. You can visit the ruins of the synagogue in Capernaum; it's an amazing place. The implication of their question is very clear. They were implying to Peter, Andrew, James, and John that their standing in the community had been pretty good up to that point.

Their family business, as fishermen, had established a good name in the community. Zebedee was their father, right? James, John, Andrew, and Peter had been fishermen in this community for a long time, and their family had a good standing in the synagogue. The implication of the Pharisees' question was a warning: "You better watch out what you do."

What were they saying? They were suggesting that they could be expelled from the synagogue. In that day, being expelled from the synagogue was akin to social assassination. It was like being canceled in the first century. You couldn't find work; you were outside of the social structure. Everything happened in the synagogue. This was the threat made to the parents of...

The man who was born blind in John chapter 9 is interrogated about Jesus. He is warned, "You better watch what you do, or you will not be allowed to come to the synagogue." This would mean expulsion from social life in that day. I'm sure you've never been tempted to fear what others might think about your association with Jesus.

Don't miss this: point number three. Jesus calls His disciples and dines with the despised. That is the way of Christ. That is the example of Jesus. And here's the hard part: that is the expectation of Jesus for His followers. If we're honest, I think we all recognize a temptation within us to hide our association with Jesus and His people. Even Peter will be tempted to do that later. Much later, after he has been with Jesus for years, in the book of Acts, he is going to be tempted to separate himself from people who are not Jewish and say, "I can't eat with you." Paul is going to confront him. In the book of Galatians, Paul says, "I withstood him to his face, for he was to be blamed."

Oh, I like Paul. But we are tempted to do just like the scribes and the Pharisees, the self-righteous, looking down our noses at other people who are not quite as good as us: the despised, the unforgivable, the untouchable, the excluded reprobates of the culture. We will have nothing to do with them. If you don't walk the line, you will have nothing to do with us. We will cancel you. We will destroy your business. We will dox you and find you to destroy you.

The way of Christ is different. The example of Jesus is different. The expectation of Jesus is different. They were tempted to hate the publicans, the Jews in name only, the educated, the elite, the ones who cozied up with the establishment, with the secularized, paganized spirit of Rome. They are the ones who don't faithfully uphold the values, traditions, and principles of our patriarchs. We don't like them. They don't look like us. They don't talk like us. They don't smell like us.

They don't vote like us. We're tempted to be afraid that they might gain and maintain power. We're angered and enraged that they're half-hearted in their commitment to our ideals. We're tempted to hate what they stand for and maybe even tempted to do our best to get them if they do something wrong. That's not just the spirit of many people in the first-century world; that can sometimes be the temptation of our own spirit when we see people do wicked things or rejoice in wickedness. We might think, "I'm going to figure out where you work and what your business is, and I can take you out."

Even though the religious leaders seem to address their question to Jesus's followers, Jesus answered the question of the scribes and the Pharisees. In verse 31, Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." This is so key. In verse 32, He states, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Point number four: Jesus associates with outcasts because His is a mission of rescue, redemption, and restoration. This is one of Jesus's explicit purpose statements. I always point these out when we see them in the Gospels because they're so important. Some of you are in positions of business or within organizations where it's your job to determine the purpose, the mission, and the vision of your organization. You have to clearly define what your purpose is.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus clearly defines His purpose. He says, "I have come to seek and to save that which is lost. I have come to give my life a ransom for many. I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly." And here He says, "I have come to call sinners to repentance." It's explicit; you couldn't get any clearer. Why did Jesus come? He came to call sinners to repentance. Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I need a reminder. Sometimes my vision of this gets a little blurry.

What his vision is and I need to be refocused.

Listen, this last week, we were reminded of what hatred can do. Twenty-four years ago, this last Thursday, many of us were reminded of the impact of hatred. My youngest son came home Thursday and said, "We had to listen to the audio recordings from Flight 93. Have you heard those, Dad?" I replied, "Yeah, I've heard those." I was in New York City within ten days after 9/11. I have a film capsule with the dust from the buildings. I was there with the Red Cross and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I smelled what it was like in the southern part of Manhattan.

We are reminded of what hatred can do. Hatred led to the death of 2,977 Americans. Whether it was the thousands who were killed by hatred on 9/11 or the one who was killed by hatred four days ago, hatred brings division. It brings destruction, devastation, and death. More than a few times over the last 96 hours, I found myself brought back to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, which we will be studying a portion of, because Luke chapter 6 is Luke's recording of that sermon.

In Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, "But I say to you, love your enemies." Man, that's hard. He continues, "Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you." I wrestle with that because, in me, you know what I want for my enemies? Let me tell you, you don't want to know what I want for my enemies. But guess what? It's probably the same thing you want for your enemies.

Point number five: the way of Christ challenges me to live and love differently. I find it interesting that the organization that Charlie Kirk started decades ago was called Turning Point. I don't think he knew or could have imagined at the time when he called it Turning Point what it might come to mean, but I think...

We find ourselves at a turning point right now. I hope that we're not at a tipping point toward more and greater violence, but we are certainly at a crossroads as a country. We've been here before, and we very likely will be here again, but we are indeed at a crossroads at this moment.

I hope you don't mind if I'm very candid with you for a moment. I didn't follow Charlie Kirk's work very closely for two reasons. First, when he started to become popular from 2016 to 2019, I was concerned by what seemed to be a kind of strong Christian nationalism that makes me uncomfortable. I don't think it fits with the teaching of Christ. The rhetoric I would hear seemed to be about 75% strong politics and very little gospel, which raised my concerns.

Bigger than that is a very close friendship I had for more than 25 years with another pastor, which fell apart about four years ago due to his very close friendship with Charlie Kirk. My friend's name is Rob. Charlie has said dozens of times, "Rob McCoy is my pastor. Rob McCoy is my friend." Rob and I have been friends since 1999, and we were very close. In fact, he is the one who paid for me to move to Germany when I went there to teach years ago. He paid for my plane ticket, and I've stayed at his house. I know his kids and his wife, Michelle. His son, Michael, is Charlie Kirk's chief of staff.

Our friendship, Rob and I, was strained, shall I say, and I had concerns. However, I will say this: since Rob began to be Charlie's friend, there has been a turning point. In the last three years, his message has become more gospel-centered, and he has become more popular as his message has become more gospel. I think that's key for us to recognize; it's important.

In America today, we are at a crossroads, a turning point. My prayer is that we go in a direction toward more gospel, because that's the only answer. The gospel is the power of God unto...

Salvation is that which transforms individuals and nations. However, there is a real danger that we could go in a different direction. I am convinced that this will be a turning point unto great moves, perhaps even on the level of a revival for the gospel, if we lead with the gospel and the Scriptures and do not err in believing that politics and politicians will heal us. They will not.

Let me ask you a question. I think I know the answer, but do you want to see a change in your nation? Do you want to see the spirit of Rome or the spirit of Babylon fall? First, let me say it will take longer than you think. The conditions and problems of our time did not come into being in a day. It will take much longer than a week, a month, or a presidential term to fix them.

Second, it will not come by violent uprising. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, but my kingdom is not of this world." Israel did not overcome Rome by the work of the zealots, the Essenes, the Pharisees, the scribes, or the Sanhedrin. They were all unsuccessful in their bid to unseat Rome. However, the church took 300 years. With no violent uprising, no battle, and no army, the church overcame Rome and transformed the world as we know it. The western world today is the product of the gospel of Jesus Christ transforming the world—the most radical transformation we have ever seen.

So, it will not happen quickly, and it will not happen by violent uprising. Third, it will require you to meet those whom you despise and hate and welcome them to your table. Psalm 23 says, "He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies." I will say that is basically what Charlie Kirk has done over the last several years.

He prepared a table before them, His enemies. If you bring the Gospel to that, you will see people redeemed, restored, and transformed.

Among the many social media videos I saw this last week, and you probably did too, was one from a young woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. It was very clear by her appearance and her tone that she has a different lifestyle than I do. As she shared her video, she said, "I wasn't raised in religion, and I've always been fearful of people who are religious. But a week ago, I talked with a coworker and said, 'I feel like I might need religion.'" After she saw Charlie Kirk's death, she said, "I'm starting to think maybe I should go to church."

Would to God that we would receive such people with open arms and say, "Why don't you come to my table?" Because you know what they are desperately looking for? Forgiveness, grace, and openness. They are isolated, far from God, strangers, and foreigners. Christ Jesus is the one who breaks down the middle wall of separation and makes us one, bringing transforming grace.

He approached the reproached. He included the excluded. He befriends and blesses the untouchables, the unforgivables, and those who are the unthinkables—the ones we wouldn't want to think about. He calls and disciples, dines with the despised, and associates with outcasts because His mission is one of rescue, redemption, and restoration. That challenges me to live and love differently.

I'll tell you, God is doing something in this moment. In fact, the last great move of God that we can see, and myologists—those who study missions—and revivalists, who study revival, will tell you that the last great move of God in our nation was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It began in Southern California and has come to be known as the Jesus Movement. You can see Greg Laurie's movie, The Jesus Revolution, which centers around that time.

Some of the triggering events of that movement were the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. It happened among youth—many of you who are not youth anymore—who needed someone to welcome them in.

And accept them. One of the people who welcomed them in and accepted them was Chuck Smith. None of that means that sin is overlooked and repentance is discounted, but it does mean that we must welcome outcasts and invite them in—not just into the church, not just into this place, but into our lives and into our homes.

Many of the people who are lost in our culture feel like outsiders. They feel like untouchables. They feel overlooked. They feel as though something happened to them that no one understands, and they feel like if something happened to them now, no one would even know or care. These are the people who are easily seduced by evil-mindedness that brings hatred for themselves and for others.

Let me tell you something. When you see a young person who has put all these piercings in their face and sometimes tattoos on their face, along with all kinds of crazy things going on, a lot of times that's an indication that they deeply do not like themselves. They are in pain and are very easily seduced into genocidal thinking, or at the very least, suicidal thinking. They need forgiving grace and they need kind compassion. Where are they going to find it? The only place that offers hope of finding that is in Christ.

Now, Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 4, and he said, "Be angry." I like that one. "And do not sin." It is actually translated better in the New International Version, which says, "In your anger do not sin." There is a recognition there that we should be angry. God is angry with the wicked. God is angry with evil. You should be angry when you see explicit evil, like what happened 24 years ago or like what happened on Wednesday. You should be angry by that. You should be angry when you see people gleeful and rejoicing over evil.

However, the impulse to find those people and destroy their lives and their work is the impulse of your flesh.

The devil is not the impulse of Christ. It says, "Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil." What does God call you and me to do? Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

I think that's probably the first verse we ever taught our kids, isn't it? Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. We still tell our kids that when they're not being kind to one another, which our kids are always kind to one another every single day because they're pastor's kids. They never do anything unkind to one another, except maybe 27 times before 9:00 a.m.

The culture that breeds violence is an angry culture. You cannot give in to that impulse of your flesh. That's the part that Jesus says needs to be crucified. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. That's what Jesus says in Luke chapter nine. If anyone desires to be my disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

The works of the flesh are evident: hatred, contentions, outbursts of wrath, and murder. As I have told you in times past, I tell you again, those who practice such things, Paul says in Galatians 5:21, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, we should be angry for the right reasons, and we should respond in the right way.

What is the right response? This may seem too small for you, but the right response is first prayer and then the proclamation of the good news of the gospel. That is the right response. Let me tell you, I want to free you up here. Imprecatory prayer is biblical. What is that? Imprecation is the calling down of a curse. It is not a bad thing to pray, "God, would you bring your just wrath upon this wickedness?" It recognizes His sovereign authority in vengeance and acknowledges that I am not to take vengeance upon myself.

It's your place and not mine. The right response is bold gospel action on our part. That is the only hope for a world that produces the events of 9/10 and 9/11: the gospel. God help us.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Lord, I pray that you would give us your grace. You've already given us your grace in abundance. You've given us what we do not deserve in the form of your love, your blessing, your adoption, your redemption, and your restoration— all these things.

God, would you stir us to be conduits of your grace to others? Lord, help us not to look down our noses at people because they look bad, smell bad, or don't vote the way that I vote, or whatever it may be. Help us to see them as the very people that you want to reach with your love and your grace, and maybe you would use us to do that.

God, compel us by your love to be ambassadors for your kingdom in a world that is in such desperate need of your grace. For we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."