Sunday December 29th Service_transcript.txt

[0.00 --> 8.62]  Well, good morning, everybody. It's good to see you here this morning, and it is good to be here.
[9.08 --> 14.06]  As Dave said earlier, you were sitting over there last time, you're going to throw me off, but as Dave said earlier,
[14.38 --> 20.32]  my name is Ed Gerber. I'm university chaplain at Trinity Western University. I'm also director of campus ministries there.
[21.00 --> 24.48]  And part of the reason I'm saying that again is because I was with the president last night,
[24.48 --> 30.66]  and I want to extend the greetings of Trinity to you. One of the things that we long for at Trinity
[30.66 --> 36.36]  is, and covet, is the prayers of the people of God in our local churches. So we seek to develop
[36.36 --> 42.64]  relationship with local churches, and we love it when you pray for us. As I said at the first service,
[42.80 --> 50.38]  there's 6,000 students at Trinity Western University, 50% of which are international students,
[50.38 --> 56.84]  many of which are hearing the gospel for the first time, and they are ripe to hear the gospel.
[57.02 --> 62.78]  They're coming to faith left, right, and center. So there's much work to be done, and much to be
[62.78 --> 67.58]  grateful for. So I covet your prayers. That's the first thing. Also, I just wanted to say it is an
[67.58 --> 73.30]  absolute tremendous honor to be able to bring the word to you this morning. Dave, thank you for the
[73.30 --> 81.32]  invitation. I'm glad to do it. As I was thinking about what to do, preachers will have this experience
[81.32 --> 87.06]  where you're studying a text and trying to prepare a sermon, and it's almost as though a message is
[87.06 --> 94.72]  given to you, and you receive it. And then it is a tremendous joy just to give it back. It's a message
[94.72 --> 100.26]  that is spoken to my heart, and it's my prayer that it will speak to your heart as well. In addition to
[100.26 --> 107.16]  that, I'm hoping that this message will do something of a bridging job from our time in Advent together,
[108.04 --> 116.12]  and particularly Dave's focus last week, and it will bridge us and send us well into 2025, as we have
[116.12 --> 122.48]  just a few more days left here in 2024. So in the grace of God, we'll travel that distance together.
[122.48 --> 130.64]  I invite you, if you have your Bibles, to turn to Luke chapter 22. We're going to look just at a
[130.64 --> 139.96]  short passage this morning from verse 54 through 62. So the context here is it's the passion of our
[139.96 --> 147.62]  Lord. Yes, we are moving straight from the incarnation, the celebration of the nativity, to the end of the
[147.62 --> 155.50]  gospel story. The apocalypse, John's revelation in chapter 12, will collapse. It's very fascinating.
[155.96 --> 161.10]  The woman is pregnant, she gives birth, and immediately it's the Christ child. It's actually
[161.10 --> 166.44]  the story of Christmas in Revelation 12. Immediately the child is snatched up to heaven and to God.
[167.00 --> 173.34]  It is incarnation, life of Christ, ascension in a single moment. Why? Because the birth of Christ is
[173.34 --> 178.72]  victory. And so it is appropriate, as we're moving through the stages here, to move right to the end of the
[178.72 --> 189.28]  gospel. So Jesus has been arrested, and then we come to this in our text for today. Beloved, listen to God's
[189.28 --> 189.50]  word.
[192.46 --> 200.10]  Then seizing him, Jesus, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a
[200.10 --> 205.80]  distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together,
[205.98 --> 211.62]  Peter sat down with them. The servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely
[211.62 --> 219.18]  at him and said, this man was with him. But he denied it. Woman, I don't know him, he said. A little
[219.18 --> 227.46]  later, someone else saw him and said, you also are one of them. Man, I am not, Peter replied. About an hour
[227.46 --> 236.64]  later, another asserted, certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean. Peter replied, man, I don't know
[236.64 --> 243.88]  what you're talking about. Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at
[243.88 --> 251.26]  Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me
[251.26 --> 258.80]  three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
[264.80 --> 273.82]  We've all experienced it. There are a few things like it. It can fill us with conviction or festoon us
[273.82 --> 282.20]  with shame and grief. It might even make us cry. I remember when my grandfather used to give it to us.
[282.88 --> 291.22]  Heavy eyebrows furled down, lines making creases in the side of his eyes. Receiving it was enough to
[291.22 --> 296.62]  assure us that we did not want to mess with him. I remember even better when my mother used to give
[296.62 --> 304.60]  it to us. Again, heavy eyebrows furling, one lifted slightly higher than the other, and sparks. I'm sure
[304.60 --> 309.86]  I saw sparks coming from those eyes at times. She occasionally gave it to us in a place just like
[309.86 --> 317.22]  this. At times, just like these, when we were sitting young and full of Dutch peppermints, buck teeth and
[317.22 --> 323.40]  bony knees shifting from cheek to cheek on wooden pews that I was convinced became stone as the preacher
[323.40 --> 328.94]  would go on and on. And when the long-awaited for amen didn't come quickly enough and we'd start
[328.94 --> 336.30]  fidgeting too much, we would get it. And we'd get it good. Yes, you know the it I'm talking about.
[336.92 --> 347.24]  The look. The formidable look. We've all experienced the look, haven't we? It's interesting to me that in
[347.24 --> 358.74]  our text for today, in verse 61, Luke makes special mention that Jesus turned and looked straight at
[358.74 --> 364.20]  Peter. For some reason or another, unlike any of the other gospel writers who don't mention anything
[364.20 --> 370.86]  of Jesus turning and looking at Peter at the moment of his betrayal, Luke wants us to pause
[370.86 --> 379.20]  and focus on Jesus' look for a moment. I don't know about you, but I imagine that this was one of
[379.20 --> 386.08]  the most piercing looks in the history of the world. If ever there was a reason for Jesus to give one of
[386.08 --> 394.10]  his disciples the look, it was now. If ever there was a reason for one of Jesus' disciples to weep and cry
[394.10 --> 402.52]  for having received a look, it was also now. The stage had been set. Only a little while earlier,
[402.66 --> 407.80]  while eating the last supper with his disciples in the upper room, Jesus had warned Peter that Satan
[407.80 --> 415.60]  desired to sift him as wheat to ruin his faith. Peter, in response, tried to live up to his name.
[416.64 --> 424.00]  He was going to be a rock. He confessed that while everyone else might be blown around like waves on
[424.00 --> 431.30]  the sea, he was going to be sturdy and strong. He was going to be resolutely dedicated to his Lord,
[431.38 --> 437.52]  to this one who had taken him from casting his net in the sea for fish and brought him to an
[437.52 --> 446.06]  infinitely more meaningful life fishing for men. Lord, he said, I am willing to go with you to prison
[446.06 --> 456.64]  and to death. But Jesus knew Peter. He knew his heart. He knew his weakness. He also knew the future.
[459.26 --> 465.28]  Before the rooster crows today, Peter, you will deny three times that you know me.
[467.22 --> 471.88]  We don't know what Peter may have said in response to Jesus' words. Luke doesn't spell it out for us.
[471.88 --> 479.04]  No, he allows Peter's actions to tell us instead. When the soldiers come up the mountain to arrest
[479.04 --> 483.80]  Jesus, we are told that one of the disciples pulls out his sword like John Wayne pulls out guns and
[483.80 --> 490.40]  starts swinging it around, lopping off a soldier's ear. And who might this passionately protective and
[490.40 --> 496.40]  daring soul be? Luke leaves it to the delight of our imagination, but the author of the Gospel of John
[496.40 --> 502.92]  tells us, it's Peter. When the soldiers get a hold of Jesus and begin leading him off down the Mount
[502.92 --> 510.48]  of Olives, we are told that all of the disciples run away and abandon the Lord, except one, one brave
[510.48 --> 518.86]  disciple patters intrepidly behind. And who is this fearless friend? Again, it's Peter. Peter does not run.
[518.86 --> 526.42]  Peter does not hide. No, as we are told at the beginning of our text for today, in verse 54, Peter
[526.42 --> 533.58]  follows behind right into the city and right into the courtyard where he will be able to see Jesus
[533.58 --> 544.68]  and consider it where Jesus will be able to see him, to see his faithfulness, to see indeed just how strong
[544.68 --> 551.76]  and resolute and how much a rock he is. But this is where the heat gets too hot for dear Peter.
[552.72 --> 558.78]  The rock begins to crumble and crack like clay in the desert sun. This is where Jesus' words to Peter
[558.78 --> 564.18]  and the other sleeping disciples on the Mount of Olives only moments earlier become dreadfully true
[564.18 --> 572.20]  for Peter. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Peter's spirit wants to be near his Lord,
[572.20 --> 578.68]  and so he is near his Lord. Nearer though than his flesh can handle and his character can hold.
[579.60 --> 583.28]  For just as Jesus is undergoing an interrogation from the high priest,
[583.94 --> 590.44]  so now will Peter undergo an interrogation of his own. It is a struggle for Peter of titanic
[590.44 --> 596.72]  proportion and significance. If ever there was a reason for him not to fail, it is now.
[596.72 --> 603.36]  Well, to betray a friend is bad enough. To betray a friend in their hour of greatest trial
[603.36 --> 611.46]  is as bad as it gets. Peter is about to lose his illusions about his own strength and his own
[611.46 --> 615.80]  character and beloved of God if we're willing to put ourselves in his shoes for a moment.
[616.56 --> 622.18]  We might be lucky enough in the providence of God to lose a few more of ours as well.
[622.18 --> 629.20]  Having situated himself by the fire in order to remain inconspicuous, unseen, and unnoticed,
[629.26 --> 634.80]  it turns out that Peter has seated himself a little too close to the flames. Enough light from
[634.80 --> 640.80]  the fire is thrown onto his face so that a servant girl sees perhaps the familiar shape of his jaw,
[640.96 --> 647.30]  the color of his hair, the color of his eyes. Quite convinced, she points at Peter and says to the
[647.30 --> 654.82]  other seated around the fire, this fellow was with him. We can imagine Peter's heart beginning to race,
[654.92 --> 660.02]  his ears getting hot, his knees trembling and twitching, and the first denying words bursting
[660.02 --> 667.62]  up through his throat and out of his mouth like a great big unswallowable hiccup. Woman, I don't know him.
[667.62 --> 674.18]  But this one denial won't do. Suspicions are aroused and others begin frisking Peter with
[674.18 --> 682.06]  inspector's eyes. And after a while of awkwardness and perhaps silent condemnation, Peter is faced with
[682.06 --> 688.00]  the second challenge. Yes, yes, you also are one of them. Peter hiccups again with a little more force
[688.00 --> 696.98]  and a lot more exasperation to make his words believable. Man, I am not. The text tells us
[696.98 --> 706.26]  that Peter sits there for a whole hour before he is faced with his third challenge. And I don't know
[706.26 --> 711.78]  about you, but I really wonder what Peter thought next as he sat there. Don't you think? It must have
[711.78 --> 718.40]  been excruciating for him to sit there, knowing that he's betrayed his Lord two times, knowing the
[718.40 --> 725.00]  prediction of his Lord that he's going to do it a third time, and wanting to back off, to go away,
[725.00 --> 732.46]  so as to not deny the Lord that third time. But then on the other hand, wanting to live into his
[732.46 --> 737.78]  name, to be that rock, to be resolutely dedicated to his Lord, to confess his relationship to Jesus.
[737.90 --> 744.22]  Yeah, you're right. I know him. I was with him. And then face whatever it came, whether it meant to
[744.22 --> 750.64]  rest, degradation, or death. But when the third challenge does come, with heightened conviction
[750.64 --> 757.88]  and proof on the part of those looking at Peter, Peter comes to the lowest of low points in his life.
[758.54 --> 763.86]  He buckles and breaks. He bends like a toothpick between a farmer's frustrated teeth. His best
[763.86 --> 769.10]  efforts aren't good enough, and he denies knowing the one who knows him better than he knows himself,
[769.10 --> 775.14]  and has loved him with a love that he could never have imagined before. The words must have occurred to
[775.14 --> 782.34]  Peter like vomit in his own mouth, but he cannot stop himself. Man, I don't know him.
[784.42 --> 787.18]  And this is where the text gets piercing. We read these words.
[788.14 --> 799.34]  Just then, the rooster crowed. Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter. Peter went outside and wept bitterly.
[799.34 --> 807.10]  Lyndon Baines Johnson, former president of the United States of America, is said by his biographer,
[807.10 --> 813.32]  Robert Caro, to have been a consummate reader of people. He would read people so as to figure out
[813.32 --> 818.56]  what motivated them, figure out what made them tick, so that he could manipulate them and foist himself
[818.56 --> 824.76]  up the political ladder, which he did with incredible skill all the way into the presidency
[824.76 --> 829.72]  of the United States. When he would teach his underlings or staffers how to read people,
[829.72 --> 832.92]  he would say something like this. He'd say, don't pay attention to their family history,
[832.92 --> 836.40]  don't get into their genealogy, don't try to read their psychology,
[836.40 --> 841.08]  don't read their body language, definitely, definitely, don't listen to what they say,
[841.14 --> 851.68]  but do this one thing. Look into their eyes. Read their eyes. For the eyes are the pathway to the soul.
[851.68 --> 864.88]  I wonder, what if Lyndon Baines Johnson were there the day when Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter?
[866.32 --> 873.62]  What would Johnson have seen in Jesus' eyes? What would he have read? What did Peter see?
[876.24 --> 881.34]  Well, people of God, what if Peter didn't see what he and all of us sitting here would have expected him
[881.34 --> 892.62]  to see? What if he didn't get the look? What if he didn't see anger or malice or self-pity and grief
[892.62 --> 900.28]  or the astonishment that a friend could do such a thing? But what if he saw love? Yes, what if he saw
[900.28 --> 907.98]  love in Jesus' eyes? Love as steady as mountain and sturdy as rock? What if the only hint of grief that
[907.98 --> 914.78]  Peter could detect in Jesus' eyes was a perfect sorrow? Not a sorrow that Jesus had for himself,
[915.60 --> 921.30]  but that he had for Peter? He who so desperately wanted to be faithful, so desperately wanted to
[921.30 --> 925.40]  be strong, so desperately didn't want to fall down in his face again and again and again,
[926.30 --> 933.48]  but whom, despite himself, did exactly that which he didn't want to do? What if he saw love in Jesus'
[933.48 --> 943.74]  eyes? What would that do to a guy? How would that feel? Well, I believe that might just cut a betrayer's
[943.74 --> 950.60]  heart in two. That might just be the greatest and the most painful look you could ever receive,
[951.00 --> 959.54]  a fatal blow and a bright new birth. Jesus' enormous generosity, exposing your own immense poverty,
[959.54 --> 966.14]  his strength to love and your cowardice, his light and no more doubt about your own darkness.
[967.20 --> 975.12]  The unlovable swept up in perfection's love. That might just be, a look like that might just cause
[975.12 --> 982.06]  a brokenness that renews. Instigate repentance tears that heal.
[982.06 --> 989.82]  It might just be a moment where Good Friday and Easter happen in a single sudden glance.
[991.50 --> 995.02]  I ask you, what would a look like that do to you?
[997.18 --> 1002.72]  Dear friends, don't you think it's possible, an altogether characteristic of our Lord,
[1002.72 --> 1010.82]  that what caught Peter's heart in half, what made Peter's heart weep with a repentance more sour
[1010.82 --> 1017.40]  than an ocean of spoiled wine and is meant to do the same thing to ours? Is that the God,
[1018.44 --> 1025.02]  the creator whom we have withheld from our lips no less than three times, even though we owe our
[1025.02 --> 1032.62]  lives to this man, he does not look at us with eyes torn wide open by surprise, nor with the glazed
[1032.62 --> 1036.68]  and benumbed look of a friend who lets you know that you've just snapped the last straw, nor with the
[1036.68 --> 1041.30]  red fireballs of a jilted lover who wants to scream, I told you so, I knew you'd do this.
[1042.58 --> 1051.24]  But whom instead looks at us with the soft and sanguine half-moon eyes of one whose greatest
[1051.24 --> 1057.66]  concern at the moment they are betrayed is to let the betrayer know that they are still loved as fiercely
[1057.66 --> 1068.10]  as ever. Whoa. One whose greatest concern at the moment that they are betrayed is to let the betrayer
[1068.10 --> 1078.48]  know that they are still loved as fiercely as ever. People of God, I bring the word to you this morning.
[1078.48 --> 1083.50]  I bring the simple gospel message, the message of good news.
[1085.66 --> 1092.76]  It is a good note to end a year and it is a good note to start a year. It can utterly and completely
[1092.76 --> 1100.88]  transform the motivational substructure of the heart, why we do what we do. Consider it. The good news is
[1100.88 --> 1107.70]  that God in the wideness of his mercy has chosen to look upon us in love. Even though the rooster crows for
[1107.70 --> 1114.60]  us all, none withstanding, the good news is that the God of this universe is not like the gods of the
[1114.60 --> 1120.80]  Greek pantheon who look upon people like us, who trip over our own feet, who fail ourselves, who fail
[1120.80 --> 1127.82]  each other, who fail him, and zap us with lightning bolts to satisfy their own disdain and self-pity.
[1128.94 --> 1135.06]  No, the good news, the greatest news is that God looks down at us from the cross that we put him on,
[1135.06 --> 1141.96]  but that he made a throne just like he looked at Peter and he says those impossible words that change
[1141.96 --> 1150.14]  everything, that in fact usher in a new creation for us according to scripture. Resurrection now,
[1150.94 --> 1158.88]  the words, you remember them, Father forgive them. They know not what they do. Father forgive.
[1158.88 --> 1165.98]  They know not what they do. This changes everything. Do you believe that it changes everything?
[1166.88 --> 1171.68]  Well, rest assured that it does. Yes, forgiveness changes everything because the old sages were right.
[1172.28 --> 1176.58]  The best way to defeat an enemy is not to fight them and kill them, but to forgive them
[1176.58 --> 1183.38]  and make them your friend. Forgiveness changes everything because the ancient proverb is right.
[1183.38 --> 1191.26]  the noblest vengeance is to forgive. Forgiveness changes everything because Mark Twain was right.
[1192.26 --> 1198.54]  Forgiveness is the fragrance, the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
[1200.44 --> 1208.06]  I want to say that one again. Forgiveness is the fragrance, the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
[1208.06 --> 1214.94]  And then forgiveness changes everything because lastly Martin Luther King Jr. was dead right.
[1215.94 --> 1222.24]  Returning hate for hate multiplies hate. Adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
[1223.22 --> 1230.74]  Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.
[1230.74 --> 1241.30]  Hate multiplies hate. Violence multiplies violence. And toughness multiplies toughness in the descending spiral of destruction.
[1242.12 --> 1248.94]  It is only the second chances that forgiveness offers that will change this world and bring peace that will last.
[1248.94 --> 1259.82]  On a New Year's Day in 1929 the University of California played Georgia Tech in the most important football game of the year, the Orange Bowl.
[1260.62 --> 1267.54]  During the first half, the University of California, one of the players for the University of California named Roy Reggles recovered a fumble.
[1268.54 --> 1276.36]  And much like I would do, became confused about direction and started running toward the opposing end zone.
[1276.36 --> 1281.84]  He was tackled by one of his own players just yards before scoring for the opposing team.
[1283.62 --> 1291.12]  The University of California tried to punt the ball but Georgia Tech blocked it and then they scored a safety which became a winning margin in this game.
[1291.90 --> 1296.68]  During halftime all of the players, University of California, filed into the room.
[1296.80 --> 1300.76]  They sat down and were extremely quiet. The air was sucked right out of them.
[1300.76 --> 1306.42]  Roy Reggles for himself was feeling pretty sorry for himself, like a complete flop and failure that he was.
[1306.48 --> 1313.28]  And he goes and sits in the corner and throws a towel over his head, crumples into a little ball and starts whimpering and blubbering.
[1314.36 --> 1318.78]  Three minutes before playing time, Coach Price, the coach of the team, stands up and he says,
[1319.16 --> 1322.64]  Men, the same line that started the first half starts the second.
[1323.78 --> 1328.54]  Dutifully, they stand up, start filing out into the field, except for Roy Reggles.
[1328.54 --> 1333.14]  Roy stays exactly where he was, doesn't move an inch, doesn't budge.
[1333.82 --> 1336.02]  Roy, Coach said, didn't you hear me?
[1337.32 --> 1339.12]  Get up, go on back.
[1339.98 --> 1343.54]  Coach, I couldn't go out there to face that crowd to save my life.
[1345.20 --> 1348.24]  Coach walks over to him, puts his hand on his shoulder and says,
[1348.60 --> 1349.72]  Get up, Roy.
[1350.28 --> 1351.84]  Get up and go on back.
[1352.54 --> 1355.20]  The game is only half over.
[1355.20 --> 1363.90]  Tech men to this day will tell you that they have never seen a man play football like they saw Roy Reggles play that second half.
[1364.70 --> 1366.62]  Oh, to be looked at in love.
[1367.38 --> 1369.16]  Oh, to be given a second chance.
[1369.60 --> 1374.30]  Oh, to receive the forgiveness that the God of this universe offers us.
[1374.44 --> 1376.52]  It is a transforming love.
[1376.52 --> 1382.94]  Dear friends, if you know, like I do, that you've blown it at the game of life,
[1383.02 --> 1388.50]  that you're more inclined to fumble than make touchdowns, run in the wrong direction, and play for the wrong team,
[1388.70 --> 1391.62]  you have come to the right place this morning.
[1392.84 --> 1399.20]  The Church of Jesus Christ is not for self-assured superhumans who think they've got it all figured out and mastered.
[1399.20 --> 1406.38]  It's for those of us whose hearts break because we know that we've slapped the God who looks at us in love right in the face.
[1407.12 --> 1408.58]  We've besmirched his glory.
[1409.40 --> 1411.60]  We've begrimed his magnificent creation.
[1412.26 --> 1414.18]  And we have wounded the ones he loves.
[1415.18 --> 1415.82]  Each other.
[1417.12 --> 1417.68]  Ourselves.
[1418.46 --> 1419.30]  His creation.
[1420.24 --> 1423.50]  And supremely his one and only son, Jesus.
[1423.50 --> 1423.70]  Jesus.
[1424.74 --> 1431.46]  The Church of Jesus Christ is for those who go back day after day after day to the foot of the cross,
[1431.76 --> 1435.48]  and they receive again those impossible words that change everything.
[1436.56 --> 1439.62]  And then, having received the forgiveness given to us,
[1440.50 --> 1448.60]  we are called to go by God to become the fragrance the violet has shed on the heels that have crushed us.
[1448.60 --> 1453.52]  How would 2025 look differently?
[1455.40 --> 1457.78]  If you took it to look on other people in love,
[1458.36 --> 1462.52]  not only to forgive them, which is the thrust of our text today,
[1462.62 --> 1466.66]  but also simply to do them some good.
[1467.84 --> 1470.24]  What if this whole room full of people this morning
[1470.24 --> 1473.80]  would seek to look at others in love,
[1474.50 --> 1476.38]  as we have been looked at in love?
[1476.38 --> 1479.60]  Not only are we transformed,
[1480.40 --> 1482.18]  but inch by inch, measure by measure,
[1483.02 --> 1484.70]  this is how it works.
[1485.70 --> 1488.18]  This is how the patient ferment of the gospel,
[1488.44 --> 1490.34]  as the book Dave had once suggested to me,
[1490.94 --> 1493.60]  works itself out into the world as our hearts are changed,
[1494.12 --> 1495.74]  and then we show love and others are changed.
[1495.86 --> 1497.66]  So may God give us the strength to do this
[1497.66 --> 1499.48]  in his mercy and his grace.
[1499.58 --> 1500.36]  Let me pray for us.
[1500.36 --> 1503.58]  Dear Lord God,
[1503.78 --> 1506.94]  it is truly unfathomable
[1506.94 --> 1510.00]  that you would look at us in love.
[1511.02 --> 1512.76]  So often when we are hurt,
[1512.88 --> 1513.94]  we want to hurt back.
[1516.32 --> 1518.56]  Lord, I pray not that we
[1518.56 --> 1521.62]  don't hold others responsible for their actions,
[1521.86 --> 1523.12]  not that we pretend that
[1523.12 --> 1525.64]  things others have done to us don't hurt,
[1526.34 --> 1527.34]  that it wasn't wrong.
[1527.34 --> 1529.70]  This is a betrayal of the truth about forgiveness.
[1530.66 --> 1531.64]  But I pray, Lord,
[1531.74 --> 1532.82]  that we would seek
[1532.82 --> 1535.30]  the restoration of other people,
[1535.40 --> 1537.34]  even as you have sought our restoration.
[1538.50 --> 1541.24]  Change the motivational substructure of our heart
[1541.24 --> 1544.84]  so that we may be motivated by your love,
[1545.24 --> 1547.00]  not by duty so much,
[1547.08 --> 1549.08]  but by the privilege of joining you
[1549.08 --> 1552.36]  in your restoration project for this world.
[1552.36 --> 1555.26]  Thank you for your great love to us, Lord.
[1555.64 --> 1557.38]  I ask that you would make it real to us.
[1559.52 --> 1560.76]  Pray this in Jesus' name.