Full Transcript for Truth’s Table Preaches: “Freedom From Manipulation” by Christina Edmondson

it costs $20 just to wink up in the morning. 02:12.774 --> 02:22.680 [SPEAKER_01]: But in the mid-90s, if your mom gave you a $20 bill in the morning to hang out with your friends, you were like, oh! 02:23.280 --> 02:25.541 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a good time, okay? 02:25.661 --> 02:28.461 [SPEAKER_01]: And she said, hey, Christina, let's hang out downtown. 02:28.481 --> 02:33.662 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, for sure, we could already taste the Boston Cream donuts. 02:34.102 --> 02:36.383 [SPEAKER_01]: We could taste the fried fish sandwiches. 02:36.863 --> 02:41.984 [SPEAKER_01]: We could taste the good time that we were going to have in downtown Baltimore. 02:42.364 --> 02:46.805 [SPEAKER_01]: And listen, she had that $20 bill from a mom who worked very hard. 02:47.585 --> 02:52.707 [SPEAKER_01]: That was a sacrifice for her mom to give her that $20 bill. 02:52.987 --> 02:57.709 [SPEAKER_01]: But she had noticed that she was doing good in school and she was being a great big sister. 02:58.069 --> 03:01.591 [SPEAKER_01]: And she said, before you go this morning, I want to put this in your hands. 03:03.431 --> 03:04.152 [SPEAKER_01]: So there it was. 03:05.012 --> 03:07.053 [SPEAKER_01]: Me and my good buddy from East Baltimore. 03:08.051 --> 03:11.752 [SPEAKER_01]: on the subway train with that fresh $20 bill in her pocket. 03:12.512 --> 03:14.653 [SPEAKER_01]: And we noticed some commotion at the back of the train. 03:14.973 --> 03:21.155 [SPEAKER_01]: And in the back of the train, there were a group of mainly men laughing and having what looked like a great time. 03:21.535 --> 03:26.517 [SPEAKER_01]: And one of them had sitting on his lap a piece of cardboard almost made like a desk. 03:27.373 --> 03:30.575 [SPEAKER_01]: On top of it, he had three cards, folded like tents. 03:31.336 --> 03:32.917 [SPEAKER_01]: And he was playing a little game. 03:33.377 --> 03:34.658 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you've seen this before. 03:34.718 --> 03:38.100 [SPEAKER_01]: It was called, which card has the marble under it? 03:39.021 --> 03:40.262 [SPEAKER_01]: And he was moving fast. 03:40.842 --> 03:43.724 [SPEAKER_01]: And then there's a guy that was like, hey, I want to play this game. 03:44.165 --> 03:45.446 [SPEAKER_01]: And he puts out his money. 03:45.506 --> 03:49.088 [SPEAKER_01]: And the guy says, well, if you can find the marble, I'll double your money. 03:49.969 --> 03:51.790 [SPEAKER_01]: This seems like a very reasonable game. 03:53.891 --> 03:54.452 [SPEAKER_01]: It was not. 03:56.485 --> 03:57.767 [SPEAKER_01]: And the guy gives the money. 03:58.047 --> 04:01.132 [SPEAKER_01]: He starts looking at those cards moving around really fast. 04:01.452 --> 04:03.535 [SPEAKER_01]: He is convincing those where the marble is. 04:03.555 --> 04:06.580 [SPEAKER_01]: And he goes that one right there to the right. 04:07.401 --> 04:12.689 [SPEAKER_01]: The guy lifts up the card and goes, you got me man, here double your money. 04:13.607 --> 04:15.267 [SPEAKER_01]: At this point, they look over at us. 04:15.908 --> 04:18.168 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we look naive. 04:18.848 --> 04:21.369 [SPEAKER_01]: And my buddy's got her hand in her pocket. 04:21.409 --> 04:24.070 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he knows she got something in her pocket. 04:24.470 --> 04:25.710 [SPEAKER_01]: And she doesn't have a dollar. 04:26.050 --> 04:27.351 [SPEAKER_01]: She doesn't have $5. 04:27.391 --> 04:30.432 [SPEAKER_01]: She's got that $1, $20 bill. 04:30.692 --> 04:33.132 [SPEAKER_01]: And he says, hey you, what about you? 04:33.152 --> 04:34.933 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey you, smart girls. 04:35.753 --> 04:49.117 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on over here, and the next thing I know, my friend's body is moving towards this cardboard desk, and she lifts out her hand out of the pocket and he says, look, you see how easy it was for him? 04:51.057 --> 04:52.538 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you're no different. 04:53.138 --> 04:54.298 [SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you give it a try? 04:54.338 --> 04:57.079 [SPEAKER_01]: You can double your money if you play. 04:58.040 --> 04:59.180 [SPEAKER_01]: And the next thing I know, 05:00.718 --> 05:06.722 [SPEAKER_01]: us incredibly contented fired up girls with that $20 bill decided to risk it all. 05:07.462 --> 05:13.386 [SPEAKER_01]: She hands over the $20 bill, he takes it and the card start moving, moving, moving, moving. 05:13.446 --> 05:16.728 [SPEAKER_01]: She is tracking with her young eyes and he stops. 05:17.488 --> 05:19.509 [SPEAKER_01]: He says, okay, pick the card. 05:21.271 --> 05:21.671 [SPEAKER_01]: That one. 05:22.311 --> 05:22.731 [SPEAKER_01]: I know it. 05:23.312 --> 05:24.452 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the one in the middle. 05:24.693 --> 05:25.193 [SPEAKER_01]: I've seen it. 05:25.493 --> 05:26.674 [SPEAKER_01]: It's gotta be the one in the middle. 05:27.474 --> 05:28.515 [SPEAKER_01]: He lifts the card over. 05:29.049 --> 05:30.570 [SPEAKER_01]: And you know where the story is gonna go. 05:31.651 --> 05:32.452 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no marble. 05:33.653 --> 05:34.293 [SPEAKER_01]: Money's gone. 05:34.954 --> 05:35.554 [SPEAKER_01]: Not doubled. 05:36.235 --> 05:38.656 [SPEAKER_01]: Started with 20 and it was nothing. 05:40.438 --> 05:43.540 [SPEAKER_01]: Now listen, I was largely silent most of this. 05:43.620 --> 05:44.501 [SPEAKER_01]: I was in shock. 05:44.561 --> 05:46.022 [SPEAKER_01]: It was happening so fast. 05:46.362 --> 05:50.586 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm definitely a slightly different person down than I was then in the mid-90s. 05:52.327 --> 05:54.709 [SPEAKER_01]: Person I am now, but like girl, don't you put that money out there? 05:56.417 --> 05:57.658 [SPEAKER_01]: We have plans for that money, okay? 05:57.758 --> 05:58.699 [SPEAKER_01]: Put that money back in your pocket. 05:58.719 --> 05:59.860 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't even show them as you have money. 06:00.340 --> 06:01.741 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a different person now. 06:01.761 --> 06:07.465 [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe because a story is like that,

they tend to shape you when people try to con you in your life. 06:08.206 --> 06:11.408 [SPEAKER_01]: It shapes you to be a person that can spot a con. 06:13.010 --> 06:13.230 [SPEAKER_01]: So, 06:14.625 --> 06:26.476 [SPEAKER_01]: The real deal, though, is with all that fast moving in those cars and no marble being found and ending up with zero instead of double your money, we learned that day over time that we had got played. 06:27.357 --> 06:28.338 [SPEAKER_01]: We had got conned. 06:29.059 --> 06:37.467 [SPEAKER_01]: And even before my friend has stepped up to play when she saw that other guy play and when it was probably because he was already in on it. 06:39.516 --> 06:40.757 [SPEAKER_01]: She thought I can do this. 06:41.478 --> 06:42.498 [SPEAKER_01]: I can make it happen. 06:43.119 --> 06:46.061 [SPEAKER_01]: But that winner was almost certainly a part of the act. 06:46.962 --> 06:49.744 [SPEAKER_01]: Helping to convince her, you can win too. 06:50.825 --> 06:57.149 [SPEAKER_01]: He was the bait, a signal stage for her, built to make a trap look like an opportunity. 06:58.971 --> 07:00.332 [SPEAKER_01]: The game was never a game. 07:01.232 --> 07:04.295 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a performance, and we got played. 07:05.523 --> 07:08.564 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm still sorry to this day about my friends $20 bill y'all. 07:08.684 --> 07:09.925 [SPEAKER_01]: I got big feelings about it. 07:10.165 --> 07:12.206 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I'll be healed by the end of this sermon. 07:13.426 --> 07:15.287 [SPEAKER_01]: But that is how manipulation works. 07:15.327 --> 07:18.529 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you've ever been conned, maybe you understand how this feels. 07:19.569 --> 07:20.309 [SPEAKER_01]: You haven't been conned? 07:22.450 --> 07:23.491 [SPEAKER_01]: Ever conned, somebody? 07:24.891 --> 07:25.932 [SPEAKER_01]: Have you been the con? 07:27.092 --> 07:27.973 [SPEAKER_01]: Answer in your heart. 07:31.500 --> 07:35.183 [SPEAKER_01]: Psychologists Kevin Dutton studies con artist. 07:35.903 --> 07:47.971 [SPEAKER_01]: And I started looking into his work about a decade plus ago, especially when we're looking at dynamics of anti-racism, and how people can begin to believe things that look like, I mean, obvious lies to some people. 07:49.432 --> 07:54.496 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Dutton's work studies con artist and what he calls super persuaders. 07:55.627 --> 07:58.329 [SPEAKER_01]: Super persuaders, and our world has many of them. 07:59.009 --> 08:00.930 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, there are many super persuaders. 08:00.950 --> 08:01.931 [SPEAKER_01]: They're quite popular. 08:02.551 --> 08:08.034 [SPEAKER_01]: And he found that the most powerful persuasion shares five ingredients. 08:08.954 --> 08:15.198 [SPEAKER_01]: And you might want to know this, because people of God, I'm going to make the case to you that you are very easy targets to be conned. 08:19.980 --> 08:27.202 [SPEAKER_01]: And the world relies on your capacity to discern and to not manipulate others or to be manipulated. 08:28.142 --> 08:29.782 [SPEAKER_01]: So we got to wake up this morning. 08:31.242 --> 08:38.804 [SPEAKER_01]: He calls this spice, SP-I-C-E, and that super persuasion involves these ingredients. 08:38.844 --> 08:43.404 [SPEAKER_01]: It involves simplicity and incredibly simplistic message. 08:48.475 --> 09:02.439 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we don't like to do a lot of work and con artists bake on our laziness, our inability to reprimary sources, our too much intimidation to ask the direct question, oh, and they bank on that, and they catch us. 09:04.000 --> 09:07.861 [SPEAKER_01]: Ask this for simplicity that P is for perceived self-interest. 09:08.774 --> 09:11.035 [SPEAKER_01]: You'll get something out of it, right? 09:11.655 --> 09:17.497 [SPEAKER_01]: Simplicity find the marble, self-interest, it'll double your money, and then a little incongruity. 09:17.517 --> 09:20.838 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a little confusion, strategic confusion. 09:21.539 --> 09:27.181 [SPEAKER_01]: Causes us to seek out an easy and fast answer, because we don't want to do the work when we're overwhelmed. 09:28.361 --> 09:33.323 [SPEAKER_01]: Cars were sliding so fast, and then confidence is that other letter in space C. 09:34.492 --> 09:36.614 [SPEAKER_01]: a winner who makes it look real easy. 09:37.354 --> 09:39.936 [SPEAKER_01]: And the people seem so self-assured. 09:40.197 --> 09:45.080 [SPEAKER_01]: This is why we tend to fall for politicians, not based on their credentials, but on their cockiness. 09:47.282 --> 09:53.927 [SPEAKER_01]: Because while arrogance should be a red flag for some of us, it makes the person a more palatable candidate. 09:53.947 --> 09:54.748 [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't that interesting? 09:57.243 --> 09:59.844 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the last letter is E for empathy. 10:00.685 --> 10:05.107 [SPEAKER_01]: It seems like it's in my best interest, like it would be a good thing. 10:05.127 --> 10:07.988 [SPEAKER_01]: Or just a friendly game on the subway. 10:09.108 --> 10:10.089 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the recipe. 10:11.049 --> 10:14.371 [SPEAKER_01]: That is the recipe for super persuasion. 10:14.891 --> 10:22.354 [SPEAKER_01]: The $20 bill seemed like more than enough before the proposition to double it was on the table. 10:22.374 --> 10:23.035 [SPEAKER_01]: In that interest, 10:24.210 --> 10:29.512 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why that P in Spice is what I want the people of God to lean into this morning. 10:30.212 --> 10:36.095 [SPEAKER_01]: That P for perceived self-self, self-interest. 10:36.815 --> 10:37.935 [SPEAKER_01]: What am I going to get out of this? 10:38.756 --> 10:39.996 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's how people get us. 10:40.717 --> 10:44.698 [SPEAKER_01]: That perceived self-interest, $20 was more than enough. 10:44.978 --> 10:49.280 [SPEAKER_01]: But the thought of doubling it, oh my goodness, this is the game for me. 10:52.911 --> 10:56.673 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul says to us that Godliness with contentment is great gain. 10:58.254 -->

11:09.240 [SPEAKER_01]: Godliness with contentment is great gain, and that He warns us that those who are set on getting rich fall into temptation in a snare. 11:10.421 --> 11:16.244 [SPEAKER_01]: Con artists don't create our weak spots typically, but they can easily find them. 11:17.845 --> 11:21.866 [SPEAKER_01]: Our insecurities, our idols, our lust. 11:22.506 --> 11:36.390 [SPEAKER_01]: They are obvious to the common and women of this world, but a contented heart, a secure heart, well, that leaves them less to manipulate, doesn't it? 11:38.290 --> 11:45.692 [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus saw this coming and gave us wisdom for how to live our lives so that we're not cons or we don't get cons. 11:47.417 --> 11:50.799 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's one of the oldest stories in the world. 11:51.679 --> 11:55.461 [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus calls the devil a liar and the father of lies. 11:56.182 --> 12:00.244 [SPEAKER_01]: And his first con, the devil, happens in the garden. 12:01.484 --> 12:02.425 [SPEAKER_01]: He picked his marks. 12:04.066 --> 12:07.208 [SPEAKER_01]: He made the wrong choice look like a real easy choice. 12:07.888 --> 12:09.669 [SPEAKER_01]: All you gotta do is bite that fruit. 12:10.669 --> 12:11.730 [SPEAKER_01]: That's all you gotta do. 12:16.257 --> 12:22.038 [SPEAKER_01]: You'll be like God, and if you can be like God, you don't have to listen to God. 12:22.098 --> 12:25.579 [SPEAKER_01]: You're your own God, and you can do whatever you want. 12:26.199 --> 12:27.799 [SPEAKER_01]: Talk about appeal to self-interest. 12:29.140 --> 12:43.002 [SPEAKER_01]: He used facts without the truth, and con artists are very good at using a bunch of facts, throwing some stats without any consideration of validity or reliability, the methodology, 12:46.645 --> 12:51.371 [SPEAKER_01]: but they can throw some facts at you so that they don't give you the truth. 12:52.212 --> 12:56.318 [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't that interesting, the difference between facts and truth? 12:56.878 --> 13:01.565 [SPEAKER_01]: Because truth is always on the side of righteousness and holiness. 13:02.085 --> 13:03.547 [SPEAKER_01]: Facts, maybe not. 13:06.142 --> 13:13.384 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the deal was done in the garden, and the surfing was nowhere to be found, because Con artist know how to get out of the way quickly. 13:14.184 --> 13:17.385 [SPEAKER_01]: And Adam and Eve were left hiding in shame. 13:18.165 --> 13:23.066 [SPEAKER_01]: And so when we dig into this text this morning y'all, I know how the brain works a little bit. 13:23.706 --> 13:26.567 [SPEAKER_01]: Our minds are probably thinking about particular people. 13:27.447 --> 13:39.697 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a fictional character, but my guess is that you might be thinking about people in your life, a politician that you don't like, a person maybe and your family who always seems to be a little slick. 13:40.898 --> 13:42.779 [SPEAKER_01]: Somebody might be coming to mind. 13:43.780 --> 13:46.182 [SPEAKER_01]: But this text is not about pointing fingers. 13:47.540 --> 13:57.443 [SPEAKER_01]: It's rather a warning to us so that we might have surgical work done on our hearts this morning and to point us to the healing and the healer that we need. 13:57.483 --> 14:00.744 [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want you to miss it by getting stuck on who you think it's about. 14:01.184 --> 14:02.825 [SPEAKER_01]: Consider that it might be about you. 14:05.266 --> 14:06.646 [SPEAKER_01]: Just so that you don't miss it. 14:07.066 --> 14:12.908 [SPEAKER_01]: Just so you don't miss preaching moments because I've heard a many assurments and I'm like, I feel like I know who that's about. 14:14.132 --> 14:15.393 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me give you this better advice. 14:15.493 --> 14:18.115 [SPEAKER_01]: Assume the sermon might be about you. 14:18.135 --> 14:19.176 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm not saying this about you. 14:20.417 --> 14:21.718 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't call you when they've lived it. 14:22.439 --> 14:24.700 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying just so you don't miss it. 14:25.381 --> 14:26.602 [SPEAKER_01]: Assume that it could be you. 14:29.393 --> 14:31.595 [SPEAKER_01]: Manipulation is a condition of the heart. 14:31.976 --> 14:43.088 [SPEAKER_01]: It happens when we stop trusting God with our circumstances, with our reputation, with our relationships, and we start trying to control outcomes ourselves. 14:43.828 --> 14:47.512 [SPEAKER_01]: And left untreated, the condition it done in well. 14:48.433 --> 14:51.254 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it ends disastrously according to this text. 14:51.294 --> 14:59.896 [SPEAKER_01]: So this morning we have to have us and see your prayer that the text would examine us by the power of the Spirit and that grace would free us. 15:01.136 --> 15:02.137 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's pray for it. 15:02.877 --> 15:03.937 [SPEAKER_01]: God would you help us. 15:04.517 --> 15:07.438 [SPEAKER_01]: Help us to not be manipulative people. 15:08.357 --> 15:11.639 [SPEAKER_01]: Help us that not be complicit with manipulators. 15:12.019 --> 15:15.801 [SPEAKER_01]: Help us not to be attracted to manipulative people. 15:16.382 --> 15:18.723 [SPEAKER_01]: Grow us in our contentment in you. 15:19.443 --> 15:26.527 [SPEAKER_01]: Grant us wisdom from on high and give us discernment in Jesus' name, Amen. 15:27.928 --> 15:29.389 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a prayer I know that I need. 15:30.170 --> 15:30.670 [SPEAKER_01]: Now listen. 15:32.651 --> 15:35.853 [SPEAKER_01]: This text tells us to not stir up discord. 15:36.193 --> 15:40.556 [SPEAKER_01]: But there are sometimes in life where you have to trouble the waters because the waters are dysfunctional. 15:42.697 --> 15:49.982 [SPEAKER_01]: So, Proverbs does it name names in this text, but it uses a phrase at the very beginning, the worthless person. 15:50.002 --> 15:51.883 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, that's pinchy in it. 15:51.903 --> 15:53.104 [SPEAKER_01]: That's hard, hit my goodness. 15:53.164 --> 15:55.826 [SPEAKER_01]: The worthless person, Proverbs

612. 15:56.226 --> 16:00.369 [SPEAKER_01]: In Hebrew, that is a word of phrase that means man of belio. 16:02.075 --> 16:14.759 [SPEAKER_01]: And the first part of B-Li means without, and Y-L means value, without value, without good works, without flourishing, without righteousness. 16:15.720 --> 16:19.501 [SPEAKER_01]: Literally, a person without worth, that does not bring goodness to the table. 16:19.861 --> 16:24.223 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not about their family tree, or their lineage, it is about their character. 16:25.347 --> 16:29.630 [SPEAKER_01]: Someone who throws off restraint and rebels against God's given way. 16:29.770 --> 16:31.511 [SPEAKER_01]: God's given way for us. 16:32.012 --> 16:35.995 [SPEAKER_01]: And scripture hangs at label or lots of folks in the Old Testament. 16:36.495 --> 16:41.138 [SPEAKER_01]: Elias, greedy sons who use their position in the church for money into collect women. 16:41.699 --> 16:49.084 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, there's sons of Belia, a neighbor, Abigail's foolish husband, sons of Belia. 16:49.544 --> 16:53.727 [SPEAKER_01]: The false witnesses who frame neighbor, sons of Belia. 16:54.828 --> 17:12.279 [SPEAKER_01]: You got to be able to spot it, a reader in Solomon's house and remember Solomon is the author of most of the Proverbs, a reader in Solomon's house, who would have seen this text, I tend to think, may have started to think about their own family history. 17:14.000 --> 17:16.221 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know David had a spicy family. 17:17.682 --> 17:18.282 [SPEAKER_01]: Did you know that? 17:19.264 --> 17:20.325 [SPEAKER_01]: They're very, very spicy. 17:21.225 --> 17:27.049 [SPEAKER_01]: And so a reader in the Islamic household might have been like, is this about my great uncle? 17:27.069 --> 17:34.714 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I don't know what kind of uncles you got out shout out to my uncles, but they might have been like, is this my uncle? 17:36.395 --> 17:41.719 [SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs doesn't name names, but I want you to walk with me creatively this morning. 17:42.673 --> 17:50.834 [SPEAKER_01]: Because I want to make a case to you that someone in Solomon's house who saw this text, they might start thinking about great Uncle Absalon. 17:53.367 --> 17:58.030 [SPEAKER_01]: Abs along with Stan at the city gate, the courthouse of the ancient world. 17:58.330 --> 18:06.135 [SPEAKER_01]: And he would tell everyone, he would tell everyone who had a lawsuit or they got a problem, they need justice, they need things figured out, they need someone to advocate on their behalf. 18:06.375 --> 18:07.976 [SPEAKER_01]: They feel like they get in the short end of the stick. 18:08.196 --> 18:09.457 [SPEAKER_01]: The world is out to get them. 18:09.757 --> 18:10.638 [SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you see me? 18:10.658 --> 18:11.799 [SPEAKER_01]: This used to be my country. 18:11.819 --> 18:12.999 [SPEAKER_01]: What's happening now to me? 18:14.020 --> 18:18.483 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, people like that, very tempting population.

18:20.270 --> 18:35.821 [SPEAKER_01]: He would stand at that gate and he would say, if I were the boss, if I were the judge in this land, if I was the pharaoh, the presidents, if I were the leader, oh, I can get you what you need. 18:37.602 --> 18:42.125 [SPEAKER_01]: I can give you the justice that you're looking for, and then he would kiss their hands. 18:42.786 --> 18:46.589 [SPEAKER_01]: He would look humble and he would grace shape himself before them. 18:47.706 --> 18:52.708 [SPEAKER_01]: And the text says, so epsilon stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 18:53.489 --> 18:57.370 [SPEAKER_01]: He played them, they put their hearts out there and he took it. 18:58.831 --> 19:11.957 [SPEAKER_01]: And then he was sent spies throughout every tribe and he had a pre-arranged signal because his goal ultimately was to make himself the king to be the boss, to have all the power. 19:13.551 --> 19:27.541 [SPEAKER_01]: And what makes Absalom story so complicated, interesting and painful is that the trajectory to Absalom's con-man ways comes of a real legitimate tragedy. 19:28.812 --> 19:30.813 [SPEAKER_01]: A real tragedy that's not tended to. 19:31.693 --> 19:33.773 [SPEAKER_01]: A real injustice that's not dealt with. 19:34.314 --> 19:50.258 [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to remind you, when there are injustices in your life, in our world, and in your family, and you have the power to do something about it, and you don't, then you have opened the door to generations of dysfunction that will inevitably come. 19:52.799 --> 19:53.459 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me show you. 19:54.683 --> 19:55.343 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me show you. 19:56.204 --> 20:03.567 [SPEAKER_01]: Absalon is sent on this trajectory because of a crime that is committed in his very own household against his sister, Tamar. 20:04.948 --> 20:08.329 [SPEAKER_01]: His sister, Tamar, have been violated by his half-brother Amnon. 20:08.729 --> 20:17.053 [SPEAKER_01]: And David, although the text said he was angry, he was angry about it, he did nothing about it. 20:18.534 --> 20:20.995 [SPEAKER_01]: Our emotions are to move us to do what is right, 20:24.875 --> 20:33.620 [SPEAKER_01]: But why was David silent about this horrible thing that happened in his household to his very own daughter? 20:34.901 --> 20:45.587 [SPEAKER_01]: What would David be quiet about an injustice towards a woman that happened in his own household? 20:48.128 --> 20:50.670 [SPEAKER_01]: I hope you have some of the answers germinating and bubbling up. 20:51.957 --> 20:58.487 [SPEAKER_01]: Just two chapters earlier, David had used his power, the text says, to take Bashiba. 20:59.028 --> 20:59.969 [SPEAKER_01]: It says what it says. 21:00.029 --> 21:01.932 [SPEAKER_01]: It says take Bashiba. 21:03.435 --> 21:04.716 [SPEAKER_01]: That's kidnap in language, y'all. 21:05.217 --> 21:06.900 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not an affair. 21:09.448 --> 21:16.469 [SPEAKER_01]: It matters how seriously you take God's word and you don't skip over and remix things because it makes you feel uncomfortable. 21:16.869 --> 21:17.709 [SPEAKER_01]: Take me, it's take. 21:18.430 --> 21:22.150 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he took Bathsheba and you know who's the son of Bathsheba? 21:22.770 --> 21:23.410 [SPEAKER_01]: Solomon. 21:25.031 --> 21:25.711 [SPEAKER_01]: Did y'all know that? 21:26.391 --> 21:28.311 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on to well with, they come on to Bible study. 21:29.291 --> 21:34.432 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, the book is very, very complex and interesting, but we have to walk through it together. 21:35.052 --> 21:37.413 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I mean by the family would have recognized 21:39.898 --> 21:43.241 [SPEAKER_01]: So David had used his power to take Bathsheba another man's wife. 21:43.481 --> 21:44.862 [SPEAKER_01]: Then he had your riot killed. 21:44.902 --> 21:46.363 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he cut up y'all. 21:46.984 --> 21:54.050 [SPEAKER_01]: And the prophet Nathan told him the sword will never depart from your house. 21:55.671 --> 21:57.893 [SPEAKER_01]: The prophet said, it will never depart from your house. 21:58.213 --> 22:09.002 [SPEAKER_01]: And so when his own son abuses his own daughter, how does a king who exploited a woman with his power confront a son who did the same thing? 22:11.751 --> 22:18.773 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is why you should not give power or authority to people who cannot say wrong is wrong. 22:18.793 --> 22:23.314 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on down here, come on, God. 22:23.334 --> 22:25.534 [SPEAKER_01]: I know our choices are complicated in life. 22:26.275 --> 22:27.975 [SPEAKER_01]: I know they're never clean choices. 22:28.275 --> 22:30.916 [SPEAKER_01]: That's why God requires us to have discernment. 22:31.176 --> 22:35.377 [SPEAKER_01]: discernment is what you do to sort between difficult choices, not easy ones. 22:36.477 --> 22:39.758 [SPEAKER_01]: But I know one thing, you don't get more power to corruption. 22:42.117 --> 22:42.817 [SPEAKER_01]: You don't do it. 22:43.618 --> 22:45.839 [SPEAKER_01]: And then act like, oh my goodness, how do we get here? 22:47.601 --> 22:48.101 [SPEAKER_01]: We fed it. 22:49.021 --> 22:49.942 [SPEAKER_01]: We gave it the power. 22:50.903 --> 22:57.467 [SPEAKER_01]: A guilty conscience can make a father, a leader, a president, go quiet when they should speak out. 22:59.710 --> 23:10.640 [SPEAKER_01]: Some ancient texts say that the reason why David did not punish Amnon, and why Absalon had to take matters into his own hand, is because David just loved his first born son so much. 23:11.321 --> 23:12.181 [SPEAKER_01]: That's my boy. 23:13.142 --> 23:14.243 [SPEAKER_01]: That's my boy. 23:14.263 --> 23:18.867 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, clearly we cannot let him accept the consequences of his behavior. 23:19.108 --> 23:22.531 [SPEAKER_01]: He has his whole life ahead of him said one judge. 23:25.300 --> 23:33.701 [SPEAKER_01]: Clearly, these guys have money and there must be super smart because they got into the Cornell's and the Cowlons and the

Vanderbilt's of the world. 23:33.741 --> 23:37.882 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we cannot mess up the lives of smart, wealthy men. 23:37.902 --> 23:51.725 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we tap people like Absalons to take justice into their own hands. 23:53.125 --> 23:53.685 [SPEAKER_01]: We tempt them. 23:57.717 --> 23:59.578 [SPEAKER_01]: And that won't need it to be confronted. 24:00.199 --> 24:02.280 [SPEAKER_01]: Tamar's won't need it to be confronted. 24:03.441 --> 24:07.803 [SPEAKER_01]: But dysfunctional people have a hard time confronting wounds the right way. 24:09.925 --> 24:13.547 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Absalon doesn't bring it into the light on behalf of his sister. 24:13.587 --> 24:14.868 [SPEAKER_01]: He waits and he plots. 24:16.029 --> 24:17.329 [SPEAKER_01]: He waits and he plots. 24:17.750 --> 24:23.293 [SPEAKER_01]: Because he could use the harm done to her, legitimate harm, as a way to move himself 24:26.565 --> 24:36.390 [SPEAKER_01]: Look at that, how on one hand it looks like we really care about somebody, but we're even using the people that we claim to care about so that we can end up with power and authority on our own. 24:38.011 --> 24:43.874 [SPEAKER_01]: So a person who was misused, we end up using ourselves to get what we want in the long run. 24:44.334 --> 24:45.995 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what apps alone does. 24:48.291 --> 24:53.032 [SPEAKER_01]: He waited two years, he threw a party, and he had amn on the one who heard his sister killed. 24:53.852 --> 25:00.394 [SPEAKER_01]: A true injustice but dealt with by crooked means and ended up having it for his own game. 25:02.635 --> 25:08.156 [SPEAKER_01]: See, some trouble is manipulation, and some trouble is an attempt for obedience. 25:09.977 --> 25:13.818 [SPEAKER_01]: One of the two Hebrew midwives, when they sought to do right, 25:15.020 --> 25:22.425 [SPEAKER_01]: Shipra and Pua, Pharaoh ordered them to kill the baby boys, both of these scenarios are defying a king, by the way. 25:24.207 --> 25:29.130 [SPEAKER_01]: They feared God and they did what was right, and that's the difference maker fearing the Lord. 25:30.551 --> 25:38.517 [SPEAKER_01]: They both, they had all defied a king, Absalon as well as Shipra and Pua and their narrative, but they protected the powerless. 25:39.817 --> 25:42.422 [SPEAKER_01]: instead of exploiting the powerless for their own gain. 25:43.364 --> 25:46.891 [SPEAKER_01]: Absalon, grab power and let other people pay for it. 25:48.045 --> 25:49.465 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a different kind of trouble. 25:49.966 --> 25:52.206 [SPEAKER_01]: That's troublesome, not good trouble. 25:53.107 --> 26:00.889 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the difference between the types of trouble that we're caused to differentiate and understand as we walk in integrity. 26:01.670 --> 26:03.890 [SPEAKER_01]: And how does it end for apps alone? 26:03.930 --> 26:06.911 [SPEAKER_01]: And how does it end for those who are manipulators? 26:07.412 --> 26:13.314 [SPEAKER_01]: Just like the proverb said, suddenly, his rebellion collapsed in a single battle. 26:18.828 --> 26:29.333 [SPEAKER_01]: And without remedy, fast-talking, fast-hands, manipulative, I control everything, but when judgment comes, you can't get yourself out of it. 26:31.114 --> 26:32.915 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's a word to every corrupt leader. 26:33.942 --> 26:49.789 [SPEAKER_01]: throughout every government, throughout every part of history and society, that when you misuse people made in the image of God and when the time comes to pay for such consequences, your slickness, your power will not be able to get you out of that judgment. 26:51.970 --> 26:52.271 [SPEAKER_01]: I won't. 26:53.371 --> 26:54.332 [SPEAKER_01]: Can't get out of it. 26:55.692 --> 26:59.174 [SPEAKER_01]: Absalon had even built a pillar in name but after himself, y'all. 27:00.203 --> 27:03.764 [SPEAKER_01]: To keep his name in memory alive, guilty people do stuff like that. 27:05.484 --> 27:07.464 [SPEAKER_01]: But the midwives then asked to be remembered. 27:09.905 --> 27:11.245 [SPEAKER_01]: God wrote down their names. 27:11.265 --> 27:15.626 [SPEAKER_01]: And when God writes down your name, you need not build a monument to yourself. 27:15.646 --> 27:20.627 [SPEAKER_01]: And when God writes down your name, you need not build a monument to yourself. 27:20.707 --> 27:27.088 [SPEAKER_01]: Manifculators build monuments to themselves and that very monument becomes a receipt that indicts them in the future. 27:30.595 --> 27:33.956 [SPEAKER_01]: When all this ends in Absalon dies, David is toe up, y'all. 27:33.976 --> 27:37.857 [SPEAKER_01]: He is toe up, he's like, my family is a mess, and I am part of the problem. 27:38.857 --> 27:43.338 [SPEAKER_01]: And he weaks and he cries and he says, I wish I could have died in the place of Absalon. 27:43.898 --> 27:44.858 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what David says. 27:44.898 --> 27:56.641 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm so grateful that the Son of David to come would do that very thing for manipulators and manipulate people the Son of David would stand in their place and die. 27:58.762 --> 28:07.145 [SPEAKER_01]: So, this text has some big themes that if we would lean into it, I promise you, I think it'll make us wiser, which is the purpose of the Proverbs. 28:07.825 --> 28:09.245 [SPEAKER_01]: It would make us wiser. 28:09.265 --> 28:15.787 [SPEAKER_01]: In verse 12, we must look at the mouth of the personality that is being shaped in this text. 28:16.387 --> 28:17.908 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice how they talk. 28:20.197 --> 28:28.939 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice the words, the troublemaker, the worthless man, the villain, says out of their mouth, their speech is known as corrupt and perverse. 28:29.779 --> 28:30.899 [SPEAKER_01]: That's no big deal. 28:34.400 --> 28:40.902 [SPEAKER_01]: Corrupt and perverse speech is always a big deal, because what you say is a fruit of your heart. 28:42.642 --> 28:47.263 [SPEAKER_01]: The very first things that this proverb text points to is the

mouth of the manipulative man, 28:48.702 --> 28:50.303 [SPEAKER_01]: Not simply a slip of the tongue. 28:50.763 --> 28:52.864 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a pattern of language. 28:52.884 --> 28:54.545 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a pattern of insult. 28:54.825 --> 28:56.766 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a pattern of verbal abuse. 28:57.066 --> 28:59.287 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a pattern of denigration. 28:59.307 --> 29:03.229 [SPEAKER_01]: It's how we must watch what we are hearing. 29:05.069 --> 29:10.292 [SPEAKER_01]: As scripture will not let us minimize people's words, especially their pattern of speech. 29:10.912 --> 29:13.213 [SPEAKER_01]: And we know the excuses that leaders get to make. 29:13.613 --> 29:14.854 [SPEAKER_01]: He was just joking. 29:16.474 --> 29:17.575 [SPEAKER_01]: That's Locker Room talk. 29:18.358 --> 29:18.918 [SPEAKER_01]: You remember that? 29:19.719 --> 29:21.820 [SPEAKER_01]: Boys are being boys in the group chat. 29:22.140 --> 29:24.141 [SPEAKER_01]: This is how guys talk about girls. 29:27.683 --> 29:30.025 [SPEAKER_01]: I see, but it's not just the fellas. 29:31.645 --> 29:39.430 [SPEAKER_01]: Because let us not forget the way that men and women use their speech and call it anything about gossip when it really is just that. 29:41.598 --> 29:46.541 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not gossiping, we're just seeking clarity, we're just reflecting, we're processing. 29:46.861 --> 29:49.843 [SPEAKER_01]: That is gossip, sounding like it has a counseling degree. 29:52.785 --> 29:56.947 [SPEAKER_01]: So personally, we listen to the pattern of our own mouth. 29:57.428 --> 30:02.751 [SPEAKER_01]: And we ask ourselves, and I'm asking you today, would I speak this way to somebody's face? 30:05.473 --> 30:08.635 [SPEAKER_01]: Am I talking about this person to get to the truth? 30:09.762 --> 30:11.844 [SPEAKER_01]: or am I trying to get people on my side. 30:13.826 --> 30:18.491 [SPEAKER_01]: And communally, corrupt speech destroys trust. 30:19.231 --> 30:22.274 [SPEAKER_01]: And when trust goes, fellowship goes. 30:24.562 --> 30:40.228 [SPEAKER_01]: Koenenea, you part pastor Mike has said many times before, this is a community of differences rooted in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that makes our differences important, but it doesn't cause us to be pulled apart from each other. 30:41.348 --> 30:45.070 [SPEAKER_01]: And Koenenea, biblical Koenenea, runs on trust. 30:46.090 --> 30:47.391 [SPEAKER_01]: Runs on trust. 30:48.011 --> 30:51.612 [SPEAKER_01]: A community that shrugs off words will slowly bleed out 30:55.288 --> 30:57.470 [SPEAKER_01]: Verse 13, remember the mouth we talked about. 30:57.590 --> 30:59.011 [SPEAKER_01]: Verse 13 talks about the whole body. 30:59.691 --> 31:08.057 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice the person who wanked maliciously with his eyes, signals with his feet, feet, and motions with his fingers. 31:08.457 --> 31:10.138 [SPEAKER_01]: This is full body deception. 31:11.039 --> 31:19.505 [SPEAKER_01]: A performance built to distract and to dodge confability and notice the strategy manipulators typically woo us first. 31:20.626 --> 31:22.147 [SPEAKER_01]: Little wooing that happens. 31:23.321 --> 31:25.283 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's not the only way manipulators work. 31:25.383 --> 31:28.166 [SPEAKER_01]: The strongest for a manipulation is violence itself. 31:29.347 --> 31:32.470 [SPEAKER_01]: Because when wooing doesn't work, violence is on the table. 31:36.675 --> 31:39.597 [SPEAKER_01]: And they send signals to other manipulators. 31:40.398 --> 31:44.522 [SPEAKER_01]: They send signals to other manipulators, without ever saying a word. 31:46.902 --> 31:50.665 [SPEAKER_01]: So personally, we have to guard our heart against being wooed. 31:51.485 --> 32:04.234 [SPEAKER_01]: We have to accept how God has called us as wonderfully and fearfully made so that we are not easy targets because of our insecurity for the wooers of the world who will tell us anything to make us feel good in the moment. 32:06.234 --> 32:09.897 [SPEAKER_01]: God, your heart against being wooed by those who want to misuse you. 32:10.698 --> 32:12.580 [SPEAKER_01]: Flattery is often the first move. 32:13.340 --> 32:16.563 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice when someone's kindness isn't really kindness. 32:17.524 --> 32:22.529 [SPEAKER_01]: It's niceness, which is weak, and it comes with strings attached. 32:23.850 --> 32:27.213 [SPEAKER_01]: And notice when your niceness comes with strings attached. 32:28.509 --> 32:31.931 [SPEAKER_01]: Communally, this type of action corrupts a culture. 32:32.412 --> 32:33.633 [SPEAKER_01]: It corrupts a community. 32:33.913 --> 32:39.857 [SPEAKER_01]: We drift into a convenient ignorance where nothing can be tested and everything is fogged without. 32:41.258 --> 32:46.442 [SPEAKER_01]: And in that fog, the manipulator sets themself up as the source of truth. 32:49.004 --> 32:50.645 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I know what's really going on. 32:51.526 --> 32:53.267 [SPEAKER_01]: I can tell you what's really happening. 32:54.932 --> 33:01.454 [SPEAKER_01]: And when someone tells you that they hold all the truth, and that God doesn't hold all the truth, you're getting played. 33:05.134 --> 33:12.636 [SPEAKER_01]: When someone uses God's name to run a scam on us, people of God, wake up, wake up. 33:14.657 --> 33:16.717 [SPEAKER_01]: John tells us to test the spirits. 33:17.497 --> 33:23.479 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not a throwaway phrase, and my pinnacles so friends understand this, but I'm gonna do my Presbyterian friends to wake up. 33:25.668 --> 33:43.421 [SPEAKER_01]: Test the spirits, come out of the fog, verse 14, remember this all comes from a particular type of heart, who plots evil with deceit in his heart and he always stirs up conflict, always stirs it up. 33:44.442 --> 33:53.168 [SPEAKER_01]: You can hear it already, God knows my heart, which by the way, that doesn't bring me any reassurance of the Lord knows my heart. 33:55.050 --> 33:58.332 [SPEAKER_01]: He does, I'm like God knows my heart, which is

why I need the blood of Jesus. 34:01.995 --> 34:08.539 [SPEAKER_01]: But God has also given us wisdom through His word and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 34:09.240 --> 34:16.205 [SPEAKER_01]: So we actually pay attention to how people live and how people speak and we make a discerning judgment regarding it. 34:16.585 --> 34:17.626 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't cop out. 34:19.253 --> 34:22.916 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't dodge by saying, I'm just not a judgmental person. 34:23.857 --> 34:25.158 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just not judgmental. 34:26.239 --> 34:30.443 [SPEAKER_01]: There is a difference between being judgmental and using judgment. 34:31.323 --> 34:33.565 [SPEAKER_01]: And you are called to use judgment. 34:34.326 --> 34:36.328 [SPEAKER_01]: You're called to use judgment. 34:37.577 --> 34:43.001 [SPEAKER_01]: One is humility and one is abdication from our responsibility as people who must discern in judge. 34:43.821 --> 34:49.625 [SPEAKER_01]: I think of a church right now in the year 2026 that had a significant safety issue in it. 34:50.465 --> 34:56.029 [SPEAKER_01]: Leaders decided that in the name of not being judgemental because we believe that people can change. 34:56.649 --> 34:58.751 [SPEAKER_01]: They minimize what was a crime. 35:02.240 --> 35:07.122 [SPEAKER_01]: And they disregarded the safety of children, the name of, we're not judgmental here. 35:08.243 --> 35:10.824 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not grace, that's a cop-out. 35:12.004 --> 35:16.186 [SPEAKER_01]: We name wrong as wrong, or else we have stood on the side of the abuser every single time. 35:16.226 --> 35:17.106 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, all right, all right. 35:21.008 --> 35:27.851 [SPEAKER_01]: Manipulators, they stare up conflict where there is none, because the trouble is the distraction from you looking at their lives. 35:31.258 --> 35:37.141 [SPEAKER_01]: It pulls everyone's attention away from the real mission that they're supposed to be on and the real needs that are at hand. 35:37.721 --> 35:43.863 [SPEAKER_01]: And it centers themselves and the centers what they want over what God has called us to be. 35:44.484 --> 35:51.206 [SPEAKER_01]: So personally, I have to ask myself, and I invite you to ask yourself, pretending this text is about you. 35:54.888 --> 35:59.430 [SPEAKER_01]: When I'm the one staring things up, what am I actually distracting from? 36:02.349 --> 36:03.930 [SPEAKER_01]: Who's needs are getting lost? 36:04.630 --> 36:06.051 [SPEAKER_01]: What everybody looks at me? 36:08.413 --> 36:10.194 [SPEAKER_01]: Who's needs are getting lost? 36:10.794 --> 36:13.776 [SPEAKER_01]: What everyone looks at me and what I want. 36:15.237 --> 36:21.541 [SPEAKER_01]: And communally, when this happens amongst church folks, it aims straight at the mission of the church. 36:22.682 --> 36:27.845 [SPEAKER_01]: Spiritual warfare does not show up in horns with a pitch fork, typically. 36:29.743 --> 36:34.928 [SPEAKER_01]: It shows up as distraction and chaos and divisiveness. 36:36.029 --> 36:37.211 [SPEAKER_01]: That's how it shows up. 36:39.012 --> 36:44.558 [SPEAKER_01]: And finally, verse 15 in this text, the ending is sudden for those who are manipulators. 36:45.339 --> 36:46.320 [SPEAKER_01]: The ending is sudden. 36:46.660 --> 36:49.383 [SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, a disaster will overtake him in an instant. 36:49.883 --> 36:52.806 [SPEAKER_01]: He will suddenly be destroyed without remedy. 36:53.824 --> 37:08.818 [SPEAKER_01]: Here is the fruit, the manipulator does everything to maintain, control, all to avoid the exposure and punishment that are inevitably coming their way, but that disaster that appointed disaster will overtake them. 37:11.001 --> 37:13.063 [SPEAKER_01]: And so this is where we have to be careful as a community. 37:13.923 --> 37:16.986 [SPEAKER_01]: When you give the guilty, because we're all guilty, 37:17.865 --> 37:23.328 [SPEAKER_01]: But our distinction is that we're the guilty and repentant, not the guilty and unrepentant. 37:23.708 --> 37:29.632 [SPEAKER_01]: And when you give the guilty an unrepentant power, they use that power to never repent. 37:31.313 --> 37:33.554 [SPEAKER_01]: Power becomes their hiding place. 37:35.353 --> 37:38.156 [SPEAKER_01]: It is usually a loveless thing, folks. 37:38.436 --> 37:44.582 [SPEAKER_01]: It's actually a loveless thing to give power to someone who lacks the character to hold it. 37:45.644 --> 37:48.326 [SPEAKER_01]: Godly people do something different with power. 37:49.127 --> 37:49.588 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice it. 37:49.648 --> 37:50.068 [SPEAKER_01]: Watch it. 37:50.128 --> 37:50.529 [SPEAKER_01]: Wake up. 37:51.690 --> 37:53.652 [SPEAKER_01]: They extended, they examine it. 37:53.912 --> 37:54.613 [SPEAKER_01]: They own it. 37:54.673 --> 37:56.114 [SPEAKER_01]: They don't pretend they don't have it. 37:57.015 --> 37:58.537 [SPEAKER_01]: And they give it away. 37:59.998 --> 38:06.483 [SPEAKER_01]: They use it as a channel for the greater virtue, which is certainly not power itself, but the greater virtue is love. 38:06.903 --> 38:09.385 [SPEAKER_01]: Power is used to channel love. 38:13.068 --> 38:20.754 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the way that the one who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, used power. 38:22.615 --> 38:24.657 [SPEAKER_01]: As a mean to distribute love. 38:26.225 --> 38:32.069 [SPEAKER_01]: So why do people follow the abstinence of the world, the villains of the world, the manipulators of the world? 38:32.089 --> 38:34.510 [SPEAKER_01]: Why do you follow your own manipulative heart at times? 38:34.550 --> 38:35.411 [SPEAKER_01]: Why do I? 38:37.472 --> 38:45.317 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, sometimes we find ourselves in a place where what they're selling seems incredibly attractive to us. 38:47.138 --> 38:49.600 [SPEAKER_01]: Too often we can get tired of trusting God. 38:50.521 --> 38:52.242 [SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever gotten tired of trusting God? 38:54.003 --> 38:55.664 [SPEAKER_01]: You should tell the whole

truth, I know I have. 38:57.127 --> 39:07.672 [SPEAKER_01]: Tired, tired, I want this to be over, I want this to be fixed, I want this person to be healed, tired of trusting God. 39:11.694 --> 39:17.556 [SPEAKER_01]: Contentment goes down, and we start to take the offers that Absalon put out to us. 39:19.778 --> 39:21.458 [SPEAKER_01]: The promise is to fix our problems. 39:23.699 --> 39:24.820 [SPEAKER_01]: If we just sign on, 39:25.783 --> 39:29.065 [SPEAKER_01]: If we just become complicit, if we just hand them our power. 39:32.548 --> 39:36.951 [SPEAKER_01]: So the question this morning is, where am I restless enough to buy when absolons are selling? 39:39.212 --> 39:41.114 [SPEAKER_01]: Because contentment is our protection. 39:42.575 --> 39:47.978 [SPEAKER_01]: Contentment in Christ is our protection from the manipulators of this world. 39:56.048 --> 40:01.131 [SPEAKER_01]: We don't hand the microphone, the platform, our votes to the unrepentant. 40:02.212 --> 40:06.614 [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes loving someone means refusing to empower them. 40:09.716 --> 40:10.657 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's the portrait. 40:11.497 --> 40:14.499 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the portrait in Proverbs, line by line. 40:15.179 --> 40:19.662 [SPEAKER_01]: And church hear me, Jesus is nothing like this portrait. 40:25.197 --> 40:34.423 [SPEAKER_01]: His eyes are clear, his heart is pure, and his story doesn't end, it looks like disaster, but it turns to resurrection. 40:36.104 --> 40:43.368 [SPEAKER_01]: And as we follow the way of Jesus, we learn to choose actual coin and mea over manipulation. 40:44.849 --> 40:45.850 [SPEAKER_01]: But we can't have both. 40:47.263 --> 40:48.183 [SPEAKER_01]: We can't have both. 40:49.164 --> 40:52.906 [SPEAKER_01]: We cannot have community and Christ together and manipulation at the same time. 40:52.946 --> 40:54.847 [SPEAKER_01]: We cannot have both. 40:55.787 --> 40:59.129 [SPEAKER_01]: You cannot share life with people that you're seeking to scam. 41:01.149 --> 41:05.531 [SPEAKER_01]: You cannot share life with people that you are using instead of seeking to build with. 41:06.572 --> 41:08.893 [SPEAKER_01]: You can't build communion with a wink. 41:11.334 --> 41:12.595 [SPEAKER_01]: So how do we resist this? 41:13.855 --> 41:14.656 [SPEAKER_01]: We reject. 41:15.606 --> 41:24.253 [SPEAKER_01]: Crooked speech, we reject perverse speech, we reject gossip, we reject the words of manipulation. 41:26.615 --> 41:34.461 [SPEAKER_01]: And then we resist trading or seeking out control instead of trusting. 41:37.283 --> 41:40.346 [SPEAKER_01]: We must trust as a community of Queenia. 41:41.225 --> 41:51.168 [SPEAKER_01]: Much of the everyday manipulation that runs in our families, our workplaces, our government, and yes, our church as it comes, it's not coming from strength, it's coming from fear, fear. 41:52.329 --> 41:59.851 [SPEAKER_01]: People reach for it when they don't believe honest, direct means, we'll get them what they long for love

and safety and identity in place. 42:00.691 --> 42:08.214 [SPEAKER_01]: It's fear of wearing a confidence costume, and you can have compassion and we should for a frightened heart. 42:09.201 --> 42:11.182 [SPEAKER_01]: and still refuse to be as hostage. 42:12.782 --> 42:20.825 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's exactly why manipulation is so tempting and why coin and knee, a real coin and knee, a real fellowship is actually costly. 42:21.705 --> 42:24.546 [SPEAKER_01]: Real fellowship asks you to be known. 42:25.046 --> 42:25.846 [SPEAKER_01]: No mask. 42:29.067 --> 42:31.788 [SPEAKER_01]: Church is just small enough that you can't hide anything, can you? 42:34.541 --> 42:35.942 [SPEAKER_01]: Manipulation is a shortcut. 42:36.362 --> 42:40.586 [SPEAKER_01]: It gets you what you think you want from people without ever having to be vulnerable with them. 42:41.526 --> 42:44.709 [SPEAKER_01]: And we rarely call it what it is when it's manipulation. 42:44.749 --> 42:52.975 [SPEAKER_01]: We call it strategy or being smarter, protecting ourselves, but you can't repent of what you keep renaming. 42:57.779 --> 43:02.583 [SPEAKER_01]: Every shortcut around vulnerability is a shortcut around actual fellowship. 43:03.888 --> 43:08.531 [SPEAKER_01]: Every short cut around vulnerability is a short cut around actual fellowship. 43:08.551 --> 43:10.472 [SPEAKER_01]: You've got to show up as who you actually are. 43:12.613 --> 43:17.295 [SPEAKER_01]: It gets you the outcome, but it costs you the communion and Lord knows we need the communion. 43:19.257 --> 43:25.280 [SPEAKER_01]: Listen, people are image bears not instruments to be used. 43:27.941 --> 43:30.563 [SPEAKER_01]: Our membership house that you just heard this morning. 43:31.697 --> 43:33.738 [SPEAKER_01]: They remind us of the beauty of this. 43:35.138 --> 43:38.940 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're a member of this church, this isn't just like an idea. 43:39.520 --> 43:41.481 [SPEAKER_01]: Our vows are exemplified through this. 43:41.521 --> 43:46.203 [SPEAKER_01]: We make a promise that when we join, we answer that fifth membership question. 43:46.243 --> 43:47.404 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's a tough one, y'all. 43:48.538 --> 43:57.030 [SPEAKER_01]: We submit it ourselves as a government and discipline of this church and we promise check it out to promote the unity, the purity and the peace of the church. 43:57.852 --> 43:58.973 [SPEAKER_01]: And here's what I love. 43:59.574 --> 44:02.118 [SPEAKER_01]: This is located in our church's book of church order. 44:03.543 --> 44:08.587 [SPEAKER_01]: But these three words, peace, purity, and unity are not just a plan to have a healthy relationship. 44:08.907 --> 44:12.130 [SPEAKER_01]: They are what the actual church is made up of. 44:12.890 --> 44:18.095 [SPEAKER_01]: The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is made up of peace, purity, and unity. 44:19.003 --> 44:20.263 [SPEAKER_01]: or else it be not a church. 44:20.743 --> 44:31.486 [SPEAKER_01]: A local church is a people who

covenant to live out their faith together under the same governance and discipline committed to those principles, unity, purity, peace. 44:31.967 --> 44:37.248 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the vow that I took in the vow that members take, that's not an add-on to membership. 44:37.268 --> 44:43.390 [SPEAKER_01]: It is the definition of who we are, what kind of people we say that we were going to be to each other. 44:45.810 --> 44:48.371 [SPEAKER_01]: A church is a community of kept promises. 44:50.652 --> 44:58.378 [SPEAKER_01]: God has granted a promise to us in Christ, and we are His people, and we take our promises to each other seriously. 44:58.958 --> 44:59.318 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen? 45:02.801 --> 45:09.486 [SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs 6 describes the man who breaks promises on every line, which means manipulation doesn't just hurt people in the church. 45:09.846 --> 45:13.528 [SPEAKER_01]: It unravels the very thing that makes us a church. 45:14.209 --> 45:19.293 [SPEAKER_01]: And every time we choose a straight word of clarity and kindness, 45:20.380 --> 45:43.187 [SPEAKER_01]: over a winking eye, and every time we talk to someone instead of about them, every time we replace kindness, kindness, and we choose that over niceness, we are keeping our vow that we made to be a healthy church, and I'm real committed to this being a healthy church. 45:45.225 --> 45:46.786 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, here's our hope this morning. 45:47.786 --> 45:50.788 [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is the great unmanipulator. 45:51.829 --> 45:52.509 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just true. 45:53.970 --> 46:01.615 [SPEAKER_01]: Manipulation reveals itself in the mouth, the body, the heart, and it ends in sudden disaster. 46:01.875 --> 46:03.796 [SPEAKER_01]: So what is our only cure for this? 46:04.396 --> 46:07.298 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a technique, it is a person. 46:09.900 --> 46:15.242 [SPEAKER_01]: And if I was to remix this passage with Jesus in mind, it would sound something like this. 46:16.023 --> 46:22.065 [SPEAKER_01]: A worthy person, a righteous one, walks with truthful speech. 46:22.425 --> 46:24.286 [SPEAKER_01]: His eyes are clear and open. 46:24.506 --> 46:26.467 [SPEAKER_01]: His feet steadily in the right way. 46:26.727 --> 46:31.889 [SPEAKER_01]: His hand points others towards what is good, follow, follow, follow the way of Jesus. 46:31.969 --> 46:33.390 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a way that is good. 46:33.650 --> 46:38.732 [SPEAKER_01]: With a pure heart, he devises what is good, continually showing peace. 46:39.212 --> 46:43.236 [SPEAKER_01]: not discord, not confusion, not distraction. 46:43.496 --> 46:47.280 [SPEAKER_01]: So we don't look at each other's sin, but he soes peace. 46:47.961 --> 46:50.703 [SPEAKER_01]: And therefore, blessing will come upon him. 46:51.724 --> 46:54.987 [SPEAKER_01]: Blessing will come upon him and all those who have found in him. 46:55.888 --> 46:56.409 [SPEAKER_01]: Shortly. 46:57.331 --> 47:02.233 [SPEAKER_01]: In due time, he will be established, healed and unshakable. 47:02.733 --> 47:07.895 [SPEAKER_01]: This Jesus, the great unmanipulator, the great unmanipulator. 47:07.935 --> 47:09.376 [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know about you. 47:09.436 --> 47:10.696 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't like to get conned. 47:11.217 --> 47:12.537 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't like to be played. 47:12.877 --> 47:15.719 [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't want to be the kind of person who lives that way either. 47:16.959 --> 47:20.380 [SPEAKER_01]: And so my goal in my focus is to be a person of truth. 47:20.881 --> 47:21.481 [SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me? 47:23.150 --> 47:32.178 [SPEAKER_01]: A person who will take the hard, awkward, invulnerable way and starting to take in the shortcut of manipulation, working people instead of working with people. 47:34.279 --> 47:41.905 [SPEAKER_01]: May the Holy Ghost grow us up in the spirit so that we can spot this and not become complicit with manipulation. 47:42.506 --> 47:49.972 [SPEAKER_01]: But instead, we become the kind of people that are led in the way of Jesus, choosing truth and kindness 47:53.049 --> 47:54.034 [SPEAKER_01]: every step of the way. 47:54.576 --> 47:54.857 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen.