DAY 37 ANGER TOOK OVER!

Here we are. Good morning. Good morning, all. Good early morning to some of you. Good evening to some others. Good to see ya. Welcome to our audiences. The eight different locations we're streaming to live now, and the 30 podcast locations we stream to on playback. What do you do? What do you do when evil happens? And nobody handles it the right way. What do you do when the victim is wounded? The powerful try to manage the story. The father goes silent, and the brothers decide, well, rage is the same thing as justice, isn't it? That's Genesis 34. And it's not ancient in the way that we wish it were. Because people are still violated. Families still fracture, leaders still go silent. The morning. Powerful people still try to turn evil into negotiation. Damage control. And angry people still tell themselves what I'm about to do is it's righteous. And somebody's got to do it. It's really revenge wearing religious clothes. This chapter is painful. It's ugly. It's disturbing. And not for nothing. It's early modern. This is 34 doesn't give us a clean easy ending because some wounds don't come clean with easy endings. But it does give us a warning. Silence is dangerous. Evil is dangerous. Rage is dangerous. And when God's people when they lose the character of God, even their anger can become destructive. So here's the question for your heart. Where has anger started making decisions that only God should make? Where has your anger been making decisions that only God should make? Seems like you might ought to think about that one. Well, first, how is the sound? Yesterday's sound was an abomination, and I am terribly sorry. We have a new computer, I told you. We stepped out on faith in God. The other one was, the other one's right over there, and it's dead. So we do what we can. Anyway, so I apologize for that sound. I thought about re-recording that, but yeah. So this is my book. This is my second book. This is true word, faith for life. True word, faith for life. And um, yes, that is one of the images that I shot on it. Um I think it's a good book. It's it's well made. It's made to last a lifetime. It's uh it'll make a difference in your life. It's in the store, true word, true wordfaithforlife.com. The store. It's written to help you stop surviving on religious fragments and and start walking in the truth of God's word with courage, clarity, and faith for real life. Now, we need to handle today's passage with care. There is sexual violence in this chapter. There's family failure in this chapter. There's revenge. And there is certainly misuse of covenant signs. And there's Dinah. Man, oh man, oh man. There's Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob. And their pain cannot be pushed into the background while everybody analyzes the actions of all the men around her. So much going on in this. What we're covering today. There is nothing easy about it. And if you've been touched by any of these things, just know I don't go lightly over this. The Bible doesn't tell us everything we wish we knew. Right? But it tells us enough. We know something evil happened. And what followed that evil didn't bring shalom. So Genesis 34, it opens by telling us, Dinah, you see it as Dinah. But Dinah went out to see the women of the land. Of course she would. Of course she would. Why wouldn't she? And you know, I gotta say, in the past, that line has been really badly handed. It's been mishandled by a lot of people reading or teaching the scripture. For a number of reasons. Don't blame Dina. Dinah. Don't blame her. The text doesn't say she sinned. We shouldn't infer that. The text doesn't say she was in any way careless. The text, the text doesn't place responsibility on her at all. She went out. And Shechem, son of Hamor the Hevite, saw her, took her, lay with her, and humiliated her. I have to spell out that word. The four-letter word starts with R and ends with E. He kidnapped her. But then you know what happened next. Some of you that's happened to. You've experienced that. And for that I'm sorry. When I was in law enforcement, I investigated those things. That's the movement of the Hebrew narrative. He saw, he took, he violated, he humiliated, and the responsibility there, every bit of it, 100% of it, belongs to him. In the ancient Near Eastern world, this wasn't only a private moral failure. It was violence, it was dishonor, social devastation, family crisis, and covenant danger. But before we push, before we push this into the ancient world and leave it here, look around. Look around. People still use power to take what isn't theirs. People still harm the vulnerable and then try to manage the consequences. People still rename violation as romance, pressure as love, and possession as affection. Genesis won't let us do that. Evil must be called evil. Then the text says, Shechem's soul was drawn to Dinah. And he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. That language can confuse modern readers. But don't let his later tenderness to her soften his earlier violence. I want you to understand that. It's very important that you don't misunderstand that. Because that language can absolutely confuse modern readers. Don't let his later tenderness soften what he did earlier. The Bible has already told us what he did. He took her. God bless you. Someone just texted me and that's watching right now and said that happened to me. She's been waiting for somebody to talk about this. First of all, may God give you shalom. By the way, welcome to Resolute Island. Law enforcement officer from New Zealand. Listening right now. He asks a great question. This is a phenomenal question. How do you think emergency service staff and military personnel should cope with duty versus faith? I wrote a whole thing on that, and uh I'd love to talk to you about it. So reach out to me through truewordfaithforlife.com slash contact and leave your information, and I'll I'll reach out to you. I'd love to talk with you about that. I've done a lot of work on that. And thank you for listening. I hope I encourage you to follow and subscribe and all the stuff. I appreciate it. Bottom line. I don't know how you found us, but I appreciate it. Look, the Bible told us what he did. We know what he did. He took her, he humiliated her. His affection doesn't erase his guilt. A person can feel attachment and positive feelings towards another person and still be guilty. A person can speak tender words and still have done real harm. A person can want marriage and still be responsible for violation. And that matters because abusers often try to rewrite the story after the damage. But I love you. I didn't mean it that way. Let's move forward. Look, let's move forward. Look, I'll make it right. I'll make it right. But tenderness after harm isn't the same as repentance. It's not teshuva. Desire after violation isn't justice. Words after damage don't undo what happened. Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. Shechem tells his father, Hemor, get me this girl for my wife. Even there, the language is possessive. Get her for me. He speaks like a man who expects access. He likes power. And he'll abuse it. Then Hemur goes to speak with Jacob. Jacob hears that Shechem has defiled Dinah. But his sons are with the livestock in the field, so Jacob holds his peace until they return, till my boys get back. That silence is heavy. It's heavy. Look, we aren't told everything that Jacob felt. We haven't been told this. But the text presents him as quiet. And as you might imagine, that silence leaves a vacuum. When righteous leadership is silent, rage often fills the room. When fathers don't speak truth, brothers may reach for swords. When authority refuses courage, wounded people may move from grief into vengeance. Silence doesn't heal evil. Silence usually gives evil more room to distort the story. He says, Shechem longs for Dinah. He proposes intermarriage. He says, make marriages with us, give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. He offers land, he offers trade, he offers dwellings, economic partnership. On the surface, it sounds very practical. But listen carefully here. Himor is trying to turn a violation into a treaty. He's trying to absorb Jacob's family into Shechem city. This isn't only about one marriage. This is about covenant identity, land, seed, household future, and assimilation. Family of Abraham, it's called for something specific. It's called to carry covenant blessings in the land under the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Press pause. I don't know where you are, don't know what you're doing. But I don't know why you go to religious channels and just try to disrupt. The sad thing about it is, first of all, it's childish behavior. Second of all, it's it's uncouth. It's just uncouth. It demonstrates who you are inside. Nothing makes it more obvious that you need the Lord. They're a different family. They're this is this is a different deal, all up in here. And all this time, all the way to and through Israel, modern day Israel. I mean, they're they're not the first family, but certainly they're, I mean, my goodness, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Excuse me. These are not just regular people. They're flawed people, they're super flawed people. And yet they are our beginning. They are our beginning. And it's wild. They're different. They're not the same as just other regular people. They're not called to dissolve into the surrounding peoples through convenience, pressure, or compromise. Hamore's offer sounds reasonable. But covenant danger often sounds reasonable.

Let's make a deal. Let's make a deal.

Let's just put this unfortunate thing. Let's don't make this bigger than it has to be. Look at all the benefits. Coming out of hand here. But no amount of land or trade or money or access can make evil clean. Shechem then offers bride price and gifts, and he says, he'll give whatever they ask. Again, payment is offered. This guy has some power, he has some wealth, he has some influence, and he really wants to make this thing go away. What will it take for him to make this go away? But money can't purchase righteousness. A settlement can't replace justice. A gift cannot erase violation. Now, I'm gonna tell you, for me personally, I can envision myself in this spot. Well, I I've dealt with people who did the R word to another person. I've hunted down and arrested. Interrogated and other things, people who've kidnapped and done that. The innocent people. I can I can put myself in this place, but I'm also a brother. And now Jacob's sons enter the story with grief and fury. Bible says they were indignant and very angry because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel. That phrase matters. An outrageous thing in Israel. This is moral outrage. Their anger has a reason. What happened to Dinah was wrong. This was done to her. It wasn't something just that happened to her. It was done to her. It was wrong. It was so wrong. We have to be clear about this. Anger at evil isn't automatically sin, by the way. A lot of times people think that I think probably our our friend from our friend from New Zealand. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe maybe that might be kind of what you're talking about. But I can tell you this. We have to work this thing out that we somehow or another we we feel like we have to have pat and pat answers for everything. Bumper sticker theology. That somehow or another we need to divorce ourselves. We have to divorce ourselves from the emotion of the thing, the response to the awful thing, and somehow or another sanitize it. There are absolutely things that should grieve us. There are things that should disturb us. There are things that should make covenant people rise up and say, This is not right before God. But righteous anger has to remain submitted to God. Because anger can begin as a response to evil and end up being evil's next weapon. I know. That sounds crazy. But I'm here to tell you. You can fly hot. In a just a second. One minute you're under control. And the next minute, Jacob's sons. They answer Hamor and Shechem deceitfully. That word is important. Deceitfully. They say they cannot give their sister into an uncircumcised man because that would be a disgrace. Then they offer a condition. They say, tell you what, if every male in your city is circumcised, they'll intermarry and become one people. Now the chapter becomes spiritually terrifying. Circumcision was the covenant sign given to Abraham. It marked the people of God's covenant promise. It was tied to belonging, obedience, identity, and the promises of God. But Simeon and Levi, they use the covenant sign as a weapon. They take something holy and they turn it into a trap. That's real. That's what happens when rage takes the throne. It can sound moral. It can sound look at you it can quote covenant categories. It can claim to defend honor, but underneath it's plotting death. They don't lead with confession. They don't say Shechem sinned. They don't do it. They sell the deal economically. They say Jacob's family is peaceful. They say the land is large enough. They say they can marry, trade, and dwell together. Then they reveal the heart of the matter. Will not their livestock and their property and all their beasts be ours? Ooh, will not their livestock, their property, and all their beasts be ours? Rutro. Rutro, there it is. There it is. Gain. Absorption. Advantage. Even their agreement to circumcision is mixed with appetite. Hey, we can get some stuff out of this. Doesn't turn out all right. They're not entering into covenant. They're trying to acquire wealth. And look, religious signs without covenant faith become empty and dangerous. Circumcision without the God of Abraham, it's just an act. It's not covenant obedience, it's a transaction. When holy signs are detached from holy allegiance, they can be nip, they can be manipulated by anybody. That's reality. On the third day, I want you to hear this now. Remember, we're talking about circumcision. On the third day, when the men of the city are sore, Simeon and Levi take their swords and kill all the males. They kill Kamor, they kill Shechem, they take Dinah out of Shechem's house, because remember he kidnapped. Then Jacob's sons plunder the city. Flocks, herds, donkeys, wealth, children, wives, everything. This isn't this isn't by any stretch measured justice. This is vengeance. This is vengeance overflowing at the banks. If I was a brother or a friend, family member. I don't know. We can't argue with a good strategy. By the way, redemption 999-25. Reach out to me through true word, faithforlife.com slash contacts. Up at the top. I'll help you. I'll help you. For real. Look, this yes, this is vengeance. And some vengeance, you know, people say, well, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. The Lord uses human beings many times to bring about the vengeance that he seeks. Shechem is a piece of dirt. He's a a scummy chump. Who did a horrible thing to Dinah. I I and I almost bet you wasn't the first time he went down that road. I don't know. I don't know his life, but I know that. What he did was horrific. And Hemor tried to negotiate around the evil. City's men, oh, there's a plan. Do we have to cut our uh, you know, and be in pain? Worth it. Look at what we're gonna get. But brothers Simeon and Levi, Dinous brothers. Simeon and Levi, they go beyond justice into slaughter and plunder. God didn't tell them to do that. I'm not saying he might not, I'm not saying he might not have done that. I'm not saying that. Give God a chance. They didn't ask God, what do you want us to do, Lord? He skipped over all of that. Good morning, Lynette. Good morning, everybody. I don't know if I said good morning to everybody. Good morning to everybody. Thank you for joining us. Some of you are joining us in the wee hours of the morning. Some of you are joining us in the evening. No matter what, we're glad to have you. Truly, if you're not a subscriber, I would love for you to click on subscribe and do the little bell for all notifications. Click on the like button. Look, when rage becomes Lord, it doesn't heal the situation. These people deserve what they got. Oh, don't get it twisted. This right here is talking to me.

When I was writing this episode, I had to stop and scratch my head and go, Lord, do you really want me to say this? I mean, I don't really want.

But this is about, this passage really tells us this is about when anger takes over, right? In my in my, I don't know if you noticed the guy driving a car. A little anachronistic on purpose. That's where we are. I'll say this once and I'll move on. I'm a person who can do a lot of damage. When rage becomes Lord, it doesn't heal the victim, doesn't help them. It just multiplies the devastation. This is where Genesis confronts us. Some people some people. And I'm in a very unique s situation in my life and my family. The timing of this is could only be God. Some people use forgiveness. This is this look, yeah, it was terrible. I I get it. We need to forgive, we need to forgive, we need to forgive. Punishment. Forgiveness. Oh Christian soldiers are supposed to be forgiving. Some people use forgiveness to silence victims. That's wrong. Some people use peace to protect abusers. Come on, Mr. Shalom. Some people use peace to protect abusers, and that is absolutely egregiously wrong. Some people use, well, we just need to move on from this. We need to move on from this to avoid truth. That's also wrong. But some people use justice language to excuse vengeance. Now look, I'm not telling you, I'm not telling you that the Lord doesn't sometimes say this needs to be handled. I'm not saying that. Because we see later in scripture, we see it, we see previously in scripture, we see later in scripture. Oh, it happens. But the Bible, it refuses both cowardice and bloodlust. Refuses it. It refuses silence that protects evil. Hello all. Thank you all to all the new folks joining us. It refuses the look, the Bible addresses both things. Don't be a coward. There's nothing worse than a coward. A lying coward. A lot of times people will come on here and they'll say stupid stuff from their mother's basement. They just type in, type into a keyboard, and that's their and a lot of damage can be done with the keyboard, trust me. Lots of cowards out there. There's a lot of bloodlust too. Scripture refuses silence that protects evil. There's no doubt about that. That's very clear. It refuses rage that becomes evil. That same scripture. Our world often gives us only two choices. Pretend it didn't happen or destroy everyone connected to it. There you have it. There you have it. That's the world gives you these two choices. You just gotta ignore the wrong or burn everything down. You gotta pretend it didn't happen or destroy everyone connected to it. But God's righteousness isn't cowardly and it's not uncontrolled. His justice is holy, his truth is clean, his judgment belongs to him. Really ready. Jacob fears the surrounding peoples will gather against him and destroy his household. There's truth in that concern. You know, my first my first tendency is to go, yeah, you're a coward. Come on, don't be a coward. There's nothing worse than a coward. Come on, Jacob, step up. But he's smart here. There's truth in that concern. His sons have created grave danger. His response still feels painfully thin. Where is Dinach in these words? Where is the victim? Where is the grief for his daughter? Where is moral clarity about Shechem's evil and his son's vengeance? Somebody. Somebody needs some somebody. Somebody step in here and breathe a little bit for me. Because I'm right here mad at Jacob. I'm straight up raging on Jacob. Oh, you know, and look here. God help the person that hurts someone important to me. God helps someone that harms the innocent. I dedicated most of my life to that. But I gotta tell you, Jacob makes me just want to put. I don't want to say it. I'm telling you, I'm still dealing with this deal. I'm still dealing with it because I'm like, where are you for your daughter, bruh? Where are you for your daughter? Where is his moral clarity about Shechem's evil and his son's vengeance? Come on. Jacob sees the danger to his family survival, but the chapter leaves us unsettled. And I don't love that. Then Simeon and Levi answer him. Should he treat our sister like a prostitute? Man, oh man. That final line is raw. They're not wrong to reject Dina being treated as disposable. That's her sister. That's their sister. They're his they're her brothers. Come on, Jacob. Come on. They're not wrong to say she cannot be treated like some sort of object. But being right about the wound doesn't make them right about or right in their response, what they did. And this is the tension, right? I feel the tension. I'm feeling it right now. Maybe you are too. Maybe you've been the victim in the story, and some, as we see, have been the perpetrator. That's the tension. That's the tension here. It's rough. They name a real evil. Then they commit real evil. The book of Genesis leaves the wound open. This chapter doesn't resolve the story neatly. I wish it did. But it doesn't. I wasn't in charge. Good thing, because the Bible wouldn't be perfect. This chapter doesn't resolve neatly in Scripture because some stories don't resolve neatly. Some families carry consequences for generations. Later in Genesis 49, Jacob remembers Simeon and Levi's violence. He says their anger was fierce and their wrath was cruel. So Genesis 34 isn't forgotten. The Bible keeps moral memory and that matters. God doesn't lose the file, doesn't become gone. He doesn't misplace the tears. It says it keeps the count of our sorrows. It keeps our tears in the bottom. God doesn't ignore thing. God doesn't drag them off. God doesn't endorse thing and leave on it. It's under string. God doesn't pretend Jacob's household is healthy or perfect. It's not. That's why we can believe Scripture. Man, oh man, if it was fake, it would be so sanitized. I'm so thankful for the word. People don't die for a lie, my friends. People don't die for a lie. Would you? The Covenant Family is being carried by mercy, but mercy doesn't mean dysfunction is harmless. Can anyone out there testify? So, you're a real person living in the real world. Dealing with the hard things. What does Genesis 34 say to you? Says evil has got to be named. Victims cannot be blamed. Power cannot be allowed to rename violation. As affection silence can absolutely create a space for rage. Jacob was silent. Can you imagine how Dinah felt? Dad. Papa, why? Why are you saying nothing? Why are you doing nothing? Your daughter. But anger at evil can become evil itself if it's not surrendered to God. Covenant signs they must never be weaponized. Justice without holiness becomes vengeance. And there's a big difference between the two, but that big difference is also rather thin. God's people, we can't confuse fury with faithfulness. Some of you are carrying wounds, real, real wounds. Things people did to you. Things people said to you. Things people covered up. Things people minimized. Things people spiritualized. And maybe maybe hey, look, maybe maybe anger helped you finally admit, well, that was wrong. It was wrong. What happened there was wrong. I get it. I do. There can be mercy in finally telling the truth, but anger cannot heal you. Anger can absolutely alert you. Anger can show you something is wrong, but anger cannot become your shepherd. If anger leads your life, it will eventually ask you to sacrifice your peace, your shalom, your wisdom, your relationship, your witness, and maybe even your soul. And this points us to Yeshua. Because Yeshua never minimizes evil. Jesus never minimizes evil. He never protects abusers. He never treats the wounded as disposable. He sees the violated. He hears the silenced. He confronts hypocrisy. He carries perfect justice and perfect mercy without contradiction. And at the cross, we see how serious sin is. At the cross, we see God doesn't wave sin away. Sin is judged. But we also see how deep mercy is. For owning it. But hurts, habits, and hang-up, sinners can be forgiven. The wounded can be seen, the guilty can repent. The broken can be made new, and vengeance doesn't have to own the future because the judgment belongs to God. Yeshua doesn't invite us into denial. He doesn't. He invites us into deliverance. Not fake peace. Not keeping the peace. Not cheap forgiveness. Not rage dressed up as righteousness. True shalom. Truth with holiness. Justice under God. Yeshua teaches us mercy without compromise. Here's your challenge and your choice here. Here are your questions. Where have you confused silence with peace? There's some of you out there who played the role of the father who stood silent. You were silent. You were strategic first. Some of you are angst-ridden. You can't forgive yourself for that. Turn it around. Turn it around. Confess it. Repent of it, Teshuva. And be healed in the name of the Lord. Where have you confused silence with peace? I'm just keeping the peace. I know all about that. My family did that. Well, keep the peace. My mother was a diplomat. God bless her. God rest her sweet soul. She was a diplomat. She tried to run the role of diplomacy in the home. And all around her. Keep the peace. Sometimes silence isn't peace. Sometimes silence is just simply not peace. Where have you confused rage with justice? Anybody? Hi, Miss Sharon. Good to see ya. Good lands we've missed you. Hope you're feeling well. Where have you confused rage with justice? Where have you confused? I'm gonna handle this. I'm gonna handle this. This needs to be handled. I'm gonna handle it. Because that's the just thing to do. Somebody's gotta do it. Where have you let anger make choices your healed self you would have never made? And sometimes those choices, sometimes those choices have consequences. Look, some things we have to repent for in their years after. Where have you used spiritual language to justify something God would not have blessed and wouldn't bless? But you dress it up in spiritual language, they'll hold you. Where do you need to bring a real wound into the presence of God who sees, judges, heals, and restores? That may be. That may be you. You may be the wounded one. And you may be the one who was doing the wounding. Bring it into the presence of God. He is the one who sees, judges, heals, and restores. Now, you have a choice. Of course, you have a choice. We have free will. You can pretend nothing happened. Absolutely, it's a strategy. It's not a good one, but it's a strategy. I'm not saying any of this is easy. You can pretend nothing happened, or you can tell the truth before God. You can let rage become your master. Or you can submit your anger to the righteous judge. Look, I've seen comments here of people confessing, look, I'm I'm I'm ruled by rage. I have such anger. I'm ruled by it. Take it to God. Submit your anger to the righteous judge. Own the consequences. Be accountable. And change. You can seek revenge, sure, you could. And you can call it justice. Brother, I'm going to address this right now. I'm going to pause this just for a second. I want to address Redemption 999-25. I remember when my mother told me she wishes I was dead in her stomach. My father is an abuser. Hurting people hurt people. I cannot in any way, shape, or form. I cannot at all say that somehow or another there's there's some justice or reason in any of those things. Your mother saying that to you so utterly and completely cut it. You can seek revenge and you can call it justice. Or you can seek holiness, wisdom, protection, and truth. You can seek obedience. We don't love it. We don't love that word. The postmodern Western Evangelical Church, we don't love it. In this postmodern world, we don't love obedience. My friend, you can let wounded, you can let your woundedness define you. Or you could let what wounded you shape you into his image. Look, you could. Or you could. You could do it. You can do it. This is not impossible. You can let what wounded you shape you into his image. You can let God make you whole without making you cruel. Look, don't protect evil. Don't excuse violence. Don't weaponize holy things. Don't hand your future to anger. Bring the wound to God. Bring it to God once and for all. Take it to the foot of the cross. And on your knees. And we don't love that. We don't love that. No, no, no. There's something special about getting on your knees before God. At the foot of the cross and saying, God, I've done this wrong. I've done this wrong. I can't make excuses. Tell the truth to God. He knows the truth. He is the truth. Seek wise help. Seek wise counsel. Protect the vulnerable. Pursue justice with clean hands and let Yeshua heal what vengeance never could. And maybe this is where salvation becomes personal today for you. You've been running from it. You've been running from it. You say God would never forgive me. He would never forgive me. As bad and awful as I am. He would never forgive me. Trust me when I tell you, if he would forgive and redeem me, he will forgive and redeem you. Because sin isn't only now in the violent person, the manipulator, or the abuser. Sin is also in the rage that wants to rule us. Sin is in the silence that protects our comfort. Sin is in the deceit that we excuse because we think our cause is right. Sin is in the revenge that we secretly enjoy. Sin is the refusal to surrender judgment to God. And every one of us needs mercy. Every one of us. I don't care how fancy your dressed-up language is. Every one of us needs mercy. Every one of us needs cleansing. Every one of us needs Yeshua. He came to save sinners. Like you. And like me. He came to heal the brokenhearted like you. And like me. He came to bring justice, mercy, forgiveness, and new life. And if you know today that you need to come home to the Father, not with excuses, not with performance. Look, you could take the excuses that you've been layering around you, no matter how good they sound, no, no matter how true they may be, put them away. You don't need them anymore. Come home to the Father. You don't need the fancy performance. You don't. You don't need it. You may be good at sounding good. You don't need that anymore. Come to the Father, not with rage in the driver's seat, but with honest surrender. This is your moment. This is your moment. Don't ignore it. I get it. I get it. This is the last thing in the world you want to do is surrender. But this is your moment. And you may not get another. Prayer is not asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. And you who I'm talking to, pray this prayer and mean it. Father, I know that I have sinned, and I am in need of your mercy. I believe Jesus died for me, was buried, and rose again, and today I turn my sin. I turn away from it. I turn from my sin, my wounds, my anger, my excuses, and my attempts to rule my own life. I place my trust in Yeshua. As my Lord and my King, forgive me. Make me new and fill me with your spirit. From this day forward, I want to follow you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Your story just changed. Your story just changed. If you prayed that prayer and you meant it, I want to welcome you into the family of God. We are for now dysfunctional. But one day, maybe today, we will be made perfect and whole in the presence of the King. Today you made the most important decision you will ever make in your existence. And many parts of it are scary. Many parts of it you just go, I I don't have all the answers here. I don't have all the answers either. And I've got decades of study. I've got doctorates on the wall and in boxes. I I I don't know all the answers. But I can tell you this I can walk the road with you as I've helped. Countless people. I'd help you. I'd be honored to do it. Doesn't cost you anything but time. Reach out to me through true word, faithforlife.com slash contact. Somebody sent an ignorant message. They said, Well, you must get paid every time somebody clicks on your website. I give the website so often because it's a resource that's free and it's powerful. I spend hours and hours and hours working on it, writing, giving you things, giving you things. It's a repository of quite honestly blessings. I promise you this, I will help you. I will personally connect with you and I'll help guide you in the next steps. Whether that's understanding the Bible better, more deeply, more accurately, finding a community of believers or growing in your faith day by day, you are not alone. All you need to do is ask. My friends, tomorrow is a big day. You don't want to miss it. But I want to tell you this as we go: evil must be named. The wounded must be seen. The vulnerable must be protected. But anger must not become Lord. Don't let your pain that either you suffered or that you caused make you cruel. Don't let rage steal your worship, no matter how righteous that rage may be. Don't let vengeance wear the clothing of righteousness. The God of Israel sees. The God of Israel judges. The God of Israel heals. And in Yeshua, He can make wounded people whole without making them hard. And maybe that's you. If this message touched you, why wouldn't you share it? Share the link, post it on your social media, I don't care, whatever you do. Why would you keep it quiet? There are a lot of people that need to hear it. Until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Shalom Bisham Yeshua. Shalom Bishalom.