00:06A strange and awesome way to live.
00:09Hope isn't the only thing that freaks people out in a wonderful way.
00:13The entire way of life that Jesus gave us is so counter-cultural
00:18and not just counter to our culture either.
00:21I mean, seriously, who loves their enemies, for real?
00:25The Sermon on the Mount is profoundly freeing in a thousand ways,
00:28but even beyond that, it's also a way of life that leaves people wondering,
00:34can I really do that? Is that allowed?
00:37Can we truly forgive people? Leave without fear?
00:41Not worry about anything? Not live in anger?
00:44Give people more than they ask for?
00:47If forced to go one mile, go an extra one?
00:50Turn the other cheek if someone hits you in the face?
00:53This is a strange and awesome way to live.
00:56I say we try it. So did Brennan Manning.
01:00If indeed we lived a life in imitation of his, our witness would be irresistible.
01:06If we dared to live beyond our self-concern.
01:09If we refused to shrink from being vulnerable.
01:13If we took nothing but a compassionate attitude toward the world.
01:17If we were a counterculture to our nation's lunatic lust for pride of place, power, and possessions,
01:24if we preferred to be faithful rather than successful, the walls of indifference to Jesus Christ would crumble.
01:30A handful of us could be ignored by society.
01:34But hundreds, thousands, millions of such servants would overwhelm the world.
01:39Christians filled with the authenticity, commitment, and generosity of Jesus would be the most spectacular sign in the history of
01:47the human race.
01:48The call of Jesus is revolutionary.
01:51If we implemented it, we would change the world in a few months.
01:56We can do this, you know.
01:57It's not impossible to learn to follow Jesus.
02:01We can love our enemies.
02:03We can learn how to forgive people and live without anger.
02:07We can learn more and more how to trust God day to day.
02:10These are doable things, and they are things that make life more joyful.
02:15Peace is at hand, the inner kind that everyone is looking for.
