WEBVTT 00:00:01.269 --> 00:00:03.950 Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton, 00:00:04.129 --> 00:00:07.269 the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship, 00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:10.769 Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, 00:00:10.990 --> 00:00:14.150 where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:17.929 here. I'd like to invite everybody to join me 00:00:17.929 --> 00:00:21.769 in reciting the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who 00:00:21.769 --> 00:00:24.829 art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom 00:00:24.829 --> 00:00:27.510 come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in 00:00:27.510 --> 00:00:30.420 heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:32.600 forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:35.479 who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:38.659 but deliver us from evil. For thine is the power, 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:41.820 the kingdom, the glory forever and ever. Amen. 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.219 All right. Well, good morning, church. Last week, 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:48.479 obviously, as most of you know, especially out 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:52.399 there online, I was not here. We had our lovely 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:56.369 intern Brian over here filling in for me. Pastor 00:00:56.369 --> 00:00:57.810 Mike over here holding down the fort, making 00:00:57.810 --> 00:00:59.929 sure he didn't do anything too outrageous. It's 00:00:59.929 --> 00:01:03.390 always great. This week, it's a little thin in 00:01:03.390 --> 00:01:05.269 here, so hopefully we get some more people kind 00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:06.930 of trickling in as we go, but that's okay because 00:01:06.930 --> 00:01:10.909 we're going to go either way. Last weekend, for 00:01:10.909 --> 00:01:14.269 those of you who don't know, I was on a motorcycle 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:19.400 ride raising money for a cancer charity. Every 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:22.459 year with the American Legion Riders, for the 00:01:22.459 --> 00:01:25.079 last three years, we've done this run. It gets 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:26.959 bigger and bigger every year. It's a lot of fun. 00:01:27.459 --> 00:01:30.000 We had a lot of people come out, people from 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.500 different groups, MCs, the whole bit. It was 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:36.200 absolutely wonderful. We could not have asked 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:39.459 for a better day. And the sky was gorgeous. The 00:01:39.459 --> 00:01:42.000 temperatures were wonderful. The fellowship was 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.620 on point. You know, having the opportunity to 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:46.459 go out and pray with people, especially people 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:48.939 who don't usually go to church on Sundays, was 00:01:48.939 --> 00:01:51.519 great. Because I get to put on my chaplain hat. 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:54.920 I love doing that. Right? It's a good time for 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:56.840 me. My wife will tell you, I get out there. I 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.840 look like a little kid. I get excited. Right? 00:02:01.299 --> 00:02:03.659 However, I'd be remiss with everything that's 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:08.080 been going on the last couple weeks or so. Unfortunately, 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:09.659 there was a little bit of a cloud over everything. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.139 You know, and, you know, it started a few weeks 00:02:16.139 --> 00:02:20.340 ago, right? It started with that girl, Irina 00:02:20.340 --> 00:02:23.900 Zaruska, got stabbed on that train in North Carolina. 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:28.620 Charlie Kirk being murdered in front of his family. 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:32.300 The same day, another shooting at a high school 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:35.879 just a few hours north of us up in Denver, right? 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:39.840 Five police officers back in Pennsylvania ambushed 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.259 and shot. Three killed, two still in critical 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:47.300 condition. And that doesn't even include what 00:02:47.300 --> 00:02:48.939 we've seen here in Albuquerque in the last few 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:50.860 weeks. The last few weeks here in Albuquerque 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:54.020 have been especially brutal. We've had so many 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:56.099 shootings. We had a guy running from the state 00:02:56.099 --> 00:02:58.460 police and shut down the freeway as he ran all 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:00.280 the way across every lane of traffic, got hit 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:02.300 and killed by another car because he didn't want 00:03:02.300 --> 00:03:07.050 to get taken in. I think last night I saw another 00:03:07.050 --> 00:03:09.250 shooting on there, or maybe it was another update 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:11.830 that I saw on the news. It's hard to keep track 00:03:11.830 --> 00:03:15.689 of. It's really hard to keep track of, you know? 00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:19.990 And especially with Charlie Kirk. He's a man 00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:22.050 with a lot of passion, right? He was on fire 00:03:22.050 --> 00:03:25.310 for the Lord, as we all should be, right? A lot 00:03:25.310 --> 00:03:27.090 of us, we ask, how can I answer the Great Commission? 00:03:27.289 --> 00:03:29.729 He found his how, and he went for it. Whether 00:03:29.729 --> 00:03:32.610 or not you agreed with everything he said, whether 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:34.349 or not you agreed with all of his politics, it's 00:03:34.349 --> 00:03:37.150 beside the point. He went out there in faith, 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:42.530 and he did it the right way. He said, let's talk. 00:03:44.650 --> 00:03:47.069 And really after this, you know, social media 00:03:47.069 --> 00:03:50.000 blew up. The news blew up. I myself was sitting 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.259 there and I was wondering, should I even say 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:52.680 anything? Should I address this? Should I hop 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:54.960 on right away and do like a little thing? You 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:57.780 know, and of course, then it came to my sense. 00:03:57.800 --> 00:03:59.319 It's like, you know what? Let me pray on this 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.460 because that's how we should be. We should all 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:04.280 be prayerful. We should start in prayer. We should 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.020 put the Lord first and foremost. And when I did 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:10.500 that, suddenly I saw my viewpoint changed. And 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:13.740 it was no longer, should I? It was, yes, you 00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:16.379 are, but you're not going to focus on just one 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:19.750 person because you shouldn't. We have a lot of 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:22.769 violence, as I just told you. Just here in our 00:04:22.769 --> 00:04:27.550 hometown, even. So among Charlie and others, 00:04:27.790 --> 00:04:30.589 that's kind of our focus. And really, I'm going 00:04:30.589 --> 00:04:33.949 to pick up a little bit off of something I said 00:04:33.949 --> 00:04:39.730 a couple weeks ago. It's not a problem of, I 00:04:39.730 --> 00:04:42.610 need to change this, or I need to change that. 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:45.930 It's not an issue of... Oh, I need to get right 00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:48.110 with God first. I need to get right with Jesus 00:04:48.110 --> 00:04:53.470 first. It's a problem of heart. It's a huge problem 00:04:53.470 --> 00:04:59.550 of heart. So as we get started here, I'm going 00:04:59.550 --> 00:05:01.370 to ask everybody to open their Bibles, and we're 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:07.029 going to go to Mark 12, verse 34. So Mark 12, 00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:15.970 verse 34. And Jesus said, Brood of vipers, how 00:05:15.970 --> 00:05:18.949 can you, being evil, speak good things? For out 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:21.990 of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:05:23.470 --> 00:05:26.370 Jesus is reminding us that the things we say 00:05:26.370 --> 00:05:31.449 and the things we do are all a reflection of 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:36.589 what's in here, right? What's in our heart. It's 00:05:36.589 --> 00:05:40.129 how the cancer of sin perpetuates our lives in 00:05:40.129 --> 00:05:44.379 the world. It's impacted our earthly hearts. 00:05:44.899 --> 00:05:47.279 Unfortunately, we're surrounded by it, are we 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:53.279 not? We cannot solve a problem of heart by saying, 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:56.579 oh, I cuss a lot. I need to clean up my speech. 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:03.560 I need to work on that, right? We cannot solve 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:06.439 the other biases that we have with the things 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:08.639 that we say and the things that we do, whether 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:11.399 it's towards our homeless or others. Right? That's 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:14.560 what the PC movement tried to do. Like, oh, don't 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:19.680 say that. That's offensive. It's not just a matter 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.459 of cleaning things up. You know, I'm going to 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:23.959 remind you, some of you might have heard this. 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:27.939 I know my fellow nerd over here has. It's a computer 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:33.339 concept term, Geigo. Garbage in, garbage out. 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:35.939 Yeah. He already knew where I was going. Garbage 00:06:35.939 --> 00:06:41.060 in, garbage out. You know, it's a concept of 00:06:41.060 --> 00:06:44.779 flawed, biased, and poor information going in. 00:06:45.860 --> 00:06:48.240 And then on the backside, garbage comes out. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:53.459 Right? And the more garbage we have entering 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:55.819 us, the more garbage we have coming out of us. 00:06:56.899 --> 00:07:00.100 That's unfortunately how it works. Our spiritual 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:06.439 lives are no different. Just like, let me put 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:08.579 it this way before I even go there. Our physical 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:11.759 lives, here, the more garbage we eat, the more 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:15.920 we eat out, the more junk food we put in, the 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:19.300 less space we have for those healthy things, 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:24.079 right? Now, some of us are like, I don't want 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.480 to eat a salad. Rabbits eat that. I eat the rabbit. 00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:30.040 Come here, bugs. Pow. No, I want to be Elmer 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:34.839 Fudd, right? But it's true. The more garbage 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:38.680 we eat, the more garbage comes out of us. We 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:40.300 go out. We eat a bunch of junk food. What happens? 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:44.579 We get fat. I don't know about you. I don't like 00:07:44.579 --> 00:07:46.899 to run. If you see me running, you probably should 00:07:46.899 --> 00:07:52.680 be too. Right? I'm not alone on this. Good. But 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.180 that's how it works. And our spiritual lives 00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:58.339 are no different. The more of the world that 00:07:58.339 --> 00:08:01.660 we allow into our lives and into our hearts, 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:04.060 the more worldly things that we get caught up 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.540 in. the more worldly things we're going to turn 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:09.040 to, the more worldly things we're going to do, 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:12.699 the less room there is for God in our lives. 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:15.540 Because all of a sudden, we have time to go out 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:19.759 and do all this other stuff, but we don't have 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.420 time for the most important thing in our lives. 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:27.519 We don't make time for Jesus anymore. Garbage 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:34.120 in, garbage out, right? You know, the more godly 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:37.360 things that we take in, the more godly things 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.360 come into our lives, the more godly we react, 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:45.879 the more Christ -like we become. A part of that 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:49.259 is we have to ask this Holy Spirit to guide our 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:53.279 lives, to help us to develop those new attitudes, 00:08:53.659 --> 00:08:59.430 those new motivations in our lives, right? To 00:08:59.430 --> 00:09:02.289 help us to gain that knowledge and that understanding 00:09:02.289 --> 00:09:04.909 and how it applies to our lives and how we can 00:09:04.909 --> 00:09:07.629 go out and share it with others. Because that 00:09:07.629 --> 00:09:10.090 in itself is a gift. And we are called to share 00:09:10.090 --> 00:09:12.409 our gifts. We don't get to be selfish and just 00:09:12.409 --> 00:09:14.629 hoard them to ourselves. We need to share them. 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:17.190 How else do other people come who don't know 00:09:17.190 --> 00:09:19.009 of Jesus? Because the only thing that they see 00:09:19.009 --> 00:09:21.730 of the Bible is you and how you live your life. 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:24.529 How you interact with them. How you talk to them. 00:09:24.610 --> 00:09:27.129 What you share with them. And when they start 00:09:27.129 --> 00:09:29.200 seeing, hey. There's something about this guy. 00:09:29.299 --> 00:09:32.860 They're a little different. Guess what? Now they're 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:34.379 going to be like, I want to find out what that's 00:09:34.379 --> 00:09:36.120 all about. He talks about Jesus a whole lot. 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:38.139 I want to hear about Jesus. I want to know this 00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:41.720 guy. You've made the introduction. Guess what? 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:44.559 Just like Charlie Kirk, you started to do your 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.320 part to answer the Great Commission. And as Christians, 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:49.940 we are all called to answer the Great Commission. 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:54.179 When we do all this stuff, we start to see. All 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:56.100 this ugliness, all these worldly things that 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:01.220 are in our hearts get purged and cleaned. Now 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:02.720 a couple weeks ago, as a matter of fact, we just 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:07.559 had a whole series talking about words and context. 00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:10.419 And part of that was talking about words do have 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:14.000 power, right? But you know what has more power? 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:19.600 How we choose to react to those words. How we 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:22.860 answer those words. The actions that we take. 00:10:23.389 --> 00:10:26.370 and whether or not those actions are worldly 00:10:26.370 --> 00:10:36.490 or godly. Turning to Mark 12, verses 29 through 00:10:36.490 --> 00:10:49.990 31. So Mark 12, verses 29 through 31. Jesus said... 00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:53.950 The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O 00:10:53.950 --> 00:10:57.389 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And 00:10:57.389 --> 00:11:00.250 you shall love the Lord your God with all your 00:11:00.250 --> 00:11:02.769 heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, 00:11:02.850 --> 00:11:06.509 and with all your strength. This is the first 00:11:06.509 --> 00:11:10.710 commandment. And the second, like it, is this. 00:11:10.909 --> 00:11:14.370 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:23.309 is no other commandment greater than these. First 00:11:23.309 --> 00:11:25.929 of all, we're to love God first. Above all else, 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:28.710 right? Before even ourselves, our family, our 00:11:28.710 --> 00:11:34.269 friends, anybody. God first. You start with God, 00:11:34.409 --> 00:11:36.169 you're on a good track. You're off to a great 00:11:36.169 --> 00:11:39.309 start, right? It's the best way to start. Every 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:43.230 day we should be doing that. But the second, 00:11:43.509 --> 00:11:48.230 to love your neighbor. Your neighbor, everybody. 00:11:48.450 --> 00:11:52.330 Love everybody. No ifs, no ands, no buts about 00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:58.389 it. Love everybody. Don't be a jerk. Plain and 00:11:58.389 --> 00:12:02.110 simple, right? Now, with that said, we're not 00:12:02.110 --> 00:12:05.029 to be doormats. Absolutely not. The word goes 00:12:05.029 --> 00:12:07.149 on to talk about this too. We should know where 00:12:07.149 --> 00:12:09.090 the line is drawn and where we need to cut ourselves 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:10.870 off. Like, okay, you know what? I'm going to 00:12:10.870 --> 00:12:13.929 pray for you. But that's it, right? Don't cast 00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:17.950 your pearls before a swine. So we're not to be 00:12:17.950 --> 00:12:21.769 doormats. However, we also need to keep in mind. 00:12:22.429 --> 00:12:24.470 This is not an opportunity when somebody starts 00:12:24.470 --> 00:12:26.649 getting in our face or somebody starts getting 00:12:26.649 --> 00:12:29.250 mouthy. This is not an opportunity for us to 00:12:29.250 --> 00:12:31.509 kind of beat our chest a little bit and be a 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:34.269 jerk ourselves, right? Start pounding our views 00:12:34.269 --> 00:12:36.730 down their throats. Nobody likes that. Nobody 00:12:36.730 --> 00:12:43.929 appreciates that. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier 00:12:43.929 --> 00:12:46.730 to put people down than it is to build them up, 00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:51.529 isn't it? And we like to look at opportunities 00:12:51.529 --> 00:12:53.889 to put other people down as an opportunity to 00:12:53.889 --> 00:12:57.090 build ourself up. And that's not the Christ -like 00:12:57.090 --> 00:12:59.490 thing to do. That is not the Christian -like 00:12:59.490 --> 00:13:01.470 thing to do. That is not the loving thing to 00:13:01.470 --> 00:13:04.889 do. When we do that, we actually violate this 00:13:04.889 --> 00:13:06.629 commandment. When we violate this commandment, 00:13:06.629 --> 00:13:08.590 we're turning on God. So guess what? We're violating 00:13:08.590 --> 00:13:10.970 the two biggest commandments right then and there 00:13:10.970 --> 00:13:17.129 on the spot. If you're unloving, like I said, 00:13:17.210 --> 00:13:19.450 by proxy, you're turning on God. You're turning 00:13:19.450 --> 00:13:24.450 away. Nobody likes to hear that. That one kind 00:13:24.450 --> 00:13:26.909 of stings a little bit, doesn't it? We've all 00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:28.629 turned and we've all been a jerk at some point. 00:13:33.509 --> 00:13:36.269 Just the last couple weeks, I've seen good godly 00:13:36.269 --> 00:13:39.850 men lose their temper and go flying off the handle. 00:13:42.389 --> 00:13:47.330 It's not a pretty thing to see. I've seen it 00:13:47.330 --> 00:13:52.450 online. I've seen it in person. Unfortunately, 00:13:52.570 --> 00:13:56.549 that's our tempers. It's a temptation of sin. 00:13:56.629 --> 00:13:58.250 We don't even see the temptation. We just grab 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:04.990 onto it and run. Before I go down any other rabbit 00:14:04.990 --> 00:14:07.070 trails, though, let's get back on track. Let's 00:14:07.070 --> 00:14:09.429 turn to Matthew 25, verse 40. I know I'm kind 00:14:09.429 --> 00:14:11.269 of throwing a lot out this week. It's not my 00:14:11.269 --> 00:14:14.330 usual verse by verse, but that's okay, right? 00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:17.720 Because it's an important topic. So Matthew 25, 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:24.980 verse 40. Jesus says, and the king will answer 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:29.019 and say to them, assuredly I say in as much as 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:31.440 you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:36.940 you did it to me. How we treat others, how we 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:41.220 talk to others, reflects our relationship with 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:47.850 Jesus. It reflects our spiritual maturity. And 00:14:47.850 --> 00:14:50.409 how devoted we are to actually following God 00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:52.610 and the things he set before us. The things that 00:14:52.610 --> 00:14:58.629 he's placed right here in the Bible. So we have 00:14:58.629 --> 00:15:02.450 to ask ourselves, the words that we speak, the 00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:07.509 actions that we take, do they glorify God? I 00:15:07.509 --> 00:15:10.330 think all of us in this room can agree, not always. 00:15:12.429 --> 00:15:15.409 We all misstep. We all fall short of the glory, 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:21.470 right? It happens. But, you know, there's something 00:15:21.470 --> 00:15:26.009 very, very wrong about a society that has become 00:15:26.009 --> 00:15:30.570 so numb to violence. We see it on the news. We 00:15:30.570 --> 00:15:32.690 see assassinations like Charlie Kirk just the 00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:35.929 other day. And we're numb to it. It's just another 00:15:35.929 --> 00:15:39.470 day. Oh, look, someone got shot. Oh, a celebrity 00:15:39.470 --> 00:15:46.269 got shot this time. Hmm. Where's the outrage? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:54.299 Where's the reaction? What is the reaction? Ah, 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:04.220 now there's the big one. You know, people, they 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:07.259 hear things that they don't like. And all of 00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:08.700 a sudden to them, as far as they're concerned, 00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:13.039 those words are violence. Are they though? No. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.500 You can say, hey, don't touch that. You're going 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.940 to get burned. Why are you being so violent? 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:25.039 Why do you hate me? It's not violence. That's 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.039 actually love. You're looking out saying, hey, 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.879 you're going to get hurt. Don't do that. But 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:35.440 that's how petty people have become. That words 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.440 hurt their feelings and therefore because you're 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:39.860 saying something they don't want to hear, they 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:45.059 think it's violence. It's not. Just because somebody 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:46.879 doesn't agree with you or says something you 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:50.889 don't like, Come on, let's be real. Are we going 00:16:50.889 --> 00:16:54.210 to agree with everybody 100 % of the time? We 00:16:54.210 --> 00:16:57.029 can't even agree with our families or our friends 00:16:57.029 --> 00:17:01.549 100 % of the time. You know? I'm going to pick 00:17:01.549 --> 00:17:04.349 on my mom for a second here. She can do something 00:17:04.349 --> 00:17:09.109 and be like, are you kidding me, mom? No. Right? 00:17:10.609 --> 00:17:14.150 Or vice versa. I can do something. She's like, 00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:18.480 we've all heard. First name, middle name, last 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:25.140 name, right? It happens. Come on, I'm middle 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:29.940 -aged now, and it still happens. It's going to 00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:32.000 happen. I'll miss the day it doesn't, right? 00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:37.599 But is it violence when that happens? No. That's 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:41.099 life. That's a relationship. So the question 00:17:41.099 --> 00:17:46.940 instead comes, as Christians, Do you love Jesus 00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:51.180 more or yourself? Do you want to follow Satan 00:17:51.180 --> 00:17:52.940 and his ministers and the ways of the world? 00:17:53.339 --> 00:17:57.119 Or do you want to follow God who set forth what 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:01.279 we should do in the Bible? Because whether we 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:03.460 like it or not, his word is what's best for us, 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:06.680 right? We don't like it because it goes against 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:08.500 the way we want to live, against the way, the 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:11.539 things that we want to do. You know, do we want 00:18:11.539 --> 00:18:14.579 to serve Jesus who says love others? I love other 00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:16.299 people the way you want to be. I mean, think 00:18:16.299 --> 00:18:18.059 about it. When that commandment was put out, 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:20.079 that is the basis for the golden rule, is it 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.440 not? Treat others as you want to be treated yourself. 00:18:23.099 --> 00:18:26.240 Love others as you want to be loved. I don't 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:27.720 know about you. I don't want to be treated like 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:32.680 a jerk. It's the same thing. Or do we want to 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:35.000 serve Satan and his ministers who say, you know 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:38.039 what? Love yourself. You got to put yourself 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:40.680 first. Don't worry about them. They'll take care 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:46.119 of themselves too. Hmm. Because that's really 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:56.000 what's happening. All right. And we're going 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:01.240 to turn to Romans chapter 14 now. I said it's 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:03.259 a little unusual. I'm more of a verse -by -verse 00:19:03.259 --> 00:19:08.500 guy, you know, but that's okay. I feel a little 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:10.220 offbeat with this one too, but it's an important 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:13.359 topic we need to talk about. So Romans 14, verses 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:44.140 1 through 3. The word says, We all have weaknesses. 00:19:44.859 --> 00:19:46.799 We all have areas in our life that we're weak. 00:19:46.859 --> 00:19:50.440 We all have areas in our faith that are weak. 00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:53.660 You want to know where you're strong? It's real 00:19:53.660 --> 00:19:56.380 easy. You go out and you talk to people who are 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:58.660 buried in their sin. You're not tempted to fall 00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:02.960 in with them. You're not tempted to give in to 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:05.559 their sin or to tell them, hey, that's okay. 00:20:07.619 --> 00:20:11.039 Guess what? You're strong. The second you're 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:12.640 sitting there, though, and you're like, you know 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:15.160 what? Maybe it's not going to be that. I'll give 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:18.059 it a try. Or you know what? It's okay. It's going 00:20:18.059 --> 00:20:21.940 to take time, right? Or you help them to find 00:20:21.940 --> 00:20:26.700 a reason to give in to whatever garbage excuses 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:29.000 that they have for their sin, right? Whatever 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:34.759 their fantasy is. It's like, oh, you were born 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:37.740 a boy, but you want to say you're a girl. No, 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:44.240 you're a boy. I have a real hard time with that. 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:47.220 I'm not one who wants to say, oh, you want to 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:49.160 say you're a girl? Okay, you're a girl. No, you're 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:56.039 a boy. Plain and simple and vice versa. So I 00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:59.920 know that's a place where I'm strong. But these 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.019 days, that's a place where a lot of people are 00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:05.960 really weak. Oh, what are your pronouns? Doesn't 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:08.220 matter. I'm not going to say them. That's what 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:11.920 we should be saying. But we don't want to hurt 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:14.960 anybody's feelings. We want to validate everybody, 00:21:15.299 --> 00:21:19.019 regardless of what the reason is. And we don't 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:21.380 stop to think, hey, that goes against what God 00:21:21.380 --> 00:21:24.240 is telling us. So we're validating sin. Guess 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:27.339 what? We are now just as guilty of the sin as 00:21:27.339 --> 00:21:35.900 the sinner. We're just as guilty. You're an alcoholic. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:38.279 You know what? I'm going to go and have a beer 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:41.400 with you. You just encouraged them to have another 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:46.160 beer. What are you doing? Right? You're just 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:51.180 as guilty. You're encouraging the sin. Instead 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:53.579 of saying, hey, can I pray for you? Hey, what 00:21:53.579 --> 00:21:55.440 help do you need? Maybe I can help you find it. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:22:00.660 Maybe I know a guy. We're too busy trying to 00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:03.240 be the nice guy. We see a lot of parents like 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:06.579 that now, right? They want to be, wow, they're 00:22:06.579 --> 00:22:08.339 just rocking out there, aren't they? That's cool. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:11.140 Good for them. But we see a lot of parents like 00:22:11.140 --> 00:22:13.019 that, though, don't we? They want to be their 00:22:13.019 --> 00:22:18.019 kid's best friend as opposed to a parent. You 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:19.400 really want to see where this comes into place? 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:22.480 You wait for that kid to do something and that 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:24.940 principal to have to call their parent and see 00:22:24.940 --> 00:22:28.880 how that kid reacts. As a teacher or a bus driver 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.740 or a counselor or whatever, and you talk to that 00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:34.900 kid, you see how they respond to you. That tells 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:36.460 you whether or not they have a parent at home 00:22:36.460 --> 00:22:43.509 or a friend. You know, my son, BJ, most of you 00:22:43.509 --> 00:22:49.410 have met. He was, what, sixth grade, seventh 00:22:49.410 --> 00:22:51.849 grade? I think he was sixth grade. There was 00:22:51.849 --> 00:22:55.049 a bully in his school who was picking on one 00:22:55.049 --> 00:22:58.609 of the younger girls, shoving her, calling her 00:22:58.609 --> 00:23:03.670 names, right? This is an eighth grader. Now, 00:23:03.690 --> 00:23:05.049 for those of you who don't know BJ, because I 00:23:05.049 --> 00:23:07.420 know you all don't know my son. He's always been 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:09.200 a big dude. He's always been the big guy in his 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:10.680 class. You look at him and you think he's a little 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:15.779 older than he is. He told the guy to stop. The 00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:16.779 guy's like, well, what are you going to do about 00:23:16.779 --> 00:23:18.700 it? He's like, if you don't leave her alone, 00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:21.660 I'm going to make sure you leave her alone. This 00:23:21.660 --> 00:23:25.619 is in a Christian school, mind you. The kid shoved 00:23:25.619 --> 00:23:28.400 him. He socked that kid and knocked him right 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:33.440 on his rear end. Okay. Maybe not the best response, 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.819 but he was true to his word, was he not? So the 00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:40.200 principal gives me a call. Says, hey, I need 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:42.079 you to come and pick up BJ. Is everything okay? 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:46.240 Yes, no, kind of. Let me tell you what happened. 00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:50.099 It's like he was in a fight, but he was sticking 00:23:50.099 --> 00:23:54.019 up for somebody else. He didn't start it. Okay. 00:23:55.339 --> 00:23:57.339 I get to the school. I go to pick him up. He's 00:23:57.339 --> 00:24:00.880 scared out of his mind. He's in tears. He is 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.400 crying before I even get there because he's afraid 00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:07.009 of what's going to happen. Now, lucky for him, 00:24:07.049 --> 00:24:08.910 he didn't start it. He was sticking up for somebody. 00:24:08.950 --> 00:24:11.869 He was trying to do the right thing. So he didn't 00:24:11.869 --> 00:24:13.990 get in a whole lot of trouble. He's like, it's 00:24:13.990 --> 00:24:16.289 all right, bud, let's go home. Picked him up, 00:24:16.369 --> 00:24:20.009 took him home. But that is the right response. 00:24:20.710 --> 00:24:22.769 That's when you know, okay, I'm doing something 00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:30.789 right. That kid ignores their parents, hits their 00:24:30.789 --> 00:24:33.230 parents. Here's a classic example from when I 00:24:33.230 --> 00:24:38.549 was in high school. We had a guy in my class. 00:24:38.769 --> 00:24:41.109 His name is Eddie. You already know where I'm 00:24:41.109 --> 00:24:44.309 going with it. His dad was a prominent doctor 00:24:44.309 --> 00:24:49.490 in the town. His dad was a real jerk. Nobody 00:24:49.490 --> 00:24:51.369 liked him. You went to him because you had to. 00:24:51.769 --> 00:24:54.569 Not because you wanted to. Didn't have a lot 00:24:54.569 --> 00:24:56.950 of friends. He liked to beat on his wife. He 00:24:56.950 --> 00:24:58.690 liked to beat on his kids. His wife left him. 00:24:58.809 --> 00:25:00.450 Took most of the siblings. Eddie stayed behind 00:25:00.450 --> 00:25:05.220 with his dad. Kind of had that classic, what 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:10.559 do you call it? I'll spend forever trying to 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:12.900 remember. But anyhow, he had that classic victim 00:25:12.900 --> 00:25:15.019 mentality where he wanted to stay with the victimizer. 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:17.859 Right? I see a lot of battered spouses fall into 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:21.119 this. There you go, Stockholm. There you go. 00:25:23.099 --> 00:25:26.980 Anyhow, comes graduation time. Well, Eddie had 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:31.140 this ratty old beat up pickup truck. He loved 00:25:31.140 --> 00:25:33.720 his ratty old beat -up pickup truck. The only 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:36.200 thing he wanted for graduation was a new sound 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:38.180 system put into it because he was joining the 00:25:38.180 --> 00:25:40.960 National Guard. That was his intent. So he wanted 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:42.720 a nice sound system because the truck was in 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:44.980 good condition, and he didn't know whether he 00:25:44.980 --> 00:25:47.079 was going to be home to drive it a lot or not, 00:25:47.140 --> 00:25:48.420 so he just wanted something that he could listen 00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:51.119 to when he was in it. It's not a really unreasonable 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:54.619 request, right? Dad, on the other hand, had a 00:25:54.619 --> 00:26:00.160 different idea. While Eddie was gone, His truck 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:02.839 was at home. Dad took his truck, traded it in, 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:07.400 bought him a brand spanking new car. Eddie lost 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:11.619 his mind. He didn't want the new car. He wanted 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:14.400 his truck with the new sound system. Acting like 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:20.559 an entitled brat. At this point, his dad had 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:22.900 already figured he'd lost enough. He wanted to 00:26:22.900 --> 00:26:25.299 be his son's best friend. And it reflected. Because 00:26:25.299 --> 00:26:28.019 that same day, after they had this big argument. 00:26:28.730 --> 00:26:31.690 Dad gets into his car, is pulling out of the 00:26:31.690 --> 00:26:34.009 driveway to go to work. Eddie goes and opens 00:26:34.009 --> 00:26:38.210 a gun cabinet and unloads a fully automatic rifle 00:26:38.210 --> 00:26:40.829 into his dad. Yes, a fully automatic. It was 00:26:40.829 --> 00:26:43.730 a rifle they shouldn't have had. Afterwards, 00:26:43.849 --> 00:26:46.289 realized what he did, calls 911, starts CPR. 00:26:46.430 --> 00:26:48.410 But at that point, the damage was done. His dad 00:26:48.410 --> 00:26:50.609 was dead. Now instead of going to National Guard, 00:26:50.789 --> 00:26:52.630 he went and did a hard time in state prison. 00:26:56.519 --> 00:26:58.339 It's a classic example of what's happening to 00:26:58.339 --> 00:27:03.099 way too many of our youth today. Way too many. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:06.359 They don't know Jesus. They don't know a parent. 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:10.599 But everybody out there, you got a friend in 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:17.500 me, right? Loving somebody doesn't mean you have 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:20.400 to like them. Doesn't mean you have to be their 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:25.140 friend. Was Jesus a friend to every single person 00:27:25.140 --> 00:27:27.539 he came in contact with? No, absolutely not. 00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:34.460 But he loved them just the same. Just the same. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:44.420 And that's how we find where our faith is, though. 00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:46.940 Where are we weakest? Where do we need to strengthen 00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:49.059 ourselves? Do you have the courage to stand up 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:50.900 and raise your kids? Do you have the courage 00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:53.539 to stand up to a friend and say, hey, you're 00:27:53.539 --> 00:28:03.960 messing up? Unfortunately not. It's hard to interact 00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:05.539 with sinners without falling into their weakness. 00:28:05.579 --> 00:28:08.779 That's part of the temptation in the world. That's 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:12.500 why it's one of Satan's greatest tools. Now, 00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:17.900 cycling back over to Charlie Kirk. A lot of people 00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:22.539 are out there arguing. about what was going on. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.319 The whole point of his ministry has been missed 00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:28.440 by so many people. Matter of fact, people want 00:28:28.440 --> 00:28:30.559 to take his death and use it as a litmus test. 00:28:31.539 --> 00:28:33.539 Whether or not you should go one place or not. 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:36.720 Hey, did your pastor talk about him? No. Guess 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:38.079 what, you should probably leave. That's probably 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.000 a red flag. No, it's not. We'll go into that 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.440 in a second. You have other people out there, 00:28:43.500 --> 00:28:45.619 they've heard little clips, not the full conversation, 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:48.140 just little clips that have been twisted. Ooh, 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:52.619 where have we heard this before? Right? Temptation 00:28:52.619 --> 00:28:55.099 of Christ. Let me take a little piece of it, 00:28:55.140 --> 00:28:58.359 put a little spin on it. Our media is real good 00:28:58.359 --> 00:29:01.420 about that. Social media is great about that. 00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:03.960 Oh, my goodness. Let me get a sound bite. Let 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:05.900 me edit this and put a spin on it however I want. 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:11.400 But the whole thing with Charlie, it wasn't about 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:16.680 his personal politics. I said nobody is going 00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:19.079 to agree 100 % of the time. But he went out in 00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.039 faith to implement something. positive into the 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:27.500 world. The whole premise behind what he did was, 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:30.799 hey, let's take two people of opposing views 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:38.079 and sit down and have a conversation. He actually 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:41.039 had people come up wanting to have a fist fight 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:43.339 with him and other threats. That's why he had 00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:49.119 a security detail. And he told them, no. I'm 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:50.960 not going to fight you. We're not a couple of 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:55.180 teenagers in a schoolyard. His belief was 100 00:29:55.180 --> 00:29:58.220 % that we live in a society that we should be 00:29:58.220 --> 00:30:01.180 able to act like adults, sit down, and have a 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:09.720 mature conversation with one another. That's 00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:16.740 how it should be, right? It really is. Some of 00:30:16.740 --> 00:30:18.279 us can't even do that in our own household, though. 00:30:20.970 --> 00:30:22.869 But that is a great example to set in the world 00:30:22.869 --> 00:30:26.109 whether or not you agreed with him. Because I 00:30:26.109 --> 00:30:27.289 mean, that's faith. That's why we have so many 00:30:27.289 --> 00:30:29.170 Christian denominations out there now, right? 00:30:29.589 --> 00:30:32.130 Because even as a church, we can't agree on everything. 00:30:33.509 --> 00:30:35.750 And I will say, I didn't agree with him 100%, 00:30:35.750 --> 00:30:38.009 but I agreed with him on a lot of things. I really 00:30:38.009 --> 00:30:43.329 did. But that's a great way to go out and try 00:30:43.329 --> 00:30:46.210 to unify people, bring people together in harmony. 00:30:46.990 --> 00:30:49.920 And that's true peace, right? It's like, you 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:51.880 know what? No. You want to fight? Calm down. 00:30:52.220 --> 00:30:54.500 You want to have a mature conversation? Great. 00:30:55.099 --> 00:30:57.859 Pick up the mic. Let's talk. And let's talk in 00:30:57.859 --> 00:31:01.700 front of all these people. He himself had been 00:31:01.700 --> 00:31:05.480 out there. I want to say he was doing an appointment 00:31:05.480 --> 00:31:07.859 in London where somebody called him out on something 00:31:07.859 --> 00:31:09.599 he said. And he himself said, you know what? 00:31:09.660 --> 00:31:11.880 I actually learned something very valuable about 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:14.059 that, and it changed the way I looked at this. 00:31:15.980 --> 00:31:18.019 So yes, that's what I said at the time, but then 00:31:18.019 --> 00:31:20.039 I was told this, and I got a little bit more 00:31:20.039 --> 00:31:24.660 educated, and guess what? I was wrong. Wow. That's 00:31:24.660 --> 00:31:27.619 pretty powerful. People don't like to do that 00:31:27.619 --> 00:31:32.599 now, though. It's very hard. In the military, 00:31:32.660 --> 00:31:34.759 we talk about it a lot. Accountability, right? 00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:37.599 People come out of the military, and they forget 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:39.769 about it. Instead, they want to... deny. They 00:31:39.769 --> 00:31:41.509 want to act like politicians. They want to point 00:31:41.509 --> 00:31:44.210 fingers. Like, you know what? Yeah, I did it. 00:31:44.230 --> 00:31:45.809 I messed up. Oh, you know what? I should have 00:31:45.809 --> 00:31:49.549 done that, but I didn't. I messed up. We've all 00:31:49.549 --> 00:31:50.970 done it. You don't even have to be in the military 00:31:50.970 --> 00:31:54.309 for that. Police officers, teachers, nurses, 00:31:54.609 --> 00:31:57.130 doctors, construction workers. Construction workers 00:31:57.130 --> 00:32:03.069 is a great example. Look up some videos of structures 00:32:03.069 --> 00:32:05.009 being built, and you look at all the nails and 00:32:05.009 --> 00:32:07.349 screws and the whole mess going into the framework 00:32:07.349 --> 00:32:10.180 where they've messed up. And they've had to go 00:32:10.180 --> 00:32:12.000 back and fix things before they put up all the 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:13.619 walling and everything and the drywall, the whole 00:32:13.619 --> 00:32:17.920 bit. Tell you what, you will find a mess. A mess. 00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:21.480 But they went back and they cleaned it up. Well, 00:32:21.579 --> 00:32:22.660 they didn't clean it up. They fixed what they 00:32:22.660 --> 00:32:26.420 needed to fix. Right? Just like when you go out 00:32:26.420 --> 00:32:27.960 and you pick on somebody, you call them names, 00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:30.279 you shove them around. Guess what? You can come 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.299 back, say I'm sorry a million times. You can 00:32:32.299 --> 00:32:34.119 repent. You can repair the relationship. But 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:36.240 guess what? The damage is still there. They're 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:39.680 still going to reflect on it. We get in an argument 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:42.160 with our spouse. Something we did 10 years ago 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:44.160 is going to get brought up, right? It's going 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:49.859 to happen every time. I can't say, guys, are 00:32:49.859 --> 00:32:51.759 you with me? Because women, I know it happens 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:56.019 to you too. Happens to all of us, right? That's 00:32:56.019 --> 00:32:57.940 the whole thing. They miss the purpose. Sit down, 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.440 have a conversation. What is the most important 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.599 part of that, though? He was reaching out in 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:06.009 love. He was loving on others. Like, you know 00:33:06.009 --> 00:33:09.329 what? Let's rise above this. Let's talk about 00:33:09.329 --> 00:33:11.369 this. Let's work our way through this and we 00:33:11.369 --> 00:33:12.990 can lift each other up and we can lift others 00:33:12.990 --> 00:33:16.509 up along the way. That's a biblical principle. 00:33:18.930 --> 00:33:21.869 As a church, we should be open to everybody. 00:33:23.910 --> 00:33:25.569 We should say, hey, you know what? You're having 00:33:25.569 --> 00:33:29.769 a hard time? Come on in. But we still have church, 00:33:29.930 --> 00:33:32.579 I use the term loosely here, churches. Right? 00:33:32.740 --> 00:33:36.500 Even here in this town where a homeless person 00:33:36.500 --> 00:33:40.559 comes in and right away security's on them. Whether 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:42.220 or not they're even letting them in the door. 00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:45.579 Let alone they come in and it's like, you know 00:33:45.579 --> 00:33:47.740 what, they can sit here. But let's keep an eye 00:33:47.740 --> 00:33:51.839 on it. Or, you know what, they're here. Maybe 00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:54.059 we can use this. Let's go let them sit up in 00:33:54.059 --> 00:33:55.539 the front. But if they start getting mouthy or 00:33:55.539 --> 00:33:57.259 doing something silly, escort them back out. 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:04.400 But there's conditions. Is it loving? No. They're 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:07.140 more worried about their image, the perception 00:34:07.140 --> 00:34:10.519 other people are going to have about them. It 00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:14.440 falls back into that selfishness, which is what 00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:16.639 we're talking about here. Who's strong? Who's 00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:19.199 weak in their faith, right? And then being led 00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:23.900 into arguments with them over said things. Other 00:34:23.900 --> 00:34:26.219 people, you're not a Christian if you're a Democrat. 00:34:29.739 --> 00:34:31.780 Go right down here to Legacy. Steve Smotherman 00:34:31.780 --> 00:34:35.559 has said that himself. I'll call him out on it. 00:34:36.539 --> 00:34:39.219 I know Democrats that are bigger Christians than 00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:41.300 some Republicans. I know some Republicans that 00:34:41.300 --> 00:34:43.639 are better Christians than some Democrats. Politics 00:34:43.639 --> 00:34:48.900 has nothing to do with it. Politics have a lot 00:34:48.900 --> 00:34:52.619 of influence. Whether or not somebody has a relationship 00:34:52.619 --> 00:34:54.440 with Christ, you can't call them out because 00:34:54.440 --> 00:34:56.000 they're apologetics. You don't know what their 00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:57.780 influence is. You don't know how they've been 00:34:57.780 --> 00:34:59.320 raised. But you want to sit there and you want 00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:01.960 to pick on them? You want to have an argument 00:35:01.960 --> 00:35:06.760 with them? You want to call them out and say 00:35:06.760 --> 00:35:10.539 ugly things about them? That's not very Christ 00:35:10.539 --> 00:35:18.219 -like. Not even slightly. You know, instead we 00:35:18.219 --> 00:35:20.090 should be... Seeing people out there, people 00:35:20.090 --> 00:35:23.289 who are struggling, invite them in. That's okay. 00:35:23.349 --> 00:35:24.949 Come on in. Have a seat. There's coffee and cookies 00:35:24.949 --> 00:35:28.989 out there. Help yourself. Right? After service, 00:35:29.030 --> 00:35:30.269 you need something, let's go next door to our 00:35:30.269 --> 00:35:31.650 pantry. Let's see what we got. We can help you 00:35:31.650 --> 00:35:35.090 out. Maybe you have a friend that's struggling 00:35:35.090 --> 00:35:36.489 with something. It's like, you know what? Come 00:35:36.489 --> 00:35:40.269 to church. Come with me. You can sit down and 00:35:40.269 --> 00:35:42.030 be like, okay, you're struggling with this. Let's 00:35:42.030 --> 00:35:45.650 talk about it. Let me show you what the Bible 00:35:45.650 --> 00:35:53.360 says about it. Jesus said this. God said that. 00:35:53.420 --> 00:35:55.420 You're feeling this because the Holy Spirit is 00:35:55.420 --> 00:35:58.699 convicting you of it. That's a change that you 00:35:58.699 --> 00:36:02.300 need to make in your life. But the whole thing 00:36:02.300 --> 00:36:05.039 is, though, is it's, in the sales world, it's 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:09.139 what's called the soft touch. Right? You go out, 00:36:09.179 --> 00:36:13.559 you make the connection. You don't go out with 00:36:13.559 --> 00:36:15.659 the hard touch and start cramming Jesus down 00:36:15.659 --> 00:36:17.380 their throat. If you do this, you're going to 00:36:17.380 --> 00:36:21.530 go to hell. It turns people off. They walk away. 00:36:21.789 --> 00:36:23.610 As a church, sometimes we can be our own worst 00:36:23.610 --> 00:36:27.750 enemy because that's exactly what we do. We come 00:36:27.750 --> 00:36:29.530 in with our own convictions and our own beliefs, 00:36:29.650 --> 00:36:33.329 regardless of a biblical standpoint, and we start 00:36:33.329 --> 00:36:35.130 throwing out this ugly rhetoric. And what happens? 00:36:35.230 --> 00:36:39.989 It pushes people right out the door. It's not 00:36:39.989 --> 00:36:43.369 loving. Sitting down and having a civil conversation 00:36:43.369 --> 00:36:48.079 absolutely is. We make the introduction. Jesus 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:52.920 does the work through the Holy Spirit. The other 00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:54.739 part of it, Charlie Kirk and all these other 00:36:54.739 --> 00:36:58.039 murders that we've been seeing, none of it can 00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:01.460 be solved politically. We all look to politicians 00:37:01.460 --> 00:37:02.599 like, hey, what are you going to do about it? 00:37:02.619 --> 00:37:05.099 Yeah, politicians have a responsibility. Should 00:37:05.099 --> 00:37:06.760 they be doing things to try to protect their 00:37:06.760 --> 00:37:12.099 cities, their states? Their municipalities and 00:37:12.099 --> 00:37:13.800 everything. The people that they're there to 00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:16.219 serve. Yes, they absolutely should. But guess 00:37:16.219 --> 00:37:17.280 what? Are they going to be able to take care 00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:20.300 of all that? No. Are opinions going to fix it? 00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:24.659 Absolutely not. Opinions aren't going to do anything 00:37:24.659 --> 00:37:30.460 either. It's a good reminder. We need to turn 00:37:30.460 --> 00:37:34.980 to God. Because God is the only one who can 100 00:37:34.980 --> 00:37:36.960 % deal with it. And eventually 100 % of it is 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:39.019 going to be dealt with. God will take care of 00:37:39.019 --> 00:37:45.130 it. Book of Revelation is what it's referring 00:37:45.130 --> 00:37:48.769 to as the growing pains, right? People are going 00:37:48.769 --> 00:37:51.289 to call bad, good, good, bad. We're seeing it. 00:37:51.349 --> 00:37:57.369 We're living it. It's right there. Like I said, 00:37:57.389 --> 00:37:59.250 people are trying to say, oh, this shooter wasn't 00:37:59.250 --> 00:38:02.510 one of us. The other side is saying, oh, they 00:38:02.510 --> 00:38:05.869 had these ideologies, da, da, da, and they take 00:38:05.869 --> 00:38:10.769 Jesus out of the equation. As Christians, we 00:38:10.769 --> 00:38:12.429 get caught up into it. We fall into that sin 00:38:12.429 --> 00:38:14.829 ourselves. Because then we start calling things 00:38:14.829 --> 00:38:17.510 out. Give them the chair. Hang them. Shoot them. 00:38:18.230 --> 00:38:21.750 Give them the needle. All of a sudden, we're 00:38:21.750 --> 00:38:23.590 acting like we're the judges, we're the jury, 00:38:23.690 --> 00:38:26.250 and we're the executioner. We forget here earthly, 00:38:26.469 --> 00:38:28.130 right? Jesus came. He said he didn't come to 00:38:28.130 --> 00:38:30.469 do away with the law. We had laws, did we not? 00:38:31.130 --> 00:38:33.769 We still have laws. We have a justice system. 00:38:33.929 --> 00:38:36.900 Regardless of how fouled up it is. But we have 00:38:36.900 --> 00:38:39.320 a system in place, and even here in the U .S., 00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:40.980 it's still pretty darn good compared to other 00:38:40.980 --> 00:38:45.039 countries. I'll tell you what. But we have a 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:48.000 system in place that we should trust to work 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:50.719 out the way it should. We have a system in place 00:38:50.719 --> 00:38:52.679 where things need to change. We could change 00:38:52.679 --> 00:38:55.199 it, but guess what? We have police. We have lawyers. 00:38:55.300 --> 00:38:57.199 We have judges. We have corrections officers. 00:38:57.340 --> 00:38:59.559 We have counselors. We have all these people 00:38:59.559 --> 00:39:07.260 in place for specific things like this. As Christians, 00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:12.820 what we should be doing is praying. We should 00:39:12.820 --> 00:39:15.260 be praying about the family and the friends and 00:39:15.260 --> 00:39:19.079 the communities that are impacted. That's important. 00:39:19.739 --> 00:39:22.559 But more importantly, we should be praying over 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:24.820 these people who are doing these evil things. 00:39:26.119 --> 00:39:28.659 That they come to know Jesus before it's too 00:39:28.659 --> 00:39:32.679 late. We don't like that. We don't want to do 00:39:32.679 --> 00:39:39.409 that. But that's what we should be doing. Proverbs 00:39:39.409 --> 00:39:42.750 25 verses 21 speaks specifically about this. 00:39:43.309 --> 00:39:48.309 Proverbs 25 verses 21 through 22. If your enemy 00:39:48.309 --> 00:39:51.670 is hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he is 00:39:51.670 --> 00:39:54.389 thirsty, give him water to drink. For so you 00:39:54.389 --> 00:39:57.550 will heap coals of fire on his head and the Lord 00:39:57.550 --> 00:40:02.190 will reward you. In other words, kill them with 00:40:02.190 --> 00:40:07.159 kindness. We've all heard that growing up. This 00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:09.739 is what it means. Kill them with kindness. Pray 00:40:09.739 --> 00:40:14.280 for them. Pray for your enemies. The people who 00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:15.619 are out there doing bad in the world. The people 00:40:15.619 --> 00:40:18.539 who are doing bad to you and abusing you and 00:40:18.539 --> 00:40:24.599 taking advantage of you. Pray for them. Why? 00:40:25.219 --> 00:40:27.519 Why should we do this? Why should we do this 00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:29.719 for the shooter of Charlie Kirk? Why should we 00:40:29.719 --> 00:40:32.949 do this for the shooter? the police officers? 00:40:33.150 --> 00:40:35.090 Why should we do this for the guy who stabbed 00:40:35.090 --> 00:40:37.449 this poor girl on a train in North Carolina? 00:40:37.809 --> 00:40:40.170 Why should we do that for all these people who 00:40:40.170 --> 00:40:42.469 hurt all these other people, including this little 00:40:42.469 --> 00:40:44.909 baby who just died in our own city from drug 00:40:44.909 --> 00:40:47.789 abuse and being shaken and battered? Why should 00:40:47.789 --> 00:40:53.570 we pray for her parents? Because it fosters godliness. 00:40:55.070 --> 00:41:00.619 It fosters godliness in you as you honor The 00:41:00.619 --> 00:41:06.280 Lord. And the more you do these things, the more 00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:08.760 godly things that you take in, the more godly 00:41:08.760 --> 00:41:11.400 things that you do, right? Good in, good out. 00:41:11.559 --> 00:41:14.260 Oh, we just changed Geico, right? That you meant 00:41:14.260 --> 00:41:16.619 for evil, the Lord intended for good, right? 00:41:18.079 --> 00:41:23.579 Same thing. When we do these things, it honors 00:41:23.579 --> 00:41:26.480 God. We're obeying what he's told us. We're doing 00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:28.400 the loving thing. Like I said, you don't have 00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:30.880 to love somebody, I mean like somebody. The Bible 00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:32.619 doesn't say you have to like everybody. It says 00:41:32.619 --> 00:41:36.340 to love everybody though. Those are two different 00:41:36.340 --> 00:41:39.800 things. Like needs and wants. Two different things. 00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:45.840 It teaches you to be kind. It teaches you to 00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:47.599 reflect the Lord's light in all that you do. 00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:51.480 It fosters a spirit of kindness and compassion 00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:58.280 for your fellow man. You become more Christ -like. 00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:03.519 And that is a big part of why we're here on this 00:42:03.519 --> 00:42:06.619 earth, is God is working within us and molding 00:42:06.619 --> 00:42:12.320 us to make us more Christ -like. And the more 00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:14.739 Christ -like you become, the more of these things 00:42:14.739 --> 00:42:18.519 that you do, the more it promotes peace and harmony, 00:42:18.639 --> 00:42:22.360 hope. It offers a chance of true reconciliation. 00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:29.440 True forgiveness. And in itself, which is why 00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:32.599 it talks about heaping coals of fire on his head. 00:42:34.780 --> 00:42:39.460 In itself, it will bring feelings of shame, embarrassment. 00:42:40.539 --> 00:42:43.599 And remorse to the people who are doing wrong. 00:42:46.619 --> 00:42:49.780 It's like, ooh, I messed up. And that in itself, 00:42:49.960 --> 00:42:52.820 between your love and your kindness and your 00:42:52.820 --> 00:42:55.360 mercy and your grace, reflected of what the Lord 00:42:55.360 --> 00:43:00.420 has done for you, each of us, it reflects the 00:43:00.420 --> 00:43:03.059 same. It reflects God's love, his grace, and 00:43:03.059 --> 00:43:07.980 his mercy to us all. It is a prime example out 00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:09.820 there for the world to see, for other people 00:43:09.820 --> 00:43:13.159 to see. Remember, it goes back to people don't 00:43:13.159 --> 00:43:15.320 know the Bible, but they know you. They can see 00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:19.380 Jesus in you. Instead of joining a lynch mob, 00:43:19.599 --> 00:43:24.119 we should be praying. We look on TV, we look 00:43:24.119 --> 00:43:26.300 online, go to social media, we look at the news, 00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:28.559 you pick up a newspaper, a magazine, or anything 00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:33.780 else, and what do we see? Hate. All these people 00:43:33.780 --> 00:43:39.019 using events to manipulate people. trying to 00:43:39.019 --> 00:43:42.599 drive a certain narrative, right? It's what Disneyland 00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:47.239 calls stage on, stage off. You're up in front 00:43:47.239 --> 00:43:48.599 of people, you're on the stage, guess what? You're 00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:49.519 going to do this, and you're going to promote 00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:52.059 this, and it's all you're going to do. When you 00:43:52.059 --> 00:43:53.460 get to come off, you get to go behind the scenes, 00:43:53.480 --> 00:44:02.019 go, ah! And it happens. And people are out, and 00:44:02.019 --> 00:44:03.719 unfortunately, we have a lot of people who profess 00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:07.230 to be Christians. out there. They put on the 00:44:07.230 --> 00:44:11.210 smile and they put on the tie. And they smile 00:44:11.210 --> 00:44:12.849 and they talk a good deal. They got a lot of 00:44:12.849 --> 00:44:16.090 charisma. And then you come back behind the scenes 00:44:16.090 --> 00:44:18.550 and they're cussing and throwing things and talking 00:44:18.550 --> 00:44:20.969 trash. Putting people down. Putting their own 00:44:20.969 --> 00:44:25.150 people down. The reason I walked out of a big 00:44:25.150 --> 00:44:31.070 church I served at. It happens. It happens everywhere. 00:44:31.130 --> 00:44:35.699 The church is not safe from it. Sin perpetuates 00:44:35.699 --> 00:44:38.860 everything. It infiltrates everything. We see 00:44:38.860 --> 00:44:44.260 it everywhere we go. And unfortunately, we have 00:44:44.260 --> 00:44:46.000 a lot of churches out there trying to manipulate 00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.940 a political narrative as well. Why? Well, it's 00:44:48.940 --> 00:44:52.400 drama. What gets rating for the news? What gets 00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:58.119 rating for the networks? Ah, drama. Hmm, the 00:44:58.119 --> 00:45:00.179 picture comes together. They're more impressed 00:45:00.179 --> 00:45:02.519 with putting on a show and drawing people in 00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:05.900 and playing off of people's... emotions than 00:45:05.900 --> 00:45:14.559 they are at pointing the way to God. It's an 00:45:14.559 --> 00:45:18.420 attempt to exploit people at the cost of someone's 00:45:18.420 --> 00:45:21.719 life, and it's an attempt to cause division. 00:45:23.239 --> 00:45:30.559 Who likes division? Satan. Not math teachers. 00:45:37.170 --> 00:45:39.070 Yes, math teachers too, but that's not the division 00:45:39.070 --> 00:45:41.909 we're talking about. Satan likes division, right? 00:45:42.949 --> 00:45:45.309 He likes us to get our eyes off of the things 00:45:45.309 --> 00:45:47.349 that are important. He really likes to divide 00:45:47.349 --> 00:45:50.329 the church. He wants you to be focused on the 00:45:50.329 --> 00:45:52.289 world because the more of the worldly things 00:45:52.289 --> 00:45:53.949 you're looking at, the more of the garbage you're 00:45:53.949 --> 00:45:57.130 taking in, right? Taking in the garbage, you're 00:45:57.130 --> 00:45:59.849 pushing out the good stuff. You're bringing in 00:45:59.849 --> 00:46:04.969 the world, you're pushing out the Lord. And what's 00:46:04.969 --> 00:46:06.969 happened here, unfortunately, with Charlie and 00:46:06.969 --> 00:46:13.909 so many others, it's been promoted like an idol. 00:46:14.110 --> 00:46:18.789 He's become an idol. As Christians, we should 00:46:18.789 --> 00:46:20.829 look at the good in his life and use it to point 00:46:20.829 --> 00:46:24.670 the way to Jesus. Right? Look at what he did. 00:46:24.710 --> 00:46:26.070 Look at what his ministry, look at what he was 00:46:26.070 --> 00:46:29.230 really about. How can we talk about, how do we 00:46:29.230 --> 00:46:32.190 create a dialogue? That's what we are Charlie 00:46:32.190 --> 00:46:34.260 should really mean is, hey. How do we talk to 00:46:34.260 --> 00:46:37.019 one another again? How do we humanize one another 00:46:37.019 --> 00:46:44.000 again? Instead, he's getting put up on this pedestal. 00:46:45.260 --> 00:46:50.380 Right? That's not right. That's not the way we 00:46:50.380 --> 00:46:51.780 should be looking at things, but it's what's 00:46:51.780 --> 00:46:56.599 happened. I promise, guys, we're driving home. 00:46:57.500 --> 00:47:00.260 I'll get you all out to lunch quick. Well, quick 00:47:00.260 --> 00:47:07.230 -ish. 2 Timothy 4, verse 2. So turning to 2 Timothy 00:47:07.230 --> 00:47:14.710 4, verse 2. Paul is writing to Timothy, he's 00:47:14.710 --> 00:47:18.210 telling Timothy, preach the word. Be ready in 00:47:18.210 --> 00:47:20.809 season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, 00:47:20.849 --> 00:47:25.489 and with all longsuffering and teaching. The 00:47:25.489 --> 00:47:29.750 word comes first. The things of God come first. 00:47:29.789 --> 00:47:34.659 The kingdom comes first. First, not the worldly. 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.719 The worldly will eventually go away. And we'll 00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:43.440 all die off. Right? But we lose sight of this 00:47:43.440 --> 00:47:45.980 all the time. We're not supposed to be preaching 00:47:45.980 --> 00:47:48.320 about Charlie like he was the second coming of 00:47:48.320 --> 00:47:52.079 Jesus. Absolutely not. Yeah, what happened is 00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:54.519 a horrible, tragic thing. He did a lot of good. 00:47:54.639 --> 00:47:56.840 We should be focused on that. What can we learn 00:47:56.840 --> 00:47:59.920 about this? Let's move forward. Not get hung 00:47:59.920 --> 00:48:02.219 up on it. Not put him on a pedestal that he shouldn't 00:48:02.219 --> 00:48:05.119 be on. He himself, if he was alive, I totally 00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.579 believe would say, no, this is nonsense. Stop 00:48:07.579 --> 00:48:11.400 doing it. I'm not Jesus. Talk about Jesus. Right? 00:48:12.199 --> 00:48:16.179 How we all should be. We should all be pointing 00:48:16.179 --> 00:48:20.880 the way to him. We are to be preaching on Jesus. 00:48:22.199 --> 00:48:27.480 We should be preaching the gospel. Especially 00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:29.619 right now. And this is where I agree with a lot 00:48:29.619 --> 00:48:31.920 of churches who chose not to say anything about 00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:38.579 it other than maybe a prayer. Because we should 00:48:38.579 --> 00:48:42.199 be speaking about Jesus and God first and foremost. 00:48:42.300 --> 00:48:47.159 We should be pointing the way to him. Jesus who 00:48:47.159 --> 00:48:51.239 brings that peace and that comfort that surpasses 00:48:51.239 --> 00:48:55.639 all understanding. Jesus, who can lay his healing 00:48:55.639 --> 00:48:58.139 hands on those families and those friends and 00:48:58.139 --> 00:49:00.480 those people who are truly suffering, right? 00:49:01.179 --> 00:49:05.360 And bring them back up. Help them to heal. Help 00:49:05.360 --> 00:49:08.199 them to adjust to a new norm. Because that's 00:49:08.199 --> 00:49:10.219 what it is. It's a new norm. We've all been there. 00:49:10.260 --> 00:49:11.920 We've all lost someone we cared about deeply 00:49:11.920 --> 00:49:14.559 in our lives. Unfortunately, as we get older, 00:49:14.679 --> 00:49:20.539 the more we lose. It's not like, oh, it'll just 00:49:20.539 --> 00:49:22.059 get better. It's just a new norm. We adjust, 00:49:22.360 --> 00:49:25.780 right? We adapt and we overcome. And that's what 00:49:25.780 --> 00:49:27.260 it really is. We need to be praying for Jesus 00:49:27.260 --> 00:49:35.639 to lift up those who are hurting. Romans 8, verses 00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:40.000 5 -6. We're heading for home, guys. Get you out 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:43.639 to lunch real quick after this. So Romans 8, 00:49:43.699 --> 00:49:46.340 verses 5 -6, the word says... For those who live 00:49:46.340 --> 00:49:48.659 according to the flesh set their minds on the 00:49:48.659 --> 00:49:51.039 things of the flesh. But those who live according 00:49:51.039 --> 00:49:54.179 to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For 00:49:54.179 --> 00:49:57.719 to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually 00:49:57.719 --> 00:50:00.340 minded is life and peace. In other words, we 00:50:00.340 --> 00:50:03.239 should be looking to the kingdom of God and yielding 00:50:03.239 --> 00:50:06.760 to the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our steps, our 00:50:06.760 --> 00:50:10.489 words, our actions. We need to slow down and 00:50:10.489 --> 00:50:13.590 we need to pray before we act. And when we do 00:50:13.590 --> 00:50:16.269 that, sometimes we find out, guess what? We shouldn't 00:50:16.269 --> 00:50:19.409 even be acting on this. Sometimes the best thing 00:50:19.409 --> 00:50:22.309 is just keep your mouth shut and go that direction. 00:50:22.730 --> 00:50:27.309 Right? Instead of trying to be the tough guys. 00:50:28.090 --> 00:50:30.150 We all want to be the tough guys, right? I'll 00:50:30.150 --> 00:50:34.369 knock them out. Tyson, he's nothing. Give me 00:50:34.369 --> 00:50:37.590 a break. The average guy goes in front of Tyson, 00:50:37.690 --> 00:50:41.150 they're still going to pay severely, right? Let's 00:50:41.150 --> 00:50:42.369 be honest about it. But we all want to be the 00:50:42.369 --> 00:50:44.730 tough guys. Instead of doing that, though, we 00:50:44.730 --> 00:50:46.510 need to be thinking about those who are still 00:50:46.510 --> 00:50:49.750 here and those who are still in need of the hand 00:50:49.750 --> 00:50:52.590 of the Holy Spirit. The friends, the families 00:50:52.590 --> 00:50:54.429 left behind, we need to be praying for them. 00:50:54.849 --> 00:50:57.510 The hurt and the anger that's raging inside of 00:50:57.510 --> 00:50:59.929 so many people, the souls that have yet to be 00:50:59.929 --> 00:51:03.329 reached. Those who have turned and need to turn 00:51:03.329 --> 00:51:07.719 back. Those prodigal children, right? Because 00:51:07.719 --> 00:51:13.739 we've all been prodigal children. And when we 00:51:13.739 --> 00:51:15.659 think about things like that, when that's what 00:51:15.659 --> 00:51:22.119 we put our mind to, that's what brings out the 00:51:22.119 --> 00:51:24.480 best in us because we're at that point truly 00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:26.719 acting as the ambassadors for Christ that we 00:51:26.719 --> 00:51:32.679 should be. We need to focus on the godly and 00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:36.570 not the worldly. Be the ambassador that you were 00:51:36.570 --> 00:51:39.630 called to be and think of Christ, the example 00:51:39.630 --> 00:51:45.909 he set. The example he set on the cross when 00:51:45.909 --> 00:51:50.429 he didn't respond in violence, but simply said, 00:51:50.590 --> 00:51:54.570 forgive them, Father. Excuse me, Father, forgive 00:51:54.570 --> 00:51:59.469 them for they know not what they do. And on that 00:51:59.469 --> 00:52:04.019 note, let us pray. Father, we come to you thankful 00:52:04.019 --> 00:52:07.880 for another day. We're thankful not only for 00:52:07.880 --> 00:52:09.840 the day, but this time of fellowship and this 00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:11.539 opportunity to praise and worship you and to 00:52:11.539 --> 00:52:13.840 learn from you and see how your word applies 00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:17.400 to our life. We ask for your healing hands on 00:52:17.400 --> 00:52:20.559 us personally and as a nation and as a world. 00:52:21.480 --> 00:52:24.480 There's so much pain and hurt and hate just feeling 00:52:24.480 --> 00:52:27.719 it right now, and only you can heal it. We ask 00:52:27.719 --> 00:52:30.480 for your peace upon those directly impacted by 00:52:30.480 --> 00:52:35.250 it. by these tragic events. Our prayer is that 00:52:35.250 --> 00:52:37.409 these people, they lean into you for healing 00:52:37.409 --> 00:52:40.829 and are able to overcome it and come out the 00:52:40.829 --> 00:52:43.630 other side as beacons for you, your kingdom, 00:52:43.670 --> 00:52:46.849 and bringing you all the glory. We ask that you 00:52:46.849 --> 00:52:50.449 please change the things inside of us that need 00:52:50.449 --> 00:52:53.409 to be changed. We all have so many things that 00:52:53.409 --> 00:52:54.989 need to be changed, so many places where we're 00:52:54.989 --> 00:52:58.760 weak in our faith and weak in our walk. But we 00:52:58.760 --> 00:53:01.179 ask that you mold us and help us to be more Christ 00:53:01.179 --> 00:53:04.619 -like and less like the world. Help us to love 00:53:04.619 --> 00:53:07.239 where it's the hardest. And I'll tell you, sometimes 00:53:07.239 --> 00:53:11.000 it's real hard. Sometimes that even means loving 00:53:11.000 --> 00:53:15.579 ourselves. So guide us and use us as your ambassadors 00:53:15.579 --> 00:53:17.380 in the world to bring your light to all those 00:53:17.380 --> 00:53:23.099 dark places. In Jesus' name, amen. Remember, 00:53:23.159 --> 00:53:24.619 you're loved and you are blessed, so when you 00:53:24.619 --> 00:53:49.260 leave here, go and be the church. Until next 00:53:49.260 --> 00:53:51.659 time, take care and God bless.