Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. I'd like to invite everybody to join me
in reciting the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the power,
the kingdom, the glory forever and ever. Amen.
All right. Well, good morning, church. Last week,
obviously, as most of you know, especially out
there online, I was not here. We had our lovely
intern Brian over here filling in for me. Pastor
Mike over here holding down the fort, making
sure he didn't do anything too outrageous. It's
always great. This week, it's a little thin in
here, so hopefully we get some more people kind
of trickling in as we go, but that's okay because
we're going to go either way. Last weekend, for
those of you who don't know, I was on a motorcycle
ride raising money for a cancer charity. Every
year with the American Legion Riders, for the
last three years, we've done this run. It gets
bigger and bigger every year. It's a lot of fun.
We had a lot of people come out, people from
different groups, MCs, the whole bit. It was
absolutely wonderful. We could not have asked
for a better day. And the sky was gorgeous. The
temperatures were wonderful. The fellowship was
on point. You know, having the opportunity to
go out and pray with people, especially people
who don't usually go to church on Sundays, was
great. Because I get to put on my chaplain hat.
I love doing that. Right? It's a good time for
me. My wife will tell you, I get out there. I
look like a little kid. I get excited. Right?
However, I'd be remiss with everything that's
been going on the last couple weeks or so. Unfortunately,
there was a little bit of a cloud over everything.
You know, and, you know, it started a few weeks
ago, right? It started with that girl, Irina
Zaruska, got stabbed on that train in North Carolina.
Charlie Kirk being murdered in front of his family.
The same day, another shooting at a high school
just a few hours north of us up in Denver, right?
Five police officers back in Pennsylvania ambushed
and shot. Three killed, two still in critical
condition. And that doesn't even include what
we've seen here in Albuquerque in the last few
weeks. The last few weeks here in Albuquerque
have been especially brutal. We've had so many
shootings. We had a guy running from the state
police and shut down the freeway as he ran all
the way across every lane of traffic, got hit
and killed by another car because he didn't want
to get taken in. I think last night I saw another
shooting on there, or maybe it was another update
that I saw on the news. It's hard to keep track
of. It's really hard to keep track of, you know?
And especially with Charlie Kirk. He's a man
with a lot of passion, right? He was on fire
for the Lord, as we all should be, right? A lot
of us, we ask, how can I answer the Great Commission?
He found his how, and he went for it. Whether
or not you agreed with everything he said, whether
or not you agreed with all of his politics, it's
beside the point. He went out there in faith,
and he did it the right way. He said, let's talk.
And really after this, you know, social media
blew up. The news blew up. I myself was sitting
there and I was wondering, should I even say
anything? Should I address this? Should I hop
on right away and do like a little thing? You
know, and of course, then it came to my sense.
It's like, you know what? Let me pray on this
because that's how we should be. We should all
be prayerful. We should start in prayer. We should
put the Lord first and foremost. And when I did
that, suddenly I saw my viewpoint changed. And
it was no longer, should I? It was, yes, you
are, but you're not going to focus on just one
person because you shouldn't. We have a lot of
violence, as I just told you. Just here in our
hometown, even. So among Charlie and others,
that's kind of our focus. And really, I'm going
to pick up a little bit off of something I said
a couple weeks ago. It's not a problem of, I
need to change this, or I need to change that.
It's not an issue of... Oh, I need to get right
with God first. I need to get right with Jesus
first. It's a problem of heart. It's a huge problem
of heart. So as we get started here, I'm going
to ask everybody to open their Bibles, and we're
going to go to Mark 12, verse 34. So Mark 12,
verse 34. And Jesus said, Brood of vipers, how
can you, being evil, speak good things? For out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Jesus is reminding us that the things we say
and the things we do are all a reflection of
what's in here, right? What's in our heart. It's
how the cancer of sin perpetuates our lives in
the world. It's impacted our earthly hearts.
Unfortunately, we're surrounded by it, are we
not? We cannot solve a problem of heart by saying,
oh, I cuss a lot. I need to clean up my speech.
I need to work on that, right? We cannot solve
the other biases that we have with the things
that we say and the things that we do, whether
it's towards our homeless or others. Right? That's
what the PC movement tried to do. Like, oh, don't
say that. That's offensive. It's not just a matter
of cleaning things up. You know, I'm going to
remind you, some of you might have heard this.
I know my fellow nerd over here has. It's a computer
concept term, Geigo. Garbage in, garbage out.
Yeah. He already knew where I was going. Garbage
in, garbage out. You know, it's a concept of
flawed, biased, and poor information going in.
And then on the backside, garbage comes out.
Right? And the more garbage we have entering
us, the more garbage we have coming out of us.
That's unfortunately how it works. Our spiritual
lives are no different. Just like, let me put
it this way before I even go there. Our physical
lives, here, the more garbage we eat, the more
we eat out, the more junk food we put in, the
less space we have for those healthy things,
right? Now, some of us are like, I don't want
to eat a salad. Rabbits eat that. I eat the rabbit.
Come here, bugs. Pow. No, I want to be Elmer
Fudd, right? But it's true. The more garbage
we eat, the more garbage comes out of us. We
go out. We eat a bunch of junk food. What happens?
We get fat. I don't know about you. I don't like
to run. If you see me running, you probably should
be too. Right? I'm not alone on this. Good. But
that's how it works. And our spiritual lives
are no different. The more of the world that
we allow into our lives and into our hearts,
the more worldly things that we get caught up
in. the more worldly things we're going to turn
to, the more worldly things we're going to do,
the less room there is for God in our lives.
Because all of a sudden, we have time to go out
and do all this other stuff, but we don't have
time for the most important thing in our lives.
We don't make time for Jesus anymore. Garbage
in, garbage out, right? You know, the more godly
things that we take in, the more godly things
come into our lives, the more godly we react,
the more Christ -like we become. A part of that
is we have to ask this Holy Spirit to guide our
lives, to help us to develop those new attitudes,
those new motivations in our lives, right? To
help us to gain that knowledge and that understanding
and how it applies to our lives and how we can
go out and share it with others. Because that
in itself is a gift. And we are called to share
our gifts. We don't get to be selfish and just
hoard them to ourselves. We need to share them.
How else do other people come who don't know
of Jesus? Because the only thing that they see
of the Bible is you and how you live your life.
How you interact with them. How you talk to them.
What you share with them. And when they start
seeing, hey. There's something about this guy.
They're a little different. Guess what? Now they're
going to be like, I want to find out what that's
all about. He talks about Jesus a whole lot.
I want to hear about Jesus. I want to know this
guy. You've made the introduction. Guess what?
Just like Charlie Kirk, you started to do your
part to answer the Great Commission. And as Christians,
we are all called to answer the Great Commission.
When we do all this stuff, we start to see. All
this ugliness, all these worldly things that
are in our hearts get purged and cleaned. Now
a couple weeks ago, as a matter of fact, we just
had a whole series talking about words and context.
And part of that was talking about words do have
power, right? But you know what has more power?
How we choose to react to those words. How we
answer those words. The actions that we take.
and whether or not those actions are worldly
or godly. Turning to Mark 12, verses 29 through
31. So Mark 12, verses 29 through 31. Jesus said...
The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And
you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength. This is the first
commandment. And the second, like it, is this.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There
is no other commandment greater than these. First
of all, we're to love God first. Above all else,
right? Before even ourselves, our family, our
friends, anybody. God first. You start with God,
you're on a good track. You're off to a great
start, right? It's the best way to start. Every
day we should be doing that. But the second,
to love your neighbor. Your neighbor, everybody.
Love everybody. No ifs, no ands, no buts about
it. Love everybody. Don't be a jerk. Plain and
simple, right? Now, with that said, we're not
to be doormats. Absolutely not. The word goes
on to talk about this too. We should know where
the line is drawn and where we need to cut ourselves
off. Like, okay, you know what? I'm going to
pray for you. But that's it, right? Don't cast
your pearls before a swine. So we're not to be
doormats. However, we also need to keep in mind.
This is not an opportunity when somebody starts
getting in our face or somebody starts getting
mouthy. This is not an opportunity for us to
kind of beat our chest a little bit and be a
jerk ourselves, right? Start pounding our views
down their throats. Nobody likes that. Nobody
appreciates that. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier
to put people down than it is to build them up,
isn't it? And we like to look at opportunities
to put other people down as an opportunity to
build ourself up. And that's not the Christ -like
thing to do. That is not the Christian -like
thing to do. That is not the loving thing to
do. When we do that, we actually violate this
commandment. When we violate this commandment,
we're turning on God. So guess what? We're violating
the two biggest commandments right then and there
on the spot. If you're unloving, like I said,
by proxy, you're turning on God. You're turning
away. Nobody likes to hear that. That one kind
of stings a little bit, doesn't it? We've all
turned and we've all been a jerk at some point.
Just the last couple weeks, I've seen good godly
men lose their temper and go flying off the handle.
It's not a pretty thing to see. I've seen it
online. I've seen it in person. Unfortunately,
that's our tempers. It's a temptation of sin.
We don't even see the temptation. We just grab
onto it and run. Before I go down any other rabbit
trails, though, let's get back on track. Let's
turn to Matthew 25, verse 40. I know I'm kind
of throwing a lot out this week. It's not my
usual verse by verse, but that's okay, right?
Because it's an important topic. So Matthew 25,
verse 40. Jesus says, and the king will answer
and say to them, assuredly I say in as much as
you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren,
you did it to me. How we treat others, how we
talk to others, reflects our relationship with
Jesus. It reflects our spiritual maturity. And
how devoted we are to actually following God
and the things he set before us. The things that
he's placed right here in the Bible. So we have
to ask ourselves, the words that we speak, the
actions that we take, do they glorify God? I
think all of us in this room can agree, not always.
We all misstep. We all fall short of the glory,
right? It happens. But, you know, there's something
very, very wrong about a society that has become
so numb to violence. We see it on the news. We
see assassinations like Charlie Kirk just the
other day. And we're numb to it. It's just another
day. Oh, look, someone got shot. Oh, a celebrity
got shot this time. Hmm. Where's the outrage?
Where's the reaction? What is the reaction? Ah,
now there's the big one. You know, people, they
hear things that they don't like. And all of
a sudden to them, as far as they're concerned,
those words are violence. Are they though? No.
You can say, hey, don't touch that. You're going
to get burned. Why are you being so violent?
Why do you hate me? It's not violence. That's
actually love. You're looking out saying, hey,
you're going to get hurt. Don't do that. But
that's how petty people have become. That words
hurt their feelings and therefore because you're
saying something they don't want to hear, they
think it's violence. It's not. Just because somebody
doesn't agree with you or says something you
don't like, Come on, let's be real. Are we going
to agree with everybody 100 % of the time? We
can't even agree with our families or our friends
100 % of the time. You know? I'm going to pick
on my mom for a second here. She can do something
and be like, are you kidding me, mom? No. Right?
Or vice versa. I can do something. She's like,
we've all heard. First name, middle name, last
name, right? It happens. Come on, I'm middle
-aged now, and it still happens. It's going to
happen. I'll miss the day it doesn't, right?
But is it violence when that happens? No. That's
life. That's a relationship. So the question
instead comes, as Christians, Do you love Jesus
more or yourself? Do you want to follow Satan
and his ministers and the ways of the world?
Or do you want to follow God who set forth what
we should do in the Bible? Because whether we
like it or not, his word is what's best for us,
right? We don't like it because it goes against
the way we want to live, against the way, the
things that we want to do. You know, do we want
to serve Jesus who says love others? I love other
people the way you want to be. I mean, think
about it. When that commandment was put out,
that is the basis for the golden rule, is it
not? Treat others as you want to be treated yourself.
Love others as you want to be loved. I don't
know about you. I don't want to be treated like
a jerk. It's the same thing. Or do we want to
serve Satan and his ministers who say, you know
what? Love yourself. You got to put yourself
first. Don't worry about them. They'll take care
of themselves too. Hmm. Because that's really
what's happening. All right. And we're going
to turn to Romans chapter 14 now. I said it's
a little unusual. I'm more of a verse -by -verse
guy, you know, but that's okay. I feel a little
offbeat with this one too, but it's an important
topic we need to talk about. So Romans 14, verses
1 through 3. The word says, We all have weaknesses.
We all have areas in our life that we're weak.
We all have areas in our faith that are weak.
You want to know where you're strong? It's real
easy. You go out and you talk to people who are
buried in their sin. You're not tempted to fall
in with them. You're not tempted to give in to
their sin or to tell them, hey, that's okay.
Guess what? You're strong. The second you're
sitting there, though, and you're like, you know
what? Maybe it's not going to be that. I'll give
it a try. Or you know what? It's okay. It's going
to take time, right? Or you help them to find
a reason to give in to whatever garbage excuses
that they have for their sin, right? Whatever
their fantasy is. It's like, oh, you were born
a boy, but you want to say you're a girl. No,
you're a boy. I have a real hard time with that.
I'm not one who wants to say, oh, you want to
say you're a girl? Okay, you're a girl. No, you're
a boy. Plain and simple and vice versa. So I
know that's a place where I'm strong. But these
days, that's a place where a lot of people are
really weak. Oh, what are your pronouns? Doesn't
matter. I'm not going to say them. That's what
we should be saying. But we don't want to hurt
anybody's feelings. We want to validate everybody,
regardless of what the reason is. And we don't
stop to think, hey, that goes against what God
is telling us. So we're validating sin. Guess
what? We are now just as guilty of the sin as
the sinner. We're just as guilty. You're an alcoholic.
You know what? I'm going to go and have a beer
with you. You just encouraged them to have another
beer. What are you doing? Right? You're just
as guilty. You're encouraging the sin. Instead
of saying, hey, can I pray for you? Hey, what
help do you need? Maybe I can help you find it.
Maybe I know a guy. We're too busy trying to
be the nice guy. We see a lot of parents like
that now, right? They want to be, wow, they're
just rocking out there, aren't they? That's cool.
Good for them. But we see a lot of parents like
that, though, don't we? They want to be their
kid's best friend as opposed to a parent. You
really want to see where this comes into place?
You wait for that kid to do something and that
principal to have to call their parent and see
how that kid reacts. As a teacher or a bus driver
or a counselor or whatever, and you talk to that
kid, you see how they respond to you. That tells
you whether or not they have a parent at home
or a friend. You know, my son, BJ, most of you
have met. He was, what, sixth grade, seventh
grade? I think he was sixth grade. There was
a bully in his school who was picking on one
of the younger girls, shoving her, calling her
names, right? This is an eighth grader. Now,
for those of you who don't know BJ, because I
know you all don't know my son. He's always been
a big dude. He's always been the big guy in his
class. You look at him and you think he's a little
older than he is. He told the guy to stop. The
guy's like, well, what are you going to do about
it? He's like, if you don't leave her alone,
I'm going to make sure you leave her alone. This
is in a Christian school, mind you. The kid shoved
him. He socked that kid and knocked him right
on his rear end. Okay. Maybe not the best response,
but he was true to his word, was he not? So the
principal gives me a call. Says, hey, I need
you to come and pick up BJ. Is everything okay?
Yes, no, kind of. Let me tell you what happened.
It's like he was in a fight, but he was sticking
up for somebody else. He didn't start it. Okay.
I get to the school. I go to pick him up. He's
scared out of his mind. He's in tears. He is
crying before I even get there because he's afraid
of what's going to happen. Now, lucky for him,
he didn't start it. He was sticking up for somebody.
He was trying to do the right thing. So he didn't
get in a whole lot of trouble. He's like, it's
all right, bud, let's go home. Picked him up,
took him home. But that is the right response.
That's when you know, okay, I'm doing something
right. That kid ignores their parents, hits their
parents. Here's a classic example from when I
was in high school. We had a guy in my class.
His name is Eddie. You already know where I'm
going with it. His dad was a prominent doctor
in the town. His dad was a real jerk. Nobody
liked him. You went to him because you had to.
Not because you wanted to. Didn't have a lot
of friends. He liked to beat on his wife. He
liked to beat on his kids. His wife left him.
Took most of the siblings. Eddie stayed behind
with his dad. Kind of had that classic, what
do you call it? I'll spend forever trying to
remember. But anyhow, he had that classic victim
mentality where he wanted to stay with the victimizer.
Right? I see a lot of battered spouses fall into
this. There you go, Stockholm. There you go.
Anyhow, comes graduation time. Well, Eddie had
this ratty old beat up pickup truck. He loved
his ratty old beat -up pickup truck. The only
thing he wanted for graduation was a new sound
system put into it because he was joining the
National Guard. That was his intent. So he wanted
a nice sound system because the truck was in
good condition, and he didn't know whether he
was going to be home to drive it a lot or not,
so he just wanted something that he could listen
to when he was in it. It's not a really unreasonable
request, right? Dad, on the other hand, had a
different idea. While Eddie was gone, His truck
was at home. Dad took his truck, traded it in,
bought him a brand spanking new car. Eddie lost
his mind. He didn't want the new car. He wanted
his truck with the new sound system. Acting like
an entitled brat. At this point, his dad had
already figured he'd lost enough. He wanted to
be his son's best friend. And it reflected. Because
that same day, after they had this big argument.
Dad gets into his car, is pulling out of the
driveway to go to work. Eddie goes and opens
a gun cabinet and unloads a fully automatic rifle
into his dad. Yes, a fully automatic. It was
a rifle they shouldn't have had. Afterwards,
realized what he did, calls 911, starts CPR.
But at that point, the damage was done. His dad
was dead. Now instead of going to National Guard,
he went and did a hard time in state prison.
It's a classic example of what's happening to
way too many of our youth today. Way too many.
They don't know Jesus. They don't know a parent.
But everybody out there, you got a friend in
me, right? Loving somebody doesn't mean you have
to like them. Doesn't mean you have to be their
friend. Was Jesus a friend to every single person
he came in contact with? No, absolutely not.
But he loved them just the same. Just the same.
And that's how we find where our faith is, though.
Where are we weakest? Where do we need to strengthen
ourselves? Do you have the courage to stand up
and raise your kids? Do you have the courage
to stand up to a friend and say, hey, you're
messing up? Unfortunately not. It's hard to interact
with sinners without falling into their weakness.
That's part of the temptation in the world. That's
why it's one of Satan's greatest tools. Now,
cycling back over to Charlie Kirk. A lot of people
are out there arguing. about what was going on.
The whole point of his ministry has been missed
by so many people. Matter of fact, people want
to take his death and use it as a litmus test.
Whether or not you should go one place or not.
Hey, did your pastor talk about him? No. Guess
what, you should probably leave. That's probably
a red flag. No, it's not. We'll go into that
in a second. You have other people out there,
they've heard little clips, not the full conversation,
just little clips that have been twisted. Ooh,
where have we heard this before? Right? Temptation
of Christ. Let me take a little piece of it,
put a little spin on it. Our media is real good
about that. Social media is great about that.
Oh, my goodness. Let me get a sound bite. Let
me edit this and put a spin on it however I want.
But the whole thing with Charlie, it wasn't about
his personal politics. I said nobody is going
to agree 100 % of the time. But he went out in
faith to implement something. positive into the
world. The whole premise behind what he did was,
hey, let's take two people of opposing views
and sit down and have a conversation. He actually
had people come up wanting to have a fist fight
with him and other threats. That's why he had
a security detail. And he told them, no. I'm
not going to fight you. We're not a couple of
teenagers in a schoolyard. His belief was 100
% that we live in a society that we should be
able to act like adults, sit down, and have a
mature conversation with one another. That's
how it should be, right? It really is. Some of
us can't even do that in our own household, though.
But that is a great example to set in the world
whether or not you agreed with him. Because I
mean, that's faith. That's why we have so many
Christian denominations out there now, right?
Because even as a church, we can't agree on everything.
And I will say, I didn't agree with him 100%,
but I agreed with him on a lot of things. I really
did. But that's a great way to go out and try
to unify people, bring people together in harmony.
And that's true peace, right? It's like, you
know what? No. You want to fight? Calm down.
You want to have a mature conversation? Great.
Pick up the mic. Let's talk. And let's talk in
front of all these people. He himself had been
out there. I want to say he was doing an appointment
in London where somebody called him out on something
he said. And he himself said, you know what?
I actually learned something very valuable about
that, and it changed the way I looked at this.
So yes, that's what I said at the time, but then
I was told this, and I got a little bit more
educated, and guess what? I was wrong. Wow. That's
pretty powerful. People don't like to do that
now, though. It's very hard. In the military,
we talk about it a lot. Accountability, right?
People come out of the military, and they forget
about it. Instead, they want to... deny. They
want to act like politicians. They want to point
fingers. Like, you know what? Yeah, I did it.
I messed up. Oh, you know what? I should have
done that, but I didn't. I messed up. We've all
done it. You don't even have to be in the military
for that. Police officers, teachers, nurses,
doctors, construction workers. Construction workers
is a great example. Look up some videos of structures
being built, and you look at all the nails and
screws and the whole mess going into the framework
where they've messed up. And they've had to go
back and fix things before they put up all the
walling and everything and the drywall, the whole
bit. Tell you what, you will find a mess. A mess.
But they went back and they cleaned it up. Well,
they didn't clean it up. They fixed what they
needed to fix. Right? Just like when you go out
and you pick on somebody, you call them names,
you shove them around. Guess what? You can come
back, say I'm sorry a million times. You can
repent. You can repair the relationship. But
guess what? The damage is still there. They're
still going to reflect on it. We get in an argument
with our spouse. Something we did 10 years ago
is going to get brought up, right? It's going
to happen every time. I can't say, guys, are
you with me? Because women, I know it happens
to you too. Happens to all of us, right? That's
the whole thing. They miss the purpose. Sit down,
have a conversation. What is the most important
part of that, though? He was reaching out in
love. He was loving on others. Like, you know
what? Let's rise above this. Let's talk about
this. Let's work our way through this and we
can lift each other up and we can lift others
up along the way. That's a biblical principle.
As a church, we should be open to everybody.
We should say, hey, you know what? You're having
a hard time? Come on in. But we still have church,
I use the term loosely here, churches. Right?
Even here in this town where a homeless person
comes in and right away security's on them. Whether
or not they're even letting them in the door.
Let alone they come in and it's like, you know
what, they can sit here. But let's keep an eye
on it. Or, you know what, they're here. Maybe
we can use this. Let's go let them sit up in
the front. But if they start getting mouthy or
doing something silly, escort them back out.
But there's conditions. Is it loving? No. They're
more worried about their image, the perception
other people are going to have about them. It
falls back into that selfishness, which is what
we're talking about here. Who's strong? Who's
weak in their faith, right? And then being led
into arguments with them over said things. Other
people, you're not a Christian if you're a Democrat.
Go right down here to Legacy. Steve Smotherman
has said that himself. I'll call him out on it.
I know Democrats that are bigger Christians than
some Republicans. I know some Republicans that
are better Christians than some Democrats. Politics
has nothing to do with it. Politics have a lot
of influence. Whether or not somebody has a relationship
with Christ, you can't call them out because
they're apologetics. You don't know what their
influence is. You don't know how they've been
raised. But you want to sit there and you want
to pick on them? You want to have an argument
with them? You want to call them out and say
ugly things about them? That's not very Christ
-like. Not even slightly. You know, instead we
should be... Seeing people out there, people
who are struggling, invite them in. That's okay.
Come on in. Have a seat. There's coffee and cookies
out there. Help yourself. Right? After service,
you need something, let's go next door to our
pantry. Let's see what we got. We can help you
out. Maybe you have a friend that's struggling
with something. It's like, you know what? Come
to church. Come with me. You can sit down and
be like, okay, you're struggling with this. Let's
talk about it. Let me show you what the Bible
says about it. Jesus said this. God said that.
You're feeling this because the Holy Spirit is
convicting you of it. That's a change that you
need to make in your life. But the whole thing
is, though, is it's, in the sales world, it's
what's called the soft touch. Right? You go out,
you make the connection. You don't go out with
the hard touch and start cramming Jesus down
their throat. If you do this, you're going to
go to hell. It turns people off. They walk away.
As a church, sometimes we can be our own worst
enemy because that's exactly what we do. We come
in with our own convictions and our own beliefs,
regardless of a biblical standpoint, and we start
throwing out this ugly rhetoric. And what happens?
It pushes people right out the door. It's not
loving. Sitting down and having a civil conversation
absolutely is. We make the introduction. Jesus
does the work through the Holy Spirit. The other
part of it, Charlie Kirk and all these other
murders that we've been seeing, none of it can
be solved politically. We all look to politicians
like, hey, what are you going to do about it?
Yeah, politicians have a responsibility. Should
they be doing things to try to protect their
cities, their states? Their municipalities and
everything. The people that they're there to
serve. Yes, they absolutely should. But guess
what? Are they going to be able to take care
of all that? No. Are opinions going to fix it?
Absolutely not. Opinions aren't going to do anything
either. It's a good reminder. We need to turn
to God. Because God is the only one who can 100
% deal with it. And eventually 100 % of it is
going to be dealt with. God will take care of
it. Book of Revelation is what it's referring
to as the growing pains, right? People are going
to call bad, good, good, bad. We're seeing it.
We're living it. It's right there. Like I said,
people are trying to say, oh, this shooter wasn't
one of us. The other side is saying, oh, they
had these ideologies, da, da, da, and they take
Jesus out of the equation. As Christians, we
get caught up into it. We fall into that sin
ourselves. Because then we start calling things
out. Give them the chair. Hang them. Shoot them.
Give them the needle. All of a sudden, we're
acting like we're the judges, we're the jury,
and we're the executioner. We forget here earthly,
right? Jesus came. He said he didn't come to
do away with the law. We had laws, did we not?
We still have laws. We have a justice system.
Regardless of how fouled up it is. But we have
a system in place, and even here in the U .S.,
it's still pretty darn good compared to other
countries. I'll tell you what. But we have a
system in place that we should trust to work
out the way it should. We have a system in place
where things need to change. We could change
it, but guess what? We have police. We have lawyers.
We have judges. We have corrections officers.
We have counselors. We have all these people
in place for specific things like this. As Christians,
what we should be doing is praying. We should
be praying about the family and the friends and
the communities that are impacted. That's important.
But more importantly, we should be praying over
these people who are doing these evil things.
That they come to know Jesus before it's too
late. We don't like that. We don't want to do
that. But that's what we should be doing. Proverbs
25 verses 21 speaks specifically about this.
Proverbs 25 verses 21 through 22. If your enemy
is hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he is
thirsty, give him water to drink. For so you
will heap coals of fire on his head and the Lord
will reward you. In other words, kill them with
kindness. We've all heard that growing up. This
is what it means. Kill them with kindness. Pray
for them. Pray for your enemies. The people who
are out there doing bad in the world. The people
who are doing bad to you and abusing you and
taking advantage of you. Pray for them. Why?
Why should we do this? Why should we do this
for the shooter of Charlie Kirk? Why should we
do this for the shooter? the police officers?
Why should we do this for the guy who stabbed
this poor girl on a train in North Carolina?
Why should we do that for all these people who
hurt all these other people, including this little
baby who just died in our own city from drug
abuse and being shaken and battered? Why should
we pray for her parents? Because it fosters godliness.
It fosters godliness in you as you honor The
Lord. And the more you do these things, the more
godly things that you take in, the more godly
things that you do, right? Good in, good out.
Oh, we just changed Geico, right? That you meant
for evil, the Lord intended for good, right?
Same thing. When we do these things, it honors
God. We're obeying what he's told us. We're doing
the loving thing. Like I said, you don't have
to love somebody, I mean like somebody. The Bible
doesn't say you have to like everybody. It says
to love everybody though. Those are two different
things. Like needs and wants. Two different things.
It teaches you to be kind. It teaches you to
reflect the Lord's light in all that you do.
It fosters a spirit of kindness and compassion
for your fellow man. You become more Christ -like.
And that is a big part of why we're here on this
earth, is God is working within us and molding
us to make us more Christ -like. And the more
Christ -like you become, the more of these things
that you do, the more it promotes peace and harmony,
hope. It offers a chance of true reconciliation.
True forgiveness. And in itself, which is why
it talks about heaping coals of fire on his head.
In itself, it will bring feelings of shame, embarrassment.
And remorse to the people who are doing wrong.
It's like, ooh, I messed up. And that in itself,
between your love and your kindness and your
mercy and your grace, reflected of what the Lord
has done for you, each of us, it reflects the
same. It reflects God's love, his grace, and
his mercy to us all. It is a prime example out
there for the world to see, for other people
to see. Remember, it goes back to people don't
know the Bible, but they know you. They can see
Jesus in you. Instead of joining a lynch mob,
we should be praying. We look on TV, we look
online, go to social media, we look at the news,
you pick up a newspaper, a magazine, or anything
else, and what do we see? Hate. All these people
using events to manipulate people. trying to
drive a certain narrative, right? It's what Disneyland
calls stage on, stage off. You're up in front
of people, you're on the stage, guess what? You're
going to do this, and you're going to promote
this, and it's all you're going to do. When you
get to come off, you get to go behind the scenes,
go, ah! And it happens. And people are out, and
unfortunately, we have a lot of people who profess
to be Christians. out there. They put on the
smile and they put on the tie. And they smile
and they talk a good deal. They got a lot of
charisma. And then you come back behind the scenes
and they're cussing and throwing things and talking
trash. Putting people down. Putting their own
people down. The reason I walked out of a big
church I served at. It happens. It happens everywhere.
The church is not safe from it. Sin perpetuates
everything. It infiltrates everything. We see
it everywhere we go. And unfortunately, we have
a lot of churches out there trying to manipulate
a political narrative as well. Why? Well, it's
drama. What gets rating for the news? What gets
rating for the networks? Ah, drama. Hmm, the
picture comes together. They're more impressed
with putting on a show and drawing people in
and playing off of people's... emotions than
they are at pointing the way to God. It's an
attempt to exploit people at the cost of someone's
life, and it's an attempt to cause division.
Who likes division? Satan. Not math teachers.
Yes, math teachers too, but that's not the division
we're talking about. Satan likes division, right?
He likes us to get our eyes off of the things
that are important. He really likes to divide
the church. He wants you to be focused on the
world because the more of the worldly things
you're looking at, the more of the garbage you're
taking in, right? Taking in the garbage, you're
pushing out the good stuff. You're bringing in
the world, you're pushing out the Lord. And what's
happened here, unfortunately, with Charlie and
so many others, it's been promoted like an idol.
He's become an idol. As Christians, we should
look at the good in his life and use it to point
the way to Jesus. Right? Look at what he did.
Look at what his ministry, look at what he was
really about. How can we talk about, how do we
create a dialogue? That's what we are Charlie
should really mean is, hey. How do we talk to
one another again? How do we humanize one another
again? Instead, he's getting put up on this pedestal.
Right? That's not right. That's not the way we
should be looking at things, but it's what's
happened. I promise, guys, we're driving home.
I'll get you all out to lunch quick. Well, quick
-ish. 2 Timothy 4, verse 2. So turning to 2 Timothy
4, verse 2. Paul is writing to Timothy, he's
telling Timothy, preach the word. Be ready in
season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort,
and with all longsuffering and teaching. The
word comes first. The things of God come first.
The kingdom comes first. First, not the worldly.
The worldly will eventually go away. And we'll
all die off. Right? But we lose sight of this
all the time. We're not supposed to be preaching
about Charlie like he was the second coming of
Jesus. Absolutely not. Yeah, what happened is
a horrible, tragic thing. He did a lot of good.
We should be focused on that. What can we learn
about this? Let's move forward. Not get hung
up on it. Not put him on a pedestal that he shouldn't
be on. He himself, if he was alive, I totally
believe would say, no, this is nonsense. Stop
doing it. I'm not Jesus. Talk about Jesus. Right?
How we all should be. We should all be pointing
the way to him. We are to be preaching on Jesus.
We should be preaching the gospel. Especially
right now. And this is where I agree with a lot
of churches who chose not to say anything about
it other than maybe a prayer. Because we should
be speaking about Jesus and God first and foremost.
We should be pointing the way to him. Jesus who
brings that peace and that comfort that surpasses
all understanding. Jesus, who can lay his healing
hands on those families and those friends and
those people who are truly suffering, right?
And bring them back up. Help them to heal. Help
them to adjust to a new norm. Because that's
what it is. It's a new norm. We've all been there.
We've all lost someone we cared about deeply
in our lives. Unfortunately, as we get older,
the more we lose. It's not like, oh, it'll just
get better. It's just a new norm. We adjust,
right? We adapt and we overcome. And that's what
it really is. We need to be praying for Jesus
to lift up those who are hurting. Romans 8, verses
5 -6. We're heading for home, guys. Get you out
to lunch real quick after this. So Romans 8,
verses 5 -6, the word says... For those who live
according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh. But those who live according
to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. In other words, we
should be looking to the kingdom of God and yielding
to the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our steps, our
words, our actions. We need to slow down and
we need to pray before we act. And when we do
that, sometimes we find out, guess what? We shouldn't
even be acting on this. Sometimes the best thing
is just keep your mouth shut and go that direction.
Right? Instead of trying to be the tough guys.
We all want to be the tough guys, right? I'll
knock them out. Tyson, he's nothing. Give me
a break. The average guy goes in front of Tyson,
they're still going to pay severely, right? Let's
be honest about it. But we all want to be the
tough guys. Instead of doing that, though, we
need to be thinking about those who are still
here and those who are still in need of the hand
of the Holy Spirit. The friends, the families
left behind, we need to be praying for them.
The hurt and the anger that's raging inside of
so many people, the souls that have yet to be
reached. Those who have turned and need to turn
back. Those prodigal children, right? Because
we've all been prodigal children. And when we
think about things like that, when that's what
we put our mind to, that's what brings out the
best in us because we're at that point truly
acting as the ambassadors for Christ that we
should be. We need to focus on the godly and
not the worldly. Be the ambassador that you were
called to be and think of Christ, the example
he set. The example he set on the cross when
he didn't respond in violence, but simply said,
forgive them, Father. Excuse me, Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. And on that
note, let us pray. Father, we come to you thankful
for another day. We're thankful not only for
the day, but this time of fellowship and this
opportunity to praise and worship you and to
learn from you and see how your word applies
to our life. We ask for your healing hands on
us personally and as a nation and as a world.
There's so much pain and hurt and hate just feeling
it right now, and only you can heal it. We ask
for your peace upon those directly impacted by
it. by these tragic events. Our prayer is that
these people, they lean into you for healing
and are able to overcome it and come out the
other side as beacons for you, your kingdom,
and bringing you all the glory. We ask that you
please change the things inside of us that need
to be changed. We all have so many things that
need to be changed, so many places where we're
weak in our faith and weak in our walk. But we
ask that you mold us and help us to be more Christ
-like and less like the world. Help us to love
where it's the hardest. And I'll tell you, sometimes
it's real hard. Sometimes that even means loving
ourselves. So guide us and use us as your ambassadors
in the world to bring your light to all those
dark places. In Jesus' name, amen. Remember,
you're loved and you are blessed, so when you
leave here, go and be the church. Until next
time, take care and God bless.