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and I'll see you next time.

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Don't get down when you're seeing the worst

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Cause the last will be the first

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What a day I'm telling you

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All things will be new

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Living up in a down world

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Yeah we're living, yeah we're living

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Living up in a down world

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Oh

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This is Jimmy and NadaNet today

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We have our special guest back by popular demand

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Pastor Brian Manning. Hello.

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Welcome to Living Up in a Down World.

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Hey Pastor Jimmy, thank you for having me back for round two.

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I'm excited to talk about some big things today.

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So what y'all don't know is that

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Pastor Brian and I just did the best show we ever did

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and I didn't hit the record button.

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Let's just tell them the real truth.

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We did 30 minutes worth of knock down drag out.

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I hope we can...

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We got a preview of the show and we can just tell you in advance

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it's going to be great.

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So you stay with us today.

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Welcome to Living Up in a Down World.

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Hey, do go to our website, livingupinadoworld.com.

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You can pick up our daily blog

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which is a daily devotional that I write every day

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hot off the press, right out of my quiet times in the morning

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and it is fresh and it's kind of...

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It can be in your face.

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It's about building you up and encouraging you

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but also challenging you to live the life.

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So livingupinadoworld.com

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You can subscribe there.

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You can join and support us through PayPal.

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Everything is there and all of our...

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All 61, today we're on episode 62.

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All those episodes are on there.

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You can listen to them by title

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and pick them as you would and we would love

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to have you as a guest on the website.

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Check it out. Welcome Pastor Brian.

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I'm ready to talk about big things.

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Let's get into it.

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There is a lot of low hanging fruit out there

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and what I mean by that is there is so much

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happening in this world right now

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that there's so much to choose from.

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When we were talking about,

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what do you want to talk about today?

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You wrote me this morning.

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What do you have in mind?

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And I'm like, what do I not have in mind?

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There is so much happening in the world.

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We want to address some of those things.

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Obviously not all of them.

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But one of the things I want to bring up

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is what is happening right now prophetically.

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It appears that things are lining up

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in terms of what's happening with Russia,

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what's happening with North Korea, China.

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The world seeming to turn its back on Israel.

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There are a lot of things

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prophetically lining up.

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It is possible.

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I've heard some very well respected

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men, pastors, prophets

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in this world today

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that I'm saying are not the kooky type.

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They are not flaky.

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They are solid.

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They are saying we are at a point

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right now where the church

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could be raptured at any point.

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There are other things that need to line up

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in terms of setting up the tribulation,

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setting up the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel.

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There are a lot of things happening.

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That's Ezekiel 38.

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But Ezekiel 37, the coming together

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of the dry bones, that's already happened

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in 1948 when Israel

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was reestablished as a nation.

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We are not going to go deep into eschatology today.

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I'm saying this is just

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setting things up

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because these are both the best and worst

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of times. How does that hit you?

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I am actually

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excited in a weird way

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by the totality

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of all that we are seeing happen right now

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because A, it's right

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on time with God's plan.

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There is nothing happening, first of all.

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If you are a believer in Jesus, there is nothing

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happening that is outside of

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God's awareness and outside of

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what he planned and knew was going

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to happen all along.

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He loves us and he is going to take care of his people,

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number one. Secondly,

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when you look prophetically

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at what we are told in Scripture

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is going to happen, if you look in

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the book of Malachi in chapter 3 and chapter

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4, it talks

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about how, yes, there is

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going to be an apostasy,

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there is going to be a falling away, there is going to be

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turbulent times and difficult times,

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but before Jesus returns, it also

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talks about that there is going to be one

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of the greatest revivals

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that the world has ever seen.

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It is going to happen in the midst of the darkest

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darkness that we have ever seen

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in the world. And that is what gives

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me hope and encouragement is that when it

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gets bad, when things get dark,

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Jesus shows up,

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God shows up, and he shows up through

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his people, through the Holy Spirit

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in his people, for those

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who will be faithful and who will hold

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on and continue to

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do the things that he is calling them to do

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in the midst of the darkness.

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I so agree with that. In fact,

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you reminded me of something historically

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speaking that the first great

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awakening that happened actually

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gave way to the American Revolution.

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It was a setup

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for the American Revolution. And by the way,

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only 50% of the pastors

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or less were actually in favor of

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that. It was a nation

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at that time. We were divided.

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The colonies were divided,

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the states were divided. They were at

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war with one another, they were debating

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morality and issues,

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and sometimes people have these ideas that these

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great revivals were times

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of great unity and great,

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we are all one singing kumbaya

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around the fire. That is not

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how it happened. It was messy,

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it was sloppy. There were horrible

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things going on. Slavery was

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entrenched at that time, and

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a lot of terrible things were happening,

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and yet in the midst of that, God showed

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up and began to move in miraculous ways.

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The second great awakening,

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what did that give rise to?

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That is what brought us through

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the Civil War and out of

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slavery. There you go.

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Now you had another great awakening

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again in wartime.

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See, it is so interesting because I think

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we have these ideas that when we talk about

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spiritual awakening and revival,

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we are talking about wonderful altar calls.

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Wow, what a great day at

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church. The worship team sounded so anointing,

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and Pastor Brian was just off the rails

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preaching. He is on fire.

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Let's go eat. Let's go have lunch.

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Let's go over to Backwoods Barbecue and have

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some barbecue at AJ's place.

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We just have this

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laxadaisical,

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nonchalant,

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indifferent approach to what is

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going on, and we miss the fact

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that it is actually in times of

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great upheaval, great

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division and disunity,

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great debates over morality

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and issues. When God shows

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up the most, why? Because we are

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sin abounds, grace abounds,

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all the more. I think

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we are set up, just as you were

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saying, out of Malachi, Malachi if

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you are Italian, right, out of Malachi,

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that we are set up for one of

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the next great awakenings right now.

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Well, I believe that. It talks about

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in Malachi 3, the refiner's

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fire, and that is where

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the church is right now. We have really

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been there probably for the last two or

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three decades. There was a

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period through the 1980s where

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you were seeing

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the power and

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the healing and the

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moves of God in big ways,

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but what happened was, a lot

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of the church did not steward it very well,

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and instead they marketed

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it, and they tried to make money off of

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it, and they made it about themselves,

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and about growing big churches

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rather than making it about drawing people

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into the presence of God. What

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we have seen in the church is a bit of a

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wilderness that we have been in over the last

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20 or 30 years, but it is

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in the wilderness that God prepares

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His people for what He wants to do

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next, and I believe that the church is

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poised to come out of the wilderness, and I think

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we are going to see God move in big ways.

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Absolutely agree.

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I think another piece of that was

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we got excited about making converts,

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and we missed what Jesus told us to do.

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He did not tell us to make converts.

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He told us to make disciples.

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And what happened was, we dropped the ball

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on discipleship. So then

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you have a whole generation of Christians

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who can get excited

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over the presence of God and great worship

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and great preaching, get all stirred up at a conference,

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but when the winds of adversity

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grow, they do not have roots

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that go down deep enough to support

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their pain and support what is coming

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against them. Yeah, and that is what we need.

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We need foundations. We need deep

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roots of discipleship,

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because it is to

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obey what God is calling us to do.

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It is not going to be easy. There is

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going to be difficulty involved. He said,

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in this world you will have trouble.

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And some of that trouble is

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brought intentionally by God upon us

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to grow our roots,

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to refine us, to prepare us. So camp on that for a minute.

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Let's riff on that, because

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a lot of people have this idea that

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God is just this big, benevolent

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grandfather sitting in an old, big old

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rocking chair, just waiting for

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his kids to come sit on his lap. And I have

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heard people use those

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metaphors, or something like those

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metaphors, to where it is just this

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sloppy agape, as

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Pastor Alan Jackson says. Wow.

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Sloppy agape,

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just sit around the fire saying kumbaya,

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because it is just all about love, brother.

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It is just all about, just love

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each other. Yeah.

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Well, and the love of God isn't to be

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taken lightly. The Bible says that God

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is love. He doesn't have it. He is love.

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And love is defined by him.

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That is part of where we have gone wrong

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in our conception of love,

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is we have tried to redefine the idea of

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love outside of who God is

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and what He says it is.

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And so we slap the love label

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on things that aren't really

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loving. We are calling

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love things that are actually destroying

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people, things that are tearing them

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down. And we are saying it is loving

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because we are making them

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feel good in the moment. We are telling them

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something that tickles their ears or what they

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may want to hear or that is comfortable

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in the moment. But ultimately,

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it destroys them. It doesn't

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help them, and that is not love.

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Man, you nailed that, brother, because

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we think that love means

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being silent towards

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someone's sin because we don't want to impose

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our beliefs upon them. So we are going

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to love them by not saying anything.

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And that is what you said. That is

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the opposite of love.

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Love means you speak.

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Love means you speak the truth.

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And you speak the truth in love, but you speak

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the truth because of love. And I think

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that is where we miss it. It is easy to quote

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that scripture, speak the truth in love, brother.

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Speak the truth in love. You know, gel cap

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it with love so it goes down okay.

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Soften it, dumb it down.

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But it is really not just that.

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It is speaking the truth because you love.

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My dad had no

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problems speaking the truth to me.

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Sometimes it was with

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a belt, and sometimes it was with

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a boot. And he never abused

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me, never once. But you know what?

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He got my attention. And I knew

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I was loved by my father.

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And I am all the better for it.

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And by the way, I earned every one I got.

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I earned it. Absolutely.

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And so he was just in that sense.

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And I understood that.

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The scripture even says he, like

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a father, God disciplines

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those whom he loves. Absolutely.

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But yet we think that if something

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not so comfortable is happening

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or if something is inconveniencing

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us, that we are either A, being

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persecuted by the devil,

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or being persecuted by others. By the way, the Bible

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does say that those who desire to live

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Godly in Christ Jesus will be

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persecuted. So if you are

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living Godly in Christ Jesus, expect

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it. And I am not talking about some

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keyboard warrior out there making a bad

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comment on their social media link.

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I am talking about real deal, in your

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face, persecution.

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Absolutely. Well you know, I was

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a youth pastor for a long time. And I

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know you were too. And I have

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yet to meet a young

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person who grew up,

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who had parents who

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didn't discipline them,

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and didn't teach them righteousness,

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and hold them accountable,

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who then grew up and said,

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that was awesome.

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In fact, I have met

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many young people who are now in their

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20s and in their 30s,

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one of their biggest regrets is

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the fact that their parents just let them

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do whatever they wanted. And

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they wandered off into all kinds

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of error and sin

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and painful experiences that they are

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now reaping the consequences

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for, for the rest of their lives.

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And they go, man, I wish my mom or my dad

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had disciplined me,

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had shown me what was

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going to harm me. And if we know that

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instinctively as mothers and

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fathers and about when we think

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00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000
about our kids, why would we think that

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00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,000
God would treat us any differently?

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That comes from Him.

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00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,000
Let's take that back into what's happening

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00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,000
in our culture right now.

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Is that things look bad

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00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,000
out there. It looks like

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00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,000
God may be judging

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00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,000
America right now.

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And we don't like to talk about that in the contemporary

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00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,000
church. We don't want to talk about God

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00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000
being wrathful or

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00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,000
just. You need to read your whole Bible,

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00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,000
not just the Old Testament.

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You need to read the whole Bible. It's all through

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the New Testament as well. That God's

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just. That there is a wrath against

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wickedness. And He will not

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00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,000
strive with man. I was looking at the latest

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00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,000
statistic.

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00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000
63 million abortions

385
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,000
since 1973.

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00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,000
Roe v Wade. Oh my gosh.

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00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,000
63 million abortions.

388
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,000
I was telling Annette last night,

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literally with tears in my eyes. I got really

390
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,000
choked up about it. About how

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00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,000
ambivalent I have been about that.

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I've gone on with my life

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knowing that this stuff's

394
00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,000
happening. But

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00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,000
either it just wasn't

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00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,000
in my realm

397
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at that moment. It wasn't right in front of

398
00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,000
me. And I was

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really feeling sorrow, godly sorrow

400
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,000
last night. And repentant

401
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,000
that I haven't stood

402
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,000
for 63

403
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,000
million children who have been murdered.

404
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,000
And it was getting on

405
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,000
me. Not in a condemnation way.

406
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,000
By the way, this is not a bad thing.

407
00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,000
This was godly conviction.

408
00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,000
This was where I was feeling the weight and gravity

409
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000
of how dark

410
00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,000
our sin is. And I told

411
00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,000
Annette last night. Now I think you would agree

412
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000
if we have done

413
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,000
everything right as a nation.

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00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,000
Man, we preached God in the school classrooms.

415
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,000
We kept prayer in schools.

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00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,000
We've

417
00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,000
taught kids the Lord's Prayer all through

418
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,000
K through 12. And we've

419
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,000
got godly

420
00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,000
school boards. And

421
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,000
we've kept secularism out. We've kept

422
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,000
Marxism out. Which we need to talk a little bit about

423
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,000
Marxism and Trans-Maoism. We'll talk

424
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,000
a little bit about that. But if we

425
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,000
did everything right, except

426
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000
63 million

427
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,000
babies murdered on our

428
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,000
watch, that's still enough

429
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000
to be judged for. And how

430
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,000
can we think?

431
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,000
How can we even imagine

432
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,000
that God will not judge

433
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,000
our nation for those murders?

434
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,000
When we get all incensed about

435
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,000
Hitler and 6 million

436
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,000
Jewish people, which is horrific

437
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,000
and terrible, other

438
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,000
atrocities in other nations like Africa

439
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,000
and others that were even more

440
00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,000
than that have been lost

441
00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,000
to sickness, terrorism,

442
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,000
all these things, we'll judge

443
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,000
them, but we don't look at

444
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,000
ourselves as a nation because we've grown silent

445
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,000
about this. Well, I think

446
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,000
a sin

447
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,000
that's as great as the sin

448
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,000
of 63 million murders

449
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000
is the church's

450
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,000
indifference towards it.

451
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,000
To turn

452
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,000
a blind eye,

453
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,000
to turn up the volume of our worship,

454
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000
to drown out the news and

455
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000
the cries. Tell that story about

456
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,000
the train headed

457
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,000
to Auschwitz. Yeah, so

458
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,000
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in that time when he was

459
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,000
trying to wake the church up to

460
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,000
saying, hey, we're getting embroiled

461
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000
in something evil here, and

462
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000
we're becoming complicit in it.

463
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000
We're not standing

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00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000
up and being the voice of truth and

465
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000
righteousness to stop evil.

466
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,000
And as one

467
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,000
pastor says, evil never stops

468
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000
itself. Evil

469
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,000
is only ever stopped by

470
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,000
God's people and the presence

471
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,000
of God, a greater power.

472
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,000
And so, you know,

473
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,000
while the church may not have been directly

474
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,000
participating in the murder

475
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,000
of Jews and the people that were being

476
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,000
rounded up, they were being

477
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,000
silent in the face of it.

478
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,000
And there's one story

479
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000
anecdotally that was told of

480
00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,000
a church that was near the train tracks

481
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,000
where the trains would pass by that were full

482
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,000
of the Jews being taken to the concentration

483
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000
camps and all those other people that

484
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,000
the Nazis had begun to round up.

485
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,000
And you could literally hear the cries

486
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,000
coming out of the trains as it was passing by

487
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000
the church, and you could hear it in the church.

488
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,000
And so, rather than

489
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,000
addressing it, the pastor's direction

490
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,000
at the time was, you know, let's sing louder

491
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,000
so we don't hear this.

492
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,000
Yeah. And what a

493
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,000
we, I got incensed when

494
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,000
I read that story. And I'd heard

495
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,000
that story a long time ago, but recently it came

496
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,000
back up and I remembered it. And

497
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000
it went all over me. I had a

498
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000
visceral reaction to that story.

499
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000
That how insensitive

500
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000
can we be? And yet,

501
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,000
I'm beginning to see that we're doing that

502
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,000
in America today.

503
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,000
We have a responsibility as those

504
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,000
who carry light and life

505
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,000
and the truth and the very

506
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,000
presence of God. If we fail

507
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000
to share that,

508
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000
to declare it accurately and

509
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,000
openly, regardless of

510
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000
the cost of speaking truth,

511
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,000
then we've abandoned

512
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,000
the faith. We're complicit.

513
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,000
We don't really believe what we say

514
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,000
we believe. It's an easy believe

515
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,000
that we've embraced, as you've talked about

516
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000
before. Yeah.

517
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,000
I was commenting on a friend's post

518
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,000
and he was talking about lordship

519
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,000
and about holiness. And I said

520
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,000
we have

521
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,000
wherever we have embraced easy

522
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,000
believe-ism, it gives way to

523
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000
easy leave-ism. Yep.

524
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,000
Because there's no skin in the game.

525
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,000
If we just make these easy

526
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,000
onramps to come to Jesus, oh yeah, just come

527
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000
and get your sins forgiven

528
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000
and go live happily ever after in heaven

529
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,000
without challenging people.

530
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,000
This also means, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

531
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000
to quote him again,

532
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,000
Jesus bids a man

533
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000
come and die.

534
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000
And we've got to get to a place

535
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,000
where we actually let people

536
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,000
know this, that

537
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,000
salvation is a free gift,

538
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,000
but the price that was paid for

539
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000
it was a life. That's right.

540
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,000
And that your expectation,

541
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,000
albeit free,

542
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000
your expectation is to come

543
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000
and die too. You have to die to your sin,

544
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,000
die to your carnality,

545
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,000
die to your primal drive,

546
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000
your flesh. And

547
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,000
literally you can't be born again

548
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,000
unless you're dead. That's right.

549
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,000
How are you born again unless you're coming

550
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,000
out of, you have to be birthed

551
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,000
from something. It just,

552
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,000
it's a prerequisite.

553
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,000
What did Jesus say? He said,

554
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,000
a servant is not greater than his master.

555
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,000
If the master had to

556
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,000
lead in this way, and we're

557
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000
going to follow him, then we're

558
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,000
following him in the way that he modeled

559
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,000
for us, which was death to self.

560
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,000
Wow. Nailed it.

561
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,000
So,

562
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,000
so this last

563
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,000
Sunday, Annette and I were

564
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,000
blessed to travel to Nashville,

565
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000
Murfreesboro actually,

566
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000
World Outreach Church, with Pastor

567
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000
Allen Jackson. We were able

568
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,000
to sit at the feet of

569
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,000
Eric Metaxas talking about

570
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000
Letter to the American Church and his newest

571
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000
book,

572
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000
Religionless

573
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,000
Christianity. It's a hard, he even said

574
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000
it's a bad title, but it's a quote.

575
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000
It's actually a term that Dietrich Bonhoeffer

576
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,000
used. That's why he used it as the title,

577
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,000
knowing it was not the best title in the world,

578
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,000
but he wanted it to convey what the

579
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,000
book is about. And

580
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000
we had to hear Kaylee McAnally talking

581
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,000
about the abortion issue.

582
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,000
She's really pro-life, all in pro-life.

583
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,000
That's her big thing.

584
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,000
We got to hear last week

585
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,000
on Thursday night, you and Naomi got

586
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,000
to be a part of that. We heard Abby Johnson

587
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000
speaking about the

588
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,000
issue of pro-life and

589
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,000
just the decimating statistics

590
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,000
of all of that.

591
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,000
So, I'll just have to say, we've come out

592
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,000
of a few days of some heavy weight, heavy

593
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,000
lifting, so to speak. And

594
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000
you had the privilege,

595
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,000
and our church was blessed, to hear you

596
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,000
preach on Sunday. And

597
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,000
you stayed right in that lane

598
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,000
when you talked about these

599
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,000
guardrails and the narrow

600
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,000
road and the wide road or gates,

601
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,000
whichever translation you used.

602
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000
Talk a little bit about that, because

603
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,000
that factors right into where we're going today.

604
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,000
Well, there was a man who came

605
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,000
up to Jesus in the book of Luke

606
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,000
and said, Lord,

607
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,000
will only a few be saved.

608
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,000
And Jesus' response

609
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,000
to that wasn't, hey, hey,

610
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,000
don't worry, I got you covered.

611
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,000
I'm about

612
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,000
to go die on the cross, and once I

613
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,000
do, you guys are all

614
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,000
off the hook. That's not what he said.

615
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000
He said, there's a narrow road

616
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,000
and it's difficult to travel,

617
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,000
and there are few who will choose

618
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000
to travel on it.

619
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,000
And he said, conversely,

620
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000
there's a wide road that's broad and

621
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000
it's easy, and many will

622
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,000
travel on it. He said, but it

623
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,000
leads to destruction and eternal

624
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,000
judgment. And he said,

625
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,000
so, strive.

626
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,000
He literally said the word strive. Strive

627
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,000
to travel down the narrow

628
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,000
path. He said, make every

629
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,000
effort to find yourself

630
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000
on this narrow road.

631
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,000
And what's narrow about it? Well, first

632
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,000
of all, it begins with Jesus is

633
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000
the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody

634
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,000
comes to the Father except through him.

635
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000
But Pastor Brian, what about,

636
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,000
you know, what about Muslims?

637
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,000
What about Baha'i faith? What about

638
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,000
Buddhism? Which, you know, Buddhism is a peaceful

639
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,000
philosophy

640
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000
slash religion. I mean, what about

641
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000
them? I mean, aren't there many

642
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,000
rivers that lead to the one large

643
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,000
Great Lake? Well, the message

644
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,000
of Jesus is there's nothing we can do to make

645
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,000
our peace with God.

646
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,000
God had to come and make peace with us, and the

647
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,000
difference between Jesus, Christianity,

648
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000
and every other attempt

649
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000
to connect with God in every

650
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,000
religion ever is that

651
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,000
he came to us. We didn't come to him.

652
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,000
He did for us what we could not do

653
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,000
for ourselves. There's no

654
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,000
one righteous, not a single one,

655
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,000
the Bible says, that our greatest

656
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,000
attempt at being good is like

657
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,000
filthy rags before a holy God.

658
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,000
But God wasn't content to leave us in

659
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,000
that place decimated by sin.

660
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,000
He came to do for us what we

661
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,000
couldn't do for ourselves, and he died for our

662
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,000
sins, and he rose from the dead.

663
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,000
And he sent us the Holy Spirit that if we will

664
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,000
follow him and we will become disciples,

665
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000
if we will choose his narrow way,

666
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,000
it's narrow because it's his

667
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,000
way, not anybody else's. There you go.

668
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,000
You just nailed it. You know, he's

669
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000
the one who's calling the shots here.

670
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,000
And that's really the sticking

671
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,000
point for every human in all of

672
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000
history is to decide if they can

673
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000
submit their heart to the understanding

674
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,000
that God is in charge, not me.

675
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,000
It's not my life. My life belongs

676
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,000
to him. It started with him

677
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,000
knitting me together in my mother's wound.

678
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,000
And if I'm going to follow him, he

679
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,000
has ownership, lordship over

680
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,000
my life. But that's not a

681
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,000
scary thing. That's not a sad thing.

682
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,000
That's the greatest news in the world

683
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,000
because the Bible says he is a God who

684
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,000
loves us. He's our Father.

685
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,000
He knows what makes us and fixes

686
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,000
us. He also knows what breaks us

687
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,000
and his heart for us is good.

688
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,000
It's beautiful, brother.

689
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,000
Man, so much about what

690
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,000
you just said I could riff on because I'm like

691
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,000
there, no there, no that

692
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,000
one. I mean, it was so

693
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,000
full just bringing the Gospel

694
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,000
into this. There are

695
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,000
people who have struggled, particularly people who

696
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,000
have not embraced Christianity

697
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,000
or they see it as a philosophy

698
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,000
as opposed to a long list of philosophies

699
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,000
and world views. And they

700
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,000
would say things like, well, you know

701
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,000
the problem with Jesus is that

702
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,000
he made himself exclusive.

703
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,000
That he is the only way.

704
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,000
And I'm like, the truth hurts.

705
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,000
I mean, actually

706
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,000
the truth doesn't hurt. The truth

707
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,000
heals. That's a good truth.

708
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,000
And the fact that

709
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,000
he says that if you will become a follower

710
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,000
of him, if you will embrace him

711
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,000
and you will heed his words

712
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,000
you will become what is called a disciple,

713
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:05,000
a learner, a student.

714
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,000
One of the things that we as the Church,

715
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,000
again, here's a broad stroke,

716
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,000
one of the things we as the Church have done

717
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,000
poorly since

718
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,000
the 80's, 70's, 80's,

719
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,000
90's and we had the Charismatic renewal come

720
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,000
through in the 70's, the Jesus movement.

721
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,000
And all these people

722
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,000
were getting saved. This whole generation

723
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,000
got really impacted by the Gospel.

724
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,000
And what happened out of that

725
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,000
was that we got so excited

726
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000
about conversions.

727
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,000
And my background is Baptist,

728
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,000
Southern Baptist. So it was

729
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,000
all about evangelism. Get people

730
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,000
saved. Get them saved. Get them saved.

731
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,000
Get them saved. Get them to church. Get them saved.

732
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,000
Get them to training union.

733
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000
Get them to the potluck dinner.

734
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000
Get them to the... It was come to church,

735
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,000
come to church, come to church, come to Sunday school.

736
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,000
Got to grow our Sunday school classes.

737
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,000
And that was what it was all about.

738
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,000
And listen, that was good. I mean, it was...

739
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,000
It trained me. It was good

740
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,000
for me. I did all of that.

741
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,000
But the thing that we didn't

742
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,000
do well, and I'm just going to...

743
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,000
I'm talking about Southern Baptist, but I would

744
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,000
go broader now and say, is that

745
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,000
we got so focused

746
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,000
on conversions, people accepting

747
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,000
Christ, getting born again

748
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,000
and baptized, that

749
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000
we missed the discipleship

750
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,000
component, which is the

751
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,000
very thing that makes people

752
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000
resilient, and it's

753
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,000
called the fruit of repentance.

754
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,000
It's actually the sign

755
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,000
that you are truly a follower of Jesus. Let me give you

756
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,000
this quote. Bonhoeffer knew

757
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,000
that God demanded everything

758
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,000
of us, and when one doesn't

759
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,000
live out of one's faith,

760
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,000
or when one doesn't live out of...

761
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,000
Let me say it again.

762
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000
When one doesn't live out one's

763
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,000
faith, it only proves that

764
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,000
one had no faith to begin

765
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,000
with. Wow.

766
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,000
That's heavy. Well, you nailed

767
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,000
it, and the truth is we

768
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,000
needed what happened through the Jesus movement.

769
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,000
We needed what happened in the 70s, because we were

770
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,000
coming out of a period in the church

771
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,000
of a lot of legalism, a lot

772
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,000
of lifeless religion that was

773
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000
devoid of relationship with God,

774
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,000
that was outwardly pious.

775
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,000
It was kind of like where Jesus would

776
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,000
admonish Pharisees. He said, hey, you

777
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,000
clean the outside of things,

778
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,000
but the inside is like

779
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,000
dead men's bones.

780
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,000
We had become that way a lot as a church.

781
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,000
It looked good, had a nice veneer

782
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,000
on it, but inwardly, we lack

783
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,000
this relationship with God. It was

784
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,000
driven by the fact that we had lost

785
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,000
sight of how much God loves us.

786
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,000
That He's daddy, He's

787
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,000
father, that He meets us out in

788
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,000
the middle of the road when we're even

789
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,000
trying to come back to Him and wraps

790
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,000
His arms around us and kills the fatted calf

791
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,000
and puts His robe on us because He

792
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,000
loves us so much. That is a needed

793
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,000
truth, and it rescued us out of the

794
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,000
ditch of legalism.

795
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,000
That was a ditch we needed to get out of

796
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,000
to be on that narrow road that Jesus talks

797
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,000
about. The problem was, and what you're

798
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,000
driving at now is that we ran over into

799
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,000
the other ditch on the other side.

800
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,000
We overcorrected. We overcorrected as we often do.

801
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,000
We fell into the ditch

802
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,000
now of what the Bible

803
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,000
calls lawlessness and

804
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,000
sin, and really just a

805
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,000
license that Scripture and God

806
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,000
doesn't give that

807
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,000
makes us feel as though

808
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,000
we will just be excused

809
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,000
for whatever we currently are,

810
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,000
however we currently think,

811
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,000
whatever we currently want to do because

812
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,000
God's grace just covers it all, and He

813
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,000
just loves us so much. Does He love us?

814
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,000
Yes, He is love.

815
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,000
But He's also empowered us, and He's

816
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,000
called us to travel down this narrow road

817
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,000
to follow Jesus and to obey Him.

818
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000
And the guardrail that gets us

819
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,000
out of that ditch of sin and

820
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,000
lawlessness and license and cheap grace

821
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,000
is what the Bible calls the fear of the

822
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,000
Lord. And the fear of the Lord is

823
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,000
really learning

824
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,000
to cling to God and depend

825
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,000
on Him over and above anything and

826
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,000
anyone else. It's to recognize our great need

827
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,000
for Him. You know, in Matthew chapter

828
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,000
5 and verse 3, in the Sermon on

829
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,000
the Mount, Jesus said, blessed are those who

830
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,000
are poor in spirit who

831
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,000
recognize their great need

832
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,000
for God. Theirs is the kingdom

833
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,000
of heaven. And that's what the fear of the

834
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,000
Lord is at the end of the day. It's when you have

835
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,000
the sober recognition of,

836
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,000
man, I don't want to take one

837
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,000
step away from the one

838
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,000
who saves my life and who

839
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,000
makes me whole. I'm terrified

840
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,000
to be away from God. I'm not scared of

841
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,000
God. And that is

842
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,000
the greatest, or the essence of

843
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,000
humility, which is the sermon you preached a few

844
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,000
weeks ago. Kind of, these

845
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,000
really tag along with each other. I could

846
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,000
see this thread going through

847
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,000
each of these. And so this idea

848
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,000
of humility will re-recognize

849
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,000
who God is. You see Isaiah

850
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,000
standing before the throne. And

851
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,000
he's overwhelmed. I mean, because he's

852
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,000
seeing God high and lifted up. He's

853
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,000
seeing the glory.

854
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,000
And the word glory has

855
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,000
many facets to it. One of them

856
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,000
is God's manifested presence. And so

857
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,000
he's beholding the presence of

858
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,000
God. He's seeing it.

859
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,000
He's overwhelmed. And his first word

860
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,000
out of his mouth is, whoa.

861
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,000
Whoa is me.

862
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,000
I am undone, for I'm a

863
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,000
man. I'm a man of unclean

864
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,000
lips. And I live among a people

865
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,000
of unclean. He recognized, and

866
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,000
really that's the essence of humility, is

867
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,000
to recognize in comparison

868
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,000
to a holy God,

869
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,000
we're a hot mess.

870
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,000
And we need help. And we need saving.

871
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,000
And that's the thing is he

872
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,000
wants to bring that to us

873
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,000
to save us.

874
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,000
To literally change

875
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,000
everything about our lives.

876
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,000
And

877
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,000
he's given us a gift to

878
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,000
participate in that process. And that

879
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,000
gift is a word that we've

880
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,000
shied away from in the church. It's called repentance.

881
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,000
It was the message of Jesus. It

882
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,000
says the gospel of Jesus Christ began

883
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,000
with him preaching, repent

884
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

885
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,000
You want to know what Jesus

886
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,000
was saying? That's what he was saying. He's saying

887
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,000
turn around. Change the way you think.

888
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,000
Make God's ways your

889
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,000
ways. Learn to love what he loves and hate

890
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,000
what he hates. That's repentance.

891
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,000
That word repentance is so powerful. Turn

892
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,000
around. Change your mind.

893
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,000
Another one is realign your thoughts with his.

894
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,000
Which is again changing your mind. But it's

895
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000
not just changing your mind. It's changing your mind

896
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,000
to his. It's embracing

897
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,000
this thing called the mind of Christ where we say

898
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,000
I want to align with,

899
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,000
I want to agree with what

900
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,000
God, whatever God says is sin

901
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,000
I'm going to agree with that.

902
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,000
Whatever God says is off limits. I want to

903
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,000
agree with that. And that's

904
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,000
where you realign yourself with

905
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,000
him. And you turn.

906
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,000
And when you do he's right there.

907
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,000
He didn't leave you.

908
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000
He didn't walk away from you. We walked away from

909
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,000
him. But when we turn around he's right there.

910
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,000
And Peter's first sermon

911
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,000
he preached when the Holy Spirit came.

912
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,000
The people were saying what must we do to be saved?

913
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,000
He says repent and be baptized

914
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,000
every one of you. But then

915
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,000
he makes a great promise from the way he says

916
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,000
that times of refreshing may

917
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,000
come from the presence of the Lord.

918
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,000
Repentance has become a dirty word and there's no need

919
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,000
for it to be. It is literally

920
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,000
the door. It is the door

921
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,000
to the narrow way that brings

922
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,000
you into the presence of God. And God's saying

923
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000
hey I want to refresh you. It's beautiful.

924
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000
I want to bless you with my

925
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,000
presence and here's the access and the entrance

926
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000
into that. And what happens

927
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,000
is because people think in terms of

928
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,000
okay so I got to die to myself.

929
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,000
I got to carry my cross.

930
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,000
This sounds like I'm going to be dragging

931
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,000
my faith around like a ball and chain.

932
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,000
Like this is just something

933
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,000
heavy lifting all the time and

934
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,000
I'm going to go around in sackcloth

935
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,000
and ashes. I'm going to be sullen.

936
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,000
But that's actually

937
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,000
the opposite. I've

938
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,000
never been more free in my

939
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,000
life when I have learned

940
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,000
the value of restraint of my

941
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,000
flesh. That frees

942
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,000
me. That's right. It's because we move

943
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,000
past chasing elusive happiness

944
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,000
and we experience something much

945
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,000
deeper that the Bible calls joy.

946
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,000
Joy that emanates

947
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,000
from your heart and your soul

948
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,000
that's irregardless of your circumstances

949
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,000
and there is no replacement

950
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,000
for true joy. That expresses

951
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,000
itself. I just thought about myself. I walked out

952
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,000
on the back porch last night

953
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,000
and we live across this beautiful

954
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,000
cross up on the hill across the highway

955
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,000
from where we live. We live out in the country and it's

956
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000
actually a wedding venue that

957
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,000
has this massive cross. It's lit up at night

958
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,000
so when I walk out on my back patio

959
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,000
to let Chevy go do his business at night

960
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,000
before we go to bed I always

961
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,000
walk out and stand

962
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,000
out there and just look up at that cross.

963
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,000
Man, it's had some crazy

964
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,000
beautiful views. Full moon coming up behind

965
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,000
it a few nights ago last week

966
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,000
or I see fog up on the hill because

967
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,000
it's pretty high and it's just

968
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,000
a stunning view. I walk

969
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,000
out and here's how

970
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,000
it plays out for me. I

971
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,000
always say good evening Holy

972
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,000
Spirit. Good evening

973
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Lord Jesus. Good

974
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,000
evening Abba Father.

975
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,000
All three of those descriptors

976
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,000
Holy, Lord and

977
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,000
Abba are very meaningful to me. They're

978
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
very powerful to me and I'm very

979
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,000
intentional when I use those, that

980
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,000
terminology

981
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,000
and those descriptors.

982
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,000
What I'm realizing is that

983
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,000
I know that I'm walking in

984
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,000
joy and holiness

985
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,000
and purity when I'm smiling

986
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,000
and nobody's looking.

987
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,000
I mean think about it.

988
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,000
We usually smile because somebody smiled

989
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,000
at us or we're smiling at somebody.

990
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,000
We're trying to convey something. Whether

991
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,000
it's walking through a grocery store and just nodding

992
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,000
and smiling at somebody or talking

993
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,000
to who's checking you out. How's your day going?

994
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000
Hey, what are you most thankful for? You know, whatever you're

995
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,000
doing, which I did a few of those

996
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,000
on the trip as well. Good

997
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,000
responses. Awesome. Great opportunities

998
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,000
for God conversations. But anyway, it's another

999
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,000
story. But I'm finding

1000
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,000
that I am smiling

1001
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,000
and there's nobody around.

1002
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,000
Nobody's looking. And I, it's

1003
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,000
almost weird to me a little bit like,

1004
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,000
why are you smiling?

1005
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,000
It's because my buckets are overflowing

1006
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000
with the joy of the Lord. Why?

1007
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Because I've crucified the flesh

1008
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,000
and I'm growing. This is always

1009
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,000
an ongoing thing, by the way.

1010
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,000
There are setbacks. There are moments. There are like

1011
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,000
moments where you pull what

1012
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,000
Pastor Duane Sherriff calls a big piece of stupid.

1013
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,000
You know, you just pull these

1014
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,000
and go, where did that come from?

1015
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,000
I got mad if they got driving or whatever.

1016
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,000
But I'm finding that

1017
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,000
part of the outflow of that in just

1018
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,000
a natural way is when I catch

1019
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,000
myself smiling for no reason

1020
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,000
whatsoever and nobody's

1021
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,000
around. That's amazing. It sounds

1022
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,000
simple, but that's

1023
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,000
joy that's overflowing.

1024
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,000
It's just coming out of you and you can't even help it.

1025
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,000
Well, real freedom at the end

1026
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,000
of the day usually means freedom

1027
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,000
from ourselves. You know,

1028
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,000
we're often our own worst enemy.

1029
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,000
No doubt. And whether it's

1030
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,000
through our own thoughts and

1031
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,000
motives and desires and things

1032
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,000
like that. And when God, we begin to

1033
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,000
allow God to reshape those things in us

1034
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,000
and that deep

1035
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,000
joy begins to emerge out of our hearts, you

1036
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,000
can't help but smile. I love that.

1037
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,000
So let's connect this now to culture

1038
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,000
because I went to a

1039
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,000
conference called Culture in

1040
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,000
Christianity and it was all about

1041
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,000
engaging culture. And

1042
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,000
then you're preaching sermons that talk about

1043
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,000
the holiness of God, the

1044
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,000
fear of the Lord, guardrails on our

1045
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,000
lives, the narrow road. I mean, these

1046
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,000
are heavy, heavy topics. And yet

1047
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,000
what does that

1048
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,000
have to do with real life? What does that

1049
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,000
have to do with the culture we live in

1050
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,000
or the politics that's

1051
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,000
happening all around us and what's happening

1052
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,000
in the world today? What do any of those things have

1053
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,000
to do with anything in life? Should

1054
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,000
we just keep this in the church? Everything

1055
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,000
to do with all of it. Wait, I thought this was

1056
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,000
just for Sunday morning. Oh my gosh.

1057
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,000
Well, that's where we've gone wrong, isn't

1058
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,000
it? I mean, it's

1059
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,000
confusing and it doesn't even compute

1060
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,000
in people's brains and hearts

1061
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,000
to try to live a,

1062
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000
it really becomes a double life of

1063
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,000
I've got my life of faith that's

1064
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,000
relegated to a

1065
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,000
couple isolated times during the week

1066
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,000
and then I've got my job

1067
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,000
and my family and I've

1068
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,000
got my politics

1069
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,000
and all these things happening in the world.

1070
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,000
It's like we've been sold this lie

1071
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000
that those all have to be separate arenas

1072
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,000
and yet our faith

1073
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,000
and truth and our relationship

1074
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,000
with God is meant to inform our

1075
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,000
response to all of those areas

1076
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,000
and in fact we are

1077
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,000
mandated with a responsibility

1078
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,000
to bear light and to

1079
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,000
bear truth and to be salt

1080
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,000
in every arena of life.

1081
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,000
And if we don't do that,

1082
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,000
then we are failing

1083
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,000
in the very mission for which

1084
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,000
we've been sent as believers.

1085
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,000
From the very foundation

1086
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,000
of our nation, they always

1087
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,000
look to God, they call it in providence

1088
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,000
or the God of nature, nature's God.

1089
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,000
They were referred to in

1090
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,000
the Declaration of Independence.

1091
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000
I love this statement from Benjamin

1092
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,000
Franklin because in

1093
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,000
order to say that we have a right

1094
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,000
to speak into culture

1095
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,000
and a call, we need to go back to

1096
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,000
our original documents, our founding documents

1097
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,000
and say, in the original

1098
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,000
documents, we're talking about the doctrines of

1099
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,000
these things. In our original

1100
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,000
documents, was

1101
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,000
the idea that this

1102
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,000
nation was founded on

1103
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,000
biblical principles and biblical values.

1104
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,000
And a lot of revisionist

1105
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:09,000
historians and secular historians

1106
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,000
are trying, they're not trying, they're

1107
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,000
writing God out of history.

1108
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,000
So the students being

1109
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,000
taught in federally and state-funded

1110
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,000
schools are not being taught

1111
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,000
the actual original documents

1112
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,000
that when you go back into the documents and look

1113
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000
at the handwritten notes,

1114
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000
they're saying things like Benjamin Franklin

1115
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,000
was a deist and an agnostic, he wasn't

1116
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,000
a Christian, which is not true by the way.

1117
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,000
In fact, let me read this to you, this is from Benjamin

1118
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,000
Franklin who by the way was one of

1119
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,000
the framers of the Constitution of the United

1120
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,000
States of America. He said this

1121
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,000
as he was aging, he wrote to

1122
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,000
a friend, the longer I live,

1123
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,000
the more convincing proofs

1124
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,000
I see of this truth that

1125
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,000
God governs in the affairs of

1126
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,000
men. That doesn't sound like a deist to me.

1127
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,000
Or an agnostic.

1128
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,000
And if a sparrow cannot

1129
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,000
fall to the ground without his notice,

1130
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,000
is it probable that an empire can

1131
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,000
rise without his aid?

1132
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,000
We have been assured, sir, in the

1133
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
sacred writings, i.e.

1134
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
the Bible, that except

1135
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,000
the Lord build, they labor

1136
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,000
in vain that build it.

1137
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,000
That's Benjamin Franklin

1138
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,000
saying, giving credit

1139
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,000
where credit's due, and saying,

1140
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,000
understanding that even the older he

1141
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,000
gets, he realizes more and more how God

1142
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,000
governs the affairs of men.

1143
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,000
The reason I bring that up is because

1144
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,000
we're living in a day now

1145
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,000
where people are,

1146
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,000
secular culture is saying, you keep

1147
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,000
your religion in your church.

1148
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,000
You stay in your lane over there.

1149
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,000
And yet there are pastors

1150
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,000
beginning to stand up and realize

1151
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,000
that we've been sold

1152
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,000
a bill of goods. We bought a lie

1153
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,000
started in 1954

1154
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,000
when Lyndon B. Johnson, as

1155
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,000
a legislature before he was president,

1156
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000
drafted a bill that said

1157
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,000
that anyone that had a non-profit

1158
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000
organization, aka

1159
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000
churches and non-profit organizations,

1160
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,000
could not endorse

1161
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,000
political candidates.

1162
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:03,000
And that got extrapolated and

1163
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,000
expanded to say you can't even talk about

1164
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,000
politics, which isn't what it said.

1165
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,000
But it got interpreted

1166
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,000
that way. So much so

1167
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,000
that a whole generation of preachers,

1168
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,000
pastors, and leaders came up

1169
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,000
through the church being told

1170
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,000
in school, I was told this,

1171
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,000
do not talk about politics

1172
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:23,000
in the pulpit. You will risk your

1173
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,000
501c3 status. You could lose

1174
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,000
all your benefits. You could lose

1175
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,000
all your tax exemptions.

1176
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,000
You'll get in trouble. The ACLU

1177
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,000
will come after you. I mean we were scared.

1178
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,000
And so

1179
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,000
all of us graduating from these seminaries

1180
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,000
and schools, getting our masters,

1181
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,000
degrees, and ministry

1182
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,000
came out

1183
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:45,000
emasculated.

1184
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,000
We came out anemic.

1185
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,000
Well, what we've

1186
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,000
done without realizing it is

1187
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,000
we've actually abdicated

1188
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,000
positions of leadership

1189
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,000
and authority in

1190
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,000
every sphere of

1191
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,000
government, politics,

1192
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,000
and even

1193
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,000
corporations within our nation

1194
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,000
over time. I mean, if you look at

1195
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,000
things like our university systems,

1196
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,000
the vast majority of them,

1197
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,000
the Ivy League ones now that

1198
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,000
where crazy stuff is happening, they were

1199
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,000
founded by pastors. Exactly.

1200
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,000
To proclaim the gospel.

1201
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:21,000
To equip young people

1202
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,000
to be missionaries to take the

1203
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:25,000
gospel around the world. And yet now

1204
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,000
those have become the very places

1205
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,000
where Christianity

1206
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,000
is most rejected.

1207
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,000
I mean, whether it's our hospital systems

1208
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,000
that were created out of a

1209
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,000
desire, a Christian biblical

1210
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,000
desire to care for the

1211
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,000
hurting and the sick,

1212
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,000
now have become, you know, for-profit

1213
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,000
corporations. Greed and lust.

1214
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,000
Greed. Power. Our government

1215
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,000
was founded by a group of

1216
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,000
people who left a place

1217
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,000
that had

1218
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,000
prohibited them from the free

1219
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,000
practice of serving God and speaking

1220
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,000
truth. And they said, we want to go to a place

1221
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,000
where we can establish things the

1222
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,000
right way, where we can openly worship

1223
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,000
and openly serve God and speak

1224
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,000
truth to one another and

1225
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,000
lead based on these principles.

1226
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,000
That's why this whole experiment began.

1227
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,000
So now what happens is

1228
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,000
when we as pastors, you,

1229
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,000
me, others in our sphere of

1230
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,000
influence and other friends who are

1231
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,000
pastors and leaders, when we

1232
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,000
start speaking out

1233
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,000
into culture, it sounds

1234
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,000
foreign. And yet

1235
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,000
historically through the church, especially

1236
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,000
in America, pastors

1237
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,000
were always speaking out

1238
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,000
into culture. In fact, those

1239
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:37,000
that framed the original documents,

1240
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,000
whether it was the Mayflower Compact, whether it was

1241
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,000
the Connecticut

1242
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,000
Constitution, whether it was

1243
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,000
the Declaration of Independence Bill, all of them,

1244
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,000
all of the topics

1245
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:49,000
in those were preached

1246
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,000
in churches before they were ever drafted

1247
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,000
into documents. And the

1248
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,000
drafters of those, many of them were

1249
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,000
pastors, many of them were deacons,

1250
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,000
many of them, all of them

1251
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,000
attended church for the most part.

1252
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,000
And when they drafted that, it all

1253
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,000
came out of the sermons that had been

1254
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,000
preached prior to that. But you won't read

1255
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,000
that in your history books in the public school.

1256
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:11,000
You won't get the truth.

1257
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,000
Pastors were often governors

1258
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:15,000
and mayors and statesmen

1259
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,000
and senators. William Bradford, one of the

1260
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,000
first ones, first colonists,

1261
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,000
was a governor. That's right. And

1262
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,000
he led his, his,

1263
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,000
this became the state

1264
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,000
of Rhode Island, but he led his

1265
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,000
with, he would preach

1266
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,000
on Sundays and he would govern

1267
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,000
throughout the week. And he didn't see

1268
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,000
a difference between being a governor and a preacher.

1269
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,000
I mean, a pastor. But what's

1270
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,000
happened today is pastors have been

1271
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,000
scared and they've been threatened.

1272
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,000
And by the way, in the last 70 years

1273
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,000
since that bill came out in 1954,

1274
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,000
do you know how many lawsuits

1275
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000
have been brought against churches

1276
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,000
for preaching politics in the pulpit?

1277
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,000
Two, right? Two. Guess how many? One.

1278
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,000
Zero.

1279
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,000
In other words, this isn't going to happen.

1280
00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:59,000
It's an empty threat. It's an empty threat.

1281
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,000
And there are lawyers

1282
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,000
standing by to protect pastors

1283
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,000
right now. I know this for a fact,

1284
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,000
that if they are to stand and speak

1285
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:09,000
into what's going on in culture and they were ever

1286
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,000
to be threatened by ACLU or anybody

1287
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,000
else, there's a

1288
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,000
large army of attorneys

1289
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,000
ready to go to war.

1290
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,000
We do not have to be afraid.

1291
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,000
And we need to re-embrace our

1292
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,000
calling to be culture shapers,

1293
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,000
difference makers, and world changers.

1294
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,000
You know, and I think an important

1295
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,000
statement to make too is that in doing

1296
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,000
this, this does not

1297
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,000
mean that we are here as the

1298
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,000
church to prop up a man or a woman.

1299
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:37,000
Exactly. You know what I mean?

1300
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,000
This isn't about a political candidate at all.

1301
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,000
This isn't about saying,

1302
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:43,000
Donald Trump is great, or we like

1303
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,000
Joe Biden, or it's all about

1304
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:47,000
Robert Kennedy. You name the

1305
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,000
person who is out there right now. There is

1306
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,000
a lot of fallible, broken

1307
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,000
people who are attempting to

1308
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,000
step into positions of

1309
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,000
leadership, and none of them have the capacity

1310
00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,000
to do things God's way

1311
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,000
fully. None of them do.

1312
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,000
And none of them are the hope of our future

1313
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,000
or the hope of our salvation. Only Jesus

1314
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,000
is. But we have a responsibility

1315
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,000
as God's people

1316
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,000
to speak openly

1317
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,000
and loudly about truth,

1318
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,000
about righteousness, about what is evil,

1319
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,000
and what is good, and demand it from

1320
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,000
our leaders, regardless of who

1321
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,000
they are, and refuse to

1322
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,000
put people in power to whatever

1323
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,000
say we have in it, who are

1324
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,000
going to openly do things that

1325
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,000
God says are evil and wrong.

1326
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,000
The Church has always been the conscious

1327
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,000
of the state. Always.

1328
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,000
You go back in the history of the Old Testament,

1329
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:37,000
the prophets spoke to kings.

1330
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,000
They counseled kings.

1331
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,000
They brought God's Word to kings.

1332
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,000
They returned nations

1333
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,000
to the Scriptures.

1334
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,000
And so, we think

1335
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,000
now, for example,

1336
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,000
you and I are supposed to be

1337
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,000
experts on the first century history,

1338
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,000
culture, everything about what was

1339
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,000
going on, but in the 21st

1340
00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:59,000
century, we're expected to be quiet

1341
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,000
and not know anything, not engage,

1342
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,000
not do anything. I mean, the hypocrisy

1343
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,000
of that. No, you stay in your lane,

1344
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,000
pastor. You preach your

1345
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:09,000
sermons on Sunday. In fact,

1346
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,000
Adolf Hitler told,

1347
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,000
I can't remember

1348
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:15,000
his name, but he was a contemporary of

1349
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,000
Bonhoeffer. He was a pastor who

1350
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,000
was, he thought he was a friend of Hitler.

1351
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,000
Hitler had met with him and said,

1352
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,000
look, when I rise to be chancellor,

1353
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,000
churches are going to be safe.

1354
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,000
We know he was a liar, a narcissist, a

1355
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:29,000
liar, psychopath.

1356
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,000
The churches are going to be safe, but y'all

1357
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,000
stay over there. Mind your business.

1358
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,000
And we're not going to touch you.

1359
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,000
And so, it started with an N.

1360
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,000
It was no Mueller or no Hewler

1361
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,000
or something like that.

1362
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,000
He was saying,

1363
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:45,000
so he kept his head down, whereas Bonhoeffer

1364
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,000
was speaking up, and they were friends.

1365
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:49,000
And

1366
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,000
after

1367
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,000
Hitler came to power,

1368
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,000
this guy, this pastor,

1369
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:57,000
tried to meet with him. It took him 12 months

1370
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,000
to get a meeting with him. When he finally got a

1371
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,000
meeting, you got it there? Martin Niemoller.

1372
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:03,000
There it is, Niemoller. Got it. Thank you.

1373
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,000
So, when Niemoller finally got

1374
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,000
an audience with Hitler,

1375
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,000
he brought him into the room. When he entered

1376
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:11,000
the room, there were men waiting

1377
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,000
there, these cronies of

1378
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,000
the Nazi regime of Hitler.

1379
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,000
They were waiting for him, and they had

1380
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:19,000
pads with things written down on it.

1381
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:21,000
They had recorded his phone calls.

1382
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,000
He didn't even know it. This is

1383
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,000
back in the 30s.

1384
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,000
They were recording his phone calls and

1385
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,000
said, on this day, you said this

1386
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,000
about the Nazi,

1387
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,000
about the Reich, the Third Reich.

1388
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:35,000
You said this. You chuckled when you

1389
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,000
said this. And they so

1390
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,000
disarmed him before he even walked in

1391
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,000
to talk to Hitler about what was going on,

1392
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:43,000
that he was... And then

1393
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:45,000
Hitler ran it on him for 30 minutes.

1394
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:47,000
Oh my gosh. And then

1395
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,000
one of the things Hitler said to him, he said,

1396
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,000
I made the Third

1397
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:53,000
Reich. He said,

1398
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,000
you go make your sermons.

1399
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:57,000
I mean, that was it. He was saying, you have

1400
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,000
no part in this. And he

1401
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,000
left berated. Then he got arrested,

1402
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:03,000
and then he served in a concentration

1403
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:05,000
camp for eight

1404
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,000
years for this.

1405
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,000
Because when he came out of that meeting,

1406
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:11,000
he realized he had been lied to.

1407
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:13,000
He realized he had

1408
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,000
bought the lie, and he flipped

1409
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,000
and he started speaking against and speaking

1410
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,000
into culture. And then he spent

1411
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,000
eight years in prison for it.

1412
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,000
He survived. Coming out,

1413
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:25,000
he wrote a really well-known poem

1414
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:27,000
that basically says this.

1415
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,000
You may remember this. I'll just give you the gist of it.

1416
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,000
He said,

1417
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,000
they came after the Socialists,

1418
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,000
but I was not a Socialist,

1419
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:37,000
so I said nothing.

1420
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,000
They came after the Communists, but I was not

1421
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,000
a Communist, so I said nothing.

1422
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:43,000
They came after the Jews,

1423
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,000
but I'm not a Jew, so I said nothing.

1424
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:47,000
And then they came after us.

1425
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,000
And there was no one left to speak up

1426
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:51,000
for me.

1427
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,000
It's a famous poem

1428
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:55,000
by him. But anyway, all that to say

1429
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,000
is this idea that

1430
00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:59,000
preachers, pastors

1431
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:01,000
shouldn't speak into culture,

1432
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,000
and yet what we see is preachers and

1433
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,000
pastors to actually shape the

1434
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,000
foundations of our nation as we

1435
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:09,000
know it. Greatest nations ever

1436
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:11,000
been here, which now is being

1437
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,000
undermined by Marxists and Neo and

1438
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,000
Trans Maoism,

1439
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,000
where they're trying to destroy three things.

1440
00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:19,000
Faith, family,

1441
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:21,000
and freedom. And the truth is

1442
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:23,000
none of this means that

1443
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,000
we need to stand up and be belligerent

1444
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,000
and angry and abusive or

1445
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:29,000
violent or any of that stuff.

1446
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,000
None of that stuff is going to produce the righteousness

1447
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:33,000
of God. Exactly. Agreed.

1448
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,000
But what we do need to do is be bold

1449
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,000
and courageous

1450
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,000
and open and truthful

1451
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,000
and open our mouths and

1452
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,000
speak. And things

1453
00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:45,000
that should not be permitted,

1454
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,000
we need to say these things should not be

1455
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:49,000
permitted. For example,

1456
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:51,000
we need to show up at a school board meeting.

1457
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:53,000
Not to be violent,

1458
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:55,000
not to be rate,

1459
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,000
not to

1460
00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:59,000
be belligerent, but to

1461
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,000
show up to say we are concerned

1462
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,000
about what we're seeing, what we're

1463
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:05,000
hearing. We love you.

1464
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:07,000
That'll never change.

1465
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:09,000
But we need to speak into what's

1466
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:11,000
happening here.

1467
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,000
I think we've lost sight

1468
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:15,000
of the authority that we carry

1469
00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:17,000
as believers

1470
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,000
who have the Holy Spirit of the

1471
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:21,000
Living God on the inside of us.

1472
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:23,000
I think it's in 2 Thessalonians

1473
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:25,000
chapter 2. It

1474
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:27,000
refers to the Holy Spirit.

1475
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:29,000
One of His functions and roles within us

1476
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,000
is as the Restrainer.

1477
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,000
And the Bible says that

1478
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,000
the presence of God through the Holy Spirit

1479
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:37,000
in His people literally

1480
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,000
restrains evil by

1481
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:41,000
God's power. Just the fact

1482
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,000
that we are here and that

1483
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:45,000
we are standing and not leaning,

1484
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,000
that we are

1485
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:49,000
our allegiance is

1486
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:51,000
firmly with Jesus and we're not afraid to say

1487
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:53,000
it. Just that fact alone,

1488
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:55,000
the presence of God

1489
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:57,000
inside us will restrain

1490
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,000
and hold back evil. And so, a lot

1491
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,000
of times we just need to be present.

1492
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:03,000
We just need to show up and we just

1493
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,000
need to realize we do have a place in

1494
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,000
these arenas and we do have

1495
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:09,000
authority that we carry that extends

1496
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:11,000
beyond the natural.

1497
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:13,000
Extends beyond what would even make sense

1498
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:15,000
logically. That when we pray and when we

1499
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:17,000
speak truth and when we show up,

1500
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:19,000
the Spirit in us will restrain

1501
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,000
things from happening.

1502
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,000
Interestingly, we talked about the End Times earlier.

1503
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:25,000
One of the things that's going to happen

1504
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:27,000
when the Church is raptured is the Restrainer

1505
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,000
is going to be removed and that is

1506
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:31,000
what is going to allow for the Antichrist

1507
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,000
to finally come on the scene.

1508
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,000
He can't do it until the Restrainer is removed.

1509
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:37,000
And there are different thoughts

1510
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,000
on who the Restrainer is. Is the

1511
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:41,000
Strainer of the Holy Spirit or is

1512
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,000
the Restrainer of the Church when the Church is

1513
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:45,000
raptured? See, there are various

1514
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:47,000
I think it's both because they are one

1515
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:49,000
and the same. Yes, they are. Right? Yeah, exactly.

1516
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,000
You can't really separate the two.

1517
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:53,000
Two weeks ago, I love what you said there,

1518
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,000
the word that I would say is

1519
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:57,000
the word jurisdiction. That's good.

1520
00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:59,000
And so I met this guy, his name is Bill Jack.

1521
00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:01,000
He is a prolific

1522
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,000
he founded an

1523
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,000
organization that teaches apologetics

1524
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,000
to gap year

1525
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,000
students and young people and

1526
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:11,000
sends them off to school before they get

1527
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,000
obliterated by the secular humanists

1528
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,000
that are running our schools. Wow.

1529
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:17,000
And ripping away, ripping

1530
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:19,000
to shred people's faith. So they

1531
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:21,000
do these camps all over

1532
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:23,000
and they go to public

1533
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:25,000
state colleges.

1534
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:27,000
They rent a room and they do these camps

1535
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:29,000
like for a week and they just

1536
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:31,000
fill them full of

1537
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,000
who they are, what they need to know,

1538
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,000
how to defend their faith.

1539
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,000
And his name is Bill Jack.

1540
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:39,000
He was in our church two weeks ago.

1541
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,000
His daughter attends here.

1542
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:43,000
She is one of our Bridgers. And

1543
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,000
he lives in Colorado. So he shows up

1544
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:47,000
and he made a beeline to me after church.

1545
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,000
And he is like,

1546
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:51,000
Pastor, this is rare.

1547
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:53,000
I can't believe I came to church

1548
00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:55,000
and you are talking about these things. This is what I

1549
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:57,000
do. And he said, you don't know

1550
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,000
how rare this is. How many churches

1551
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,000
I go to and no pastors ever

1552
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:03,000
address what is going on culturally.

1553
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:05,000
Never speak truth to power.

1554
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,000
They are afraid to say anything.

1555
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:09,000
He said, this is what I do.

1556
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,000
I train and equip the next generation

1557
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:13,000
to go out there and stand their ground, stand

1558
00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:15,000
firm. And he gave me the word. He said,

1559
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:17,000
let me give you a word that may help you think

1560
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:19,000
this or frame or reframe

1561
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,000
what you are thinking. He said,

1562
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,000
it is the word jurisdiction.

1563
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:25,000
So I did a little study on that word

1564
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:27,000
and the idea of jurisdiction

1565
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:29,000
is that it is a conferred

1566
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,000
space.

1567
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:33,000
It is a conferred realm.

1568
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:35,000
It is a conferred place

1569
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:37,000
of authority. Where you

1570
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:39,000
have authority, not in

1571
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:41,000
yourself, but it has been conferred to you.

1572
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:43,000
It has been delegated, maybe a better

1573
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,000
word. It is delegated authority.

1574
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:47,000
When you think about what Jesus did during

1575
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,000
the Great Commission, what He did before

1576
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:51,000
He sent the disciples out two by two

1577
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:53,000
to give them authority,

1578
00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,000
exousia, over

1579
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,000
demons and spirits

1580
00:52:57,000 --> 00:52:59,000
and all that.

1581
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,000
Jesus was constantly taking

1582
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:03,000
His exousia,

1583
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,000
His jurisdiction and giving it to

1584
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:07,000
us and saying, now go.

1585
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:09,000
It is the idea of being an ambassador.

1586
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:11,000
Exactly. Diplomatic

1587
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:13,000
immunity, right?

1588
00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,000
They speak on behalf of the

1589
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:17,000
government that they represent.

1590
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,000
Bingo. When He said that word to me, it

1591
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,000
went off in my chest like a bomb.

1592
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,000
I was like, that is thunder in my soul

1593
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:25,000
right there. Jurisdiction,

1594
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,000
I have been mulling that over.

1595
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:29,000
Sitting here over the weekend,

1596
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,000
Eric Metaxas,

1597
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,000
Pastor Alan Jackson,

1598
00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:35,000
Chad Rubino,

1599
00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:37,000
Kaylee McAnally, Kurt Cameron,

1600
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:39,000
hearing all these speakers,

1601
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,000
the word that kept pinging

1602
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:43,000
is jurisdiction. We have

1603
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:45,000
insulated our jurisdiction.

1604
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,000
It is time to take it back.

1605
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:49,000
But again, not through violence, not

1606
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:51,000
through belligerence, through wisdom.

1607
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:53,000
Through wisdom and through

1608
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,000
confidence in who we are in Christ.

1609
00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:57,000
Not in who we are ourselves.

1610
00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:59,000
We don't go in beating our chests.

1611
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:01,000
We go in, we suit up, we show

1612
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,000
up and the Holy Spirit

1613
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:05,000
goes before us

1614
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:07,000
and massages atmospheres

1615
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:09,000
and changes

1616
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,000
atmospheres when we walk in a room.

1617
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:13,000
You know what Jesus told his disciples

1618
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,000
when he sent them out? He said,

1619
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,000
don't worry about what you are going to say

1620
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,000
when you go. He said the Holy Spirit

1621
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:21,000
will give you what to say

1622
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:23,000
when you are there. The key is

1623
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:25,000
that you have to show up and you have to be

1624
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:27,000
willing, you have to be ready and you have to

1625
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,000
position your heart in such a way

1626
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:31,000
that God can cooperate

1627
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:33,000
with you and speak through you.

1628
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,000
I love that.

1629
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:37,000
What if, we have in our

1630
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:39,000
church on a given Sunday, we are between

1631
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:41,000
600 and 650. That's our pretty

1632
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:43,000
average attendance. But in a

1633
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:45,000
given month, you are looking more at like 800

1634
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:47,000
people that come through

1635
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:49,000
at various times because everybody

1636
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:51,000
comes at the same time. If we all showed up at the same time

1637
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:53,000
we couldn't keep, we didn't have room for everybody.

1638
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:55,000
But think about the power

1639
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:57,000
of that in a community.

1640
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:59,000
Of 800 people

1641
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:01,000
who decided to together

1642
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:03,000
wake up

1643
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,000
and to stand.

1644
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:07,000
I don't care how large a community you have,

1645
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:09,000
that's powerful.

1646
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:11,000
We are a small community. That's close to

1647
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:13,000
that's not quite 10 percent.

1648
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,000
But that's 8 percent

1649
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:17,000
of our community

1650
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:19,000
give or take.

1651
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,000
The power of that showing up to

1652
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:23,000
a meeting, whether it's a school

1653
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,000
board meeting, whether it's

1654
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:27,000
a city

1655
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:29,000
council meeting, whether it's

1656
00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:31,000
some kind of meeting in terms of the community.

1657
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:33,000
Not to protest,

1658
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,000
but I will say we

1659
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:37,000
do need to resist.

1660
00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:39,000
We are representing

1661
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:41,000
the kingdom that we are

1662
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:43,000
a part of. Yes. Exactly.

1663
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,000
In these arenas. If we don't do it

1664
00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:47,000
who will? And we are reclaiming

1665
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,000
ground and territory.

1666
00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:51,000
I said this in a sermon two weeks ago.

1667
00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:53,000
Ground lost is difficult

1668
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:55,000
to regain. It's hard

1669
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,000
to get back. But it's doable. I believe

1670
00:55:57,000 --> 00:55:59,000
that. And so though we

1671
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:01,000
have capitulated territory

1672
00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:03,000
over the years and we bought

1673
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,000
lies, particularly

1674
00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:07,000
1954's law about

1675
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,000
jurisdiction. Now we

1676
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:11,000
need to regain that ground.

1677
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,000
We need to reestablish our jurisdiction

1678
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:15,000
and be unapologetic.

1679
00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:17,000
Not be belligerent, but be

1680
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:19,000
firm. Absolutely. This is who we are.

1681
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:21,000
We have the original documents. We've got

1682
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,000
the receipts. We don't have to be ashamed.

1683
00:56:23,000 --> 00:56:25,000
And the

1684
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,000
stakes that are at play here go beyond

1685
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:29,000
what policies

1686
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:31,000
are being enacted and

1687
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:33,000
what things are being brought into law.

1688
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:35,000
Are those things important? Absolutely.

1689
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,000
But what's at stake even above and

1690
00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:39,000
beyond that is just

1691
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:41,000
the ability

1692
00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:43,000
for truth to reign

1693
00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:45,000
in the land and for our children

1694
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,000
and our children's children to

1695
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:49,000
live in a place

1696
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:51,000
where they're going to

1697
00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:53,000
have the greatest opportunity to know

1698
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,000
who Jesus is.

1699
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:57,000
Wow. What you just said

1700
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:59,000
really resonates because the

1701
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:01,000
reason why we need to be doing this

1702
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:03,000
is not for us. It's for

1703
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:05,000
the next generation.

1704
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:07,000
I think about the reason why we

1705
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:09,000
have been given, the reason

1706
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,000
why hundreds of kids can show

1707
00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:13,000
up on college campuses and pitch

1708
00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:15,000
tents and protest

1709
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:17,000
and hatred against Israel as

1710
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:19,000
vile as that feels

1711
00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:21,000
to me, as demonic

1712
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:23,000
as that is and satanic as that is

1713
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:25,000
because it is. But the reason

1714
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:27,000
they can do that is because

1715
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:29,000
people laid down their lives,

1716
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:31,000
sacrificed their temporary

1717
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:33,000
comfort so that a

1718
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:35,000
generation after them could walk

1719
00:57:35,000 --> 00:57:37,000
in freedom and have

1720
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:39,000
the freedom to speak even if it's wrong.

1721
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,000
Even if it's wrong. Even if it's bad.

1722
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:43,000
I've been hit on social

1723
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:45,000
media a lot lately. I'm getting crushed.

1724
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,000
We sent that reel out.

1725
00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:49,000
It's gotten over a thousand views, that one

1726
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:51,000
of me going there.

1727
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:53,000
And I've had some really ugly stuff

1728
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:55,000
come up because we sponsored it. So

1729
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:57,000
it went out broader than our typical

1730
00:57:57,000 --> 00:57:59,000
band of people. And I've

1731
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:01,000
gotten a lot of hits back. And

1732
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,000
every one of them is a reminder

1733
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:05,000
for me to pray for that person by name. So hey,

1734
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,000
do your worst. Say what you need to say.

1735
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:09,000
You're just getting on a prayer list.

1736
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,000
I'm praying for those individuals.

1737
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:13,000
Now I have your name. Now I have a target.

1738
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:15,000
So you just exposed yourself

1739
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,000
by... You can't make us not love you.

1740
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,000
Exactly. I love you. You can't do anything

1741
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:21,000
about it. But what that's telling

1742
00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:23,000
me is that

1743
00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:25,000
I said, do you think I should

1744
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:27,000
delete these comments? Because some of them are bad.

1745
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:29,000
They're ugly.

1746
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,000
Like really ridiculous.

1747
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:33,000
And Annette said, no.

1748
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:35,000
Because what we're talking about

1749
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:37,000
right now, they have a right to say that.

1750
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:39,000
And I said, you're absolutely

1751
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:41,000
right. I'm going to leave them be. I'm not going to

1752
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:43,000
answer them because I don't want to just...

1753
00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:45,000
The Bible says if you speak to a fool,

1754
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:47,000
you become a fool. So you become as

1755
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:49,000
a fool. So I'm not going to do that. But I will

1756
00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:51,000
pray for them. And by leaving those comments

1757
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,000
up there, it helps...

1758
00:58:53,000 --> 00:58:55,000
It's a reminder to me that

1759
00:58:55,000 --> 00:58:57,000
not everybody thinks the way I do.

1760
00:58:57,000 --> 00:58:59,000
Not everybody believes that Jesus is who He says He is.

1761
00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:01,000
And I have to have

1762
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:03,000
compassion, not empathy, but compassion

1763
00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:05,000
for that. And so you know what?

1764
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:07,000
They know not what they're saying.

1765
00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:09,000
And now I've got their name and I can pray

1766
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:11,000
for them and there's nothing they can do about it.

1767
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:13,000
So...

1768
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:15,000
If nobody has a

1769
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:17,000
bad word to say about anything we're doing,

1770
00:59:17,000 --> 00:59:19,000
I don't know that we're doing much. Exactly.

1771
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:21,000
If you're moving the needle,

1772
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:23,000
you'll know if you're over the target.

1773
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:25,000
Yeah. Man, brother, we could

1774
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:27,000
solve the rest of the world's problems, but hey,

1775
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:29,000
we got to get going. I got a lunch date

1776
00:59:29,000 --> 00:59:31,000
soon. Oh my gosh, I really do

1777
00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:33,000
have to get going. Hey, bro. Thank you again for

1778
00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:35,000
letting me join you today. Thank you for being here today.

1779
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,000
For our friends, thank you for writing into

1780
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:39,000
our website. Thank you for supporting us through

1781
00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:41,000
Value for Value on the Fountain app, sending

1782
00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:43,000
in Satoshis. And just such a blessing

1783
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:45,000
to hear from you, getting those boosts.

1784
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,000
But also we have several that support us on an

1785
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:49,000
ongoing basis through PayPal. So thank you

1786
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,000
for signing up. Go to our website,

1787
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:53,000
Living Up in a Down World.

1788
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,000
And subscribe.

1789
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:57,000
Hit that subscribe button. Let us know you're

1790
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:59,000
out there. Love hearing from you.

1791
00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:01,000
Pastor Brian, thank you so much, bro.

1792
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:03,000
Thank you and have a happy Tuesday, everybody.

1793
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:31,000
God bless. We're out.

1794
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:35,000
Thank you.