1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,680 in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,920 Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:27,300 discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church 5 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,880 and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,420 host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing 7 00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:43,600 to you and bring you closer to God. 8 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:53,520 Hello and welcome back to the P.H.S.A. podcast. My name is David Bigford. I'm the pastor here 9 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:59,240 at the Potter's House Salmon Arm. The message I have for you today is Artificial Purpose 10 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:07,520 or the World's Search for a Purpose, a God-free purpose to be exact. The text we will be using 11 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:16,080 as a jumping off point will be Matthew 15, chapter 15 verses 12 through 14. When I was 12 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:21,200 putting this together I found this excerpt from John C. Maxwell from his book, Be a People 13 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:27,200 Person where it says, A person whose mind is polluted and whose vision is not clear 14 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:33,880 cannot understand or interpret behavior based on obedience to God. With that there was this 15 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:40,080 article that I came across in relation to Harvard's new chaplain. The title of the article 16 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:47,400 is Harvard's new chaplain is an atheist. It's by Ken Ham who we tend to know because he's 17 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:54,200 from the Answers in Genesis organization. This is from an article that goes back to 18 00:01:54,200 --> 00:02:00,240 September 9, 2021. It's a little bit old but it's still an important illustration for us 19 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:08,040 to look at as we dive into this message of artificial purpose. This little excerpt says, 20 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,940 Harvard University has appointed a new chaplain who brings a fresh perspective to the role 21 00:02:12,940 --> 00:02:19,120 as an atheist. The new chaplain, Greg Epstein, is now the president of the university's chaplains 22 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:25,240 overseeing more than 40 university chaplains from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and 23 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:30,000 other religious communities. The report says Epstein is perfect for the role because he 24 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:38,280 has no clear religious affinity. But is that true? So as we kind of use this as an idea 25 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:49,120 or as a foundation for the question about artificial purpose, we need to consider what 26 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:54,600 does it even mean to be a chaplain? Well, a chaplain is a noun that's used to describe 27 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:59,940 a member of the clergy attached to a chapel, a member of the clergy who conducts religious 28 00:02:59,940 --> 00:03:05,040 services for an institution such as a prison or a hospital, a lay person who is appointed 29 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:11,800 to provide spiritual leadership and counseling to members of an institution such as a university. 30 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,540 So then you have to ask yourself, how can someone be a chaplain if they don't even believe 31 00:03:15,540 --> 00:03:24,040 in the spirit? How can someone guided by secular humanism lead people that he believes are 32 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:31,280 deluded by faith in the supernatural? I can understand an atheist being appointed to the 33 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:40,120 chair of a philosophy department to be in a governing body who's going to oversee the 34 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:46,720 back and forth discussions between philosophy students and philosophy teachers where there 35 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,720 is no firm foundation or basis for belief in those systems. They all vary depending 36 00:03:52,720 --> 00:04:00,280 on people's worldview. But to institute someone as a chaplain, where I use the definition 37 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:05,800 that talks about clergy, but you can ascribe the idea of a chaplain because in the military 38 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:11,280 we deal with chaplains quite a bit. You have Christian chaplains and even within that you 39 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:17,520 have chaplains who are Baptist and chaplains who are Catholic and chaplains who are Lutheran. 40 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:20,600 So you have all these different chaplains, but you also have chaplains who are Jewish 41 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:26,240 and chaplains who are Hindu and chaplains who are Buddhist. In the hierarchy of the 42 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:34,920 military or any kind of governmental structure, these people will govern how to best serve 43 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:42,440 the members of their organization within their faith. If a Hindu or a Buddhist is the leader 44 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:48,880 of these chaplain organizations, at least they have an understanding that the freedom 45 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:56,200 of religion is going to be espoused to all and you are going to allow or facilitate the 46 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:02,420 functions of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism within that governmental structure. 47 00:05:02,420 --> 00:05:08,440 But it's an entirely interesting thing to think of someone who believes that all of 48 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:18,800 those ideas are wrong. The idea of even the spirit or supernatural powers are wrong. And 49 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:28,120 how that person is going to govern the hierarchy of faiths. So at the very top of the hierarchy 50 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:35,160 you're putting someone with arguably what they would say is no faith above all these 51 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:41,060 other faith groups. Now I would make the other argument that it takes far more faith to be 52 00:05:41,060 --> 00:05:47,780 atheist than it does to believe in a creator. But let's not get off into the weeds too quickly 53 00:05:47,780 --> 00:05:56,680 in the message today. So let's look at our scripture today as we jump off into this idea 54 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:06,280 on how can an atheist make his purpose, their goal of governing a body of believers in Christ 55 00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:12,600 or believers in what we would consider other pagan gods. But how can that person who has 56 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:20,720 no understanding of faith govern the faith groups of Harvard? So in the text Matthew 57 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:26,600 15, 12 through 24 it says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the 58 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:32,400 Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? He answered, Every plant that my heavenly 59 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:38,920 father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone, they are blind guides. And 60 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:47,840 if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. So what is the world looking for? 61 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:53,260 We see Harvard make decisions like this and Harvard has been in the news quite a bit fairly 62 00:06:53,260 --> 00:06:59,600 recently because of the things that had happened after the horrible attack on Israel on October 63 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:05,360 7th. But the world today and more specifically the Western world is looking for their next 64 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,960 movie. They are looking for the next movie blockbuster, the next revolution, trend, fad 65 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:16,560 or TikTok craze. Hopefully, if you've been up in the news in the United States, TikTok 66 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:24,480 being what it is might be banned in the US. So it's an interesting idea to ponder why 67 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:31,080 would they be trying to ban TikTok now? Whereas they've known about some of the issues of 68 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:37,000 TikTok from a geopolitical standpoint for as long as it's been instituted. But anyway, 69 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,720 again, don't want to get off the tin in the weeds too quickly. I apologize. It's probably 70 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:48,600 that I've had a little too much caffeine already this morning as I record this. So parents 71 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:54,240 and children alike are bombarded with entertainment beyond what is possible to digest. So with 72 00:07:54,240 --> 00:08:00,280 this barrage of movies, music, video games, is it any wonder that our society is so jaded? 73 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:05,280 We have been lulled into a drug induced state that makes us susceptible to the most illogical 74 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:10,880 of beliefs. Many hide behind these beliefs because they give cover to the sinful desires 75 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:16,900 of our hearts and make us feel vindicated for living a life at odds with God. This might 76 00:08:16,900 --> 00:08:22,840 seem trivial to some. Why should we worry about how people spend their free time? Why 77 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:27,640 does it matter if someone is an adrenaline junkie or a thrill seeker or the opposite, 78 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:33,680 a seeker of leisure? After all, it's not our place to judge, right? The real risk here 79 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:38,920 is that we are allowing the world to define what entertainment, leisure, or adventure 80 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:45,600 is to our children and our friends and our family. Instead of showing the world the adventure, 81 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:51,200 joy, peace, love, and purpose that we have found in Christ and God's word, we spend 82 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:55,500 our time talking about the culture of the world. We should spend more of our energy 83 00:08:55,500 --> 00:09:00,720 on Christ's culture, and that is where the true excitement lives, true happiness, true 84 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:06,600 challenge, and yes, true danger resides in God's plan for our lives. Thrill seekers should 85 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:11,360 look at tales of Christian missionaries if they want to find thrilling tales of excitement. 86 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:16,720 Instead though, many are fleeing the presence of God seeking understanding in the vaguest 87 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:21,640 of ideologies and the darkest depths of their hearts. The emptiness they see in the world 88 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:28,080 drives them to the craziest places to try and fill the void of their souls. We've seen 89 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:35,680 the rise of skydiving and free climbing or rock climbing as adrenaline junkies go out 90 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:42,680 to try to find some way to excite themselves given the world that they live in today. Not 91 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:50,140 that there's anything wrong with being physically fit and active and doing adventurous things, 92 00:09:50,140 --> 00:09:57,800 but we weren't put on the planet purely to just go about and do activities of either 93 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:04,040 leisure or activities of recreation. We were put on the planet so that we can spread the 94 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,640 gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's continue with our story from Ken Ham and the new Harvard 95 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:18,920 chaplain. It continues, yes, this man is acting as his God and his religion of atheism. Well, 96 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:24,520 it's not such an idea of no religious affinity is frankly a load of nonsense. This man is 97 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:32,700 an atheist. That's his religion, not some kind of neutral position. As Harvard is implying, 98 00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:38,840 he has a belief system and a worldview. He believes all life is a result of naturalism. 99 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:44,560 He believes man determines his morality and his own purpose and meaning in life. It's 100 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:51,280 exactly what the devil tempted Adam and Eve with. You will be like God, Genesis 3 5. Yes, 101 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:57,920 this man is acting as his God in his religion of atheism. So when your starting point is 102 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:04,480 that humanity makes its own rules, you're in trouble. The question quickly leads you 103 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:11,160 to ask, well, which human is smart enough or evolved enough to set the standard? Who 104 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:16,640 can judge the actions of one atheist to another? The reality is there can be no judgment because 105 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:22,360 each individual makes his own morality. A deeper point of this is that if there is no 106 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:29,720 God, if there is no higher power to set the stage for morality, then morality is a word 107 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:37,400 with no meaning within the terms of atheism. Now, atheists will try to claim that no morality 108 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:44,320 is what society has come to understand because of evolutionary process of what's best for 109 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:52,320 the species. But that is quickly obliterated as an argument when you see the consistent 110 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:59,480 return to humanity, to violence and total destruction of their neighbors whenever given 111 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:07,020 the opportunity. Even when we look at the war waging in Russian Ukraine or the war that's 112 00:12:07,020 --> 00:12:13,960 happening in Israel and Gaza, you see quickly how humanity doesn't do what's best for the 113 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:21,840 species. It only does what's best for the leaders of a certain group who can rally their 114 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:30,120 people into violence. Now, from an atheistic standpoint, though, you can even push this 115 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:35,040 idea a little bit further to say, well, whoever ends up winning that conflict gets to write 116 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:40,500 the history of what is moral in that given conflict. And that goes back to that old adage 117 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:47,800 about whoever wins the war gets to write the history. And that's true to a certain extent 118 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:54,240 unless there is a greater power than what we believe in Christianity with God and our 119 00:12:54,240 --> 00:13:00,560 Savior Jesus Christ. Because then they set the morality. But on an atheistic view, whoever 120 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:09,080 has the most power purely does set the morality for that society. And Luke 6 39 through 40 121 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,840 it says, He also told them a parable, Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not 122 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:19,920 both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully 123 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:28,640 trained will be like his teacher. So as atheists teach atheists, then they continue on with 124 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:34,540 only being able to pass on the knowledge that they have obtained. But in they've only obtained 125 00:13:34,540 --> 00:13:40,720 that from their their previous teacher. So if they're blind, because they have no they 126 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:47,680 have no guiding principles, and those guiding principles can be changed by each generation, 127 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:52,280 then they are like the blind leading the blind. So this brings me to my first point, which 128 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:57,400 is an entertainment coma. I want to first look at the state of entertainment or society. 129 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:03,320 And I want to think of all the wasted time that we have throughout our day. We can all 130 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:08,040 be guilty of this. So you think back on your day yesterday, or your your week last week, 131 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:13,120 you pick you've got your phone, and you're just clicking around on your phone. I mean, 132 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:17,560 I do this when I wake up. It's it's it's a horrible habit. But sometimes you know, I 133 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:22,200 wake up fairly early. So it's it I almost want the blue light off the off the phone 134 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:26,520 to help me wake up. But that's a poor excuse. But how many times do you look at it when 135 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:31,880 you wake up? How much stuff do you scroll through? How many texts or emails or or you 136 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:37,720 know, Instagram feeds do you go through? How many seconds do you spend watching YouTube 137 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:44,220 videos or TikTok? They actually say in the United States that for children for kids, 138 00:14:44,220 --> 00:14:52,200 the average TikTok viewing time is eight hours a day, eight hours a day. So if you're in 139 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,800 the States and your kids watching TikTok, and they're like, I don't have time to do 140 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,360 that. Those chores you asked me to do will be like, well, let me see your screen time. 141 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:08,240 It might not be a popular response. But the reality is, is that that is the average currently 142 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:15,120 in the United States, eight hours of viewing time of just TikTok for kids in the States. 143 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:22,720 First Corinthians 735 says, I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint 144 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:27,320 upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. 145 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:33,120 Now that scripture is primarily about marriage. But I think it's very interesting that we 146 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:40,560 we can we can take from the gospel we take from the scripture that when when God is putting 147 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:48,360 parameters around our lives, it's to help us to be ordered. It's to help us to be undivided 148 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:53,240 in our devotion to the Lord. As Christians were called to be undivided in our devotion 149 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:59,040 to the Lord. So that does mean that as we put our days together and recognition of the 150 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:04,560 salvation we've received from Jesus Christ and the sacrifice on the cross, we are putting 151 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:10,400 our day and we're ordering it according to our devotion to the Lord. So I'm very guilty 152 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:15,360 of this myself. Like I said, my son often tells me to get off my phone so that we can 153 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:22,200 we can talk. Mind you, he only usually says that when he's not allowed his phone. But 154 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:27,960 regardless, every time I hear him say that, it makes me feel a bit guilty for wasting 155 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,720 time that I should be spending with him in the present. And to that point, I've been 156 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:36,320 very excited. This is just a you know, something that that has been a tremendous blessing to 157 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,120 my life, even though it can be difficult at times. But my son has started waking up. I 158 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:45,400 get him up early at like six in the morning during the during the school week. And he's 159 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:50,600 been coming downstairs to where we have our gym equipment kind of set up. And he's been 160 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:56,160 exercising with me. And you know, I make you know, I make sure that we're able to have 161 00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:01,720 that time to exercise and talk and stuff. And it's been a tremendous blessing, you know, 162 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:09,360 to my life to have that time with him as of late. And it's helped me to be routed in the 163 00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:14,840 present, you know, with him. So this is just on the fringes, though some people go through 164 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:20,520 life tethered to their computers, their phones, or the tablets every second of the day. Now 165 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:27,520 we can we even have this new, you know, device that's come out the Apple goggles or vision 166 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:34,660 pros, I believe there is what they're called. And it's begin to, to, you know, it's being 167 00:17:34,660 --> 00:17:41,840 marketed rather as this new era of spatial computing. It's they call themselves or they 168 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:46,840 advertise themselves as Apple vision pro seamlessly blends the digital content with your physical 169 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,880 space you navigate simply by using your eyes, hands and voice. So now you can do things 170 00:17:51,880 --> 00:18:01,480 you love in ways never before possible. You've never seen everything like this before. So 171 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,520 the interesting thing with this is that I listened to a radio program, you know, from 172 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:11,080 the states called Armstrong Getty. And it's a it's a pretty interesting like news kind 173 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:18,160 of program. And Jack Armstrong is the is the one of the guys on the program. And he's had 174 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:23,400 the opportunity to demo these these vision pros. And he's an older guy, but he says, 175 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:29,660 you know, that this is such an amazing technology that he and he's not for this technology, 176 00:18:29,660 --> 00:18:35,600 but he he admits that it's it's addictive. And so he's used it a little bit. And now, 177 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:40,240 you know, days later, he thinks, wow, man, it'd be nice to be able to get back into that 178 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:45,640 environment. It was so relaxing. It was so, you know, entertaining. And so even as a guy 179 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:52,480 who's in his 50s, he's like, he's like, wow, this is I can feel the draw of this artificial 180 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:58,680 world. The melding of virtual reality and reality is bringing people out of the real 181 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:04,600 world and putting them in this self induced entertainment coma. So why are we seeking 182 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:09,280 these artificial thrills? What's happening in our society that's causing us to turn inward? 183 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:13,720 And that's really what's happening. I know the argument with a lot of the online stuff 184 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:18,160 is that, oh, you can be more connected to you know, than ever before. And there is some 185 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,880 truth to that. You know, I've been able to be connected with my family who lives in Michigan, 186 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:27,840 you know, far more, you know, using chat stuff, you know, like Facebook and Messenger and 187 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:33,320 different different things than than I would be if I had to call them on a on an old rotary 188 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:38,320 phone and try to get ahold of them. You know, I'm obviously more connected. But but that's 189 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:43,600 not, you know, what we're using this stuff for. You know, mostly, we're mostly using 190 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:49,300 this stuff for just plain entertainment purposes. We're turning away from our friends and family. 191 00:19:49,300 --> 00:19:54,140 We're turning away from the thrill of life and replacing it with this pablum that will 192 00:19:54,140 --> 00:20:01,040 never be sufficient to fill, you know, the fill us with true joy and excitement, because 193 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:08,360 that can only come from the real world and from our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. So 194 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:13,400 let's continue with Ken Ham and this atheist chaplain. You know, while we do think or while 195 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:19,040 we do, you want to it's important to think, is there any hope, any joy, any excitement 196 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:25,680 in this view of reality? So how should we think about this about atheist chaplains? 197 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,960 What Jesus said describes a situation here. They are blind guides. And if the blind lead 198 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:37,240 the blind, both will fall into a pit. Matthew 15 14. Yes, this is the case of the blind 199 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:42,740 leading the blind. Harvard, once a Christian school, is now a leader and raising up generations 200 00:20:42,740 --> 00:20:48,800 in atheist religion. That's a warning to all compromising schools like Calvin, Wheaton 201 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:54,880 and many others. Compromising God's word beginning in Genesis results in ruin. The fool says 202 00:20:54,880 --> 00:21:03,320 in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who 203 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:10,080 does good. Psalm 14 one. This is an important point to make. I mean, Harvard being a Christian 204 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:18,400 school has left behind the foundation of what the school was designed to be. It was designed 205 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:25,920 to be a seminary to train up preachers and leaders of the colonies of the nation. But 206 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:32,240 yet now they have left behind their first love and now they even have put in charge 207 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:37,060 of what little remnant of faith is left in the school. They've put in charge of it someone 208 00:21:37,060 --> 00:21:43,920 who would claim no faith, but in reality is just the leader of the larger, what I believe 209 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:50,000 to be one of the largest of global faiths, which is atheistic humanist religion. This 210 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:56,960 brings me to my next point, which is rebellion and revolution. In first Timothy one, chapter 211 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:02,240 one, verses three through seven, it says, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, 212 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:07,920 remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 213 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:15,520 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promotes speculation rather 214 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:21,120 than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues 215 00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:26,160 from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving 216 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:31,680 from these have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring to be a teacher of the law without 217 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:36,680 understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they are. They make 218 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:43,040 confident assertions. So when entertainment runs its course and despair and depression 219 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:48,720 fill the void, then rebellion and revolution are the next step. When we look at what's 220 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:53,000 happened with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and many other compromising schools, we begin 221 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:59,560 to see a clear picture. We see that when Christ is removed from our culture and our society, 222 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:05,100 it does not take long for the lights to dim. Our leaders lead us away from the light and 223 00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:10,960 out into the darkness and chaos reign supreme. Harvard and Yale were both seminaries and 224 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:16,080 Princeton was started because of the mission drift that was already occurring within Harvard 225 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:25,660 and Yale. Three of the four founders were graduates from Yale, three of the four founders 226 00:23:25,660 --> 00:23:31,700 of Princeton. The fourth is a graduate of Harvard. These four applied for a charter 227 00:23:31,700 --> 00:23:36,600 after convincing and joining forces with three more graduates from Yale. Interestingly, the 228 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:41,540 four were all Christian pastors, Presbyterians who were disappointed by Yale and Harvard's 229 00:23:41,540 --> 00:23:46,340 opposition to the Great Awakening. Like many of the oldest colleges, Princeton was founded 230 00:23:46,340 --> 00:23:53,040 to train Christian ministers. I think it's interesting that it was the Great Awakening 231 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:58,560 that was the impetus for this. The fact that Yale and Harvard had been watered down enough 232 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:04,960 that they didn't see the tremendous thing that was happening in the Great Awakening 233 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:10,080 is what caused these other ministers to say, this amazing renewal of faith is happening 234 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:17,800 now. Yet, what we consider even today to be our stalwart universities of Yale and Harvard 235 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:27,600 couldn't see the power of God moving. It took these other ministers to break off. In fact, 236 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:33,960 92% of all colleges and universities founded before 1932 were originally Christian institutions. 237 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:41,560 Very few still are. Be that as it may, we also remember the motto of Princeton, which 238 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:51,180 is die, or die sub numine vigette, which is under the protection of God she flourishes. 239 00:24:51,180 --> 00:24:56,740 So what can we glean from this historical trivia? One thing that we can see is the call of Christians 240 00:24:56,740 --> 00:25:01,580 to hold to the standard and when the world shifts, we do not shift with it, but hold 241 00:25:01,580 --> 00:25:08,720 fast to the word of God. That's what the Great Awakening really was. It wasn't this new Christianity. 242 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:19,440 No, it was always a call back to the scripture. Even Martin Luther's Reformation was a call 243 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:24,120 back to the scripture. It was getting rid of the things that culture and society have 244 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:32,440 put into the Bible and it was a movement back to the core scripture. Our world is in a state 245 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:37,320 of rebellion against God and we cannot stand by and let it happen, but how should we react 246 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:43,720 as Christians today? I tell you what we don't do. We don't put on our Apple vision pros 247 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:48,520 and watch the newest movie or play the newest game. No, instead of succumbing to the entertainment 248 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:53,660 coma, we stand with Christ. We look to the light of the world. Even though our institutions 249 00:25:53,660 --> 00:26:00,360 fall and our culture pushes against the word of God, we remember that we are not the rebels. 250 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:06,160 We are the emissaries of the gospel. Our fight is not with the unsaved in the world. Our 251 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:11,480 enemy is not a flesh and blood. We fight against powers and principalities. The founders of 252 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:18,360 Princeton show us the way. We create new bastions for the gospel and for the next Great Awakening. 253 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:26,160 During the Jesus People movement, we saw an explosion of new churches that were really 254 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:34,400 focused on the gospel and spreading the message of Jesus Christ. This huge explosion of evangelism, 255 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:39,720 discipleship, church planting from churches such as ours with the Potter's House, the 256 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:45,880 door, Victory Chapels. Part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries was an outgrowth of 257 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:51,400 that Jesus People movement. When other churches were refusing to allow the hippies to come 258 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:59,620 into the churches, our fellowship and others were welcoming them in knowing that the gospel 259 00:26:59,620 --> 00:27:07,080 of Jesus Christ had the power to change people's lives. People like Calvary Chapel, that awesome 260 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:12,840 movie about the Jesus revolution is titled Jesus Revolution, that shows us that it is 261 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:19,080 the message of Christ that can change people's lives and we have to allow for that next Great 262 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:24,020 Awakening. The world that we live in today is in rebellion. The world is trying to revolt 263 00:27:24,020 --> 00:27:30,840 against God's will and we have to hold to the truth that we get from the gospel, the 264 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:35,760 truth of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Society tells us that we believers 265 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:41,040 are unscientific but you have to ask yourself what authority do they hold when making such 266 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:47,160 an accusation. I contend that true believers are the most logical, the most scientific, 267 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:53,800 and the most rational people around. Think of that stat from earlier in the message here. 268 00:27:53,800 --> 00:28:01,880 92% of all colleges and universities founded before 1932 were originally Christian institutions. 269 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:08,120 In Jude 1, 17-23 it says, But you must remember, beloved, that the predictions of the apostles 270 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:13,040 of the Lord Jesus Christ they said to you in the last times there will be scoffers following 271 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:19,000 their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause division, worldly people devoid of the 272 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,680 Spirit, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in 273 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:30,240 the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in love of God, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus 274 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:36,980 Christ that leads to eternal life and to have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching 275 00:28:36,980 --> 00:28:42,520 them out of the fire, to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained 276 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:49,080 by the flesh. 277 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:58,180 So when we think about this, when we think about how most of these colleges were founded, 278 00:28:58,180 --> 00:29:02,640 were Christian prior to this, it's an interesting idea because again I do stand by my statement 279 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,920 that I believe that true Christians, Bible-believing Christians are the most logical people, rational 280 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:16,600 people around. I think that it's a very easy thing to understand that when you have a question 281 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:25,240 of morality there has to be a lawgiver who's actually giving you that understanding of 282 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:26,480 morality. 283 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:37,640 So then the question is to you, who will you follow? As we pick up in Jude 1, 24 it says, 284 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:43,040 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence 285 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:49,240 of his glory with great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, 286 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:55,860 be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time or before any age and now 287 00:29:55,860 --> 00:29:59,280 and forever. Amen. 288 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:03,560 So this brings me to my final point which is the blind or the delivered. Some are willfully 289 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,320 blind and some have been delivered and now see. Paul the apostle had scales fall from 290 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:14,120 his eyes. He was trained by the Jewish worldview of the time. He was a respected leader. He 291 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:19,560 had power and prestige but when he came face to face with the risen Jesus, he was changed 292 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:25,280 forever. In Acts 9, 18 it says, And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and 293 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:30,640 he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized. Even during the time of Jesus, it 294 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:36,080 was critical to seek truth, to look for the fruit that is born by those in power and those 295 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:40,840 who claim authority. John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to gain confirmation 296 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:46,760 that he was the Messiah. In Luke 7, 18-23 it says, The disciples of John reported all 297 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,240 these things to him, and John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the 298 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:58,160 Lord saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And when the 299 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:03,380 men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you the one 300 00:31:03,380 --> 00:31:08,960 who is to come, or shall we look for another? In that hour he healed many people of diseases 301 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:15,320 and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight, and he answered 302 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:19,040 them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind received sight, the lame 303 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:24,000 walk lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, the poor have good 304 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:30,680 news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me. 305 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:37,200 When we read the scriptures like this, I believe that it's a challenge. It's a challenge to 306 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:43,520 us. Many of us have seen miracles in our lives, but still act like we need more proof. The 307 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:48,560 world says they need proof of God's existence, but they're more than willing to follow blind 308 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:55,760 leaders that promise them the road to a political utopia or a technological utopia. Even though 309 00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:02,480 all of history shows us the folly in those beliefs. It reminds me of the end of the last 310 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:07,240 book in Chronicles of Narnia. After the world has come to an end, there's a scene where 311 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:12,160 the dwarves, they believe that they are sitting in a dark, smelly barn with nothing but putrid 312 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:18,280 food for them to eat. The others that are there with them see a beautiful room with 313 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:24,360 a full banquet, but there's no convincing the dwarves that they are wrong and they have 314 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:31,800 decided to seek darkness and are blind to the light. But we all have that same choice. 315 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:36,960 In Matthew 15, 12-14 it says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the 316 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,760 Pharisees were offended when they heard you saying, or when they heard this saying, He 317 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:46,680 answered them, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not been planted will be uprooted. 318 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,600 Let them alone, they are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall 319 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:58,200 into the pit. That's our text from the earlier in the message and just as a reiteration, 320 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,520 you don't want to be like the dwarves sitting in the dark complaining about how everything 321 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:10,800 is horrible and everything is miserable and there is no God. You want to see the light. 322 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:16,500 In Hebrews 13, 7-9, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider 323 00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:22,920 the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, 324 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:29,600 today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for 325 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:36,240 the heart to be strengthened by grace. When you think about that, when you think about 326 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:43,500 that idea of the dwarves sitting in the dark, everybody's trying to tell you today to look 327 00:33:43,500 --> 00:33:49,680 towards the inner light that's in you. But we're told in the scripture that the human 328 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:56,820 heart is wicked and deceitful. So if all you're doing is turning in to try to find the morality 329 00:33:56,820 --> 00:33:59,920 that's within you, don't you think that the morality within you is only going to be the 330 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:04,680 morality that's good for you? And that's not a standard that you can live on because then 331 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:09,800 the person next to you is going to have a different standard. And that's where we come 332 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,760 into this society that we live in today where it's all about relative truth and relative 333 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:21,560 understandings. You can't build a lasting society on such shaky ground. It's like building 334 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:27,560 on the sand. It's like building on the sand with the waves that come in every day when 335 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:34,240 the tide comes in every day. Every day the tides come in and it changes your foundation. 336 00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:38,360 You need to build on the rock. You need to build on the rock of Christ. So in closing, 337 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:42,200 we have some tremendous leaders that we can look to. In the Bible, of course, we have 338 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:49,240 Jesus, the apostles, all of the Old Testament champions of faith. In our own lives, we have 339 00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:53,640 those that we can look up to. We can see the fruit of their lives. We can see their faith. 340 00:34:53,640 --> 00:35:00,320 We can strive to live a life full of real purpose, real excitement, and God-given purpose. 341 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:08,240 I have my pastor, the pastor of my mother church that sent us out, Pastor Dave Marks. 342 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:16,600 He's a humble servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, God has been able to use that 343 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:23,720 church and all the wonderful people in our church in Chilliwack to reach into not just 344 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:32,320 Canada but deep into Russia and a lot of the different Slavic countries like even Ukraine. 345 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:40,240 From those Russian works, we've been able to tap into Cuba and we've seen tremendous 346 00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:46,080 things happen within the churches that we have in Cuba as well. This is just a small 347 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:53,220 fraction of what God has been able to do through our fellowship and through our head church 348 00:35:53,220 --> 00:36:01,760 in Prescott, Arizona, and our late pastor, Pastor Mitchell. All the thousands of churches 349 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:07,040 we have worldwide now preaching the gospel. These are humble servants of Jesus Christ 350 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:13,520 and we can see real, visible fruit that comes in the way of lives that have come to Jesus 351 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:21,600 Christ. People have been saved from addictions to drugs and all sorts of things. That's the 352 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:29,960 kind of faith that we can strive to have. We can strive to live a life full of real 353 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:36,800 purpose and real excitement, God-given purpose. The world searches for these artificial things, 354 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:42,200 these artificial intelligences, or what I recently heard talked about is artificial 355 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:51,880 general intelligence. Artificial general intelligence is the terrifying idea of the AI, the artificial 356 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:57,640 intelligence, that gets to a point where it can know that it's learning and it can self-direct 357 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:04,840 what it wants to learn. We have artificial entertainment, artificial purpose in our world 358 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:10,600 today. It is all a form of rebellion against the truth of God's creation and Christ's 359 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:18,160 sacrifice. This search for artificial things is like the blind leading the blind. This 360 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:25,680 artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is going to lead us down this path of destruction. 361 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:32,280 Even the people creating it believe that. It all leads to the same pit and despair. 362 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:37,480 And that is why we must hold close to the truth of our faith and share the gospel with 363 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:43,280 the nations and with all the people. You don't need to jump out of a plane or go free climbing 364 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:48,040 to get a thrill or an adrenaline rush. When you live for God, you will have all the excitement 365 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:53,880 you can bear. You will also have peace and joy. You will be challenged, but it's worth 366 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:59,240 it. Jesus is worthy and the Christian life is the best roller coaster ride anyone can 367 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:03,680 take. So with that, if I could have every bit about every eye closed as I bring this 368 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:10,520 message to a conclusion with an invitation for those that are not saved. If this message 369 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:17,020 is spoken to you and you recognize that you don't know Jesus, maybe you've heard a little 370 00:38:17,020 --> 00:38:22,520 bit about the gospel, but you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. Or maybe you've 371 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:27,320 walked away from your walk with Jesus. Maybe you're like those colleges that left their 372 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:34,140 first love behind. It's not too late. You can get your heart right. And if that's you, 373 00:38:34,140 --> 00:38:38,920 you can signify that with an uplifted hand wherever you are, because God can see you. 374 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,120 And if you truly mean that in your heart, then I want you to repeat this quick prayer 375 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:47,800 after me. Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son 376 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,560 Jesus Christ and that he died for me on the cross. I repent of my sin. I turn away from 377 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:58,400 it. And I accept your, your son, Jesus as my savior. I give you all the praise and glory 378 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:03,720 in Jesus name. I thank you. Amen. It's not meant to be formulaic. And probably every 379 00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:07,960 time I say that, you know, that prayer during on this podcast is slightly different because 380 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:13,000 the reality is all it is, is just like the thief on the cross. You're recognizing your 381 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:17,840 sin, you're repenting or you're turning away from it. And then you're accepting Jesus as 382 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:23,840 your savior. That's going to create something. It's going to cause something in your life. 383 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:31,200 The Bible tells us like creating an a new heart within you and you will be changed. 384 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:36,680 You it's a, your name is going to be, is now written in the lamb's book of life. And you 385 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:42,060 have something more to live for than yourself. How exciting is that to have something more 386 00:39:42,060 --> 00:39:48,400 to live for than yourself. You have something to serve. And with that, I just want to thank 387 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:54,240 everybody listening to this message today. I pray that it's, it's, it's goes forth and 388 00:39:54,240 --> 00:40:00,080 that it helps you. I also want to give one request that if the, if this did impact, if 389 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:05,920 this did help you, please like share and subscribe to this podcast so that we can get this out, 390 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,840 you know, to more and more people. We've had some good growth over the last couple of weeks. 391 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:14,240 And I want to continue to see more people come, you know, to Jesus Christ. And if I 392 00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:18,840 can do, you know, if I can help in any way with that, you know, I would, I would love 393 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:23,560 to see this podcast grow in the next thing is if you did pray that prayer, you need to 394 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:29,000 lock into a church. So you need to start reading a Bible. You can get an app. It's free. You 395 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:36,640 need to start praying, which is just talking to God, prying out to God and then find a 396 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:40,280 Bible believing church. Now, if you're in salmon arm, I'd love for you to come and visit 397 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:46,800 with us. Our church is small, but we're going to do big things for God. We have, I have 398 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:51,640 a huge vision to see, you know, what, you know, Prescott's been able to do, what chill 399 00:40:51,640 --> 00:41:00,000 X has been able to do to see us also venture out in discipleship and world evangelism. 400 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:06,440 If you, if you are in salmon arm, reach out, come to church with us. If not, we have 3,500 401 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,920 plus churches globally reach out and I'll get you in contact with a good Bible believe 402 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:16,880 in church, but find one lock in and serve, serve. And that's a big thing too. If you 403 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:22,520 really want to, you know, put some fuel on the fire for your life, don't just go to church 404 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:29,520 and sit there, but ask and say, Hey, how can I serve? How can I do more with that? I just 405 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,600 want to thank you again for listening to this message and I pray that you'd have a great 406 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:37,680 rest of your day. And I'm just going to kind of close in a quick prayer. Dear Lord God, 407 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:44,920 I pray this message would go forth and exponentially touch people's lives. It is only by your grace, 408 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:50,400 by your power that the, that your word will go and impact people's lives. Cause we know 409 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:55,920 in the scripture that you say that your word does not go and return void. And so we give 410 00:41:55,920 --> 00:42:00,200 you all the praise and glory as we go from this place today, Lord God, in Jesus name, 411 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:04,160 we pray. Amen. Thank you again for listening. I can't wait for you to come back next time.