What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. Okay, let's do this. Lord God, guide
this conversation. Guide what are my words, Lord
God? Guide my words so that my words do not cause
disunity. Guide my words so that as I dive into
what I'm about to talk about, about the current
events, that I'm speaking. Not out of my own
emotion, but out of honestly a cry for unity
within the church. Lord God, guide my words and
allow others that hear these words to hear them
objectively and hear them not as Somebody making
a political stance. But somebody who truly just
wants the church to be the church. To be your
church, God. Amen. Okay. Obviously, I normally
don't pray in the beginning of episodes. But
it was necessary this time. Today is September
13th, and I was dreading making this episode.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know
what's been happening recently. You know about
Charlie Kirk being shot on September 10th and
being killed in cold blood. You know about a
couple weeks ago even that of the girl who stabbed
to death on the train. Maybe you know about what's
happening in Nepal where Christians are being
persecuted and being... pushed out of, not just
pushed out of their homes, but be hunted down.
And I just needed to, and the only thing that
I can think of is unity within the church. The
reason I'm even talking about this is because
I would see, I had to delete Instagram off of
my devices because I was seeing people calling,
people who call themselves Christians. who are
spreading posts on either side of the political
spectrum. This isn't about sides here. There
shouldn't be sides. But this is... I've seen
both people, whether they're Republican or Democrat,
posting hate. And the fruit of these posts are
going to be division. And this is something that
Jesus came down and was against, and this is
what Paul talked about in his letters, and we're
going to get into that a little bit. People are
putting their ideological, political beliefs
ahead of their faith. I already said that Charlie
Kirk was shot and killed in cold blood on September
10th, and I personally believe he was martyred
for his faith. You might disagree with that,
and that's okay. I believe that his political
beliefs were based on the faith that he has in
Christ. Well, still has in Christ, because now
he's with Christ. The reason he was killed was
not just politically driven, but it was spiritual.
And it's in this time, it's a time like these
when Christians need to come together under the
word of God. I shared on Instagram before I deleted,
I shared a post by Peter Sprecher where he said
something that's really good. And if we're able
to, I'm going to have the audio and video shared
now. Charlie Kirk's organization was called Turning
Point USA. And I know that that's not a... It's
not an accident. And I believe that right now
is actually the turning point that they were
talking about. Now, at the death of their president,
which is awful, I think this is the turning point
for our generation. I think this is the turning
point for our country. I think that the things
that Charlie Kirk talked about, the life, the
values, the church. The movement of God again.
I think all of these things that he was trying
to turn around, I think this is the turning point.
This is what Jesus did. Jesus taught. Jesus debated.
And then what happened? Jesus gave his life as
the first martyr for this gospel. And Charlie
Kirk is by no means our savior, but it's an interesting
representation that he would spend his whole
life teaching and debating and trying to share
the truth of the gospel, the truth that he gave
his life for. And unless a seed dies and goes
into the ground, it does not bear seed. But if
it dies, it multiplies. It bears much fruit.
And Charlie Kirk gave his life. The U .S. is
not going to encounter the next Charlie Kirk.
That's not what's next. What's next is a mighty
move of the Spirit of God. And the Spirit is
going to rest on people. And I think all of that
that you're feeling right now, with Charlie Kirk's
passing, with all that, I want to step up that
feeling. It is the Spirit drawing you. The Spirit
is drawing you to lead your generation into the
truth of Jesus Christ. I think this is what's
next. So let's be praying right now. Let's spend
our time praying for our country. And then after
we pray, go out and do it. Don't worry about
if you're qualified. What did they say in Acts?
That they were uneducated. They saw the boldness
of Peter and John. Look, that's the verse right
here, the one I wanted. And now when they saw
the boldness of Peter and John and perceived
that they were uneducated and untrained men,
they marveled and they realized that they had
been with Jesus. People who have an encounter
with the Holy Spirit of God. Even though they're
uneducated and untrained, people marvel at them.
And this is that burning that you're feeling
on the inside right now. So let's pray for our
nation. Let's pray for our generation. And let's
go ahead and step out and just tell people about
Jesus. Amen. account in the show notes of this
episode so you can go and watch this reel for
yourself it's the one that has about 1 .3 million
uh watches or views so far so go and check that
out and see what he has to say about the move
of the holy spirit that's going to be happening
now after the passing of charlie kirk it's really
hard to talk about unity at the same time Because
I know there are a bunch of different interpretations
of what the Word of God says. There's not unity
in the interpretations, but there should be unity
under the core principles and teachings of Christ.
But let's get into something that Paul said,
and something I don't think as a Christian that
you can get around at all. no matter how you
twist this next sentence. He said in Ephesians
4 .3, make every effort to keep the unity of
the Spirit through the bond of peace. But let's
not just cherry pick a verse and cherry pick
a quote and run with it and then move on and
skim over it. And assume we know what it means.
Assume we know the full context. Let's dive in
a little deeper. I'm going to now read Ephesians
4 verses 2 to 5. So you can get what's before
and what's after that verse about unity. He said,
Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient,
bearing with one another in love. Make every
effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through
the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit,
just... Sorry, I skipped some. There is one body
and one spirit, just as you were called to one
hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all. Let's be
unified. Let's be a unified church in the Holy
Spirit. Let's be a unified church under God the
Father who is over all and through all and in
all. Let's be patient with one another. I know
I made people angry with hearing Peter's post.
One person messaged me and was angry and told
me to do my research and I took a few days. I
was patient with my response because I was angry
when I first initially read his message. And
I responded this morning whenever I knew my mind
was right. But also, Paul says next to be humble.
And I've taken being humble to mean having the
understanding that you don't know everything
and submitting yourselves to those who know more.
Learning from them the wisdom that King David
writes about in the book of Proverbs. And you
shouldn't just go to anyone for this wisdom.
You shouldn't just go to anyone that's understanding
it. Somebody who is rooted in scripture. Who's
rooted in Christ. Ignoring political ideologies.
Because when it comes to Christ, those don't
matter. What matters is Christ. What matters
as Christians is being unified under the word
of God, being able to have, like Charlie Kirk
did, open discussions where we can discuss what
we disagree with, where we can talk about our
different interpretations of scripture and maybe
eventually come to a mutual understanding, even
if that mutual understanding is that we're not
going to agree. But do that with peace and humbleness
and saying, look, we disagree and that's okay.
But there's times whenever you disagree with
somebody. There are times whenever you have an
opinion that shouldn't be stated. That wasn't
in my notes. You have an opinion that is rooted
in emotion and not out of scripture. And I saw
a few Christians reacting out of emotion and
ignoring Jesus' teachings. I'm not saying this
to condemn, I just... That's what sparked this
whole thought of unity. Like, what are we doing
at the church if we're not fighting for unity?
Let's bear with one another in love. Not spreading
hate or division. It's... It's easy to think
maybe I'm just naive. And people... Because it's
easy to believe that there's always going to
be hate and always going to be division. But
I also know that God already won the battle.
Lord God, I know you already won this. I know
that whenever we get to the, whenever Revelations
happens and we get to the, eventually get to
the, we get to the point where heaven is on earth
and we get to experience true unity in Christ,
we're going to, I don't know, I feel like I'm
at least going to wonder, man, look how far we
missed it. But man, I can't wait for that new
earth where we're fully unified in Christ. And
I know this is a different episode, and I feel
like that's a lot of episode podcasts and YouTube
videos and everything right now, but I want to
remind you that you were made for more. You were
made for more than your political ideologies.
You were made for more than the arguments that
you're having with people that disagree with
those ideologies. You're more. You were made
for more. You have a calling on your life that
God wants you to pursue. We all fall short to
the glory of God, but... Man, if we can all truly
strive to be more like Christ every single day,
and we can get in our scripture, read our word,
and learn what it means to truly love one another
and be unified under Christ, then this world
would 100 % be a better place. All right. I hope
this episode spoke to you. And that's where we're
going to end it. All right. Peace.