WEBVTT 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:11.140 What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:14.339 of Calling, the podcast that provides you with 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:17.260 the strategies and tools needed to successfully 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:20.820 discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:23.239 through inspiring stories, thought -provoking 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.160 interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.559 personal growth and development, we've got you 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.359 covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:43.869 the episode. Okay, let's do this. Lord God, guide 00:00:43.869 --> 00:00:46.729 this conversation. Guide what are my words, Lord 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:53.090 God? Guide my words so that my words do not cause 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:59.229 disunity. Guide my words so that as I dive into 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:03.609 what I'm about to talk about, about the current 00:01:03.609 --> 00:01:10.140 events, that I'm speaking. Not out of my own 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:16.560 emotion, but out of honestly a cry for unity 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:28.140 within the church. Lord God, guide my words and 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:32.920 allow others that hear these words to hear them 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:38.239 objectively and hear them not as Somebody making 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:42.500 a political stance. But somebody who truly just 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:47.700 wants the church to be the church. To be your 00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:53.739 church, God. Amen. Okay. Obviously, I normally 00:01:53.739 --> 00:01:58.519 don't pray in the beginning of episodes. But 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:02.760 it was necessary this time. Today is September 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:06.159 13th, and I was dreading making this episode. 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:11.509 Unless you've been living under a rock, you know 00:02:11.509 --> 00:02:14.710 what's been happening recently. You know about 00:02:14.710 --> 00:02:18.849 Charlie Kirk being shot on September 10th and 00:02:18.849 --> 00:02:23.710 being killed in cold blood. You know about a 00:02:23.710 --> 00:02:26.930 couple weeks ago even that of the girl who stabbed 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:29.870 to death on the train. Maybe you know about what's 00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:31.729 happening in Nepal where Christians are being 00:02:31.729 --> 00:02:36.139 persecuted and being... pushed out of, not just 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:38.039 pushed out of their homes, but be hunted down. 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:44.979 And I just needed to, and the only thing that 00:02:44.979 --> 00:02:50.620 I can think of is unity within the church. The 00:02:50.620 --> 00:02:52.360 reason I'm even talking about this is because 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:56.800 I would see, I had to delete Instagram off of 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.599 my devices because I was seeing people calling, 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:05.569 people who call themselves Christians. who are 00:03:05.569 --> 00:03:07.530 spreading posts on either side of the political 00:03:07.530 --> 00:03:11.669 spectrum. This isn't about sides here. There 00:03:11.669 --> 00:03:17.310 shouldn't be sides. But this is... I've seen 00:03:17.310 --> 00:03:20.110 both people, whether they're Republican or Democrat, 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:28.469 posting hate. And the fruit of these posts are 00:03:28.469 --> 00:03:31.129 going to be division. And this is something that 00:03:31.129 --> 00:03:35.169 Jesus came down and was against, and this is 00:03:35.169 --> 00:03:37.229 what Paul talked about in his letters, and we're 00:03:37.229 --> 00:03:41.030 going to get into that a little bit. People are 00:03:41.030 --> 00:03:43.229 putting their ideological, political beliefs 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:50.189 ahead of their faith. I already said that Charlie 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:53.229 Kirk was shot and killed in cold blood on September 00:03:53.229 --> 00:03:56.270 10th, and I personally believe he was martyred 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:59.150 for his faith. You might disagree with that, 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:03.090 and that's okay. I believe that his political 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:07.189 beliefs were based on the faith that he has in 00:04:07.189 --> 00:04:10.229 Christ. Well, still has in Christ, because now 00:04:10.229 --> 00:04:14.310 he's with Christ. The reason he was killed was 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:17.290 not just politically driven, but it was spiritual. 00:04:18.990 --> 00:04:21.750 And it's in this time, it's a time like these 00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:24.329 when Christians need to come together under the 00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:32.899 word of God. I shared on Instagram before I deleted, 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:37.660 I shared a post by Peter Sprecher where he said 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:41.939 something that's really good. And if we're able 00:04:41.939 --> 00:04:46.699 to, I'm going to have the audio and video shared 00:04:46.699 --> 00:04:50.560 now. Charlie Kirk's organization was called Turning 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:54.860 Point USA. And I know that that's not a... It's 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:57.079 not an accident. And I believe that right now 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.699 is actually the turning point that they were 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.480 talking about. Now, at the death of their president, 00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:06.459 which is awful, I think this is the turning point 00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:09.220 for our generation. I think this is the turning 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:11.420 point for our country. I think that the things 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:14.500 that Charlie Kirk talked about, the life, the 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:20.490 values, the church. The movement of God again. 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:22.470 I think all of these things that he was trying 00:05:22.470 --> 00:05:25.170 to turn around, I think this is the turning point. 00:05:25.490 --> 00:05:29.029 This is what Jesus did. Jesus taught. Jesus debated. 00:05:29.310 --> 00:05:34.050 And then what happened? Jesus gave his life as 00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:38.379 the first martyr for this gospel. And Charlie 00:05:38.379 --> 00:05:41.720 Kirk is by no means our savior, but it's an interesting 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:44.519 representation that he would spend his whole 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:46.579 life teaching and debating and trying to share 00:05:46.579 --> 00:05:49.079 the truth of the gospel, the truth that he gave 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:52.959 his life for. And unless a seed dies and goes 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:55.819 into the ground, it does not bear seed. But if 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.860 it dies, it multiplies. It bears much fruit. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:02.959 And Charlie Kirk gave his life. The U .S. is 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:05.079 not going to encounter the next Charlie Kirk. 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.000 That's not what's next. What's next is a mighty 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.699 move of the Spirit of God. And the Spirit is 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:13.740 going to rest on people. And I think all of that 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:16.079 that you're feeling right now, with Charlie Kirk's 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:19.079 passing, with all that, I want to step up that 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:22.920 feeling. It is the Spirit drawing you. The Spirit 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:25.720 is drawing you to lead your generation into the 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:29.000 truth of Jesus Christ. I think this is what's 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.490 next. So let's be praying right now. Let's spend 00:06:32.490 --> 00:06:35.990 our time praying for our country. And then after 00:06:35.990 --> 00:06:38.370 we pray, go out and do it. Don't worry about 00:06:38.370 --> 00:06:41.810 if you're qualified. What did they say in Acts? 00:06:42.629 --> 00:06:45.129 That they were uneducated. They saw the boldness 00:06:45.129 --> 00:06:46.449 of Peter and John. Look, that's the verse right 00:06:46.449 --> 00:06:48.730 here, the one I wanted. And now when they saw 00:06:48.730 --> 00:06:50.050 the boldness of Peter and John and perceived 00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:52.089 that they were uneducated and untrained men, 00:06:52.129 --> 00:06:53.709 they marveled and they realized that they had 00:06:53.709 --> 00:06:55.410 been with Jesus. People who have an encounter 00:06:55.410 --> 00:06:59.259 with the Holy Spirit of God. Even though they're 00:06:59.259 --> 00:07:02.319 uneducated and untrained, people marvel at them. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:04.139 And this is that burning that you're feeling 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:06.899 on the inside right now. So let's pray for our 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:08.819 nation. Let's pray for our generation. And let's 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:11.240 go ahead and step out and just tell people about 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:24.410 Jesus. Amen. account in the show notes of this 00:07:24.410 --> 00:07:26.269 episode so you can go and watch this reel for 00:07:26.269 --> 00:07:28.649 yourself it's the one that has about 1 .3 million 00:07:28.649 --> 00:07:34.069 uh watches or views so far so go and check that 00:07:34.069 --> 00:07:36.089 out and see what he has to say about the move 00:07:36.089 --> 00:07:37.970 of the holy spirit that's going to be happening 00:07:37.970 --> 00:07:42.970 now after the passing of charlie kirk it's really 00:07:42.970 --> 00:07:49.759 hard to talk about unity at the same time Because 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:51.860 I know there are a bunch of different interpretations 00:07:51.860 --> 00:07:59.220 of what the Word of God says. There's not unity 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:01.579 in the interpretations, but there should be unity 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:05.199 under the core principles and teachings of Christ. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:12.579 But let's get into something that Paul said, 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:14.699 and something I don't think as a Christian that 00:08:14.699 --> 00:08:17.620 you can get around at all. no matter how you 00:08:17.620 --> 00:08:22.600 twist this next sentence. He said in Ephesians 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:28.699 4 .3, make every effort to keep the unity of 00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:34.879 the Spirit through the bond of peace. But let's 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:39.440 not just cherry pick a verse and cherry pick 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:41.799 a quote and run with it and then move on and 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.200 skim over it. And assume we know what it means. 00:08:44.259 --> 00:08:46.519 Assume we know the full context. Let's dive in 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:49.259 a little deeper. I'm going to now read Ephesians 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:52.879 4 verses 2 to 5. So you can get what's before 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:57.539 and what's after that verse about unity. He said, 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:01.700 Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:05.580 bearing with one another in love. Make every 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:09.460 effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:15.649 the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, 00:09:15.789 --> 00:09:22.529 just... Sorry, I skipped some. There is one body 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:25.230 and one spirit, just as you were called to one 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:29.549 hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, 00:09:29.730 --> 00:09:34.350 one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is 00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:38.870 over all and through all and in all. Let's be 00:09:38.870 --> 00:09:43.169 unified. Let's be a unified church in the Holy 00:09:43.169 --> 00:09:46.889 Spirit. Let's be a unified church under God the 00:09:46.889 --> 00:09:49.789 Father who is over all and through all and in 00:09:49.789 --> 00:09:56.990 all. Let's be patient with one another. I know 00:09:56.990 --> 00:10:01.009 I made people angry with hearing Peter's post. 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:04.909 One person messaged me and was angry and told 00:10:04.909 --> 00:10:09.000 me to do my research and I took a few days. I 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.259 was patient with my response because I was angry 00:10:12.259 --> 00:10:14.720 when I first initially read his message. And 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.399 I responded this morning whenever I knew my mind 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:23.539 was right. But also, Paul says next to be humble. 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:28.100 And I've taken being humble to mean having the 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:30.220 understanding that you don't know everything 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:34.259 and submitting yourselves to those who know more. 00:10:34.970 --> 00:10:37.190 Learning from them the wisdom that King David 00:10:37.190 --> 00:10:44.870 writes about in the book of Proverbs. And you 00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:47.009 shouldn't just go to anyone for this wisdom. 00:10:47.529 --> 00:10:50.549 You shouldn't just go to anyone that's understanding 00:10:50.549 --> 00:10:54.470 it. Somebody who is rooted in scripture. Who's 00:10:54.470 --> 00:10:59.649 rooted in Christ. Ignoring political ideologies. 00:11:00.830 --> 00:11:02.529 Because when it comes to Christ, those don't 00:11:02.529 --> 00:11:08.649 matter. What matters is Christ. What matters 00:11:08.649 --> 00:11:12.250 as Christians is being unified under the word 00:11:12.250 --> 00:11:15.750 of God, being able to have, like Charlie Kirk 00:11:15.750 --> 00:11:19.850 did, open discussions where we can discuss what 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:22.690 we disagree with, where we can talk about our 00:11:22.690 --> 00:11:24.850 different interpretations of scripture and maybe 00:11:24.850 --> 00:11:27.629 eventually come to a mutual understanding, even 00:11:27.629 --> 00:11:29.149 if that mutual understanding is that we're not 00:11:29.149 --> 00:11:33.519 going to agree. But do that with peace and humbleness 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:36.720 and saying, look, we disagree and that's okay. 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:39.440 But there's times whenever you disagree with 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:45.399 somebody. There are times whenever you have an 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:48.379 opinion that shouldn't be stated. That wasn't 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:53.299 in my notes. You have an opinion that is rooted 00:11:53.299 --> 00:11:58.269 in emotion and not out of scripture. And I saw 00:11:58.269 --> 00:12:01.970 a few Christians reacting out of emotion and 00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:04.929 ignoring Jesus' teachings. I'm not saying this 00:12:04.929 --> 00:12:11.070 to condemn, I just... That's what sparked this 00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:14.110 whole thought of unity. Like, what are we doing 00:12:14.110 --> 00:12:18.990 at the church if we're not fighting for unity? 00:12:23.350 --> 00:12:26.809 Let's bear with one another in love. Not spreading 00:12:26.809 --> 00:12:39.450 hate or division. It's... It's easy to think 00:12:39.450 --> 00:12:46.750 maybe I'm just naive. And people... Because it's 00:12:46.750 --> 00:12:48.809 easy to believe that there's always going to 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:52.629 be hate and always going to be division. But 00:12:52.629 --> 00:12:55.389 I also know that God already won the battle. 00:12:56.129 --> 00:13:00.029 Lord God, I know you already won this. I know 00:13:00.029 --> 00:13:04.409 that whenever we get to the, whenever Revelations 00:13:04.409 --> 00:13:07.789 happens and we get to the, eventually get to 00:13:07.789 --> 00:13:10.549 the, we get to the point where heaven is on earth 00:13:10.549 --> 00:13:14.090 and we get to experience true unity in Christ, 00:13:14.350 --> 00:13:16.590 we're going to, I don't know, I feel like I'm 00:13:16.590 --> 00:13:21.250 at least going to wonder, man, look how far we 00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:26.549 missed it. But man, I can't wait for that new 00:13:26.549 --> 00:13:34.029 earth where we're fully unified in Christ. And 00:13:34.029 --> 00:13:37.149 I know this is a different episode, and I feel 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:39.450 like that's a lot of episode podcasts and YouTube 00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:41.990 videos and everything right now, but I want to 00:13:41.990 --> 00:13:44.879 remind you that you were made for more. You were 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:46.700 made for more than your political ideologies. 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:50.679 You were made for more than the arguments that 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.200 you're having with people that disagree with 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.820 those ideologies. You're more. You were made 00:13:56.820 --> 00:14:00.139 for more. You have a calling on your life that 00:14:00.139 --> 00:14:08.779 God wants you to pursue. We all fall short to 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:15.080 the glory of God, but... Man, if we can all truly 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:18.039 strive to be more like Christ every single day, 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.519 and we can get in our scripture, read our word, 00:14:21.659 --> 00:14:26.600 and learn what it means to truly love one another 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.639 and be unified under Christ, then this world 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:36.480 would 100 % be a better place. All right. I hope 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:43.440 this episode spoke to you. And that's where we're 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.559 going to end it. All right. Peace.