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When you're faced with evil and you do nothing, that's evil.

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How long does it take and at what point does your silence help people in their pathway of sin?

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Their path further away from God. You know there's a broad road and people are leading

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on that road to destruction. We have an opportunity with our voice, with our life,

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with what we know the truth is to help them get off that road.

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Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today,

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as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

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If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com

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that's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy

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Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching,

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remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by his grace,

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and that he has a real hope and a future for you.

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God's good, isn't he? He is good. Well, I'm glad you're here. Thanks for being here.

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It's my privilege to share with you today. Oh, weather's getting nice, starting to warm up.

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Doesn't it just make you want to celebrate Christmas?

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Little Christmas in May. I've shared with so many of you that the chavis household is nuts about

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Christmas, right? I've told you a million times. Christmas is our favorite holiday. We decorate,

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we go all out. When I say we, I mean Nicole, she's fanatical about Christmas so by extension,

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she's brainwashed us all and it's our entire family's favorite holiday. I mean, it is decorated,

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come November, December, trees everywhere. There are themed trees, big trees, small trees,

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trees, trees, trees, trees, trees. Looks like a pine tree forest in the chavis house.

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There are travel trees. There's Disney trees. There are family trees. There are white trees.

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There are blue trees. They're just trees everywhere. It's beautiful. When I told her I was going

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to be sharing this, I went and did something else in another room. She went up in the attic,

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got a tree, set it up in the front room. I walk in. There's a tree fully lit in our front window

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for the world to see in May. You're hilarious. You know what's funny though? It's none of our neighbors

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think it's weird. They fully come to expect this from the chavis household. There's just going to

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be some crazy Christmas going on. It is October. Like kids ringing the doorbell, trick or treat.

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Why is there a Christmas tree up? Don't worry about it. Jesus is alive. We love you. Here's your candy.

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And you think they would think it's strange, but they come back around Easter time. There's

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another Christmas tree still up in the chavis household. It's not that weird of a thing for us.

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So here's the deal. We're not quite that bad. I'm just kidding. We are.

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So I know that Nicole and any other Christmas lovers here today would be excited for a little Christmas

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in May, right? That'd be a good time right there. And it kind of got me thinking. I didn't realize

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that there was a nonprofit in Minnesota called Christmas in May. Isn't that pretty cool? I got excited.

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I thought, man, we need to start a chapter here in New York City. This nonprofit started in 1996

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by a group of volunteers in this little town called Cheska, Minnesota. And they decided that one

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day out of the year in May, they were going to get together and they were going to help spruce up

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houses for elderly people. People that didn't have financial means or physically couldn't maintain

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their own homes. And they would clean them up. They'd paint. They'd clean yards. They'd do all

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this kind of stuff to really help being a light in their community that one day in May, bringing a

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little Christmas cheer even in May. Isn't that pretty cool? I think we need to really start that

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in New York. What do you think? You want to wash your neighbor's windows today? No, maybe not.

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But it really got me thinking with Christmas, really moving past December and even living in

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May in this little town in Minnesota, what has Christmas really become throughout the years

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in our culture? It used to be a time when it was cheerful and we would celebrate the gift and

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the birth of Jesus, right? It was a big deal. And we knew what it was about. Even in Macy's,

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you'd have a little manger and there being activity scenes and people seeing Christmas

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carols like the ones about Jesus, not the ones about Santa. And it was like, it was just a regular

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thing. No big deal. But slowly but surely, it's become unpopular to mention Jesus around Christmas,

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right? You can't even say Merry Christmas. You got to say like happy holidays, right? Anybody

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pressure you to do that? At work, you got to say that? Can you say happy holidays? You seem

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kind of look at you. You almost got you. I was going to call HR on you because you said Merry Christmas.

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And little by little, we've even had to become more inclusive of other religions during Christmas.

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Does that make sense? Do you know what Christmas is about?

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Jesus, the whole cornerstone of our religion. Yet we have to be inclusive at other religions

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into the Christian holiday of Christmas. That's kind of wacky. Even the Christmas tree has become

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offensive in so many circles. How weird is that? What is going on? Even Old Saint Nick is

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struggling to keep up with all the political correctness in today's world, right? Poor guy.

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They even have him on a diet, I think, so he's not so overweight. I've found this politically...

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It wasn't me. I think he's beautiful the way he is. Let me share with you this poem that highlights

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the struggle that Old Nick is having. Towards the night before Christmas, and Santa was a wreck,

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how to live in a world that's politically correct. His workers no longer would answer to elves,

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vertically challenged they were calling themselves. The labor conditions at the North Pole

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were alleged by the Union to stifle the soul. Four reindeer had vanished without much

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propriety, released into the wild by the Humane Society. And the equal employment had made it

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quite clear that Santa had better not used just reindeer. So, dancer and donner,

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comet and cubit were replaced with four pigs, and you know that looks stupid.

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The runners had been removed from his beautiful sleigh because the ruts were deemed

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dangerous by the EPA, and millions of people were calling the cops while they heard the sleigh

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noise upon their rooftops. Second hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened,

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and his fur trimmed red suit was called unenlightened. To show you the strangeness of today's ebbs and

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flows, Rudolph was suing over unauthorized use of his nose. He went on heraldo in front of the

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nation, demanding millions and overdue workers compensation. So half of the reindeer were gone,

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and his wife who suddenly said she had had enough of this life joined a self-help group packed

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up and left in a whiz, demanding that from now on her title would be Miz. And for the gifts,

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why he never had a notion of making a choice could cause such a commotion,

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nothing of leather, nothing of fur, which meant nothing for him and nothing for her. Nothing to

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aim, nothing to shoot, nothing to clamor or made lots of noise, nothing for just girls and nothing

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for just boys. Nothing that claimed to be gender specific, nothing that was war like or non-passivistic.

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No candy or sweets, they were bad for the tooth, nothing that seemed to embellish upon the truth.

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And fairy tales were not yet forbidden, were like Ken and Barbie better off hidden.

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For they raised the hackles of those psychological who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

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No baseball, no football, some might get hurt besides playing sports exposed kids to dirt.

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Dolls were said to be sexist and should be passe and Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

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So Santa just stood there to shovel them perplexed. He couldn't quite figure out what to do next.

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He tried to be merry and he tried to be gay, but you must admit that he's having a very bad day.

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His sack was quite empty and his was flat on the ground, nothing fully acceptable was anywhere to be found.

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Something special was needed, a gift that he might give to us all without angering the left

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or the right, a gift that would satisfy with no indecision, each group of people in every religion,

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of every race, every hue, every one, everywhere, even you.

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So where is that gift? It's the price beyond worth.

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May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth.

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That's crazy, isn't it?

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Thank you. I didn't write it myself.

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But this world is a mess and I think that little poem completely encapsulates the sheer craziness

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that we have to deal with day in and day out in our politically correct world.

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So today we're starting a two week series titled In God We Trust.

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Do you get that at the end? There's a question mark.

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Normally we say In God We Trust and it's an implied.

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But In God We Trust because I'm posing that question to you.

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Do we really?

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Do we really?

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So in this message series we're going to spend some time unpacking the state of our nation

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and the state of the American church.

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We hear Pastor Bo say all the time that we have to stay alert.

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We are getting deceived and we got to make sure that we are ready.

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So whether we want to believe it or not there are forces actively at work trying to destroy

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and dismantle the church.

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Our enemy, the devil, he wants to tear down and destroy everything that God has built.

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You know that, right?

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For some of you that might be a shock.

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He's not the benevolent little Halloween guy and a red pyjama jumpsuit with a plastic

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pitchfork. You know he's an enemy and he wants to destroy you and God and everything he

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stands for. That means the church.

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Jesus established the church. Jesus died for the church so you know the enemy hates the church.

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Trying to destroy it.

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In this summer in our life groups we're going to be reading through Eric Metaxi's book

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Letter to the American Church.

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It's going to be great one so make sure you sign up for that.

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In his book Metaxi's draws parallels between the German church of the Nazi regime

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and the American church today.

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Oh my goodness, it's right.

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I knew some of you were going to think, you might have bristled a little bit

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that comparison. You say, James, are you kidding?

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I mean, the German church was literally faced with the Nazis brutally murdering millions

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of Jews.

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I would like to think that the American church would fare much better in the face of such atrocities.

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My question to you is, would we?

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Would we?

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Would we?

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Guys got really quiet.

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Our enemy is actively using culture and the political system

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to attack and weaken the church.

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You know that?

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We used to feel like we were invincible.

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We had this kind of barrier of protection around the church.

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We had our little 501c3 bubble.

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Nothing could penetrate it, not even the devil.

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But we used to believe that the sanctity of life was just that.

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That the unborn child in a mother's womb was sacred and to be protected.

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And then suddenly the government legislates and makes it legal to kill said unborn child.

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And the church says nothing.

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I think that's interesting.

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Even as I wrote that, I thought, oh goodness, that's a really controversial bold statement to make.

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Why is it?

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It was kind of a non-negotiable no-brainer for centuries.

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Life is life.

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God created life.

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He created you in your mother's womb.

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We protect life.

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We don't murder.

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Kind of a no-brainer.

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But we're in the face of a very different culture.

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And yet the church, which is not the building, it's Christians, that's the church.

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We stay silent just like now.

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Don't say anything.

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You know they put people in jail if they say anything about that James, right?

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Christians have always believed that God established marriage.

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And it was a gift for a man and a woman.

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Two genders, man and woman, God created that for them to enjoy.

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And then our government tries to redefine what marriage is.

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And yet we say nothing.

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We're so afraid of being called bigoted or unloving, narrow-minded,

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unenlightened,

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filled in the blank of whatever else you've been called or are afraid of being called.

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That's what's funny.

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Fear is a funny thing.

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So many of you probably have never even been called any of those things.

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But you're terrified of being called those things.

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You know what actually doesn't hurt to be called those things?

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I'm just putting it out there.

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Sticks and stones.

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Preject!

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Come on now.

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You guys are getting really quiet.

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I love it.

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But we're afraid of being called bigoted and unloving.

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But just like the German church in the 1930s and the 40s,

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we're obligated to say what the Bible says is truth.

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We are obligated to say what Christians, Christ followers, know to be true

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and what we've said for centuries.

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But suddenly,

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Mom's a word.

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Can'ts got our tongue.

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It takes courage to stand on the other side of history

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and say stop.

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This is wrong.

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And we're afraid to do it.

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It takes courage to understand that we can't do what everyone else is doing.

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Look at what Jesus said in Revelation 2, 4 and 5.

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But I have this complaint against you.

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You don't love me or each other as you did at first.

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Look at how far you've fallen.

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Look at that in context of the American church today.

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Look how far we've fallen.

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Ouch.

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Turn back to me and do the works that you did at first.

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If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lamp stand

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from its place among the churches.

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And in his book, Letter to the American Church,

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Metaxis recounts when Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew

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that the German church during the time of Hitler and his time,

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they had gotten so comfortable with business as usual.

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Sound familiar?

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We show up on Sunday, everything's fine.

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It's us for no more.

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It doesn't matter what's happening out there.

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That's crazy, but we're fine in here.

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It demanded radical action and change on their part

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and they refused to act.

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They accepted the status quo and they sat silently by.

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That was the whole strategy.

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Is that Hitler and his regime would infiltrate church leadership

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and start to normalize his ideology

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and you accept it as church doctrine.

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When you know it's in contradiction to what God's word says,

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they stayed silent.

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Wow.

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Wow.

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Wow.

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Hmm.

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So, we, the church today, we've bought into the lie

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that we just need to keep the peace.

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00:15:28.400 --> 00:15:29.200
You heard that?

226
00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:30.320
Just don't make any waves.

227
00:15:31.520 --> 00:15:32.480
Just be loving.

228
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:34.720
God is love, love wins.

229
00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:39.520
Whatever slogan Facebook wants you to put on your profile.

230
00:15:39.520 --> 00:15:39.760
Yeah.

231
00:15:41.520 --> 00:15:42.560
Hmm.

232
00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:43.440
But I have two thoughts.

233
00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:47.840
First of all, staying silent

234
00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.280
says a lot.

235
00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.040
Staying silent, you speak volumes.

236
00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.040
Not acting is acting.

237
00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.400
You know that, right?

238
00:16:01.520 --> 00:16:03.840
When we stay silent, when the other side

239
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.040
and when I say the other side,

240
00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:06.720
I don't mean another side politically

241
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.320
or people that don't think exactly like you

242
00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:10.080
or people on the other side of your building

243
00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:11.280
or people that look different

244
00:16:11.280 --> 00:16:12.800
that you or came from a different country.

245
00:16:12.880 --> 00:16:14.480
When I say the other side, I mean people

246
00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.440
that are actively at war with God,

247
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:19.200
opposing God, that's the other side.

248
00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.880
Because we are on God's side,

249
00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:21.760
that's the other side.

250
00:16:21.760 --> 00:16:23.360
When they're screaming at the top of their lungs,

251
00:16:24.160 --> 00:16:27.440
we cannot stay silent in the face of evil

252
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.000
because that in itself is evil.

253
00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:32.800
Do you catch that?

254
00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:37.280
I know we like to kind of make it sound pretty

255
00:16:37.280 --> 00:16:38.800
and I like to encourage you.

256
00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:40.080
You know I'm an encouraging guy.

257
00:16:40.560 --> 00:16:45.280
I've turned into an optimistic guy in my older age.

258
00:16:45.280 --> 00:16:47.280
The sun is shining.

259
00:16:47.280 --> 00:16:49.280
There's always a reason to smile.

260
00:16:49.280 --> 00:16:52.160
But there's no other way to say it.

261
00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:57.840
When you're faced with evil and you do nothing,

262
00:16:57.840 --> 00:16:58.960
that's evil.

263
00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.880
It's not neutral.

264
00:17:00.880 --> 00:17:05.680
Not speaking actually speaks volumes.

265
00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.920
How long does it take?

266
00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.560
And at what point does your silence

267
00:17:10.560 --> 00:17:13.360
help people in their pathway of sin?

268
00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.400
Their path further away from God?

269
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.280
You know there's a broad road

270
00:17:19.280 --> 00:17:22.400
and people are leading on that road to destruction.

271
00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.920
We have an opportunity with our voice,

272
00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:28.880
with our life, with what we know the truth is

273
00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:30.640
to help them get off that road.

274
00:17:31.520 --> 00:17:34.480
And our silence, as we watch them

275
00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:36.960
march down that broad road to destruction,

276
00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:37.760
that's just cruel.

277
00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:39.760
Wouldn't you say?

278
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:41.280
I think it's cruel.

279
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.160
So why do we believe that like we would have spoken out

280
00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.440
in the German church when they were faced with such sin and atrocity

281
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.920
when we don't speak out today against the sin and atrocity that we're faced with?

282
00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:56.480
It's easy to cast judgment and say,

283
00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:00.400
oh man, hindsight's 2020, they messed up and they failed big time.

284
00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:03.520
I wouldn't, I would have done the right thing.

285
00:18:03.520 --> 00:18:04.880
We would have stopped Hitler.

286
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:06.160
He never would have gotten that far.

287
00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:07.920
Really?

288
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.400
Have you seen what we've legislated?

289
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.040
Have you seen what we've normalized in our American culture

290
00:18:13.040 --> 00:18:14.400
and in our American churches?

291
00:18:14.800 --> 00:18:18.640
Have you seen how many gay flags are hanging in church windows

292
00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:19.760
throughout the country?

293
00:18:21.600 --> 00:18:22.480
What are we doing?

294
00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:27.920
They are normalizing sin and we've let it creep in and we say nothing.

295
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:30.800
Is that okay?

296
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:32.320
It's evil.

297
00:18:35.120 --> 00:18:35.760
So here's the deal.

298
00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:37.440
Truth is truth.

299
00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:40.480
There's not your truth and my truth.

300
00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:41.760
There's not even Christian truth.

301
00:18:41.760 --> 00:18:42.320
There's just truth.

302
00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:43.040
It's God's truth.

303
00:18:43.040 --> 00:18:44.240
It's all God's truth.

304
00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.000
Jesus spoke truth in John chapter 844 when he told the Pharisees

305
00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:49.680
that they were of their father, the devil.

306
00:18:50.560 --> 00:18:51.600
And then he dropped the mic.

307
00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:52.720
Boom, truth bomb.

308
00:18:53.520 --> 00:18:54.240
That's some truth.

309
00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:56.720
I mean, we think Jesus, he was always loving.

310
00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:58.160
He let the little children come.

311
00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:00.480
He didn't condemn the woman caught in the adultery.

312
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.800
He's just, Jesus would have gone to that gay wedding

313
00:19:02.800 --> 00:19:04.480
because he saw he would have probably baked the cake.

314
00:19:06.080 --> 00:19:07.760
He kicked over tables in the temple.

315
00:19:08.320 --> 00:19:09.600
He yelled and he hollered.

316
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.160
He said, you're your father, the devil.

317
00:19:12.800 --> 00:19:13.600
So the preachers.

318
00:19:15.120 --> 00:19:16.000
He spoke truth.

319
00:19:17.120 --> 00:19:20.160
If Jesus speaks truth and we don't speak truth

320
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.600
because we're afraid of offending,

321
00:19:21.600 --> 00:19:23.360
does that mean we're smarter than Jesus?

322
00:19:23.360 --> 00:19:24.800
Our way is better.

323
00:19:24.800 --> 00:19:26.160
Jesus, you did it all wrong.

324
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.320
Our way is better.

325
00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:29.360
We're more popular.

326
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:32.160
You wouldn't have gotten any likes on your Instagram post

327
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:33.440
calling them children of the devil.

328
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.520
But I have a lot of followers.

329
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:39.200
Is our way better?

330
00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:39.840
Really?

331
00:19:39.840 --> 00:19:40.960
We act like it.

332
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:42.400
We justify our actions.

333
00:19:43.360 --> 00:19:45.680
But if Jesus speaks truth and we're his followers,

334
00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:47.280
we should speak truth as well.

335
00:19:49.040 --> 00:19:51.280
We've become so desperate to show those listening

336
00:19:51.280 --> 00:19:52.960
that we're exactly like them.

337
00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:54.240
And we're not judging them.

338
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:55.440
I'm just like you, I'm normal.

339
00:19:56.320 --> 00:19:57.760
I grew up as a preacher's kid.

340
00:19:57.760 --> 00:20:00.400
That was my desire all through middle and high school.

341
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.000
I just wanted to be normal like them.

342
00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:03.520
What does your dad do?

343
00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:07.280
He's a director of a non-profit organization.

344
00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.120
I didn't want to be like the Bible thumping,

345
00:20:11.120 --> 00:20:12.480
holy roller crazy guy.

346
00:20:13.840 --> 00:20:14.240
Why?

347
00:20:14.800 --> 00:20:16.240
Because I was afraid.

348
00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.280
I was a coward.

349
00:20:19.360 --> 00:20:21.120
And I looked back with so much regret

350
00:20:21.120 --> 00:20:23.040
over wasted opportunity and influence.

351
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:25.520
I wasn't the most popular kid.

352
00:20:25.520 --> 00:20:26.880
But I had friends.

353
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:27.920
People would listen to me.

354
00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:29.600
And I wasted it.

355
00:20:30.560 --> 00:20:33.040
Because I wanted people to think I was just like them

356
00:20:33.040 --> 00:20:34.320
dying and going to hell.

357
00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:36.560
How smart is that?

358
00:20:36.560 --> 00:20:38.560
I actually have hope.

359
00:20:38.560 --> 00:20:42.160
I'm the king of, I'm the kid of the king of kings.

360
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:44.320
And I was hiding that.

361
00:20:45.520 --> 00:20:47.920
But we want people to think I'm not judging you.

362
00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:49.200
I'm just like you.

363
00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:52.640
But that's not the only thing worth considering

364
00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:54.080
when communicating with people.

365
00:20:55.040 --> 00:20:56.640
But we say I don't want to lose friends, James.

366
00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:58.400
I might lose my job, James.

367
00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:00.080
If people knew I sat in a meeting

368
00:21:00.080 --> 00:21:01.200
where people were talking like this,

369
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:02.320
I would be ostracized.

370
00:21:02.320 --> 00:21:03.600
I really would get called into HR.

371
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:05.680
They'd say, do you subscribe to those beliefs?

372
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:08.640
You remember old Chris Pratt,

373
00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:10.240
star lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy?

374
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.000
He got in trouble because he went to church.

375
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.040
And they tried to cancel him.

376
00:21:13.040 --> 00:21:16.480
They said, you go to a church that's anti gay friendly.

377
00:21:17.280 --> 00:21:17.840
It's like, what?

378
00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:19.520
I haven't said anything.

379
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.840
Well, you go to a church that believes in the Bible.

380
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:23.520
Yeah.

381
00:21:23.520 --> 00:21:25.200
Well, the Bible is against gay.

382
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:28.320
Well, no, it's against same sex marriage, right?

383
00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:31.280
Like girls and boys and marriage are supposed to have sex.

384
00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:32.720
Not boys and boys and girls and girls.

385
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:33.840
Okay, yes, I believe that.

386
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:35.280
And then try and cancel him.

387
00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:37.040
Why?

388
00:21:37.040 --> 00:21:38.480
By association to truth.

389
00:21:41.040 --> 00:21:42.400
But the good news is he didn't get canceled.

390
00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:43.200
He's still doing a great job.

391
00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:44.720
Oh, look, Chris Pratt.

392
00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:47.280
But what if I get blocked on social media?

393
00:21:47.280 --> 00:21:48.240
What if I get canceled?

394
00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:49.520
Those are all great questions.

395
00:21:49.520 --> 00:21:52.640
But Jesus spoke truth and we got to speak it to without fear.

396
00:21:55.040 --> 00:21:56.320
Don't be afraid of being canceled.

397
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:58.960
If God is for us, who can be against us?

398
00:21:59.840 --> 00:22:00.640
Right?

399
00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:01.920
Yeah, you can clap for that.

400
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.800
If he is for us, who can be against us?

401
00:22:06.320 --> 00:22:07.680
It was so afraid.

402
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:09.200
God, look at all these people.

403
00:22:11.120 --> 00:22:12.080
Look who's for you.

404
00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:13.520
Cheers.

405
00:22:13.520 --> 00:22:16.400
Jesus himself knew that we'd be facing a spiritual battle.

406
00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:19.440
He warned us and he told us that we would be canceled

407
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.000
and we would be ridiculed and we would be hated.

408
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:23.360
Expect the criticism.

409
00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:25.040
Because he said it in John 15, 18.

410
00:22:25.040 --> 00:22:26.400
He said, if the world hates you,

411
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:28.400
remember that they hated me first.

412
00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.760
The world would love you as one of its own if you belong to it.

413
00:22:31.760 --> 00:22:33.200
But you're no longer part of the world.

414
00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:35.040
I've chosen you to come out of the world.

415
00:22:35.040 --> 00:22:35.840
So it hates you.

416
00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.800
So if everybody likes you, you're doing it wrong.

417
00:22:42.800 --> 00:22:45.200
Seriously, you're doing it wrong.

418
00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:48.160
Some of you that's the goal is to be liked.

419
00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.320
You're a people pleaser, you're a peacemaker.

420
00:22:50.320 --> 00:22:51.680
That's not the way of the gospel.

421
00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:54.160
Truth is controversial.

422
00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.040
They're going to hate you.

423
00:22:55.760 --> 00:22:57.680
Not because you're weird and mean and hateful,

424
00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:59.920
but because you stand for truth and that's convicting.

425
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:06.560
My second thought is, why don't we want to make waves, right?

426
00:23:06.560 --> 00:23:10.080
When we're speaking and standing for truth,

427
00:23:10.080 --> 00:23:13.360
is that we've bought into the lie that staying out of politics

428
00:23:13.360 --> 00:23:16.640
for the sake of the gospel is a good thing.

429
00:23:17.840 --> 00:23:18.800
But it's not.

430
00:23:18.800 --> 00:23:20.480
It's a noble pursuit, we would say.

431
00:23:21.360 --> 00:23:22.640
We can separate those.

432
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.120
I keep my faith over here, safe in church,

433
00:23:25.120 --> 00:23:27.520
safe in my house, safe in my life group,

434
00:23:27.520 --> 00:23:29.360
and they can be crazy all they want out there.

435
00:23:29.360 --> 00:23:31.680
But politics has no place in religion.

436
00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.440
Religion has no place in politics.

437
00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:34.960
Hogwash.

438
00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:39.440
I'm not from New York, so I can say stuff like that.

439
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:43.600
Here we'd say that is hogwash.

440
00:23:45.280 --> 00:23:47.360
Staying out of politics for the sake of the gospel

441
00:23:47.360 --> 00:23:48.960
is not the gospel at all.

442
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:51.200
The good news is we both have a responsibility

443
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:54.320
and an obligation to be involved in the process

444
00:23:54.320 --> 00:23:55.600
and we have to speak truth.

445
00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:59.680
Even when we feel like we're the lone voice in the wilderness,

446
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:01.040
you gotta speak truth.

447
00:24:02.320 --> 00:24:06.720
Billy Graham himself, he spoke out against the evils of Communism in the 1950s.

448
00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:08.320
You guys remember who Billy Graham is, right?

449
00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:10.320
Great father of the faith.

450
00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:11.760
He really had one message.

451
00:24:11.760 --> 00:24:12.720
You're a sinner.

452
00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:15.440
Jesus died for your sins, accept him, repent,

453
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:17.200
and become a Christ follower.

454
00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.440
He really stayed true to the gospel message.

455
00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.440
He didn't veer to the left, he didn't veer to the right.

456
00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:26.320
But even he thought it wasn't a deviation of the gospel

457
00:24:26.320 --> 00:24:29.840
to speak against the atrocities of Communism that were at war with God.

458
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:33.920
He saw them as congruent.

459
00:24:35.040 --> 00:24:38.000
The American founders feared that if we didn't keep the separation

460
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:42.240
of church in state, central, in time, the state would be tempted

461
00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:46.000
to control the church and we would be completely wiped out over time.

462
00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:48.480
We get that conflated.

463
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:50.080
We think all separation of church in state.

464
00:24:50.080 --> 00:24:53.040
That means the church needs to completely stay out of the state.

465
00:24:53.840 --> 00:24:54.800
That's not what it is.

466
00:24:55.600 --> 00:24:59.120
The whole point, the founding fathers wrote it into the document

467
00:24:59.120 --> 00:25:03.600
so that the government couldn't stick its nose into the church.

468
00:25:03.600 --> 00:25:05.040
That was the whole point.

469
00:25:05.040 --> 00:25:08.640
They fled England where the church was run by the king.

470
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:10.320
You understand that, right?

471
00:25:11.120 --> 00:25:13.520
He started a church because the Catholics wouldn't get him divorced,

472
00:25:13.600 --> 00:25:15.520
so he started the church of England.

473
00:25:15.520 --> 00:25:18.080
He's owned church where he was the leader of the church

474
00:25:18.080 --> 00:25:20.720
and he said, you got to worship at this church, period.

475
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:23.760
And they said, well, we don't subscribe to that.

476
00:25:23.760 --> 00:25:25.920
We want to worship God the way the Bible says.

477
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:28.000
And so they fled and they started this country.

478
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:30.160
It was a pretty cool little process.

479
00:25:30.800 --> 00:25:32.960
Founded on Christian beliefs and ideals.

480
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:34.000
And they said, you know what?

481
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:35.920
We don't want this to turn into another England.

482
00:25:36.560 --> 00:25:38.320
So let's write it into our documents.

483
00:25:38.320 --> 00:25:42.080
Our founding documents that the state cannot dictate how we worship God

484
00:25:42.080 --> 00:25:43.600
according to the Bible.

485
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:45.600
See, that's where we get confused too.

486
00:25:45.600 --> 00:25:48.640
We think separation of church and state, religious liberty

487
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:51.040
means that we have to be tolerant of every religion.

488
00:25:51.040 --> 00:25:52.480
That's also not true.

489
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.560
The founding fathers did not anticipate

490
00:25:54.560 --> 00:25:57.200
that we would have Islam and Hinduism

491
00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:00.000
and all these other religions competing for space

492
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:00.960
against Jesus Christ.

493
00:26:01.600 --> 00:26:02.720
It was all Jesus Christ.

494
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:05.360
It was just Puritans and Anglicans and Baptists

495
00:26:05.360 --> 00:26:07.840
and Antibaptists and Southern Baptists and Northern Baptists.

496
00:26:07.840 --> 00:26:10.880
It was just different flavors of Christianity.

497
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.280
And again, the enemy takes a little bit of truth

498
00:26:15.280 --> 00:26:18.480
and he distorts it and we say nothing.

499
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:19.360
We accept it.

500
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:21.600
That's not good.

501
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:24.560
So in real time, we see this.

502
00:26:24.560 --> 00:26:26.080
We see it playing out all the time.

503
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.840
That our enemies, our ideological enemies

504
00:26:29.840 --> 00:26:31.680
try and tell us what we can and cannot think.

505
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.720
They try and tell us what views we can subscribe to

506
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:36.560
and what things are not acceptable.

507
00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:39.680
The thought police.

508
00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:45.200
I almost went down a whole rabbit trail of Orwell's 1984.

509
00:26:46.080 --> 00:26:46.800
We're living it.

510
00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:49.280
They're redefining words.

511
00:26:49.280 --> 00:26:50.880
They're changing culture.

512
00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:52.080
They're telling you what you can do.

513
00:26:52.080 --> 00:26:52.720
They're watching.

514
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:53.680
They're listening.

515
00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:55.280
They're listening on our phones right now.

516
00:26:55.280 --> 00:26:56.640
You're going to get ads for like

517
00:26:57.520 --> 00:27:00.400
Republican rallies, white supremacists,

518
00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:02.160
nationalists stuff after this.

519
00:27:03.520 --> 00:27:04.320
It's ridiculous.

520
00:27:04.320 --> 00:27:07.200
They're listening and they're trying to control and manipulate you.

521
00:27:07.280 --> 00:27:09.600
You cannot let your ideological enemies

522
00:27:09.600 --> 00:27:11.200
tell you what to think and what to say.

523
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:13.200
You can't.

524
00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:13.840
It doesn't work.

525
00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:17.040
We've taken our eyes off God when we do that.

526
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:19.840
People pushing critical race theory

527
00:27:19.840 --> 00:27:21.520
and transgender and queer theory.

528
00:27:21.520 --> 00:27:22.880
They're at war with God.

529
00:27:26.080 --> 00:27:27.280
Is that politically correct?

530
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:29.760
They might add that as a line

531
00:27:29.760 --> 00:27:31.520
and that Christmas poem I read at the beginning.

532
00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:33.120
But it's true.

533
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:36.720
They're at war with what God has established.

534
00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:41.040
And they're counting on our

535
00:27:43.280 --> 00:27:46.480
good nature, our tolerance, our compassion.

536
00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.040
And they say just stay quiet in the corner over there.

537
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.640
While they boldly proclaim their proclamations

538
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:56.720
and push it down our throats.

539
00:27:57.920 --> 00:27:59.360
You remember that on Easter?

540
00:27:59.360 --> 00:28:00.880
You remember the Easter proclamation

541
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.040
of transgender visibility awareness

542
00:28:05.040 --> 00:28:07.120
on the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior?

543
00:28:07.760 --> 00:28:09.680
You don't think they're loudly proclaiming

544
00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:10.800
that they're at war with God?

545
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:13.600
But you Christian just stay quiet.

546
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:15.200
Don't make any waves.

547
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.920
We have to speak out against this anti-Christian idea in agenda.

548
00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:24.960
In 1936, Dietrich Bonhoff wrote to the German Church

549
00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:27.360
words that can be seen as an indictment

550
00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:28.960
to the American Church even today.

551
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:29.760
Let me share it with you.

552
00:28:29.760 --> 00:28:32.720
He said, I can go on sinning as much as I like

553
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:34.800
and rely on this grace to forgive me.

554
00:28:34.800 --> 00:28:38.240
I can cling to my secular existence and remain as I did before.

555
00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:40.720
Before he found Christ, that's what that means.

556
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:45.760
And with the added assurance that this grace of God will cover me.

557
00:28:45.760 --> 00:28:47.840
He goes on to say that the Christian life comes to me

558
00:28:47.840 --> 00:28:51.440
nothing more than living in the world and as the world.

559
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:54.160
You remember we're told to be in the world but not of the world?

560
00:28:54.880 --> 00:29:00.320
But he said in the 1930s, I can live in the world as the world.

561
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:02.880
Excuse me.

562
00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:05.040
Speaking truth, this got me all fired up.

563
00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:09.440
In being no different from the world, in fact being prohibited

564
00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:12.400
from being different from the world for the sake of grace.

565
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:16.000
He says, the upshot of all this is my only duty as a Christian

566
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:18.480
is to leave the world for an hour or so on Sunday morning

567
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:21.280
and go to a church to be reassured that all my sins are forgiven.

568
00:29:23.760 --> 00:29:24.080
Wow.

569
00:29:26.080 --> 00:29:29.520
In so many ways, that kind of does sound like the American Church today.

570
00:29:30.320 --> 00:29:33.040
Make no mistake, we're saved by grace, so that part he got right.

571
00:29:33.040 --> 00:29:34.160
I don't want to diminish grace.

572
00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:39.440
But following Christ requires something of you.

573
00:29:40.080 --> 00:29:44.560
I say it all the time, if it were just a matter of you accepting Christ

574
00:29:44.560 --> 00:29:47.920
by the finished work of Jesus and by grace, as soon as you accept him,

575
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:48.960
he'd kill you right then.

576
00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:52.400
He'd stop your heart and you'd be faced to face with your Savior

577
00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.760
and you'd live eternity with Jesus.

578
00:29:55.360 --> 00:29:56.960
But you still have breath in your body.

579
00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:58.080
You still have a purpose.

580
00:29:58.080 --> 00:29:59.600
Jesus said, take up your cross,

581
00:29:59.600 --> 00:30:01.760
die to yourself daily and follow me.

582
00:30:01.760 --> 00:30:04.800
He said, go into all the world, making disciples,

583
00:30:04.800 --> 00:30:07.440
teaching them to obey what I've commanded you.

584
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:08.480
That sounds like action.

585
00:30:10.080 --> 00:30:10.880
We got to do stuff.

586
00:30:11.760 --> 00:30:12.960
We have responsibilities.

587
00:30:13.760 --> 00:30:14.400
So what do we do?

588
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:16.480
I've posed a lot of problems.

589
00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:19.520
That's great, James, super encouraging.

590
00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:22.320
Can't wait to go barbecue now after this.

591
00:30:24.320 --> 00:30:26.480
Well, here's a couple of things I think we can do.

592
00:30:26.560 --> 00:30:28.720
To turn the tide and gain back some ground

593
00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:30.640
that the enemy has stolen from us, okay?

594
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.000
First, we got to speak out.

595
00:30:32.800 --> 00:30:34.240
I've said it in a few different ways,

596
00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:36.640
but in case I wasn't clear, speak out.

597
00:30:37.600 --> 00:30:38.400
You got to speak out.

598
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:41.600
And I know it sounds simple and it's easier said than done.

599
00:30:41.600 --> 00:30:42.720
You're like, okay, that's awesome.

600
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:44.160
James really speak out.

601
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:45.760
If it was that easy, we would all have done it.

602
00:30:45.760 --> 00:30:46.160
I get it.

603
00:30:46.800 --> 00:30:50.080
But you've got to speak out and you've got to be bold in truth.

604
00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:52.080
That's what you have to do.

605
00:30:52.080 --> 00:30:53.200
Speak truth.

606
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:57.040
But here's the first part of that that I want you to let sink in.

607
00:30:57.040 --> 00:30:59.040
You have to speak truth in love.

608
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:01.840
That's an important distinction.

609
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:05.920
Because Christians were extremists and not always in the good way.

610
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:10.480
We go way to the side of truth or way to the side of all love.

611
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:12.080
We don't like anything in the middle.

612
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:14.320
Which, okay, that's cool.

613
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:18.960
But truth and love is essential.

614
00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.800
If you're all truth and your goal is to cut the listener so deep

615
00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:26.320
that they're bloody and battered by the time they're done listening to you,

616
00:31:26.320 --> 00:31:29.680
rendering them completely helpless, that's not truth and love.

617
00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:31.360
And it's not really that effective.

618
00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:35.520
If you air so far on the side of love, which most Christians do,

619
00:31:35.520 --> 00:31:36.960
culture has pushed us into that,

620
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:39.840
that if you're not completely loving, then you're not being like Christ.

621
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:44.000
And so they shame you into being so loving and complicit in their plan.

622
00:31:44.560 --> 00:31:47.280
But if it's too much love and not enough truth,

623
00:31:47.280 --> 00:31:49.920
then you're not actually showing the love of God anyway.

624
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.240
It's an incomplete truth.

625
00:31:53.520 --> 00:31:55.360
But there's a better way.

626
00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:56.960
There's a gospel way.

627
00:31:57.600 --> 00:32:00.720
Speaking the truth, one without the other,

628
00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.040
love without truth is ineffective.

629
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:09.200
So when we show all the love with the truth, we're being honoring.

630
00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:13.040
Because even when someone has an ideology that doesn't align with God's truth,

631
00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:15.120
it doesn't make them your enemy.

632
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.000
That's what you have to understand.

633
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.640
Speaking the truth and love means God values you,

634
00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:25.040
Jesus died for you, so I don't hate you.

635
00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:28.160
I might not agree with what you stand for,

636
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:29.680
and that's what we're going to talk about.

637
00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:31.200
But I'm going to listen to what you say,

638
00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:34.400
and then I'm going to calmly share what truth says,

639
00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:35.440
and we're going to have dialogue.

640
00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:37.040
That's truth and love.

641
00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:42.400
Love is patient, love is kind, love is gentle, love is long-suffering.

642
00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:44.160
It doesn't hold record of wrongs.

643
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.360
Don't come in with guns blazing and take your enemy out,

644
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:48.960
because they're not your enemy.

645
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:51.360
The devils are enemy.

646
00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:53.760
This person just needs to be introduced to truth.

647
00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:56.160
Truth and love, okay?

648
00:32:56.880 --> 00:32:59.360
So don't be afraid of speaking truth in love.

649
00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:01.200
Truth is going to be controversial.

650
00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.000
I've said it over and over, but you still got to speak it in love.

651
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.200
The second thing is we've got to study and stay focused.

652
00:33:07.760 --> 00:33:08.560
Study God's word.

653
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:11.840
Like I just quoted from 1 Corinthians chapter 13,

654
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:13.840
where did that even come from?

655
00:33:14.800 --> 00:33:18.400
Like I'm not going to just speak truth that's James truth as I told you,

656
00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:19.840
James truth is irrelevant.

657
00:33:19.840 --> 00:33:21.040
I think a lot of crazy things.

658
00:33:21.840 --> 00:33:23.680
Half of them are stupid and wrong and weird.

659
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:27.200
But when I speak God's truth, that's right.

660
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:28.720
I can be confident in that.

661
00:33:29.360 --> 00:33:30.880
But how do I speak it if I don't know it?

662
00:33:31.520 --> 00:33:33.600
So you've got to study to show yourself approved.

663
00:33:33.600 --> 00:33:34.720
You've got to read his word.

664
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:36.880
Get it in your heart so you don't sin against him.

665
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:38.080
Read his word, study it.

666
00:33:38.080 --> 00:33:40.560
Why else do we listen to sermons on Sunday?

667
00:33:40.560 --> 00:33:42.880
Why else do we study his word, go through books,

668
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.360
and sharpen each other in life groups,

669
00:33:45.360 --> 00:33:48.000
if not to be equipped for moments like this?

670
00:33:49.120 --> 00:33:52.240
It's not just a little Christian country club where we come

671
00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:54.560
to get our ears tickled and feel good and leave for,

672
00:33:54.560 --> 00:33:59.040
you know, the rest of our week feeling like we got a gold star

673
00:33:59.040 --> 00:34:00.560
because we showed up for an hour on Sunday.

674
00:34:02.560 --> 00:34:05.280
It's to be equipped and mobilized because we're in a spiritual battle.

675
00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:09.600
Are you armored up or are you defenseless?

676
00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:14.240
So you've got to listen and you've got to be equipped.

677
00:34:15.120 --> 00:34:18.640
The third thing is don't stay neutral when it comes to faith and politics.

678
00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:20.320
Don't stay neutral.

679
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:23.760
I know a lot of people, even pastors, who say you've got to just,

680
00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.000
you've got to use the word balanced and I get fired up.

681
00:34:26.720 --> 00:34:28.880
If you're balanced, that means you're not doing anything.

682
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:30.720
Balance means I'm standing still.

683
00:34:30.720 --> 00:34:33.200
Okay, I don't want to fall backwards, but I want to go forward.

684
00:34:33.200 --> 00:34:34.000
I want to go somewhere.

685
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.360
I want to do something.

686
00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:39.440
Balance and neutrality are the enemy of effectiveness.

687
00:34:40.640 --> 00:34:42.720
You've got to be leaning in and doing something.

688
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:46.080
Neutrality is your enemy.

689
00:34:46.720 --> 00:34:47.920
So what do you do?

690
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:51.200
Don't remove faith from politics.

691
00:34:51.200 --> 00:34:52.560
Have you seen politics today?

692
00:34:52.560 --> 00:34:53.760
The state of our politics?

693
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:54.800
It's an election year.

694
00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:56.000
Things are ramping up.

695
00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:59.680
There are distractions because one of the candidates is in court all the time.

696
00:34:59.680 --> 00:35:01.200
But that also is an issue.

697
00:35:02.160 --> 00:35:03.680
Like, this is crazy.

698
00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:07.200
So my question is, and this is a real question.

699
00:35:07.200 --> 00:35:09.520
Why would you want to remove God from that process?

700
00:35:09.520 --> 00:35:10.880
The desperately needs him.

701
00:35:11.680 --> 00:35:12.720
This thing is a mess.

702
00:35:12.720 --> 00:35:14.160
It is tow up from the flow up.

703
00:35:14.720 --> 00:35:15.760
You take God out of it.

704
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:17.520
We are far worse off than we are now.

705
00:35:18.640 --> 00:35:19.920
And yes, it can't get worse.

706
00:35:20.720 --> 00:35:23.920
As bad as we are in America, it still can get worse.

707
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:24.400
Trust me.

708
00:35:25.520 --> 00:35:27.920
Let us fight for what God has given us.

709
00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:33.360
Nicole and I, we sent our kids all growing up to public school.

710
00:35:35.200 --> 00:35:38.160
And our friends then and even some now are shocked by that.

711
00:35:38.160 --> 00:35:40.800
They think, how could you send your innocent little kids into the lines

712
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:41.360
then like that?

713
00:35:42.640 --> 00:35:46.080
Home school them or put them in a Christian school or do something.

714
00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:48.320
And it was a hard decision.

715
00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:49.600
We wrestled a lot with it.

716
00:35:49.600 --> 00:35:51.040
We prayed a lot about it.

717
00:35:51.520 --> 00:35:54.800
But we see that the enemy has taken prayer out of schools.

718
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:56.880
The enemy has taken Bibles out of schools.

719
00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:59.840
They are fighting to take Bible clubs and Christian clubs out of schools.

720
00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:02.560
So if we take our kids with Christ in them out of schools,

721
00:36:02.560 --> 00:36:04.640
we've removed Christ from schools all together.

722
00:36:05.680 --> 00:36:09.040
But if we send our kids with Christ in them into the schools,

723
00:36:09.040 --> 00:36:10.320
we've kept God in schools.

724
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:13.600
Let them take whatever they want out, but they can't take Christ out of schools.

725
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:16.640
The same is true with politics.

726
00:36:16.640 --> 00:36:19.920
If you try and stay neutral and remove God from politics,

727
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:21.440
you've taken him out of the process.

728
00:36:22.160 --> 00:36:24.400
If Christians are involved in the process,

729
00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:26.960
you've put God in the middle of politics.

730
00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:29.280
And he needs to be there.

731
00:36:30.160 --> 00:36:30.960
Three of you like that.

732
00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:31.600
I appreciate that.

733
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:34.000
So get into the process.

734
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.720
Leverage your votes, both the privilege and the responsibility.

735
00:36:36.720 --> 00:36:38.640
Not voting is the same as seeing silent.

736
00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:40.720
And we know what I think about that.

737
00:36:42.240 --> 00:36:42.640
It's evil.

738
00:36:43.200 --> 00:36:43.600
It's evil.

739
00:36:44.160 --> 00:36:45.280
You got to do something about it.

740
00:36:46.080 --> 00:36:48.480
We know that politics doesn't replace gospel.

741
00:36:49.120 --> 00:36:51.840
I've heard people when we talk this way,

742
00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:55.520
and we actually give actual tools and practical application,

743
00:36:55.520 --> 00:36:58.240
how to live the Christian life in a tumultuous season.

744
00:36:58.240 --> 00:37:01.360
People say, I feel like I'm at a political rally, James.

745
00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:03.200
This has no place in a church.

746
00:37:03.200 --> 00:37:05.840
Why don't you just preach the good news of Jesus

747
00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:08.560
and we'll go home and feel good about ourselves?

748
00:37:08.560 --> 00:37:09.760
This is ridiculous.

749
00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:10.720
I understand.

750
00:37:10.720 --> 00:37:11.920
I get it.

751
00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:13.040
You're wrong, but I get it.

752
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:16.640
Because as I just said, we cannot remove it.

753
00:37:16.640 --> 00:37:17.600
You cannot separate it.

754
00:37:17.600 --> 00:37:18.480
They're interwoven.

755
00:37:19.040 --> 00:37:21.360
It's like when I'm taking the offering and I say,

756
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:25.040
why are you trying to separate your money from everything else?

757
00:37:25.040 --> 00:37:26.560
God bless every part of my life.

758
00:37:26.560 --> 00:37:27.760
I commit every part of my life.

759
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:29.040
I surrender every part of my life.

760
00:37:29.040 --> 00:37:29.840
But don't touch my money.

761
00:37:32.240 --> 00:37:34.160
He's the God of all or he's the God of nothing.

762
00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:39.120
Don't remove him from the political process either,

763
00:37:39.120 --> 00:37:40.640
from your thoughts in this area.

764
00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:46.000
We're not replacing politics with the gospel.

765
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:47.200
You realize that, okay?

766
00:37:47.200 --> 00:37:47.920
You understand.

767
00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:49.280
God's truth trumps everything.

768
00:37:50.560 --> 00:37:54.320
We're not substituting a politician for our Savior.

769
00:37:55.040 --> 00:37:56.640
And that's important for me to say as well.

770
00:37:56.640 --> 00:37:58.240
No politician can save us.

771
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:00.720
I'm not advocating that.

772
00:38:00.720 --> 00:38:01.600
I don't believe that.

773
00:38:01.600 --> 00:38:03.760
And I'm not suggesting that you subscribe to that.

774
00:38:04.720 --> 00:38:07.120
But both politics and politicians

775
00:38:07.120 --> 00:38:09.040
can be used by God to affect his will.

776
00:38:09.040 --> 00:38:10.880
You see that all throughout scripture,

777
00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:11.760
Old and New Testament.

778
00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:13.120
He raises up nations.

779
00:38:13.120 --> 00:38:14.320
He raises up kings.

780
00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:15.360
He brings them down.

781
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.600
He uses them to affect his will.

782
00:38:17.600 --> 00:38:20.240
And I'm so glad he's still involved in a messed-up process

783
00:38:20.240 --> 00:38:22.400
that the enemy has dominion over.

784
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:25.360
The enemy is doing his work.

785
00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:26.400
He is wreaking havoc.

786
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.760
God is holding his hand at bay,

787
00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:33.120
keeping the flood from taking us over

788
00:38:33.120 --> 00:38:34.560
and drowning us completely.

789
00:38:34.560 --> 00:38:35.520
And I'm thankful for that.

790
00:38:36.160 --> 00:38:38.160
We don't want him completely removed from it.

791
00:38:38.160 --> 00:38:40.000
And as Pastor has said all the time,

792
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:43.040
he's not to blame for all the bad things happening.

793
00:38:43.040 --> 00:38:43.680
Either, okay?

794
00:38:43.680 --> 00:38:44.400
So you think,

795
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:46.560
is this the best we have to offer these two candidates?

796
00:38:46.560 --> 00:38:48.720
Why is God going to do it, okay?

797
00:38:50.080 --> 00:38:52.000
That they have a invented politics, okay?

798
00:38:55.120 --> 00:38:56.400
God said, why do you want a king

799
00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:58.320
like all the other evil nations?

800
00:38:58.320 --> 00:38:59.680
Let me be your ruler.

801
00:38:59.680 --> 00:39:01.840
We said, no, we want to rule ourselves.

802
00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:06.000
This is as a result of our letting the enemy lie to us, okay?

803
00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:09.120
So don't mistake God's hand for what the enemy is doing.

804
00:39:09.120 --> 00:39:11.040
But God still can redeem things

805
00:39:11.040 --> 00:39:12.800
and he loves to do it on our behalf.

806
00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:16.640
So look at a politician's policies.

807
00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:19.360
Don't get fixated on the man.

808
00:39:21.600 --> 00:39:23.920
Yes, every politician's going to have flaws.

809
00:39:25.120 --> 00:39:26.480
I'm just going to write in a name.

810
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:27.840
What?

811
00:39:28.640 --> 00:39:29.840
You're wasting your vote.

812
00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:31.200
I'm not going to vote.

813
00:39:31.200 --> 00:39:32.400
You're wasting your life.

814
00:39:34.240 --> 00:39:35.840
You've got to be involved.

815
00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:37.520
Every politician is a mess.

816
00:39:38.240 --> 00:39:39.280
That's a prerequisite.

817
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:42.000
They find the worst of the worst and say,

818
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:43.680
let's vote you into office.

819
00:39:43.680 --> 00:39:44.320
That's a given.

820
00:39:45.520 --> 00:39:46.960
They all have flaws.

821
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:48.320
Don't get hung up on that.

822
00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:49.360
Look at their policies.

823
00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:51.360
What are they fighting and advocating for?

824
00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:53.360
And then don't vote what's in it for me?

825
00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:54.560
Are they going to lower my taxes?

826
00:39:54.560 --> 00:39:56.160
Are they going to pay off my student loan?

827
00:39:56.240 --> 00:39:58.720
Are they going to fight for the cause that I believe in?

828
00:39:58.720 --> 00:40:00.640
Are they going to save the speckled owl from the fore?

829
00:40:00.640 --> 00:40:01.920
Are they going to save the whales?

830
00:40:01.920 --> 00:40:02.400
Who cares?

831
00:40:04.160 --> 00:40:05.520
What's in it for God's kingdom?

832
00:40:06.160 --> 00:40:07.280
That's how you need to vote.

833
00:40:08.160 --> 00:40:09.360
He's given you his word.

834
00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:11.440
He's given you his truth and his principles.

835
00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:13.760
And that's what you need to look at and the lens

836
00:40:13.760 --> 00:40:15.680
that you need to view it through

837
00:40:15.680 --> 00:40:17.760
when you're making your decision as to who to vote for.

838
00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:20.640
When there's a candidate who is actively at war

839
00:40:20.640 --> 00:40:23.440
with all things God and everything Christian

840
00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:26.720
and you still try and rationalize voting for them,

841
00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:28.560
you're lying to yourself.

842
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:31.760
You're lying to yourself.

843
00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:34.560
You can't do it and vote your faith.

844
00:40:35.600 --> 00:40:37.040
You're separating them.

845
00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:40.320
That never leads to a fulfilled abundant life.

846
00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:41.360
So you're going to rob yourself.

847
00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:44.800
But when you look at what they're looking to do,

848
00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:46.160
their policies and you say,

849
00:40:46.160 --> 00:40:48.560
well, this one is most in line,

850
00:40:48.560 --> 00:40:49.600
the lesser of the evils,

851
00:40:49.600 --> 00:40:50.480
really is what it is.

852
00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:53.520
It's going to advance God's kingdom.

853
00:40:53.520 --> 00:40:54.240
Then that's it.

854
00:40:54.240 --> 00:40:55.360
If there's something in it for you

855
00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:56.800
as a byproduct, then win-win.

856
00:40:56.800 --> 00:40:58.560
They pay off your loan.

857
00:40:58.560 --> 00:40:58.880
Great.

858
00:41:02.160 --> 00:41:04.720
But that's not why you vote for someone, okay?

859
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:10.880
So listen, God cares more about who our president is

860
00:41:11.680 --> 00:41:12.560
than even we do.

861
00:41:14.560 --> 00:41:16.000
And I want you to hear that.

862
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:19.680
Because we sometimes believe that he's running the whole universe.

863
00:41:19.680 --> 00:41:22.240
I don't know if he really cares about these two guys.

864
00:41:23.120 --> 00:41:24.800
And you get really passionate about it.

865
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:25.520
And I know you do.

866
00:41:26.080 --> 00:41:28.720
Because there are some things that have rubbed you a little wrong.

867
00:41:28.720 --> 00:41:30.640
And in a crowd this size in New York City,

868
00:41:30.640 --> 00:41:32.640
I know not all of you believe the same politically.

869
00:41:35.520 --> 00:41:37.520
And when you talk to someone who believes different than you,

870
00:41:37.520 --> 00:41:38.160
you get mad.

871
00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:40.160
We used to not.

872
00:41:41.040 --> 00:41:43.520
We used to just really be one one's big government,

873
00:41:43.520 --> 00:41:44.560
one one's small government,

874
00:41:44.560 --> 00:41:46.240
one one's high taxes, one one's low taxes.

875
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:48.320
Everything in the middle is kind of the same,

876
00:41:48.320 --> 00:41:49.200
and we can all get along.

877
00:41:50.160 --> 00:41:52.720
Now it's all out war.

878
00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:54.400
Lines have been drawn.

879
00:41:57.760 --> 00:41:59.600
So you're in a battle whether you know it or not.

880
00:42:00.640 --> 00:42:01.440
Are you effective?

881
00:42:02.160 --> 00:42:02.880
That's the question.

882
00:42:03.840 --> 00:42:09.040
We just want to arm you so that you're ready to fight on the right side of history.

883
00:42:11.040 --> 00:42:14.400
God cares more about who our leaders are than we do.

884
00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:16.240
So you got to pray, you got to give it to God.

885
00:42:16.240 --> 00:42:16.640
Trust him.

886
00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:19.040
In his farewell address to the nation,

887
00:42:19.040 --> 00:42:21.840
President George Washington said this in regard to faith and politics.

888
00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:26.720
Of all the dispositions and habits which led to political prosperity,

889
00:42:26.720 --> 00:42:29.760
religion and morality are indispensable supports.

890
00:42:30.640 --> 00:42:33.840
And let us with caution indulge this opposition

891
00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:36.320
that morality can be maintained without religion.

892
00:42:36.960 --> 00:42:41.680
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education

893
00:42:41.680 --> 00:42:46.480
on minds of particular structure, reason and experience both forbid us

894
00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:52.240
to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

895
00:42:55.360 --> 00:43:01.680
Our first president knew that we could not legislate morality apart from faith and Christianity.

896
00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:06.640
Every year for years as a tradition,

897
00:43:06.640 --> 00:43:12.480
Congress will read on Washington's birthday that final speech that I just read from.

898
00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:15.120
I think that's fascinating.

899
00:43:15.120 --> 00:43:17.360
I don't think they're listening to the words that they're reading.

900
00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:24.560
If they did, they would either be convicted or they would stop reading it.

901
00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:29.280
I don't know how that can be any clearer.

902
00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:32.560
Jesus said this in John 155.

903
00:43:32.560 --> 00:43:35.360
Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches.

904
00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:38.320
Those who remain in me and I and them will produce much fruit.

905
00:43:38.320 --> 00:43:41.920
For apart from me, you can do nothing.

906
00:43:42.080 --> 00:43:44.880
Oh, but James, I'm sure we can run a country without him.

907
00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:50.080
I'm sure we can vote in a president with him or we can at least vote in some senators and Congress people.

908
00:43:50.080 --> 00:43:51.920
Or at least some local leaders.

909
00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:54.320
Our New York mayor, that we can do that without God.

910
00:43:58.320 --> 00:44:00.720
Apart from him, we can do nothing.

911
00:44:04.720 --> 00:44:10.480
I think that pretty much sums up what we're going to do is we're going to do something

912
00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:14.160
I think that pretty much sums up that we need to include him in the process.

913
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:19.040
In Nicole's book, The Silent Star Me, it's fantastic.

914
00:44:19.040 --> 00:44:21.600
Chapter nine is called Silence by Culture.

915
00:44:21.600 --> 00:44:24.480
And she's written several books and this one is a fantastic one.

916
00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:27.200
And I teased, and I was teasing her earlier today.

917
00:44:27.200 --> 00:44:31.840
She wrote her a few years before Eric Metaxas wrote his book, Letter to the American Church.

918
00:44:31.840 --> 00:44:33.840
So he stole her ideas, okay?

919
00:44:34.640 --> 00:44:38.640
Because she shared so many of those things that he shared and it's great.

920
00:44:38.640 --> 00:44:40.640
But I love the way she finished that chapter.

921
00:44:40.640 --> 00:44:44.800
Basically saying, when you stand for truth, boldly on God's truths,

922
00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:48.560
people are not going to run and rally to you.

923
00:44:48.560 --> 00:44:50.080
They're not going to always rally to your cause.

924
00:44:50.080 --> 00:44:51.200
They're not going to stand in support.

925
00:44:51.200 --> 00:44:52.800
They're not championing you on.

926
00:44:52.800 --> 00:44:54.800
If you stand out on this street corner and say,

927
00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:57.200
I vote for the sanctity of life.

928
00:44:58.160 --> 00:45:00.880
You're not going to have a bunch of people just running out, putting you on their shoulders.

929
00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:02.640
For he's a child, he could fail over.

930
00:45:03.440 --> 00:45:04.960
No, they're going to throw stuff at you.

931
00:45:04.960 --> 00:45:06.080
They're going to call the police.

932
00:45:06.080 --> 00:45:07.440
They're going to push you down.

933
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:08.480
They're going to get in your face.

934
00:45:10.480 --> 00:45:11.760
You're not going to be popular.

935
00:45:12.800 --> 00:45:14.080
It's going to be hard.

936
00:45:14.080 --> 00:45:16.880
But when you're living your purpose and calling, which God has given you,

937
00:45:18.560 --> 00:45:19.440
you're not alone.

938
00:45:20.480 --> 00:45:25.840
The enemy likes to separate us and make us believe that we're the only one that believes

939
00:45:25.840 --> 00:45:28.160
God's truth and we're standing boldly in the face of it.

940
00:45:28.720 --> 00:45:31.040
That no one in New York would vote their faith.

941
00:45:35.600 --> 00:45:36.320
But that's not true.

942
00:45:37.520 --> 00:45:38.240
You're not alone.

943
00:45:39.200 --> 00:45:40.560
Do you know who's standing next to you?

944
00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:42.800
God.

945
00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:47.520
If you're standing on his truth, God is standing next to you,

946
00:45:48.160 --> 00:45:52.400
whispering in your ear, now this is a person I can use to change the world.

947
00:45:56.560 --> 00:45:57.920
Don't you want God to say that to you?

948
00:46:02.080 --> 00:46:05.200
The mighty Sequoia tree and the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains have been

949
00:46:05.200 --> 00:46:06.320
under attack as of late.

950
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:07.600
You know the Sequoia trees?

951
00:46:07.600 --> 00:46:08.640
We'll put a picture up there.

952
00:46:08.640 --> 00:46:11.040
These massive trees, hundreds and hundreds of feet tall,

953
00:46:11.040 --> 00:46:13.040
live for hundreds of hundreds of years.

954
00:46:13.040 --> 00:46:17.360
These massive trees have lived and stood the test of time.

955
00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:21.440
And now they're under attack by a little pinhead-sized beetle.

956
00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:24.320
The smallest thing, no more than like a millimeter or two large.

957
00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:30.240
These things that are as tall as a football field, older than the Bible,

958
00:46:31.120 --> 00:46:35.360
are being taken down by the tiniest of little beetle bug.

959
00:46:36.720 --> 00:46:40.960
These two guys standing at the base of that picture, I don't know if you can see it.

960
00:46:41.600 --> 00:46:42.800
They're super small.

961
00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:45.600
There's another guy in the crack and crevice of that big tree.

962
00:46:45.600 --> 00:46:46.960
These things are massive.

963
00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:51.440
They seem like they're impervious to anything.

964
00:46:52.800 --> 00:46:53.760
These trees right here?

965
00:46:54.960 --> 00:46:58.560
Imagine it was a sapling when Jesus walked the seas of Galilee.

966
00:46:59.440 --> 00:47:00.480
That's true.

967
00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:04.480
It was coming into maturity when Columbus discovered America.

968
00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:10.640
It was looking down from its lofty perch over the American Civil War.

969
00:47:10.640 --> 00:47:14.080
There's no reason to believe it wouldn't have lived for centuries more.

970
00:47:14.080 --> 00:47:20.000
But a few years ago, this crazy little beetle started to burrow into the park and lay its eggs.

971
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:23.520
At first, it was like, who cares?

972
00:47:23.520 --> 00:47:24.640
Look at this massive thing.

973
00:47:24.640 --> 00:47:25.440
What's it going to?

974
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:28.000
You can drive a car through some of these and they still live,

975
00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:28.800
and they still grow.

976
00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:29.760
What's a little beetle going to do?

977
00:47:30.320 --> 00:47:32.480
But the few beetles kept laying eggs.

978
00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:33.760
The few turned into hundreds.

979
00:47:33.760 --> 00:47:35.600
The hundreds turned into thousands.

980
00:47:35.600 --> 00:47:37.600
The thousands turned into millions.

981
00:47:37.600 --> 00:47:39.520
Then they started eating away at the bark,

982
00:47:39.520 --> 00:47:42.000
and then they started eating away at the inside

983
00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:46.240
and the massive trunk and strength of these forest giants.

984
00:47:48.080 --> 00:47:49.040
And then the wind came.

985
00:47:51.120 --> 00:47:52.240
The rains fell.

986
00:47:52.240 --> 00:47:53.520
The lightning flashed.

987
00:47:54.240 --> 00:47:57.920
And then these mighty giants fell to the ground.

988
00:47:57.920 --> 00:47:58.480
Look at this.

989
00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:00.320
That's the root system.

990
00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:02.720
Laying up sideways, you can see people to the left of it.

991
00:48:02.720 --> 00:48:04.880
There's massive tree laying on the ground.

992
00:48:04.880 --> 00:48:06.560
Not because of all those elements.

993
00:48:06.560 --> 00:48:09.040
The wind and the rain and the lighting didn't take it down.

994
00:48:09.040 --> 00:48:14.160
This tiny little beetle who had silently burrowed into the inside over time

995
00:48:14.160 --> 00:48:15.200
rotted it from the inside.

996
00:48:15.200 --> 00:48:22.000
The American church has been under attack slowly for a long time now.

997
00:48:22.160 --> 00:48:26.000
We've thought, oh my goodness,

998
00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:29.920
nothing could come against our Christian nation.

999
00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:32.160
Nothing could come against our church.

1000
00:48:32.160 --> 00:48:35.040
We're as strong as the mighty Sequoia.

1001
00:48:35.040 --> 00:48:39.040
Sure, we can take our lumps, but nothing can take us down.

1002
00:48:39.040 --> 00:48:44.960
You still believe that?

1003
00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:49.440
Hmm.

1004
00:48:50.400 --> 00:48:52.480
But we're faced with a choice.

1005
00:48:55.440 --> 00:48:57.040
Faced with the rot from within.

1006
00:48:57.760 --> 00:49:02.240
Do we stand by silently and let this rot within the American church

1007
00:49:02.240 --> 00:49:06.000
and in our nation take us down from the inside out?

1008
00:49:07.600 --> 00:49:10.240
Just like Germany in the 30s and 40s?

1009
00:49:12.240 --> 00:49:13.920
That was an inside job, you know that, right?

1010
00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:15.920
They weren't attacked from any external force.

1011
00:49:17.200 --> 00:49:18.720
We're facing the same thing now.

1012
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:21.920
Or do we stand up?

1013
00:49:23.520 --> 00:49:27.760
Do we use our voice and use our vote to affect change?

1014
00:49:29.120 --> 00:49:29.920
The choice is ours.

1015
00:49:31.680 --> 00:49:33.680
History will judge if we've chosen wisely.

1016
00:49:35.680 --> 00:49:36.320
I hope we do.

1017
00:49:38.560 --> 00:49:39.040
Let's pray.

1018
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:43.200
Father, thank you for letting us be part of your process.

1019
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:49.120
Father, thank you for loving us enough to give us direction and instruction through your word.

1020
00:49:49.120 --> 00:49:52.000
You have an abandon us and left us to figure this out on our own.

1021
00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:56.880
You've given us truth, your truth, you've given us a voice, and you are for us.

1022
00:49:56.880 --> 00:49:59.200
You're active in the process, Father.

1023
00:49:59.200 --> 00:50:03.200
So give us the courage to partner with you where you're at work.

1024
00:50:04.080 --> 00:50:06.560
Not to ask you to bless what we feel like we should do.

1025
00:50:07.200 --> 00:50:08.480
But see where you're working.

1026
00:50:08.480 --> 00:50:09.520
See where you're moving.

1027
00:50:09.520 --> 00:50:13.440
See what lines up with your will and your word and align with that.

1028
00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:16.880
Put our energy, our dollars, our voice behind that.

1029
00:50:19.200 --> 00:50:22.880
Let this place look more like heaven than earth or hell.

1030
00:50:24.880 --> 00:50:26.240
And that only happens one way.

1031
00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:30.720
When you in us leads us into a process.

1032
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:32.800
We can change a nation.

1033
00:50:34.160 --> 00:50:35.280
We can stop the decline.

1034
00:50:36.080 --> 00:50:37.360
We can affect change for you.

1035
00:50:39.280 --> 00:50:42.960
And when one person stands up courageously, it gives courage to the rest.

1036
00:50:43.600 --> 00:50:46.160
Father, use us to affect that kind of change.

1037
00:50:46.720 --> 00:50:51.280
Let us be a light in a dark place to where others are drawn to your light.

1038
00:50:54.080 --> 00:50:57.600
Father, reveal in us whatever it is that's keeping us from stepping out boldly.

1039
00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:02.480
Whatever it is, if it's fear of ridicule, if it's fear of persecution,

1040
00:51:02.480 --> 00:51:06.720
if it's just embarrassment, whatever it is, keeping us from using our voice

1041
00:51:07.520 --> 00:51:10.720
to stand boldly for you and your truth, reveal it to us, Father.

1042
00:51:11.360 --> 00:51:11.760
Show us.

1043
00:51:13.040 --> 00:51:15.760
We don't want to lie to ourselves, we don't want to lie to you.

1044
00:51:16.160 --> 00:51:17.120
Just tell us what it is.

1045
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:25.920
And then we need your strength to be courageous and bold enough to blade at your feet

1046
00:51:26.880 --> 00:51:27.920
and walk away from it.

1047
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:31.120
So we can't do it on our own.

1048
00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:37.920
Father, thank you that we're not just your plan B, we're your plan.

1049
00:51:37.920 --> 00:51:39.200
You've entrusted this to us.

1050
00:51:40.720 --> 00:51:43.200
Let us rely on your wisdom to be found faithful in it.

1051
00:51:43.200 --> 00:51:45.360
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

1052
00:51:47.120 --> 00:51:49.760
This is the City Light Church podcast.

1053
00:51:49.760 --> 00:51:53.840
If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about

1054
00:51:53.840 --> 00:51:59.360
Pastor Boyan Jansik in City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com.

1055
00:51:59.360 --> 00:52:02.560
That's citylightnyc.com.

1056
00:52:02.560 --> 00:52:06.000
Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime.

1057
00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:07.680
We would love to connect with you.

1058
00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:14.000
We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you,

1059
00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:16.160
and that you are surrounded by grace.

1060
00:52:16.880 --> 00:52:18.320
Thank you for listening.

1061
00:52:18.320 --> 00:52:24.000
Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.