Transcription
Now, this is one of my favorite messages because I decided I would go back and research every century of recorded human history to find out what the most common form of government is. And believe it or not, it's king. It's gangs. Most common form of government is gangs. And a gang leader with enough power we call a king or a pharaoh, emperor, a Caesar, Kaiser, Sultans are. And um it's a kings rule through fear. You do what they say or ultimately they can kill you. And so it's a hierarchal system. If you are friends with the king, you're more equal. If you're not friends with the king, you're less equal. And if you're an enemy of the king, you're dead. It's called treason. Or you're a slave. And that's the norm.
The first history uh instance is uh Nimrod Tower of Babel of a gang leader king just down the mountain from Arat where Noah's ark landed. And uh the word Nimrod means to rebel. And Josephus, the Jewish commentator, said Nimrod wanted to build his tower so high that if God destroyed the world again with the flood, he could survive on top. And he made everybody in town bake bricks and bring them or he would kill them. And since the population of the world is centered there, right, between the Tigers and Euphrates rivers, uh, in a sense, he was the first globalist. He was the first one world government guy. And God comes down and confuses the languages and the people scatter into language groups that turn into nations. Lo and behold, nations were God's invention to postpone a one world government. But every generation of the world, break it into these subsegroups, they'll sort of cancel each other out. But every generation you have some Nimrod, Pharaoh, Caesar, Kaiser, Sultan's that wants to conquer other nations. And if left unchecked, they'd have been happy to conquer them all and set up their one world government. And so the um there's been a 6,000-year quest and and the dilemma is any one of us would be tempted to be that person, right? And even if we're a Christian, we're tend to prefer our family and friends over our enemies. And every now and then you get a good king and he wants to concentrate power so we can do good more efficiently, but he doesn't live forever. And at some point he gives that power to some son or grandson that becomes an oppressive spoiled brat.
And so um it's in nature uh in physics you have what's called the geometric expansion of the golden ratio or phi phi or the Fibonacci sequence. It's a rate of expansion like you see in a sea shell or a galaxy or a you know hurricane and um it is uh applied to other areas of academia like when bitcoin bitcoin first started taking off it would say oh it's going to grow at this exponential rate. I thought, has anybody applied it to history? And so I decided to track all these kingdoms in history. And I saw history repeats itself, but every time it comes around, it's a little bit worse because the dictator king with more with the latest military advancement can kill more people. So instead of Kane killing able with a rock, they can kill with a bronze weapon, iron weapon, failen spear the Greeks had, symmeted. The weapon keeps improving, but it's that same fallen nature of cane, killing able. And anybody that can plot on a graph sees that at some point it's going to max out on a global level. And Jesus said, "We tears grow together till the harvest." And God chooses when we're alive on this earth. And it's our job to stand up and promote God's kingdom. And so you see this trend. There's Nimrod and then there's Sargon of Aadia and Gilgamesh and 2,000 years of Egyptian pharaohs and then kings of Assyria and China and Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus of Persia and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Justinian um the over the Sassinid Empire in Iran and the Genghask Khan and uh you just keep getting in and finally the king of England had the biggest empire on planet earth. The king of England was a globalist. He was a one world government guy with him at the top. Son never said on the British Empire.
And America's founders took the power of the king and separated into three branches. Separated it federal to state level and then tied it up with 10 handcuffs. We call the first 10 amendments. In a sense, our constitution is taking the tower of babel and scattering it. Right? Taking the concentrated power and separating amongst the people. And uh so America is an experiment of a polarity change in the flow of power. Instead of top down, ruled by a king like a dead pyramid, it's bottom up like a living tree where every root and every tiny capillary root sucks in nutrients to keep the tree alive. And so Teddy Roosevelt said, "In no other place and at no other time has the experiment of government of the people, by the people, and for the people been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country." Something unique happened here where you have lots of people being able to rule ourselves.
And now where did the founders get their ideas? A little from the English Magna Carta tying the king's hands. A little from the Roman Republic, 600 senators, a little from the Athenian democracy with 6,000 citizens, but ultimately ancient Israel. So around ancient Israel is the first notable instance in history of millions of people with no king. And so let's look at ancient Israel. Around 1400 BC they come out of Egypt and for 400 years there's no king. It's a total anomaly that we don't appreciate. Right? It's the book of judges and you got you know Jeepa and Samson and all these leaders can rise. Anybody could Deborah a woman. Anybody can be raised up into into leadership. there wasn't no hereditary monarchy and it worked. Um, and so in the Hebrew Republic, everyone is taught the law. I liken it to everybody downloads a behavioral app on their iPhone. Instead of a GPS telling you where to turn, it tells you how to act. And the Levite priests are the computer geeks that help you to download the app, right? And um and then so everybody's taught the law, even the children. Um, by the way, ancient Israel was the first literate population in world history. Don't have time to get into it, but Egypt, only 1% could read. They had 3,000 hieroglyphs. They kept them complicated on purpose as job security. When Moses comes down the mountain, he has the law in a 22 character alphabet. First letter is alle, second letter Beth. Sound familiar? So easy to learn. Kids could learn it. Israel was the first literate population in world history. But everybody follows the law. What would motivate you to follow an internal law? Kings motivate people by threatening to kill them. And and so if there is no king and it's just the people, what would motivate the people to follow this internal law? Well, Israel had the key ingredient. There is a God who is watching everyone. He wants you to be fair and he's going to hold you accountable in the future. >> So, you're about to steal. Nobody's around. And then you think, "God's watching me. He wants me to be fair. He's going to hold me accountable in the future. Maybe I should hesitate stealing." And it creates a tiny thing in your head called the conscience. If everybody in the country believes this, you can maintain order with no king, right? It's a brilliant plan. And the fact that Israel went from 400 years of slavery and they're illiterate and suddenly they get downloaded, this unique form of government that's so contrary to the rest of world history, it had to be God.
And so [clears throat] God knew the Israelites would sin. So rather than them walk around the rest of their life anticipating getting judged, once a year they had the day of atonement and the blood of the sacrifice is sprinkled on the mercy seat and everyone's sins in the nation are forgiven for the past year and they all start the new year off with a clean slate. And that is foreshadowing Jesus. He is our atonement not just for the last year but our whole lives and for all eternity. Everybody say, "Thank God for Jesus." >> Thank God. Amen. And so it's not just getting rid of a king and us ruling ourselves because we're all selfish and again any one of us would prefer to our family and friends over strangers and enemies. And so it's getting rid of a king and then us in a covenant with each other. And so covenant is like a triangle. You get rights from God. You're fair to your neighbor because you're accountable to God. You get blessings from God. and you voluntarily share them with your neighbor as charity because you're doing it as unto God, right? It only works with the God of the Bible. It doesn't work with an Athenian Aphrodite goddess of love when her temple has temple prostitutes. I mean, how can you be a god? No, it works with a just god of the Bible, right? And um and it worked for 400 years, right? I mean, America's been around the pilgrims 400 years. So about 400 years this worked until the priest went woke. They went rainbow church. And here's the high priest, Eli. His own sons are sleeping with women in the tent where the ark of the covenant is, the high priest's sons. And then there's a Levite with a silver graven image in the book of Judges. And you're like, what's this Levite doing with a graven image? Isn't that one of the commandments? You're not supposed to have them. And then there's a story of a Levite with a concubine. And the law says the Levite to marry a virgin of his own tribe. Here he is with the woman he's not even married to. And then the poor concubine gets abused by a bunch of sodomites and dies. And by the time you're grossed out, you read this line. Every man did that which was right in their own eyes. Why? Because the priests stopped teaching them what was right in the Lord's eyes. They went woke. It's like, do it anything you want. Sexual, anything's fine, fine, fine. And so they all go to Samuel the prophet and they say, "This self-government system is not working anymore. We want to be like all the other countries. We want a king." And uh Samuel cries and the Lord tells him, "They did not reject thee. They rejected me." God said, 'They didn't reject you, Samuel. They Samuel, they rejected me. So God's original plan for Israel was to not have a king, have everybody be taught the law and personally accountable to God to follow it.
And uh now why is this story important? Because the kings of England and Europe looked to the Bible for their authority, but they looked to the King Saul and after and the pilgrims and Puritans that found the New England looked to the before King Saul part of the Bible. Millions of people, everybody taught the law, personally accountable to God to follow. So King Saul is the divider between England and America. They're both looking to the Bible. But in England, they want a theocracy. You believe what I tell what the government tells you to believe or we're going to burn you at the stake. And in America like no we believe that your response to God can only be a love response if it's voluntary. So we want freedom of conscience. So our founders in America fled England came to America and set up a form of government where we have freedom of conscience. Right? And so it's a bottomup form of government in America. It's the difference difference between a monarchy top down with a king and a covenant bottom up. Now the word covenant is Hebrew but the uh word republic is Latin and so we in America use the word republic but it's the same basic concept. So monarchy is divine right of kings. God chose the royal gang leader Nimrod but uh he rules top down and we have we the people government from the consent of the govern.
Now why is this important? It first changed with church structure. So for a thousand years you had a church structure that was hierarchal called clergy lady. The clergy does the ministry and the ley is lazy and watches. It's sort of a spectator religion, right? You you listen to the pastor read the Bible. Well, when the reformation happened and you had the invention of the printing press, now everybody could have their own copy of the Bible. Before the printing press, every Bible on earth was handcopied in in in Latin in Europe. So, number one, it's in a different language than what you speak. And number two, cost a lot of money to pay somebody to sit there for an entire year and copy a Bible. But once the printing press was invented, everybody could have their own Bible. And then the pastor began to teach the people to read through the Bible yourself. >> Don't just listen to me read the Bible. You read the Bible. And then the pastor would say that you can have a direct relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ that died on the cross to pay for your sins without going through a big hierarchal structure. And then the pastor would teach the saints to do the work of the ministry. Instead of you watching me do the ministry, the pastor trains you to do the work of the ministry. Right? And so this came up with what's called congregational church structure. So instead of a hierarchal church structure, it's a congregational form of church structure. And they drew their ideas from this first 400 years out of Egypt before Israel got a king. So the reformation happens in 1517. Then you have the printing press and then you have scholars in Europe that are studying the Bible. But what part? They're studying that first 400 years before they get a king. So, the Puritan scholars were nicknamed Christian Hebraists. It's it's you can look it up. It's actually a period of history before the Age of Enlightenment and they're studying Hebrew. And so, by the way, did you know that um James Madison graduated from Princeton in 1771 and he went back for an entire year just to study Hebrew. James Madison, the father of our constitution, he studied Hebrew and he wanted to read the Old Testament in the original language and he focused on their political philosophy, right? We just we want to get away from our king. Well, how did Israel operate without a king? And so they taught Hebrew at Yale and Harvard in 1685. Um Harvard's commencement address was given partly in Hebrew.
Well, the king of England, he has this hierarchal. The king is the head of the Anglican church. And so the king turns up the heat and says, "You either comply or I'm going to cancel you." Could you imagine the government saying that to church members? And so the church members fled to New England in what's called the Great Puritan migration. 20,000 Puritans fled into New England. And what happens? You have pastors and churches founding cities. And so you have a pastor Thomas Hooker and the first congregational church in America. They founded the city of Hartford, Connecticut. And pastor Roger Williams and the first Baptist church in America founded a city, Providence, Rhode Island. Could you imagine that? A pastor and the church founding a city. So everybody's involved in church and everybody's involved in city government because it's the church founding the city. There's like no non-church members tagging along to be lazy and let them run stuff. And so the uh word polus is [snorts] the word for city. Indianapp polisap polus. Polus means city and politics is simply the business of the city. And since it's the church founding the city, everybody in church is found is involved in the business of the city. They're involved in politics. Everybody in the church is involved in politics. Polus the the city business because it's the church founding the city. Is this making sense? >> And so the statue of Thomas Hooker is in on the capital grounds in Hartford and he's holding a Bible and at the base of the statue it says leading his people through the wilderness. He founded Hartford June 1636. On this site, he preached the sermon which inspired the fundamental orders. It was the first written constitution that created a government. The pastor's sermon was turned into their constitution. And they used it for nearly two centuries. From 1639 up until 1818, Connecticut used Pastor Thomas Hooker's sermon as its constitution. And so here's another plaque in Hartford. Thomas Hooker's congregation established the form of government upon which the present constitution of the United States is modeled. Do you grasp this? Our constitution is based on this congregational church government in New England which is based on the Bible. What part of the Bible? That first 400 years out of Egypt before Israel got a king. So our very form of government in this is before the age of enlightenment. This is before John locks two treaties on government. This is before all that. These are Puritans and pilgrims and Baptists and congregationalists and Presbyterians and Quakers fleeing the king of England coming to America founding colonies. And so instead of separation of church and state, it was the pastors and the churches that created the state. How could you say, how could you say pastor don't preach on politics when it's the pastor's sermon that's their constitution? Huh? [applause] How could you say, how could you say church members don't get involved in politics when all there was in Hartford was the church members? And so they had one building in town called the meeting house. That's where the pastor would teach the Bible and that's where they would do their city business. The word synagogue means meeting house. That's where the rabbi would teach the law and that's where they would do their city business. I mean, why? It takes a lot of effort to build a building. Why build an entirely separate building just to talk about a different topic?
And so, when the revolution starts, the British send over a military governor, Thomas Gage, and he outlaws meeting houses. Democracy is too prevalent in America. We don't need the people meeting and giving their consent to stuff. You just obey government mandates. And we're like, "No, nothing happens in America unless we give our consent." He's like, "No, you obey government mandates." He's like, "No, nothing happens in America unless we give our consent." He's like, "No, you're a robot. You're a zombie. When Nebuchadnezzar blows the trumpet, you bow to the statue." We're like, "No, nothing happens in America unless we give our consent." It turns into a revolutionary war and we win. That's >> right. And we set up a government where it's [applause] we the people, government from the consent of the governed. And so recap, America's constitution is drawn from these New England pastors and their covenant churches, which is drawn from the Hebrew Republic that first 400 years out of Egypt before they got a king. Can you see it? >> Right? It's been there the whole time, right? But now there's so monarchy the concept is the creator gives all the power to this one guy the king and he dispenses everything and all the rights to all these underlings called subjects right so it's creator king people in a republic we leave out the king and the creator gives the rights to each one of us and he is not a respector a person so we are all equal so we choose from among equals who is going to be our leaders of our city, right? Our political political leaders. And so it's a bottom up form of government.
So what about Romans 13? Let everyone be subject to the governing authority. Who's the governing authority in a monarchy? The king. Who's the governing authority in a republic? >> The citizen. The citizen. Did you know that the word citizen means co-ruler, co-s sovereign, co- king, right? So the Bible addresses every area of life. If a man is single, you preach out of the Bible abstinence. But if that man gets married, you preach out of the Bible, be faithful to your wife. If a man is living in a monarchy, you preach from the Bible. Submit to the king. If the man is living in a republic, you preach from the Bible responsibility. You are the king. Right? So if someone says Christians should not be involved in politics, ask them if they know the difference between a monarchy and a republic. So the people that say, "Oh, don't get involved." Okay, you need to go over to China or North Korea and just submit. Right? In America, we're citizens. Citizen means co-ruler, co-svereign, co- king. So when we pledge allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands, we're basically pledging allegiance to us being in charge of ourselves. So when somebody protests the flag, what they're saying is, I don't want to be the king anymore. I protest this system where I participate in ruling myself. It's like, okay, somebody else will be happy to rule you. Reagan said, "In this country of ours took place the greatest revolution that has ever taken place in the world's history. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another." Here for the first time in all the thousands of years, how many thousand maybe 6 thousand years of man's relation to man, the founding fathers established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God-given right and ability to determine our own destiny. So you get to be a king with a little K over your life. All of us together are king with a little K over the country. And we have the voluntary opportunity of surrendering our lives to Jesus, the King of Kings. >> Can you say amen? [applause]
And that brings us up to the first controversy in America. The old lights versus the new lights. What's that? So these Puritans, they had a covenant plan. We don't appreciate it. It's significant that you can have millions of people and we can rule ourselves without a king. we get rights from God, fair to our neighbor account. It's a brilliant plan. But after a century, it became only a plan and the scholars would teach it at Yale and Harvard intellectually and academically. And they would say, "God has a plan for your life, your marriage, your family, church, government. Find out what the plan is, put it into place." Some went hyper and said, "God in his infinite wisdom already knows who's going to wind up in heaven, so don't even bother preaching the gospel." Whoa. You know, he's got a plan. Whoever's supposed to get saved will get saved. And they became unevangelistic and they got nicknamed old lights. And so David Brainer got expelled from Yale because he said his professor was as spiritual as a chair. And um the uh Yale students got reprimanded in 1741. This is the Connecticut legislature. It says some undergraduate students go about the town of New Haven and smash windows. No, no, no. They exhort after the same manner that ministers of the gospel do. It's like what? Yeah. Yeah. They weren't licensed to preach yet. They weren't wearing a black robe and they were sharing the gospel in a pub. How how disrespectful, right? And so you have the old lights versus the new lights. The old lights have a plan. It's a great plan, but to some it became only a plan and it got spiritually dry. And the new lights, they call them potists. They believed it was a personal faith, but to some it was so personal it was only personal and they would withdraw from politics. You know, the devil has an accounter for everything. He's like a greased pig, right? You think he got him cornered and he pops out and he's over. I mean, he'll always try to Anyway, so let's look at the pyotists. And in 1517, Martin Luther starts the reformation because he had a personal experience with Jesus that just should live by faith. And uh he stands up before Charles the 5th of Spain uh the the Holy Roman Emperor and he tells him to his face unless you can prove me wrong from the scriptures here I stand so help me God. It was very personal to Martin Luther so much that he's a able to stand up to the most powerful guy in the world. But some German princes have been waiting for the chance to break from Rome and they go this is the chance I've been waiting for. kingdom of mine. I just made the decision. You are all now Lutheran. And the people in the kingdom said, "Okay, okay, we're Lutheran. Um, what do we believe?" So for the people in the kingdom, it's not necessarily the same personal experience Martin Luther had. It's just a new state doctrine, a little more Bible focused, but it's just another. And so, uh, revival movement starts called pyotism that said being a Christian is more than doctrine. Even if it's good doctrine, you have to have an experience with Jesus. And when you do, your life will change and you won't do worldly things anymore, like bars and brothel and government. It's like, what was that last thing? Yeah, government. It's worldly. If you're really a Christian, you will withdraw from government. It's like, hm, that that's sort of different than the entire 1600s where you had churches founding cities and everybody's involved in church. Everybody's involved in government. It's like, yeah, we're not going to do that anymore. If you're really a Christian and you're spiritual, you're you're going to withdraw from worldly things including government. And so it turns into the two kingdom concept which has been studied for centuries. But the uh version that these pietists had was the kingdom of the church, the kingdom of the government and the two don't touch. And so where the Puritans said you can do both church stuff and government stuff, did you know you can do two things? You can be a spouse and you can be a parent. Two completely different roles. One person can do both. But the pitists were like, "No, no, no. You can only do one thing. And if you're really spiritual, you will withdraw from the worldly government and only be involved in church stuff. Well, that brings up an interesting situation because if all the Christians withdraw themselves from government, who's left to be involved but the non-Christians. And what are they going to do? Non-Christian stuff. It's like, duh. And and so it's a um so the Puritans were participation in church and government and everything and the pitist no withdraw. And uh so it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. What it's like yeah don't get involved in government because it's worldly. Well, why is it worldly? Because we're not involved in government. All the spiritual people left. It's like okay all you got is ambitious people left and they're going to be want power. And so in Germany, all right, these Lutheran pyotists would [clears throat] say, "Don't get involved in government." There were even German princes that would donate money to the pyotists, say, "Here's a little more money to teach your people not to get involved in my business. Stay out of my hair." And um and [clears throat] four centuries of that teaching in Germany allowed Hitler to put Jews on train cars. And they're going right past the church crying out for help. And the church's response was, "Well, that's the government that's killing the Jews and we're the church and we can't get involved in government stuff because we're holy." Can anybody see there's something wrong with that picture?
And so I have to give credit where credit's due. The pietists did spread revival and they did emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus. And so after Martin Luther and you have these pitists, one was Ludvig von Zenzandorf. He's royalty and he's 19 years old. He's touring Dusseldorf and he sees the museum with a painting of Christ with a crown of thorns and underneath it says all this I have done for you. What are you doing for me? He's struck with this painting. He goes back to his estate. His dad dies and he inherited it. He decides to let persecuted Christians of Europe of different denominations come and live on his own property. And so it's all going good until they start bickering with each other. And so he leaves his palace, goes and lives among them, tells them they need to have a communion service and forgive each other. And they pray all night and all day and all night. And they have a prayer meeting that goes on uninterrupted for a hundred years >> from like 1729 till 1829. And he decides that they uh need to um not just pray by by the way that these Lutheran Moravians are the first ones to call each other brothers and sisters. Hey bro, where did that come? It came from them. And they're the ones that that came up with the idea of getting women of the same age that are single together and then women that are married to and then the men that are single together and then the married and and break them. So they would meet together for their church service but they'd be in these smaller groups where they could relate to each other and anyway they decided to start sending missionaries out around the world and it actually helped them because most of the world is kings. Remember I talked about that and so they would come into a kingdom and say we're not going to get involved in politics. were just here to tell people about Jesus and the king were like, "Okay, you're no threat. Come on in." So, it helped them. They didn't but they didn't realize that in America we were becoming a republic where the people are the king. And so, that same message of don't get involved is producing a negligent king.
And so, let's look at these Moravian Lutheran Pietist missionaries coming to Georgia. And on the boat are the Wesley's, John and Charles. And there's a storm and John Wesley says, "The sea broke over, split the main sail in pieces, covered the ship, poured between the decks to the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English, the German Moravian Lutheran pit calmly sang on." I asked one of them afterwards, "Was you not afraid?" He answered, "I thank God, no." I asked, "But were not your women and children afraid?" He replied mildly, "No, our women and children not afraid to die." From them I went to their crying, trembling English neighbors, and pointed out to them the difference in the hour of trial between him that fearth God and him that fearth him not. At 12, the wind fell. This was the most glorious day which I had hitherto seen. John Wesley actually met people that had a relationship with Jesus. It's like, you're not bothered by all the troubles in the world? No, we just we just serve the Lord wherever he wants us here, wants us in heaven, whatever he wants. Right? And so John Wesley fails in Georgia, goes back to England and he is invited by another Moravian Peter Bowler to a prayer meeting and he says in the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street where one woman was reading Luther's preface to the epistle to the Romans. Have you ever read Luther's preface to the epistle to the Romans? Well, here's an excerpt. So Luther writes,"I greatly longed to understand Paul's epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, the justice of God, because I took it to mean that the justice of God, whereby God is just and deals justly by punishing the unjust." My situation was that although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner, troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assim. Therefore, I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated, murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know that he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement, "The just shall live by faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through sheer grace and mercy, God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of scriptures took a new meaning. And whereas before the justice of God had filled me with hate, now it became an inexpressable sweet and greater love. And so that is what John Wesley heard what I just read to you. And John Wesley said about a quarter before 9 while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ. I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation and an assurance was given he me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death. So John Wesley, it says on the plaque, felt his heart strangely warmed. Right? And so he goes and lives with the Moravians in Germany for eight months. Calls it the religion of the heart. you're loving each other and you're not being forced by the king. And and then he comes back to England and he starts a revival movement inside of the Anglican church called Methodism. And so where pyotism is a revival movement inside of the Lutheran church, Methodism started as a revival movement inside of the Anglican church. And he gets his friend George Whitfield involved. And George Whitfield comes to America and preaches seven times up and down the colonies. Now the old light churches, remember them? The old light churches close their doors and they're academic and intellectual and they think Charles George Whitfield is emotional, right? And so George Whitfield has to preach outside in the street and gathers crowds of 20,000 people without a microphone. And Ben Franklin prints his sermons and distributes them. I encourage you to see the movie on the great awakening. How many saw that movie? Wasn't that good? [applause]
And so this is great. We're having people have a personal experience with Jesus. But again, that greased pig, the devil, right? If he can't beat him, join him. He says, "Okay, it's a personal experience, but let's make it so personal that it's only personal." And so you'll have this personal experience and then you'll withdraw and won't be involved in society. It's like the devil tries to stop somebody from getting saved, but if they if he can't stop him, the next best thing is don't infect anybody else and let them get saved. Just isolate yourself, right? And so the founder of the Lutheran church in America was Henry Muenberg and he's a pyotist don't get involved guy and he has two sons who are pitist pastors, John Peter Muenberg, Frederick Augustus Muenberg and they're don't get involved. But John Peter goes and hears Patrick Henry's give me liberty give me death speech and he's inspired. So he goes to George Washington and said, "I want to help." And Washington said, "I'm going to make you a colonel. Go get your men." So he goes to church and he preaches a sermon out of Ecclesiastes. There is a time for all things. A time to gather stones, time to scatter stones, a time to preach, and a time to fight. And he takes off his black clerical robe. And underneath he has a uniform of a Continental officer. And he has an altar call. 300 men of his church and the surrounding churches kiss their wives goodbye. right off to become the eighth Virginia Regiment. They fight in battles. He's promoted to general and then after the war he's elected to Congress and his statue is in the US capital taking off his black clerical robe with a uniform and um so he's a congressman. Well, now his brother Frederick is writing him letters saying, "You have become too involved in matters which as a preacher you have nothing whatsoever to do." And John Peter writes back to Frederick accusing him of being a Tory British sympathizer. Frederick writes back and says he could not serve two masters. You know that German concept, the two kingdoms, kingdom of the government, the kingdom of the church. I'm holy. I can't get involved in government. And then the British invade New York and they burn Frederick's church. And as he's watching his church get burnt down, he says, "Maybe I do need to get involved." He gets elected to Congress and he's elected the first speaker of the house. Right. Mike Johnson is the speaker of the house. Right. I I I know him. The first speaker of the US House of Representatives was a pastor, Frederick Augustus Muenberg, who went from pi just don't get involved to getting involved. And what did he pass in that first session of Congress? The first amendment, the bill of rights with his brother there. Does anybody honestly think that these two pastors would vote to outlaw themselves? Right. First amendment pastors aren't supposed to be involved in politics. Even though we are pastors and we are involved and we're passing. No. The first amendment as well as the first 10 amendments were handcuffs on the federal government. Congress shall make no law. Why? They wanted to prevent the federal government from becoming a big Frankenstein like King George III cancelling people who don't go along with the government and getting them to lose their jobs and so forth.
So why can't we have both? Why can't we have a covenant plan where we rule ourselves without a king and have a personal experience with Jesus? It is personal. But if having a personal experience is so important, don't we want to leave a country to our kids where they have a chance to have a personal experience with Jesus? >> Because if we don't get involved, what they are teaching the children is that God does not exist. Would God want the little kids to be taught he didn't exist? And then they say, "Well, if God does exist, he's messed up. He's put in men and women's bodies and you have to have operations to fix it. What a messed up God." And then if that behavior is not sin, what behavior? Well, sex outside of marriage. You know, the little library books, try this kind of sex. Try that kind. If sex outside of marriage is not a sin, arguably there are no sins. And if there's no sins, you don't need a savior to save you from your sins. They're undermining the entire gospel, right? And so, you have to admit, it's a pretty clever trick the devil's pulled to get Christians who believe the gospel of Christ, let their children be taught the gospel of Antichrist. Who would have thought the devil could have pulled that one off? Oh, we're really spiritual. We don't get involved in politics. Uh, we're going to let our kids be taught there's no God, there's no sin, there's no need for a savior. It's like, you're you're really, really spiritual. I mean, you are so spiritual, you don't even care what kind of country you're leaving your kids. And so, the most important thing is to bring people to Christ. But the second most important thing is to preserve the freedom to do the most important thing, >> right? [applause] Charlie Kirk was a friend of mine and and Rob McCoy and they would use this quite often. And um so the founders sacrificed their prosperity for their posterity. They pledged their lives and their fortunes and their sacred honor for a generation yet unborn. Yet today, people are sacrificing their posterity for prosperity, settling kids with a $39 trillion debt. It's like, I don't care how they're going to deal with it as long as it's okay during my lifetime. It reminds you of Hezekiah. He's sick, recovers, ambassadors from Babylon come. He shows him all the treasures sort of pridefully. And Isaiah said, "What'd you show him?" He goes, "Everything." And Isaiah said, "Someday all that treasure is going to be in Babylon, and your sons will be unix in the palace of Babylon." And Hezekiah's response was, "Well, as long as it's going to be okay during my lifetime." Like, "That's it, Hezekiah. That's all you care about? You're When David was told his son with Basheba was going to die, David threw himself on his face and fasted a week." It's like, Hezekiah, you could at least fasted a you feel like reaching through the pages of the Bible and slapping him because other than that, he was a good guy, right? And um so Proverbs 13:22, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children." So is it holier to be silent? We all run into people, "Oh, I don't get involved in politics. I'm I'm a little holier than you are because I don't care what kind of country I'm leaving my kids." And and so what do you you have to ask him a question. What do you do with Numbers chapter 30? It's the silence equals consent chapter of the Bible. There's a bunch of scenarios. One, if a daughter binds herself with a vow while living in her father's house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand. But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows shall stand, and the Lord will release her. That's come down to us as vows in a wedding ceremony. And the pastor tells the church members, if you are silent when you hear these vows, you are giving your consent to the vows. Right? It's a book of com. Anyone present knows any reason as couple shall not be joined together in holy matrimony. Speak now or forever hold your peace. If you're holding your peace and you are silent, your silence is giving consent to the wedding vows. It's called the rule of tacit admission. T a cit black's law dictionary. An admission reasonably inferable from a party's failure to act or speak in. It's in criminal law. It's in debt collection law. Somebody owes you money. You wait 10 years to try to start collecting. The judge will say, "You're past the statute of limitations. You've been silent too long, no money." It's in real estate law. You know, you save up money for a rent house and a squatter moves in. And if you know about it and you're silent, they can gain title to your rent house through adverse possession. It's in trademark law. You design a trademark, somebody copies it, it's all over the internet. If you do not try to defend your trademark, they all get to use it. It's in our constitution. Article 1, section 7, Congress puts a bill on the president's desk. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within 10 days, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it. All he has to do is let it sit on his desk and be silent for 10 days. And his silence equals his signature. And so if a church member silence gives consent to wedding vows, it gives consent to other things. And if they're killing babies in the community and the church members know about it and they're silent, they are giving their consent to the killing of babies. Leviticus 20, any Israelite who sacrifices any of his children to Molech is to be put to death. If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molech, I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together. All you have to do is close your eyes while they kill the kid and you are cut off. And everybody remembers a few years ago they [clears throat] were wanting to pass a bill that would allow the killing of babies 28 days after being born. And enough pastors and enough church members put pressure on Sacramento to say no. And they had to reward that. You know, when Paul was talking to the Lord, Acts 22, and when the blood of thy martyr Steven was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death. Paul did not say a word in that chapter when they stoned Stephen. But yet Paul knew he was guilty for the death of Stephen just by standing back silent. Proverbs 24, rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death. Don't stand back and let them die. Don't try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn't know about it. For God who knows all hearts knows yours, and he knows you new, and he will repay everyone according to his deeds." What was Eli's sin? Eli didn't do anything wrong. His sons did, and he didn't stop them. He was silent. Mori tells Esther, "Uh, there's a mandate from the government to kill Jews. If you remain silent at this time, deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish." Here's one. Numbers 20. Moses and Aaron are called to the door of the tabernacle. And the Lord spake to Moses, "Gather the assembly. Thou and Aaron speak to the rock, and it shall give forth water." Well, they gathered the assembly, and Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smoked the rock twice, and water came out abundantly. End of the chapter, the Lord spake to Moses, Aaron will not enter the land because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Mebah. It's like both. We just read the chapter. Aaron did not say a word the entire chapter. It's like, yeah, that's just it. He was at the door of the tabernacle. He heard God tell Moses speak to the rock. When Moses lifted up the rod the first time and hit the rock, it probably took Aaron by surprise. When Moses lifted up the rod the second time, Aaron knew what was coming and he did not protest. He was silent. And in that instant, Aaron was guilty. Moses's was a sin of commission. Aaron's was a sin of omission. Leviticus 5, a person sins because he did not speak up even though
He was an eyewitness to a case or knew what happened. Anyone who failed to testify is guilty.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, "He who accepts evil without protesting it is really cooperating with it." Here's a verse you have memorized: Leviticus 19:18. "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Do you know the verse immediately before this? "Confront your neighbor directly, so you will not be held guilty for their sin." You're loving your neighbor, and you're confronting your neighbor. It's like a parent. You love your kid. You love your kid, but every now and then, you've got to confront your kid.
In Israel, you love your neighbor. You love your neighbor, but every now and then, you've got to confront your neighbor because there's no king yet. There's no police. It's just the people. They've all been taught the law, right? They're all following the law because they're accountable to God, and they're all helping to enforce the law.
Another translation: "Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him." Right? He's the one sinning, but you have to rebuke him.
Proverbs 9: "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." Proverbs 24: "Whoever says to the wicked, 'You are in the right,' will be cursed. But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them." Proverbs 27: "Open rebuke is better than secret love." Proverbs 28: "He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue." Ecclesiastes 7: "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than the song of fools." Isaiah 1: "Rebuke the oppressor, obtain justice for the orphan, plead the widow's case."
What about the New Testament? Luke 17: "If your brother sins, rebuke him." 1 Timothy 5: "Them that sin, rebuke before all." Titus 1: "There are many unruly and vain talkers who subvert whole households. Wherefore rebuke them sharply." Titus 2: "These things speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority." Second Timothy 4: "Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke."
Now, you can do it nicely. 1 Timothy 5: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and younger men as brethren." What does entreat mean? It doesn't mean being silent. It just means you're speaking the truth in love. You're speaking the truth. You're not being silent. You're speaking, but you're doing it in love, right? You're respectful.
And, um, so they have a woke tactic, and it's to guilt-trip Christians into being more Christian than Christ. You say, "What?" They say, "Yeah, if you're really a Christian, you will be silent while we teach your children something that Jesus would never teach the children." I mean, would Jesus teach the, uh, the trans agenda? We know what Jesus taught. Matthew 19: "He who made them in the at the beginning made them male and female."
And so, they're saying, "If you're really Christian, you will be silent and give your tacit approval to us teaching something to children that Jesus would never teach to children." So, in other words, if you're really Christian, you won't act like Christ. I mean, think of it. Here are school counselors who cannot even define "woman." Yet, they think they can tell that the little boy is supposed to be a little girl. It makes no sense.
And Jesus warned, "If you cause one of these little ones who believes trusted me to fall into sin, it will be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone around your neck." So, I think it's going to be a rude awakening for all those church members who think they're being spiritual by not getting involved in politics. "Oh, I'm..." When they realize by their silence, they are giving consent to every wicked thing out there. They're inviting the judgment of God on their heads.
And so, now [clears throat] a spiritual case can be made that God cares about children. Right? We knew that generation ago. We had bus programs, and they'd go out during the week, knock on the door. "Hey, can we take your child to church on Sunday?" I met a lady, she got saved at 8 years old. The, the bus came by the house, and she went to church, and she heard the Sunday school teacher explain the gospel, and she got saved. So, the idea was, God loves all the kids in the neighborhood, not just the ones that go to the church. Well, if God loves all of them, don't we care about what all of them are being taught in the local school?
And so, the answer is local, local, local. More people go to church in an area than vote in a school board race. And so, it's the answer is as easy as saying, "Look, we don't agree with every church on every doctrine, but none of us are happy with what they're teaching. Let's just agree on some mama bear and vote her in, or some granddad that cares about his grandkids." And you do not have to have a child in the public school to run for school board. It's your tax money, right?
And so, and thank God for the leaders you have here in Chino Hills. You're a light to the entire nation. And, um, so if churches can just care about school board races, I'm convinced all the higher races will take care of themselves. It's like, I go to different churches, and I don't know if I want to talk about all this. "Look, kids, Jesus loves the kids. Just talk about that." And if, if they have the blessing of the pastor to get the people involved in the school board races, they'll learn how it works. Okay, this is how you knock on doors. This is how you, you know, make phone calls. These are the deadlines. And, um, but thank God for Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and Pastor Jack and Gina Gleason and all the great leaders you have here, and, uh, you're an example to the entire nation. [applause]
So here's an observation. As power concentrates into fewer hands globally, God's counterbalance is to get more people involved locally. We all see the globalists and the Klaus Schwab and the Soros and the Davos and more powers concentrating into fewer hands globally, AI and all the satellites. Well, guess what? God's counterbalance is to get more people involved locally, more and more and more until everybody's involved, till the body of Christ rises up. We may have fewer Charlie Kirks and fewer people that we recognize their names, but it'll be everybody getting involved and everybody doing their own little part, getting involved, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and establishing His kingdom.
So [applause] now here's a thought. Maybe God is letting the evil be exposed to expose the condition of our heart. I mean, when you, it's like a stress test. How much will we stomach? We see these articles: "Male field hockey player on female team knocks out girl's teeth." "Another male student identifies as transgendered, injures three girls and causes them to forfeit." And, uh, some people say, "Well, I'm not going to get involved because all the politicians are corrupt, or there's voter fraud, or my vote doesn't make a difference." Or, you know, some people stay silent because they're saying, "I'm just going to wait for the rapture." I have a question. Who do you think you're going to meet when you're raptured? Uh, Jesus. Does Jesus love the little children? Oh, yes. Jesus loves the little children. You think he might wonder why you didn't do anything to protect them?
I mean, we're not in a dictatorship with a king. We're in a republic with citizens. And even if we can't turn it around, shouldn't we at least try? [applause]
So, um, I love the praise song, "Hosanna." Uh, and, uh, there's a version that Kim Walker Smith does with a little choir of children behind. And there's a line in the song. It says, "Break my heart for what breaks yours. Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause." And I thought, what an interesting line to put in a praise song. Break my heart for what breaks yours. You think it breaks Jesus' heart to have these little children lied to and mutilated? I was with Khloe Cole at a conference about a year ago. You could have heard a pin drop in the room as she talked about them saying, "Oh, she'll commit suicide if you don't sign off." And, and, um, and then sex trafficking of children, and hundreds of thousands of them have been missing. And did you know that, um, William and Katherine Booth started the Salvation Army to rescue kids out of sex trafficking in London? That's right. It's the industrial revolution. If you saw Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens, the streets got pickpockets and beggars and bums and pro—and they would go into a poor family and say, "Give us your daughter. We'll give her an education." And as soon as they got her out of the house, they'd sell her into a brothel. And Katherine Booth said when she found out about it, she could not stay silent. She said, "I felt as though I must go and walk the streets and besiege the dens where these hellish iniquities are going on. To keep quiet seemed like being a traitor to humanity." And that grew into the Salvation Army, which is ministered around the world.
Now, what does the silence say about the condition of our hearts? Jesus said, "In the last days, because evil shall abound, the love of many will wax cold." And so, Ezekiel was given a vision. He cried, "Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near. Behold, six men came, every man with a destroying weapon in his hand. And he called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn at his side. And the Lord said to him, 'Go through the midst of the city. Put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.' To the others, he said, 'Go after him through the city. Slay old and young, but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary.'" What's the difference between slain and not? Does your heart sigh and cry over the abominations in your city? And I believe, believe yours does, and that's why you're here. And you follow a pastor whose heart does, and he sighs and cries over what's happening, right?
And so, did you know Jesus didn't pet lambs all day long? His first sermon ended with them wanting to push him off a cliff. Another sermon ends with people, um, picking up stones to stone him. How'd you like to end a sermon with that? Another sermon ends with people saying, "This is a difficult saying. Who can bear it?" And they stand up and walk out of church, right? They walk with him no more.
Jesus is invited to have dinner at a house, and the Pharisee noticed Jesus did not wash his hands. And Jesus said, "You Pharisees are more concerned about the outside of the cup and not the inside. You're like a sepulchre, pretty on the outside, inside full of dead men's bones." And the lawyers say, "Well, Jesus, by saying that, you're insulting us lawyers." He goes, "Let me tell you about you lawyers. You, you heap burdens on people too heavy to carry, don't even lift a finger. You hold the keys of knowledge. You don't go in. You don't let anybody else in." And he lays into them. And then the chapter ends, and you wonder if they ever got around to eating dinner. You sort of get the feeling they pushed him out on the street. Right?
To the prideful, Jesus was tough. To the humble, he was as loving as can be. Right? God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. When Jesus walked into a town, it was not the same after he left. He was like a catalyst. He, he pushed the people to have to make a decision. Some people were humbled, and they got saved, and some people wanted to kill him. When Peter walked in, some people were healed, and others wanted to arrest him and put him in jail. When Paul walked in, some people got saved and healed, and others wanted to stone him to death.
And the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. When you walk in, there should be a change. And some people are going to be drawn to you, and they're going to give their lives to the Lord. And others are going to not like you, and they're going to want to talk about you behind your back at work. And they're going to want to cause things to be difficult for you, and they're going to, and it's just part of the package. And if we, if we tone down because we're afraid of the negative response, we will have toned it down so much you won't get a positive response. Right? We just have to realize that the Holy Spirit is within you. And when you come in, there will be a reaction.
You know, Jesus asked, "Who do men say that I am?" And some say, "Thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah." And of course, Peter said, "Thou art the Christ." But if you think of it, who was John the Baptist? He stood up to the corrupt government leader, Herod. Who was Elijah? He stood up to the corrupt Ahab and Jezebel. Who was Jeremiah? He stood up to the corrupt Zedekiah. And so, we're social creatures. We want to be accepted. We do not want to be rejected. Pretty simple. Every kid wants to be invited to the party. Nobody wants to be left off the team. We all like likes on the Facebook. We don't want any thumbs down, right? So, we're social creatures. We want to be accepted by a group. And Peter's with a group around the fire. And a girl gets in his face and says, "You are with Jesus." And you can just picture Peter looking around the fire, and everybody's eyeing him, and he thinks he's about to get kicked out of the group, and he said, "I never met the guy." Like, "That's it, Peter. That was pretty quick. You were with him just a couple hours ago."
There is a fear of being kicked out of a group, out of a family group, out of a professional group, out of a clique, out of a group of friends. It hurts to have somebody put something negative about you on the internet. But after the resurrection, Peter is called into the Sanhedrin, and they said, "We gave you strict orders not to speak in that name, or we're going to kick you out of our big group, the synagogue." And Peter replied, "We must obey God rather than men." It's like, "What happened to Peter?" He was filled with the Holy Spirit. [applause]
Something about being filled with the Holy Spirit is you have the strength not to be silent. The Holy Spirit motivates you to want to share the love of God, to get involved, to help people, to preach the gospel. But it also motivates you that you can't keep your mouth shut when they're wanting to do injustice to little innocent kids, right? And so, um, Jeremiah 18: "Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee." Jeremiah 11:17: "Tell them, this is one that speaks to me all the time. Tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them." Um, here's Jeremiah 20. "And then I said, 'I will not make mention of him, nor speak in his name anymore.' But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I could not stay quiet."
Exodus 23: "Neither shall you follow the multitude in doing evil." There will be a multitude. They will be doing evil. And you're supposed to be the stick in the mud. It's just part of the package. Right? This is the deciding. God is, is, I mean, if you were God and you wanted to populate heaven with people that loved you, right? You would have to give them a choice not to love you for the choice to love you to be the choice. So, here on earth is the choice time, right? And so God is like pushing us to make a decision. And, um, uh, I'm skipping past some stuff. It's like the bride of Christ. We're the bride of Christ. Every romance novel builds up to what? A decision-making moment. A forsaking of all others and choosing the one. I think God is pushing the world to a decision-making moment. And some people are going to choose the "all others," and some, and we're gonna say, "All they care about is the one Jesus." You know, it's like a, a chick flick, you know, the girl has a couple guys chasing her, and the one guy she thinks is it, and it's the big night, and she has her dress, she's all excited, and he calls at the last minute and says, "Oh, I got a business meeting. I can't make it. You'll understand, won't you?" And there's this other guy that'll crawl across glass just to be with her a few minutes. And she's like, "You know what? This crisis moment reveals to me who really loves me and who doesn't." I think God is pushing the world to a crisis moment. And some people are going to go along with all the evil, and others are like, "I can't be quiet anymore. I, I, I just, all I care about is Jesus and pleasing Jesus." Can you say amen?
Amen.
And, um [clears throat] so, um, uh, it's like freshman chemistry class, and the teacher pours in a, uh, catalyst into this solution, and it causes a reaction. Some stuff precipitates and gets heavy and settles to the bottom of the beaker, and other stuff gets effervescent and bubbly and flows to the top. The time period we are living in is our solution in the beaker. The catalyst and the crisis of our time period is poured in to cause a reaction. And some people are going to precipitate and drop out, run away and hide, even take the mark of the beast, right? "How can I survive unless the government's my nanny?" And others are going to say, "I don't care." They're going to get more effervescent, more bubbly. Like the early church when they were persecuted, they prayed for boldness. It's like, "Okay, God, there's persecution. Okay, give us more boldness. Give us more effervescence, right now."
So, um, anyway, so I just wanted to, uh, end with this one thought, and, uh, it's that, um, is that someday you're going to be dead. So, have a good day. Thanks for coming. And [applause] uh, but, but you're going to be in heaven because you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all your sins. And when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, with no less days to sing His praise than when we just begun. Imagine you have been in heaven for 10,000 years. You're walking the streets of gold. You meet Moses. That'd be pretty neat. And maybe Moses will invite you to his place. I don't know what it's like in heaven, but Jesus said, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions, many dwelling places." I bet Moses will have a pretty nice place. He might have one of those big fireplaces where the logs don't burn up. Get it? The burn in the wilderness didn't burn up, and the logs in his fireplace. I heard one preacher say, "In heaven, you'll travel as fast as you think." And I'll probably show up late, and my wife will say, "Where were you?" I was, I was thinking about something else. I don't know.
But imagine we all get there, and he has a big living room, maybe the size of this, and after the small talk's over, you, he's sitting right in front of you. You say, "Moses, tell us the story. I read the book. I even saw the movie, but here you are in person." Room gets quiet. Moses stands up and he goes, "It looked bad. The government was trying to kill us, and we were totally unarmed." And I said, "God, use me." And I held up my staff, and the waves came in and swallowed up Pharaoh's chariots. We're going to say, "Wow." Then we're going to look around the room and see David. "David, David, tell us your story." Room gets quiet. David stands up and he goes, "It looked bad. Goliath, this monster was mocking our faith, making fun of our God." And I, I said, "I, I can't be quiet anymore." And I took my little sling, went out there, hit him in the head, took his own sword, and chopped his head off. And we're going to look around the room. There's Esther. "Tell us your story." Right. "Whether I die, I die. I'm going to go in and see the king." And, and Gideon, and Apostle Paul. And then everyone in the room's going to look at you. "So, you, we haven't heard from you yet. Tell us your story. What did you do when it was your turn to be down on earth? What was, what were they saying about God in your country, or the baby that the Lord knew in the mother's womb, or sex that God made them in the beginning, male and female? What did you do when the whole world was against you?" And they're all sitting on the edge of their seats. What are you going to say?
You know, I'd hate for any of us to be up there and Jesus walk in the room, and a big screen come down, and him show all kinds of great things happening, and him saying, "This is what I had planned for you to do down on earth, but you just didn't have enough faith and courage." And you look back at your life, and that mountain that held you back was a little anthill, a little fear of man. It's like, "I let that little fear, what somebody was going to post about me, hold me back from doing all this great stuff." And you can't go back to earth and do anything else for Jesus because you're already in heaven because you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all your sins. But guess what? We're still on this earth.
We still have breath in our lungs. [sighs] We still have feet to try the soil. You still have a chance to do all those great courageous things that you will be known for forever. It's like a basketball game, and you're on the bench, and Jesus is the coach, and he comes over and slaps you on the back and says, "Your turn. Get in the game." And you're like, "Coach, they're playing really tough out there." And he goes, "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's your turn. Get in the game." He's like, "Coach, somebody's got knocked down." He goes, "You're 7 feet tall. They are four feet tall. You can do this. Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord raises up a standard against him. Though a thousand fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, it shall not come nigh thee." You know, no coach saves the slowest runner to the end of the relay. He saves the fastest runner. I think all of heaven is sitting on the bleachers, and they're looking over, and Jesus is saying, "Watch this. I'm going to send in the best." And he sends you in. This is your chance.
So, let's, let's say a prayer. Let's come before the Lord. God, you've given us a great country where we have freedom of choice to love you and to hear the gospel and to let you use us. Just say this prayer with me.
Heavenly Father,
I thank you for making everything.
Thank you for making me out of nothing.
I love you.
But I have sinned.
I deserve judgment.
Thank you for sending your Son Jesus to take the judgment I deserve upon himself on the cross.
Jesus, I confess you as my Lord and Savior.
I believe you died, you were buried, and you rose from the dead, and I am risen with you.
Fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, I invite you inside of me. Live inside of me for all eternity and love people through me to draw them to Jesus and to draw them to the Father.
Amen.
Amen.