Latest / Crusade with Me / A Place Worth Praying For

Transcript

A Place Worth Praying For · Crusade with Me

0:11
Welcome back to Crusade with me. The world is
0:15
trying to shape you every day through what you
0:18
watch, through what you believe, through what
0:21
you fear, through what you pursue. The question
0:26
is whether you're being formed, because you are.
0:29
The question is who or what is forming you. Here
0:33
we explore the faith, purpose, wisdom, discipline,
0:36
leadership, and the practical pursuit of becoming
0:38
the person God created you to be. Together we'll
0:43
strengthen the body, renew the mind, and cultivate
0:46
the spirit as we seek to follow Christ in an
0:49
increasingly complicated world. I'm Dave, and
0:54
Cathy's here. And thank you for joining us. Now,
0:59
let's continue the crusade. Well, hello, my queen.
1:13
How are you? I'm... good. You're good? Well,
1:18
you're faking good. No, no, no. It's mind over
1:22
matter. Well... I don't have a mind and it don't
1:28
matter. Because I'm doing it anyway. Um... Well,
1:34
I know you've been under the weather. Honestly,
1:37
I think you got something from Robin Schumacher
1:39
Ever since then you've not been well, you know,
1:43
my mom was sick last weekend and then I well
1:46
you were sick last Sunday Yeah, and then but
1:50
not with the same thing and then I went to visit
1:52
her on Tuesday and so I'm must have picked up
1:58
something from her but or the it really again
2:00
I'm a manner. I'm a great hostess You were. I
2:06
am very inviting. I encourage things to stay
2:10
and stick around. And you have done a great job.
2:14
You have cooked two meals. I love when you cook.
2:19
One was KFC. I really didn't cook that, but okay.
2:22
Yeah, and that didn't agree with me, but yeah.
2:25
We'll blame it on the coleslaw. Yeah. And I tried
2:30
to not overdo on the coleslaw, but it was good.
2:33
It was a temptation that you could not bear.
2:36
I could not, yeah. I could not. I even just took
2:40
a spoonful. I know, and then you went back. And
2:42
I went back. That's life. That's life, is it
2:48
not? I mean, we have these, you know, I mean.
2:52
I've made it well known on these podcasts, right?
2:55
I mean, I'm a smoker. I've smoked for 50 years.
2:58
That's something I've not been able to... I've
3:03
wrestled with myself many times, but... And we
3:07
just... It is what it is. You just cooked us
3:10
a hot dog on the grill, because it is Independence
3:12
Day. It is actually Independence Day today, yes.
3:15
And this will be dropping Tuesday. So this is
3:18
going to be looking back, even though we're actually
3:20
on the day itself. So we did. We sat right here
3:25
with our microphones and had hot dogs. I had
3:29
sweet tea and potato chips. with my special,
3:37
the McKee special potato chip dip. Which is?
3:43
It's just sour cream and Lipton onion soup mix.
3:47
Correct. That's what I grew up on. And then you
3:51
had bought a bag of... Cracker Jacks. Cracker
3:55
Jacks. That was a huge treat. Even when I was
3:59
a kid, that was a huge treat. That was when it
4:02
was in the box. You picked up my sticker, my
4:05
little gift. Your treat, yeah. My treat was a
4:07
sticker. I dug it in there for you. I hated when
4:09
it was a sticker. I was always expecting like
4:12
a tattoo. A BB gun or a slingshot. It was always
4:17
just a sticker or a removable tattoo. The anticipation
4:24
and the disappointment. It really sets you up
4:27
for adulthood, actually. Yeah, right, right,
4:30
life. But no, right, today is, America turns
4:39
250 years old today. Yeah, I don't suppose we'll
4:43
be around in another 50 years. Well, probably
4:46
not. If we are, we'll be drooling. Probably.
4:53
But I was thinking, this is what I wanna talk
5:03
about on this episode is, I got some questions,
5:06
right? And that's what I'm probably gonna try
5:08
to do is we're just gonna try to just shift this
5:11
up a little bit. Shift this up a little bit.
5:14
Wow, that was close. And just ask some questions
5:18
and we'll answer some questions together. And
5:21
then we'll leave it open ended. I'll leave a
5:23
question at the end for listeners to answer.
5:26
And they can go to the YouTube channel and they
5:30
can respond to the episode on YouTube and put
5:33
their response to the answer, their answer to
5:36
the question. And we've been looking at, and
5:41
I think I let it be known that we weren't just
5:45
arbitrarily picking scriptures out of the Bible
5:48
and reading them. We were actually following
5:49
the one year a lectionary from the LCMS, right?
5:52
That's the historic lectionary. And so we're
5:57
gonna break away from that for a little bit here,
5:59
because we're gonna break into a series. The
6:04
next episode, we'll start a new series. So we'll
6:08
get into that. But the reading that was for this
6:15
Sunday, the fourth Sunday after Trinity came
6:18
from Romans. Chapter 8. And it is written, For
6:27
I consider that the suffering of this present
6:30
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
6:34
that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious
6:38
longing of the creation waits eagerly for the
6:42
revealing of the sons of God. For the creation
6:48
was subjected to futility not willingly, but
6:52
because of him who subjected it and hope That
6:58
the creation itself also will be set free from
7:01
its slavery to corruption into the freedom of
7:04
the glory of the children of God For we know
7:09
that the whole creation groans and suffers the
7:13
pains of childbirth together until now And not
7:18
only this, but also we ourselves have the first
7:22
fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan
7:25
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption
7:29
as sons, the redemption of our body. I just thought
7:35
that was really kind of apropos that that was
7:38
the reading assigned for tomorrow, Sundays. for
7:42
Sunday after Trinity, and it's today we're celebrating
7:45
the 250th birthday of America, and America's
7:49
known, right, for freedom. So, the first question
7:54
out of the box is what you think about America.
7:59
What do you think about America? And I'll go
8:01
first. I know that's not fair, but I only gave
8:05
you these questions a little bit ago, so. I've
8:09
been sleeping most of the day. Yes, you have,
8:10
because you're not feeling well. Look, I love
8:17
America. I am a patriot to patriot. I am. I am
8:22
disgusted a lot of times, but by the same token,
8:24
I am also very disgusted a lot of times with
8:27
America. And I'm not talking about, well, maybe
8:31
the population, but honestly, the government
8:34
and government inefficiency. And yeah, that's,
8:43
and corruption. And, you know, as Solomon writes
8:47
in Proverbs, or in Ecclesiastes, there's nothing
8:51
new under the sun. You can listen back. I was
8:55
just looking back through episodes because, you
8:58
know, well, I'll get back in a little bit, but
9:01
we did an episode called the Maccabean Rebellion.
9:05
or the Maccabean Stand, I can't remember exactly
9:08
what the title was. And I think it was back in
9:10
December or November we did that episode. And
9:17
the Maccabean Rebellion was almost a version
9:21
of the American Revolution. It was to stop and
9:26
fight corruption. And they just wanted to have
9:29
their quote unquote religious freedom and left
9:31
alone. And so there was this Maccabean Rebellion.
9:40
But man, has this country afforded me, I would
9:44
not, I am so grateful that I was born here, and
9:48
I'm grateful you were born here. That I thank
9:57
God for that, it's a blessing. Because I, there's
10:01
many issues and problems, If you're not aware
10:06
of any issues and problems in the United States
10:08
of America, let me know the address of the rock
10:12
you're living under, because I might want to
10:13
come join you. But yeah, that's my take. What's
10:21
your take? Well, I think that, well, clearly
10:25
I read your question wrong. I didn't understand.
10:30
how you wrote it, so. All right, but what do
10:33
you think about America? And then, yeah, the
10:35
follow up to that is, what are you most grateful
10:38
for? But I think I can go ahead and. Yeah. So
10:46
we've been watching this, these two series, but
10:49
I feel like they kind of go hand in hand on Netflix
10:52
over the last couple of weeks. One of them was
10:54
about Washington and the other one was. The American
10:58
experiment. Yeah. which covers the Founding Fathers
11:02
and how we got to the Declaration of Independence
11:06
and the Constitution, which is like a five -part
11:11
series. We really could have skipped the Washington
11:14
part because... We just watched a whole series
11:16
on Washington. Right, so the first two episodes
11:19
are kind of really about Washington. And I think
11:22
that what it really says about the whole Founding
11:28
Fathers is in comparison to today, was the purity
11:34
of their intentions. And not all of them, and
11:42
not as they went on, then there started to be
11:46
a lot of, but definitely Washington's. He was
11:51
a very humble person in his presidency. Well,
11:57
I don't think humble is a good, term for him.
12:01
I think that he because he he was extremely prideful
12:06
and you know pride is a sin in my book but he
12:09
was extremely prideful. He was in his military.
12:13
Well he always was concerned about and I'm not
12:18
saying this is well you need to keep pride in
12:22
check. He was always concerned about what his
12:25
reputation his honor. did not want to defile
12:29
the honor. Because he built that, right? That
12:32
was a goal of his and he did. But even in that,
12:39
you can read between the lines, there were some
12:41
things, you know. If it wasn't George Washington,
12:46
it was Dave McKee and I ran a mission to go get
12:49
a message to... foreign diplomats and I ended
12:52
up killing them all. I would probably be in prison
12:56
and not... I was clarifying his presidency. Right,
12:59
right, but I'm just saying that all of those,
13:01
yes. It was a lot less political. It was. Well,
13:04
they didn't have parties, right? Well, by the
13:07
end of his presidency, they were definitely splitting
13:09
into parties, party lines. And you know, Benjamin
13:13
Franklin said... because I can't remember the
13:18
name of the lady, she was a wealthy woman from
13:20
Philadelphia, or from New York, said, this constitution
13:24
is unbelievable. It is the most beautiful document.
13:27
And he said, I agree if we can keep it. Right?
13:35
There were always these concerns. There were
13:37
always these concerns. Can you imagine starting
13:41
from the ground floor? No, no, no. I mean, some
13:45
of the force. I mean, so you can have your complaints,
13:47
but I agree. And even the fact that, you know,
13:54
the revolution that we we were able to break
13:58
away and win against a complete empire. Yes.
14:09
I mean so I guess from you know, so I guess I'm
14:13
grateful for to the founding fathers for their
14:16
their foresight and and and every Colonist I
14:21
mean and that was something I guess I'd never
14:23
thought about before that this was not a clear
14:27
slate that no all Americans or they really weren't
14:31
Americans at that time. They were colonists.
14:33
I mean they were But this was not a, hey, this
14:36
is 100 % we're all on board. No, exactly right.
14:39
They were split amongst themselves whether they
14:42
wanted to break away from England. Even in their
14:47
own households. Like on the American experiment,
14:51
when you get to 1787 and 1788, when they go to
14:56
ratify the Constitution, they struggled to get
15:01
it done. They had to make huge compromises. All
15:06
the colonies didn't even want, and matter of
15:08
fact, not all of them did. They only had to get
15:10
nine, and they struggled to get nine, and they
15:12
finally got nine with some compromises. And that
15:16
C word right there, the word compromise, I think
15:17
is what we've lost. One of the major things we've
15:20
lost in our country today, in our politics, and
15:23
I don't wanna talk about politics on this podcast.
15:27
So that would be, I'm grateful to... To the founding
15:32
fathers, I am grateful to those who have laid
15:34
down their lives, clearly, because in John 15,
15:38
13, it says, greater is no love than he who laid
15:43
down his life for a friend. And then I am grateful
15:47
for our religious freedoms, clearly. I think
15:52
I've talked about that before. I have a fear
15:54
of leaving. this country this country just to
15:58
go on vacation and uh right you know we've had
16:01
many people come tell us you know where we should
16:04
go sorry on our 40th anniversary and i'm like
16:08
i am not leaving i'm not leaving i mean and i
16:10
do have a desire to go to the holy lands and
16:14
uh right no but but you know we've you know there
16:19
are crusade with me get my wife back But there
16:25
are missionaries who have lost their lives going
16:31
to foreign countries to spread the gospel, and
16:33
God bless them, because other countries do not
16:37
have religious freedoms that we have, and we
16:40
should never take that for granted. Well, and
16:43
I think I got sidetracked, because I don't listen
16:46
to all of our episodes when I was listening to
16:47
Reverend Schumacher and Mize, and I was getting
16:49
ready to ask him a question. because he had said
16:52
something that I got sidetracked and I forgot.
16:55
I was listening to an episode of a podcast coming
16:57
home from work the other day called Issues, et
16:59
cetera, which is from a Lutheran, it's the Missouri
17:03
Synod, it's a podcast, and I don't know the name
17:05
of the guy who does it, but anyway, he was interviewing
17:10
a pastor, a Lutheran pastor from, I think it
17:17
was Finland. I think he said Finland. Yeah, Finland.
17:25
And you know what blew my mind? In the 21st century,
17:30
Finland is a Lutheran country. The pastor is
17:35
paid by the government. But he said something
17:41
interesting to me. He said because Lutheran is
17:47
the faith of the country, you know, so my salary's
17:52
paid for by the government. When everybody's
17:59
Lutheran, nobody's Lutheran. And I thought that
18:04
was the most interesting, just thinking about
18:07
that. Because they talk about Lutherans more,
18:12
and I think a lot of denominations, just like...
18:14
I don't think that in Italy many people talk
18:18
about anything religious -wise because they're
18:22
pretty much all Catholic, and I'm making assumptions,
18:27
and at least back in history they were, but there's
18:33
something to be said about, you know, because,
18:35
and I don't want to get into this, this is not
18:37
what this podcast is even about, I don't want
18:39
this to be about Lutheran or about Roman Catholic
18:42
or about other low Protestant, low church Protestants
18:47
or whatever. I want it to be about what scripture
18:53
says. And I believe, like Reverend Schumacher
18:55
said, you do that and you're being Lutheran.
18:58
Right? So I don't wanna push. But I think that's
19:04
an interesting concept when someone says, if
19:07
everybody is this, technically nobody's this,
19:09
because there's no pushback, there's nothing
19:11
different, there's just. We didn't have that
19:16
in this country. We had a lot of different faiths.
19:20
And to your point, we couldn't even agree on
19:25
a form of government to put off the monarchy.
19:31
Because we're finicky people. And we still are
19:35
finicky people. There's left leaning, there's
19:41
right leaning. Are they both right in some areas?
19:47
Yes. I mean, but that's America. So here's the
19:57
question. I just read Romans eight and it's talking
20:01
about freedom. What kind of freedom has Jesus
20:07
given you that America never could? Fireworks.
20:15
Oh. In the middle of the day. In the middle of
20:18
the day. In the middle of the night. Sorry. Well,
20:23
I felt like I could do a lot, but I wrote down
20:28
fear. And then, but because Philippians 4, 7
20:33
says that. No, Repelite. That peace that Christ
20:37
offers us, the peace that passes all understanding.
20:40
Right. So that's what freedom from fear exactly
20:43
gives us. I love that America cannot. And. Shame.
20:53
And Jesus offers us in Romans eight one. Mm hmm.
21:02
I guess I should read that we were just just
21:09
there. There is therefore no condemnation for
21:14
those who are in Christ Jesus Mm -hmm, and then
21:19
he offers us freedom of death Correct also in
21:22
Romans 8 2 for the law of the spirit of life
21:26
has set you free Free in Christ Jesus from the
21:30
law of sin and death Correct. So sin and death
21:33
is another thing that Christ can give you freedom
21:36
from that America can't I mean they can give
21:38
you freedom of speech freedom of religion freedom
21:40
of Opportunity, but we can't get freedom. All
21:48
the things you just listed were on my list. Guilt,
21:51
shame, fear, death, sin. Did you look at my list?
21:58
I did not. Oh, okay. Yeah, we came up with the
22:03
same ones. It's pretty awesome. It's kind of
22:07
like we know each other or something, I don't
22:09
know. Here's the tubby. If you could leave one
22:19
piece of advice for our grandchildren as America
22:25
begins its next 250 years, what would it be?
22:30
Well, I kind of talked about this with you when
22:35
we were eating lunch without telling you what
22:37
it was, but I'm sure you could guess. I said,
22:39
that's really hard to pick one thing. But knowing
22:46
who Jesus is and when he sums up what the greatest
22:50
thing is, the greatest of these is love. Right.
22:56
And I feel that if that's what I'm gonna leave,
23:01
my advice to my grandchildren would be is to
23:03
love. And so I just picked three scriptures,
23:07
which is 1 Corinthians 13 -4, which talks about...
23:11
The greatest of these is love. Correct. And what
23:15
love is. That's a great, you know, they read
23:17
that at our wedding 40 years ago. They did. Love
23:22
is patient, love is kind. Correct. Love is not
23:25
jealous. It starts with, what is it, if it's...
23:29
If I'm a noisy gong. Yeah, if I'm a clinging
23:32
cymbal. If I do not have love, I'm nothing. Nothing.
23:35
Right? And then Galatians 5 .22 is the fruit
23:39
of spirit. And then in Ephesians 4 .15, you need
23:47
to speak the truth in love. So those were just...
23:53
And love begets a lot of other things, right?
23:55
And then you go back to 1 Corinthians chapter
23:57
13 and it tells you what love does. But if you
24:03
look at Christ, I think he's a shining example
24:06
of love, right? And one thing Christ was with
24:10
people was he was honest. And he was kind. You
24:21
know, I always make reference back to that famous,
24:24
you know, when they bring the woman that was
24:26
caught in the act of committing adultery. I don't
24:29
know what happened to the guy, shockingly, but
24:31
they bring the woman to Jesus and say, the law
24:36
says she ought to be stoned. When you know infamously
24:42
he he bends down and he starts using his finger
24:45
and writing and no one knows no one knows I'm
24:50
waiting for one of these really creative filmmakers
24:54
like Mel Gibson could probably do a pretty awesome
24:57
job with that if he could make that because I
25:00
have two or three thoughts Either he's writing
25:04
names of people in the crowd that have committed
25:06
adultery one thought of mine or he's writing
25:11
the names of women that the men in the crowd
25:14
have committed adultery with. I don't know what
25:15
it is. I don't know what it is. But the beauty
25:19
of this, like I said always with scripture, there's
25:22
so many depths and layers to these things, right?
25:28
And I'm surmised, I'm... Hypothesizing. Hypothesizing,
25:32
there's no evidence to anything I just said,
25:36
other than the fact that he's bent down, it's
25:38
not recorded what he was. You could have been
25:41
doodling. I don't think so, but who knows? In
25:47
that story, it says the older men of the group
25:53
dropped their stones and walked away. The young
25:58
- So it got their attention. Yes. Well, the young
26:01
hotheads, it takes a little bit more to calm
26:03
them down because they're all riled up, right?
26:05
And it takes the young hotheads longer and more
26:09
to - and then they see the elders, he kind of
26:12
got us here, and they walk away, and finally
26:15
the younger ones kind of follow suit. I think
26:21
that is an, what did he say to her? He said,
26:24
he didn't call her a harlot, he didn't say, he
26:26
said, go and sin no more. He didn't shame her.
26:35
He didn't guilt her. Go and sin no more. That's
26:40
pretty remarkable in my mind. And that's an absolute
26:45
demonstration of love. Yeah. Well, and you know,
26:56
we're kind of, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors
26:59
as ourselves. Some of us love ourselves a lot.
27:03
Some of us don't think very highly of ourselves.
27:07
Well, Paul tells us not to. So if we're to put
27:13
others before ourselves, and if we're walking
27:20
in a lifestyle, that's what we're doing. And
27:22
I know we've talked about this, touched on this
27:25
a lot. There's a lot of importance. It's brought
27:29
up over and over and over and over again. This
27:34
is pretty important. I mean, in our own personal
27:38
faith, this isn't our confession and absolution
27:43
that we should, you know, we confess so we have
27:46
not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Correct.
27:49
Obviously that's not just referring to our physical
27:52
neighbors. Our physical next door neighbors.
27:54
Correct, correct. Although sometimes it can mean
27:59
that, but. Exactly right. So that's why I chose
28:07
that. No, I think that was great. I think that
28:09
was great. I think my advice to my grandchildren
28:18
will be love God first. For the same reasons
28:28
you just chose love, I'm like, love God first.
28:31
Because if they love God first, this wall all
28:35
this is my thought right yeah that's kind of
28:40
where i was going of the lord of god with all
28:42
your heart with all your mind with all your soul
28:44
with all your spirit yep yep exactly right so
28:54
i got a listener question and this is kind of
29:01
a we got to think about right it's not just a
29:03
break leather, as I say, a break leather and
29:06
shoe dancer. Where do you ultimately place your
29:15
hope? In the future of America? Or in the kingdom
29:21
of God? And then there's a part two to this.
29:30
If America became less free tomorrow, would Christ
29:37
be enough for you? What do you think, my love?
29:48
Where do you ultimately place your hope? Well,
29:52
obviously, I place my hope in God and God alone.
29:57
Correct, correct. And if America became less
30:03
free tomorrow, would Christ still be enough?
30:06
Absolutely. I mean, slowly over time. Slowly
30:13
over time what? America is becoming less and
30:17
less free. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean,
30:20
and again, I consider myself a patriot like you.
30:25
I mean, I think from a male perspective, everybody
30:28
has been, you know, men kind of are the hoorahs
30:34
of every little boy has, you know, had their
30:38
GI Joes and probably mentally played that and
30:41
then maybe girls too. I just wasn't one of them.
30:48
But I had brothers, I saw how that went. And,
30:52
you know, either prepared mentally or thought
30:54
that's what they wanted to do. But as far as
31:02
deep down, there's patriotism in me. There's
31:07
pride in me for family members who have served.
31:11
But I mean, I can get the chills listening to
31:15
songs. I can be prideful when I see military.
31:21
But I think a lot of politics has really screwed
31:24
up. and taken away robbed me of that joy of where
31:30
we are. But there's a lot of fear. Your freedom
31:34
ringing bell isn't ringing so clearly. Oh no,
31:36
it can still. Well I was thinking back of your
31:40
fa la la la la, lost my fa la la la la. I was
31:42
trying to mimic that. As long as the Toby Keith
31:46
song can still play, that'll always be there.
31:53
But I think there's a certain amount of fear,
31:56
again, not getting, diving into anything, but
32:00
I think once you've seen things for what they
32:03
are, once you've put your hope in something that
32:06
has failed you, yeah. But that's fine, because
32:16
my hope is not in this world. My hope is not
32:20
in a leader. My hope is not in the government.
32:23
You know, we could look at Psalms, right? Psalms
32:25
is replete with, if you're looking for a king,
32:32
you're going to be disappointed. And I'm paraphrasing
32:35
a little bit. Right. Absolutely. So almost it's
32:41
kind of a quasi not good thing, a good thing
32:46
that for, you know, several years we thought,
32:52
oh, this is great, this is a good thing, he's
32:57
gonna save us, he's gonna clean house, he's gonna,
33:03
or what was promised, yeah. Now it's like, and
33:08
I don't think there's ever gonna be anybody that's
33:10
gonna balance the system. Well, corruption is,
33:13
and look, history repeats itself. We've made
33:17
it 250 years. and there have been civilizations
33:22
and empires, right? We've made it long, and we've
33:27
not always been an empire, but honestly, 250
33:30
years is pretty good, and we are the superpower
33:33
of the world momentarily. When I say momentarily,
33:35
I don't mean like we're losing it tomorrow. I'm
33:37
just saying that in the span of the globe and
33:40
this time we are, the Romans, had a empire that
33:51
fell. Truly it fell from within. I know they
33:55
say the barbarians invaded. It had already fallen.
33:58
All right, it just made it easier for the barbarians
34:01
to invade. The Byzantine Empire was no different.
34:07
I guess that's Roman Empire number two. You had
34:12
the Persian Empire, which is. Back in biblical
34:18
times in the Old Testament King Xerxes absolutely
34:25
had an empire you had Alexander the Great and
34:28
the Greek Empire Who was Macedonian by the way,
34:32
but anyway? Then you had the Ottoman well Ottomans,
34:41
you know the Ottoman Empire, which is the Muslim
34:43
Empire from the Middle East moved up into Turkey.
34:49
You had the Mongolian Empire or Genghis Khan,
34:54
right? One of my favorites to read about. Not
34:56
a lot of history, I mean, not a lot of great
34:58
data there, but I think he is way overlooked
35:03
on what he actually did for civilization, not
35:06
just as an empire, but for civilization. Then
35:10
there were several different empires within China.
35:17
And they're not around anymore. I don't think
35:22
America will be an empire forever. Because history
35:27
doesn't say it will. It doesn't happen that way.
35:33
The only kingdom I know that is gonna last is
35:38
God's kingdom. Because he created all of this.
35:45
And so, I don't want to end on a down note. But
35:51
okay, let's, you know, for 250 years, America
35:58
has sought liberty. But Roman H did remind us
36:05
that the deepest freedom isn't found in the constitution
36:09
or an election. or an economy is found in Jesus
36:18
Christ who sets sinners free from condemnation
36:21
and calls us children of God. So as we celebrate
36:28
our nation's birth, may we never forget the greater
36:34
citizenship we have in heaven. Thank you for
36:53
spending this time with us today. My hope is
36:56
that something you've heard in this episode doesn't
36:59
simply give you something to think about, but
37:00
give you something to live. Knowledge can inform
37:04
us. Wisdom transform us. The transformation happens
37:07
one fateful step at a time. So wherever you are,
37:12
whatever your challenge you're facing, remember,
37:14
God is not finished with you. Keep growing. Keep
37:17
learning. Keep serving. Keep following Christ.
37:21
And above all, keep becoming. So until next time,
37:28
grace and peace and remember, continue to crusade
37:33
with me.