Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - Above All Earthly Powers - Courage for Christ in the Public Square

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Voddie Baucham - Above All Earthly Powers - Courage for Christ in the Public Square · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Founders Pre-Conference,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Above All Earthly Powers, Courage for Christ in the Public Square.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: My name is Jared Longshore, and I'm the Vice President
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: of Founders Ministries and And it's my joy to welcome
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: you this evening. We are delighted about how this event
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: came together. Given many people assembling here for the Founders Conference,
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: which begins tomorrow, and McGregor Baptist Church's kindness in providing
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: this facility, and of course the chaos in our public
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: square over the past many months now, it seemed fitting
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  Speaker 3: to hold a pre-conference commending public courage for Christ. Before
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  Speaker 3: we get into the details of the evening, it is
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  Speaker 3: a very special day. As you all know, of course,
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: you'll know that it is the inauguration. And I do
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  Speaker 3: not mean the inauguration of President Joe Biden. I mean
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  Speaker 3: the inauguration of another year in the life of Tom Askell,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: the president of Founders Ministries. He, of course, did not
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  Speaker 3: know I was going to do this, and I apologized
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  Speaker 3: to him before I came up here, and he did
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  Speaker 3: not know why I apologized, but... Pastor Tom, if you'll
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  Speaker 3: come on up here, we have a gift, a very
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  Speaker 3: small gift that we want to give to you from
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  Speaker 3: all of us here at Founders Ministries. We love you,
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  Speaker 3: dear brother. Tom is a wonderful spiritual father to me.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: Come here, I love you. And it's his birthday. A
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: small gift there.
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  Speaker 3: Stay up here because Tom loves when people sing him
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  Speaker 3: happy birthday.
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  Speaker 4: He just does.
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  Speaker 3: He comes in and he tells me, will you please
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  Speaker 3: sing me happy birthday, Jared, every time you come to work.
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  Speaker 3: So let's give him what he wants. Let's sing him
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  Speaker 3: happy birthday.
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  Speaker 5: Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday,
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  Speaker 5: dear Tom. Happy birthday to you.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Sorry, get down in there. All right.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I'm looking for a job. He's going to fire me.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: So if anybody's hiring, we'll do that. As you know,
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  Speaker 3: some of you know, Tom is an Aggie. So he's
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: a Texas ain't an Aggie.
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: That's right. And he likes steak. And so we at Founders.
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  Speaker 3: Ministry has got him a steakhouse gift card.
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  Speaker 4: Longhorn steakhouse gift card. We understand.
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  Speaker 7: All right.
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  Speaker 3: This pre-conference is being live streamed. So we're very grateful
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  Speaker 3: for those who are tuning in. And the Founders Conference,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: which begins tomorrow, is going to be live-streamed as well,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: but you will need to go to live-stream press.
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  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, not live-stream press. You'll need to go to.
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  Speaker 3: Press.founders.org forward slash fam, F-A-M. That is press.founders.org forward slash
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: fam if you would like to tune in to the
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: live stream of the conference that begins tomorrow.
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  Speaker 4: And to do that, you will join our fam.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: That is our Founders Alliance membership It's a way to
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: join us and support us monthly, and.
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  Speaker 4: Tap into that.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: You will be able to access the live stream that
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  Speaker 3: begins tomorrow. This pre-conference event is sponsored by the recently
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  Speaker 3: established Institute of Public Theology. The Institute was announced only
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: a short time ago, and we've already received a great
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  Speaker 3: amount of encouraging feedback and much interest in this new work.
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  Speaker 4: Dr.
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  Speaker 3: Tom Askell serves as the president of the Institute. I
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  Speaker 3: serve alongside him as vice president and dean. The founding
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  Speaker 3: faculty includes Dr.
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  Speaker 4: Askell, Dr. Votie Bauckham, myself, and Dr. Tom Nettles. Courses
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  Speaker 4: begin in the fall.
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  Speaker 3: For information, you can go to instituteofpublictheology.org.
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  Speaker 4: It is a.
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  Speaker 3: Three-year program, and it is a 63-credit-hour program.
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  Speaker 4: Classes will be offered.
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  Speaker 3: In Cape Coral, and you can come to Cape Coral
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  Speaker 3: to take those classes. You can also take some of
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  Speaker 3: them online, some of them online. are required to be
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  Speaker 3: taken in Cape Coral. This institute has come about along
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  Speaker 3: with an increasing conviction that Jesus Christ is truly Lord
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  Speaker 3: of all. He and his word are above all earthly powers.
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  Speaker 3: Christianity is not a private religion, and the Christian ministry
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  Speaker 3: was never meant to be done in a corner. There
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  Speaker 3: has been a great attempt to cut off various areas
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  Speaker 3: of life from the authority and sufficiency of God's word,
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  Speaker 3: and too many Christian leaders have conceded these various areas
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  Speaker 3: of life.
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  Speaker 4: To the secularists. We see that.
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  Speaker 3: The men who are leading this institute have gone through
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  Speaker 3: the theological education, and we look back and see that
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  Speaker 3: this is a new day, and we need the same doctrine,
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  Speaker 3: but we need that doctrine thoroughly applied to all areas
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  Speaker 3: of life. As Abraham Kuyper said, there is not a
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  Speaker 3: square inch in the whole domain of human existence... over
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  Speaker 3: which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. So,
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  Speaker 3: as the sons of Issachar lived in tumultuous times, we
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  Speaker 3: do as well. And those sons of Issachar knew two things.
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  Speaker 3: They understood the times, and they knew what Israel ought
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  Speaker 3: to do. The Institute of Public Theology aims to train
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  Speaker 3: a coming generation of pastors and Christians to know the times,
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  Speaker 3: to know God's word, to believe God's word, and to
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  Speaker 3: do God's Word. To that end, tonight we have the
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  Speaker 3: privilege of hearing from Dr. Tom Askell and then Dr.
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  Speaker 3: Votie Bauckham. After hearing from both of them, we will
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  Speaker 3: have a short break and reconvene for a question and
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  Speaker 3: answer session.
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  Speaker 4: Let me introduce to you our first speaker, Dr.
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  Speaker 3: Tom Askell, and I'm going to pray for him, and
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  Speaker 3: he'll come to deliver God's Word. Tom Askell has been
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  Speaker 3: the senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida,
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  Speaker 3: since 1986. He is the president of Founders Ministries and
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  Speaker 3: the Institute of Public Theology. He has edited and written
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  Speaker 3: many books, including Dear Timothy, Letters on Pastoral Ministry, and
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  Speaker 3: the recently published Strong and Courageous, Following Jesus Amid the
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  Speaker 3: Rise of America's New Religion. Tom and his wife Donna
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  Speaker 3: have six children, three sons-in-law, and 14 grandchildren. Most importantly,
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  Speaker 3: he is a godly man, and he is quick to
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  Speaker 3: remind everyone of God's sovereign and amazing love.
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  Speaker 8: Grace.
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  Speaker 3: So pray with me for Pastor Tom as he comes
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  Speaker 3: to deliver God's word. Father, we glorify you for you
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  Speaker 3: are God and there is no other. We rejoice at
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  Speaker 3: who you are and all that you've done for us.
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  Speaker 3: We thank you that we're able to assemble here tonight
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  Speaker 3: to hear your word and we pray that you would
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  Speaker 3: have your way among us. Strengthen Tom even as he
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  Speaker 3: comes now to teach your truth. Give us ears to hear,
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  Speaker 3: hearts that are quick to respond, and in all Exalt
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  Speaker 3: your son, Jesus Christ, who is crucified and risen for us.
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  Speaker 3: We fix our eyes upon you for all of this.
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  Speaker 3: We pray it in Jesus' name.
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  Speaker 8: Amen.
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  Speaker 6: What a joy to be here, and especially I want
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  Speaker 6: to say thank you to McGregor Baptist Church and Pastor
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  Speaker 6: Russell and others that have gone out of their way
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  Speaker 6: to make this a hospitable.
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  Speaker 7: Event and time for us. for us.
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  Speaker 6: We're delighted to be here for this occasion. Beginning of
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  Speaker 6: the new year, I started reading through the book of
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  Speaker 6: Acts again and I was struck quickly with just how
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  Speaker 6: the gospel of Jesus Christ advanced in the first century.
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  Speaker 6: To see how the church of Christ in the New
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  Speaker 6: Testament era got its footing in got its marching orders
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  Speaker 6: and continued to go throughout the whole Roman Empire. And
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  Speaker 6: the way that it happened is that regular men and
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  Speaker 6: women met Jesus and they never got over it. They
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  Speaker 6: came to experience life with Jesus Christ by turning from sin,
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  Speaker 6: trusting him, and being reconciled to God. Of course, Jesus
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  Speaker 6: is the center and the foundation of the Christian faith.
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  Speaker 6: He is the chief cornerstone of the church, which he
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  Speaker 6: himself is building and has promised to build. The church's
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  Speaker 6: responsibility is to proclaim Christ. And we're to do that humbly, boldly, unapologetically, joyfully,
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  Speaker 6: and obediently. And we're to do it in every area
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  Speaker 6: that we have influence in. There is no sphere in
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  Speaker 6: this world which is off limits to the gospel of
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  Speaker 6: the Lord Jesus. We see how in the book of Acts,
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  Speaker 6: the church spread through these everyday normal means just as
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  Speaker 6: it has continued to spread throughout the last 2,000 years.
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  Speaker 7: Christ must be known. He must be proclaimed. He must
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  Speaker 7: be trusted.
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  Speaker 6: He must be loved no matter what the cost is.
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  Speaker 7: Are consequences. And I say that because where Christ is proclaimed,
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  Speaker 7: where he is known and loved, and where his.
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  Speaker 6: People seek to call others to come to know him
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  Speaker 6: and trust him and love him.
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  Speaker 7: There will be opposition.
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  Speaker 6: And sometimes that opposition can be fierce. At times, it
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  Speaker 6: can even be violent. And it's not all that unusual
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  Speaker 6: for it to be deadly. Just read the book of
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  Speaker 6: Acts or read the history of the church of Christ
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  Speaker 6: after the book of Acts. The Lord Jesus said to
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  Speaker 6: his disciples in John 16, 33, in this.
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  Speaker 7: World you will have tribulations.
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  Speaker 6: Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, all who desire to
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  Speaker 6: live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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  Speaker 6: Those are promises just as sure as any other promise
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  Speaker 6: given to us in Scripture. God has been so good
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  Speaker 6: to us in this land for so long that those
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  Speaker 6: promises of persecution and opposition sound a little bit strange
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  Speaker 6: and foreign to us because we have lived under the
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  Speaker 6: blessings of God and we've had so much religious freedom
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  Speaker 6: here in this nation. In fact, he has been so
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  Speaker 6: good to us on this front for so long that
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  Speaker 6: I fear many believers, when faced with persecution in our
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  Speaker 6: context or even just opposition, might actually fold and walk away.
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  Speaker 6: I believe we have been given a little glimpse of this,
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  Speaker 6: a foretaste of what that.
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  Speaker 7: Might look like in this last year.
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  Speaker 6: When too many evangelical leaders and churches were so easily
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  Speaker 6: brought to heel by governing authorities, medical authorities, and ideological
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  Speaker 6: bullies who tried to dictate what we must do, what
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  Speaker 6: we must say, and even what we must think if
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  Speaker 6: we're going to be loving according to their definition of love.
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  Speaker 7: So what are Christians to do when we face oppositions?
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  Speaker 6: What are we to do when we are threatened with
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  Speaker 6: severe consequences if we do not comply with the new
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  Speaker 6: moralities of the ideological agendas that are gaining ascendancy in
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  Speaker 6: our culture? Well, we need to do what Christians have
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  Speaker 6: been doing for two millennia.
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  Speaker 7: We need to be strong and courageous.
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  Speaker 6: We need to love Christ, trust Christ, follow Christ, and
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  Speaker 6: proclaim Christ.
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  Speaker 7: Our marching orders have not changed.
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  Speaker 6: Jesus told his disciples before he ascended into heaven, all
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  Speaker 6: authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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  Speaker 6: Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
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  Speaker 6: in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
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  Speaker 6: Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have
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  Speaker 6: commanded you.
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  Speaker 7: And behold, I am with you always, even to the
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  Speaker 7: end of the age. In Acts.
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  Speaker 6: chapter 1, verse 8, Luke's account of this commission is
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  Speaker 6: worded a little differently. There Jesus said, you will receive
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  Speaker 6: power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and
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  Speaker 6: you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea
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  Speaker 6: and Samaria to the ends of the earth. And then
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  Speaker 6: Luke adds this footnote, and when he had said these
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  Speaker 6: things as they were looking on, he was lifted up
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  Speaker 6: and a cloud took him out of their sight. That
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  Speaker 6: final scene of Jesus ascending into heaven was a very
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  Speaker 6: important reminder that will help God's people stay at our
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  Speaker 6: post when things get difficult. This is why we need
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  Speaker 6: to remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, as Paul
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  Speaker 6: writes to Timothy, of the seed of David according to
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  Speaker 6: my gospel. More specifically, we need to remember Jesus Christ crucified,
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  Speaker 6: risen from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of.
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  Speaker 7: God the Father Almighty.
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  Speaker 6: We need to become reacquainted in our day with what
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  Speaker 6: the older writers of the Christian faith refer to as
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  Speaker 6: the heavenly session of Christ. And recognize that right now,
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  Speaker 6: our crucified, risen Savior sits enthroned in heaven.
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  Speaker 7: He is ruling. He is reigning. Psalm 110 declares this,
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  Speaker 7: and Jesus quoted this to his detractors in Mark chapter 12.
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  Speaker 6: It says, The Lord says to my Lord, sit at
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  Speaker 6: my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
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  Speaker 7: The Father says to the Son, here's your seat.
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  Speaker 6: Rule until all of your enemies are subdued.
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  Speaker 7: The book of Acts is a record of normal.
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  Speaker 6: Christians living like they really believe that a dead man
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  Speaker 6: came back from the dead, never to die again, and
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  Speaker 6: has ascended into heaven.
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  Speaker 7: In other words, the Christians.
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  Speaker 6: In the book of Acts had a two-world view of reality.
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  Speaker 6: They recognized that there are unseen realities.
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  Speaker 7: And at.
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  Speaker 6: The very heart of those unseen realities is the Lord
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  Speaker 6: Jesus who walked among them, who laid down his life
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  Speaker 6: on a cross in order to redeem them from their
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  Speaker 6: sins and then was raised from the dead on the
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  Speaker 6: third day and ascended into heaven where he lives as
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  Speaker 6: the God-man now and one day will return to bring
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  Speaker 6: everything to its proper conclusion. You read through the book
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  Speaker 6: of Acts and you see immediately after Pentecost as the
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  Speaker 6: Gospel continued to be preached that there was opposition, first
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  Speaker 6: from religious authorities.
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  Speaker 7: And then from more formal governmental authorities.
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  Speaker 6: Chapter 4, verse 2, we read that the priests and
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  Speaker 6: the Sadducees were greatly annoyed by the apostles because they
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  Speaker 6: were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus, the
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  Speaker 6: resurrection from the dead really exists.
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  Speaker 7: So they arrested them.
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  Speaker 6: And then the whole council questioned them and asked them,
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  Speaker 6: by what power, by what.
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  Speaker 7: Name did you do this? Did you heal this lame man?
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  Speaker 7: And Peter, seizing.
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  Speaker 6: The opportunity, begins to seek to evangelize them, to do
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  Speaker 6: what Jesus told him to do. He said, let it
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  Speaker 6: be known to all of you and all the people
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  Speaker 6: of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
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  Speaker 6: whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by
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  Speaker 6: him this man is standing before you well. He preached
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  Speaker 6: a crucified, risen Christ. A Christ who lives now. In
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  Speaker 6: chapter 4, verse 13, when the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the
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  Speaker 6: religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John Luke
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  Speaker 6: says they perceived that these were uneducated men, common men,
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  Speaker 6: and they were astonished. And they recognized that they had
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  Speaker 6: been with Jesus. Well, if you've been with a man
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  Speaker 6: who died and came back from the dead and is
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  Speaker 6: alive now, it'd probably be noticeable in your life too.
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  Speaker 6: Later in that chapter, They are admonished by the religious
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  Speaker 6: authorities not to preach, not to teach, to quit preaching
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  Speaker 6: in the name of Christ. And Peter responds, whether it's
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  Speaker 6: right in the sight of God to listen to you
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  Speaker 6: rather than to God, you must judge.
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  Speaker 7: But we cannot but speak of what we have seen
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  Speaker 7: and heard.
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  Speaker 6: And so they continued and they get arrested and God
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  Speaker 6: miraculously lets them out of jail and they go back
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  Speaker 6: to preaching and then they call them the religious leaders
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  Speaker 6: call them to account in chapter 5 and ask them
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  Speaker 6: how this has happened And again, they responded, Peter continues
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  Speaker 6: on that occasion, whom you killed by hanging him on
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  Speaker 6: a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as
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  Speaker 6: the leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and
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  Speaker 6: forgiveness of sins.
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  Speaker 7: And we are.
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  Speaker 6: Witnesses of these things. They knew the risen, ascended Christ.
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  Speaker 6: They knew that he was in heaven right now, ruling
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  Speaker 6: and reigning at the right hand of God the Father.
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  Speaker 6: Persecution spreads as the gospel spreads. We see Stephen stoned
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  Speaker 6: to death in chapter 7. Saul breathing out threats and
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  Speaker 6: curses as one of those persecutors in Acts chapter 8.
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  Speaker 6: And Saul himself being converted and then himself becoming the
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  Speaker 6: object of persecution in chapter 9. The gospel continues to
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  Speaker 6: spread to the Gentiles in chapters 10 and 11. And
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  Speaker 6: chapter 12 is the martyrdom of James, the brother of
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  Speaker 6: the Lord Jesus Christ. The Antioch church in chapter 13
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  Speaker 6: sends Paul and Barnabas to Galatia.
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  Speaker 7: Chapter 15 is the Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 6: Council to receive the report of what happened in Galatia
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  Speaker 6: and to settle the question, do you have to become
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  Speaker 6: a Jew in order to become a follower of Jesus Christ?
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  Speaker 6: And then Antioch sends Paul and Silas to Macedonia. And
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  Speaker 6: they go to Philippi in chapter 16. And from there
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  Speaker 6: in chapter 17 to Thessalonica and Berea. And it's fascinating
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  Speaker 6: when you read in Acts chapter 17, Paul and Silas
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  Speaker 6: going to Thessalonica, having been in Philippi. It's about 100
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  Speaker 6: miles or so. It would have taken them a few
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  Speaker 6: days to get there. And when they get to Thessalonica,
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  Speaker 6: this is what's written in Acts 17.6. These men who
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  Speaker 6: have turned the world upside down have come here also.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, they just got to town, and their reputation
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  Speaker 6: preceded them. They were men who turned the world upside down.
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  Speaker 6: Where can such accusations like this be found in the
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  Speaker 6: borders of our own nation? How did they do it?
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  Speaker 6: The resurrection of Jesus was an ever-present reality in their thinking.
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  Speaker 6: And that truth is essential to living courageously for Christ
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  Speaker 6: in the face of hardship and opposition. We see this
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  Speaker 6: as Paul lays it out for us theologically in 1
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  Speaker 6: Corinthians chapter 15. Because there he argues for the literal
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  Speaker 6: bodily resurrection of Jesus. And he says, if this is
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  Speaker 6: not true, then we're all fools. We're on a fool's errand.
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  Speaker 6: Our faith is in vain. And in verse 20 of
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  Speaker 6: that chapter, He says, in fact, Christ has been raised
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  Speaker 6: from the dead.
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  Speaker 7: He's the firstfruits of all who have fallen asleep.
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: And then listen to his theological reasoning that puts steel
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: in the backbone of all those who know Christ. For
• 33:26
  Speaker 6: as by a man came death, by a man has
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in
• 33:31
  Speaker 6: Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: But each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: it is coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes
• 33:40
  Speaker 6: the end.
• 33:41
  Speaker 8: The end.
• 33:42
  Speaker 7: When he delivers the kingdom.
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: Of God to the Father after destroying every rule and
• 33:47
  Speaker 6: every authority and power. For he must reign until he
• 33:52
  Speaker 6: has put all his enemies under his feet.
• 33:58
  Speaker 7: Paul was confident. There's going to be victory.
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: There's going to be success because his crucified, risen Savior
• 34:07
  Speaker 6: is exalted in heaven and ruling and overruling for that
• 34:10
  Speaker 6: very purpose. He goes on in that chapter and he says,
• 34:13
  Speaker 6: if the dead are not raised at all, why are
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: we in danger every hour? He says, what do I gain,
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: humanly speaking, if I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If
• 34:23
  Speaker 6: the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: for tomorrow we die. The beasts at Ephesus were not
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: four-footed creatures. They were two-footed creatures. They were people.
• 34:34
  Speaker 7: Paul says, why do I put up with this? Why
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: do I let people abuse me?
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: Why do I get back up and go back into
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: the towns and preach Christ when they don't want me
• 34:43
  Speaker 6: there if there's no resurrection from the dead? Well, it's
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: a foolish errand, isn't it? It makes no sense better
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: to pull the blinds and pull the covers up over
• 34:53
  Speaker 6: your heads unless Jesus Christ has been raised from the
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: dead and is exalted in heaven right now. But if
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: that's true, then dying daily... If that's true, then gambling
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: your life for the sake of the gospel, it.
• 35:10
  Speaker 7: Makes perfect sense.
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: I love Paul's prayer in Ephesians chapter 1, and again,
• 35:16
  Speaker 6: I think he prays for the very things that we
• 35:18
  Speaker 6: need today, at this moment of our history in this nation.
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: We ought to pray this for ourselves and for one another.
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: He speaks of his prayer that we might have An understanding,
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: a knowledge of the hope to which God has called us.
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: That we might.
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: Experience the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: And that we might know what is the immeasurable greatness
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: of his power toward us who believe.
• 35:47
  Speaker 7: And then he elaborates that power. This power.
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: which is according to the working of his great might
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: that he worked in Christ when he raised him from
• 35:57
  Speaker 6: the dead and seated him at his right hand in
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and
• 36:03
  Speaker 6: power and dominion, above every name that is named, not
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: only in this age, but also in the age to come.
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: And he has put all things under his feet and
• 36:12
  Speaker 6: gave him as head over all things to the church,
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: which is his body, the fullness of him who fills
• 36:17
  Speaker 6: all in all.
• 36:20
  Speaker 7: Paul says, I want you to get that. I want
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: you to.
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: Know this power that raised Jesus from the dead and
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: has exalted him into heaven where he rules and reigns
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: over everyone and everything. Oh, brothers and sisters, if we
• 36:37
  Speaker 6: could get that, if we could know that, if we
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: could see that and remember that, we wouldn't be so
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: quick to be silent when we should speak. We wouldn't
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: be so easily intimidated whenever someone comes and tells us
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: what we must or must not do that is contrary
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: to what Christ has called us to be and do.
• 36:59
  Speaker 7: Our Lord Jesus Christ is enthroned in heaven right now.
• 37:06
  Speaker 7: What's he doing? What's the Lord doing in heaven?
• 37:10
  Speaker 6: Well, one thing he's doing is he is interceding for
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: his people. Hebrews tells us he ever lives to make
• 37:19
  Speaker 6: intercession for us. Romans 8.34 says, Who is the one
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: who condemns? Christ is he who died. Yes, rather, who
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: was raised, who is at the right hand of God,
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: who also intercedes for us. If you're trusting Christ, he
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: is in heaven for you, interceding.
• 37:39
  Speaker 7: For you right now. The Scottish.
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: Pastor Robert Murray McShane said, if I could hear Christ
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: praying for me in the next room, I would not
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: fear a million enemies.
• 37:52
  Speaker 7: Wouldn't that be true of you? If you could hear
• 37:54
  Speaker 7: Jesus praying for you?
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: McShane says, yet distance makes no difference. He is praying
• 38:01
  Speaker 6: for me. What's he praying? Well, we read in John
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: 17 the burdens of Jesus' high priestly prayer there. Listen
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: to what The systematic theologian Louis Burkhoff says about what
• 38:15
  Speaker 6: Jesus is praying. He said he's presenting to the Father
• 38:19
  Speaker 6: those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds
• 38:22
  Speaker 6: and which we often neglect to include in our prayers.
• 38:25
  Speaker 6: And that he prays for our protection against the dangers
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: of which we are not even conscious and against the
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: enemies which threaten us though we do not notice it.
• 38:33
  Speaker 7: He is praying that our faith.
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: May not cease and that we may come out victoriously saved.
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: In the end, brothers and sisters, we have a risen
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: Savior who prays for us.
• 38:45
  Speaker 7: He intercedes for us. Why do we need to be fearful?
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: Why do we need to back away from any duty
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: that He lays upon us? In addition to praying for us,
• 38:58
  Speaker 6: He is ruling and overruling in the affairs of the world. Again,
• 39:01
  Speaker 6: that 1 Corinthians 15 passage of the prayer in Ephesians 1.
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: Christ is enthroned in heaven. He's at the right hand
• 39:09
  Speaker 6: of God the Father. That is a place of authority.
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: He said all.
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: Authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him.
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: So there's not any empire that is raised up or
• 39:22
  Speaker 6: that is cast down apart from his authority. There's not
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: any advance of ideologies or refutation. of ideologies that doesn't
• 39:31
  Speaker 6: occur out from under his sovereign authority. He's ruling and
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: overruling in heaven.
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: You know another thing he's doing in heaven? He's laughing.
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: He's laughing.
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage? and the people's
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: and cast away their cords from us. He who sits
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: in the heavens laughs.
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: The Lord holds them in derision.
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: Every godless proposal of the new president of Biden will
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: cause God to laugh. Just as every godless proposal of
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: President Trump caused God to laugh.
• 40:36
  Speaker 7: He laughs at Klaus Schwab of.
• 40:42
  Speaker 6: The World Economic Forum with all of his great plans
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: for the Great Reset that are godless. He laughs At
• 40:50
  Speaker 6: Xi Jinping in China, who masterminds his strategies for his country,
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: thinking himself able to overthrow the cords and the bonds
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: of his creator. He laughs at any other king or
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: ruler who plots against Christ, thinking they will reject his
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: authority and deny his prescriptions.
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: Brothers and sisters, How can we who believe.
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: These things about Christ not be bold and courageous as
• 41:20
  Speaker 6: we live in.
• 41:21
  Speaker 7: This world that opposes Christ?
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: How can we quickly crumble and fade when we're remembering
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: and believing these truths? I understand that in one sense
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: the world has changed over the last several years and
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: in some dramatic ways here in our country. It's happened rapidly.
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: We well may be living in one of those evil
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: days Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6 or in those
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: perilous seasons that he speaks of in 2 Timothy 3.1.
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: But no matter how much things have changed that we
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: can measure, the most important things have not changed.
• 42:00
  Speaker 7: Our mission hasn't changed.
• 42:03
  Speaker 6: God doesn't say go make disciples unless it's hard or
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: unless your person is not politically. The gospel hasn't changed.
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: It's still the power of God to salvation to all
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: who believe. Human nature hasn't changed. It's still depraved. It's
• 42:25
  Speaker 6: still enslaved to sin. It is still in need of
• 42:28
  Speaker 6: being liberated by the gospel. And Jesus Christ has not changed.
• 42:33
  Speaker 6: He lives to make intercession for his people and to
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: save all who trust in him. So rather than being
• 42:41
  Speaker 6: intimidated by the growing darkness around us, we should see
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: the dimming of the light of the gospel in our
• 42:46
  Speaker 6: culture as an increased opportunity for us to shine brightly
• 42:51
  Speaker 6: in what Paul calls this crooked.
• 42:54
  Speaker 7: And perverse generation.
• 42:56
  Speaker 6: We have the gospel, and we are charged by our
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: master to go make disciples. So brothers and sisters, in
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: that sense, as we look around and we see godlessness
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: rising up all around us, As right-thinking Christians, we should say,
• 43:10
  Speaker 6: you know what this is?
• 43:11
  Speaker 7: This is a target-rich environment.
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: I love the story of Lieutenant General Chesty Puller, World
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: War II veteran, Korean War veteran, the most decorated U.S.
• 43:25
  Speaker 7: Marine in history.
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: In December of 1950 at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir,
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: when 10 Chinese divisions surrounded him and his Marines, on
• 43:34
  Speaker 6: that occasion, Puller reportedly said, those poor souls... He didn't
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: call them souls. Those poor soldiers. They've got us right
• 43:46
  Speaker 6: where we want them. We can fire in any direction now.
• 43:52
  Speaker 6: A target-rich environment. Where is the gospel not needed in
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: our community? Where is the gospel not needed in your
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: own spheres of opportunity and influence?
• 44:03
  Speaker 7: At work? In your home? In your neighborhood? In your neighborhood?
• 44:09
  Speaker 7: in your extended relations.
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: Anywhere, everywhere, it's becoming increasingly evident that people need to
• 44:17
  Speaker 6: know about Jesus Christ.
• 44:19
  Speaker 7: They need to be taught the gospel of Christ.
• 44:21
  Speaker 6: They need to be called to turn from their sin
• 44:23
  Speaker 6: and entrust themselves to Christ that they might be reconciled
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: to their creator.
• 44:29
  Speaker 7: The need is great.
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: The mission is clear. And the captain of our salvation
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: has placed us exactly where he wants us to be
• 44:40
  Speaker 6: right now. He has put us behind enemy lines and
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: he shed his blood and has been raised from the
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: dead to guarantee our success so that with clarity and
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: with confidence we can firmly, hopefully, joyfully ride.
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: To the sound of the guns. This is not a
• 45:03
  Speaker 7: day for Christians to become timid.
• 45:07
  Speaker 6: It's not a day for us to sit back and
• 45:10
  Speaker 6: to lament what used to be or to think that
• 45:14
  Speaker 6: all is hopeless in the future. As the darkness increases,
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: let us take the light of the gospel and do
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: our best to shine it forth all the more energetically.
• 45:27
  Speaker 6: I love what Charles Spurgeon said, acknowledging these same battles
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: in his day in the.
• 45:34
  Speaker 7: 19th century in england.
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: He said we admire a man who was firm in
• 45:39
  Speaker 6: faith say 400 years ago but such a man today
• 45:42
  Speaker 6: is a nuisance and must be put down call him
• 45:46
  Speaker 6: a narrow-minded bigot or give him a worse name if
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: you can think of one Yet imagine that in those
• 45:52
  Speaker 6: ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers, imagine if
• 45:55
  Speaker 6: they had said, the world is out of order, but
• 45:58
  Speaker 6: if we try to set it right, we shall only
• 46:00
  Speaker 6: make a great row and get ourselves into disgrace. Let
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: us go to our chambers, put on our nightcaps, and
• 46:07
  Speaker 6: sleep over the bad times, or perhaps when we wake up,
• 46:09
  Speaker 6: things will have grown better.
• 46:11
  Speaker 7: Such conduct on.
• 46:12
  Speaker 6: Their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error.
• 46:16
  Speaker 6: Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps,
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed us all.
• 46:24
  Speaker 6: These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus
• 46:27
  Speaker 6: too well to see them trampled on. It is today
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: as it was in the Reformers' day. Decision is needed.
• 46:35
  Speaker 6: Here's the day for the man. Where is the man
• 46:39
  Speaker 6: for the day? We who have had the gospel passed
• 46:42
  Speaker 6: to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it,
• 46:45
  Speaker 6: nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors who
• 46:48
  Speaker 6: pretend to love it, Traitors who pretend to love it,
• 46:56
  Speaker 6: but inwardly abhor every line of it. Look, you sirs,
• 47:00
  Speaker 6: there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does
• 47:02
  Speaker 6: not speedily appear, there will come another generation and another,
• 47:06
  Speaker 6: and all these generations will be tainted and injured if
• 47:09
  Speaker 6: we are not faithful to God and to his truth today.
• 47:12
  Speaker 6: We've come to a turning point in the road. If
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: children's children will go that way. But if we turn
• 47:19
  Speaker 6: to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names
• 47:23
  Speaker 6: for having been unfaithful to God and to his word.
• 47:29
  Speaker 6: Here's the day for the man. Where's the man for
• 47:33
  Speaker 6: the day? Brothers and sisters, before God, let us repent
• 47:39
  Speaker 6: of every fearful imagination and impulse that we have had
• 47:45
  Speaker 6: in the face of this rising darkness. May God expose
• 47:50
  Speaker 6: to us where we have given in to the temptation
• 47:52
  Speaker 6: to be afraid of people because we've not been fearful
• 47:57
  Speaker 6: of him. And may he teach us that what we
• 48:01
  Speaker 6: have in Christ is a crucified, risen, ascended, heavenly ruling
• 48:07
  Speaker 6: and reigning Lord and Savior.
• 48:09
  Speaker 7: And that our lives are in his hands.
• 48:12
  Speaker 6: And that he has commissioned us to go into the
• 48:14
  Speaker 6: world and to make disciples.
• 48:17
  Speaker 7: May he empower us.
• 48:18
  Speaker 6: By his spirit to give ourselves to that for the
• 48:22
  Speaker 6: sake of this generation and the generations yet to come.
• 48:27
  Speaker 7: Let's pray.
• 48:31
  Speaker 6: Our Father, we thank you for giving us your word.
• 48:36
  Speaker 6: We thank you for faithfulness of those who have gone
• 48:40
  Speaker 6: before us on whose shoulders we stand. who served their
• 48:44
  Speaker 6: generation well, and who have handed down to us understanding
• 48:50
  Speaker 6: of your word that we would not have had had
• 48:53
  Speaker 6: they failed and been derelict in their duty.
• 48:57
  Speaker 7: We ask that you would make us faithful in our day. God,
• 49:00
  Speaker 7: give us a sense.
• 49:01
  Speaker 6: Of wonder and joy that you would call us into
• 49:03
  Speaker 6: your very family, that you would forgive us our sins
• 49:07
  Speaker 6: for Christ's sake, that you would commission us.
• 49:09
  Speaker 7: And empower us by your word and spirit.
• 49:11
  Speaker 6: To go into this world for the sake of your kingdom,
• 49:14
  Speaker 6: to be a part of what Jesus Christ is doing
• 49:16
  Speaker 6: now and for eternity. Strengthen our faith. Increase our joy.
• 49:23
  Speaker 6: Give us boldness and determination to live for Christ.
• 49:27
  Speaker 7: We pray in his name.
• 49:29
  Speaker 8: Amen.
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: Praise God that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: And in view of our ascended Christ, let's stand. Let's
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: sing the doxology rejoicing in this blessing that God has
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: given us.
• 49:54
  Speaker 9: Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all
• 50:03
  Speaker 9: creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son,
• 50:20
  Speaker 9: and Holy Ghost.
• 50:28
  Speaker 8: Amen.
• 50:32
  Speaker 4: You may be seated.
• 50:33
  Speaker 8: Amen.
• 50:38
  Speaker 4: We have the joy now of hearing from Dr. Votie Bauckham.
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: Let me introduce him to you, and then I will
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: pray for him as he comes to deliver God's word.
• 50:47
  Speaker 4: Dr. Votie Bauckham is a husband, father, former.
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: Pastor, author, professor, conference speaker, and a board member of
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: Founders Ministries. He is a founding faculty member of the
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: Institute of Public Theology. He currently serves as Dean of
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: the School of Divinity at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia.
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: Bauckham holds degrees from Houston Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: Southeastern Baptist Theological.
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: Seminary, an honorary degree from.
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: Southern California Seminary, and additional postgraduate study at the University
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: of Oxford, England.
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: Bauckham and his wife, Bridget, have been married since 1989
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: and have nine children. and two grandchildren and we are
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: delighted to have him here with us this evening so
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: let me pray and then he will come father we
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: rejoice that you have sent your son jesus christ for
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: us that he lived for us that he died for
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: us that he has risen for us and he has
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: ascended for us interceding for us even now we rejoice
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: that he is above all earthly powers we ask that
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: you would Strengthen our brother Vody as he comes to
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: deliver your word now. Empower this word by your spirit
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: that we would receive it. Strengthen our faith. Give us courage.
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: We pray this in Jesus' name.
• 52:07
  Speaker 8: Amen. Amen. Well, greetings. I do bring you greetings from
• 52:20
  Speaker 8: the African Christian University in Osaka, Zambia. And from my
• 52:26
  Speaker 8: family who's there. My wife, Bridget, and our seven youngest
• 52:30
  Speaker 8: children are there. We've been there for a little over
• 52:35
  Speaker 8: five years now. Our two oldest children and our grandchildren,
• 52:38
  Speaker 8: of course, reside here in the U.S. And so I
• 52:43
  Speaker 8: am excited and honored to be with you to have
• 52:45
  Speaker 8: made this journey. I'm excited and honored to be here
• 52:52
  Speaker 8: with Founders Ministries and to be a part of Founders
• 52:56
  Speaker 8: Ministries and a partner with Founders Ministries in this great work.
• 53:02
  Speaker 8: I've known Tom for, I don't know how many years now, Tom.
• 53:09
  Speaker 8: It's been a long time. It's been decades now. And
• 53:14
  Speaker 8: I remember, I don't know if it was the first
• 53:16
  Speaker 8: time that I met Tom, but It wasn't the first time.
• 53:20
  Speaker 8: It was shortly thereafter where he said to me and
• 53:25
  Speaker 8: has not stopped saying since, God loves you, but I
• 53:29
  Speaker 8: have a wonderful plan for your life. No, brother, it's
• 53:35
  Speaker 8: been wonderful getting in trouble with you over these last decades.
• 53:42
  Speaker 8: And I want you to know you about gave me
• 53:45
  Speaker 8: a heart attack just a little while ago because My
• 53:48
  Speaker 8: text tonight is Acts chapter 4. And I wasn't sure.
• 53:52
  Speaker 8: I wasn't sure for a moment if that wasn't what
• 53:55
  Speaker 8: you were getting ready to do. And I was going
• 53:56
  Speaker 8: to have to make something up. So if you have
• 54:01
  Speaker 8: your Bibles with you, please open them to Acts chapter 4.
• 54:04
  Speaker 8: Acts chapter 4. As we look at this boldness. This
• 54:11
  Speaker 8: public boldness to which we're called. Acts chapter 4. And
• 54:18
  Speaker 8: we'll look at really that last, well, not that last paragraph,
• 54:24
  Speaker 8: but verses 13 through 22. 13 through 22. And take
• 54:40
  Speaker 8: a look at this public boldness to which we're called.
• 54:47
  Speaker 8: Beginning in verse 13. Now we remember what has happened
• 54:51
  Speaker 8: here is that Peter and John were there by the
• 54:56
  Speaker 8: gate beautiful and there's a man begging for alms. They
• 55:01
  Speaker 8: don't have anything to give him, at least not what
• 55:04
  Speaker 8: he's asking for. And Peter instead heals him in the
• 55:11
  Speaker 8: name of Jesus and tells him to rise and walk.
• 55:16
  Speaker 8: The man doesn't follow directions very well because instead of
• 55:20
  Speaker 8: rising and walking, he's shouting and dancing and running and
• 55:24
  Speaker 8: everything else. And there is a great stir. This brings
• 55:30
  Speaker 8: them to the attention of the leaders, and it brings
• 55:36
  Speaker 8: them before this council. And that's where we pick this
• 55:40
  Speaker 8: up in chapter 4 in verse 13, where we read, Now,
• 55:46
  Speaker 8: when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and
• 55:49
  Speaker 8: perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished
• 55:53
  Speaker 8: and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. The
• 55:59
  Speaker 8: first thing we see about this public boldness is really.
• 56:02
  Speaker 7: The nature of it.
• 56:06
  Speaker 8: The nature of this boldness is incredibly important. And in
• 56:10
  Speaker 8: order to understand the nature of this boldness, you have
• 56:12
  Speaker 8: to understand the way it was perceived by by the
• 56:16
  Speaker 8: leaders the way it was perceived by the sanhedrin they
• 56:21
  Speaker 8: perceived that they were uneducated common men now this is
• 56:27
  Speaker 8: one of those instances where you know a nice concordance
• 56:30
  Speaker 8: can get you in trouble because you look at your
• 56:32
  Speaker 8: concordance and essentially you say that the the word that's
• 56:36
  Speaker 8: used here is a word that refers to men who
• 56:38
  Speaker 8: are who are illiterate men that's not what's being said
• 56:45
  Speaker 8: here Do we know for a fact that that's not
• 56:48
  Speaker 8: what was being said, that's not what was being charged,
• 56:51
  Speaker 8: that these were somehow illiterate men? If for no other reason,
• 56:56
  Speaker 8: we know that these two men gave us 1 and
• 56:59
  Speaker 8: 2 Peter, the Gospel of John, 1, 2, 3 John,
• 57:02
  Speaker 8: and the book of Revelation. Amen to somebody. That's not
• 57:09
  Speaker 8: what's being said here. What's being referenced here is not
• 57:15
  Speaker 8: the idea that these men aren't smart, that they aren't intelligent,
• 57:21
  Speaker 8: or really that they have no education. What's being referenced
• 57:26
  Speaker 8: here is the idea that they have the wrong education.
• 57:35
  Speaker 8: They haven't gone to the right schools. They haven't studied
• 57:38
  Speaker 8: the right things yet. Therefore, they don't think the right
• 57:42
  Speaker 8: things and they don't say the right things. And that's
• 57:47
  Speaker 8: what was astonishing about their boldness. Because boldness in the
• 57:52
  Speaker 8: public sphere is supposed to require that first you get
• 57:57
  Speaker 8: the credentials that the public respects. And if you don't
• 58:03
  Speaker 8: have the credentials that the public respects... It makes no
• 58:07
  Speaker 8: sense for you to be bold in the public sphere.
• 58:11
  Speaker 8: It was true then and it's true now. In many ways,
• 58:21
  Speaker 8: we are, regardless of our levels of education, considered the worst. untrained,
• 58:27
  Speaker 8: uneducated men, the common men.
• 58:30
  Speaker 7: Of our day.
• 58:32
  Speaker 8: And it's been that way for a while, although things
• 58:34
  Speaker 8: are ratcheting up. It used to just be based on
• 58:38
  Speaker 8: a few issues, like, for example, our understanding of the
• 58:40
  Speaker 8: way the world came to be. I have the privilege
• 58:46
  Speaker 8: from time to time of speaking on public university campuses,
• 58:50
  Speaker 8: and I love when I'm on public university campuses to
• 58:53
  Speaker 8: camp out or at least spend some time In the
• 58:56
  Speaker 8: book of Genesis. I love it because it astonishes people there.
• 59:03
  Speaker 8: And they hear me talk about the book of Genesis
• 59:05
  Speaker 8: and oftentimes they'll come and I've had on a number
• 59:07
  Speaker 8: of occasions a conversation that goes something. like this. People
• 59:11
  Speaker 8: don't want to just come straight out with it, but
• 59:13
  Speaker 8: they'll say something like, you know, it's interesting the way
• 59:16
  Speaker 8: you were talking about that.
• 59:17
  Speaker 7: It's almost like.
• 59:17
  Speaker 8: You're one of those people who, you know, takes the
• 59:21
  Speaker 8: Genesis account. Literally.
• 59:23
  Speaker 4: Literally.
• 59:26
  Speaker 8: As if to say, you seem like such a smart man.
• 59:35
  Speaker 8: On one occasion, I had somebody just sort of walk
• 59:37
  Speaker 8: right into it. You know, you're one of these people
• 59:39
  Speaker 8: who believes that God created the world in a week.
• 59:43
  Speaker 7: Of course not.
• 59:44
  Speaker 8: Did it in six days and took the last day off, brother.
• 59:58
  Speaker 8: But the point there is an obvious one. Sophisticated and
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 8: educated men know better. And in fact, even those who
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 8: are Christians in the public sphere have learned better. Have
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 8: you not learned better? Are you not aware better? of
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 8: the towering theological intellects out there who don't hold to
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 8: your small-minded belief in the way that the world came
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 8: to be. But it's not just that. Other issues about
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 8: who's supposed to occupy the position of pastor.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 8: Amen. about whether or not the Board of Education is
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 8: supposed to be applied to the backside of an unruly,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 8: disobedient child.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 7: But today, there's even more. Today, there are things like,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 7: you know, do you.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 8: Really not understand that sexual orientation is just that sexual orientation?
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 8: Do you?
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 7: Are you really that ignorant?
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 8: If you watched any of Amy Coney Barrett's hearings, you
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 8: saw that moment where she used the phrase sexual preference.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 7: And senators pounced.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 8: Because the term sexual preference is an offensive one.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 7: And anyone who is Anyone worth.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 8: Knowing realizes and recognizes that there is no preference involved.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 8: The educated among us know that you don't say preference,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 8: you say orientation. And they scolded her. One of the
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 8: finest legal minds of our day. Or those who believe
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 8: that your chromosomes determine your sex? Amen, somebody. Are you
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 8: so common and uneducated that you don't recognize that if
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 8: you want to know whether a five-year-old is a boy
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 8: or a girl, you don't check plumbing, you ask a question.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 8: And if what they say contradicts the plumbing, you believe
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 8: them and.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 7: Not your lying eyes. These are just a few of
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 7: the areas right now.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 8: Where we're being referred to as uneducated common men in
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 8: our day. And so the nature of their boldness had
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 8: to do not with their action in this healing process,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 8: but in the message that accompanied the healing. If you
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 8: go with me, for example, in that last phrase, they
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 8: recognized that they.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 7: Had been with Jesus.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 8: Go with me earlier on, earlier in chapter 3, because
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 8: this is where it all started. In chapter 3, look
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 8: at verse 6. But Peter said, I have no silver
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 8: and gold, but what I do have I give to you.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 8: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 8: Verse 11. While he clung to Peter and John, all
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 8: the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 8: portico that is called Solomon. So thousands of people could
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 8: now come and gather in here. Verse 14. In the
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 8: midst of his sermons. But you denied the holy and
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 8: righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 8: to you. And you killed the author of life whom
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 8: God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 8: And his name by faith in his name has made
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 8: this man strong whom you see and know. And the
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 8: faith that is through Jesus has given the man this
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 8: perfect health. In the presence of you all. And then
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 8: verse 19. Repent therefore.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 7: And turn back. That your sins may be blotted out.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 8: That's what makes them. Uneducated common men. The gospel that
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 8: they preach. That's what classifies us. As uneducated common men.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 8: The gospel that we preach. That we believe in. that
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 8: God created the world, and that we believe that he
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 8: created one man, Adam, and through that one man, Adam,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 8: created all men. And we believe that because that one man, Adam, fell,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 8: all men fell into sin because of that.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 7: One man, Adam. And because of that one.
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 8: Man's sin, sin reigns in all of us and needs
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 8: to be dealt with. And because of that one man's
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 8: sin that another Adam had.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 7: To come, That the last Adam.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 8: Was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified, dead,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 8: and buried, and rose again on the third day, having
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 8: died a penal, substitutionary, atoning death, through which men might
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 8: be saved if they come to faith in him. That's
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 8: what makes us uneducated, common men, because we believe that.
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 8: That's what marginalizes us. Because we believe that. You see,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 8: here's the thing. Their problem was not that somebody got healed.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 8: They couldn't care less. Chapter 4, verse 7. When they
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 8: had set them in the midst, they inquired, by.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 7: What power or by what name did you do this?
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 8: How about that? Old boy couldn't walk. Now he can walk. Running, shouting, dancing,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 8: everything else. And the Sanhedrin wants to know, what name
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 8: did you do it in? That's their most significant issue.
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 8: That is the nature of our boldness. It is a gospel-centered, gospel-rooted,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 8: gospel-oriented boldness. And that is where and when our boldness
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 8: is required. Newsflash. The world couldn't care less about us
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 8: ministering to people. In fact, the world loves it. Over
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 8: the last several decades, Generations, if you will, we've been
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 8: herded into one particular pen. And if you watch television
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 8: or you watch movies, there is a brand of Christianity
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 8: that is completely and utterly acceptable. And it is that
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 8: brand of Christianity that sees the church as merely a
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 8: place that does soup kitchens. And helps people with addiction.
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 7: Finds homes.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 8: If that's all we do, if that's all the church is,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 8: if we give sage advice, nobody cares.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 7: They will love us.
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 8: But the minute our boldness is attached to the message
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 8: of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we become uneducated common men.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 8: And if we're not careful, we fall for it. This
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 8: is why Paul tells Timothy.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 7: Look with me, if you will.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 10: 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 7: I charge you. Here is a charge.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 8: I charge you in the presence of God and of
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 8: Jesus Christ. By the way, he starts this off to Timothy,
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 8: my beloved son. Amen? So this is a letter from
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 8: a spiritual father to a spiritual son. Now all of
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 8: a sudden stuff's getting formal. I charge you. In the
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 8: presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is the judge,
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 8: the living and the dead, and by his appearing and
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 8: by his kingdom. What is it that makes this intimate
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 8: letter all of a sudden get so formal?
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 7: Preach the word.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 8: Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 8: and exhort with complete patience and teaching. And why does
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 8: this need to be so formal?
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 4: Why?
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 8: Why does Paul, as it were, need to come to
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 8: this point at the end of his letter and say, boy,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 8: if you don't hear anything else, listen to this.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 7: Why is this charge so necessary? For.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 8: For. The time is coming when people will not endure
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 8: sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 8: themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 8: away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 8: As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 8: work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Why do we
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 8: need to be charged to do that? Because there's a
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 8: price to pay when you do that in the midst
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 8: of a culture that loves you if you do everything
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 8: else but that. The nature of our boldness has nothing
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 8: to do with feeding the poor.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: Nothing.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 7: Nothing.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 8: It has nothing to do with caring for the orphan.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 8: You don't need Christian boldness to do that. Pagans do that.
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 8: And they're loved for it. They're given awards for it.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 8: There are ceremonies in their honor for it. not when
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 8: the gospel is attached. And so the temptation is to
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 8: do all of that and not attach the gospel. That's
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 8: the nature of our boldness. But what about the fruit
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 8: of our boldness? What does it produce? Verse 14 of
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 8: Acts chapter 4. But seeing the man who was healed
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 8: standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 8: But when they had commanded them to leave the council,
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 8: they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 8: with these men? For that a notable sign has been
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 8: performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 8: and we cannot deny it. Again, the issue is not
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 8: the sign. But the sign is there. Essentially what they're
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 8: saying is neutrality is not an option. These people can't
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 8: be ignored. These people have to be dealt with. And
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 8: that's the fruit of our boldness. We can't be ignored.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 8: We have to be dealt with. In the midst of
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 8: a culture that hates our God and that hates the
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 8: Lord Jesus Christ, those who preach Jesus and who do
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 8: so boldly and publicly and bear fruit from that preaching
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 8: cannot be ignored. Something has to be done.
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 7: There is a clash that takes place.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 8: And this is why it's so easy not to preach
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 8: the gospel. Because you can avoid the clash. You can
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 8: avoid the opposition. You can avoid the hatred. You can
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 8: avoid the name calling. In fact, you can be on
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 8: the other end of the spectrum. You can have people
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 8: love you and applaud you if you just Stop. You
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 8: can get into the Ivy League school. And you can
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 8: have a successful matriculation at the Ivy League school and
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 8: get a degree from the Ivy League school and do
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 8: all the networking that the Ivy League degree brings you.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 8: But if you show up on day one at the
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 8: Ivy League school preaching in that name and you write
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 8: papers at the Ivy League school based upon that name
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 8: and that world view Then it doesn't matter if you
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 8: graduate from the Ivy League school. Do you know what
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 8: you call a Christian who graduates at the top of
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 8: their class at Harvard? An uneducated common man. There is
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 8: no degree There is no credential that will wipe the
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 8: stain of the gospel off of you. Compromise is the
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 8: only thing that will do that. The fruit of our
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 8: boldness is opposition. Opposition. Marginalization. It's inevitable. We will be
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 8: called names. We will be shunned. We will be passed over.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 8: We will be accused.
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 7: We will be. So what do we do?
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 8: Set apart Christ the Lord as holy and always be
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 8: ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 8: the reason for the hope that is in you. Yet
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 8: do it with gentleness and respect. And that brings us
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 8: to the consequence of our boldness. Verse 17. But in
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 8: order that it may spread no further among the people,
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 8: let us warn them to speak no more to anyone
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 8: in this name. So they called them and charged them
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 8: not to speak or teach at all in the name
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 8: of Jesus.
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 7: Don't use the name of Jesus.
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 8: Heard a testimony recently of one of the biggest, most
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 8: successful Christian bands of the 90s, I believe, maybe the
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 8: early 2000s. And they talked about how, you know, this
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 8: leader of the band talked about how, you know, their
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 8: star was on the rise and an industry leader said,
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 8: came to him and basically said, listen, you guys have everything.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 8: I mean, you've got it all. Your sound, your look,
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 8: your this, your that. You guys have got it all.
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 8: If you would just slightly change your lyrics. Essentially, If
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 8: you would just not use the name. Sing about the
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 8: same stuff. Just don't use the name. Do the same work.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 8: Just don't use the name. And it's yours. And the
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 8: fact of the matter is, he was telling the absolute truth.
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 8: And there are many, there are many who've done it.
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 8: In the name of advancing the gospel. We don't want
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 8: to be a stumbling block and we don't want to
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 8: offend people. So what we will do is we will
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 8: keep talking about the same thing. We just won't directly
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 8: refer to Jesus. But everybody who's a Christian will know
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 8: exactly who and what we're talking about. Until they don't.
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 11: Until they don't. This is where we live, people. This
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 11: is where we live.
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 8: I know there are many of you who on your jobs,
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 8: you've been told, don't use that name. Some of you
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 8: may have even been reprimanded for using that name.
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 7: And here you are, you're.
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 8: Forced supposedly to choose between your job and your sustenance
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 8: and feeding your family and using that name. And the
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 8: temptation in that moment is to say, listen, I will
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 8: do the same thing. I will say the same thing.
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 8: I will just tiptoe around the name. Earlier on, Peter
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 8: has a word that we need to hear. Beginning in
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 8: verse 8. Remember the question in verse 7, by what
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 8: power and by what name did you do this?
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 7: Verse 8.
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 8: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 8: rulers of the people and elders, if we're being examined
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 8: today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man,
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 8: By what means this man has been healed, let it
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 8: be known to all of you and to all the
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 8: people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 8: of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 8: By the way, all they asked for was a name.
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 7: Amen?
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 8: That's all they asked. We just asked for a name.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 8: We just asked for a name. But Peter says... I
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 8: want to make sure you get the right one. Because
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 8: he's not the only person named Jesus. I want to
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 8: make sure that you know which Jesus I'm talking about.
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 8: And I want to make sure that you understand why,
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 8: why this name is significant. Why Jesus' name is significant.
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 8: Because here's the thing. You can use the name without
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 8: using the name. You can use the name in the
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 8: midst of this culture that just sees Jesus as a
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 8: good man and good teacher and good prophet and is
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 8: glad to hear the sayings of Jesus next to the
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 8: sayings of Gandhi next to the sayings of Muhammad or
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 8: whomever else.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 7: That's fine if you use.
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 8: It that way. Uh-uh.
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 7: Peter says.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 8: Let it be known to all of you and to
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 8: all the people of Israel that by the name of
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 8: Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 8: the dead, by him this man is standing.
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 7: Before you well. He's not done.
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 8: This Jesus, not another Jesus. This, Jesus, is the stone
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 8: that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 8: the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else,
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 8: for there is no other name under heaven given among
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 8: men by which we must be saved. That's the name.
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 8: So that's the context here of verse 18. So they
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 8: called them and charged them not to speak or teach
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 8: at all in the name of Jesus. Notice what they
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 8: didn't say. They didn't say stop healing people. They didn't
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 8: say stop doing good to people. They didn't say And
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 8: they wouldn't say, shut down the soup kitchen. Close the orphanage.
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 8: Stop the recovery meetings. They didn't say that and they
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 8: wouldn't say that because all of that is fine. Verse 19.
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 8: But Peter and John answered them, well, we'll just witness
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 8: with our lifestyle. Oh, I'm sorry. But Peter and John
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 8: answered them, whether it is right in the sight of
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 8: God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge.
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 8: Submission to authority Submission to authority. You do what you
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 8: gotta do. For we cannot but speak of what we
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 8: have seen and heard. Let me translate that for you.
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 8: They called him in and said, do not speak or
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 8: teach at all in the name of Jesus anymore. And
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 8: Peter said, nah. What do you do with that kind
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 8: of boldness? Verse 21. I love, I just, this is
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 8: like my favorite verse. This makes the text for me.
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 8: And when they had further threatened them, they let them go,
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 8: finding no way to punish them because of the people.
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 8: For all we're praising God for it happened for the
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 8: man on whom the sign of healing was performed was
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 8: more than 40 years old. That first phrase. And when
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 8: they had further threatened them, they let them go. Don't
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 8: preach anything. In the name of Jesus, do you understand me?
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 7: Nah.
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 8: They said no. Okay, all right. Stop preaching in the
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 8: name of Jesus, or we'll take everything you own. Really,
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 8: because we already gave away all our stuff and shared
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 8: it among the brethren. Stop preaching in the name of Jesus.
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 8: I will put you in jail.
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 7: You mean like.
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 8: Peter was in jail and the angel got him out?
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 8: Stop preaching in the name of Jesus or we'll kill you.
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 8: You mean like you did him? before he rose again
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 8: on the third day? How do you threaten a dead man?
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 8: A man who truly believes for me to live is
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 8: Christ and to die is gain. How do you threaten
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 8: that man? The answer is.
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 7: You can't.
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 8: The problem with most of us is we're not dead yet.
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 8: We haven't died to self. We haven't died to the world.
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 8: And so we desperately desire and we desperately want and
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 8: we desperately need to be liked and applauded. And so
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 8: when they threaten to take our stuff, we say, okay,
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 8: we'll find a way.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 7: We'll find a way to comply.
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 8: And then it slips out and we come back again
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 8: and they threaten to take our freedom.
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 7: And we say, no, no, no, no, please. I promise
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 7: I'll do better this time.
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 8: And then again it slips out and they say, well,
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 8: take your life.
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 7: And you say, no, no, please. Please don't. Please don't.
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 8: But when we get a hold of the fact that
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 8: we have been crucified with Christ, and yet we live,
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 8: not I, but Christ who lives in me. Listen, when
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 8: we get a hold of that, it changes everything. And
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 8: we can't be threatened anymore. Because no one can take
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 8: what you've gladly given away already.
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 7: It is only then that.
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 8: We can rightly exercise this boldness. But you know how
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 8: you get there? Peter and John didn't get there because
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 8: they tried hard enough. Peter and John didn't get there
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 8: because they were made of the right stuff.
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 7: Uh-uh. No. We know they weren't. Peter.
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 8: Peter.
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 7: Night of the crucifixion.
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: Peter.
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 8: Ah, you. Uh-uh.
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 7: I don't know him. Three times. That, Peter.
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 8: This didn't happen because they were made of the right stuff.
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 8: This boldness didn't come from them being made of the
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 8: right stock. This boldness was a byproduct of their genuine, legitimate,
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 8: life-changing encounter with the risen Christ. And that same risen
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 8: Christ is as real and as alive to those who
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 8: place their faith in him today as he was to
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 8: those who saw him after his resurrection. You want to
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 8: be bold? Flee to Christ. Run to Christ. Cling to Christ.
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 8: Because in and of ourselves, we have no boldness. But
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 8: in Christ, we have only boldness. Because in Christ, the
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 8: spirit who raised him from the dead abides and resides
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 8: in us. And he is the spirit of boldness.
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 7: Let's pray.
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 8: Oh, great God, God, our heavenly father. God, the creator
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 8: of the world and everything in it. God, the sustainer
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 8: of the universe. God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God,
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 8: we bow before you as a humble and grateful people
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 8: pleading with you that by your spirit you would make
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 8: us as bold as we are humble and grateful to
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 8: the end that we might proclaim faithfully the good news
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 8: of the Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 8: and ask all these things Amen.
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 3: Praise God that Jesus Christ is strong and courageous and
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 3: he in us supplies us with what we need that
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 3: we can be as well. It's been wonderful for us
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 3: to be together tonight and hear God's word preached by Dr.
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 3: Tom Askell and then Dr. Votie Bauckham. And we're going
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 3: to take a brief break now. And there are some
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 3: among us that are from McGregor Baptist Church here and
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 3: who have taken advantage of child care that is routinely
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 3: provided here on Wednesday evenings during this break. You will
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 3: need to go pick up your children. The child care
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 3: will not continue. But we're going to reconvene here in
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 3: just a few moments. We'll be back at 815. And
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 3: at that time, we're going to have a panel discussion
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 3: with Tom and Vodi and myself.
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 4: So you're dismissed. We'll return at 815.
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you for watching. Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 2: you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 2: you for watching.
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 9: Thank you.
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 4: Well, hey, everybody. If y'all will come on in and
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 4: grab a seat.
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 3: We'll go ahead and get started with our little panel
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 3: discussion here this evening.
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 4: Come on in. It's been wonderful for us to be together.
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 3: Tonight and hearing the word from these two brothers. That
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 3: was wonderful, spirit-empowered and strengthening to our faith. And it's
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 3: just been really good for us to be together and
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 3: to remember that Jesus Christ indeed is over all earthly powers.
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 4: And we wanted to take some time.
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 3: This is slotted for about an hour, maybe just shy
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 3: of an hour, where we want to discuss amongst ourselves.
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 3: This is going to be much more of kind of
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 3: a discussion than a Q & A. For those of
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 3: you who don't know, like Votie mentioned, Votie and.
• 1:58:41
  Speaker 4: Tom go way back.
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 3: And I've gotten to know Votie and Tom, I've known
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 3: for 10, 12, something.
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 4: Like that, years.
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 7: Since you were about five.
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 4: Since I was about five. Yes.
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 3: Often in our discussions, these guys are talking about, yeah,
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 3: it was a great year.
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 4: It was 1983. I'm like, yeah, I was negative one.
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 7: That was great.
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 3: So there's just such a rich history and really friendship
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 3: and fellowship that we're basically going to kind of be
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 3: informal and just discuss a number of matters at hand.
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 4: So I'll get it kicked off with this.
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 3: The Institute of Public Theology is now launched and class
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 3: is coming up in the fall. Three founding faculty members here.
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 3: founding professors, and one of the thrusts of the Institute
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 3: of Public Theology is to take the word and apply
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 3: the word to all areas of life and just say
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 3: this division of the sacred and the secular has been
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 3: pushed far too far. Jesus Christ is King of Kings.
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 3: He's ascended into the heavens. His gospel is true, gives
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 3: us courage, and we're watching. the secular commitments of our
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 3: own land here in America. Votie's now over in Africa,
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 3: has spent life in America. He's over there watching and
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 3: aware of what's going on. We're watching the secularism bear
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 3: its ugly fruit in our civil life.
• 1:59:58
  Speaker 4: So we're seeing things fall apart.
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 3: And the question is, to begin with, what role has
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 3: the church in America, the Christian evangelical church, played in
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 3: that falling apart?
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 4: Where's our responsibility? What have we left undone? What have
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 4: we been doing wrong?
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a great question. I think that's where it begins.
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 6: Judgment begins in the household of God. It's time for that.
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 6: And we need to honestly assess what we have done
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 6: and really what we've not been doing. And in so
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 6: many ways, the church in America, the evangelical churches in America,
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 6: we have been easily swayed by the world.
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 7: We have been syncretized.
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 6: So we've adopted so much of the world's way of
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 6: thinking and so much of the philosophies and attitudes, dispositions,
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 6: understanding of things like what success is, what proper metrics
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 6: of evaluation for the Christian life and for church life is.
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 6: And we've just been, we've been syncretized, so we've become
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 6: kind of a part of the culture and satisfied with that.
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 6: And we've assumed things to the point of either losing
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 6: them or marginalizing them. Most significantly is the gospel. And
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 6: I don't say it lightly, and people get upset, you know,
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 6: when I say, well, we've lost the gospel.
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 7: And so now I believe the gospel.
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm not saying we don't believe it, but it's
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 6: like the gospel is central.
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 7: It ought to be central.
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 6: Everything God has done for us in Christ, that's not
• 2:01:33
  Speaker 6: just the threshold that gets us into a right relationship
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 6: with God.
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 7: That is all of life.
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 6: If you just read the New Testament letters sometimes and
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 6: see how Paul, addresses everything in light of the gospel.
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 6: So 1 Corinthians 2, he says, I am determined to
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 6: know nothing among you except Jesus Christ whom crucified. It
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 6: sounds reductionistic. You think, oh, what did Paul do? Just
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 6: stand up and say Jesus Christ was crucified. Jesus Christ
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 6: was crucified. But you read that letter. He deals with
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 6: sexual immorality. He deals with money. He deals with lawsuits.
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 6: And he does it all in terms of the gospel.
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 6: It's all related to Christ.
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 7: It's not moralism.
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 6: It's not, hey, don't sue each other. And hey, don't
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 6: have sex outside of marriage. and, hey, do these right things. No,
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 6: it's Christ. You belong to Christ. And because you belong
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 6: to Christ, that changes everything. And because of what God
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 6: has done for you in Christ, you need to think
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 6: about your money differently. You need to think about how
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 6: you work differently. A lazy Christian should recognize that he
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 6: is going against the gospel that he professes.
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 7: A stingy Christian should realize that. A Christian who engages in.
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 6: Lewd behavior or jokes should realize he's going against the gospel.
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 6: He's violating his commitment to the gospel. He's not walking
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 6: according to the gospel. So in all of these ways
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 6: I think we have had a truncated understanding of the gospel.
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 6: We've assumed it and we've tried to do things. We've
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 6: tried to do what we think might be good, best
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 6: or right without seeing the fulsome nature of the gospel
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 6: and helping our people to understand it so that they
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 6: can do what you preach tonight. They can stand up
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 6: and be unintimidated in the face of all kind of opposition.
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 7: So all of that to say, yes, it.
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 6: Is time for this kind of evaluation to begin at
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 6: the household of God. And what we ought to do,
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 6: personally as a pastor, what I feel very deeply is
• 2:03:29
  Speaker 6: to repent, acknowledging our failures, acknowledging that we have not
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 6: done as we should have done, and God being our help,
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 6: we will seek to do better in whatever time and
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 6: energy he gives us going forward, to cling to the gospel,
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 6: to be unapologetic about it, to be joyful, to not
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 6: be depressed, to not be defeatist, but to realize, no,
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 6: this is the power of God's salvation everybody believes, and
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 6: we need to have our churches ordered according to what
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 6: the Bible says, and not be satisfied to just do
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 6: church the way we've always done it, but look at
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 6: what the Bible says and what a church is, how
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 6: it's to operate, and then be the stewards of the
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 6: gospel that God's called us to be. That's And we've
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 6: not done that well. I'm talking about me personally, talking
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 6: about the church I serve, talking about the evangelical churches
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 6: in this nation.
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 7: I think all of us need to honestly.
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 6: Evaluate how we have not done what we should have
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 6: done with.
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 7: All that God has entrusted to us.
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, when we.
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 3: Did the film By What Standard, right here was in
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 3: on that, and that was, we remember showing it, so
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 3: we showed it at the Founders Conference, I guess two
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 3: years ago, at Grace Baptist Church. And we worked so
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 3: hard on that, and there was a lot of sweat
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 3: and blood and tears that went into that. And when
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 3: it was done, the sense was we needed to repent.
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 3: We needed to repent because pastorally, it's like this happened
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 3: under our watch. And so we were committed to a
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 3: number of things, committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ,
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 3: committed to the inerrancy of the word, committed to the confessions,
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 3: committed to reform doctrine, committed to all of these things.
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 4: And yet, how did we miss this?
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 3: Like, how did these terrible ideologies not only advance in
• 2:05:20
  Speaker 3: the world around us, but then were coming into the church?
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 3: And as I've reflected on that, it seems that there
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 3: was a disconnect in my own thinking. Some kind of,
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 3: there was a space in which Jesus was not king.
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't have said that, but it's like, that his
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 3: ethic did not apply. Jesus was king of the church,
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 3: not necessarily king of kings. All authority in the church,
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 3: but not all authority in heaven and on earth. And therefore,
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 3: even when it comes to issues of politics, issues of economics,
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 3: issues of vocation, those things are not outside of what
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 3: God has revealed.
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 4: To us in the word. And so.
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 4: I think that's law.
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 3: So if you have gospel that's been neglected, I think
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 3: God's law also has been assumed, wrongly understood, certainly wrongly applied.
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 3: We haven't understood the connection between that law and all peoples.
• 2:06:19
  Speaker 8: When I think about that and the church and its role,
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 8: having lived outside the country for the last five years,
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 8: and this is the second time living outside the country
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 8: and the longest time living outside the country, there are
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 8: a couple of things that come to mind. One, America's huge.
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 8: And the church is huge. It's almost not fair to
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 8: talk about the church in America because America's so huge.
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 8: There are thousands of prophets who have never bowed the
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 8: knee to Baal. And there are faithful brothers all over
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 8: this country who've been faithful, who've remained faithful. But one
• 2:07:05
  Speaker 8: of the things, one of the other realities that I
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 8: think about in America is power and acceptance. Like Christianity
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 8: in America is so powerful and so accepted and churches
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 8: are so huge. And because of that, there is this
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 8: sense in which There's a very public face of the church.
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 8: There's a very successful face of the church. There are
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 8: churches that have thousands upon thousands of members. You know,
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 8: I remember one time, and this is the first time
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 8: when it just kind of dawned on me. There was
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 8: a pastor in the Houston area who talked about his
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 8: church and talked about pastoring a small church. Well, there
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 8: are 500 members in his church.
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 7: That's ridiculous, you know?
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 8: The average church in America is less than 100.
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 7: Members.
• 2:08:01
  Speaker 8: But he was talking about, you know, but that's because
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 8: we live in a city where there were dozens of
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 8: churches running 5,000, 10,000. You know what I mean? And
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 8: so I think sometimes what we did is we got
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 8: this view of American Christianity that was a faulty view
• 2:08:23
  Speaker 8: of American Christianity. And we thought, what the big churches
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 8: are doing is what the church is doing. What the
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 8: churches on TV are doing, that's what the church is doing, right?
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 8: That sort of represented what the church was doing. And
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 8: the other thing is, we got this idea that that
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 8: pastor in that small church with 50, 75, 100 people
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 8: who's faithful, marrying, burying you know, preaching and do it,
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 8: that somehow he was a failure. And he doesn't count
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 8: in terms of what the church in America is or
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 8: what the church, you know, in America does. And so
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 8: I agree that all of these things and all of
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 8: these problems were very real, but these problems were really
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 8: manifested within that context where this huge country with these
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 8: huge churches Allowed us to see a false picture of
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 8: what was really going on. And really lulled us to
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 8: sleep in a lot of ways. And the measure of
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 8: success changed. You know, even among good brothers, the measure
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 8: of success changed. And the level of compromise that we
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 8: can be comfortable with kind of changed. when compromise gets
• 2:09:53
  Speaker 8: so far out among those churches that are big and,
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 8: you know, it's easy to see, like, that guy's compromised,
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 8: then I don't see my own compromise, you know? So
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 8: I think there was a whole lot of these other
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 8: factors at play that led to some of the downfalls
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 8: that we've seen. And I think as I look now,
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 8: I see... All of a sudden, church, Christianity falling out
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 8: of favor in this country where it's been king of
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 8: the hill. And the rest of the world knows persecution.
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 8: We haven't used those muscles in a long time. So
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 8: we're absolutely terrified as to what we're going to do, right,
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 8: if we're no longer king of the hill. But we'll
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 8: be okay. Why? Why? Because the church has always been okay,
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 8: and the church always will be okay.
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 7: I think we've squandered blessings. Yes. I mean, we've had
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 7: incredible blessings in this country.
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 6: I mean, as a nation, it's easier to see, I think,
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 6: that you look at how God's blessed America and what
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 6: we've done with those blessings. We've turned them into platforms
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 6: to rebel against him. But I think in a similar way,
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 6: the churches, you know, we've been able to preach without...
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 6: fearing somebody busting through the door to arrest us.
• 2:11:21
  Speaker 7: Yep.
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 6: And without fearing that, you know, our non tax status
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 6: is going to be taken from us or tax exemption
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 6: can be taken from us. Well, we, we may be,
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 6: we've already seen this last year, doors being closed and
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 6: authorities saying you can't do that.
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 8: Yep.
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 6: And there's already a lot of talk about the tax
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 6: exemption being withdrawn.
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 7: And, uh, I think, well, now we say, oh, that's horrible.
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 7: We've got to do something.
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 6: Well, yeah, we should have been doing something back there
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 6: when we had all the blessings and the freedoms and
• 2:11:52
  Speaker 6: we just kind of grew lazy and we forgot that
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 6: those freedoms came at a cost and people who understood
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 6: the word, who were unafraid to assert the.
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 7: Word and to think from the word.
• 2:12:06
  Speaker 6: To this culture, to this political system, they were, under God,
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 6: the ones that were used to provide the freedoms for
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 6: us I've said before, if we had to, if all
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 6: the Christians in America had to get together and found
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 6: a new country tomorrow, we'd be in trouble.
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 7: Oh, yeah.
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 6: We couldn't do what those guys did back in 1776.
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 7: We couldn't do it. We just don't have it.
• 2:12:30
  Speaker 3: And the squandered blessings is really convicting because, you know,
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 3: it's just like generational blessing and wealth that comes down.
• 2:12:40
  Speaker 3: The first guy earns it, you know, second guy. uses it,
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 3: third guy loses it. And we had these blessings and
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 3: part of squandering them is we didn't have the wisdom
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 3: and the teleology to think.
• 2:12:57
  Speaker 4: I'm going to build something. I'm going to do something.
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 4: I'm going to speak.
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 3: I'm going to address the next error. I'm going to
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 3: employ all of these resources in the battle. And I
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 3: know there's going to be Christians.
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 7: Because it was all built. That's right.
• 2:13:08
  Speaker 8: Right?
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 7: It was all built. I didn't have to plant that tree.
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 7: I got the shade, you know? Yeah.
• 2:13:13
  Speaker 3: It was built, and then we secluded the church. You know, big,
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 3: wonderful churches and all of these things and lots of
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 3: people that are coming. While there was this secularism out
• 2:13:25
  Speaker 3: there in the streets, that we were just kind of
• 2:13:28
  Speaker 3: Our resources aren't to go storm the gates of hell.
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 3: Our resources were used to help us kind of grow fat.
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 3: And so we employed them there. And now the threat
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 3: seems to me, the challenge seems to me, we weren't
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 3: using the resources. We've been squandering them. But we still
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 3: have so many. We still have so many. And so
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 3: now it's an opportunity for us to wake up and say, oh,
• 2:13:54
  Speaker 3: let's start employing all of these resources. The people and
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 3: what we have, I'm not just talking monetarily, but the
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 3: rich theology that is there in our history to pray
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 3: and say, God, please help us to now be good
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 3: stewards of what you've given us.
• 2:14:09
  Speaker 8: Yeah, and we were building big churches, and I mean,
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 8: I don't think there's anything wrong with big churches. I
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 8: praise God for big churches. Don't hear me saying that
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 8: it's wrong for churches to be big, but I think
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 8: the way we were lulled to sleep is our churches
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 8: were growing and our influence was growing. And that kind
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 8: of lulled us to sleep while another group of people
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 8: were saying, let's take that long march through the institutions.
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 8: And they were saying, let's get to the root of this.
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 8: They were saying, let's train the next generation of teachers
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 8: Let's train the next generation of lawyers. Let's train the
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 8: next generation of politicians with this worldview, right? And now,
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 8: a little over a generation later, we're looking out going,
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 8: what happened, right?
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 7: And there have.
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 8: Been people for an entire generation who were saying, this
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 8: is happening in the institutions, and we were saying, But look,
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 8: we're building this army. We have churches of thousands, right?
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 8: We have voting blocks. We have, you know, and so
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 8: we were doing that. They were playing the long games.
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 8: We were playing checkers. They were playing chess.
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 3: That is really, that is so convicting and challenging because
• 2:15:45
  Speaker 3: it's so right.
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they were far more entrepreneurial and far more loyal to.
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 7: Their gods than we were to ours.
• 2:15:54
  Speaker 6: You know, that's the bottom line is you think about
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 6: opportunities we have to think beyond this moment in my generation.
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 6: I mean, I guess the older I've gotten, the more
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 6: this has landed on me heavily, too, because I've got,
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 6: by God's grace, I've been able to see my children's children.
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 6: And I'm looking in their eyes. I'm thinking, they're growing
• 2:16:14
  Speaker 6: up in this world, and it ain't the same world. And,
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 6: you know, what am I going to do? What are
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 6: we going to do for the sake of those kids
• 2:16:23
  Speaker 6: and and their kids, and I'm not going to live
• 2:16:26
  Speaker 6: to see a lot of the fruit of the labor.
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 7: That I want to engage in.
• 2:16:30
  Speaker 6: But I've benefited from a lot of the fruit of
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 6: the labor of people who didn't see it either, but
• 2:16:35
  Speaker 6: they labored.
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 3: One of the messages that we've been trying to sound
• 2:16:38
  Speaker 3: a lot, and you probably hear it in this pre-conference, is,
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 3: you know, now is not the time to run for
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 3: the hills. I mean, there's an appropriate way to run
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 3: for the hills, right? To run for the hills in
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 3: the Christian commitments. But now is the time to build
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 3: and fight. Now is the time, Nehemiah time. It is
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 3: sword and trowel and you're watching like now Sanballat is
• 2:16:57
  Speaker 3: there and Sanballat makes things harder because it was already
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 3: hard to build the walls and now Sanballat's doing his
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 3: thing and we still have to build the walls. And
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 3: if we have a Christian community that has not been
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 3: taking the long march through the institutions and really seeking
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 3: to build, and others have been building, and now.
• 2:17:17
  Speaker 4: The fruit's being, the fruit's.
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 3: Now budding and growing, and we've got people that need
• 2:17:23
  Speaker 3: to be trained now to think this way again. And
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 3: it's not just about a particular kind of institution, but
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 3: it's a vision of Building and laboring this cultural mandate
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 3: of being fruitful and multiplying and exercising dominion and being
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 3: wise and looking to Proverbs and knowing how to live
• 2:17:40
  Speaker 3: in God's world. And so the challenge is we're kind
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 3: of back to the beginning.
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 4: You might not have a lot of resources. It might
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 4: be like, well, let's start. Where do we start?
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 8: Start?
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 4: You start with the first brick.
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 3: And, you know, ACU, so African Christian University in Zambia,
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 3: you're involved in that, Vodi, you're dean of the School
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 3: of Divinity there. And you've talked a little bit about this,
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 3: but why is that university not just a Bible school? Like,
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 3: why is it covering, why is it a university? What
• 2:18:07
  Speaker 3: are you thinking about as you're laboring there?
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it's very interesting. And I hear that all the time,
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 8: especially when we were getting ready to leave. You know, oh,
• 2:18:15
  Speaker 8: you guys are getting ready to go start a Bible college. Oh,
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 8: you know, you guys are getting ready to go start
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 8: a seminary. You guys are getting ready to go. And
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 8: I would tell people, no, no, no. First of all,
• 2:18:25
  Speaker 8: the Reformed Baptists of Zambia are starting this institution. I'm
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 8: going to put my hand to the plow with my brethren.
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 8: I'm not going over as the American with all the
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 8: answers to take something, right? This is a 30-year-old indigenous, sound, reformed, healthy,
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 8: multiplying movement that's starting this university. That was number one.
• 2:18:46
  Speaker 8: Number two, we're going to help start a classical Christian
• 2:18:51
  Speaker 8: liberal arts biblical worldview university. not just a Bible college.
• 2:18:58
  Speaker 8: And I would say that and people's eyes would sort
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 8: of glaze over. But it's the same thing because what
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 8: I was talking about was going over there to play chess,
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 8: not checkers. Going over there to be a part of
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 8: an institution that would be foundational, right? An institution that
• 2:19:24
  Speaker 8: would play the long game. And because for so long
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 8: we haven't thought in those terms, it was really hard
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 8: to get people to even register what it is that
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 8: we were over there doing and why on earth we
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 8: would be over there trying to do it. And so
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 8: even there, even on the ground there, there were people
• 2:19:52
  Speaker 8: who just It was so different that people just didn't
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 8: sort of register with people, you know, why we would
• 2:20:01
  Speaker 8: do that kind of institution. And so it's not that
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 8: we don't care about people dying and going to hell
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 8: and we don't care about the gospel being preached and
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 8: that we're choosing instead to take this sort of long view.
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 8: That's a false dichotomy. That's right. We're about both and, right?
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 8: We're about the sword and the trowel, right? To borrow
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 8: from founders. We're about fighting that fight right now, proclaiming
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 8: the gospel right now, but also recognizing that should the
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 8: Lord tarry and give us another hundred years, there's a
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 8: specific way that we need to be planting and sowing
• 2:20:49
  Speaker 8: right now so that we can see in generations to come,
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 8: the kind of fruit that led to those great freedoms
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 8: that we enjoy here. So I'm living in a country
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 8: that's the size of Texas with half its population. So
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 8: the size of Texas, but it's got like 14, 15
• 2:21:10
  Speaker 8: million people. It's a constitutionally Christian Republic, which, you know,
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 8: it doesn't mean a whole lot other than there's no
• 2:21:17
  Speaker 8: antagonism towards, you know, what we're doing. Um, And it
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 8: gained its independence in 1964 from the same people we
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 8: gained our independence from, but their George Washington is still alive.
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 8: Just think about that context, right? And so we're starting,
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 8: you know, a school in the vein of our early
• 2:21:49
  Speaker 8: Ivy League schools, the Harvards and Yales and Princetons, who
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 8: started with that right kind of vision and bore tremendous
• 2:22:01
  Speaker 8: fruit until they went off the rails. Number one, we
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 8: know that they went off the rails. We know how
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 8: they went off the rails, so that gives us a
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 8: great advantage. But number two, we have the great benefit
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 8: of people who've seen the consequences of not being faithful
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 8: with that kind of opportunity. So, I mean, it's a
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 8: really exciting place to be, and it's a really exciting
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 8: opportunity to have. The other thing is this. I mean,
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 8: Europe's gone. In terms of the gospel, Europe has fallen.
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 8: So when we think about evangelizing Africa, that's not going
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 8: to happen from the north because Europe's gone, right? After Europe,
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 8: you've got the Middle East. They're trying to evangelize Africa, but.
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 7: With Islam.
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 8: So if Africa's going to be evangelized, it's going to
• 2:22:58
  Speaker 8: happen from the south, and we're in south-central Africa. But
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 8: at ACU, we're not even thinking about, we're not just
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 8: thinking about that, right? We're not just thinking about evangelizing
• 2:23:08
  Speaker 8: the rest of the continent, but we're thinking, who's going
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 8: to re-evangelize Europe?
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 3: Tom, you're president of the Institute of Public Theology, and
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 3: so we've got institutions going on here.
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 4: And this is recently launched.
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 3: You know, if you're looking at the landscape of the chaos,
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 3: you kind of would ask, well, why would I go
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 3: build an institution now people are burning down buildings? Like,
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 3: why would I go start something that people, when it
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 3: seems everything is being torn down, wouldn't you kind of go,
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 3: why don't you go to the monastery? Why don't you
• 2:23:43
  Speaker 3: flee and go away? But here's an institution.
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 11: Why?
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 8: Why?
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I see this as some of the fruit
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 6: of my own repentance to try to labor for this.
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 7: And we send missionaries around the.
• 2:23:55
  Speaker 6: World, rightly so, and I would love to be able
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 6: to send missionaries to the future and to have men
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 6: trained with the kind of thinking that we're talking about,
• 2:24:06
  Speaker 6: that we tried to articulate tonight some, where that is common,
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 6: that's foundational to the way that they understand gospel ministry.
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 6: that this kind of subjective pietistic view, and by pietism
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 6: I don't just mean holiness and devotion, I mean the
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 6: sense that it's this way, it's me and Jesus, or
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 6: maybe me and you and Jesus in the church, but
• 2:24:31
  Speaker 6: we don't think in terms of culture, we don't think
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 6: in terms of the mandate to go and to spread
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 6: the kingdom of Christ throughout every arena of life. I
• 2:24:45
  Speaker 6: want to see men trained to think this way and to,
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 6: to understand what it means to minister this so that
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 6: others can be raised up. Churches can be raised up
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 6: where this is just kind of warp and woof of
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 6: how they view the Christian life.
• 2:25:02
  Speaker 7: And so we're shooting for ministers. I met pastors.
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 6: That's our, our primary target, but we're not going to
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 6: limit it to just pastors so others can take classes.
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 6: But I, if God would grant me enough years and
• 2:25:12
  Speaker 6: strength to see, um, some men trained going out planting
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 6: churches or leading churches with this kind of holistic view
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 6: of how the gospel applies to every area of life,
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 6: I would die ecstatic.
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 7: And it needs to happen.
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 6: I'm not saying it's not happening anywhere else, but I
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 6: want to see it happen with the particular kinds of
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 6: insights and understandings that have become common in our pretty
• 2:25:40
  Speaker 6: small circle. You know, we've got larger circles of fellowship
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 6: and friendship. Praise God for it. But in terms of
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 6: thinking like this, thinking aggressively about how the law of
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 6: God and the gospel of God apply to every area
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 6: of life.
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 7: We want to see that.
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 8: I think the other issue is we have to recognize
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 8: the reality of institutional inertia, right? We tend to have
• 2:26:10
  Speaker 8: these ideas, and this goes back to our churches and
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 8: the way we think about our churches and putting all
• 2:26:14
  Speaker 8: of our energies into raising the church bigger this way
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 8: instead of multiplying, right? And I think we think that
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 8: way in terms of institutions as well. You know, you
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 8: start a seminary, and then the goal is to make
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 8: that as big as it possibly can so that everybody
• 2:26:36
  Speaker 8: can come here and be trained. That's not New Testament thinking.
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 8: We need to multiply these institutions like we multiply churches
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 8: because the other side of that is it's the church's
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 8: job to raise up multigenerational leaders. And institutions need to
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 8: partner with churches in that process. And if we believe that,
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 8: then we won't have just a few institutions that say,
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 8: everybody come here. But we will multiply institutions so that
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 8: there can be more of that kind of partnership happening.
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 8: And beyond that, we need to recognize that we don't
• 2:27:17
  Speaker 8: need the same kind of institution. We don't have a
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 8: corner on the truth. One of the things that I've
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 8: been learning and realizing is we don't all have to
• 2:27:32
  Speaker 8: stand on the same wall. What I mean by that
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 8: is this. We've all run into Christians who are passionate
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 8: about their thing, right? Whatever their thing is. I mean,
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 8: they just get on fire about their thing. And it's
• 2:27:50
  Speaker 8: the most important thing in the world. They're committed to it.
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 8: They give their time. They give their energy. They give
• 2:27:55
  Speaker 8: their effort. It's the thing. Not only is it the
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 8: thing for them, But anybody else who doesn't see it
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 8: as the thing is not being a good Christian, right?
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 8: It's not that other Christians can have other things, right?
• 2:28:13
  Speaker 8: Or even have a different part in that fight, for example, right?
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 8: And I think sometimes we're guilty of that when we
• 2:28:24
  Speaker 8: think about our institutions, right? Not every institution is going
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 8: to be great at everything.
• 2:28:31
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 2:28:31
  Speaker 7: And so that's.
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 8: Another reason we need to multiply these types of institutions
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 8: so that there can be people standing on different walls
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 8: and training people for different posts and not everybody is
• 2:28:44
  Speaker 8: being a cookie cutter going out there to do the
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 8: same thing and fight in the same area of the fight.
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 7: That's a great point.
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 6: That does come right back to the Institute of Public Theology.
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 7: We're putting this thing together. The thought in my mind.
• 2:28:58
  Speaker 6: Was, okay, we need to have men who will teach
• 2:29:02
  Speaker 6: in this institution, who have rock-ribbed convictions.
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 7: So they're not just theoretical in their confession.
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 6: They're not saying, oh, I've signed the abstract principles, or
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 6: I've signed the Baptist faith message.
• 2:29:14
  Speaker 7: Of course I believe that. No, they're rock-ribbed.
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 6: They're down on the ground saying, this is what our
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 6: confession means. This is how we apply it. And not
• 2:29:23
  Speaker 6: just men of conviction, but this is a phrase I've used,
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 6: and it's resonated, and so I'm going to keep coming
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 6: back to it. I want men who have blood mixed
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 6: with their convictions. And so their convictions have cost them something.
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 6: And by God's grace, he has assembled that type of team.
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 6: And what you said, yeah, we're not trying to be
• 2:29:44
  Speaker 6: some other school over here. We got a pretty clear
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 6: sense of what we're hoping to see men access and
• 2:29:51
  Speaker 6: grow in to serve and be a part of churches
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 6: that will do something similar to that. May not look
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 6: exactly the same. but where they will go and try
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 6: to replicate this same understanding of how the gospel works
• 2:30:05
  Speaker 6: in these areas. And if God enables us to do that,
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 6: and I believe he will. I really do. It's amazing.
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 6: It is amazing how this has come together in less
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 6: than a year, although somebody asked me the other day,
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 6: you know, how long have you been thinking about this?
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 7: I said, oh, about 35 years, you know.
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 6: So it's happened in a year, but it's been out
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 6: of a lifetime of kind of thinking about these types
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 6: of things. But to see the way God has assembled
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 6: the team and is still assembling. We're not finished. And
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 6: the response, the responsiveness from students. We got folks already
• 2:30:39
  Speaker 6: interested in that. And churches and pastors are interested. I'm very,
• 2:30:42
  Speaker 6: very hopeful that this can be a useful instrument for,
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 6: if God is pleased, for generations to come.
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 3: There's a number of doctrines that have to be addressed.
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 3: And Tom and I recently wrote a book, Strong and Courageous,
• 2:30:56
  Speaker 3: Following Jesus Amid the Rise of America's New Religion. In
• 2:30:59
  Speaker 3: the front, in the very introduction, we detail a number
• 2:31:02
  Speaker 3: of doctrines. And there's just so many doctrines that are
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 3: important to grasp. But one of them is just thinking
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 3: about your life for the service of Christ. And by that,
• 2:31:15
  Speaker 3: the problem is we interpret even that phrase in kind
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 3: of light of this pietism that I was I.
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 4: Was just steeped in myself.
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 3: And we don't mean, anytime we talk about pietism, we
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 3: don't mean to talk, it's not saying that reading the
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 3: Bible and praying is bad or wrong. Absolutely, but I
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 3: remember equating that with godliness. So godliness is reading the
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 3: Bible and praying and going to church. And then the
• 2:31:37
  Speaker 3: fruit of the spirit and the work of faith and
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 3: the labor of love. Like living in the world for
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 3: Christ is kind of, I don't have to do that.
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 3: And what I do with work as men, what we
• 2:31:47
  Speaker 3: do is we just provide for our households. And we'll
• 2:31:49
  Speaker 3: kind of do that whether it's just moving a rock
• 2:31:51
  Speaker 3: from one side of the street to the other. We're
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 3: not thinking about the world and not loving people. And
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 3: so we say, well, we're not entrepreneurs.
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 4: Well, maybe not everybody's wired up in the same way.
• 2:31:59
  Speaker 4: But my hope is, as at.
• 2:32:02
  Speaker 3: This conference, we're talking about institutions that have been started
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 3: and worked for. That people would see, I don't have
• 2:32:07
  Speaker 3: to be a pastor to get some of that flavor.
• 2:32:11
  Speaker 3: You know, there's a member of our church. He contacted
• 2:32:14
  Speaker 3: me and said, you know, Pastor, I'm at my work.
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 3: I'm at a Zoom meeting. COVID stuff's going on. HR
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 3: is there. Everybody's on the screen. And they say, everybody,
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 3: John here is now Jill. And everyone will refer to
• 2:32:28
  Speaker 3: John as Jill. You'll use her personal pronouns. She'll be
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 3: used in the ladies' bathroom. If you get calls from
• 2:32:34
  Speaker 3: people that ask for John, you need to explain the
• 2:32:36
  Speaker 3: situation to them and transfer them to Jill.
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 4: And he said, I don't think I can do this.
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 8: I said, you're right.
• 2:32:42
  Speaker 4: I don't think you can. You know John.
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 3: And as he's dealing with that in vocation, I said,
• 2:32:50
  Speaker 3: you know, I bet there's some employees at that company
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 3: who don't want to live under that tyranny. who don't
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 3: wanna live under that system. And so what do you do?
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 3: You say, I'm gonna start. I'm gonna serve people well.
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 3: I'm going to initiate something. And that can be replicated
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 3: over anything. If you're a homemaker, if you're a student,
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 3: whatever it is you do, starting to think, no, Jesus
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 3: Christ is king, and yes, this world is crumbling, and
• 2:33:14
  Speaker 3: rebellion is never a good long-term strategy in the world
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 3: God made. And so starting to make some of those
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 3: connections in our lives, thinking of our families that way.
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 3: You know, when we, I mean, think about it. If
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 3: you're a start of an institution, we want to raise
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 3: up men who will go do things, who will go
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 3: start institutions. I don't want to raise up people that
• 2:33:33
  Speaker 3: are only going to come back. It's like our children
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 3: are meant to be arrows. They're raised up and sent
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 3: out to serve Christ and the world. We want the
• 2:33:39
  Speaker 3: same thing in the institutions. And there needs to be
• 2:33:41
  Speaker 3: a pattern of our thought as we're watching things crumble
• 2:33:44
  Speaker 3: around us.
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 4: Well, how about this? Pragmatism. We've been dealing with that
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 4: a lot.
• 2:33:55
  Speaker 3: And both you, Tom, you mentioned both President Donald Trump
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 3: and now President Joe Biden. And it's been something that's
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 3: been talked about a lot in relationship to materialism and
• 2:34:07
  Speaker 3: to Marxist thought. There's just a material world, just a
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 3: pragmatic world. And all we do is we kind of
• 2:34:13
  Speaker 3: pull levers here. That seems to be a present thought
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 3: in all of this. And when you think about building
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 3: institutions and trying to serve the Lord, you can start
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 3: to say, well, I see that works. That's what works.
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 3: I'm going to do what works. What is pragmatism? What's
• 2:34:26
  Speaker 3: the danger of it? What are we to do?
• 2:34:32
  Speaker 7: Well, yeah.
• 2:34:36
  Speaker 8: It's your birthday.
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 7: I know, so you should answer, right?
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 6: Well, pragmatism is basically not thinking that there is a God.
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 6: It's viewing the world in terms of cause and effect
• 2:34:50
  Speaker 6: that you have control over.
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 7: So you do whatever works.
• 2:34:54
  Speaker 6: And you've got a certain set of metrics that are
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 6: applied to determine whether it works well or not. And
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 6: those metrics then determine what you're going to do. So
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 6: if you.
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 7: Use red light, I'll just give you an example from
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 7: my own church background.
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 6: The second church I ever served, we were told by
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 6: some consultants that we had the wrong colored lights in
• 2:35:17
  Speaker 6: the auditorium. and that if we would put in a
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 6: different colored light, that we would see growth. And so
• 2:35:24
  Speaker 6: at great expense, all the lights were changed to a
• 2:35:28
  Speaker 6: different hue so that we could see growth. And I
• 2:35:33
  Speaker 6: think we did see people come in. And so they said, well,
• 2:35:36
  Speaker 6: you know, see there, it works. And so we just
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 6: got on that train, and it was one thing after another.
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 6: I was young and foolish as a staff member, and
• 2:35:46
  Speaker 6: this didn't go well, but It was in a staff meeting.
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 7: They were talking about.
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 6: The church down the road had a lot of people
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 6: that were walking down the aisle every Sunday. And the
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 6: pastor I was serving with said, you know, even if
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 6: the Spirit's not at work, it looks like he's at work.
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 6: And said, we've got to do something like that. And
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 6: I said, well, I've got an idea. Why don't we
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 6: give everybody a color TV that makes it down front?
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 7: And I think it would have worked, but they didn't
• 2:36:08
  Speaker 7: try it, you know. And I didn't get any bonus
• 2:36:11
  Speaker 7: points for suggesting it. But that's, I mean, pragmatism. What works?
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 6: What are you trying to do? Let's figure out the
• 2:36:16
  Speaker 6: best way. You forget that there's God in heaven. And
• 2:36:19
  Speaker 6: so the contrast to pragmatism is being principled. It's having
• 2:36:24
  Speaker 6: principles that God has, that arise from his word. And
• 2:36:27
  Speaker 6: you say, this is what we're going to do. We're
• 2:36:30
  Speaker 6: going to plant. We're going to water. And we're going
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 6: to trust God to give the increase. If we don't
• 2:36:35
  Speaker 6: see the increase exactly the way we think it should
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 6: happen or would love for it to happen, we're going to.
• 2:36:38
  Speaker 7: Continue to plant. and continue to water.
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 6: We're not going to manufacture plants and stick them in
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 6: the ground and say, look, we got a harvest. We're
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 6: not going to do that because we have a book
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 6: and this book comes from our God. And so we're
• 2:36:52
  Speaker 6: going to try to live according to that. And pragmatism,
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 6: there's a difference between pragmatism being practical. We certainly want
• 2:36:59
  Speaker 6: to be practical and the Bible's practical.
• 2:37:03
  Speaker 7: So I'm not.
• 2:37:03
  Speaker 6: Suggesting that, but it's ordered on the principles that God
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 6: has revealed not just basing what we think will work,
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 6: letting that be the determining factor of what we do.
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 8: The end doesn't justify the means.
• 2:37:19
  Speaker 7: I wish I'd said that. I could have saved 20 minutes, right?
• 2:37:22
  Speaker 8: There it is.
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 3: That's why he wanted to go second.
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 8: Yeah, but that's, and I remember that whole era, you know,
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 8: I sort of came into pastoral ministry, public ministry during
• 2:37:38
  Speaker 8: that whole era of pragmatism. And I remember the church
• 2:37:42
  Speaker 8: growth movement and, you know, going to different and being
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 8: on church staffs and being taken to different churches that
• 2:37:52
  Speaker 8: were big and successful so that we could learn how
• 2:37:58
  Speaker 8: to become big and successful.
• 2:38:00
  Speaker 7: Did you ever hear about Disney University?
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 8: No.
• 2:38:04
  Speaker 6: Disney University, I don't know what they do there, but
• 2:38:07
  Speaker 6: there was a time, maybe still is, where churches would
• 2:38:12
  Speaker 6: send their pastors to Disney University in order to learn
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 6: methods of of growth and the way things could be
• 2:38:19
  Speaker 6: done more efficiently and success.
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 8: Yeah. I mean, that's it. Yeah. And that spirit of pragmatism,
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 8: there was a whole generation marked by that spirit of pragmatism.
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 8: And really, sort of the emerging church movement, the emerging
• 2:38:40
  Speaker 8: church movement was a response to that era.
• 2:38:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:38:47
  Speaker 8: And it's interesting. You had a generation of young people
• 2:38:49
  Speaker 8: who grew up in, you know, youth ministry in their
• 2:38:53
  Speaker 8: churches that were purely pragmatic and they were looking for
• 2:38:56
  Speaker 8: something transcendent. And that whole emerging church movement, emerging church
• 2:39:03
  Speaker 8: movement was sort of a reaction, if you will, to
• 2:39:10
  Speaker 8: that era of radical pragmatism in church growth. And of course...
• 2:39:16
  Speaker 8: they fell in the ditch on the other side of
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 8: the road.
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, those are pietism and pragmatism.
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 3: Pietism, the danger is you're not paying attention to the
• 2:39:26
  Speaker 3: world God made and you're not trying to live wisely
• 2:39:28
  Speaker 3: in God's world. You can be seriously committed to devotional life,
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 3: but you're not thinking about what is the way of
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 3: wisdom here. The danger of that pragmatist is he gets
• 2:39:39
  Speaker 3: something right.
• 2:39:40
  Speaker 4: He sees blue lights work. I don't know if that
• 2:39:43
  Speaker 4: one actually is true.
• 2:39:44
  Speaker 7: They were pink.
• 2:39:44
  Speaker 4: Pink lights work.
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 3: But the pragmatist sees, I'll pull that lever and that happened.
• 2:39:50
  Speaker 3: And we know God made the world to work this way.
• 2:39:53
  Speaker 3: And so there is some wisdom in it. But the
• 2:39:56
  Speaker 3: pragmatist forgets the God who makes it work. And so
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 3: he just begins to pull levers. And why I think
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 3: that's such a danger now is because I do believe
• 2:40:08
  Speaker 3: that we've adopted the pragmatism of American life in the
• 2:40:12
  Speaker 3: way that we're operating in Christian institutions.
• 2:40:15
  Speaker 4: And we see who now has the upper hand. And
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 4: it's not the Christians. And so, you know, you look
• 2:40:23
  Speaker 4: at the different lobbying communities and you're thinking about tax-exempt
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 4: status and you're looking at that hill and you know
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 4: courage says go. I need to die on that hill.
• 2:40:34
  Speaker 4: You mentioned this.
• 2:40:35
  Speaker 8: Die.
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 4: Die. died itself. But pragmatism, full-fledged pragmatism doesn't say die.
• 2:40:42
  Speaker 3: Full-fledged pragmatism, we're not going to win that battle. We're
• 2:40:46
  Speaker 3: not going to win that battle. You're not Old Testament.
• 2:40:49
  Speaker 3: You take that side, I'll take this side. May God
• 2:40:52
  Speaker 3: do what seems good to him. We have to fight.
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 3: We have to go. And, you know, I mean, there's
• 2:40:58
  Speaker 3: just too many shrewd and wise leaders right now that
• 2:41:04
  Speaker 3: are that haven't grasped that there's a God in heaven
• 2:41:08
  Speaker 3: and that the Spirit works and that, you know, I mean,
• 2:41:11
  Speaker 3: dry bones. Hey, dry bones, you don't preach to dry
• 2:41:14
  Speaker 3: bones if you're a full-fledged pragmatist. They're dead bones. I'm
• 2:41:18
  Speaker 3: not gonna preach to them. But there's a God in heaven.
• 2:41:21
  Speaker 3: And we need that, again, just seeded throughout the Christian
• 2:41:25
  Speaker 3: community as we're watching kind of the enemy come in.
• 2:41:29
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 2:41:31
  Speaker 4: What else do you guys have? I'm out of questions.
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 2:41:33
  Speaker 4: You have anything else you want to say?
• 2:41:34
  Speaker 7: I've got a whole notebook of questions.
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 4: Well, I've got notebooks of questions, but I think I
• 2:41:37
  Speaker 4: get them all, man. What else do you want to
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 4: talk about? Anything else? Courage for Christ.
• 2:41:41
  Speaker 3: Any final words of encouragement to folks here as they
• 2:41:44
  Speaker 3: are going to go to the Founders Conference, but then
• 2:41:46
  Speaker 3: they'll be going back to their homes, some pastors, some Christians.
• 2:41:51
  Speaker 4: Inauguration just happened.
• 2:41:52
  Speaker 6: Man, yeah, I just want to underscore that this is
• 2:41:56
  Speaker 6: a great day.
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 7: This is a day of tremendous opportunity for us.
• 2:42:02
  Speaker 6: And the opportunity is not going to be glamorous, but
• 2:42:05
  Speaker 6: it is an opportunity for faithfulness and to really take.
• 2:42:09
  Speaker 7: God at his word.
• 2:42:10
  Speaker 6: You know, there's that, who is it, Epaphras, I think
• 2:42:14
  Speaker 6: it was, that Paul commends, and Philippians, who risked his
• 2:42:18
  Speaker 6: life for the sake of the gospel. And the idea
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 6: is he gambled his life. It's like, okay, you got
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 6: the dice, you know, you got one life. You roll it,
• 2:42:27
  Speaker 6: you know, and you trust God to.
• 2:42:29
  Speaker 7: See how it turns out. We need that.
• 2:42:33
  Speaker 6: We need to do that because I do think compromise,
• 2:42:36
  Speaker 6: we've seen compromise, and I think we're going to see
• 2:42:39
  Speaker 6: increasing compromise. And I don't, I've got enough sin in
• 2:42:44
  Speaker 6: my own heart to deal with, and I'm not trying
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 6: to cast stones at others, but I can tell you
• 2:42:49
  Speaker 6: I've been very disappointed, very disappointed with many evangelical leaders
• 2:42:55
  Speaker 6: in how this last year has just revealed things in
• 2:42:59
  Speaker 6: their thinking and in their counsel. So how to have
• 2:43:05
  Speaker 6: the Lord's Supper online. How to have baptisms online. And,
• 2:43:13
  Speaker 6: you know, I praise God that we've got technology.
• 2:43:15
  Speaker 7: Let's use it well.
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 6: But when you start talking about church online, baptism online,
• 2:43:20
  Speaker 6: Lord's Supper online, you've forgotten we.
• 2:43:23
  Speaker 7: Have a book.
• 2:43:25
  Speaker 6: And whenever you've got, like the governor of Virginia said yesterday,
• 2:43:29
  Speaker 6: You know, you don't have to worship God.
• 2:43:33
  Speaker 7: With other people. I believe that God is wherever you are.
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 6: And so do the right thing and just, you know,
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 6: keep discipline.
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 7: And you got some church leaders saying, well, yeah, that's right.
• 2:43:46
  Speaker 7: That's right. I mean, whenever our evangelical.
• 2:43:50
  Speaker 6: Leaders start taking counsel from our politicians, you know, Houston,
• 2:43:55
  Speaker 6: we got a problem, all right?
• 2:43:57
  Speaker 7: So what an opportunity, though, for us to come back
• 2:44:01
  Speaker 7: to the Scriptures and say, wait a minute, does God
• 2:44:03
  Speaker 7: say anything about this?
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 6: Has there ever been a time in the history of
• 2:44:07
  Speaker 6: the church or was there a time in the Bible
• 2:44:09
  Speaker 6: when things were a little dangerous to meet?
• 2:44:13
  Speaker 7: You know, I mean, good night.
• 2:44:16
  Speaker 6: Well, anyhow, so opportune day, opportune day. Let's take advantage
• 2:44:22
  Speaker 6: of it. Let's risk our lives. And if we perish,
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 6: we perish, but man, that'll be more Christ. So if
• 2:44:28
  Speaker 6: God will help us to see that, to live that
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 6: way so that we're not holding our lives dear to
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 6: ourselves and we are determined to live as boldly as
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 6: we can for the advance of this gospel that has
• 2:44:40
  Speaker 6: been given to us. I think that there are people
• 2:44:44
  Speaker 6: who will see that and by the grace and power
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 6: of God, will respond to that. I mean, I've seen it.
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 6: We've seen it in our church. We've heard stories from
• 2:44:54
  Speaker 6: other churches where we've had people show up just because
• 2:44:58
  Speaker 6: they wanted to be where there wasn't a lot of
• 2:45:01
  Speaker 6: fear and where there wasn't a lot of capitulation without thoughtfulness.
• 2:45:06
  Speaker 6: I'm not casting stones at anybody that has done it
• 2:45:09
  Speaker 6: differently than we've done it. But this is an opportunity
• 2:45:12
  Speaker 6: for God's people to go back to the book, take
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 6: God at his word, to live wisely and to live
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 6: in faith not capitulating to the gods of the age
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 6: that we're all being told that we need to bow to.
• 2:45:26
  Speaker 8: Amen.
• 2:45:27
  Speaker 3: Well, brothers, thank you for this conversation. And thank you
• 2:45:29
  Speaker 3: all for coming to this pre-conference. And we do request
• 2:45:32
  Speaker 3: your prayers for the coming days. We have been working
• 2:45:36
  Speaker 3: and excited about all that's coming and just rejoicing the
• 2:45:40
  Speaker 3: way God has already blessed it. And we've been reminded
• 2:45:43
  Speaker 3: of the need to pray that God indeed would empower
• 2:45:45
  Speaker 3: his word as it's preached.
• 2:45:47
  Speaker 8: By the Spirit.
• 2:45:48
  Speaker 3: So let me pray now and then we'll be dismissed.
• 2:45:51
  Speaker 3: Father God, we thank you for your grace among us
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 3: and for your word. Thank you for the word that's
• 2:45:57
  Speaker 3: been preached tonight by Tom and Vody. Thank you for
• 2:45:59
  Speaker 3: this discussion and we pray that you would give us
• 2:46:01
  Speaker 3: wisdom and that you would give us courage and that
• 2:46:04
  Speaker 3: you would remind us that Jesus Christ is at your
• 2:46:06
  Speaker 3: right hand interceding for us even now. Why in the
• 2:46:10
  Speaker 3: world should we be dismayed, oh God? We confess that
• 2:46:12
  Speaker 3: we've been dismayed and we've been fearful and we've been
• 2:46:16
  Speaker 3: anxious and we haven't done all that you've told us
• 2:46:18
  Speaker 3: to do in your word and we're eager to do
• 2:46:20
  Speaker 3: it now. We thank you that Jesus has shed his
• 2:46:22
  Speaker 3: blood for us and that he has risen again. We
• 2:46:24
  Speaker 3: pray that you would bless all these who gathered here tonight,
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 3: that they would greatly benefit from the word that has
• 2:46:30
  Speaker 3: been preached, that you would strengthen their faith, that you'd
• 2:46:32
  Speaker 3: make them strong and courageous.
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 4: We pray all this in Christ's name.
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 8: Amen.