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Living Your Values, MAGA, and Christianity · The Reading Instruction Show

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  Greetings, everyone. Andy Johnson here. The title
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  of today's presentation is called Fortitude and
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  Living Your Values. And my Jesus -loving MAGA
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  friends are going to be mad at me for this one,
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  but that's not my purpose. For unto us, Isaiah
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  9 .5. For unto us a child is born, a son will
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  be given, and the government will be upon his
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  shoulders. and his name will be called Wonderful
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  Counselor, Mighty God, My Father of Eternity,
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  Prince of Peace." And the angel said, and Luke,
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  glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace,
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  goodwill toward men. So Prince of Peace, let
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  me ask you, how's that working out for you? How's
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  the peace thing going? I have to be honest, I
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  don't see a lot of peace coming out of my Jesus
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  loving mega friends. I see anger, hatred, retribution,
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  violence, and lies. Peace on earth, goodwill
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  toward men and women and children and animal
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  life and our planet. How's that goodwill thing
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  working for you? Are you feeling it? Is your
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  will good? Or is it selfish? Did I misread Luke?
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  Did the angels say selfish will to all? I don't
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  see a lot of goodwill emanating from the Jesus
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  -loving mega -folk. I see greed, selfishness,
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  violence, indifference and entitlement. And I'm
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  sorry, that's what I'm seeing. And now I see
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  war and I see killing. I see people being beat
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  up and locked up. And the Christian Bible has
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  policies about these sorts of things. Jesus as
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  condition of the heart, Philippians 2 .5, have
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  this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
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  Christ Jesus. have this mind. I've come to know
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  Jesus as an internal state. I've put on the Lord
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  Jesus Christ. I've let the peace of Christ rule
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  my heart. I've got myself a bad case of the Jesus
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  condition within me. And the Jesus I have come
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  to know is not wearing a MAGA hat. enchanting
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  America first, God bless America, build the wall,
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  bomb Venezuela, Greenland as ours, bomb Iran,
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  grab them by the pussy. My Jesus is saying none
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  of these things. The Jesus I've come to know
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  speaks of love, compassion. selflessness, generosity,
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  responsibility, understanding, and joy. Colossians
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  3 .15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts
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  since as members of one body you were called
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  to peace and be thankful. Am I reading my Bible
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  upside down here? How do you justify these words
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  with the behaviors of Trump? And if you support
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  his policies and actions, these behaviors are
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  yours by proxy. It appears as if your Christianity
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  is merely a set of behaviors and beliefs. Refrain
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  from bad behaviors and believe the right sorts
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  of things so you can get to heaven when you die.
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  And that's just wonderful. And I'd be fine with
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  it. If it works for you, I'm all for it. But
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  obviously it's not working. It's not working.
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  I see anger with a smiling face. I see selfishness
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  and greed dressed in niceties and platitudes.
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  I see pious moralizing and complacent indifference
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  dressed in your Sunday best. What I don't see
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  is peace. And I certainly don't see goodwill.
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  I see selfish will, evil will, indifferent will,
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  sanctimonious will, but I don't see good will.
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  And I don't see compassion. Paul says we are
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  to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put him on!
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  You perhaps see Holy Scripture as a set of behaviors
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  and beliefs stuck in time. Maybe that's the cause
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  of your selfish indifference. Put on the mantle
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  of God at its highest. Christianity is a way
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  of seeing and being in the world. It's a set
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  of dispositions. It's a condition of your heart
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  in a state of your soul. It's a mindset that
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  enables you to see Jesus, to hear Jesus, to feel
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  Jesus. Romans says put on, Romans 13, 14, put
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  on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions
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  for the flesh to gratify its desires. So why
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  should I care? My life is good. Why should I
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  worry? I've got a pension and a 401k. But in
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  Luke, in the Beatitudes, Jesus says, blessed
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  are those who are persecuted because of their
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  righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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  This talks to fortitude, that inner state. You
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  live your values. You try to. You don't back
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  down. You speak up when you see something wrong.
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  You do something when you see evil. And I would
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  ask my Jesus -loving MAGA friends, are you living
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  your values? Are these really your values? Or
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  is your Christianity merely a ticket to heaven
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  for you?