Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / November 6, 2016 | Timm Collins - Come Together

Transcript

November 6, 2016 | Timm Collins - Come Together · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Topeka Bible Church.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: You may or may not be aware, maybe you were paying attention last week when Pastor Jim mentioned it.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's actually in Haiti this weekend.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: They've been doing a pastor's conference all week.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so he had asked me several weeks back if I would uh speak for him today.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I told him sure, and I had another plan uh sermon uh prepped, ready to go, and it hit me about two weeks ago that today would actually be you know 48 hours before Black Tuesday or whatever we're calling it.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So uh might be a little conspicuous if we didn't talk about it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, let's just wade right into the middle of it.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: How about that, okay?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll uh I I have I had two friends that uh we used to go uh skiing.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually a big group of us from church.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you may not know.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not on staff here at this church, I'm actually on staff at a missions organization here in town.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I was a pastor for 11 years and been have been preaching for a lot longer than that.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh back in the day, the church that we attended, we used to go snow skiing.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: We were from Florida.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and I moved here from Florida, we were born and raised there, and so yes, we did leave Florida to go snow skiing because you have to.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we would go up to North Carolina.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: There was a pretty decent slope up there, Sugar Mountain and Boone.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've been there, it's a pretty cool little vibe, and for us it was a day's drive, so that's cool.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we went up there every February.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean for years, like for over a decade.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: We would go every year.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And there was one particular year that I remember going and uh had two friends who rode with me.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We went in my car.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: So we went and we had a good time, and I'll never forget when we left to come back to Florida, we had left to head south.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I uh for whatever reason, I don't remember the context, but for whatever reason, I was really tired.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so the guys, the two guys said, uh, you just get in the back and go to sleep, and we'll drive, and then you can sleep for a while, and then when you wake up, you can drive the rest of the way.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, well that sounds fun.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I laid down uh in the back of my uh car and I slept.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I slept.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: You ever done that?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like you wake up and you don't know who you are or where you are, right?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I woke up a little confused anyway.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I slept for a few hours.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I woke up a little confused anyway, and I just glanced, of course, I'm in the backseat, and I glance out the front window, and it hit me as we're driving by these signs that we're approaching the exits to Charleston, South Carolina.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The problem was we weren't supposed to be anywhere near Charleston, South Carolina.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I had asked them before I left, you guys know the way home, yeah, absolutely.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they had missed a turn about an hour, hour and a half back.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're just trucking.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: We were making great time.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: But uh weren't really getting any closer to our destination.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Wound up having to turn around and come back.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just interesting to be in the backseat uh to feel like, and they were, they did know where we were going, they just weren't paying attention because I woke up to the two of them just talking, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: So they just weren't paying attention to what was going on.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: But it was a very interesting thing to wake up in the backseat of the car to feel like I'm the only person in the car that's paying attention to what's going on out there, and I'm the only one that realizes that we are not where we are supposed to be.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a pretty good encapsulation of the political climate in America, right?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Many of us, and and let me say this: not everybody in here is a Christian believer, share about the God thing, the Bible thing.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I get that across the street.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are in the cab.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're uh, you know, gonna talk through this, and I know not everybody believes in agrees with me or believes in what I'm gonna say.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I like I get that.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: But for just a second, I want to talk about those of us who do share some really similar theological beliefs, because we're glad that you joined us, but whether you realize it or not, you wandered into a church, and so this is what we talk about in church.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh many of us are really trying to navigate some of the choices that we've been given.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's easy for you to think in terms of well, who are we electing as our president?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's a pretty big decision that's looming upon us.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there are a lot of choices.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I voted, I pre-voted on Friday, and the ballot is pretty long.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's the front and back of a good-sized piece of paper.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just one, there's a lot of decisions that we're trying to make, and we're many of us are trying to navigate the choices that we've been given, and we're trying to navigate those choices with integrity, and some of us are finding it difficult.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, many of us are finding it difficult, especially with, you know, you don't you you kind of have to, on some level, go with the options that you're given.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's a whole different discussion, and so there you go.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you to take a deep breath.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's a good chance I'm not gonna offend you this morning uh for a lot of reasons, uh, mainly because I've navigated this minefield twice already this morning.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so but here's what I think there is a chance that you're not gonna agree with something I say.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I get that.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not on staff here.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that wasn't supposed to be funny.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to make a point.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not on staff here, so uh, you know, you I'm I don't necessarily speak on behalf of anybody.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying, you know, they strapped the microphone on me and asked me to get up here.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna tell you what I think, because that's what I'm supposed to do.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I'm gonna support it with scripture.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna read a lot of scripture, and you guys remember I didn't write the Bible, right?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: You carried it in here with you.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna kind of read that together, but at the same time, you may disagree with some of what you hear this morning, and I want to tell you, if you'll stay plugged in to the end, you're gonna, I'm gonna circle back around to this.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay if you disagree with some of what I say this morning.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm okay with that.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the warning that I want to give you, and I'm trying to help you.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are gonna disagree with what I say, and you're gonna leave here and you're gonna take your family, you're gonna go to lunch, or you're gonna meet up with this afternoon, or there's gonna be a dialogue that you have with somebody else who heard this, and it's not just about disagreeing, but if you disagree with me so much that you just go off the deep end and get really upset and lose control, and then you're gonna prove my point.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just trying to give you a little nudge.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to prove that I didn't know what I was talking about, losing control probably isn't the best way to do that.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So just stay engaged, and really, I think when we when we land this plane in a few minutes, I think you're gonna see that we're all probably closer together than you may have realized.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to ask three questions.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to answer these three questions really quickly, uh, and then we're gonna dive into, we're gonna be in the book of Ephesians, chapter four, beginning in verse one.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to find your Bible and start turning there, that's fine.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put the the verses uh on the screen behind me.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening over in the cab, you're gonna see these verses.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's gonna be up on the screen.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I'm giving you a fair warning, so if you need to use your table of contents, if you don't know where Ephesians is, now's the time to do it, right?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So the first question is where's the chaos coming from?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not necessarily saying that I'm scared or that I'm nervous, or I'm just observing what's going on around me, and it feels like there are a lot of people who are kind of scared and nervous, and and it seems like we're we're all kind of we we feel like we've been backed into a corner on some things, and there's some chaos going on around us.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's going on in your life or if you're just like me, and I'm kind of observing it in those around me, and some of my these are friends, and some of them are just you know acquaintances.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: But where is this chaos coming from?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I think it's coming from, and you maybe could tell a different story, but this is what I've observed.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like there's there's kind of two reactions for people who are people of faith, for Christians, for people who believe in the God of the Bible.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's one reaction where we feel like not it's not just that it's a political conviction conviction, but that it's a political fact.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: That everybody has to agree with me.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: You have to think the way that I think, you have to you have to say the things that I say, and you have to vote the way that I vote.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And because this is God, I mean, God, you know, handed it down to me, and I'm on the authority, and this is the way that it goes, and there is no choice but to do it this way.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And anyone who doesn't agree with what I have to say, I don't know where your faith is.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's one side.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: The other side, there's a bunch of us who have friends or family members or co-workers who have some some of these really strong political beliefs, convictions, and as we interact with them, we feel like we're being backed into a corner, and in some cases, we've maybe been offended by some of the things that have been said or some of the things that have been done.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so not only are we trying to navigate, hey, I got a vote just like everybody else, and my vote counts once, just like everybody else's does, you know, if the system's working right, uh, my vote counts once just like everybody else's does, so I need to get this right, but I'm also trying to navigate, please hear this.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Not just the political fallout, but the relational fallout.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta be honest with you.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: There have been some conversations that I've observed third hand, and I think to myself, I wonder how you're gonna clean that up Wednesday morning.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, even if you're right, even if your side wins, I wonder how you're gonna clean it up.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder what that's gonna look like.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because you and I both know the sun's gonna come up Wednesday morning, and most of us are gonna get up and go to work the same way we did the day before, and the same way that we will do the day after.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: That it, you know, it's kind of just another day.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so along the way, how do we navigate this?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds me when I was young, I have a brother who's three years older than me, Mike.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so growing up, uh, he picked on me all the time.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was always aggravating me because that's what older brothers do.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: How many older brothers we got in the house?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you are troublemakers, all of you.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: How many younger brothers we got in the house?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: I feel you.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was rough.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, no, he was it was normal.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's just what brothers do, right?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So he picked on me.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember this was one of my earliest memories.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how old I was.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say I was three because that's probably about how old I was.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I may have been a little older than that.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I was old enough to go to school.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we had been playing outside all day, and we were hot and sweaty, and we had we were this was Florida probably in the late 70s.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have air conditioning in our house.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't know the difference.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: We were just hot and sweaty.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we came inside and we laid down in the my brother lays down in the living room floor.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna watch TV.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: We had a recliner, and I was sitting in the recliner.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's laying in the floor, laying on his side like this, kind of watching TV.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we had, you remember the TVs in the the wooden cabinets, the console TVs?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: You remember those back in the day?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ours didn't work.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: We had another TV on top of it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone besides us have that going on?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: We so we were watching the little TV on top of the big TV, and uh so my brother's laying there watching TV, and he had done something to me earlier that day, much earlier that day.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't remember what it was, I don't remember context.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I just remember sitting in the recliner, my brother's laying in front of me watching TV, and I remembered whatever it was that he had done to make me mad, and so I climbed down out of the chair and I walked over to where he was and I bit him as hard as I could.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: He asked for it, okay?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get too much sympathy going.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: He deserved it.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hard as I could, he starts screaming.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: My mom got upset.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: I walked back over to the chair and sit down and kept watching TV.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what everybody's so upset about.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still watching my movie here, right?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's not acceptable.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I found out very quickly from my mom that that was not acceptable.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're not three anymore, are we?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we can't act that way.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the phrases that I heard a lot growing up is you can do better.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So this brings me to my second question.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is this the best we can do?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: We've asked that question politically speaking, especially when we're asked uh, you know, to choose between two candidates, and we go, like, is there a third choice?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, I went with my buddy to vote on Friday, and uh, we so we vote, I turn in my thing, and I go outside, we were riding together.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I go outside and I'm waiting forever.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, forever.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he finally came out and I said, Were you in there praying that another choice would magically appear on the ballot?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not gonna happen.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is it, you know.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, we can ask that question politically, and I don't, it's not say it's not a bad question to ask, and that's a great discussion to have.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: But for just a second, let's hit pause on that and let's step over here relationally for those of us who share a common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is this the best we can do?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Are you and I really living the best that we can live?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Are we relating to each other and interacting with each other the best that we can?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Which then leads me to my third question.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: How has the church historically navigated disagreements and divisions?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's a news flash for you.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't the first time in the last 2,000 years that people inside the church didn't agree on something.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: So how did we make it this far?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: How did we make it this far?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here's how we made it this far.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk more about that idea in just a second, but here's what I want you to see.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is the big idea.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be on the screen behind me.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be on the screen behind me several times this morning because I want you to remember it.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: When somebody says, hey, so what did he talk about?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I want you to tell them.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Our unity is driven by our conclusions about eternity.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Our unity is driven by our conclusions about eternity.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: We don't all agree on everything.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: The church is one of the few organizations, in my experience, one of the few organizations on the planet where we believe that unity hinges on agreement.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: That we have to agree on everything.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Unity and uniformity don't just sound different.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: They are different.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: But for us as Christians, as Christ followers, as believers, our unity is based on and driven by our conclusions about eternity.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna jump into the book of Ephesians.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some of you may remember uh I preached uh three or four sermons uh earlier, beginning of the summer, and so we gave you this whole big background on the book of Ephesians, and we really don't have time to do all that this morning.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Suffice it to say that Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was in prison, and he wrote this letter not just to the church at Ephesus, but to surrounding churches.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: There was apparently a group of churches there, and so this was what was known as a circular letter.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was written with the intention that it would be kind of circulated through several churches and read and listened to and, you know, talked about and preached and that kind of thing.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So here's where I want you to land on the book of Ephesians, okay?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote a letter.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere along the way, we decided we were going to subdivide it into chapters and verses, mainly so that we can all find the same place relatively quickly.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a useful thing.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: When Paul wrote it, he didn't have it this way, but we have subdivided it.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Six chapters in the book of Ephesians.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: The first three are all theology.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul never tells us to do anything.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Which, if you're anything like me, is a little bit nutty because I'm reading it and I'm going, okay, that's fine, fine, fine, but I need to do something.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul's going, wait, wait, wait, no, listen.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Please hear this.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Christianity is not about doing.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Christianity is about being.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to tell you who you are.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I need to tell you, you just need to sit and listen to all the things that God's done for you and all the blessings that God's given to you, and what your identity is.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then, and then, and then, at the beginning of chapter 4, he turns a corner.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And after turning that corner, he gives us, by my count, in four, five, and six, he gives us thirty-five commands.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thirty-five times he says, do this or don't do that.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is what that tells me.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Paul was laying a foundation.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: He took three chapters, took a lot of time to lay a foundation.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And once that foundation was settled and secure, then he started building something on it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you Do you think it's possible that the first nail that he drove once he started building on that foundation was an important one?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's possible that when Paul turned that corner and finally started talking about what he had spent three chapters getting ready for?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: You think it's possible that the first thing that he says is important?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he says.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4, 1.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, listen, act like you belong.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know you feel like you're drifting somewhere or you're being pulled somewhere, and for some of you, maybe that's true.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want you to know.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: As a Christian, as a Christ follower, you have been called somewhere.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: God has put a calling on your life.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And because there's a calling on your life, there are some attitudes and some ways that we're supposed to think and behave because we're on the way to this somewhere that we've been called to.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, you need to act like you have this manner.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I urge you to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling with which you've been called.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, this isn't gonna be easy.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna urge you to maybe raise your game a little bit.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not because God's not gonna love you if you don't, but you do this in response to the fact that He already loves you.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: With all humility and gentleness, with patience, here we go, bearing with one another in love.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: With humility, with gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: If I could just say this to you, this is gonna be a little harsh, but this is what I say to me all the time.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta get over yourself.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just have to get over yourself.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to put the other person first.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is huge.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to respond in humility.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want to show you this quote from Tim Keller.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: He tweeted this, I don't know, a couple weeks ago.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: This really struck me.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he said.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Humility is recognizing you can't empirically prove your views to all rational people, religious or not.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, I'm not saying you're not right.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying there are some people you can argue until the cows come home, they're not gonna agree with you.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not because you're not right, and it's not because you're not a good arguer.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is just how it goes sometimes.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is huge.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: As we're doing all this, we should be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: The NIV says, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite New American standard says this be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Please look at me and listen to me.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is hard work.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do you hear the language that's used?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Be diligent.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Work hard at this to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard work, but it's important work.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's vital work.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: We can't not do it.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: We can't take the easy way out.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing Unity isn't based on agreement about important issues.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's based on agreement about essential issues.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that sounds like I'm drawing a line in this hand, but I'm about to explain to you what the difference between these two things are.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of issues that we're not going to agree on that are important.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say they're important, what I mean is we should have discussions.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: We should have debates.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: We should just do it in love.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: We should not forget that at the end of the day, we're brothers and sisters in Christ.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Unity isn't based on agreement about important issues.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Our unity is driven by our conclusions.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: About eternity.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, is there like an illustration?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Did Paul give us some kind of an illustration?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, he did.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, verse 4, which you're going to see on the screen if you're in the cab, you're going to see it on the screen there as well.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to see there's some words that are underlined in this verse.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, as I read this, you're just going to read the underlined parts, and I'm going to read the rest of it, and we're going to do this together.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: You ready?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 There is one body and one spirit, capital S, that's the Holy Spirit.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your calling.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So review with me.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: What word did you say?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you said that three times?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: You think maybe Paul was trying to prove a point?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: You think he was trying to illustrate something for us?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: That there are some things that we unite around?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here, listen.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: These are incredibly theological statements.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: What if I got up here and next week to preach and told you that I believe that there are two bodies of Christ and that there are three Holy Spirits?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: You would go, like, is there something in his coffee or where did this guy come from?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because we've been united about this.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: This has been predecided.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't come up with this.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: These are incredibly theological statements.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And please hear this.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: You and I have the luxury of not thinking about these big theological issues because people who are smarter than us got in a room a long time ago and they took scripture and they determined what all of this means.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I mean.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Between the years 325 and 451, church leaders had what we call four ecumenical councils.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: There were actually more, but there were four big ones where they got in a room and they discussed and they refined over and over and over again what it means that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: The divinity of Christ and the humanity of Christ.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: They were combating heretics, heresies such as Arianism and Nestorianism and Eutikianism, which all of these things together somehow were either insinuating that Jesus wasn't fully God, or that Jesus wasn't fully man.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And church leaders said, no, no, no.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to draw a line in the sand, we're going to get in a room, we're going to figure this out, because we have to unify around these things.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that are not for sale.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that we're not going to vote on.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the deity of Jesus Christ and the humanity of Jesus Christ is one of those things.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: There were a lot, but this was a big one.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean for there to be a Trinity?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is a huge thing.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Our views are important, but please hear this.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: These issues are essential.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're essential.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know how I know they're essential?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have a friend named Rooney, Pastor Rooney, and he pastors a couple hundred miles north of Manila.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And just a few hours ago their church met, and it matters very greatly to them in that trash dunk community whether or not Jesus was 100% God and 100% man.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: It matters greatly to them that we use the correct language when we talk about the Trinity.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: That matters greatly to them.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you and I could jump in our time machine and go back 500 years and sit in on a church service, then it would have mattered to them as well.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because these issues are essential.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: These issues echo into eternity.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And our unity is driven by our conclusions, things that we know that we know that we know.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: About eternity.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: And about the God who's there and the God who's here.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we get from here to there?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what is he like?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we relate to him?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: These are big, big issues.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: These are we've got to get them right issues.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel the weight of that?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel how important that is?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is what it means when we shift from a discussion that's important to a discussion that's essential.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: It echoes into eternity.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Paul keeps going.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's one Lord, there's one faith, there's one baptism, there's one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Please hear this.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: This was not meaningless repetition by Paul.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: These were theological reminders about the importance of unity.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear this.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Unity has a theological context.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is an important thing.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's theology surrounding this.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because one of the things that we've been trying to figure out since the canon of Scripture was closed, and we've been sorting through this.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: What is the Trinity?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and here are three, but they're one.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can you explain it, Tim?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I can't go any further than that.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's as far as I've made it.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: There are three, but they're one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they live together in perfect unity.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: And as you and I become more godly, unity is going to matter more and more and more.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: If we're going to become more like God.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the theological context.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just three quick things.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, unity reflects God's person.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Unity reflects God's person.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: You want to see some, these are fascinating verses.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 6, 4 is the Shema.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Back in creation, you remember in Genesis?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said, let us make man in our image.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, let us?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because there's more than one of us.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: I can't explain it.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: And yet we believe it.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: These are essential issues.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is so poetic.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the most poetic words written in the New Testament, John 1.1.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Capital W, by the way, so that's Jesus.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Unity reflects God's person.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Unity was also Jesus' ultimate goal.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: In the high priestly prayer, which is the prayer that Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified in the Garden of Gethsemane, he's sweating the great drops of blood.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he said.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: I do not ask for these only.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking about his disciples who were there with him.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: I do not ask for these only.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Please hear this.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I ask also for those who will believe in me through their word.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, look at me.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus was praying for you.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: You and I are a part of the long line of people who have believed because of their word.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because of what the disciples and the apostles wrote and observed and took notes on and paid attention to and put down so that other people could hear and pass it on to other people, and here we sit.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was praying that prayer for us.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: What's the prayer?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: That they may all be one.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Unity mattered to Jesus.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Third thing, unity fuels our testimony to our culture.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just a few days before that, during that last week, during the holy week before Jesus was crucified, he made this statement to his disciples in John 13, 35.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, just as I've loved you, you are also to love one another.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: By this all people will know that you are my disciples.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you have love for one another.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's going to make the difference in our testimony.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's how we relate to each other.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: From the outside looking in, that's what's going to make the difference.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: So here are three takeaways, real quick.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Three takeaways.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing you can do, and I think you should do it, vote your conscience.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, figure out what your conscience is, and then vote it.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Show up and vote because a lot of men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice for you to have the chance to cast that ballot.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: I just think we owe it to them.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not fluent on one of the issues or one of the candidates or all of the candidates, ask somebody.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid to ask.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I love to do?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: When my convictions about scripture lead me to a certain political conclusion, I love to find somebody that I know who has the same convictions about scripture, who is who has arrived at a different conclusion, and sit down with them in humility and say, tell me how you got to where you are.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to argue.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to listen.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me how you got there, because I know you believe the same things about scripture that I do.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: So how did you get there?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: We've lost the ability to have dialogue in this nation.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everything now is a fight.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's, you know, so we can put it on Twitter.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: I got news for you.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's not how real relationships work.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: They take time, they take work, and they require us looking at each other and loving each other.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Even when we don't feel like it, even when it's hard work.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, you vote your conscience, but you also love your neighbor.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do those things simultaneously, by the way.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Vote your conscience, but love your neighbor.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Ann Landers said this years ago.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea why this stuck in my head, but I memorized it years ago because I thought it was so powerful.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mark of a superior mind to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Paul said in Ephesians 4, speak the truth in love.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: And while we're speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: You and I are supposed to grow up spiritually, and part of what it means to grow up spiritually is that we learn how to speak the truth in love.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Speak the truth in love.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: What are the two ingredients?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Speak the truth.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: My mama died a few weeks ago.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't know it was gonna happen, so it was tough.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: My mama was this little southern woman, godly woman, loved God.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if you've ever been around a southern woman, you know that they're gonna tell you what they think.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you may ask, sometimes you didn't ask.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: They just tell you.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna be sweet, syrupy sweet about it.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they may say something like, Bless your heart.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: But they're gonna tell you what they think.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I never thought much about it, but I can remember a phrase that my mom used when we were growing up.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it struck me when I was prepping this, it fits so well.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: When my brother and I would fight with each other, or we would be mean to somebody.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: If we were being mean or acting in a way that was inappropriate at all, my mama would say to us, You need to quit being ugly.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: You being ugly.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: You need to quit being ugly to your brother, you need to quit being ugly to your teacher, you need to quit being ugly to your friend.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be ugly, don't do that.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: And there's something inside of me that thinks that if I were to somehow able to just call her up right now where she is, around the throne of the God of the universe, and say, What do you think about all this shenanigans that are going on down here?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think she would say, Some of y'all just being ugly.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to quit.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, trust your father.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Vote your conscience and love your neighbor, and then just trust your heavenly father.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Trust that he's in control.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Trust that the one who's ultimately in control wasn't elected, he doesn't need to run for office, and he has the most unimpeachable character of anybody in the country.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Trust that the God of the universe has a heart that's pure, his wisdom is bottomless, he isn't waiting for someone to give him control.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's always had it, no matter who else on the earth thought they were in charge, or maybe was of the belief that they were in charge, or maybe everybody else was convinced they were in charge.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, God is in control.
• 35:38
  unknown: And we're not gonna vote on it.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just there.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 21:1 says, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hands of the Lord.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: He turns it wherever he will.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: The king's heart is like channels of water in the hands of the Lord.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: He just turns it wherever he will.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how hard it is for God to change the hearts of the most powerful people on the planet?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: He does this.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a lot of effort, is it?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's a God who's in charge.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 9, I love, love, love this.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: The scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, God said to Pharaoh, You have not bowed the knee to me, you have not cooperated with me, you're not one of my followers, but sit back, Jack, I'm gonna use you anyway.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't care how you feel about it, because this is about my plan, it's not about your plan.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: That same God never changes.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if it was true then, it's true now.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you know what?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get together tonight at 6.30 and we're gonna pray.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Just beneath where we are here in Mulvane, if you're over in the cab, it's gonna be in the lower auditorium.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get together and pray.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: There is a time for political dialogue.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's a time for us to discuss and debate and go back and forth.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: As long as we do it in love, I think that's part of what we're supposed to do.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not tonight.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: Tonight we're gonna do the holiest and godliest thing we could do.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna pray.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: You should be here for that.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: 6:30 tonight.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited, not because I think my candidate's gonna win or because I think my agenda is gonna win, but because the trajectory of history and the story of Scripture both tell me that we're gonna be fine.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get through this just like we got through everything else.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because people of faith, people of God, have always found a way to come together and find unity, not based on political agreements, not based on political views.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: Our unity is bigger than that.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's driven by our conclusions about eternity.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the story that I hope we're able to tell.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: In a year or in five years, or ten years.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Those of us who aren't sure about the Bible and aren't sure about God and aren't sure about us, here's the story I would want them to tell about us.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: In the future looking back.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't necessarily want them to be able to say, you know, those Christians, they all voted together.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's gonna happen.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying for me personally, that's not the goal.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I would love for them to be able to say?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, those Christians, they didn't all agree, but they disagreed well.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: They reintroduced meaningful dialogue to our culture.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: They modeled for us what it was like to not agree on every issue, and yet to be able to come together and unite around the things that unite us and do our part, vote our conscience, and then just move on and trust our God.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna celebrate communion, which is a great way to celebrate unity, right?
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually not even gonna talk during communion.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna come down and sit with you, and I'm gonna just celebrate it with you.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna pray here in just a second, guys in the cab as well.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the guys who are gonna celebrate communion are gonna serve us communion.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you'll come down and uh get ready for that while I'm praying, uh you're gonna be given the elements for communion.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can partake of those whenever.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to wait for somebody to tell you that.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Just whenever you feel like you're ready, you do that.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we're just gonna take some minutes and we're just gonna be quiet in front of our Heavenly Father, who's always in control and who always knows what's best for us.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: You, God, are a good, good father.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we may panic sometimes, and we definitely get frustrated sometimes.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I pray in those moments, in the days and weeks that are ahead of us, we would remember that we do have a responsibility.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're sovereign, but you've called us to act.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, the action that we're supposed to take is to be informed and then cast a vote.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to do that.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to examine the issues.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: Give us the wisdom to know how to navigate the waters that we're in.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Give us courage to take the stands that we need to take.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Give us courage to learn how to have meaningful dialogue with other Christians who believe the same thing we believe about the Bible, but have some different views about how that gets fleshed out in our lives.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that older would learn from younger, and younger would learn from older.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: That we could learn to come around the most important things.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray ultimately that unity would matter to us.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because it matters to you.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we want to honor you, and we want to be faithful to you, and ultimately, no matter what happens, and my mama could tell us, well, our God is in control, and he's a good God.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: And eternity's a long time.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna be there one day.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if the stuff that we're all been out of shape about down here isn't gonna matter up there, then maybe we just need to calm it down a little bit.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Give us the courage to be calm when no one around us is being calm.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: Stir us up about the important.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to find unity around the essential.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name that we pray.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.