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What is the second-most “sinful city” in America? · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Dinnison Forum's Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's Daily Article, written by friend and co-founder Dr. Jim Dinnison.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you live in Las Vegas, you might not expect a visit from Santa this year.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're likely not surprised that, quote, sin city has been ranked the most sinful city in America again this year.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: But you might be surprised that Houston came in second at Lanter ranked number five, and Dallas came in at number eight.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: In addition to making the top 10 in America's most sinful cities, here's what else these three cities have in common.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've lived in each of them.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Does this mean I'm the common denominator?
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a very real sense, the answer is yes, but you're not off the hook.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Scan this morning's headlines and you'll find abundant evidence that sin is not confined to my city or yours.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those headlines include, Putin says Russia will take all of Ukraine's
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Israel identifies body of returned hostage remains of Israeli officer still in Gaza.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Doctor sentenced to 30 months over Matthew Perry's death from ketamine.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And fatal shooting rocks luxury, MGM casino, as police hunt for gunmen.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, since human nature doesn't change, our sin problem is as recurrent as the sunrise and as prevalent as air.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Declaim that we are the exception to sin is to sin, to illustrate
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have seen this anecdote repeated oftentimes over the years, quote, in answer to a newspaper's question, what is wrong with the world?
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: GK Chesterton wrote in with a simple answer, dear serves, I am, in quote, however, this is not what the great British philosopher and journalist actually wrote, in a 1905 letter to the editor, Chesterton observed,
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Political or economic reform will not make us good and happy, but until this odd period, nobody ever expected that they would.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know there is a feeling that government can do anything, but if government could do anything, nothing would exist except government.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Benefound the need of other forces, Justin continued, religion for instance, existed in order to do what the law cannot do, to track crime to its primary sin and the man to his back bedroom.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: The church endeavored to institute a machinery of pardon, the state has only a machinery of punishment.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: The state can only free society from the criminal, the church sought to free the criminal from the crime.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Abolish religion if you like.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: throw everything on secular government if you like.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But do not be surprised if a machinery that was never meant to do anything but secure external decency in order fails to secure internal honesty and peace.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: He concluded, in one sense, and that the eternal sense, the thing is plain.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The answer to the question, what is wrong is, nor should be, I am wrong.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Until a man can give that answer, his idealism is only a hobby."
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are several days into the annual season called Advent, from the Latin Adventus, meaning a rival or coming, while most of the attention is on Jesus' first coming at Christmas.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Early forms of the observance focus not only on our Savior's birth, but also on his return, and he vent usually termed the second coming of Christ.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But this is chronologically incorrect.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Without question, Jesus came into our world at the event we call Christmas.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can point you to numerous first-century Roman and Jewish historians who documented the fact of our Lord's earthly existence.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And without question, he will come into our world again at the end of history from Revelation 1, verse 7, and referenced in several other New Testament locations.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: The whole, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But in between the two, Jesus comes into our world every time he comes into a human heart.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every time someone asks him to forgive their sins and become their Savior and Lord, he takes up residence in their life by his end welling spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: In this very real sense, we become the body of Christ, as he continues his earthly ministry in and through us, affirmed in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 27, and this second coming changes everything.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: the pastor and author Paul Powell noted.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The thing that makes a difference in people is not the centuries nor even our cultures.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is Christ.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: He alone is able to break through all of the pressures and patterns and make us a new people.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: How then quoted 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation and then he added,
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: When people commit their lives to Christ, they are changed.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: When enough people are changed, our world will be changed.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: To this end, let us close with a paragraph from last Sunday's reading and Oswald Chambers, my utmost for his highest.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is my favorite entry in this classic devotional.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I seem to quote it in a daily article every year.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer in Lord.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And God will fulfill his purpose through your life.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purpose, and yours may be that life."
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Will God fulfill His purpose through your life today?