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156. Defining Wokeness and Why It Matters To The Church · 4-Freedom Podcast

0:10
I found my freedom in you. I found a toy I can't lose, and
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thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me
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and heaven broke through. From the moment she found me.
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I found. Welcome to the Four Freedom
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Podcast. This podcast exists to bring the
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freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with
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everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, James
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Seyfried and Brett Marks. Welcome back to the Four Freedom
0:50
Podcast. What a blessing it is to be back
0:52
with you in the hot seat in our new season of the podcast.
0:57
What a great time it has been. Great time last week recording
1:01
just a welcome back episode and then we got to go to the
1:05
inauguration. What a great time that was.
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Brett, how is your life doing? They've been calling for some
1:11
snow this week, maybe this weekend coming up here after the
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inauguration. What is what's your how?
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How are things going? You're around the world, my
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friend. We got the snow coming in.
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It's going to be pretty, pretty cold this week, you know, so
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they're, they're, they're predicting ice all the way down
1:30
to the Gulf Coast. And so I'm just not looking
1:33
forward to that. When I was a kid, I liked the
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snow. I know you said that you're a
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cold weather person, but just like the older I get, I'm just,
1:42
I'm not the snow is not in the cold.
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It's not, I like the snow, but if it could be snow and warm at
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the same time, that'd be good for me.
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But man, I'm just, I'm, I'm so jealous you got to go to the
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inauguration. I wish I could have been there.
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I'm sorry that Trump didn't call you up to pray.
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I know you was. He was waiting on that, you
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know, but I think you were, you were next in line.
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It just, it didn't work out. Things didn't go your way.
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Time constraints happen, yeah. Yeah, but I'm, I'm sure you got
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to go in the Oval Office and, you know, sit down and and talk
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to Trump for a few minutes. So I'm glad you got that
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opportunity. Well, he had a, he had a Bible
2:21
there and he asked me to sign it.
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And so I figured, you know, I, I'm part of the one of the
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authors, James, and so it just made sense for me to put my
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autograph in there. And so that was a blessing to be
2:30
able to do that. But now we had a great time.
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Me and Brody had a couple people from our church went with us,
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had had a couple extra tickets there that was given.
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So we invited them to go with us.
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And I asked my dad to go and he's like, you know, crowds, the
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older I get, I just don't want to be around him anymore.
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Asked my father along to go now he didn't want to go.
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I'm like, come on now, guys, I've got this awesome
2:52
opportunity and no one's going. Asked Brett to go.
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He told me no. John asked him to go, he told me
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no. What a bum.
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And so, but yeah, we, we had a wonderful time and looking
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forward to this, this time of ministry right now, I've started
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the book of Acts. Brett, my plan is to preach to
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the book of Acts this year. And so man, what a blessing.
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It has been just a study and read intently through the book
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of Acts. I've never preached through this
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entire book. And so I've preached portions of
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it. So I'm excited about doing that
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and even took a little bit of your, your expertise in the AI
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world this last week and did some, some ChatGPT of sermon
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clips as far as inspirational quotes and, you know, just
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trying to branch out, use technology, you know, just it,
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it really excited me hearing you talk through it.
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And so I've already started implementing that a little bit
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and excited about what we've got going on.
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Oh, yeah, just that's like stuff it, stuff like that.
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It just saves so much time and it's a tool for us to use.
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And like I said when we talked about it last week, you know, we
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don't need to be afraid to use new stuff.
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You know it, it's OK to to use something modern.
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That's our whole, our whole shtick is we have freedom in
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Christ and we don't need to be afraid of, of these new things
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that come down the Pike. God is giving us these things
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for blessing. Just because it's new doesn't
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mean it's the devil. And so we, we definitely want to
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use the tools that are made available to to us.
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And I'm, I'm thankful you got something out of that.
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And man, I'm just excited about this new series we've got coming
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up. We talked about this new series
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for a long time as we started talking about this a few months
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before we stopped our last season, before we took our
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Christmas break. And so these subjects have been
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on our heart, on our mind for a long time.
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It's something current, it's something that people are
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curious about. We don't need to shy away from
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subjects just because they're difficult.
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And this is one of those subjects that nobody likes to
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talk about, but it's a conversation that needs to be
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had in the church. Yeah.
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Well, we've we've created a little trailer to intro this
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this series. And so we'll play that at this
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time and then we'll jump right into today's episode, which is
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wokeness in the church and defining that today.
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We cannot truly worship God while we stay silent on
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injustice in all kinds of areas. And I know as a white pastor I
5:42
have blind spots, so I am part of the problem.
5:48
James Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their
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Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.
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White people fear black men. That's not fair, but it's true.
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Jesus repents of his racism and extends healing to this woman's
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daughter. I love this story because it's a
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reminder that Jesus is human. He had prejudices and bias and
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when confronted with it, he was willing to do his work.
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I believe in the non binary God whose pronouns are plural.
6:32
I believe in Jesus Christ, their child who wore a fabulous tunic
6:37
and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling child of
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God. I believe in the rainbow spirit
6:46
who shatters our image of 1 white light and refracts it into
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a rainbow of gorgeous diversity. I believe in the Church of
6:56
everyday Saints, as numerous creative and resilient as
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patches on the 8th quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and
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whose eyes gaze at the stars and wonder.
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I believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love.
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So beloved, let us love. I believe glorious God help my
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unbelief. Amen.
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This woke self loathing. And we will never let the woke
7:37
left take it away. It's because they're putting
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woke ideology. To a woke mob that can't even
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tell. You what a woman is.
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In this season of the Four Freedom Podcast, we want to
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bring to you some enlightening topics that deal with the
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wokeness of the church. We want to bring to light some
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issues that are often overlooked, and we hope that
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it'll be a blessing to you in your listening experience.
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Everybody OK. Well, Brett, what do you think
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of that intro, my friend? Man, that was that was cool.
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I let I let my AMS here in the county listen to that and a
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couple of the pastors in my pastors meeting listen to that
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and floored by some of those comments.
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That's actually a condensed version of what we originally
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had. We originally had many more
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clips in that, but we thought, you know, we didn't want to be
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10 minutes long. So we so we, we cut it back and
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but yeah, I like it, man. I like it.
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I think that was cool. Yeah.
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Well, today we're going to be talking about wokeness and
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defining that and what it means. And anytime we hear a term,
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there are terms that get diluted or changed over time.
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And so it's good to get a good working definition of the term
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itself. And so sort of the history and
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the definition of the term wokeness is beginning in the
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early 2000 tens, it became used to refer as a broader awareness
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of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, the
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nine of the LGBTQ rights. The term woke has became used as
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a shorthand for some ideas for basically the American left
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involved in identity politics, social justice, such as white
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privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States.
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And so this is a term that has been sort of overwhelmingly
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being used lately in the political realm.
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But we're beginning to see woke this come into the church.
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And so we need to sort of be on guard for those things and begin
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to ask ourselves what's going on.
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The phrase stay woke was utterly in recording from the mid 20th
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century by Leadbelly and the post millennial of Eric Bada.
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The term woke gained further popularity in the late 2000 tens
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Overtime has became increasingly connected to matters beyond
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race, such as gender and identities perceived as
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marginalized. During the 2014 Ferguson
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protest, the phrase was popularized by Black Lives
10:18
Matters. They were activists seeking to
10:20
raise awareness for the police shootings.
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After that, a term on black Twitter didn't even know this
10:26
was a thing. But black Twitter's out there.
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Woke was increasingly used by white people that often referred
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to it as a signal of their for support for Black Lives Matter.
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The term became popular with millennials and members of Gen.
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Z, and as it spread it intent internationally, Woke was added
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to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017 by the term.
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By 2019, the term was being used sarcastically as a pejorative
10:54
among many on the political right and some centrist in the
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Western countries targeting various leftists and progressive
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movements. It's been used to disparage
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actions such as superficial or insincere.
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But subsequently, terms such as the woke washing and woke
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capitalism emerged from the critical organizations who had
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advertised their commitment to social justice for financial
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gain. This is often referred to as
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performative activism. And so Brett, that was just a
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definition that we pulled off of the Internet, Wanted to give you
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something that that we can begin to talk with.
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And again, those were terms that that we're not going to talk
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about with social justice and not social.
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We're going to talk about that radical justice, sexism, LGBTQ.
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Those are some issues that definitely in the political
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world that are talked about, but in the church necessarily of
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this series, we're not going to talk about those things.
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We are going to be talking about what the this wokeness has done
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to the church. And so Brett, what are some
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issues of wokeness in the church and why is this even a matter of
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an ongoing debate? What?
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What are, what are what is this social justice mentality that's
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been been promulgated in the church right now?
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You know, when you talk about wokeness, when you were talking
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about it just then, it just reminded me that our culture and
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our, our government and the left and the elitists in Hollywood,
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they tried to shove this, this wokeness down our throats.
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And we've seen it in the movie theaters and the new shows that
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are being put up. It's like you, you can't even
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watch a new show on TV without an without it having an agenda.
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And some of, and Disney has definitely learned the term go
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woke, go broke because they're putting out all these new shows
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on TV. And it it has, you know, people
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are a lot of Americans just aren't having it and they're
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turning away from it. Well, now, just like you said,
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this wokeness has tried to creep into the church and try to
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infiltrate the House of God. And it is a cause for concern.
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And the reason is one of the reasons for this concern is
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there are theological concerns with this wokeness because, you
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know, some say that elements of wokeness conflict with core
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Christian doctrines because what happens is they start
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prioritizing social justice issues over the gospel and they
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shift the focus away from the gospel message, just like the
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gospel is social justices, what they're saying now.
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And that's not what the gospel is.
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You know, which you know, is the central purpose of the church,
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is the gospel of Jesus. And when you have something that
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takes the focus off of Jesus and off the gospel, that's A cause
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for concern. Another concern about wokeness
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in the church is divisiveness. Because some people believe that
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the social and political aspects of wokeness can create division
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within the church, they worry that such movements may foster
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tension between different factions, leading to conflicts
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and disagreements over issues that they feel should not be
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divisive within the body of Christ.
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And we see this first hand. Look at what happened with with
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David Platt and his church. He started, you know,
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everybody's seen by now, they've seen the documentary with him.
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He brought in this woke agenda and started splitting the church
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and running people off. And now the focus isn't on the
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gospel. Anymore.
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The focus is on this woke race agenda wokeness in in the church
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and it causes conflict and division where there shouldn't
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be. You want to do a couple more?
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Yeah, Brett, I want to piggyback on what you just said because
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the very first moment that I, I was really introduced to this
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wokeness that we're going to be defining here of the social
15:12
justice and these things was the divisiveness that, well, I'd
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read it for David Platt. I've been reading David Platt
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since, you know, the early 2000s when he came out with radical
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radically changed my life and the way I thought about the
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gospel and the way that I thought about a lot of things.
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And so I have the opportunity to go to T4G back.
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I think it was 2017 and they're in Louisville and David Platt
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was preaching. David Platt got up and I was
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excited when I have my notebook out, you know, I'm, I'm fresh
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into the SBC. I'm trying to figure out all the
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things that are going on. And he gets up and he preaches
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this, I'm just use the term this woke message on how he uses this
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illustration. He said men in this room, there
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were 10 or 15,000 of us in the room.
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He said men in this room, our dinner tables are too white.
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He said we need to make our dinner tables more diverse.
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And he basically got up and preached this whole message on
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condemning the white man by called because of our dinner
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tables been too white and our church has been too white.
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And then that year at the Southern Baptist Convent, the
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first, you know, the first time I was a messenger to the
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convention there at the North Carolina convention, they do a
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little pastors conference beforehand.
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And they did seven different messages.
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And six of the seven messages were all about this.
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We're too white. Our churches are too white.
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Our convention's too white. And I walked away and I just
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thought, what what is going on here?
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Why? Why are we like that?
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We're talking about something that's a non issue in my mind,
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but they were causing this division, this divisiveness to
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come in. When you read through the book
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of Acts, they were unified in one mind and one spirit, and
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that's when the Lord began to work.
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And so the divisiveness is a huge thing.
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One reason why our concern that people have about wokeness in
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the church is it begins to focus on identity politics.
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The emphasis on identity politics within some work
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movements can be seen by critics as a counterproductive to the
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Christian principle of the unity of Christ.
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Christ as we just talked about. Some people will say that it's a
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social justice versus a biblical justice.
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Some individuals feel that the way social justice issues are
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framed in what cultures might not align with the biblical
17:25
understanding of justice. They may argue that the church
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should address social issues through the lens of biblical
17:32
morality rather than adopting political or secular ideologies.
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Brett, once you hit this last one that we've written down of
17:40
the concerns that we're going to be addressing in this episode.
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Another concern is worldly influence.
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Listen, some Christians are concerned that the churches that
17:50
churches embrace of wokeness represents an unhealthy
17:55
alignment with secular or worldly philosophies.
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They might feel that this undermines the church's
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prophetic role in offering a distinct countercultural witness
18:06
to the world based on the teachings of Christ.
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And look how we're not, we're not at all saying that there's
18:14
that racism doesn't exist. OK, definitely does there.
18:18
There are issues. We're not saying that there's
18:21
not issues. But we don't need to make the
18:24
gospel. We don't need to make the church
18:26
all about that. That doesn't need to be our
18:29
identity. And, and, and that is the point
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that we're that I think we're we're trying to make.
18:35
Yeah. Well, Brett, as we begin to
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continue talking through this, people may say, James Brett,
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this is not an issue, but why are we talking about this?
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What, what is the reason that this is something that we're
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even looking at or talking about today?
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Well, back in 2023, guy named Eric Mason wrote a book.
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He's a, a African American pastor, black pastor up north.
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And he came out with a book and the title of the book was called
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Woke Church. And so we're going to talk
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through this little bit, talk through some of the wokeness in
19:10
the church that we've seen and we've addressed.
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And then we're going to go through what the Scripture says
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about wokeness in the church and diversity in the church and then
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give some some closing thoughts on how we can address some of
19:23
these issues when we see these things coming up.
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So Eric Mason, he described his understanding of wokeness as it
19:30
pertained to a radical issue or sorry, a racial issue in the
19:33
church. And this is what Mason writes in
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his book Woke Church. My desire in this book is to
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encourage the church to utilize the mind of Christ and to be
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fully awake to the issues of race and injustice in this
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country. Pan Africanists and black
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nationalists use the term woke to refer to no longer being
19:55
naive, nor in the mental slavery we've borrowed the term.
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And redeemed it to be used in the context of being awakened
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from dead in this sinful thinking.
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In fact, every believer has been awakened from the sins effects
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of Satan's deceptions. He quotes Ephesians 514.
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Thus, the believer is able to be aware of sin and challenge it
20:21
whenever it is Brett. Well, you know, Samuel say makes
20:27
a convincing observation that the concept of wokeness in our
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day significantly overlaps with the tradition of black
20:36
liberation theology developed by James Cone in the 1960s during
20:41
the Black Power movement as a reaction to evangelical apathy
20:47
on racial injustice. He continues.
20:50
Black liberation theology is Martin Luther King Junior's
20:54
social Gospel and Malcolm XS Black nationalism one in black
20:59
nationalism in one. Black liberation theology
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exchanges the power of God for black power.
21:07
It exchanges a supremacy of Christ for black supremacy.
21:11
Black liberation theology is built on a foundation of
21:15
bitterness and victimhood, with social justice as its chief
21:20
cornerstone. Now, while Mason claims to have
21:22
redeemed the concept of wokeness for the purposes of the church,
21:26
we must recognize that it is neither legitimate nor helpful
21:30
for Christianity to build upon such a shaky foundation.
21:35
Although distinctions exist between black liberation
21:38
theology and woke Christianity, vast similarities unify the two
21:43
theologies in one dangerous threat to the church.
21:47
Wokeism is also strongly informed by other philosophical
21:52
philosophical ideas, such as critical theory, which
21:56
undergirds most contemporary social justice movements.
22:00
This ideology essentially categorizes people into either
22:05
oppressive or oppressed groups that are unified around various
22:10
identity traits such as class, economic status, ethnicity, or
22:16
sex. Critical theory and woke ISM
22:19
work hand in hand for the first, for the first pushes a narrative
22:24
of oppression and the second demands A reckoning as it
22:29
relates to local congregants. A woke church is a multi ethnic
22:33
congregation that strives to fight against racism and
22:37
injustice by becoming heavily involved in social justice
22:42
activism in its community. In the particular realm of
22:45
ministry, this meant giving skin color a much greater weight than
22:50
either musical ability or character.
22:53
The woke The woke church Christianizes an otherwise
22:58
secular way of thinking which has black liberation theology
23:02
and critical theory loaded into it.
23:05
But the main question that we have to ask, and I'm going to
23:09
pose this question to you, James, is what does the word of
23:12
God have to say about it? That's a great thought.
23:15
And as we think through those, those terms being redeemed from
23:20
our deadliness and sinful thinking, they're using these
23:24
terms that we've used before in Christianity, redeeming our
23:28
thoughts, redeeming our mind, redeeming the life that God has
23:31
given us. And they take it.
23:33
And they put just enough truth in it to taint our way of
23:37
thinking, to take the way that, hey, I've been told that, yeah,
23:41
we need to put off the old man and put on the new man.
23:43
So I need to put off of the old thinking and put on this new way
23:46
of thinking. And, and they take those little
23:49
bits of truth and they pepper just enough truth in there to
23:52
where it sounds right. And then they bring in this woke
23:55
ideology that changes the church's ultimate purpose, which
24:01
is to grasp a hold of God's power and to see God work in a
24:06
mighty way in our churches and our community.
24:09
And they've got this, this the, the critical race theory, it,
24:13
it, it brings in this idea that you are either oppressed or you
24:18
are the oppressor and you cannot change.
24:22
There's nothing you can do, for instance, like you can be like
24:27
reverse racism doesn't exist because there's no way that the
24:32
oppressed could ever be racist against the oppressor.
24:35
There's nothing you can do about it.
24:37
It's just the the hand you were dealt.
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And this I have to believe that completely goes against what the
24:43
Bible teaches, completely goes against Scripture.
24:46
It's anti gospel and you know it it it, it permanently divides
24:51
us. When the word of God.
24:53
Wants to unify us, was to bring us together.
24:56
Wants to say look there is no Jew, there is no Greek, there is
24:59
no male, there is no female. We are just all children of God.
25:03
And I think this message is the opposite of that and that makes
25:07
it anti gospel. Yeah, exactly.
25:11
Well, bread, as we turn to the Scripture and we turn toward
25:14
what the Bible says about this issue, we find that in the very
25:18
beginning God created one man from the dust of the ground in
25:21
Genesis 1 and from the rib of this man named Adam.
25:25
He fashioned for himself a help meet named Eve in Genesis 2, and
25:30
every human being since has come from these two people.
25:34
Genesis 10 and 11 are the very first beginning over the very
25:37
first reference of the very various ethnicities, plans,
25:41
nations, and even languages being established and developing
25:46
into the world after the time of Babel.
25:49
God disperses and separates these various peoples by
25:52
language and geographical location, and these foundational
25:56
passages is where we're introduced to the concept of
25:58
ethnicity or what we find in our day concept ethnicity or what
26:04
meaning in our day refer to as race.
26:07
Immediately following Genesis 11 were introduced to Abraham in
26:11
chapter 12, when God by His sovereign decree separate for
26:15
himself to become a new people, in whom will be a great nation
26:19
and a blessing to the other nations.
26:21
In Genesis 12, two and three exactly.
26:25
And James, throughout the rest of the Old Testament, there's a
26:28
God ordained distinction and separation made between Israel,
26:33
God's covenant people, and the Gentiles or those outside of the
26:39
covenant with God. Though the sinful blood of Adam
26:43
still ran through Israel, God, by the way of covenant, set
26:47
apart for himself a people who were to be a holy nation, a
26:51
royal priesthood who follow His commands and adhere to His Law.
26:56
In the midst of watching the world, it is important for us to
27:00
know that throughout the Old Testament, Gentiles could indeed
27:04
become a part of Israel and thus be woven into the fabric of
27:08
God's covenant people, regardless of their ethnic
27:11
background. We see examples of this
27:13
throughout the Old Testament as early as the Passover, and in
27:16
the case of Rahab's family. To be an Israelite was to be a
27:20
part of the Old covenant community of God's people.
27:25
Yep. And overtime, Brett, we see the
27:27
distinctions between the covenantial Israel and the non
27:30
covenant or Gentiles became clear and even more separate
27:34
through the centuries of God designated separation of people
27:38
groups to locations, culture, traditions, language and even
27:41
skin tones and physical features.
27:44
The distinctions between the world's people groups became
27:47
that much more firmly contrasted and thoroughly defined.
27:51
It's important for us to continue to remember that even
27:54
though ethnic distinctions became more sharply contrasted
27:58
through human history, the essence of the sinful human
28:01
nature remain the same in our common ancestor, Adam.
28:06
Because we all came from Adam. We all come from this common
28:09
ancestor. Exactly.
28:10
And that actually brings us into the New Testament, because as we
28:15
enter into the New Testament and we're introduced to the central
28:18
character of all Scripture, namely the long-awaited seed of
28:22
Eve, Jesus Christ. Jesus was and is the only true
28:27
Israelite who has ever lived through perfect obedience to
28:31
God's Law. Jesus Christ, the Son of Abraham
28:34
by the flesh, accomplished and fulfilled all righteousness and
28:39
upheld God's confidential requirements, and He's dying on
28:43
the cross as a propitiation for the sins of His people.
28:46
Christ fulfilled the purposes for which God the Father set
28:50
Abraham apart back in Genesis, namely, that through His
28:55
offspring the world and all ethnic categories therein would
29:00
be blessed. Thus the New Testament clearly
29:03
explains that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
29:07
slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one
29:12
in Christ Jesus, and if you are Christ, then you're Abraham's
29:16
offspring, heirs according to the promise.
29:21
And and Brett, this brings us to the redemptive message, the
29:23
story of Scripture that the eternal Son of God added to
29:27
himself. The human nature died the death
29:30
that Adam and therefore all of us deserve and rose again on the
29:35
third day. So that anyone who puts their
29:37
trust in Jesus in this new covenant, through His blood,
29:41
through the sacrificial death and resurrection, accomplished
29:45
reconciliation between God and man, subsequently between man
29:49
and man, but not only in him, in and through Christ alone.
29:54
All human beings who by the power of the Holy Spirit get
29:59
these woke realities wrong, regardless of their
30:03
nationalities, that they can never see this forgiveness from
30:06
their sins and salvation unto eternal life.
30:09
It is only through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
30:12
that we get this. Amen.
30:15
And then we come to Revelation Chapter 7.
30:17
This is a future day when John sees a great multitude that no
30:22
one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and
30:26
peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the
30:29
Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their
30:33
hands and crying out with a loud voice.
30:36
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the
30:40
Lamb. These are the new covenant
30:43
people of God that are like an ocean of humanity ranging in
30:47
skin color from the lightest of beige to the darkest of brown
30:51
and everything in between. Scripture ends with this
30:54
beautiful picture of a fully restored and vastly diverse
30:59
humanity who will dwell with God and Christ for all of eternity
31:03
in perfect harmony and peace. Yeah.
31:06
And Brett, as you look through that and you read through that,
31:09
you understand at a foundational level, there's absolutely
31:11
nothing wrong with wanting to see an ethnically diverse group
31:17
of people serving and worshipping with God all
31:20
together. I'm reminded of when I was able
31:23
to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and I'm seeing all the
31:26
different ethnic people that were there singing in different
31:30
tongues and speaking in different languages, and we're
31:33
all worshipping Jesus in our own tongue.
31:35
Even when we went to Nicaragua together, we got to see that and
31:38
experience that, and it was a true picture of what heaven was
31:41
going to be like one day and that we got to see here on
31:44
earth. The problem with that is the
31:47
woke church is loudly calling for the white people to seek out
31:51
friendship and to build relationships with black people
31:54
to strengthen diversity. And in one sense, we're calling
31:58
for these kinds of diversity. Yes, we want to see it.
32:01
But in another sense, I'm concerned that churches may be
32:04
disobeying the biblical injunction against favoritism.
32:08
As we begin to see this, it is a less sinful way to show
32:13
partiality toward an ethnic ethnically different man instead
32:17
of the rich man. James 2 chapter 1 through
32:20
chapter 2 verses one through 9 began to talk through this.
32:23
A rich man comes into your church and you put him in the
32:26
best place and and you do all the things for that rich man and
32:29
the poor man comes in and you say, you're my footstool.
32:32
You get over here. Well, this is what happens when
32:35
we begin to be racially diverse. And this wokeness is the sort of
32:39
woken fused language puts ethnicity at the forefront of
32:42
everyone's mind. All of a sudden, a social target
32:45
of maybe a black person or a white person comes in of an
32:49
ethnic minority, and the congregation is pummeled with
32:53
invitations to their friendship of this unnatural place where
32:56
they would never have this happen before.
32:58
This can leave them wondering, is there actually an interest
33:02
for me to be a fellow believer or a friend or are they merely
33:06
bringing me on as a token minority of a relationship?
33:09
If we're going to develop authentic Christ center
33:12
relationships within the body of Christ, this must happen equally
33:16
among all skin tones and naturally through organic side
33:20
by side ministry efforts without showing partiality for or
33:25
against any type of skin color challenge.
33:28
And then this is where we begin to really dissect and say, how
33:32
am I truly doing ministry? Am I doing these things because
33:35
I want to have the, you know, the terms of Jack, how the
33:38
largest bus ministry and we're going to go into the inner
33:41
cities because they're the most depraved people.
33:44
And we're going to bring them because, you know, you begin to
33:47
prey on their ethnicity and their social status just so you
33:51
can get the, the reward for having the largest whatever.
33:55
And you, you're, no, you're, you're not trying to build a
33:57
friendship. You're just trying to build us a
34:00
name for yourself. And this is the same way on the
34:03
other side of it as well. Exactly.
34:06
And you know, and I think you know, you quoted you talked
34:09
about James chapter 2 verses one through 9, this sex passage of
34:13
Scripture about favoritism in the church and man.
34:17
I can't think of a better passage of Scripture that
34:20
applies to this subject than that right there we are.
34:24
We are called not to show favoritism.
34:27
I mean, not only for, you know, financial reasons, because
34:33
somebody's rich or somebody's poor, but also for racial
34:38
reasons, Gentile, Greek, Jew, skin color, culture, you know,
34:43
we're not we're supposed to treat everybody the same and not
34:48
overly favorite group of people or an ethnicity because they're
34:55
different than us. And so, you know, I think that
34:57
that that passage of Scripture talks about this in a good way.
35:02
And we need to reference a lot reference it a lot with this
35:05
subject. Owens Well, how do you pronounce
35:08
that? Owen, Owen Strand.
35:10
Owen Strand. 'S book on Christianity and
35:12
wokeness in in the closing chapter looks at nine ways in
35:17
which wokeness has a negative spiritual has negative spiritual
35:21
effects on the believer. And we can talk through these
35:25
wokeness first. It divides us from others.
35:28
And you know, I think that that's def that's what we've
35:31
been talking about. It's this is a division we're
35:33
called to be unifying, but this focuses in so much on our skin
35:40
color that it it puts us into different categories and we're
35:43
no longer, you know, children in Christ.
35:46
It it causes us to despise others.
35:50
And this is this is a big thing in the woke left liberal camp,
35:55
you know, for for group of people that preaches tolerance
36:01
while being some of the most intolerant people in the world.
36:05
When you don't think like them or you have different ideas like
36:08
them, they'll write you off. They'll not talk to you.
36:12
They'll, you know, scream at the top of their lungs so you can't
36:16
speak. And so this is what this
36:19
ideology leads towards. It also leads us to condemn
36:24
others in pride. It robs us of joyful peace.
36:28
It this wokeness, this won't culture it.
36:31
It directs us away from the gospel that it makes us bitter.
36:36
It makes moving on from wrongs very hard.
36:40
It veils God's Providence, and it makes man big and God's
36:46
small. Absolutely.
36:48
When you I want to hit on that first point again, it divides us
36:52
when when you look at Scripture, when you look at what the early
36:57
church did in Chapter 9, it says chapter 1 of Acts, the church
37:02
has gathered and Jesus has left. And in chapter chapter one,
37:07
verse 12, it says, and they return to Jerusalem from the
37:11
Mount of Olives, which the Sabbath day of the week of walk
37:14
from Jerusalem. And when they had entered, they
37:15
went up into the other room and the disciples were there and
37:18
they all continued in one accord in prayer and supplication with
37:23
the women and Mary of mother, Jesus and his brothers.
37:25
They were all there and they were unified in one way, shape
37:29
and form. They were unified around the
37:31
gospel. They were unified around what
37:33
Christ had done through the death, burial, resurrection, and
37:36
now ascension. And they were coming together
37:39
and they were saying, you know what?
37:40
We're going to come together for the sake of the gospel.
37:42
We're going to come together in unity.
37:44
We're going to pray. We see the the rest of that
37:47
happen in chapter 1 and chapter 2.
37:49
They get up and they preach the gospel to all who are around.
37:53
It says that that 40 different tribes and tongues are around.
37:55
They didn't discriminate on who heard it.
37:57
They didn't care on who heard it because they were unified in one
38:01
message, in one mindset. How often does these things come
38:07
together and it causes division and division is always from the
38:11
devil. The vision is going to cause the
38:13
church to suffer. When the church prospers, it's
38:16
because the church is unified with one message, with one
38:19
mindset, with one mind of Christ.
38:22
And all of a sudden division comes in and it's a small way of
38:26
division where we're going to elevate one person not based on,
38:30
on, on what they've done or their accomplishments about
38:32
basically just what they look like.
38:34
They have red hair. And so we're going to elevate
38:36
them to a, a better place at the table.
38:39
And all of a sudden this begins to breed resentment.
38:42
As we talked about, we begin to despise one another.
38:46
And all of a sudden this, this spiraling of making us bitter
38:50
and, and, and beginning to see man as this big thing because of
38:55
their skin color, their eye color, their whatever vision
38:58
they have, what they look like, what they're wearing.
39:01
And we elevate them because of that.
39:03
And, and all of a sudden God becomes really, really small in
39:07
everything we do. When we, you know, you've seen
39:11
this, you go to a convention and, and everyone's in a,
39:14
everyone that wants to be on stage is in a suit and tie
39:17
because they want to be elevated.
39:19
The other guys, they're just coming up in a polo and hanging
39:21
out and enjoying fellowship. And all of a sudden you begin to
39:25
see this because of a popularity contest, because we look the
39:28
picture, we act the picture, and we're wanting ourselves to be
39:31
elevated. Exactly.
39:34
You know, this new woke gospel is, is is not another version of
39:38
the biblical gospel, but it's actually a false gospel all
39:42
together. All believers should work
39:45
towards things like social harmony, true justice, improved
39:49
human relations, and so on and so forth.
39:52
But this should be done God's way.
39:54
Otherwise, it'll be just another failed utopian social experiment
39:58
with all the negative outcomes that flow from that.
40:02
Shran is to be praised for bringing us back to where we
40:06
always should be, back to God and His word.
40:09
I'm not relying on trendy lefty social theories and ideologies
40:14
that always fail and cause more home, more harm than good.
40:20
And look, we we should fight against racism.
40:23
We should fight against all of those things.
40:26
But those should not be. The center of our message, they
40:31
not, they should not be what the church is all about.
40:35
It's something that we do is we fight against injustice and we
40:39
fight against racism, but it should not become our identity,
40:44
you know, and that that takes away from Jesus.
40:47
And that's all we're saying is this, this culture that we live
40:51
in has taken these things to extreme and we've created whole
40:56
churches around it, whole movements around IT.
40:58
People's identities have all been about it.
41:01
People can get degrees in college on this stuff and it's
41:05
all they talk about. And you know, for what I'm
41:08
seeing in America is most people, most people don't want
41:11
this. They reject this every chance
41:14
they get and as it should be. But the, you know, the world
41:19
keeps pushing it. And if they keep pushing it, our
41:22
kids are going to come up. And you know what?
41:24
One generation tolerates, the next generation accepts.
41:27
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's a great thing
41:30
to realign ourselves with what the Bible says, bringing
41:33
ourselves back to Scripture and asking ourself, maybe I have
41:38
been seeing people through the wrong lens.
41:41
I've been viewing people in this subservient view of the woke
41:46
culture of saying, you know, a skin color or a status of
41:50
someone is going to elevate them within reality.
41:53
Every single soul matters. Christ said, preach Christ above
41:57
all. Preach Christ to all men,
42:01
children, no matter their skin color.
42:03
We go back to Revelation Chapter 7 and it says in Revelation
42:08
Chapter 7, salvation belongs to God sits on the throne with a
42:12
lamb and all that are standing around clothed in robes will
42:16
wave their palm branches and their hands cloud singing with a
42:19
loud voice. And it says that a great
42:21
multitude that no one could number from every nation, from
42:25
all tribes and all peoples and all languages standing before
42:29
the throne of God. Man, that's the picture that we
42:31
should get to is I'm going to preach Christ to all that we'll
42:36
hear and I'm going to let Christ get the increase.
42:39
I'm going to let Christ get the glory and however he sees fit to
42:42
build his church, I'm going to let him build it.
42:44
I'm not going to build it on some man's ideology, not going
42:48
to build it on some status quo of I've got to have X amount of
42:51
this type of people, X amount of this group of people, X amount
42:54
of this language group of people.
42:56
No, just let Christ build this church and you just preach the
42:59
gospel. I think when we get back to the
43:01
simplicity of that and we get back to a unified mindset, we
43:05
will see God do some crazy amazing things in our churches.
43:09
Amen. Amen.
43:11
Agreed. All right, Brett, any final
43:15
thoughts for you as we close up today?
43:17
You know, we're just, you know, we're called, we're called not
43:20
to conform to this world. And there is a push to get
43:25
churches and pastors to conform to this new way of thinking.
43:30
And, you know, we, we need to stand on the foundation of the
43:35
word of God, stand on the foundation of the gospel, keep
43:38
Jesus at the center of everything we do and don't let
43:42
modern culture, you know, sway us in this direction.
43:47
And I think that that is what we should do.
43:51
Absolutely, man. Thank you for listening today.
43:53
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43:55
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43:58
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44:33
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44:36
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