Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / Reflections in Light of the Assassination of Charlie Kirk | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

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Reflections in Light of the Assassination of Charlie Kirk | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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Well, many of you are well aware that we are not going to be
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doing Bible study tonight. And this is not a a sermon
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either, nor is this a political speech.
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And I can tell you that upfront because what we experience as a
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nation has no political solution.
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This is not about left and right.
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This is not about policies. This is not about narratives.
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This is not about anything other than righteousness versus evil,
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lightness and dark. And I'm speaking from my heart
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tonight. I'm speaking from my heart.
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And hopefully it will touch your heart because my concern with
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everything else that is going on is the condition of the people
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of God. Because there are a lot of
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voices out there. There's a lot of emotion,
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there's a lot of theories, there are a lot of clips.
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Things are developing even as we are having this time together.
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And the thing that really struck me, apart from the shocking
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assassination of Charlie Kirk 2 days ago, was how many people
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across the board really have vocalized the same sentiment
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that they can't really make sense of how they are grieving
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so deeply for someone that they never knew.
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Now, there is an entire other side to this issue that would
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point the finger at anybody who publicly grieves over this man
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to say that you're being hypocritical.
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There are other tragedies taking place in the world.
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Why would you bring so much attention and vocalize so much
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concern for an individual? You can't explain everything in
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life and there are many tragedies in this world and
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every life is precious. And sometimes when an event like
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what transpired 2 days ago happens, you can't always put
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language to why you feel the way you feel.
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But I have been thinking about potential reasons why.
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The first is that this man, Charlie Kirk, he was a household
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name. Whether you love them or hated
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him, agreed with him or disagree with him, most people knew him,
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especially millennials and Gen. ZI don't have social media.
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I haven't had personal accounts on social media for years, and I
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still know who this man is because people send his clips.
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Inevitably, you see him on some kind of headline, and so people
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are aware of who this man was. Second to that, he was
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gruesomely murdered for the world to see.
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We're not just heartbroken by the fact that a man in the prime
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of his life was killed, leaving behind a wife and two kids.
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The world witnessed in an uncensored way, the bullet of a
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sniper rifle ripping through the throat of a man mid sentence on
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a college campus. That's traumatic.
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That is horror, and that is something that most people have
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never seen in their lives. So there's that element.
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Here's the third one, and this is especially relevant to us.
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This man, Charlie Kirk, was a follower of Jesus Christ, a
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bold, unashamed, passionate proclaimer of the truth.
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I will be honest in saying that I did not follow this man
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closely. I obviously knew of his name.
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I've seen a couple of things, but because of what had
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happened, I decided to just kind of catch up and see his most
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known discussions, debate moments, I guess his
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presentation of the truth. And refreshingly, unlike many
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other pundits and people who have big platforms who kind of
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just wear the Christian badge because they're moral or because
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they want to just cling to some kind of worldview, I'm convinced
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that this young man was a genuine follower of Christ.
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There's no denying it. And so we're we're heavy hearted
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because a brother in the Lord first and foremost.
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Beyond anything, I view this man as a disciple of Jesus Christ,
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and he lost his life. And we know there's a hope
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attached to our faith even in death.
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But we can still feel this weight and we can still be sad,
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and we can still come before God and ask questions.
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Here's the last thing I'll say before I open up some
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scriptures. What happened to this man was
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not only a physical attack. I am totally persuaded that it
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was an assault on everything that he stood for.
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And what he stood for includes the gospel that you and I
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believe in and a ferocious, loving commitment to
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righteousness. So that's that's potentially why
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we feel the way we feel. And it's only been what, 2 days?
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And knowing that we weren't going to do Bible study tonight,
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I want to just share with you 3 main thoughts that have been
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rewinding in my mind. And hopefully these thoughts
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based on Scripture will provide some kind of clarity and courage
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for you as it did for me. So the first thing that I can't
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seem to stop playing in my mind is how what had happened very
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much revealed the depths of wickedness in our society.
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The murder was brutal. I found out about it while I was
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at the gym on Wednesday afternoon, and shortly after I
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received the clip, the raw clip of him being killed.
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And shortly after that, because I'm not on social media, I
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received screenshots of comments of people who celebrated the
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assassination. And some of the things that
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stood out to me were how people were even.
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I'm saying this for a reason. You'll see in a moment people
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were even putting gift emojis beside their comments, rejoicing
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of this man's public slaughter. Do you know where my mind
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immediately went when I saw those comments?
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The Book of Revelation, Chapter 11.
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I want you to see this with me. It's amazing how this book,
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Revelation, is so timely for us as a church and how relevant it
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is even for tragedies like what we're experiencing today.
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Revelation 11 is primarily about these two mysterious figures
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known as the Two Witnesses. I'm not going to get into an
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interpretation or an explanation of who these figures are.
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I just want you to see what they will do and how the world will
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respond to their ministry. Let's begin in verse 4,
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Revelation 11. These are the 2 olive trees and
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the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and
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consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this
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is how he is doomed to be killed.
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They have the power to shut the sky that no rain may fall during
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the days of their prophesying, and they have the power over the
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waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with
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every kind of plague as often as they desire.
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Now pause. These are unusual messengers of
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God. We'll be endowed with a certain
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level of authority and ability unlike any other time, unless
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you really go back to the Old Testament and we're dealing with
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a tribulation period in this chapter.
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So this makes sense. This is a unique moment in
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history where God will empower these unique servants to
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accomplish something before the end of all things.
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Look at verse 7. And when they had finished their
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testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will
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make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their
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dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is
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symbolically. That symbolically is called
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Sodom in Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
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For 3 1/2 days, some of the peoples and tribes and languages
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and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let
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them be placed in a tomb. Pause again.
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I wonder how that's going to happen.
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How is every peoples of all tribes, languages and nations
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going to be able to gaze at 2 bodies in one location at the
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same time? I think you know the answer.
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Verse 10. And those who dwell on the earth
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will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presence,
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because these two prophets had been a torment to those who
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dwell on the earth. That's immediately where my mind
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went when I saw those heinous, despicable comments about the
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assassination of a father, a husband, and an innocent man in
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the Tribulation period, when these two witnesses will be
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killed and will not even receive the honor of having their bodies
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respected. Laying there on the streets for
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a few days, people will actually be celebrating to the point of
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buying presents and giving it to others.
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Aren't you happy we got rid of these guys?
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Notice here that it says these two prophets at the end of verse
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10 had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
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Isn't that remarkable? The preaching and the
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prophesying of these two witnesses will be torture to the
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inhabitants of the earth during the Tribulation period.
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It will literally torment them. For those who love darkness,
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truth is torturous. It is unbearable.
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It deserves the relief expressed through killing someone in order
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to silence them. What we witnessed 2 days ago, in
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my opinion, is a very strong reminder of where we're headed
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as a people in this world, as a nation.
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So that's what stood out to me. As shocking as it is on your
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social media platforms, the things that you're seeing in
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people's stories and what they're posting.
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The Bible already prepared us and telling us very
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descriptively how people will respond to truth speakers as we
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approach the end of time. So don't be too surprised.
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And this also tells me that what we saw two days ago isn't the
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last of it. I know it can be defined and
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deemed as a historical thing, but it's not the last of it.
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Because Revelation tells us that it's going to at least happen to
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two other more witnesses. The second thing that has been
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swirling in my thoughts, and I know it's very easy to become
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sensational after something like what we saw two days ago.
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It's very easy to speak from your emotions, to be clouded in
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your judgement. And I don't want to do that, but
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I will say this because I believe it's true.
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This is a wake up call to Christians that we live in a
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different America now. We are a people who believe in
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truth and we are people who've been commissioned by God to
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speak the truth. The means by which somebody is
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saved is through the word Roman, Romans highlights through the
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preaching of the word. We are not like some religions
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that want to just remain to ourselves and are not interested
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in other people coming to know what we believe in.
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No, we are the opposite. God has kept us on this earth to
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go out and to win other people to the saving knowledge of Jesus
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Christ. And we're living in a day where
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there is a growing movement that says if you don't agree with
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what we believe, you deserve to be killed.
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And you're thinking to yourself, well, it was 1 gunman.
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And I'm here to remind you of the people who celebrated it.
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There is an entire culture, there is an entire movement that
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is gaining momentum, that is becoming more bold, that is
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unafraid, that are willing to even die to silence those who
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speak the truth. So here's what I want to remind
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you of, not to instill more fear in you, but to be honest with
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you. We are living in an America that
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is advancing and moving towards a reality in which you will pay
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a price for what you believe in. Are you willing to pay that
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price? Cultural Christianity in the
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West is rapidly evaporating. It's disappearing before our
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eyes. What you and I saw again 2 days
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ago wasn't the assassination of a young evangelist in a Middle
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Eastern country or under a communist regime.
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It was on a college campus through an organization that
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fostered discourse and dialogue for ideas to be exchanged
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freely. Passionately, yes, but freely.
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And the leader of that organization was killed.
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Because, again, we're seeing the rise of an ideology that says,
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unless you remain silent or agree with us, you don't deserve
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to speak. You don't deserve to live.
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You've heard it many times from this pulpit that America is not
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exempt from persecution, that America is changing.
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And personally, I'm concerned that even Christians that we may
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know of are still asleep. They're not getting it.
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They're not seeing it. They're they're still caught up
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in this life. Let me remind you of 2 verses
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that you know very well. In John 15, Jesus told us
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something that relates to this thought.
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Verse 18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before
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it hated you. To us, it seems inconceivable,
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unthinkable that we could be hated, that we have evolved.
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Surely we have evolved with all the massacres and all the civil
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wars and all the craziness. We we've surely learned our
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lesson and we can accommodate and we can respectfully
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disagree. No, Jesus prepares his people
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for all time to be hated. And one of the ways in which you
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can console yourself according to this verse is that if you are
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hated, remember that they hated Jesus, the perfect one, the
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sinless 1, the most loving and gracious one.
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They hated Him and if you live for him, what makes you think
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they're not going to hate you and me?
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Now, another thing that really irked me with a little
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information that I received, because again, I'm not on these
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platforms are the comments of supposed Christians professing
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Christians who are biblically illiterate.
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And I have no idea how to interpret life and events and
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tragedies the way the Bible calls us to, who don't even have
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the basic grasp of what it means to be a follower of Christ.
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What I mean by that there are so many people who have verses in
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their profiles and claim to be followers of Christ who think
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that Christians should never call out sin.
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Who think that Christians should never go out to the public
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square and confront unbelievers in the rebellion in their
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darkness. Who think that the most loving
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thing to do is to keep your faith to yourself and just
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preach the gospel. Don't, don't discuss issues.
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Don't, don't, don't highlight any kind of movement or
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ideology. Just keep your mouth shut, sing
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your songs, listen to your sermons, live in sin and just do
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your thing. Can I ask you a question?
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Why did they hate Jesus? Why?
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Come on, why did they hate him? Can I tell you why?
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John 77 That's why. The Lord Jesus tells us why the
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world hated Him. The world cannot hate you, but
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it hates me because I testify about it that its works are
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evil. I don't know what your version
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of Jesus is, but the one in the Bible shows me that the Lord
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Jesus testified to the world that its works were evil.
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He confronted sin. He pointed out iniquity.
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He charged people to repent, even the woman who was caught in
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adultery, which nominal Christians love to quote in
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defense of their unbiblical understanding of what it means
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to preach the gospel. Yes, Jesus did say he was
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without sin. Let him cast the first stone.
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Yes, if there was anybody who was worthy to cast a stone, it
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was Christ himself because he was without sin.
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But the same Jesus who said that also looked at this woman and
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says now go and sin no more. So many Christians out there are
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preaching half a gospel, not the true gospel.
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And believers, I want to look at you in the eye from my heart and
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remind you that we are advancing in a nation, in a culture that
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will try to do what it can to keep you from speaking the
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truth, even if it means to lose your life.
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Think about it. I never thought in my short life
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the church at large will be having discussions of having
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armed security for their services.
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We're in America. What is this?
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Where are we? People fled their nations to
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come to this country so that they can enjoy the right of
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being able to speak out. Oh, how that is quickly
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changing. So we have just been reminded
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that you can even be somebody who encourages dialogue and
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there are people who don't even want that.
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Be prepared. Christians.
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Here's the last thing that I want to say.
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Tomorrow's not promise for any of us.
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And I was sharing with Pastor Bennett before the service.
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How I I briefly looked at the final clip of Charlie Kirk on
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his channel before he was murdered.
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And it was so interesting to hear him to, to speak about the
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event in Utah as you and I would any ordinary weekend.
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So we're going to be going to Utah and this is the the start
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of our tour and just talking about it.
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I'm sure thinking that he was going to have a successful
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event, go home to his children, to his wife, maybe talk to him
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on the phone if he was away, go to sleep and wake up to see
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another day. And instead, mid sentence, he
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was shot in the throat. Tomorrow is not promised.
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This was a man who again, in the prime of his life, had so much
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to live, had so much ahead of him, was promised such a bright
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future, was commended and celebrated by so many, and the
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Lord Jesus took him home. The sovereignty of God is a
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strange thing, really is. It was only some months ago
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where somebody tried to assassinate the president and he
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grazed his ear. And then you have this young 31
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year old man who was shot in a place that, humanly speaking, is
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impossible to recover from. Why did God allow one and not
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the other? I don't have answers.
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I can speculate, but if there's anything that I do know, it's
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this. Tomorrow's not promised.
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So should that cause us to live anxiously and obsessively in a
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negative way, where you do all that you can to try to protect
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your life? Yeah, There are natural means
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and there are common sense methods to enjoy life and to
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protect ourselves from danger and harm.
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But. But I don't think that's what
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we're supposed to take from this.
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If anything, we should be reminded that though death is
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very much possible at any point, we have no reason to fear it.
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Not one. Let me remind you of a verse
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that I brought up, I believe last Sunday or the Sunday before
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from Revelation yet again in chapter 14, in verse 13.
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And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, Blessed are
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the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
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Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their
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laborers, for their deeds follow them.
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Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
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There's a lot of fear and I decided to venture out and
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listen to other high profile names trying to make sense of
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what happened, trying to give some kind of hope or answers for
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how this nation can move forward to no avail, No success, no, no
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tangible, helpful, concrete solutions.
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But let me say this, the safest place for you in this crazy
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world is to be in Jesus. That's the safest to be in the
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Lord, to be close to the Lord. Death is coming for all of us,
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and for some of us it might be earlier than what's commonly
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experienced. So be it.
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Here's my charge to you. Live a meaningful life.
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Live for the gospel cause. Live for the glory of God.
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Don't waste your life. Don't go out.
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Don't exit with no deeds following you, with no
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testimony, with no ministry, with no witness.
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What a shame that would be. I'm not saying that means you
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have to have this big organization or you have to be
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in full time ministry. What I am saying, though, is one
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of my prayers, and it was our prayer many ways on Wednesday
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night when we came together as a church, which was so moving.
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Is that one of the redeemable elements of what happened in
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this horrible tragedy is that it would wake up lukewarm
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Christians because we have too many of them distracted,
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vacillating, carnal, worldly Christians?
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Let me tell you something. If we keep going in this
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direction as a nation, you won't survive what's coming.
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Your little faith, whatever it is, will shrivel up.
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But it doesn't have to. It can thrive.
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It can be strong. It can be bold.
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It can be filled with the fragrance of Christ if what
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happened doesn't bring you to your knees and make you think
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about your mortality and make you think about how am I really
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invested in this gospel? Am I really invested in serving
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Christ? Or is he some peripheral thing?
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Is he just something that I attach to my weekend?
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I really hope that this tragedy will not produce what many
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tragedies do. A burst of concern, a sobriety,
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only for it to dissipate and for people to just go back to their
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mundane, ineffective Christianity.
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There's much more I can say. There's much more that can be
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explained, at least attempted to be explained.
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But let me say two things before we pray.
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One, if you're here today and you don't know the Lord Jesus
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Christ, I'm here to tell you without shame that He is the
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truth. That He alone alone has the
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answers for all the confusion and the chaos around us.
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That you don't know life unless you know Him.
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That you won't have eternal life unless you believe on Him.
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To reject Him is to be rebellious.
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To know of His gospel truth and to be indifferent towards it is
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damning. I hope that you have been
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awakened to the reality that no one in this world has an answer
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to how to change the human heart.
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God does, and it's in this word. You may have not been convinced
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of the reality of God, but hopefully you are aware and you
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can't deny the pervasive evil, the demonic work that is
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manifesting right before our eyes.
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You know, it's amazing. You have unbelievers who are
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willing to call out and say what is really going on while so many
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others are spineless in the church.
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You have people who don't even believe in this gospel saying
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that this is a spiritual war. You have unbelievers out there
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saying that this is demonic. You have people who are standing
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on a foundation that is weak, that is like sand, that offers
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no true hope, and they are grabbing megaphones and they are
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projecting their ideas and their solutions.
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And yet we have Christians who are still scared to give the
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only message that can save this generation.
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I hope you're more bold than ever.
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I hope you're more bold on your social media.
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I hope you use what is taking place in our nation as an
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opportunity to approach people who are hurting, who are
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desperate for answers, though they may not admit it, and to
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step into their lives to give them the hope of Jesus Christ.
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If you don't give them a solution, Satan will give them a
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false one, and it'll just bring them into deeper deception.
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If I am not willing to do that, then what are we really here
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for? And so if you're an unbeliever
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here, I adjure you to truly repent, to bend your knee, to
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surrender to the One who is sovereign over all these things.
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And believer, I exhort you from a place of love to really take
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your faith seriously and to ask God to use you every day and to
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stay close to the Lord every day, to live with an eternal
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perspective because tomorrow's not promised.
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Father, we ask, oh Lord, how we need you.
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In these times. It's very difficult for us to
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just turn off our cell phones and to not hear what's
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happening, to not look for updates.
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But Laura, we understand that that can also be a trap where we
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can get sucked into an endless cycle of commentary and
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conspiracy theories and criticism and a culture war that
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can take us away from our true purpose.
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So we pray that you would use this brief service to reorient
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us and to put weight on our ankles so that we can stay firm
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where we're supposed to be. So Lord, give us divine wisdom,
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divine courage. Help us not operate out of
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feelings or in a reactionary way.
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The Lord to be harnessed by the truth, to be filled with the
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Spirit, to be encouraging to one another.
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Lord, we pray for an avalanche of courage to crash into your
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church. We pray that there wouldn't be a
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drop of fear, but fearlessness, that there would be a unity in
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the church, that there would be a passion for evangelism, that
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there would be, Lord, a prophetic power behind every
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pulpit. Lord, help us to preach the Word
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in season and out of season, even in these times, as tempting
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as it may be to not exegete the culture, But we're also aware
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that there are headlines and there are events that intersect
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with the church and are impossible to ignore.
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And this is one of those times. And so we pray that you help us
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navigate through these troubling waters successfully in a way
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that honors you and blesses you. So, Lord, hear our prayers, hear
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our prayers, oh God, this evening as your church, and we
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pray that you would answer us in a way that would produce fruit
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and testimonies. We pray for Charlie Kirk's
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family. We pray for his wife, his
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babies, his parents, his loved ones, That you would flood them
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with peace, Oh Lord, that they would understand that his death
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was not in vain. That they would know that the
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dying the Lord is a blessing indeed, and that they will be
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reunited with Him again, and that He is indeed in your
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presence. And that Lord, in your great
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wisdom, you did not want him to do anything else beyond that
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day. He has fulfilled His purpose.
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Help us fulfill ours. We pray for this nation, so
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polarized, so divided. Lord, at a boiling point,
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anything can happen. But we pray, O God, that your
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spirit would hover over this place and that what would come
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about is a genuine spiritual revival.
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Somehow, some way, Lord, though this nation deserves great
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judgment, we pray that you would extend mercy.
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We asked, Lord, instead, that there would be churches filled,
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the people who want to be saved, that you would speak boldly as
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we heard about John the Baptist at the opening of the service, a
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nation at that time that was in great turmoil and great
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corruption politically and even religiously.
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We ask, Oh God, that you would raise up prophetic voices that
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would just preach. Thus says the Lord, the word of
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God, Lord. Finally, we ask that though we
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are surrounded by a divided nation, the church will not be
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divided at this time. Make it airtight in its unity.
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Make it airtight in its love. May our eyes be set on the true
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purpose of our presence and our existence here, to proclaim the
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truth, to herald righteousness even though we are persecuted
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for it. So Lord, my prayer with my
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brothers and sisters is that there would be an innumerable
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amount of divine appointments in each of our worlds where we will
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have conversations and opportunities to proclaim the
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truth. That we would be unafraid to
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even ask people how they're doing with the tragedy and the
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chaos around us, and then to bring the truth to them.
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Because if we don't, who else will?
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We love you Lord, hear our cries tonight for the many things that
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need your touch. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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Here's how we proceed in the service.
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We have to do war on our knees. This is a turning point.
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Really it is. And I know that's the name of
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this man's organization, but I can't think of a better phrase.
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It really is a turning point and it could head into a direction
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that is better or worse. And so just come before God.
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I want to make it very open. We're not praying out loud like
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we do on Wednesday. You can pray with a pocket of
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people, whoever you came with. You can get on your knees on the
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carpet if you'd like, as long as you don't distract anyone.
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If you want to remain solo, you can pray solo.
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But let's just pray. Let's pray for, for Charlie
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Kirk's family, for the church at large, for this nation, for the
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world really who has been seized by this assassination.
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And, and let's ask God to use us really to make an impact for his
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name's sake. I know much more could be said
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from the pulpit. I know much more can can be
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touched on. My purpose here tonight is to
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simply exhort us. And my prayer is that you would
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leave here lighter, clear, and with more courage.
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So let's just do that. Let's take the next few moments
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to pray here. We'll we're going to continue to
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sing in a moment and close, but now let's just really pray.
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So find someone to pray with. You want to pray in a group?
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You can do that. If you want to pray on your own
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again, you are permitted to do so as well.
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Music will be playing softly. And let's just seek the Lord
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together.