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Hey everybody, this is Pastor 
John Ewart from Inglewood 

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Baptist Church in Rocky 
Mountain, North Carolina. 

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Thank you so much for tuning in 
to our podcast. 

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You're going to hear from God 
today as we share from his word 

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about important issues facing 
your life that can guide you 

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according to the Bible. 
Listen, I just want to welcome 

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everybody tonight to this new 
series. 

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We're so thankful that those of 
you who are here live are here 

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with us. 
And then also for those who are 

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listening to this online, this 
is called core training. 

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We're going to have several 
episodes of this sessions 

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together, and this is going to 
be kind of a unique series. 

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Believe it or not. 
All these things tie together. 

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What I do on midweek and what 
I'm doing on Sundays, I really 

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do tie together to kind of build
us toward a process. 

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But as we continue our progress 
toward an even stronger and 

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clearly understood pathway of 
discipleship, we're going to 

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start this series. 
We're going to dive into some 

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pretty deep water. 
And so my challenge is pretty 

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significant in the sense of I 
have some pretty high level deep

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thoughts to share theologically 
and doctrinally, but I don't 

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want it to be boring. 
I don't want it to not be 

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applicable. 
I and I want it to be 

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understood. 
So, so I want us to translate 

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theology into into practice and 
application. 

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So I'm going to work really hard
to do that. 

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And I think you'll see that. 
I hope it works out well for us 

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and it's going to be important 
for you to not miss a session if

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possible, because these really 
do build each week. 

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And you'll see how that works 
together as we walk through what

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we're going to do tonight. 
And so the for those who are 

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listening online, I hope you'll 
download that listening guide as

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well. 
For those of you here, I hope 

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you have one of those because we
live in a world now that frankly

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has completely lost its mooring 
of truth. 

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They they're this world 
aimlessly drifts from reactive 

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opinion to frankly overreacting 
opinion, and it does it over and

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over again. 
So this lack of belief in a 

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consistent truth that applies to
everyone leads to great personal

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and even social instability. 
That's part of why you see what 

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you see in our world and on the 
news, and it causes a sense of 

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fear and uncertainty, not to 
mention horribly misled personal

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and corporate conclusions and 
belief. 

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So, so people make up their own 
belief and then hang on to it, 

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and that leads them to the wrong
conclusions, and they don't know

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that. 
So this chaotic context not only

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affects the world around you, 
that's why the world's crazy, 

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but it also effects inside the 
church more than often, you 

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might know. 
So we find ourselves and we find

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our families, our children, 
sometimes caught in what I would

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refer to as the vortex of 
spiraling views and opinions, 

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where we have different 
interpretations, different 

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traditions that challenge 
biblical authority and also 

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challenge some of the 
foundations of our belief. 

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And so we really need to 
understand why do we believe 

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what we believe and what is it 
that we believe and why? 

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So we're going to talk through 
some of that. 

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So what do we believe? 
What must we believe? 

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And that's an important 
category. 

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What must we believe and how 
hard must we believe that and 

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how strongly must we hold to 
some of these certain beliefs? 

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And then how do you tell the 
difference then between that 

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that level and and false 
teaching or, or different 

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interpretations? 
For example, why are there 

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denominations we're going to 
talk about that different 

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interpretations, different 
doctrinal disagreements versus 

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legitimate essential theology. 
And how do you, how do you 

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figure out what's, what's worth 
dying for and what's worth 

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debating, but still serving 
together about right? 

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So we need to talk about this 
now. 

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Liberal theologians, true 
liberal theology, which is 

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something I hope that you've not
even been exposed to, but true 

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liberal theology continues this 
idea to minimize the 

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significance of doctrine in 
order to be more inclusive. 

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They want to be more acceptable.
They want to be more palatable 

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and So what that leads to is a 
pluralistic or universal 

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universalistic, I can't say that
word universalistic. 

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Thank you supercalifragile and 
and it leads them to these 

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conclusions and proclamations. 
Now we know pluralism says to us

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that how many ways are there to 
God pluralism, many universalism

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says who's going to be saved? 
Everybody. 

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And so it leads them to these 
conclusions because they don't 

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want to offend anybody. 
They they don't want to be too 

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exclusive. 
They don't want to be offensive 

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to anyone. 
Therefore they include everyone.

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And there's really no barriers 
or lines of belief, which is 

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obviously not what the Bible 
teaches. 

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When I LED one of our doctoral 
programs at Southeastern 

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Seminary, it was a very 
practical degree. 

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And one of the things we used to
do is almost all the students 

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were pastors and we would have 
them do a theological survey of 

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their church. 
Well, frankly, I had to stop 

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that assignment because they 
were so depressed when they got 

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that survey back because they 
found that in their Southern 

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Baptist churches, they had 
pluralists, they had 

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universalists, they had all 
kinds of is in their 

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congregations. 
And it became so depressing that

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we just said, let's, we're just 
not going to do that anymore. 

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Let's, let's take this from a 
different approach. 

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And then others are on the other
side of the equation to where 

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they're overly legalistic, 
right? 

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And harsh. 
One of the number one complaints

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every time I do demographic 
studies of an area, including 

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this one, I could show you the 
ones from this area. 

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One of the things they don't 
like about the church is that 

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we're too harsh, we're too 
legalistic, even though they 

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often don't have any clue what 
we really believe. 

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But that's their opinion of us. 
But some people are overly 

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legalistic, are overly harsh, 
and they're harsh in their 

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judgement of anyone and everyone
who disagrees with their 

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interpretations of all things, 
large or small. 

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So you can have a disagreement 
about anything and you're just 

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wrong, and you're a horrible 
liberal, you're a heretic, 

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you're going to hell or whatever
it might be, even though it 

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might just be a different 
interpretation of something 

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that's not of primary 
significance for salvation, 

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right? 
So we got to talk about these 

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classifications a little bit. 
So they condemn anybody like 

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that. 
So we're desperate for a solid 

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biblical hermeneutic of theology
and belief. 

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And that's what this series, 
Core Training is about. 

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Theologian David Wells once 
wrote this. 

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He says without theology there 
can be no church because 

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theology holds the key to 
Christian identity, to Christian

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continuity, to genuine piety, to
serious worship, and to the sort

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of Christian thought that seeks 
to bring the import of God's 

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word into the world. 
Now, what he just said was that 

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without without us understanding
what we believe about the Bible 

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and why it's going to be hard 
for us to apply the Bible in our

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lives and to help other people 
understand the Bible until it 

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apply it to their lives. 
So we need to understand these 

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these things. 
And even though the word 

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theology might not be exciting 
to you, the word doctrine might 

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not be exciting to you, we're 
going to make this exciting and 

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very practical. 
We're going to talk about things

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that you're going to say. 
Yeah, yeah. 

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What about that? 
We're going to do some of that 

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in this series. 
I'm going to hit some of the 

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hard things and some of the 
easier things along the way. 

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You'll see. 
So there can often be this, this

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presence of see if this words 
throw you of what I would call a

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theological mosaic, you with me,
where even within a single 

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church, even within this room 
right now or people listening 

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right now, there are differences
of opinion about certain beliefs

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or certain interpretations. 
There's certain hard passages 

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that that there are multiple 
interpretations that scholars 

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would even put forth. 
And what do we believe about 

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that, right? 
What do you believe about the 

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second coming of Christ, for 
example? 

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What do you believe about 
spiritual gifts, for example? 

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There are just all kinds of 
things that that can actually 

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divide or we can learn to, to 
share with one another and still

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serve. 
And so we're, we're talking 

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about the unity of the body. 
So what does this church, what 

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does Inglewood believe and why? 
And that's where this is going 

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to end up. 
Who is Inglewood and why? 

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And, and what must we believe in
a broader sense in order to go 

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to heaven? 
What do you have to believe in 

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order to really be a Christian, 
right? 

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Because in our world today, you 
know this as well as I do. 

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I mentioned this in a sermon 
Sunday. 

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But to think about, there are a 
lot of people out there who say 

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I'm a Christian, but they really
don't know what that means. 

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That's more of a cultural thing.
And that's true of all other 

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world religions. 
I, I know a lot of people who 

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are, who would claim to be 
Muslim, but the reason they're 

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Muslim is because granddaddy was
a Muslim and uncle was a Muslim 

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and daddy was a Muslim and Mama 
was a Muslim. 

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And, and it's not a personalized
faith or even a faith they live 

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out. 
They're just a cultural Muslim 

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or a cultural Jew, but they're 
also certainly cultural Baptists

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as well, right? 
And so how do we actually 

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personally understand this and 
embrace this and teach our 

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families So about what can I 
have strong interpretational 

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opinions but still believe those
who disagree with me are still 

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going to be in heaven with me? 
You know, I can believe pretty 

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strongly about this, but it's 
not enough to cross the line of 

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you're not saved. 
At the same time, I think, you 

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know, there's almost this sense 
of when we get there, God's 

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going to show you that I was 
right. 

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But, but, but we'll be there 
together, you know what I'm 

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saying? 
And then, and then about what 

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the, what are those things that 
we can disagree about and still 

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love and serve together in the 
same church, in the same small 

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group? 
You know, we, but we don't 

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necessarily agree 100% with each
other about that interpretation.

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So, so you can see these levels 
kind of appearing of, of, of 

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doctrine. 
So we need some way to think 

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through these important 
questions that can often divide 

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rather than unite, but we want 
them to unite. 

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So. 
So there are fancy words for 

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this. 
One of them is called a 

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doctrinal taxonomy. 
All that means is a way to 

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prioritize certain doctrines and
to kind of rank them in a 

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certain order. 
That doesn't mean that nothing 

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that that not all doctrine is 
important or that parts of the 

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word of God are unimportant. 
That's not true at all. 

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But there's some things 
essential for salvation and then

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some things essential for unity 
and some things that we can 

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debate about and sit and sit in 
a small group together and, and,

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and have a fun debate about, 
right. 

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So we need a way to think about 
this. 

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So, so Albert Mohler and by the 
way, these these levels have 

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existed since the early church 
councils, very early in church 

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history. 
They knew they had to do this 

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because they were fighting 
heresy. 

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And so because they were 
fighting false teaching in the 

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early church, they had to create
these understandings. 

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So these have existed from the 
the very first days of the 

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church. 
So Al Mohler, who's the 

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president of Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, my former 

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boss, wrote an important article
and it's called a call for 

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Theological Triage and Christian
Maturity. 

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And on his website, you can 
actually go there and, and, and 

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see this term theological 
triage. 

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Now think about this word triage
for a moment. 

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We often use that in the medical
world. 

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It's a French word that means to
sort. 

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And this is where in an 
emergency room sit. 

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This is why you wait for 12 
hours in an emergency room 

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because somebody else has come 
in with they're bleeding worse 

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than you are, right? 
And so the people who are 

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bleeding the worst or having the
active heart attack get in first

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and you with a broken toe is 
sitting there for 12 hours 

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wishing you had stayed home. 
But that's where that 

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determination of priority, the 
the determination of urgency 

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comes in and that medical 
triage, right? 

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Certainly in in hospitals. 
And if you think of a, an army 

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hospital or something like that,
you could understand that word. 

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But we but Mueller is saying 
that we need theological triage 

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for ourselves and for our church
and frankly for others. 

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And so listen to what he says, 
and I'll read through this 

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pretty quickly. 
It says in every generation, the

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church has commanded to contend 
for the faith once for all 

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delivered to the Saints. 
That's no easy task. 

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And it's complicated by the 
multiple attacks upon Christian 

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truth that mark our contemporary
age. 

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Assaults upon the Christian 
faith are no longer directed 

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only at isolated doctrines. 
The entire structure of 

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Christian truth is now under 
attack by those who would 

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subvert Christianity's 
theological integrity. 

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Today's Christian faces faces 
the daunting task of 

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strategizing which Christian 
doctrines and theological issues

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are to be given highest priority
in terms of our contemporary 

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context. 
This applies both to the public 

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defense of Christianity in face 
of the secular challenge and the

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internal responsibility of 
dealing with doctrinal 

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disagreements. 
Neither is an easy task, but 

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theological seriousness and 
maturity demand that we consider

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we consider doctrinal issues in 
terms of their relative 

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importance. 
God's truth is to be defended at

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every point and in every detail,
but responsible Christians must 

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determine which issues to serve 
first. 

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Rank attention in time of 
theological crisis. 

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And if you don't know this, this
world is in a theological 

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crisis. 
We're in a truth crisis. 

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And so we've got to decide which
of the things are are are worth 

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fighting for and which of the 
things are can be left for 

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discussion, but not necessarily 
the fight, right? 

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So we need to prioritize battle 
plan. 

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And this is not only important 
and here's kind of part of my 

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goal so that we might better 
understand what we believe to 

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serve together in unity, but 
also so we're better equipped in

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terms of apologetics to know how
to address this lost world. 

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And so it's a both end. 
It's both for inside the church,

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for our unity and strength and 
discipleship, but also how do I 

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deal with the arguments and the 
false truth that's out there, 

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right? 
And later in the year, we're 

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going to do personal evangelism 
training. 

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So this will become really 
important for us. 

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There's another guy named Gavin 
Ortlin who wrote a book called 

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Finding the Right Hills to Die 
on the case for theological 

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triage. 
And he just says triage is a 

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system of prioritization. 
Doctrines have different kinds 

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of importance. 
Some hills are worth dying on 

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and others are not. 
Now, not everybody agrees with 

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that, and it's easy to not agree
with it in principle because 

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some want to fight about 
everything. 

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So some want to fight about 
everything all the time. 

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They do, especially inside the 
church. 

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They will if you let them. 
And I've spent massive amount of

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times in the churches that I've 
worked with over the years, 

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especially those in conflict and
turmoil, massive amount of times

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with these people who bring 
everything up to the highest 

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level of immediate urgency and 
conflict. 

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Everything is top level 
regardless of what it is. 

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For example, if you don't 
believe exactly what I believe 

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about the second coming of 
Christ, you're not going to 

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heaven. 
That kind of idea. 

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You with me. 
All right. 

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So if someone is not sitting 
there bleeding to death, you 

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have plenty of time to work on 
that chip tooth. 

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But but that's not where the 
church is today. 

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This world is bleeding to death.
And so we have to prioritize. 

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We live in a state of 
overwhelming lostness and 

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confusion and have to prioritize
our time and our effort in our 

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conversations with this lost 
world. 

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And now please hear me. 
We want to study every single 

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aspect of God's truth with 
eagerness. 

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00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,280
We want to study the whole 
Bible, every single verse 

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00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,960
theologian Ji Packer in his book
knowing God, some of you have 

302
00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:26,520
probably read that book, says do
not all children of God long 

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00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:29,320
with the psalmist to know just 
as much about our heavenly 

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00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:33,000
Father as we can learn. 
Is not indeed the fact that we 

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00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,680
have received love for his truth
in this way, proof that we shall

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00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:40,520
have been born again. 
So though we conclude a certain 

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00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,440
interpretation of a passage 
might not be worth dividing 

308
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,600
over, it doesn't mean that we 
say we don't care about it 

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00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,200
either. 
So we care about every aspect of

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the word of God, especially 
inside the church and our 

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00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,560
studies together and our small 
groups together and our 

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00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,000
preaching, our midweek service. 
We, we want to study at all. 

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00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,520
Every word of God is hugely 
important and we want to know 

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00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,720
about it. 
So that's what that's why I've 

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00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,240
been emphasizing one of the 
reasons I emphasize so much. 

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00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,200
You didn't think I would get 
through this without mentioning 

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00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,079
it. 
This is why I emphasize connect 

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00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:13,359
groups so much. 
It's because it's in that small 

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00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,440
community. 
And so I want everybody to be in

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00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,359
the worship service in midweek 
and in the connect group because

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00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:24,480
you're going to get a better 
diet of the truth of God by 

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00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,440
doing that well-rounded weekly 
experience, right? 

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00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,960
So plus, we're going to be 
teaching you pretty soon not 

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00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,840
only how to walk in prayer in 
podcasts, but you all stay tuned

325
00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,280
because we're also going to be 
doing a series on how to study 

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00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,520
the Bible. 
So we're going to talk to you 

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00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,560
about how do you in your 
personal time, how do I 

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00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:47,280
personally study the Bible? 
How can I take a passage of 

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00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:48,920
Scripture? 
What questions should I be 

330
00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,800
asking? 
What should I be looking for? 

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00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,480
And so we're going to do a 
series of podcasts to help you 

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00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,280
with that that you can listen to
while you're in your personal 

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00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:58,440
quiet time if you want to. 
So we're going to do that as 

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00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:00,800
well. 
All right, so let's let's look 

335
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,560
at some Scripture. 
Acts chapter 17, verse 11 says 

336
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,680
this. 
Now these Jews were more noble. 

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00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,000
I'll get it out now. 
These Jews were more noble than 

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00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,080
those in Thessalonica. 
They received the word with all 

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00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:21,240
eagerness, examining the 
Scriptures daily to see if these

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00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,600
things were so. 
What a great testimony. 

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00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,120
That's who we want to be. 
We want you know, don't just 

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00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:28,440
listen to my sermons. 
Don't just listen to my lessons.

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00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,360
See if see if I'm right, see if 
I'm true. 

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00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,240
Test me. 
Go to the Word of God, make sure

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00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,480
that what I'm saying is right. 
You feel free to do that 

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00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,840
anytime. 
So in but in our current 

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00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,640
culture, in our current church 
context, we've got to recognize 

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00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:48,640
that there are certain doctrines
that have eternal impact that we

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00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,520
really have to be careful about.
In other words, if you don't 

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00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:57,120
believe this, you're not saved. 
So we really want to focus on 

351
00:18:57,120 --> 00:18:59,960
that. 
So in fact, Paul designates DA 

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00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:03,280
Carson would remind us, and we 
see this in Scripture that even 

353
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,400
Paul designated certain 
doctrines as of first 

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00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,440
importance, for example, in 
First Corinthians 15, three, 

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00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,360
where he's sharing the gospels, 
what he's doing. 

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00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,320
If you ever want to know, ever 
want to see a great synopsis of 

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00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:21,960
the gospel in the New Testament,
go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15

358
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:25,680
and he'll spell it out for you. 
But he says this in verse 3. 

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00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:30,440
For I delivered to you as of 
first importance what I also 

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00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,760
received, that Christ died for 
our sins in accordance with the 

361
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,360
Scriptures. 
But then Carson would also add, 

362
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:41,120
there are other beliefs that 
actually allow for some 

363
00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:45,200
differing of opinion. 
Listen to Romans 14. 

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00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,440
As for the one who is weak in 
faith, welcome him, but not to 

365
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:55,440
quarrel over opinions. 
The person believes he may eat 

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00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,400
anything, while the weak person 
eats only vegetables. 

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00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,800
Let not the one who eats despise
the one who abstains, and let 

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00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,440
not the one who abstains pass 
judgement on the one who eats, 

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00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:08,880
for God has welcomed him. 
And you might say, well, what in

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00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,680
the world are we talking about? 
Well, he goes on in verses 5 and

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00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,560
6, and I'll tell you so. 
One person in verse 5 esteems 

372
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,600
one day is better than another, 
while another esteems all days 

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00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,280
alike. 
Each one should be fully 

374
00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,600
convinced in his own mind. 
The one who observes the day 

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00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:27,320
observes it in honor of the 
Lord. 

376
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,480
The one who eats, eats in honor 
of the Lord, since he gives 

377
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,440
thank to God, while the one who 
abstains, abstains in honor of 

378
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,080
the Lord and gives thanks to 
God. 

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00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,080
Now what in the world is he 
talking about? 

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00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:39,760
Well, you got to understand that
in the early church you had 

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00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,360
people coming from all kinds of 
backgrounds, right? 

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00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:47,520
And, and there was conflict at 
times between those different 

383
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,640
backgrounds. 
And so you had different 

384
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,080
traditions, you had different 
festivals, you had different 

385
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,320
interpretations of Old Testament
law. 

386
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,560
Remember in, in the New 
Testament days, they didn't have

387
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,280
one of these complete yet. 
They didn't have the whole 

388
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,000
Bible. 
And so a lot of their scripture 

389
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,720
that they would study was still 
the Old Testament scripture. 

390
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,280
And then they were hearing about
the the teachings of Jesus from 

391
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,680
the apostles and and then Paul 
started writing letters, 

392
00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,440
etcetera. 
And so as the words coming 

393
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,120
together, these differences and 
these beliefs could cause 

394
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,400
division, they could cause 
separation. 

395
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,480
Let me go on a little further. 
Romans 14 verse 12. 

396
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,760
So then each of us will give an 
account of himself to God. 

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00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,840
Therefore, let us not pass 
judgment on one another any 

398
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,600
longer, but rather decide never 
to put a stumbling block or 

399
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,240
hindrance in the way of a 
brother. 

400
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,920
I know and am persuaded in the 
Lord Jesus that nothing is 

401
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,920
unclean in itself, but it is 
unclean for anyone who thinks 

402
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,040
it's unclean. 
For if your brother is grieved 

403
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,960
by what you eat, you're no 
longer walking in love by what 

404
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,160
you eat. 
Do not destroy the one for whom 

405
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,760
Christ died. 
So do not let what you regard as

406
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,160
good be spoken of as evil. 
For the Kingdom of God is not a 

407
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,960
matter of eating and drinking, 
but of righteousness and peace 

408
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,480
and joy in the Holy Spirit. 
Whoever thus serves Christ is 

409
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,240
acceptable to God and approved 
by men. 

410
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,880
So then, let us pursue what 
makes for peace and for mutual 

411
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,000
upbuilding. 
See what he's talking about 

412
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,840
here. 
There's a conflict between Jews 

413
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,600
and Gentiles going on. 
And so you have Jewish people 

414
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,520
who are still working through 
dietary Old Testament rules and 

415
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:30,120
laws as, as believers, they're 
still, still working through 

416
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:31,680
those things. 
Well, the Gentiles don't know 

417
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,200
anything about that. 
So the Gentiles are over here 

418
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,240
and they're eating and drinking 
things and that that can offend 

419
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,360
those Jewish believers. 
And the Jewish believers are 

420
00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,600
then judging the Gentiles, which
can offend the Gentiles. 

421
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:47,160
And so we we recognize that what
this is, you may not see it this

422
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,320
way. 
This is doctrinal interpretation

423
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,200
of the Old Testament. 
And they had different 

424
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,960
interpretations of different 
parts of the Old Testament as 

425
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,680
they were learning together. 
Right? 

426
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:01,880
In fact, in Ephesians 2, it says
this. 

427
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:06,360
For he himself is our peace, who
has made us both 1 and is broken

428
00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,920
down in his flesh, the dividing 
wall of hostility. 

429
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:11,520
He's talking about the same 
thing right here. 

430
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,440
He's talking about the conflict 
between Jewish background 

431
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,600
believers and Gentile background
believers and the fact that this

432
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,600
is being broken down. 
And so we might think that these

433
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,840
are simply cultural or 
traditional things, but for the 

434
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,480
Jewish peoples, they would have 
considered these Old Testament 

435
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,240
doctrinal issues and very 
serious like you, you can't do 

436
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:32,880
that. 
You're wrong for doing that. 

437
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:36,240
And I could see, I could, I 
could see that that conflict 

438
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,520
happening in a body when you 
have that mixed group of people 

439
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,480
coming together who are saved. 
You know, I know you don't 

440
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,680
believe this, but this happens 
today. 

441
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,960
I mean, there are people who 
might come from a different 

442
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:55,280
church and join this church. 
And at that church, we didn't do

443
00:23:55,280 --> 00:24:00,360
it that way, right? 
And so in our tradition at that 

444
00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:03,080
church, this is what we did. 
And that's right. 

445
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,680
And the way you all do it is 
wrong. 

446
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,960
I've encountered that. 
Well, my very first senior 

447
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,400
pastor, it was a great blessing,
but it was also a hoot. 

448
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:18,720
That's a Hebrew word. 
So so the very first, very first

449
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,840
senior pastor, it was a little 
bit of church in a little bit of

450
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,000
town and I was in student 
ministry for a few years and 

451
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:26,760
larger churches in a larger 
place. 

452
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,880
And we were making these 
transitions trying to figure out

453
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:30,920
what God wanted. 
This is just stop being a church

454
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:32,720
plant and it just become a 
church. 

455
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:36,120
And I was their first put paid 
person really. 

456
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,840
And what they had done in this 
small town is the big Baptist 

457
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,560
Church had gone very, this had 
gone off the wheels. 

458
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,080
I'll just, I want to go into 
detail. 

459
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,320
They, they had become heretical 
and really bad teaching and 

460
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,000
stuff. 
So there was a, a, a retired 

461
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,920
missionary who lived there and 
said, we need a true Southern 

462
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,680
Baptist church in this town. 
So he started this church and, 

463
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:04,360
and very well, but every single 
member of that church in the 

464
00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:08,000
beginning was a disgruntled 
member who had left another 

465
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,760
church. 
And there were about 3 or 4 

466
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,360
churches and they got, they got 
disgruntled. 

467
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,960
That's, that's a, that's a Greek
word, disgruntled in English, 

468
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,480
we'd say mad. 
And so they got mad and they 

469
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,640
left that church and they were 
all in this new church. 

470
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,400
So I, I basically inherited an 
entire congregation of really 

471
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:32,160
angry people. 
And, and my, my well out there, 

472
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:37,000
we and then over here and you 
all, it's fantastic. 

473
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,560
So we just want a whole bunch of
new people to Jesus who didn't 

474
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,080
care about any of that stuff and
deluded that whole situation. 

475
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:52,320
But anyway, so we need to seek 
unity and peace even when we're 

476
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,960
diverse in our background and 
opinions, right? 

477
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:58,240
And it's really always 
interesting to me. 

478
00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:00,720
One of the blessings I had when 
I worked in the Philippines was 

479
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:02,800
I worked at the International 
Baptist Church in Manila. 

480
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,160
We had 14 different 
nationalities when I was there. 

481
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,200
And so you had all these people 
coming not only from different 

482
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,880
backgrounds, but literally 
different places coming 

483
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,640
together. 
And it was a beautiful thing. 

484
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,920
They got along really well. 
It was a wonderful educational 

485
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,000
experience. 
And we actually had, we actually

486
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,240
would had a thing where we would
have dinners at each other's 

487
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:26,080
homes and we would have cultural
dinners from where you were from

488
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,520
and you would host these things 
and so people could learn about 

489
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,000
your culture and learn about 
your traditions and then fight 

490
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,360
later. 
So it was great, but I have 

491
00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:40,480
dealt so much with the vision in
my consulting and interim work. 

492
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,200
And, and I just be honest with 
you, most of it, I mean, the 

493
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:51,160
massive high percentage of it is
based on opinion and feeling and

494
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,880
not true doctrine. 
You have a hard time believing 

495
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,960
that. 
No, that's where that's where 

496
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,080
most of the hurt feelings in 
church often come from. 

497
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,200
It's very much relational. 
So Jesus even talked through 

498
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,200
this a little bit in his high 
priestly prayer as he's going to

499
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,080
the cross. 
Jesus prays multiple times that 

500
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,040
his followers would be one in 
John 17, which is just a host 

501
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,520
study in and of itself. 
Beautiful passage, verse 22. 

502
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,680
The glory that you have given 
me, I have given to them that 

503
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:27,640
they may be 1 even as we are 
one, I and them and you and me, 

504
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:33,040
that they may become perfectly 1
so that the world may know. 

505
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:39,480
I mean, this is a testimony that
you sent me and loved me even as

506
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,280
you loved me. 
And so we see Jesus pointing out

507
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,600
that this oneness, the way the 
Holy Spirit brings the oddities 

508
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,560
of the world together into the 
church and we become one family,

509
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,520
that's actually a testimony. 
It's a testimony to his grace 

510
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,520
and love. 
And so because we've been 

511
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,720
reconciled to him through faith 
in Christ, and we should also 

512
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,440
seek reconciliation and unity 
with one another. 

513
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,240
But Jesus also prays this. 
So don't miss this part in verse

514
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:11,440
17. 
So he's not saying you can just 

515
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,520
believe anything and everything 
and it's OK. 

516
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:18,920
Verse 17 says sanctify them in 
the truth. 

517
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:24,480
Your word is truth. 
So you can come from all these 

518
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,320
different places and be one, but
at the same time, there is one 

519
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,360
truth, and we better know what 
that is, and we better know what

520
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:36,320
the essentials are, right? 
And so some theological 

521
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,320
prioritization or triage is 
helpful. 

522
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,400
It helps us to understand how to
deal with disagreements within 

523
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,720
the church, but also how to 
answer those people outside the 

524
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:47,600
church. 
So this is a really, really 

525
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,280
important study. 
Whether you think so yet or not,

526
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,280
you will. 
But because we can find our 

527
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,160
identity first in the Gospel, 
not in doctrinal separation, but

528
00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,080
then we can also understand the 
differences of interpretation 

529
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,520
and opinion we have out there. 
There's a very famous saying in 

530
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,240
Latin. 
It's often attributed to 

531
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,960
Augustine or Augustine, 
depending on what part of North 

532
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:12,360
Carolina you're from. 
But, but it really isn't 

533
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,320
something he said, although it's
often, you can probably go 

534
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,440
online and it'll say that 
Augustine or Augustine said 

535
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,240
this, but he really didn't. 
This was given to him much 

536
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:22,800
later. 
It's really, really from the 

537
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,800
17th century and it basically 
says this, I won't read the 

538
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:31,520
Latin part, but it basically 
says in essentials unity, in non

539
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,840
essentials liberty and in all 
things charity. 

540
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,240
So we're going to in the in 
love, even though we might 

541
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,720
disagree, but in the essentials 
we need to be together. 

542
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,600
And so I'm going to show you a 
couple of models of 

543
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,000
prioritization and we're going 
to walk through several examples

544
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,600
over these next sessions. 
And so we're going to talk about

545
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,760
some of the most important 
things I'm going to share with 

546
00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,360
you one night about why we must 
believe what the Bible is and 

547
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,160
why. 
Why do we believe the Bible is 

548
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:03,960
the word of God and why does 
that matter? 

549
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,320
For example, I'm going to share 
with you what must we believe 

550
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:11,160
about Jesus and why does that 
matter in pretty detail. 

551
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,080
And then we're going to get into
some of the other layers to 

552
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,240
where I promise you I'm going to
do a night on eschatology just 

553
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,800
to mess with your minds. 
We'll also talk about spiritual 

554
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,960
gifts and a few other things, 
but I want to show you a few 

555
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,480
models and we're going to dive 
deeply into some of these 

556
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,520
things. 
And again, let me just show you 

557
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,520
this this. 
Let's not make this complicated.

558
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,600
Here's the way Moeller does it. 
Here's the way Dr. Moeller does 

559
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,840
it. 
He talks about 3 levels of 

560
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:41,840
theological urgency, each kind 
of corresponding to the needs of

561
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:42,840
the world. 
He goes first. 

562
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,760
Here's first level, first level 
are the most central and 

563
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:48,840
essential truths of the 
Christian faith. 

564
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:54,640
If you deny this first level, if
you deny these doctrines, you 

565
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,680
are by definition not a 
Christian. 

566
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,240
You can't deny these things and 
be saved. 

567
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,640
You can't deny these things and 
actually be a Christian. 

568
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,800
And so these first order, this 
first level doctrine, and we'll 

569
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:09,200
talk like that. 
We're going to talk about 

570
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:15,760
primaries, secondaries, and 
tertiaries 123 So these are 

571
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,480
vitally important. 
These are the most fundamental 

572
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,240
truths of the Christian faith, 
and a denial of these represents

573
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,360
nothing less than a denial of 
Christianity. 

574
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:29,040
Then you have a second order or 
second level, and then these 

575
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:33,880
Christians may disagree on them.
And this disagreement will often

576
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,080
create significant barriers and 
boundaries between them. 

577
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:39,960
I'm going to talk about 
denominations in a minute. 

578
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,880
When Christians organize 
themselves into congregations 

579
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,240
and denominations, these 
boundaries become pretty 

580
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,520
evident. 
There are reasons there are 

581
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,680
denominations and I want to talk
about that in a minute. 

582
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,600
So one of the things that Molar 
says, he says Christians across 

583
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,560
a vast denominational range can 
stand together on the 1st order.

584
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,160
We're all going to heaven. 
We, we can do that and recognize

585
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,520
each other as authentic 
Christians while understanding 

586
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:10,080
that the existence of the 2nd 
order disagreements prevent the 

587
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,640
closeness of fellowship that we 
might otherwise enjoy here on 

588
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,000
earth. 
So, and, and you might think, 

589
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,080
and I'll get to, well, I'll get 
to that in a minute. 

590
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:23,440
And so many of the most heated 
arguments in Christianity are 

591
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,080
not on the 1st order, They're on
the 2nd order. 

592
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,520
That's where a lot of the 
arguments come into play. 

593
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,040
So we're, for example, even what
we think about the church. 

594
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,480
And then there's a third order. 
And in these third order, this 

595
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,360
is where we can disagree, but 
that's where we could even be in

596
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:41,200
close fellowship. 
We could even be in the same 

597
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,440
church and the same connect 
group and, and not necessarily 

598
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,400
share exactly the same opinion 
about a certain text, a 

599
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:49,680
difficult passage or 
interpretation of something. 

600
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,760
So those 3 levels are going to 
be the simplest way we can do 

601
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,640
this. 
And and and, and Christians may 

602
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,320
find themselves in disagreement 
on any number of things, you 

603
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:01,840
know, interpretation of 
difficult texts, for example. 

604
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,640
But, but, but we have to agree 
on those top level ones. 

605
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,960
And so Ortlin, Gavin Ortlin kind
of puts it this way. 

606
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,640
He goes, there are doctrines 
that are essential to the 

607
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,960
gospel. 
There are doctrines that are 

608
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,920
urgent for the health and 
practice of the church, but 

609
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,280
still divide us 
denominationally. 

610
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,720
And then there are doctrines 
that are important or 

611
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:28,920
unimportant for the gospel 
witness and for the church to 

612
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,120
continue its ministry. 
So not everything fits into 

613
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,600
these categories. 
So we're going to talk through 

614
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,320
some of these. 
I'll give you a lot of examples.

615
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,440
And so again, don't 
misunderstand this. 

616
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,600
That doesn't mean that this any,
any kind of theological triage 

617
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,800
doesn't mean that we're implying
that that we take any biblical 

618
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:49,560
truth with any less seriousness.
Again, we want to study every 

619
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:51,360
single word. 
We want to study the whole 

620
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,040
Bible. 
We want to believe in the whole 

621
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:54,960
thing. 
What we're talking about is how 

622
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,320
do we work together and unite 
together and how do we address 

623
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,200
this world out here? 
So there's some urgency. 

624
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,960
So we need to embrace and teach 
the comprehensive truthfulness 

625
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:07,720
of the Scripture. 
There are no insignificant 

626
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,360
doctrines, but there are some 
essential foundations that we 

627
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:15,080
need to talk about to help us 
avoid confusion and conflict. 

628
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:21,639
And again, in liberal theology, 
just this what what happens in 

629
00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:25,840
liberalism is that they 
basically have a basic 

630
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,120
disrespect for biblical 
authority. 

631
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,199
And so because of that, the mark
of true liberalism is the 

632
00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:35,960
refusal to even admit there's a 
first level. 

633
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,320
Liberal theologians don't agree 
there's a first level. 

634
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:43,199
And that's why they get into 
universalism or pluralism to 

635
00:34:43,199 --> 00:34:46,639
where, you know, there, there 
aren't essentials that we can 

636
00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:49,080
have different opinions about 
the cross, we can have different

637
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,600
opinions about the resurrection,
we can have different opinions 

638
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,600
about the Bible. 
And so they kind of treat 

639
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,640
everything like a third level 
and that's when you know you're 

640
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:02,400
dealing with a true liberal. 
But our world today, frankly 

641
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,760
doesn't care about any of this. 
It doesn't. 

642
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,960
In fact, the world is going to 
sit there and say you just need 

643
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:12,240
to accept them all and stop 
dividing and just love one 

644
00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:14,560
another. 
That's what the world's going to

645
00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:16,440
say. 
God is love. 

646
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:21,000
If they believe in any kind of 
God thing at all, God is love. 

647
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:25,000
Why don't you all stop arguing, 
quit fighting one another, and 

648
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,680
just agree on everything and get
along and love one another and 

649
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,920
just accept everybody. 
That's what the world will say 

650
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,680
and they'll say it in that's not
a guess because I see it in my 

651
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,680
studies. 
They'll they'll say that to me 

652
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,560
and it sounds simple, but it 
never is. 

653
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,360
Doctrinal ambiguity is the 
result. 

654
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,120
In other words, we're not going 
to believe in anything at that 

655
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,640
point. 
And This is why I promise you 

656
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,720
there are real reasons why there
are different denominations. 

657
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,280
And many of those reasons are 
real doctrinal issues. 

658
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:02,680
And, and there may be some of 
you here because I hear it from 

659
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:06,080
people inside the church that 
talks about how we should just 

660
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,320
all work together. 
It's all about the one body of 

661
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,280
Christ and how we ought to unite
with one another. 

662
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,240
And I, I agree there are things 
we should do Better Together. 

663
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:18,080
I have no argument about that. 
But I, I, I meet those who 

664
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:20,680
believe denomination should be 
done away with and we should all

665
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:22,880
just be 1 body united and 
serving together. 

666
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,920
And that's a very nice thought 
and, and it'll be a reality in 

667
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:31,440
heaven, but it's naive to 
believe it's going to happen 

668
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,360
here. 
And, and often those who hold 

669
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:41,120
those views have not studied 
doctrinal issues very deeply and

670
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,760
and do not believe that that 
type of study is even important.

671
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,120
They're not going to enjoy 
coming on Wednesday nights right

672
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,000
now. 
But there are things that we 

673
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,520
believe at Inglewood, I promise 
you, and that we teach at 

674
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,680
Inglewood that would be strongly
disagreed upon by other churches

675
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:03,160
and vice versa. 
In fact, this coming Sunday, I'm

676
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,120
going to preach about one of 
them and it'll be an interesting

677
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:08,160
sermon. 
There will be people in the room

678
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:09,800
Sunday who will not agree with 
me. 

679
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:15,120
I'm confident when I share what 
I'm going to share Sunday, and 

680
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,360
I'm going to discuss some of 
these in the weeks ahead. 

681
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,080
And so, as I stated earlier, 
differences in our beliefs can 

682
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,000
cause tension. 
It can cause division, it can 

683
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,800
cause separation. 
On the other hand, one of the 

684
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,360
misjudgments of what we call 
true fundamentalism is this 

685
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,000
legalism in the belief that all 
disagreements, no matter what 

686
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:40,080
they're about, are first order 
and have the highest priority, 

687
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,200
and we should cast judgement on 
one another. 

688
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:48,960
So third levels are raised to 
1st levels and everything is 

689
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:53,640
overly urgent, right? 
And it can be very harmful, but 

690
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,920
if you don't believe in 
denominations, you're just 

691
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:59,160
missing a boat, for example. 
And I'm not, if this is 

692
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,680
something you want me to be 
doing right now, I'm sorry, I'm,

693
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:04,800
I'm not thinking of an I'm not 
thinking of a Rocky Mount 

694
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:06,160
example. 
OK. 

695
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:09,680
But in one town where I 
pastored, they wanted to have a 

696
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,400
citywide crusade and they wanted
everybody to participate. 

697
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,920
And sometimes you can do that 
Billy Graham kind of crusades 

698
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,280
and things like that. 
But here's the problem. 

699
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:23,080
When you do it locally, who's 
picking the preacher, who's 

700
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,240
picking, who's picking the 
worship leaders, It's more 

701
00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:27,800
interesting. 
Follow me. 

702
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:32,560
When is somebody saved? 
Do they have to be? 

703
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:36,240
Do we need, do we need a big 
horse through right there at the

704
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:37,960
50 yard line on the football 
field? 

705
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:40,640
Because if you're not baptized, 
you're not saved to a lot of 

706
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,640
people. 
You with me or until you get 

707
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:47,080
that second blessing of the 
baptism of the Holy Spirit and 

708
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:48,600
speak in tongues, you're not 
saved. 

709
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,800
I mean it, it doesn't take very 
long to understand. 

710
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,440
There are some some lines that 
get drawn. 

711
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,560
So it's hard. 
There's a book that was written 

712
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:03,560
by a church growth guy and it's 
called Hyper Cooperativism. 

713
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:06,840
It's really hard to do certain 
things together. 

714
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,560
Now there are other things that 
we can to benevolence projects 

715
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:12,680
and charity projects and and 
social ministry kind of projects

716
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:14,760
are easy to do cross 
denominationally. 

717
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:16,920
But when you start getting, 
there's some of this, some of 

718
00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,960
the doctrinal issues, 
soteriology, which is the study 

719
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:24,880
of salvation, pneumatology, the 
study of the Holy Spirit, you'll

720
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:31,720
see why they're denominations 
because are you, are you saved, 

721
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:33,640
right? 
Then listen, I went to a certain

722
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,800
Group One time and I'm not 
trying to be disparaging, but I 

723
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,400
got to be honest in this study, 
I went with a friend of mine who

724
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,360
belongs to a different 
denominational background. 

725
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,720
We were at a student camp, and 
they're always going to have a 

726
00:39:43,720 --> 00:39:47,560
student camp by the lake. 
And so at the end of the that 

727
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:49,680
night, people came forward 
making decisions. 

728
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:53,120
They they physically grabbed 
them, rushed them to the cabin 

729
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:55,840
to change clothes, rush them 
down to the lake so they can 

730
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,920
baptize them. 
And I said, what if that girl 

731
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,400
fell right now on her way to the
lake and hit her head on that 

732
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:01,520
rock? 
Would she be saved? 

733
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:05,440
No, no, no, no. 
Not until she gets dunked in 

734
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:11,200
that water. 
There are reasons why churches 

735
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:15,480
have different names on them. 
So on the other hand, we can 

736
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,040
also be too judgmental. 
And this goes way, way, way 

737
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:19,440
back. 
Let's just listen to I just want

738
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:21,400
to read you the title. 
This is because we don't we 

739
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:23,160
don't do good book titles 
anymore. 

740
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:28,920
In 1670, the Puritan pastor 
Richard Baxter, just listen to 

741
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,200
this book title. 
We just don't do this anymore. 

742
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:36,880
The cure for church divisions or
directions for weak Christians 

743
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:40,520
to keep them from being dividers
or troublers of the church with 

744
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,280
some directions to the pastors 
how to deal with such 

745
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:48,480
Christians. 
It's a page Turner to keep, you 

746
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:52,200
know, couldn't put that one 
down, you know, but it was 

747
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,600
basically he was basically 
discussing the way Satan seeks 

748
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,680
to cause division. 
And he was actually in this 

749
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,120
particular work coming through 
harsh judgement, how he causes 

750
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,520
division through harsh 
judgement, a complete lack of 

751
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,920
love, a complete lack of 
patience for one another. 

752
00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,200
So it's easy for us, according 
to Orland, to have a spirit of 

753
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,840
self justification. 
And we kind of ride shotgun over

754
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,800
these secondary and third, third
level issues where we're so bent

755
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:20,120
on those that we're going to, 
we're going to defend them and 

756
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,640
write, raise them up to a high 
level, even when we're dealing 

757
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,960
with people who are lost or 
people from other groups. 

758
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:32,440
So it's one thing to disagree. 
That's inevitable to any, to all

759
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:33,800
of us. 
We're all going to disagree at 

760
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:35,280
some point. 
But it's another thing when our 

761
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,120
disagreement takes on an 
attitude of contempt or 

762
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:41,160
condescent condescension or 
suspicion. 

763
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,920
And so as John Newton once 
warned, self righteousness can 

764
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:47,200
feed upon doctrines as well as 
works. 

765
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:49,240
And so we've got to have a 
balance. 

766
00:41:49,240 --> 00:41:52,720
So the balance is hard. 
There's a balance between 

767
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:57,320
doctrinal minimalism to where it
doesn't matter at all, and 

768
00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,680
doctrinal separatism to where we
put up walls and fight over 

769
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:02,800
fight each other about it, 
right? 

770
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:04,440
So there's this interesting 
balance. 

771
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,280
And that's what we want to talk 
about in these weeks to come, 

772
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:11,000
because you can find yourself in
kind of a defensive mode rather 

773
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:12,960
than a proactive Great 
Commission mode. 

774
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:15,600
And in this world today, we 
don't have time for that. 

775
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:19,280
This world's bleeding to death 
and we got to share the gospel. 

776
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,880
And so this lack of discipleship
can lead to a very narrow view 

777
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:27,240
if we're not careful. 
And we want to be careful about 

778
00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:29,200
that. 
So I'm going to quote someone. 

779
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,520
It may, it may be interesting to
you that I'm going to quote him.

780
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:34,040
And then we're going to hit some
scripture really, really hard. 

781
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:36,920
I want to quote John Calvin for 
a minute. 

782
00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:42,640
And I don't, I don't do that. 
I'm don't, don't read into what 

783
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,400
I just said. 
I just don't do that very often.

784
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:47,720
But out of John Calvin's 
Institute's listen to this. 

785
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:52,160
I thought this was really good. 
Some fault may creep into the 

786
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:56,120
administration of either 
doctrine or sacraments, but this

787
00:42:56,120 --> 00:43:00,400
ought not to estrange us from 
communion with the Church, for 

788
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:03,800
not all the articles of true 
doctrine are of the same sort. 

789
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:08,200
Some are so necessary to know, 
that they should be certain and 

790
00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,200
unquestioned by all men, as the 
proper principles of religion, 

791
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:16,320
such as God is. 1 Christ is God 
and the Son of God. 

792
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:19,400
Our salvation rests in God, 
mercy and the like. 

793
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:22,800
Among the churches there are 
other articles of doctrine 

794
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,160
disputed which still did not 
break the unity of faith. 

795
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:30,000
A difference of opinion over 
those non essential matters 

796
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:33,640
should in no wise be the basis 
of schism among Christians. 

797
00:43:34,240 --> 00:43:36,640
First and foremost we should 
agree on all points. 

798
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,880
But since all men are somewhat 
be clouded with ignorance. 

799
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,560
That's a great line. 
But since all men are somewhat 

800
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,840
be clouded with ignorance, we 
just don't write like this 

801
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,640
anymore. 
Either we must leave no church 

802
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,800
remaining, or we must condone 
delusion in those matters which 

803
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,920
can go unknown without harm to 
the sum of religion and without 

804
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:58,880
loss of salvation. 
So in other words, what do you 

805
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:03,880
need to know to be saved? 
We got to stick to that, no 

806
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:07,000
compromise. 
Some of these other things. 

807
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:11,480
Let's not let it destroy us 
because the Church has to reach 

808
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,960
this world. 
So here are my goals again, that

809
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:17,080
we might understand what we 
believe. 

810
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:20,080
Now hear me very carefully. 
I teach this on any level. 

811
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:27,320
The number one key to 
apologetics, it's called a 

812
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,560
pause. 
The number one key to 

813
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,760
apologetics is not that I 
understand what you believe. 

814
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:38,000
The number one key to 
apologetics is that I know what 

815
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,320
I believe. 
That's the first step. 

816
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,920
That's more important. 
Now, I'm not saying don't study 

817
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:44,920
the other. 
Sure, I am. 

818
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:48,080
If I, if I have, if I have a 
Hindu neighbor, I want to study 

819
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:50,320
Hinduism. 
I want to know something about 

820
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:51,840
it. 
I want, I mean, when I say 

821
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:55,000
study, I want to, I want to know
some basic things that they're 

822
00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:57,440
going through so that I can make
connections with them. 

823
00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,320
If I have a Buddhist friend, I 
need to understand Buddhism a 

824
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:02,800
little bit. 
If I have a secular lost friend,

825
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:04,600
I need to understand where 
they're coming from. 

826
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:09,440
But the most important thing is 
what do I I need to know what I 

827
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:14,080
believe about this and what I 
believe about Jesus and a cross 

828
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:16,680
and a resurrection. 
I can have no doubt about that. 

829
00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:20,720
And so this coming Sunday, I'm 
actually preaching, I'm starting

830
00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:23,600
a new sermon series, as I've 
been sharing on Sundays too, 

831
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,200
called Come Be the Church's 
Bride. 

832
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:28,520
And I'm actually asking a series
of very important questions. 

833
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,880
And the question this Sunday is 
this, why should I be saved? 

834
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:35,160
Why do I need to be saved? 
And I'm going to preach out of a

835
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:39,840
very interesting verse that, I 
mean, crazy verse is called John

836
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:40,960
316. 
You'll like it. 

837
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,160
So. 
But then I'm also just to show 

838
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,720
you, I'm going to talk about 
assurance of salvation Sunday. 

839
00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:49,520
I'm going to talk about the 
security of the believer and why

840
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:51,880
I believe that that's a doctrine
that's true. 

841
00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:54,320
And I'll show you that from 
Scripture. 

842
00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:57,600
And so there'll be people there 
who don't believe they're coming

843
00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:59,840
from a background where you can 
lose your salvation. 

844
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:02,880
And I'm going to show you 
biblically why that's not how 

845
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:05,080
this really works on Sunday 
morning. 

846
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,720
So be here, invite friends. 
It would be an interesting time 

847
00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:10,360
for you to bring a lost person 
with you. 

848
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:14,800
Now, what I want to do for a few
minutes is I'm just going to 

849
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:19,680
read Scripture because I want to
show you how important this is, 

850
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:26,160
Paul's writing to Timothy and 
Titus over and over and over and

851
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,640
over again. 
And I just want to share with 

852
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:32,200
you some of the things that Paul
is sharing with them and to show

853
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,720
you how important this is. 
So in first Timothy chapter 1 

854
00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:40,960
verses 3 and 4, as I urged you 
when I was going to Macedonia 

855
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:45,040
remained at Ephesus so that you 
may charge certain persons not 

856
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:51,120
to teach what any different 
doctrine nor to devote 

857
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:55,520
themselves to myths and endless 
genealogies which promote 

858
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:59,800
speculations rather than the 
stewardship from God that is by 

859
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:03,680
faith. 
Again, you had Jewish background

860
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:07,400
believers, you'd have gentile 
background believers and they 

861
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:09,080
were they were bringing all 
kinds of stuff. 

862
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,280
You had Pagan myths, you had 
Pagan beliefs, you had Jewish 

863
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:15,720
Jewish law and and you talk 
about an interesting mix of 

864
00:47:15,720 --> 00:47:17,520
background. 
This is what's right now. 

865
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:24,000
This is what's right. 
And so First Timothy 47, it gets

866
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,840
even more clear. 
Have nothing to do with 

867
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:30,280
irreverent, silly. 
What myths? 

868
00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:34,400
Rather train yourself for 
godliness. 

869
00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:38,440
Listen, we live in a world today
that chases after every myth, 

870
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:40,960
every conspiracy theory, 
everything. 

871
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:45,240
If it's on the interwebs, it 
must be true, right? 

872
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,240
I mean, I have family members 
who live off of that stuff 

873
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:50,960
Every. 
I mean, every time we have a 

874
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,640
conversation, I'm hearing about 
the latest thing the 

875
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:58,520
government's doing to get all of
us right or the latest thing the

876
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:00,560
government's not doing to get 
all of us. 

877
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:04,000
So it's always funny. 
By the way, COVID never happened

878
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:05,200
back where we're from, have you 
not? 

879
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:07,920
You know, we're from Asian 
Oklahoma and the Ozarks, you 

880
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:10,200
know, COVID never happened. 
They sat on the, they locked the

881
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:11,520
gate. 
They sat on the porch with 

882
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:13,040
shotguns. 
They just wouldn't let it in. 

883
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,560
Now, they were all sick with 
something, but must have been 

884
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:22,080
malaria. 
Anyway, listen to this First 

885
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:27,280
Timothy 6 versus 4 and 5. 
He is puffed up with conceit and

886
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,240
understands nothing. 
Now you see where he just 

887
00:48:29,240 --> 00:48:29,840
started? 
There. 

888
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:31,040
So this is not it. 
He's not. 

889
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:32,680
He's not giving an endorsement 
here. 

890
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:35,920
He's puffed up with conceit and 
understands nothing. 

891
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:40,440
He has an unhealthy craving for 
controversy and for quarrels 

892
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,960
about words which produce envy, 
dissension, slander, evil 

893
00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:46,720
suspicions, and constant 
friction among people who are 

894
00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:49,760
depraved in mind and deprived of
the truth. 

895
00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:52,720
Imagine that godliness is a 
means of gain. 

896
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:56,800
So these false teachers who 
infiltrate the church, man, 

897
00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:59,840
they're just stirring stuff up 
with opinion and slander. 

898
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:02,120
They're stirring stuff, anything
but the truth. 

899
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:06,800
They don't know the truth, so 
they make their own up and try 

900
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:10,120
to stir it up. 
And then in first Timothy 

901
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:15,360
chapter 6, verse 20, oh Timothy,
guard the deposit entrusted to 

902
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,000
you. 
I'm just you. 

903
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:21,200
Just look at this repetition. 
Avoid the irreverent Babble and 

904
00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:24,320
contradictions of what is 
falsely called knowledge. 

905
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:27,320
For by professing it, some have 
swerved from the faith. 

906
00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:30,880
So people are just making their 
own stuff up. 

907
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:34,800
And that's what this world does.
A world have a different truth 

908
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:38,440
every day. 
And, and, and my truth's not 

909
00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:40,200
your truth and your truth's not 
my truth. 

910
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:42,760
That truth's fine for you, but 
it's not good for me because 

911
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:47,400
there's no absolute truth. 
There's no standard anymore. 

912
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:51,320
And so they're just aimlessly 
drifting because there's 

913
00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:54,920
absolutely no objective truth in
their minds, even though that's 

914
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:56,680
really not true. 
Most people think murder's 

915
00:49:56,680 --> 00:49:58,640
wrong, Most people think rape's 
wrong. 

916
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:00,240
Most people think incest is 
wrong. 

917
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,320
So there are some basic tenets 
of absolute truth in most 

918
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:09,160
cultures, but biblically it goes
out the window. 

919
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:12,200
Now he goes to Second Timothy. 
He's not done yet. 

920
00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:14,680
Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 
14. 

921
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:18,680
Remind them of these things and 
charge them before God not to 

922
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:22,600
quarrel about words which does 
no good, but only ruins the 

923
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:25,080
hearers. 
Do your best to present yourself

924
00:50:25,080 --> 00:50:28,320
to God as one approved. 
A worker who has no need to be 

925
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:30,720
ashamed. 
Rightly handling the Word of 

926
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:32,280
God. 
And often we stop right there 

927
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:34,920
because we like that verse. 
We want to rightly handle the 

928
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:36,640
word of God. 
Often we'll quote that verse, 

929
00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:38,440
but you got to go on to verse 
16. 

930
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:42,960
But avoid irreverent Babble, for
it will lead people into more 

931
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:46,360
and more ungodliness. 
So what's the priority of 

932
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:48,360
teaching? 
What's the priority of truth? 

933
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:52,160
It has to be based upon an 
authority, which is why we're 

934
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:55,360
going to talk about why this 
must be your authority. 

935
00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:57,720
If you want to know how you got 
to deal with this lost world 

936
00:50:57,720 --> 00:51:00,640
today, you better know what you 
believe about this book. 

937
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:02,880
And you need to know how to 
articulate that. 

938
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:06,400
Because if you're going to share
the gospel with somebody, you're

939
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:08,080
going to get engaged in some 
conversation. 

940
00:51:08,160 --> 00:51:10,320
You're probably going to quote a
verse at some point. 

941
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:13,000
You might even say the Bible 
says, and when we get into 

942
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,600
personal evangelism, we're going
to talk about things to say and 

943
00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:17,640
how to say them. 
But one of the things you might 

944
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:19,840
say is, well, the Bible says, 
and the person could look you 

945
00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:21,200
right in the eye and say, who 
cares? 

946
00:51:23,240 --> 00:51:25,600
Why should I care what the Bible
says? 

947
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:29,920
And so you're going to have to 
help them understand why you 

948
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,360
believe. 
It's essential that you have an 

949
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,680
authority in your life, right? 
Because they don't. 

950
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,640
That's the problem. 
They have no base authority, so 

951
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:43,360
they don't have objective truth.
Then he goes on in Second 

952
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:45,760
Corinthians, excuse me, Second 
Timothy. 

953
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:48,200
Who knew where that came from? 
Second Tim, looking right at 

954
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:52,160
these words, Second Timothy 
chapter 2, verse 23 have nothing

955
00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:55,440
to do with foolish, ignorant 
controversies. 

956
00:51:55,680 --> 00:52:00,000
You know they breed quarrels. 
Second Timothy, chapter 4. 

957
00:52:00,240 --> 00:52:03,200
For the time is coming when 
you've heard this part, when 

958
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:06,880
people will not endure sound 
teaching but have itching ears. 

959
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:10,520
They will accumulate for 
themselves teachers to suit 

960
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:13,960
their own passions, and will 
turn away from listening to the 

961
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:18,200
truth and wander off into myths.
Does that not describe our 

962
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:22,200
culture? 
That describes our churches 

963
00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:26,960
Listen, there are people who 
don't want to they don't want me

964
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:31,160
to stand up here and preach 
hard, hard biblical truth. 

965
00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:34,240
They just want me to scratch the
itch. 

966
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:38,680
They just want their felt, their
perceived felt needs met. 

967
00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:42,480
And when I don't do that, I'm 
not feeding them somehow. 

968
00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:49,640
It's it's interesting how church
is you can turn on turn on TV 

969
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:53,880
and you can buy popular books 
that we'll help you be the best 

970
00:52:53,880 --> 00:52:58,760
person you can be today. 
But they won't they won't teach 

971
00:52:58,760 --> 00:53:04,680
you the truth. 
Then he talks to Titus, Titus 

972
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:07,960
one verse 13. 
This testimony is true. 

973
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:12,240
Therefore, rebuke them sharply 
that they may be sound in the 

974
00:53:12,240 --> 00:53:16,840
faith, not devoting themselves 
to Jewish myths and the commands

975
00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:19,280
of people who turn away from the
truth. 

976
00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:22,080
So there's an obvious audience 
connection here. 

977
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:26,680
These Jewish either believers or
people who are investigating the

978
00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:30,600
church were causing trouble. 
Titus chapter 3. 

979
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:35,800
But avoid foolish controversies,
genealogies, dissensions, and 

980
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:39,920
quarrels about the law, for they
are unprofitable and worthless. 

981
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:43,920
As for a person who stirs up 
division after warning him once 

982
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:47,120
and then twice have nothing more
to do with him, knowing that 

983
00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:51,000
such a person is warped and 
sinful, he is self condemned. 

984
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:52,960
There's nothing like Paul 
writing, is there? 

985
00:53:54,720 --> 00:53:58,920
He's warped so. 
So these folks were creating 

986
00:53:58,920 --> 00:54:01,560
trouble in the church, 
obviously, because they're 

987
00:54:01,560 --> 00:54:07,320
arguing over Old Testament law 
principles, pushing them into 

988
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,840
Christianity, much like we saw 
in our study of Acts to where 

989
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,200
there were people who believe 
you have to become a Jew first 

990
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:16,080
before you can become a 
Christian, when God is working 

991
00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:18,280
among the Gentiles and 
Samaritans, etcetera. 

992
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:21,840
And so we recognize that we've 
got to be careful and we've got 

993
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:25,680
to understand these essentials. 
So if you have people that that 

994
00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:29,960
don't know about Christ tuning 
into this series, they're going 

995
00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:33,760
to hear gospel presented in a 
very different way, in an 

996
00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:37,600
apologetic way to where I'm 
going to help people understand.

997
00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:40,560
This is why I believe the 
Bible's the word of God. 

998
00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:45,960
This is why I believe that Jesus
Christ is God and the Son of God

999
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:49,280
going to be pretty clear. 
And then we're going to talk 

1000
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:52,640
about those other levels. 
Quit fighting over this. 

1001
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,480
So in just a few chapters, think
about how how condensed that is.

1002
00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:59,600
Just in a few chapters, in a 
couple of letters, we see Paul 

1003
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:02,400
warning them over and over and 
over and over again. 

1004
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:04,360
You think maybe Paul thought 
this was going to be a problem 

1005
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:07,640
and it is a problem and it could
be a problem at Inglewood. 

1006
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:12,360
It can be a problem in Rocky 
Mount if we don't stay united in

1007
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:15,400
our understanding. 
So we better pay attention to 

1008
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:17,560
this and our world's desperate 
for it. 

1009
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:21,120
So this is a great need for our 
discussion for the next few 

1010
00:55:21,120 --> 00:55:25,640
weeks. 
In Matthew chapter 22, a famous 

1011
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:31,640
passage starting verse 36, Jesus
is responding, a person asked 

1012
00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:34,760
him teacher, which is the great 
commandment in the law, and he 

1013
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:37,920
said to him, you shall love the 
Lord your God with all your 

1014
00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:40,880
heart, with all your soul, with 
all your mind. 

1015
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:43,840
This is the great and 1st 
commandment and a second is like

1016
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:45,280
it. 
You shall love your neighbor as 

1017
00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:47,800
yourself. 
So we see this prioritization. 

1018
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:53,960
We see this focus upon who you 
should be and how you should 

1019
00:55:54,120 --> 00:55:56,480
love God the way you should and 
how you should love one another.

1020
00:55:56,720 --> 00:55:59,840
To have both this kind of this, 
this vertical and horizontal 

1021
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:03,440
command. 
But then in the very next 

1022
00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:07,480
chapter, see again, often we 
just kind of pull verses out. 

1023
00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:12,440
We don't read the whole book 
like we should, and so you need 

1024
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:14,760
to understand that the whole 
book ties together. 

1025
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:19,600
The very next chapter, Jesus 
shares 7 woes about the 

1026
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:22,960
religious leaders. 
So this, let me show you just a 

1027
00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:25,000
little bit of that. 
You can read that whole chapter 

1028
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,400
23. 
It gets pretty heavy, but just 

1029
00:56:27,400 --> 00:56:30,840
listen to verses 23 and 24. 
Woe to you scribes and 

1030
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:36,080
Pharisees, hypocrites, for you 
tithe meant and deal and cumin, 

1031
00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:40,560
and have neglected the weightier
matters of the law, justice and 

1032
00:56:40,560 --> 00:56:44,160
mercy and faithfulness. 
These you ought to have done 

1033
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:48,920
without neglecting the others, 
You blind guys, guides straining

1034
00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:51,320
out a gnat and swallowing a 
camel. 

1035
00:56:57,170 --> 00:57:00,250
He just told them the way. 
They should love God and they 

1036
00:57:00,250 --> 00:57:08,000
should love one another. 
It's not enough to know what you

1037
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:11,960
believe. 
It's not enough to know the law 

1038
00:57:12,160 --> 00:57:15,160
in their minds. 
It's got to be more. 

1039
00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:19,400
You can have great knowledge and
I've, I've worked at seminaries,

1040
00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:21,520
I've worked with some brilliant 
minds. 

1041
00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:25,880
You can have great knowledge and
you can articulate the greatest 

1042
00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:28,960
doctrines and still be a useless
hypocrite. 

1043
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,040
So the goal of this series isn't
to just increase your knowledge.

1044
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:37,680
Let's not miss that. 
The goal here isn't just so that

1045
00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:41,120
we can be smarter. 
The goal for these next few 

1046
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:42,840
weeks isn't just so that we can 
understand. 

1047
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:45,280
This is what I believe and this 
is what they believe and this is

1048
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:49,040
what Inglewood believes. 
The goal of this series is to 

1049
00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:53,640
change my life so that I'm 
applying these things in a way 

1050
00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:57,640
that matters. 
See, the reason I want you to 

1051
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,280
understand the essentials is 
because we've got to share those

1052
00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:02,680
essentials out there and with 
one another. 

1053
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:05,320
We've got to make disciples. 
That's both internal and 

1054
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:09,040
external. 
And it's not enough just to 

1055
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:11,520
study. 
In fact, Paul kind of chewed out

1056
00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:15,720
the Corinthians. 
In Corinthians chapter 13, 

1057
00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:21,160
verses one and two, he said if I
speak in the tongues of men and 

1058
00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:27,760
of angels but have not love, I'm
a noisy gong or a clanging 

1059
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:30,640
cymbal. 
And if I have prophetic powers 

1060
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:35,040
and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I have all

1061
00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:41,240
faith so as to remove mountains 
but have not love, I'm nothing. 

1062
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:44,480
So we're going to have to weave 
in and out of this balance, 

1063
00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:48,040
aren't we? 
Of faith and knowledge and life 

1064
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:53,440
and love and how we actually 
live out this doctrine because 

1065
00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:57,040
first we need to believe in and 
be defined by the gospel and 

1066
00:58:57,040 --> 00:59:01,400
then let God teach us and train 
us to know how to apply our 

1067
00:59:01,400 --> 00:59:06,560
knowledge in real life. 
So, so I want to challenge you 

1068
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:10,360
in these next few weeks to, to 
really begin to think about some

1069
00:59:10,360 --> 00:59:12,520
of the issues that we're going 
to focus upon. 

1070
00:59:12,720 --> 00:59:15,120
Here's here's what I'm going to 
do over the next few weeks. 

1071
00:59:15,480 --> 00:59:17,520
I'm going to come back and we're
going to talk about the 

1072
00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:19,160
primaries. 
We're going to talk about that 

1073
00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:22,320
level 1, and then I'm going to 
give you some examples. 

1074
00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:24,240
And then we're going to come 
back and we're going to talk 

1075
00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:26,520
about secondaries and 
tertiaries, and I'm going to 

1076
00:59:26,520 --> 00:59:29,960
give you some examples and we're
going to see how together 

1077
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:34,840
certain things must be believed,
certain things must be shared. 

1078
00:59:35,520 --> 00:59:38,560
I promise you, if you have any 
question about your salvation or

1079
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:41,960
somebody you know doesn't know 
about salvation, these are going

1080
00:59:41,960 --> 00:59:44,720
to be incredible times to come. 
They're going to hear it in a 

1081
00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:47,120
way they might not have ever 
heard it before because of the 

1082
00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:48,960
way it's going to be taught. 
And then we're going to talk 

1083
00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:51,600
about some really interesting 
doctrinal issues. 

1084
00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:56,400
And then we're going to kind of 
0 in toward the end of what's 

1085
00:59:56,400 --> 00:59:59,360
the unique identity of Englewood
Baptist Church? 

1086
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,240
What does this church believe 
and why? 

1087
01:00:04,600 --> 01:00:07,480
Why do we believe what we 
believe here? 

1088
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:10,520
Right? 
And where did that come from? 

1089
01:00:11,480 --> 01:00:16,480
Because over the years, I've 
seen folks who have strayed from

1090
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:18,680
that belief. 
And gotten in trouble, for 

1091
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:21,320
example, in that very first town
where I was that very first 

1092
01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:23,360
senior pastor in that little 
bitty church where all these 

1093
01:00:23,360 --> 01:00:26,000
folks were angry at everybody. 
And they all got happy before 

1094
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:27,640
it's over with. 
Because, you know, we loved one 

1095
01:00:27,640 --> 01:00:29,000
another and they were wonderful 
people. 

1096
01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:31,200
And we all got along Kumbaya and
sang together. 

1097
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:35,080
It only takes a spark to get a 
fire going. 

1098
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:40,200
But anyway, so, so we all got 
along and it was great. 

1099
01:00:40,400 --> 01:00:45,320
But there was another church in 
town and it was the church that 

1100
01:00:45,320 --> 01:00:47,400
used to be the very large 
church. 

1101
01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:49,200
In fact, wrap your head around 
this. 

1102
01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:51,840
This town had about 2000 people 
population. 

1103
01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:53,600
It was a small town. 
You didn't, you didn't 

1104
01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:56,160
accidentally go to this town. 
You, you had to mean to go to 

1105
01:00:56,160 --> 01:00:58,640
this town. 
This town was not on the way to 

1106
01:00:58,640 --> 01:01:03,320
anywhere. 
And the large church in town ran

1107
01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:06,920
900 people. 
So they were drawing people from

1108
01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:09,520
all across the county to come to
this church. 

1109
01:01:10,960 --> 01:01:13,840
And so it was, it was well 
known, it was a huge kind of 

1110
01:01:13,840 --> 01:01:15,080
powerful thing. 
Right? 

1111
01:01:16,040 --> 01:01:20,280
But then they decided somewhere 
along the way in their 

1112
01:01:20,280 --> 01:01:24,880
interpretation of the Bible that
they were going to become ultra 

1113
01:01:24,880 --> 01:01:27,800
fundamentalist. 
And I'm going to throw a word at

1114
01:01:27,800 --> 01:01:28,760
you. 
You probably don't know what 

1115
01:01:28,760 --> 01:01:29,720
this means. 
It's OK. 

1116
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:32,880
And landmark is istic. 
Landmark istic. 

1117
01:01:33,200 --> 01:01:34,440
That's a phrase you may not 
know. 

1118
01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:37,240
Landmark ISM. 
Don't worry about it too much. 

1119
01:01:37,280 --> 01:01:41,600
Here's the basic premise. 
We're the only true church Now, 

1120
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:44,880
I don't mean churches like us 
are the only true church. 

1121
01:01:45,480 --> 01:01:49,840
I mean this local church is the 
only true church. 

1122
01:01:51,160 --> 01:01:53,880
See, now that becomes a little 
cultic, doesn't it? 

1123
01:01:54,880 --> 01:01:55,880
Yeah. 
So. 

1124
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:59,960
So they're the only true church 
in existence anywhere on the 

1125
01:01:59,960 --> 01:02:03,080
planet. 
And they somehow amazingly exist

1126
01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:06,560
in this town of 2000 people on 
the way to nowhere. 

1127
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:10,920
So this, this missionary who 
lived in town and wanted to 

1128
01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:17,080
start a a true saying church. 
Well, not only were they 

1129
01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:19,200
landmarkish. 
Now, I don't want to offend 

1130
01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:22,320
anybody because you may, you may
come from this tradition, you 

1131
01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:25,560
may love this tradition. 
So we're some of these are 

1132
01:02:25,560 --> 01:02:28,000
secondary and tertiaries. 
Don't throw anything at me. 

1133
01:02:28,680 --> 01:02:30,960
Some of these, you know, 
essentialism, you're not. 

1134
01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:32,240
They weren't the only true 
church. 

1135
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:33,840
That's that's a pretty essential
issue. 

1136
01:02:34,840 --> 01:02:36,920
But they were also a King James 
only church. 

1137
01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:42,080
You could you you were not 
allowed to carry any other 

1138
01:02:42,080 --> 01:02:44,960
version of the Bible on the 
property and they had people 

1139
01:02:44,960 --> 01:02:53,880
checking it gets better. 
Ladies, you could not speak and 

1140
01:02:53,880 --> 01:02:56,400
if you had anything to say, you 
had to say it through your 

1141
01:02:56,400 --> 01:03:00,520
husband or your Deacon. 
Ladies, you couldn't wear pants 

1142
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:04,080
and written in their bylaws. 
Culottes. 

1143
01:03:06,200 --> 01:03:11,320
We're not considered a skirt. 
There are pants. 

1144
01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:14,160
No culots allowed. 
How many of you don't have a 

1145
01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:16,440
clue what a culot is? 
Some of the younger ones. 

1146
01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:17,760
Thank you very much. 
God bless you. 

1147
01:03:19,480 --> 01:03:21,400
Go look that up later. 
You're like, really? 

1148
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:25,280
That was the thing. 
All right, So all this is going 

1149
01:03:25,280 --> 01:03:28,320
on, right? 
I come to town. 

1150
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:33,720
Dun, Dun, Dun. 
My phone starts ringing off the 

1151
01:03:33,720 --> 01:03:37,840
wall. 
It's like the bank president, 

1152
01:03:38,120 --> 01:03:42,080
the mayor, the big businessman 
in town who are all members of 

1153
01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:47,000
this church, They want to have a
secret meeting at the bank 

1154
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:48,600
president's house. 
There's no joke. 

1155
01:03:49,880 --> 01:03:52,560
So I had to sneak over there one
night in the dark. 

1156
01:03:53,960 --> 01:03:57,760
And I go, and then there's a 
room of them, and they're going 

1157
01:03:59,360 --> 01:04:00,920
preacher. 
Because that's what you were 

1158
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:02,800
back there. 
Didn't matter who you were, what

1159
01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:07,080
you were, you're a preacher. 
It can't be true that we're the 

1160
01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:12,040
only true church, can it? 
And these were deacons. 

1161
01:04:12,040 --> 01:04:15,880
These were leaders in this 
church who had allowed a pastor 

1162
01:04:15,880 --> 01:04:17,520
to kind of lead him down this 
road. 

1163
01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:25,000
So we had a long conversation 
about the Bible, right? 

1164
01:04:25,400 --> 01:04:28,680
And walked through all that. 
And, and I didn't think so. 

1165
01:04:29,640 --> 01:04:32,240
And and then it was interesting 
because of course our church was

1166
01:04:32,240 --> 01:04:36,320
growing because we reached out 
and actually shared the gospel 

1167
01:04:36,320 --> 01:04:40,000
with lost people and loved 
people because I got all these 

1168
01:04:40,000 --> 01:04:44,120
angry people happy. 
If you're here and you're angry,

1169
01:04:44,320 --> 01:04:46,600
stop it. 
Be happy. 

1170
01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:50,280
So we got them all happy. 
And so and so people are joining

1171
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:53,760
us and, and, and it was 
interesting because eventually 

1172
01:04:53,760 --> 01:04:56,560
the pastor there embezzled money
and had an affair with somebody 

1173
01:04:56,560 --> 01:04:58,160
and of course, split the church 
wide open. 

1174
01:04:58,520 --> 01:05:01,280
The, the, the, the, but in the 
meantime, they used to send 

1175
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:03,040
teams to my house to share the 
gospel. 

1176
01:05:03,040 --> 01:05:06,000
Remember that They used to send 
teams to my house to share the 

1177
01:05:06,000 --> 01:05:09,360
gospel with, to me. 
Now, they knew exactly who and 

1178
01:05:09,360 --> 01:05:16,040
what I was, but because I was 
over here and I wasn't over 

1179
01:05:16,040 --> 01:05:19,360
there, I was lost. 
And so they actually sent, 

1180
01:05:19,360 --> 01:05:21,840
they'd send adults and they 
would send send youth over to 

1181
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:25,840
see the gospel with me. 
They eventually split and I, one

1182
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:28,120
of the ironies I thought, which 
I always thought was one of the 

1183
01:05:28,120 --> 01:05:30,720
greatest things in the world, 
they split and started Harmony 

1184
01:05:30,720 --> 01:05:41,420
Baptist Church out of it. 
This may seem like something 

1185
01:05:41,420 --> 01:05:43,300
that's not important, but I 
promise you it is. 

1186
01:05:44,580 --> 01:05:46,660
You'd need to come back next 
time because we're going to talk

1187
01:05:46,660 --> 01:05:48,660
about these essentials. 
We're going to talk about these 

1188
01:05:48,780 --> 01:05:52,120
primaries and why. 
If you're going to deal with 

1189
01:05:52,120 --> 01:05:56,760
people out there, you better 
know certain things. 

1190
01:05:56,920 --> 01:06:00,160
And I want to talk to you about 
how do I, how do I articulate 

1191
01:06:00,160 --> 01:06:01,760
these? 
How do I explain that to 

1192
01:06:01,760 --> 01:06:05,240
somebody? 
How do I actually tell them what

1193
01:06:05,240 --> 01:06:08,480
I believe and why, which will 
help you greatly. 

1194
01:06:10,280 --> 01:06:13,080
I've shared this with you 
before, but I told you a story 

1195
01:06:13,080 --> 01:06:16,160
one time about when I was in 
Central America and I went into 

1196
01:06:16,160 --> 01:06:18,640
a store and I was sharing with a
man and I was just rattling off 

1197
01:06:18,640 --> 01:06:21,560
my memorized gospel 
presentation, you know, 32 point

1198
01:06:21,560 --> 01:06:23,400
gospel outline, illustration 
number six. 

1199
01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:26,800
And he interrupts me, starts 
laughing at me, which kind of 

1200
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:30,240
offended me. 
And he, and he asked that 

1201
01:06:30,240 --> 01:06:33,160
question, why should I believe 
the Bible is God's word? 

1202
01:06:34,120 --> 01:06:39,480
And he had the Quran, he had a 
Book of Mormon, he had teachings

1203
01:06:39,480 --> 01:06:41,400
of Confucius on a shelf right 
above his head. 

1204
01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:45,800
He goes, Why should I believe 
your holy book is any better 

1205
01:06:45,800 --> 01:06:48,400
than these? 
It's an important question. 

1206
01:06:49,400 --> 01:06:53,320
It's hard to share the gospel 
without quoting Scripture. 

1207
01:06:54,800 --> 01:06:59,000
It's hard to share the Gospel 
without talking about what God 

1208
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:02,640
said. 
And yet in this world today, 

1209
01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:07,360
you've got to understand, A they
don't care and B, they don't 

1210
01:07:07,360 --> 01:07:08,920
even know what God you're 
talking about. 

1211
01:07:08,920 --> 01:07:11,800
I've said this to you and I'm 
going to explain it real 

1212
01:07:11,800 --> 01:07:14,400
quickly. 
I've said this to you several 

1213
01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:16,360
times from the pulpit and I 
always say I'll explain it one 

1214
01:07:16,360 --> 01:07:19,120
day. 
We now live and what I refer to 

1215
01:07:19,120 --> 01:07:21,640
as a post postmodern pre 
Christian culture. 

1216
01:07:23,640 --> 01:07:26,880
We are not even postmodern. 
We're weirder than that. 

1217
01:07:27,040 --> 01:07:29,040
And you may not have any clue 
what you know what the word 

1218
01:07:29,040 --> 01:07:33,320
postmodern means Nothing. 
It just means after modern. 

1219
01:07:33,560 --> 01:07:36,040
That's all it means. 
It's a throwaway word that we 

1220
01:07:36,040 --> 01:07:37,720
throw around like it means 
something. 

1221
01:07:38,080 --> 01:07:40,680
Most people have no clue when 
they say postmodern what they're

1222
01:07:40,680 --> 01:07:45,480
talking about moderns built 
things. 

1223
01:07:45,880 --> 01:07:48,600
So the key is to know what a 
modern, what modernity is. 

1224
01:07:48,600 --> 01:07:52,040
What's modern 123? 
We build things. 

1225
01:07:52,280 --> 01:07:54,400
We we accomplish. 
It's linear. 

1226
01:07:54,560 --> 01:07:57,320
We start, we have a middle, we 
finish, we're builders, we're 

1227
01:07:57,320 --> 01:07:59,960
going to accomplish something. 
They love science. 

1228
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:02,800
Science is going to answer stuff
and you know, secular moderns, 

1229
01:08:02,800 --> 01:08:05,160
etcetera. 
And that's where our society was

1230
01:08:05,160 --> 01:08:07,320
in the early to mid 20th 
century. 

1231
01:08:07,640 --> 01:08:11,120
Very modern, right? 
We can do anything, John Wayne. 

1232
01:08:11,120 --> 01:08:14,520
We can do it. 
Well, then you know what 

1233
01:08:14,520 --> 01:08:18,399
happened in the 60s and 70s? 
Everything got weird and we 

1234
01:08:18,399 --> 01:08:22,160
begin to question everything. 
So a modern says, well, you got 

1235
01:08:22,160 --> 01:08:25,200
to build 123A. 
Postmodern is going to say why, 

1236
01:08:25,200 --> 01:08:28,720
and they're going to say why to 
everything. 

1237
01:08:30,399 --> 01:08:35,080
So in the old days you had 
loyalty to a church, you had 

1238
01:08:35,080 --> 01:08:37,359
loyalty to a business. 
I'm going to work for the same 

1239
01:08:37,359 --> 01:08:39,160
company my whole life. 
I went to the I'm going to go to

1240
01:08:39,160 --> 01:08:41,680
the same church my whole life. 
That is out the window. 

1241
01:08:41,680 --> 01:08:44,000
That institutional loyalty 
doesn't exist anymore in 

1242
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:47,880
postmodernity. 
There's no objective, absolute 

1243
01:08:47,880 --> 01:08:52,319
truth anymore because I get to 
decide my own thing. 911 changed

1244
01:08:52,319 --> 01:08:55,000
everything though, and it is 
911. 

1245
01:08:55,000 --> 01:08:56,840
That's a mark. 
Their studies. 

1246
01:08:57,279 --> 01:09:01,520
We did a lot of research about 
911 and after 911 there's now a 

1247
01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:03,399
fear factor that came into our 
culture. 

1248
01:09:03,600 --> 01:09:05,479
You got to think about, some of 
you aren't old enough to even 

1249
01:09:05,479 --> 01:09:08,479
remember pre 911, but you didn't
have to go. 

1250
01:09:08,479 --> 01:09:10,880
You remember when you could walk
all the way to the gate at the 

1251
01:09:10,880 --> 01:09:15,279
airport, hug people as they 
walked off onto the onto the 

1252
01:09:15,279 --> 01:09:18,279
gate, or you could stand right 
there with your sign as they got

1253
01:09:18,279 --> 01:09:20,680
off the plane. 
You remember when you could go 

1254
01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:22,920
to a ball game and not have to 
go to a metal detector. 

1255
01:09:24,359 --> 01:09:28,920
Everything changed. 
Cameras everywhere, checks 

1256
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:34,120
everywhere, bombings, shootings,
all kinds of stuff. 911 So 

1257
01:09:34,120 --> 01:09:38,359
there's a fear base. 
So in that fear, Americans 

1258
01:09:39,160 --> 01:09:42,080
looking are looking for. 
This is very important. 

1259
01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:45,920
Try to remember this phrase. 
It's a Ewart phrase. 

1260
01:09:46,479 --> 01:09:49,120
They're looking for peer 
communities of truth. 

1261
01:09:50,880 --> 01:09:56,000
This is why social media works. 
This is why reality TV is what 

1262
01:09:56,000 --> 01:09:58,200
it is. 
I mean, who really cares about 

1263
01:09:58,200 --> 01:10:00,360
keeping up with anybody, right? 
On TV? 

1264
01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:04,520
But yet everybody does. 
I mean, people who have no 

1265
01:10:04,520 --> 01:10:08,240
talent, people who've never done
anything are billionaires. 

1266
01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:10,160
Because we all watch him. 
I don't. 

1267
01:10:10,160 --> 01:10:13,080
But people watch him to try to 
keep up, to see keeping up with 

1268
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:19,720
the whoevers or the housewives 
of wherever, right? 

1269
01:10:19,920 --> 01:10:24,120
And This is why it works, 
because people are searching for

1270
01:10:24,120 --> 01:10:25,840
a group of people who they can 
agree with. 

1271
01:10:27,000 --> 01:10:29,040
This is why certain talk shows 
work the way they do. 

1272
01:10:29,040 --> 01:10:31,680
Certain celebrities work the way
they do certain musicians, the 

1273
01:10:31,680 --> 01:10:34,400
work the way they do. 
And this is social media. 

1274
01:10:34,560 --> 01:10:37,240
This is why people can't be 10 
seconds off of this thing. 

1275
01:10:38,320 --> 01:10:40,360
And they're on they're, they're 
looking for followers. 

1276
01:10:40,360 --> 01:10:43,320
Think about the wording. 
They're searching for followers.

1277
01:10:43,480 --> 01:10:44,840
Why? 
Because they're trying to put 

1278
01:10:44,840 --> 01:10:48,280
together their own pure 
community of truth, because 

1279
01:10:48,280 --> 01:10:52,520
there's this massive fear base. 
They're scared to death and I 

1280
01:10:52,520 --> 01:10:56,040
need to have a group that agrees
with my truth that I've created 

1281
01:10:56,120 --> 01:10:58,400
or I can agree with the truth 
they've created. 

1282
01:10:58,680 --> 01:11:01,000
So there's like sub religions 
all over the place in our 

1283
01:11:01,000 --> 01:11:05,240
culture today and now we are 
much more like 1st century. 

1284
01:11:05,480 --> 01:11:08,640
We're much more like Paul dealt 
with in Rome. 

1285
01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:11,240
In our in our view of 
Christianity, we're pre 

1286
01:11:11,240 --> 01:11:13,200
Christian. 
I'll never say the word post 

1287
01:11:13,200 --> 01:11:14,160
Christian. 
Don't use that. 

1288
01:11:14,160 --> 01:11:15,880
That's bad. 
Jesus is always going to sit on 

1289
01:11:15,880 --> 01:11:17,760
a strum. 
There's never a moment we're 

1290
01:11:17,760 --> 01:11:21,400
post Christ but we're pre 
Christian. 

1291
01:11:22,240 --> 01:11:25,360
They've forgotten him, He didn't
exist anymore. 

1292
01:11:25,880 --> 01:11:28,680
They don't have any memory of it
because they were never a part 

1293
01:11:28,680 --> 01:11:32,800
of it. 
Now the problem is, is do you 

1294
01:11:32,800 --> 01:11:36,760
think the majority of the inside
the church is modern or 

1295
01:11:36,760 --> 01:11:42,240
postmodern? 
Inside the church you got to 

1296
01:11:42,240 --> 01:11:45,160
think about ages and where 
everybody comes from. 

1297
01:11:45,160 --> 01:11:48,520
Inside the church, most of the 
church is still operating on a 

1298
01:11:48,520 --> 01:11:52,640
modern basis in a post 
postmodern culture. 

1299
01:11:53,400 --> 01:11:56,200
So that world out there can't 
relate to most of you and most 

1300
01:11:56,200 --> 01:11:58,000
of what we do in here. 
They don't understand this. 

1301
01:11:58,480 --> 01:12:00,880
We come in here and we assume 
they know what a worship service

1302
01:12:00,880 --> 01:12:02,560
is. 
We assume they know what to do 

1303
01:12:02,560 --> 01:12:04,200
in here. 
We assume they know they can 

1304
01:12:04,200 --> 01:12:06,240
come here. 
We assume that they know it's OK

1305
01:12:06,240 --> 01:12:08,160
to go to a small group. 
They don't know that. 

1306
01:12:08,720 --> 01:12:13,240
Don't assume they know that. 
Not anymore. 

1307
01:12:14,000 --> 01:12:16,520
Don't assume they care what this
book is. 

1308
01:12:17,040 --> 01:12:18,880
Not anymore. 
I was highly respected in the. 

1309
01:12:18,880 --> 01:12:22,560
Community now you do national 
surveys we're we're respected 

1310
01:12:22,560 --> 01:12:26,800
less than a used car salesman 
because so many of us have 

1311
01:12:26,800 --> 01:12:31,800
failed see they don't trust. 
Us it's all fear based. 

1312
01:12:31,920 --> 01:12:37,000
Everything's fear based, see, 
and all we want is your money. 

1313
01:12:37,440 --> 01:12:38,680
Which is why I preached the 
sermon. 

1314
01:12:38,680 --> 01:12:41,240
Last Sunday about you giving 
more money because that's all I 

1315
01:12:41,240 --> 01:12:45,000
care about. 
Are you following me on all? 

1316
01:12:45,000 --> 01:12:47,880
This. 
So there's there's the you. 

1317
01:12:49,520 --> 01:12:52,360
You know, what we used to know 
is when you went to the 

1318
01:12:52,360 --> 01:12:54,560
international mission field, you
knew you needed to study 

1319
01:12:54,560 --> 01:12:57,320
language. 
You knew you needed to study 

1320
01:12:57,320 --> 01:12:59,520
culture. 
You knew you needed to learn 

1321
01:12:59,520 --> 01:13:02,600
about the people. 
But we failed to make the same 

1322
01:13:02,600 --> 01:13:04,760
connection right here, my 
friends. 

1323
01:13:04,760 --> 01:13:06,400
You need to learn their 
language. 

1324
01:13:07,240 --> 01:13:10,480
There's a whole another culture 
out there and they speak a 

1325
01:13:10,480 --> 01:13:13,160
different language, they have 
different belief systems, they 

1326
01:13:13,160 --> 01:13:15,600
have different habits, they have
different everything and you, 

1327
01:13:15,920 --> 01:13:17,400
you know, if you want to relate 
to them. 

1328
01:13:17,400 --> 01:13:19,560
And we're going to talk about 
how do I develop a relationship 

1329
01:13:19,560 --> 01:13:24,000
with something that I don't 
agree with as we move down the. 

1330
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:27,960
Road This is important. 
I need you to come back to 

1331
01:13:27,960 --> 01:13:31,320
understand the essentials 
because in the essentials we 

1332
01:13:31,320 --> 01:13:36,200
must have unity. 
In the non essentials we can 

1333
01:13:36,200 --> 01:13:40,480
have liberty and charity, but 
we've got to know what we 

1334
01:13:40,480 --> 01:13:44,880
believe about certain things so 
that when we proclaim it, I 

1335
01:13:44,880 --> 01:13:47,440
mean, I can stand up here all 
day long and say trust in Jesus,

1336
01:13:47,440 --> 01:13:49,520
trust in Jesus, trust. 
And they don't have a clue what 

1337
01:13:49,520 --> 01:13:52,760
I'm talking about. 
They don't know what it means 

1338
01:13:52,760 --> 01:13:54,440
to. 
Trust in Jesus. 

1339
01:13:55,480 --> 01:13:59,400
They don't know that. 
And so when you talk to people. 

1340
01:13:59,400 --> 01:14:02,000
Out there, don't assume. 
They all went to church. 

1341
01:14:02,520 --> 01:14:04,280
You might have thought that in 
your past. 

1342
01:14:04,680 --> 01:14:06,240
Now everybody goes to church in 
Rocky Mount. 

1343
01:14:06,240 --> 01:14:08,000
There's a church on every corner
in Rocky Mount. 

1344
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:13,920
They're also all almost empty. 
That's not a. 

1345
01:14:13,920 --> 01:14:17,360
Guess. 
And there are more. 

1346
01:14:17,360 --> 01:14:19,080
And more people moving in here 
who have. 

1347
01:14:19,080 --> 01:14:23,720
Absolutely no idea what goes on 
inside of these things, and so 

1348
01:14:23,720 --> 01:14:26,160
we got to learn that. 
So let's get together and. 

1349
01:14:26,160 --> 01:14:27,320
Let's do this. 
That sounds good. 

1350
01:14:27,920 --> 01:14:30,680
All in favour, say aye. 
All right, this will be on 

1351
01:14:30,680 --> 01:14:31,920
podcast. 
Let me pray for us. 

1352
01:14:31,920 --> 01:14:34,320
Father, thank you so much for 
this introduction. 

1353
01:14:34,320 --> 01:14:36,920
I know it's kind of lengthy. 
I pray it wasn't too boring. 

1354
01:14:37,320 --> 01:14:40,920
Pray, Father, it was meaningful.
Pray, Father, that the passages 

1355
01:14:40,920 --> 01:14:44,600
of your word that we read will 
strike our hearts will recognize

1356
01:14:44,600 --> 01:14:48,360
that we don't have time to argue
over myth and tradition and 

1357
01:14:48,360 --> 01:14:50,480
opinion. 
That Father, we got to unite 

1358
01:14:50,480 --> 01:14:53,760
together behind the essentials. 
And Father, we've got to share 

1359
01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:57,560
the gospel and make disciples 
and teach about the Bible and 

1360
01:14:57,560 --> 01:15:00,840
teach your truth not only to the
world outside, but right here 

1361
01:15:00,840 --> 01:15:02,880
inside to our families and to 
one another. 

1362
01:15:03,400 --> 01:15:05,440
Well, Father, thank you so much 
for this good group here 

1363
01:15:05,440 --> 01:15:07,000
tonight. 
For those listening online. 

1364
01:15:07,240 --> 01:15:10,520
I pray, Father, that everybody 
will TuneIn next time and that 

1365
01:15:10,520 --> 01:15:13,800
Lord will continue to grow 
together as we talk about how we

1366
01:15:13,800 --> 01:15:16,960
might train to be your warriors.
Thank you, Father, so much in 

1367
01:15:16,960 --> 01:15:20,160
Christ's name, Amen. 
Thank you all. 

1368
01:15:23,240 --> 01:15:24,880
Thank. 
You so much for listening today,

1369
01:15:24,880 --> 01:15:26,200
and I also hope that you'll. 
Go to 

1370
01:15:26,200 --> 01:15:30,000
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com 
as well as our app and find many

1371
01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:32,360
other resources that will bless 
you and your families. 

1372
01:15:32,520 --> 01:15:33,560
Thank you once again.