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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 
into 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. 
All right, well, thank you so 

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much for joining me here. 
And for those who are listening 

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online, thank you for joining 
this session that we're in. 

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I hope that you'll go back and 
listen to the last session of 

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this series. 
If you missed it, as we talked 

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about the eternality of God, we 
will dive into heaven starting 

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in the next session very 
specifically. 

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But I did feel like we needed to
spend one more session and kind 

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of introductory work to talk 
about some of the alternatives 

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to what we're going to teach 
over the next several sessions 

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as we talk about heaven and hell
and the hereafter. 

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There are a lot of, lot of views
out there. 

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Now for some, this is this is a 
review. 

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Maybe I mentioned some of these 
things briefly in our evangelism

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series and also our theology 
series and in the previous year,

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if you go back and listen to all
those, but we're going to dive 

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much more deeply into several of
these in this session. 

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So thanks for joining, joining 
us for this. 

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So be a lot of scripture too. 
So, so get your Bibles ready or 

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or get your get your app ready. 
Because in our world today, 

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there are many, many perceived 
paths to life, and that includes

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eternal life that we live in a 
very pluralistic, and we'll talk

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more about that in a moment, 
very pluralistic society. 

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And some of these, some of these
options, these false options 

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have existed for centuries. 
Some of them are as old as many 

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parts of Scripture. 
And so from the very beginning, 

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there were heretical and false 
teachings that plagued the 

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church. 
In fact, much of the New 

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Testament is actually written in
a response to that false 

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teaching, especially when you 
think about the writings of 

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John, for example. 
And so others are being created 

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day by day. 
There'll be a new one tomorrow, 

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there'll be a new one the next 
day, there'll be a new one after

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that. 
And so we need to kind of 

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categorize some of these things 
and, and put our minds in the 

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right spot as we move forward. 
Because once we move forward 

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from this session, I'm going to 
assume we believe the Bible. 

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I'm going to assume that what 
the Bible says is our authority 

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and that we're going to guide 
the rest of our conversation 

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based upon that. 
But it felt like we needed to 

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touch base on this because Satan
does use these things. 

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He uses the opposition to God's 
truth. 

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He uses the twisting of God's 
truth, the distortion of that 

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truth, and the distortion of 
God's word to tempt many to 

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believe in a whole variety of 
unbiblical teachings. 

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He did that in Eden and he also 
tried to do it with Jesus in the

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wilderness. 
Is that really what God said? 

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You know, there's a whole lot of
that in Satan's lair. 

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Is that really what God said? 
Didn't God really say this? 

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And so some of these twists are 
are Christian like, while others

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are very, very distant, distant 
from any Christianity connection

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whatsoever. 
And we'll talk about both of 

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those kinds of categories. 
But just to remind everybody, if

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you, especially if you're a 
guest, but also to remind us 

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that here at Inglewood, we we 
adopt and we believe is our 

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statement of faith, what we call
the Baptist faith in message 

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2000. 
This is a summary. 

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It's not it's it's it's not 
necessarily dictatorial, but 

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it's a summary of what Southern 
Baptists believe. 

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And it actually started years 
ago. 

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This is a few versions later, 
but it started years ago when 

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the press could not understand 
what Baptist believed. 

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And they they were thinking a 
lot of the Catholic Church or 

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hierarchical type denominations 
and you have this conglomeration

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of independent churches. 
What do you people believe? 

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And so they needed to write some
summary documents to help 

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explain to the outside world. 
This is what most Baptists 

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believe. 
That's how the Baptist faith the

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message started. 
Now, this is a, an official 

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adoption that we we adhere to 
and it says we affirm the Holy 

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Bible as the inspired and 
infallible inerrant word of God 

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and as the only basis for our 
beliefs, which is represented by

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the 66 canonical books of the 
Old and New Testament. 

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In other words, we believe in 
the Bible. 

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We believe the Bible is perfect 
and we believe that it's 

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actually God's word. 
It doesn't just contain God's 

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word, it is God's word. 
That's a view that I've 

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mentioned to you before twice 
called human constructivism to 

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where people believe that men 
wrote the Bible, that God 

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inspired them, that men wrote 
and and men wrote in their own 

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way. 
And so the Bible's full of 

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errors and the Bible contains 
the word of God, but it is not 

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the word of God. 
We believe in full inspiration 

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to where the Bible is the word 
of God perfectly inherently. 

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So we also believe in what we 
would call absolute sufficiency.

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That's a, that's a doctrinal 
term. 

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Don't worry, we're not going to 
be doctrinal all night. 

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But the absolute sufficiency 
basically means that everything 

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we need to know, we get to know 
that God has revealed to us what

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we must know and what we need to
know in order to live for him, 

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to know him and to live for him,
to live the Christian life. 

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The Bible is sufficient as a 
guide for life and a guide for 

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our knowledge of God. 
That doesn't mean we probably 

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know every single thing about 
God like we talked about last 

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time, but we'll learn more about
him as we walk with him. 

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And then later on in eternity, 
we'll learn a whole lot more. 

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So our true path to eternity 
needs to be found in the 

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authority of the Word of God, 
which is where we'll be from now

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on in the sessions to come. 
But this world is fragile. 

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That's a nice word. 
This world is fragile and this 

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world is fleeting. 
This world is flaky. 

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See, if I can think of other 
words, this world is wishy 

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washy. 
This world believes one thing 

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one day and another thing the 
next. 

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Martin Luther described the 
world as a drunk man on a on a 

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donkey. 
You know, he totters to one side

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and when you straighten him up, 
he just falls over on the other.

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And so the world is constantly 
trying to figure this all out. 

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You need to be here Sunday 
morning in the sermon series 

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that I'm preaching when this is 
being recorded. 

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I'm in the book of Romans. 
I'm going to be in Romans 

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chapter 1. 
We're going to be talking about 

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not only God's wrath, but also 
how man looks at the creation 

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instead of the creator and how 
he's, he's all over the place 

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because of that. 
And so we need to, we need to 

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recognize, we need stability. 
We need moorings, we need 

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something to hang on to. 
So the Word of God gives us that

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because the Word of God is not 
fragile. 

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And so to fully understand the 
biblical truth about heaven, 

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hell, and hereafter, we do 
really need to maybe clear the 

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path a little bit. 
This is not what we're talking 

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about. 
This is not what we're talking 

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about. 
This is not what we're talking 

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about, which is what we'll do 
here in a moment. 

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So let's let's take a look at 
some of these now. 

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Again, this may be a bit of a 
review for some of you, and some

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of you would already know all of
these. 

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You may not know every one of 
these, you'll know many of 

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these, but but we're going to, 
we're going to dissect them a 

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little bit. 
So maybe it'll be a little 

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deeper than what you've normally
taken a look at, because false 

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teachings about what takes place
after death are really quite 

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old. 
And whenever humanity is faced 

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with this question, this big 
time question of truth and of 

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life and death, rest assured, 
somebody's going to come up with

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a false answer. 
It's inevitable that somebody's 

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going to come up with their own 
idea of what of what to believe.

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We live in a world of my truth 
versus your truth. 

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And people live off of that 
stuff. 

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So let's just talk through 
these. 

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There's probably about 11 of 
them. 

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And so the first one, and again,
we've mentioned some of these 

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before, and some of these will 
be quicker and easier than 

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others. 
Some of these we're going to, 

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you know, rest in pretty hard 
for a while. 

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And so the first one is just the
false path of atheism, because 

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we might as well start where 
there is no God and there is no 

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eternity. 
And so this is not only a false 

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path to eternity, it's a no path
to eternity. 

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There is no such thing. 
When you die, you cease. 

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When you die, you're simply food
for the worms. 

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And so every bit of life is the 
life you live here biologically 

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on this planet. 
And when it's over, you're over,

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and there is no more. 
I do want to always encourage 

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you because this statistic holds
true for decades. 

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Frankly, the Pew Research Group,
which is a very, very stable, 

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very trustworthy research group,
will share with us that only 5% 

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of US adults identify as 
atheists. 

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And many people will say, well, 
I know more than that. 

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I'm like, well, maybe the closer
you are to a college campus, the

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higher that percentage gets, 
unfortunately. 

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But the percentage has almost 
never gone above 5% of the total

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population. 
And so they get a lot of press, 

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they get a lot of attention 
there, sometimes get a lot of 

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noise. 
But atheists are really not very

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popular. 
And atheism in the United States

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of America has never been very 
popular, frankly. 

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But I this next part is what I 
thought was interesting because 

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it's not necessarily how many 
are in the Midwest or in the 

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Northeast, but I wanted you to 
see where the highest percentage

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of atheist lived. 
They're right here. 

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And so the there is a myth, and 
I'm going to take a few minutes 

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on this myth and blow it out of 
the water. 

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People still use the term the 
Bible Belt. 

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They use it in vernacular. 
They also use it in news. 

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And that's a real misnomer. 
If you think the South is the 

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Bible Belt, you need to go to 
Atlanta. 

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You need to go to some big urban
areas, and you'll find that that

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the belief systems in the world 
views of these southern States 

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and these southern cities are 
not biblically oriented at all. 

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The only thing Bible Beltish 
about the southeastern part of 

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the United States is the number 
of church buildings per capita, 

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not necessarily the number of 
Christians, not necessarily the 

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number of worldview people 
holders. 

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It's the number of church 
buildings. 

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And so, but it's still used, 
it's still thought that way. 

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People think everybody here goes
to church and everybody else 

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goes to church. 
And I've thought, how many times

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do I get to tell you over 70% of
the people within 10 miles of 

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where you are right now don't go
to church? 

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And that holds true across most 
of the state of North Carolina. 

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I've seen 7172, et cetera. 
It's pretty common in the state 

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of North Carolina. 
And so the the, the Bible Belt 

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has a lot of empty church 
buildings. 

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Studies have been done on what 
do you do with an empty church 

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building. 
The number one use is a bar and 

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a restaurant and so many 
churches. 

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In fact, this week there will be
somewhere between 72 and 100 

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churches shutting their doors 
for the final time in the United

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States of America right now. 
And so we have to plant new 

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churches just to keep up with 
the closures. 

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So if you think there's a church
on every corner, there might be 

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a building, there might be a few
people in those buildings, but 

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most of these churches are 
unhealthy. 

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Out of 400,000 churches in the 
United States of America, 

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360,000 of them would be 
unhealthy. 

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And so a healthy church is a 
rare find. 

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So if you happen to be in one or
you think you're in one, get a 

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little sticker and put on your 
car window. 

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This is Englewood Baptist 
Church, we're going to restock 

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some new some new, some new logo
wear in the bookstore for you 

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too, so you can proudly wear it 
to Lowe's and and Walmart so 

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that when I'm at the store, I 
won't just have former members 

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of Englewood come to me. 
You can identify yourself as a 

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proud active member of Englewood
or hide one of the two, 

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whichever you got to do Psalm 
141A verse you know, you may not

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know it's Psalm 14. 
One, it says, the full says in 

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his heart, there is no God. 
They are corrupt, they do 

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abominable deeds, There is none 
who does good. 

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And so we're going to look at 
some theological assumptions 

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that are common throughout these
false paths here in a little bit

227
00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,480
and talk about that false path. 
1.2 I noticed I didn't quite 

228
00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,560
give it #2 yet is called 
humanism. 

229
00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,600
And often times humanism and 
atheism are lumped together and,

230
00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,000
and rightly so, because 
sometimes it's kind of the same 

231
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,920
thing. 
But in humanism, there is a God,

232
00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:54,880
it's just us. 
And it's often recognized as 

233
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:56,640
that. 
In other words, there, there are

234
00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,240
actually proactive statements 
and true humanism that would 

235
00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,920
talk about the rational 
scientific ability of man to 

236
00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:04,680
accomplish everything he wants 
to accomplish. 

237
00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,840
And so it's not necessarily the 
same as just general atheism 

238
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,120
where there's no belief really 
whatsoever. 

239
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,680
And so again, there's no 
eternity here. 

240
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,200
Man is supreme, we, we are the 
God. 

241
00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,800
But it is a very right. 
I'll just read this definition. 

242
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,440
A rationalistic outlook or 
system of thought attaching 

243
00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,320
prime importance that means #1 
importance to human rather than 

244
00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,080
divine matters. 
Humanism affirms our ability and

245
00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,280
our responsibility to lead 
ethical lives. 

246
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,560
And so, in other words, it's all
up to us. 

247
00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:37,840
We can achieve whatever we want 
to achieve. 

248
00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,920
If man puts his mind to it, he 
can achieve anything. 

249
00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:45,120
And you pay attention to your 
television set, you pay 

250
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:48,880
attention to TV commercials, 
whether it's about tennis shoes 

251
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,760
or sports or makeup. 
And you pay attention as to how 

252
00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,840
much you deserve and how much 
you ought to get, whatever you 

253
00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,680
want and how you're really in 
control of everything. 

254
00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:03,120
And, and see what's going on in 
that message that's out there. 

255
00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,600
We're in charge and we are 
capable. 

256
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,320
And one of the problems that 
mankind has is we send the sin 

257
00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,880
of ability. 
We believe that we are able in 

258
00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,520
and of ourselves. 
When we are not, we are enable 

259
00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,760
and we were never created to be 
able. 

260
00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,200
It wasn't the design of our 
lives. 

261
00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,080
We were meant to be depended 
upon God. 

262
00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:29,000
So Deuteronomy 432 says for ask 
now of the days that are past, 

263
00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:34,840
which were before you, since the
day that God created man on the 

264
00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:39,360
earth and asked from one end of 
heaven to the other whether such

265
00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:43,480
a great thing as this has ever 
happened or was ever heard of. 

266
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,560
So we have a beginning. 
We have a Creator, we have a 

267
00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:53,000
Lord, we have a God. 
He's in control and He is 

268
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,440
capable, and we need to be 
dependent upon Him, obviously. 

269
00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,000
But false, false path #2 is 
weird. 

270
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,360
And it's very, very common. 
This is an extremely common 

271
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,400
belief system in our culture in 
the United States of America. 

272
00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,680
Far more common than atheism is 
agnosticism. 

273
00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,600
They might not refer to 
themselves as agnostics. 

274
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:16,680
There are agnostics in churches.
There are probably agnostics at 

275
00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,000
Inglewood. 
There are maybe agnostics in 

276
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,160
this room right now who really 
don't know for sure and don't 

277
00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:28,640
believe we can know for sure. 
I encounter people all the time 

278
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,880
who are either, and we'll get to
deism in a minute, who are 

279
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:37,200
deists or agnostics who believe 
in something, but we're not sure

280
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,560
what it is and I don't think we 
can really know what it is. 

281
00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:47,440
And agnosticism is is who knows.
So it's the belief that the 

282
00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:52,120
existence of God is unknowable. 
In other words, we can't know if

283
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,720
he's real or not. 
It's in another definition is 

284
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,800
that human reason is incapable 
of providing sufficient rational

285
00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:04,040
grounds to justify either the 
belief that God exists or the 

286
00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,600
belief that God does not exist. 
So to know or not to know is 

287
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,640
beyond this and it cannot be 
determined. 

288
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,080
And this is a very popular 
belief system with people. 

289
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,080
In my travels I used to meet 
people, we'd have this 

290
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:22,400
conversation all the time and 
what would throw them off was me

291
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,200
and my certainty. 
In fact, that's happened here at

292
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:30,600
Inglewood with people who have 
visited who proclaimed the fact 

293
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,320
that that, you know, your guy 
knows and believes what he's 

294
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,960
really talking about. 
The people I know don't. 

295
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,000
And, and we have these 
conversations and the fact that 

296
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,560
assurance and certainty are 
powerful testimonies in a world 

297
00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,480
that does not know and maybe 
does not believe they can know. 

298
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,000
But the fact that I can say to 
people that I know beyond any 

299
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,800
shadow of a doubt that if I were
to drop dead right here, right 

300
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:55,840
now, that I would be immediately
with the Lord. 

301
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,360
And I know that beyond anything,
and I do not fear death is 

302
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,640
something that startles people. 
It rattles people. 

303
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,920
Sometimes people who are in this
boat, but also people in works 

304
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,960
righteousness that we're going 
to talk about later are in that 

305
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,319
same boat to where they can't 
know for sure or they don't 

306
00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:14,480
think they can know for sure or 
they just don't know for sure. 

307
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,760
And so this is a belief system 
that relies too much. 

308
00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:23,480
Now, true agnosticism isn't just
the the ignorance, it's just not

309
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,280
whether I can know or not. 
And I mean that word in the 

310
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,880
right use of it. 
It's the fact that it it it 

311
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,920
relies completely on human 
ability and reason to know it. 

312
00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,560
It has no room for leaves no 
room for faith. 

313
00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,960
And if you're using your facts 
to prove the existence of God 

314
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,360
instead of allowing faith to 
filter your facts and help you 

315
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,160
to believe in God, you're always
going to be a you're going to be

316
00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:50,800
down a hard road. 
And so to think through what 

317
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,920
this means. 
And so Hebrews 11/1 is that 

318
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,520
verse that many of you would 
have memorized that now faith is

319
00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:00,720
the assurance of things, what 
hoped for in the conviction, 

320
00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:05,560
conviction of things not seen. 
I can't see this. 

321
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,920
I can't hold this, I can't 
dissect this. 

322
00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:10,680
And that's enough for some to 
say, well, then you can't know. 

323
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,400
And so we work through the 
arguments for the ontological 

324
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,400
arguments for the existence of 
God and some of the things that 

325
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,400
we've talked about in the past. 
I'm very likely, I just don't 

326
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,680
know when I've been struggling 
with what's after Romans a lot. 

327
00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,760
Frankly, for those who would 
have no idea how any of this 

328
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,120
works, I actually do try to plot
out the whole year. 

329
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,040
It helps our worship team, it 
helps pastors, it helps 

330
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,040
everybody to know here's what's 
going to be coming up at certain

331
00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:37,880
times of the year. 
Source preaching is concerned 

332
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,600
and Wednesday night and I was I 
was going to do the epistles of 

333
00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,280
John at some point. 
I'm wondering if I don't want to

334
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,760
walk with John through all of 
his writings. 

335
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,200
I would really like to do a 
gospel with you all. 

336
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,560
And so I've wondered about doing
the Gospel of John and the 

337
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,120
Epistles of John and then the 
Book of Revelation do everything

338
00:18:57,120 --> 00:19:00,760
that John ever wrote, but that 
that would take more than a 

339
00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:03,920
year. 
So we're anyway praying about 

340
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:04,520
that. 
Thank you. 

341
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,400
Thank you for the encouragement.
Not asking for a vote, but I 

342
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,560
appreciate it. 
If you start putting things on 

343
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,680
your cars, that's the Inglewood 
Baptist Church, you can vote. 

344
00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:17,680
So no, I don't know. 
I don't promise. 

345
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,640
I don't promise. 
I was behind somebody who had 

346
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,560
one on their car and I was kind 
of wishing they didn't. 

347
00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,640
I won't tell that story because 
you're probably here. 

348
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:40,640
So first John 5, first John 5 
says this, and I just want you 

349
00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:44,840
to know the Word. 
I'll emphasize it every time in 

350
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,560
these few verses. 
I write these things to you who 

351
00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,160
believe in the name of the Son 
of God that you may know that 

352
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,920
you have eternal life. 
And this is the confidence that 

353
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,120
we have toward Him, that if we 
ask anything according to His 

354
00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:01,000
will, He hears us. 
And if we know that He hears us 

355
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,520
and whatever we ask, we know 
that we have the request that we

356
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,080
have asked of Him. 
And if you skip to verse 18, we 

357
00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,240
know that everyone who's been 
born of God does not keep on 

358
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:15,840
sinning, but he who was born of 
God protects him, and the evil 1

359
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,400
does not touch him. 
We know that we are from God and

360
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,880
the whole world lies in the 
power of the evil. 1 and we know

361
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,840
that the Son of God has come and
has given us understanding so 

362
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:30,440
that we may know him who is true
and we are in him who is true in

363
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,600
his Son Jesus Christ. 
He is the true God and eternal 

364
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,280
life. 
One of the things you got to 

365
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:42,040
understand is John uses the word
know 39 times in first John, the

366
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:46,520
whole purpose of this book was 
to fight a false teaching called

367
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,720
Gnosticism where they felt like 
they had their own secret 

368
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,200
knowledge of God. 
It was a knowledge base, very 

369
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,520
Greek oriented type false 
teaching. 

370
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,920
So John is trying to nail down 
what knowledge really is. 

371
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,960
And if you notice in this one 
verse, I know you don't have it,

372
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,400
but it says we we know that the 
son of a God has come and I'll 

373
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:09,000
listen to this next phrase and 
has given us understanding so 

374
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,920
that we might know him say we 
need the Holy Spirit. 

375
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,400
We need, we need God to help us 
to have faith. 

376
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,520
We need God to help us to be 
able to believe our own mind, 

377
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:25,840
our own facts, our own physical 
evidentiary procedures are not 

378
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,000
enough. 
We need something supernatural, 

379
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,760
miraculous to help us to know 
him. 

380
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:35,040
And so the word for no is 
gonosco, which literally means 

381
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,880
to come to know. 
But it's not just a head 

382
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,520
knowledge, it's experiential. 
And so the word gonosco and the 

383
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:46,920
root word of that carries a 
strong sense of experiential 

384
00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:48,480
knowledge. 
Not just some intellectual 

385
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,640
understanding, but something 
that I've learned through 

386
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,440
personal experience, something 
that I learned through personal 

387
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,560
relationship. 
This is an interactive 

388
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,040
knowledge. 
And so this isn't just something

389
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,600
I dream up in my head or that 
I've read enough facts to prove 

390
00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,600
to me what this says. 
This is an experience I'm having

391
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,960
with God who helps me to 
understand I need the indwelling

392
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,200
Holy Spirit to really help me 
get all this. 

393
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,720
And so it can mean to understand
it means you get it. 

394
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:21,040
That's what it means. 
And the poor agnostic just 

395
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,760
doesn't get it. 
And so we pray for him. 

396
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,640
Sort of related, but totally 
different. 

397
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:33,600
How's that is false path #3 and 
that's deism. 

398
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,240
We don't use that word, but I 
mentioned this to you that when 

399
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,560
we talked about this before, 
this is also one of the most 

400
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,040
prevailing religions of America 
and deism. 

401
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,240
Many of you would think of the 
Founding Fathers because you 

402
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,840
know that some of them were 
deist or deist deistically 

403
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,080
oriented. 
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas 

404
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,680
Jefferson, James Madison were 
leading deists of their day, for

405
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:54,440
example. 
Some would accuse Abraham 

406
00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,400
Lincoln of being a deist as 
well. 

407
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,840
And so when we, when we look 
back in history, we think of 

408
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,080
that. 
We don't necessarily use this 

409
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:06,120
word today, but this, this is a 
very common belief system in our

410
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:08,880
world today. 
And this is where there's a God,

411
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,560
but he's distant and he's 
impersonal. 

412
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,720
And so he created everything, 
but he doesn't have anything to 

413
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,080
do with anything. 
It's the the classic 

414
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,440
illustration of the watchmaker 
or the clockmaker. 

415
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,800
He made the watch or the clock 
wounded up, put it on the shelf.

416
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:24,520
They'll never look at it. 
They'll never touch. 

417
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:26,040
It has nothing to do with it 
again. 

418
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:31,440
So he's very non interactive. 
And so depending upon where you 

419
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,000
fall in deism, and there's a 
whole continuum of deists, they 

420
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,000
have different beliefs about the
immortality of the soul and 

421
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,480
about eternity. 
So this is the first group we 

422
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:42,640
see that might believe in 
eternity. 

423
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,080
But again, they're not going to 
be sure about eternity because 

424
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:47,760
of the distance between them and
God. 

425
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,760
So they're not agnostic, but 
they're still not knowing for 

426
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,680
sure at all because of their 
belief system. 

427
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:58,080
So they have no assurance. 
But Deus would also have trouble

428
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,240
with the gospel most of the 
time. 

429
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,240
Because God would never lower 
himself to come be a person. 

430
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,600
The incarnation would never 
happen. 

431
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,400
God would never lower himself to
become man. 

432
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,680
God would never submit himself 
to the cross. 

433
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,040
God would never allow himself to
be punished. 

434
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,960
This is why I argue out loud, 
even though this would be not 

435
00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:22,560
not pleasing to somebody who 
falls into this religious 

436
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,600
system. 
But Islam has a lot of deist 

437
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,320
tendencies to it. 
A law is a very deistic God. 

438
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,680
He is not interactive in the 
same way Yahweh or Jehovah. 

439
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,200
So if you ever hear anybody say,
well you know, same path, two 

440
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,040
different lights, that's not 
true at all. 

441
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,160
A law and Yahweh are not 
anywhere near the same character

442
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:48,400
or nature or action or feeling. 
And so this is a very distant 

443
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,880
fatalistic experience at times. 
So some of the great world 

444
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,360
religions hover around this, 
although they don't, they don't 

445
00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:59,040
use this word, but they'll hover
around this belief that you 

446
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,240
might know about God, but you 
really don't get to have the 

447
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:07,080
ability to know God himself. 
You have no personal 

448
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:10,280
relationship with him. 
You're you're trying to maybe 

449
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:14,440
please him in some distant way, 
in a works righteousness kind of

450
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:15,960
way, which we'll talk more about
in a minute. 

451
00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:19,400
So the Bible obviously portrays 
a very different relationship of

452
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,520
intimacy that we that God wants 
us to have. 

453
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,000
The reason we created in the 1st
place, why we're here, why you 

454
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,920
breathe, why you exist is for 
this Romans 815 is one place we 

455
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,880
could look at many, but it says 
for you did not receive the 

456
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,400
spirit of slavery to fall back 
into fear, but you've received 

457
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:42,280
the spirit of adoption as sons 
by whom we cry ABBA Father, an 

458
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:47,880
intimate term, a family term, a 
relational term that I can have 

459
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,200
with God. 
Galatians 46 And because your 

460
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,400
son's God has sent the spirit of
his Son into our hearts, crying 

461
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:58,240
ABBA Father, we need the spirit 
of the Son in our hearts so that

462
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,040
we can understand him, so we can
know him, so that we can believe

463
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,720
in him. 
False path #4 If you're familiar

464
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,880
one to you, I'm getting into 
some more unfamiliar in a minute

465
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,680
universalism. 
Everybody's in the pool, 

466
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,000
everybody get on board. 
But you really got to understand

467
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,160
there's also a continuing 
universalism. 

468
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,280
You have moralistic universalism
to where there are limits. 

469
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,600
So in other words, the really, 
really bad people didn't make 

470
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,280
it, they just cease to exist. 
And so there's some line there. 

471
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,680
Hitler didn't make it, for 
example, or somebody like that. 

472
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,840
But it's always a relatively A 
relative line that's totally 

473
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,160
subjective of who gets to decide
good, who gets to decide bad. 

474
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,200
Pure universalism. 
It's 100% across the board. 

475
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,400
And of course, some of this is 
based on a very poor 

476
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,920
understanding of the nature of 
God, which I'm going to talk 

477
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,240
about on Sunday morning. 
Again, I'm going to talk about, 

478
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,480
I mean, this passage starts off 
with God's wrath and the fact 

479
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:59,840
that people struggle with that, 
even that concept of a wrathful 

480
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:02,360
God. 
It's just the Bible. 

481
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,280
I'm just preaching through a 
book. 

482
00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:09,160
So it assumes also this right to
define things themselves. 

483
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,800
But again, most simply just 
going to preach everybody to 

484
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:13,640
heaven. 
God's too loving to do anything 

485
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:15,200
else. 
God's too loving to send anybody

486
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:16,800
to hell. 
God's too loving to punish 

487
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,640
anybody. 
We're going to really deal with 

488
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,280
that in the book of Romans. 
And so, so because of this, 

489
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,760
there's an emotional affinity to
universalism. 

490
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,480
If I'm a universalist, I don't 
have to deal with the weight of 

491
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,960
lostness. 
I don't have to worry about 

492
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,160
anybody. 
I don't have to be evangelistic.

493
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,920
I don't have to be missional, I 
don't have to worry about 

494
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,480
whether somebody's lost or not, 
whether they heard the gospel or

495
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:39,560
not. 
I don't have to worry about any 

496
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,320
of that. 
So it just takes the whole 

497
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:46,080
emotional weight of burden off 
of me to where I don't have to 

498
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:47,640
can be concerned about my 
neighbor. 

499
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,640
But they also could not or would
not teach about the full nature 

500
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,640
of God or all the Scripture 
because the nature of God that 

501
00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,720
they they're obviously, and 
we're going to see more of this 

502
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,760
later. 
They're obviously going to cling

503
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,080
to the fact that God is love, 
which is incredibly true, but 

504
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,480
it's actually in that love 
nature that also makes God holy 

505
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,720
and in His Holiness. 
A holy God, a God is not going 

506
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:17,080
to allow those that he loves to 
be corrupted and to be 

507
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,080
destroyed. 
And so he steps in against sin 

508
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,320
and hates sin. 
He abhors it is what the Word 

509
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,880
will say. 
We'll see that again when we get

510
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,880
to Romans one later. 
But anyway, the Bible makes it 

511
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:31,400
very clear, very different 
truth. 

512
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:37,640
Matthew 7 And not everyone who 
says to me, Lord, Lord, will 

513
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,680
enter the Kingdom of heaven, but
the one who does the will of my 

514
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,040
Father, who is in heaven on that
day. 

515
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,480
Many. 
And notice that word, many, not 

516
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:50,040
just a few, many will say to me,
Lord, Lord, did we not 

517
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,560
prophesied in your name? 
Cast out demons in your name, do

518
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,000
mighty works in your name? 
And then I would declare to 

519
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,040
them, I never knew you depart 
from me, you workers of 

520
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,920
lawlessness. 
And then Revelation 20, if 

521
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:06,240
anyone's name was not found 
written in the book of life, he 

522
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:07,760
was thrown into the lake of 
fire. 

523
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:09,520
And we're going to come back to 
those passages. 

524
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,720
And when we actually talk about 
hell and we really look, we're 

525
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,640
going to look honestly in future
sessions, what does the Bible 

526
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,400
really say about heaven and 
hell? 

527
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,760
Not what does Hollywood portray,
not where, you know, TV shows 

528
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,400
portray. 
What does the Bible really say 

529
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,880
about these things? 
What really happens the moment 

530
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,040
that you die? 
And what happens between now 

531
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,120
and, and the second coming? 
We're going to talk what about 

532
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,280
Old Testament people who died? 
We're going to talk about all 

533
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,520
that stuff in the, in the future
sessions. 

534
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:43,400
False path #5 pluralism is this.
This is probably the number one 

535
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,480
religion of our country. 
Many roads lead to home. 

536
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,440
According to pluralists. 
Your truth and light are yours 

537
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,800
and mine are mine. 
And you go your way and I'll go 

538
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:55,160
my way. 
And we're all going to end up 

539
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,160
kumbaya. 
And together around the bonfire 

540
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,240
at the end might be a hotter 
bonfire than some people know. 

541
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,960
But here's the thing that these 
next couple of things you need 

542
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,720
to grab a hold of. 
This also plagues the 

543
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:13,800
evangelical church. 
I would be shocked if there were

544
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,360
not pluralists who attend 
Inglewood Baptist Church every 

545
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:21,680
single Sunday when I LED a 
doctoral program at Southeastern

546
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,240
Seminary. 
And by the way, Scott Pace was 

547
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,000
elected the new president of 
Southeastern. 

548
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,800
Many of you know Doctor Pace, 
Doctor Aiken also had a major 

549
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,600
health scare at his They were 
honoring him and he actually 

550
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,080
passed out and was taken to the 
hospital in an ambulance. 

551
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,720
He's doing fine. 
Teresa has been talking to 

552
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,520
Charlotte, so just pray for 
Doctor Aiken. 

553
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,720
He's doing fine. 
Dehydrated doesn't. 

554
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,000
Anyway, the stinker doesn't eat 
breakfast. 

555
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,520
And I hope, I hope he hears this
one day because I've travelled 

556
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,800
with him all around the world 
and the one thing I have to have

557
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,280
a backpack full of her diet 
Cokes for his breakfast. 

558
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,280
And so anyway, well, I'll leave 
him alone. 

559
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,640
He doesn't feel well. 
Poor little feller. 

560
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,560
But when I was the doctoral, 
when I LED that doctoral program

561
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:10,880
we used to have, I've said this 
to some of you before, we would 

562
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:13,280
have our students do theological
surveys of their churches. 

563
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,960
Most of them are pastors. 
And we stopped doing it because 

564
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,840
it was too depressing. 
They had universalists, they had

565
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,160
pluralists, they had 
synchronous, they had all kinds 

566
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:25,880
of people. 
These were Baptist churches, 

567
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:31,040
traditional Baptist churches, 
but this is just a testimony to 

568
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,200
how little theology is being 
taught sometimes in our 

569
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,160
churches. 
And so it's also a testimony to 

570
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:39,520
the fact that those of you who 
listen to this online, there are

571
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,240
a lot of people in this room who
want to come and learn. 

572
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:44,680
And I appreciate you all being 
here. 

573
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,400
I do. 
Midweek has been a phenomenon to

574
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:50,760
me, and I appreciate you being 
here. 

575
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,760
So this is widely accepted in 
our culture by people who 

576
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:59,240
identify as Christians. 
And so it becomes interesting. 

577
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,960
It's, it's again, it's an easy 
way, like, it's like a, or like 

578
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:05,520
universalism. 
It's an easy way to deal with 

579
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:08,360
the weight of lostness. 
I don't have to have a burden if

580
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:10,480
everybody, you know, everybody 
just kind of believes in 

581
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,360
something, we're all going to 
end up there together. 

582
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:16,000
And so I don't have to worry as 
much about that faithful 

583
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,280
Buddhist. 
I don't have to worry about that

584
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,480
faithful Muslim. 
I don't have to worry about that

585
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,480
faithful Hindu because they're 
faithful, they're going to make 

586
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,320
it. 
And that's what pluralism is 

587
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:28,000
going to teach. 
Now, various levels, again, 

588
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,360
there's a continuum in all these
categories. 

589
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,440
Some are going to say that only 
those who are faithful or good 

590
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,440
within their faith system make 
it, while others are more wide 

591
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,960
open, even to the point of 
almost universalism. 

592
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,720
They believe in something. 
And so if you're really good at 

593
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:45,880
worshiping the rock and that's 
what you worship and you're 

594
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,320
really true in your worship of 
the rock, you're just fine. 

595
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,800
Everything will be OK. 
You'll find your way there and 

596
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,840
so this can be this can be 
related to both universalism and

597
00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:00,680
pluralism. 
Unfortunately for them, the 

598
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:07,280
Bible does not teach this. 
The Bible is very exclusive and 

599
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:11,040
it and so John 14 six most of 
you could say it out loud. 

600
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,640
Jesus himself said I am the way 
the truth and the life and no 

601
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:18,640
one comes to the Father except 
through me. 

602
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:24,000
He's the only doorway, he says 
in a sermon on the Mount or at 

603
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:25,720
toward the end, he says in 
Matthew 7. 

604
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,120
He says enter by the narrow 
gate. 

605
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:30,160
For the gate is wide and the way
is easy that leads to 

606
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,440
destruction. 
And those who enter it by enter 

607
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,120
by it are many. 
For the gate is narrow and the 

608
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:39,040
way is hard that leads to life, 
and those who find it are few. 

609
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:41,920
And I'm going to come to some 
other verses in this next 

610
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,760
section because to be honest 
with you, false path 5.2 is just

611
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:51,520
a version of either universalism
or pluralism, but it goes by a 

612
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,440
different name. 
It's more specific, and it's far

613
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,760
more dangerous. 
This is one of the most 

614
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:03,640
dangerous false teachings that 
is making a push right now in 

615
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,720
the Christian Church, not in our
culture, but within the 

616
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,239
Christian Church. 
It's called inclusivism. 

617
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,960
That sounds like a great word, 
and many times that is a great 

618
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:15,199
word. 
We want to be inclusive. 

619
00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:17,800
We want people from all 
backgrounds with the gospel is 

620
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:19,719
inclusive. 
It's for everybody. 

621
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,920
And so we like that word. 
But inclusivism is actually a 

622
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,800
very specific theological 
viewpoint about salvation that 

623
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,800
is simply not biblical yet 
they're going to use Scripture. 

624
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,920
This is very complicated and 
it's growing rapidly. 

625
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:36,560
Unfortunately, many, there's 
several folks I know, friends of

626
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:38,960
mine from Southern Seminary in 
Kentucky who actually write 

627
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:43,280
books about this against it. 
It believes in the opportunity. 

628
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:45,800
Here's the nutshell. 
It believes in the opportunity 

629
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:47,520
to trust in Christ after you 
die. 

630
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:58,600
And so, so mainly, usually 
normally most inclusivist would 

631
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,800
say it again, it's for the 
faithful from other religious 

632
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,400
perspectives. 
So you were faithful in whatever

633
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,320
your belief system was. 
You're going to get to heaven. 

634
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,360
And when you get to heaven, 
there's going to be this great 

635
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,640
reveal. 
And suddenly you're going to be 

636
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,960
aware that the reason you were 
able to have faith in your 

637
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:21,160
Islamic path or your animistic 
Pagan path is because of what 

638
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,960
Jesus did on the cross. 
So it's all about Jesus. 

639
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:26,720
And you got to watch this tricky
language. 

640
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:32,320
So they'll use John 14-6. 
Jesus is the way, the truth and 

641
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:33,400
the life. 
And no one can come to the 

642
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:35,320
Father except it's Jesus the 
whole time. 

643
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:37,960
But it's, you know, in this 
throne room scene, you're going 

644
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,840
to see Jesus or meet Jesus or 
have this awareness of Jesus and

645
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:42,600
suddenly it's going to click and
you're going to have the 

646
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,080
opportunity. 
All the main whole reason I was 

647
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,800
a faithful Buddhist was because 
of Jesus. 

648
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:54,120
See, And so it's complicated, 
but it uses common evangelical 

649
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,400
language. 
In Scripture, John 1232, they 

650
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,280
would use this verse. 
And I, when I am lifted up from 

651
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,800
the earth, will draw all people 
to myself. 

652
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,600
So everybody who believes 
Philippians 2 So that at the 

653
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:12,360
name of Jesus, every knee should
bow in heaven and on earth and 

654
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,520
under the earth, and every 
tongue confess that Jesus Christ

655
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:17,480
is Lord to the glory of God the 
Father. 

656
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:19,560
You're just going to get to do 
that after you die. 

657
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:25,080
You'll kneel there on the steps.
Muhammad will be right there 

658
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:29,120
kneeling next to you. 
The Buddha will be there 

659
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,560
kneeling with you, and everybody
will be kneeling before Jesus 

660
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:37,880
because he's the reason that the
light exists and it's very many 

661
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,920
paths and facets and angles. 
See first Timothy 24. 

662
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,360
God desires all people to be 
saved and come to the knowledge 

663
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,040
of the truth. 
Or even Acts 4, which is a very 

664
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:54,600
specific passage that could be 
used for exclusivism. 

665
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,000
You know, we would use this to 
say that Jesus is the only way. 

666
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,240
Let it be known to all of you 
and to all the people of Israel,

667
00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:05,800
that by the name of Jesus, Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you 

668
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,320
crucified, whom God raised from 
the dead, by him this man is 

669
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,440
standing before you. 
Well, this Jesus is the stone 

670
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,960
that was rejected by you, the 
builders, which has become the 

671
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,960
cornerstone, and there is 
salvation and no one else. 

672
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:22,720
For there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which 

673
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:27,240
we must be saved. 
You just get to do it after you 

674
00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:31,080
die. 
Now most inclusive, this would 

675
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,760
say you had to be a person of 
faith before you die, not 

676
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:36,360
Christian faith. 
That didn't matter. 

677
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,280
Again, you could be you could be
a Wiccan and a really good 

678
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:42,360
Wiccan, but you believe in your 
Wiccan. 

679
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:46,520
You're Wicca to the point of you
know that light that you had all

680
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,160
comes from him. 
And when you get there, you see 

681
00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:53,320
him in this grand display and 
you recognize and you're 

682
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:58,760
convicted. 
The problem with this is the 

683
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:03,880
Bible doesn't teach this. 
So the Bible teaches clearly 

684
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:08,080
that we must be saved before we 
die, while we still have the 

685
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:12,360
conscious ability to believe in 
Jesus Christ while we're still 

686
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,840
here and accept his free gift of
grace. 

687
00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,280
Salvation has to happen this 
side of death. 

688
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,480
The shortest, clearest verse I 
could think about was Hebrews 

689
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,960
927. 
And just as it appointed for man

690
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:33,160
to die once, and after that 
comes judgement, we have to 

691
00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:35,920
believe or think about things 
like this. 

692
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,320
Second Corinthians 510 For we 
must all appear before the 

693
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:42,360
judgement seat of Christ, so 
that each one may receive what 

694
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,960
is due for what He has done in 
the body, whether good or evil. 

695
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,760
In other words, while you were 
here physically here, part of 

696
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,600
your judgement is going to come 
from that or Revelation 20 

697
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,040
again. 
Then I saw a great white throne,

698
00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:00,000
and him who seated on it, from 
his presence earth and sky fled 

699
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,720
away, and no place was found for
them. 

700
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,760
And I saw the dead, great and 
small, standing before the 

701
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,560
throne, and the books were 
opened. 

702
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,240
Then another book was opened, 
which is the Book of life, And 

703
00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:14,000
the dead were judged by what was
written in the books according 

704
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,920
to what they had done, done 
here, done in life. 

705
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,280
And the sea gave up the dead who
were in it. 

706
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,240
Death and Hades gave up the dead
who were in them, and they were 

707
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:24,480
judged each one according to 
what they had done. 

708
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,840
Then Death and Hades were thrown
into the lake of fire. 

709
00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:31,520
This is the second death, the 
lake of fire or Jesus talking in

710
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,400
Matthew 13. 
Let both grow together until the

711
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:37,200
harvest. 
And at harvest time, I'll tell 

712
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:40,040
the reapers, gather the weeds 
1st and bind them in bundles to 

713
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,760
be burned, but gather the weed 
into my barn. 

714
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:44,800
So it will be at the end of the 
age. 

715
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,640
The angels will come out and 
separate the evil from the 

716
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:50,040
righteous and throw them into 
the fiery furnace. 

717
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:54,040
In that place there will be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

718
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,960
The other side of this is, is 
that nowhere in Scripture? 

719
00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:00,480
Nowhere in scripture, not 
anywhere in Scripture. 

720
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,800
Is there any evidence or any 
suggestion whatsoever that you 

721
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,080
have the ability to make that 
decision after death? 

722
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:08,760
And so that's the way it really 
worked. 

723
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:14,520
It would be in here. 
All right, let's go a different 

724
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,760
direction for a few minutes. 
False path number six, 

725
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:20,920
pantheism. 
This is a word that you probably

726
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,360
don't use very much, but this is
actually at the root of some of 

727
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:27,840
the New Age movement and other 
and other movements that you'll 

728
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,600
find this one and the next one, 
God is in everything. 

729
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,840
The word pantheism actually 
comes from Greek words that mean

730
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:40,080
pan or all or everything and the
theos, which is God or deity. 

731
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:45,600
And so all God, everything God, 
everything's God, all of reality

732
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,240
is God. 
And so when we die, we simply 

733
00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:50,960
become part of the whole because
we're all part of the whole. 

734
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:54,720
Another word for this would be 
monotheism to where we're all 

735
00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,280
one, we're all part of the one. 
This is kind of like this is 

736
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:03,440
kind of like the force in Star 
Wars, you know, to where we're 

737
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:08,000
all part of it together. 
When we die, we just become all 

738
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,960
things in the world are one and 
one is in all is All in all 

739
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,560
things. 
What is All in all things is 

740
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:19,240
God, eternal and immense, 
neither born nor ever to perish.

741
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:24,520
So God did not just create 
things, He is those things. 

742
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,960
So God is in the tree, God is in
the rock. 

743
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,840
God is the rock, God is the 
water, God is the cloud, God is 

744
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:37,440
everything. 
Well, the Bible says in Genesis 

745
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:45,760
11, in the beginning, Elohim 
Barad, God created the heaven, 

746
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:50,360
heavens and the earth and the 
earth was without form and void 

747
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,760
and darkness was over the face 
of the deep, and the Spirit of 

748
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,000
God was hovering over the face 
of the waters. 

749
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,640
And so we see that God 
transcends the creation. 

750
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:02,800
He's not one with it. 
He, he, he indwells us. 

751
00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:05,480
God does not indwell inanimate 
objects. 

752
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,920
That's not in the Bible. 
He endwells living things, He 

753
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:15,760
endwells us. 
And so this often leads to 6.2 

754
00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:18,200
because they're kind of related 
to one another. 

755
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,120
It often leads to what we would 
call animism. 

756
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:28,320
Animism is often thought of as a
a crude or or old fashioned 

757
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,640
indigenous native type religion.
This is where you would worship,

758
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,960
you'd have a rock idol or you'd 
worship the fire or you might 

759
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:38,760
worship a volcano. 
So that so that. 

760
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,000
So that's often called animism. 
And in many of our colonial 

761
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,400
missions terms, we would use 
those words for it. 

762
00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:47,000
But it's also more than that. 
And it's actually far more 

763
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:51,960
popular today than you might 
know, their entire organizations

764
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,720
based on animism today in the 
United States of America. 

765
00:42:55,520 --> 00:43:01,120
The idea here is anima is a 
Latin word for breath and, and 

766
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,880
it's the belief that places, 
objects and creatures all 

767
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:10,560
possess spiritual essence. 
So it's very much a subset or 

768
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,360
maybe pantheism to the said side
of it. 

769
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,280
They're related to one another. 
It's nature worship, it's 

770
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:19,360
inanimate object worship, right?
So they're worshiping the 

771
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,560
creation instead of the creator.
You need to be here to hear 

772
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,440
Romans 1. 
It's exactly what he's talking 

773
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:29,680
about in Romans 1. 
So animism is not the same as 

774
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:31,880
pantheism. 
Although they're often confused,

775
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,680
there are some differences. 
The main difference is that 

776
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,280
animus believe everything to be 
spiritual in nature, but they do

777
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,240
not necessarily see the 
spiritual nature of everything 

778
00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:44,920
as being united. 
Pantheists see this whole unity.

779
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:46,760
There's a unity behind 
everything. 

780
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,520
We're all part of a great one, 
whereas animus would see 

781
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:55,320
individual things. 
So I know you wanted to know 

782
00:43:55,320 --> 00:44:01,160
that, but but, but in other 
words, animus, animus put more, 

783
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:05,520
put more uniqueness on each 
individual soul there, whereas 

784
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:08,160
pantheism, everything shares the
same. 

785
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:12,680
So in many of these worldviews, 
human beings in both of these, 

786
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:18,080
we're basically just animals. 
We're basically equal with other

787
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:21,160
animals. 
We're equal with plants for that

788
00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:25,320
matter and and natural forces. 
We're not higher in any way in 

789
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,560
the created order. 
We're simply one of we're just a

790
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:33,760
more sophisticated primate. 
We're just a smarter ape in 

791
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:40,200
these kinds of belief systems. 
And so paganism are some aspects

792
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:44,040
of Wiccan, which you would 
probably use the word witchcraft

793
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:48,280
are very much tied into these 
types of things. 

794
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:54,640
The difference between a, say, 
Christianity or religion versus 

795
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:59,920
witchcraft, a witch, the whole 
purpose, well, it's more 

796
00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:02,760
complicated. 
A great design of witchcraft is 

797
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:04,560
that I can manipulate these 
forces. 

798
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,960
I can manipulate these natural 
forces to either bless me or 

799
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:11,760
curse you. 
And so I have the ability to get

800
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,120
in touch with this and 
manipulate this to where I can 

801
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:18,360
use it in my spells or my curses
or it's under my power to be 

802
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,200
able to manipulate that. 
I'll be honest with you, that's 

803
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:25,680
also what the prosperity gospel 
almost teaches, that somehow I 

804
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:30,880
can manipulate God, It's magic. 
I can manipulate God and make 

805
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:32,640
him do whatever I want him to 
do. 

806
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,320
And I can claim things and, and 
make him provide those things 

807
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:40,600
for me. 
And so don't miss the connection

808
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,560
to some of these pieces. 
Again, this is where a lot of 

809
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:45,640
new age movement is. 
It's also, I'm, if you were out 

810
00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:49,240
in Arizona, where we were for 
years, we had people in Sedona. 

811
00:45:49,240 --> 00:45:51,280
Some of you probably been to 
Sedona on vacation. 

812
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:53,960
You have people who go to Sedona
to get in touch with the vortex 

813
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,120
of the red rocks, and they're 
going to go out there and lay 

814
00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,040
and listen to the vibrations and
the rhythms of the rocks. 

815
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:02,440
He'll speak to them and talk to 
them. 

816
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,760
They'll worship trees, they'll 
worship nature. 

817
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:09,160
They do all kinds of things like
that. 

818
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:13,920
And so you also get some mix in 
this with Eastern religions. 

819
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:19,040
There is some animism and even 
pantheism in some of the Eastern

820
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:21,200
religions. 
Let me just whet your appetite 

821
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:24,680
with Romans One, we're going to 
break this down in great detail 

822
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:26,600
in the sermon series on Sunday 
mornings. 

823
00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:32,200
For what can be known about God 
is plain to them, because God 

824
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,840
has shown it to them. 
For His invisible attributes, 

825
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:39,080
namely His eternal power and 
divine nature, have been clearly

826
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,200
perceived ever since the 
creation of the world, in the 

827
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:46,040
things that have been made. 
So they are without excuse. 

828
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,240
She's talking about general 
revelation to nature and 

829
00:46:49,240 --> 00:46:51,800
history. 
For although they knew God, they

830
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,680
did not honor Him as God or give
thanks to him. 

831
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,000
But they became futile in their 
thinking and their foolish 

832
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,960
hearts were darkened. 
Claiming to be wise, they became

833
00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:03,120
fools and exchanged the glory of
the immortal God for images 

834
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:07,520
resembling mortal man and birds 
and animals and creeping things.

835
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:09,960
In other words, the idolatry 
that surround especially these 

836
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:12,080
Gentile background believers in 
Rome. 

837
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,080
Therefore God gave them up in 
the lust of their hearts and 

838
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:18,400
purity to this honoring of their
bodies among themselves, because

839
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:22,400
they exchanged the truth about 
God for a lie and worshipped and

840
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:26,440
served the creature rather than 
Creator who is blessed forever. 

841
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,280
Amen. 
Then we got a couple more. 

842
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:33,480
We need to hit here some path #7
works righteousness. 

843
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:39,960
This is almost everybody, many 
of the above, and just about 

844
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:41,880
every world religion. 
Well, every world religion 

845
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:45,200
except, except biblical 
Christianity, but even including

846
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:48,000
variants of Christianity. 
Live and die by works 

847
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,640
righteousness. 
It's the holy scale and the 

848
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:55,480
ladder somehow achieving, 
sometimes somehow earning my way

849
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:58,480
to heaven. 
It's very fatalistic, often fear

850
00:47:58,480 --> 00:47:59,920
based. 
I can't know for sure. 

851
00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:01,400
I hope so. 
I think I can. 

852
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:02,920
I think I can. 
I hope I can. 

853
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:06,120
If I can just get to the next 
step, if I can just climb one 

854
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:11,200
more rung, if I can just please 
the divine, maybe, just maybe, 

855
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:15,760
just maybe I can get in. 
And so there's a lot of problems

856
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:19,520
with works, righteousness, very 
familiar passage that you would 

857
00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:20,760
know. 
And you ought to know if you 

858
00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:22,560
don't know as Ephesians 28 and 
9. 

859
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:27,560
For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and this is not 

860
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,720
your own doing. 
It is the gift of God, not a 

861
00:48:30,720 --> 00:48:33,800
result of works so that no one 
may boast. 

862
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:37,640
So we recognize that I can't, I 
can't work my way up. 

863
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:41,160
And but this, the Christianity, 
biblical Christianity is the 

864
00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:44,120
only, the only faith system that
teaches grace. 

865
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,800
It's the only faith system that 
teaches that while we were yet 

866
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:50,560
sinners, Christ died for us, 
that God actually sacrificed 

867
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:53,920
himself for us and now gives us 
the ability to believe in Him 

868
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:57,160
and to know him and to trust in 
him because he came down to us. 

869
00:48:57,520 --> 00:48:59,400
It's the only faith system to 
teach everything else. 

870
00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:01,920
You got to work your way up to 
him, make your way up to the 

871
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:05,080
Golden Tower somehow to please 
the God. 

872
00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:10,280
But this isn't just old world 
paganistic religions. 

873
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,280
This is also variants of 
Christianity. 

874
00:49:14,240 --> 00:49:16,480
You'll see this in people who 
knock on your door. 

875
00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:21,480
Some of you will have a 
background in this in the church

876
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:26,040
you grew up in. 
Listen, those who don't believe 

877
00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:28,960
in works righteousness, it's a 
fairly sin getting to be a thin 

878
00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:33,400
slice of humanity, frankly. 
And so you need to embrace 

879
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:37,360
grace, false path #8 
annihilation ISM. 

880
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:39,440
Other people who knock on your 
door believe this. 

881
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:41,760
They may not come, they may not 
start with this, but this is 

882
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,560
something they believe. 
Jehovah's Witnesses are 

883
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:48,920
annihilationist, for example. 
This is the belief that that 

884
00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:51,240
heaven is normally forever, but 
hell is not. 

885
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:55,920
And so you go to hell, you burn 
up, you're gone forever. 

886
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:00,480
The the eternality of 
punishment, I wrote an entire 

887
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:03,760
huge thing on this one time. 
The eternality of punishment is 

888
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:06,400
just too severe for the crime of
sin. 

889
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:08,600
It's too much to burn forever in
hell. 

890
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,160
That's too much that there's no 
way that can be true. 

891
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:13,440
It's too much. 
Well, you need to come back to 

892
00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:15,520
future sessions. 
Don't listen to me. 

893
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:17,760
Listen to the word of God that 
I'll share with you about what 

894
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:22,720
hell really is and why hell 
really is and who's there and 

895
00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:25,960
who's going to go there and how 
to avoid it. 

896
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:32,160
See, the problem is we misjudge 
sin again in Romans. 

897
00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:34,320
Just listen to what he's going 
to say next. 

898
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:40,160
We misjudge sin and we misjudge 
God's view of sin. 

899
00:50:40,720 --> 00:50:44,280
We also misjudge our own choices
about sin. 

900
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:49,920
And so we take it flippantly and
we've reduced God into somebody 

901
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:51,400
who really doesn't care that 
much. 

902
00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:55,400
He's going to let us slip by who
who really won't punish us 

903
00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:57,120
because that's how we want life 
to be. 

904
00:50:57,360 --> 00:50:59,920
We don't want accountability. 
We don't want to be held 

905
00:50:59,920 --> 00:51:01,560
accountable. 
We don't want rules. 

906
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:05,040
We don't want, we don't want 
barriers, we don't want lines 

907
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:06,160
drawn. 
We want to be able to do 

908
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:08,120
whatever we want to do the way 
we want to do it, whenever we 

909
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:09,960
want to do it. 
And I'm looking for dew. 

910
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:11,240
Dew to the free, looking for 
war. 

911
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:17,480
That's what we want. 
And every message I get feeds 

912
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:20,400
me. 
Every message says I deserve it.

913
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:22,600
I deserve my burger the way I 
want it. 

914
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:25,240
I deserve the car I ought to 
have. 

915
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:27,800
I deserve the house I should 
have. 

916
00:51:28,240 --> 00:51:30,320
I deserve the job that I should 
have. 

917
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:32,840
I deserve everything. 
I deserve it all. 

918
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:35,080
I should have everything all 
right. 

919
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,480
And it's a problem. 
Sometimes we misjudge God's 

920
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:41,960
nature. 
Matthew 25 And these will go 

921
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:45,920
away into eternal punishment, 
but the righteous into eternal 

922
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:48,400
life. 
I onion. 

923
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,400
I onion is the word for 
everlasting without end. 

924
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:58,080
Jesus calls heaven I I onion. 
It's harder to say in English. 

925
00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:04,640
Jesus says heaven is I onion and
hell is I on the on. 

926
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:06,440
You can't have one without the 
other. 

927
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,480
Biblically, linguistically, 
theologically doesn't work. 

928
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:11,000
You don't get to take that word 
out. 

929
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:17,400
You don't get to change what you
want out of that false path #9 

930
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,040
purgatory. 
Speaking of works, righteousness

931
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:25,360
systems, purgatory is the the 
Catechism of the Holy Church. 

932
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:28,520
The Catholic Church, let me just
read it, defines purgatory as a 

933
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:32,560
purification so as to achieve 
the holiness necessary to enter 

934
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:36,200
the joy of heaven, which is 
experienced by those who die in 

935
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:39,920
God's grace and friendship, but 
still imperfectly purified. 

936
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:43,840
And so it notes that the final 
purification of the elect is 

937
00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:45,920
entirely different from the 
punishment of the damned. 

938
00:52:46,240 --> 00:52:48,520
And so this isn't hell, so to 
speak. 

939
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:52,560
It's something else. 
And so the purification is 

940
00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:57,760
necessary because the Bible says
in Revelation 2127 that nothing 

941
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:00,240
unclean will enter the presence 
of God in heaven. 

942
00:53:00,560 --> 00:53:03,040
So everything has to be 
purified, everything has to be 

943
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:05,400
made clean before you can go on 
to heaven. 

944
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:09,200
And that we might die with with 
our mortal sins forgiven. 

945
00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:11,600
And I don't have time to go into
the different levels of sin in 

946
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:15,320
the system, but some of our sins
might be forgiven, but we still 

947
00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:18,200
have impurities and other sins 
that are not forgiven. 

948
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:23,400
And so we still need the 
temporal punishment due to due 

949
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:25,160
to the sins that aren't forgiven
yet. 

950
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:30,840
Revelation 2127 says but nothing
unclean will ever enter it, nor 

951
00:53:30,840 --> 00:53:34,120
anyone who does what is 
detestable or false, but only 

952
00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:35,800
those who are written in the 
Lamb's book of life. 

953
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:41,320
Here's the problem is that it's 
assuming in complete grace. 

954
00:53:43,440 --> 00:53:46,120
It's it's assuming that the 
forgiveness by Christ alone is 

955
00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:50,120
not enough. 
You could make the same 

956
00:53:50,120 --> 00:53:54,920
arguments for inclusivism or for
a works righteousness as a 

957
00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:56,960
whole. 
It's incorrect from the 

958
00:53:56,960 --> 00:53:59,840
beginning. 
Scriptural support for this is 

959
00:53:59,840 --> 00:54:02,680
used out of context, and then 
the rest of the scriptural 

960
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:05,680
support is found in the 
Apocrypha and 2nd Maccabees, 

961
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:09,520
which was a book that the church
council's determined was not 

962
00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:12,840
divinely inspired, nor did it 
belong in the final Canon. 

963
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:16,200
And so you might say, well, 
where's this in the Bible where 

964
00:54:16,200 --> 00:54:17,320
you're not going to find it in 
your Bible? 

965
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:22,960
And so Christ's work here, 
here's the truth is that 

966
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:26,520
Christ's work was complete. 
You got to understand that in 

967
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:28,960
this system, and I know some of 
you were raised in a Catholic 

968
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:31,680
system, and I don't want to be 
totally disrespectful to you. 

969
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:33,240
I have relatives who are 
Catholics. 

970
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:36,520
I have a sister who's a 
charismatic Catholic, which is a

971
00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:38,960
reformer within the Catholic 
Church who actually believes 

972
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:41,480
salvation by grace through faith
in Jesus Christ alone. 

973
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:44,120
And she and I have those 
conversations. 

974
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,200
She likes the trappings and the 
formality of the ritual of the 

975
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,640
church. 
So she doesn't want to leave it.

976
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:50,960
She's like Martin Luther a 
little bit. 

977
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:56,400
But but the problem is, is that 
when the Church controls grace, 

978
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:59,800
and you can only get grace 
through the sacraments, through 

979
00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:05,880
the church, and not recognizing 
that Christ is the source, then 

980
00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:07,760
you're going through man and not
God. 

981
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:10,440
And so you're starting at the 
wrong spot. 

982
00:55:11,840 --> 00:55:15,880
So scriptural support is that 
Christ's work here is complete. 

983
00:55:17,240 --> 00:55:20,840
No other sacrifice is needed if 
you've trusted in Jesus Christ 

984
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:23,000
as your Lord and Savior. 
He forgives you, and He 

985
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,520
completely forgives you, and He 
completely cleanses you. 

986
00:55:25,520 --> 00:55:27,000
I don't need to be further 
cleansed. 

987
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:29,680
I might need to confess my sin 
as I'm walking through life 

988
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:33,320
first, John 19 would say. 
But that has nothing to do with 

989
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:37,400
my salvation anymore. 
That's not how salvation works. 

990
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:40,880
His grace and His forgiveness 
are sufficient. 

991
00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:46,000
John 17 four I glorified you on 
earth, having accomplished the 

992
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:51,720
work that you gave me to do or 
Hebrews one which you would know

993
00:55:51,720 --> 00:55:55,160
is he's the radiance of the 
glory of God and the exact 

994
00:55:55,160 --> 00:55:59,000
imprint of his nature and he 
upholds the universe by the word

995
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:01,760
of his power. 
After making purification for 

996
00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:04,760
sins, he sat down at the right 
hand of the majesty on high 

997
00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:07,400
because he was done to tell us 
die. 

998
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:11,560
He said on the cross it is 
finished literally. 

999
00:56:12,120 --> 00:56:16,520
The debt is paid. 
The debt is marked cancelled, 

1000
00:56:17,240 --> 00:56:19,840
literally. 
I've paid for it. 

1001
00:56:20,040 --> 00:56:22,360
You don't need someone else. 
You don't. 

1002
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:25,160
When we die, we will be with 
Jesus. 

1003
00:56:25,160 --> 00:56:27,920
We don't need to go some 
intermediary place. 

1004
00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:31,040
And we will come back to this 
idea over and over again in the 

1005
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:32,760
weeks to come. 
We're going to talk about soul 

1006
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:34,560
sleep. 
We're going to talk about the 

1007
00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:36,320
state that we're in the moment 
we die. 

1008
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:38,040
We're going to talk about 
resurrected bodies. 

1009
00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:41,240
We're going to do all that. 
But just remember Second 

1010
00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:46,560
Corinthians 58. 
Yes, we are of good courage and 

1011
00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:50,640
we would rather be away from the
body and at home with the Lord, 

1012
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:57,640
because that's where we'll be. 
It's false path #10 is 

1013
00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:00,920
reincarnation, or another word 
for that is transmigration. 

1014
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:04,560
You might hear the word 
transmigration sometimes being 

1015
00:57:04,560 --> 00:57:06,840
slipped in by people who don't 
really want you to know you're 

1016
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:11,880
talking about reincarnation. 
And so the wheel goes round and 

1017
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:14,720
round and round. 
Obviously reincarnation is a 

1018
00:57:14,720 --> 00:57:19,360
central tenet of many East Asian
and South Asian religions, such 

1019
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:22,560
as Hinduism and Buddhism and 
Sikhism and Taoism. 

1020
00:57:23,120 --> 00:57:27,480
Some forms again of Wiccan, of 
paganism and animism would also 

1021
00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:29,680
be involved in reincarnation 
ideas. 

1022
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:35,040
But again, Hebrews 927 says, and
just as is a point for a man to 

1023
00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:39,160
die once and after that comes 
judgment, or again, Second 

1024
00:57:39,160 --> 00:57:41,520
Corinthians 58, we're going to 
be away from the body. 

1025
00:57:41,520 --> 00:57:44,960
We're going to be with the Lord.
There's 0 indication that we're 

1026
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:48,560
coming back. 
You're not a cardinal in the 

1027
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:52,920
garden. 
Thank you for those who know 

1028
00:57:52,920 --> 00:58:03,280
what I just said. 
False path #11 I saved this one 

1029
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:06,560
for last for a reason. 
Syncretism. 

1030
00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:13,680
Not a word you'd use often, but 
this, along with pluralism are 

1031
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:16,440
probably the leading edge of the
sword in our culture today. 

1032
00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:20,480
Basically, syncretism means I 
can take what I want out of all 

1033
00:58:20,480 --> 00:58:22,240
these other pieces and make up 
whatever I want. 

1034
00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:29,640
Historically in missions life, 
for example, there were classic 

1035
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:33,520
examples of syncretism, often 
tied to Roman Catholicism and 

1036
00:58:33,520 --> 00:58:37,840
missions in places like South 
America or Africa where they 

1037
00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:41,600
would take their native and a 
Mystic belief system, mix it 

1038
00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:44,120
with Roman Catholicism and come 
up with something else. 

1039
00:58:44,200 --> 00:58:46,120
That's where voodoo comes from, 
by the way. 

1040
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:51,120
It's an African work that comes 
to the islands from Africa, and 

1041
00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:54,720
it's a mixture. 
It's a syncretic belief system 

1042
00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:57,520
to where they would mix pieces 
of each. 

1043
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:00,960
So you mix well, you can mix 
individually or you can mix as a

1044
00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:03,800
group. 
And that's the problem today. 

1045
00:59:04,760 --> 00:59:08,960
It takes the parts you like, you
leave out the rest of that one 

1046
00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:12,560
and you add more of what you 
like from something else and you

1047
00:59:12,560 --> 00:59:16,200
come up with your own. 
So my truth is my truth and it, 

1048
00:59:16,200 --> 00:59:18,560
and it's almost like it's a, 
it's a holy bubble that you 

1049
00:59:18,560 --> 00:59:21,240
can't enter. 
There's and there's no way that 

1050
00:59:21,240 --> 00:59:23,560
can be pierced by you. 
Your truth is your truth. 

1051
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:25,320
You do whatever you do. 
I'm going to do what I do. 

1052
00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:28,080
My truth is my truth. 
And it has become almost an 

1053
00:59:28,080 --> 00:59:30,320
impenetrable shield in our 
culture today. 

1054
00:59:31,280 --> 00:59:34,400
You hear it everywhere. 
You hear it on on TV, you hear 

1055
00:59:34,400 --> 00:59:36,160
it in movies, you hear it in 
sports, you hear it from 

1056
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:40,280
celebrities, you hear it from 
preachers, frankly. 

1057
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:45,520
So this takes us back to our 
introduction again. 

1058
00:59:46,160 --> 00:59:50,040
To some degree, the Bible warns 
about syncretism. 

1059
00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:55,280
The Bible proactively advocates 
for a pure and exclusive 

1060
00:59:55,280 --> 01:00:00,360
relationship and devotion to 
God, and it spells out exactly 

1061
01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:01,920
the way that's supposed to 
happen. 

1062
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:05,840
We are called to resist the 
temptation to conform to the 

1063
01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:09,720
surrounding culture and to 
maintain the integrity of our 

1064
01:00:09,720 --> 01:00:13,640
faith, the biblical faith. 
We have to have an authority. 

1065
01:00:15,680 --> 01:00:18,480
And if you don't have the rock 
solid mooring of the Word of God

1066
01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:21,200
in your life, then you're going 
to slide all over the place. 

1067
01:00:23,600 --> 01:00:27,760
So ask God to help you believe 
in His Word, because the Bible's

1068
01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:30,520
message is clear. 
Syncretism undermind undermines 

1069
01:00:30,520 --> 01:00:33,120
the foundation of that 
relationship of true worship, so

1070
01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:35,920
to speak. 
So it's essential for followers 

1071
01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:39,120
to adhere to these teaching, the
teaching of Scripture, and avoid

1072
01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:42,600
blending their faith with with 
conflicting theologies. 

1073
01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:44,200
That's what was going on in the 
early church. 

1074
01:00:44,200 --> 01:00:47,240
That's that's much of what Paul 
had to write about and John had 

1075
01:00:47,240 --> 01:00:51,160
to write about because people 
were taking Judaism and mixing 

1076
01:00:51,160 --> 01:00:55,320
it with Christianity, pressing 
it upon Gentiles or vice versa, 

1077
01:00:56,280 --> 01:01:00,440
or the Greek world view or the 
Roman world view was coming in 

1078
01:01:00,440 --> 01:01:04,280
because these people were coming
from such diversity and they 

1079
01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:08,680
didn't have this like we do. 
So it's, yeah, I can be hard on 

1080
01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:11,240
them, but sometimes I get it. 
They didn't, they didn't have 

1081
01:01:11,240 --> 01:01:14,560
all this yet. 
So they needed somebody to come 

1082
01:01:14,560 --> 01:01:16,880
and help them. 
But we have this now. 

1083
01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:19,120
So we are further with that 
excuse. 

1084
01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:23,080
That'll be part of Romans 2. 
The more access you have, the 

1085
01:01:23,080 --> 01:01:27,720
more responsibility you have. 
So I'm going to share a couple 

1086
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:31,960
of stories with you that you'll 
remember. 1 is Deuteronomy 12. 

1087
01:01:32,600 --> 01:01:36,440
It's only a couple verses, but 
there, there are a couple of 

1088
01:01:36,440 --> 01:01:39,720
verses. 
So they feared the Lord, but 

1089
01:01:39,720 --> 01:01:43,160
also served their own gods. 
How's that for an opening? 

1090
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:48,520
That describes it well, perhaps 
after the manner of the nation's

1091
01:01:48,520 --> 01:01:50,920
from among whom they had been 
carried away. 

1092
01:01:51,400 --> 01:01:53,880
To this day they do according to
the former manner. 

1093
01:01:53,880 --> 01:01:56,760
They do not fear the Lord, and 
they do not follow the statutes 

1094
01:01:56,760 --> 01:01:58,960
or the rules of the law, or the 
commandment that the Lord 

1095
01:01:58,960 --> 01:02:01,640
commanded the children of Jacob,
whom He named Israel. 

1096
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:04,560
The Lord met a covenant with 
them and commanded them. 

1097
01:02:04,560 --> 01:02:08,120
You shall not fear other gods, 
or bow yourselves to them, or 

1098
01:02:08,120 --> 01:02:11,160
serve them, or sacrifice to 
them, but you shall fear the 

1099
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:14,680
Lord, for who brought you out of
the land of Egypt with great 

1100
01:02:14,680 --> 01:02:16,640
power and with an outstretched 
arm. 

1101
01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:20,480
You shall bow yourselves to Him,
and to Him you shall sacrifice, 

1102
01:02:20,960 --> 01:02:23,760
and the statutes and the rules 
and the law of the commandments 

1103
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:26,440
that he wrote for you. 
You shall always be careful to 

1104
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:29,840
do. 
You shall not fear other gods 

1105
01:02:31,160 --> 01:02:33,160
or. 
I was reminded the story of 

1106
01:02:33,160 --> 01:02:35,800
Solomon. 
Actually, because of a devotion 

1107
01:02:35,800 --> 01:02:39,520
that was shared by one of our 
staff members, I had the 

1108
01:02:39,520 --> 01:02:42,240
opportunity and privilege of 
helping to write a Co write a 

1109
01:02:42,240 --> 01:02:46,240
book for Lifeway a few years ago
about Old Testament prayers. 

1110
01:02:46,760 --> 01:02:49,360
And I used the prayer of 
Solomon, the dedication of the 

1111
01:02:49,360 --> 01:02:51,080
temple. 
And he was referring to that 

1112
01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:53,320
this morning. 
And it made me think of the 

1113
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:57,880
other aspect of Solomon, the not
so wise part of Solomon. 

1114
01:02:58,720 --> 01:03:02,680
First Kings 11. 
Now King Solomon loved many 

1115
01:03:02,680 --> 01:03:06,280
foreign women along with the 
daughter of Pharaoh. 

1116
01:03:07,040 --> 01:03:13,200
Or, or a better pronunciation 
would be Pharaoh, the son of the

1117
01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:16,560
the son of the son of the son, a
God himself. 

1118
01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:21,520
Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, all 
these other termites and 

1119
01:03:21,520 --> 01:03:25,720
Cydonians from the nations 
concerning which the Lord had 

1120
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:27,880
said to the people of Israel, 
You shall not enter into 

1121
01:03:27,880 --> 01:03:30,560
marriage with them, neither 
shall they with you, for surely 

1122
01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:33,280
they will turn away your heart 
after their gods. 

1123
01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:39,200
Solomon clung to these in love. 
I'm sorry, ladies, but he had 

1124
01:03:39,200 --> 01:03:42,400
700 wives who were princesses 
and 300 concubines. 

1125
01:03:43,520 --> 01:03:45,800
And his wives turned away his 
heart. 

1126
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:49,880
For when Solomon was old, his 
wives turned away his heart 

1127
01:03:49,880 --> 01:03:52,000
after other gods. 
And his heart was not wholly 

1128
01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:54,920
true to the Lord his God, as was
the heart of David his father. 

1129
01:03:56,360 --> 01:03:59,720
For Solomon went after 
Ashtereth, the goddess of the 

1130
01:03:59,720 --> 01:04:03,400
Sadonians, and after Milkham the
abomination of the Ammonites. 

1131
01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:06,440
So Solomon did what was evil in 
the side of the Lord, and did 

1132
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:09,120
not wholly follow the Lord, as 
David his father had done. 

1133
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:13,360
The abomination of Moab and for 
Moloch, who they used to 

1134
01:04:13,360 --> 01:04:16,720
sacrifice children to by the 
way, and the abomination of the 

1135
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:19,760
Ammonites on the mountain east 
of Jerusalem. 

1136
01:04:20,240 --> 01:04:22,640
And so he did for all his 
foreign wives, who made 

1137
01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:24,560
offerings and sacrifice to their
gods. 

1138
01:04:24,560 --> 01:04:30,000
So his house is just all mixed 
up, and it leads to major 

1139
01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:33,280
problems. 
New Testament Colossians 2 See 

1140
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:38,680
to it that no, that no one takes
you captive by philosophy and 

1141
01:04:38,680 --> 01:04:41,040
empty deceit according to human 
tradition. 

1142
01:04:42,920 --> 01:04:46,000
You chew on that one. 
According to the elementary. 

1143
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:49,840
Spirit elemental spirits of the 
world, and not according to 

1144
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:55,440
Christ, our Peter writes. 
Since you've been born. 

1145
01:04:55,440 --> 01:04:57,840
Again. 
Not of perishable. 

1146
01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:01,880
Seed, but of imperishable 
through the living and. 

1147
01:05:02,720 --> 01:05:05,360
Abiding. 
Word of God. 

1148
01:05:07,680 --> 01:05:12,440
So what do you believe and do 
you even know why? 

1149
01:05:14,360 --> 01:05:17,560
Part of what I want to. 
Do on midweeks and then these. 

1150
01:05:17,560 --> 01:05:22,040
Sessions is I want us to be as 
clear as we can about what the 

1151
01:05:22,040 --> 01:05:28,600
Bible teaches about things later
this year, to be honest with 

1152
01:05:28,600 --> 01:05:32,400
you, I'm going to do an 
apologetic series with you on 

1153
01:05:32,400 --> 01:05:36,480
Wednesday nights where we talk 
about some basic apologetics. 

1154
01:05:37,160 --> 01:05:40,080
We've got to know how to 
encounter people from these 

1155
01:05:40,080 --> 01:05:43,680
different backgrounds and, and 
what to say to them, how to pray

1156
01:05:43,680 --> 01:05:48,400
for them, how to engage them in 
an honest, authentic, 

1157
01:05:49,280 --> 01:05:55,360
intelligent conversation so that
we know and understand what we 

1158
01:05:55,360 --> 01:05:58,240
believe and how to stand firm on
it. 

1159
01:05:59,480 --> 01:06:03,800
So next session, you won't want 
to miss it. 

1160
01:06:04,840 --> 01:06:09,200
We're going to talk about home. 
We're going to talk about home. 

1161
01:06:10,240 --> 01:06:13,720
And what that's really? 
Like, and who all's going to be 

1162
01:06:13,720 --> 01:06:15,280
there? 
Who's? 

1163
01:06:15,280 --> 01:06:21,360
There already and how we're 
going to get there and who won't

1164
01:06:21,360 --> 01:06:25,320
be there as well. 
So you'll want to come back for 

1165
01:06:25,320 --> 01:06:28,200
that as we continue this series 
together. 

1166
01:06:28,400 --> 01:06:32,080
We've cleared the path. 
We understand that's not the 

1167
01:06:32,080 --> 01:06:34,760
road to take. 
Those are 11 of them not to 

1168
01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:39,320
take. 
So we'll be on the narrow way 

1169
01:06:41,280 --> 01:06:43,760
and follow the true path. 
Father, thank you. 

1170
01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:47,120
Thank you for your love and 
your. 

1171
01:06:47,120 --> 01:06:48,800
Grace, Thank you, Father, for 
the way. 

1172
01:06:48,800 --> 01:06:53,440
That you guide us with truth. 
I I'm just Father. 

1173
01:06:53,600 --> 01:06:55,200
I just. 
Appreciate the fact that I. 

1174
01:06:55,200 --> 01:06:59,240
Don't have to think of up. 
Everything you know, Lord, I 

1175
01:06:59,240 --> 01:07:01,200
don't have to create truth. 
I don't have to. 

1176
01:07:01,560 --> 01:07:04,600
I don't have to figure out you 
tell us. 

1177
01:07:05,760 --> 01:07:10,560
I just have to trust in you. 
And so thank you, Father, that 

1178
01:07:10,560 --> 01:07:12,080
the faith. 
Of a little child. 

1179
01:07:13,720 --> 01:07:15,080
That's like the Kingdom of 
heaven. 

1180
01:07:16,200 --> 01:07:21,640
Honest, open, trusting, 
depending. 

1181
01:07:23,080 --> 01:07:24,840
Just cradled in your arms, 
Father. 

1182
01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:26,680
Help us to rest there in your 
word. 

1183
01:07:27,960 --> 01:07:30,480
And help us to live a life that 
shows that. 

1184
01:07:31,000 --> 01:07:35,160
Help us to not be afraid. 
Help us to not be intimidated. 

1185
01:07:36,160 --> 01:07:39,080
Help us, Father, to not shy away
from opportunities. 

1186
01:07:40,600 --> 01:07:44,760
Help us, father, to pursue you, 
and then to pursue others who 

1187
01:07:44,760 --> 01:07:47,880
need to know you. 
We thank you for that privilege 

1188
01:07:47,880 --> 01:07:53,520
in Christ's name, Amen. 
Thank you so much for listening 

1189
01:07:53,520 --> 01:07:55,120
today. 
And I also hope that you'll go 

1190
01:07:55,120 --> 01:07:57,440
to our. 
Website@englewoodbaptist.com as 

1191
01:07:57,440 --> 01:08:00,400
well as our app and find many 
other resources that will bless 

1192
01:08:00,400 --> 01:08:02,600
you and your families. 
Thank you once again.