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If you've got a Bible, go ahead 
and get that open to the book of

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Titus that's in the New 
Testament. 

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If you can't find it, that's OK.
There should be an index on the 

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inside of your Bible. 
If you don't have one of those, 

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that's OK. 
We'll have all the relevant 

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words on the screen for you. 
We are in Titus chapter 3. 

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We're only looking at verses one
through 2. 

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We've got a handful of Titus 
sermons left before the Advent 

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series, and this morning we find
ourselves in the last, the third

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of three, the last chapter of 
the small book of Titus that 

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we're army crawling through. 
As you do, let me ask you a 

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question. 
How do, how should, how are 

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Christians to engage with the 
culture? 

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Christianity has a gentleness 
problem. 

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It's partly theological. 
Christians have the tendency to 

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elevate one of God's attributes 
over the other. 

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Some Christians have the 
tendency to emphasize Jesus's 

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lion, like nature, and neglect 
his lamb, like nature. 

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Some Christians do the opposite.
But Christians have a gentleness

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problem, partly theological. 
It's also partly practical. 

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Sometimes it feels in a hostile 
world, like gentleness is 

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ineffective, and if we're 
honest, hostility, anger, 

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vitriol are all very effective. 
In fact, the science teaches us 

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that. 
I don't know if you know this. 

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The science actually teaches us 
that human beings bond more 

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deeply over shared hatreds than 
shared loves. 

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And so one of the most natural 
human postures possible is the 

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desire to be around people who 
hate all the same things that 

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you hate. 
And so hatred, hostility, 

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vitriol is really effective. 
If Christians are known, if a 

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denomination is known, if a 
church is known, if a leader is 

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known for a long list of all the
things that he hates, he will 

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tend to draw a very large crowd 
around him. 

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So it's effective, partly 
theological, partly practical, 

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but certainly pervasive. 
The problem or lack of 

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gentleness is pervasive. 
There was one famous Christian 

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author who wrote a book on the 
necessity for gentleness in the 

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modern world. 
He called it a gentle answer. 

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It was one of my favorite books 
of that year. 

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Later that year, he got removed 
from leadership because of his 

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domineering and abusive 
leadership style. 

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He wrote the book on gentleness.
In fact, things got so bad in 

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the culture a couple years ago, 
not necessarily within our 

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church, but the surrounding 
culture, the Christian culture 

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at large. 
Even the city of Des Moines 

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where there were so many pastors
being fired for domineering, 

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abusive leadership styles, so 
many churches that were falling 

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apart because of that, that as 
an elder team we had to take one

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of our meetings and just ask 
ourselves the question, as a 

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pastoral team, are we known for 
our gentleness? 

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That might be a good question 
for you to ask about yourself 

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this morning. 
Are you known for your 

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gentleness? 
I'm not talking about a 

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personality trait. 
You can be extroverted and be 

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gentle. 
You can be introverted and not 

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be gentle. 
You can be an ENTJ. 

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You can be an IDK and you can be
gentle or not, but would you say

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that gentleness is a top five 
quality of yours? 

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Or to phrase it a little bit 
differently, if you asked your 

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closest friends, which I think 
you should, maybe it's a fighter

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group. 
Maybe it's your community group,

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maybe it's your spouse, maybe 
it's a friend you asked your 

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friend. 
Am I known for my gentleness? 

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Would they laugh at you? 
It's worth thinking about. 

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Amen. 
If you're able, let's go ahead 

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and stand for the reading of 
God's Word. 

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If you have missed all of our 
Titus sermon series, we're 

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psyched you here. 
I can catch you up. 

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We're in chapter 3 this morning.
So far, what Paul has been 

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doing, the author of Titus, is 
this short book is really all it

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is, is it's an instruction 
manual on how to be a church. 

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That's why we're calling it how 
to be a church. 

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These little churches have 
sprouted up in the ancient world

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on this little island called 
Crete. 

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And so Paul's unpacking, hey, 
here's what it looks like to be 

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a church. 
And so he greets the churches 

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almost immediately after that. 
He warns the Church of false 

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teachers and wolves, and he 
gives explicit instructions for 

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what pastors should be, how to 
find them and what qualities 

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they should have. 
After that, what Paul does is he

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starts to blast through all the 
various people groups within the

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church. 
He says, hey, older men be like 

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this, older women do this, 
younger kids be like this. 

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And then after he blasts through
all of those instructions, he 

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says, OK, now when you gather 
together, this is what your 

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central message should be. 
Preachers, this is what you 

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proclaim. 
Church members, this is what you

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proclaim. 
The central message of the 

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church must be the gospel. 
He works through all of those 

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things. 
And then when he gets to chapter

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3, he starts to unpack this 
question. 

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What should the churches in 
Crete be known for as they 

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engage with the surrounding 
culture, the leaders, the 

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governors, the political 
authorities, the cultural norms?

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And Paul says this. 
Remind them, that's you, That's 

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the Church, to be submissive to 
rulers and authorities, to be 

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obedient, to be ready for every 
good work, to speak evil of no 

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one, to avoid quarreling, to be 
gentle and to show perfect 

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courtesy towards the people that
you like and agree with you. 

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Perfect courtesy toward all 
people. 

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Heavenly Father, I have been so 
challenged this week. 

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I was up late last night praying
and asking you why I struggle so

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much with gentleness. 
Why when I get caught, I tend to

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not bleed out gentleness, but I 
tend to bleed out anger on one 

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side, or equally worse, 
cowardiceness on the other side.

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And Lord, you call us to be 
people who bleed gentleness. 

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Are we known for that? 
How do we, how do we even do 

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that? 
I'm not so sure I've got a great

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answer to that question, Lord. 
So you must work this morning 

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and send your Holy Spirit 
powerfully to bring about 

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answers in every human heart 
here this morning that are 

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effective and help us live out 
the gentleness of Christ. 

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Would you do that, Lord, do that
in the precious name of Jesus, 

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all God's people prayed Amen. 
You can have a seat OK, I 

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already showed my hands there I.
These couple verses are Paul's 

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explicit instructions on how do 
we engage with the surrounding 

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culture as Christians how do we 
engage with pop culture? 

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How do we agree with the 
political culture? 

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How do we, how do we engage with
the cultural norms around us, 

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the, the cultural leaders, the 
social norms, the decisions that

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they make? 
And I'll exegete the text a 

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little bit more in a bit. 
I'm going to do what I don't 

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usually do, which is before I 
look at the text more closely, 

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what I'm going to do is I'm 
going to take just 5 minutes and

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I'm going to give us a framework
that I find really, really 

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helpful. 
It's a framework for engaging 

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with culture. 
This isn't my own. 

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I don't, I didn't develop this. 
I don't even know who to 

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attribute this to. 
It's pretty common. 

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But if you've never engaged with
this cultural framework, I think

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this will be really helpful for 
you because there's a lot of 

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aspects about our culture like 
what music or movies am I 

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allowed to watch or engage with?
Or what parenting decisions do I

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make? 
Or what are the social norms 

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that I can embrace? 
Or what are the social norms I 

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can reject? 
Or what are the social 

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inventions I can embrace and 
which ones must I reject? 

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And parenting decisions and even
holidays, like what do I do 

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about Halloween? 
This framework can be helpful 

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for everything in that question.
So when it comes to an engaging 

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with culture, Christians have 
three options. 

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Receive on the other end, reject
or in the middle, redeem. 

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We're going to start on the 
bulletin point to the right 

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reject. 
There are some things in culture

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this needs to be said. 
There are some things in culture

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that Christians simply cannot 
redeem or receive. 

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No matter how hard they try, no 
matter whether or not they try 

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to stick a Christian label on 
it. 

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There are things in a culture 
that Christians must boldly 

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reject. 
For instance, if you are an 

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entrepreneur, I don't care how 
effective or spiritual you are, 

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you cannot as an entrepreneur 
start a Christian strip club. 

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That must be rejected. 
That's an element of culture 

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that you cannot baptize, you 
can't partner or try to redeem 

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lust. 
There's no such thing as 

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Christian porn. 
Porn must be rejected outright 

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by Christians. 
The institution of slavery. 

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You cannot justify that evil 
with an economic argument and 

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then say, well, we're just 
practicing Christian slavery. 

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No, those things must be 
rejected. 

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There are aspects and culture 
that must outright be rejected 

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by Christians. 
No compromise. 

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And on the other end, the four 
end, that left end is the 

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bulletin point of receive. 
There are things in culture that

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Christians can just outright 
receive. 

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They can embrace these things 
without using a ton of 

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discernment over cultural 
inventions like lawn mowers. 

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Like you don't need to like sit 
in front of your lawn mower on a

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Sunday afternoon and pray. 
Like, Lord, is it OK for me to 

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embrace it? 
Just mow your lawn. 

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You can just receive some things
as Christians or cars or 

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transportations. 
I think most of the time, even 

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fashion styles tend to be like, 
can Christians wear skinny 

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jeans? 
Can they wear baggy jeans? 

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Like there are just cultural 
norms. 

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This is fine. 
Just embrace them or not. 

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Christians can just receive 
these elements without wondering

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whether they're compromising 
their faith. 

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Let me give you here's one way 
of I like the way this pastor 

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says that. 
He says, quote, you may sit down

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one day and do some historical 
work and figure out that the guy

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who invented air conditioning 
was a godless Pagan and you can 

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still say I'm for air 
conditioning. 

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Amen. 
Like you, people could still 

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love Jesus while using their air
conditioners, even if you 

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discover through a lot of 
historical exegesis that air 

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conditioners have Pagan roots. 
Use the AC is completely, 

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completely a morally neutral 
thing. 

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Christians can just receive 
those things. 

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But in the middle is this 
trickier option that is redeem. 

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Look at that on the screen 
there. 

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If on one side there are things 
that are inherently sinful in 

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culture that must be outright 
rejected, and on the other end, 

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there are things in culture that
Christians can just outright 

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embrace and receive them, there 
are the grey things in the 

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middle. 
These are the morally ambiguous 

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elements of culture that 
Christians can choose to 

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participate in if they redeem 
them for Jesus or they can 

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reject them. 
I'll give you an example that's 

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really near and dear to me. 
OK, Death metal music. 

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I love death metal music I it 
just speaks to a place in my 

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heart that CCM music can't hit. 
I don't know, that feeling of 

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being locked in, the intensity 
of it, blasting it in my 

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headphones in the gym. 
I just love it now. 

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Death metal is historically and 
notoriously anti God. 

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It was. 
It was not cultivated and 

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developed by people who are 
like, hey, how do we invent a 

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new Sonic sound that really 
praises Jesus now? 

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It's historically anti God, but 
it played a huge role in my 

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faith because I grew up a 
metalhead before I knew Jesus. 

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I was the type of kid who on 
Sundays I would rather be in a 

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mosh pit than at a church on 
Sundays. 

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I grew up in the pit. 
I loved it. 

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The amazing thing about growing 
up in the 2000s is that there 

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was this phenomenon in music 
where a bunch of Christian 

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artists decided that what they 
were going to do is they were 

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going to redeem death metal and 
Melacore and punk and all these 

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different genres. 
And what they did is they took a

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notoriously anti God music 
genre, brought it before the 

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Lord, redeemed it with Christian
lyrics, and then ended up using 

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death metal to evangelize to 
kids like me and the mosh pits 

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and help us scream about the 
Lord. 

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And it shaped me big time. 
They took that element of 

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culture and redeemed it. 
Saint Augustine, a long, long 

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time ago, was a big advocate for
redeeming the elements of 

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culture that could be redeemed. 
He used to look at the book of 

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00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,120
Exodus and he saw a type of this
in the Tabernacle. 

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00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:45,760
Augustine noticed how the 
Tabernacle was famously built by

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00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:51,040
God's people with the gold that 
the Egyptians had used to build 

230
00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:53,800
their idols that they would 
worship as false gods. 

231
00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,440
What Christians did is they 
plundered the Egyptians. 

232
00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,640
They use that gold that was for 
idol idols, and they use that to

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00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:03,360
build God a temple. 
Augustine's point was that 

234
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,440
Christians should plunder 
Pharaoh's gold in order to build

235
00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,520
God's temples in the world. 
There are elements of culture 

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00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:14,960
that we can redeem, like music 
genres famously. 

237
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,400
Here's the famous one, the early
church. 

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00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,240
You can read about this in 
almost every New Testament 

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00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,360
letter. 
Almost every church in the 

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00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:26,480
historical world in the in the, 
in the, in the distant history 

241
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,480
of the church was faced with 
this problem of what the heck do

242
00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,680
we do with meat that was 
sacrificed to idols? 

243
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,120
They really struggle with that. 
That person has a clean 

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00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,760
conscience and can do it. 
That person doesn't have a clean

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00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:41,400
conscience and they don't want 
to do it. 

246
00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:43,600
And the New Testament is 
actually really clear in its 

247
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:45,720
lack of clarity. 
The New Testament instructions 

248
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,440
are, if you can't do it, if you 
can't eat that meat with a clean

249
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,360
conscience, don't do it. 
But if you can eat that meat and

250
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:59,000
praise Jesus, go for it. 
Like, I don't know if you know 

251
00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:04,520
it who in here like steak. 
See a show of hands? 

252
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,760
Are there any godless people in 
here that like it well done 

253
00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,560
rather than rare or medium rare.
Really Marine? 

254
00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,800
Oh my gosh. 
No communion for you today. 

255
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,040
There is forgiveness in the name
of Jesus. 

256
00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:29,680
That's right. 
Did you know that eating meat 

257
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:34,400
has Pagan roots? 
That's in the Old Testament. 

258
00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,800
That's what the godless Pagan 
neighbors of Israel did. 

259
00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,600
Eating meat has Pagan roots. 
Do you know what you can do? 

260
00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:48,760
You can take that Pagan 
practice, choose to not worship 

261
00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,720
evil spirits, and instead you 
can eat your steak cooked medium

262
00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:58,680
rare, and you can eat that 
medium rare steak for the glory 

263
00:15:58,680 --> 00:15:59,760
of Jesus. 
Amen. 

264
00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,640
You can redeem that, but we all 
have a tendency towards one of 

265
00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:06,800
these two options. 
Well, I think one of the extreme

266
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,560
options, some of us in the room,
we have a tendency towards 

267
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,960
rejecting that one on the far 
right. 

268
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,760
If you have a tendency towards 
rejecting everything in culture,

269
00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,080
what you'll tend towards is 
being a culture warrior. 

270
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,880
You'll constantly talking about 
how you hate this or how you 

271
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,480
hate that on major cultural 
issues, and you'll probably be 

272
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,240
known more for what you hate 
than what you love. 

273
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,600
But on the other hand, if you 
have a tendency on the other end

274
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,720
of thoughtlessly just receiving 
everything in culture, you'll 

275
00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,440
tend towards being worldly. 
You'll look like the world, 

276
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:37,600
you'll smell like the world. 
You'll celebrate things in 

277
00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:38,880
culture that need to be 
criticized. 

278
00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,880
I think the key is being able to
define, hey, I have a tendency 

279
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,720
towards this direction, to 
define where you're at so that 

280
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,320
you can have a healthy and 
biblical posture towards the 

281
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,840
culture. 
But is this helpful? 

282
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:51,920
Yeah. 
OK. 

283
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,640
But here's the thing. 
The the point of these two 

284
00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:59,040
verses is not actually to teach 
you about what to reject, 

285
00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:01,360
receive or redeem in culture. 
I think that's helpful, but 

286
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,839
that's not the point. 
What Paul wants to do is he 

287
00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:11,920
actually wants to shape the 
dominant posture that your heart

288
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:19,400
has towards a hostile culture 
that has the tendency to poke 

289
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,240
you. 
And what should that dominant 

290
00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:27,280
posture be? 
Look at the text verse one. 

291
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,400
What should the normative 
posture of Christians be in 

292
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,200
culture? 
Here's Paul's actual 

293
00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,240
instructions about how to engage
with the Cretan culture. 

294
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:38,480
He says remind them again, 
that's you to be submissive to 

295
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,680
rulers and authorities. 
This is why I say that these are

296
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:42,320
his instructions for engaging 
with culture. 

297
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:44,800
This is a reference to their 
political authorities and 

298
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,840
governors who are making the 
civic decisions within Crete 

299
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:49,360
that will form the common 
culture. 

300
00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,600
And Paul says, remind them to be
obedient, to be ready for every 

301
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:59,520
good work, to speak evil of no 
one. 

302
00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:01,800
Why do you think Paul has to say
that? 

303
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,800
He probably has to say that 
because they're not doing that. 

304
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:12,360
The Cretan church is probably 
speaking evil of everyone 

305
00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:15,720
everywhere and all the time. 
And Paul says remind them to 

306
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:20,200
speak evil of no one to avoid 
quarreling. 

307
00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,080
And here's the big one. 
I think that this is the whole 

308
00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:23,680
summary statement of these two 
verses. 

309
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:32,320
Remind them to be gentle and to 
show perfect courtesy towards 

310
00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:40,480
all people. 
I'm trying to guess what's going

311
00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:45,760
on in your heart right now. 
My guess is that when you hear 

312
00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:51,520
those verses, you have the 
tendency to say, yeah, but that 

313
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,160
was 2000 years ago in a culture 
that's must much, much, much, 

314
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,720
much less hostile to 
Christianity towards ours. 

315
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,560
And if that's you, what you need
to know about these verses, that

316
00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:04,760
is that these commandments were 
not written to people living in 

317
00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,480
a Leave it to Beaver 1950s. 
Everybody in their neighbors are

318
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:08,240
Christians. 
Culture. 

319
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,360
This. 
These verses were not written to

320
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,600
a culture of people who lived in
a Veggie Tales bubble. 

321
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,640
Joseph. 
Now Veggie Tales is great. 

322
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,920
I've heard I didn't grow up in a
Christian culture. 

323
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,640
But yeah, maybe we'll watch it 
sometime. 

324
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,320
The culture that Paul's writing 
to entity us was actually far 

325
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,440
more hostile towards 
Christianity than the one that 

326
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,560
we live in. 
And what that means is that 

327
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,360
there are no loopholes in this 
text that we can point at to 

328
00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:40,200
wiggle out of God's commandments
and say, well, it was for them 

329
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:43,920
and not for me. 
Now, of course, TuneIn for a 

330
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,000
second, because I know this is 
going to be something that pops 

331
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,760
up in conversation. 
There is one obvious exception, 

332
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,720
and that obvious exception is 
that there are there is such a 

333
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,040
thing as civil disobedience. 
Of course, if your culture or 

334
00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,800
its civic leaders are demanding 
that you renounce Christ or live

335
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,800
totally out of step with the 
gospel, you are called to rebel.

336
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:06,560
Don't just read the words of 
Paul, read the example of Paul. 

337
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,200
See what he does in the book of 
Acts. 

338
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,040
The dude is bold. 
The same guy who says be known 

339
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:17,000
for your gentleness is the same 
guy who is also known for his 

340
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,600
boldness. 
But your dominant posture 

341
00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,320
towards the culture should be 1 
of gentleness. 

342
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:28,280
Which begs the question, how 
could a person in this hostile 

343
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,400
culture, this loud culture, this
quarreling culture, how could a 

344
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:36,000
person possibly cultivate a 
heart whose operating system, 

345
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,240
let's say operating system, a 
heart whose operating system is 

346
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,680
1 of gentleness? 
How does a person even do that? 

347
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,280
And I'm going to answer that 
question with a Riddle. 

348
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,880
It's my favorite Riddle. 
I think this is like the third 

349
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,040
time I've preached on this in my
9 years of preaching just 

350
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,440
because it's so darn good. 
OK, here's the Riddle. 

351
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:59,320
You put water in a cup at work. 
OK, can you picture that? 

352
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,280
You got a cup full of water. 
You're you're walking to your 

353
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:03,720
office. 
You turn the corner. 

354
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,480
Or maybe you're at home and you 
put water in your cup and you're

355
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,040
walking through your home and 
suddenly one of your kids comes 

356
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,720
blitzing through the room at 100
miles an hour and bumps you. 

357
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:15,440
Or maybe you're walking around 
the corner at work. 

358
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,360
You're walking to your office 
and you got a Co worker blitzing

359
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,200
around the corner. 
You turn the corner, pop pops 

360
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:23,440
right into you, bumps you right 
in the cup, bumps your cup. 

361
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,240
Here's Here's the Riddle. 
What comes out of the cup? 

362
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,840
You can say that water, water, 
water. 

363
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:36,040
Why did water come out of the 
cup? 

364
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,240
That's right. 
Most of us would have the 

365
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,680
tendency to say, well water came
out of the cup because my kid 

366
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,360
ran into me. 
Water came out of the cup 

367
00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:54,360
because my coworker is an idiot,
came around the corner 100 miles

368
00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:56,760
an hour, bumped me, and that's 
why water came out of the cup. 

369
00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,160
And if you said water came out 
of my cup because someone bumped

370
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,480
into me, this person bumped into
me, you would be wrong. 

371
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,960
And the reason why you would be 
wrong, I can prove this. 

372
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:07,720
I can, I can substantiate this 
claim. 

373
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,800
The reason why you'd be wrong is
because if you put wine in your 

374
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,240
cup and your kid bumped into 
you, what would come out of the 

375
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,240
cup? 
Wine. 

376
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:17,960
So why did water come out of the
cup? 

377
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,400
Because you filled it with 
water. 

378
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:29,960
Stick with me when you're 
interacting with culture. 

379
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,200
Maybe you're on social media. 
Maybe you're watching the news. 

380
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,080
Maybe a decision that a leader 
made comes down to you. 

381
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,120
Maybe it's just somebody who's 
hostile towards Christianity, 

382
00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:43,560
who's sitting across from the 
table at you and poking you, 

383
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:48,080
calling you names when you get 
bumped, when something in the 

384
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,120
culture bumps you and anger 
comes out of your heart. 

385
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:55,560
Why did anger come out of your 
heart? 

386
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,920
Your temptation is going to be 
to say because he said this or 

387
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,920
she said that, or they did this,
or the culture this and the 

388
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,880
culture that. 
And the culture sucks and I hate

389
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,880
our city. 
And they always do these things 

390
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:11,480
and they always say these types 
of things. 

391
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,520
And if you said that, you would 
be wrong. 

392
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,880
When the culture bumps you and 
anger comes out of your cup, why

393
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,200
did anger come out of your cup? 
For the same reason that water 

394
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,760
did and not whine. 
Anger came out of your cup 

395
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:28,640
because you filled your cup with
anger. 

396
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,920
That means that if you are in a 
position right now where you're 

397
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,200
like, man, I'm not gentle. 
I'm not known for my gentleness.

398
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,720
That means that you cannot 
develop or cultivate gentleness 

399
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,240
by will of strength. 
You can't just look in the 

400
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,200
mirror and say, Cole, you need 
to be more gentle this morning. 

401
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,160
The first thing you need to 
attend to is you have to stop 

402
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:58,400
pouring anger into your cup. 
And if you want gentleness to 

403
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,040
come out, it's not just a matter
of trying harder. 

404
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,200
If you want gentleness to come 
out, you have got to start 

405
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:08,160
filling your cup with 
gentleness. 

406
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,640
The first thing to attend to is 
the anger in your own heart and 

407
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,920
making sure that you pour 
gentleness into your heart and 

408
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,240
not anger. 
If you do not deal with that, it

409
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,480
doesn't matter how hard you try,
whenever the culture bumps you, 

410
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,600
anger is going to spill out 
because that's what you're 

411
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:29,240
filled with. 
It's not flash cold, just beep. 

412
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,720
Just be more gentle, bro. 
That's my tendency. 

413
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:39,480
Can't do it that way, right? 
Not just trying harder. 

414
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,160
The key is to fill your heart 
with gentleness. 

415
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,920
Listen to this, listen to this. 
This is Thomas Watson, an old 

416
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,040
Puritan. 
He says, quote, this is his 

417
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:49,240
answer on how do you become more
gentle? 

418
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:56,720
Watson says, quote, a heart 
inflamed with the love of Christ

419
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:01,360
only will be made gentle. 
The sight of Christ's wounds 

420
00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:05,080
alone cures the swelling of 
wrath. 

421
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:14,760
Oh my gosh, how good is that? 
Your heart needs to be inflamed 

422
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:19,040
with the love of Christ. 
It needs to meditate on the 

423
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,600
wounds of Christ here. 
For good measure, here's John 

424
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,480
Owen, one of the later Puritans.
He said almost an identical 

425
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,920
thing. 
Owen said quote, Only when the 

426
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:34,200
heart learns to die to its own 
exaltations and to rest in the 

427
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:39,840
sweetness of Christ's humility, 
only then will it not boil in 

428
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:45,880
wrath at every provocation. 
Be still my heart. 

429
00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:50,400
How good is that? 
How do I become more, more 

430
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,120
gentle? 
Owen would say Your heart needs 

431
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:57,440
to rest in the sweetness of 
Christ's humility. 

432
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,960
Jesus, this conversation is 
useless unless we take it to the

433
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,640
darkest place that we can 
imagine. 

434
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:06,360
And so this is going to be hard 
to come back from. 

435
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:10,200
But I just want to take this to 
what is an honestly hostile 

436
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:15,280
moment and see if even in that 
moment can we gaze upon the 

437
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:19,000
wounds of Christ and rest in his
sweetness and be made gentle 

438
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,720
because we live. 
We live in a hostile culture. 

439
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:23,280
We do. 
Ever. 

440
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,320
The loudest voice wins. 
The most anxious voice wins. 

441
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,280
So what ends up happening is 
hostility wins. 

442
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,000
And hostility begets more 
hostility, which begets more 

443
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,280
hostility until it creates a 
spiral of hostility so that we 

444
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,280
live in a world where almost 
everybody is yelling at 

445
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,680
everybody about everything all 
the time. 

446
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,840
And what it creates is an in 
like an infinite hostility loop.

447
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,000
You get mad at me, I get mad at 
you, so you madder at me and I 

448
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,320
get more hostile at you. 
And it creates an infinite 

449
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,240
hostility loop that will 
continue to spiral and spiral 

450
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:59,400
forever into eternity unless 
somebody has the divine 

451
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,280
gentleness to absorb it and stop
it within their own self. 

452
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,320
So this is going to be dark. 
I'm just going to be I. 

453
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,440
I just don't think it's helpful 
to give trivial examples. 

454
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,520
So I've got a friend who she, 
she's awesome. 

455
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,640
She she's recently become a lot 
more hostile and outspoken about

456
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,920
her political beliefs. 
I actually tend to agree with 

457
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,280
most of her political beliefs. 
She's just become a lot more 

458
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,680
outspoken and hostile and 
aggressive publicly about them. 

459
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,200
And don't play the who's he 
talking about game because this 

460
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,200
person is not in our church. 
You don't know her. 

461
00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,920
A friend of mine from college. 
So if you're thinking, oh, I 

462
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:40,240
know it's, I know it's Chloe. 
It's not, it's not my wife. 

463
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:41,480
She's like the most gentle 
person I know. 

464
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:42,840
She's awesome. 
It's not. 

465
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,880
And you can't guess her, so 
don't think about yourself here.

466
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,480
And she didn't always present 
this way. 

467
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,800
And so I had a conversation with
her I didn't like. 

468
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,320
I wasn't mad. 
I wasn't mad about it. 

469
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:55,720
I was just curious. 
And so I asked her. 

470
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,080
I said, hey, I noticed that 
you've become a lot more 

471
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,960
outspoken about some of your 
political beliefs, and we tend 

472
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,360
to agree on most of our 
political beliefs, but you've 

473
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:06,560
really turned the volume up. 
I'm just curious that 

474
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,760
something's changing you. 
And she said, I thought this was

475
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,760
fascinating. 
She said, I can tell you exactly

476
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,800
when it changed. 
And I said, oh, do tell. 

477
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:19,800
And so she said, well, I used to
work in an environment, a 

478
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,880
workplace environment that was 
really hostile towards 

479
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,920
Christianity. 
I was like probably the only 

480
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:28,200
Christian in this workplace. 
And and she said we used, but we

481
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:32,040
used to argue about politics and
things all, all the time. 

482
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:33,640
I'm going to say things are 
going to make you really 

483
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,480
uncomfortable in just a second 
and that's OK, Just deal with 

484
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,800
that. 
And and she said, you know, we 

485
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:40,960
used to be able to have our 
disagreements over tons of 

486
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,600
political issues and it was no 
problem. 

487
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,040
We could be friends with it 
until one day. 

488
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:47,400
And I said, tell me about one 
day. 

489
00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,280
And she said yeah, one day we 
started arguing about abortion 

490
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,320
and I was advocating for the 
Christian view on abortion. 

491
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,880
And I was like praise God. 
And she said all of my Co 

492
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,360
workers disagreed with me. 
And the conversation got so 

493
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:06,080
hostile that after like 5 or 10 
minutes we just had to stop. 

494
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:08,520
And I was fine. 
I pulled the plug on the 

495
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,920
conversation. 
But she said oh gosh, this is 

496
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:18,400
hard to I can't even say this. 
She said when I walked away from

497
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,320
the conversation though one of 
my Co workers grabbed me by the 

498
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:29,120
arm and pulled me in close and 
she whispered in my ear, I hope 

499
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,960
that when your daughter grows up
she has an abortion. 

500
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:42,840
That statement is evil. 
I can't imagine. 

501
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,280
I actually there's very few 
things I can imagine that are 

502
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,400
more vile than wish you could 
bond somebody because of a 

503
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,680
difference in opinion that their
daughter would murder their 

504
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:54,840
granddaughter. 
It's such a vile opinion. 

505
00:29:55,320 --> 00:30:01,440
And she said, when that person 
said that to me, it dawned on me

506
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,280
that these were not neighbors to
love. 

507
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,280
These were enemies to be 
defeated. 

508
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,120
And I get it. 
I think the most natural thing 

509
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,840
in the world in response to evil
is to return evil with evil. 

510
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:26,040
That's why Jesus has to say when
people curse you bless them. 

511
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,040
He has to say that because we 
don't do that, our flesh doesn't

512
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,680
do that. 
But when when she told me that 

513
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:37,440
story, it's like I saw the 
world, the absolute truth of the

514
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:41,280
world for one of the first time.
I recognize that at the bottom 

515
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:45,600
of all the volume and all the 
yelling and all the hostility in

516
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:50,760
our culture, at the bottom of 
all of it, all the arguing and 

517
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,760
anger that seeps through every 
square inch of our culture. 

518
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,040
I recognized in one fell, one 
fell swoop that at the bottom of

519
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:04,360
all of that is pain and hurt and
woundedness. 

520
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:06,840
And there's like a light bulb 
that turned on in my mind where 

521
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,720
I recognized for the first time 
that people who are hostile and 

522
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,400
angry and finger pointers and 
name callers, they don't wake up

523
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,280
one day and look in the mirror 
and say, from today on, I'm 

524
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,520
going to be a mean person about 
everything. 

525
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,080
That's not how it happens. 
I recognize that the majority of

526
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:33,160
our world is operating out of 
woundedness, deep woundedness. 

527
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,360
And the most human response is 
to lash out in response. 

528
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,360
It's for hostility to bigot, 
hostility which begets more 

529
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,840
hostility, which will always 
bigot, more hostility always, 

530
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:54,120
unless divine gentleness 
intercedes and absorbs it. 

531
00:31:55,920 --> 00:32:01,040
So what I'm going to ask you to 
consider, you cannot do in the 

532
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,720
flesh. 
But I want you to consider when 

533
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,560
that person said that thing, 
that unimaginably evil thing. 

534
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,960
I am not asking you to 
relinquish the truth. 

535
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,480
That's not gentleness, that's 
cowardness. 

536
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:22,600
But what if you took that wound 
and you brought that wound to 

537
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,680
the cross instead of retaliating
out of it? 

538
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:32,440
And what if, when you brought 
that wound to the cross, what if

539
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,760
you compared your wound to the 
wounds of Christ? 

540
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,440
And in comparing your wounds 
with the wounds of Christ, what 

541
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,640
if you recognized that as much 
as that hurt? 

542
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,840
What if you recognize that the 
wound of Christ was deeper and 

543
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:53,880
your hostility towards Christ 
was actually greater than your 

544
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:55,440
neighbor's hostility against 
you? 

545
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:02,120
And then recognizing that, what 
if you recognize that when your 

546
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,920
hostility provoked the Lord in 
your flesh, your sin, your 

547
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:10,240
rejection of Him, the way you 
cursed Him, and because of His 

548
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,000
gentleness and loneliness of 
heart? 

549
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,520
What if you recognize that your 
hostility provoked not more 

550
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,440
hostility from Christ, but 
provoked in Christ compassion 

551
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:26,760
towards you rather than hatred? 
Sister, brother, if you could do

552
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:33,000
that, then out of your wound, 
rather than coming more 

553
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,800
hostility, out of your wound 
might come a wellspring of life.

554
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:41,800
Gentleness, unbending 
gentleness. 

555
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:49,440
Not a gentleness that forfeits 
truth, but a gentleness that I 

556
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:50,920
think you know what I'm talking 
about. 

557
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,880
You get in an argument that the 
temperature starts to raise and 

558
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:56,880
all you want to do is raise your
voice louder. 

559
00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,280
And if you do, you know it's 
just going to raise the volume 

560
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,920
on that person. 
And there are these rare moments

561
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:09,639
where you, I feel anointed by a 
divine compassion instead. 

562
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:14,639
And rather than meeting their 
hatred with more hatred, you 

563
00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:18,920
look at that person and you say,
hey, are you OK? 

564
00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:28,159
That would change somebody. 
Those moments of compassion and 

565
00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:29,679
gentleness in the midst of 
hostility. 

566
00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:35,360
If you did that, wow, that would
be one of those sweet moments in

567
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:41,320
life where you can see heaven 
Pierce the corpse of hell with 

568
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,159
the blade of gentleness can see 
it. 

569
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,840
But that posture requires that 
the Holy Spirit put to death 

570
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:49,880
your flesh, and it's almost 
impossible. 

571
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,960
It is impossible to be like that
and to act like that in the 

572
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,199
flesh. 
It's only possible with the 

573
00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:58,960
Spirit. 
A posture requires you to 

574
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,040
partner with the Holy Spirit. 
But I don't know what to tell 

575
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,760
you about a Jesus who commands 
you to bless those who curse 

576
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,520
you. 
This needs to be our dominant 

577
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:13,040
posture towards a hostile 
culture, Sacrificial, truthful 

578
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,800
gentleness. 
I don't know that there are 

579
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:18,440
objections to what I'm preaching
this morning. 

580
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:20,720
I think there are two main 
objections to what I'm preaching

581
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:21,960
this morning. 
So I'm just going to look at 

582
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,720
both of them. 
Objection number one. 

583
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:30,200
OK, this text, Cole says be 
gentle. 

584
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,920
But it sounds to me like you're 
encouraging me to forfeit the 

585
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,160
truth. 
If that's what you hear me say 

586
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,600
this morning, you need to hear 
me loud and clear this morning. 

587
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:41,640
Never forfeit the truth as a 
Christian again. 

588
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,160
That's cowardice Ness. 
That's not gentleness. 

589
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,480
A gentle posture and an 
unflinching conviction to the 

590
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,640
truth are perfectly compatible. 
Read about the life of Jesus. 

591
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,400
I'm saying that when you read 
Titus three, it should be 

592
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,000
crystal clear that our dominant 
posture towards a hostile 

593
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:01,400
culture cannot be hostility. 
Do not mean that we relinquish 

594
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:04,080
the truth, right? 
Do not mean that we just go 

595
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,640
along with love. 
And I certainly do not mean that

596
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:08,480
we don't want to win the culture
to Jesus. 

597
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:11,200
We do. 
I want to win all of culture to 

598
00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:13,400
Jesus. 
I want everybody to know Jesus. 

599
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,480
But I am saying that we cannot 
fight God's battles with the 

600
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:22,240
devil's weapons. 
You cannot fight God's battles 

601
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:26,680
with the devil's weapons. 
Hostility, anger, hatred, all of

602
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:28,600
those things are ugly enough on 
their own. 

603
00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:33,960
But when people use Christianity
to cloak them, when Christianity

604
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,560
is used to justify hostility, 
anger, and hatred, we make the 

605
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,040
beautiful God of the cosmos 
appear ugly to our neighbor. 

606
00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:44,160
Our posture towards a hostile 
culture cannot be hostility, it 

607
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,640
must be gentleness. 
Gentleness is how we win the 

608
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:54,800
culture to Jesus. 
Objection #2 What about the 

609
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:59,520
demands in the Bible to be bold?
The Bible calls us to be bold. 

610
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:07,120
Heck yes, 100% yes it does. 
There's a small percentage of 

611
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:09,720
Christians though who might hear
my sermon and be extremely 

612
00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:12,040
critical of it. 
They might protest saying, OK 

613
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:15,360
Cole, you're just one of those 
wishy washy pastors who would 

614
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:18,920
have rebuked King David and told
him you just got to be nicer to 

615
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:23,840
to Goliath. 
To which I would say Goliath was

616
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,040
a bloodthirsty giant clan 
Nephilim king who was violent. 

617
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,240
He doesn't represent your 
grouchy neighbor, and to 

618
00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:36,160
misinterpret that massive 
portion of Scripture and its 

619
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:39,160
types is deadly. 
Goliath is not a type of your 

620
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,520
neighbor. 
He doesn't represent your 

621
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,160
grouchy boss. 
He doesn't even represent the 

622
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,040
unbelieving world. 
Goliath is a type of Satan. 

623
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,600
David's defeat of Goliath is a 
shadow of Jesus's defeat of 

624
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:52,880
Satan. 
To misinterpret that moment and 

625
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,720
apply it to an argument with the
school board member over whether

626
00:37:55,720 --> 00:37:58,320
a certain poster should be on 
the school wall is a big swing 

627
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:03,000
and a miss at Bible reading. 
One O 1 you should not kill the 

628
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,600
school board members over the 
poster on the wall and chop his 

629
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,440
head off like David did with 
Goliath. 

630
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:10,520
Please don't apply. 
That's that portion of scripture

631
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:15,560
to that moment that was Jesus's 
defeat of Satan on the cross. 

632
00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:18,760
But still, you might argue the 
Bible calls us to be bold again.

633
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:20,960
Heck yes. 
I was talking to a pastor friend

634
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:25,120
about this once and he told me 
dude you can't be gentle all the

635
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,920
time. 
I agree. 

636
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,960
That's true about parenting. 
That's true about being a 

637
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:33,000
Christian. 
That's true about being a 

638
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,160
leader. 
You can't be gentle all the 

639
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:36,920
time. 
There are these moments in 

640
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,120
cultural engagement when 
Christians must temporarily lay 

641
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:43,720
aside their gentleness for the 
sake of boldness. 

642
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,000
But here's what I would tell 
you. 

643
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:48,120
Make sure that you are known for
your gentleness. 

644
00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:51,120
So known for your gentleness. 
This is the way the Bible says 

645
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:53,600
it. 
Let your gentleness be known to 

646
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,160
all. 
So the key is to be so known for

647
00:38:57,160 --> 00:38:59,960
your gentleness that when you 
have to lay aside your 

648
00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:02,000
gentleness, the check doesn't 
bounce. 

649
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,960
So think of it, this one, be 
known for making so many gentle 

650
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,760
deposits, so many gentleness 
deposits that when you have to 

651
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,720
take a boldness withdrawal, the 
check doesn't bounce. 

652
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,800
And people say, well, Kohl's 
always yelling about everything.

653
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:20,000
No, no, you want to cash the 
check. 

654
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:26,240
Be so known for your gentleness 
that the boldness matters. 

655
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:33,440
So is this helpful? 
So back to our original 

656
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:39,200
question, Are you gentle? 
Are you known for your 

657
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:44,120
gentleness, or do you boil in 
wrath at every provocation? 

658
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:50,160
If that's you, sister, brother, 
remember the gospel and remember

659
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:52,840
it daily. 
Remember that when you were yet 

660
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:56,600
a sin or hostile to God, God 
chose you and died for you. 

661
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,920
Remember that Jesus absorbed 
your sins when you were hostile 

662
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:03,360
to him. 
Remember that Christ clothed you

663
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,760
in his very own righteousness. 
Remember that God has 

664
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,280
resurrected and promises to 
resurrect you in glory. 

665
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,240
He did all of that for you. 
Do you think that? 

666
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,080
Do you think that asking God to 
make you gentle is too big of an

667
00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:23,080
ask like? 
Like God can take a dead body 

668
00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:28,120
and resurrect it into glory, but
when he looks at my angry heart,

669
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,560
he's like, crap, I can't make 
that thing gentle. 

670
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:35,080
That one's crap out of luck. 
I can do the dead body thing, 

671
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:40,120
just not the hard heart thing. 
No, that's not too big of an 

672
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,760
ask. 
It's not too big of an ask. 

673
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:44,560
You probably just ask too 
little. 

674
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:48,880
That's probably it. 
So ask. 

675
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,800
Ask him often. 
Ask him daily. 

676
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:58,080
Fill your heart with gentleness.
Fill it with wine constantly. 

677
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:00,880
And then examine yourself 
closely the next time culture 

678
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:02,920
bumps into you. 
What spills out of your cup? 

679
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:07,320
Is it water or is it wine? 
Water's regular, right? 

680
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,240
You spill water, it dries up. 
You forget it ever even 

681
00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:11,720
happened. 
That's what anger is. 

682
00:41:11,720 --> 00:41:13,440
Anger spills out of people all 
the time. 

683
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:18,240
Wine. 
Wine's rare. 

684
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,000
When that spills out of 
somebody's cup, you know what it

685
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:22,640
does? 
It stains people. 

686
00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:27,200
They can't scrub it off. 
They can't stop looking at it. 

687
00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:32,680
They look at that stain and they
think what was what's different 

688
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:37,000
about that person? 
That's how the early church won 

689
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:41,640
the entire culture to Jesus 
through gentleness. 

690
00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:46,840
The early church was a wine 
stain in a world that just 

691
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:52,280
spilled water over each other. 
So Bee Weinsteins, my friends, 

692
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:56,280
and this is Part 1 of the 
two-part secrets on how to 

693
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,200
engage with culture. 
So come back next Sunday and 

694
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,520
we'll explore verse 3, where 
Paul gives a very explicit 

695
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:04,440
strategy for how to become more 
gentle.