1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,760 So today we're going to talk about the prophets. 2 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:06,560 And in terms of the prophets, there's a lot of misconceptions 3 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:08,840 about the prophets. Sometimes when I heard prophets, 4 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:12,880 I think of like a fortune teller or somebody on the corner 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,720 looking crazy with like crazy hair preaching fire and 6 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,200 brimstone and somebody able to kind of like disseminate 7 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,360 blessings and curses. I see some of those kind of 8 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,560 interesting videos on YouTube where somebody's like throwing 9 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:29,360 their shirt and everybody falls down and and well, that might be 10 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,280 part of what the Bible prophets are. 11 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,240 It's just an incomplete of what real biblical prophets are. 12 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,760 So before we kind of get into that, let's do a quick recap. 13 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,160 We're going through a series on the Bible meta narrative or just 14 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:50,080 the big picture of the Bible. And I think it's so important to 15 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,640 understand the big picture of the Bible, the big picture of 16 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:55,200 scripture. And I think it's good to repeat 17 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,000 it. It really digest it as 18 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,880 believers. So we started with creation. 19 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:05,040 God created heavens and earth. Man and woman said it was good. 20 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,400 There was intimacy, there was beauty, there was purpose. 21 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:11,000 And then there was rebellion, right? 22 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,000 Adam and Eve rebelled against God. 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,600 They ate the fruit. They had to leave the garden 24 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:19,760 because God knew that rebellion would grow. 25 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,840 And sure enough, it did. The rebellion grew as people 26 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,720 populated more rebellion against God. 27 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,280 Despite that rebellion, God made a covenant, he said. 28 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,560 Even though I know you're a flawed people, I'm still 29 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:40,520 partnering with you. I'm still committed to you. 30 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,280 I'm still, I'm still in it for the long haul with you. 31 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,320 More rebellion. The people broke the covenants. 32 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,200 God made several more covenants. The people broke those 33 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,480 covenants. So the people said, OK, we 34 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,240 understand we're flawed. Why don't you just give us 35 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,280 leaders? Give us leaders that will 36 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,240 represent kind of our, our face and our relationship with God. 37 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:08,919 We just, we understand we can't do it. 38 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,080 Well, we're still trying. But give us leaders, give us the 39 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,120 right leaders that should work. God warned them against that, 40 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,160 but granted them kind of that desire. 41 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,680 And wouldn't you know it, the leaders rebelled. 42 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,720 So coming into this time, as we get into the profits, then the 43 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,800 rebellion, especially when it started to get into political 44 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:35,240 rebellion, left Israel vulnerable to outside nations to 45 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,000 take over, to attacks, to captivity. 46 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,360 And so this is what happened. So it's we're at the place now 47 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:48,000 where the profits are mostly in the place before, during and 48 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,560 directly after Israel continuing to rebel and being vulnerable to 49 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,560 take over and ultimately getting taken over, getting destroyed, 50 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,920 getting overrun. So that's the period that the 51 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:02,080 prophets are in. Amen. 52 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:08,360 You're with me. So we're going to go into, we're 53 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,040 going to 1st, we're going to dive into a specific prophet and 54 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:13,200 then we can talk about some things. 55 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:21,040 Ezekiel was a priest probably around, you know, 570 and early 56 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,800 600 BC. He was in Israel as they were 57 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:28,920 threat in, in that threat of being taken over, of being 58 00:03:28,920 --> 00:03:32,560 overrun. In fact, Jerusalem was attacked, 59 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:38,640 the city where God was supposed to be or God was, and Ezekiel 60 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,760 was taken in that first wave of captivity. 61 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:46,360 So Ezekiel was essentially a prisoner of war, taken to 62 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,160 Babylon, taken to a foreign country. 63 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:53,600 And while he's in a foreign country at a refugee camp, he 64 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:59,480 sees this vision, He sees God glory, God's glory in Babylon. 65 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,440 Now, one of the things I love to do and one of the things I think 66 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:04,760 a lot of the pastors that I've been under has done really well 67 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,000 is define the terms that probably we all know that what 68 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,000 they are, but does they get overused. 69 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,000 And so glory, what is glory, right? 70 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,880 We say glory all the time and glory can mean a lot of things, 71 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,920 but in in this case especially, it's talking about God is such a 72 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,240 powerful, complex supernatural being. 73 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,640 When God's glory is there, it's just saying this is the physical 74 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:30,040 seeable, tasteable manifestation, right? 75 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:32,680 That's why when somebody looks good as a good person and when 76 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,720 somebody shows up looking good, we say that's them in their full 77 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:36,480 glory. It's their likeness. 78 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:41,800 It's their character personified in this case, in this case, 79 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:43,360 God's. In the Old Testament, God's 80 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,120 glory was carried around in the ark of a covenant or the 81 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:47,960 covenant. So it was actually carried 82 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:49,680 around. It was, it was supposed to be in 83 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,840 the temple. It was, it was, it was the holy 84 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:55,800 of holies. It was supposed to be set apart. 85 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,600 It was supposed to be revered, reverenced. 86 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,720 And Ezekiel has his vision of God's glory in Babylon. 87 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,240 Now that makes no geographical or spiritual sense. 88 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,440 It made no geographical sense. It's like because it was 89 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,080 supposed to be in Jerusalem, it's like having a dream and you 90 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,080 see the Statue of Liberty in China, right? 91 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,160 It doesn't make any sense. Or or you see the the Eiffel 92 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,080 Tower in California, It doesn't, it doesn't make geographical 93 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,040 sense. It also didn't make spiritual 94 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,720 sense. The Babylonians were not a 95 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,000 people of God. Why is God's glory in Babylon? 96 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,920 So Ezekiel was taken cities in bad shape. 97 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:46,240 The vision is of rebuke and warnings to Israel, saying 98 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,520 Israel, you have broken the covenant with God time and time 99 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,200 again you've broken your agreement. 100 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,360 We talked about a covenant was really just this mutual 101 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,320 agreement, this mutual partnership and commitment 102 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:06,480 between God's people and God. He warns the the Israelites, he 103 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,360 says you've you've you've gone against this covenant because of 104 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,520 your greed, your idolatry, your oppressive leaders. 105 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:14,840 You're not caring for the poor and less fortunate. 106 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:19,280 You have not been a blessing. The covenant was Israel supposed 107 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:23,240 to be blessed to be a blessing, Amen. 108 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:35,800 Now with me, so says there will be a second attack. 109 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,760 If you don't listen, if you don't get your act together, 110 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:39,240 Israel, there's going to be a second attack. 111 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,480 That's part of the vision. Now, this vision was kind of 112 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,680 depressing because God also let Israel know that. 113 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,440 I mean, God also let Ezekiel know that Israel would not 114 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,280 listen, that they would not listen. 115 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:56,400 He warns them of the second attack to make it even more 116 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,400 depressing. He commissions Ezekiel to carry 117 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:05,920 out these bizarre signs to demonstrate Israel's rebellion 118 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:07,440 and the consequences of that rebellion. 119 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,760 I'm not going to go through each one, but the but the worst one 120 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:15,760 by far is Ezekiel was to lay on his side for a year and eat food 121 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:20,240 cooked over poop. I know we're not still want to 122 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:25,200 be a prophet. I don't know, to demonstrate how 123 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,920 how Israel would be in such a bad predicament, how they would 124 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:32,200 have to eat bad things, how how, how nasty and dirty this 125 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:41,720 rebellion was. And so he said, even after these 126 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,960 signs, Israel's still not going to listen. 127 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,480 Now how, how, how real is that? Like personally, like how many 128 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,800 of y'all have, you know you're bad, you know if you do 129 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:54,600 something bad, you know the consequences. 130 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,480 You know the God, God has showed you the consequences of your 131 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,280 actions already. But you're like, I'm still do it 132 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:06,360 though, Amen. Maybe I'm the only one, Amen. 133 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,880 So Ezekiel has another vision where people are worshipping 134 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,680 idols in the temple and it's in the temple. 135 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:18,560 Now let's let's unpack idols, right? 136 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:23,240 We say idols all the time. Idols are really just misplaced, 137 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,240 misdirected, and sometimes outright wrong priorities that 138 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:32,400 we put over God. Sometimes in the Old Testament, 139 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,080 they were actually like made manifest in statues and more 140 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,640 spiritual structures. But don't get it twisted, we 141 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:43,400 still idolize today where we put our time, our treasure, our 142 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,880 money, our attention, our worship. 143 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,000 We might not be actually at a statue, but we can still make 144 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,120 idols out of the things that are misplaced and misdirected. 145 00:08:52,120 --> 00:09:00,640 Amen. So it made sense as in this 146 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,920 vision, God's glory is leaving the covenant as Israel is 147 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,720 worshipping idols, God has left the building. 148 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:08,960 Now this is bad news and good news, right? 149 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:11,480 This is bad news because God is fed up. 150 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:14,360 He's like, these people are not worshipping me, they're 151 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,960 worshipping idols. I'm I'm out of here. 152 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,920 But it's also good news of God's character because even in the 153 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,400 rebellion and the exile, God didn't abandoned his people, 154 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,920 Amen. Even how many times, even in 155 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:33,960 that bad decision, you saw the consequences, you did it anyway, 156 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,600 you faced the consequences and God was still with you. 157 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:46,000 Amen. This is a consistent theme of 158 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:47,760 prophets. So let's talk about some of the 159 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,200 themes of prophets. Now prophets were people that 160 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,720 called the people and the culture back to God. 161 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:56,280 They cared about the covenant, they cared about the 162 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:57,800 relationship. Over and over they would say, 163 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,240 remember, remember, remember the covenant. 164 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,720 Often they weren't popular because who wants to be that guy 165 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,120 who wants to, you know, when you make a bad decision, you don't 166 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,880 want to get around a friend that you've committed to not making 167 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,840 that bad decision, right? When you said you were going to 168 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,440 go to the gym five times a week to your friend and you don't, 169 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:18,400 you don't really want to be around that friend no more like, 170 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:20,600 yo, bro, just I'm busy. I can't really. 171 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:22,880 When you said you were going to eat healthy, when you said you 172 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,080 weren't going to entertain that relationship and they see you 173 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:28,480 out to dinner with that relationship, bro, don't remind 174 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:28,840 me. Don't. 175 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,680 That's probably why profits weren't popular, right? 176 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,560 Profits were reminding the people, Hey, you said you 177 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:42,080 weren't going to do that. Let's read some of what Ezekiel 178 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:49,080 had to say to Israel in chapter 22 verses 25 through 31. 179 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,320 He says her priests do violence to my law, profane my holy 180 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:53,840 things. They do not distinguish between 181 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:57,200 the holy and uncommon or common. They teach and there is no 182 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,440 difference between the clean, unclean and clean. 183 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,200 They shut their eyes to the keeping of Sabbaths so that I am 184 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,880 profane amongst them. Her officials within her are 185 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,760 like wolves tearing their prey. They shed blood and kill people 186 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,720 to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewashed these 187 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,880 deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. 188 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,320 They say this is what the sovereign Lord says. 189 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,320 When the Lord ain't say that the people of the land practice 190 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,280 extortion and commit robbery. They oppress the poor that needy 191 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,480 and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice. 192 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:36,640 God is often harshest on his people that claim to represent 193 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,200 him. Now God does have something to 194 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:42,360 say about the other nations, but God is especially like you those 195 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,360 to be my people. I understand those other nations 196 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,360 around oppressing people, but what's up with y'all? 197 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:52,520 You claim to be the people of God. 198 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,920 So now there's a prophetic indictment about idolizing work 199 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,280 in productivity at the expense of humanity, oppressing the 200 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:06,800 poor, spreading fake news, mistreating the foreigner, 201 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,240 whitewashing history, and denying justice. 202 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:17,880 Good thing we don't have to deal with that today, right now. 203 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:23,280 Y'all stay with me. This might start to start to 204 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:28,320 sound political because it is the prophets and the gospels 205 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:30,000 political. I don't believe it's partisan. 206 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,520 I don't believe it's partisan because every man made structure 207 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:36,560 with man made goals deserves critique. 208 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,360 Amen. But this will start to sound 209 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:44,480 political because in this back in this day, just like today, 210 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:50,640 God was used some for good things but also to exact power 211 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,240 of of of of of greed and and money hungry leaders. 212 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:55,880 That was the same indictment back then. 213 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:04,400 Y'all with me. I see this a lot of places. 214 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:08,160 One of the ways that I see this, and I'm especially concerned and 215 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,360 it's not the only place, but I'm especially concerned with the 216 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,880 rise of especially far right Christian nationalism. 217 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:18,240 Now let's just unpack that a little bit because I don't 218 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,240 believe in like throwing around terms, even the people we don't 219 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,320 just don't agree with. I don't, you're a racist, you're 220 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,600 a fascist, you're a national. I, I just, I don't think it's 221 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:27,840 fruitful to just throw around terms to people, right? 222 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:29,400 It's, you see it on social media. 223 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,320 It's just not fruitful to try to have constructive conversation 224 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,360 and restorative conversation. So let's unpack Christian 225 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,880 nationalism. Nationalism of any any religion 226 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,920 is essentially just trying to have the laws of the land 227 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,160 reflect the said faith. The laws of the land reflects of 228 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,720 the leaders, the, the, the, the laws, not just the laws of 229 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,120 safety, but also the laws of morality of faith, of practice 230 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,840 to reflect as accurately as possible Christianity. 231 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,080 Now, what I will say is ideally that that sounds, you know, I 232 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,040 believe that God's plan is for flourishing. 233 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:14,000 I, I, I do think in some cases it's good to try to reflect the 234 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,400 Almighty God in our country, right? 235 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,920 I'm not saying it's all bad, but the problem is, just like when 236 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,440 we talked about with Kings, is that when you delegate your 237 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,920 spiritual witness to political leaders, who's to say those 238 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:29,680 leaders won't be corrupted as well? 239 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:38,960 The people of God start to become intertwined with a 240 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,440 nationality and a party. And now I don't think there's 241 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:47,080 anything wrong with being political and getting involved 242 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:50,360 with politics, but when the lines start to get blurred and 243 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,400 are we actually talking about our political agenda or are we 244 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:54,920 talking about the Kingdom of God? 245 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,200 When those aren't defined clearly, that is where idolatry 246 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:05,000 can slip in. And Josh and I talked and prayed 247 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,200 a lot about the sermon and, and one of the things I want to say 248 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:11,120 is there's plenty of examples of like the hypocrisy in politics 249 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,440 and stuff like that. I'm, I'm actually in this time 250 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,000 to go there. I, I know this church is 251 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,280 continuing to do things about engaging politics. 252 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,920 Well, I'm, I'm more so the angle I'm taking is politics. 253 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,560 When you claim that your politics represent the Kingdom 254 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,560 of God, if you don't claim that, then politics are going to 255 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:29,520 politic. Amen. 256 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,000 But when you make that claim that you are set to a different 257 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,920 standard. When you engraft this, we are 258 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,880 the people of God, Any more importantly, you aren't. 259 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:45,680 That is where idolatry gets in. Now with me still. 260 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:50,760 Yeah, we're going to go there a Pastor Doug Wilson. 261 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,840 So. So this is just a Pastor Doug 262 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:54,640 Wilson, who's a who's a proclaimed Christian 263 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:56,760 nationalist. And I'll say this as well. 264 00:15:57,440 --> 00:15:59,680 I don't always believe in responding to the worst of 265 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,360 society, right? Because this is always going to 266 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:04,640 be the worst of society. That's that's a tactic for 267 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,320 division and unfruitful conversations. 268 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:09,680 If I don't agree with you, I'm going to respond to the worst of 269 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:10,960 your people. If you don't agree with me, 270 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:12,800 you're going to, if I agree with you, I'm going to respond to the 271 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:14,400 best of it. I'm going to show the highlight 272 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:15,800 reel for when you're doing good things. 273 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:19,840 I am concerned because over the last several years this is not 274 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:24,360 just a fringe thing, this has risen and almost been at the 275 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:28,400 forefront of Christian identity and that is why I'm concerned, 276 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,520 Doug Wilson, a pastor and a proclaimed Christian 277 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,280 nationalist, said. The peculiar institution. 278 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,120 Brace yourselves, my friends. The peculiar institution of 279 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,320 slavery was not perfect or sinless, but the reality was a 280 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,960 far cry from the horrific descriptions given to us in 281 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:50,840 modern history, which are often nothing more than a reworking of 282 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:53,960 abolitionist propaganda. Slavery produced in the South a 283 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,680 genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say 284 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,920 has never existed in any nation before the war or since. 285 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:05,760 That is a self-proclaimed pastor and Christian nationalist Brian 286 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:10,280 Suave. Recently a younger pastor, said 287 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,720 black people would be eligible for membership in this church, 288 00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:15,920 but would black people be allowed to practice black 289 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,160 culture? Absolutely not. 290 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,400 Their culture is evil, murderous, violent, and beast 291 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,800 you. And again, I'm not, I don't 292 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,880 believe in just shock value for the sake of shock value, Right. 293 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,760 But I think we need to hold ourselves to task as we talk 294 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:35,480 about who's representing Christianity. 295 00:17:40,890 --> 00:17:47,730 Y'all good? I don't think it's just fringe. 296 00:17:47,730 --> 00:17:54,800 It's not just fringe pastors. The Secretary of War showed a 297 00:17:54,800 --> 00:18:00,880 montage video of the Lord's Prayer with fighter jets and 298 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:05,480 kind of army formation. The Lord's Prayer. 299 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,200 Now you know what? Maybe if you recited a passage 300 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:11,520 from the Old Testament, there's a lot of passages about war. 301 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:17,800 The Lord's prayers in, in, in heaven as it is on earth is God. 302 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,680 You're Shalom maybe here on earth. 303 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,680 Why are you showing highlight reels of war? 304 00:18:28,290 --> 00:18:32,890 Turning Point, the organization that was founded by the late 305 00:18:32,890 --> 00:18:39,250 Charlie Kirk had a funeral where lots of Christians were there. 306 00:18:39,730 --> 00:18:44,010 And I'm going to try to cut very closely to not mince words or 307 00:18:44,010 --> 00:18:47,250 try to like. I want to quote directly. 308 00:18:47,250 --> 00:18:52,720 I do not want to slander, but the vice president said it was a 309 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,600 revival as many others. Many of them said we are on the 310 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:03,160 side of God and it's OK. What it was clearly a, a, a, a 311 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:07,320 political rally, which is a political rally is OK. 312 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:08,800 It's fine to have a political rally. 313 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,080 It's fine to have American flags all, all throughout. 314 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,960 That's OK. It's fine to say I this is these 315 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,400 are my people and I celebrate my people, even if it's not my 316 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,200 people, but it's another thing to say these are the we are the 317 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,160 people of God. We are on God's side. 318 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,720 Just the optics alone. What does that represent then 319 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:32,040 who aren't? I can go out with a bunch of 320 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:33,320 friends. I have plenty of friends from 321 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,760 different faiths, different backgrounds that in some 322 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,360 cultural, ideological ways I agree with more than some 323 00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:42,040 Christians. But I will be slow to say at, 324 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,840 you know, we going out where these are the people of God. 325 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:47,480 No, actually, my homeboy over here, he's not. 326 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,880 He's not in no shame. Right, But what? 327 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:55,760 No, these are supposed to be the people of God, a diverse family 328 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,640 brought into the Kingdom through Jesus, not through a political 329 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,280 party. Y'all good? 330 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:10,520 There was American regalia everywhere at this funeral. 331 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,440 There was an altar call which praise God, praise God for 332 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:16,760 people coming to Jesus. And then it was followed by the 333 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,200 national anthem. At the very least, is that not 334 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:24,320 confusing? What if there was a non American 335 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,440 there? Is that not confusing? 336 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:34,480 Betty Johnson at the funeral said he was talking about 337 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,920 leaders and specifically pointed to Trump and said they were. 338 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,840 These leaders were rightfully appointed by God to wield the 339 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,920 sword against evil men in our nation. 340 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:47,680 Who are the evil men? Without further clarification, 341 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,440 can you not see how this gets dangerous? 342 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:56,280 Evil men? Trump said he hates his 343 00:20:56,280 --> 00:21:01,320 opponents. Now again, if this was just 344 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,640 defined as a political rally, I probably wouldn't critique it 345 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,040 that much. But when you keep saying 346 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:17,960 statements like these are God's people, you know, the problem 347 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,160 with the tree of knowledge of good and evil wasn't just that 348 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:26,280 we saw good and did bad. It was that we wanted to define 349 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,880 what was bad and good. The knowledge of tree of good 350 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,080 and Evil was not. It was it was about disobeying 351 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,240 God, but it was also about saying, I want to play God. 352 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,200 I want to decide what's good and evil. 353 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:48,640 I want to decide who's in and who's out now I can I can hear 354 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,840 the widow Erica Kirk call for forgiveness for her killer and 355 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,320 say praise God. I, I, I don't know this woman's 356 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,400 heart. So on the surface that calling 357 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,720 for forgiveness of somebody who assassinate your husband, I can 358 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,760 I can say nothing, but that could be God breathe right. 359 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:05,400 I can only imagine someone killing someone I love and and 360 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,280 me trying to call for forgiveness. 361 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,440 I can say people coming to Christ praise God, but excuse me 362 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,040 if I'm not quick to call every large gathering with Christian 363 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,960 rhetoric A revival. All throughout the prophets the 364 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,640 people of God are condemned because they are worshipping 365 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,280 like nothing is wrong and oppression, greed, selfishness, 366 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:32,960 idolatry are running rampant. There was just announced the the 367 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,040 the the Super Bowl is going to be kind of countered with an 368 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,200 American face intertwined halftime show, which again, if 369 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,080 you want to do an American family friendly halftime show, 370 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,920 do it. But the intertwining of faith 371 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:52,720 sending a message. I believe that real revival is 372 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:54,880 not just about well produced big gatherings. 373 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,560 Real revival is when different cultures reconcile, when enemies 374 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,560 come together and restore relationships. 375 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:03,920 When there's the fruits of the Spirit, Lovejoy, peace, 376 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,280 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and 377 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,680 self-control. When people are practicing 378 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,680 Jesus's words and application, and most of all when there is 379 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:17,280 repentance. The parallels to the western 380 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,760 evangelical church are scary. And look, I'm not even saying it 381 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,240 totally from a distance. I've been informed a lot by the 382 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,040 Western evangelical tradition. I appreciate the evangelical 383 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,240 tradition. I'm a worship director. 384 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:34,160 I like worship. I like a good four chord 385 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,520 progression from Hillsong or Bethel because it helps us do 386 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,680 this. Like I'm not totally removed 387 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:45,640 from this critique, but at the same time, my friends, I join in 388 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,080 the prophetic tradition of the prophets of the Bible. 389 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,920 Isaiah says seek justice, correct oppression, bring 390 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,640 justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. 391 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,400 Jeremiah says their evil deeds have no limit. 392 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,120 They do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of 393 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:02,400 the fatherless. They do not defend the cause of 394 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,560 the poor. Amos says you oppress the 395 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,680 righteous and take bribes, you oppress the poor and you divide, 396 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,640 deprive the righteous of justice in the courts. 397 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:13,840 And look, some people say justice exactly. 398 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,160 People getting what they deserve. 399 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:19,080 You know, criminals lead to, if God's justice is a sinless, 400 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,680 spotless God, human coming to die for people that didn't 401 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,080 deserve it and some didn't even ask for it, then what does 402 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:32,880 justice mean? But even with all this, even 403 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:38,520 with all this, I still join. I still join in black Christians 404 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:40,960 throughout the years where Frederick Douglass said I love 405 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,400 the pure, peaceable and impartial Christianity of 406 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,520 Christ. Therefore, I hate the corrupt, 407 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,480 slaveholding, women whipping, cradle plundering, partial and 408 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,280 hypocritical Christianity of this land. 409 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:55,280 Indeed, I can see no reason but the most deceitful one for 410 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,760 calling the religion of this land Christianity. 411 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,680 I join in the black civil rights prophets like Fannie Lou Hammer 412 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,480 who said nobody's free until everybody's free. 413 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,120 I join in the prophetic tradition of hip hop artists 414 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:11,640 like Eshawn Burgundy who said there's going to be so many ex 415 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,360 slaves in heaven, uneducated and faithful, taking the places of 416 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:21,720 reverence. My God forever there'll be 1 417 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,880 king and 1 crown. When I get mine, I'm going to 418 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:25,720 throw it at his feet to the ground. 419 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,720 But even with all this, and I've been known to to dabble a little 420 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,160 bit in the prophetic, I don't know if we need new people that 421 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,320 want to be new prophets. The the invention of the podcast 422 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:46,440 might mess that all up. I think we need more people to 423 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:51,360 heed the prophets of old to do justice, love mercy, and walk 424 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:56,560 humbly with your God who understands that that that in 425 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,160 the Old Testament when the prophets worship the Lord God, 426 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:01,320 that was a political statement, not because they were trying to 427 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:04,440 be, but because when you declare Jesus as Lord, you're saying the 428 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,840 empire is not. When you declare Jesus as Lord, 429 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,200 you're saying Caesar is not. When we announce Jesus as Lord, 430 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,720 we're saying money is not. We're saying sexualization is 431 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,120 not violence and dominating our enemies are not. 432 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,640 Our jobs are not. The current and any future 433 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:27,480 administration is not. But look y'all, it ends with 434 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,680 hope. It ends with hope and I'm going 435 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,120 to invite the the worship team to come and prepare for a 436 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:40,280 response, but it ends with hope. You see Ezekiel said then he 437 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,480 said to me, son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. 438 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,880 They say our bones are dried up and our hope is gone. 439 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,360 We are cut off therefore prophecy and say unto them, this 440 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,000 is what the sovereign Lord says my people, I am going to open 441 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:54,800 your graves and bring you up from them. 442 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,360 I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 443 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,040 Then you my people will know that I am the Lord when I open 444 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:02,400 your graves and bring you up for them. 445 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,800 I will put my spirit in you and you will live. 446 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,040 I will settle in your land. Then you will know that I, the 447 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:09,920 Lord have spoken and I have done it. 448 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,080 There's hope. See this, this, this imagery was 449 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,320 about Israel, the people of God being spiritually dead and some 450 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:22,760 literally dead, but God breathing new life into them. 451 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,360 God say, even though you've disobeyed, even though you've 452 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:29,360 misrepresented me to the fullest extent, I'm going to come with 453 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:36,920 new life. If you liken this, this is a lot 454 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,520 toward church people. And I'm not trying to like exact 455 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,440 the Old Testament exactly to to the church today, but there's a 456 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:47,920 lot that we can learn today and it's a foreshadow to Jesus. 457 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,720 He says, I'll give you a heart of stone for a heart of flesh, 458 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,320 meaning I'm going to trade in your stubbornness, your 459 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,880 bitterness, your rebellion, your resentment. 460 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,440 I'm going to replace it with kindness, with beauty, with 461 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,080 forgiveness, with love, with purpose. 462 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,080 Jeremiah says I have loved you with an everlasting love, 463 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,840 therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 464 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,680 Isaiah said, fear not, for I have redeemed you. 465 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,760 I have called you by name. You are mine. 466 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:25,680 And this is a foreshadow to Jesus, which we'll be talking 467 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,680 about in a couple weeks. It's a foreshadow to Jesus. 468 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,320 Someone who will fulfill the law because we couldn't do it, 469 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,000 Someone who will fulfill the covenant because we couldn't do 470 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,120 it. You know, I had AI, had a old 471 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:39,760 boss, and every time he went out to lunch, he would pay for 472 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:41,280 lunch. So I wanted to be around him 473 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:42,960 whenever he was going out for lunch, right? 474 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,480 Every time, if we really believe that every time we get around 475 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,920 Jesus and the people of God, there is healing, there's 476 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:57,240 restoration, there's purpose, there's beauty, and in the case 477 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,280 of the newcomers, lunch. There's literally free lunch 478 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,840 after this. So if you could go and have 479 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:08,160 lunch. But we must be a repentant 480 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,880 people, you know. Alcoholics Anonymous talks about 481 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,760 admitting you're powerless, admitting your life has become 482 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,280 unmanageable. They have a quote here that says 483 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,600 it is admittedly off putting to think of yourself as powerless. 484 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,440 Many people see asking for help to overcome a particular 485 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,200 struggle as a sign of personal failure. 486 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,400 This pervasive stigma is a big reason why substance abuse is so 487 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,160 hard. It can be quite empowering to 488 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,800 solve your own problems. However, some problems can 489 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,840 escalate beyond our control. Addiction is one of them. 490 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,640 Idolatry is one of them. Sinfulness is one of them. 491 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,600 So you can start playing actually, the great are you, 492 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,960 Lord, but I invite you to respond. 493 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,360 We want to respond to this warning. 494 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:55,280 And it's easy as me, who is not the exact demographic in which I 495 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,800 talked about, it's easy for me to disclude myself in the 496 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,000 prophetic critique. I don't want to do that. 497 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,040 Maybe I'm not dealing with the same things and the same exact 498 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,120 idolatry that that maybe the folks attending that funeral or 499 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,200 or that are kind of enacting right wing Christian 500 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,760 nationalism. But I'm sure I have my own ways. 501 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:18,080 I need to repent. Repent just means change your 502 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,560 mind, change your thinking. Some of us have gotten saved, 503 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:23,880 but we never changed our thinking. 504 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,560 We still think the same way about anger. 505 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:28,560 We still think the same way about relationships. 506 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:30,560 We still think the same way about sex. 507 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,800 Repent means not just get saved and come into the family. 508 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:47,440 Change your mind, change your mind. 509 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,880 Let go of your own desire. Accept the fact that God says, I 510 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,200 know you have your own version of how things are supposed to 511 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,080 work out of how the country's supposed to be run, but trust 512 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:02,800 me, I got this and follow, follow. 513 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,120 A pastor once told me, follow. Don't overcomplicate that word. 514 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:12,600 Follow does not mean voyeurism. Follow Jesus, find out where 515 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,120 he's going to be. Find out where the people of God 516 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:16,800 are. Find out when church is 517 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:18,400 happening. Find out when a small group is 518 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,040 happening. Find out where people you could 519 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,400 get around to have restorative relationships. 520 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,000 You're going to be you're going to be in the world. 521 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:25,960 I'm not saying remove yourself. We're going to go to our jobs. 522 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,440 We're going to have fun. We're going to do stuff. 523 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:29,960 But follow God. Don't just watch him from a 524 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:31,320 distance. Follow.