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We're talking about the struggle
for justice. 

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This is part of this business of
being faithful and systems that 

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are stacked against us because 
there's a, there's a lot of 

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folks in this world who, who for
whom justice is, is a it's a 

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great idea. 
It's a wonderful dream, but it's

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really hard to get there. 
And, and, and as, as we're 

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talking about this today, we're 
using a story and I, I want to 

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apologize. 
This is one of those I, I 

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normally announce ahead of time 
when I'm going to be doing APG 

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13 sermon. 
And this is APG 13 sermon. 

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And you probably got that from 
the scripture that John read 

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earlier, not in the sense of 
anything graphic, but just in 

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the sense of some of the topics 
we're talking about today. 

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And I'd like to give folks 
advance notice on that, just 

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just so you know, but this, this
story of Dinah that we're 

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looking at today is, is a story 
I'm not sure I've ever heard 

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anyone preach on it. 
And, and a Sunday morning thing.

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Now, granted, most of my adult 
life I've been the one preaching

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on Sunday morning. 
So I, I don't often hear a lot 

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of other preachers these days. 
But even in other contexts, I 

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haven't heard people really 
talking about it. 

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And, and it's a tough passage 
for a lot of different reasons, 

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But in this story we get a 
picture of struggling for 

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justice and in the system that's
stacked against you. 

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And so we're going to look at 
that today and, and reflect on 

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that. 
And in some ways that I, I 

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suspect will be uncomfortable. 
And if it is uncomfortable, 

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that's a that's a good thing. 
Sorry to be uncomfortable once 

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in a while. 
But I want to talk a little bit 

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more about Dinah's situation and
what was happening there and the

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ancient Middle East. 
So Jacob and his family were 

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nomads. 
This Dinah was Jacob's daughter,

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as far as we know, his oldest 
daughter born to him and to his 

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first wife, Leah. 
And she's part of a nomadic 

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family, which is to say they're,
well, this particular nomadic 

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family is a wealthy family. 
We know that Jacob's got a lot 

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of resources. 
He's got particularly in terms 

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of livestock, sheep, goats, 
other kinds of of livestock. 

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He is well set. 
He's got a large household. 

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He's got a lot of portable 
wealth. 

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So he's not doing bad in the 
world. 

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And the family's not doing bad 
in the world. 

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They're in a pretty good 
situation. 

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Part of their situation is that 
they are strangers in a strange 

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land. 
They're in the land of Canaan. 

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The only real estate that his 
entire family owns is a burial 

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plot where his grandparents are 
buried. 

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Abraham and Sarah. 
For everything else, for all of 

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their grazing, for all of their 
water, for all of themselves, 

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and for all of their animals. 
They are dependent upon the more

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powerful forces around them to 
allow them to use land in their 

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area. 
Now this is give and take. 

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You know, you bring your large 
family with your large flocks to

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town. 
You've got things to sell, 

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you've got things to trade, 
you've got things to barter for 

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the, for the good that you're 
getting and grazing your land 

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and using people's water 
supplies, those kinds of things.

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So, so we, he's, he's not, 
they're not just wandering 

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around looking for handouts, but
they are not in a position of 

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power relative to a lot of the 
people around them. 

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One of the people around them 
that has a lot more power than 

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they do is Shechem and his 
family. 

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Shechem is the man who raped 
Dinah. 

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Shechem is the man for whom the 
city of Shechem is named. 

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And the city of Shechem is a 
real city. 

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It has been, archaeologists have
been and I think continue to 

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excavate it and learn from it. 
It was a fairly large walled 

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city, which means it was a place
of power. 

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It was the the Shechem and his 
father who would have had even 

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more authority than him, who was
a who was a leader in Shechem, 

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his his father Haymore. 
They had military power, they 

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had geographic power, they had 
economic power. 

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Cities were were they were part 
of trade routes that were 

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important. 
These were big, important, 

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powerful people. 
And the son of probably the most

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powerful person in the region 
raped Dinah and then said, well,

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you know what? 
Now I want to marry her. 

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And Jacob had to decide what to 
do. 

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And Jacob had no good options, 
no good options for true justice

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in this situation. 
The law and custom, there are 

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some things from that area that 
suggests law and custom. 

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He might have been a that, that 
possibly legally there would 

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have maybe been grounds to 
insist that Shechem be executed 

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for his crime. 
But he's the son of the king, 

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the son of the Prince. 
He's a Prince. 

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He's a leader of the city. 
And Jacob's got no leverage for 

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that kind of action, for that 
kind of demand. 

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And So what we see in this 
situation is a struggle for 

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justice in a broken world. 
What do we do when we have no 

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good options? 
Jacob chose a particular route. 

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Jacob, in his response to the 
situation, he chose appeasement 

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and accommodation for the sake 
of familial protection and 

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prosperity. 
And now it's easy as a husband, 

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as a father of a daughter, there
is something in me that that 

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turns my stomach and I want to 
step back and throw stones at 

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Jacob. 
But I would like to invite us to

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avoid chronological arrogance 
here and, and, and see the 

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difficult situation, the 
impossible situation in some 

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respects that they were in. 
Jacob is at the mercy of people 

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around him. 
He has a large family. 

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He's got lots of wealth. 
He has no military. 

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He has no leverage to demand 
justice from Haymore that his 

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son Shechem be executed. 
And he is responsible not just 

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for Dinah's welfare, but for the
welfare and well-being of his 

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entire family and household and 
clan. 

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And so Jacob decides that the 
the best thing for the family as

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a whole is to allow the marriage
to go forward. 

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We know that's what's on his 
mind because his later response 

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to his sons that that safety is 
what's on Jacob's mind. 

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I'm at the mercy of more 
powerful forces. 

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I'm going to pursue the path of 
least resistance and the path of

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greatest benefit. 
There is benefit to be gained 

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for his family by uniting with a
very powerful family, maybe the 

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most powerful family in that 
particular region, and so he 

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chooses appeasement and 
accommodation for the sake of 

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protection and prosperity for 
his family. 

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His sons choose a different 
route. 

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His sons are out in the field 
when all of this takes place and

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and it appears that the proposal
of marriage has taken place 

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before they get back. 
And on the surface, his sons 

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agree to the marriage. 
They say, OK, you can marry our,

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our, our sister. 
However, it's our religious and 

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cultural practice that all men 
in our household are 

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circumcised. 
And, and so if you want to marry

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our sister, you need to be 
circumcised. 

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And in fact, if, if you can get 
all the men of the city to be 

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circumcised, then then we can, 
your clan can intermarry with 

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our clan. 
Our sons and daughters can 

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intermarry with each other. 
And, and it'll all be good. 

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And I think this is a measure of
the influence and power that 

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Shechem had in the region 
because at Shechem's word, every

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man in the city gets 
circumcised. 

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They see a benefit to being able
to intermarry with a wealthy, 

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wealthy nomad in the area. 
But then, two or three days 

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after circumcision, when the 
pain is intense and the men are 

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feeling at their worst, Jacob's 
sons, led by Simeon and Levi, go

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in and kill every man in Shechem
and take their wives and 

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daughters as slaves. 
Jacob chose accommodation and 

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appeasement for familial 
protection and prosperity. 

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Simeon and Levi and the other 
sons chose retribution for the 

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sake of revenge and a vastly 
disproportionate retribution. 

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Be honest, upfront. 
Full disclosure, your pastor is 

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not a perfect human being. 
As a husband and a father of a 

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daughter, there's part of me 
this is absolutely. 

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But then I think about all of 
the other wives and daughters 

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who are now being forced into 
relationships that they didn't 

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want, and it gets Gray. 
The struggle for justice in the 

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real world in which we live, in 
which Jacob and Simeon and Levi 

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and Dinah and Leah lived. 
The struggle for justice is 

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often very murky and very Gray, 
and sometimes there are no good 

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alternatives. 
And this struggle goes on. 

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Today we live in a world, I 
don't think I'm shocking anybody

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with a statement in which there 
is a lot of injustice and which 

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justice is denied to an awful 
lot of people. 

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Just two quick anecdotes to 
illustrate that both as far as I

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know, true stories. 
One of a pastor from Chicago. 

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This was decades ago who there 
was a time when, when there were

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some, some of the, the tenement 
buildings, the slums in Chicago,

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very poorly maintained by the 
landlords and they had lead 

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paint in them. 
And it was being learned and how

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devastatingly bad for people 
lead paint was. 

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And children would, you know, 
chew on a window sill or a piece

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of paint would flake off and 
they would put it in their 

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mouths and, and, and lead, when 
you consume it, apparently works

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very, very quickly to cause 
brain damage in a child, 

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permanent brain damage. 
And parents were suing 

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slumlords, tenants were suing 
their slumlords for justice. 

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And a pastor went on one 
particular day when I don't, I 

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don't remember whether he 
followed the whole trial, was 

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there for the whole thing, but 
he went and, and time after time

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after time with slumlord, after 
slumlord after slumlord, the 

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case was dismissed or the judge 
ruled in favor of the slumlord. 

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And finally the pastor stood up 
and said, your Honor, I don't 

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understand. 
Is there no justice in this 

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courtroom? 
And the response of the judge 

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was this is not a Court of 
Justice. 

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This is a court of law. 
If you want justice, change the 

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law, which in terms of 
jurisprudence and judicial 

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philosophy is spot on. 
But in terms of justice for the 

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poor folks living in those 
slums, they had no power to 

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change the law. 
And even if the law did get 

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changed, how would that help 
them and their family and their 

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children? 
What options did they have in 

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that pursuit of justice when the
system was so thoroughly stacked

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against them? 
Another story, again as far as I

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know true, about a young man 
from the South, a black man I 

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believe graduated from a very 
prestigious law school, one of 

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the Ivy League schools, top of 
his class was getting offers 

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from major firms to come and 
join them, offers to clerk for 

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significant justices. 
All of these things that would 

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lead to a fast tracking his 
career the of a of a high paid, 

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high salary, powerful 
influential attorney in the 

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United States. 
And he said no to all of them. 

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And he went back to his home 
city in the South to be a public

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defender. 
And he was asked why. 

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And he said, because the number 
of black men in my state that 

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get executed is terrible, he 
said. 

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But in our country, we don't 
execute guilty people. 

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We execute poor people. 
Now, I was in law school when I 

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first heard about this. 
I said, oh, no, that's, you 

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know, you said all of this 
execution legal process, and 

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it's long and it's drawn out. 
And if they're guilty and we 

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need to have the death penalty, 
all this kind of. 

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But do a little digging and see 
if you can find a single 

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incident in which a wealthy 
person was given the death 

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penalty. 
In this country. 

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We have a different system of 
justice for the poor and for the

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wealthy. 
Now, our system of justice is 

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light years ahead of what was 
available to Dinah and Leah and 

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Jacob and their sons and his 
sons. 

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But it's still not perfect. 
It's far from perfect. 

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And we have a very different 
justice system for poor people 

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and for rich people. 
And the struggle for justice 

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continues here and around the 
world to this day. 

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And that struggle for justice 
always happens in a context 

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where the system is stacked 
against the people that are 

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struggling for justice, and 
always in a broken world. 

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Now, as followers of Jesus, we 
have this hope that we have the 

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promise of true justice ahead of
us. 

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God has promised that Jesus will
establish true justice on all 

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and all of the nations of this 
earth one day. 

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We have the promise that one day
Jesus will return and bring 

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justice to this earth, to all 
nations on this earth. 

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We get one of those promises in 
the prophet Isaiah, who's 

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Speaking of the Messiah, says 
this, here's my servant 

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referring to the Messiah, whom I
uphold, my chosen one, and whom 

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I delight. 
I will put my spirit on him, and

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He will bring justice to the 
nations. 

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He will not shout or cry out, or
raise His voice in the streets. 

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A bruised Reed He will not break
in a smothering Wick. 

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He will not snuff out and 
faithfulness. 

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He will bring forth justice. 
He will not falter or be 

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discouraged till he establishes 
justice on the earth three times

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and four verses. 
God promises justice in all the 

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earth. 
One day that will happen. 

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We have not reached that point 
yet. 

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One day Jesus will return to 
this earth and establish 

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justice. 
What do we do until then? 

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We lack the power to have a 
grand strategic plan to 

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establish justice in all the 
earth. 

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If you can do that, let me know.
I'd like to join. 

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I have yet to meet anyone that 
has that capacity. 

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I don't think we as human beings
have the capacity to establish 

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true justice. 
I, I don't, I don't think we're 

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ever even going to be able to 
figure out exactly what true 

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justice looks like apart from 
divine intervention. 

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And the folks that, that are 
struggling for justice certainly

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don't have the power to 
establish true justice 

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throughout the earth. 
So in the absence of that, what 

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00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:59,080
can we do? 
We can find strategies to attack

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and undermine injustice where 
its weaknesses are, and to bring

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a little more justice into the 
lives of the people in this 

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world around us, some near and 
some far. 

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We can do that, engage in those 
tactics that will make things a 

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00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,000
little bit better, a little bit 
at a time. 

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00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:22,040
How do we do that? 
How do we pursue justice in a 

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system that's stacked against 
us? 

258
00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:27,960
First of all, we have to 
recognize the importance of 

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justice. 
Justice and social justice are 

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00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,080
not an irrelevant side quest for
the church. 

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They are the heart of what God 
calls the church to do and be 

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and pursue. 
We are to be a window into the 

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Kingdom of God in which people 
experience justice among us. 

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And we are to be the hands and 
feet, the body of Christ, as we 

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seek to pursue his mission of 
establishing justice on the 

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earth. 
We'll never get it completely, 

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but if we don't recognize that 
this is central to Our Calling, 

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we'll never even start. 
We'll never even try. 

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But this is not an irrelevant 
side issue. 

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This is the heart of who we are,
Jesus. 

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When he announced his mission in
the earth at his first publicly 

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00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:22,520
recorded sermon in his town of 
Nazareth, and He said that, he 

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claimed it was not this passage 
in Isaiah, but one very similar 

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00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,160
to it. 
This is why I'm here. 

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Bring recovery of sight to the 
blind, to set the prisoners free

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to free, and set at liberty the 
oppressed. 

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00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,960
Quotes from the prophet Isaiah 
all the language of justice that

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is repeated over and over and 
over again in the Old Testament 

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Scriptures. 
Care, concern, justice for the 

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poor, for the vulnerable in the 
world around us. 

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Jesus says This is why I have 
come and if we are following 

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Jesus, that is why we are here, 
to pursue that same justice, to 

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00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:09,320
struggle for that same justice, 
even if we never can achieve it 

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on our own. 
Trusting and standing on the 

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promise that one day Jesus will 
make it real. 

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00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,360
We struggle for it now. 
And how do we struggle for it? 

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00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,760
One of the things we have to do 
is we have to prioritize care, 

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00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,640
healing, and restoration for 
those who have been wronged and 

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00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,040
those who are most vulnerable to
injustice. 

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00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,160
One of the most tragic things 
about this story in Genesis 

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00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,720
chapter 34 is we never hear from
Dinah. 

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00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:43,600
We never hear from Leah and 
their culture and that time and 

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00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,200
that place, their voices didn't 
matter. 

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00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:54,080
Fathers and brothers and rapists
decided what was best for them. 

295
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:06,760
The silence in that chapter 
rings loud in the full context 

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00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:13,520
of the scripture. 
Where is Dinah's voice? 

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00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:16,120
Couple of weeks we're going to 
get to Tamar. 

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00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,520
We get to hear her voice. 
Where was Dinah's voice? 

299
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:23,440
Where was Jacob saying, Dinah, 
what do you want? 

300
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,200
How would you like me to 
respond? 

301
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:32,080
Leah, Jake, Jacob, Leah, how? 
How should we care for our 

302
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,960
daughter in this situation? 
And we don't get any of that. 

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00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,640
But those are the voices Jesus 
listened to. 

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00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:45,600
Jesus lifted up the powerless. 
He gave voice to the voiceless. 

305
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,040
He took the people on the 
margins and put them in the 

306
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,120
center. 
The children, the orphans, the 

307
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:57,600
widows, the poor, the sick, the 
leprous, the broken, the lame, 

308
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:06,400
the women, the slaves. 
He put them in the center and 

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00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,640
said, let's listen. 
The Kingdom of heaven has made 

310
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:16,320
it such as these. 
We need to prioritize and listen

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00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,560
to those voices. 
I'm I'm don't know what happened

312
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:22,840
here at both of the other 
churches, we prayed for the 

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00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,960
situation in the Middle East in 
Iran right now and and again, 

314
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:31,200
I'm not my goal and desire is 
not to be partisan and political

315
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,880
in all of this. 
When I hear the stories of the 

316
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,560
struggle for justice, 
particularly among women in 

317
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:42,320
Iran, I see the pictures of 
women who had acid thrown in 

318
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,600
their faces by the morality 
police simply because they 

319
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,600
exposed too much hair or too 
much skin. 

320
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,720
When I hear the reports and, and
no one at this point, I don't 

321
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:55,800
know how any, I don't know if 
anyone knows for sure the 

322
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,960
numbers, but potentially 
thousands, maybe 10s of 

323
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:03,080
thousands of people who in 
January stood up and cried for 

324
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,720
justice and were murdered by 
their own government. 

325
00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:14,280
The struggle for justice 
continues to listen to the 

326
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,200
voices of the people that are 
engaging in that struggle. 

327
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,840
What do you want? 
How can we help you? 

328
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:30,760
What can we do? 
I, I, I, yeah. 

329
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:36,520
Man, I have such mixed feelings 
about exercising violence 

330
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,040
against other people. 
My hope and my prayer is that 

331
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,400
that whatever else comes out of 
the violence that's going on 

332
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,600
right now, the women and others 
within Iran that have been so 

333
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,240
brutally used, abused, 
imprisoned and assaulted that 

334
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,360
their lives a year and a decade 
from now will be better than 

335
00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,680
they are were a month and a 
decade ago. 

336
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,720
But that's not going to happen. 
It doesn't happen without 

337
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:11,920
struggle and it doesn't happen 
without listening to the voices 

338
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:17,760
of the people who are on the 
receiving end of injustice and 

339
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:25,960
hearing what they have to say 
and following their lead at 

340
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:31,600
times. 
Meanwhile, we have to beware of 

341
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,440
both vengeance and self-serving 
accommodation. 

342
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,520
These things are always 
temptations. 

343
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:44,120
There are always temptations, 
and sometimes, in an imperfect 

344
00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:47,640
world, sometimes they're the 
best that can be had. 

345
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:55,360
Sometimes the best that a person
can hope for is a pound of 

346
00:23:55,360 --> 00:24:01,960
flesh, because true justice is 
not attainable. 

347
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,640
Sometimes the best a person can 
hope for is a paycheck. 

348
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,720
I was wrong. 
By this powerful person, that 

349
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:17,520
powerful corporation. 
I can either stand up for 

350
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,880
justice for everyone and spend 
the rest of my life fighting a 

351
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,320
legal battle that I can't pay 
for, or I can take a paycheck 

352
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:30,120
and a non disclosure agreement 
and I get paid. 

353
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:38,360
But justice isn't done. 
Those temptations are always 

354
00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:45,720
there to accommodate because 
it's safer and easier to seek 

355
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,960
revenge, because of the the 
feeling of moral and righteous 

356
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,200
superiority that it gives us. 
But we always have to be careful

357
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:58,280
with those. 
Sometimes those are the best 

358
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,880
alternatives available, and 
those seem to be the best 

359
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:09,400
alternatives that were available
to in Genesis 34, Vengeance or 

360
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,480
accommodation. 
But they're not true justice. 

361
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,400
And even when those are the best
alternatives available, we can't

362
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:23,280
be satisfied and then give up 
the struggle just because we got

363
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:30,840
a paycheck or a pound of flesh. 
Instead, we first of all need to

364
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,200
be slow to judge those who 
choose a different path. 

365
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,520
Because sometimes the best 
alternative available is very 

366
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:45,480
Gray and murky and armchair 
quarterbacking and throwing 

367
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,160
stones from a geographic 
distance or a temporal distance,

368
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:54,000
chronological distance. 
Is is is too easy when we're not

369
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,360
the one involved. 
It's going to be slow to judge 

370
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:05,440
when people accommodate or when 
people seek revenge, when people

371
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,360
fall short of true justice to 
get the best that they can help 

372
00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,120
for. 
We can be slow to judge, but at 

373
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:15,320
the same time, we can never stop
seeking better justice. 

374
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:22,320
That's always the goal, that if,
if it's never going to be 

375
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,280
perfect till Jesus gets here, 
then there's always going to be 

376
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,080
room for improvement in our own 
counties, in our own 

377
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,320
communities, in our own country 
and in the world. 

378
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:35,280
There's always going to be room 
for improvement. the United 

379
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,400
States is light years ahead, 
just a situation in the United 

380
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,280
States, light years ahead of 
what was available to Jacob and 

381
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,120
and Leah and Dinah and the 
brothers. 

382
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:51,520
But it's so far from perfect. 
We are light years away still 

383
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:57,360
from the Kingdom of God, and so 
we can't let better than it used

384
00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,720
to be be a substitute for let's 
make it better than it is. 

385
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,880
It's hard work all along the 
way. 

386
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,960
It's dangerous work all along 
the way. 

387
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:16,280
It is morally and ethically Gray
and murky work all along the 

388
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,360
way. 
Nowhere in the Scripture is 

389
00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:22,720
Jacob condemned for his 
accommodation. 

390
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,960
And the only one that condemns 
the brothers for their vengeance

391
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,720
is Jacob. 
And he says you have made this a

392
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,080
very dangerous place for us. 
That was his judgement of the 

393
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,200
his sons. 
You have made this a very 

394
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,120
dangerous place for us. 
And he was right. 

395
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,120
They had and their response 
didn't deny that. 

396
00:27:45,120 --> 00:27:47,360
They just said, well, were we 
supposed to do nothing 

397
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:55,960
implicitly like you did, Dad? 
These are these are Gray areas 

398
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:03,480
and the Bible does not give easy
answers, Morally simplistic 

399
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:10,880
answers simply acknowledges the 
reality of the struggle and the 

400
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,080
reality that God insists that we
continue the struggle. 

401
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,280
It is never OK to give up the 
struggle for justice. 

402
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,360
God. 
God is working on that and calls

403
00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:28,440
us to work on it too. 
Even when the system is stacked 

404
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,520
against us, even when it's hard,
even when it's dangerous. 

405
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,400
In Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.