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Before I get into preaching 
today, I want to ask for your 

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prayers. 
And just so you know, I don't 

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know if I've ever said this to 
her, but I really covet and 

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value your prayers for me as I'm
preparing sermons each week. 

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My prayer is, and I invite you 
to always join me in this, is 

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that as I'm preparing the 
message and delivering the 

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message that I'm speaking what 
God wants us all to hear, not my

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own opinion or my own 
perspective or my own ideas. 

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And I mean, my stuff is always 
mixed up in there. 

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And that's why I often pray, you
know, whatever is from God, let 

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it take root and grow and 
whatever is just for me, let it 

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be quickly forgotten. 
But if you could pray that for 

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me, especially this week, and 
I'm glad I, that Paula 

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mentioned, I think it was you, 
Paula, I wasn't looking 

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backwards. 
I thought it was your voice the,

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the situation in the Middle 
East. 

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And I have been following that 
whole thing fairly closely since

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October 7th of a couple years 
ago. 

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And, you know, I don't get 
partisan from the pulpit and I 

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don't want to ever get partisan 
from the pulpit. 

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But sometimes events that are 
are divisive and controversial 

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events I, I feel I need to 
address from the pulpit. 

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And I am feeling right now the 
need that I might need to 

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address what's happening there, 
particularly now that the United

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States is directly involved, 
from the pulpit next Sunday. 

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And I don't know what that will 
look like, which is why I would 

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like you to be praying about it 
with me. 

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And I'm not even for certain I'm
going to do that, but I think I 

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probably will. 
I think that's where God's 

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leading me. 
But I would love you to be 

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praying that. 
So first of all, that that if 

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it's not God that I'm hearing, 
but but a bad burrito or 

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something like that, that that 
God will make it clear. 

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Scott, keep your mouth shut 
about that. 

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You don't need to talk about 
that from the pulpit. 

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If it is God that's leading me 
that I would speak with God 

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would have us all here, not just
my own opinion. 

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So I don't know what it would 
look like. 

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I know what it would not look 
like. 

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It will for sure not be a 
partisan political rant and and 

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which I I, you know, Rage 
Against one particular political

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party or position or another. 
It won't be a nationalistic rant

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in which I Rage Against one 
particular country or another. 

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It won't be a religious or 
ideological rant in which I Rage

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Against one particular religion 
or another. 

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I don't think those things ever 
have a place in the pulpit. 

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I think that as we as a nation 
are now involved in a war and as

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many people, including my son, 
who's in the Air Force right 

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now, might have more or less 
direct contact with that. 

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But even, you know, we're a 
nation of a great mixture of 

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folks. 
We've got Christians, we've got 

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Muslims, we got Jews, we got 
Israelis, we've got Iranians 

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living in this country, along 
with a lot of other different 

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folks in this country. 
And, and I think it is important

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for us to ask where is God in 
all of this and how can we 

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respond in faith to what's going
on? 

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And I would like to be able to 
talk about those things without,

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again, without drifting into 
partisan politics or rants and, 

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and, and those kinds of things. 
Is that, is that fair enough? 

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If you could just be in prayer 
with me for this week so that if

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I do speak about that next 
Sunday, I do it a way that 

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honors God and builds us all up 
and rather than making someone 

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feel like they're being 
attacked. 

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So. 
OK, thank you for that. 

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I appreciate that. 
All of that said, now we can get

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to this week's OOP. 
I got to get my notes out 

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because this is one of those 
days where I'm going to need my 

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notes. 
We are talking today about the 

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folly of idolizing power, the 
danger, the foolishness of, of 

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making power seeking and wealth 
seeking the goal or even part of

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the goal of our lives. 
God has some very serious things

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to say about that. 
And John read the beginning of 

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Genesis chapter 6 a little 
earlier. 

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I will tell you up front that I 
have never read Genesis chapter 

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6 verses one through 8, well, 
particularly one through 5 and 

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said to myself, boy, I can't 
wait to preach on that. 

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I think it's one of the 
strangest passages in the entire

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Bible. 
There's lots of weird stuff in 

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there. 
We're going to get to that 

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because I want to address some 
of that because some of it is 

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just truly bizarre. 
I think though, there is within 

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these, and I believe there is 
within these first 8 verses in 

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Genesis 6, a message that is 
deeply relevant for our 

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situation today. 
And the the core of that message

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is the foolishness of idolizing 
power rather than trusting and 

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turning to and seeking God. 
And so let's get into that. 

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And I want to get into it and 
I'm going to this is, this is a 

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tough passage to preach in a kid
friendly way. 

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I'm going to do my darndest to 
preach this in a kid friendly 

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way because there's a lot of 
strangeness and, and and 

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difficult words going on here 
and concepts. 

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But so first I want to explain 
some of the challenging words in

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there. 
We hear the phrase twice sons of

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God in those first 8 verses, in 
the 1st 5 verses really. 

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And the sons part of that is 
easy. 

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It just it's sons. 
It really is sons. 

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It's the God part of that. 
That's a real challenge because 

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the word that is translated God 
is the word Elohim. 

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And that word is translated in 
three different ways, distinct 

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ways in the Old Testament and 
that are all accurate in their 

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own context. 
Most of the time it's just 

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translated as God and, and most 
of the time that's what it 

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means. 
However, the word itself is 

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plural and sometimes it's 
translated as gods, gods. 

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So this could you could arguably
say the sons of gods rather than

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the sons of God. 
Other places like in Psalm 

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chapter 8, you hear that where 
the psalmist is talking about 

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what are humans that you are 
mindful of us and yet the 

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psalmist writes, you have made 
us a little less than God's and 

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it's the same word Elohim. 
Some translations translate 

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they're they're as angels as 
well. 

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And and the third way that that 
word is translated in the Old 

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Testament is in Exodus chapter 
20 and then again in chapter 22,

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where it means judges humans of 
significant power and authority 

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in their society. 
And the people that analyze this

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are split into two big 
categories. 

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There's a lot, maybe some 
smaller ones, but the two main 

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categories see that this sons of
God means angels, angelic 

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spiritual beings that look down 
on earth, are attracted by 

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women, join with women, and 
together they produce hybrid 

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babies, hybrid Angel human 
babies called the Nephilim, 

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which are identified as mighty 
or heroes, depending on the 

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translation you read in the 
land. 

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That's one large group, and 
there's a lot of very credible 

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people that say it's, that's 
what it means. 

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There's another large group of 
people that also has some 

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heavyweights behind it, people 
like Augustine, John Calvin, and

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John Wesley, among many others 
who say that that doesn't make 

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sense. 
Angels are spiritual beings. 

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There's no way that they can 
coupled with human beings and 

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produce babies. 
It's just not possible. 

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But what these sons of God are 
are sons of judges, sons of 

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powerful and influential people 
in the land that looked out and 

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said we get our pick of the 
women. 

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I'm going to talk about that in 
more detail later. 

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Now, either translation is 
legitimate. 

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Either understanding is, is, is 
you can argue for and there's no

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conclusive way to say one or the
other, but I think that that 

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leaves us some freedom as we 
look at this and, and here's the

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reality in terms of relevance 
for our lives. 

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I cannot remember ever having 
had to deal with the problem of 

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Angel human hybrids living among
us. 

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Never once have I had to deal 
with that problem. 

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However, the problem in our 
culture and in the world of how 

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do we respond to powerful people
who take what they want and 

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exploit who they want? 
That's a real problem. 

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So I think it's far more helpful
for us to look at it from that 

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perspective rather than now. 
The Angel human hybrids would 

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make a really cool Marvel 
Cinematic Universe movie, to be 

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sure. 
But I think in terms of 

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relevance and meaning for our 
Christian walk and our Christian

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faith, how do we respond and how
does God respond to powerful 

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humans who take what they want 
and exploit who they want is a 

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much more relevant question. 
So that's one of them. 

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The other one is that word 
heroes translation. 

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I used to use heroes. 
Other translations say mighty 

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people, mighty men. 
That's mighty is a little 

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better. 
Heroes have a positive 

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connotation. 
The word that's translated there

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in Hebrew has is morally 
neutral. 

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It's used of mighty people who 
are doing good things, mighty 

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people who are doing bad things.
And sometimes it's used, it's 

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often used of God when God is 
doing mighty things. 

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And and I think these Nephilim 
should are definitely mighty 

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highly questionable given the 
context whether they were heroes

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in our sense of the world word 
in which heroes are typically 

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considered good guys. 
And you've got your heroes and 

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your villains. 
You got your superheroes and 

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your super villains. 
Heroes are usually good guys, 

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right? 
Am I right about that, AJ? 

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Yeah. 
OK, I'm going to take that as an

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agreement. 
Heroes are usually good guys. 

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These Nephilim, I think we'll 
see, are not good guys. 

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They're not good. 
They're mighty, but they're not 

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good guys. 
They're not heroes. 

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All right. 
So then the third one is a 

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little less significant, abide 
and contend. 

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There's a place where, and I'll 
just back it up, where then the 

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Lord said my spirit will not 
contend with humans forever. 

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The word contend, the Hebrew 
word can also mean abide. 

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So God is saying here, either 
God is saying the Lord said my 

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spirit will not abide with 
humans forever or contend with 

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humans forever. 
The practical impact is the 

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same. 
God is starting a timer and 

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saying there are problems in the
world and I am not going to 

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spend forever either wrestling 
with humans to try to get them 

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back on the right way or staying
with humans while they're 

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continuing to go the wrong way. 
The effect is the same. 

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God says there is a limit to my 
patients with y'all. 

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And what is that limit? 
That's the other question here, 

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which is 120 years. 
Shortly after this God says I 

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would have said 120 years shall 
be the length of humans life, 

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something like that. 
I'm not getting the quote exact 

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there and there are two 
different schools of thought on 

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that. 
Some folks say that 120 years 

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means God has set that as the 
maximum lifespan for humans from

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this point on. 
If you look at Genesis chapter 

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5, you see people living 400 
years, 600 years, even 900 

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years. 
And so God is saying that's too 

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long, these people are doing too
much evil, we're going to cut 

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their lives short. 
Nothing past 120 years. 

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The problem with that is 
immediately after the flood, we 

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still see people living well 
over 120 years. 

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The other school of thought, and
I think is a stronger position 

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on this, is that God is setting 
the timer. 

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From this point of 
pronouncement, God is saying 120

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years until I wipe out humankind
by a flood. 

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And that's how long Noah had to 
build the boat. 

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It was a big boat. 
He had no chainsaws, no 

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bandsaws, no reciprocating saws,
no table saws. 

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He had to do all that work by 
hand with the help of his sons. 

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Took a long time to build a big 
boat, 120 years that that's the 

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time limit. 
So God started a timer. 

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Things are so bad that within 
120 years I'm going to wipe out 

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all humankind except Noah and 
his family. 

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How could things have gotten so 
bad? 

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Could it really have been so 
bad? 

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Let's hear what God says about 
what was so bad in the world 

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before the flood. 
God has some strong things to 

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say. 
The Lord saw how great the 

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wickedness of the saw how great 
the wickedness of the human race

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had become on the earth, and 
that every inclination of the 

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thoughts of the human heart was 
only evil all the time. 

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That's bad. 
Every human being, their 

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thoughts of their heart are only
evil all the time. 

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I've known some bad people. 
I've known some people who 

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acknowledge that they're bad 
people. 

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I have never met even a single 
person whose thoughts were only 

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evil all the time. 
I'm sure there's some out there.

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00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:51,440
I have not personally met them. 
There's a lot. 

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00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,480
There's 6 billion people. 
There's a lot of people I 

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haven't met. 
But God saying this is true of 

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00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:03,560
everyone except Noah and his 
family, Everyone else in the 

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00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:07,800
world, their thoughts are only 
evil all the time, which means 

235
00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,200
their actions are only evil all 
the time. 

236
00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,920
This is very general though. 
It's a general indictment, 

237
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nothing specific. 
There are two specific types of 

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evil that God mentions here in 
the 1st 8 verses of Genesis. 

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Let's look at one of them, the 
Lord. 

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00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,040
I thought I hit the button, 
apparently I didn't. 

241
00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,120
Here we go now. 
The earth was corrupt in God's 

242
00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,840
sight and was full of violence. 
God saw how corrupted the earth 

243
00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,840
had become, for the people on 
earth had corrupted their ways. 

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00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,760
So God said to Noah, I'm going 
to put an end to all the people,

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for the earth is filled with 
violence because of them. 

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00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,960
The first evil, well, one of the
evils that God identifies in the

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00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:55,120
earth at this time is violence. 
It's a lot of different ways to 

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be evil, but the thing that God 
highlights here that is leading 

249
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,720
him to wipe out all humanity 
except for one family is 

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00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,640
violence. 
This is the legacy of Cain. 

251
00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:12,120
This is what happens when that 
legacy goes unchecked and 

252
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,240
unchanged in generation after 
generation. 

253
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,840
Embraces Cain's way of living, 
which is Cain's way of living. 

254
00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:20,960
Was saying I lost honor. 
My brother took honor from me 

255
00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,200
when his offering was accepted 
and mine wasn't. 

256
00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,440
I'm going to get my honor back 
by defeating my brother and 

257
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,520
killing my brother. 
That attitude. 

258
00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:31,680
I'm going to get my honor my 
way. 

259
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,720
I'm going to get my glory my 
way. 

260
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,440
I'm going to establish and 
secure my status and my position

261
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,000
my way, no matter what it costs 
anybody else. 

262
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:45,840
That that is what led Cain to 
kill his brother Abel, and he 

263
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,160
passed that on to his great, 
great, great, great grandson 

264
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:50,920
Lamac, who killed a man for 
offending him. 

265
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,960
And now many generations later, 
and thousands and thousands and 

266
00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:00,680
thousands of people later, maybe
millions, we've got an earth 

267
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,360
that's filled with violence of 
people saying I'm going to take 

268
00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,000
care of me and my own. 
I'm going to get what I want for

269
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,760
me and my own. 
I don't care who I have to step 

270
00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,560
on or what I have to do or what 
the cost is to other people. 

271
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,400
I will get for me what I deserve
and what I need and what I want.

272
00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,520
And that leads us to the second 
evil that's specifically named, 

273
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which is in reality another form
of violence, but it's a very 

274
00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,560
specific form of violence. 
The sons of God saw that the 

275
00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,840
daughters of humans were 
beautiful, and they married any 

276
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:38,880
of them they chose. 
This is not romance. 

277
00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,960
This is not suddenly there was 
freedom to marry whoever you 

278
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:48,120
want to marry. 
This was powerful men saying, I 

279
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:52,400
get to pick whatever woman or 
women I want and I will marry 

280
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,960
them and make them my wife and 
the mother of my children if I 

281
00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,280
choose. 
What you have is these Nephilim,

282
00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:07,240
these mighty men who are backed 
by powerful families saying I 

283
00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,800
will take what I want, I will 
take who I want, and nobody can 

284
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:17,040
stop me. 
And particularly vulnerable here

285
00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:21,119
were women in that context and 
in that place. 

286
00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:25,240
And these mighty men backed by 
powerful families were 

287
00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:30,360
exploiting women and using them 
as they saw fit, without concern

288
00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:34,640
with what anyone thought or 
wanted, not including the women.

289
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,480
And So what do we have here? 
What's the condition that led 

290
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,160
God to wipe out humanity? 
Powerful people were bullying 

291
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,400
and abusing people weaker than 
them. 

292
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:49,280
Powerful people we're bullying 
and abusing people weaker than 

293
00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,240
them. 
And that may be the simplest way

294
00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,000
we can put it. 
The powerful exploiting the weak

295
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,280
and the vulnerable, the powerful
bullying and dating what they 

296
00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,000
want, from whom they want, when 
they want it. 

297
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,640
And God said, this is not what I
intended. 

298
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:07,560
It's incredible the language 
that you use. 

299
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,560
God regretted. 
Some translations say God 

300
00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:12,920
repented that he had made human 
beings. 

301
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:19,800
God felt sorry that he had made 
human beings because it wasn't 

302
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,000
what he intended. 
This is what wasn't God's plan. 

303
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,160
God created human beings and put
them in a garden where they were

304
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,080
living in perfect harmony with 
each other and with the natural 

305
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:33,720
world, plants and animals alike,
where they had all they needed. 

306
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,960
They had all the glory and all 
of the protection and all the 

307
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,520
resources they needed from God. 
They were in peace and 

308
00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:43,760
prosperity with each other and 
with the world around them. 

309
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,640
And human beings said, we want 
to do this on our own. 

310
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,680
And it led to violence and 
exploitation of the weak by the 

311
00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:55,480
strong. 
And God said, this is not my 

312
00:18:55,480 --> 00:19:00,640
design and there's no chance of 
turning the boat. 

313
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,120
The Titanic's going to hit the 
iceberg. 

314
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,960
Because when all the thoughts of
everyone's heart are always evil

315
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,560
all the time, that just means 
every child they raise from that

316
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,920
point on is going to share those
same broken, dysfunctional, 

317
00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,400
violent, bullying, exploitative 
thoughts and actions. 

318
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,680
And one man and his family isn't
going to turn the tide. 

319
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,320
So I'll save them and wipe out 
the rest. 

320
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:36,280
Here's the thing. 
The world is not now what it was

321
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,760
before the flood, right? 
I think, I hope we can agree 

322
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,760
that that we all know some 
people whose thoughts are not 

323
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,280
always evil all the time and 
whose actions are not always 

324
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,440
evil all the time. 
However, there's a lot of 

325
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,640
problems in this world, but it's
not as bad as it was then. 

326
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,800
The church is growing. 
The church is spreading. 

327
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,200
The church is is moving further 
and further into every tongue, 

328
00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,280
every tribe, and every nation. 
The Kingdom, which means the 

329
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,240
Kingdom of God, is growing and 
it's spreading. 

330
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,520
But we still have powerful 
people who use their strength 

331
00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:16,040
and their position to bully and 
exploit the weak and the 

332
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,920
vulnerable. 
And the question is, how do we 

333
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:24,080
live like Noah among them? 
What does that look like for us?

334
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,240
So that God looks with favor 
upon us as God looked with favor

335
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:30,400
upon Noah. 
How do we do that? 

336
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,040
What do we do? 
And what can we do? 

337
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,800
Particularly when sometimes it's
the most powerful and 

338
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,160
influential, it's the people 
that are backed by the greatest 

339
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,440
legal and financial and 
sometimes military might that 

340
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:48,400
there is, and often the greatest
wealth that there is. 

341
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,880
What can we do? 
What can we do? 

342
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:57,000
That's what that's what this 
passage is here I believe for, 

343
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:03,120
is to tell us what can we do and
our cultures and our communities

344
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:07,000
and our nation and our world 
when we are confronted with 

345
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,600
powerful people bullying and 
exploiting the weak and the 

346
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,680
vulnerable, What can we do? 
Well, the first thing we can do 

347
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,760
is we cannot idolize power, 
power or powerful people. 

348
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,240
We can stop turning the power 
people in the world into the 

349
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,840
idols, the great icons that that
we and our children look up to 

350
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,840
and celebrate, whether it's 
people that are that are rich, 

351
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,680
whether it's businessmen or 
athletes or musicians and 

352
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,240
singers or movie stars or 
politicians or whoever. 

353
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:40,360
That doesn't mean we can't 
admire. 

354
00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:47,400
I, I there, I've got musicians, 
I've got, I've got actors that I

355
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,880
admire that I Keanu Reeves I 
think is great. 

356
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,640
I like Jennifer Lawrence too. 
They're not perfect people, but 

357
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:56,480
I don't, I don't want to idolize
them. 

358
00:21:58,120 --> 00:21:59,760
What, what does it mean to 
idolize them? 

359
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:06,720
Idolize means when we start 
saying, I want that and I want 

360
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,640
it so bad, I'm willing to do 
whatever I need to do to get it.

361
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,600
Idolizing happens when we look 
at those powerful people and we 

362
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,760
say, you know what? 
If I could just have their money

363
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,080
and their wealth and their fame 
and their social media 

364
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,120
following, then I could do good 
things in this world. 

365
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,440
Then I can make a difference in 
this world. 

366
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,520
If I could just have their 
power, then I could make an 

367
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:34,360
impact too. 
Then I could that's idolizing 

368
00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:37,720
power and powerful people. 
Idolizing someone is not about 

369
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,760
just I'm going to bow down. 
Idolizing this means we put them

370
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,400
up on the pedestal and say they 
have the right of it. 

371
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:50,880
Their way is the best way. 
When God says don't look to 

372
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:56,000
wealth as your path to glory, 
Don't look to politics as your 

373
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,400
path to power. 
Don't look to, don't look to 

374
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,320
fame as your path to honor. 
Look to me for those things. 

375
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,600
I will give you all the power, 
all the honor, all the glory 

376
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,120
that you need just from being my
children and being in my family 

377
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:17,040
and having my Holy Spirit. 
So we can't idolize power or 

378
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:21,600
powerful people. 
We can be like Jesus and help 

379
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,320
care for and protect people that
are weaker than us. 

380
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,120
That's how we can use the power 
and the honor and the glory and 

381
00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,000
the position and the status that
God gives us that if instead of 

382
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:40,240
exploiting, we protect instead 
of using, we care instead of 

383
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,320
stepping on, we lift up. 
These are the things. 

384
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,640
These are the things. 
Be like Jesus in that way. 

385
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:51,200
I've got a couple just examples 
and I, I wanted some real life 

386
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:56,400
examples of people that were in 
situations maybe as close as we 

387
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,840
could get to in today's world to
the situation that Noah was in 

388
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,520
and the world in which he was 
living. 

389
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,480
And, and I the lowest hanging 
fruit there is always Nazi 

390
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,560
Germany when you're looking for 
a culture and, and a 

391
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:14,600
civilization that was corrupt 
and evil and, and full of 

392
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:20,160
violence and exploitation. 
And I got just a couple of 

393
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,720
examples, some you've heard 
before, Corey Tenboom, Oscar 

394
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:28,880
Schindler and, and, and others. 
But I got a couple of folks that

395
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,680
I want to meet geese who 
protected Anne Frank and her 

396
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:37,080
family. 
I want to give you 2 kids, two 

397
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:40,680
kids because we got kids here 
and these kids, the 1st is older

398
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:45,400
than you guys, but still still 
worth listening to. 16 years old

399
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:53,440
Stefania who was from Poland. 
The Nazis rolled into Poland and

400
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,280
started hurting up Jewish folks 
and putting them into 

401
00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:01,520
concentration camps. 16 year old
Stefania and her younger sister 

402
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:09,520
hid 13 Jews in their house. 13 
These two girls, teenagers hid 

403
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,600
13 Jews in their house for two 
years, with German soldiers 

404
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,600
living on the floor below them 
for two years. 

405
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,360
They hid them. 
They could have gained favor 

406
00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:24,720
with the Nazis. 
They could have curried favor. 

407
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,000
They could have used those Jews,
turning them in, sending them 

408
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:32,320
over as a way to gain status and
authority and position with the 

409
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:34,520
new regime. 
And the power was that was 

410
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:36,400
there. 
But instead they risked their 

411
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:42,120
own lives to care for them. 
Interestingly enough, Stefania 

412
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:48,560
married one of those folks she 
protected years later, using 

413
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:55,240
their position, as precarious as
it was, to protect rather than 

414
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,440
harm, to care for rather than 
exploit. 

415
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,240
Francine Christophe is another. 
She lived in France while she 

416
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:09,760
was from France, and she was 
actually Jewish, and she was 

417
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:14,920
actually sent to an internment 
camp, Bergen Belsen. 

418
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:23,080
And what did she do as a child? 
She shared her food rations with

419
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:27,040
other folks who were sicker and 
weaker than she was. 

420
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:33,040
She took the little bit that she
had and she gave a portion of it

421
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:38,320
to others to care for them and 
protect them and shield them as 

422
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:42,000
best she could. 
And God being God, did one of 

423
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,680
those things that God does 
sometimes. 

424
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:49,120
And one of the people that that 
that Francine saved ended up 

425
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:55,200
saving her life later on. 
But it's not just Nazi Germany 

426
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,160
where we can find those kind of 
examples. 

427
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,760
Here's another name that you 
might not know. 

428
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,720
I, I didn't know this one. 
Nargis Mohammadi. 

429
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:06,840
Ever heard of Nargis Mohammadi? 
She's alive today. 

430
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,960
She's a journalist. 
She's a winner of the Nobel 

431
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,360
Peace Prize. 
She was not able to receive the 

432
00:27:13,360 --> 00:27:15,400
Peace Prize. 
That was in 2023. 

433
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,840
She wasn't able to receive it 
because she was then and is now 

434
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:24,120
in prison in Iran. 
And she was imprisoned and has 

435
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:29,840
been tortured and abused because
she stood up for and wrote about

436
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,880
and exposed and protested 
against the treatment of women 

437
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:40,680
and the torture of prisoners 
under the Islamic Republic in 

438
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,880
Iran. 
And so she spent much of her 

439
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,280
adult life in jail and 
isolation, solitary confinement,

440
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,760
being tortured, even though 
she's got health problems of her

441
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,480
own. 
She suffers from partial 

442
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,160
paralysis and lung problems. 
And yet, even while she was in 

443
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:02,960
the prison, she was organizing 
fellow prisoners to protest 

444
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,480
against not only the treatment 
of prisoners, but also the 

445
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,400
treatment of women outside the 
prison. 

446
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,560
Using her position and the 
little power that she still had 

447
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:19,200
to do what she could do to 
protect and care for the weak 

448
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:24,480
and the vulnerable, rather than 
trying to Curry favor and 

449
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:30,080
improve her status by turning 
her back on them and getting 

450
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:35,320
yourself out of jail. 
This is what we can do. 

451
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,840
We can be like Nargis. 
We can be like Francine. 

452
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:47,360
We can be like Stefania. 
We can be like Jesus and use the

453
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,880
resources and the position and 
the power and the privileges 

454
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,040
that God has given us, however 
great or small those might be, 

455
00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:00,800
to protect and guard and care 
for the weak and the vulnerable 

456
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:06,160
around us. 
We might not change the world. 

457
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,920
We that's Jesus's job. 
That's not our job. 

458
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:17,760
Our job is to love and care for 
to the best that we can, when we

459
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:23,480
can and where we can. 
Not worrying about the pursuit 

460
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,160
of power and wealth and glory. 
To protect and elevate 

461
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:31,280
ourselves, but using the power 
of the Holy Spirit that God has 

462
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,960
given us. 
Living in the glory, God's own 

463
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:41,200
glory that he shares with us to 
lift others up and protect, 

464
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:43,280
protect them and care for them 
and defend them. 

465
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,840
This is what we can do. 
We won't do it perfectly. 

466
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,160
And so the final thing that we 
can do is that we can say yes to

467
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,880
God's call to stop bullying 
people and start loving people. 

468
00:29:56,840 --> 00:29:58,960
It's easy. 
It's easy in our culture to slip

469
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,720
into it even without thinking 
about it, even without realizing

470
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,080
it. 
It's easy to slip into idolizing

471
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:08,760
power and people in power. 
It's easy to slip into the, the 

472
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:12,200
subtle kinds of bullying, which 
are I'm going to use what I have

473
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,640
to take care of me and my own. 
And, and, and, and I realized 

474
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,960
that might step on some other 
people's backs and some other 

475
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:19,480
people's shoulders, but what can
you do? 

476
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:22,960
Or maybe we didn't even know we 
were doing it. 

477
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,960
But none of us is perfect. 
None of us is complete yet. 

478
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,400
That's why we need Jesus in the 
blood of Jesus. 

479
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,360
And so when we see ways in our 
own lives, when we're 

480
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,360
participating in the bullying, 
when we're participating in the 

481
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:42,360
exploitation that we repent of 
that we turn away from that and 

482
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,640
instead do what Jesus said. 
Love God with all our heart, 

483
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,960
soul, mind and strength, and 
love our neighbor as ourselves. 

484
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:51,800
These are the things that we can
do. 

485
00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:56,320
These are the things we can do. 
Idolizing power. 

486
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:05,040
Idolizing power is folly. 
Seeking power for the sake of 

487
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,560
making the world better. 
Seeking power for the sake of 

488
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:14,000
making our position in the world
better always, always, always in

489
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,880
the end leads to violence and 
destruction and exploitation and

490
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,000
bullying at its most basic 
level. 

491
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:28,000
That's why Jesus said, don't 
seek power, seek me. 

492
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:33,320
Seek the Kingdom of God first, 
and God will give you everything

493
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,320
that you need. 
Jesus said. 

494
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,760
When the Holy Spirit comes on 
you, then you'll have power. 

495
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:40,760
We don't need the power of 
wealth. 

496
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:42,280
We don't need the power of 
politics. 

497
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,800
We don't need the power of, of 
violence. 

498
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,160
We have the power of the Holy 
Spirit and we don't need the 

499
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,880
honor and the glory that the 
world can give us on social 

500
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,040
media or on stages or platforms 
or television. 

501
00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,160
We we get all the glory and the 
honor that we need from Jesus 

502
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,400
Christ himself. 
He shares his own glory and 

503
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,280
honor with us in Jesus name, 
Amen. 

504
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:09,400
Amen.