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The slide you see in front of 
you now is the sermon slide. 

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I prayed when I prepared this 
sermon on the topic that I 

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picked months ago. 
And then this week happened and,

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and I feel like I needed to 
change the sermon and I have, 

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oddly enough, the title slide 
still fits and the scripture 

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still fits all of the rest of 
the slides. 

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Not so much so we won't be 
looking at those, but I, I felt 

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the need to revise and change 
what I was saying today based on

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events of this week. 
And so I'm going to do that 

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still in the context of Abram 
and Sarai and and their 

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experience. 
I, I will say though, that 

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because of the changes, this 
really isn't a kid friendly 

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sermon. 
It's not a kid. 

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You know, it's not like bad for 
kids to hear, but I apologize. 

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This, this is really talking to 
the adults today for so for the 

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kids, if this is boring for you,
I apologize for that. 

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And I got to get my notes out so
that I can get my information 

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right here this week. 
But there's a lot, a lot that's 

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happened this week. 
And, and, and I'm going to talk 

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about it. 
And some of what I'm talking 

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about is very controversial. 
Some of it I don't think it is. 

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And, and as usual, I'm going to 
try real hard not to get 

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partisan, but to kind of live 
in, in the, the cognitive 

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dissonance, cognitive dissonance
of, of competing thoughts and 

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ideas. 
And, and I'm going to invite you

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to join me in that as the time 
goes on here today. 

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But this week has been tough for
a lot of folks. 

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The assassination of Charlie 
Kirk left many people reeling. 

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And, and one of the things I've 
always known, I've known of 

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Charlie Kirk for years. 
I've, I've watched his videos 

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before. 
I'm, I'm not a, I've never was a

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student of Charlie Kirk, never, 
never like, but I'm, I'm aware 

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of him and have listened to some
of his things over the years. 

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I'd always knew he was 
controversial, never realized 

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just how controversial he was. 
And until this week and it but 

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many men, I never realized, 
frankly, how popular he was 

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until this week. 
And many, many folks rocked and 

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shaken by his assassination. 
But his wasn't the only death 

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and in the only act of violence,
yet another school shooting, 

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this time in Denver. 
Thank God no one was killed, but

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two people were wounded. 
And coming just on the heels of 

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the shooting at the the School 
of the Annunciation up in in 

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Minnesota, where people were 
killed and many more were 

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wounded, his wasn't the only 
political assassination this 

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year. 
It was this week, but not this 

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year in the United States. 
And, and again, I got to get my 

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notes out because names 
sometimes fail to stick with me.

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Yes, Hortman, thank you. 
Melissa Hortman and her husband 

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killed in their home. 
A A up in in Minnesota as well. 

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There were other in recent years
and months, attacks and 

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assassinations. 
Daniel Andrel, who was a 

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district the son of District 
Judge Esther Salas, was shot and

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killed in their home in New 
Jersey, an attack motivated for 

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political and ideological 
reasons. 

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The the killing, assassination, 
execution of the CEO of United 

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Health Group for political and 
ideological reasons. 

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State Senator John Hoffman shot 
and wounded in his home 

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alongside of his wife in a 
political assassination, Of 

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course, 2 assassination attempts
against Donald Trump. 

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And in addition to Governor Josh
Shapiro, whose residence was 

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firebombed while his family, he 
and his family were asleep. 

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Politically motivated. 
Those aren't all of them, but 

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there's some of them. 
And it's part of the reality 

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that we live in and, and all of 
these things that are happening,

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all of this violence. 
Well, I think I, I didn't even 

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mention one that in some 
respects, I, I don't know, it's 

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how do you put gradations of 
horribleness on violence and 

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murder? 
But, and maybe this one had such

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an impact because of the video 
that was associated with it that

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I've seen, which is is the young
Ukrainian woman. 

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And again, I got to look at my 
notes to say her name properly. 

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Irina Zarutska, maybe I still 
didn't say it properly. 

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I don't know if any of you saw 
that video. 

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She's a refugee fleeing from the
war in Ukraine and came to the 

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United States and had refugee 
status and was brutally and 

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senselessly murdered on a train 
in North Carolina. 

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And, and there's video. 
Isn't this an awful thing? 

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I, I don't know the fact that we
can now watch videos of murder, 

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actual murders online. 
And, and the video I saw, thank 

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God, doesn't show the actual 
murder, but it's, it's they had 

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security cameras on the in the 
train car and, and she gets 

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stabbed and the man who stabs 
her walks the length of the 

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train car with the knife, the 
bloody knife in his hand, 

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dripping a trail of blood. 
You can see it. 

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And there's almost no response. 
And I don't know if I'm missing 

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something. 
I didn't do a whole lot more 

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digging on it. 
And, and I'm and maybe a lot of 

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I'm not sure things happened 
later, but maybe it was just 

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that she was so far back in the 
train that no one realized what 

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had happened. 
But there was no one seem to 

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respond to her. 
These kind of things in this 

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this violence in the culture is 
an invitation from the world 

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around us for us to stop living 
by faith and to start living by 

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fear. 
It is an invitation to circle 

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the wagons and draw the swords 
and load the guns and defend 

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your own and the heck with 
everybody else. 

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It is an invitation to say maybe
God even to say that either God 

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is not good or God is not 
powerful. 

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If all of this kind of stuff is 
happening and we're going to 

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have to protect and defend 
ourselves, it's that kind of 

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invitation. 
Events like this invite us to 

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live in fear rather than in 
faith. 

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And that's exactly what Abram 
and Sarai did in the passage 

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that John read this morning. 
We've seen over the course of 

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their life and their call from 
God that Abram and Sarai have 

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have at times acted with 
tremendous faith and and amazing

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courage, trusting in God to 
provide them for them, to guard 

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for guard them, to care for 
them, and to deliver on His 

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promise that He would give them 
a child and through them a great

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nation would be born. 
But something happened, and 

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maybe it was as simple as the 
passage of time without the 

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promise being fulfilled. 
And now they're both 10 years 

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older, or 15 older than they 
used to be, and there's still no

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baby. 
And they can't imagine how God 

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can keep His word. 
They can't see how it's 

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possible. 
Sarai is past childbearing 

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years. 
They knew then, as we know now, 

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that change has happened in a 
woman's body and a woman reaches

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a point when she can no longer 
bear children. 

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And they knew that had happened 
to Sarai. 

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And they're like, how can God do
this? 

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And in fear, Fear for their 
legacy, fear for their future. 

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It's the children that's 
supposed to take care of them as

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they are no longer able to take 
care of themselves. 

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Fear that the promise that God 
made wouldn't be fulfilled, that

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God couldn't or wouldn't do what
they said he would do. 

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Or maybe that they misunderstood
God. 

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And maybe God really wants them 
to take care of this. 

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And they decide God's not going 
to do it. 

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God can't do it. 
We've got to do something. 

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We will take care of this on our
own. 

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And so Sarah took her slave, a 
woman that she owned and she 

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controlled, and sent her to have
sex with her husband so that 

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Sarai would then claim the child
is her own. 

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And Abraham agreed to it. 
They did great harm, not just to

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themselves and not just to their
descendants, but to Hagar and 

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Ishmael in particular. 
Amazing horror. 

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We are told nothing about 
Hagar's level of consent in 

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this, because in that day and 
age, question of a slave's 

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consent was not on anybody's 
mind. 

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She had no freedom not to 
consent. 

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And the harm they did that day 
is incalculable to Hagar and 

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Ishmael and their descendants. 
But they did it. 

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They did it because they lost 
faith. 

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Their faith failed and they 
acted out of fear, and in so 

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doing they harmed themselves and
more so Hagar and Ishmael. 

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This is what happens when we act
out of fear rather than out of 

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faith, when we lose confidence 
in God to keep his promises, 

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when we lose confidence that God
really is sovereign and really 

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is in control and really is over
it all. 

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Now I'm, I'm going to talk a 
little bit about Charlie Kirk in

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all of this. 
And I'm going to say upfront 

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that I know there are radically 
different views about Charlie 

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Kirk and I'm going to talk a 
little bit about that in a 

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minute. 
But, but starting off, I want to

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say I'm not here to lionize or 
canonize Charlie Kirk. 

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And I'm not here to condemn or 
revile Charlie Kirk. 

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But his death has had such a 
cultural impact. 

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I want to talk about that and 
and and love him or hate him or 

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indifferent toward him. 
One of the things that he said 

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and he said more than once and 
I've heard the video, I've never

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never saw him in person. 
I've only ever known him through

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his videos is that when we stop 
talking is when bad things 

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happen. 
Charlie Kirk's stated mission is

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to to to he he believed himself.
He, he identified as a follower 

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of Jesus Christ, as a Christian 
and, and someone who was going 

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to zealously pursue the truth 
and engage in conversation and 

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debate. 
And his MO was to go to places 

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particularly that were hostile 
to him, particularly college 

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campuses, and engage young 
adults in debate. 

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And he would say, if you think 
I'm wrong, come up and convince 

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me. 
And he would have debates, open 

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mic debates with people that 
would come and talk to him. 

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And, and he did that because he 
felt and he believed that 

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talking and debating difficult 
and controversial topics was 

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important and necessary. 
And if we reached a point where 

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he said, if we can't talk 
anymore, that's when bad things 

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will really happen, when we 
can't talk. 

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And that's what he did, that's 
what he did, and that's what he 

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was doing when he was shot and 
killed. 

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Kirk leaned heavily into the 1st
Amendment, freedom of speech, 

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press and religion. 
The Bill of Rights, including 

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the First Amendment, I believe, 
have very solid biblical basis. 

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In the simplest terms, God left 
people free to do stuff, even 

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bad stuff, and government and 
society is better when we leave 

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people free to do certain 
things, even if that freedom 

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means that they're going to do 
bad things, particularly in the 

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area of speech, that we leave 
people as free as possible. 

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That's what Kirk leaned into 
going to say up front. 

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I'm a fan of the 1st Amendment. 
I think freedom of speech is 

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important. 
I think it's a culturally good 

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thing, even though it is at 
times a very painful and 

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difficult thing. 
I need to say this as well, 

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though, that the Bill of Rights 
is not the Bible. 

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I think you can make a strong 
case that there is biblical 

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foundation for the Bill of 
Rights, but the Bill of Rights, 

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or but I'm sorry, the Bible has 
precious little to say about 

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rights. 
The Bible is far more concerned 

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about responsibilities. 
The Bible is far more concerned 

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about God's people learning not 
what their rights are, but what 

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their responsibilities are. 
And sometimes we have to 

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surrender our rights in order to
do the responsible thing that 

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take on the responsibilities 
that God has given us. 

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And what are those 
responsibilities? 

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One of those responsibilities is
truth. 

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Jesus said I am the way, the 
truth and the life. 

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And we as church, as followers 
of God, we have a responsibility

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to seek truth, to pursue truth, 
to elevate truth, even when that

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truth is painful and difficult 
and hard to hear and hard to 

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accept and hard to believe. 
Now, that's always easier to do 

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when it's the other person that 
finds the truth hard to hear, 

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hard to accept and hard to 
believe. 

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That's when it's easy. 
Everybody loves that, but it's 

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just as important, even more 
important to be willing to 

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pursue and hear and receive the 
truth when it's difficult for 

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us. 
I've been confronted with that 

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again this week in some very 
real ways from some very loving 

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friends. 
And, and I'm in the middle. 

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I'm going to switch from 
preaching mode to testifying 

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mode and just tell you a little 
bit about my experience this 

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week. 
Before that, though, one more 

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general truth. 
One of the things I'm hearing 

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and I began to find myself 
repeating in my head and even to

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other people is that something 
seems to have changed in our 

225
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:14,880
culture. 
Something seems different with 

226
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,520
these deaths and with this 
violence and with these 

227
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,680
assassinations. 
And a friend of mine sent me a 

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00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,040
link to a an independent 
journalist. 

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00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,520
I don't, I had not experienced 
with him before. 

230
00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,840
He's an independent author and 
journalist whose name is Where'd

231
00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:32,160
It Go in my notes? 
Where is he? 

232
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,480
Keith Boinken. 
I don't know if you know him. 

233
00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,000
I haven't heard of him before. 
I'm going to listen to him. 

234
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:39,920
Click the follow button. 
I'm going to listen to him 

235
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,840
again. 
He pointed this out that none of

236
00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,680
this is new in the United 
States, and he's absolutely 

237
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:55,360
right. 
Like it or dislike it, hate this

238
00:15:55,360 --> 00:16:02,480
truth or not, the fact is, is 
violence is in our DNA in the 

239
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,640
United States of America. 
Our nation was born out of 

240
00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:11,960
violence. 
The violence of genocidal wars 

241
00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:17,280
against the native populations, 
The violence of a a rebellion 

242
00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:23,160
against the governing authority 
which was England, the violence 

243
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:27,040
of the Spanish American War, the
violence of the War of 1812, the

244
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:31,600
violence of the French and 
Indian War, the violence of the 

245
00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,280
Trail of Tears, and so many 
other things. 

246
00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:38,600
Assassinations are nothing new. 
There's a lot more. 

247
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,800
I know we've had more than just 
Abraham Lincoln and John F 

248
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,280
Kennedy, but I'm not a good 
enough in American history to 

249
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,360
tell you all of them. 
But Abraham Lincoln and John F 

250
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:54,160
Kennedy assassinated tremendous 
civil rights leaders like Martin

251
00:16:54,160 --> 00:17:00,360
Luther King Junior and Malcolm X
assassinated the terrible 

252
00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:06,720
violence of lynchings. 
Violence is in our DNA. 

253
00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,680
This is not new, and Boykin 
makes the point that I think 

254
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,839
he's absolutely right that until
we're honest about these things 

255
00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:18,160
with ourselves, we really never 
have a chance to heal from them 

256
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,119
and move on and get past the 
violence. 

257
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:29,280
So this is nothing new. 
Some other truths I'm confronted

258
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,120
with. 
Made a post about Charlie Kirk. 

259
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,040
I, I, I have listened to his 
videos. 

260
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,680
I knew some I, I, I, I knew he 
was popular. 

261
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,160
I knew he was controversial. 
I did not realize how popular, 

262
00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:43,000
how controversial. 
Made a post with what I thought 

263
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,960
was a relatively innocuous 
compliment toward Charlie Kirk. 

264
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,920
He says, I, I, I'm not going to 
get in. 

265
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,400
What are you, what I believe or 
don't believe? 

266
00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,960
I'm not going to get into today 
on, on Kirk himself, but I made 

267
00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,440
what I thought was a relatively 
innocuous compliment and 

268
00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:00,440
discovered it was not relatively
innocuous. 

269
00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,520
And I, I don't have enough 
followers to have anything go 

270
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:09,120
viral, but I have enough 
followers that are sufficiently 

271
00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:13,080
diverse in their ideological 
viewpoints that I had a little 

272
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:18,280
mini firestorm right there on my
Facebook page and a lot of, a 

273
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:23,680
lot of hard feelings. 
But I, I, I noticed a pattern 

274
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:31,960
and, and, and I noticed that 
there was a whole diverse group 

275
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:36,480
of people that were angry about 
what I posted. 

276
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,440
White, black, gay, straight, 
male, female. 

277
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:47,640
It seemed that the people that 
were pleased with what I posted 

278
00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,000
were they were male and female, 
but we're all white and as far 

279
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,400
as I know all straight. 
That's not true. 

280
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:55,920
That's not true. 
I'll take that back. 

281
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:04,160
Not all straight, but I did 
notice this, that every single 

282
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,640
one of my black friends, and by 
the grace of God and the 

283
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,320
patience of a lot of great folks
of color, I have, I have a lot 

284
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:14,360
of black folks that that claim 
me as friend. 

285
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:20,800
And I then and every single one 
of my black friends that 

286
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:23,240
responded to it, responded to it
negatively. 

287
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,600
And by the grace of God, I've 
learned to see that those kinds 

288
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,480
of patterns are important. 
See, one of the things we have a

289
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,120
responsibility for is truth. 
Another thing we have a 

290
00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:42,080
responsibility to do is to 
listen, is to listen. 

291
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,600
And, and I've had some folks 
over the years teach me that 

292
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,000
that because I'm a white guy who
grew up where I grew up, I have 

293
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:52,880
certain blinders. 
There's certain things that I'm,

294
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,040
I'm naturally don't see or find 
more difficult to see and 

295
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,880
perceive and recognize. 
And, and I have noticed that 

296
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:05,560
that when, when, when 
predominantly white on this side

297
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,680
and predominantly black on this 
side on a, on a controversial 

298
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,760
political topic, that there's 
something going on than just the

299
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,800
topic. 
That, that, that there's, 

300
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,600
there's, there's a racialization
of something that's happened 

301
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:23,000
here. 
And some of those black friends 

302
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,000
of mine reached out to me off of
the Facebook news feed. 

303
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,880
We've had direct conversation 
and communication, text 

304
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,680
messages, those kinds of things.
And we'll have some, some other 

305
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:33,480
kinds of conversation going 
forward. 

306
00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:37,480
And, and I began to hear from 
them. 

307
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,840
And and by the grace of God, I'm
I'm trying to listen. 

308
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:43,840
Some of them will tell you I'm 
not listening hard enough. 

309
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:52,320
I'm trying and, and this dynamic
developed that that is, is has 

310
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,440
left me in a in an uncomfortable
position. 

311
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:58,000
I'm not looking for sympathy. 
This is not a plea for pity or 

312
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,360
sympathy. 
Don't hear that just description

313
00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:03,680
of reality, but it's a position 
that I hate being in. 

314
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,480
But I think God wants us all to 
be in regularly. 

315
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,640
And that's a position of 
cognitive dissonance. 

316
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:13,040
See, here's here's where I am 
with this right now. 

317
00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:19,320
I've got people that I know well
and that I know that they're 

318
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,720
honorable. 
I know that they're intelligent.

319
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,920
I know that they're faithful. 
I know that they are filled with

320
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:32,160
goodwill toward fellow human 
beings and that they see Charlie

321
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:38,640
Kirk as an honorable, faithful, 
decent human being out doing the

322
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,920
work of God. 
And I have friends that are 

323
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:49,280
honorable, intelligent, 
faithful, goodwilled people that

324
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,880
have goodwill toward their 
fellow human beings that look 

325
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,680
and listen to Charlie Kirk and 
are absolutely convinced he's 

326
00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:58,120
out there doing the work of the 
devil. 

327
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,720
And, and, and I know neither 
sets of people are crazy. 

328
00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,280
I know they're neither ignorant.
I know neither set of group 

329
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:16,960
people is faithless. 
And, and, and I'm going and both

330
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,400
kind of want me to pick a side 
and, and right now I'm just 

331
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,160
stuck in the middle again. 
This is not poor pity for me, 

332
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,120
but what do we do in that kind 
of situation? 

333
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:36,280
What do we do if, if, whichever 
side I pick, the other feels 

334
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,000
like they are being repudiated 
and rejected? 

335
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,360
Now, here's the thing. 
I think that's where God wants 

336
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:50,320
us. 
I think listening like that and 

337
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,640
here, because I can hear where 
these folks are coming from and 

338
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,880
I can understand where these 
folks are coming from, and I can

339
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,560
hear where these folks are 
coming from, and I can 

340
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:00,360
understand where these folks are
coming from. 

341
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:06,400
And, and, and, and I think 
that's where God wants us far 

342
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:08,040
more often than we want to be 
there. 

343
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,720
Cognitive dissonance is a very 
unpleasant place to be. 

344
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:14,960
It's a very necessary place to 
be. 

345
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:19,960
I think Jesus demonstrated that 
in his own inner circle, his 12 

346
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,360
followers that he called his 
disciples and his apostles cause

347
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,160
one of them was Simon the 
Zealot. 

348
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,880
The left and right here are in 
no way correlated to where I was

349
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,480
before, so it's not like these 
groups are yet OK. 

350
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:38,080
Simon the Zealot was a political
revolutionary. 

351
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,120
The Roman Empire would have 
called him, and using today's 

352
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:46,200
terms, a terrorist who was 
engaged in political violence 

353
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,720
against the Roman Empire. 
That's what the Zealots did to 

354
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:55,880
get the Romans out of Israel. 
Matthew was a tax collector, 

355
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,880
making his living working for 
the Roman Empire, taking money 

356
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,680
from his people and giving it to
the Romans, and that's how he 

357
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,880
got paid. 
And Jesus had them both at the 

358
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,840
table. 
He had them both at the table 

359
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:17,880
and the only thing that they 
seem to have in common was 

360
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,800
Jesus. 
And what, what I, what I find 

361
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,800
tremendously frustrating about 
that is we're never told how 

362
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,800
they or whether they resolved 
that. 

363
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,120
We're never told that, that 
Simon and Matthew work things 

364
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,920
out and they became friends and 
Simon changed this way. 

365
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,480
And we're never any of that. 
We just know they were both 

366
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:43,960
there, part of Jesus's inner 
circle, and I got to think the 

367
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,000
other disciples were looking 
around going man, what do you I 

368
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,120
think we're I've got it. 
Maybe some of them were taking 

369
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:50,040
bets. 
What do you think? 

370
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,000
Simon's going to stab Matthew in
the back first? 

371
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,480
Or will Matthew turn Simon into 
the Roman authorities first? 

372
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:00,640
I'll wage you 2 shekels and a 
piece of fish. 

373
00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:06,440
They would have all been aware 
of this tension. 

374
00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:10,720
They would have all been there 
in the middle of that in some 

375
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:16,520
way, shape or form. 
Pastor friend of mine used to 

376
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,000
say, and he still says that to 
be follower of Jesus. 

377
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,440
If we're really serious about 
it, it means that we become 

378
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,960
comfortable being uncomfortable.
And that means getting out of 

379
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,880
our silos and really listening 
to people who are different than

380
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:36,480
we are and trying our best to 
hear them and understand, even 

381
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,360
if we can't come to agreement. 
And we have a responsibility to 

382
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:42,400
do that. 
We have a responsibility to 

383
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:43,640
truth. 
We have a responsibility to 

384
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,240
listen. 
And ultimately, we have a 

385
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:50,160
responsibility to love. 
And we can't love without 

386
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:55,880
listening and without truth. 
This is this is the story of 

387
00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:00,120
Hagar that we see here. 
Hagar, the very definition of an

388
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:04,880
invisible person in the world. 
No one who saw her running away 

389
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:07,560
and saw her in the streets are 
the would have cared. 

390
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,560
She was nothing in the eyes of 
most people. 

391
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:16,280
A runaway slave, a pregnant 
woman who's run off, no value, 

392
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,560
no space. 
Why even care? 

393
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,840
Why be concerned? 
Just don't just walk away. 

394
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,400
That has nothing to do with you.
This is not your problem. 

395
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,880
She is not your problem, she is 
nothing you even need to be 

396
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:32,480
worried about. 
But God saw her of all the 

397
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:38,160
billions of people. 
God saw her in her situation, in

398
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,600
her need. 
And God, knowing everything 

399
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,520
about her, took time to listen 
and say, what are you doing? 

400
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,360
Where are you coming from? 
Where are you going? 

401
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:53,480
Giving her time and space and 
opportunity to tell her story. 

402
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,800
No argument, no judgement, no 
condemnation, no 

403
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:03,640
rationalization, no excuse 
making for anybody else involved

404
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:04,680
in all the people that heard 
her. 

405
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:12,840
God saw her and God listened to 
her and God blessed her. 

406
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:19,200
God is so faithful. 
Abraham and Sarai screwed up so 

407
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:25,280
bad in this, and God is so 
faithful that God gave her the 

408
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:31,200
promise, the same promise 
almost, not exactly, but close 

409
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,320
to the same promise that he gave
Abraham. 

410
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:39,320
Don't worry, Hagar, your son 
will be the father of a nation, 

411
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,720
a great nation, a powerful 
nation. 

412
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,840
God blessed her, God's listened 
to her, God saw her, God 

413
00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:51,080
listened to her, and God blessed
her. 

414
00:27:53,840 --> 00:28:00,200
And this is what God calls us to
do as well, to listen, to love, 

415
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,040
to bless, to do for others what 
we would want them to do for us,

416
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,200
even if that makes us 
vulnerable. 

417
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,520
And in all of this, all of this 
truth, all of this listening, 

418
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:23,280
all of this loving so that we 
can, we can Foster and nurture 

419
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:28,440
life in this world, Jesus said I
am the way and I am the truth. 

420
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:34,720
He also said I am the life. 
And God gave life to Hagar, God 

421
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,120
gave life to Ishmael. 
God gave them a future, God gave

422
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,120
them a hope, God gave them a 
legacy. 

423
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,840
God brought life into the 
situation. 

424
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,040
He even went back and worked 
with Abram and Sarai and they 

425
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,160
got and got them back on the 
right track too. 

426
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,960
And we're called to do the same,
to find ways to bring life into 

427
00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:01,640
it. 
I don't know how that's going to

428
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:03,400
work out with some of my 
friends. 

429
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,200
I, I hope we can, I hope we're 
able to work it out. 

430
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,080
I used to when I was younger, I 
prioritized being right over 

431
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:15,200
friendships and relationships. 
I've been, God's been working 

432
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,720
with me on that, working really 
hard to prioritize friendships 

433
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:20,680
and relationships over being 
right. 

434
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:23,960
I don't know how all of this is 
going to work out. 

435
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,920
I'm, I'm, I'm, I fear I might 
late lose a friend or two. 

436
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,560
Again, I'm not looking for pity.
I'm just telling my story. 

437
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,360
I'm certainly not looking for 
praise because I'd stepped on a 

438
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,920
landmine or I threw a grenade. 
I had, you know, brought this on

439
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:47,560
myself, but to find a way for 
life in all of this, to see the 

440
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:52,400
space, the light, to listen, to 
attend, to love and see how life

441
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:58,120
can grow up and out and through.
And in all of this, my daughter 

442
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:01,720
is she is wonderful. 
Some of you've met her. 

443
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,840
She's, you know, doing some neat
stuff right now, including 

444
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:12,520
teaching Hebrew grammar. 
She's very faith and church 

445
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,960
minded. 
She grew up Methodist because 

446
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,800
Amy and I were Methodist. 
She's now Anglican. 

447
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,040
This is cool. 
She said something when we were 

448
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,080
there visiting her that that I 
that's beautiful. 

449
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:34,920
She's talking about redemption 
and, and she said these bad 

450
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:39,840
things that happen to have a a 
bad thing in our life be 

451
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,400
redeemed. 
It it doesn't I'm I'm I'm 

452
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,200
leading up to what she said. 
Given you context, that doesn't 

453
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,520
mean that God erases it. 
He doesn't. 

454
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:53,400
Jesus had scars after his 
crucifixion and and she's been 

455
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,800
through stuff and and she's 
close to a lot of other people 

456
00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,520
have been through a lot of stuff
and she was talking about 

457
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,240
redemption. 
She said when God redeems, he 

458
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,520
doesn't make it such that the 
bad thing didn't happen. 

459
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:13,520
When God redeems, he makes it so
that you are better off after it

460
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:20,680
than you were before. 
Somehow God does that, that God 

461
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,040
makes it better after even than 
it was before. 

462
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:31,080
And God did that with Hagar, and
he did that with Ishmael. 

463
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,720
God did that with Abram, and he 
did that with Sarai. 

464
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,840
And God can do that with all of 
this turmoil and violence that 

465
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,480
we're facing right now. 
Not that we pretend it's 

466
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,160
insignificant, not we print, 
it's unimportant, not that we 

467
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,560
pretend that it doesn't matter, 
but somehow God is going to make

468
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,480
it better after than it was 
before. 

469
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,520
And this is the hope and the 
promise that we have. 

470
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,120
And because that hope and 
promise, we don't need to circle

471
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,680
the wagons, we don't need to 
draw the swords, we don't need 

472
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,920
to get defensive. 
We don't need to just protect 

473
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:05,800
our own and forget about 
everybody else. 

474
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,120
We can live lives of love and 
truth, listening and caring, 

475
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:13,000
pursuing relationship over 
ideology. 

476
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,080
And we can be vulnerable while 
we're doing all of that because 

477
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:22,600
we can trust in God to redeem 
whatever happens, to care for us

478
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:27,120
and for them through that, as we
seek love and we seek 

479
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:31,880
relationship and we seek 
compassion in an incredibly 

480
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:37,320
diverse world. 
When our faith fails, when our 

481
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,080
faith fails and we begin to act 
out of fear, we hurt ourselves 

482
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,280
and we hurt the peace people 
around us. 

483
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:50,960
But when we can live in faith, 
trusting in God that He is 

484
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,640
sovereign and that He can and 
will redeem anything and 

485
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:59,520
everything we might encounter. 
When we live in faith, we open 

486
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,520
the door for the truth of God's 
love. 

487
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,440
We open the door to listen in 
love. 

488
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:10,000
We open the door to build life 
with others instead of death. 

489
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,400
In Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.