Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] I was so we have five kids. My boys were out of town with my in laws this week and so Sydney and I had the girls and on one particular night we were actually going through a, a series of memory verse songs with my daughter and just having a lot of fun dancing around the living room. And man, I just had this moment where I just kind of looked at her smiling and we're dancing around and doing all and learning the Bible and through. That means it was a lot of fun. It was really sweet. And I just had this moment where I looked at her and I thought, man, there is so much beauty in this life.
[00:00:51] I mean, there really is if you just stop and observe it for a time, for any amount of time. You look around at your life, you look, if you have kids, you look at your kids. If you're married, you look at your spouse. If, if you're single, you look at your friends, you. We look at the church, we, we walk outside and we experience the, the sunshine and, and just the beauty of God's creation and the color and taste and all of these amazing things that are beautiful things that testified to the reality of a good God.
[00:01:24] Okay? And so I just had this moment where I was just overwhelmed by this sense of like, why me? Like, I don't, I haven't done anything in my life to deserve anything good that I have.
[00:01:34] All I've done in my life on my own is run from God.
[00:01:38] And God came after me when I was 21 years old and he saved me.
[00:01:42] He gave me a new perspective on life. He gave me a new heart. He gave me, he forgave me of my sin.
[00:01:48] Like, he didn't have to do any of those things. He wasn't obligated, he wasn't indebted to me. I was indebted to Him. And he paid my debt and he paid yours.
[00:01:58] There's so many things like that that are just so beautiful about this short life that you and I have been given on this side of heaven. And it's only going to get better if you're a Christian.
[00:02:06] Okay? So I was just kind of overwhelmed by that. And then we experienced a lot of tragedy.
[00:02:13] Not just this week, but last week and the week before, the week before that. It's been going on for a long time. And you and I, you know, people argue about is the world getting worse, is it, you know, all these kinds of things that we're not going to get into today, but the reality is, and what we can't deny is you and I have More accessibility to the tragedy of the world today than we've ever had in the history of the world.
[00:02:38] So when something happens, we immediately get notified. I was in the middle of coffee with two guests last week when I got news of Charlie Kurt getting shot and killed, like right in the middle of coffee. And then you're just kind of left to prost, like what?
[00:02:54] A couple of weeks before that we get word that a young Ukrainian woman refugee was, was murdered in cold blood on a train.
[00:03:07] Week before that.
[00:03:10] And then we also get the school shootings in Colorado. Week before that we get two elementary age kids shot in a Catholic church while praying.
[00:03:19] 17 others injured, 10 year olds throwing themselves on their friends to guard their friends from bullets. I mean, just immense brokenness and darkness.
[00:03:31] So you have this interesting jolting contrast in life by which we experience the beauties of life and the tragedies of life.
[00:03:41] We experience the goodness of God and sometimes we feel the absence of God, or what feels like the absence of God. We see the beauty of humanity and what humans are capable of doing that's good and wonderful and right and true and beautiful.
[00:03:57] And then we see the cruelty of humanity by which humans are capable of doing the most heinous, dark, depraved things imaginable to one another.
[00:04:07] And so in the midst of all of this, how do we think about these things? How do we process these things?
[00:04:15] Here's just kind of what I want to talk about through the text. And then before I get into that, I want to just give a little bit of language to some things from the current events, from the cultural events that we've experienced this week, knowing that there are people in the room who are all over the political spectrum. So we're not going to get into that so much today. Okay, Those are for later conversations on a different day. At the end of the day, what flag do we fly?
[00:04:38] We fly the flag of Jesus. All right, so we are called to unity with one another as Christians, not uniformity. We don't have to agree on everything. We don't have to agree on everything. Politically, we are called to unity, to love one another in the midst of our disagreements. Okay?
[00:04:55] So we're going to talk about hope, we're going to talk about courage, we're going to talk about faithfulness in the midst of dark times. That's going to be the theme of our time together today. But I do want to kind of give a little bit of language to some of the realities of what happened this week, just because sometimes I think language is Helpful as we're trying to navigate through some of these things. So. So let's start with what happened last week on Wednesday with Charlie Kirk. What happened to Charlie Kirk was a political assassination.
[00:05:22] That's what it was.
[00:05:24] So again, regardless of where you are politically, this is what it was. A political assassination is a murder that's intended to convey a message.
[00:05:34] That's what it is.
[00:05:36] That's what happened.
[00:05:38] And so regardless, again, of where you are on this spectrum, of whether you liked him or didn't like him, the sermon isn't about Charlie Kirk today.
[00:05:46] But regardless of where you are on that perspective or on that spectrum, we are called to mourn for those who mourn. Christians are never, ever, under any circumstance, ever called to celebrate the death of another.
[00:06:03] I don't care if you hate his politics.
[00:06:06] We're called to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep.
[00:06:13] It is an evil and wicked thing to celebrate the death of another under any circumstance. So that's just language that as Christians, if you're a follower of Jesus, you must embrace.
[00:06:26] So we need to.
[00:06:28] And again, we're not just talking about what happened on Wednesday. We're talking about the weeks prior. The tragedies that we're seeing on our phones happen before our eyes. Christians are called to grieve. We're called to lament.
[00:06:43] It's appropriate to be sad. It's appropriate to be angry. It's normal to be confused.
[00:06:50] And in the midst of all of that, we're called to trust God and to be faithful unto God by the power of the Spirit until the end. So that's just a framework, like a 30,000 foot framework in the midst of all of this. But let's start with this.
[00:07:02] In Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20, where do we find hope? So where do we find hope in the midst of dark cultural times? Where do you find hope in the midst of darkness? In your own life and in your own home.
[00:07:14] Where do we find hope as Christians in the midst of this? Look at verse 16.
[00:07:17] Verse 16 says, now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed him. And when they saw him. Okay, so context. If you're unfamiliar with what's happening in Matthew 28, Jesus Christ has died on the cross for the sins of his people. He's been buried. And on the third day, by the power of God, he's been raised into newness of life. This is the first time. This is the most unique and extraordinary event to ever happen in the history of the World, Jesus has defeated death. And he appears to his followers, and it says that they see him. You want to know one of the reasons, one of the many reasons that the Bible is reliable, that you can trust every word written in these pages is that the people who wrote the New Testament saw him.
[00:08:03] They saw him with their eyes.
[00:08:05] This wasn't a blind faith. This was a seeing faith. They saw the person, Jesus, who had been crucified, risen.
[00:08:13] And so in verse 17, it says, when they saw him, they did what was appropriate. They worshiped him.
[00:08:20] You see a man who's overcome death, who's defeated death. You worship him.
[00:08:25] So they worshiped him. But it says some doubted.
[00:08:31] And so Jesus came and said to them, the sum doubt. It always encourages me as well, because it just reminds me that in the Christian life, doubt is going to be a part of life.
[00:08:39] So if you're a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, you will experience this thing called doubt. Doubt and unbelief are not the same things.
[00:08:46] Unbelief is a defiant turning from the things of God and believing upon God. Doubt is a reality of the Christian life by which we say, God, I want to believe. Help my unbelief.
[00:08:56] So this is doubt. It says that they worshiped him, but some of them doubted.
[00:09:02] And so Jesus came and he said this to them. He doesn't rebuke them, he doesn't shame them, he doesn't belittle them, he doesn't scream at them. He doesn't do any of these things.
[00:09:12] But Jesus comes to his doubting disciples and he says these words, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[00:09:21] So I would encourage you, friends, if you have a pen or you have a pencil or whatever, to circle the word all.
[00:09:28] So that word in that text, he's going to use that throughout our passage in a variety of different ways that we'll talk about this morning.
[00:09:36] But the first point to be made is this. Why and how can you and I have hope in the midst of tragedy, whatever that tragedy is, how can we have hope in the midst of that tragedy? It's because the world as we know it and as we see it today is not ultimately in chaos.
[00:09:57] It's all under the authority of Jesus.
[00:10:01] Every single thing that's happening in the world, everything that ever has happened in the world, everything that will happen in the world is not coincidental.
[00:10:11] It's all under the sovereignty of Jesus.
[00:10:15] All of it.
[00:10:17] I was telling my Father in law last night that, you know, I was listening to Commentators kind of try to make sense of when President Trump got shot and were saying things like, God intervened.
[00:10:32] That's not what happened, friends.
[00:10:34] God didn't intervene into a situation that he was otherwise not a part of.
[00:10:38] That's not what happened.
[00:10:41] It wasn't his time.
[00:10:44] That's what happened.
[00:10:46] We don't have to know why, we don't have to know the mind of God in all these things.
[00:10:51] But what we do need to know and what we do need to receive as followers of Jesus is the simple is the profound reality that if embraced, will change our life. That God is sovereign above everything, that God is the ultimate determiner of everything.
[00:11:12] My mom died when I was seven.
[00:11:14] I did not know my biological dad. I experienced abuse from 7 to 13, and then my grandfather committed suicide when I was 16. I don't say these things to boast in trials of my past.
[00:11:24] I say to say, if you're struggling with the idea of sovereignty of God, this is intended to be a great comfort to you today.
[00:11:32] Do I want those events to be random with no ultimate good outcome, or do I want those events to be under the sovereign hand of a good God?
[00:11:43] I choose that option.
[00:11:47] Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, a person.
[00:11:59] That's who Jesus is. He's not a little figure that you can put in your pocket and then take out when you want something nice. He's Lord, He's King, He's God. He rules and reigns over everything. He determines what happens, not ultimately, you.
[00:12:16] Jesus determines it. He determines who gets put into office and who doesn't.
[00:12:23] He determines who gets saved and who doesn't.
[00:12:26] He determines it all. And that's good news.
[00:12:30] That doesn't abdicate your responsibility. Read the Bible.
[00:12:34] Of course it doesn't abdicate your responsibility to choose, to make decisions, to obey, to do all of those things.
[00:12:42] But what it should do is give you a ton of hope that in the midst of the landscape that we're seeing our world happen and our lives and all of these kinds of things, that it's not out of control. It's all within his control.
[00:12:57] He holds authority over everything, over all things.
[00:13:03] Psalm 115, verses 2 and 3 says, why should the nation say, where is their God?
[00:13:13] Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.
[00:13:22] He does all that he pleases.
[00:13:25] Ephesians 1:11 says, he works all things according to the counsel of his will.
[00:13:32] And then Romans 8 makes this profound statement that counseling. We talk about this a lot in care and counseling. You don't. You don't.
[00:13:40] This. Okay.
[00:13:43] In the middle of somebody's mourning is not the time to say, God works all things according to the counsel of his will. This is a. This is a preparatory thing.
[00:13:51] So as followers of Jesus, put this in your belt and keep it there, because on the day of suffering, you're going to need to know this.
[00:13:58] That Romans 8 says that not only does he work all things according to the counsel of his will, but it says that he works all things according to the counsel of his will for your and my ultimate good.
[00:14:09] Somehow, by the grace of God, my mom dying when I was seven is working toward my ultimate good and my ultimate joy.
[00:14:20] He does that as one pastor said, when we get to heaven, when we get to glory, and we see one another as we truly are, in glory without sin, it's as if we'll be able to see how all of the suffering that you experience and that I experienced on this side of heaven prepared us for that glory. Then.
[00:14:41] Is that an amazing thought? And then you multiply that throughout the history of the church, all of the people of God, how all of the suffering that the people of God experienced on this side of heaven was being intricately orchestrated and worked out by the goodness of a sovereign God for our ultimate good and joy. That's way better news.
[00:15:04] So Jesus holds all authority. All authority was given to him because he lowered himself, Philippians 2 says, from heaven to earth, took on the form of a baby, lowered himself to the point of servanthood, even to the point of death on a cross.
[00:15:22] And it's because of his death on the cross, because of his humility, that God raised him up into newness of life and now has given him the name that is above every name.
[00:15:33] So that Philippians 2 says, at the name of Jesus, every knee, every single knee, whether you're a Christian, you're not a Christian, every single knee will bow the knee to King Jesus. He has the name above every name.
[00:15:47] This is who he is.
[00:15:50] Jesus says, all authority, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. This includes spiritual authority. Colossians 1:13, 15 says, and you who were dead, you're no longer dead if you're a Christian in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with his legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. And then it says this that Jesus, he disarmed the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
[00:16:29] Jesus holds all authority over all things in heaven and on earth, and that includes evil principalities and rulers. He has authority over them.
[00:16:38] The Bible does not talk about this massive intergalactic battle that's going to happen between Jesus and demons. When Jesus shows up again, it's over.
[00:16:47] There is no battle between Jesus and Satan. It's over.
[00:16:52] Jesus in his sovereignty and in his providence is allowing it to happen for a time.
[00:16:56] And when Jesus comes back and says, enough, it's over.
[00:17:00] There is no more death, there is no more evil, there is no more Satan, there is no more wickedness. It's over.
[00:17:09] He died once. He'll never die again.
[00:17:11] He came the first time as a suffering servant. He comes the second time as a ruling king.
[00:17:17] He holds all authority.
[00:17:20] So how can you and I have hope in the midst of dark times? It's simply that that Jesus holds all authority, that the world is not ultimately in chaos. It's all under the hand of a sovereign God.
[00:17:33] Jesus holds all authority.
[00:17:39] What does faithfulness look like to Jesus in the midst of our beautiful and broken world? So as we continue to travel through life, we're going to continue to experience this tension between moments of beauty and moments of deep brokenness. What does it look like to be faithful to Jesus? We know that Jesus holds all authority so we can have hope in that nothing is outside of his control. Everything is within his control. What does faithfulness look like in light of that? Jesus says this in verse 19. He says, Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. So I encourage you again, friends, to circle the word all in that statement.
[00:18:24] Teaching them to observe or teaching them to obey all that I've commanded to you because all authority has been given to Jesus.
[00:18:39] So what does faithfulness look like in your life and in mine? If you're a follower of Jesus, it looks like treasuring God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, loving your neighbor as yourself. That's countercultural in and of itself today, isn't it?
[00:18:54] Christians aren't called to retaliation. We're not called to vengeance. We're called to love our enemies because that's what Jesus did with you and what he did with me. We're called to treasure God. We're called to love our neighbor. And we're called to make disciples.
[00:19:09] We're called to make disciples.
[00:19:15] Quick note that I just, I wrote, I wrote down in my notes because I felt like I needed to share this because I don't know everybody in the room.
[00:19:22] Before you make disciples, you have to be one.
[00:19:25] You can't make a disciple if you're not a disciple. And hey, listen, friends, and I say this again, didn't grow up in the church. Saved at 21.
[00:19:33] If you're here and you're not yet a Christian, or you're kind of thinking about it, or you're wrestling through it and you're not really sure, like, we are so grateful to God that you're here, what an answered prayer it is that you're here.
[00:19:44] The call to make disciples isn't for you. The call for you is to become a disciple.
[00:19:50] That's the invitation for you is to become a Christian.
[00:19:54] One of my good pastor friends, older guy in Central Texas, says this to his church every week. He calls this the gospel in a nutshell. And here's what it is. God is holy.
[00:20:05] We are sinful, separated by our sin, sent in love. Jesus died to bear God's wrath on our behalf and resurrected, gives us life and is our joy as we repent and place our lifelong faith in Him. That's the gospel.
[00:20:25] God is holy. We are sinful, separated from our. From this holy God because of our sin. But God in love sent his Son to die in your place, bearing the wrath that you deserved, raised him to newness of life. And this good news, this life in him, this enjoyment in him is available to all who, who repent of sin and place their faith in Him. That's for you today.
[00:20:50] If you're a Christian. That's for you to receive again and to be reminded that the Christian life is not about you being a better person. It's about you receiving that again and being transformed by that again. So the gospel isn't just the door, it's the vehicle that gets us to the end.
[00:21:05] And if you're not a Christian, the call is for you to repent. To repent of your sin and believe upon.
[00:21:13] And so have you done that? Have you done that?
[00:21:16] And if you haven't done it, we pray that today's the day. And then for those of us in the room who are Christians who have been saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, our call is to make disciples. But here's the thing about this great commission that I feel like it's easy to miss. Okay, what did I ask you to, what word did I Ask you to circle in that statement, teaching them to obey what all that Jesus commanded.
[00:21:38] Do you know what that means, friends?
[00:21:40] Everything in the Bible.
[00:21:43] Everything in the Bible.
[00:21:45] What Jesus is saying here is he's saying, making disciples, okay? Living your life for the glory of God as a citizen of the kingdom that you've already been delivered into by the power of the Holy Spirit. Making disciples is about more than just evangelizing what I just communicated to you.
[00:22:03] It's absolutely not less than that.
[00:22:06] Okay? That gospel that I just had the privilege of proclaiming to you is the centerpiece.
[00:22:12] Without that, we have nothing but law.
[00:22:16] But we are called to disciple people holistically, to teach all that the Bible has to say.
[00:22:22] I thought it was an interesting thought exercise to think about. And I want to pose a question to you.
[00:22:28] You don't have to give verbal feedback to this, but I want you to consider all of the prophets of the Bible and then I want you to consider John the Baptist, and I want you to consider Jesus as well.
[00:22:38] Why were those men persecuted and killed?
[00:22:48] One of the primary reasons that they were persecuted, maligned and killed was because they preached against the idols of their culture.
[00:22:59] Now, Jesus was ultimately killed for blasphemy because he was calling himself God, and he was. They didn't believe him to be God, so they crucified him. Why was John the Baptist beheaded in prison?
[00:23:10] It wasn't because he was preaching exclusivity to Jesus, though he absolutely was.
[00:23:17] But John understood and knew that exclusivity to Jesus, being Jesus centered, meant that my entire worldview is. Has to be in alignment with his, which is the Bible.
[00:23:32] So John told a ruler of the day, you can't sleep with that woman. And he got killed for was the Bible's sexual ethic that rubbed up against the idol of the day that got John killed.
[00:23:49] So what about us?
[00:23:55] What are our cultural idols? What are the cultural idols of the day? Well, as John Calvin said, right, the idols of our heart are legion. It's like an idol factory in us, as is the case in our culture. But there are three that I just feel as a pastor of the church and out of, gosh, like, deep, affectionate love for you.
[00:24:20] Pastoring Redemption Hill was one of the greatest joys of my life under being a husband, follower of Jesus. Being a husband, being a father is pastoring Redemption Hill, like, stayed awake at night thinking about these things and just thinking, like, if we don't talk about these things and get very specific about the cultural idols of our day and recognize that our call as Christians is to call them out and call people to repent of them. Then what are we doing?
[00:24:43] Okay, so what are some of the cultural idols of the day? And I'm going to read a few quotes to you from a couple of books here.
[00:24:52] The first one is this. It's LGBTQ ideology that is an idol of our culture.
[00:25:02] And let me say this pastorally for a moment, because I know that we have people in the church who.
[00:25:08] This is deeply personal. This is not theoretical.
[00:25:12] It's not theoretical for me. I have loved ones who are wrapped up in this, but people who are struggling immensely with this particular ideology or who have loved ones who are in this. Wrapped up in this ideology. So let me say this.
[00:25:25] When we're talking about a particular ideological framework, what we as Christians are called to do, what we must do, is take that ideological framework and be willing to say that this is evil without demonizing the people that are wrapped up in it.
[00:25:41] Does that make sense? That just takes a little bit of critical thinking and a little bit of patience and a little bit of biblical thinking to say this is an ideological framework. And there are people made in the image of God who are suffering deeply within that ideological framework.
[00:25:58] And so we're talking about an ideology. We're also talking about the people wrapped up in the ideology that as Christians, we're called to love and serve and care for and share with. Does this make sense?
[00:26:10] There are also people within the ideology who are promoting and propagating the ideology that's hurting people wrapped up in the ideology, and they're to be refuted and rebuked. Does that make sense?
[00:26:21] So, again, just a little bit of parsing out here when we're talking about. We're not making simplistic, generalized statements. We're saying we need to think deeply, critically, and compassionately about these things while not compromising truth.
[00:26:36] We just feel this deep tension within the church of we're either going to be for truth or we're going to be for grace. And you have to pick one. You're either going to be a compassionate person that never talks about hard things, or you're going to be a truthful person that talks about hard things at the expense of people.
[00:26:52] Jesus did both.
[00:26:55] He did both perfectly. We're not going to do it perfect. I'm not going to do it perfectly today, I promise you.
[00:27:01] But we're called to strive by the power of the Spirit to imitate Jesus in all of life. And he did both. And so here's what we must know. Let Me read a short quote from Rosaria Butterfield from her book Five Lies of an Anti Christian Age. That I think is a great read. I think it's a helpful read. Okay. Rosaria was formally gay.
[00:27:22] She got radically converted to Christ, is married now with kids who. Wonderful testimony. This is a helpful book of identifying the cultural idols of our day. And we must know them if we're going to call our friends and neighbors to repent of them.
[00:27:37] So here's what she says about transgenderism. She says transgenderism is taking our world by storm.
[00:27:44] The idea that men can transition into women or women into men defies logic, sanity, and history.
[00:27:50] It creates a world where defining woman has become the domain of biologists instead of kindergarteners.
[00:27:58] Transgenderism has erased parental authority in government schools. And transgenderism will be the final nail in the coffin of feminism.
[00:28:06] Why? Because you cannot defend the civil rights of women if you don't know what she is.
[00:28:12] Transgenderism is the mark of a world that has swapped Christian morality for postmodern angst.
[00:28:18] A Christian needs to think about this. Is transgenderism something a person navigates, repents, and heals from?
[00:28:27] Is transgenderism a sign of mental illness or is it sin now? Gosh, I know by the silence of the room, there's a lot of thoughts.
[00:28:40] There is a small. Statistically speaking, I'm no expert at this, but there's a statistically small percentage of people, particularly young people, who struggle with gender dysphoria.
[00:28:53] It's a mental illness and it needs help and it needs medicine and it needs healing.
[00:28:59] The vast majority of cases, though friends, statistically aren't that.
[00:29:05] This is an ideological framework and a worldview that has become inundated within our culture and is discipling our kids.
[00:29:15] That's what this is.
[00:29:19] It's a culture of expressive individualism by which I will be what I want to be and nobody will tell me otherwise. That's what this is.
[00:29:34] It's a demonic ideology.
[00:29:39] It counterfeits everything that God has created in the beauty of creation.
[00:29:46] And so as Christians, as followers of Jesus, if we're not willing, in our disciple making of the people in our life that don't know Jesus, if we're not willing to call to repentance, are we obeying Jesus teaching to teach them all that he commanded?
[00:30:06] We always think about the possibility of losing a relationship when we think about calling somebody to repent of something like transgenderism or homosexuality.
[00:30:14] We never think about the possibility that God might save that person.
[00:30:19] And maybe in the act of calling sin sin and lovingly Calling that person to repent. You might get persecuted in the process. But hey, listen, Jesus promised that.
[00:30:30] He said, this is part of following me. If you're not willing to carry your cross daily and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. Listen, we could try to build a really big church at Redemption Hill and say really nice things to you all the time, but that's not why we're here.
[00:30:46] You must teach all that he commanded.
[00:30:51] And this is a cultural idol of our day, as is abortion rights. Cultural idol of the day. It's a cult of death is what this is.
[00:31:05] People in the room. Dear friends, I've have had abortions and are now in Christ. And the grace of Jesus Christ covers you entirely.
[00:31:15] There is no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:31:21] This is not the unforgivable sin.
[00:31:25] And you, maybe more than ever, more than anyone else, must help us speak out on this particular issue.
[00:31:34] It is an idol of our culture to say, well, my body, my choice, that's an idol of the culture.
[00:31:45] And it must be lovingly confronted and called to repentance, all the while serving and helping and loving and doing all of these things.
[00:31:58] And then the final one is, and gosh, I Wish I had 30 more minutes with you, man. The final one is this idea of critical theory.
[00:32:09] Critical theory is based on Marxist ideologies that essentially says this, that the world is broken up into two categories of people. You have oppressors and you have oppressed.
[00:32:20] Those are the two categories of people.
[00:32:22] And if you fit in with that oppressed category, then you live your life as an oppressed person. If you fit in with the oppressor category, you live your life as an oppressed person. Listen, the reason I bring this one up is because this viewpoint of the world is like oil and water when it comes to the Bible, friends, you cannot hold this worldview and hold the biblical worldview at the same time.
[00:32:44] The Bible does break up categories of people. Do you know what they are?
[00:32:47] You're either in Adam or in Christ.
[00:32:51] Those are the two options.
[00:32:53] And both groups are multiethnic, by the way, beautifully multiethnic.
[00:32:58] The body of Christ is a beautifully multi ethnic church. And the Gospel of Christ is the only real means of unity among ethnic peoples.
[00:33:07] If you keep peoples in oppressor and oppressed categories for the rest of their life, you think you'll ever get racial unity out of that?
[00:33:13] The logic defies that. What you're going to get is violence.
[00:33:20] And the Gospel provides peace among peoples.
[00:33:25] And gosh, I bring these things up to you again. Because if the call is to make disciples and be disciples who believe and teach all that Jesus commanded, we have to learn to view life biblically, not culturally.
[00:33:41] Are you reading the Bible through a cultural lens or are you seeking to read the culture through a biblical lens?
[00:33:48] Because a part of making disciples is calling our friends and neighbors and loved ones who are wrapped up in these ideologies to. To repent of them and to believe upon Jesus and be saved.
[00:34:06] One of my.
[00:34:08] One of my favorite quotes is actually from a coach, and he said that when he talks to his quarterback before really big games, he tells him, he doesn't say, hey, I want you to go out and win the game, because that'd be overwhelming. He says, I want you to give me two first downs today.
[00:34:22] That's all I need, two first downs. It's like, if you give me two first downs, you're going to win the game. I think when it comes to this idea of making disciples of all nations, sometimes it's so big we don't do anything about it because we don't know what to do.
[00:34:33] Where do you start with all these things?
[00:34:36] We're called to make disciples of all nations. That's a lot. And we look at the brokenness of the world and the brokenness around us and we're like, I don't even know where to start. So I just want to give you two things, two encouragements for your focus on making disciples.
[00:34:49] Number one, kids. Our kids.
[00:34:53] Okay, so if you're a parent, the Great Commission starts with your kids.
[00:34:59] Teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.
[00:35:03] Everything.
[00:35:05] Gospel centrality. Yes. Biblical worldview on everything.
[00:35:09] A biblical sexual ethic.
[00:35:12] A biblical ethic regarding ethnicity and race.
[00:35:18] It's teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded. Because there are forces out there, friends, that want to get at our kids.
[00:35:31] Not to make this too dark and too heavy, but that's kind of what's happening.
[00:35:39] And if Christian parents don't take up the mantle to say, we're going to start with our kids, discipling our kids into a biblical framework centered on the person and work of Jesus, who is going to do it? Their phones are going to do it.
[00:35:51] If you don't have kids yet, man, just get in on the game with us here at Redemption Hill and discipling the kids of rhc.
[00:35:57] I absolutely cherish the reality that my kids get voices outside of just Sydney and I's on a week by week basis from many of you other godly men and women who are going to come alongside and teach them truth and point them to Jesus and love them and serve them.
[00:36:18] And so it starts in many ways with our kids teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. And then the second thing, and then we're going to conclude with the final verse, final last half of the verse here, discipling our kids. The second is those already in your life in rhythm, who do not yet know the Lord Jesus.
[00:36:42] So who are those in your life and in your rhythms, at your work, in your neighborhood, whatever, who don't know the Lord Jesus? All of us have people like that in our life and start by praying for them by name.
[00:36:52] Ask God to help you believe that he could actually save them, just like he saved you.
[00:36:57] Get to know them, hear their story, listen to their worldview, and be willing by the grace of God to call them to repentance.
[00:37:05] Sharing the Gospel is great. Inviting people to church is great, absolutely wonderful and necessary things. But we have to call for a response.
[00:37:14] This is part of teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. What are these amazing things if we're not calling them, to actually do something with them, to repent of sin, to repent of worldly ideology, to turn to the person of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness and salvation of their sins.
[00:37:37] So I just want us to conclude with this. So we've talked about where we find hope in the midst of difficulty, tragedy, dark times is that Jesus holds all authority, that nothing is ultimately outside of control, out of control in any way. It's all under the control of Jesus. What are we called to do? We're called to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, strength, love our neighbor as ourself and make disciples, all because of what Christ has done on our behalf. And then we'll end with this. How do we do this?
[00:38:06] So if we're focusing on our kids, we're focusing on those in our life who do not yet know the Lord Jesus. How do we fulfill God's purpose for our lives?
[00:38:17] And it's in the latter part of verse 20. This is what Jesus says.
[00:38:21] Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
[00:38:27] I'm with you always, even, even to the end of the the age.
[00:38:35] Francis Schaeffer says this.
[00:38:37] He says the central problem of our age is not liberalism or Modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even the threat of rationalism and the monolithic consensus that surrounds us.
[00:38:53] All these are dangerous, but not the primary threat.
[00:38:57] The real problem is this is what I want us to really Consider the church of the Lord Jesus Christ individually or corporately tending to do the Lord's work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit.
[00:39:13] Man, how do you and I live the Christian life?
[00:39:17] How do we love God?
[00:39:18] How do we love our neighbors? How do we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? How do we muster up the courage to call our dear loved ones who don't know Jesus to repent and turn and believe upon Jesus? How do we do these things?
[00:39:36] Not by the power of the flesh, but by the power of the Spirit.
[00:39:39] And I fear for many of us that we live our life by the flesh, not by the Spirit.
[00:39:49] We look for worldly means to accomplish God's work rather than stealing ourself before God, pleading for him for the empowerment and filling of His Spirit in order to do the work. It's the only way.
[00:40:07] In Acts, chapter one, before Jesus goes to heaven, what does he tell the disciples to do? He doesn't say, all right, now go conquer the world for me.
[00:40:13] Go preach. Go call people to repentance. Go turn the world upside down. He doesn't say that. You know what he tells them to do? He you tells. He says, I want you to wait.
[00:40:23] I want you to wait for the power of the Spirit.
[00:40:27] If you're a Christian, the Spirit indwelt you at the moment of conversion. That's why you became a Christian, because the Holy Spirit applied the truth of the Gospel to your heart and made your heart alive. That's why you put your trust in Jesus.
[00:40:42] And yet, as Christians, we're still called daily to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, and to walk with the Spirit. And Paul says, this is such a powerful thing that if and when you do it, you actually won't gratify the desires of the flesh because the Spirit is against the flesh.
[00:41:04] So when we're walking in the Spirit and by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. There's no other way to accomplish the work of God, this great and grand purpose that he has for you. And gosh, thinking about this this week and all these issues, I just. I kept going back to this idea that I don't want to communicate something too small in the sense of what we're actually talking about.
[00:41:27] We're not merely talking about holding a biblical worldview or disagreeing with certain ideological frameworks or worldviews. We're not. That's too small of a thing.
[00:41:37] We're certainly not talking about political affiliations way Too small of a thing.
[00:41:41] What we're talking about is this, that you and I have been delivered out of a particular kingdom, a kingdom of darkness.
[00:41:49] We've been delivered out of that kingdom, and we have been transferred into a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
[00:41:56] And the person of the Holy Spirit who was involved in creation, creating the cosmos, lives inside of you.
[00:42:04] Your sins have actually been completely forgiven.
[00:42:10] You've been covered in the righteousness of Christ. You've been made a son or daughter of God. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've been given a kingdom that cannot be shaken. That's coming every day you and I live, we're one day closer to experiencing the fullness of that kingdom.
[00:42:24] And God himself lives inside of you. And so the thing that we're being called to is just remembering that you exist for a bigger purpose than yourself.
[00:42:34] Like, this is not about you. It's not about me, it's not about us. This is about the kingdom of God.
[00:42:41] And Jesus says, if you are to go and make disciples of all nations, remember this. I'm with you.
[00:42:48] What is the source of our power?
[00:42:52] I'm sorry. The source of our power in fulfilling this mission that Jesus has called us to do in making disciples of all nations is Christ himself.
[00:43:01] And the source of our power is our reward. Why is it worth it for you and I to leave this place as bolder disciplers of Jesus, ready to make disciples of Jesus, no matter the cost? Because Jesus is worth it.
[00:43:13] Like we have. You have to believe that. You have to believe that Jesus is actually worth it.
[00:43:17] He's worth you losing your life.
[00:43:20] He's worth me losing my. Somebody asked me one time, like, what if you get shot from the stage? I was like, yeah, I don't.
[00:43:25] I don't know. I wish you wouldn't have asked me that.
[00:43:28] But, like, now I'm thinking about it.
[00:43:31] But here's the reality, like, when we're talking about these kinds of things, like, it could happen.
[00:43:38] And so you have to ask yourself, every time you step in front of anybody and talk about these things, is he worth it?
[00:43:46] He's worth it.
[00:43:47] He's never let me down. He's never lied to me. He's never failed me. He never will do. He's always going to be worth it. I need to be reminded of that, and I want to remind you of that. And he's worth it.
