Ep 530 | GOOD NEWS! We're 20 Months Closer to Death
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Summary
While I was out celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, we recorded some amazing conversations that we pre-recorded and released over the past couple of weeks. We had so many uplifting and uplifting conversations and I am so thankful for them. While I was gone, the R. Kelly v. Kyle Rittenhouse verdict came out.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone had not only a wonderful weekend,
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but that you also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the past two weeks that I haven't been
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with you live have been wonderful. As you guys know, I pre-recorded the episodes that played
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over the past couple of weeks. Lots of just amazing conversations that I had that we had
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pre-recorded and then released for you while I was out celebrating Thanksgiving and just having
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a time of rest with my family. Had so many just amazing comments from you guys and messages that
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the conversations that were recorded meant so much to you. We talked about, for example, healing from
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abortion. We talked to Bridget Phetasy about getting sober, about her journey to becoming a mom.
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And we talked about anxiety with David Marvin. We talked about the prosperity and the progressive
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gospel with Kosti Hinn. We had so many uplifting and edifying conversations. And I think I can say
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that without it sounding like I'm tooting my own horn because it really was the guest that just
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brought it every time. I always have the best guess, I think, in the business on Relatable.
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And I'm just thankful for the very substantive and meaningful conversations that we are able to
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have. And I love when you guys give me the feedback and you tell me that they meant a lot to you. So
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thank you guys for tuning in while we were gone. Now we are back. And man, oh man, there is so much
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to talk about. So while I was gone, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict came out. The episode that
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we recorded right before I left with Elijah Schaefer about what really happened in Kenosha that night
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since he was there is one of my most popular episodes ever. And I actually knew as I was
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recording it, I could just feel as I was having that conversation with Elijah that it was going to
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be a popular episode. I can almost always tell as I am recording an episode that it is going to be
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very widely shared and listened to and watched. And I knew that you guys would appreciate that and
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appreciate his perspective. If you haven't listened to that, I recommend you doing so because the
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conversation and the debate about Kyle Rittenhouse and about that verdict is still raging. We're going
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to talk about that this week, not today, but we are going to talk about it. We're also going to talk
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about the Julius Jones case where he received, I believe it was a commutation by the governor of
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Oklahoma. We're going to talk about that case, whether or not he's guilty. We're going to talk
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about the death penalty later this week. Tomorrow, we're going to focus on COVID, this Omicron variant.
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And we're going to talk about what the numbers are and the threats now that we are receiving of
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lockdowns and more mask mandates and shutting down schools and all of that stuff. And we're going to
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talk about based on the data, based on the science, whether or not it is justified. You can
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probably assume what I am going to say, but we're going to walk through all of that tomorrow.
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And then just a heads up, we are going to do the same thing for Christmas break that we did for
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Thanksgiving break. We're going to pre-record some awesome episodes and we are going to release those
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the week of Christmas or the week before Christmas, the week of Christmas, and then the week after
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Christmas. I think that's what it is. It's a total of three weeks that starts like the December
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21st, I think it is. I'm just trying to remember what the days actually are. But we're going to
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take a break for three weeks and we are going to have two episodes a week for the first two weeks
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that we pre-recorded. And then that first week of January, we're not going to have any episodes
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come out. We might have some replays of some popular episodes just so you guys have something
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to listen to if you want to listen to it, just so something is being put out. But we are going to
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come back with a vengeance that second week of January. So that's just an FYI. I will make sure
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that I remind you guys of that before. But I just wanted to give myself and give my team some time
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to recuperate and regather ourselves and spend time with our family for the holiday season. So we're
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going to work hard to make sure that you are still getting some new episodes while we are doing
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that. All right. We're not going to talk about the news today, even though there is so much that we
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could talk about. There's like 10 million trials that are happening right now. There's the abortion
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cases that are being heard by the Supreme Court. There's a million things that we could talk about.
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But I really feel that we, or maybe it's just me, maybe it's just me that feels like I need to kind
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of reorient myself and I need to take a step back, look at the big picture, take a deep breath,
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and remember who is in control. And you guys know, we probably do this, have this conversation
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about once a week, if not once every other week, just reminding ourselves that God is sovereign,
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reminding ourselves of what's important. And we really can't talk about this. We really can't
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talk about this too much. And it's been an especially overwhelming few weeks, I think,
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on social media with all of the conversation that's been going on surrounding things like Kyle
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Rittenhouse. And again, we've been having this very hot debate about what justice actually is,
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what justice looks like, what it should look like. Per usual, I think that there are a lot of public
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Christians that get it wrong. They think that empathy and so-called social justice should take
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precedence over objective, true biblical justice. And I want to have a conversation about all of that,
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but it's really overwhelming to see those kinds of conversations and hot takes on social media and
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to just feel the stress of that, to feel the burden of that, to want to have all of the answers to all
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of the questions that are being posed, wanting to have all the responses to the absurdity that you are
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seeing being spewed on social media, feeling like there are so many problems in the world that you just
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want to fix, feeling the anxiety of raising kids in this kind of world, not knowing what the future
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holds, what America looks like, how this country is going to continue to hold together. Are things
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ever going to get better? Are things only going to get worse and worse until Jesus returns? Is this time
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worse than any other time in history? My answer to that is no, but there is cause for concern. You guys
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know that we talk about these causes for concern very often. So there's a reason. There's a reason why
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people feel especially stressed, especially worried right now, especially as you hear the headlines or
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you see the headlines and you hear the newscasts about the next variant that we need to worry about,
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or maybe you're more worried about the restrictions themselves. So there's a million reasons why people
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are perhaps justified in being at least tempted to crippling anxiety and fear. And on top of that,
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you still have people who have dealt with what I think isn't even bigger and perhaps deadlier
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pandemic, and that is loneliness. Loneliness that very often leads to despair. And so I want to
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reorient us today, bring us back to what is important and what is absolutely true. There's a lot that we
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worry about because we don't actually know if it's true. Like we don't actually know, we don't know the
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outcome of a particular policy or a particular headline, particular issue. And so the anxiety
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comes with not knowing. But graciously, the Lord has told us a lot that we can hang our hat on,
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that we can absolutely trust in. He has revealed to us not everything, but a lot of things that we
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absolutely know to be true. And that can anchor us. I did a post on Instagram. I think it was last
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week. And the title slide, it was 10 slides. And the title slide said, you are still 20 months closer
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to death. You're still 20 months closer to death. And now that might not sound like good news. You might
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think that I am trying to send you further into a cycle of despair. And I am not. That's just the
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truth. We are 20 months closer to death. Even as we spend our time twiddling our thumbs, spend our time
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overwhelmed with the anxiety that wakes us up in the middle of night, feels like it punches us in the gut,
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makes us feel like we are paralyzed, like we can't even move forward, and threatens to overwhelm us
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at any point. As we have been hoping and wishing and biding our time until things turn back to normal,
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the reality is we are 20 months closer to death. And that's how I'm going to start this reorientation
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of an episode in setting us straight and getting us back to what is most important. And I'll explain
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that in just one second. So I think that we have all been at one point or another over the past 20
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months under the impression that real life will resume when these so-called unprecedented times end,
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that our anxiety will go away, that our fear will be diminished, that all of a sudden we'll be happy
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and healthy, and we will be able to embrace normalcy, that basically we're going to get a redo on all of
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this, and the way things were in 2019 will come back. And then when that comes back, we'll get back into a
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routine that will make us happy and healthy and whole. So when the virus is over, or when the mandates
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are overturned, or when our party has more power, when the economy is better, or when a particular
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policy is implemented, or when whatever it is that we see as the big impediment to normalcy is finally
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overcome, then we can go back to how things were. I think all of us have had that thought. I certainly
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had that thought in the beginning, when I thought that things would be over in 15 days, as we were
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promised, 15 days to slow the spread. I naively believe that that would be the case, or surely this is not
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going to continue into the summer of 2020. I remember that's what I was thinking. And so when it finally
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is over, that's when life will go back to normal. That's when, you know, I'll eat healthier. That's when
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I'll, you know, start going to church again. That's when I'll make sure that I'm waking up early and reading
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my Bible. That's when I'll stop consuming the news second by second and being overcome with the worry
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that's associated with that. When all of this ends, that's when XYZ will happen. That will make
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things sane again. The reality is, is that that's a trick. That's a trick. That's not real. Life did not
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actually pause in March of 2020, or in January of 2021, when Joe Biden officially became president.
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Life didn't pause then. We are not currently in a holding pattern. We are still 20 months closer to
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death than we were when this whole thing started in the beginning of 2020. All this time, the seconds
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have continued to tick. The sand in the hourglass has continued to trickle. Our finite lives have
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continued to dwindle all this time. So the thing that was always going to kill you still is going to kill
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you. Maybe it's going to be a virus, but more likely it will be one of the millions of other
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things by which people die every day and for which no mitigation strategy is mandated and about which
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no journalist bothers to write. That's, that's the bad news. That's the bad news is that you're going
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to die. We're all going to die. Something at some point is going to kill you. That's inevitable.
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The good news is we can, all of us, right this very instant, stop pretending that normal times,
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what we see as normal times, are normal, and simply get on with our lives. We are so fortunate
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in America that we have enjoyed peace and prosperity that is completely unfathomable to most people in
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the world. I mean, what a blessing for which we should continue to advocate. We should continue
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to fight. We should continue to care about the, the rights that make that peace and prosperity
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possible. We should thank God for these things, but, but neither peace nor prosperity, especially for
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the Christian, is historically normal. Really persecution is normal. Poverty is normal.
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Tyranny is normal. Tribulation, distress, famine, danger are normal as Romans 8 35 tells us. They're
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not desirable at all, but they are normal. So the reality is, is that our so-called unprecedented
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times are actually very precedented. I mean, they're precedented in world history just in the past 100
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years alone, but they're certainly precedented many times over throughout human history. And Jesus knew
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the alpha and the omega. He knew exactly what our times right now would look like when he said,
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follow me in Matthew 4 19. There are no exemptions granted for the Christian life,
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not for a virus or for draconian policies put in place in the name of stopping the virus,
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or for inflation or for bad presidents or for any other obstacle standing in front of what we see
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as nostalgic normalcy. So in the midst of all of these things and more, the Christian is still
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called to surrender. It's still called to joy. It's still called to prayer. It's still called to
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service, to hospitality, to generosity, to truth, to love. We are still called to an abundant life of
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obedience to God. So when I say it's time that we get on with life, we get on living and you say,
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but Allie, I live in Australia and we're locked down in my particular day, or I live in Canada,
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or I live in this part of the world or this part of the United States where we aren't allowed to do
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the things that we used to do. I can't get on with my life. I want to get on with my life, but I can't
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get on with my life because of all of these different restrictions. Or maybe you're someone who is
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scared to leave your home. You're scared to interact with people because of the virus. And so
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you feel like, well, there's no way that you can just get on with your life. I am not talking about
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a life that is made possible by Dr. Fauci or by the president or by any policy or by the absence of
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any sickness. I am talking about the life that whether you like it or not is continuing to move
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forward like a freight train. You can either live the life that you have right now to the fullest
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in obedience to God the best way that you possibly can, or you can just continue to live in fear inside
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your home. Those are our two options. Those are our two options. I know one thing for sure. And that
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one thing is no matter what policies are put in place, that God knew about them before they were
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put in place. And I know that God's authority transcends any earthly authority. And I know
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that God can be obeyed no matter what station of life that we are in. Like the gospel can be lived
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out. God can be obeyed. You can deny yourself and follow Christ in a prison cell. So it doesn't matter
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what our surrounding circumstances are. It doesn't matter how free we are. It doesn't matter what
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the government is doing. The fact of the matter is, is that God is going to give you a way to deny
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yourself and follow him no matter what's happening in the world. And the abundant life that God makes
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possible through Christ is still possible in your circumstance, in my circumstance, whatever that
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means. So when Jesus said, do not be anxious about your life, he didn't actually provide any carve
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outs. He didn't give any stipulations. He didn't give any conditions. He didn't give any asterisks
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correlating within, except in the 2020s footnotes. When Jesus said this, he knew every bit of trouble
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Christians would face from Nero to now. It's really important for us to remember the devastation that
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Christians have experienced throughout human history. And he preempts our protestations because
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we all have them. We say, but what about, but what about, but you don't know, Jesus. You don't know
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what I'm really going through. You don't know the suffering that I'm enduring. You don't know how
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hard it is to go through what I'm going through. He preempts all of those buts with this brilliant
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question. Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? That's Matthew 6,
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27. Who of you, by being anxious, can add one hour, just one? You can't even add 60 minutes,
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Jesus says, to your life by being worried. So wonderfully, Christians can stop mimicking
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the paranoia of people who believe this life is all there is. Our good and sovereign God
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has already numbered our days, Psalm 139, 16 says, and his purposes cannot be thwarted,
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Job 42, 2 says. We are still 20 months closer to death. We are still 20 months closer to death than
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we were when this whole thing started. When this presidency is over, we will still be four years
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closer to death. So life is not on pause. Not for the virus, not for the lockdowns,
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not for inflation, not for any set of national or personal trials we face.
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And the reality is, I sent this to a friend yesterday who told me that she was overwhelmed,
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that she was just weary of the world, which, yeah, wow, I get that. I feel that. At least once a day,
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I'm weary of this world. And first, let me say that that's not a bad feeling. Maybe one of the
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blessings of this time, which is, I don't want you to hear me minimizing what we're going through
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on a national scale or what you are going through right now on a personal scale. Your pain is real.
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Your suffering is real. I mean, people losing their jobs, their livelihoods right now because of
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unscientific, unconstitutional, tyrannical mandates. Like, that's real. I don't want you to
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think that I am belittling what you're going through, whether it has to do with that or something
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totally unrelated. Maybe one of the blessings in that is not just our humility, and that's
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something that God accomplishes through sanctification, through trials, and not just
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drawing us close to Him personally and strengthening our faith and reliance on Him, but also a reminder
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that this world is not our home, that we're not going to find all of the joy and all of the hope and
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all of the peace that we are looking for here, that our satisfaction, our solace rests in Christ
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alone, and we will only achieve the lack of sadness, the lack of sorrow, the lack of sickness,
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the lack of bad policies and unreliable and power-hungry governments and all that we are suffering from
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today. We are only going to achieve that kind of world and that kind of peace in heaven. And so
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maybe one thing that God is accomplishing in His church and in Christians is to have a longing for
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the return of Christ this Christmas season that maybe we haven't had in the past because life has been
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so good. Maybe God is using the hardship that people are enduring today to graciously, to mercifully
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remind us that all of the suffering that we are feeling today will one day be taken care of. It'll one
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day be over. And that eternal joy is coming. And that is where our hope lies. And that is where our
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peace will finally fully, fully come to fruition. And yet we can also have peace today through Christ.
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And we can have peace through the knowledge of the sovereignty of God, understanding, clinging to the
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fact that God did not place you. And this is what I sent my friend, that God did not place you
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and your children here and now arbitrarily. He placed you on this tiny time speck of eternity,
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on the small plot of earth where you stand with the neighbors that you have and the resources that
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He has given you purposely, providentially, specifically. We were meant for this time. You
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and I, our kids, our future grandkids, we were meant for this time, no other time. We are called to full
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obedience to God now, not in a future that we're not even guaranteed. So we have to live our lives right
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now as best we can, simply doing the next right thing in faith and joy with excellence and for
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the glory of God. And yes, I understand there is a tension that we live in, that we simultaneously
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are putting our eyes towards heaven, reminding ourselves that our citizenship is in heaven,
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realizing that sinner's going to sin and a broken world is going to be broken,
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and that we don't put our trust in princes or in horses, and that we simply put our hope
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in Christ and the hope of His return is what anchors us. And yet we are in the world. And because
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we love our neighbor, because we know that politics matter, because policy matters, because people
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matter, because we know that we are supposed to be salt and light here, we do care about what's going
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on in the world. We do want to push for that which is good and right and true, while also being totally
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content with where we are and what we have. So it's this mixture of being weary with the world,
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of hating the sin that we see reigning in so many ways, of hating injustice and hating just the
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immorality and depravity and the corruption that we see so rampant, and just wanting things to get
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better and just hoping for Jesus to come back so we don't have to deal with this anymore,
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while also realizing that godliness with contentment is great gain. That's what Scripture
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tells us. Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world,
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and we cannot take anything out of the world. That's so clear. 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 7. We brought
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nothing into the world. We'll take nothing out of the world, so we might as well be content with what
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we have right now. That's a form of godliness, Scripture tells us. Even as there's so much that
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we want for ourselves and so much that we want for our families, good things that we want for our
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families. I mean, we want peace. That's a good thing. We want stability. We want good policy. These
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are all good things, and it's okay to want them. But at the same time, a form of godliness is
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contentment. We're supposed to be content with what we have, even as we're longing for heaven.
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And so we all feel this kind of tension. We all feel this kind of tension. And what I want—and
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I'm just going to go on a little mini rant here—what I want is for the church to represent that tension
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well. And we don't do it perfectly, but to represent it with joy. That the church should really be an
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example for people in this time who have believed the lie that we are in some kind of holding pattern,
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that life has been on pause, that finally one day we're all going to go back to normal,
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when we're all 100% vaccinated, when we all have our six booster shots, that the government is going
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to give up their emergency powers, and that things are just going to be how they once were,
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and that we don't have to worry about doing the things that we were doing before during this
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unprecedented time, that we're really just on pause, and that somehow we'll be able to redeem this time
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that we have. We'll be able to make up for it. The church should be living as they've always lived.
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The church should be opening their doors to both saints and sinners. The church should continue to be
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hospitable, continue to be generous, continue to corporately worship. Instead, you have some
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congregations that are actually segregating their congregants. By vaccination status, they are actually
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closing their doors for fear of a new variant. They are not showing in-person hospitality. They have
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stipulated their generosity and their welcoming, and they are calling this loving their neighbor,
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when in reality, the church is supposed to be bold. The church is supposed to be brave. The church is
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supposed to realize more than anyone else that death is inevitable, and we have a small window of time
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to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, and you have so many churches that are so scared, just as scared
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as secular people who believe that this life is all there is, that they have ceased to be any kind of
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Christ-like example for the world. They're so scared. They're so scared. And for the church, like, you know
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heaven is our home. Heaven is where we're going. Eternity is where our hope lies, that to live is
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Christ, to die is gain, as Paul says in Philippians 1. And they are clinging to these, I don't know,
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this intangible hope that I guess things somehow are going to be perfect and peaceful
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and go back to normal here in this life. And they're wrong. And these are Christians that I'm
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talking about. These are professing Christians who are living just like the secularists of this world
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in complete and total miserly paranoia. I mean, every day you guys send me a message telling me that your
00:27:12.280
church or a church that you know is segregating people by vaccination status or is only allowing some
00:27:17.660
people to go to Christmas Eve services if they have their vaccine passports. This is happening especially
00:27:23.020
in places like Australia and Canada. And you wonder why we're in the state that we're in. If like the people
00:27:29.400
who believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain is living in fear and paranoia of a virus with a 99%
00:27:39.260
survival rate and is not even willing to push back on tyranny in the way of simply opening their doors
00:27:46.880
to whomever for Christmas services. Like, if Christians aren't even willing to do that,
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you're fooling yourself into thinking that you're not going to take the mark of the beast? Are you
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kidding me? What this is showing me is that actually a lot of professing Christians are going to line up
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to take the mark of the beast. They're going to be excited about it because it's going to mean that
00:28:08.020
they're pro-science. It's going to mean that they are pro-compassion. And unfortunately, the church
00:28:15.980
is not living in light of what we know of the gospel, is not living in light of the truth and the hope
00:28:25.600
that we have in Christ. Instead, they are mimicking the paranoia of the world. And we wonder why church
00:28:33.300
attendance is in decline. It's not because the church fails to be as woke as people want. It's
00:28:38.940
not because the church is homophobic or transphobic. It's because much of the church looks, acts, and
00:28:44.340
sounds exactly like the world. So why would people waste time coming to church when they can get the
00:28:49.320
same thing from brunch? That's the issue. Remember, we are 20 months closer to death. And this life
00:28:58.700
is all that we have. We only have right now to be like Christ. We only have right now to deny ourselves,
00:29:07.340
to take up our cross, to follow him, to live in the joy and the peace and the hospitality and the
00:29:12.420
generosity that comes with being a Christ follower right now. You are not going to stand before the
00:29:19.320
judgment throne of God and get some kind of stipulation sticker for 2020 and 2021 that it was okay
00:29:27.360
that you didn't act like a bold, brave, generous, hospitable, joyful, peaceful, loving Christian
00:29:33.800
in these years because of the things that are happening right now. I want to read you something
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that I read this morning, 2 Peter 3, 10 through 13. Since all these things are thus to be
00:29:46.600
dissolved—actually, let me back up a little bit. Let me back up. Verse 10.
00:29:50.660
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar,
00:29:56.280
and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are
00:30:00.840
done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved—all these things are thus
00:30:08.380
to be dissolved—everything around us will be dissolved. Since all of these things are thus to be
00:30:14.020
dissolved—what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? So we get it right
00:30:20.280
here. Everything that we see is going to be dissolved. Earthly powers are going to be dissolved.
00:30:26.420
Vaccines are going to be dissolved. All of these institutions, everything in the world is going
00:30:33.800
to be dissolved. And so what are we to do in light of that? We ought to be people living lives of
00:30:38.680
holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, because of which
00:30:43.760
the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.
00:30:47.280
But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness
00:30:53.280
dwells. So that is our very tangible hope. Because we know that the world and everything in it is
00:31:00.640
fading away, because we know the things that we see today will be dissolved, because we know that we
00:31:06.660
are living on a tiny speck of eternity, that our lives will fade like the grass, that we're only here
00:31:13.140
for a second. There is no time to waste. Like we don't have time to waste another 20 months in anxiety
00:31:19.780
waiting to go back to church, waiting to open our doors, waiting to welcome people into our home,
00:31:24.660
waiting to be generous, waiting to be hospitable, waiting to share the gospel, waiting to have children,
00:31:31.580
whatever it is that you've been waiting to do until things go back to normal. Life is being lived
00:31:36.940
right now. The sand in the hourglass, it is still, it's still trickling. It's still going through.
00:31:44.800
Our call right now as Christians to live, is to live our life boldly and bravely in obedience to God.
00:31:53.800
Knowing that this is our future. We read Psalm 37 a lot, and I want to reach you the first few verses
00:31:59.540
of that to remind us that this is what's to come and that we live in light of this.
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Fret not yourself because of evildoers. That's something I have to tell myself every day.
00:32:10.280
Fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like
00:32:15.520
the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and
00:32:21.040
befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
00:32:25.820
And by the way, that doesn't just mean whatever your heart desires. We've done a most misused
00:32:30.220
on that. You can go back and listen to it. It means that if you delight yourself in the Lord,
00:32:34.320
the desires of your heart will be the Lord's desires, and God is always going to accomplish
00:32:38.360
his desires. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your
00:32:44.280
righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day. Be still before the Lord. Wait patiently
00:32:49.680
for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil
00:32:54.420
devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil, for the
00:33:00.560
evildoers will be cut off. And those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little
00:33:05.680
while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
00:33:12.080
But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against
00:33:18.560
the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his
00:33:23.980
day is coming. Psalm 37, 1 through 13. That's our hope. That's where we put our trust. That's where our
00:33:31.480
boldness comes from. That's where our bravery comes from. That's where our joy comes from. We are not going
00:33:38.880
to get joy back when things go back to normal. If we don't have joy in this circumstance, we'll never
00:33:42.820
have joy. If we don't have contentment in this circumstance, we'll never have contentment. If we
00:33:46.560
don't have bravery and boldness in this circumstance, we'll never have bravery and boldness. Let's not
00:33:52.220
kid ourselves that when the real trial comes, if we live through the tribulation, that then we'll show
00:33:58.580
people what faithfulness looks like if we're not willing to do so right now. Life is being lived.
00:34:04.760
Life is being lived one way or another. It is our choice and it is our privilege as Christians to be
00:34:11.540
able to live that in joy and in obedience and in steadfastness, doing simply the next right thing
00:34:18.580
in faith and in excellence or not. All right. So as we talk about some of the craziness that's going on
00:34:26.220
in the world over the next few days, let's remember this. Let's remember where we are, where we stand,
00:34:33.100
why, why we speak the truth in love and why we live the way that we do right now. Pastor, if you're
00:34:42.140
listening to this, church, if you're listening to this, do not close your doors. Do not segregate.
00:34:47.520
Do not keep people out of your church who haven't gotten a, wow, I could just, I could go on a whole
00:34:55.740
other rant, but the fact that I see people being shut out of church because of their vaccination status,
00:35:00.500
I have to wonder, pastor, if you are a Christian yourself, and if you are, then it's time for you
00:35:05.500
to repent. It's time for all of us to repent of our paralyzing fear and anxiety. The God who created
00:35:11.480
this time and who created us and put us here for a reason knew exactly what was going to happen when
00:35:16.900
he told us to not worry and to trust him. We can do that. We get to trust him as Christians and we
00:35:22.760
should live like that. All right. I'll be back here tomorrow.