Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 530 ｜ GOOD NEWS! We're 20 Months Closer to Death

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone had not only a wonderful weekend,

00:00:16.100 but that you also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the past two weeks that I haven't been

00:00:20.680 with you live have been wonderful. As you guys know, I pre-recorded the episodes that played

00:00:26.340 over the past couple of weeks. Lots of just amazing conversations that I had that we had

00:00:32.520 pre-recorded and then released for you while I was out celebrating Thanksgiving and just having

00:00:40.500 a time of rest with my family. Had so many just amazing comments from you guys and messages that

00:00:48.640 the conversations that were recorded meant so much to you. We talked about, for example, healing from

00:00:54.200 abortion. We talked to Bridget Phetasy about getting sober, about her journey to becoming a mom.

00:01:02.820 And we talked about anxiety with David Marvin. We talked about the prosperity and the progressive

00:01:08.260 gospel with Kosti Hinn. We had so many uplifting and edifying conversations. And I think I can say

00:01:14.860 that without it sounding like I'm tooting my own horn because it really was the guest that just

00:01:18.780 brought it every time. I always have the best guess, I think, in the business on Relatable.

00:01:26.580 And I'm just thankful for the very substantive and meaningful conversations that we are able to

00:01:31.840 have. And I love when you guys give me the feedback and you tell me that they meant a lot to you. So

00:01:36.720 thank you guys for tuning in while we were gone. Now we are back. And man, oh man, there is so much

00:01:43.480 to talk about. So while I was gone, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict came out. The episode that

00:01:48.980 we recorded right before I left with Elijah Schaefer about what really happened in Kenosha that night

00:01:54.000 since he was there is one of my most popular episodes ever. And I actually knew as I was

00:01:58.840 recording it, I could just feel as I was having that conversation with Elijah that it was going to

00:02:03.860 be a popular episode. I can almost always tell as I am recording an episode that it is going to be

00:02:09.940 very widely shared and listened to and watched. And I knew that you guys would appreciate that and

00:02:16.240 appreciate his perspective. If you haven't listened to that, I recommend you doing so because the

00:02:21.360 conversation and the debate about Kyle Rittenhouse and about that verdict is still raging. We're going

00:02:26.180 to talk about that this week, not today, but we are going to talk about it. We're also going to talk

00:02:30.520 about the Julius Jones case where he received, I believe it was a commutation by the governor of

00:02:37.900 Oklahoma. We're going to talk about that case, whether or not he's guilty. We're going to talk

00:02:41.900 about the death penalty later this week. Tomorrow, we're going to focus on COVID, this Omicron variant.

00:02:49.980 And we're going to talk about what the numbers are and the threats now that we are receiving of

00:02:57.800 lockdowns and more mask mandates and shutting down schools and all of that stuff. And we're going to

00:03:02.100 talk about based on the data, based on the science, whether or not it is justified. You can

00:03:07.180 probably assume what I am going to say, but we're going to walk through all of that tomorrow.

00:03:13.460 And then just a heads up, we are going to do the same thing for Christmas break that we did for

00:03:19.160 Thanksgiving break. We're going to pre-record some awesome episodes and we are going to release those

00:03:24.840 the week of Christmas or the week before Christmas, the week of Christmas, and then the week after

00:03:30.020 Christmas. I think that's what it is. It's a total of three weeks that starts like the December

00:03:35.940 21st, I think it is. I'm just trying to remember what the days actually are. But we're going to

00:03:43.440 take a break for three weeks and we are going to have two episodes a week for the first two weeks

00:03:50.760 that we pre-recorded. And then that first week of January, we're not going to have any episodes

00:03:56.140 come out. We might have some replays of some popular episodes just so you guys have something

00:04:00.800 to listen to if you want to listen to it, just so something is being put out. But we are going to

00:04:05.920 come back with a vengeance that second week of January. So that's just an FYI. I will make sure

00:04:12.100 that I remind you guys of that before. But I just wanted to give myself and give my team some time

00:04:20.540 to recuperate and regather ourselves and spend time with our family for the holiday season. So we're

00:04:28.260 going to work hard to make sure that you are still getting some new episodes while we are doing

00:04:31.980 that. All right. We're not going to talk about the news today, even though there is so much that we

00:04:36.100 could talk about. There's like 10 million trials that are happening right now. There's the abortion

00:04:40.380 cases that are being heard by the Supreme Court. There's a million things that we could talk about.

00:04:44.420 But I really feel that we, or maybe it's just me, maybe it's just me that feels like I need to kind

00:04:49.980 of reorient myself and I need to take a step back, look at the big picture, take a deep breath,

00:04:55.200 and remember who is in control. And you guys know, we probably do this, have this conversation

00:05:00.120 about once a week, if not once every other week, just reminding ourselves that God is sovereign,

00:05:06.400 reminding ourselves of what's important. And we really can't talk about this. We really can't

00:05:10.860 talk about this too much. And it's been an especially overwhelming few weeks, I think,

00:05:16.700 on social media with all of the conversation that's been going on surrounding things like Kyle

00:05:21.660 Rittenhouse. And again, we've been having this very hot debate about what justice actually is,

00:05:29.260 what justice looks like, what it should look like. Per usual, I think that there are a lot of public

00:05:34.780 Christians that get it wrong. They think that empathy and so-called social justice should take 1.00

00:05:41.120 precedence over objective, true biblical justice. And I want to have a conversation about all of that,

00:05:49.060 but it's really overwhelming to see those kinds of conversations and hot takes on social media and

00:05:53.980 to just feel the stress of that, to feel the burden of that, to want to have all of the answers to all

00:05:59.180 of the questions that are being posed, wanting to have all the responses to the absurdity that you are

00:06:04.900 seeing being spewed on social media, feeling like there are so many problems in the world that you just

00:06:10.420 want to fix, feeling the anxiety of raising kids in this kind of world, not knowing what the future

00:06:16.580 holds, what America looks like, how this country is going to continue to hold together. Are things

00:06:23.340 ever going to get better? Are things only going to get worse and worse until Jesus returns? Is this time

00:06:29.220 worse than any other time in history? My answer to that is no, but there is cause for concern. You guys

00:06:37.420 know that we talk about these causes for concern very often. So there's a reason. There's a reason why

00:06:44.080 people feel especially stressed, especially worried right now, especially as you hear the headlines or

00:06:51.760 you see the headlines and you hear the newscasts about the next variant that we need to worry about,

00:06:59.020 or maybe you're more worried about the restrictions themselves. So there's a million reasons why people

00:07:03.840 are perhaps justified in being at least tempted to crippling anxiety and fear. And on top of that,

00:07:13.820 you still have people who have dealt with what I think isn't even bigger and perhaps deadlier

00:07:19.900 pandemic, and that is loneliness. Loneliness that very often leads to despair. And so I want to

00:07:28.300 reorient us today, bring us back to what is important and what is absolutely true. There's a lot that we

00:07:35.700 worry about because we don't actually know if it's true. Like we don't actually know, we don't know the

00:07:41.000 outcome of a particular policy or a particular headline, particular issue. And so the anxiety

00:07:48.080 comes with not knowing. But graciously, the Lord has told us a lot that we can hang our hat on,

00:07:57.580 that we can absolutely trust in. He has revealed to us not everything, but a lot of things that we

00:08:03.740 absolutely know to be true. And that can anchor us. I did a post on Instagram. I think it was last

00:08:10.980 week. And the title slide, it was 10 slides. And the title slide said, you are still 20 months closer

00:08:21.280 to death. You're still 20 months closer to death. And now that might not sound like good news. You might

00:08:27.920 think that I am trying to send you further into a cycle of despair. And I am not. That's just the

00:08:36.800 truth. We are 20 months closer to death. Even as we spend our time twiddling our thumbs, spend our time

00:08:47.680 overwhelmed with the anxiety that wakes us up in the middle of night, feels like it punches us in the gut,

00:08:53.660 makes us feel like we are paralyzed, like we can't even move forward, and threatens to overwhelm us

00:09:00.680 at any point. As we have been hoping and wishing and biding our time until things turn back to normal,

00:09:11.740 the reality is we are 20 months closer to death. And that's how I'm going to start this reorientation

00:09:18.580 of an episode in setting us straight and getting us back to what is most important. And I'll explain

00:09:25.320 that in just one second. So I think that we have all been at one point or another over the past 20

00:09:35.120 months under the impression that real life will resume when these so-called unprecedented times end,

00:09:43.820 that our anxiety will go away, that our fear will be diminished, that all of a sudden we'll be happy

00:09:51.540 and healthy, and we will be able to embrace normalcy, that basically we're going to get a redo on all of

00:10:00.300 this, and the way things were in 2019 will come back. And then when that comes back, we'll get back into a

00:10:08.820 routine that will make us happy and healthy and whole. So when the virus is over, or when the mandates

00:10:14.480 are overturned, or when our party has more power, when the economy is better, or when a particular

00:10:19.660 policy is implemented, or when whatever it is that we see as the big impediment to normalcy is finally

00:10:26.320 overcome, then we can go back to how things were. I think all of us have had that thought. I certainly

00:10:32.620 had that thought in the beginning, when I thought that things would be over in 15 days, as we were

00:10:36.880 promised, 15 days to slow the spread. I naively believe that that would be the case, or surely this is not

00:10:44.560 going to continue into the summer of 2020. I remember that's what I was thinking. And so when it finally

00:10:50.640 is over, that's when life will go back to normal. That's when, you know, I'll eat healthier. That's when

00:10:55.660 I'll, you know, start going to church again. That's when I'll make sure that I'm waking up early and reading

00:11:01.400 my Bible. That's when I'll stop consuming the news second by second and being overcome with the worry

00:11:09.180 that's associated with that. When all of this ends, that's when XYZ will happen. That will make

00:11:17.100 things sane again. The reality is, is that that's a trick. That's a trick. That's not real. Life did not

00:11:24.020 actually pause in March of 2020, or in January of 2021, when Joe Biden officially became president.

00:11:29.880 Life didn't pause then. We are not currently in a holding pattern. We are still 20 months closer to

00:11:36.640 death than we were when this whole thing started in the beginning of 2020. All this time, the seconds

00:11:42.820 have continued to tick. The sand in the hourglass has continued to trickle. Our finite lives have

00:11:48.720 continued to dwindle all this time. So the thing that was always going to kill you still is going to kill

00:11:55.980 you. Maybe it's going to be a virus, but more likely it will be one of the millions of other

00:12:02.780 things by which people die every day and for which no mitigation strategy is mandated and about which

00:12:08.500 no journalist bothers to write. That's, that's the bad news. That's the bad news is that you're going

00:12:14.740 to die. We're all going to die. Something at some point is going to kill you. That's inevitable.

00:12:22.740 The good news is we can, all of us, right this very instant, stop pretending that normal times,

00:12:32.420 what we see as normal times, are normal, and simply get on with our lives. We are so fortunate

00:12:40.400 in America that we have enjoyed peace and prosperity that is completely unfathomable to most people in

00:12:46.940 the world. I mean, what a blessing for which we should continue to advocate. We should continue

00:12:51.940 to fight. We should continue to care about the, the rights that make that peace and prosperity

00:12:58.320 possible. We should thank God for these things, but, but neither peace nor prosperity, especially for

00:13:06.960 the Christian, is historically normal. Really persecution is normal. Poverty is normal. 1.00

00:13:14.460 Tyranny is normal. Tribulation, distress, famine, danger are normal as Romans 8 35 tells us. They're

00:13:21.800 not desirable at all, but they are normal. So the reality is, is that our so-called unprecedented

00:13:29.780 times are actually very precedented. I mean, they're precedented in world history just in the past 100

00:13:35.420 years alone, but they're certainly precedented many times over throughout human history. And Jesus knew

00:13:42.480 the alpha and the omega. He knew exactly what our times right now would look like when he said,

00:13:51.060 follow me in Matthew 4 19. There are no exemptions granted for the Christian life,

00:13:59.060 not for a virus or for draconian policies put in place in the name of stopping the virus,

00:14:05.420 or for inflation or for bad presidents or for any other obstacle standing in front of what we see

00:14:13.260 as nostalgic normalcy. So in the midst of all of these things and more, the Christian is still 0.84

00:14:20.100 called to surrender. It's still called to joy. It's still called to prayer. It's still called to

00:14:25.520 service, to hospitality, to generosity, to truth, to love. We are still called to an abundant life of

00:14:31.580 obedience to God. So when I say it's time that we get on with life, we get on living and you say,

00:14:37.840 but Allie, I live in Australia and we're locked down in my particular day, or I live in Canada,

00:14:43.800 or I live in this part of the world or this part of the United States where we aren't allowed to do

00:14:49.120 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

00:14:53.080 get on with my life because of all of these different restrictions. Or maybe you're someone who is

00:14:57.580 scared to leave your home. You're scared to interact with people because of the virus. And so

00:15:03.380 you feel like, well, there's no way that you can just get on with your life. I am not talking about

00:15:09.040 a life that is made possible by Dr. Fauci or by the president or by any policy or by the absence of

00:15:17.100 any sickness. I am talking about the life that whether you like it or not is continuing to move

00:15:22.200 forward like a freight train. You can either live the life that you have right now to the fullest

00:15:28.840 in obedience to God the best way that you possibly can, or you can just continue to live in fear inside

00:15:36.280 your home. Those are our two options. Those are our two options. I know one thing for sure. And that

00:15:47.060 one thing is no matter what policies are put in place, that God knew about them before they were

00:15:52.260 put in place. And I know that God's authority transcends any earthly authority. And I know

00:15:58.480 that God can be obeyed no matter what station of life that we are in. Like the gospel can be lived

00:16:05.220 out. God can be obeyed. You can deny yourself and follow Christ in a prison cell. So it doesn't matter

00:16:13.700 what our surrounding circumstances are. It doesn't matter how free we are. It doesn't matter what

00:16:18.520 the government is doing. The fact of the matter is, is that God is going to give you a way to deny

00:16:22.960 yourself and follow him no matter what's happening in the world. And the abundant life that God makes

00:16:28.480 possible through Christ is still possible in your circumstance, in my circumstance, whatever that

00:16:35.520 means. So when Jesus said, do not be anxious about your life, he didn't actually provide any carve

00:16:43.460 outs. He didn't give any stipulations. He didn't give any conditions. He didn't give any asterisks

00:16:48.700 correlating within, except in the 2020s footnotes. When Jesus said this, he knew every bit of trouble

00:16:55.700 Christians would face from Nero to now. It's really important for us to remember the devastation that 1.00

00:17:01.440 Christians have experienced throughout human history. And he preempts our protestations because

00:17:07.200 we all have them. We say, but what about, but what about, but you don't know, Jesus. You don't know

00:17:12.440 what I'm really going through. You don't know the suffering that I'm enduring. You don't know how

00:17:17.720 hard it is to go through what I'm going through. He preempts all of those buts with this brilliant

00:17:25.740 question. Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? That's Matthew 6,

00:17:34.380 27. Who of you, by being anxious, can add one hour, just one? You can't even add 60 minutes,

00:17:40.860 Jesus says, to your life by being worried. So wonderfully, Christians can stop mimicking 1.00

00:17:49.140 the paranoia of people who believe this life is all there is. Our good and sovereign God

00:17:57.040 has already numbered our days, Psalm 139, 16 says, and his purposes cannot be thwarted,

00:18:03.820 Job 42, 2 says. We are still 20 months closer to death. We are still 20 months closer to death than

00:18:16.200 we were when this whole thing started. When this presidency is over, we will still be four years

00:18:22.000 closer to death. So life is not on pause. Not for the virus, not for the lockdowns,

00:18:28.480 not for inflation, not for any set of national or personal trials we face.

00:18:35.480 And the reality is, I sent this to a friend yesterday who told me that she was overwhelmed,

00:18:41.720 that she was just weary of the world, which, yeah, wow, I get that. I feel that. At least once a day,

00:18:48.640 I'm weary of this world. And first, let me say that that's not a bad feeling. Maybe one of the

00:18:54.960 blessings of this time, which is, I don't want you to hear me minimizing what we're going through

00:19:00.360 on a national scale or what you are going through right now on a personal scale. Your pain is real.

00:19:05.840 Your suffering is real. I mean, people losing their jobs, their livelihoods right now because of

00:19:11.840 unscientific, unconstitutional, tyrannical mandates. Like, that's real. I don't want you to

00:19:18.200 think that I am belittling what you're going through, whether it has to do with that or something

00:19:22.000 totally unrelated. Maybe one of the blessings in that is not just our humility, and that's

00:19:30.060 something that God accomplishes through sanctification, through trials, and not just

00:19:35.600 drawing us close to Him personally and strengthening our faith and reliance on Him, but also a reminder

00:19:41.560 that this world is not our home, that we're not going to find all of the joy and all of the hope and

00:19:46.320 all of the peace that we are looking for here, that our satisfaction, our solace rests in Christ

00:19:52.060 alone, and we will only achieve the lack of sadness, the lack of sorrow, the lack of sickness,

00:20:00.160 the lack of bad policies and unreliable and power-hungry governments and all that we are suffering from

00:20:08.120 today. We are only going to achieve that kind of world and that kind of peace in heaven. And so

00:20:17.520 maybe one thing that God is accomplishing in His church and in Christians is to have a longing for

00:20:27.540 the return of Christ this Christmas season that maybe we haven't had in the past because life has been

00:20:33.520 so good. Maybe God is using the hardship that people are enduring today to graciously, to mercifully

00:20:42.360 remind us that all of the suffering that we are feeling today will one day be taken care of. It'll one

00:20:49.340 day be over. And that eternal joy is coming. And that is where our hope lies. And that is where our

00:21:00.280 peace will finally fully, fully come to fruition. And yet we can also have peace today through Christ.

00:21:08.960 And we can have peace through the knowledge of the sovereignty of God, understanding, clinging to the

00:21:14.020 fact that God did not place you. And this is what I sent my friend, that God did not place you

00:21:19.080 and your children here and now arbitrarily. He placed you on this tiny time speck of eternity,

00:21:26.380 on the small plot of earth where you stand with the neighbors that you have and the resources that

00:21:31.400 He has given you purposely, providentially, specifically. We were meant for this time. You

00:21:38.540 and I, our kids, our future grandkids, we were meant for this time, no other time. We are called to full

00:21:46.720 obedience to God now, not in a future that we're not even guaranteed. So we have to live our lives right

00:21:54.100 now as best we can, simply doing the next right thing in faith and joy with excellence and for

00:22:01.460 the glory of God. And yes, I understand there is a tension that we live in, that we simultaneously

00:22:09.200 are putting our eyes towards heaven, reminding ourselves that our citizenship is in heaven,

00:22:14.060 realizing that sinner's going to sin and a broken world is going to be broken, 1.00

00:22:19.800 and that we don't put our trust in princes or in horses, and that we simply put our hope

00:22:26.620 in Christ and the hope of His return is what anchors us. And yet we are in the world. And because

00:22:34.680 we love our neighbor, because we know that politics matter, because policy matters, because people

00:22:39.280 matter, because we know that we are supposed to be salt and light here, we do care about what's going

00:22:45.160 on in the world. We do want to push for that which is good and right and true, while also being totally

00:22:51.740 content with where we are and what we have. So it's this mixture of being weary with the world,

00:22:58.340 of hating the sin that we see reigning in so many ways, of hating injustice and hating just the

00:23:06.340 immorality and depravity and the corruption that we see so rampant, and just wanting things to get

00:23:13.400 better and just hoping for Jesus to come back so we don't have to deal with this anymore,

00:23:18.820 while also realizing that godliness with contentment is great gain. That's what Scripture

00:23:26.900 tells us. Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world,

00:23:31.860 and we cannot take anything out of the world. That's so clear. 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 7. We brought

00:23:36.820 nothing into the world. We'll take nothing out of the world, so we might as well be content with what

00:23:40.960 we have right now. That's a form of godliness, Scripture tells us. Even as there's so much that

00:23:46.160 we want for ourselves and so much that we want for our families, good things that we want for our

00:23:50.660 families. I mean, we want peace. That's a good thing. We want stability. We want good policy. These

00:24:00.440 are all good things, and it's okay to want them. But at the same time, a form of godliness is

00:24:06.200 contentment. We're supposed to be content with what we have, even as we're longing for heaven.

00:24:09.960 And so we all feel this kind of tension. We all feel this kind of tension. And what I want—and

00:24:18.280 I'm just going to go on a little mini rant here—what I want is for the church to represent that tension

00:24:26.940 well. And we don't do it perfectly, but to represent it with joy. That the church should really be an

00:24:36.720 example for people in this time who have believed the lie that we are in some kind of holding pattern,

00:24:44.100 that life has been on pause, that finally one day we're all going to go back to normal,

00:24:49.660 when we're all 100% vaccinated, when we all have our six booster shots, that the government is going

00:24:55.240 to give up their emergency powers, and that things are just going to be how they once were,

00:25:00.820 and that we don't have to worry about doing the things that we were doing before during this

00:25:06.860 unprecedented time, that we're really just on pause, and that somehow we'll be able to redeem this time

00:25:11.940 that we have. We'll be able to make up for it. The church should be living as they've always lived.

00:25:18.600 The church should be opening their doors to both saints and sinners. The church should continue to be 0.99

00:25:25.380 hospitable, continue to be generous, continue to corporately worship. Instead, you have some

00:25:31.340 congregations that are actually segregating their congregants. By vaccination status, they are actually

00:25:38.020 closing their doors for fear of a new variant. They are not showing in-person hospitality. They have

00:25:47.540 stipulated their generosity and their welcoming, and they are calling this loving their neighbor,

00:25:53.240 when in reality, the church is supposed to be bold. The church is supposed to be brave. The church is

00:25:58.380 supposed to realize more than anyone else that death is inevitable, and we have a small window of time

00:26:02.940 to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, and you have so many churches that are so scared, just as scared

00:26:08.800 as secular people who believe that this life is all there is, that they have ceased to be any kind of

00:26:14.520 Christ-like example for the world. They're so scared. They're so scared. And for the church, like, you know

00:26:22.060 heaven is our home. Heaven is where we're going. Eternity is where our hope lies, that to live is

00:26:29.180 Christ, to die is gain, as Paul says in Philippians 1. And they are clinging to these, I don't know,

00:26:41.120 this intangible hope that I guess things somehow are going to be perfect and peaceful

00:26:51.540 and go back to normal here in this life. And they're wrong. And these are Christians that I'm 1.00

00:26:57.940 talking about. These are professing Christians who are living just like the secularists of this world

00:27:03.740 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, 0.99

00:27:53.820 you're fooling yourself into thinking that you're not going to take the mark of the beast? Are you

00:27:59.060 kidding me? What this is showing me is that actually a lot of professing Christians are going to line up

00:28:04.600 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

00:29:40.040 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.

00:32:05.840 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 1.00

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.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - November 30, 2021

Ep 530 ｜ GOOD NEWS! We're 20 Months Closer to Death

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