The NXR Podcast - December 19, 2023


CONFERENCE - The Reality Christian Men Face

Topics
money blessings church giving slaves & gun freedoms dress codes and working out
Hosted by
Joel Webbon Harrison Smith Antonio Griffith Dale Partridge Wewsley Todd Calvin Robinson
Mentioned
Joseph Andrew Isker George Soros Eric Combe Pharaoh Abraham Samuel Paul Russell Moore Jesus Christ Klaus Schwab Doug Wilson Joe Biden Uncle Sam William Yahweh Edmund Chris David Wally and 4 more
SUNDAY SERMON - How To Beat Anxiety SERMON - The Night Before Christmas

Episode Stats


Length

59 minutes

Words per minute

172.02

Word count

10,178

Sentence count

463

Harmful content

Misogyny

11

sentences flagged

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

31

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Pastor Chris and Jared talk about the cost of being a Christian and the practical implications of it. They talk about what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century, what it looks like to live a Christian life, and what it costs to raise a Christian family.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month
00:00:04 to 50,000 downloads. What made the difference? You leaving us a five-star review. The more
00:00:10 positive reviews, the more the algorithm picks us up, and more people are confronted by the law
00:00:16 and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a
00:00:23 five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks. All right, here we go. So what
00:00:30 I want to talk about is very practical, but the cost of being a man. So the things that we've
00:00:35 been talking about at this conference, Jared has talked about, Chris has talked about, just talking
00:00:40 about some of the practical implications of that. What is it going to cost? What's it going to
00:00:46 require in order to have a household that honors the Lord, a household that is seeking to be
00:00:53 biblically faithful? What is it going to cost in order to try to keep your kids? What's it going
00:00:58 to cost to use those kids as artillery, to be potent, to be sharp, right? We want our arrows to 0.88
00:01:02 be both sharp and straight. Those are kind of the two key characteristics that I think of.
00:01:07 Some evangelicals, it seems as though the arrows that they have forged when they finally are grown
00:01:12 and ready to draw back and to fire, those arrows are dull. And so they don't make much of a mark
00:01:20 when it comes to pushing back the kingdom of darkness and the enemy. Others, I think this is
00:01:25 perhaps even worse than a dull arrow, they have a bent arrow, an arrow that is not sharp. And this
00:01:31 arrow happens not to be straight. In fact, it's so bent, so unstraight, that it functions more like
00:01:38 a boomerang than an arrow. And it actually goes out and then comes back and hits the people of
00:01:45 God. It actually becomes artillery for the kingdom of darkness, for Satan. Doug Wilson has said many
00:01:53 times, you know, that Samuel, it would have done him no good to have five sons that took bribes
00:01:58 rather than two. So we do want quivers full. We do, quantity is in the text. There is something
00:02:04 to be said for many. Children are a blessing. And it is a peculiar thing when we think of blessings
00:02:11 that God brings to us, there are a few blessings that we seek to mitigate, right? Like there are
00:02:17 a few times, I'm not saying there's no scenario where that might not happen, but there are a few
00:02:22 scenarios where the Christian is thinking, you know, God has been blessing us so much financially
00:02:25 and we're just concerned. We're deeply concerned and we'd like to stop it. You know, the money 1.00
00:02:31 just keeps coming in and we need it to, you know, to dry up and at least to come in more slowly.
00:02:36 And if we could, you know, I think if I could just perform a little bit worse at work or if we
00:02:40 could make some bad investments over here, or if we could do something, you know, so that instead
00:02:45 of making 20 grand a month, you know, we could bring that down to 12, then I think that would
00:02:49 be really great. You know, now some people do think in those terms, but not so much with the
00:02:54 bad investments or doing bad at work, but usually in terms of charity and those kinds of things, 0.53
00:02:59 we call them pietists. You know, they don't, they think that money, you know, your job and 0.91
00:03:04 everything that you do, it's really worthless. This earth is going to be annihilated and burned
00:03:08 up, completely disintegrated and melt like snow. And the only point of anybody having a good job
00:03:14 and doing good work and getting a good wage is so that you can buy a 25-year-old car and live
00:03:22 in a tiny house. And at the end of the day, every expendable dollar that you have can be given to
00:03:28 the church and not the church representing the people of God or the kingdom of God, but
00:03:32 the church institute, a particular local church, to their charitable fund. And that's a really sad
00:03:39 thing. I think it was the owner of Hobby Lobby a few months back. It was announced that he was
00:03:46 going to sell the entire company, the guy who started the business and everything. He was
00:03:50 going to sell it and give all the proceeds over to charity. And he has children. I thought,
00:03:55 what a wicked thing. In biblical terms, that is a wicked thing. Absolutely wicked. God hates it.
00:04:01 right the bumper sticker you know i'm i'm spending my children's inheritance
00:04:04 it's a wicked thing god hates it um and there's uh there's more that yes we want to be faithful
00:04:11 to bring a tithe into the storehouse i do believe in a biblical tithe i am sympathetic though with
00:04:17 that um in this day and age when the state is taking care of so many of these needs albeit
00:04:22 they're doing it poorly but the state nonetheless is taking care of so many needs
00:04:26 that typically the church would.
00:04:29 And the state is taxing you at three times the tithe, right?
00:04:33 You know, it's one thing when the state rivals God.
00:04:36 God asked for 10%, you know, and that's what's said. 0.64
00:04:39 You know, when Israel asked for a king, you know,
00:04:41 and God says to Samuel, go and tell them, you know,
00:04:43 if they get a king, you know, they better watch out
00:04:45 because this is how bad having a king will be.
00:04:47 He'll demand a tenth of their harvest.
00:04:51 You know, we think, man, you know,
00:04:53 Joe Biden was only asking for 10%.
00:04:55 what a deal that would be awesome 10 like we're way past that so god is saying like be careful
00:05:02 like if you give them a human king in this form of government they're going to require 10 that's
00:05:07 what i require and anything that rivals what i require is tyranny so we're three times god's
00:05:13 definition of tyranny and speaking of taxes um so you know knowing those things thinking in those
00:05:20 terms i am sympathetic i'm not you know my church will be able to tell you you know about half of
00:05:25 the people here are members in our church to the point where I actually think I'm going to have to
00:05:30 do better next year because I feel convicted. But I just never, I don't ever talk about giving. I
00:05:35 just, I recognize it's a very, very, very difficult, it's a difficult time right now that, you know,
00:05:42 you're being robbed constantly. You're being robbed through inflation, which is robbery, and through
00:05:48 wrong taxes, unethical taxes, which is robbery. The church doesn't fulfill a lot of what it
00:05:54 ordinarily would fulfill in a perfect theonomic society. And so all that being said, I am
00:06:00 sympathetic. But at the same time, I would also say, I said this a couple of weeks ago to our
00:06:05 members, I said, the solution to being robbed cannot be to rob God. So I'll say that again.
00:06:11 The solution to being robbed by man, Caesar, or whoever it may be, the solution to being robbed
00:06:17 by man cannot be that we in turn choose to rob God. And so the people of God must be generous
00:06:22 people. But all that goes back to the point of bringing up that illustration is to say money
00:06:26 as a case study, as an example. Few of us are thinking in terms of, man, I just got so much
00:06:32 of it. And it's just, God has just turned on the faucet of his blessing in this financial vein.
00:06:37 And it just keeps coming. And if I could just, if there's any way that I could slow it down or
00:06:42 stop it or mitigate, it's just too much blessing. Likewise, children, in terms of the way that God
00:06:48 sees in biblical terms, children are not only blessings, but children are wealth. Children are
00:06:54 wealth. And so in the same way that, you know, if your job, if they, you know, you went in,
00:07:00 your employer said, we're going to double your salary. I think we should be thinking in similar
00:07:04 terms. If, you know, if God is placing on our hearts as we're reading the scripture and being
00:07:11 informed by biblical worldview and being convicted by the spirit, if we're thinking, you know, we
00:07:15 have three kids and maybe we should go for six. I think that that's in the same vein. We should
00:07:21 be thinking, maybe God wants me to be twice as rich, twice as wealthy. And I mean that in the
00:07:28 literal sense, not just a spiritual platitude. It is a spiritual wealth. But beyond just a
00:07:35 spiritual wealth, I mean it in the literal sense. I think that children are a massive asset to a
00:07:43 household, to a family, if we can find ways, by the grace of God, to actually have households
00:07:47 and to attach industry and wealth building and those things back to the family, back to
00:07:53 the household. A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Isker and A.D. Robles came out. We were working
00:07:58 on a special recording project that Lord William will put out there in January. We're doing
00:08:02 something a little bit different. Instead of just a show, I wanted to have them in the studio,
00:08:05 in person, the three of us. We were going over Isker's book, The Boniface Option, doing it in
00:08:11 person and it's going to be nine episodes long. So instead of just one episode, multiple parts
00:08:15 series on a particular topic, going deep. And then Nathan, who is our tech director with Right
00:08:22 Response Ministries, is going to take a couple months on the back end. And he's already working
00:08:26 on that in post, editing it and adding a little bit of B-roll and some music and doing a really
00:08:32 high level of production. And then we'll release that Q1, Lord willing, of next year. And then
00:08:38 then we're already working on Q2. So the goal is to do it four times a year, have this, we're going
00:08:43 to call it the Friday special. So it'll come out on Fridays in multiple parts series, eight, nine,
00:08:47 10 episodes, each time a couple of different guests. The first one is with Isker and A.D.
00:08:53 And when I was talking to Andrew, you know, as we were recording the series and talking about
00:08:58 the household and talking about freedom, being a free man and talking about slavery
00:09:02 as opposed to freedom.
00:09:05 One of the clear marks of a slave
00:09:09 is that a slave could not have his own household.
00:09:12 Now, depending on the master of that particular slave
00:09:15 and what time period and what place,
00:09:17 what kind of slavery culture we're discussing,
00:09:21 the slavery could be more humane.
00:09:23 It could be such a way that the master even honors the slave,
00:09:27 or it could be absolutely inhumane and abusive,
00:09:30 terribly abusive and unbiblical.
00:09:32 and in the more humane examples of slavery throughout the world,
00:09:37 throughout the course of human history,
00:09:39 slaves would be permitted to marry and permitted to have children. 0.54
00:09:43 They could have a family, but they couldn't have a household.
00:09:47 That's the point that I'm trying to make.
00:09:50 There's a distinction between a family and a household. 0.69
00:09:53 So a slave could have a wife and have children,
00:09:57 but he could not have a household.
00:09:58 Let me give you one case study of one of my favorite slaves, Joseph.
00:10:05 And we don't think of Joseph as a slave because we think, well, Joseph was exceedingly wealthy and influential and authoritative.
00:10:15 I mean, he had affluence, influence, wealth, all these things, power, authority, command.
00:10:21 But Joseph was still technically a slave, viceroy of Egypt, second in command, you know, above all.
00:10:27 save Pharaoh. But what Joseph could not do, right? He was permitted to marry
00:10:33 and have children and had immense authority and prestige and all these things,
00:10:40 but he still couldn't go home, right? Notice that. It's not that Joseph lost his faith.
00:10:46 In all his time in Egypt, I think what we're meant to understand from the text and the Genesis
00:10:50 this narrative, is that Joseph remained faithful to God. His God was Yahweh, that he remained
00:10:58 faithful to God and to his family, to his true household, to his people, his father.
00:11:05 The reason that Joseph, when he finally reached the top, the reason he still didn't return but
00:11:11 stayed in Egypt is because he was not permitted to return. He was second to command of all of
00:11:18 Egypt, given authority and all these things and had a wife and had kids, but he was still a part
00:11:22 of Pharaoh's house. He was still a part of Pharaoh's house. A slave cannot be independent. 0.79
00:11:30 A slave doesn't have their own household. And that's the world that we're living in now. And
00:11:34 so you need to know that, especially speaking to men in the room. It's not a exaggeration or
00:11:41 hyperbole uh it's absolutely literally true that you'll own nothing and you're supposed to be happy
00:11:48 that is the goal and that's not the action it's not just the result of sin and compromise along
00:11:54 the way for you know the last several decades and i would argue you know a good bit longer
00:12:00 but no it's not just the consequences of evil man making wicked wicked choices but no it's actually
00:12:07 i believe it's the design i've come to believe that i've come to believe that this was the goal
00:12:12 the goal was power and if you're going to have power it's nice if your citizens are slaves
00:12:19 slaves can't revolt you know and you know one of the things i think that ironically keeps americans
00:12:27 as slaves you know but without knowing it because that's the best kind of slave is a slave who
00:12:31 thinks he's free you know and those who are actually in control they can sit back you know
00:12:35 in a private room and they can laugh about it, have a good chuckle together. These slaves actually
00:12:39 think that they're not slaves. They think that they're free. And one of the things that does
00:12:42 that is the Second Amendment. You know, that, well, you know, we still have our guns, you know,
00:12:48 but nobody's going to use them. Nobody ever will. And I'm not saying, you know, that I'm against
00:12:54 ownership. I'm very much for it. I think responsible ownership is not only permissible, but I
00:12:59 think that you could make somewhat of an argument that it's even a command. I'd be careful
00:13:05 with my language there.
00:13:06 But if you're a man, you need to protect and provide.
00:13:09 And I think physical protection is a part of that.
00:13:11 In 2023, having a gun for a home intruder
00:13:16 and those kinds of things is important.
00:13:20 But taking back the country, it's not going to happen.
00:13:24 Not anytime soon.
00:13:27 Nobody's going to revolt.
00:13:29 Let's just be honest.
00:13:30 We're slaves.
00:13:32 And it's not just we're slaves economically.
00:13:34 or we're slaves in terms of our situation, our life situation.
00:13:38 We're slaves in terms of our minds, our mindsets, right?
00:13:43 Another Wilson-ism, you know, the difference between, you know, freedoms that, you know,
00:13:49 the Democrat Party would argue for versus freedoms, at least your traditional conservatives
00:13:54 might argue for is the freedoms that are argued for by a progressive, politically progressive
00:13:59 are the freedoms that can be enjoyed by someone in, you know, a 10 by 8 prison cell.
00:14:06 The freedoms to, you know, not be sober-minded.
00:14:09 I'll just say it like that.
00:14:11 You know, the freedoms to, for just physical pleasure, to just serve yourself.
00:14:20 And I'll leave it at that.
00:14:21 You can think of the kinds of things that you could do in a small room, in jail.
00:14:25 The things that you could do and the things that are done.
00:14:27 yeah that's that's freedom i guess you could call it that but but you know here's my counter but is 0.93
00:14:33 it this is freedom yeah but is it like that that's a debased freedom but it's also it's a pathetic
00:14:43 sad freedom it's it's not really freedom whereas conservative freedom traditionally is the freedom
00:14:50 not just to give in to your most based vices
00:14:55 and terrible, sinful desires.
00:15:00 But traditionally, the conservative freedom
00:15:01 would be the freedom to move geographically
00:15:05 across the country and start a business
00:15:08 and purchase land, make money, build wealth,
00:15:15 take a wife, have children, leave a legacy,
00:15:19 run for office, do this, do that.
00:15:21 Those kinds of freedoms you cannot have in a jail cell,
00:15:27 a prison cell.
00:15:29 And those are the kind of freedoms
00:15:31 that are becoming increasingly rare and difficult to have
00:15:35 even if you're not in a literal prison
00:15:37 because the whole nation has become a proverbial prison.
00:15:44 It is immensely hard to own a home today.
00:15:49 And it's really hard to have a single income family
00:15:53 and for your wife, Titus II, to be a worker at home.
00:15:57 And it's incredibly hard not to rely on public schools,
00:16:01 not because you think they're great
00:16:03 or you agree with their convictions
00:16:05 or the curriculum that's being taught,
00:16:07 but just practically and financially.
00:16:11 You're talking about an immense cost.
00:16:16 So I'm laying the framework, and I just, I don't know.
00:16:20 I'm not great at using my notes.
00:16:24 But I'll make a few points along the way.
00:16:27 Somehow, someway, it usually happens.
00:16:30 But the cost of biblical manhood, when I speak of that cost,
00:16:36 I mean in a very, very literal, practical, financial sense.
00:16:40 Now, that's not to say that you can't faithfully follow Christ and be poor.
00:16:46 So the Christian worldview does not require that you are in a certain economic class in order to
00:16:52 be an obedient Christian. Christianity has thrived in poverty. It's thrived among the rich.
00:16:59 Paul even says, whether I abase or abound, right? So whether I'm rich or whether I'm poor,
00:17:04 found in all things that there's a way for me to be faithful, namely to be content,
00:17:09 and that godliness with contentment is great gain. There's a way to honor Christ,
00:17:14 be faithful to Christ, obedient to Christ in all these different ways, regardless of your economic
00:17:19 status, whether you're rich or whether you're poor. But the poverty that we have today, I do,
00:17:24 I want to argue, okay, you know, nothing new under the sun of, you know, fair game. Anytime you quote
00:17:30 the scripture, that's, you know, that's usually a good point made. It's always a good point made.
00:17:36 Nothing new under the sun. But when we think of wealth, here's the deal. So this is what David
00:17:40 you know radical and these kinds of things this is uh russell moore a popular sentiment in
00:17:46 evangelicalism and quasi you know semi-reformed evangelicalism over the last 20 years uh what
00:17:52 you would hear again and again is we're rich if you're in america you're rich we're so rich we're
00:17:56 so rich okay but but how do we define wealth that's something that i've i've thought a lot
00:18:02 about over the last few years because if we define wealth in terms of access and convenience and
00:18:09 immediacy then okay americans are exceedingly rich and i understand that argument the argument
00:18:15 goes something like this you know that the average american even if you're on you know
00:18:20 food stamps and welfare the average american still has immediate access to more information
00:18:26 more knowledge and more personal immediate convenient comforts than a king from not that
00:18:36 long ago, right? So Pharaoh, how many people would have to be in Pharaoh's employment to keep him
00:18:41 cool, physically cool, if it's summertime and it's hot and he's trying to sleep, right? How many
00:18:47 people are having to work these physical fans, right? But how many people, how many servants
00:18:51 would he have to send out across the world, you know, in order to spy out this or to get this
00:18:56 information or to inform him in that way? How many servants in his employment for just the sake of
00:19:02 entertainment right you can imagine pharaoh you know surfing through channels right so he's got
00:19:08 50 people over here acting out one play and he watches it for a while he's like stop you guys
00:19:14 go you're on oh okay let's see what's on this channel now okay let's pay that you know but
00:19:19 even then even if he had 10 000 different servants acting out different plays the best
00:19:25 in all the land you know that still equates to what i know you break it down divide it there's
00:19:30 50 over here and 40 over there and 30 over there and there's people working sets in the backdrop
00:19:34 and all that like we still have more entertainment options than pharaoh by a long shot like a lot
00:19:42 more pharaoh is poor by comparison if here's the ticket though if wealth is being defined
00:19:50 and i would argue solely defined in terms of convenience comforts access
00:19:56 but what if wealth here's another way just this is crazy you know it's really crazy but just
00:20:02 you know humor me what if wealth one at least one i'm not even saying it's the soul way right
00:20:07 so hear me out i'm being reasonable here i'm a reasonable guy i'm not saying it's the only way
00:20:11 but what if at least just one way that you could define wealth was ownership
00:20:17 well then americans are poor
00:20:20 exceedingly poor some of the poorest people on the planet
00:20:26 in fact
00:20:29 when you think it like in biblical terms you talk about abraham
00:20:35 right you talk about isaac and jacob the patriarchs but there are a multitude of examples
00:20:42 that could be cited and they have far less convenience and comfort and access
00:20:46 immediacy those kinds of things than we do today they don't have hvac they do not have the internet
00:20:54 they don't have this little brick in your pocket that can give you information all over the world
00:21:01 now most of it's bad and i don't mean bad morally there's plenty of that too but i mean like most
00:21:07 of it's fake like it's not even true information we're the most informed but the least knowledgeable
00:21:13 and certainly the least wise but we have all this immediacy this access this comfort this pleasure
00:21:19 entertainment at our fingertips and all these things but if wealth at least one way that wealth
00:21:26 can be described or defined is not just those things those metrics but ownership then America
00:21:35 is very very poor the average american is very very poor and the best that i could compare it to
00:21:44 when i think of you know history and other different people who would be like that that
00:21:49 would have that level of poverty if we're talking about wealth or lack thereof in the ownership
00:21:55 vein the only other group of people that i could think to describe that would be similar to americans
00:22:01 would be slaves you don't own anything you don't own property you don't own a house
00:22:09 you probably don't even own your car some of you and any of it can be repoed at any moment
00:22:18 if you miss a payment
00:22:19 you have nothing right now to give to your children right why the emphasis right why so
00:22:27 much emphasis on the spiritual? Well, one, because the Bible puts an emphasis on it. It is right.
00:22:34 But we say, you know, well, you know, spiritual training is of eternal value and infinite. That's
00:22:39 true. And then we say, you know, and physical training is of no value. But that's not what
00:22:44 the text says. The text says the spiritual matters more. The eternal matters more. But it's not
00:22:49 spiritual training is of infinite value and physical training is of no value. No physical
00:22:56 training despite the fact that spiritual training is worth more physical training is still worth
00:23:00 some it's not just all or nothing
00:23:03 there's still some value to this world to nature to the physical realm to the practical there's
00:23:14 something to be said for working out right there's something to be said believe it or not you know
00:23:19 these are the things if you want to get in trouble on twitter here's the thing you might be thinking
00:23:22 that's random? An adoption tweet? Eric Combe? Like, why did that trigger everybody? You know,
00:23:29 the week before, what was it? It was working out. And then this week, it's like, should we wear a
00:23:34 suit or not on Sunday? So it's dress codes and working out. And then there's always, you know,
00:23:39 old faithful, you can fall back on Joel telling his wife not to read, you know. So that, you know,
00:23:43 that upsets people too. But, you know, if you want to find the common denominator, because there is,
00:23:49 did you know that it's not random there's it's there's a threat the threat is nature
00:23:53 what i mean by that is if you want to upset people today and when i say people i mean christians
00:24:00 christians if you want to upset people today all you have to do is emphasize be it ever so small
00:24:11 be it ever so nuanced with all the disclaimers and all the different parenthetical statements
00:24:18 give any emphasis or priority to the physical natural world at all today
00:24:26 and christians will lose their minds they the vitriol will be out of this world they will
00:24:35 scream they will rage you will be called a heretic
00:24:40 you will go viral right if you're struggling if one of the things you're struggling with is just
00:24:46 a sense of importance or significance and you don't care if people like you just want to be seen
00:24:54 i've got some ideas i can make you a star real fast
00:25:02 these things i mean it's just people lose their minds they just see red they're not even they
00:25:10 can't even they can't even have the discussion anymore there's no argument you're not allowed
00:25:15 to have a debate you're not allowed to discuss it you're not allowed to push back you're not even
00:25:20 allowed to be humanized much less charity real christian charity treated as a brother in christ 1.00
00:25:26 it's just you're done you're scum you're dirt you're a heretic i mean that's the way that 1.00
00:25:31 you're going to be treated for what because you denied justification by grace alone through faith 1.00
00:25:36 alone christ alone right no no because you said maybe maybe biblical patriarchy in theory
00:25:46 might actually have some implications in practice
00:25:51 or you said maybe just maybe annihilation is not the biblical worldview and the world will not
00:26:00 literally dissolve like snow and that the creation is groaning with eager expectations
00:26:04 for the sons of god to be revealed not so because in the revealing of the sons of god the creation
00:26:10 will be taken out back by god behind the woodshed and put down the creation is not eagerly desiring
00:26:16 the sons of god to be revealed because in the sons of god's being revealed creation will receive a
00:26:22 mercy killing from the lord but rather that in the sons of god being revealed creation alongside the
00:26:27 sons of god will be restored also with them and that the new heavens and the new earth new earth
00:26:33 doesn't mean another earth but this earth made new to even suggest that that like this world
00:26:41 and i mean this like this rock this dirt this place that it matters
00:26:46 that it matters and that physical health matters and certain physical practical disciplines matter
00:26:56 and even how you dress on sunday yeah we don't want to be we want to be careful not to offer
00:27:01 you know it with with very condemning hardline definitive language extra biblical commands but
00:27:07 but a general sentiment of on the lord's day yeah let's try to dress well
00:27:11 you know or or the idea that you know adoption is great and when it happens by the grace of god
00:27:20 when it happens especially when it happens well it is a picture of the gospel and for the record
00:27:26 I was adopted. My parents are here today. I was adopted as a baby. I had heart problems.
00:27:33 They were asked, I mean, you sure? You sure? My dad, famous line. Are you kidding me? That's my
00:27:40 son. Got on the life flight helicopter with me as a little baby and would fly over to Herman's
00:27:45 Children's Hospital. And I said, my parents are heroes and I'm not going to sit here and poo-poo
00:27:51 on adoption. I'm pretty grateful. Pretty big fan. But do you know why the adoption tweet got so much
00:27:58 vitriol? Nature. Still had the same underlining common denominator. What was the nature aspect
00:28:03 there? Kin. Natural, biological children. I'm not saying kin-ism, but this idea that actually 0.92
00:28:12 we have obligations. There is an ordo amoris. There is actually an order of loves. There is
00:28:18 triage. There's priority. The church is commanded, right? So it's not even Christian religion if it
00:28:23 doesn't care for widows and orphans. Of course, of course, James 1.27 is the Word of God, right? You 0.90
00:28:32 must care for widows and orphans. You must, and keep yourself from being defiled by the world.
00:28:38 That's true religion. That's pure religion. It's not just doctrine, but it's practice, and that
00:28:44 practice should be explicitly seen in care for widows and orphans this is what paul says in
00:28:50 galatians when he takes his doctrine and he lays it before the apostles in jerusalem and they say
00:28:56 hey you're you're on point every single thing your systematic theology is baller this is this
00:29:03 is bovink level stuff you are on point at every single level we just wanted to say though also
00:29:09 care for widows and orphans the very thing i was eager to do that one i was thinking that too
00:29:14 So, widows and orphans is a huge thing.
00:29:16 Here's the deal.
00:29:18 Genesis 1, 2, 3.
00:29:22 Be fruitful and multiply is an explicit command given to individual married couples.
00:29:29 Whereas caring for widows and orphans is not.
00:29:33 Let me flesh that out real quick.
00:29:35 What I mean by that is that we, as Christians, as the church, corporately, collectively,
00:29:42 must, it's not just a suggestion, it is a command, we must care for the widow and the orphan.
00:29:48 But precisely you as an individual household, you do not have any such command that you must adopt
00:29:56 to where if you don't, you're in sin. Now when you do, and you do it well by the grace of God
00:30:03 and wisely, it is a picture of the gospel. It is beautiful. And people grow up and by God's grace
00:30:10 do things for his kingdom like me i would not be here if it wasn't for my parents and they raised
00:30:17 me in the fear of the lord and i am an adoption store but when eric khan tweets about adoption
00:30:23 you know who doesn't get offended men and by the grace of god i'm one of them
00:30:28 women get offended and i mean of women of both sexes
00:30:32 but men don't and we need men we need men and it's a low bar right now i'm not i'm not the
00:30:45 most manly guy i'm really not but i mean if you just have like barely any testosterone at all
00:30:51 you look like you look like just the most masculine person who's ever lived i like i
00:30:56 I feel like people think of me like I'm Thor.
00:31:00 I'm like, I'm not in that great of shape.
00:31:03 And I feel convicted.
00:31:04 And a lot of the stuff that I'm saying, I'm saying to myself,
00:31:05 I need to work on these things.
00:31:07 But when you're looking around, it's like the Wally movie, you know,
00:31:09 where everyone's fat and being floated around.
00:31:12 And you look at someone like, it's like, he has facial hair?
00:31:15 I didn't know the male face could do that anymore.
00:31:18 And he's able to be offended or disagreed without being offended.
00:31:26 and those kind of, so the bar is low, but all the things, my point is the underlining thing,
00:31:30 it's nature, it's nature, it's nature, and that's what Eric was saying in that, you know, that tweet
00:31:35 was, no, but don't adopt as a substitute to having children, because be fruitful and multiply
00:31:42 is a command given to individuals, whereas caring for widows and orphans, it doesn't tell you exactly
00:31:48 how, so it could be an orphanage, it could be adoption, and it's given to the church as a whole
00:31:52 collectively. Not each individual Christian household is commanded. You must adopt. And
00:31:58 then when adoption has, you look at like church history and some of these things. Well, a lot of
00:32:02 it is, again, it's the order of loves. It starts close. It starts at home and it works out. So
00:32:08 like World War I, World War II, even recent, you know, history. It's, well, think of Narnia,
00:32:14 Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy, for goodness sake. You think of them and where do they go?
00:32:19 well, you know, dad's in the war and mom can't take care of him.
00:32:23 And so naturally, you know, they ship him off to a family in Uganda.
00:32:28 No, never heard of such a thing until 15 minutes ago.
00:32:33 No, of course, that's not what happens.
00:32:35 They go to a relative, to another family member.
00:32:40 I mean, that's what Paul says, you know,
00:32:41 if any man does not care for, and it's both household,
00:32:44 his immediate family, but then also his extended family beyond that.
00:32:47 and if he doesn't do these things if he doesn't care for these people then he is worse than an
00:32:52 unbeliever he's denied the faith and now to even make that statement today you you will be you will
00:33:01 be absolutely condemned and shrieked at but not by not by leftists not by pagans not by unbelievers 0.52
00:33:11 by reformed christian pastors
00:33:15 that's where you'll get the pushback it's it's remarkable another thing just to mention well
00:33:25 weren't christians taking people who weren't related to them i mean taking children in rome
00:33:29 you know off the ash heap the dung pile especially girls and bringing them into their homes and
00:33:35 adopting them praise god do you know how much money it cost to do that did you know that rome 0.63
00:33:42 set up, you know, they had a booth there, right there by the trash heap. And every time a Christian 1.00
00:33:47 came to take one of those babies, they said, this is going to be 40 to 70 grand. Oh no, that part 0.85
00:33:53 didn't happen. Adoption is an industry. In the West, in America, it's an industry. And adoption
00:34:04 is not cheap. So it's one thing when Christians are saying, we're going to lay down our personal 0.95
00:34:10 comforts and our desires because we're going to care for the downtrodden and the oppressed and
00:34:15 adoption is a picture of the gospel it really is and we're going to model that out and jesus told
00:34:20 us james his brother told us that religion that is pleasing to the lord that's pure it cares for
00:34:26 widows and orphans we're going to do that we're going to do that collectively we're going to start
00:34:31 orphanages george muller and all this but we're also going to do that individually as families
00:34:35 we're going to adopt and we're going to adopt those who have been completely forgotten neglected
00:34:39 and discarded and thrown away praise god and christians did it then and they should do it now
00:34:45 but that doesn't mean each individual family must do it now and it certainly doesn't mean
00:34:52 that adoption is a sacrament and that through adoption you can achieve sainthood
00:34:59 protestants we we have our extra sacraments too we don't call them that but we do
00:35:04 and we have our ways of being sainted being just a grade above the rest we need to be careful of
00:35:12 those things but the thing at the end of the day again i'm going too long on the adoption thing but
00:35:17 the common denominator is nature right there's there's a subtle despising it wouldn't be said
00:35:24 it would never be verbalized nobody would actually come out and admit it but there's a subtle
00:35:28 despising of physical nature of of biological natural children of at every level of being
00:35:39 masculine or being feminine so whether it's we're talking about gender or whether we're talking about
00:35:44 marriage or family or children or personal hygiene or down to your dress anything that deals
00:35:50 outside of the abstract outside of the realm of theory outside of the spiritual anything that is
00:35:58 practical and physical and temporary and plain is going to be demonized. And part of the reason is
00:36:06 because you lose down here. And in order to prove that those who believe that you lose down here
00:36:14 were right about that, they're going to help you lose down here. And one of the roadmaps for losing
00:36:22 down here is to not care about anything that's real see christians have ironically they've done
00:36:29 the very same thing that chris was talking about during the q a when he said you know that one of
00:36:33 his sons really cared about video games and they were driving by and saw this whole virtual you
00:36:37 know arena and all this kind of stuff and he's like i'm not really interested in that anymore
00:36:41 i want the real world you know who else wants the real world jesus
00:36:45 gone. I mean, Jesus bought it. He wants it. He has it.
00:36:55 And his blessings flow as far as the curse is found. He's progressively and gradually
00:37:00 throughout this gospel age and real human time in history, he is winning back this world
00:37:06 and expanding his kingdom over the whole face of the earth. God cares about the world. Satan
00:37:12 cares about the world. He's always cared about the world. Democrats, they care about the world.
00:37:20 God cares about it. Satan cares about it. Democrats care about it. The only people who
00:37:23 don't care about the physical world have been Christians for approximately 150 years. 0.99
00:37:28 The only group that doesn't actually care about the world. 1.00
00:37:33 Everybody else cares. Angels care. Demons care. Satan cares. God cares. 0.99
00:37:37 god's enemies in terms of human beings they care but god's people are the only ones who
00:37:47 somehow come up with a theological explaining through gymnastics and hoops to where the world
00:37:54 just doesn't matter in fact if you care about the world at all you are worldly
00:37:59 lead not only should the world not be a priority but to prioritize it is is not only a waste of
00:38:07 time but it's actually something that is immoral and and sinful and wrong you're worldly
00:38:12 and so that's where we are we despise nature we think that grace eradicates or replaces or erases
00:38:20 nature rather than elevating and restoring nature and then inconsistently you have a few
00:38:28 complimentary and still holding on. But I think that's where we are. The real world matters.
00:38:35 We live in it and we are slaves and we have been slaves for a very long time. You are poor.
00:38:40 You're not rich. You are rich by one standard. You have AC.
00:38:47 Congratulations. But you own nothing. Abraham was far more rich than you. He sweat at night.
00:38:54 but Abraham owned stuff.
00:38:58 He actually owned stuff.
00:39:02 And so I think part of taking back the world is ownership.
00:39:05 It is dominion.
00:39:06 It is stewardship.
00:39:06 It's getting stuff back.
00:39:07 In the meantime, though, we have more in common, I think, with slaves.
00:39:12 And in this state of slavery, this season of slavery,
00:39:15 this moment of having all the conveniences and pleasures and drugs and TV
00:39:19 and the drip of dopamine that never stops
00:39:21 and all these kinds of things that keeps us sedated
00:39:24 so that we don't have any ambition so that we don't try to own anything that we would just
00:39:28 be content with virtual world and and you know that's that's the wf you got george soros on one
00:39:36 side saying be content with virtual world you know pods and bugs and if you ever break out of that
00:39:41 then the christians sadly tragically ironic then the christians say you know be content with
00:39:48 spiritual world so the pagans virtual world the christian spiritual world but jesus is saying my
00:39:55 world this world but one way or the other between darby and schofield and then george soros and
00:40:02 klaus schwab you know a real number has been done on us from both sides to where we've just we we
00:40:10 have surrendered we don't own anything we don't have an ambition towards anything and the few guys
00:40:16 who somehow did get ahead and started something
00:40:19 that was significant and made an impact
00:40:21 and it accrued wealth and all those kinds of things,
00:40:25 when they're finally done,
00:40:27 they sell it and give it to charity
00:40:29 and their kids get nothing
00:40:30 because they need to make it,
00:40:31 pull up their own bootstraps
00:40:33 and make it the hard way like me,
00:40:34 like the Hobby Lobby guy.
00:40:37 And then we're like, see,
00:40:40 things are all gonna get worse and worse
00:40:41 till Christ's return.
00:40:43 You rig the deck.
00:40:46 Of course they're getting worse.
00:40:48 It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?
00:40:51 It's like the meme.
00:40:52 It's like when you shoot, like, you know,
00:40:54 why did, you know, so-and-so do this to you?
00:40:57 And it's like, no, but you pulled the trigger.
00:40:59 You shot him.
00:41:00 This didn't do that.
00:41:01 You did that.
00:41:03 150 years.
00:41:04 That's where we've been at.
00:41:05 So all that being said, five costs, all right?
00:41:11 Five costs when it comes to being a man.
00:41:15 One, men as sons, this is Exodus 20, 12,
00:41:18 honor your father and mother
00:41:19 that your days may be long in the land
00:41:21 that the Lord your God has given you.
00:41:23 Although obedience to parents is a temporary command
00:41:25 issued to younger children while they remain at home,
00:41:28 the command to honor our fathers and mothers
00:41:30 is a lifelong command that continues
00:41:32 even for adult children.
00:41:34 First Timothy chapter five, verse four says this,
00:41:36 but if a widow has children or grandchildren,
00:41:39 let them first learn to show godliness
00:41:41 to their own household
00:41:42 and to make some return to their parents
00:41:44 for this is pleasing in the sight of god although this biblical text specifically the first timothy
00:41:50 5 4 specifically references elderly widows i believe and have come to believe that it is
00:41:56 pleasing in the sight of god when adult children earnestly seek to make some return to their
00:42:01 parents even if both father and mother are still living and that return being not just a spiritual
00:42:07 return but a physical return i think that's what's being talked about or at least included
00:42:14 That's at least included in Exodus 20, 12
00:42:16 and also in 1 Timothy 5, 4.
00:42:19 So men and sons.
00:42:20 So the cost of manhood,
00:42:22 I'm saying that there are actual practical implications
00:42:24 to being a free man, a free Narnia.
00:42:28 There are implications and financial costs.
00:42:32 One is men and sons.
00:42:34 You're gonna have to take care of mom and dad. 0.99
00:42:36 You can't ship them off to the glue factory.
00:42:39 You can't, you gotta care for them.
00:42:40 You can't sit there and complain and say mom and dad,
00:42:42 you know have and which my mom and dad do not my mom and dad are great but the proverbial mom and
00:42:47 dad that you know the general mom and dad you can't say mom and dad have a bumper sticker that
00:42:51 says i'm spending my grandkids inheritance and then your solution is and so therefore i'm shipping
00:42:57 them off to a nursing home and we'll never see them again you know it's not tit for tat that
00:43:03 doesn't that doesn't do anything you can't say well mom and dad are treating me wrong
00:43:07 and so i'm going to do the same that's not how the gospel works that's not how scripture where
00:43:11 Let's not have a law of God,
00:43:12 much less the gospel of God works.
00:43:15 So if the cycle is going to be broken,
00:43:16 somebody is going to have to stand up and say,
00:43:18 okay, let's break the cycle.
00:43:20 I love my mom and dad.
00:43:22 Even if their particular generation
00:43:24 may have gotten a few things wrong along the way,
00:43:26 I love my mom and dad.
00:43:27 I'm going to honor them, not just in word,
00:43:29 not just in theory, but in deed,
00:43:31 and even with my finances when it comes down to it.
00:43:35 Okay, that's men and sons.
00:43:37 Men and fathers, be fruitful, multiply,
00:43:38 and fill the earth and subdue it.
00:43:40 That's Genesis 128.
00:43:41 as scripture testifies children are most assuredly a blessing from the lord that psalm 127 3 has been
00:43:47 referenced multiple times today and married couples therefore do well to have several children
00:43:53 if they can psalm 127 5 however procreation is merely one small portion of the task which the
00:44:00 lord has assigned to parents in addition to producing children a father must both protect
00:44:05 and provide for his children a significant component of this provision includes the
00:44:10 children's education. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. This is Ephesians 6, 4,
00:44:16 but rather bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. In light of biblical
00:44:22 texts such as this, it appears evident that a Christian man cannot merely abdicate his fatherly
00:44:28 duty by handing his children over to the secular state in order to be educated. This means that
00:44:34 that husband and wife will be required to either homeschool their children or pay a significant
00:44:38 amount of money to place those children in a private Christian school. So men as sons,
00:44:46 caring for mother and father as they age, even financially so, practically, physically so,
00:44:51 in a nature way, not just a spiritual way. Nature way is one of the things about nature. Nature
00:44:56 costs money. So caring for mom and dad, men as sons, but also caring for son and daughter,
00:45:03 that's men as fathers. You're going to provide for them. You're going to protect them. And part
00:45:07 that provision is their education and even if it's homeschooling you're still with homeschooling
00:45:13 not going to be able to rely on two incomes at least not two full-time incomes if you're going
00:45:20 to homeschool somebody is going to have to actually be at home teaching instructing there
00:45:27 will be a financial cost associated with the education of the children if it is to be done
00:45:31 in a Christian manner. That's men as fathers. Third, men as grandfathers. A good man leaves
00:45:38 an inheritance to his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.
00:45:42 That's Proverbs 13, 22. Although I recognize that the inheritance mentioned explicitly in this text 0.61
00:45:48 contains far more than material wealth, indeed, it cannot contain less. Therefore, a Christian man
00:45:54 must be thoroughly committed to diligently planning for the spiritual and financial future of both his
00:46:00 children and grandchildren and thinking about your grandchildren's financial well-being because you
00:46:08 should be even if you don't yet have grandchildren you should be thinking about it a good man leaves
00:46:13 an inheritance and it doesn't just happen in a moment doesn't fall out of the sky he's thinking
00:46:18 about that early on before the grandchildren are even here a good man leaves an inheritance to his
00:46:24 children's children so he's thinking towards it he's working towards it here's some of the
00:46:28 questions you could be asking. What opportunities will my sons have for work when they grow up?
00:46:35 Who will my granddaughters marry when they come of age? Christian men are obligated to consider 1.00
00:46:41 these kinds of questions with an abundance of care. Planning for the well-being and financial,
00:46:47 physical, nature well-being of your children and your children's children. Number four, men as
00:46:55 husbands older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior not slanders or slaves to much wine
00:47:00 they are to teach what is good and so train younger women to love their husbands and children
00:47:04 working at home that's titus 2 3 through 4 although i do not believe that it is inherently
00:47:11 immoral for women with children to work outside of their homes in any capacity i don't think it's
00:47:17 always wrong i still do however believe that godly men want to do everything they can to ensure that
00:47:23 their wives can devote their time to the godly work at home which the lord has called them to
00:47:29 and i'll add to that if a woman is helping to supplement her husband's income i think
00:47:35 predominantly if not entirely it should be accomplished that supplemental partial second
00:47:43 income that she's acquiring it should be accomplished with her work her industry being 1.00
00:47:47 attached to the household here's the thing proverbs 31 well that woman she's making financial 1.00
00:47:52 investments right that's what you'll hear the feminists you know she's making financial 1.00
00:47:56 investments she goes she buys a field with whose money that's all you have to ask yeah she went 1.00
00:48:02 bought a field have you ever thought about that with whose cash husbands she bought it and signed 1.00
00:48:09 whose name is it now belonged to whose house is at every level she works for him all feminism has 0.88
00:48:20 done is gotten women to work for a man except the man is no longer their husband the man is 0.97
00:48:25 someone else who doesn't care for them but women have always worked for men the question is the
00:48:32 woman working for a man who's made vows to her who has covenant with her who's willing to lay
00:48:37 down his life for her as christ laid his life down for the church or does the woman work for
00:48:41 another man who will discard her who doesn't care anything for her it's simply her utility 0.99
00:48:49 simply her function for a moment a brief moment and then she's done like a husk dry used up
00:49:00 there's no death to death do us part it's just as long as the tit for tat can continue the quid pro
00:49:10 quo quo so men and husbands there's a financial cost attached to that think about that you're
00:49:18 going to have to make money enough to where wife can stay home and certainly contentment there are
00:49:24 variations and degrees and all those kinds of things you can be content on little by the grace
00:49:27 of god you can abase and abound but there is a practical implication of titus 2 3 through 4 your
00:49:35 wife predominantly working at home and then lastly men as church members bring the full tithe into
00:49:43 the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test says the lord of
00:49:48 host, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour out to you such a blessing until
00:49:54 there is no more room for it. Malachi 3.10. Like I said in the beginning, the proper response to
00:50:02 being robbed by the state must not be that we now choose to rob God, regardless of your position on
00:50:07 the tithe and as it exists in the New Testament, and especially in our current moment where the
00:50:14 church is not fulfilling some of these things and the state is, albeit, again, poorly. If you want
00:50:19 a job done poorly, then you need the government involved. But all that being said, we can't rob
00:50:28 God. You have to prayerfully and biblically come to some conclusion about the text and what it says
00:50:32 about giving to the church. And you need to do that. So I'll end with that. There's five commandments.
00:50:38 Again, this is for men. Five biblical commandments for men. Number one, men are sons. You got to care
00:50:44 for mom and dad. Men are fathers, got to care for sons and daughters. Men are grandfathers, got to
00:50:49 care for grandsons and granddaughters. Men are husbands, got to care for wife. Men are church 0.92
00:50:54 members, got to care for the bride of Christ. And you know what? It all costs money and you don't
00:50:59 have any because it's all been taken from you. You don't own anything. You have more entertainment
00:51:06 and you sleep without sweating at night. And your sheets, your sheets are more comfortable probably
00:51:13 than Pharaoh's. And you sleep with the better matches. All those things are better. And I do 0.89
00:51:19 think there is a real sense in which wealth can be defined as access, comfort. Those things are
00:51:26 true. Tools, right? Tools are a form of wealth. And your smartphone in your pocket is a heck of a
00:51:32 tool. It is. It's a tool that Pharaoh did not have. And that is a form of wealth. There is a sense in
00:51:38 which you are richer than pharaoh but there's also one other really really vital sense of thinking
00:51:44 about wealth in which you are infinitely poor than the ancient pharaoh and that's when wealth
00:51:50 is defined by what you own however you define wealth it has to at least include ownership
00:51:57 and right now everything is rigged against you it's rigged for your convenience your comfort
00:52:05 your access but not your ownership you can still have a family you can still have a wife you can
00:52:12 still have kids but what they don't want you to have is a household they don't want you to have
00:52:18 financial independence they don't want you to have actual real authority because then you become a
00:52:23 threat households are potent households are children of actual households are artillery as
00:52:29 chris talked about it's a threat it's a threat to the kingdom of darkness it's a threat
00:52:34 to our current you know wf world economic forum and all those things it's a real threat
00:52:42 so the deck is rigged against you it's hard to own things it's hard to actually have a household
00:52:47 it's hard to have your wife working at home and not work working for you as her man instead of
00:52:53 working for the man on a hamster wheel somewhere else it's hard to actually own your own labor
00:53:00 It's hard to have kids.
00:53:02 It's hard to keep your kids.
00:53:03 It's hard to educate your kids and not rely on the school that you already pay for through your property taxes, namely the state school, and then pay for another school.
00:53:14 It's hard to give to the church when you're giving 30% to Uncle Sam.
00:53:20 It's hard to care for mom and dad when you can't even care for your son and daughter.
00:53:25 and especially if your mom and dad
00:53:28 aren't planning on leaving you anything
00:53:32 and they actually got to live in the 80s and 90s
00:53:35 when you could make money
00:53:36 and now you can't. 0.58
00:53:40 And that's not to say that the boomers didn't work hard.
00:53:41 They worked very hard.
00:53:44 But they worked very hard in an economic climate
00:53:47 where work worked. 1.00
00:53:51 Millennials don't work, that's true. 1.00
00:53:53 There's truth to that. 1.00
00:53:54 And part of it is laziness.
00:53:55 But part of it also is because there's no return.
00:54:00 The chickens have come home to roost.
00:54:02 You cannot mock God.
00:54:05 A man will reap what he sows,
00:54:06 and a nation will reap what it sows.
00:54:08 And we have sown rebellion against God,
00:54:11 and there are financial, economic reaping
00:54:14 associated with that.
00:54:17 Things are drying up.
00:54:20 Well, I remember in the 70s,
00:54:22 there were 17% interest rates.
00:54:25 Uh-huh, on a $30,000 home.
00:54:29 It's not the same.
00:54:30 You know it's not the same.
00:54:33 The average cost of a house today is $467,000, I believe,
00:54:38 in America as a whole.
00:54:42 It wasn't even close to that.
00:54:44 It wasn't hardly even a tenth of that.
00:54:49 So you're trying to own a home.
00:54:51 You're trying to have kids. 0.99
00:54:52 You're trying to have a wife. 0.82
00:54:52 You're trying to own your own labor. 0.84
00:54:54 if you can, start a business and all these different things and take care of mom and dad
00:54:57 and plan and save and invest for your grandchildren, your children's children.
00:55:02 And you're trying to be generous to the church, the house of God, bringing the tithes in,
00:55:06 all these different things. So we need a miracle. But that is the cost of biblical manhood.
00:55:12 And we've talked a little bit about some of the solutions. I really should have made this talk
00:55:17 the first one, but I thought that's selfish to go first at your own conference that you're hosting.
00:55:22 but i'm now having a horrible realization that i have no more time to offer a solution i feel like
00:55:27 the solutions have been already offered i feel like a lot of practical counsel and wisdom has
00:55:31 been given today but it really would have been great if that came at the end because now it
00:55:37 really feels like a downer kind of moment but maybe that'll work towards the singles get together
00:55:41 because you know just the the pent-up anxiety and concern will just drive you to each other and
00:55:46 and marriages will form, and you know, so, all right. Christ can do it. Christ can do it.
00:55:54 Christ can free, he sets the captive free. So sure, yeah, Americans are slaves, but that's the
00:56:01 neat thing. That's the neat thing about the gospel. Christ sets slaves free. Rome seemed as though it
00:56:08 would never fall, but it did. See, that's a crazy thing. That's the thing where, you know, the
00:56:13 Marxists would disagree. He'd say, yeah, but this guy, if you get property up, you know, on the head
00:56:17 of the river upstream from the other guy, it's not fair. And it's not because he worked harder.
00:56:21 He just, his family got there first and they have head rights. And, you know, and if he's upstream,
00:56:25 then he can damn the river there. And then all these people are, you know, I understand the
00:56:28 Marxist arguments, you know, or they say, well, you know, right now in Silicon Valley, you know,
00:56:32 every two weeks, you know, people are getting together and every two weeks they're trying to
00:56:35 reinvent, you know, transportation and how can we make it the most efficient and the cheapest
00:56:39 price, blah, blah, blah. Every two weeks, they reinvent, you know, the double-decker bus.
00:56:44 That's the Marxist, you know, the Marxist argument, right? Like, there's just, there's
00:56:49 certain inventions and patents and land and things that, you know, it's just first come,
00:56:52 first serve. You know, I'm of an untimely birth, and it's already been done, and you can never do
00:56:57 it better. Yeah, but here's the cool thing about that. Every generation has thought that.
00:57:03 Every generation thought, this is the latest and greatest thing, and it'll be here forever.
00:57:07 it'll never no one can compete with it it'll never be toppled and then it was
00:57:11 and then the next thing toppled somebody invented what if god created the world in such a way
00:57:19 that will never come to the end of discovering all the treasures he's hidden within what if
00:57:26 god created the world in such a way that it's the glory of god to conceal and hide but the glory of
00:57:31 kings to search them out. And what if there's still a lot more stuff to be found? Stuff was
00:57:39 found that could topple Rome and stuff can be found to topple the West, anything else, or to
00:57:45 see the West repent, to come back to Christ. Let's pray. Father, we need you. We need the miracle.
00:57:51 We need Christ, the only good loving master to set the captive free, to set slaves free so that
00:58:00 we might be his slaves we'll always be slaves the key is to have the right master so lord we uh we
00:58:07 submit ourselves now to christ as master we trust that his way is right that his law is good we
00:58:17 delight in his law we seek to follow it as a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path trusting
00:58:23 that little by little and maybe it doesn't all happen in our generation but little by little
00:58:27 through the generations through our household and our children and our children's children
00:58:32 that we will actually get out of Egypt we'll get out of bondage out of slavery that we will have
00:58:37 independent households not just families but households that we will have wealth and not
00:58:44 just measured by access and convenience and comfort but by ownership so that all of it
00:58:49 can be used not for our own comfort but for your kingdom your glory the advancement of the gospel
00:58:56 is the tip of the spear here on earth
00:58:59 that many disciples might be made.
00:59:02 We pray all these things for Christ's sake
00:59:04 in his name, amen.
00:59:06 Thank you guys for coming
00:59:07 and we will see you again, Lord willing,
00:59:08 tomorrow morning, 10 a.m.