The NXR Podcast - CONFERENCE - The Reality Christian Men Face

00:00:00.000 In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month

00:00:04.300 to 50,000 downloads. What made the difference? You leaving us a five-star review. The more

00:00:10.260 positive reviews, the more the algorithm picks us up, and more people are confronted by the law

00:00:16.360 and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a

00:00:23.480 five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks. All right, here we go. So what

00:00:30.600 I want to talk about is very practical, but the cost of being a man. So the things that we've

00:00:35.580 been talking about at this conference, Jared has talked about, Chris has talked about, just talking

00:00:40.980 about some of the practical implications of that. What is it going to cost? What's it going to

00:00:46.760 require in order to have a household that honors the Lord, a household that is seeking to be

00:00:53.040 biblically faithful? What is it going to cost in order to try to keep your kids? What's it going

00:00:58.020 to cost to use those kids as artillery, to be potent, to be sharp, right? We want our arrows to 0.88

00:01:02.600 be both sharp and straight. Those are kind of the two key characteristics that I think of.

00:01:07.220 Some evangelicals, it seems as though the arrows that they have forged when they finally are grown

00:01:12.500 and ready to draw back and to fire, those arrows are dull. And so they don't make much of a mark

00:01:20.900 when it comes to pushing back the kingdom of darkness and the enemy. Others, I think this is

00:01:25.640 perhaps even worse than a dull arrow, they have a bent arrow, an arrow that is not sharp. And this

00:01:31.880 arrow happens not to be straight. In fact, it's so bent, so unstraight, that it functions more like

00:01:38.860 a boomerang than an arrow. And it actually goes out and then comes back and hits the people of

00:01:45.640 God. It actually becomes artillery for the kingdom of darkness, for Satan. Doug Wilson has said many

00:01:53.480 times, you know, that Samuel, it would have done him no good to have five sons that took bribes

00:01:58.160 rather than two. So we do want quivers full. We do, quantity is in the text. There is something

00:02:04.680 to be said for many. Children are a blessing. And it is a peculiar thing when we think of blessings

00:02:11.380 that God brings to us, there are a few blessings that we seek to mitigate, right? Like there are

00:02:17.320 a few times, I'm not saying there's no scenario where that might not happen, but there are a few

00:02:22.000 scenarios where the Christian is thinking, you know, God has been blessing us so much financially

00:02:25.460 and we're just concerned. We're deeply concerned and we'd like to stop it. You know, the money 1.00

00:02:31.520 just keeps coming in and we need it to, you know, to dry up and at least to come in more slowly.

00:02:36.140 And if we could, you know, I think if I could just perform a little bit worse at work or if we

00:02:40.620 could make some bad investments over here, or if we could do something, you know, so that instead

00:02:45.000 of making 20 grand a month, you know, we could bring that down to 12, then I think that would

00:02:49.440 be really great. You know, now some people do think in those terms, but not so much with the

00:02:54.320 bad investments or doing bad at work, but usually in terms of charity and those kinds of things, 0.53

00:02:59.480 we call them pietists. You know, they don't, they think that money, you know, your job and 0.91

00:03:04.620 everything that you do, it's really worthless. This earth is going to be annihilated and burned

00:03:08.960 up, completely disintegrated and melt like snow. And the only point of anybody having a good job

00:03:14.780 and doing good work and getting a good wage is so that you can buy a 25-year-old car and live

00:03:22.320 in a tiny house. And at the end of the day, every expendable dollar that you have can be given to

00:03:28.320 the church and not the church representing the people of God or the kingdom of God, but

00:03:32.080 the church institute, a particular local church, to their charitable fund. And that's a really sad

00:03:39.300 thing. I think it was the owner of Hobby Lobby a few months back. It was announced that he was

00:03:46.420 going to sell the entire company, the guy who started the business and everything. He was

00:03:50.540 going to sell it and give all the proceeds over to charity. And he has children. I thought,

00:03:55.700 what a wicked thing. In biblical terms, that is a wicked thing. Absolutely wicked. God hates it.

00:04:01.300 right the bumper sticker you know i'm i'm spending my children's inheritance

00:04:04.920 it's a wicked thing god hates it um and there's uh there's more that yes we want to be faithful

00:04:11.920 to bring a tithe into the storehouse i do believe in a biblical tithe i am sympathetic though with

00:04:17.160 that um in this day and age when the state is taking care of so many of these needs albeit

00:04:22.620 they're doing it poorly but the state nonetheless is taking care of so many needs

00:04:26.020 that typically the church would.

00:04:29.360 And the state is taxing you at three times the tithe, right?

00:04:33.920 You know, it's one thing when the state rivals God.

00:04:36.120 God asked for 10%, you know, and that's what's said. 0.64

00:04:39.420 You know, when Israel asked for a king, you know,

00:04:41.000 and God says to Samuel, go and tell them, you know,

00:04:43.160 if they get a king, you know, they better watch out

00:04:45.140 because this is how bad having a king will be.

00:04:47.780 He'll demand a tenth of their harvest.

00:04:51.380 You know, we think, man, you know,

00:04:53.960 Joe Biden was only asking for 10%.

00:04:55.900 what a deal that would be awesome 10 like we're way past that so god is saying like be careful

00:05:02.380 like if you give them a human king in this form of government they're going to require 10 that's

00:05:07.420 what i require and anything that rivals what i require is tyranny so we're three times god's

00:05:13.720 definition of tyranny and speaking of taxes um so you know knowing those things thinking in those

00:05:20.300 terms i am sympathetic i'm not you know my church will be able to tell you you know about half of

00:05:25.720 the people here are members in our church to the point where I actually think I'm going to have to

00:05:30.720 do better next year because I feel convicted. But I just never, I don't ever talk about giving. I

00:05:35.760 just, I recognize it's a very, very, very difficult, it's a difficult time right now that, you know,

00:05:42.500 you're being robbed constantly. You're being robbed through inflation, which is robbery, and through

00:05:48.160 wrong taxes, unethical taxes, which is robbery. The church doesn't fulfill a lot of what it

00:05:54.840 ordinarily would fulfill in a perfect theonomic society. And so all that being said, I am

00:06:00.820 sympathetic. But at the same time, I would also say, I said this a couple of weeks ago to our

00:06:05.740 members, I said, the solution to being robbed cannot be to rob God. So I'll say that again.

00:06:11.540 The solution to being robbed by man, Caesar, or whoever it may be, the solution to being robbed

00:06:17.020 by man cannot be that we in turn choose to rob God. And so the people of God must be generous

00:06:22.460 people. But all that goes back to the point of bringing up that illustration is to say money

00:06:26.980 as a case study, as an example. Few of us are thinking in terms of, man, I just got so much

00:06:32.500 of it. And it's just, God has just turned on the faucet of his blessing in this financial vein.

00:06:37.660 And it just keeps coming. And if I could just, if there's any way that I could slow it down or

00:06:42.240 stop it or mitigate, it's just too much blessing. Likewise, children, in terms of the way that God

00:06:48.240 sees in biblical terms, children are not only blessings, but children are wealth. Children are

00:06:54.960 wealth. And so in the same way that, you know, if your job, if they, you know, you went in,

00:07:00.600 your employer said, we're going to double your salary. I think we should be thinking in similar

00:07:04.880 terms. If, you know, if God is placing on our hearts as we're reading the scripture and being

00:07:11.520 informed by biblical worldview and being convicted by the spirit, if we're thinking, you know, we

00:07:15.580 have three kids and maybe we should go for six. I think that that's in the same vein. We should

00:07:21.280 be thinking, maybe God wants me to be twice as rich, twice as wealthy. And I mean that in the

00:07:28.100 literal sense, not just a spiritual platitude. It is a spiritual wealth. But beyond just a

00:07:35.260 spiritual wealth, I mean it in the literal sense. I think that children are a massive asset to a

00:07:43.040 household, to a family, if we can find ways, by the grace of God, to actually have households

00:07:47.960 and to attach industry and wealth building and those things back to the family, back to

00:07:53.680 the household. A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Isker and A.D. Robles came out. We were working

00:07:58.200 on a special recording project that Lord William will put out there in January. We're doing

00:08:02.620 something a little bit different. Instead of just a show, I wanted to have them in the studio,

00:08:05.620 in person, the three of us. We were going over Isker's book, The Boniface Option, doing it in

00:08:11.160 person and it's going to be nine episodes long. So instead of just one episode, multiple parts

00:08:15.560 series on a particular topic, going deep. And then Nathan, who is our tech director with Right

00:08:22.420 Response Ministries, is going to take a couple months on the back end. And he's already working

00:08:26.540 on that in post, editing it and adding a little bit of B-roll and some music and doing a really

00:08:32.160 high level of production. And then we'll release that Q1, Lord willing, of next year. And then

00:08:38.320 then we're already working on Q2. So the goal is to do it four times a year, have this, we're going

00:08:43.460 to call it the Friday special. So it'll come out on Fridays in multiple parts series, eight, nine,

00:08:47.700 10 episodes, each time a couple of different guests. The first one is with Isker and A.D.

00:08:53.560 And when I was talking to Andrew, you know, as we were recording the series and talking about

00:08:58.380 the household and talking about freedom, being a free man and talking about slavery

00:09:02.720 as opposed to freedom.

00:09:05.860 One of the clear marks of a slave

00:09:09.040 is that a slave could not have his own household.

00:09:12.680 Now, depending on the master of that particular slave

00:09:15.940 and what time period and what place,

00:09:17.860 what kind of slavery culture we're discussing,

00:09:21.360 the slavery could be more humane.

00:09:23.520 It could be such a way that the master even honors the slave,

00:09:27.440 or it could be absolutely inhumane and abusive,

00:09:30.400 terribly abusive and unbiblical.

00:09:32.720 and in the more humane examples of slavery throughout the world,

00:09:37.120 throughout the course of human history,

00:09:39.200 slaves would be permitted to marry and permitted to have children. 0.54

00:09:43.340 They could have a family, but they couldn't have a household.

00:09:47.520 That's the point that I'm trying to make.

00:09:50.240 There's a distinction between a family and a household. 0.69

00:09:53.460 So a slave could have a wife and have children,

00:09:57.240 but he could not have a household.

00:09:58.880 Let me give you one case study of one of my favorite slaves, Joseph.

00:10:05.960 And we don't think of Joseph as a slave because we think, well, Joseph was exceedingly wealthy and influential and authoritative.

00:10:15.120 I mean, he had affluence, influence, wealth, all these things, power, authority, command.

00:10:21.660 But Joseph was still technically a slave, viceroy of Egypt, second in command, you know, above all.

00:10:27.900 save Pharaoh. But what Joseph could not do, right? He was permitted to marry

00:10:33.080 and have children and had immense authority and prestige and all these things,

00:10:40.400 but he still couldn't go home, right? Notice that. It's not that Joseph lost his faith.

00:10:46.640 In all his time in Egypt, I think what we're meant to understand from the text and the Genesis

00:10:50.880 this narrative, is that Joseph remained faithful to God. His God was Yahweh, that he remained

00:10:58.780 faithful to God and to his family, to his true household, to his people, his father.

00:11:05.780 The reason that Joseph, when he finally reached the top, the reason he still didn't return but

00:11:11.840 stayed in Egypt is because he was not permitted to return. He was second to command of all of

00:11:18.060 Egypt, given authority and all these things and had a wife and had kids, but he was still a part

00:11:22.120 of Pharaoh's house. He was still a part of Pharaoh's house. A slave cannot be independent. 0.79

00:11:30.760 A slave doesn't have their own household. And that's the world that we're living in now. And

00:11:34.240 so you need to know that, especially speaking to men in the room. It's not a exaggeration or

00:11:41.040 hyperbole uh it's absolutely literally true that you'll own nothing and you're supposed to be happy

00:11:48.700 that is the goal and that's not the action it's not just the result of sin and compromise along

00:11:54.420 the way for you know the last several decades and i would argue you know a good bit longer

00:12:00.080 but no it's not just the consequences of evil man making wicked wicked choices but no it's actually

00:12:07.400 i believe it's the design i've come to believe that i've come to believe that this was the goal

00:12:12.920 the goal was power and if you're going to have power it's nice if your citizens are slaves

00:12:19.540 slaves can't revolt you know and you know one of the things i think that ironically keeps americans

00:12:27.800 as slaves you know but without knowing it because that's the best kind of slave is a slave who

00:12:31.480 thinks he's free you know and those who are actually in control they can sit back you know

00:12:35.440 in a private room and they can laugh about it, have a good chuckle together. These slaves actually

00:12:39.640 think that they're not slaves. They think that they're free. And one of the things that does

00:12:42.400 that is the Second Amendment. You know, that, well, you know, we still have our guns, you know,

00:12:48.640 but nobody's going to use them. Nobody ever will. And I'm not saying, you know, that I'm against

00:12:54.960 ownership. I'm very much for it. I think responsible ownership is not only permissible, but I

00:12:59.340 think that you could make somewhat of an argument that it's even a command. I'd be careful

00:13:05.140 with my language there.

00:13:06.720 But if you're a man, you need to protect and provide.

00:13:09.660 And I think physical protection is a part of that.

00:13:11.440 In 2023, having a gun for a home intruder

00:13:16.100 and those kinds of things is important.

00:13:20.340 But taking back the country, it's not going to happen.

00:13:24.660 Not anytime soon.

00:13:27.240 Nobody's going to revolt.

00:13:29.340 Let's just be honest.

00:13:30.780 We're slaves.

00:13:32.460 And it's not just we're slaves economically.

00:13:34.500 or we're slaves in terms of our situation, our life situation.

00:13:38.020 We're slaves in terms of our minds, our mindsets, right?

00:13:43.440 Another Wilson-ism, you know, the difference between, you know, freedoms that, you know,

00:13:49.240 the Democrat Party would argue for versus freedoms, at least your traditional conservatives

00:13:54.040 might argue for is the freedoms that are argued for by a progressive, politically progressive

00:13:59.600 are the freedoms that can be enjoyed by someone in, you know, a 10 by 8 prison cell.

00:14:06.120 The freedoms to, you know, not be sober-minded.

00:14:09.880 I'll just say it like that.

00:14:11.660 You know, the freedoms to, for just physical pleasure, to just serve yourself.

00:14:20.320 And I'll leave it at that.

00:14:21.140 You can think of the kinds of things that you could do in a small room, in jail.

00:14:25.300 The things that you could do and the things that are done.

00:14:27.100 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

00:14:33.620 it this is freedom yeah but is it like that that's a debased freedom but it's also it's a pathetic

00:14:43.480 sad freedom it's it's not really freedom whereas conservative freedom traditionally is the freedom

00:14:50.300 not just to give in to your most based vices

00:14:55.720 and terrible, sinful desires.

00:15:00.080 But traditionally, the conservative freedom

00:15:01.920 would be the freedom to move geographically

00:15:05.080 across the country and start a business

00:15:08.520 and purchase land, make money, build wealth,

00:15:15.800 take a wife, have children, leave a legacy,

00:15:19.220 run for office, do this, do that.

00:15:21.920 Those kinds of freedoms you cannot have in a jail cell,

00:15:27.600 a prison cell.

00:15:29.780 And those are the kind of freedoms

00:15:31.660 that are becoming increasingly rare and difficult to have

00:15:35.220 even if you're not in a literal prison

00:15:37.240 because the whole nation has become a proverbial prison.

00:15:44.480 It is immensely hard to own a home today.

00:15:49.220 And it's really hard to have a single income family

00:15:53.100 and for your wife, Titus II, to be a worker at home.

00:15:57.660 And it's incredibly hard not to rely on public schools,

00:16:01.720 not because you think they're great

00:16:03.340 or you agree with their convictions

00:16:05.180 or the curriculum that's being taught,

00:16:07.160 but just practically and financially.

00:16:11.100 You're talking about an immense cost.

00:16:16.680 So I'm laying the framework, and I just, I don't know.

00:16:20.460 I'm not great at using my notes.

00:16:24.820 But I'll make a few points along the way.

00:16:27.080 Somehow, someway, it usually happens.

00:16:30.380 But the cost of biblical manhood, when I speak of that cost,

00:16:36.380 I mean in a very, very literal, practical, financial sense.

00:16:40.760 Now, that's not to say that you can't faithfully follow Christ and be poor.

00:16:46.080 So the Christian worldview does not require that you are in a certain economic class in order to

00:16:52.920 be an obedient Christian. Christianity has thrived in poverty. It's thrived among the rich.

00:16:59.840 Paul even says, whether I abase or abound, right? So whether I'm rich or whether I'm poor,

00:17:04.860 found in all things that there's a way for me to be faithful, namely to be content,

00:17:09.980 and that godliness with contentment is great gain. There's a way to honor Christ,

00:17:14.540 be faithful to Christ, obedient to Christ in all these different ways, regardless of your economic

00:17:19.620 status, whether you're rich or whether you're poor. But the poverty that we have today, I do,

00:17:24.760 I want to argue, okay, you know, nothing new under the sun of, you know, fair game. Anytime you quote

00:17:30.280 the scripture, that's, you know, that's usually a good point made. It's always a good point made.

00:17:36.460 Nothing new under the sun. But when we think of wealth, here's the deal. So this is what David

00:17:40.900 you know radical and these kinds of things this is uh russell moore a popular sentiment in

00:17:46.980 evangelicalism and quasi you know semi-reformed evangelicalism over the last 20 years uh what

00:17:52.820 you would hear again and again is we're rich if you're in america you're rich we're so rich we're

00:17:56.940 so rich okay but but how do we define wealth that's something that i've i've thought a lot

00:18:02.600 about over the last few years because if we define wealth in terms of access and convenience and

00:18:09.260 immediacy then okay americans are exceedingly rich and i understand that argument the argument

00:18:15.580 goes something like this you know that the average american even if you're on you know

00:18:20.060 food stamps and welfare the average american still has immediate access to more information

00:18:26.300 more knowledge and more personal immediate convenient comforts than a king from not that

00:18:36.200 long ago, right? So Pharaoh, how many people would have to be in Pharaoh's employment to keep him

00:18:41.340 cool, physically cool, if it's summertime and it's hot and he's trying to sleep, right? How many

00:18:47.280 people are having to work these physical fans, right? But how many people, how many servants

00:18:51.520 would he have to send out across the world, you know, in order to spy out this or to get this

00:18:56.340 information or to inform him in that way? How many servants in his employment for just the sake of

00:19:02.820 entertainment right you can imagine pharaoh you know surfing through channels right so he's got

00:19:08.200 50 people over here acting out one play and he watches it for a while he's like stop you guys

00:19:14.000 go you're on oh okay let's see what's on this channel now okay let's pay that you know but

00:19:19.540 even then even if he had 10 000 different servants acting out different plays the best

00:19:25.200 in all the land you know that still equates to what i know you break it down divide it there's

00:19:30.840 50 over here and 40 over there and 30 over there and there's people working sets in the backdrop

00:19:34.760 and all that like we still have more entertainment options than pharaoh by a long shot like a lot

00:19:42.020 more pharaoh is poor by comparison if here's the ticket though if wealth is being defined

00:19:50.260 and i would argue solely defined in terms of convenience comforts access

00:19:56.140 but what if wealth here's another way just this is crazy you know it's really crazy but just

00:20:02.900 you know humor me what if wealth one at least one i'm not even saying it's the soul way right

00:20:07.820 so hear me out i'm being reasonable here i'm a reasonable guy i'm not saying it's the only way

00:20:11.620 but what if at least just one way that you could define wealth was ownership

00:20:17.380 well then americans are poor

00:20:20.940 exceedingly poor some of the poorest people on the planet

00:20:26.520 in fact

00:20:29.300 when you think it like in biblical terms you talk about abraham

00:20:35.180 right you talk about isaac and jacob the patriarchs but there are a multitude of examples

00:20:42.260 that could be cited and they have far less convenience and comfort and access

00:20:46.380 immediacy those kinds of things than we do today they don't have hvac they do not have the internet

00:20:54.660 they don't have this little brick in your pocket that can give you information all over the world

00:21:01.480 now most of it's bad and i don't mean bad morally there's plenty of that too but i mean like most

00:21:07.080 of it's fake like it's not even true information we're the most informed but the least knowledgeable

00:21:13.120 and certainly the least wise but we have all this immediacy this access this comfort this pleasure

00:21:19.620 entertainment at our fingertips and all these things but if wealth at least one way that wealth

00:21:26.840 can be described or defined is not just those things those metrics but ownership then America

00:21:35.160 is very very poor the average american is very very poor and the best that i could compare it to

00:21:44.980 when i think of you know history and other different people who would be like that that

00:21:49.080 would have that level of poverty if we're talking about wealth or lack thereof in the ownership

00:21:55.500 vein the only other group of people that i could think to describe that would be similar to americans

00:22:01.140 would be slaves you don't own anything you don't own property you don't own a house

00:22:09.460 you probably don't even own your car some of you and any of it can be repoed at any moment

00:22:18.760 if you miss a payment

00:22:19.920 you have nothing right now to give to your children right why the emphasis right why so

00:22:27.800 much emphasis on the spiritual? Well, one, because the Bible puts an emphasis on it. It is right.

00:22:34.680 But we say, you know, well, you know, spiritual training is of eternal value and infinite. That's

00:22:39.200 true. And then we say, you know, and physical training is of no value. But that's not what

00:22:44.360 the text says. The text says the spiritual matters more. The eternal matters more. But it's not

00:22:49.820 spiritual training is of infinite value and physical training is of no value. No physical

00:22:56.260 training despite the fact that spiritual training is worth more physical training is still worth

00:23:00.500 some it's not just all or nothing

00:23:03.880 there's still some value to this world to nature to the physical realm to the practical there's

00:23:14.480 something to be said for working out right there's something to be said believe it or not you know

00:23:19.200 these are the things if you want to get in trouble on twitter here's the thing you might be thinking

00:23:22.520 that's random? An adoption tweet? Eric Combe? Like, why did that trigger everybody? You know,

00:23:29.460 the week before, what was it? It was working out. And then this week, it's like, should we wear a

00:23:34.900 suit or not on Sunday? So it's dress codes and working out. And then there's always, you know,

00:23:39.500 old faithful, you can fall back on Joel telling his wife not to read, you know. So that, you know,

00:23:43.060 that upsets people too. But, you know, if you want to find the common denominator, because there is,

00:23:49.460 did you know that it's not random there's it's there's a threat the threat is nature

00:23:53.700 what i mean by that is if you want to upset people today and when i say people i mean christians

00:24:00.540 christians if you want to upset people today all you have to do is emphasize be it ever so small

00:24:11.940 be it ever so nuanced with all the disclaimers and all the different parenthetical statements

00:24:18.460 give any emphasis or priority to the physical natural world at all today

00:24:26.380 and christians will lose their minds they the vitriol will be out of this world they will

00:24:35.920 scream they will rage you will be called a heretic

00:24:40.400 you will go viral right if you're struggling if one of the things you're struggling with is just

00:24:46.680 a sense of importance or significance and you don't care if people like you just want to be seen

00:24:54.420 i've got some ideas i can make you a star real fast

00:25:02.340 these things i mean it's just people lose their minds they just see red they're not even they

00:25:10.480 can't even they can't even have the discussion anymore there's no argument you're not allowed

00:25:15.300 to have a debate you're not allowed to discuss it you're not allowed to push back you're not even

00:25:20.860 allowed to be humanized much less charity real christian charity treated as a brother in christ 1.00

00:25:26.220 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

00:25:31.780 you're going to be treated for what because you denied justification by grace alone through faith 1.00

00:25:36.620 alone christ alone right no no because you said maybe maybe biblical patriarchy in theory

00:25:46.260 might actually have some implications in practice

00:25:51.240 or you said maybe just maybe annihilation is not the biblical worldview and the world will not

00:26:00.200 literally dissolve like snow and that the creation is groaning with eager expectations

00:26:04.840 for the sons of god to be revealed not so because in the revealing of the sons of god the creation

00:26:10.460 will be taken out back by god behind the woodshed and put down the creation is not eagerly desiring

00:26:16.940 the sons of god to be revealed because in the sons of god's being revealed creation will receive a

00:26:22.400 mercy killing from the lord but rather that in the sons of god being revealed creation alongside the

00:26:27.720 sons of god will be restored also with them and that the new heavens and the new earth new earth

00:26:33.820 doesn't mean another earth but this earth made new to even suggest that that like this world

00:26:41.800 and i mean this like this rock this dirt this place that it matters

00:26:46.640 that it matters and that physical health matters and certain physical practical disciplines matter

00:26:56.580 and even how you dress on sunday yeah we don't want to be we want to be careful not to offer

00:27:01.400 you know it with with very condemning hardline definitive language extra biblical commands but

00:27:07.220 but a general sentiment of on the lord's day yeah let's try to dress well

00:27:11.020 you know or or the idea that you know adoption is great and when it happens by the grace of god

00:27:20.440 when it happens especially when it happens well it is a picture of the gospel and for the record

00:27:26.660 I was adopted. My parents are here today. I was adopted as a baby. I had heart problems.

00:27:33.100 They were asked, I mean, you sure? You sure? My dad, famous line. Are you kidding me? That's my

00:27:40.300 son. Got on the life flight helicopter with me as a little baby and would fly over to Herman's

00:27:45.720 Children's Hospital. And I said, my parents are heroes and I'm not going to sit here and poo-poo

00:27:51.280 on adoption. I'm pretty grateful. Pretty big fan. But do you know why the adoption tweet got so much

00:27:58.020 vitriol? Nature. Still had the same underlining common denominator. What was the nature aspect

00:28:03.360 there? Kin. Natural, biological children. I'm not saying kin-ism, but this idea that actually 0.92

00:28:12.480 we have obligations. There is an ordo amoris. There is actually an order of loves. There is

00:28:18.020 triage. There's priority. The church is commanded, right? So it's not even Christian religion if it

00:28:23.400 doesn't care for widows and orphans. Of course, of course, James 1.27 is the Word of God, right? You 0.90

00:28:32.680 must care for widows and orphans. You must, and keep yourself from being defiled by the world.

00:28:38.740 That's true religion. That's pure religion. It's not just doctrine, but it's practice, and that

00:28:44.920 practice should be explicitly seen in care for widows and orphans this is what paul says in

00:28:50.960 galatians when he takes his doctrine and he lays it before the apostles in jerusalem and they say

00:28:56.120 hey you're you're on point every single thing your systematic theology is baller this is this

00:29:03.360 is bovink level stuff you are on point at every single level we just wanted to say though also

00:29:09.340 care for widows and orphans the very thing i was eager to do that one i was thinking that too

00:29:14.720 So, widows and orphans is a huge thing.

00:29:16.540 Here's the deal.

00:29:18.340 Genesis 1, 2, 3.

00:29:22.600 Be fruitful and multiply is an explicit command given to individual married couples.

00:29:29.560 Whereas caring for widows and orphans is not.

00:29:33.140 Let me flesh that out real quick.

00:29:35.940 What I mean by that is that we, as Christians, as the church, corporately, collectively,

00:29:42.540 must, it's not just a suggestion, it is a command, we must care for the widow and the orphan.

00:29:48.820 But precisely you as an individual household, you do not have any such command that you must adopt

00:29:56.440 to where if you don't, you're in sin. Now when you do, and you do it well by the grace of God

00:30:03.020 and wisely, it is a picture of the gospel. It is beautiful. And people grow up and by God's grace

00:30:10.260 do things for his kingdom like me i would not be here if it wasn't for my parents and they raised

00:30:17.200 me in the fear of the lord and i am an adoption store but when eric khan tweets about adoption

00:30:23.540 you know who doesn't get offended men and by the grace of god i'm one of them

00:30:28.860 women get offended and i mean of women of both sexes

00:30:32.260 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

00:30:45.580 most manly guy i'm really not but i mean if you just have like barely any testosterone at all

00:30:51.840 you look like you look like just the most masculine person who's ever lived i like i

00:30:56.980 I feel like people think of me like I'm Thor.

00:31:00.020 I'm like, I'm not in that great of shape.

00:31:03.200 And I feel convicted.

00:31:04.080 And a lot of the stuff that I'm saying, I'm saying to myself,

00:31:05.960 I need to work on these things.

00:31:07.100 But when you're looking around, it's like the Wally movie, you know,

00:31:09.760 where everyone's fat and being floated around.

00:31:12.120 And you look at someone like, it's like, he has facial hair?

00:31:15.900 I didn't know the male face could do that anymore.

00:31:18.220 And he's able to be offended or disagreed without being offended.

00:31:26.160 and those kind of, so the bar is low, but all the things, my point is the underlining thing,

00:31:30.660 it's nature, it's nature, it's nature, and that's what Eric was saying in that, you know, that tweet

00:31:35.160 was, no, but don't adopt as a substitute to having children, because be fruitful and multiply

00:31:42.660 is a command given to individuals, whereas caring for widows and orphans, it doesn't tell you exactly

00:31:48.280 how, so it could be an orphanage, it could be adoption, and it's given to the church as a whole

00:31:52.640 collectively. Not each individual Christian household is commanded. You must adopt. And

00:31:58.460 then when adoption has, you look at like church history and some of these things. Well, a lot of

00:32:02.780 it is, again, it's the order of loves. It starts close. It starts at home and it works out. So

00:32:08.860 like World War I, World War II, even recent, you know, history. It's, well, think of Narnia,

00:32:14.500 Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy, for goodness sake. You think of them and where do they go?

00:32:19.900 well, you know, dad's in the war and mom can't take care of him.

00:32:23.300 And so naturally, you know, they ship him off to a family in Uganda.

00:32:28.520 No, never heard of such a thing until 15 minutes ago.

00:32:33.900 No, of course, that's not what happens.

00:32:35.400 They go to a relative, to another family member.

00:32:40.340 I mean, that's what Paul says, you know,

00:32:41.840 if any man does not care for, and it's both household,

00:32:44.200 his immediate family, but then also his extended family beyond that.

00:32:47.820 and if he doesn't do these things if he doesn't care for these people then he is worse than an

00:32:52.360 unbeliever he's denied the faith and now to even make that statement today you you will be you will

00:33:01.100 be absolutely condemned and shrieked at but not by not by leftists not by pagans not by unbelievers 0.52

00:33:11.020 by reformed christian pastors

00:33:15.480 that's where you'll get the pushback it's it's remarkable another thing just to mention well

00:33:25.520 weren't christians taking people who weren't related to them i mean taking children in rome

00:33:29.260 you know off the ash heap the dung pile especially girls and bringing them into their homes and

00:33:35.140 adopting them praise god do you know how much money it cost to do that did you know that rome 0.63

00:33:42.900 set up, you know, they had a booth there, right there by the trash heap. And every time a Christian 1.00

00:33:47.000 came to take one of those babies, they said, this is going to be 40 to 70 grand. Oh no, that part 0.85

00:33:53.460 didn't happen. Adoption is an industry. In the West, in America, it's an industry. And adoption

00:34:04.240 is not cheap. So it's one thing when Christians are saying, we're going to lay down our personal 0.95

00:34:10.780 comforts and our desires because we're going to care for the downtrodden and the oppressed and

00:34:15.220 adoption is a picture of the gospel it really is and we're going to model that out and jesus told

00:34:20.080 us james his brother told us that religion that is pleasing to the lord that's pure it cares for

00:34:26.480 widows and orphans we're going to do that we're going to do that collectively we're going to start

00:34:31.000 orphanages george muller and all this but we're also going to do that individually as families

00:34:35.060 we're going to adopt and we're going to adopt those who have been completely forgotten neglected

00:34:39.420 and discarded and thrown away praise god and christians did it then and they should do it now

00:34:45.480 but that doesn't mean each individual family must do it now and it certainly doesn't mean

00:34:52.160 that adoption is a sacrament and that through adoption you can achieve sainthood

00:34:59.000 protestants we we have our extra sacraments too we don't call them that but we do

00:35:04.020 and we have our ways of being sainted being just a grade above the rest we need to be careful of

00:35:12.700 those things but the thing at the end of the day again i'm going too long on the adoption thing but

00:35:17.420 the common denominator is nature right there's there's a subtle despising it wouldn't be said

00:35:24.320 it would never be verbalized nobody would actually come out and admit it but there's a subtle

00:35:28.920 despising of physical nature of of biological natural children of at every level of being

00:35:39.080 masculine or being feminine so whether it's we're talking about gender or whether we're talking about

00:35:44.080 marriage or family or children or personal hygiene or down to your dress anything that deals

00:35:50.680 outside of the abstract outside of the realm of theory outside of the spiritual anything that is

00:35:58.540 practical and physical and temporary and plain is going to be demonized. And part of the reason is

00:36:06.540 because you lose down here. And in order to prove that those who believe that you lose down here

00:36:14.820 were right about that, they're going to help you lose down here. And one of the roadmaps for losing

00:36:22.920 down here is to not care about anything that's real see christians have ironically they've done

00:36:29.280 the very same thing that chris was talking about during the q a when he said you know that one of

00:36:33.780 his sons really cared about video games and they were driving by and saw this whole virtual you

00:36:37.740 know arena and all this kind of stuff and he's like i'm not really interested in that anymore

00:36:41.600 i want the real world you know who else wants the real world jesus

00:36:45.720 gone. I mean, Jesus bought it. He wants it. He has it.

00:36:55.720 And his blessings flow as far as the curse is found. He's progressively and gradually

00:37:00.860 throughout this gospel age and real human time in history, he is winning back this world

00:37:06.480 and expanding his kingdom over the whole face of the earth. God cares about the world. Satan

00:37:12.520 cares about the world. He's always cared about the world. Democrats, they care about the world.

00:37:20.500 God cares about it. Satan cares about it. Democrats care about it. The only people who

00:37:23.720 don't care about the physical world have been Christians for approximately 150 years. 0.99

00:37:28.540 The only group that doesn't actually care about the world. 1.00

00:37:33.060 Everybody else cares. Angels care. Demons care. Satan cares. God cares. 0.99

00:37:37.400 god's enemies in terms of human beings they care but god's people are the only ones who

00:37:47.560 somehow come up with a theological explaining through gymnastics and hoops to where the world

00:37:54.220 just doesn't matter in fact if you care about the world at all you are worldly

00:37:59.800 lead not only should the world not be a priority but to prioritize it is is not only a waste of

00:38:07.640 time but it's actually something that is immoral and and sinful and wrong you're worldly

00:38:12.240 and so that's where we are we despise nature we think that grace eradicates or replaces or erases

00:38:20.860 nature rather than elevating and restoring nature and then inconsistently you have a few

00:38:28.280 complimentary and still holding on. But I think that's where we are. The real world matters.

00:38:35.580 We live in it and we are slaves and we have been slaves for a very long time. You are poor.

00:38:40.420 You're not rich. You are rich by one standard. You have AC.

00:38:47.360 Congratulations. But you own nothing. Abraham was far more rich than you. He sweat at night.

00:38:54.680 but Abraham owned stuff.

00:38:58.600 He actually owned stuff.

00:39:02.180 And so I think part of taking back the world is ownership.

00:39:05.280 It is dominion.

00:39:06.080 It is stewardship.

00:39:06.960 It's getting stuff back.

00:39:07.740 In the meantime, though, we have more in common, I think, with slaves.

00:39:12.460 And in this state of slavery, this season of slavery,

00:39:15.620 this moment of having all the conveniences and pleasures and drugs and TV

00:39:19.460 and the drip of dopamine that never stops

00:39:21.860 and all these kinds of things that keeps us sedated

00:39:24.040 so that we don't have any ambition so that we don't try to own anything that we would just

00:39:28.160 be content with virtual world and and you know that's that's the wf you got george soros on one

00:39:36.040 side saying be content with virtual world you know pods and bugs and if you ever break out of that

00:39:41.540 then the christians sadly tragically ironic then the christians say you know be content with

00:39:48.580 spiritual world so the pagans virtual world the christian spiritual world but jesus is saying my

00:39:55.160 world this world but one way or the other between darby and schofield and then george soros and

00:40:02.800 klaus schwab you know a real number has been done on us from both sides to where we've just we we

00:40:10.780 have surrendered we don't own anything we don't have an ambition towards anything and the few guys

00:40:16.100 who somehow did get ahead and started something

00:40:19.020 that was significant and made an impact

00:40:21.440 and it accrued wealth and all those kinds of things,

00:40:25.020 when they're finally done,

00:40:27.000 they sell it and give it to charity

00:40:29.080 and their kids get nothing

00:40:30.100 because they need to make it,

00:40:31.840 pull up their own bootstraps

00:40:33.500 and make it the hard way like me,

00:40:34.960 like the Hobby Lobby guy.

00:40:37.700 And then we're like, see,

00:40:40.300 things are all gonna get worse and worse

00:40:41.540 till Christ's return.

00:40:43.560 You rig the deck.

00:40:46.100 Of course they're getting worse.

00:40:48.040 It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?

00:40:51.420 It's like the meme.

00:40:52.420 It's like when you shoot, like, you know,

00:40:54.860 why did, you know, so-and-so do this to you?

00:40:57.660 And it's like, no, but you pulled the trigger.

00:40:59.100 You shot him.

00:41:00.420 This didn't do that.

00:41:01.500 You did that.

00:41:03.980 150 years.

00:41:04.860 That's where we've been at.

00:41:05.640 So all that being said, five costs, all right?

00:41:11.820 Five costs when it comes to being a man.

00:41:15.640 One, men as sons, this is Exodus 20, 12,

00:41:18.880 honor your father and mother

00:41:19.960 that your days may be long in the land

00:41:21.520 that the Lord your God has given you.

00:41:23.280 Although obedience to parents is a temporary command

00:41:25.720 issued to younger children while they remain at home,

00:41:28.320 the command to honor our fathers and mothers

00:41:30.260 is a lifelong command that continues

00:41:32.280 even for adult children.

00:41:34.320 First Timothy chapter five, verse four says this,

00:41:36.520 but if a widow has children or grandchildren,

00:41:39.020 let them first learn to show godliness

00:41:41.100 to their own household

00:41:42.300 and to make some return to their parents

00:41:44.860 for this is pleasing in the sight of god although this biblical text specifically the first timothy

00:41:50.480 5 4 specifically references elderly widows i believe and have come to believe that it is

00:41:56.380 pleasing in the sight of god when adult children earnestly seek to make some return to their

00:42:01.780 parents even if both father and mother are still living and that return being not just a spiritual

00:42:07.780 return but a physical return i think that's what's being talked about or at least included

00:42:14.340 That's at least included in Exodus 20, 12

00:42:16.760 and also in 1 Timothy 5, 4.

00:42:19.360 So men and sons.

00:42:20.920 So the cost of manhood,

00:42:22.000 I'm saying that there are actual practical implications

00:42:24.100 to being a free man, a free Narnia.

00:42:28.120 There are implications and financial costs.

00:42:32.300 One is men and sons.

00:42:34.200 You're gonna have to take care of mom and dad. 0.99

00:42:36.060 You can't ship them off to the glue factory.

00:42:39.100 You can't, you gotta care for them.

00:42:40.800 You can't sit there and complain and say mom and dad,

00:42:42.740 you know have and which my mom and dad do not my mom and dad are great but the proverbial mom and

00:42:47.320 dad that you know the general mom and dad you can't say mom and dad have a bumper sticker that

00:42:51.060 says i'm spending my grandkids inheritance and then your solution is and so therefore i'm shipping

00:42:57.020 them off to a nursing home and we'll never see them again you know it's not tit for tat that

00:43:03.820 doesn't that doesn't do anything you can't say well mom and dad are treating me wrong

00:43:07.100 and so i'm going to do the same that's not how the gospel works that's not how scripture where

00:43:11.660 Let's not have a law of God,

00:43:12.800 much less the gospel of God works.

00:43:15.320 So if the cycle is going to be broken,

00:43:16.860 somebody is going to have to stand up and say,

00:43:18.500 okay, let's break the cycle.

00:43:20.780 I love my mom and dad.

00:43:22.660 Even if their particular generation

00:43:24.200 may have gotten a few things wrong along the way,

00:43:26.340 I love my mom and dad.

00:43:27.440 I'm going to honor them, not just in word,

00:43:29.180 not just in theory, but in deed,

00:43:31.100 and even with my finances when it comes down to it.

00:43:35.520 Okay, that's men and sons.

00:43:37.100 Men and fathers, be fruitful, multiply,

00:43:38.880 and fill the earth and subdue it.

00:43:40.040 That's Genesis 128.

00:43:41.660 as scripture testifies children are most assuredly a blessing from the lord that psalm 127 3 has been

00:43:47.240 referenced multiple times today and married couples therefore do well to have several children

00:43:53.580 if they can psalm 127 5 however procreation is merely one small portion of the task which the

00:44:00.160 lord has assigned to parents in addition to producing children a father must both protect

00:44:05.560 and provide for his children a significant component of this provision includes the

00:44:10.500 children's education. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. This is Ephesians 6, 4,

00:44:16.440 but rather bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. In light of biblical

00:44:22.580 texts such as this, it appears evident that a Christian man cannot merely abdicate his fatherly

00:44:28.460 duty by handing his children over to the secular state in order to be educated. This means that

00:44:34.200 that husband and wife will be required to either homeschool their children or pay a significant

00:44:38.800 amount of money to place those children in a private Christian school. So men as sons,

00:44:46.220 caring for mother and father as they age, even financially so, practically, physically so,

00:44:51.460 in a nature way, not just a spiritual way. Nature way is one of the things about nature. Nature

00:44:56.400 costs money. So caring for mom and dad, men as sons, but also caring for son and daughter,

00:45:03.420 that's men as fathers. You're going to provide for them. You're going to protect them. And part

00:45:07.440 that provision is their education and even if it's homeschooling you're still with homeschooling

00:45:13.840 not going to be able to rely on two incomes at least not two full-time incomes if you're going

00:45:20.680 to homeschool somebody is going to have to actually be at home teaching instructing there

00:45:27.060 will be a financial cost associated with the education of the children if it is to be done

00:45:31.800 in a Christian manner. That's men as fathers. Third, men as grandfathers. A good man leaves

00:45:38.460 an inheritance to his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

00:45:42.460 That's Proverbs 13, 22. Although I recognize that the inheritance mentioned explicitly in this text 0.61

00:45:48.400 contains far more than material wealth, indeed, it cannot contain less. Therefore, a Christian man

00:45:54.680 must be thoroughly committed to diligently planning for the spiritual and financial future of both his

00:46:00.300 children and grandchildren and thinking about your grandchildren's financial well-being because you

00:46:08.740 should be even if you don't yet have grandchildren you should be thinking about it a good man leaves

00:46:13.760 an inheritance and it doesn't just happen in a moment doesn't fall out of the sky he's thinking

00:46:18.620 about that early on before the grandchildren are even here a good man leaves an inheritance to his

00:46:24.160 children's children so he's thinking towards it he's working towards it here's some of the

00:46:28.780 questions you could be asking. What opportunities will my sons have for work when they grow up?

00:46:35.460 Who will my granddaughters marry when they come of age? Christian men are obligated to consider 1.00

00:46:41.080 these kinds of questions with an abundance of care. Planning for the well-being and financial,

00:46:47.740 physical, nature well-being of your children and your children's children. Number four, men as

00:46:55.140 husbands older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior not slanders or slaves to much wine

00:47:00.120 they are to teach what is good and so train younger women to love their husbands and children

00:47:04.800 working at home that's titus 2 3 through 4 although i do not believe that it is inherently

00:47:11.520 immoral for women with children to work outside of their homes in any capacity i don't think it's

00:47:17.540 always wrong i still do however believe that godly men want to do everything they can to ensure that

00:47:23.920 their wives can devote their time to the godly work at home which the lord has called them to

00:47:29.420 and i'll add to that if a woman is helping to supplement her husband's income i think

00:47:35.660 predominantly if not entirely it should be accomplished that supplemental partial second

00:47:43.100 income that she's acquiring it should be accomplished with her work her industry being 1.00

00:47:47.920 attached to the household here's the thing proverbs 31 well that woman she's making financial 1.00

00:47:52.800 investments right that's what you'll hear the feminists you know she's making financial 1.00

00:47:56.820 investments she goes she buys a field with whose money that's all you have to ask yeah she went 1.00

00:48:02.660 bought a field have you ever thought about that with whose cash husbands she bought it and signed 1.00

00:48:09.560 whose name is it now belonged to whose house is at every level she works for him all feminism has 0.88

00:48:20.880 done is gotten women to work for a man except the man is no longer their husband the man is 0.97

00:48:25.480 someone else who doesn't care for them but women have always worked for men the question is the

00:48:32.680 woman working for a man who's made vows to her who has covenant with her who's willing to lay

00:48:37.220 down his life for her as christ laid his life down for the church or does the woman work for

00:48:41.600 another man who will discard her who doesn't care anything for her it's simply her utility 0.99

00:48:49.280 simply her function for a moment a brief moment and then she's done like a husk dry used up

00:49:00.880 there's no death to death do us part it's just as long as the tit for tat can continue the quid pro

00:49:10.660 quo quo so men and husbands there's a financial cost attached to that think about that you're

00:49:18.800 going to have to make money enough to where wife can stay home and certainly contentment there are

00:49:24.200 variations and degrees and all those kinds of things you can be content on little by the grace

00:49:27.800 of god you can abase and abound but there is a practical implication of titus 2 3 through 4 your

00:49:35.960 wife predominantly working at home and then lastly men as church members bring the full tithe into

00:49:43.780 the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test says the lord of

00:49:48.140 host, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour out to you such a blessing until

00:49:54.620 there is no more room for it. Malachi 3.10. Like I said in the beginning, the proper response to

00:50:02.220 being robbed by the state must not be that we now choose to rob God, regardless of your position on

00:50:07.940 the tithe and as it exists in the New Testament, and especially in our current moment where the

00:50:14.900 church is not fulfilling some of these things and the state is, albeit, again, poorly. If you want

00:50:19.420 a job done poorly, then you need the government involved. But all that being said, we can't rob

00:50:28.140 God. You have to prayerfully and biblically come to some conclusion about the text and what it says

00:50:32.700 about giving to the church. And you need to do that. So I'll end with that. There's five commandments.

00:50:38.780 Again, this is for men. Five biblical commandments for men. Number one, men are sons. You got to care

00:50:44.260 for mom and dad. Men are fathers, got to care for sons and daughters. Men are grandfathers, got to

00:50:49.380 care for grandsons and granddaughters. Men are husbands, got to care for wife. Men are church 0.92

00:50:54.020 members, got to care for the bride of Christ. And you know what? It all costs money and you don't

00:50:59.200 have any because it's all been taken from you. You don't own anything. You have more entertainment

00:51:06.500 and you sleep without sweating at night. And your sheets, your sheets are more comfortable probably

00:51:13.420 than Pharaoh's. And you sleep with the better matches. All those things are better. And I do 0.89

00:51:19.940 think there is a real sense in which wealth can be defined as access, comfort. Those things are

00:51:26.620 true. Tools, right? Tools are a form of wealth. And your smartphone in your pocket is a heck of a

00:51:32.220 tool. It is. It's a tool that Pharaoh did not have. And that is a form of wealth. There is a sense in

00:51:38.060 which you are richer than pharaoh but there's also one other really really vital sense of thinking

00:51:44.720 about wealth in which you are infinitely poor than the ancient pharaoh and that's when wealth

00:51:50.580 is defined by what you own however you define wealth it has to at least include ownership

00:51:57.600 and right now everything is rigged against you it's rigged for your convenience your comfort

00:52:05.560 your access but not your ownership you can still have a family you can still have a wife you can

00:52:12.120 still have kids but what they don't want you to have is a household they don't want you to have

00:52:18.540 financial independence they don't want you to have actual real authority because then you become a

00:52:23.080 threat households are potent households are children of actual households are artillery as

00:52:29.960 chris talked about it's a threat it's a threat to the kingdom of darkness it's a threat

00:52:34.800 to our current you know wf world economic forum and all those things it's a real threat

00:52:42.680 so the deck is rigged against you it's hard to own things it's hard to actually have a household

00:52:47.740 it's hard to have your wife working at home and not work working for you as her man instead of

00:52:53.920 working for the man on a hamster wheel somewhere else it's hard to actually own your own labor

00:53:00.820 It's hard to have kids.

00:53:02.240 It's hard to keep your kids.

00:53:03.340 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.

00:53:14.080 It's hard to give to the church when you're giving 30% to Uncle Sam.

00:53:20.920 It's hard to care for mom and dad when you can't even care for your son and daughter.

00:53:25.880 and especially if your mom and dad

00:53:28.700 aren't planning on leaving you anything

00:53:32.500 and they actually got to live in the 80s and 90s

00:53:35.800 when you could make money

00:53:36.860 and now you can't. 0.58

00:53:40.000 And that's not to say that the boomers didn't work hard.

00:53:41.840 They worked very hard.

00:53:44.420 But they worked very hard in an economic climate

00:53:47.040 where work worked. 1.00

00:53:51.220 Millennials don't work, that's true. 1.00

00:53:53.520 There's truth to that. 1.00

00:53:54.620 And part of it is laziness.

00:53:55.880 But part of it also is because there's no return.

00:54:00.440 The chickens have come home to roost.

00:54:02.240 You cannot mock God.

00:54:05.120 A man will reap what he sows,

00:54:06.560 and a nation will reap what it sows.

00:54:08.160 And we have sown rebellion against God,

00:54:11.380 and there are financial, economic reaping

00:54:14.800 associated with that.

00:54:17.660 Things are drying up.

00:54:20.840 Well, I remember in the 70s,

00:54:22.860 there were 17% interest rates.

00:54:25.100 Uh-huh, on a $30,000 home.

00:54:29.360 It's not the same.

00:54:30.380 You know it's not the same.

00:54:33.700 The average cost of a house today is $467,000, I believe,

00:54:38.060 in America as a whole.

00:54:42.860 It wasn't even close to that.

00:54:44.880 It wasn't hardly even a tenth of that.

00:54:49.880 So you're trying to own a home.

00:54:51.240 You're trying to have kids. 0.99

00:54:52.000 You're trying to have a wife. 0.82

00:54:52.840 You're trying to own your own labor. 0.84

00:54:54.140 if you can, start a business and all these different things and take care of mom and dad

00:54:57.960 and plan and save and invest for your grandchildren, your children's children.

00:55:02.500 And you're trying to be generous to the church, the house of God, bringing the tithes in,

00:55:06.080 all these different things. So we need a miracle. But that is the cost of biblical manhood.

00:55:12.800 And we've talked a little bit about some of the solutions. I really should have made this talk

00:55:17.360 the first one, but I thought that's selfish to go first at your own conference that you're hosting.

00:55:22.120 but i'm now having a horrible realization that i have no more time to offer a solution i feel like

00:55:27.800 the solutions have been already offered i feel like a lot of practical counsel and wisdom has

00:55:31.860 been given today but it really would have been great if that came at the end because now it

00:55:37.520 really feels like a downer kind of moment but maybe that'll work towards the singles get together

00:55:41.280 because you know just the the pent-up anxiety and concern will just drive you to each other and

00:55:46.640 and marriages will form, and you know, so, all right. Christ can do it. Christ can do it.

00:55:54.680 Christ can free, he sets the captive free. So sure, yeah, Americans are slaves, but that's the

00:56:01.000 neat thing. That's the neat thing about the gospel. Christ sets slaves free. Rome seemed as though it

00:56:08.400 would never fall, but it did. See, that's a crazy thing. That's the thing where, you know, the

00:56:13.800 Marxists would disagree. He'd say, yeah, but this guy, if you get property up, you know, on the head

00:56:17.780 of the river upstream from the other guy, it's not fair. And it's not because he worked harder.

00:56:21.480 He just, his family got there first and they have head rights. And, you know, and if he's upstream,

00:56:25.240 then he can damn the river there. And then all these people are, you know, I understand the

00:56:28.880 Marxist arguments, you know, or they say, well, you know, right now in Silicon Valley, you know,

00:56:32.660 every two weeks, you know, people are getting together and every two weeks they're trying to

00:56:35.800 reinvent, you know, transportation and how can we make it the most efficient and the cheapest

00:56:39.660 price, blah, blah, blah. Every two weeks, they reinvent, you know, the double-decker bus.

00:56:44.940 That's the Marxist, you know, the Marxist argument, right? Like, there's just, there's

00:56:49.000 certain inventions and patents and land and things that, you know, it's just first come,

00:56:52.780 first serve. You know, I'm of an untimely birth, and it's already been done, and you can never do

00:56:57.980 it better. Yeah, but here's the cool thing about that. Every generation has thought that.

00:57:03.920 Every generation thought, this is the latest and greatest thing, and it'll be here forever.

00:57:07.920 it'll never no one can compete with it it'll never be toppled and then it was

00:57:11.820 and then the next thing toppled somebody invented what if god created the world in such a way

00:57:19.580 that will never come to the end of discovering all the treasures he's hidden within what if

00:57:26.760 god created the world in such a way that it's the glory of god to conceal and hide but the glory of

00:57:31.920 kings to search them out. And what if there's still a lot more stuff to be found? Stuff was

00:57:39.300 found that could topple Rome and stuff can be found to topple the West, anything else, or to

00:57:45.580 see the West repent, to come back to Christ. Let's pray. Father, we need you. We need the miracle.

00:57:51.600 We need Christ, the only good loving master to set the captive free, to set slaves free so that

00:58:00.640 we might be his slaves we'll always be slaves the key is to have the right master so lord we uh we

00:58:07.260 submit ourselves now to christ as master we trust that his way is right that his law is good we

00:58:17.580 delight in his law we seek to follow it as a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path trusting

00:58:23.780 that little by little and maybe it doesn't all happen in our generation but little by little

00:58:27.800 through the generations through our household and our children and our children's children

00:58:32.020 that we will actually get out of Egypt we'll get out of bondage out of slavery that we will have

00:58:37.940 independent households not just families but households that we will have wealth and not

00:58:44.440 just measured by access and convenience and comfort but by ownership so that all of it

00:58:49.680 can be used not for our own comfort but for your kingdom your glory the advancement of the gospel

00:58:56.980 is the tip of the spear here on earth

00:58:59.080 that many disciples might be made.

00:59:02.760 We pray all these things for Christ's sake

00:59:04.800 in his name, amen.

00:59:06.220 Thank you guys for coming

00:59:07.100 and we will see you again, Lord willing,

00:59:08.680 tomorrow morning, 10 a.m.

The NXR Podcast - December 19, 2023

CONFERENCE - The Reality Christian Men Face

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript