The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Big Eva Exploits The Faithful To “Empathize” With The Faithless ｜ Hebrews 13_1-3

00:00:00.000 all right listen guys i get it many of you are unable to financially support this ministry

00:00:04.620 because you're spending your cash and your lives on raising young children in the fear and admonition

00:00:09.880 of the lord praise god for you and that endeavor however algorithms are a thing shadow banning

00:00:16.860 sadly is a thing and one major way that you can help to expand the reach and effectiveness of

00:00:23.380 this ministry that doesn't cost you a dime is by spending just a few moments leaving us

00:00:28.880 a five-star review. Also, perhaps even more effective than that, you can share our podcast

00:00:35.220 with a friend. We hope you'll take the time to do so. Thank you so much. God bless.

00:00:58.880 depending on how many two-part sermons I end up doing.

00:01:03.340 Spoiler alert, today may be one of them.

00:01:05.840 Okay, let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word

00:01:08.960 to show honor and reverence to God

00:01:11.520 and how he has chosen to reveal himself in scripture.

00:01:14.720 I'll read our text in its entirety.

00:01:16.500 When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say,

00:01:18.760 this is the word of the Lord,

00:01:19.860 at which point I would appreciate very much

00:01:21.820 if you would respond by saying, thanks be to God.

00:01:25.120 One more time, our text for today is Hebrews 3.

00:01:28.880 13 verses 1 through 6, the Bible says this, let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show

00:01:36.840 hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who

00:01:44.200 are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated since you also are in

00:01:50.600 the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God

00:01:58.860 will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money and

00:02:06.080 be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can

00:02:13.780 confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? This is the word of

00:02:22.240 the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and begin with the first verse of our text,

00:02:31.460 short and sweet. Verse 1 says this, let brotherly love continue. In your notes, I've written the

00:02:39.660 following. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse 1, we are not merely commanded to continue in a universal

00:02:45.320 love for all people, but in brotherly love. That is for our fellow believers. Let me pause here for

00:02:55.740 a moment. You've heard me say this many times, but there are, by God's grace, new people every week

00:03:01.380 that perhaps are unfamiliar with this indisputable biblical truth. The truth is this.

00:03:08.320 the Bible does not teach that everyone is a child of God. I'll say it again. The Bible does not teach

00:03:17.780 that everyone is a child of God. And certainly the Bible does not teach that we are born into this

00:03:26.640 life, into this world, physically born as children of God. If everyone started this life as a child

00:03:33.360 of God, then what is the Bible talking about when it goes to such great lengths to speak

00:03:39.440 of the doctrine of adoption?

00:03:43.360 For those of you who don't know some of my personal story, I was adopted as a child by

00:03:49.540 my parents who are members of this church, also gone this way.

00:03:52.960 Mom is gone.

00:03:54.500 Meemaw and Papa are gone.

00:03:56.380 Uncle Connor and Auntie Rachel are gone.

00:03:59.660 Go crafts.

00:04:01.140 And watch it. 1.00

00:04:02.020 You girls are doing great.

00:04:03.360 Olive, Ruth, Eleanor, doing great.

00:04:05.460 Keep it up.

00:04:06.920 So I was adopted as a baby.

00:04:12.280 And here's something that I know.

00:04:14.520 I'm not an expert on adoption.

00:04:16.380 I think it's pretty cool.

00:04:17.360 I think it's a beautiful picture of the gospel.

00:04:20.520 But one thing that I know, it's kind of a common sense knowledge,

00:04:24.140 is that, you know, my parents, they went to the courthouse.

00:04:28.640 They had a court date.

00:04:30.680 They had their lawyer.

00:04:32.320 I had my lawyer, which is kind of funny.

00:04:34.320 The baby has a lawyer.

00:04:35.660 So I have my lawyer.

00:04:36.980 The adoptive parents, they have their lawyer.

00:04:39.600 And there's this court hearing, and we have a judge and all those things.

00:04:44.380 And if I was biologically my parent's child, if I was biologically their child,

00:04:51.600 and they went to a judge and hired a lawyer and all these things,

00:04:55.600 we would like to adopt our biological child.

00:04:58.460 I think the response would be, well, I think you might lose your child because you don't have the

00:05:04.920 intelligence required to raise one. This is already your kid. What are you doing? What do

00:05:10.120 you mean you want to adopt your child? This is your child. Well, likewise, in the scripture,

00:05:15.740 in Ephesians, in Romans, in multiple places in the scripture that speaks of being adopted.

00:05:22.860 The Bible is not talking about God adopting children that are already his children.

00:05:28.460 the very presence of the doctrine of adoption, that God adopts us as his children, what that

00:05:36.700 assumes is that we start this life as those who are not his children. The Bible does not teach

00:05:46.160 the universal fatherhood of God. The Bible teaches the universal creatorhood of God.

00:05:52.680 And there is a moral obligation for all human beings made in the image of God simply as God's creatures and God being their creator.

00:06:03.320 All men, whether they're Christian or not, have a moral obligation to God because he's their father.

00:06:09.540 No, because he's their creator.

00:06:12.440 He made them.

00:06:14.360 And he has rights over the creature.

00:06:17.060 And the creature has moral obligations to the one who made him.

00:06:24.000 The Bible teaches universal creatorhood, but not universal fatherhood.

00:06:30.560 And likewise, as we see in our first verse, let brotherly love continue.

00:06:35.600 The Bible teaches universal neighborhood, but not universal brotherhood.

00:06:43.200 So vertically speaking, our relationship to God, God's relationship with man, universal creatorhood, but not universal fatherhood.

00:06:53.760 Horizontally speaking, our relation with our fellow man, universal neighborhood, and there are biblical commandments to how we treat our neighbors.

00:07:03.000 Love your neighbor as yourself, but not universal brotherhood.

00:07:07.680 everyone is your neighbor not everyone is your brother god is everyone's creator but god is not

00:07:16.200 everyone's father let brotherly love continue primarily what's in view in the first verse

00:07:24.440 of our text is this let us the church these hebrew christians that the author is writing to

00:07:31.060 under the inspiration of the holy spirit he is saying brothers and sisters fellow believers

00:07:36.280 Christians, continue. Do not grow weary in doing good. Continue in love for, first and foremost,

00:07:45.460 the church. Brotherly love. Continue in love. Be diligent in love. Endure and persevere in love

00:07:55.760 for believers, for the household of faith. Let me give you a couple other verses that help to

00:08:04.120 substantiate that point so that you see that it's not just something that I may be eisegeting into

00:08:10.240 this verse. Think of Matthew chapter 25 verse 34 through 40. It's a common text that many of you

00:08:19.200 are probably familiar with, but there's a phrase in this text that many Christians often gloss over.

00:08:25.800 It says, the king will say to those on his right, this is right after Jesus told a parable of

00:08:32.480 separating the sheep from the goats. Speaking of the final day of judgment, the king will then say

00:08:39.660 to those on his right, come, you are blessed of my father. Take your inheritance. The kingdom

00:08:45.880 prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.

00:08:53.600 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed

00:09:00.700 clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came

00:09:07.620 to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?

00:09:15.900 When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and

00:09:23.060 invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to

00:09:31.100 visit you? The king will reply, truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these

00:09:40.540 brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. How often the evangelical church has taken

00:09:50.360 the least of these out of context. 0.97

00:09:55.360 In a nutshell, this is what Big Eva does. 1.00

00:09:58.100 I'll give you their playbook. 0.90

00:09:59.280 It's pretty simple.

00:10:00.000 You probably know.

00:10:02.800 Big Eva says, 1.00

00:10:04.260 we're going to milk the faithful 0.99

00:10:06.020 to benefit the faithless. 0.99

00:10:10.020 We're going to break the backs 1.00

00:10:12.160 of the faithful 1.00

00:10:13.100 to benefit the faithless.

00:10:16.800 And that's it.

00:10:17.660 That's a play.

00:10:19.140 Free car wash.

00:10:20.360 food drive

00:10:22.360 hallelujah party for Halloween

00:10:26.900 trunk or treat

00:10:28.140 whatever it is

00:10:29.800 but what's the goal

00:10:30.780 the goal is always

00:10:31.880 to serve the unbeliever 1.00

00:10:33.840 it's always for the unbeliever 1.00

00:10:36.420 do you know what Paul says

00:10:39.100 in 1st Timothy chapter 5

00:10:40.440 he says

00:10:41.620 when it comes to the church

00:10:43.080 and its ministry

00:10:44.000 and moral obligation

00:10:45.200 because it is obligated

00:10:46.300 under God

00:10:46.820 to serve the poor

00:10:49.120 There's actually a criteria.

00:10:52.380 It's not just a blank canvas for your creative license and freedom.

00:10:55.980 You don't get to define love.

00:10:58.780 Empathy has no place in Christian faith. 0.91

00:11:03.200 Sympathy does.

00:11:05.140 Compassion.

00:11:06.820 Empathy does not.

00:11:08.980 The world is being destroyed right now in the name of empathy.

00:11:14.160 You need to be aware of that.

00:11:18.240 Now, what the Scripture teaches, the Apostle Paul, 1 Timothy 5, writing to a young man who is a pastor in a church,

00:11:26.780 he gives criteria and guidelines for helping the helpless.

00:11:31.740 He talks about helping the widow.

00:11:35.660 Right there, we already have an assumed criteria.

00:11:39.060 because we're starting with 24-year-old, single, able-bodied young men who just don't want to work

00:11:47.560 a job, right? No. Do you know what help that man gets? Starvation. That's the help he gets.

00:11:56.800 That's the help he needs. That's the help that loves him and pleases God. Yes. The Bible commands

00:12:05.860 that. If any man will not work, let him not eat. And when we override that, whether we do it

00:12:13.760 individually in the name of Christian love, but with bad theology and interpretation of scripture,

00:12:19.400 or whether we do it federally in the civil sphere through laws and legislation,

00:12:25.820 taking people's money at gunpoint, aka taxes, and then creating a welfare system that only

00:12:33.780 incentivizes poverty and makes it worse. In either case, the point is, it is unbiblical.

00:12:41.900 It is unbiblical. Paul says that first you start with the widow. Now, the widow is someone who

00:12:48.940 needs help and is themselves also helpless. It's not just helping the poor. Now, the Bible, what

00:12:56.520 it says time and time again is that there's a call not just to help the poor, but to help

00:13:00.800 the helpless poor. To help the poor that cannot help themselves. That's the first qualification.

00:13:09.300 But then the next, as Paul goes further and says, just to ensure that this widow really is helpless

00:13:14.260 and therefore should be added to the roster of the list of widows of the church, become the church's

00:13:20.780 obligation to care for her and her needs, just to make sure. First, she needs to be a widow. 0.98

00:13:25.980 her husband has died. But secondly, she needs to be of 65 years of age. If she's younger, 0.65

00:13:35.220 Paul says she should remarry. But if she's older and past the age of marrying, at least the 0.99

00:13:42.400 likelihood of marrying, especially being able to marry and produce children, then she's for

00:13:48.920 consideration to be added to the roster, to be cared for by the church. So she needs to be a 0.94

00:13:55.960 She also needs to be 65 years of age.

00:13:58.940 But then he goes further and says,

00:14:00.600 does she have any other family members?

00:14:03.820 She's a widow, so she doesn't have a husband that can care for her. 1.00

00:14:06.860 But does she have sons? 1.00

00:14:09.040 Does she have a brother? 1.00

00:14:10.940 Then let them care for her.

00:14:14.420 So that the church will not be burdened. 0.97

00:14:16.880 But if she doesn't have a husband and she doesn't have sons

00:14:19.280 and she doesn't have a brother, she doesn't have an uncle,

00:14:21.320 she has no one in terms of her extended family

00:14:24.660 They can bear that burden because the family would be obligated morally first before the church.

00:14:30.020 Did you know that?

00:14:31.300 People always say, well, yeah, okay, the church does a bad job or the government does a bad job with welfare,

00:14:37.140 but that's because the church has dropped the ball.

00:14:39.180 Nope, it's because fathers have dropped the ball.

00:14:42.740 It's not the church. 0.99

00:14:44.600 Get rid of that language. 1.00

00:14:45.820 I hate that language.

00:14:47.940 That is such a misconception.

00:14:49.500 Look, very clear.

00:14:50.720 God set up three divinely instituted spheres, home, church, state. Each one of them have certain

00:14:56.760 moral obligations under God. The state, their job is to kill, right, sword, to kill bad guys 0.99

00:15:05.900 and praise good guys, and maybe, and even this, I'm suspect, maybe build some roads. 0.99

00:15:14.180 That's it. Even that, I think we could privatize and get it done better. That's it.

00:15:19.920 That's the state.

00:15:21.980 And for the record, one of the reasons why your taxes are so high is because government is so big.

00:15:29.980 Government's training your children with public schools.

00:15:33.180 They're in education.

00:15:34.540 They're in welfare.

00:15:35.440 They're in everything.

00:15:36.800 And because they're in everything, well, it's going to cost more money.

00:15:39.940 As a good rule of thumb, God demands for his church a tithe.

00:15:46.000 That's 10%.

00:15:47.100 Caesar should never rival God.

00:15:51.240 So whatever Caesar should get, it should be less than 10%.

00:15:54.940 I believe that's the biblical model.

00:15:57.420 9% cap.

00:15:59.000 Okay, so that's the civil realm.

00:16:01.360 Their obligation.

00:16:02.680 Very simple.

00:16:03.940 Carry the sword as God's avengers.

00:16:06.100 A deacon of God.

00:16:07.940 Servant of God.

00:16:09.420 That's a correct reading of Romans 13.

00:16:12.260 Shut down your church and stay inside is an incorrect reading of Romans 13. 0.91

00:16:16.700 just for the record. Just clear that up. All right. Next, the church. The church is a ministry

00:16:22.860 of word and sacrament. Word and sacrament. The church can do many things, but primarily what

00:16:31.920 the church does is worship. The church gathers the saints on the Lord's day for the right preaching

00:16:39.220 of the word of God and the right administering of the sacraments, the Lord's supper and baptism.

00:16:45.760 John Calvin said, wherever the word is rightly preached and the sacrament rightly administered,

00:16:51.160 there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults.

00:16:54.460 And many of the Puritans that I would agree with have added maybe one more qualification to Calvin's statement,

00:17:00.280 which would be this, preach, sacraments, and church discipline.

00:17:05.260 Church discipline, rightly administered.

00:17:08.660 There a church of God exists.

00:17:11.000 But wait a second, that can't be it.

00:17:12.980 what about their programs can't be a real church unless we've got 17 midweek programs and what

00:17:20.280 about the committees pastor joel i was raised in the southern baptist church if you're if there

00:17:25.460 aren't 29 different committees most of them without anyone seated on the committee right

00:17:29.880 you have whole empty committees that haven't been used in like 14 years but if there's not at least

00:17:35.160 in the 20s of committees and then 17 midweek programs then i mean is that a church of god

00:17:41.120 really? Does it preach rightly? Does it administer the sacraments rightly? And as needed, according

00:17:49.800 to God's word, does it practice biblical church discipline? There's a church. But I'd like it to

00:17:56.380 do more stuff. You know what I'd like? I'd like for dads to do more stuff. See, we're very, very

00:18:07.820 aware that the state can be a tyrant. But the evangelical church has been a tyrant for about 0.91

00:18:13.960 60 years in America. And what I mean by tyrant is I don't mean a tyrant in your typical

00:18:20.480 Machiavellian totalitarian sense. I don't mean that. What I mean is a tyrant in terms of time.

00:18:29.700 your time is being stolen from you on both sides the state is taking your time

00:18:39.300 by virtue of making you work more hours to cover their large taxes

00:18:44.080 and then they take your time by taking your kids which you give to them for the record

00:18:50.680 but they take your kids and not only do they take 40 hours a week

00:18:54.280 but then how many state programs are your kids enlisted in you've got one act play

00:19:00.600 you've got football you've got basketball you've got debate you've got all these different things

00:19:10.360 year round one sport ends another one starts and that's just at the state level and the public

00:19:17.440 school falls under that category state and then you got the church you got wednesday night

00:19:24.400 maybe there's a thursday night there's a mom's prayer meeting and some of those moms are kind

00:19:32.400 of judgy if i don't show up there's this and there's that there's that there's this

00:19:38.060 and then the pastor has the audacity

00:19:41.700 to correct the dads in the room

00:19:45.460 for not leading their families

00:19:46.840 in family worship?

00:19:48.460 Pastor, you stole all the time

00:19:50.740 from that father to lead them

00:19:52.080 in family worship.

00:19:54.480 You took family worship time.

00:19:58.220 And you made the father

00:19:59.660 outsource it to the church

00:20:01.240 instead of doing it

00:20:02.380 with his God-given authority

00:20:03.580 in the home.

00:20:06.680 Our church, we have Sunday.

00:20:09.040 And then we also have Sunday.

00:20:11.700 and then this one's exciting one week later you'll have another sunday that's it

00:20:20.680 the lord's day not the lord's hour the lord's day which that one's going to be a challenge

00:20:27.740 today it's football day huh

00:20:30.280 some of you won't come that's okay it's all right but i do encourage you

00:20:38.320 Sunday morning, Sunday evening.

00:20:40.640 God has sustained in his providence and sovereignty,

00:20:43.420 he has sustained his church for 2,000 years of church history,

00:20:46.460 predominantly through the Lord's Day gathering of the saints.

00:20:49.920 And not just for an hour and a half, but a full day.

00:20:52.820 A full day.

00:20:53.380 Did you know that only in this last 2,000 years of church history since the cross,

00:20:58.400 that only the most recent 500 years, so 25% of that 2,000 years,

00:21:03.260 have we had the Bible in languages that we could read?

00:21:07.360 And men, as you probably know, gave their lives for that.

00:21:10.420 William Tyndale, Martin Luther, he didn't die for it, but got close.

00:21:16.320 People went out of their way at very great cost,

00:21:19.680 even at times the cost of their lives,

00:21:21.800 in order to translate the Word of God out of the Latin Vulgate,

00:21:26.420 which is the Roman Catholic monopoly on the Scripture,

00:21:29.880 breaking up that monopoly, that Catholic empire,

00:21:32.660 and translating it in the vulgar tongue, meaning the common language,

00:21:37.040 And then, of course, teaching people to read.

00:21:40.280 Primarily the ability, just the notion that children, every single child, boy, girl, from a very young age, should know how to read.

00:21:51.120 That's a Protestant notion.

00:21:54.860 Roman Catholics didn't come up with that.

00:21:56.220 Roman Catholics, it's in their best interest that you don't know how to read.

00:22:01.680 That's why they still, they've expanded their horizons a bit. 0.67

00:22:05.680 you know but they really like the latin mass did you know the term hocus pocus

00:22:10.820 whoo magic you know where that comes from i'm going to mispronounce it disclaimer but something

00:22:17.900 like hocii pocii or something like that it's latin which is why i mispronounced it but it's

00:22:25.740 what the priest would say right before transubstantiation turning the bread and the

00:22:30.060 wine into the literal body and literal blood of Christ. And the people thought it was magic

00:22:36.120 back in the day because that's what the Catholic church said, right? They had more interest in

00:22:42.100 robes and tassels and imagery than in content, right? Because in a nutshell, both Roman Catholicism 0.55

00:22:52.540 and Eastern Orthodoxy, I might add,

00:22:56.120 faith comes by seeing.

00:22:59.300 But for those who have a Bible and can read it,

00:23:01.900 faith cometh by hearing,

00:23:04.440 and hearing the word of Christ. 0.60

00:23:07.840 Protestants are word-centric. 0.85

00:23:11.900 Always have been. 0.97

00:23:13.860 Whether it be the Puritans or before them, 0.99

00:23:16.040 the Reformers, within the Protestant tradition,

00:23:18.580 what you have is the table of the Lord

00:23:20.900 in a subservient position to the pulpit.

00:23:25.760 And the pulpit has nothing to do

00:23:28.000 with the man who stands behind it.

00:23:29.740 It has everything to do with this book preached.

00:23:35.500 In a Catholic church, it's the table.

00:23:38.520 And what's more important 0.93

00:23:39.640 is the waving of the hands

00:23:41.660 and the robes and the garbs.

00:23:44.700 And if they could do it, 0.98

00:23:46.320 they would keep it all in Latin

00:23:47.680 so you don't understand anything.

00:23:49.260 you don't understand a single word who cares if you comprehend just take their word for it

00:23:56.680 but the point is this any of these three divinely instituted spheres home church state any of them

00:24:05.940 can be a tyrant you see we're we're in america in 2022 three we think in terms of tyranny

00:24:17.060 we immediately think the state.

00:24:19.600 And even that's somewhat novel.

00:24:20.840 We wouldn't have thought that a few years ago.

00:24:22.260 We should have, but we didn't.

00:24:24.460 But when we think tyranny, we think government.

00:24:28.720 But if you don't think the church can be a tyrant,

00:24:32.800 look at Roman Catholicism. 0.84

00:24:36.400 That's what it was. 0.93

00:24:37.500 And God used that wild boar, Luther, 0.98

00:24:40.960 digging up, destroying the Lord's vineyard, the Pope's vineyard, to free Christians from the 0.80

00:24:52.520 tyranny, ecclesiastical tyranny, church tyranny of Roman Catholicism. Lastly, the family can be a 0.96

00:25:00.720 tyrant too. Now, I don't think that's our problem right now. And what I don't like is when guys

00:25:06.360 preach the footnote as though it's the headline. That's what big Eva does. That's another classic 0.99

00:25:11.900 big Eva play, right? So, so that one of the big plays would be this, and you'll see it all right

00:25:16.520 now, right now you're going to see a ton of it because of the situation with John MacArthur.

00:25:22.960 Some of you are not aware of some of you, you know what I'm saying? I don't have time to go

00:25:25.740 into all of it, but being accused of being complicit with an abuse case that happened 20

00:25:33.020 years ago? And here's the deal. I don't have a position, an official position. MacArthur might

00:25:39.380 be wrong. Believe it or not, I know it's hard for reformed Christians to hear, but MacArthur

00:25:46.180 might be wrong. He might have made a mistake. MacArthur, I'm grateful for him. He's been faithful

00:25:53.820 in many regards, but he might have made a mistake. He certainly made a mistake a couple decades ago

00:25:59.200 when he sided with police officers

00:26:00.880 against Christians trying to save the unborn.

00:26:04.380 Definitely made a mistake then. 1.00

00:26:07.200 You can check the record.

00:26:10.020 So MacArthur is awesome.

00:26:11.840 He could be wrong.

00:26:13.220 But here's the point.

00:26:14.620 Whether this is just another hashtag me too case

00:26:18.280 that's being twisted and perverted

00:26:20.320 to make Grace Community Church look bad

00:26:24.100 because they've been faithful for so long,

00:26:26.320 because they have overall immense faithfulness

00:26:28.840 from John MacArthur. Praise God for him. So whether it's they're lying and slandering and twisting

00:26:34.060 things, or whether MacArthur actually covered something up and should have done a better job

00:26:37.720 and should now publicly repent, I don't know. I don't have a position on that. I don't know.

00:26:42.500 I don't know all the details. But this is what I do know. What I do know is that when you look

00:26:47.620 at Twitter, or when you go to the average sermon at the average church, what you hear would make

00:26:56.400 you think that there's an epidemic of men abusing women in the church. That happens.

00:27:07.200 But right now, if we're honest, that's what you call a footnote. Do you want to hear the real

00:27:12.480 headline in 2023 in the evangelical church? Feminism. That's the headline. The headline is 1.00

00:27:21.820 not abusive patriarchy. It's not. You know it's not. That can happen. It has happened. It does

00:27:29.580 happen. That's not the majority report. The majority report in evangelicalism in the church today

00:27:37.300 in America is not abusive patriarchy. It is godless, pagan, wicked feminism. 0.99

00:27:44.500 them. It's Jezebel. She's the problem. And we need men who are not cowering, not vulnerable to her 1.00

00:27:57.120 tactics, like the eunuchs in the Bible who picked her up and threw her out the window so that she

00:28:03.860 could be eaten by the dogs. That's what we need. By God's grace, he's raising up such men who do 0.98

00:28:10.800 not bow to Jezebel because they have a God in heaven that they fear more than men. It is sad

00:28:17.240 when we compromise to fear men more than God. It's pathetic when we compromise to fear women 1.00

00:28:23.500 more than God. And that's not just where America as a nation is. That's where the American 0.98

00:28:29.620 evangelical church is. We've been there for quite some time. So my point is to say this.

00:28:40.260 The state can be a tyrant. Think Joe Biden. The church can be a tyrant. Think the Pope.

00:28:49.220 The Pope. Families can be a tyrant. Think about the mafia. What do you call tyranny

00:28:58.740 in the realm of a family.

00:29:01.920 He called a mafia.

00:29:04.920 And in past times where the state was weaker

00:29:07.720 and the church was weaker,

00:29:11.720 it was godfathers and families that ruled.

00:29:17.180 Don't you dare cross him.

00:29:19.720 He's got a whole pile of dead bodies

00:29:22.460 that have crossed him.

00:29:24.400 He rules this city with an iron fist.

00:29:28.740 The point is, any of these three sovereign spheres

00:29:32.200 that God has instituted can be tyrannical.

00:29:35.580 They can overstep their jurisdiction.

00:29:38.740 Families can, states can, churches can.

00:29:43.660 But we need to remember the headline.

00:29:46.440 And the headline for right now, I believe,

00:29:51.180 is that the state is a tyrant.

00:29:53.720 The church, in terms of how much time and programs,

00:29:57.340 to a lesser degree than the state,

00:29:59.360 but at a certain degree, 0.84

00:30:00.740 the evangelical church is also a tyrant. 0.87

00:30:03.440 And the one sphere that's being choked to death 0.91

00:30:07.420 in 2023 in America is the family,

00:30:12.120 particularly fathers.

00:30:15.760 If you want to be persecuted,

00:30:19.160 be a dad.

00:30:22.140 There is no role in all of society

00:30:24.760 more despised and hated,

00:30:27.440 belittled at every single turn,

00:30:29.440 maligned and lied about,

00:30:31.520 slandered than fathers. 1.00

00:30:37.100 And the church should be doing

00:30:38.860 everything it can

00:30:40.000 to come alongside fathers.

00:30:43.020 Not saying,

00:30:44.240 hey, we'll be a dad for you

00:30:46.200 so you can be a deadbeat 0.89

00:30:48.020 because you can't do it.

00:30:49.740 We'll do it for you.

00:30:50.860 No, that's what the government

00:30:51.920 already does. 0.99

00:30:53.620 No, the church should come

00:30:54.520 and strengthen fathers and say,

00:30:56.640 you are the pastor of your home.

00:30:58.960 I'm not going to raise your kids for you.

00:31:01.460 No, I'm going to disciple you on the Lord's day

00:31:03.880 with preaching and sacrament, word and sacrament,

00:31:07.180 and you're going to raise your kids.

00:31:09.540 And you can do it.

00:31:10.780 By the grace of God, you can do it.

00:31:15.700 All that being said,

00:31:17.720 1 Timothy 5, caring for widows,

00:31:21.300 the first sphere responsible for provision

00:31:27.120 is fathers, it's families.

00:31:31.860 Oh, the government's doing welfare

00:31:33.560 because the church dropped the ball.

00:31:35.660 No, the government's doing welfare

00:31:37.460 because families dropped the ball.

00:31:41.480 The church's ministry,

00:31:43.200 it can care for physical needs.

00:31:45.660 And we have biblical texts that talk about that

00:31:47.820 and the criteria for that,

00:31:49.300 Like 1 Timothy 5 and the criteria for the church helping widows.

00:31:52.980 But predominantly, predominantly, the sphere that God has divinely instituted to care for physical needs is not the state and it's not the church.

00:32:05.000 It is the family.

00:32:07.240 Fathers provide for their children and wives.

00:32:12.160 Period.

00:32:13.700 Period.

00:32:14.280 you. And if the church is picking that slack up, there better be a biblical reason for it.

00:32:20.080 It better be that the father is dead. The Bible essentially says two things when it comes to

00:32:26.580 helping the poor. You help widows, aka the father's dead. And then if the father's alive,

00:32:31.600 but unwilling to work, let him not eat. That's what the Bible says.

00:32:37.320 in matthew 25 verse 34 through 40 what everyone glosses over whatever you did for the least of

00:32:44.800 these and what do people think immediately what they think is whatever people group whatever

00:32:51.400 identity group is currently most popular to sympathize with or empathize with in the culture

00:32:59.060 of that day so the least of these the church should care for the least of these because that's 0.88

00:33:02.420 what Matthew 25 says. And who are the least of these? Well, the least of these are illegal

00:33:07.240 immigrants. The least of these are LGBT, LMNOP. The least of these is... No, no, no. The text 1.00

00:33:16.780 tells us who the least of these are. Why don't we read the text? Whatever you did for one of

00:33:23.660 the least of these brothers and sisters of mine. In other words, when Jesus separates the sheep

00:33:34.740 from the goats and puts the sheep on his right hand and says, to you is the kingdom. It's your

00:33:40.640 inheritance. What's the determining factor between the left and the right? Right? The goats and the

00:33:47.480 sheep. It's those who did loving things for Jesus. Well, Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of his

00:33:55.080 father. How do you do something loving for Jesus? You do it for the least of these, his brothers.

00:34:00.920 You want to love Jesus? Love the church. You want to love Jesus? Let brotherly love continue.

00:34:10.100 That's what it is. It's caring for the church. It's caring for brothers and sisters in Christ

00:34:16.800 for the very fact that they bear the name of Christ.

00:34:21.340 And when it says the least of these, my brothers,

00:34:24.760 what that means is those who are brothers and sisters in Christ

00:34:28.120 who are currently being persecuted.

00:34:31.700 When it says you visited those in prison,

00:34:35.220 it's not saying, and I'm not saying you can't do this,

00:34:37.460 I'm not saying this is immoral,

00:34:38.860 but what's in view here in this text, Matthew 25,

00:34:41.760 is not predominantly a Christian ministry to serial killers

00:34:46.020 preaching the gospel to them in prisons. 0.77

00:34:48.960 You can do that,

00:34:50.580 but that's not what this text is talking about.

00:34:53.380 When you visited me in prison,

00:34:55.940 to visit Jesus in prison 0.82

00:34:57.420 is to visit the least of these Jesus brothers in prison.

00:35:01.300 So what's in view here

00:35:02.400 is not having a prison ministry

00:35:04.120 where you preach the gospel to people

00:35:06.040 who actually committed atrocious crimes.

00:35:08.540 Not saying you can't do that,

00:35:10.060 but that's not what's in view here in this text.

00:35:11.820 What's in view here in this text

00:35:13.180 is going into the prison

00:35:14.520 when Christians have been placed there wrongfully

00:35:17.040 and ministering to their needs

00:35:21.180 and caring for them

00:35:23.060 for the very fact that they are a brother in Christ.

00:35:27.580 You do it because they belong to Jesus

00:35:29.760 and thereby doing it because they belong to Jesus

00:35:33.600 in the mind of Jesus

00:35:35.120 is the same as doing it to Jesus himself.

00:35:38.960 That's what the Bible teaches.

00:35:41.820 But evangelicalism says

00:35:43.080 let's actually abuse

00:35:44.720 our brothers and sisters in Christ

00:35:46.460 take advantage of our brothers and sisters in Christ

00:35:49.500 so that we can do more events

00:35:51.580 for people who hate Christ

00:35:53.020 because then maybe they'll come to our church

00:35:55.340 and we'll get to put up bigger numbers

00:35:59.120 Paul literally says

00:36:02.900 look Galatians

00:36:04.800 chapter 6 verse 9 and 10

00:36:07.060 as often as you have opportunity

00:36:08.360 do good to all

00:36:09.300 but prioritize the brothers

00:36:12.240 the household of faith. Christ is infinite, but his body

00:36:17.340 here on earth, the church, is finite. Meaning

00:36:21.220 that the church has a finite amount of resources. And what does Jesus tell us about

00:36:25.240 the poor? You'll always have them. You'll always

00:36:29.340 have the poor. You know why you'll always

00:36:33.420 have the poor? People don't like this one. You'll always have the poor because

00:36:37.480 until Christ finally returns, you'll always have sin.

00:36:42.240 And that does not mean that every person who is poor is poor because of their sin.

00:36:47.960 I'm not drawing a direct correlation.

00:36:51.220 What I am saying is that everyone who is poor is poor because of someone's sin.

00:36:56.760 Now, I would argue that in this country, even though certain freedoms and liberties are being eroded,

00:37:03.060 still in this country, because of our founding and some of the privileges that we have legally under the law, 0.97

00:37:10.580 most individuals who are poor in this country, it's because of their sin.

00:37:17.620 However, I would not say that 0.55

00:37:19.440 of those who are poor in North Korea. 0.96

00:37:22.980 I'm going to say North Korea has a bunch of poor people because they're just lazy in North Korea. 0.79

00:37:27.680 Or there's a tyrant in North Korea. 0.96

00:37:32.220 Right? But here's the deal. One way or another

00:37:35.300 it's rooted in sin.

00:37:36.700 poverty is simply a lack is simply a lack of needs there's only a couple options here either

00:37:47.680 god told us to be fruitful multiply but created a world that didn't was not able to actually support

00:37:54.460 people obeying god's command so god commanded us to do one thing be fruitful multiply and then on

00:37:59.780 the back end behind the scenes he was i've commanded them to do the very thing that's going

00:38:04.240 to lend towards their demise because I strategically created the world in such a way that it does not

00:38:09.120 have the resources to sustain their obedience to my command. That is a bad view of God.

00:38:16.660 The world is not too populated. That's not our problem. We have more people on the planet today

00:38:21.220 than ever before, and we have less hunger and poverty and disease than ever before.

00:38:27.020 The world is not overpopulated. Hashtag postmill, whatever you want to call it. The world is not

00:38:32.180 overpopulated. The only reason we still have poverty in any degree at all is because we still

00:38:37.780 have sin. And Jesus said you'll always have the poor among you because until he returns, we'll

00:38:42.760 always have sin. And people are poor because of their sin or not always their sin, but people are

00:38:50.040 poor because of their sin and unwillingness to work or somebody's, somebody else's sin against

00:38:54.500 them. There are moms and children who are poor because dad's in jail. It's sin. And so the point

00:39:06.140 is that when we want to love the least of these, there are a whole host of identity groups that at

00:39:13.620 any given moment in the culture, on Twitter, in the legacy media, it's cool and hip to care about

00:39:22.180 them. Now, nobody does, right? They just, they just change their Facebook image. They just put

00:39:29.260 out a tweet, right? They don't actually help, right? BLM, buy large mansions. That's what it

00:39:36.280 stands for, right? Because that's all they did. That's all they did, right? So it's, it's not

00:39:41.940 actually helping, but it's, it's the thing that you're going to talk about, right? Like it's,

00:39:47.440 it's shameful to have an American flag, you know, because this country is oppressive, but I got a

00:39:51.000 Ukrainian flag on my front porch? Are you kidding me? It's ridiculous. Absolutely ignorant.

00:40:00.180 But here's the deal. There's always going to be a group of the least of these that the culture 0.99

00:40:03.880 labels as the least of these. But that's not what the Bible talks about. The least of these,

00:40:08.640 my brothers. Do good to all, but you're finite, so prioritize the household of faith.

00:40:15.180 Or, back to our first verse,

00:40:17.740 let brotherly love continue.

00:40:21.540 Brotherly love.

00:40:23.180 Our first obligation, brothers and sisters,

00:40:25.460 we're always going to have the poor

00:40:26.600 because we're always going to have sin.

00:40:28.860 Poverty is a black hole.

00:40:30.740 You can pour as many trillions of dollars you want into it

00:40:33.780 and it'll never be full.

00:40:35.880 It won't.

00:40:37.660 It'll just take more and more and more and more.

00:40:42.060 But what you can do,

00:40:43.460 speaking to fathers again, what you can do is you can make sure that your kids

00:40:49.100 are fed, warm, clothed, sheltered, educated with a Christian education and not indoctrinated by

00:40:58.420 the state. You can start at home. Charity begins at home. Provision begins at home.

00:41:07.160 Beyond that, once we've taken care of our own household, then we can begin to look at the

00:41:12.960 household of faith, starting with our local church. How can I care for other families in

00:41:19.560 these churches? Come alongside other fathers who are trying to provide for their wives and children,

00:41:23.840 but maybe struggling because of this or that. That's where we can start. And honestly, you

00:41:29.920 could spend your whole life and every waking hour and every bit of your strength and every dime in

00:41:36.440 your account on just providing for your own family well and the household of faith in your local

00:41:41.760 church where God has sovereignly placed you, and you won't get it done. So just do that.

00:41:50.840 Spend your time, spend your effort in the way that the Bible tells us to do it.

00:41:55.460 Let brotherly love continue. All right, I've preached one verse,

00:42:01.920 but it was a four-word verse, guys. It was long, right?

00:42:05.920 okay let me just preach real quick verse two and three i promise real quick please please

00:42:16.800 let me have a chance um verse two and three because it relates to verse one and i've let

00:42:23.600 i've provided the theological framework now so i can do this quickly here we go do not neglect

00:42:27.940 to show hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares think of

00:42:33.280 Abraham, three shining ones that appear to him, and one of them is the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank

00:42:37.960 you, sir. And then we also, I can think of Lot, for instance. Lot has angels come, and he takes

00:42:45.720 them into his home, right? So it is possible, and we do have biblical examples of actually exercising

00:42:51.380 hospitality to people we don't know, strangers, and those strangers being angels, all right?

00:42:55.820 That's verse 2, at least the second half of verse 2. Now verse 3, remember those who are in prison

00:43:01.240 as though in prison with them, as those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

00:43:07.860 This is what we've already looked at. This is why I wanted to look at Matthew 25, verse 34 through 40.

00:43:15.320 Because Jesus mentions the least of these, he gives several examples, those who are naked and

00:43:19.560 need to be clothed, hungry and need to be fed. But one of the examples he gives is those who

00:43:24.100 are imprisoned. And it's the very thing that we're seeing in verse three of our text. Now,

00:43:27.900 Remember those who are in prison.

00:43:29.920 The thing that Jesus told you to do in Matthew 25,

00:43:32.680 you guys make sure to remember that and do that.

00:43:34.920 Remember those who are in prison.

00:43:36.680 Primarily, what's being said here?

00:43:39.620 Remember the serial killer in prison?

00:43:42.380 You can, right, as often as you have opportunity, do good to all.

00:43:46.460 There is nothing in the Bible that says we can't do good to unbelievers.

00:43:50.400 Don't mishear me.

00:43:51.160 I'm not saying that.

00:43:52.680 But what the Bible says is that you can do good to unbelievers,

00:43:56.620 but you are commanded to prioritize the household of faith. And my common sense advice here,

00:44:04.800 not commanding you, this is under the banner of the authority of counsel, not command. 0.99

00:44:09.960 The authority of command is do good to everyone, but prioritize Christians. My counsel is that

00:44:16.640 there's enough work to be done among Christians that if you do it faithfully, you won't have any 1.00

00:44:20.840 time or money left. That's my opinion. Okay. That's counsel, not command. So don't, don't 1.00

00:44:28.520 walk out of here and say, Joel said that can't, we can't help non-Christians. Well, I did say that 1.00

00:44:32.860 technically, but through the authority of counsel, not command. And only because I just think there's

00:44:38.700 so much work to be done with Christians. And the Bible definitely says that. Prioritize a household 1.00

00:44:42.420 of faith. Now, all that being said, remember those who are in prison. So again, I think what's being

00:44:46.080 said here is Christians in prison because Hebrews we've already seen this this concept in the letter

00:44:51.740 to the Hebrews is um you're suffering you're being persecuted right that's what he that's what the

00:44:56.980 the very previous chapter was all about Hebrews 12 was what it said don't don't grow weary right

00:45:03.980 when you're being disciplined by a father and remember it goes further it says um you have not

00:45:10.500 yet been persecuted to the point of shedding your blood okay well then what way have you been

00:45:14.880 persecuted. Well, not shedding your blood, not martyrs, not yet, but imprisoned. So the apostle

00:45:21.160 was writing to them saying, you guys are being persecuted. And one of the ways you're being

00:45:24.660 persecuted is you're being wrongfully imprisoned. So remember, remember those fellow Christians

00:45:31.800 who have been wrongfully imprisoned, care for them, love them, and remember them as though you

00:45:38.360 were in prison with them. Because what's the temptation? The temptation is this guy got caught

00:45:44.960 He's being wrongfully treated.

00:45:46.940 He's being wrongfully persecuted and imprisoned.

00:45:49.360 If anything, I want to distance myself from him

00:45:51.660 because I don't want that to happen to me.

00:45:54.120 But the apostle is saying, don't fear man.

00:45:57.700 Remember them.

00:45:58.340 Don't forget them.

00:45:59.600 Don't distance yourself from them

00:46:01.140 in the very moment where they have the most need.

00:46:03.840 But remember those who are in prison

00:46:05.080 as though you were in prison with them

00:46:07.600 and those who are mistreated

00:46:09.960 since you also are in the body.

00:46:13.340 The last thing is this.

00:46:15.320 There are two possibilities for that phrase, in the body.

00:46:20.000 One is the very thing that I've been teaching this whole time.

00:46:22.820 In the body, namely the body of Christ.

00:46:25.780 Treat them as though you're in prison with them.

00:46:28.140 Regard them as though it were you yourself.

00:46:30.100 Because you're not atomized, individualistic, autonomous beings.

00:46:35.640 You are a corporate body of Christ.

00:46:39.680 So love them, even though it's not you.

00:46:42.040 act as though it was you, as though you were right there in prison with them. Why? Because

00:46:45.880 even though you're an individual person, they're in prison, you're not, you're still part of one

00:46:51.160 body, since you too are in the body. If I had to bet, I'd bet on that one being the accurate

00:46:57.240 interpretation. But here's another plausible interpretation as well.

00:47:03.120 Care for those who are in prison, remember them as though you were in prison with them,

00:47:07.000 and those who are mistreated

00:47:08.180 since you also are in the body,

00:47:09.980 meaning since you are not currently

00:47:12.940 the church victorious,

00:47:15.580 the church triumphant.

00:47:17.740 You are still this side of heaven

00:47:20.920 in the physical body,

00:47:23.080 meaning you are still the church militant.

00:47:27.180 Church militant here,

00:47:28.880 church triumphant there.

00:47:30.420 And since you are still in the body,

00:47:32.080 meaning you have not yet

00:47:33.500 gone to be with the Lord,

00:47:34.920 you're still alive

00:47:36.040 in the physical body here on earth,

00:47:37.640 you're the church militant.

00:47:39.440 And the reason why you should remember

00:47:40.880 those who are being persecuted

00:47:42.140 is because you're still in the flesh

00:47:43.640 and you're not invulnerable.

00:47:46.240 And the very persecution that's happening to them,

00:47:48.580 it could easily happen to you.

00:47:51.240 And wouldn't you like to be remembered?

00:47:53.640 Because it could be you

00:47:54.860 and it might end up being you.

00:47:59.080 How do you want them to care for you?

00:48:01.020 Those are the two possible translations.

00:48:03.420 I said the last thing.

00:48:04.320 I got one more thing.

00:48:05.020 I forgot this.

00:48:05.600 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.

00:48:08.320 Here's the very last thing.

00:48:09.360 If you're not careful, you can read the first half of verse 2

00:48:12.540 as an immediate contradiction to everything that was said in verse 1.

00:48:19.120 Verse 1 is, continue not in universal love, but brotherly love.

00:48:24.660 Prioritizing the household of faith.

00:48:26.340 Verse 2 is, don't neglect to show hospitality to strangers.

00:48:31.200 See, you might say, well, Joel, I feel like the Bible

00:48:34.780 disagrees with you, brother, because you preached a lot of stuff on four words there in first verse

00:48:41.460 one. And I think it might be eisegesis because your whole point was that we should prioritize

00:48:47.040 love for fellow Christians. But the very next verse is that we should exercise hospitality

00:48:51.540 to not brothers, but strangers. Well, here's a little, a little, a little slap down from John

00:48:59.920 Gill. Okay. John Gill for anyone who would play that counter say, no, no, no, no. We don't need

00:49:04.920 to prioritize love for brothers. We should love everyone. In fact, we should bend over backwards

00:49:09.960 to love strangers and strangers means unbelievers. Those who are not brothers, those who that we 1.00

00:49:15.360 don't know who are unbelievers. John Gill would disagree with you. And he's right. This is what

00:49:20.260 he says. Strangers by whom are meant not unconverted men who are strangers to God and

00:49:26.960 Christ. It doesn't say, hey, don't neglect to show hospitality to those who are strangers to God,

00:49:33.360 those who are enemies of God, those who are unbelievers. No, it is not meant unconverted

00:49:38.780 men who are strangers to God in Christ and the covenants of promise, nor saints. It's also not

00:49:45.200 referring to saints in the sense that we are currently pilgrims and strangers in this world,

00:49:49.420 in the Christian life, but such as are of another country. What John Gill is saying,

00:49:56.240 and I believe that multiple other commentaries agree with him.

00:49:59.380 This is what he's saying.

00:50:00.420 The stranger in reference in Hebrews 13, 2

00:50:03.200 is not the unbeliever who's a stranger to Christ.

00:50:06.620 And it's not just any old believer

00:50:09.060 because we're all, in a sense, strangers in this world,

00:50:12.280 pilgrims in this world.

00:50:13.000 No, it's the stranger who is a brother

00:50:16.080 in falling with what was just said in verse 1,

00:50:19.180 brotherly love. 1.00

00:50:20.140 But they're a stranger in the sense that they're a foreigner. 1.00

00:50:23.220 They're from another land. 1.00

00:50:24.560 but such as are of another country and are unknown.

00:50:29.780 And even though wicked men, and this will upset some of you, right?

00:50:33.740 What? Foreigner? 1.00

00:50:35.720 The Bible's calling them wicked. 1.00

00:50:37.800 It's not politically correct.

00:50:40.140 Even though a wicked man, a Bible, it's John Gill, close to the Bible, but not yet.

00:50:46.220 And even though wicked men, right?

00:50:48.400 They're from an unknown country.

00:50:50.440 And even though wicked, they are not excluded. 0.97

00:50:53.940 though such as are obliged to quit their own country for righteousness sake are chiefly

00:51:00.960 designed. All right, let me stop there. This is what he's saying. When he says a wicked people,

00:51:07.860 foreigners from another country, wicked people. Keep in mind, this is John Gill. He is exegeting 0.96

00:51:13.540 a letter of the Bible written to who? Hebrews. So what he's saying is this. You guys, yeah,

00:51:19.580 you're Christians, but you're Hebrew Christians, which means you've spent your whole life,

00:51:23.940 multiple generations, your father, your grandfather, your great grandfather, that you guys are the

00:51:28.880 people of God and that you're the only people of God and that God made a covenant with you

00:51:33.060 exclusively and that nobody else is a part of it. And because of that, one, that's your mindset.

00:51:38.300 But two, there is some truth in that. And what's happened is all these other Gentile nations in 1.00

00:51:44.740 many ways, because they haven't been under the old covenant, because to them was not given the 0.70

00:51:49.340 law of Moses, to them was not given all these different things. A lot of these pagan nations 0.87

00:51:53.680 are just that, pagan. They're wicked. They're really wicked. And what ultimately is being said 1.00

00:52:00.900 is this, show hospitality to strangers, not meaning unbelievers, strangers to God, and not meaning just

00:52:06.620 any old Christian, because we're all strangers and pilgrims in this world, but strangers, meaning

00:52:10.900 this person is a brother, let brotherly love continue, but it's a brother from another land,

00:52:16.340 a foreign brother but a brother and they are forsaking yeah they're a gentile and yeah they

00:52:23.440 have pagan roots and all this they don't have the patriarchs the covenants the prophets all the rich 0.80

00:52:28.500 theological background that you have but listen they're leaving and forsaking their pagan country

00:52:33.980 to be a part of you this body they want christ so treat them like a christian brother they're a

00:52:42.280 stranger in the sense that you don't know them. You don't know their heritage. You don't know

00:52:47.440 their culture. But you should exercise hospitality. You should welcome them, again, because they are

00:52:54.940 a Christian. So the way that we fulfill verse 2 of our text is like this. And trust me, we have

00:53:01.400 lots of opportunities to fulfill it. We will continue. We have seen this. We will continue

00:53:06.220 to see this. And it's a wonderful thing. We will continue to see people come to our country

00:53:11.440 and come to this city in Texas from far off places.

00:53:18.080 Because as much tyranny as we have here, it's worse in other places. 0.99

00:53:23.200 And anybody who comes here, whether it be from New Zealand,

00:53:28.640 whether it be from Uganda, whether it be from Canada, wherever it may be,

00:53:33.960 anybody who comes here seeking a better place, a better refuge for their children,

00:53:40.300 and they come here as a brother, a Christian.

00:53:44.380 That's the very person that verse 2 of our text is saying

00:53:47.420 we should exercise hospitality towards.

00:53:50.560 It's not saying, hey, brotherly love, love Christians.

00:53:54.520 Oh, by the way, immediate contradiction, love strangers,

00:53:58.440 a.k.a. strangers to God, people who are not Christians.

00:54:01.340 No.

00:54:02.460 Brotherly love, not universal love, brotherly love,

00:54:05.640 prioritize in love the household of faith

00:54:08.500 and don't neglect in love,

00:54:13.320 showing hospitality to those

00:54:14.700 who are in the household of faith,

00:54:16.340 but from another place.

00:54:18.980 That's the stranger.

00:54:20.340 Okay, there we go.

00:54:21.280 Verse one and two and three.

00:54:23.520 Lord willing, we'll finish it next Lord's Day.

00:54:26.160 Let's pray.

00:54:26.820 Father God, we thank you for your word.

00:54:28.300 We pray that you would bless it to your people

00:54:29.740 and that as we seek to believe your word

00:54:32.620 and obey your word,

00:54:33.740 that you might be glorified in all the earth.

00:54:35.620 We praise these things in Jesus' name.

00:54:37.760 Amen.

00:54:38.000 And can I be frank with you for just a second, right here at the end?

00:54:41.740 Look, some of you guys, you're financially supporting this ministry, and from the bottom

00:54:45.940 of my heart, I say thank you.

00:54:48.200 I cannot thank you enough.

00:54:50.780 However, some of you, you just, you can't afford it.

00:54:54.500 In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it.

00:54:57.580 Let's be honest. 0.91

00:54:58.900 I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. 0.78

00:55:02.400 Our nation and our totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID.

00:55:12.120 We have written checks that we simply cannot cash.

00:55:16.100 It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession.

00:55:20.040 We are living in a recession right now regardless.

00:55:24.360 Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store.

00:55:28.920 You cannot support financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could still

00:55:36.080 help us tremendously. I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your

00:55:43.140 time. Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever that

00:55:50.340 might be. This is the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers.

00:55:57.200 We need to be strategic.

00:55:59.460 You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people.

00:56:04.440 And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of

00:56:11.180 life gets out there.

00:56:13.260 Help us get it out there.

00:56:14.980 Thanks for tuning in.

The NXR Podcast - February 12, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Big Eva Exploits The Faithful To “Empathize” With The Faithless ｜ Hebrews 13_1-3

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