The NXR Podcast - February 12, 2023


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


Episode Stats


Length

56 minutes

Words per minute

151.31

Word count

8,513

Sentence count

592

Harmful content

Misogyny

13

sentences flagged

Toxicity

18

sentences flagged

Hate speech

62

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode, Pastor Ken teaches on the concept of adoption and how it relates to the Bible's teaching on the doctrine of the "adoption of children" by God's own children. God bless!

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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.