F4F | Francis Chan Narcissism Catechism

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough, I am your servant in Jesus Christ, and this is the program, the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the

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Word of God. Now I got a weird question for you. Have you ever attended a church and felt like your normal life, you know, of being a mom or a dad or a husband or a wife or an employee, that that somehow wasn't enough, that what was expected of you was to change the world, and you felt like you weren't measuring up because your life was so common, so ordinary?

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Well if that's you, go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below, don't forget to like the video, ring the bell.

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The reason why you felt that way is because this is a common twisting of Scripture that takes place that creates feelings of anxiety within a person, within a

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Christian, and feelings of inadequacy that if you're not out jetting around the world, changing the world, that somehow you're not being a good

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Christian. So what we're going to do today, we are going to, in fact let me open this up, and we're going to be listening to Francis Chan.

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Francis Chan, in fact let me back this up so that we're near the beginning here. We're going to be listening to Francis Chan.

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He recently put out a video as a message to the church in Hong Kong, and what he says here is not unique to Francis Chan, but we're going to name this

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Francis Chan's Narcissism Catechism. This is a catechism into a narcissistic understanding of Christian sanctification and the good works that we are called to in Christ.

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And we're going to open up the biblical text today, and we're going to compare what Francis Chan is saying.

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Again, this is not unique to him, so this is not like, you know, oh this is some unique Chan doctrine, no, this is very rampant in seeker -driven, purpose -driven churches, and in the past, if you've listened to my podcast,

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I've referred to this as a catechism that teaches you how to basically become the

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Ubermensch, yeah, the Superman. And that's not what we're called to in Christ. And you're going to be surprised to know that the good works that you are doing as a husband, as a wife, as a father, as a mother, as a son or daughter, or as an employee or an employer, that these are all the good works that we are called to do in Christ, and you are not called to change the world.

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You're not. Neither am I. You know, you can just get that off the table right now, and you're not super -de -duper special, and neither am

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I. Yeah, how does Paul put it, you know, one plants, another waters, it's

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God who gives the increase, so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. Yeah, so, you know, if you think you're something, you're kind of missing the whole point of what

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Christian sanctification is all about. And the idea then is that we have gifts that we've been given by God the

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Holy Spirit to edify and to build up the church and to serve one another, and you'd be surprised, you can do this in any vocation.

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You could be the President of the United States, you could be, you know, a dog catcher in a local small town, and these are all good works before God.

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You'll see that before this is all finished. So what we're going to do, we'll let Francis Chan spin out his teaching, and I'll go back to the beginning so you can see the context.

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This is a special message to the Hong Kong church, and yeah, you'll know it's got sappy music throughout.

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In fact, this reminds me of the old Rob Bell NUMA videos, except for it's not as well -produced is the best way to put it.

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But this is a dangerous doctrine, deadly doctrine, and it's going to destroy, you buy into this, it's going to destroy your understanding of what good works are and turn you into kind of a narcissistic tyrant who, for lack of a better way of putting it, you know, you've become a holy crusader to go and change the world, and you teach other people to be unsatisfied with the actual good works we're called to do in Christ.

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So yeah, keep that in mind. So let's take a listen to Francis Chan and his message to the

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Hong Kong churches. Here we go. So when

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I was in my early 30s, it was like the busiest season of my life. You know, thousands of people coming to the church,

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I had a few kids, and my life was just busy, and I just felt like, ah, but everything in me wants to get away and be with God.

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All right, so already this is a bad setup, and here's the reason why, is because he's viewing his vocational work, and vocation as husband, vocation as father, as getting in the way, getting in the way of his intimacy with Christ.

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What? That's weird. That ain't biblical, and we'll explain that along the way.

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It's like, yeah, this is like really bizarre, and here's the thing, I made the point, and I'll keep making this point.

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This is not a teaching unique to Francis Chan, and this is rampant within evangelicalism.

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If you're not changing the world, then you're just not doing what Christ told you to do, and nothing could be further from the truth.

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Let's keep going. Because I've never been on a trip where it's just me and Jesus. Me either.

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Every time I invite Jesus to coffee at Starbucks, he never shows up. So I went out into the woods for four days.

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And Jesus went, so you went on a camping trip with Jesus? You'll note that this story, you know, it sets the basis.

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He went on a four -day trip out in the woods, and it's just him and Jesus, man. And this shows you, oh wow, he's holy.

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He glows in the dark. He had a super -de -duper great experience with Jesus. But the problem is, the theology he's teaching here runs the exact opposite.

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180 degrees in the opposite direction of what Scripture says regarding our good works.

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I was alone with him. I didn't talk to another human being. I didn't see another human being. It was just me and God talking and reading his word.

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And I'm telling you, it changed my life. Have you spent a four -day camping trip with Jesus out in the woods?

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It'll change your life. You see already, this is, people should be pushing back on this, going, wait a second, something's wrong here.

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It really did. And I got to this passage in Jeremiah chapter 1, the first day my

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Bible just kind of opened up to Jeremiah. Oh wow, it just opened up. I mean, see, it was a coinkydink.

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And that coinkydink, you know, that's got to be God, right? Because it just, by accident, all by itself, opened up to Jeremiah 1.

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Notice the narrative that he's saying is designed to create the, this is direct revelation from God.

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He's had intimate time with Jesus. This guy, I mean, he's giving us a message we can't just get by reading our

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Bible. And when I got to verse 5, I was just blown away by it because it says some things that I had never heard before.

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How long you been reading your Bible? Where God looks at Jeremiah and said, before I created you,

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I knew you. Man, I remember the first time I read that, I'm like, wait, before he made me, he knew me?

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Yeah, by the way, that's true of all of us. And in this particular case,

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Jeremiah 1 is the commissioning of the prophet Jeremiah. One of the biblical authors, he wrote an entire book called

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Jeremiah. Yeah, I ain't Jeremiah, neither are you. So, that being the case,

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Ephesians 2 .10 says that every Christian is created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

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God prepared beforehand, that we should walk or conduct our lives in them. So, before we get any farther, let's do the biblical work now, because this is going to help us out as we listen to this, because something's way off already, and you may not detect it yet.

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So, let's take a look at the real thing, shall we? And we'll do a little bit of good teaching here to kind of flesh this out.

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So, in Ephesians 2 .1 -10, this is a primer on Christianity in this text, and one that we would do well to pay attention to, due to this fact that this is like Christianity in a nutshell, if you would, you know, the basics of Christianity.

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In 10 verses, you kind of get from falling to sin, to God making you alive in Christ, to it being by grace through faith and not by works, and then talking about where our good works fit, then, in a faith where we are saved not by our works, but saved by grace through faith, and saved because of the work of Christ.

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Where do good works fit into there? And I'll say that Christians have had challenges over the millennia of rightly understanding how good works come into play in the

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Christian faith, and what they are. But the thing is that the Bible defines them very well, and we do ourselves violence when we depart from the clear teachings of Scripture regarding what are good works.

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So, let's take a look at this, Ephesians 2 .1 -10. And you, you Christians in the city of Ephesus, you were dead.

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This is the state of all people before they are brought, made alive in Christ. You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, that's a reference to the devil, the spirit that is now at work, and sons of disobedience, among whom we all, every one of us, once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

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Lovely, isn't it? It is a completely unflattering description of all human beings, and if you don't see this about yourself, you're not ready to hear the gospel yet.

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If you don't really understand that because of your sin, you are part of the problem, that you are by nature children of wrath like all of mankind, yeah, you're not ready to hear the good news about Christ bleeding and dying for your sins, and God making you alive in Christ.

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But I digress, this was written to Christians, so you'll note then verse 4 is where the turn begins with the word but, and you'll note then also that the word

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God, theos, is in the nominative, which means that it is the subject of the verbs that follow.

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So let me make this just a little bit smaller, although I don't really like doing that. Alright, make this a little bit smaller, but God, He's the one running the verbs, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which

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He loved us. I love these passages that focus us back on the love of God that He has for sinners like you and like me.

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So because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, so here's your first verb, made us alive together with, that's the verb, and God's running that verb, so God made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and here's the next verb, and God raised us up with Him, and then the next verb, and God seated us up with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

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So who made us alive together with Christ? God did. Who raised us up with Christ?

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God did. Who seated us with Christ in heavenly places? God did. God did all of this. You didn't do it.

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God did this. He did this to you, for you, alright? If you're a Christian and you believe in Christ and you've been regenerated, this is what

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God has done to you, for you, alright? So God raised us with Christ, seated us with Christ, He made us alive together with Christ, so that in the coming ages,

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I like the fact that Ionean here is in the plural, into the ages.

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Plural? Ages? Okay, alright. There's still a lot coming. Stay tuned. So that in the coming ages,

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He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness, kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

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And then here's a text that we should all be familiar with, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

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This is not your own doing. It's the gift of God. So the salvation that we as Christians have, it's a gift given to us.

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It's not something you earned. It's not something you keep by earning. It's totally given as a gift.

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So by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It didn't come from you. It's the gift of God. It is not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

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For we are God's workmanship. That's the he there, you know, for we are His workmanship, we're

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God's workmanship. And we are created in Christ Jesus, and here's what we're created in for.

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For good works. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So you can make a connection with Jeremiah chapter 1 and Ephesians 2 .10.

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You can, but you have to be careful that you don't do it narcissistically. So the idea then is, what's a good work?

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If we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, it would be good to know what a good work is.

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And this is where scripture doesn't leave this to our imagination. Scripture so clearly tells us what good works are.

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So pay attention then. Same book, Ephesians 5, Ephesians 5.

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So we were just in Ephesians 2 .1 -10, Ephesians 5, same book. Says this.

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So therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. So it's a good work to imitate God. Walk in what?

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Love. You see, Christ loved us. And how does it say in 1

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John, beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows

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God. He who does not love does not know God. For God is love.

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You can't say you're a Christian and hate your neighbor. It doesn't make any sense. So be imitators of God as beloved children.

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Walk, conduct your life. So here the Greek word peripateo, that's our

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Greek word here, actually it's a Hebraism that's been pulled over into the Greek language from the

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Hebrew word halakh, which means again walk. But the way it's used in this context, it's how you conduct your life, how you live out day to day.

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So conduct yourself, your day to day life, in love. As Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.

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And then you'll note then there's a call to, through the Spirit, put to death the passions of our sinful flesh, and so to walk in holiness, right, according to the commandments.

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But sexual immorality, all impurity and covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints.

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Let there be no filthiness, no foolish talk, no crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

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For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of God, of Christ and God.

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And you sit there and go, well wait a second, I've committed sins that are in that list. Repent, be forgiven,

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Christ died for these. So the idea here is that Christians repent of them and call upon God the

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Holy Spirit to give us the strength to not walk in them. That's the idea. So let no one deceive you then with empty words.

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You see, because of these things, because of the things that he's talked about here, you know, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, therefore do not become partners with them.

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For at one time you were darkness, but now you're light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.

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By the way, this is a good work, walk as children of the light. So you'll note then that daily repentance, daily calling upon God to walk in obedience to his word and his commandments is how we do this.

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Walk as children of the light. For the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

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And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but watch this, instead expose them.

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Yeah, this is one of the reasons why fighting for the faith exists, for the purpose of exposing the unfruitful works of darkness and the false teachings that are prevalent in the church.

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For it's shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret, but anything that is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.

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And anything that becomes visible is light, therefore it says, awake, oh sleeper, rise from the dead.

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Christ will shine on you. So look carefully then how you, and there's that word again, walk, it's how you conduct your life.

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Look carefully how you are conducting your life, not as wise, but as unwise.

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And see, this is where you sit there and go, oh, wisdom, isn't the Proverbs about wisdom?

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Right, exactly. You want to know what kind of like advanced Christianity looks like, walking in wisdom?

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Read the Proverbs. Read the Proverbs. And the nice thing is it's conveniently chopped up into 31 chapters, read one a day.

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And continue reading it. It shows us what a good work is, what it means to walk in wisdom.

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Making the best use of the time because the days are evil, therefore do not be foolish.

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Understand what the will of the Lord is. And you say, well, how do I know? It's in the Bible. You don't have to discern it by water witching or throwing dice or anything like that.

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Having your Bible open up to a random passage, no, it's written for you. You don't have to guess. And do not get drunk with wine.

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That is debauchery. Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

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Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. And then watch this, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

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Submitting to one another. Rather than lording yourself over other people, submit yourselves to others. And then here comes the list that basically lays out.

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If you're wondering where we practice our good works, well, we'll put them into the offices of the vocations that we find ourselves in.

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And you're going to note, this is just common, ordinary stuff. You don't have to go out and change the world. This is where we do our good works.

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Ready? Here we go. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its

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Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, wives should submit to everything to their husbands.

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Now this is not saying that all the husbands now get to be tyrants and rule their wives with an iron fist, because you're going to note what comes next.

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What scripture says to husbands, a lot bigger, a lot longer, more important even than what we just heard about for wives.

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Husbands, are you ready? Love your wives. And there is an anchor to this. This isn't some vague concept of love.

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This is a love anchored in the death and resurrection of Christ. So husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

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How did he do that? Sacrificially, on the cross, bleeding and dying for his bride.

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So the idea here is that marriage itself is a type and shadow of Christ's relationship to his bride, the church.

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So husbands, you want to know what it's like to be a good husband? You look at Jesus hanging dead on the cross for his bride.

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You want to know what real masculinity looks like? That's what it looks like. And women will tell you very readily, you love me that way?

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I have no problem submitting to you. That's the idea. So husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water and the word.

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That's a reference to baptism, by the way. So that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

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Notice Christ is the one who washes up his bride, cleans her up, and dresses her. It's beautiful. So in the same way then, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

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He who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body.

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Therefore, man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

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Now this mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

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So Good Works 101, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

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Wives, submit and respect your husbands. It's kind of that simple. You say, those are our good works.

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Well, that's part of it. Next part, children, obey your parents. You remember the commandment, honor your father and mother.

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That gets invoked here. Obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother.

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This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

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Fathers, don't provoke your children to anger. You'll note the parents have a responsibility also along these lines, but bring them up in the discipline and in the instruction of the

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Lord, and the true discipline and instruction of the Lord is not going to provoke or anger your children.

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Keep that in mind. So how do you do your good works? You do your good works as a good husband, as a good wife, as a good child, as a good parent.

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That means that, get this, helping your children with their homework, that's a good work in God's book.

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Yeah, husbands emptying the dishwasher, that's a good work.

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Wives cooking a great meal, that's a good work. Children taking out the trash, that's a good work.

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Staying up with a sick child all night while they're throwing up and making sure, guarding them, watching over them, making sure they don't burn up.

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Being there with a bucket when they're ready to throw up again, that's a good work.

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You see, these are the good works that we're called to do, and they are pleasing in God's sight because scripture says so.

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Changing diapers, good work. Burping your baby after you fed your baby, good work.

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Bathing your baby, good work. You see, you don't have to go to the ends of the earth to do your good works.

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You're already doing them, and they are pleasing to Christ. Why? How do you know?

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Because it says so right here. These are the good works we're called to. This is how we conduct ourselves, right? So it goes on then, and watch this one because I'm going to come back to this concept in a little bit.

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Bond service. Now the Greek word here is douloi. That means slaves. So you'll note that when

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Paul wrote this, slavery was a thing. Slavery was a thing of the ancient Roman world, and he says, under the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit, that somebody who doesn't even own themselves, they are a bond servant owned by another human being that they can do good works to.

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Here's what it says. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling with a sincere heart as you would

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Christ. So if you find yourself, you've been captured and sold into slavery in the

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Sudan, you're never going to see your family again, don't despair. Obey your earthly master as you would

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Christ, and it's a good work. You don't have to change the world. You don't even have to free yourself.

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You can do your good works as a slave. It says so right here. So with a sincere heart as you would

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Christ, not by the way of eye service as a people pleaser, but as a bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the

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Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the

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Lord. And there's, here's the thing, I kept telling you, these are good works, so watch what verse eight says.

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Whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord. The Lord will reward all your good works as husband, wife, father, mother, child, slave, employee, employer, you get the idea.

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Whatever any good that anyone does, the Lord, you're going to receive back from the

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Lord. So whether he's a bond servant or a free, so masters then do the same thing to them and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with God.

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So there's your primer on good works. And we'll just throw in a couple other passages to kind of flesh this out a little bit more.

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You'll know our good works are done in the mundane. Our good works are done in the ordinary. So here's the thing, are you one of these people you sit there and go, you know,

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I never went to college and, you know, and I'm never going to be a doctor or a lawyer.

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You should be thanking God for that, by the way. And all I can do, man, is work over in the food department over at Walmart.

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This is a good work. It's as good a work in God's sight as any good work that any attorney or doctor or scientist has ever done.

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There's no partiality with God, none, none whatsoever. So you don't have to knock yourself out and think, oh man,

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I gotta, I gotta go back to college. I know I'm 60 years old, but I got to go back to college and I've got to get a

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PhD so that I can change the world. By the time you're 60, you've been doing good works all of your life.

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And whatever good you've done, Christ will, you'll receive back from Christ. Titus says this, as for you,

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Pastor Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self -controlled, sound in the faith, in love and in steadfastness.

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Older women, likewise, be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

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They're to teach what is good. Notice what, here we got, we got women teaching, teaching.

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Now they aren't pastors, but they are teaching. And who are they teaching? They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and their children, to be self -controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

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Okay, let's take a look at, all right. Another text regarding slaves, 1

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Timothy 6, let all who are under a yoke of slavery and as bond servants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

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Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers, rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.

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So you can do your good works even as a slave. So all of that being said, you've seen now from the biblical text, what are good works?

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We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, where do we do them? Well we do them in our everyday lives.

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So you know, if you've never heard this, then I want you to just take confidence in what these texts say, and know this, you don't have to leave your family and jet across the world to go change the world.

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You're already doing the very good works that Scripture says Christ will reward, all right, in your daily job.

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Yeah, you sit there and go, well I commute, you know, an hour a day over to the office. Yeah, and you work nine to five, and yeah, and I pay the bills and all this, and put my kids through college, and pay for braces and sports, and yeah, those are all good works.

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You're already doing fantastic works that Christ is going to reward. All of that being said, now that you know what

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Scripture says, as we listen to Francis Chan, you should be able to detect just how off the rails what he's saying is, and actually kind of blasphemous, and puts a super heavy burden on people.

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Are you changing the world? Well, if not, well, don't you understand? You were made for such a time as this.

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This is a heavy load. This is, like I said, a catechism in the narcissism. Let's keep going here.

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And then he says to Jeremiah, before you came out of your mother's womb, I consecrated you, and I determined that you would be a prophet.

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Yeah, just like all of us are created in Christ Jesus for good works. And again, like I said, the question then is, what's a good work?

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To the nations, I appointed you a prophet before you came out of your mother's womb. The reason why that's such a big deal is,

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I started thinking, God, is this true of me? Did you seriously know that you were going to make me, and that you have things for me to do?

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Like, he made Jeremiah. You'll note that it's true -ish, yeah,

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God made us, right, yeah, did you make me? Am I the next Jeremiah?

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That's kind of the point that he's making here. You're the next Jeremiah. You're the next Esther. That's not a proper biblical way of understanding good works.

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Because he knew there were things that needed to be done on the earth that he was going to need in 30, 40, 50 years.

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So I'm going to make this person for that task. It's like in Ephesians 2. Make a person for a specific task?

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Again, the good works that are listed for us in scripture? This is stuff that's been going on in everyday, ordinary life for millennia.

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What are you talking about? When he says we are his workmanship, and we're created in Christ Jesus for good works.

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Right, I just walked through those passages and then showed in Ephesians 5 how it defines,

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Ephesians 5 and 6 defines what a good work. Which he determined beforehand that we should walk in them.

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I remember when I first got that, I'm going, no way. So God, you knew what you were doing when you made me?

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can always say of God, he knows what he's doing.

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And you knew that there were things on the earth that needed to get done, and that's why you made me?

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You knew there were things on the earth that needed to get done? Yeah, now there's a crack here in his theology.

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And you'll note that none of the passages, he hasn't read them out. We haven't heard them in context.

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They're out of context. And they're being woven into this narrative about what we're supposed to be doing that doesn't actually fit what we just read from Scripture as to what a good work is.

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And you made me for those things? This is such an important truth for us right now.

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That means that God knew that you and I would be in Hong Kong right now, during the time of the protest, during the time of the pandemic.

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Yeah, well, in my case, I'm in North Dakota. Yeah, we had a small protest here a month or two ago.

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What are you getting at here? And he says, there's something you're supposed to do. There's something

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I'm supposed to do. I better figure this out. And you'll note here, the vagaries about what he's talking about, make it so you say, oh,

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I'm super important. I'm Jeremiah. You know, I'm just as important, Jeremiah. And there's something I'm supposed to do.

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I have a special mission to accomplish. I mean, God caused me to live in North Dakota during the time of protests and the pandemic.

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So, oh, I'm important. I made you for this time.

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Do you believe that about yourself? That's not the point of Ephesians 2 .10

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or Jeremiah 1. I'm telling you, I started to forget these truths. I started listening to what other people say about me and what

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I think about myself rather than what God says in his word about me.

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God's word says Christians are forgiven sinners, created in Christ Jesus for good works and then explains how and where those good works occur.

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That I'm not destined to this average life. And there it is.

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You're not destined for an average life. Well, that's weird because Ephesians 5 and 6 make it clear that our good works are done where?

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You know, in average life. Yeah, let me come back to the point that I made earlier and I said

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I would get back to. Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

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And then, you know, we saw then also, you know, that it said this in Ephesians 6, slaves obey your earthly masters.

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Well, I don't think you can have a life that is more average. It doesn't get any more average than being a slave.

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Pretty much as ordinary as you get, you don't even have decision -making power over your own life.

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And you'll note then that what we're hearing from Francis Chan could not be said to a slave at the time that the

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Apostle Paul wrote Ephesians. Because of that, we can see that this is totally false.

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And here's the thing, you've probably attended a church where you were taught these things and you remember the anxiety that it created, the stress and feeling, and not only that, the disdain it creates within you for an average life.

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I'm not destined to this average life, Francis Chan says, yet scripture says our good works that Christ rewards are done in an average life.

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Let me back that up, because this is, wow, wow, this is bad.

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What I think about myself, rather than what God says in his word about me, that I'm not destined to this average life, and just kind of survive this time, just get through.

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He goes, no, I made you for... Yeah, scripture says that contentment with godliness is a good thing.

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Something so special. God says he made me for something so special.

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What? Where does it say that? It says that my good works are done in my vocations.

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Husband, wife, father, mother, child, employer, employee, slave, free, you get the point.

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Where are you getting this? Because it doesn't say that in Jeremiah, and it doesn't say this in Ephesians 2 10.

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Back this up. Average life, and just kind of survive this time, just get through.

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He goes, no, I made you for something so special. It's like when

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Moses was like, whoa, but I don't speak well. I'm not Moses either. I am not called to lead the captives out of Egypt.

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Neither are you. And God says, who made your mouth? I made your mouth.

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You think I messed up when I made your mouth? We can all look at ourselves and think about all the things we can't do well.

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And God says, no. Why is it that every time I hear Francis Chan, I feel like I need to pack my bags because I'm going on a guilt trip.

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Even the tone in which he delivers these things, I feel like it's a scolding of some kind.

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Like my mom is scolding me. Back this up. I made your mouth.

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You think I messed up when I made your mouth? We can all look at ourselves and think about all the things we can't do well.

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And God says, no, I put you here at this time. I am created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

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God prepared in advance for me to do. And then look at chapters five and six if you're unclear as to what those are.

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Man, sometimes we have like this disconnect where we read the Bible and we go, oh, isn't the story of Esther so awesome or she just goes,

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I think I was made for such a time as this. We go. I'm not

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Esther. Neither are you. What is this? Yeah.

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It's narcissism. Sure. But then we don't believe it about ourselves. We don't believe.

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Wait, I was made for this time. Guys, we have to believe these things. Jesus did not die on the cross so that you and I could live ordinary lives.

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Then why are all the good works that Christ rewards done in an ordinary life?

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This is nuts. You see, Jesus, I mean, you know, there's God in human flesh bleeding and dying for you on the cross.

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And it's all because he's going to call you to do something super duper special. And he didn't die for you to have an ordinary life.

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Then why are slaves told to obey their masters? And it says that Christ will reward them as these are good works.

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That's as ordinary as they get. He died so that my soul could be cleansed, so that my body could become completely clean so that his

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Holy Spirit would enter into me. This is going in a weird direction.

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And just like I wouldn't dare ever refer to Jesus as just an ordinary guy.

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None of us would. Are you kidding me? He was a man and somehow he was

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God all at once. You can't call him ordinary, but don't you understand?

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That's what he's saying about us now. I am not

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God in human flesh. Neither are you.

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Being indwelled by the Holy Spirit is not a concept that is synonymous with the incarnation of the

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Son of God. This is this is a version of the little

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God's doctrine here. Wow. I'm backing this blasphemy up.

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Somehow he was God all at once. You can't call him ordinary, but don't you understand?

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That's what he's saying about us now. Like right now you're looking at a person who is not just a person.

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What are you exactly then? Somehow God is in me and there's a sense in which

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I am like God and man all at once. You were made for such a time as this,

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Francis, man. You're going to go do something special in Hong Kong. I can clearly see it.

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This is blasphemy. This kind of harkens back to the Garden of Eden, the temptation of the serpent telling the woman, when you eat of this, you're going to be like God.

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This is not Christian sanctification. This is not a proper understanding of good works.

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Like I said, this is a catechism into narcissism. And borders on, if not crosses the border into this concept that you're a little deity.

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This is a mess. His spirit dwells inside of me.

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Yeah, it does. And that's not synonymous with the incarnation, like not even close. It makes no sense then if my life resembles a person who does not have the

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Holy Spirit in them. Define that, because Ephesians 5 talks about holiness and being imitators of God.

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What are you talking about? Look at your life now. Is it ordinary?

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All right, so there's Joe Pagan. Joe Pagan has an ordinary nine to five job working in a cubicle over at one of the

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Fortune 500 companies downtown. And he punches in on time, takes his lunch breaks, and is meticulous in making sure that he doesn't go overtime on his lunch breaks.

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He works all throughout the day properly, doesn't steal from his employer. He clocks out at the right time, commutes back home.

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He pays his bills, sends his kids to the dentist, makes sure the hospital bills and the doctor bills are paid, makes sure that his wife and family have food, that they have clothing, that they have a roof over their head, that they have heating in the winter, that they have air conditioning in the summer, that they have toys at Christmas, and all this kind of stuff.

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And his life parallels his next -door neighbor who is a Christian and is doing the same things.

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Both of them are living very ordinary lives. And according to Francis Chan, yeah, you've got a problem there.

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You can't do that as a Christian. This is nonsense. Ephesians 5 and 6 prove that what this doctrine is, it ain't biblical.

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I'm thinking it's satanic. You guys, we have to be careful of this because in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38, it says, my righteous one shall live by faith.

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Yeah, what does that mean? By faith that I'm going to go do something super -de -duper to change the world?

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That's not what Hebrews 10 is saying. And listen to this, if he shrinks back...

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Shrinks back from what? My soul has no pleasure in him.

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All right, let's do a little fact -checking on this. Hebrews 10, right? Okay, so Hebrews 10 is one of those passages that tells us about what

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Christ has done for us and that we are not saved by keeping the Mosaic Covenant.

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The Mosaic Covenant is a type and shadow. And so in this portion of Hebrews, you have a reference back to the sacrifices of the

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Old Testament. You have a reference back to Melchizedek, you know, from the book of Genesis.

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This is all important stuff. So Hebrews 10, we'll just do context, context, context. Take a look at what this is saying.

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See if it's saying if you're living an ordinary life, well, that means you're not living by faith and you're shrinking back and Christ is not having any pleasure in you.

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Is that what Hebrews 10, 38 is saying? For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.

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By the way, Hebrews 10, 1 is one of the governing texts that helps us understand the Old Testament types and shadows.

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The reality is found in Christ. It can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

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Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers have once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sin.

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But in these sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.

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So you note the sacrifices of the Old Covenant never took them away. They were always pointing to the sacrifice of Christ.

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They were the types and the shadows pointing to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Verse 5, so consequently when

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Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired but a body you have prepared for me

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In burnt offerings and in sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will,

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O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. And when he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings.

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These are offered according to the Torah. Then added, behold, I have come to do your will.

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He does away with the first in order to establish the second. Christ has done away with the

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Mosaic Covenant because he's fulfilled it. And now he's established the second covenant, the new covenant.

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And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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Okay, so you'll note we've been forgiven, our sins have been washed away, and all of this has been done by Christ in the once for all sacrifice that he did for us on the cross.

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And whoever the divine author here is of Hebrews goes on to say, so every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

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They never did. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

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For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the

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Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days declares

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Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds. And then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

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Boy, that's a great promise, by the way, because of the sacrifice of Christ, God doesn't remember any of your lawless deeds, not a single one.

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So where there is forgiveness of these, there's no longer any offering for sin. You don't need one.

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So therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.

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All right, so here confidence is mentioned. We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh.

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And since we have a great priest over the house of God, that's what Christ is, let us then draw near, draw near to God with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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So let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

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So let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.

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For if we go on sinning deliberately as pursuing sin and turn the gospel into a license to sin, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer, no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

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Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy and the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who is trampled underfoot, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace?

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For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people.

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It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with suffering, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

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For you have had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

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So note here, the divine author of Hebrews is reminding the people here of the sufferings they endured and the reproach that they suffered as Christians, even losing their own possessions, right?

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Why? Because they knew that they had a heavenly kingdom that they would be a part of, the reward that is in Christ when he returns.

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So therefore, don't throw away your confidence. Your confidence in whom? Christ. What? For what? The forgiveness of your sins.

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Don't throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.

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And this is a call for all Christians, to patience and endurance, in the face of suffering and persecution and reproach and slander, and all the things that go along with being a

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Christian, for yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith.

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How does a Christian survive? By faith, right? And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

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And you would shrink back because you don't trust you have confidence in the sacrifice of Christ. That's what 38 is referring to.

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But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

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So you'll note, this is not talking about shrinking back because you're going back to an ordinary life.

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It's shrinking back in fear of God's judgment, rather than having confidence that you have been sprinkled clean by the blood of Christ, that all your sins are forgiven, and that you have a right standing before Him because of what

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He has done for you and given to you. So, all right. Yeah, well,

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Francis Chan is twisting up God's Word horribly. This is blasphemy now.

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We're into the blasphemy zone, and like way into it. We're not on the line, you know.

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We're deep into blasphemy territory at this point. So let me back this up. Live by faith.

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And listen to this. If He shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in Him.

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Oh, I hate that phrase. It's not talking about living an ordinary life.

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It says, if He shrinks back. Yeah, in fear of God's judgment, rather than confidence in the forgiveness of sins because of Christ.

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My soul has no pleasure in Him. God, that is the last thing

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I would want. So don't live an ordinary life, because God's going to throw you into hell,

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I guess. Guys, it makes me think about the twelve spies in Exodus.

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Yeah, twelve spies went to spy on Canaan. Ten were bad and two were good. What did they see when they spied on Canaan?

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Ten were bad and two were good. Some saw giants big and tall. Some saw grapes in clusters full.

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Some saw God rule over all. Ten were bad and two were good. The ten who were bad, by the way, they had no faith in God.

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Remember how they're sent into the promised land? The promised land where God says,

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I promise you this is your inheritance. And you got Joshua and Caleb. They come back and go, man, the place was amazing.

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But then the other ten spies, they said, there's no way. There is no way we can pull this off.

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Think about it. These guys were huge and there were so many of them. We're not just going to walk in and take over their land.

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See, they started reasoning. They started using their own logic and going, wow, look at them. Look at us.

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This isn't going to work. They didn't trust God and the promises that he would give them that land.

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And remember, God gets furious with them. It's weird that you don't read texts.

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Strange. And he says, every one of you are going to die in the wilderness now.

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Because you didn't believe my word. I told you with me. And what does this have to do with not living an ordinary life?

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You could do this and you didn't believe me. So all of you will die except Joshua and Caleb.

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They're going to the promised land with me. Man, I read that story and I just look at my life.

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I go, God, I don't want to be one that trusts my own logic over what you have said in your word.

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I want to believe this. Man, remember what Jesus promised. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

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Jesus promised. He says, I'm going to build my church. That's right, and he's doing it. And the gates of hell won't stand against us.

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Indeed. He promised that one day he would build a church that was so united where their love was going to be off the charts like what no one had ever seen and that they would do these miracles, these supernatural things.

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Has he gone full NAR at this point? Is that what's going on here?

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Man, and that's exactly what happened. You read about the church in Acts 2 and Acts 4 and it talks about how they were of one mind, one heart, one spirit.

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He goes, all the people. Man, they didn't consider not a single one of them considered their own possessions their own.

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Like, this is mine. This is mine. No, they go. No, they whatever. Whoever had a need, they would take care of it.

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And it says there was not a single needy person among them because whenever someone needed something, someone would sell and give it to them.

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Again, what does this have to do with not living an ordinary life? And they walked around with this fearlessness, this boldness.

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And it says that miracles began to happen in everyone. Everyone was feeling a sense of awe.

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Now, many of us, we read that passage and go, man, I wish I could live in that church.

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We all do. If you're attending a church where the word of God is rightly taught, you're in the church.

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I believe that could happen today. And then there's others that go, well, that can't happen.

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That was just for that time. What can't happen? I don't even want to get into that right now.

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You're the one who brought it up. My concern is that there are people who don't want that to happen today.

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What? Honestly, do you really want to be a part of that kind of church?

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What kind? The reason I'm asking is because when you go to Acts 2, talking about the church and what that church was like, you know what that church did?

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Well, let's take a look at the back end of Acts chapter 2, shall we? Let's see here.

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Let me get there. All right. Let's see here. And let's see here.

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Here we go. Acts 242. New Christians. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

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Check. Fellowship. Check. Breaking of bread and the prayers. Check, check. All came over every soul.

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Yeah, so if you're attending a church that's devoted to the apostles' teaching, you know, preaching the scriptures, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayers, yeah, you're in the right spot.

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Where you are so intimately woven with others in your family, and you look at all your possessions and go,

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I could care less about this stuff. I care about you. I care about the mission. Because there's so many people who go, well,

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I really don't. Yeah, well, Christians are to look after their needs, the needs of their brothers and sisters if they're in financial duress, indeed.

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I really don't want to share my stuff with everyone. I kind of like having my own stuff. I like having privacy.

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And also in that early church, I read about suffering, and I am not going to suffer. Why is your

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Bible a prop rather than something you're actually teaching from? And there have been people like this all through the centuries that don't want to suffer for following Christ.

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They don't want the commitment that Christ calls them to. They really don't want to live like that first New Testament.

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Yeah, we're hearing a lot of law here, and it's poorly laid out because it's not in accord with actually what the law says in Scripture.

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And you know what we're not hearing? The gospel. The church is the people, not the building.

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It's a building for an hour a week. You sing three songs, you listen to a message, you go home and come back the next week.

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And many of us would read this book and go, that doesn't make any sense. That's not what

01:00:00

I see in here. But it was almost like, what do we do? We can't change these last few hundred years.

01:00:06

I mean, this is what people think of church now. You can't just tell people, hey, stop gathering and calling that church.

01:00:13

Instead of just going to a building for a week and calling it... Yeah, again, let's see here.

01:00:19

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. Check. Fellowship.

01:00:25

Check. Breaking of bread. That's the Lord's Supper. And the prayers. That's kind of what... So when the church gathers, that's the stuff they do.

01:00:31

And they do it in buildings. That's generally where it's done. Although it can be done in the catacombs, it can be done in someone's home.

01:00:39

You know, you get the idea here. But, you know, this is weird. No one's going to believe us.

01:00:45

How could we change things? I'm not called to change anything. And the church's mission is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

01:00:55

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And teaching all that Christ has commanded. And Luke's version of it is to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name to all nations.

01:01:06

I'm not called to change the world. I'm called to preach the gospel. And then the virus hit.

01:01:12

And then this time of isolation happened. And suddenly people are starting to think.

01:01:19

And we have a decision to make right now. We do? What decision is that?

01:01:26

Some are thinking, wow, this is even better. I can sit in my living room and watch it on screen.

01:01:32

So let's just reduce church even more. Now it's not even an hour in a building. Now I can just watch it on my computer.

01:01:40

And go further from what God says His church was meant to be. What exactly do you think

01:01:47

God's church is meant to be? You know, again, let's see here. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.

01:01:55

All right, got it. All right, yeah. Making disciples, baptizing, teaching. Yeah. Okay. But then there's others of us.

01:02:02

Man, I've talked to so many people, especially in Hong Kong, that are so sad about those who are dying with this pandemic.

01:02:10

But they're so excited about what's happening in the church. Because they're going, I think

01:02:16

God's taking us on a journey. I think that He's going to use this time so that we actually think through what does it mean to be the church?

01:02:30

I haven't yet heard you define the church. For real. And when this isolation period is done,

01:02:37

I don't want to just run back to Egypt. Are there a lot of people in Hong Kong who were in Egypt prior to the pandemic and they need to run back there?

01:02:47

What are you talking about? I don't want to go back to that controlled environment. I think

01:02:53

God's leading us to something new. Controlled environment? Are you leading the charge against the

01:03:02

Chinese government in Hong Kong? What are you doing? Man, it's like Christ wants to take us on this journey to new places, experience new things.

01:03:12

And others are like, well, I want to... He wants to take us on a journey to experience new things. Where'd you get that from the

01:03:18

Bible? Stay close to my neighborhood, though. Can I just, you know, keep it around here? Or Jesus, can't we just get a couple of treadmills in my house where I can turn on the air conditioning and there's no danger and we just run together and have a conversation for the rest of my life till I die?

01:03:32

Yeah, you'll note, this is weird. What he's talking about here, this is his idea. You don't want that ordinary life thing.

01:03:39

But again, our good works, according to Ephesians 5 and 6, are done in our ordinary lives.

01:03:45

Die? And God said, man, come with me. I'm taking the church somewhere.

01:03:54

So God said, come with me, I'm taking the church somewhere. Where did he say that? Man, we have this window of opportunity and I really believe that Hong Kong has an opportunity to be an example to the church and the rest of the world.

01:04:10

The reason why I say that is Hong Kong people should know, of all the people on the earth, that we as a church cannot, we don't even have the option of going back to the way it was.

01:04:30

What are you talking about? Because we're changing. And our future, in some ways, is set.

01:04:36

We just don't know how long we have. And we know the church has to change. We know there needs to be a more resilient form.

01:04:46

Yeah, maybe he's preparing them for the, you know, for suffering persecution at the hands of the government.

01:04:52

I don't know exactly where he's going with this, but I do know this. This was not a sound look at either defining the church, what our good works are, and this is the kind of stuff that creates narcissism, makes you think you're made for such a moment as this, and it's up to you to change the world.

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It's not! It's not your job to change the world.

01:05:16

So yeah, we've got some major issues here, but I think you kind of get the point, and you'll note that although that was a message specifically for the churches in Hong Kong, you've been in purpose -driven churches, secret -driven churches, you've heard that same rigmarole about how you can't live an ordinary life.

01:05:35

You've got to go do something special. You were made for such a time as this, and I've got to admit, the part where I was

01:05:42

God incarnate, whoa, that was just over -the -top blasphemous. But none of that is actually what the

01:05:49

Scriptures say regarding our good works and who we are in Christ. And so that message should be rejected.

01:05:58

And hopefully now, having seen it in this context, if you ever hear a pastor preach like this in your town or wherever, you can say, oh yeah, that's not good, and either correct him or walk away or both.

01:06:13

You kind of get the idea. So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is going to be down below in the description.

01:06:20

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01:06:31

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01:06:39

That's the easiest way to get ahold of me. And all of that information is down below.

01:06:44

So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ, and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.