Trump Shooting | What God wants us to see...

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Look, I wasn't going to say anything, okay, guys? I mean, just a day and a half ago, the former president was almost deceased.

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It's shocking, it's stunning. Like, what can we do as Christians other than just pray right now?

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Pray for the families, pray for our country. But as I thought about it, it kind of dawned on me, wait a second, do we really understand what's going on here?

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And because of that, do we know what we can do as believers right now? Let's get right into it.

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Welcome back to Wise Disciple. My name is Nate, and I'm a teacher, speaker, former pastor, former debate teacher.

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I'm here to help you become the effective Christian that you are meant to be, and it is in that spirit that I'm sitting with you today in this new space that Summit Ministries has graciously provided me as I spend my remaining few weeks with the students here in Georgia.

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Look, friends, we all saw the news, and it was just utterly horrifying and And you know, that's a little bit old, that chart.

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That chart's a couple of months old, and if you want to really see something that's said, take a look at what happened. It just grieves me to see this, you know?

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I remember when Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr., you know? I mean, I was very young when it happened, but I mean, we still had to learn about it later in school as I was growing up, too, you know?

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And you sit there, and you hear stuff like this, and you think, wow, like, what a different time.

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And yet, it's not different, though. JFK, RFK, right?

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Reagan, Trump. People are the same as they always were.

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People have not changed in thousands of years, and I am just deeply concerned about the nature of the discourse in our society right now.

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This should not be news to you, so if you've been listening or watching this channel for a while now, I've said these things on a number of occasions, okay?

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I've talked about why I've reduced the amount of debate reactions that I've put out, and it's because of my deep concern that I'm adding to this kind of adversarial balloon, so to speak, in our culture.

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And I'm really trying to be careful not to add to it. I'm trying to deflate the balloon as much as I can from my own vantage point.

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And I think the response is, this whole situation is just fascinating, and I'm sure we'll take a look at it.

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I mean, as I'm recording this video, news is dropping, some more news is dropping about the nature of the shooter, you know, this person's backstory, the

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RNC is just going live right now. There's a lot that's happening on the ground, and I'm sure that a narrative is going to start to unfold by the media.

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But man, pay attention, friends. Pay attention. You know, a lot of these things, the reactions that we're seeing to this event, it betrays the reality of the situation, particularly in what is in people's hearts.

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This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Take a look at some of the reactions from the mainstream media.

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This just goes to show you, first of all, like, how far the mainstream media has fallen.

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I think it also betrays the nature of, you know, the distrust that we have for mainstream media.

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But take a look at this. This is from New York Post. The media kept bias on full display after Trump assassination attempt.

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The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump that played out live on national television should have resulted in the kind of objective, unbiased coverage the country deserved at such a terrifying moment, you would think so.

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Some outlets, however, failed the test miserably. Look at CNN. CNN came out with this immediately.

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Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls. He just fell down, guys.

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Nothing more to see here. Associated Press. Donald Trump has been escorted off the stage during a rally after loud noises ring out in the crowd.

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Loud noises. Right? This was actually the one I wanted to show you.

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Where is it? It's from Forbes. Here it is. Look at this. Utterly amazing. Forbes put this out.

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Will surviving gunfire be Donald Trump's next appeal to Black voters? Imagine watching this tragedy play out, knowing that a former president almost became deceased, knowing that others in the audience were injured or are deceased, and you decide that that's the best headline to put out.

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How desensitized do people have to be in order to do such a thing like this?

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I mean, this, pay attention, ladies and gentlemen. This betrays where we are right now as a society.

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It's a very interesting sociological study to pay attention to. There were people in social media who are on the more famous side of things, and they reacted as well.

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I'm not even going to show you what some of these people, who clearly are not Trump supporters, what they said, because I'm not going to put that on screen at all, but a number of people wished that the bullet had been a few millimeters to the right.

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Again, I ask, how desensitized and sick do folks have to be in order to get to that point in our society?

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And here's what I don't want to do. I don't want to sit here on some high horse and wag fingers at other people, because in some sense, that feeds into the kind of tribalism that has been a huge part of the problem leading up to this shooting, you know?

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And like I said, I mean, if you've been watching this channel for five seconds, I've been repeating this over and over again.

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My concerns about the adversarialism, you know, the disputational nature of the way that we talk to each other in our country and in our society, as a matter of fact,

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I've fashioned a signature method of effectively communicating your Christian faith that sidesteps, like Neo and the

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Matrix, this entire adversarial posture, which, by the way, many of us in the church and out of the church think it's not really that big of a deal, guys, you know?

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What we say, how we say it, words don't really matter. Words aren't that big of a deal. It absolutely is a big deal, friends.

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It absolutely is. How do I know that? Because God says it is. Watch this.

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This is James chapter 3, verse 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.

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The tongue, which, by the way, the tongue is a stand -in for your words, the words that you choose.

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The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

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For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.

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It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our

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Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.

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My brothers, these things are not to be so. Somebody might be saying, well, you know, I get it,

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Nate, but I still don't see the big deal, right? It's just politics, right? This is just, this is the water in which we swim in 2024, right?

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It's just rhetoric. Our words don't really matter. It's freedom of speech. As long as we don't hurt anybody physically, we can say whatever we want, particularly if somebody else is a jerk.

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We should give them their own medicine, right? Have you heard this? So, I understand when it comes from people that are outside the church.

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I find it very difficult to hear this sentiment from people in the church.

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You want to know why? This is not Christian, ladies and gentlemen, at all. These kinds of sentiments that I just said are completely anti -Christian and anti -Jesus -owned teaching.

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The Lord does not consider your words to be a small deal. On the contrary, look at this, Proverbs 18, verse 21, death and life are in the power of the tongue.

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Death and life, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Now, let me say the same thing using different words. Ideas have consequences.

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If people constantly degrade and they treat each other like they are less than what they are, which are human beings made in the image of God, you know, even if they do reject their own

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Creator, then how long do you think it's going to take for actions to follow from words? Words matter to the

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Lord, ladies and gentlemen. Your words matter. Jesus said in Matthew 12, verse 36,

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I tell you on the Day of Judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

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Does that sound like God doesn't care about what you say? Ah, just words, you know, He's just trying to get re -elected, guys, you know?

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It doesn't matter. That's not God's attitude. We Christians are called to a higher purpose, friends, and that is to not only act like Christ when we do things in society, but also to act like Christ when we speak and we decide to use the words that we use.

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By the way, you know, a lot of you know this, right? Those of you that have been sticking with me, you watch the channel, you keep coming back and watching the channel, and my goodness,

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I praise the Lord for folks like you. You are not part of this clash culture mindset that has crept into the church.

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It has turned a lot of people in the church into everybody else that is out in the world, and it just absolutely saddens me to see this kind of a thing, you know?

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And I've been harping on this quite a bit, so you've heard me say this before, right? So let me say something to those of you who are not like this, but doubtless you're watching the events that are playing out.

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Like I said, I mean, new details are dropping about the shooter, the RNC, Trump is about to take the stage,

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I believe. You're watching all of these things, and you're wondering what this means.

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Some of you might even be feeling helpless right now, you know? Like, how do we turn this bus around? Is it even possible to do something like that?

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You know, maybe things are too far gone. Maybe there are no solutions, okay? This is why I wanted to make the video.

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If this is you, you're thinking, Lord, what are you doing right now? Like, what are you going to do, God, to solve these issues that we're seeing in culture?

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The answer is you. You're the solution to these troubles that we face, my friends.

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The fact is, if you are a son or a daughter of the living God, then not only were you saved from your sin, praise the

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Lord, but you were saved for a specific purpose that has everything to do with this tragedy.

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Take a look at this. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 16, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

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Stop. We don't see, we Christians don't see with our physical eyes.

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We don't look at the world that way. We certainly do not look at people and think all they are are just skin and bones and no soul, no spiritual reality, no spiritual realm.

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We recognize that there is a spiritual battle all around us, and it's taking place in the unseen realm.

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We recognize what's at stake, which is more than just, you know, people throwing around words.

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Ah, just politics. We recognize that something about this whole world was broken by us a very long time ago, and God has decided to slowly and painstakingly put the world back together one soul at a time, and he invites us, his children, to partner with him in doing this very thing.

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As a matter of fact, when we Christians, when we stray, which we are very prone to do, right?

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Prone to wander, prone to forget, right? When we actually forget what I just said, this fundamental simple truth, and we start looking at people and we start seeing them as soulless beings the way that the world does, we think of them by the world's sinful standards, that's precisely what helps to cause division, and anger, and frustration, and resentment.

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That's precisely what helps to cause discord and violence, and it keeps us from the job of reconciliation that God calls us to.

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Take a look at verse 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away, behold, the new has come.

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All this is from God, who through Christ, now take a look at how many times this word is in this passage, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

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That's what I'm talking about. This ministry of reconciliation is the long -term goal of God, that all may be reconciled to him, and God's shalom, his peace, which by the way entails more than you just kind of like personal subjective feeling inside your heart, but includes this grander large -scale picture of God putting the world back in order from the disorder that it has been broken into.

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That's what the word shalom in the Hebrew is referring to, by the way. That's on us, friends, you and me, to go and accomplish on behalf of Jesus and his followers.

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Take a look at verse 19, that is, in Christ God was, here it is again, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

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Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, and that's connected to something

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Paul said a few verses earlier, we persuade others knowing the fear of the

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Lord, right? This whole exercise falls into the category of persuasion.

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In other words, we Christians are appealing to people to be reconciled to God, and we do so for the purpose of peace.

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We are God's shalom makers, we are his peacemakers, so that the disorder that we are seeing, even in politics, particularly from those who reject their creator, that can be solved one soul at a time.

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And guess how we accomplish all of these things? By trusting Jesus and obeying what he told us to do.

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Take a look at Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

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You realize when Jesus said all authority has been given to me, he meant the authority over this particular person who just tried to unalive our former president just not even two days ago, right?

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Jesus was on his throne, even when that happened, and he is still on his throne today. And that's good news for us, ladies and gentlemen, because we now, we can see these things unfold, we can find out how horrific the details of this plan really was, and we don't have to despair.

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We don't have to be afraid of the uncertainty of tomorrow, right? I know what some of you are thinking, right?

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Oh, Nate, man, things are spiraling way out of control. They're going from awful to worse day by day here, and I get it, you know, when

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I'm not careful, I think the same thing. It looks bad, I totally agree, if we only use our physical eyes.

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But we as Christians, we don't see things with our physical eyes. We do not regard anyone according to the flesh.

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Jesus is still on the throne, and whether things get worse or they get better, starting right this very moment, that's because Jesus has allowed it to happen, amen?

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And that means that the only thing that we need to do is to, you know, solve the problem of strife, of anger, of discord, violence, right, by obeying the

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Great Commission, by bringing the light of the gospel to those who desperately need to hear it, and then trusting that we are playing a part in partnering with God to put the whole world back together one soul at a time.

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This reminds me of Habakkuk. I actually shared this on the Patreon community yesterday.

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This reminds me of Habakkuk. Habakkuk, the prophet, was incredibly disturbed by the wickedness and the injustice that he was witnessing, the violence that was all around him, you know?

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Two things were happening at the same time. The Babylonians were on the rise, and they were taking over nearby cities, and they were absolutely destroying them, you know?

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But on top of that, Judah had become corrupt and lost its way, and so Habakkuk just cries out to the

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Lord. It's right in chapter one of Habakkuk, God, where are you? Lord, why do you idly stand by and do nothing while all this injustice takes place so easily?

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You know what God says to Habakkuk? He says in verse five, look among the nations and see, wonder and be astounded, for I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

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We need to stop looking at these horrific events with our physical eyes, friends. We need to remember the promise and the mission that God gives us.

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We are the solution to the strife, to the anger, to the clash culture mindset that is all around us today.

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Jesus is still on his throne, and that means the solution to these kinds of troubles.

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It looks very practically like what our king has already commanded us to do.

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Go and make disciples. If we do that, if we remain

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Christ -like while doing it, God will use us to bring peace back to this world.

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I promise you. I promise you. So let's continue to pray for former

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President Trump, for the families of the victims of the shooter, and for the shooter's family as well.

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Let's continue to go and make disciples, right? Let's continue to just be Christians and follow and obey our

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Lord and Teacher, and just recognize that while we all still have breath in our lungs, there is still time for reconciliation.

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Amen? All right, now it's your turn. What do you think? Is the appropriate response for Christians in light of what just happened last

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Saturday? And I get it, there's going to be a narrative unfolding by the mainstream media and others, but let's be

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Christians about this. What is the appropriate response? How are we supposed to be thinking about this as Christians?

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You tell me. Let me know in the comments below. Would biblical passages also speak to this issue? There are more that I did not bring up.

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Let's share those, too, and continue this discussion. As always, if you made it this far, would you consider liking, subscribing, and sharing this video with others?

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Let's just get the word out about what we should be doing as Christians in today's culture. Amen? Also, why don't you join the

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Patreon community? We're going through the Gospel of Matthew right now as a Bible study together. Why don't you jump in?

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You know, jump into the discussions we're having. There's all kind of cool features, live streams, Zoom hangouts. You can meet up with me one -on -one and chat about whatever you want.

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The link for the Patreon is below. As always, I will return soon with more videos, but in the meantime,