Session 7: Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism with Virgil Walker - 2022 Equipping Conference

Kootenai Church

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of the father of the dawn of time you spoke and all design was made so we could see so we could see

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Christ, the greatest of all haters eyes will you join the song of angels who praise you furious

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Christ, the dust of our past and to be forsaken and die to take our curse our joy, will you join the song and I'll see you furious

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Christ, the greatest of all all right we are ready to get started so please come in and have a seat all right session seven is wokeness, whiteness and the new racism please welcome

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Virgil Walker y 'all don't know what

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I'm laughing at he's got me a little card up here for a little personal humor I appreciate that Pastor Jim oh no

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I'm not even that's gonna that's gonna wreck everything that'll derail everything we're trying to accomplish well again thank you for having me

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I appreciate the opportunity to be here before you there are a number of things that I want to cover in this session but what

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I'd like to do to begin with is really to slow some things down what I mean is

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I've had a number of you come up and have said wokeness, can you explain that?

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like I know that I'm supposed to know what that means but I'm not exactly sure what that means how many of you are in that boat?

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oh wow okay whiteness, well I know it has to do with the color of my skin but what's whiteness?

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like if I had to explain that to somebody what is that? how many of you are still kind of like what is that really?

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okay more of you know what whiteness is okay then the new racism the new racism how many of you could explain if someone asked you what is the new racism?

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how many of you feel like you couldn't really explain that? okay that's most of you okay so from the title alone right of the talk we've got to pause and answer some questions so I want to do that and by way of doing that my goal over the course of the next few sessions is to do two things one

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I want to slow things down for you right yesterday both between Darrell and me you got a dump truck load of bigger than the

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Tonka that he got yesterday you got a dump truck load full of information and while that's wonderful and we that's just I mean

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Darrell said it very well that's kind of how we do things we don't cut corners

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I mean we just give you what we've been given because we want you to have it the beauty of it is and I noticed this last night that this is being live streamed so if you want to be diligent about the homework

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I'd say go back and re -listen to the live stream and then pause and then write down some things and take notes and then do your homework that way because that'll be incredibly helpful so I'm going to encourage you to do that the other thing that like I said my intent is to really slow down this session will be shorter than the last few

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I think that's my plan that's my intention how about that we'll start with that yesterday

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I took two and a half hours for my one session and this time I'm just kidding I'll take a shorter period of time for this one but let's start with some definitions so if you got a sheet of paper in front of you grab that and I want to give you a definition of woke so the title of this session is

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Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism so let's start with a definition of woke or wokeness this is kind of just an urban vernacular

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I could go back to the origins and walk you through all of the history of who first said it and who started it and like Daryl said we always go back to original sources but rather than do that I want to give you something that you can use something that you can go okay

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I can tell my friend that I can explain that so wokeness, you ready? this is really deep to be awakened so it's real deep, real hard, real theological it's to be awakened but let me add some things to that in the current culture it means to be awakened to the idea that America is systemically racist it's to be awakened to the idea that America is systemically racist as a result of that understanding you then understand that every single inequity everywhere that you see someone having more than someone else as it relates to race in this instance when white people have more than a black person or any black person for that matter doesn't have something that someone else has or more of it then that is the result of racism being awakened to that truth is what is being woke got it?

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pretty simple, you can explain that to somebody right, you can just say hey it means being awakened to the idea that America is systemically racist and any inequity that is seen in culture is the result of racism pretty simple, straightforward, you got it next up whiteness the majority of you knew what whiteness was but I'm going to try to bring a definition that might be helpful, the other thing is

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I would tell you that there are two episodes that Darrell and I did on whiteness so you can write these down it's episode 67 and episode 100 episode 67 and episode 100 episode 67 was called whiteness so you got a two hour show about whiteness that you can enjoy and then the other one was,

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I can't believe we did that, the other one is episode 100 and it was called a biblical exposition of whiteness a biblical exposition of whiteness whiteness whiteness is, you ready for this, this is really really deep whiteness is not blackness that's important and if you listen to the episode you'll understand why it's important but whiteness is not blackness whiteness refers to the ways white people and their traditions attitudes and way of life have been normalized whiteness refers to the white people and their traditions, their attitudes and their way of life has been normalized normalized to the degree that they're considered standard practices in the

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United States, now I thought that this was simply American culture but that's what's being attempted, what's being attempted is to attach

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American culture to something connected to melanin and as a result we're going to look at melanin as something that's sinful and because of that we can talk poorly about it which leads us right into the idea of the new racism okay, so whiteness is white people, their traditions, their attitudes and way of life that have been normalized over time to be considered standard practices this is the idea that all of white people hold the powers, the institutional power in America, that's the idea around that again which leads us into the next word which is the new racism the new racism so the new racism is a term that really you're encountering and probably know full well it's really the same old racism it's really the same old racism, it's just aimed at a new group that society has deemed acceptable, the new racism is simply the same old racism aimed at a new group that society has determined is acceptable as a caveat

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I just wrote down this is still this isn't, the idea of the new racism is not a particular to an ethnic group the new racism is not particular to an ethnic group why do

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I say that, well we talked about yesterday how ethnicity or race, race in particular rather is a social construct and so what happens with race being a social construct they can target the new racism at anybody it doesn't matter the color of your skin anymore, right this new phrase can be leveraged at anyone, this is the idea where you have guys like Daryl and me who are considered white supremacists and they're serious when they level that charge or they're saying or they would say we're providing cover for white supremacy this is where you have people like, you guys remember

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Winsome Sears she was the lieutenant governor of the state of Virginia she was a military, she had a military background, she had done great things, was excited about being an

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American stood against CRT all of that was a part of what she was about and she was really excited about her win well she was immediately hailed as the puppet of white supremacy, right black woman, her husband and whole family were really excited about the win but immediately she was labeled as a white supremacist or someone who gives cover for white supremacy and this is the new racism it's simply targeted at anyone who does not align with the current cultural narrative, you've heard us talk about narratology it's the storyline that permeates culture, narratology it's the storyline that permeates culture it's this idea of victimhood it's the idea that people who are of a specific ethnic background all have a shared agreed upon experience that permeates victimization that's a part of being victimized well

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I can tell you, like I said yesterday, I've been black my whole life, I've never been victimized if I have,

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I don't know it and since I don't know it, I could care less about it that kind of stuff just washes over me we live in one of the greatest countries in the world if there was ever a place where I was victimized this would be the place where I could overcome that victimization because of the way that the systems and structures are set up,

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I mean this is a place where people are trying to cross deserts to get here with less than anything in their pocket, why?

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Because they know that the way that our culture is set up the Judeo -Christian manner in which it was set up to begin with provides them the greatest opportunity to experience, to go from poverty to wealth to have a family that may be struggling and suffering to one that's doing well, now my goal in my time is not to brag about America, it's simply to say that those who are trying to give you an idea that the systems and structures somehow are set up so that a certain ethnic group is on decline it's just a fallacy today as we begin our session

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I want to recognize again the ideas that we've covered in the past, what you're going to hear me do over the course of the next two or three sessions as well with Daryl and we even talked about this earlier was you're going to hear us repeat ideas that you've heard before, that's on purpose the reason

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I want to do that is because like I said yesterday you were overwhelmed today what we really want to do is to solidify those ideas in your mind you should be hearing ideas and terms over and over again and now it should begin selling it oh

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I know what that means, I know how that's being used, I now can use it in a conversation based upon a learned understanding of that, can

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I ask someone if you would to give me a bottle of water that would be wonderful, that would be incredibly helpful thank you you got me here?

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alright thank you brother so here's where we're going to go, first I want to go back,

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I want to take you back three years to 2019 or we can even go five years to 2017 if I asked you to write down on a sheet of paper during that time what you believe that we would experience on a cultural front,

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I doubt that you would be able to come up with predicting what actually took place during the course of the last three years, it would be next to impossible

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I would have never predicted what we've experienced, even following 2020 as the page, as the calendar turned the page on 2020 there was never a way that you could write down what was going to take place during that time everything from a world pandemic to a nationwide quarantine, from Ahmaud Arbery to George Floyd, from protests in the streets in the name of justice to cities aflame, even as we think about what we're witnessing today it's really incredible when we think about the gender confusion

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I would love for you to sit down and go through an exercise even as we're sitting this is

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June, the month of June I would encourage you to sit down and write out what you think culturally speaking based upon what we recently experienced that we will see happen in the next six months

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I guarantee you whatever you write down will pale in comparison to the events that will actually take place over the course of the next six months the events and the days that we're in often remind me of what

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Paul wrote to believers in Rome in Romans chapter 8 verse 22 and 23, they read this way for we know that the whole of creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

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Amid what seems to be perilous times I believe it's incumbent upon us as believers to hold on to hope as I was listening to Darrell speak about the issues and he is spot on it is critical that you're aware that in our school systems they are coming, they have been coming for the kids and even more so in the days to come but as believers in Christ those who should have more hope about these issues than anybody should be us.

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Why? Because we don't have to wade through the chaos to understand the clarity that Christ is exalted, that He is what is true, that we have the word of God and we have a responsibility to proclaim that truth we have to recognize that you all should be more excited than ever as you're being equipped with all of the information to go and declare truth and that truth that you should declare is not the elements of CRT this is to inform you you're not to go and declare the elements of social justice this is to inform you so that when you hear it coming you're calm you're steady, you're clear.

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What are you to proclaim? You're to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ if there's anything that we can learn from walking during the times that we're in is that we live in a fallen and sin filled world and the whole of creation again has been groaning for those who have the first fruits of the spirit for those of us who have the first fruits of the spirit we groan inwardly as we eagerly await our redemption as believers in challenging times it's imperative that we stand on the foundation of the word of God and as we watch and witness the roar of things around us as things become ever more dark it is critical for us to realize that the point that it is darkest light shines brightest it's the

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Christian worldview, the biblical worldview which explains, reveals and even predicts what we're currently experiencing.

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I'll go further to say that there are two ideas which bear your consideration during our time together and that's this, one, you can write these down the bible provides a proper diagnosis of the problems which ail us.

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The bible scripture properly diagnoses the problems which ail us and number two, the gospel provides the prescription for cure.

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It was Dr. John MacArthur who said this quote, even though the bible is an ancient document every person and every situation and every society that has ever existed can find in this book, things that endure forever here's a book, continue to quote from MacArthur, here's a book he says that never needs another edition it never needs to be edited it never has to be updated it is never out of date or obsolete it speaks to us as pointedly and directly as it ever has to anyone in any century since it was written, end quote it is my intention during our time together to speak to these issues related to all of us that through the light of this ancient document that still speaks pointedly and directly as it ever has to anyone in any other century, that this book is the book that we stand on my goal and hope is, my goal rather is to give you the hope that is found in the pages of scripture.

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Turn if you will in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2 I'm going to read this aloud and walk you through give you kind of a glimpse for those who are visiting

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I will spend some time on Sunday really doing a deeper dive into this text of scripture

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I say deeper dive almost tongue in cheek because I kind of had an opportunity to witness your pastor,

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Pastor Jim walk through a text of scripture and I went oh my goodness oh my goodness

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I'll do a light dusting over of these verses of scripture on Sunday so if you're here in town and you'd like to experience that dust over I would invite you to come visit if you're traveling from far distance that's my invitation for you to come on Sunday morning both

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Daryl and I will have an opportunity Daryl will be speaking earlier in the morning during Sunday school and then

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I'll have the opportunity again my dusting over of this particular text yeah I watched, in fact

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I was telling Pastor Jim as I came in this morning I got a chance to kind of listen to some of his sermons y 'all are going through the book of Hebrews so I went and looked at that and looked at these other ones

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I said oh there's a, I looked at, I think it was maybe two years ago when you were in Hebrews 10 and now you're now you're in Hebrews 11 two years later yeah so I was looking at that and I didn't notice though there's a difference,

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I'm going to call him Pastor Slim Jim now and you know the other guy was a little bit you know but he's looking good anyway

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I digress that's to get you back for this note you left me up here so Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 through 20 read this way therefore remember that at one time you

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Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility verse 17 and he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have access in one spirit to the father so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone there's so much richness in that text and as it relates to the issues of reconciliation this text identifies the fact that God the father has reconciled us through the finished work of Christ for those who are in him and completes that through the operating power of the spirit in the life of the believer there are two things at work and I'm going to try not to preach my sermon right now just so all inspired by what

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I'm reading here the idea of what the gospel has done the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins reconciles us justifies us before a holy

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God and then on the other side of that the work of the spirit works in us reconciling us one to another through the course of the sanctifying work of the spirit in the life of the believer this is a beautiful section of scripture that if you ever get concerned about what you see in culture you should use this particular text to remind yourself not of what's to come but what

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God has already done for which nothing needs to be added to or fixed on or some man made idea ideology be brought in in addition there's no analytical tool that needs to be added so that we can fix the issue of the races this is what

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God has done we can marvel in that work and be that much more awestruck by the goodness of God who reconciles us to himself and to others

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I better stick with my notes before I start preaching what happens on Sunday so for now

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I just want to point you to, I want to point out that in a time that we live in when racial reconciliation is constantly on the minds of many in the culture and even

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Christian culture has adopted a new hashtag hermeneutic regarding black lives, the hashtag black lives matter, scripture provides a real, a righteous and a responsiveness rather to reconciliation that only

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God can provide furthermore God has made it available to all who come to him in Christ Jesus you want to fix the issue of racism in the culture, preach the gospel you want to see lost people turn their lives around and get out of the debauchery that we witness in the gender confused society that we live in, preach the gospel you want to see the situations in the school systems and all of the things that we've talked about this weekend turn the page, preach the gospel while many due to recent events have found themselves needing to quickly get up to speed on these contentious issues,

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Darrell and I have, over the course of the past two to three years have had the opportunity to speak in places, we're witnessing a growing problem within the church regarding racial reconciliation you already know how we feel about that issue perhaps more importantly than what we're witnessing in the way of the problems as we think about the cures the beauty of the issue is that God in his infinite wisdom has provided a solution in his word and that solution regards man's desire

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A for sin and B for what they need to do to turn that around with regard to righteousness, let me begin by saying this the answers to the problems that we see in culture the answers are simple they are very simple, now they are not easy, but they are indeed simple, while there are problems with regard to ethnic hatred, it's what we call ethnic hatred, racism there are issues, right we're not here to tell you that there's not someone operating in ethnic hatred with someone, that's never what we you'll never hear us say that that's not the case, our challenge is the idea of the systemic nature of that issue the position

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I would argue is that for the Christian, any solution devoid of the gospel will only treat symptoms and provide a false sense of security for which there is no cure, we have got to be gospel people we have got to share the gospel and see it as the right solution in these instances for the believer in Christ, any honest conversation about the subject of ethnicity or ethnic prejudice must first begin with a self -examination of one's own heart, one of the things that we get charged with, yeah you guys go around and you preach and you teach and you talk you give cover for everything and so now the one or two racists that may really be in the congregation, they get to get off scot -free they get to walk out the door patting themselves on the back for the ideas that they hold that are contrary to scripture my response to that is no you don't that's never what we've said, what we begin by saying is that any issue in the heart of any one of us needs to be examined against the backdrop of what scripture says about this subject we have a responsibility to examine our own heart regarding sin scripture is absolutely clear on this

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Psalm 139, 24 says search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts see if there be any grievous way within me and lead me in the way everlasting,

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Psalm 26 too, prove me O Lord and try me, test my heart and my mind

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Galatians chapter 6 verse 3 and 4 for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself but let each one test his own work

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Matthew chapter 7 verses 4 and 5 or who can say to a brother let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye, you hypocrite first take the log out of your own eye then you will be able to see clearly the speck that is in your brother's eye, scripture is replete with challenges and admonitions and commands for us as believers to examine ourselves, self -examination is critical when addressing this or any other issue regarding sin,

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I would simply add that the self -examination that needs to take place is not aimed at one ethnic group or one color, the sin of racism and ethnic hatred does not discriminate

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I recognize that those who hold the critical race theory view and it is just that a theory of criticism right, you've heard us say this over and over again the critical and critical race theory has nothing to do with analyzing anything it is purposely a critique for the purpose of deconstructing systems that's the whole purpose critical and critical race theory has nothing to do with examination and analysis for the purpose of making something correct okay, here's the correct standard

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I'm going to analyze it and see if this issue aligns with that standard that is not the purpose of anything critical with critical theory, critical gender studies, critical you name it none of that is true, what is true about the critical nature is it is designed to ask questions, to criticize and then when you come up with an answer it's to criticize it more in the last talk

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I remember Darrell saying hey you need to define woke and he said don't bother why?

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because as soon as you do the critic will simply criticize your definition and then they won't give you one that they're working with and then if you spend all the time doing the research and figuring out what you need to figure out and then come back and provide a new definition what is the critic going to do?

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they're going to criticize your new definition in an effort to deconstruct what you just said, then you go and you're trying to figure out how can

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I make this thing work that's why yesterday when there was a question my neighbor, my friend is into CRT, they've kind of bought it what do

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I do? well you pray that's what you do you pray and believe that prayer has the power if this is a believer to change their heart so that they can see the light of the gospel if they're an unbeliever you pray that they would receive the gospel so that they can even understand the light of truth that you're coming to share with them those are the kinds of things that we have to think about critical theory holds the idea that the ethnic majority who holds power and is the only participant in enacting racial or ethnic hatred the bible is clear that every one of us can hold hatred in our hearts against one another the first step in reconciling this division however is to begin with a biblical anthropology, we have to begin using biblical terms, you heard

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Darrell talk about this yesterday we have to use biblical terminology to explain the subjects that we're talking about with regard to ethnicity let me be the first to point you to the issue that initiated or an idea that I want to make, the point that I want to make here, and that is this, and you've heard us say this repeatedly, so I'm going to share it with you and I hope that you'll write this down, number one point one is this, that there is only one human race if you receive nothing out of the talk that I gave, the very first talk where I walked through the theology of man, right,

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I did the theology of man the theology I think of race or racism and the theology of the church, truth be told, those topics could have been a two part study all by themselves right, but I gave you kind of a cliff notes, let me give you a clip of the cliff notes in this talk here point one, again there's one human race, again the title is

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Wokeness, Whiteness, and the New Racism we deal with that, how do we address that we start by understanding that there's one human race there's one human race scripture is clear that we all came from one man,

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Adam, in my first talk again, I gave you these scriptures, if you didn't write them down, I'm going to repeat them so that you have them, and we told you

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Acts 17 26 and he, that is God, made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling,

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Acts 17 26, Genesis 1 27 so God created man in his own image, and in the image of God he created them male and female, he created them

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I gave you Malachi 2 10, have we not all one father? Has not one

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God created us? Then why are we faithless to one another profaning the covenant of our fathers?

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For those who are in Christ, however there's another level of oneness, I talked about that new level of oneness we are one human race,

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I share a commonness with every person on the planet as a human being created in the image of God, as a result of that I should share a gladness or a sorrow when an image bearer suffers,

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I should be sad when an image bearer triumphs I should get joy, it's the very reason why when you watch something on television you see someone doing something that maybe had a tremendous struggle and you see them overcome that struggle to triumph, there is something that wells up in your heart what's funny for me is the older I get the more that tears well up in my eyes why?

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I'm identifying with another image bearer that's our connection point that's even there's an even greater degree of that for us who are believers in Christ there's a oneness that we share

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I can't emphasize this enough and my hope I know one of the things that's been a joy to be around you all you all like each other you all enjoy fellowshipping with one another, why?

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because you're identifying the fact that while yes I share in the common humanity that's out there there is something special about the local body of believers that's here and for me someone who came from Atlanta and flown here, you know that as I'm in Christ you've embraced me as one of your own

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I've got more people trying to help us and trying to take care of us all of this systemic racism

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I guess that ain't in here but the reality is we share a oneness that is eternal do you recognize that?

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do you understand the magnitude of that? I get the joy of spending an eternity with the people of God that's amazing that's glorious the beauty of that will be this we'll be sinless in that space look

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I almost went Pentecostal on y 'all take a moment to wrap your mind around the beauty of that and every week when you gather as the people of God, remind yourself of that so that you can grow in the hope that is in you and that light and the beauty of the implications the applications of the gospel in your life can be seen out there because at the end of the day that's really what they're searching for, that's what they're hoping for, they're trying to, they don't trust

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God so they're trying to create their own utopia the utopia they're trying to create, the eschaton they're trying to create is something you and I experience every week, that's why we're looking around what's wrong with you people?

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that's why we're looking at culture trying to figure out how do you not get this? well they don't get it because we haven't preached it they don't get it because you haven't shared it and it's not

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CRT, it's not social justice it's the gospel of Jesus Christ lest we forget the oneness that we have the text in Ephesians 2 reminds us take a look there at verse 14 it says this, for he himself is our peace who made us both one and is broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances that he might create in himself, what does that say?

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one new man in the place of two we are one body of Christ, that's who we are, so making peace this is much more than an issue of semantics this is an issue of biblical anthropology it's a biblical view of who man is this is why it's important to understand these kinds of things for two reasons

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I told you about the shared humanity that we all experience and then the unique brotherhood that we have as believers in Christ, this is important for a couple of reasons first is that the culture would have you to separate human life into categories they're trying to provide additional categories for you to be a part of if you remember the talk from yesterday, we had the non -binary, non -gender affirming there were like 20 different categories to describe one person the press secretary the brand new press secretary for Joe Biden had to get up I think she gave at least 3 or 4 different labels to describe who she was in an effort to categorize herself as a first that's where culture is that's not where we are secondarily

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I think it's important for us to have a biblical anthropology for the reason that identity politics has given way to intersectionality again intersectionality is a term that was coined by Kimberly Crenshaw Darrell in one of his talks gave you that name so let me spell that for you so that if you're interested in going and understanding the origins of intersectionality the person who gave you that phrase was

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Kimberly Crenshaw K -I -M -B -E R -L -E

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Kimberly Crenshaw C -R -E -N -S -H -A -W again Kimberly K -I -M -B -E -R -L -E

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Crenshaw C -R -E -N -S -H -A -W she was the first person that established intersectionality if that's a term that you don't understand or don't know it's when one person's truth is established as a priority on the basis of the intersections for which they can identify a victimhood status

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I realize that sounded like gobbledygook I recognize that let me give you an example for example a white female a white male's truth claim might not bear consideration if someone with more intersections of victimhood made a contradicting statement let me give you another example if a black transgender

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I have to say this slow because you have to wrap your mind around all these different isms and breakdowns if a black transgender woman that's a biological male who has believed himself to be a woman if they had a truth claim that contradicted a white male's truth claim the black transgender woman having more intersections of victimhood would need to be heard

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Darrell talked about it yesterday when he mentioned the voices of color theory voices of color theory intersectionality plays a role in that it plays a role in that but it basically states if you're a voice of color your voice matters of course that's subjective because my color is irrelevant because my voice says something different than what the tribe actually says their idea is that they have a narrative that's tribalistic and if I submit myself to it then

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I'm as black as black can be right I'm blacker than Darrell blackity black but if it doesn't align with that tribalistic point of view then what happens

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I'm a white supremacist that's kind of how that is played therefore again we take issue with the idea of races with the idea of using the terminology races that's why

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Darrell has been so dogmatic in his approach about this that's why I try to do my best to make sure that whenever I'm speaking especially in a public space that we use the term ethnicities and what we're dealing with with regard to the issue of racism is just ethnic hatred you just hate your brother right whether we're talking about brotherhood of the common man created in the image of God or if we're talking about a brother in the

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Lord you hate them on the basis of the color of their skin that's ethnic hatred right that's ethnic hatred you hate your brother scripture is very clear about that yesterday

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Darrell mentioned the Nat Geo short for National Geographic article if you didn't get it down I want to repeat it here for your hearing it was entitled the

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Nat Geo article I think it was April April 2018 April 2018 it was a

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Nat Geo article I want to commend this one to you because it is a fantastic article it really is something that you could probably

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I think it's online I think it's accessible online you may have to pay something for it if I remember yeah I think it's behind a paywall now but it's worth it for the purpose of having to use in conversation if you want to have a conversation with someone who's actually willing to read willing to listen this would be something that you'd want to pass along to them the title of the article is there's no scientific basis for race it's a made up label there's no scientific basis for race it's a made up label

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National Geographic April 2018 I'm looking at you

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Darryl 2018 correct okay for some they were hearing about this article for the first time it was their first glimpse at the pseudoscience of Samuel Morton great name to remember

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Samuel Morton was the one who promoted craniometry remember Darryl was talking about how they had the skulls that excuse me that he would collect and then as a result he would put the seeds in them to test the cavity now listen if brain size or skull size or skull volume had any correlation to intelligence

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I'd probably be one of the smartest guys in the room but they made that correlation apart from really going in and making the scientific connection points that required that kind of that kind of thought process to begin with you're able as believers as Christians Christians are able to be susceptible to those kinds of ideas when they abandon biblical language regarding how man was created when you do that you find yourself susceptible to worldly solutions regarding how we think about about sex about gender about about race ethnicity all of these things are important my second point is this point number two and you heard us say this

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I told you in the next few talks you're going to hear us repeat things and again the purpose of the repetition is to settle in your brain the things that we've dump trucked okay so you've heard this said as well number two is races don't reconcile hearts do you remember

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Darrell saying that yesterday races don't reconcile hearts do take a look again at the text of scripture

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Ephesians chapter 2 verses 17 through 20 and again

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I'll unpack this a little bit to a greater degree the separation of the Jew and Gentile and how they were separated from one another

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I've got to give you a little context before I read this section because what you're going to see is that both needed needed to be preached both needed to be preached to and peace needed to be preached to them both both the

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Jew who had the law but were ignoring the law and to the Gentile who did not have the law but needed to understand that they were law breakers and in addition that there was a savior that could reconcile them to God and to one another again more than I needed to say there but let me read

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Ephesians chapter 2 verses 17 through 20 and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near the far off were the

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Gentiles the Jews were the near for through him we have both accessed in one spirit to the father so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone we are reconciled one to another 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 5 verses 17 through 19 write that down it says this therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the oldest passed away and behold the new has come all of this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that'll preach if I had some

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Hammond B I could sit right here and we can go to town that is in Christ God that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation you have the ministry of reconciliation you and I have that ministry that's not for CR tears that's not for social justicians that's not for all of these folks proclaiming their false gospels that ministry has been given to you and I Romans chapter 5 verses 10 and 11 for while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life more than that we also rejoice in God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received reconciliation we have received reconciliation we are ministers of reconciliation our reconciliation comes through the power of the gospel and the work of Christ the gospel is more than just the good news that saves us the gospel is the good news that sanctifies us as well you never get past the gospel you can't move past the gospel you're not well you know

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I graduated from that check the box let me figure out what's next no every week you come as believers in Christ gather to the local assembly why for the purpose of hearing the gospel again you're being gospelled every time you gather why so that you can remember a that you are a sinner and that you need a

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Savior that last week you didn't love God with all your heart soul mind and strength in a perfect way and as a result you need to collectively come together individually repent of your sin and even corporately confess your sin as you enter the this this this space to hear from the word of God you should be reminded of the gospel our worship should take a gospel shape when we gather we should be reminded of the life death burial and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of our sin we should hear the word declared and exhorted so that our lives can more align itself to be conformed into the image of Christ that is the purpose of the gospel the gospel is more than just the good news that saves us the gospel is the good news that sanctifies us

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Romans chapter 1 verse 16 the gospel is the power of God unto salvation I love how

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Dr. Martin Lloyd -Jones the doctor says or walks through this verse he says that the gospel is the power of God to save it's

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God's power to save so while justification is in view regarding the gospel the gospel is a message that sanctifies us

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I mentioned it conforming us into the image of Christ Romans 8 28 and 29 here's the real problem the real problem is that the majority of believers

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I'm not talking about the people in here I'm talking about the vast majority of American culture American Christian culture they really don't believe that the gospel does all of that they really don't they think well yeah the gospel saves me but you know now what they really don't don't trust the gospel to do its work so they rather put their trust in man -made philosophies and ideas of sociology or ethnic soteriology to save and change and transform what

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God himself said he is the only one able to do through the preached word of the gospel

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Jeremiah chapter 27 verse 7 says I will give them a heart to know that I am the

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Lord and that they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return with me with their whole heart

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Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26 and I will give you a new heart and I will put my spirit within you

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I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh the issue of racism has been an issue long before it's ever evidenced in one's heart let me say that again the issue of racism the sin of racism it is an issue of sin in the heart long before it's evidenced in one's skin right we're talking about an issue that is a heart issue you won't be able to legislate your way out of that you can fix the legislation but at the end of the day the heart transformation only takes place in one way and that's through the proclamation of the gospel hopefully

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I've said enough about gospel proclamation and this time for you to get that that's the solution I talked about this yesterday in an interview and this is under the heading races don't reconcile races don't reconcile hearts do where I was asked the question you know what do we need to do to reconcile the races and I made the statement

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I think I shared this with you yesterday I said I asked the question who's the who's the black representative that they're going to send to reconcile the races and then who's the white representative that they're going to send somewhere to reconcile the races then what is going to be what are going to be the terms of their agreement and will all of us in the race decide that those are the terms that we're all going to agree to so that by the time they get done they shake hands and sign the treaty we're all reconciled you see how silly that is it supports the truth that it's not races that reconcile hearts do some of you may be thinking okay

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I hear what you're saying but I do know some individual racists I know some folks

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I've got a grandfather who man he every time the television turns on he's got a little something to say I've got this brother at our church he doesn't say much he's kind of quiet but he there's some times when some of the jokes

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I'm just not sure and you know it's kind of strange well what do

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I do in that situation is there like a bible verse that we can open up and look at I'm glad you asked so Matthew chapter 18 verse 15 it reads this way if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to you you've gained your brother but if he doesn't listen take one or two brothers along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses if he refuses to listen to them then what do you do you tell the church well how do we clear up racism in the church well it's church discipline if it comes to that but have a conversation be willing to because why you stand on the truth and we should not tolerate any form of this sinful condition in the body of Christ so this is how we deal with it here's what

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I'm not saying to those on the other side of this spectrum I want to be sensitive in a pastoral way to those who may come in and say you know they're confused about this issue and they bought into some of the cultural ideas and they maybe come into a brand new church and say yeah but I suffered something out there with racism

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I suffered this issue this challenge a police officer did this and what you're hearing in the culture is well you gotta listen now when they say listen what they mean by that is if you're white you better shut up and listen and whatever they say and whatever emotional thing that they're having happen as a result of remembering this incident as they're re -problematizing it and bringing it to your doorstep as if you've done that that's where you pump the brakes but at the end of the day there's nothing wrong with listening to what someone is saying you just don't buy what they're saying hook line and sinker

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I'll give you an easy example those of you who have kids recognize this one of your kids comes racing to you they're in tears they're crying and they can't breathe and they're trying to tell you about what somebody did to them you listen you may listen calmly and okay tell me what's happening and walk through that and then you pause and you go grab the other person the other sibling and figure out what's taking place you don't simply have your child say

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I want you to kill my brother okay I'll go kill wouldn't that be stupid?

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scripture tells us that we should listen to one another bear one another's burdens Galatians 6 .2

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tells us to bear one another's burdens so as to fulfill the law of Christ Proverbs 2 .2 says make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding

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Proverbs 17 .27 says whoever restrains his words has knowledge and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding

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Philippians chapter 2 verse 4 says let each of you look not into his own interest but for the interest of others however we must realize that melanin or the lack thereof is not inherently sinful we have to make sure that we have that lens and when terms are used terms like white guilt white privilege critical race theory and the like when we lean into that we're just missing the beauty of what scripture provides in the way of a solution there's much more that I could say here but simply in the interest of time

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I told you I was making two claims one that the bible provides a proper diagnosis for the problems which ail us my goal was to demonstrate that I believe that I did my second goal was to share with you that only the gospel provides the prescription for cure at the end of the day the gospel is enough let me close by reading

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Colossians chapter 1 verse 13 where Paul declares the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ and all of its sufficiency and glory

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Colossians 1 13 says the following and he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins the son is the image of the invisible

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God he's the firstborn over all creation for in him all things were created things on heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him this next section of scripture verses 21 and following are reminiscent of what we find in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 to 22 as we're reminded that you were alien that once you were alienated from God you were hostile in your mind because of your evil deeds but now he has reconciled you there's that word again by Christ's physical body not by CRT not by social justice he's reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy and unblemished and blameless in his presence if indeed you continue in your faith established and firm not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard don't be moved from the gospel that you've heard with flawed and false ideologies of men your hope is in the gospel and which you have claimed to every creature you to proclaim this to everyone not to proclaim the gospel of CRT you to proclaim the gospel of Christ to everyone to every creature under heaven and of which

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I Paul have become a servant you see Jesus is indeed enough the gospel is indeed enough the life death burial and resurrection of Christ is indeed enough so as Paul admonished