7. A Christian Insurrection

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Welcome to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 7 of Christian insurrection

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Tomorrow is gonna mark the one -year anniversary of one of the most fascinating and Frustrating and polarizing events that happened in American history and that's the events that happened on January 6th at the

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Capitol in Washington, DC And while there was certainly more that was going on in the country and in the world than just the events that were unfolding on Capitol Hill last year

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It was that event that is gonna live on in infamy no matter which viewpoint or side that you tend to fall on For instance, the toxicity surrounding that day seems more palpable now than ever like an infiltration of black mold

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Festering behind a wet spot in the wall in the shower. The rot seems to be spreading and getting so much deeper

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And all of this of course is being used for political power and leverage and everything else

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One year ago tomorrow on January the 6th If you're on one side of the aisle, then you remember watching national -level politicians

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Exclaiming how this was the worst attack in American history since at least

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Pearl Harbor. Maybe it was even worse than 9 -11 I'm sure you can remember certain particular politicians bravely and defiantly

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Describing the harrowing tale of life and limb from the safety of their Instagram story that is

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This mayhem was also coupled with an around -the -clock news tickers on major news media headlines brandishing things like a highly coordinated coup d 'etat or an act of domestic

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Terrorism or as it was most commonly given the title simply an insurrection

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Yet if you're on the other side of the political aisle, you probably remember things quite a bit differently

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You saw a narrative unfolding in front of your very eyes. That was very different than the one that I just described

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Instead of angry white supremacists scaling the walls of love and tolerance and white shame to enact their empire of racial hatred

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You probably watched as unassuming quilt knitting grannies were posting selfies in the

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Capitol. You spied with your little eyes Capitol Hill police all but welcoming the crowds in with open doors and I'm sure you noticed the happy deranged antler -wearing shaman who was leading the charge into the inner sanctum of American politics uninhibited

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Now it may be needless to say But this was hardly the kind of well -trained militia that one would need in order to overthrow the world's most powerful government

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But at that point I certainly digress My real point is to describe the actual events of January 6 in Context of how they are gonna remain shrouded in mystery

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But to see that a particular point arises out of these events

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That's really particularly important for us as Christians. That point is that human beings will always

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Desire more power whenever they can have more power and they will stop at nothing to take that power away from other people

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Especially other sides or other factions or other people of different points of view Today that struggle is playing out right before our very eyes in the in the left -right culture war that's waging

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Right in front of us with sophisticated war of words and propaganda and in long

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Ridiculous speeches on the Senate floor that war is playing out over political supremacy in the 21st century

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American context But it's not always been just like that For instance in Our immediate history in yesteryears.

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It was the Brits versus the Yanks and in both open and guerrilla warfare Even further back than that It was the

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Vikings versus the Saxons even further back than that It was the Romans against the Carthaginians and on and on and on it goes and essentially you can look at the entire

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History of humanity as this long drawn -out protracted drama of wars and rumors of wars

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Insurrections and high -stakes defections coup d 'etats and violent revolutions that have been meant to seize more and more land resources and power

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That's sort of been the struggle of humanity as that different warring factions fighting over more stuff now my goal in bringing all of this up is not to pick at any of the leaking scabs of January the 6th or to Get in any long discourses of who may have actually been more right or more wrong or any of that stuff.

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Those conversations are Actually interesting. I have opinions on the matter, but that's not my purpose

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My goal in bringing this up is as a minister of the gospel to simply point out that sinful people

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Have always found ways to splinter themselves into warring factions That are fighting for more and more power more resources more land

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And the irony is is that none of that actually belongs to them in the first place

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That is where I want us to dive in with first talking about the fight over someone else's stuff

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In the case of January 6th, everyone involved felt like their quote -unquote country was slipping away from them

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Almost like they were the ones that owned the place. The Marxist felt like that their progressive fantasies of a world

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With socialist dreams were being thwarted by a rather large basket of angry deplorables that were holding them back from great evolutionary gains

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Because they felt like it was their country The conservatives on the other hand also felt like they were losing something they felt like their front porch swing dream of life and the unencumbered

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Second Amendment and a world where men don't wear dresses and only women can have periods was Slipping right out of their grasp.

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It was in jeopardy right before their very eyes both sides seem to have this sort of emotional investment in a

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Territory that biblically doesn't belong to them, but it belongs to God.

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Let me explain I'll give you an example What we're watching before our very eyes in this country is

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Kind of akin to you looking out your window and seeing two complete strangers fighting over your property perhaps you're in the house and all of a sudden you hear this calamitous banging and commotion of two men in the throes of hand -to -hand combat and at that point you go outside and you observe the sort of Ridiculous scene playing out in front of you and upon arrival you see these two hapless nimrods

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Beating themselves senseless in hopes that the victor is actually going to gain Authority to shape your property according to their vision now the problem obviously is that neither of them own the deed to your land you do and their trivial travail this fight that they're having with one another actually looks about as senseless and as fruitless to you as The current left -right culture war should look to the

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Christian today the world Does not belong to the world it belongs to God and when we watch the left and when we watch the right fighting over Territory in America or supremacy in America power or political gain when we see them fighting over This stuff we see them fighting over things that really don't belong to them

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But they act like it does and that's where we need to recover a biblical worldview If we're gonna understand how to navigate as Christians crazy times like these

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The Bible is very clear that God began space and time by fashioning the world from materials that he himself invented

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That means that he owns a place Every square inch of this planet and every molecule in the cosmos belongs to him and when he completed it

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Then he installed his human beings to help manage and steward his creations that means

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That human beings are only stewards over his property. We actually don't own

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Anything now you may be saying I own a house. Well, yeah you do but all the material was created by God You are a steward over his things and the sooner that Christians Realize that we actually don't own anything that everything belongs to God our paycheck belongs to God our house belongs to God our kids belong to God our marriage belongs to God everything that we own belongs to him the more faithfully and Biblically, we will end up acting in our faith and The more clearly we will see how this current world is is messed up Because everyone's acting like this is their property and they're in a fight with all they've got because this is all they've got and we

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Realize that they don't actually own it at all. It's God's Now another facet to this biblically that we need to understand is not only that God owns all things

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But God has given all things over to Christ That's an important factor that we need to understand when we when we're thinking about anything really but especially as it relates to January 6 and we'll get to that in a moment as the drama of biblical revelation kind of unfolds we see

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God Who makes everything and installs human beings as his vice regents in creation? He installs them as his stewards.

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We see them rebelling right out right out the very beginning right out the gate we see them falling headlong into sin and idolatry and forgetting their role as Faithful slaves we see them treating the garden like it's theirs and they get to make the decisions apart from God So really the first sin was an authority

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Question they thought that they had authority over God's things whereas God Even creating human beings as his possession said no you do not have that authority

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You either obey or you will fall and they fell headlong into sin Now from Genesis 3 onward we see that sin so spoiled and tainted the mind of man

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That it brought deep and utter confusion upon the human soul so much so that humans have forgotten that already

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From the very beginning of creation that everything belongs to Yahweh Even today we forget that every millimeter of matter that our feet malignantly strikes is every bit of territory that we add to our

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Portfolios all of our houses all of our stocks all of our resources all of our family members everything are really his for his own use and He's only called us to steward those things as he pleases and not as we please

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You see from the great fall of humanity until today human beings have been ignorantly fighting never -ending vicious bloody wars

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Expending massive amounts of energy over stuff that doesn't belong to us, but it belongs to him

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This is why God the Father sent his one and only son first and foremost to redeem his following people out of their curse and their sin and to save us and give us new life in Christ and we absolutely believe that and we affirm that we praise

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God for that truth But God also sent his son because he intended to to restore human

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Stewardship of the world back into the hands of people beginning with Jesus the firstfruits of a new creation

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Jesus gained the world from God as a gift for his obedience to God Hebrews 1 2 tells us how

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God gave the world over to Christ as an inheritance for his obedience when it Tells us that God has made

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Christ the heir Over all things all things means the universe So if it exists in material reality space and time it belongs to Christ He's gained it as a reward for his obedience

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That means that there's nothing in the cosmos that Christ does not own all of it is his

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Even says this directly in Matthew 28 18 when he says all authority in heaven and on earth has now been given to me

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He's saying that if there is authority available, it belongs to him He's saying that the world is his and he's gonna do with it exactly as he pleases

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He has all authority to reign and to rule over it He has all the authority that belongs to Kings and presidents and Popes and everyone else

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He's saying that all of the squatters who exist in this world who are living on his land and pretending that they get to make

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Decisions about his territory are actually going to be held to account Because his authority trumps theirs because they have none because he has it all

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He's saying that there is no authority outside of his authority which has massive implications now for the church

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So just to recap so far. We've said that God owns Everything he gave everything to Christ as a reward for his obedience

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Now we're gonna talk about how does this relate to the church? And again, this is gonna be extremely important when we think about and trying to understand the events of January the 6th

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So the church has a sure inheritance. That's what we're gonna talk about now When we think about America It does not belong to the left and it does not belong to the right and it does not belong to we the people every

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Square inch of this country and this world has been given over by God to Jesus for his obedience who?

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Appointed the church to be his stewards. Now. Do you see the connection with Genesis? God created the world out of his material

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So he owns it and he installed human beings to be his steward now the New Testament Jesus comes in and reclaims the sinful world

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God gives the world to Jesus as his possession and now Jesus is raising up human beings in his image and his likeness

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With the indwelling of his spirit to be his stewards on earth. That means that the church is

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Now in the same role as Adam was in the garden that we are reigning over the world as God's stewards

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That means that we have his authority and his backing Not the secular authorities, which is a pretty fascinating point

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In the same Gospel of Matthew that we read about earlier where Jesus has all authority in heaven on earth Now we see that he also is appointing his church

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To be the one who exercises his authority and to act in his name and to rule over his kingdom until he returns

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Now I don't want you to miss the point here Jesus owns the world and has put his church in charge of it

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That means that the church is in charge of the world. That means that the church is the rulers over the world

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That means that pastors who are in Christ Have more authority on this planet in the eyes of God than presidents

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That means that deacons have more authority than foreign dignitaries. That means that even the lowliest congregant in the smallest church has more say

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According to God, his plan, his intention in Christ than the most powerful dictators, kings, or potentiates

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Jesus says it like this And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it

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I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven and Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven

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Matthew 16 18 through 19 Now despite the poor exegesis that's come from this passage by both the

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Catholics and the Protestants Jesus is saying that he has given his authority to the church, that he's given power to the church in order to bind things on earth, loose things on earth, and extend his kingdom to the ends of the earth.

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That is the responsibility of the church and no secular government Actually has the power to do that.

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Now Secular governments still do exist and they still rule over the kingdom of man and some of them have great authority but what

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I'm saying is is that the lion's share of Jesus's authority, the majority of authority in the world is actually been given to the church

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The church is the one who continues to stand when every pagan nation crumbles And that's been true ever since the beginning

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Rome has crumbled into the dust, every other empire has crumbled into the dust And it will continue to be so until Jesus Christ returns.

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Every nation and tribe and tongue of people will rise up at some point and will fade away at some point, but the church of Jesus Christ will continue to stand

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His church will continue to advance when all other nations wane into oblivion and as Christians We need to remember that this world because of Christ is now ours to lead and steward

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The world belongs to him and he has put us as his slaves in charge of the world.

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That should give us great confidence and That should give us great authority and that should also teach us that the world does not rule over us

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That we actually have authority over the world But let's unpack that just a little bit more slowly and talk about how all of these teachings now

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Inform the way that we live and then we'll apply that back to January the 6th So let's unpack that.

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A Christian Does not have to live like a president or a party or a government

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Has some sort of limitless authority where they can tell us for instance that we can't gather and that we have to wear masks

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Then we have to take a vaccine that they've told us that we have to take. A lot of Christians are acting today Like secular governments have that level of authority over the church and they just don't

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The church Humbly submits to secular authority because of Romans 13 and other passages where where this is an example of our

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Submission to Jesus in the way that we submit to secular governments, but their authority is limited by the

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Word of God When they tell us that we cannot gather on a Sunday morning because of X Y or Z They have now stepped outside of their authority and they cannot actually make that demand

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When they tell us to do anything that violates the Word of God or Prohibits us from obeying the

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Word of God or tells us to do something that that would cause us to disobey the Word of God When they tell us to do any of that stuff

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Their authority ceases and we must obey God rather than man

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We don't behave Like we're afraid of government and we also don't behave like we're trying to win a culture war

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We don't wake up in the morning thinking that if we could just make the country Republican, then we could make it better We don't act like if we could just make the country

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Democrat then we can make it more free We don't engage in that kind of warfare because that kind of warfare doesn't matter

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This whole left -right senseless debate that's going on in this country right now is as Useless and as fruitless as watching two drunk men fighting in my backyard over what color they're gonna paint my bathroom

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It doesn't matter because they're not gonna do it. The left -right culture war doesn't matter because they're not going to win

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This is God's country and I'm not saying that as a southerner with this sort of, you know,

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God guns and country mentality I'm saying that every country on earth belongs to God and it's his say and he is the one who has authority not the world

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So we don't engage in this sort of senseless culture war that's happening right now We don't engage in the sort of January 6th insurrection mentality where we say that you know

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If if Trump would have just won the election then things would have been better or if the Democrats could just get control of those

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Crazy conservatives then everything would be better. We don't engage like that because that war that battle is stupid

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We don't angle ourselves into politics or try to get involved in the political sphere to try to win this generation's battle over this generation's

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Policy issue we just don't do that We live quiet and humble and confident lives

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Knowing that this world is already under our authority because of what Christ has done You see we're not hapless tender -hearted lapdogs waiting for Big Daddy government to pet us in between our beatings

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They don't have that authority over us. They may persecute us. Yes, but God is still in control We are not scared little orphans that are hoping and praying that the world would just take us in and love us and accept us

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And all of that. We don't need their acceptance. We have the acceptance of God. We don't need the world to like us

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We don't need the world to love us. We don't need the world to accept us We have all of those things in Jesus Christ, so we don't look to the world for those things

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What I'm trying to say is is that we are actually the true insurrectionist Not the grannies in the capital and and not anyone else.

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We are the true insurrectionists in this world Now let me make a qualification here

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We yes, we're good supposed to be humble and meek and we're commanded to live quiet and peaceful lives It says that in first Timothy 2 to says that all over the

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New Testament But what that means or what that does not mean is that we're gonna become weak impotent docile and fearful cowards

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To live a humble quiet and peaceful life does not mean that we become shivering

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Cowards because in fact it says in the Bible that cowards portion is the lake of fire

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The coward has the same portion as the murderer in the adulterer and all of that. So we need to as Christians stop

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Glamorizing this sort of docile and timid niceness that makes us Doormats for the world.

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We don't have to be that Quiet and peaceful does not mean cowardice.

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That's that's something we have to really understand We also need to understand that we're not afraid of the world

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Because we have a quiet confidence that we're already the victors. We already know that Christ wins the battle

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So why would we be afraid we can face persecution knowing that God is going to judge them for what they've done.

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We can face Trials of various kinds with joy as James says because we know that Christ has already overcome the world

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He says that in this world, you're gonna experience many troubles, but fear not have overcome the world You are a victor if you were in Christ So all of the people who are here trying to exert authority that they don't have and they're trying to hurt the church that doesn't belong to them and they're

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Exerting massive political pressure on Christians that they don't actually have We can allow them to do their worst to us knowing that God is gonna take care of us

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Either in this life or in the next sure. They may kill us. They may beat us.

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They may imprison us There may come a time in this country where speaking the gospel truth is going to get you arrested

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So be it let them lock us up and then we'll start a prison ministry why do we care what this world actually thinks or or Believes that they can do because our

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God is going to defend us either now or in eternity They are infringing upon his authority.

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And yes We will submit to the degree that we can submit and if they harm us we trust

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God It says vengeance is mine says the Lord So we're his stewards.

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We're his slaves We do what we're called to do we do it humbly and faithfully knowing that God owns the world and he will make all things right in his timing and We trust him

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Again, we're not quiet because we're nervous or afraid we're victors Think about it you don't have a reason to gloat if you're so far ahead and the score is so insurmountable that your opponent can't win in fact we are peaceable among dying men because we know that we're the ones who are gonna live forever and it gives us a sort of empathy for those who are who are raging in this world because they're gonna die and they're gonna burn in hell and that makes us want to share the gospel with Them so that they would be a part of the living

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We have this composed and quiet confidence this mature strength that propels us to call other people to join us in Building Jesus's kingdom right here and right now

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Remember you're only gonna build things on land that you think that you own You're not gonna go to your neighbor's house and build a shed

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You're gonna build a shed in your yard because you think you own it Well in the same way I want you to think that we are here to build

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God's kingdom because we really do believe that God owns this place that every Square inch of the earth is his so we're gonna build on it in faith knowing that he's gonna bless our efforts because it's his

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Property we know that he has set his church in charge of building his kingdom. That's never gonna end That's Daniel 2 44 and because of that we want all the secular squatters

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Regardless of which side that they fall on whether that's in conservative or liberal or whatever else we want them to either join the effort and to join in the inheritance of Christ or To get off his land and get out of the way as we build the kingdom of God if They fight for something that clearly belongs to God.

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Well, they're gonna get nothing even worse than nothing They're gonna get the portion that is for the wicked and the and the adulterers and the in all of that They're gonna get the lake of fire

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So for us we want to call people to repentance call them into the inheritance of God And if they reject it, we wait for God's vengeance because God's vengeance will be so much more severe than ours

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These kind of beliefs that I'm talking about this understanding that we don't own anything But we've been called stewards of everything leads us to work.

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It leads us to work actually really hard Knowing that the world is gonna hate us for that The world's gonna hate us when we tell them that we serve a better king than the one that they can put on their thrones

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And they're gonna hate us for saying that Our faith teaches us that we belong to a better nation than the one that we get our mail in which infuriates

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Those who have this sort of utopian Progressive dream that they're gonna make everything better because they have all the answers.

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They don't It also infuriates the conservative nationalists who think that you know We should just all sing kumbaya and and go back to the good old days and invest all of our efforts in rebuilding the

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America of the 1950s and all of that our faith teaches us that that nation was also sinful and That that nation is not a nation worth investing our lives in we don't die for America.

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We don't die for You know this country we die We bleed we live we work for the kingdom of God as Christians so that we can see the world remade in his image and his

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Likeness knowing that that is the only thing that's gonna make this world a better place We don't live for the advantage in the growth of America.

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We live for the kingdom of God We serve a better King which makes us the true insurrectionists

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The goal of Christianity is not just to save us and remove us from a broken world If Jesus wanted to do that, he could have done that but he left us here to build

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He left us here to preach the gospel He left us here to do stuff if all Jesus wanted us to do was have a harp on our own personal cloud that we could

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Have done that but he did not do that because that vision is ridiculous It's rooted in medieval thought and that's not according to God's vision

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He saved us so that he could put us to the work that he wanted us to do. That's Ephesians 2 10 That work is being a steward over his kingdom

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His kingdom began on the earth and it's going to continue on into eternity That means that we labor and we exercise authority on this planet so that both citizens and kings

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Would lay down their petty claims to authority and would bow their knee to the all -powerful Christ We labor so that squatters and thieves will become family members with Jesus and so that they will get to live

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Alongside of us and share in the inheritance that we have they own nothing right now the Kings with the most supposed power on earth the richest people like Elon Musk and and Jeff Bezos and all of those they own

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Nothing, they are living with borrowed property that in a moment can be taken away from them

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They have nothing that will get them out of this life and into eternity safely

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That is why we preach the gospel to all men. We preach the gospel to the lowest man and woman

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We preach the gospel to the highest man and the highest woman because we know that they have nothing unless they have

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Christ We are the true insurrectionist on This Eve of January 6th.

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We realize that we are the ones who are the true insurrectionist our weapons are The true weapons of true warfare and it's not flashbangs and picket signs and Molotov cocktails or any of that our weapons are the gospel of Jesus Christ the word that we declare to the nation's the prayers that we pray for or Revival the church services that we hold the fast that we fast for to see the gospel

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Penetrate the broken parts of this country and all over the world. These just normal means of grace are the weapons of warfare that God is going to use to make earth as it already is in heaven to Extend his authority on earth as it already is in heaven his rule as it already is in heaven

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He's going to use the church to build his kingdom here on earth until the last moment when he returns

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That's why we labor We labor in a posture of submission and humbleness and obedience to Christ to see

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Jesus overthrow secular nations and governments and kings who have no authority

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So that this entire world will bow the knee to the only King the King of Kings the one who has true authority

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Jesus Christ we labor Until everyone bows the knee to him or until he returns

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We are the true insurrectionist That is our identity and I want us as Christians on this eve of January 6 to remember that this war that we see playing out in society matters nothing the real war is

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Getting people to see and know and believe in Jesus Christ And that is the war that we wage and that is the war that we will continue to wage and I call you to arms my brothers and sisters in that war and I say thank you

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Thank you for listening to the podcast This is only the seventh episode and I really am thankful that that God is using this podcast to be able to speak

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Directly to the people of God and share frank truths that that maybe some people don't want to hear but need to hear

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So that we can grow in our walk and our faithfulness and our love for our King If you found this show helpful or if you find any of the content that we put out so far helpful

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I pray that you would that you would share it that you would use it that you would incorporate the things that we're talking about In this in your conversations with your friends that you would subscribe on the different channels like Apple Spotify YouTube or wherever else that we're gonna be posting this content

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But I pray that you would take what we're learning today and that you would apply it you'd meditate on it and you would begin

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Living like you really are already the victor. Don't live like you're the victim Don't live like anybody owns you other than Christ and Christ has put you over the world

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Live like that with quiet humble meek confidence knowing that you have authority in Christ until next time