The Persecuted Church in China

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On the morning of Saturday, September 1, 2018, one of China's leading house churches, Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, posted a joint statement on Facebook declaring its stance on the new religious regulations. So far, the document has been signed by 116 church leaders across the country. In this message, we look at their statement as an example of faithfulness in the face of persecution.

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I want to invite you to be seated, and that's a little different than our normal routine.
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I would normally ask you to stay standing for the reading of the word, and we will stand again in a moment, but before we do that, I need to share something with you.
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Most of you know that it is not my normal practice to depart from what I had planned to preach.
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I spend hours in preparation for my message, I pray, and I don't take the job of preaching lightly.
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Yet at the same time, there are occasions where the Lord strikes me, and this is not often, but he does strike me at times to proclaim a truth that is otherwise unscheduled, and yet fitting for the time.
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So if you open your worship folders, you'll see that the title of the message is supposed to be The Cup of Demons, but it is not the message for the morning.
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That will be a message for next week, Lord willing.
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Good morning.
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I am breaking my plan.
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I had planned to preach through 1 Corinthians without a break, and so far I had made it through Mother's Day, I had made it through even Resurrection Sunday without having to stop and do a particularly special message, but this morning I am burdened to preach on a subject that should be very near to all of us in our heart, and it's one that I'm afraid not too many people understand or even know about.
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And so I would ask for you, one, to pray for me as I preach, as this is not my normal method, and also to listen intently to what I'm going to say, because the issue at stake and the issue at hand is that there is a very powerful new wave of persecution which is falling on our brothers and sisters in China.
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And I think when we think about China, we often think it's so far away and so disconnected from who we are that we don't give it much thought.
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We don't give the people of China much thought, and this past week it was brought to my attention that this new danger that has arisen has caused the true church in China to stand up for themselves and make a statement of faith that when I read it, I was moved to my very core.
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Not because it's particularly deep theologically, even though it does mention some very sublime and profound divine truths, but just the power of the message that they proclaimed in this document.
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116 Chinese pastors signed this document and in doing so have essentially said to those who oppose them that I am willing to die for the truth of Christ.
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And I am so inspired by their commitment that I want to share with you today what they wrote and the text that we're going to use for today is in Matthew chapter 10.
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So if you'll open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 10, I want us to read this and then I'm going to have a short video clip.
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I don't ever show videos in a sermon.
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This is a different day today, but I want you to see what they're facing.
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It's only a minute video.
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I figure even though we're a reformed church, you can credit me this for another time.
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A minute and a half video, we'll call it a new day.
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But we're going to be in Matthew chapter 10.
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We're going to look at verses 16 to 22.
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And I want us to consider what Jesus says to us and to the whole church in this passage.
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Let's stand and read.
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This is the word of Jesus.
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It is his words.
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When he said to his apostles, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
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So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
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Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues.
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And you will be dragged before governors and kings for my namesake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
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When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say.
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For what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.
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For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you.
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Brother will deliver brother over to death.
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And the father, his child and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
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And you will be hated by all for my namesake.
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But the one who endures to the end shall be saved.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth of the word.
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I thank you for our brothers and sisters in China who are right now facing the persecution.
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That if they are unwilling to give state-sponsored sermons and state-sponsored churches with state-sponsored music.
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If they are unwilling to do that, Father.
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If they are unwilling to bow the knee to state before Christ.
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Then they are facing persecution and destruction and imprisonment.
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Father, we don't understand that.
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Many of us have not lived long enough to see that in our land.
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And yet we know that no land and no government is beyond perpetuating such things.
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So Father, today as we pray and we preach regarding the church in China.
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I pray first that you would fill me with your spirit.
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Give me your word to say today to your people.
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To remind them that we are not alone.
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And we have brothers and sisters who are hurting, who are imprisoned.
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And we need to stand for them.
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We need to stand with them.
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We need to pray for them.
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We need to know that they know that we love them.
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More so, Lord, that you love them.
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Father, as I preach, I pray that you would keep me from error.
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This is not my.
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This is not how I normally preach.
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And thus, today, I ask for a special measure of grace.
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To preach your word, to preach the truth with power and conviction.
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And I pray, oh, God, that you would do what only you can do.
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And that is open hearts to hear, ears to hear and hearts to believe.
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This morning for the unbeliever who came this morning.
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Father, I pray that you would convert their soul.
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Or whoever they may be, Lord, that this might be a day that they see.
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That Christianity is not just an American thing.
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It is not just a Southern thing.
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But that Christianity, the true Christ, is worshipped in true churches all around the world.
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And he is worthy to be praised and worthy to be worshipped.
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Worthy to be followed.
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Even to death.
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And it's in his name we pray.
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Amen.
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One article that I read this week in preparation for today's message.
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Stated this.
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China's persecution of Christians is at its highest level since Mao.
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That's the change that has happened.
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And it's happened only in a few short months.
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I want to watch this video.
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Again, it's very short.
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Just to give you an idea of what's happening.
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And then I'm going to read to you a little bit more on the subject.
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This rubble is all that remains of what once was a church in central China's Henan province.
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In January, dozens of police and government officials, armed with swords, smashed it to pieces.
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Scores of churches like this have been dismantled as part of a crackdown on religion by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party.
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It's the most systematic suppression of Christianity in China since religious freedom was written into the constitution in 1982.
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Authorities have also seized Bibles, and at least one township has encouraged Christians to replace posters of Jesus with portraits of Xi.
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Those who resist pay the price.
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After Pastor Jin Mingri refused local authorities' request to install surveillance cameras inside his house church, police individually questioned hundreds of members of the 1,500-person congregation.
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The U.S.-based nonprofit China Aid says China's pressure has pushed several dozen pastors and their families to flee to the United States in recent years.
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This church was totally destroyed.
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You can tell.
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Massive new wave of persecution has been happening in China.
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I mean, I'm talking about hundreds of thousands of churches were shut down.
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Pastors were being arrested, and the prayer meeting were being raided.
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And even sentenced, you know, 13 years, 10 years.
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The crackdown on Christianity is part of a broader push against all religions in China.
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Okay, you can mute it and turn that back off.
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That last part is important because I do want to be very honest in saying that this persecution that's happening in China isn't happening to only Christians, but it is happening to people of all different faiths who will not abide by the state-approved religious organization.
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If they are unwilling to abide by this is what the state says you can sing, this is what it says you can't.
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And a lot of the songs, mind you, are songs which praise the state as almost deification of the state.
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And there are Muslims who are in the same situation being persecuted, being sent to camps where they are getting re-education for their beliefs.
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And so this is not something that's unique to Christians.
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But where it's really creating what I think is important is it's creating for the churches that were existing and were building in China.
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And they were seeing thousands a day come to Christ.
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I think we can't even imagine seeing some of this.
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This is what they're going against because they want people who are obedient to the state rather or first before they're obedient to God.
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The Washington Times wrote an article and quoted Mr.
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Fu, the pastor who you just saw in the video.
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And I want to read just a few things from this article that I pulled out.
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Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of China Aid, said the number of people arrested in China for exercising their religious freedom has reached the highest level since the end of the Cultural Revolution.
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He cited internal figures showing a nearly fivefold increase in the number of Christians who were persecuted by the government last year.
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This is his quote.
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For Christians alone, last year we documented the persecution of 1,265 churches with the number of people persecuted over 223,000.
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And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
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In 2016, there were 762 cases of persecution, according to our documentation, and the number of people persecuted, 48,000.
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It's almost five times as much in the real numbers.
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Those are just the numbers of the statistics.
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He said China Aid knows of 3,700 churches, rather 3,700 Christians who were arrested just in 2017, up from 3,500 the previous year.
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Some religious dissenters and human rights activists have been detained for years with their families left to wonder if they're even still alive.
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The spike in Christian persecution comes as critics say political and religious freedoms have been curtailed under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who will, as Mr.
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Fu has said, go down in history as a sort of Chairman Mao Jr., who is trying to carry out his own cultural revolution.
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Mr.
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Fu said the government has used a number of tactics to suppress religious expression in China, from cutting the electricity and water to churches to demolishing them outright.
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In January, government officials dynamited the Golden Lampstand Church, one of the largest evangelical churches in the northern Shaanxi province.
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Other strategies include destroying crosses, confiscating Bibles, censoring certain passages, and installing pulpit cameras that can recognize faces so that they know who is participating in these things and who is teaching them, and sending believers to re-education camps.
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In February, more than 100 Christians and other religious minorities were sent to these camps known as Mind Transformation Centers in the northwestern Xinjiang region, World Watch Monitor reported.
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One woman said that she lost contact with her husband, a leader in the community of Christians, after he was sent to one of the re-education centers, and she said, and I quote, I don't know where my husband is right now, but I believe that God still uses him in prison or camps.
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Sometimes I'm worried that he doesn't have enough clothes to keep him warm in prison.
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The Voice of the Martyrs said this, Though many religions are being persecuted, Christians appear to be the hardest hit.
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The Three Self-Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Society are the government-approved churches where Christians may worship legally.
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The loyalty of these groups is first to the government and then to the church.
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Children under the age of 18 may not legally attend any church.
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Millions of believers choose to worship at illegal house churches rather than register with the government, despite the threat of persecution, torture and prison.
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China's present crackdown is putting more believers in prison or under detention than any other country.
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The confiscation of church property and Bibles continues, even Bibles that were printed by the government themselves.
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As a result, on the morning of Saturday, September 1st, 2018, and that's why this is all today.
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This is why I'm preaching on this today.
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You say, well, this has been going on for a while.
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Why is it today? And on September 1st, 2018, only a few weeks ago, one of China's leading house churches, the Early Reign Covenant Church in Chengdu, posted a joint statement on Facebook declaring its stance against the new regulations.
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And so far, the document has been signed by 116 church leaders and that is growing.
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And this is an interesting and important document for the ongoing development of the house church's response to the new regulations, particularly as the church continues to reflect and articulate its theology of the gospel in the kingdom.
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Rather than resorting to language of liberty and rights, they're proclaiming the kingdom and the gospel.
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Along with Early Reign's 95 theses, documents like this are important to the history of the church in China and should encourage Christians across the world.
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Now, before I read this document to you, and I am going to read it, and by the way, I made copies for you.
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When I came in this morning, I printed 25 copies.
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That may not be enough for everyone, but it may be enough for every family.
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So please take one per family and if we need more, we'll make them.
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But I made a copy of this document.
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It's sitting right on the narthex table as you leave.
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So don't try to write down everything I say as you're hearing this.
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Just listen and take one home and pray.
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Put it on wherever you put your prayer list and pray for these Christians.
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It's easy for us to separate ourselves from this.
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They're so far away from us.
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But as I read this document, I want you to know, as I read this to my children and my heart was knitted to these pastors.
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I don't know if you know what I mean by that.
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Literally, I felt like I was one of them.
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And I'm not.
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I'm not suffering persecution right now.
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As Brother Mike said, we don't know what that even feels like because we live in a land that doesn't do this to us.
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Not saying that it couldn't happen, even within a generation, it certainly could.
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But my heart is knitted to them because of their faith.
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My heart is knitted to them because of what they're saying and what they're standing for.
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And I wanted you to hear it.
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This to me is a gospel proclamation.
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It's more than standing for who they are as Christians.
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It's standing for what it means to be a Christian.
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And I'm going to quote Brother Mike and hope he doesn't get upset with me.
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But we talked last night about this.
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And he said, he said, if I had to choose between this and the Baptist faith and message, I'd choose this all the time.
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This is a statement of faith.
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It's a statement of who we are as believers.
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So I want to read it to you.
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And I'll make comments as I go.
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And then I've written a few out a few points of application when we're finished.
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This is a joint statement by pastors, a declaration for the sake of the Christian faith.
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We are a group of Chinese Christians chosen by the most high God to be his humble servants, serving as pastors for Christian churches throughout various towns and cities.
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We believe and are obligated to teach the world that the one true and living triune God is the creator of the universe, of the world and all of people.
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All men should worship God and not any man or thing.
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We believe and are obligated to teach the world that all men, from national leaders to beggars and prisoners, have sinned.
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They will die once and then be judged in righteousness.
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Apart from the grace and redemption of God, all men would eternally perish.
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We believe and are obligated to teach the world that the crucified and risen Jesus is the only head of the global church, the sole savior of all mankind and the everlasting ruler and supreme judge of the universe.
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To all who repent and believe in him, God will give life and an eternal kingdom.
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That's just the first paragraph.
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Think of what was in just that.
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An affirmation of God's choice of them.
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He had chosen them by his sovereign decree.
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An affirmation of the triune nature of God, that he is Trinity.
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An affirmation that all men, regardless of station in life, are sinners before God who is holy.
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And that every man will die one day and face the judgment of God.
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And that the only way to be right with that God who will judge is through the Lord Jesus Christ, the only savior for any man or woman or anyone.
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This is the gospel.
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This is what knits us together.
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With these people that are literally on the other side of our planet and yet proclaim the same Christ and the same God and the same truth.
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Just that first paragraph, I'm working on a way to turn just that into a tract.
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This is pray for China on one side and this is the belief that they have and we should have and proclaim.
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Because it's simple yet profound in its simplicity.
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And here's the thing, the things that they're saying is what they're being told not to say.
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They go on, this next section they explain why they're making the statement.
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In September 2017, the state council issued the new regulations on the administration of religious affairs and began implementing these regulations in February 2018.
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Ever since then, Christian churches across China have suffered varying degrees of persecution, contempt and misunderstanding from government departments during public worship and religious practices including various administration, administrative measures that attempt to alter and distort the Christian faith.
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Some of these violent actions are unprecedented since the end of the cultural revolution.
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These include demolishing crosses on church buildings, violently removing expressions of faith like crosses and couplets hanging on Christians' homes, forcing and threatening churches to join religious organizations controlled by the government and threatening or rather forcing churches to hang the national flag or to sing secular songs praising the state and political parties, banning the children of Christians from entering churches and receiving religious education and depriving churches and believers of the right to gather freely.
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This is their expression of what they're facing.
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This isn't some news outlet a million miles away or somebody who's writing an op-ed piece in the local paper.
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This is them who are facing it.
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This is what we've seen.
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Our children can't even go.
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Under the threat of persecution, why do they want the children out? Because who cares about you? It's the next generation that's going to be.
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We get the children.
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We have the world.
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They go on.
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We believe that these unjust actions are an abuse of government power and have led to serious conflicts between political and religious parties in Chinese society.
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These actions infringe on the human freedoms of religion and conscience and violate the universal rule of law.
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We are obligated to announce bad news to the authorities and to all of society.
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God hates all attempts to suppress human souls and all acts of persecution against the Christian church and He will condemn and judge them with righteous judgment.
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That's a bold statement.
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I tell you bad news.
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God hates what you're doing.
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That's bold.
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That's a boldness rarely seen.
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This isn't a document of appeasement.
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It's a document of stance.
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God hates what you're doing to the church.
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He hates what you're doing to men's souls.
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You know, this is similar to what Martin Luther said to the Catholic church.
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You are killing men's souls.
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You're murderers.
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But that's not all because this is what they go on to say.
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But we are even more obligated to proclaim good news to the authorities and to all of society.
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See, we've told you the bad news.
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God hates what you're doing.
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We've told you the bad news.
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You're under the judgment of God.
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But we are more obligated to tell you the good news.
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And this is the good news.
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Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the Savior and King of mankind, in order to save us sinners, was killed, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God, destroying the power of sin and death.
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In His love and compassion, God has prepared forgiveness and salvation for all who are willing to believe in Jesus, including Chinese people.
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At any time, anyone can repent of any sin, turn to Christ, fear God, obtain eternal life, and bring great blessing from God upon his family and country.
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Amen.
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This is their proclamation.
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We have bad news.
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You've sinned.
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You are killing men's souls.
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You're dangerous.
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And what you're doing is deadly.
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But the good news is Christ died and He offers forgiveness even to you.
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For the sake of faith and conscience, for the spiritual beliefs of the authorities in China, and of society as a whole, and ultimately for the glory, holiness, and righteousness of God, we make the following declaration to the Chinese government and to all society.
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This is their four points.
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This is the four points that they're going to make.
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This is their stand.
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Number one, Christian churches in China believe unconditionally that the Bible is the word and revelation of God.
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Isn't that awesome that that's the foundation? That's number one.
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It is the source and final authority of all righteousness, ethics, and salvation.
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If the will of any political party, the laws of any government, or the commands of any man directly violate the teachings of the Bible, harming men's souls, and opposing the gospel proclaimed by the church, we are obligated to obey God rather than men, and we are obligated to teach all members of the church to do the same.
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The word of God.
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That's one.
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I told you my heart's knitted to what they're saying.
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This is the truth.
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This is the foundation.
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Number two, Christian churches in China are eager and determined to walk the path of the cross of Christ and are more willing to imitate the older generation of saints who suffered and were martyred for their faith.
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More than willing to imitate those who suffered and were martyred.
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We are willing and obligated under any circumstance to face all government persecution, misunderstanding, and violence with peace, patience, and compassion.
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For when churches refuse to obey evil laws, it does not stem from any political agenda.
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It does not stem from resentment or hostility.
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It stems only from the demand of the gospel and from a love for Chinese society.
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When we disobey you, it's not because we hate you, it's because we love what is right.
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We don't hate what you're doing, or we don't hate you, we hate what you're doing, and we love the truth.
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This isn't political.
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We're not doing this because we want to start a new party.
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We're doing this because we love the truth.
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More than even our own lives.
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Number three.
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Christian churches in China are willing to obey authorities in China whom God has appointed and to respect the government's authority to govern society and human conduct.
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We believe and are obligated to teach all believers in church that the authority of the government is from God and that as long as the government does not overstep the boundaries of secular power laid out in the Bible and does not interfere with or violate anything related to faith or the soul, Christians are obligated to respect the authorities, to pray fervently for their benefit, and to pray earnestly for Chinese society.
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For the sake of the gospel, we are willing to suffer all external losses brought about by unfair law enforcement.
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Out of a love for our fellow citizens, we are willing to give up our earthly rights.
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See, they're saying we are not renegades.
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We are not anarchists.
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We're willing to obey the laws where the laws are just.
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But when the laws tell us we can't obey God and we can't obey Christ, then we disobey the law.
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And we're willing to give up our rights for it.
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This is not, beloved, this is not to them an exercise in some kind of ethereal project.
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This is life for them.
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It's what they're facing right now.
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This is real.
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Fourth and finally, and then I'll move to my application.
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The fourth thing that they write.
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For this reason, we believe and are obligated to teach all believers that all true churches in China that belong to Christ must hold to the principles of the separation of church and state and must proclaim Christ as the sole head of the church.
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Now, let me tell you this.
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Some of you guys get upset about the church state thing, and you've heard that phrase before.
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Before I go any further, let me explain something.
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The division of church and state is actually a good thing because you do not want the state to come and tell the church what to preach.
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You do not want the state to come and tell the church what it can sing and how it must worship.
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And so the division of church and state is a necessary division.
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The state has its role.
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The Bible says the government bears the sword for the purpose of bringing justice upon the evildoer.
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Romans chapter 13.
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And there is a purpose for the state in doing that.
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But the state does not have the right, according to the word of God, to tell someone how to worship.
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And that's what they're saying when they say we believe in the division of church and state.
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So just don't get confused by that.
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Christ is the sole head of the church.
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We declare that in matters of external conduct, churches are willing to accept lawful oversight in civil administration or other government departments as other social organizations do.
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But under no obligation will we lead our churches to join a religious organization controlled by the government to register with the religious administration department or accept any kind of affiliation.
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We will not accept any ban or fine imposed on our churches because of our faith.
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For the sake of the gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses, even the loss of freedom and our lives.
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And that's how the document ends.
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We are willing to bear the loss.
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Beloved, I opened this morning by reading from Matthew 10.
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And Jesus said to His apostles, He said in that passage, He said, There is going to be loss which comes in knowing Me.
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There's going to be loss which comes in following Me.
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There's going to be times when you may even have to go to court and defend yourself.
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And it may even be that you're defending yourself against members of your own family.
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Brother will rise up against brother.
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Father will turn His child over and children will rise up against their parents.
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Jesus said this will happen.
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And it has happened in the history of the church.
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We have seen it and we're seeing it even today in certain places.
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And beloved, don't think for a second that there's anything that would keep it from coming here.
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We look at the Chinese and we mourn for them.
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But we ought to also know that this is not something that is.
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I mean, think of the generation below my own, which is being force fed the idea that what we need in America to really save us is communism and socialism.
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It is communism that leads to this type of worship of the state.
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As the father and the deity.
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The very God that is to be praised.
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To be petitioned.
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And to be loved.
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I have a few points of application that I'd like to make and then I'm going to draw to a close.
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And again, if this is your first time with us this morning, it may seem a little weird to you.
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But this is to me.
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This is the.
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This is a.
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This is.
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Our hearts need to know this.
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Our minds need to know this.
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We need to know who to pray for.
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We need to know what to pray about.
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And we need to know what this document says to us.
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And here.
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Here are this.
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Here's what I believe this document says to us.
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And I don't.
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I don't want everybody fidgeting and sitting there writing.
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If you want the eight.
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I have eight points of application.
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I'll give them to you.
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Just just pay attention.
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Focus on what I'm saying.
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Because these things I want to make sure you take from this.
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Number one.
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God's elect are in every country of the world.
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And we are united with them by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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God's elect are in every country.
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But don't you ever think for a second.
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That God only exists in churches in America.
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Or in southern America.
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Or in our church.
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We do not stand alone.
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We do not draw the circle around ourselves.
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And say we're the only ones.
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God's elect are all around the world.
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And we stand together as the body of Christ.
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It's a small bride when compared to the lost.
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But it's not a small bride.
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In the sense of the fact that God is saving souls.
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Voice of the Martyr said there was a time when it was 3,000 a day in China were coming.
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And I believe that these persecutions are going to lead to even more.
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As men of God.
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As the reformation proved.
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When men of God are forced to stand for God.
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In the midst of persecution.
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God lights a fire within their hearts.
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That brings revival and reformation.
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Such that the world has not seen.
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So God's elect are in every country.
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God's people who are unified by the gospel.
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Number two.
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A commitment to preaching God's word.
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Causes the truth to rise above any cultural or geographical difference.
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Let me say that again.
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I had a hard time writing this one.
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I was trying to get it.
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This is my point.
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A commitment to the preaching of God's word.
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Causes the truth to rise above any cultural or geographical difference.
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Are we different than the people in China in how we live? Are we different in how we work? In how we socialize? In what we eat? All of those things are different.
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But the preaching of the word of God.
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Knits our souls together.
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Because that truth rises above culture.
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And it rises above geography.
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And it rises above what we look like.
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And it rises above what we sound like.
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Because the word of God.
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That truth.
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Is what binds us.
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Number three.
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There is a genuine hatred of the gospel in this world.
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That's a simple one.
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But we see it.
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I mean you saw it in the video.
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You see it in the world.
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I mean.
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The hatred for the gospel.
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Not just among the secular atheists.
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Not just among those who do not have affections for Christ.
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But among those in power.
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Who see Christ as a threat.
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Because they want the knee bowed to them.
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Rather than to Christ.
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Do you realize at the time that the new testament was written.
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The phrase.
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Jesus is Lord.
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That statement was in rebellion against another statement.
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Caesar is Lord.
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It didn't matter how you worshipped.
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As long as you were willing to say first.
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Caesar is Lord.
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As long as you were willing to say Caesar is Lord.
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You can say anything you wanted after that.
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But it was the church that said no.
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Not Caesar is Lord.
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Jesus is the only Lord.
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And to the state that is rebellion.
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And hatred of the gospel.
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Number four.
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As ambassadors of Christ and his gospel.
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The church is the object of that hatred.
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As ambassadors of Christ.
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The church is the object of the world's.
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The world that hates the gospel.
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Hates the church.
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Because the church stands as the representative body.
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Of that gospel.
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Number five.
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The church should never expect.
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The perpetual protection.
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Of any government.
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I've said this before.
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And I've said this more to the elders.
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And in business meetings.
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But I may have said it from the pulpit.
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I've said the one thing that we need to realize in churches.
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Is that there's probably going to come a day in my lifetime.
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Where all of the fringe benefits we get of being churches from the government.
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Will probably go away.
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That means things like tax exemption.
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Things that help us financially.
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Will probably go away.
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And more quickly than you might realize.
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I don't even know if some of you know this.
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Do you realize that John MacArthur's school.
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The Masters University.
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Is right now having to fight over accreditation issues.
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They're arguing because not enough women teaching.
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In their seminary.
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Not enough diversity in what is taught.
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And so they're dealing with issues of accreditation.
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One of the best Bible schools in the United States.
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May one day be an uncredited one.
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Unaccredited one.
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You say why does that matter? Maybe it doesn't.
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Maybe it shouldn't.
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But we got to learn to live with that as churches.
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Would you give to the church.
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If you knew that none of it was tax deductible.
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And at the end of the year it's not going to help you.
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Some people wouldn't.
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You understand what I'm saying? That's a small sacrifice.
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But it is a sacrifice I believe is coming.
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I'm no prophet nor a son of a prophet.
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But I can look and I can tell you.
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These are the things that I think are down the road for us.
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Churches being told what they can and cannot say.
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What they can and cannot preach.
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That's what's happening in China.
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They're being told you can and cannot say this.
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You can and cannot preach this.
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And we shouldn't just say.
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We live under the safety of the Constitution.
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Let me tell you something.
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I've heard many people in our government today.
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Who would say it's just a piece of paper.
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It means nothing to me.
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We have had a lot of protections.
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And we have had noble men and women.
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Who have been willing to stand for that.
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But will it continue? Number six.
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As Christians.
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And again I'm drawing these applications from what they wrote.
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So this may seem like it's coming out of left field.
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But don't let it.
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Number six.
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As Christians we are called to be faithful citizens who obey the law.
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They said that in the document.
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I hate when I hear of Christian anarchy.
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If we are being called to obey just laws.
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We obey just laws.
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We don't rebel simply for the sake of rebellion.
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When Luther and others rebelled during the reformation.
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They weren't rebelling against something that was just.
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Jesus healed soldiers.
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And he even recognized the authority of Pilate.
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Who was an evil governor.
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Number seven goes with number six.
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Number six is we are called to be faithful citizens who obey the law.
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That's true.
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But number seven is also true.
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When the law makes us choose between God and men.
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We must choose God.
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This is what Peter said.
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You've told us not you in the book of Acts.
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When they're brought in.
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They said you do not preach in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He asked should we obey you or God.
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And it was a rhetorical question.
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Because the answer is obvious.
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We will obey God.
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But with that obedience to God.
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May come persecution.
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I'm not here trying to frighten you or scare you.
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Or paint the red boogeyman in the bushes.
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You know the communist boogeyman in the bushes.
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But what I am saying to you.
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Is that this is reality in the life of people today.
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This isn't something they read about in a history book.
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This is something.
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They wrote this document less than a month ago.
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Because of what they're living in today.
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Number eight.
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And this is my last point of application.
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God blesses his church.
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Even in the midst of persecution.
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People say oh I'm afraid persecution is going to come.
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Because it will destroy the church.
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Beloved.
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Number one.
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Jesus said this.
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I will build my church.
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And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
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So that's the promise.
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If you ever just need to be reminded of the promise.
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Go and listen to the words of Jesus.
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When he said I will build my church.
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And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
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In fact when the gates of hell are closest.
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When the gates of hell are pushing in.
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When the gates of hell are fighting at their hardest.
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That is when the Lord's people stand up and are counted.
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As Mike said in his prayer earlier.
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One of the things that we have seen in America.
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Because of the lack of persecution.
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Is a rise in false conversion.
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Because it costs nothing.
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To be called a Christian.
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Not in our land.
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And the reality is this is easy for me to preach.
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There's no camera on my pulpit.
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There's no soldiers waiting outside to interrogate me.
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No one is threatening to take away my children.
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Like you I live in relative comfort.
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And I can't understand what these believers are dealing with.
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But as I said I truly believe that given the time.
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Such persecution can reach us.
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People are wildly abandoning.
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The liberties they have with little care.
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Because they don't understand how valuable they are.
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And I believe it is possible that as I said my children.
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I have a child who is just about to turn one.
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Which means before she's an adult.
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We will have gone through four or five presidential election cycles.
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And several cycles of leadership and law making.
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And judge choosing.
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And no one knows what that will bring.
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But we know this.
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God has given 116 pastors.
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In China.
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The grace to stand.
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In the midst of persecution.
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And if we will but trust him.
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God will grace us the same stand.
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I can easily say I stand with these men today.
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Because I'm standing not against a gun or against a threat.
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But will we stand when the time comes? Will we face the day boldly when our turn comes? We will only by the grace of God.
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Let's pray.
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Father your word is so powerful.
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And when we see men and women who are living out your word.
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Who are literally living out the picture of what it means to follow Christ.
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Forsaking all things.
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Trusting in him.
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And being as it were willing sheep to the slaughter.
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Lord we are amazed.
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We are brought almost to our knees in awe.
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That your grace can so strengthen a heart.
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To give them such boldness to speak.
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And Lord God we look at ourselves.
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And we say sometimes we don't even have the boldness to preach the gospel to our neighbor.
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We don't even have the boldness to preach the gospel to our family or to our friends.
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Father how weak we have become.
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I pray that your grace would strengthen us.
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I pray that we would take inspiration from the boldness of our Chinese brethren.
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That we would lift them up in prayer.
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That you would be with them.
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And that they would be to us.
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As it were like a light shining.
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Lord not that we would look at them like Christ.
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But that we would look at them like the other heroes of the faith.
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Down through the ages we've seen men.
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Like Athanasius and Augustine.
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Like Calvin and Luther.
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Like George Whitfield.
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Like Jonathan Edwards.
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Like John MacArthur and R.C.
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Sproul.
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Men who have stood for the faith.
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Lord may we be so inspired.
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So encouraged by these men.
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But more so filled with your spirit.
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As they were.
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To proclaim your truth.
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No matter the cost.
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In Jesus name we pray.
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Amen.