67. How To Make America Great Again In Nine Biblical Steps

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Welcome back to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 67 how to make

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America great again in nine biblical steps Paddling up the

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Niagara Then erotic optimism accompanying the American quadrennial election cycle seems as cockamamie and asinine to me as A man attempting to ride his homemade rowboat up the

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Niagara Falls With a horde of angry tourists eagerly watching on in pure bewilderment.

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I want you to picture the hapless virtuoso of absurdity paddling with finesse of a drunken lifeguard

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Flapping as frantically against the currents as a penguin in a cheer competition Nearing ever so closely to the aquatic torrent of a 3 ,000 ton wall of falling water

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Thinking that he could scale that mass with such misplaced bravado Only to be consumed by the avalanche of its fury

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Now as ridiculous as that sounds every four years. We are invited into the same kind of cultural absurdity

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Each election were presented with a new brand of ideologue Who will bring about the change that we can believe in who will make

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America great again? And who will help us all build back better? Yet like the magnificent fool paddling with a boundless reservoir of natural stupidity change

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American greatness and cultural betterment never come The reason for this cannot be any more obvious We were not meant to rowboat against the currents to travel up waterfalls in the exact same way

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That change doesn't happen from the top down More simply politics flow downstream of culture

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Culture is downstream of the family and the definition of insanity Would be for the

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American people to get trapped in an endless cycle of mindless optimism Thinking well, you know this candidate will be different But he won't or she won't

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There's one thing the American people are really good at they are incomparably resilient

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Against all evidence of the contrary over and then over again against everything that we've seen and experienced in every political season

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We dutifully dawn our little rowboat once again Just like the madman falling for the same old lines expecting that this time it will all be different, but it isn't

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Each time we come underneath the mountain of watery lies instead of turning around and abandoning that We keep trudging on until all we've done is drown ourself in blind political positivism once again

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My hope in this article is that we would stop getting wet With our culture's lies and that we would change our minds to a biblical perspective

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Today, I want to paint a different picture on how to make America great again

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I want to posit real change that you and I can actually believe in And I want to give us all a robust Christian manifesto for when

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America crumbles How can we actually build it back better if all that sounds good and lovely to you then onward

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Christian soldiers we go Changing our perspective When the faithful pull back the societal curtain to survey the smorgasbord of today's cultural malaise

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Feelings of disgust and confusion and shock Inevitably rise to the fore if that's not happening then stop what you were doing and check your pulse

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With that out of the way, it is normal for Christians to feel like aliens in this godforsaken land

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For many of us and by the many I mean those who were not born yesterday We remember the good old days about five minutes ago when girls could not have penises when teenagers at least

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Needed parental consent before they can murder their babies in utero and where it was Biologically impossible for men to have periods and to get pregnant

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Apparently the grown -ups are now in charge and the reality that they bring is on full morbid display

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Clinging to such antiquated myths and fables these days, you know like biblical truth

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Will land you in the same company as the flat earthers and the science deniers, whatever that means

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And yet the same body politic that is viewing us as the moral dinosaurs are the same ilk that are beckoning us to participate in their futile flawed and fledgling system a

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System that has produced both Democrats and Republicans ad nauseum that fill the highest levels of power

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But without doing anything that we can view as change at least not that we can believe in This is because top -down politics do not work they don't make the country better they make it inevitably worse

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Politicians are not the makers of godly culture. They are the products of culture

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We have corrupt leaders because we are in evil people and not the other way around Therefore we must understand that the problem the fundamental

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Problem that is ailing this society runs much deeper than a ballot box if we want to change the world this nation included then we need a plan that runs much deeper than the

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Superficial two -party system that we have been offered We must also realize that we live in a microwave culture.

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That's no longer patient enough to wait for the brisket on the smoker We want our change to happen yesterday and we can barely stomach a solution has to be worked out over decades

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We want seconds Yet that is precisely how we got here We got here by refusing to engage this rotting culture for all about a hundred years now

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While it willingly marinates slowly in its own scuba lawn We need a bottom -up biblical approach with the long view in mind a nine -step biblical approach step one the conversion of sinners

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While the cultural Marxists continue to goad us into joining the next half -baked revolution

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Christians must plot along faithfully and locally sharing the gospel with anyone and everyone who will listen acts 1 8

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We don't march into the halls of power and demand anything from our pagan overlords at least not initially

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We humbly labor wherever we are so that men and women wherever we are will know

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Jesus Which is precisely the model that we see in the book of Acts Whenever the faithful are parachuted into a godless world where exactly no one around them has a biblical worldview

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The very first step is not to elect a president. The first step is to declare the gospel

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Some people are gonna reject that message and others will be converted by it. But our job is to preach it boldly lovingly truthfully forcefully and joyfully if We want a

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Christian culture the step one is we must begin by making Christians step 2 the discipling of believers

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Now after someone is converted we do not notch our Big Eva Billy Graham sized belts plastering our conversion numbers on an 8k

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Giga screen so that an overstuffed room of mega church consumers can be entertained

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Unlike Lady Gaga and many in evangelicalism, we're not in it for the applause but for the obedience of God Instead of letting new converts slip through the proverbial cracks, which is a flaw of evangelicalism for about a half a century now

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Leaving them ill -equipped and unprepared for the Christian life. Instead. We've been commanded by Jesus to disciple new believers

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This means baptizing new believers and their children into the local visible church and teaching them what it means to obey

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Christ and all of life Matthew 28 18 through 20 So if you want a

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Christian culture Then instead of electing a president we must first make converts and then we must teach them how to live like Christians excursus the benefit of numbers one and two

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Now if the first two steps mentioned above convert sinners and then disciple Christians if those two steps were undertaken with any degree of Regularity, then we would not be in the current predicament that we are in if men were taught how to honor

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God with their Masculinity imagine such a reality and if women were shown how to honor the

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Lord as godly beautiful feminine women the vast majority of the stink

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Would not have settled into our nation's wound if America is lopped off because of the disgusting gangrene moral decay that has happened by our great physician

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Then those who stood idly by when the first whiff of stink surfaced are gonna have some explaining to do

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Step three the restoration of biblical marriage Once men and women understand what it means to walk with Christ following their

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God -ordained design The next goal for the local church would be to help facilitate Godly marriages and this will undoubtedly

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Cover about three things number one. The church must help teenagers young adults and other singles prepare well for a biblical marriage

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We must help them prepare number two. The church must help single shrewdly identify potential suitors

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Righteously court them and to make it to the altar in purity and fidelity. That's number two number three

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We must come alongside current marriages to work through their idolatry to slog through their conflicts and God -honoring ways and to help them learn the blessing of blissful matrimony so that all of our marriages and all of our churches

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Reflect the glorious and eternal marriage of Christ and his church If we want a

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Christian culture Converts must be converted. They must be discipled and then they must enter into Christian thoroughly

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Christian marriages number four a revival of parenting

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When God designed marriages, they were not just sex permitting static hangouts for heterosexual adults that are going nowhere

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Marriages were intended to take over the world They were to be filled with intimate Covenantal lovemaking that produced godly offspring who would then be equipped to rule over subdue and bring

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God's dominion Over the untamed earth Genesis 128 in this way men and women were designed to become fathers and mothers who?

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Inculcate God's mandate for culture into the lives of their offspring When this happens generation of faithful believers join their parents in the offense pushing back the chaos reclaiming territory for the

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Lord their God in Eden this task would have been very simple if Adam and Eve had not sinned there would have been no chaos and they would have eventually filled the garden full of people and It would have become so full that they would have had to extend its boundaries so that a larger civilization could flourish

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With with larger area and they would have done this repeatedly on and on and on again until the entire world was filled

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With worshipers until Eden's boundaries could no longer be extended and the whole world was filled with godly people this was

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God's very good plan to begin locally and to Spread out globally and you can search all throughout the scriptures.

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You can go from Genesis all the way to Revelation There is nothing in the Bible that overturns that Good plan.

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In fact The plan has been restored in the redemption of Jesus Christ When pagans are converted and discipled into believers and baptized into the local church, we're reclaiming the world

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So that they may enter into godly marriages so that they can produce children The goal is not childlessness for a marriage now while some may experience infertility due to the fall and others may

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May opt not to have children for reason for some reasons and they can work that out with their pastors The goal of a biblical marriage is not childlessness

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It is for men and women to produce children and to raise them up in the fear and admonition of the lord

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So if we want a christian culture Then christians must be discipled to enter into fruitful multiplying ruling and subduing marriages that produce godly children and many of them step five

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The family as a missionary to the neighborhood When the local church is perpetually committed to doing steps one through four that's converting sinners discipling christians

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Helping them enter into faithful marriages and helping them to become godly parents who teach their children in the next generation

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To be fruitful and multiply and to do the exact same thing to repeat When the church is teaching families to do that then mature families are going to grow up in the community

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And they're going to come alongside the the church as workers in the harvest Men from those kinds of families are going to be the ones that are your deacons and your elders

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And the ones who are going to serve the body to help it grow up into maturity older women from those families are going to be

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Pillars in the community to encourage young wives not to neglect their homes and to raise the next generation of godly children titus 2 2 through 4

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And the children from these families are going to grow up in a culture where mature manhood and womanhood is encouraged where they're going to be

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Excited to enter into new families through covenant marriage and fill their neighborhoods with a panoply of children

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Between the consistent plot of the local church doing steps one through four And the maturing faithful multiplying nature of growing covenant homes

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Neighborhoods are going to be inundated with converts and covenant children considering that our current society fancies dogs over Offspring and sexual identities that can't reproduce

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It's not going to take long for christians to outpopulate the world One community one neighborhood at a time to the glory of almighty god step six the neighborhood that leavens the city

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In addition to outpopulating and out discipling unbelieving neighborhoods Local churches have the added advantage of equipping men and women with spiritual gifts to serve in jesus's kingdom

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That kingdom work is twofold First as noted above christians must use whatever gifting resource and time that they have

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To help build up the local church Our lives have been bought with a price and we were not immediately

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Raptured out of here. We were left here for a purpose and that purpose is to build the lord. Jesus's kingdom

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Our purpose is not to build our career our our Bank account or anything else

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Our goal is to build the kingdom and one of the ways that we can do that is by serving in the local church

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But there's another way that we can do that We can use the gifts resources and time that jesus has given us to see his kingdom take back ground from the serpent of old

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Some are going to use the gift of prophecy to herald christ within the church Some are going to use to herald it in their hamlets and on street corners at water bubblers and at backyard barbecues or wherever else

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The lord is not named Some are going to employ the gift of serving in the local congregation and then others are going to go out and they're going to meet the needs of the broken in society

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Some are going to use the gift of teaching to teach sunday school in the church And yet others are going to bring theology and doctrine to the skeptics to the illiterate to their boss and to their co -worker

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Some is going to use the gift of encouragement for a counseling ministry in the church But yet others are going to use it to comfort the downtrodden and the depressed within our town

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Or maybe the gift of giving We are all commanded to give to the local church to support the kingdom work

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But yet we can also give to support the ongoing work of evangelism and missions in our town The gift of leadership could be used in our cities to start christian businesses reformed colleges or schools tap houses breweries real estate agents agencies plumbing companies and Businesses that exist for the glory of god

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Whatever gift that the lord has given his people. They are to use it to build up christ church and to tear down satan's gates to extend jesus's kingdom within the walls of the sanctuary

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And without so that the entire world is coming under the lordship and the rule of jesus

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With patience that small amount of christian leaven will eventually work its way through the whole local society and lump matthew 13 33

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Thus if we want a christian culture, then converts must be discipled to enter into faithful families that produce godly children

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Who will grow up to build up jesus's kingdom and tear down the enemy's gates in their neighborhoods in their cities and in the sanctuaries to the glory of god step seven a mustard seed that covers the commonwealth

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While a mustard seed begins as the smallest grain it eventually grows into the largest plant in the garden

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It does not overtake the weeds and faster growing plants in a single evening

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But with the slow and steady rain and with the regular tending and a dash of good old -fashioned patience

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It becomes the dominant force in the farmer's plot of land In the same way when churches and families implement steps one through six

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Understanding that multiple generations are usually needed in order to take over towns and cities Then it's not going to be long until commonwealths and states begin to fall for christ as well

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This is because on looking denominations and other parishes churches are going to behold the long -standing faithful work of the faithful communities

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And they're going to see godly marriages being produced they're going to see generations of covenant children being raised up and they're going to see the gospel inroads that we're all making in community and city and Then those other churches and denominations are going to be encouraged

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To either go more woke more crazy, which is going to basically cause their downfall or they're going to be encouraged to reform and join

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To imitate the results that we are having And to make the same effort with us so that a multiplicative mustard seed like mission is going to spread from our jerusalem

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To our judea, that's acts chapter 1 verse 8 So if we want a christian culture

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Then we need converts who are going to be discipled to enter into faithful families that produce godly children who are going to grow up to build jesus's kingdom tear down the enemy's gates in our neighborhoods and cities and Continue to do so so that other churches will join in so that we eventually take over commonwealths

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Step number eight the pebble that grows into a mountainous reformation When daniel describes the coming kingdom of our lord, jesus christ

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He portrays it as a small pebble in its beginning where it starts locally But will eventually fill the world globally with the glory of god like an earth -sized mountain daniel 2 44 through 45 now

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Forgetting for a moment the uninformed dronings of our dear dispensational defeatist brothers who are wrong about this topic the true church has every

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Expectation that the kingdom of god will win down here That it will continue to advance into all the world

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We understand that although the nations dutifully rage psalm 2 The lord will pile their bodies as high as heaven putting every single enemy under his glorious feet psalm 110

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We know that his kingdom will come to every nook and cranny of the earth as it already perfectly has in heaven.

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Matthew 6 10 We know that he has all authority in heaven and on earth matthew 29 18 to build a government that will never end

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Isaiah 9 6 through 7 so that every family on earth will be blessed under his Magisterial rule according to the abrahamic promises genesis 12 1 through 3.

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We are not losers my friends In christ his kingdom wins

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And we stand on the word of god with that knowing that his kingdom is not only going to capture cities and And insignificant commonwealths, but when the tale is over when it has all been told

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Nations all nations under heaven are going to be discipled. Matthew 28 19 And are going to bow down before the lord of glory philippians 2

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How much less? Should this expectation apply to our culture whom we are laboring to see it redeemed?

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The reformation that could happen to america may take 200

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Years to occur since that's how long it took us to squander the last one but If we stopped looking for minute solutions to century -long problems, then maybe we would begin to make just a little bit of progress thus

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If you want a christian culture disciple converts to enter faithful marriages that produce godly children who will grow up and build jesus his kingdom

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Storm the gates of hell live in the cities for christ and join up with other churches to fill the commonwealths and continue that work

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Long enough to see national revival and renewal step nine the appointing of godly rulers

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Instead of electing a candidate who is going to fix all of our problems. That's the phenomenon does not exist

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We need to catch a vision for a multiple century effort to build christendom from the ground up If the lord in his amazing grace decides to expedite that work

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Waking an entire decaying generation within the breath of his white hot revival then praise be to god

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But if we plot along with with slow Incremental gains handing off our plow shares and our hammers to our sons who will plot along and hand it off to theirs

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Then blessed be the lord of heaven as well. Blessed be the name of god Whether he does this fast or whether he does this slow we will be faithful In the same way that rowboats work best when they're traveling with the current

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Culture will be revived and renewed when the church and the family understands that the work that god has given us

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Is to declare the gospel That's the headwater of revival And we pray that god would convert individuals in this society so that we can disciple them

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And so that we can help them live out What christ says for all of their life and help them prepare for and enter into godly marriages so that we can encourage those marriages to bear fruit as the lord wills and to Grow into godly maturity and take back territory in our in our towns and in our communities through the gifts that god has given us to serve and then

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As we all faithfully and patiently plod along decade after decade after decade

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We must expect that the kingdom work that christ has given us will spread And that it will take over cities and states whole nations and then we'll let go to the ends of the earth at some point

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We may have a christian king But we have a lot of faithful work to do before we get there in closing

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If you want a christian culture, please forget about american politics That is about as fruitful as purposefully drowning yourself under a raging waterfall instead

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If you want massachusetts, california, washington, nevada, montana, and all the rest of these 50 states to bow the need of the lord

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Jesus christ Then put down your politics and lay down your mail -in ballots and grab a shovel.

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There's a lot of work to do Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the podcast

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We speak frank truth boldly delivered and we do not shy away from speaking what the bible says

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You enjoy shows like this where we unapologetically teach what the bible says Then do us a favor and smash that like button subscribe wherever your podcasts are delivered and share this episode with fellow compatriots and co -belligerents of truth