The Sermon For Our Generation (Must See)

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Hello. How are you guys? Good, good. Hey, praise

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God. You ready to get started? Yes? Praise God for the size of this room, right? Where are you guys from?

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Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio? Yeah, gotcha.

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And Virginia, right? Which apparently is for lovers, right? Yes? All right, praise the

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Lord. Thank God for His providence and His mercy and His power in this moment where we have

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God's people from literally all over the country here and Canada. And we have someone here from Canada, right?

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And somewhere, there you go, Canada, right? It's okay. You can trust Him. That's right.

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God truly is sovereign, right? So I'm, okay, 40, keep telling me, 40 minutes, 40 minutes,

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Jeff, 40 minutes. When I told my church that I was told to speak for 40 minutes, they actually thought I was going to speak at a charismatic church who still believes in modern miracles.

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That was a theological nerd joke for all you guys that are paying attention. If you would open your Bibles, let's get started.

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Matthew chapter 28, 18 through 20. I want to argue that the basis, the foundation of our fight against this monstrosity, against this modern holocaust is found right here in Matthew chapter 28, 18 through 20.

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Of course, it's a well -known passage of Scripture. I hope that you have it committed to memory. You need to have it committed to memory.

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But I hope that you'll consider with me as we're speaking through this today, the issue of abortion and the gospel in conflict with abortion, that you'll consider this as the foundation.

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And you won't just consider it in terms of how it's on a t -shirt or a bumper sticker, of how you've seen it on a church wall somewhere, or even as you've committed it to memory.

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I want you to reconsider really what Jesus says here. And I mean reconsider it not in terms of thinking of something new and special and amazing and some strange interpretation.

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I want you and I to reconsider this passage in terms of what Jesus actually says.

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And I want you to reconsider it as the people of God coming into conflict with a tremendous evil, the slaughter of innocent unborn children in the culture round about us.

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There truly is no way, let's be honest with ourselves, to consider the issue before us, to contemplate it and, here's the word, comprehend it.

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Sixty million plus image bearers of God slaughtered since 1973 in our nation.

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When we talk about the numbers that are happening daily in our country round about us, you're talking about anywhere from two to three to maybe four thousand children being murdered in our communities every day.

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Let's be honest with ourselves, the people of God, that's incomprehensible. Now we apparently fought a war over an incident, a day that we all have fixed in our minds to the degree that it's now a symbol.

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If I say the word, you know. 9 -11, right? We see this tremendous evil, this act of evil committed against other human beings on a day and the country mourns and the world mourns.

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And I would say that most of us probably have images of that day fixed in our minds forever.

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You remember how you felt. You remember where you were. You remember images of that day watching the television screen.

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Perhaps you were there in the city that day. You have those images burned in your mind for good.

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They're going nowhere. And we recognize how we respond to a couple of thousand people being destroyed and lives being destroyed.

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But I want to remind you that is occurring every single day in our nation.

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Every day. And we go about our business, even as the people of God, as though it wasn't happening every single day.

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Now back to Matthew 28. As I read this text, again, I'm asking you to consider what it means in terms of application.

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I want you to hear it fresh. I want you to hear it new. Matthew 28. Jesus, the Lord Jesus, Great Commission.

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Matthew 28, 18 -20. Hear now the words of the living and the true God. And Jesus came and said to them,

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

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Let's pray together. Lord, I have no business being up here.

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You know that. Lord, in myself, I'm not worthy to speak for you.

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But because of the righteousness of your son, we can stand through faith. And Lord, I ask that you would get me out of the way entirely now before your people, that you would speak by your spirit, that you would guide, that you would convict, that you would teach, that you would instruct, that Lord, it would not be me, but Lord, your word empowered by your spirits and the hearts and minds of your people.

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Lord, would you please raise us up? Lord, put your good news on our lips. Lord, put your power within us.

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Cause your people to lay their lives down for the lost. Please, God, empower,

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Lord, your church in such a way that, Lord, we live risky lives of bold missionary sacrifice.

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Lord, allow us to live in such a way that we create godly controversy, that is unashamed that that controversy is centered around the lordship of Jesus Christ, the

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King, the one with all authority. Lord, cause me to decrease, Christ to increase.

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Let everyone leave here forgetting me and remembering you. In Jesus' name. Amen. So there it is. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Do you consider it there? All means what? All.

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Say that again like you mean it. All means what? All. All authority in heaven and on earth.

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And my fear is, is that modern evangelicals today will take a passing look at this passage, will see it, will acknowledge it with a passing, of course that's true, that's

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God's Word, but it is entirely and utterly meaningless in our witness and opposition to the world.

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All authority. Most Christians will agree. All authority in heaven. Yeah, that's where the angels bow before Jesus.

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Those who know Jesus and were in Christ and are before his throne now. All authority in heaven and on earth.

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There is no disobedience in heaven. There's reverence and honor and glory and everyone recognizes the majesty and authority of Jesus in heaven and everyone says, yes, there, absolutely, no question, all authority.

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Just consider the moment in heaven before his throne now. All authority means everything bends and yields to his majesty, to his power, to his holiness.

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There is all and reverence before his throne. He has all authority.

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Every Christian says, yay. Amen. In heaven, all authority.

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The next part of the verse says, and where? On earth.

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And Christians go to passing, yes, right?

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We say things like Jesus is the king of kings and lord of lords. We build the ugliest

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Christian t -shirts. Please help us, God. King of kings and lord of lords, right?

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And what I'm saying there in terms of a bit of mockery in that direction is it's a bumper sticker.

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It becomes a slogan for the gospel in Christianity that is a meaningless slogan.

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Let's be honest with ourselves. Have you ever stopped as a Christian to consider what that means? King of kings, lord of lords.

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When? Well, someday, certainly, Jesus will be that. No, in the scriptures, in the word of the living

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God, that's a reality right now, today. It's not something we are waiting for.

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We're not waiting for Jesus Christ to actually receive his kingdom and be seated on his throne.

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Have you read the scriptures? He is ascended and seated on his throne now.

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And the proclamation going forth in the New Testament from the followers of Jesus was not that we are waiting somehow for Jesus to receive this authority and kingdom, but the apostle

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Paul in Acts chapter 28, as he is there for two years preaching and teaching, it says that he is proclaiming the kingdom of God.

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That was his message. Is it ours? Is that our message?

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Is that maybe why in the first century as the gospel is going forth, the early Christians and apostles are actually receiving persecution and beatings and trauma and trials and difficulties and the church is growing and being multiplied and being built up and experiencing peace because they had a message of the gospel that sounds so unfamiliar to the one that we preach today in Western evangelicalism.

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Let's be honest with ourselves. It is so different. It is a gospel that they proclaimed where they said things like Jesus is the king over the kings of the earth today.

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That the rulers of the earth today have to obey Jesus. Are you ashamed of that message?

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Am I ashamed of that message? I have to check my heart constantly and ask myself, am I ashamed of the gospel?

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The good news of the kingdom? See, I think we're all fine to say as evangelicals,

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I'm not ashamed of the message that you can go to heaven when you die. There's no shame in that message. I'll never be ashamed of that message.

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That you get to go to heaven when you die and escape this world and go to heaven. Did you pray that magic prayer?

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You get to go to heaven one day. I'll never be ashamed of that message. Do you see the difference between the gospel in the scriptures, all the

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New Testament, and that pithy evangelical gospel of today? What fear do you have of being ashamed of a gospel like that?

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You get to go to heaven one day. Just pray this magic prayer. I'm not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel that's in the scriptures is a gospel that encompasses everything under the rule of Jesus.

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It's good news of his kingdom. What is a kingdom? It's his rule. Jesus is ruling and reigning today on his throne.

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The kings of the earth and leaders and rulers today are called by God in Scripture to obey

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Jesus Christ. Are you ashamed of that message? Am I ashamed of that message?

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Now, you might be saying, well, what does that have to do with abortion and the pro -life movement and what we're trying to do?

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Brothers and sisters, everything. Everything. We look at the slaughter of innocent unborn children, the pro -life movement, and how it has tried to assume the position of neutrality as it fights the issue of abortion.

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You have the major personalities and talking heads in the pro -life movement, the ones who make movies and are standing up, and they're saying things like this.

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Don't use the Bible when you fight against abortion. Don't talk about Jesus. Don't call people to repentance.

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Don't call this murder. Why? Because we need to assume a position of neutrality and just get people to go our direction with us.

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Brothers and sisters, let me die before I preach that message. Let me fall down, collapse, and fail according to the world's standards before we ever preach a message like that, a

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Christless, lordless message of hope for our nation. The hope for our nation is going to be found in new life, eternal life, forgiveness, and reconciliation and peace with God.

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It's not going to be found in getting people to bend towards a moral position, which they can just change later at any moment whenever they decide by a whim to change because there's no authority.

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There's no direction in terms of where does this moral law land. Jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth has been, past tense, given to me.

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And he says, therefore, because of this, because of this truth, because it's all mine, because I own all of it, everything is under my feet and my rule and my power, because it's all mine, he says, go.

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Therefore, because of this, and he says what? Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Praise God. Jesus is Trinitarian. Amen. And he says what?

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He says teaching them to, let's make it simple, obey. You see, part of the

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Great Commission was not simply let's get people to make decisions for Jesus one day so they can go to heaven one day, but it was to make disciples of the nations.

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That's what Jesus came for. The nations. That's part of the prophetic promise that the nations were going to stream up to the mountain of God.

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To him shall be the obedience of the peoples. That's what Jesus came for. And Jesus came and it was good news that he came to rule over the world and bring salvation, reconciliation, and peace, and righteousness, and justice.

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And the disciples knew it. The 11 very confused disciples. It's all mine. Go get them, boys.

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Right? And he says this. Get the nations and teach them to obey Jesus.

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Where is that in our message as we war against the issue of abortion? I'm going to say if we assume the position of neutrality, it isn't there, and that is where the failure is.

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The issue of the failure of the pro -life movement and the failure of the church comes down to a problem of worldviews.

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Now, we've heard about this as Christians. I hope you have. The issue of worldviews. Everybody has a perspective on reality, a perspective on how you know what you know, how you should live your life.

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And of course, we have a government -controlled education system today that essentially indoctrinates this upcoming generation, telling them there is no

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God, there is no meaning, there is no purpose. You all came from highly evolved societies of bacteria to fish to African apes to you.

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Congratulations. There is no such thing as truth. There is no such thing as gender. There is no such thing as a pure and holy sexuality.

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It's what feels good to you. That's what we're being trained in. That's what the predominant worldview is.

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It's a secular, humanist, unbelieving, atheistic, agnostic worldview, a life and perspective, a view of reality, a materialist view of reality.

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All that exists is the material. It's just stuff bobbing along the surface of the cosmos. We don't even know anymore if that's a boy or a girl, a man or a woman.

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We have men dressed like women walking into bathrooms. And everyone says, just accept it.

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Just believe it to be true. We have people who believe today that there is no such thing as a pure form of sexuality.

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It's whatever your affections are, whatever your desires are. There is an antithetical worldview.

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And nobody is neutral. Nobody is neutral. This is a theological issue.

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If you wanted to put something over today's message in terms of the gospel in conflict with abortion, you can put something like hashtag theology matters.

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My fellow pastor at Apologia Church, Dr. James White, used that years ago. And I think it's very, very important for us to adopt that, to believe that.

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Theology matters. It impacts everything. The issue before us with abortion is intensely, very seriously theological.

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It is theological, not merely moral. It is theological.

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It has to do with God, and it has to do with us. This is a theological issue.

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The problem is at the bottom. The problem, of course, is out there in the world.

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The world has a life and perspective. It has a worldview that says, no, we're just meaningless bags of protoplasm bobbing along the surface of the cosmos.

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No good, no evil, only blind and pitiless indifference. We're all just African apes here doing our thing.

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You live, you die, and you're gone. You're absolutely gone when you die. That's the perspective of the world.

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No surprise, then, that we don't know what a man is, and a woman is, and what holy sexuality is, and if there's purpose and meaning, and are absolutes to any degree.

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There is a problem out there, yes, and we have to approach it with the good news of the gospel.

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We're going to talk about this especially at the end, but the answer for that problem, very specifically

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Romans 1, verse 16, the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

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I will say it again so that we have it hung in our hearts. It is the good news that is the power of God for salvation.

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God, by his Spirit in Scripture, empowers the message of the gospel. He empowers the message of the gospel to bring dead people to life.

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What's wrong in our culture? Those who hate me love death.

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What's it say in Romans 1 in terms of our condition, the fall? God gives this portrait of humanity.

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They all know me. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. They switch God for idols. They don't want God in their knowledge.

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They don't want to know him, and so what do they do? They go off into perverse sexuality, men with men, women with women.

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We go, was this a meme about 21st century America? Is that what it is?

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It says, and they are haters of God. They hate God. That's the condition of fallen men and women.

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They hate God. They're not neutral towards God. They hate God, and it says in Scripture that those who hate me love death.

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They love death, and so if we want people to come out of a dead spiritual condition and to stop hating death, they need to be brought to spiritual life, and the only way that takes place is not through clever argumentation.

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It's not through trying to stand on their foundation and just try to convince them to be better people and to stop killing babies, for goodness sakes, but it's through the gospel itself and the

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Spirit of God and bringing dead people to life through the proclamation of the gospel, and that's out of my hands and your hands.

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It's up to the Spirit of God to bring dead people to life, and that's what they need. That's the problem out there in the world.

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Those who hate me love death. They are killing their own children, and it's bragging rights now.

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They have hashtags and t -shirts, and they do videos bragging about moms killing their children, mothers killing their own babies.

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I did it. I killed my baby, and I'm so much more fulfilled now, and I'm so much happier now.

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I killed my baby, and we celebrate it, and we share it, and we like it. It becomes a meme, and everybody wears t -shirts and hats, and we tell people how glorious a thing it is to have your baby dismembered and have their skull crushed with forceps.

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That's our culture in society today, and the answer is the gospel. That's the problem out there, but as Pastor Anthony said, the problem fundamentally is a problem in here.

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It's here. It's the people of God. Jesus sent the church out, the people of God out into the world to bring the nations to God to proclaim the gospel.

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It's us. It's us. We go from a culture in a society where the

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Puritans come over here. This is just speaking about our nation. By the way, we're not the center of the world. We know that, right?

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The history of America is not the center of the world in the history of the church. This is our moment, though. This is where we are, but we have

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Christians that came over here, and their perspective, their life, and their worldview was from the bottom to the top.

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Jesus is Lord. He's the king. When they built their communities, their societies, they built it with an eye on the fact that it's

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Jesus Lord over there. If they made treaties, and covenants, and charters, and law, they would point to Scripture, the word of the living

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God. How do we know how to deal with injustice in our culture and society? Well, God says in his law here.

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How do we know how to deal with this problem around about us? Well, God says here. They all pointed to Jesus. Now, we're not there any longer.

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We're in a society that revolts against the king, revolts against Jesus, and wants to push the

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Christian message. They want to push the lordship of Jesus Christ out of every single area of life.

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Every area of life. To the degree that we don't even know in these major platforms that we have today, like Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram, if Christians are going to be allowed to speak a year from now on those platforms.

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Why? Ready? There is no neutrality. Neutrality is a myth. It's a myth, but the problem is here.

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It's with us. If the Christian witness has been lost from our culture, we have to stop blaming the culture.

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We've got the power of God for salvation. Jesus is the king and Lord over all.

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We have the power of God for salvation. We have the message of life and the Holy Spirit of God who can raise dead people to life.

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He did it with you. He did it with me. And so, what is wrong in the culture around about us?

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If you have Christian churches and a Christian witness, and the culture is sliding off the cliff, you have to stop pointing at the culture and start looking at the church and say, what's wrong with us?

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Where's our message? Do we have the message of life any longer, and are we proclaiming it faithfully?

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This is a deeply theological issue. It's down to the fundamentals. Nobody is neutral.

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Again, I pointed you. Very, very important to do this in terms of laying down the foundation of how we ought to approach the world.

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You're probably going to hear this a lot over the next two days. Romans chapter 1. I would encourage you to go there.

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Take a look at that passage in terms of how God describes fallen humanity, ultimately.

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Here's what he says in Romans 1 .18. He says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

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For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Stop right there.

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When you hear the popular pro -life platforms, the popular pro -life talking heads, talking about abandoning

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Scripture, abandoning the Christian message, don't talk about the gospel. Don't call people to repentance.

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Don't talk about the God of the Bible. Don't say Jesus. Don't use biblical terminology. By the way, this is code and ethics in the pro -life movement.

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You need to understand that. It is. When they say things like that, we just need to sort of stand on their position and sort of coax them and bring them along to a more moral position to stop dismembering and disemboweling their children.

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Don't call the mother a murderer. Don't call the father a murderer. Don't use that biblical language.

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Why? Because they don't even believe in God. They don't even know Jesus Christ. Answer?

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Yes, they do. Yes, they do.

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Scripture doesn't say that the unbeliever you're talking to is without God's witness.

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The heavens declare the glory of God. They know the true God. Their problem isn't a lack of information about the true

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God. That's an unbelieving non -christian perspective. Call it what it is. I don't care if it comes out of a mouth of a person saving babies.

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Praise God that they're doing that, but that doesn't mean that it's biblical or true. They know the true God, the biblical

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God, the real God, the actual God. They know Him, and if they're not in a reconciled relationship of peace with Jesus Christ, the problem is not intellectual or a lack of information.

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The problem is suppression. It's constant suppression. One of my favorite teachers,

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Dr. Greg Bonson, used this, and I think you've heard it a lot, but I think you need to think through it in terms of how that looks.

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Suppression is like the same idea as a person who's in the pool, playing in the pool with friends, and you have that big red ball in the pool, and in order to get that ball under the water, you can't just shove it down because what's going to happen to it?

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It's going to pop back up. It's going to keep coming up. It has the nature of being able to do that.

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It's unavoidable, and so in the text here, the Apostle Paul says that the condition of humanity as such is that they know the true

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God. How? Because he has shown himself to them. He has made himself evident to them.

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They're not without his witness. The problem is that people are so rebellious, so much haters of God, so much want to turn away from him as a

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Lord of their lives that they take the truth of God that he's clearly given to them, and they suppress that truth.

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They're constantly hiding it. They're in a lifelong game of whack -a -mole. A lifelong game of whack -a -mole with the image of God, right?

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It's that game that I loathe, and I cheat. Absolutely.

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For tickets, because I love my children. Is that righteous deception, Pastor Anthony? Whack -a -mole, right?

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You know what I'm saying? It just pops up. You could do really, really well until it gets like into the third round, and then you have to just sort of sit on them, right, and do something to, right, hold it down.

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You have to because you're going to miss something. The unbeliever can say, there is no good. There is no

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God. There's only blind and pitiless indifference. We're all just random results of evolutionary processes, a universe that had nobody in mind.

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None of us were in mind with this universe, right? They'll say that, and then all of a sudden, someone steals their car stereo, and they're on the phone with the police as though that was some sort of moral infraction.

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Hey, what happened to no good and no evil, only blind and pitiless indifference? Whack -a -mole, right?

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Oh, there's the image of God. I see it, right? There's no meaning. There's no purpose. There's no beauty.

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There's no truth. There's nothing that's lovely, and then you see them shedding tears at the funeral of a loved one.

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What happened to the no meaning, no purpose, no beauty, nothing lovely, no human dignity, none of those things, right?

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That's what we're living in, right? And all of a sudden, there's the image of God pouring out of that person.

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It's a lie for the suppression of the truth of God, but notice what the text says. It says that God has made it evident to them.

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He has shown it to them. He's made it plain to them, and it says, verse 19, for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

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For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse.

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The word there, anapologetus. They are without a defense. They are without a reasoned defense.

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They have no apologetic. No apologetic. There's no arguing and bickering before the throne of God.

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I didn't know. I didn't have enough knowledge and information. They know. It's sin. It's suppression of the truth. They are without defense.

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For though, although they knew God, they knew God. They did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal

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God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up.

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See, here's the problem. All of us, everybody outside of Jesus Christ, this is your problem. You know the true God.

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You're made in His image. You're made to know God, to delight in God, to enjoy Him forever, to worship Him, and the problem is that we hate

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Him. We're rebels. We don't want Him, so we suppress. We suppress. We suppress. We hide from God. We turn from God.

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We don't want Him in our minds, and so what we do is we switch God for idols.

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We switch Him for something to replace Him. We don't want the true God. We want something that's kind of like God, but not quite like God, and so our foolish hearts become darkened.

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We become fools, and we switch God for idols. That's the universal problem of sin in human hearts.

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All of us have to deal with that. We know the true God, and so we have to deal with what's before us, and the issue of abortion and the gospel in conflict with abortion is that the problem before us is people who are made in the image of God that know the true

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God, who have switched God for idols, who profess to be wise, but are actually fools before God.

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They are haters of God. This is just what the text says, and the answer for them is the same answer that God had in your life and mine.

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It's the good news. It's the Spirit of God bringing people to life. If we want abortion to end in our nation, if we want people to stop loving death, they have to have new hearts.

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They have to have their minds changed by God, and the only way that happens is through the proclamation of the good news and who

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Jesus is, but again we're talking about the problem within us, and here is that problem within us is that we've been taught within Christian circles even in the pro -life movement generally will say, no they don't know

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God, and you just don't you just use neutral argumentation, and don't talk about God, don't talk about Scripture, don't talk about the

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Bible. Again the Scriptures have a different perspective as to what the problem is in front of us, and so we have to ask the question, are we doing something wrong as Christians?

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Are we being faithful? And I want to argue that the problem we have is the modern distortion of the gospel, the modern distortion of the gospel, and I think

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I'm speaking to a room that we know, right? But I'm gonna go ahead and say it because it's being recorded, right?

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The modern distortion of the gospel. It's the typical gospel of today, the modern evangelical gospel in the

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West. It's try Jesus, right? Give him a chance. I use this all the time because I will never ever forget it.

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Years ago, not many years ago, it was Christmas time. Fox News was on television. I was at my dad's house.

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He's into that sort of a thing, and Fox News is on TV Christmas time, and I saw Rick Warren on television, and he said on television, live, he said to give

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Jesus like a 60 or 90 day trial. Give him a 60 or 90 day trial.

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Like just give him a chance. Give him a try, right? Or the bumper sticker that every time

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I see it, I have to work on my sanctification. When I'm driving especially, and it says give

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Jesus a chance. He died for the opportunity. Not the gospel.

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Not the God of Scripture. Not the Jesus of Scripture. Not how it's proclaimed by the apostles. The problem is deeply theological.

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It's a modern distortion of the gospel. It's the try Jesus message, right? It's the message of like, is

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Jesus the only way to God? And someone says, I just don't know about that. I just, I just don't know. I just don't,

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I just don't know. You know, I don't know. They seem to love God and all that stuff. I don't know. How's my southern accent?

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Is that doing all right in Virginia here? You know, you've heard it so many times, and it is deplorable.

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It's not the gospel. We fill our churches up with tens of thousands of people with this pithy garbage called gospel.

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It's not the gospel. It's not the gospel Jesus proclaims. Jesus preaches a gospel that turns people away.

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And we have a mindset today within the Christian community all across the West. Like, we just need to fill our pews.

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We need to fill this place up. The more people we have, the more effect that we're having.

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We are actually accomplishing something. Why? Because we have a 10 ,000 member church. Is that what you would have said to Jesus when he turned away crowds of thousands of people who are following him and said, come die or don't come?

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And he's left with 12 very confused disciples. Is that what you would say to Jesus? That the real way you see an effect or dramatic effect is that you have to have lots of numbers.

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See, Jesus says things like in Matthew 7 13. He talks about small. Here's another gate, right?

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There's a narrow path and there's a broad one, right? And one leads to life and one to death.

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Jesus talks about the way to life in that way. Narrow paths, broad ones. One leads to destruction and one leads to life.

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Or in Luke 14, chapter 14. Go to it later. Look at how Jesus actually calls people to come to him.

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Massive crowds coming to Jesus, right? We're having huge success now. The Apostles must have been so thrilled, right?

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Like Jesus, look at, look we're having a real impact now, right? Look at all these people. This is amazing.

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This is that kingdom of God we always read about in synagogue and Isaiah of the nations coming to God. And it's happening now and you're the

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Messiah. And this is all, this is so wonderful. They must have just been like high -fiving or whatever they did in first century

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Jude. I don't know. I don't know what it was. But they were so thrilled. This is that moment we're all waiting for.

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And then Jesus turns around and says in Luke 14 to the crowds. He says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate.

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And then he names the most important people in all of our lives.

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Mother, father, sister, brother, wife. And then he goes even further and he says, and even your own life.

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Let me say that again. Because we have to hear it. And even your own life.

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You're not worthy to be my disciple. Don't come to me.

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Don't. Don't fool yourselves. Jesus is the embodiment of truth. He is love embodied.

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And he's not gonna sell this to somebody. He's not gonna lie to people. He's not marketing to people.

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He's telling people the truth. He's not lying. He's not manipulating their their emotions.

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And he's not doing the things like giving popcorn at the door and cotton candy and selling the emotional experience.

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He turns to people. Thousands. This is a great chance to grow the church. The kingdom of God can blow up in this moment.

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And Jesus does something that would make him fail. Every seminary course on evangelism.

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All of them. Why? Because he turns around to this massive crowd. This beautiful moment of growth for the church.

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The disciples are there. They had to be excited. And he says this. Don't come if you don't come to die.

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And he says something that is, let's be honest, it's almost meaningless to us today. Because we have the picture in our minds. We know what it is.

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We know what crucifixion is. And we know how horrific that was for Jesus to take that for his people. We know what it is.

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But we don't experience it daily like they did. Right? Like the Romans kept their people in check in that way.

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Right? You could be walking along the roadside and you'd see the people crucified. That's how Rome kept you in check.

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That's how they controlled people by making sure you knew who had the power. You want to die this gruesome death?

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You want to die? You saw people doing that death march at some point. Maybe going to the market to go buy something. And you saw somebody carrying the cross along the road doing a death march.

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You knew that ends in one way. They die. That's the end of them.

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And it is brutal. And it is hard. And it is disgusting. And it is bloody. It is treacherous.

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It is awful. What kind of an experience is that? It's awful. Let me avoid that with all of my might.

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Let me shut my mouth before Rome so I never have to do that death march. And then Jesus brings it in to us.

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And he says, if you want to come to me, you must take up your cross. Come follow me.

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You want to come? Come die. Or don't come. And the amazing thing is all these people hear this message and their answer is, no.

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No. What? Hate? Father? Mother? Sister? Brother? Wife? Even my own wife?

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Come die with you? No. And so they all leave.

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Now the glorious thing, listen, the glorious thing about the gospel proclaimed faithfully, the call to come to Christ faithfully, is that all of a sudden the crowds disappear.

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Oh, it's a failure. It's a total failure. We're back down to the small crew of disciples.

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Just a couple of them left here now. And Jesus amazingly turns to them and says, what? Do you also want to go?

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And watch what the Spirit of God is doing in the people of God's lives.

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They understood. They say, where are we gonna go?

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You have the words of eternal life. You see, the ones that were left were the ones that God was working on.

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He opened their eyes. They knew what this was all really about. They understood the context of it all. God had done a work on their hearts.

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And people could say to Jesus in that moment, there's no way you're the Messiah. There's no way you're winning the world. You got to get the masses.

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Everyone's got to come into this with you. You got to get everyone to follow this message. Like, bring the message down,

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Jesus, so you can get like a lot of people with you. Get the crowds larger. Jesus clears away the crowds.

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He whittles it down to the twelve. They know God. Their understanding, well, except for, of course, the son of perdition, but we know that story.

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So, that was also predestined, by the way. So, God is sovereign. Amen. Reformed theology.

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Eleven disciples. But here's the point. It moves in to the very end of what I pointed to at the very end.

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All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. People say, what? Eleven very confused disciples. The ascension of Jesus.

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All the crowds dismissed. Everyone's away. Everyone thinks he's failed. Here we are today in Virginia.

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Two thousand years after the fact. And here's a room full of people pulled together at the last minute to talk about the gospel and conflict with abortion from all over the

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United States of America. Listening to the man who has no earthly right being before you speaking to you right now.

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All of us. Most of us. Descendants of pagan parents who love and worship and honor the

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Lord God of Israel because of his Messiah Jesus Christ. How? Because the

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Spirit of God will accomplish God's mission for the Messiah to bring the nations to God and to bring salvation.

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He doesn't need your salesmanship or your neutrality to do it. He can change the world through eleven very confused disciples.

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We don't need to adopt the pro -life movements mantra of neutrality. The problem is deeply, deeply, deeply theological.

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Another is the distortion of the gospel. And this is the problem in us. Listen closely. Watch. I'm gonna get you.

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If you think, well let's just pass it off to the typical Western evangelical movement and say, oh it's a try

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Jesus message. It's that pray the magic prayer so you can go to heaven one day message. Like it's it's this sort of the neutral stuff and the soft stuff.

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Like that's their problem. Well I want to speak to us. Another distortion of the gospel that we find in our camp often.

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And it comes in a really interesting way because you have to make sure that you define this well. So I'm gonna be very careful how

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I do this. But please hear me. Listen closely to what I say. Another distortion of the gospel is this.

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That the gospel is about only about justification by faith and going to heaven.

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Now watch. I said I had to be cautious because the answer is yes. That's the heart of the gospel. Justification through faith alone in Christ alone apart from works of law.

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You need his righteousness, his perfection from God through faith credited to you as a gift with empty hands.

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Nothing to the cross I bring. Nothing. I come to him empty and I am declared righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.

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That's the heart of the gospel. But listen when we talk about the gospel it is bigger than justification through faith.

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Did you hear me on that? The gospel, the good news is bigger than justification through faith.

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It is not just about your private experience with Jesus. It's not just about a personal relationship with Jesus.

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You're wonderful and all. And God loves you in Jesus yes.

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But it's bigger than you and your personal experience. We know how it's often proclaims.

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Little boy do you want to go to hell and burn forever and ever for all eternity?

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The four -year -old looks up at you and says no. Well sit on my knee and repeat these words after me.

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Pray this prayer and you'll go to heaven one day. Did you pray that prayer?

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Well one time when I was six or seven I prayed that magic prayer. How? Why? So that I would escape and go to heaven one day.

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Jesus and the Scriptures, the Old and New Testament speak about the gospel of the kingdom in a much bigger way.

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It is not merely about escaping this physical world to go to heaven one day. By the way that sounds more like Greek philosophy and worldview than it does about the biblical worldview.

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Why do you think Jesus was raised in a physical body? So we can merely escape to heaven one day?

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God has a plan for us here in this world. He is making all things new.

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He's the beginning of the new creation. God is doing something here and now. Reconciling sinners to himself here and now.

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He's doing something with his rule and kingdom in this world. He is concerned with this life in this world.

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If you just want to see a snapshot, read Matthew. The gospel according to Matthew. It is wonderful.

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Chapter 1 through chapter 4. And I want you to hang there to see when

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Jesus actually is introduced in his ministry in Matthew's gospel. And this is critical. Please hear me on why.

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If you guys are getting sleepy, come back. Am I over time? Okay. Listen.

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Matthew's gospel everyone recognizes is focused in upon the Jews, right? It's a very Jewish focused gospel.

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He's quoting the Old Testament constantly. Referring back to it. The images. The symbolism even is even in there.

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And the direct quotation of verses. But as Matthew is introducing his very Jewish focused gospel.

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If you read the first four chapters. As Jesus is introduced. Of course it's a genealogies in chapter 1 to show you.

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Yes, Jesus has the royal right to the throne. Here's his genealogy. He has a right to the throne.

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Yes, he's the king. Look. Here's his lineage there. And you have all the picture and story of Jesus. And him fleeing to Egypt.

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And the imagery there of Moses. Pastor Anthony brought us through that. And what Matthew was saying. That was really about Jesus.

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That was just a dress rehearsal for Jesus. He's the real substance of that. Then you have

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John the Baptist. The one who was promised to come before Messiah coming in. And what is the first thing out of his mouth according to Matthew's gospel?

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Matthew chapter 3. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hands.

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Now watch. That's used synonymously in the Gospels. Do you know that? Kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God are used synonymously.

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When we think about kingdom of heaven. We think about heaven. Oh going to heaven one day. Right? But kingdom of heaven was a very sensitive way to say kingdom of God.

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What's that mean? The rule of God. Rule of heaven. Rule of God.

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Everybody have a change of mind. Turn away from your sin. Turn to God. Because why? The rule of God is at hands.

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It's at hand. And then he speaks to the Jewish leadership of his day. And what's he say to him? He says, you brood of vipers.

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Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? And what's he say? The winnowing fork is in his hand. Judgment's about to fall on you guys.

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You guys better repent in a hurry. That's a Jeff Durbin translation. Repent in a hurry.

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But watch. Now Jesus is introduced in Matthew. He goes into the wilderness. And what happens? The trial is there of Jesus.

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The temptation. He's tested in the wilderness. And isn't it interesting? That as Matthew is explaining the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

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That that last temptation is from Lucifer. From Satan. And what is that temptation? What is it?

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Lucifer takes him up to this great and high mountain. And what's he say? Here's all the kingdoms of the world. Why do you think that's offered?

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Because that's what he came for. Here they all are. Right? I'll give them all to you now.

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Right? Just bow down and worship me. Right? You don't have to go through the cross and the suffering and all this difficulty.

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I will give you what you came for, which is the world and its rule.

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I'll give it to you. I'll give it away to you. Just bow and worship me. Right?

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Just yield a little bit. And Jesus says, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

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Now watch. Here's what I'm getting to. Matthew chapter 4. This is it. Watch. This is it. As Jesus comes out of the temptation.

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Out of the trial. He has a very particular message Matthew hones in upon. It says that he went out proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.

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The good news of the kingdom. The good news of his rule in the world.

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Might be saying, what's that got to do with the issue of pro -life and abortion? And how are we going to do this?

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My answer is absolutely everything. We've truncated the gospel down to a private experience with Jesus Christ.

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My personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The heart of the gospel is justification through faith. That's how

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God brings us to himself. That is the truth before God. And let us be burned at the stake to defend justification through faith.

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But the good news of the kingdom is a bigger much more beautiful story. And the kingdom of Christ.

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His rule. His authority over the world is the problem. That's why we're killing our babies.

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Because we don't want his lordship. We don't want his law. We don't want to obey him. Now I want to say that we have to leave live risky enough lives as Christians that we proclaim to the world that Jesus is

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Lord. Now don't let that just be a pithy Christian slogan. He's the boss.

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He's king. He's the ruler. You have to obey him. He calls you to obey him.

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He's on his throne. You must bow before him. You must submit to him. You know how the

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Bible describes it? Psalm 110 1. It's the most popular verse in the New Testament quoted from the

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Old Testament. I often say this. It's God's favorite Bible verse. It's got to be.

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Why? Because it's the one that's referred to the most in the New Testament from the Old Testament or alluded to. And what is it?

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The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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Are we afraid to tell people that? Are we afraid to go to our legislature with that on our lips underneath us?

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You have to obey Jesus. You have to repent and obey God. Repent and obey God's law.

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You as God's magistrates, you're called to be his deacons, his servants. We know what deacons are in church, right?

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They serve the church. You have deacons at your church? I hope so. We do. They are amazing. They serve the church.

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They take care of the church's needs. They serve, serve, serve, serve, serve. Well it says that the magistrate is

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God's deacon. They are God's servant. You know when Paul said that? You know when he said that?

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You're like, well he said that in Puritanville, right? Or what's that place here? It's local. It's called

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Christiansville. Is that what it's called? What's it called? Christianburg, right?

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When was that? When did they make that? They were like, we need to make sure people understand what this place is about. Christianburg, right?

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When did Paul say it in Romans 13? He said that the magistrate is God's deacon, his servant.

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Where? In Rome with Caesar. Pagan rulers.

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Their job is to obey Jesus. How can you say something like that in Rome? How? Because Paul knows the bigger story.

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He was out proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, telling them about the kingdom of God, Christ's rule,

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Christ's authority. He knows this. He knows the story. He was raised on Psalm chapter 2. What's the father promise the son in Psalm chapter 2?

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What's he promise him? He says, ask of me, I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession.

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That's what the father said to Jesus. Question to be asked. I love this question. Do we think

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Jesus forgot to ask? Ask of me, I'll give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession.

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And then the father says this to the kings of the earth. He says, obey the son. Be wise,

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O kings. Be wise, O kings. Obey the son or you'll perish when his wrath is kindled.

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Do you hear that? That's the message of the scriptures. That is the context. It's a distortion of the gospel to say it's just about heaven one day.

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The scriptures tell a different perspective. Jesus is out proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. The Apostle Paul in Acts 28, 28 to 31 was there for two years proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.

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Romans chapter 1 and Romans 16. Romans 1 and Romans 16. You know that book?

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Bury it in your heart. Get to know it well. Preach from it. Proclaim the gospel from the book of Romans.

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Do it and do it often. That's Paul's systematic explanation of the gospel. But listen closely to this.

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In Romans 1 and Romans 16, read it later, the Apostle Paul bookends his systematic explanation of the gospel with this message.

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Romans 1 and 16. He says this, and it's powerful.

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He says, verse 5, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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At the beginning of Romans and the end of Romans, the Apostle Paul announces it twice.

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This is the point. To do what? To bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.

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Good news of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom. The nations coming to God. Redemption, reconciliation, peace, and salvation.

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How? Under the rule and authority of Jesus Christ. Genesis 49, 10.

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A promise from the very beginning of our Bibles. It tells us about Shiloh. Now, if you're getting tired, don't.

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Stay with me. This is amazing. In Genesis 49, 10, Shiloh. It says, to him, listen, this is a promise from God.

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Do you believe it? To him shall be the obedience of the nations. Do you believe it?

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To him shall be the obedience of the nations. That's the call of the gospel. That is what's going out into the world.

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Jesus has won. He has victory over sin and death. He is Lord. He lived perfectly, died for sinners, and rose again from the dead.

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He has ascended and seated and is on his throne. Repent and believe the gospel. The good news is that salvation is through him.

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He is victorious. He is on his throne. He lived and died and rose again in fulfillment of all the scriptures.

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Repent and believe the gospel. He's the ruler over the earth, King of kings and Lord of lords.

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Come to him for life and submission to him. That's the message that goes out into the world.

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We know this from Christmas. If you like Christmas. This verse is always coming up at Christmastime.

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We know it's always at Christmas. Isaiah 9, 6 through 7. A son and a child.

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That amazing passage 600 years before Jesus even comes into the world. It tells us it's a man.

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It's a human who's coming to save us. But wait, not just human. Who is he?

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Wonderful counselor. El Gabor. The mighty God. The father of eternity.

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You say it's a man and it's God? 600 years before Jesus even walks the earth, God's already telling them,

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I'm coming. I'm coming to save my people from their sins. But there's more to that Christmas passage.

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We always love to announce it. Look, he's gonna come. It's God and a man. And it says this. Watch. Of the increase of his kingdom and of peace there will be no end.

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On a throne of David to establish it with justice and righteousness forevermore.

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And if you say to yourselves in the context of abortion and proclaiming the excellencies of Christ and the lordship of Christ and the call to repentance and faith, if you say yes, but that's the hard way.

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How are we gonna get our nation to come along with us with the gospel? How are we gonna expand his kingdom and justice and righteousness when people don't want to listen?

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They hate God. Isaiah 9, 6 through 7. Again, it says this. The zeal of the

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Lord of hosts will accomplish this. The power is not in us to fight this monstrosity of the slaughter of innocent children.

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The power is not in me and very convincing arguments and being a very popular talking head.

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The power is in Jesus Christ and his life and death and resurrection. The power is in God's Spirit who's able to raise the dead to life.

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Where's our message? Where are we in terms of what we believe about God's word and his kingdom?

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We serve the God who became man and defeated death. He was raised from the dead.

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He is on his throne saving sinners. And we're afraid to mention his name. We're afraid to call people to turn from sin to trust in Jesus.

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He's God become man ruling on his throne. And God says, I'll put them all under your feet.

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Now here's the thing. If you're in Christ today, you love Jesus, you've experienced peace with God. Guess what?

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You are one of those enemies under his feet. He's already had victory in your life.

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Do you think you're special? Am I special? Is there something unique about me? Something special about my capabilities and my intellect?

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I'm a wretch. And I'm not saying that because I'm reformed and I know total depravity in the doctrine. I am foul and a wretch.

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My mind is broken. My heart is broken. In and of myself, I wouldn't see.

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I wouldn't love him. I wouldn't long for him. He saved me. He can save the most depraved, the most broken.

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Where is our gospel? Where's the gospel of the kingdom? Where is the good news of his rule in our culture in the context of abortion?

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Daniel 7. I'll end with this one tonight. Daniel 7, 13 through 14. Another passage from God's Word that tells us where we're going.

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Daniel says this amazing promise. He's looking in the night visions. He sees one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.

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And he came up to the Ancient of Days. Which direction?

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Up. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will never be destroyed.

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That was God's Word and promise from Daniel 7. Now, let's end with this.

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Matthew 28, 18 through 20. They're there.

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They were like, this is confusing. I'm seeing it now. All those prophecies.

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I see it. Psalm 22. Isaiah 53. They're on the road confused.

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We thought he was the Messiah and he's dead now. And Jesus says, slow of heart to believe. All of the prophets, all the scriptures have said.

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All the prophets have written, right? And Jesus does the most epic Bible study in history. I wish we could be there for that.

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He takes them from the beginning of the scriptures to the end to show them everywhere it talked about him. And now the disciples are going, oh my goodness.

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It was there all along. It was right there in front of us. And now they're standing there and Jesus tells them, he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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And he says, go therefore, get the nations. Go get them. Baptize them.

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Teach them to obey me. And then which way did he go? Now they know as they're sitting there, they're like, this is kind of a big deal.

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Because they know Daniel 7. When he comes up to the Ancient of Days and it was presented before him, to him is given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, men of every language might serve him.

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He's given a dominion and a kingdom that will never pass away. It'll never be destroyed. So they went, okay.

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I saw him conquer death. I saw him fulfill the prophecies. I just saw him go up. He's on his throne.

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I know what the promise is. He gets the world. He gets the world.

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The nations are coming to God. And this is why, brothers and sisters, these

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Christians in the first century proclaimed a gospel that led them into godly, missionary, risky sacrifice.

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What is wrong with men and women who would go into a place and be told, shut up! Stop speaking in his name!

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Didn't we tell you to stop preaching in his name? And Peter says, we must obey

01:00:12

God rather than men. And then they take a beating for Jesus. A beating for Jesus.

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And then they come out, and I don't understand it. It doesn't make any human sense. They say, it says, the text says that they left the presence of the council rejoicing.

01:00:29

Rejoicing. Taking a beating for Jesus. Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

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Be honest. If you and I took a beating for Jesus, we'd probably take a break and say, I did my duty.

01:00:42

I did my thing. I'm gonna rest. Right? Because I did it. Right? I took a beating for Jesus. They leave rejoicing, and it says they continued to go from house to house preaching the gospel.

01:00:55

The Apostle Paul, Acts 9, gets knocked off of his high horse. He believes in Jesus. Beeline to Damascus.

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To do what? To argue with the Jews. Arguing where? At a barbecue, bro.

01:01:09

Right? Making friends for five years. Right? Earning the right to preach the gospel to them.

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No. It says he goes right to Damascus. Where? Synagogue. Their place of religious worship and reverence.

01:01:24

And he goes there, and he argues with the Jews there, preaching Jesus Christ and his gospel. And it says, watch, that the

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Hellenistic Jews there wanted to kill him. It says, as a result of him doing this risky godly missionary sacrifice, the church was built up.

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They experienced peace, and the church was multiplied. And some people wanted him dead.

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People have said at times, as we go out to these abortion mills and preach the gospel. We go to hostile places.

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We go to the Mormon Temple. We go out to the city to preach the gospel. We go to public places. To go out into the public square where they're at to proclaim the good news of the gospel to them.

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People have said things like this. I don't know if you should be doing that. I don't know if that's, you know, the right way to actually preach the gospel in our culture.

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To go and just start preaching Christ and calling them to repentance in that way. I don't really think it's effective.

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I don't really understand, like, why you're doing that. What I say oftentimes is this. Well, when I read the book of Acts, I see they preach the gospel, and riots broke out, and people wanted him dead.

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People took oaths not to eat until somebody was dead. Nobody's tried to kill me yet. I think we're doing something wrong.

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We may be doing something wrong. They preach the gospel in a way that made them live lives of godly, risky, missionary sacrifice.

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And I want to say this to you, brothers and sisters, as a final word here. I know I'm over time. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. But I have so much to say to you.

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As you think about the gospel, the kingdom, and the lordship of Jesus Christ, and the call to repentance, and faith, and the bigger picture about what

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God is doing in the world, and the need to stand on God's Word, and His authority, and proclaim His excellencies.

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As you think about the fact that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. It's not you. It's not your motivational speeches.

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It's not your unique personality, and your quirky smile, and all those things. It's not like trying to build, you know, relationships over five years, and earning people's trust.

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Like, do those things naturally. Love people, and love them well. Amen? But it is the gospel that God uses to bring dead people to life.

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I want to tell you that years ago, we didn't know we were doing. We didn't know we're doing. We're not professionals at this.

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We are not professionals. We saw babies are being killed. They need the gospel.

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Let's go. Let's go. I saw other Christians doing this, and I heard that they were saving children from death.

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We said, let's go. Our church was a little church at the time. It's a little church that came to life out of a drug rehab. Out of a drug rehab.

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That's where Apologia Church came from. Out of a drug rehab. And so we just had people who are new to Christ that were like, they're killing babies.

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Let's go preach the gospel to them. We didn't know we were doing. We'd go out there with signs. We'll help you. We'll adopt your baby.

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We don't know what we're doing. As we're going out there and preaching the gospel, we're just telling them the story of Jesus. We'd say, mom, please don't murder your baby today.

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Please don't kill your baby today. Please don't do that. Don't hurt your baby today. We'll help you. We'll help you today.

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We're here for you. We'll serve you. We'll adopt your baby. Please let us adopt your baby. Let us help you. Let us take care of your needs.

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Do you need somewhere to live? We'll give you somewhere to live right now. Do you need food? Do you need money? Do you need something?

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We'll do it. Listen, here's the problem. You're a sinner against God. You need to be saved, man. We need Jesus. We would just preach a simple message.

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15 seconds, door to door. That's all we had. Door to door. They get out of the car. They go to that door. That's how much time we have to preach the gospel and to tell them, here's why we're here.

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We love you. Please don't kill your baby. Please don't murder your baby. This is the gospel. We'll help you. That's all we were doing. People say,

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I don't know if it's effective. I don't know if it's effective. Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, we've preached the gospel. That's our thing.

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You say, what do you do? Like, how do you do this? Like, tell me. Like, give me the class and the training.

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Go preach the gospel. Go proclaim the excellency, excellencies of Jesus and go love your neighbor and go be available to love them.

01:05:15

Well, like, but like really, like what do I have to do? Go preach the gospel. Go declare the excellencies of Jesus. Call them to Christ.

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Like, go there. Do that. Love them. Love them well. And as a result of God doing that. God. Did you hear me?

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God doing that. It's not us. It's not to our glory. God is now raised up through that effort and that work.

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It's not ours. It's not ours. But because of the witness of a local church doing that.

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There are over 400 local churches across the United States right now doing exactly the same thing. There are churches now raising up in Northern and Southern Ireland and Canada and Australia and New Zealand now under the authority and governance of qualified biblical pastors with the membership of that body.

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All serving God. Laying their lives down for the sake of these children. These mothers and fathers to preach the gospel.

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To make it about Jesus. And as a result of that work, we had to come to a point we finally stopped counting.

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Stopped counting what? Stopped counting how many babies have been saved. It's thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands.

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At a certain point we said we can't keep up any longer. It's just thousands. And it's every day.

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And it's all the time. And I will confess to something here. Of course I know what the scriptures say about preaching the gospel in conflict with abortion.

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I know what the Bible says. It's all God. It's all his power. It's his work alone to his glory. I know that.

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But I want to encourage you with this on a very personal level. That moment you hold the baby in your arms.

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When you hold that baby in your arms, it changes you forever.

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I promise. The first baby I held was

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Carmelo. We went to an abortion mill. We've been there so many times. And it was so hard.

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And it was hostile. And they're calling the police. And it's just difficult. And we're preaching the gospel. I was there one day with this nasty atheist.

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He said, I'm coming out just to fight you. I dropped this woman off and I'm here just to fight you.

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I'm just here to just stop you from speaking to them. And my friend Justin was worn out.

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He was there when I walked up. And he was just deflated. He couldn't take it anymore. And I was there to talk to this atheist.

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And I'm preaching the gospel to him. And that ended up actually going very well. But it was such a difficult moment that Justin was so deflated.

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He just told me. He said, I thought to myself, this is worthless. We shouldn't be doing this. There's no reason to do this anymore.

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Like I can't do this any longer. And he walks around the Planned Parenthood to get away from the hostile atheist.

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He walks around the Planned Parenthood to get away from the hostility. And he stands in front of Planned Parenthood with a sign.

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And the sign says, please don't hurt your baby. We'll help you. Now the reason he walked in front of the

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Planned Parenthood was because of the atheist. And at that moment, there was a couple inside.

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The woman was in the back in pre -op getting ready to kill her child. She was on the table. And inside the lobby was a man who was actually in the lobby in that moment.

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He was praying this. God, if you want me to do something, show me a sign.

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Here comes Justin. Please don't hurt your baby. We'll help you. And so they told me this story afterwards.

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So he's in there and he's asking God. He says, okay. One more. God, if you want me to do something to stop this, let that man be the owner of...

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and he starts looking around and there are cars everywhere. Not just in Planned Parenthood, but down the street, along the street, in the plaza next to us.

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He says, let that man be the owner of that van down the street.

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So he walks outside up to Justin. Justin's sitting there. And he says to Justin, he says, excuse me, sir.

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He says, yes. He goes, is that your van down the street over there? And Justin's sitting there deflated.

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He goes, that van down there? He goes, yeah, that's my van. And so he says, oh my goodness.

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I was in there. I said a sign in the van and I'm supposed to do something. Justin goes, get in there. Get your wife right now.

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And so he runs inside. He demands from the Planned Parenthood employees. They let him in there. They're like, no, you can't go back there.

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He says, you let me in there right now or I'll kick the door down. He runs in there, gets his wife out, pulls her out front. She's out front with us.

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We're all in tears. She's crying. And Carmelo was born. And when

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I held Carmelo in my arms, it changed me. It put flesh on this fight.

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It's not just Carmelo. I have sometimes Olivia Grace and Kara, twin girls saved from Planned Parenthood in Tempe, Arizona, sometimes during service, running in front of the pulpit while I'm preaching.

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They're completely allowed. And when you see the flesh on these stories, it will change you.

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This is not just theoretical, brothers and sisters. When you go preach the gospel, sinners come to life, people are saved, and the world changes.

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And sometimes when you preach the gospel outside of abortion clinics, you get to hold those babies in your arms.

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Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

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So go. Let's pray. Father, please do something in us.

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Please do something in us. Empower us to serve you. Please put your gospel on our lips.

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Oh Lord, please give us the grace, the power to live lives that are risky and that are under your authority and rule.

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And please, God, grant to us the courage to proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ and call people to repentance and faith in him and to do it without shame, without fear.

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Lord, let us live lives that are faithful to you. And please, Lord, for your glory, establish justice here for the children.