Pastor John Michael Clark-Sept 14th Service

Well, we're taking a break from our Matthews series.

So I think today was going to be like part 84 or something, but

we're taking a break from that because obviously the tragedy of

what took place this week, our our news cycle has been filled

with evil acts of wicked men. School shootings, unfortunately,

are a common thing in our nation.

So we've seen that, you know, we saw the Charlotte subway

incident. We saw that wickedness, and we

also graphically watched our brother in Christ die in front

of his wife and kids this week. Charlie Kirk was a bold

Christian leader, a devoted husband and father, and one of

the most influential voices of his generation.

He was fearlessly calling America back to faith in Jesus,

not in generic faith, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Freedom and truth. Through his work with the

organization that he founded, Turning Point USA, he tirelessly

brought that message onto college campuses across the

nation. And he equipped young men and

women to stand for truth and to build virtuous lives.

This is not a sermon about Charlie Kirk, but this sermon is

certainly influenced by Charlie Kirk's murder this week.

The more I've learned about them the past few days, the more I've

admired. And I had seen things about him

and like, oh, that seems like a faithful brother, you know, keep

up the great work. I just seen a big here and a bit

there, a big here and a bit there.

The the amount of content I've seen from him this week has just

greatly inspired me. All the morning I thought, wow,

that man outranks me in a million different ways and he's

31 years old. What a blessing, what a gift,

what a strength, what a force, what a husband, what a father,

what a Christian, what a blessing, what a massive loss

for us. He was 31 years old and he was a

mighty man of God who held views that the overwhelming majority

of Americans held until the 2000s.

So you often hear him and me and you, all of us were we are now,

we're not the right wing extremists.

If you didn't know you're a right wing extremist or you're a

1980 Democrat, either one, they're the same thing.

Or you're a 1994 Republican, but you're also being labeled as a

right wing extremist. But that's the nature of truth.

Truth stays the same. What was once mainstream

conviction is now called extremism.

The truth hasn't changed. The culture has.

And Charlie Kirk told people that some loved him for it.

We did. Those of you who knew him and

followed him and some hated him for it.

But there's two things I learned this week that are important for

you as we take what happened and then make application for it for

us, and we look to God's Word. One of the things that really

stood out to me was the body of Christ should learn from Jesus.

What Charlie Kirk learned from Jesus specifically is how to be

the right thing at the right time.

Yeah, Jesus had range. Jesus had more than one year.

He could sing more than one note.

Jesus could comfort the repentance and the fearful, and

he could absolutely humiliate the prideful and the hateful.

Jesus had more than one gear. He had range.

He could shift gears. I noticed that with Charlie as I

watched different footage. I mean, really, really, really.

Folks who would be very easy to judge visually would walk up to

the microphone because his format, you know, he's sitting

there in his tent, Someone walks up to the microphone, he begins

speaking with him. Of course, now we see it's it's

thousands and thousands years ago, it was 10s of 10s.

But he would just die when they they woke up and you're like,

OK, here comes the Satan. That's what are they going to

say? And they go, hey, Charlie.

So I've really just been trying to, you know, wonder about this.

I'm thinking about that blah, blah, blah.

And he's just like, oh, yeah, good question.

And engages with them. And it's just that conversation

between two decent folks who can engage with one another.

And then you have antagonists who would come up and he could

play along, but he could also shift gears.

He could show a wolf. And you're not the only one with

teeth. I have teeth too.

And that's the thing that many Christians have failed at doing

for years. Conservatism has never conserved

anything. Conservatives just continue to

back up as the enemy says, hey, you know, remember like 27 years

ago when they started calling us just racists and bigots?

And we're like, Oh my goodness, I don't want to be a racist.

Oh my goodness, that would be a bigot.

And then after a while we realized like, Oh my goodness,

they're just lying about everything.

OK. But we, we continue to back up

and back up and back up. And then we're like, how did we

get up against this Cliff? I guess Jesus just wants me to

fall over in Jesus name. No, Saints, it's just called

taking a step forward. That's it.

We are at work. But the weapons of urine

warfare, they're not carnal, but they are mining for the pulling

down of strongholds. So you and I are people with

prayer. You and I are people still of

truth. And the truth is what we should

always stand on and we should not be afraid to be able to

shift gears in conversation when someone reveals to us that they

are no longer in good faith. But we are dealing with what

Jesus calls dogs and pigs. Jesus tells us he says judge

not, which is every non Christian's favorite Bible

verse. And then he literally goes in

the whole context there to teach you how to judge.

He teaches us what does that look like?

And he says, don't give your pearls to pigs.

So we're supposed to determine who things are.

We're supposed to make a judgment about this person being

a pig. We're supposed to determine who

dogs are. Yeah, not with hatred, not with

mouse, but you go, they reveal themselves.

So this is something we see all through Jesus ministry, as I've

been preaching through Matthew, I've showed it to you over and

over and overlook at Jesus. He shifts gears.

He goes, oh, I can be gracious with you.

I can be gracious with you. The pride upon the hateful.

He goes, boys, you came to humiliate me, but I'm going to

fold it with a reverse card on me.

And then he would shame and condemn them along the way was

not balanced, but he's going, oh, I, I can give it to I can

give it to you can give it, I can give it.

Christians are not doormats. Christians are people who think

Christians are people who tell the truth.

Christians are people who can also humiliate demonic arguments

and foolish attacks. The other thing that really

stood out this week is kind of A2 fold point.

First, people really, really, really hated Charlie Kirk.

I didn't realize that to that degree.

It would be one thing if there was just one hateful murderer

who pulled the trigger and then the whole world said, Oh my

goodness, that's just wicked and terrible.

Or if those celebrating were just anonymous social media

accounts, you know, just post for like, those could be bots,

you know, this could be AI generated things.

This might not be real people, but there have been so many

celebratory responses of real people on video.

These folks were so excited. They pulled up their phone and

they thought I should record this and I should send it out to

the world. That's a real boldness, that's a

real enthusiasm. That's a real joy.

They're so excited about their religion that they will preach

their gospel and that they will continue to enforce the rules of

their Kingdom. We can learn from them there as

well that we should be bold to preach and teach and enforce.

But this, the celebratory responses, these are not from

like just a bunch of California kids in college.

These are teachers. These are politicians.

These are news groups. These are computer programmers.

These are college students. These were firefighters.

These were airline pilots. This was my favorite football

team, the Carolina Panthers, one of their like employees.

He had posted something as well. And all these people are like, I

am proud and I'm excited to say that I'm happy that this man was

murdered. What a wild, wild shock this was

for me. These people didn't just decide

to keep it in their hearts. Like I'm super happy, but I know

better than I know. I know enough to keep it to

myself, right? Like that would be that would be

private and that's between them and the Lord.

But they went so far as to record and share their responses

with the world. Romans, one says they were

filled with all, all manner of unrighteousness, evil,

covetousness and malice. They're full of envy, murder,

strive, deceit and maliciousness.

Their gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent,

haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice

such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give

approval to those who practice them.

So they're like, I firstly probably would have never gotten

a place where I could have pulled the trigger, but I'm so

thankful someone did. These are the lost people of

Romans. One, These are all people

outside of Christ. What's shocking about that then,

Pastor? Well, that's my point.

I've been very naive and I don't think of myself as a naive

person. I'm a shepherd.

I'm a shepherd of the flock of God, and I'm not as naive as the

flock of God is. As your pastor, I, it is part of

my job to prepare you, to equip you and to help you understand

the realities of God's word around you.

But I have foolishly been naive to, to the very reality around

us for years. I, I thought I had learned this

lesson where I ignore certain red flags So, so many years ago

when I was pastoring, if there would be someone in the church

who he could talk to talk, you know, maybe he knew scripture or

she knew scripture and they could, they could just talk and

sound spiritual. I would take that as the

evidence. I would, I would accept that as

fruit for their life foolishly. And I would look at their family

and I would look at all these other things that I see.

And I'm like, that's weird. And I would dismiss the fruit

that I would say, I go, well, that's strange.

That's true. Because clearly this guy is so

legit, because he knows his Bible and because he knows how

to have spiritual conversations with me.

This is the brute I look at. And I foolishly dismissed other

things. And then time goes on.

You go, oh, wait, I had it backwards.

This is the brute. That's the reality.

This was the false presentation. Well, basically, I've done this

thing again with the world around us.

I didn't realize the degree of hatred, which I even feel stupid

saying because it was always in front of us the whole time.

But I thought I still had this. There's like the Anne Frank

quote, she said. Surely in spite of everything, I

still think people are good at heart.

I still had some naivete in me about that perspective and

thinking like, you know, I think most folks are all right.

Really. Pastor, outside of the blood of

Jesus. Well, you know, no, I know, I

know that any human is capable of what any other human has ever

done outside of Jesus. You and I are capable of the

worst thing that any other human has ever done except for the

grace of God. And I wasn't living like that

was true. I wasn't preaching like that was

true. I wasn't interacting like that

was true. But I have seen more and more

I'm going, man, these people are bold.

These people are excited about what they're excited about.

They're they're very passionate and they're very bold about what

they're doing, about their sin, about their wickedness.

But here is the other thing. And maybe you shifted this gear

this week as well. You're like, first of all, man,

that's really cruel to how they would celebrate Charlie and his

family in this way. But then you thought the next

logical thought, Wait a second, I am Charlie.

Not exactly by the way, let me let me help you with another

manipulation that that the snake uses against you to say that you

lied someone, the enemy will try and make it seem like you must

agree with every single word they have ever said, every

single action they have ever taken and every thought they

have ever thought. So to unite yourself with anyone

is to go that needs you. Stay with.

Hey, my my flock. That is a manipulation tactic of

your enemy. Do not play along anymore.

This is how we kept backing up to the Cliff over and over for

decades. And as the pulpit stayed silent

on these things and the enemy cleverly said, Christian

shouldn't talk about politics. And Christian said, oh, we

shouldn't. OK, do you stick to your Bible?

OK, we'll stick to our Bible. Well, those who read the Bible

realize Christians should talk about politics.

Politics belong to Jesus. Everything belongs to Jesus.

So now we command the whole world to repent after our own

repentance. God forgive us for our

foolishness in the church, for our laziness in the American

church, for our ignorance of your word.

But we realized that if these people thought this way about

this kind of person, I'm that kind of person.

I have those perspectives. I believe what he believes.

I mean, I don't know everything he believes, but but I believe.

I believe what he believes. Think we would have been best

friends. So if you rejoice that way over

his death, I know exactly how you feel about mine.

I know exactly how they would feel about yours.

That's not a that's not an unfair twist of things, is it?

That's a straight line logical step.

I hate him because he believed this.

Well, I believe all that. By the way, you should tell your

friends and family members that you believe those things too,

especially the ones, by the way, has anyone had had that happen

in your personal life, not just online, but you've seen your own

friends and family members say, well, I think he had it thumb

enough. Don't throw it in their face,

but just say, hey, just so you know, like I share those beliefs

and convictions. Generally speaking, I absolutely

show those beliefs and convictions and let them sell it

for themselves. You don't have to pay them into

a corner, but let them know. Let them know where you stand.

Well, I don't want to create. You don't want to what?

Create strife. You're not the person of strife.

You're the person of truth and grace.

And we call people to be people of truth and grace, but that can

only happen as they come to, as they come to Christ.

So the other thing we realize is if this many people are willing

to talk about this publicly, then celebrate their joy over

it, how many aren't? How many still feel it?

But just like I know better than say it.

So we're just gaining some perspective here.

I, I took the red pill in a whole new way this week.

So for those of you seen the movie The Matrix, then it's a,

you don't have to see the movie, but the guys presented with the

red pill or the blue pill. The red pill represents the

truth. You can take the truth and

you're going to know everything about reality, but it's going to

hurt. There's a lot of pain and

suffering involved in, but it's the truth.

It's how things actually are. Or you can take the blue pill

and you'll go back to being ignorant.

You won't know anything. So I've been red pilled in

multiple areas of my life over the years I've been red pilled,

for example, when it comes to understanding masculine and

feminine and how how masculine feminine should actually work in

a relationship compared to what demonic feminism has taught us

about how masculine feminine should work in relationship.

That was a red pill moment ago. That is reality.

This is how it works. It's good, true and beautiful

actually, if you handle that thankfully.

But I was red pilled in a new way because again, I'm just

realizing the hatred of these people isn't just hyperbole like

I thought it was. I thought all their rhetoric was

just rhetoric. I thought they were just like

trying to make an extreme point. They're like, they're racist and

they're begging someone. OK, they know we're not, but

they're just trying to they're fired up.

Fair enough. And we dismiss all the stuff

that they would say. They would say they're Nazis and

they're this and that's we're like, OK, they don't actually

mean that. They're just bad.

Fair enough. I like, we just gave such

allowances and we kept making such a like, they don't mean

what they're saying. Turns out they literally did it.

Like I thought, I thought they were just saying stuff.

So I was being really gracious with it all and like, oh wow,

they, they actually believe that.

OK, Wow, how stupid I was. They were constantly telling me

who they were and I refused to believe them.

I saw that I'd been very naive about my country.

So like we said, how they feel about someone's murdered who you

share the same beliefs with is how they would feel about yours

as well. Pastor, what are you doing here?

I am opening this the sheep's eyes so you have reality and

understanding as we continue to look to the hope.

First, John 3 says we should not be like Cain who was one of the

evil who was who was up the evil 1 and murdered his brother And

why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil

and his brothers were righteous. That is why Cain murdered evil.

I believe that's why Charlie Kirk was murdered, for his faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ and for his conviction to say, oh, this

is true. No, this is true.

This is what reality looks like. No, this is what a man is.

This is what a woman is. They can't become the other.

Oh no, this is, this is what's true.

Jesus is king. No other religion can be true

because Christ insists that it's not.

This is how reality works. This is what should happen as an

outflow of the Scriptures. So whenever you're the voice of

conviction for someone else, when they're resisting God, they

hate you for it. I want you to shut up because I

want you to stop bringing the conviction that I feel for it.

If you're right, that brings a terrible weight and burden upon

me. And the good news for them is

that the good news was in the message as well.

There is a heavyweight. There is a terrible weight and

burden upon you just like there is on all of us.

And Jesus comes and says, I'll lift it off of you.

The truth is he didn't put it on you.

Sin and shame put it on you. The law of God reveals to you

that it's on you. That's what the law of God does.

The law of God says you're actually being crushed by

£1,000,000. You go, I hate the law of God.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't hate the law of God.

Well, I never saw this white crushing me before until you

brought the law of God. Don't hate the law of God,

friend. Hate the sin that's crushing

you. The law of God has just

clarified it for you. It's like hating your doctor.

I've had all this going on in my life.

Your doctor says I can tell you what's going on.

This is your problem. I hate you, Doctor.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's attack the problem

together. By the way, I have the cure and

I'm happy to give it to you and it's free.

And his name is Jesus. I hate you, Doctor, and I hate

your cure because I love my sin. Why did he murder him?

Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous.

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

We know we have passed out of death into life because we love

the brothers. Whoever got whoever does not

love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother

is a murderer, and you know that.

No murderer has eternal life abiding and helping.

New Testament Bible stuff here. If you hate, you are a murderer,

and no murderer has eternal life provided me.

So how do we respond to hatred and martyrdom?

We look to our shepherd, Jesus. Now I'll take you to Matthew.

There had to be a Matthew in the sermon, right?

Matthew chapter 10 here there with me.

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

Starting verse 16, we're going to read all the way through 39,

but I'm going to teach as I go. Behold, this is Jesus talking.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the vids.

Wow, that's encouraging Lord. But he's honest.

He's honest right from the get go.

He never did a bait and switch with us.

He said. I'm telling you reality.

Jesus gave the red pill the whole time.

No false comfort, real comfort, powerful comfort.

Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.

The body of Christ has often been as innocent as a dove and

as foolish as a sheep. He said, I want you to be.

You are like sheep in some ways, he said.

But listen to me, sheep. You need to be wise like a dove.

All these animal references. Sheep are historically stupid

animals. Very dumb.

They do things to get themselves in trouble.

They do things to get themselves sick.

They do things to get themselves lost.

They do things to get themselves killed.

Fair enough. Jesus.

Bit of a Jag it took out us there.

But it's well deserved. But then he says, so be as wise

as a serpent. Snakes are wise.

Snakes are crafted. Snakes are hard to hit.

They're serpenting. But many Christians stand up and

go, I'm right here, I'm right here, shoot me instead of having

wisdom even in conversation. To be Serpentine, to not play

into your enemy's traps, and to not walk ignorantly like a sheep

into traps that are deliberately set for you.

Jesus went like a lamb before the slaughter at the cross, but

in conversations and in theological interactions, He did

not walk and March right into every trap set for him.

He walked into zero traps set for Him, innocent as doves. 17

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and

flog you with their synagogues, and you will be dragged before

governors and kings. For my sake, oh Jesus, I'll do

anything for you to bear witness before them and the Gentiles

when they deliver you over. Do not be anxious of how you are

to speak or what you're going to say, for what you are to say

will be given to you in that hour.

For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father

speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother

over to death and the father, his child and children will rise

against parents and have them put to death.

Do what? Jesus, brother against brother,

father against child, children against parents and have been

put to death. Believe your Bible.

Believe your Bible. It has happened.

Just because it's not happening in this moment doesn't mean it

won't again. But it has happened, and you

will be hated by all. Why?

For my name's sake. But the one who endures to the

end will be saved. When they persecute you in one

town, flee to the next. For truly I say, you will not

have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man

comes. A disciple was not above his

teacher, nor a servant above his master.

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and a

servant like his master. If they call the master of the

house feels able. So he said, if they call me the

master, if they call me Satan, how much more will they malign

those of his household? How much more will they talk

poorly of you? Christians get used to it.

Well, we are used to it. Frankly, I think it's but

understand it. Understand it, recognize it and

don't try to defend it. You're not dealing with a

reasonable person if you're dealing with someone who hates

you, someone who wishes for your death.

Your feelings hurt. Love them, pray for them.

Bless those who persecute you. They hate you.

They hated him first. He told us they would.

So have No Fear of them. For nothing is covered that will

not be revealed. Nothing is hidden that will not

be known. When I tell you in the dark, say

in the light what you hear whispered proclaim on the

housetops, or on a college campus with a microphone, or on

YouTube, or on your social media account or at the water cooler,

wherever you can, whatever the consequence, and it will be

worth it. Do not fear those who kill the

body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy

both soul and body in hell. Are not 2 sparrows sold for a

penny and not one of them will fall to the ground without your

Father. But even the hairs on your head

are all numbered. Fear not.

Therefore you are of more value than men, sparrows.

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also

acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.

Hallelujah, what a promise. Acknowledge the Lord Jesus

Christ as your Master, as your King, as your God, as the one

who saved you. And he said, I will acknowledge

you before my Father in heaven. You want that, my friends, You

want the Lord Jesus Christ to turn to the Father and say they

are ours. They have come through my name

and through my blood. Verse 33 But whoever denies me

before men, I will also deny before my father, who is in

heaven. What a tragedy and what in

terror. Do not think I have come to

bring peace to the earth. I've not come to bring peace,

but a sword. For I have come to set a man

against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

I didn't write that in there. That's been there the whole

time. Whoever loves father or mother

more than me is not worthy of me.

Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of

me. Whoever does not take his cross

and follow me is not worthy of me.

Whoever finds his life will lose it.

Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

They hate Jesus, that's why they hate his servants.

Jesus really loves you and you are secure in Him.

When the people of the we're the people of the cross and we still

have good news. We are not a people of despair.

A people who will live forever have No Fear of death.

A people who will live forever cannot be intimidated.

I'll cheer with you. I'll shoot you.

Oh, Oh no, Oh no. I'll be with my great God and

say, is it a tragedy? It still is because it's a

wickedness and the innocent blood cries out.

Charlie Kurtz. Innocent blood cries out for

justice. Thankfully, they have arrested

his killers and we pray that his killer would repent and grow to

the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is exactly what should happen.

And then the state should execute justice because that's

the office of the state and that is the responsibility given to

the state. And then when the state executes

justice. Tyler Robinson would enter into

the eternal glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to be greeted by

Charlie Kirk and say welcome into the Kingdom.

I didn't earn anything to get here.

You didn't earn anything to get here.

Praise Jesus, kill your people. You are to love your enemies and

to want to see them blessed, and at the same time to understand

God's Word is right and just and perfect and final and all areas

of authority in the household and the government and in the

church. Go to Romans chapter 12 to your

Romans 12 · chapter mention

right in the New Testament, Mark, Luke, John X Romans,

Romans 12, verse 14. Bless those who persecute you.

Romans 12:14

Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one

another. Do not be haughty, but associate

with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is

honorable. Decide of all, if possible, so

far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all,

beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but

leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is

mine. I we'll repay, says the Lord.

That's why we pray for our enemies, God.

Save them from your vengeance. Save them from your vengeance

and also Lord. And if they won't repent, bring

your full wrath, God, Bring your wrath and crush your enemies,

Lord. But we don't take that into our

hands. To the contrary, if your enemy

is hungry, feed him, and if he's thirsty, give him something to

drink. For by doing so you will keep

burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but

overcome evil. We're good, so we love our

enemies. We do not pretend that we don't

have enemies, though. We do not trust our enemies.

That is not the command. We do not submit to our enemies.

That is not the command. We do not help our enemies

succeed. That is not the command.

We seek peace by calling our enemies to repentance.

That is the only way there can be repentance.

That's the only way there can be unity.

That's the only way there can be reconciliation.

So our enemies, they're saying, hey, let's all tone it down.

Ain't no, let's all ain't no let's all tone it down.

We won't meet you at the cross. That's the only place I'll meet

you. That's the only fairground I'll

meet you. But I'm not going to pretend

that there's truth or appeasement.

If you want unity, we can have him come to the cross of Jesus.

That's where I'm staying planted.

I belong to Jesus. You can come to Jesus.

That's great. But light can have no fellowship

with darkness. So come to the light.

It's not my team, it's just Jesus.

And I've joined this team and you were invited.

You're a welcome. You're called in.

And then they can review the doctor for pointing out the

sickness in the illness and the disease.

But many will repent. Yes, many will respond.

We see that in Charlie Kirk's ministry.

You see that there for all the hate.

I hope you've also seen some of the beautiful testimonies.

I've seen photographs of people said I was a trans this.

And now here's me married to my husband, a man born a man, me

born a woman. And here's our babies and we

love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ because Charlie spoke to

me with such kindness. Yes, the hateful right extremist

bigot. Yeah, that guy, he spoke to me

with such kindness. I've seen black people share

videos of how Charlie encouraged them and blessed them and

encouraged them in their work. Charlie, the extreme right wing

racist, all these things they're going to continue to accuse, but

many people will respond to you with graciousness because Jesus

said the harvest is ready. It's the laborers that are few.

Continue to stand for truth, but recognize that you need wisdom.

You don't want to help your enemy succeed.

This is the only way we connect unity under the name and the

blood of Jesus. That is the place where there

can be reconciliation. Anything else would be betrayal

of Christ. We must stop backing up and take

a step forward. How do we take that step

forward? Tell the truth.

Tell the truth and be winsome. Charlie was winsome in the right

way. Scripture commands us to be

winsome in our speech. But then of course, our enemies

turn that and say you must all look and act and behave like Mr.

Rogers at all times. And that is not who Jesus was.

That is not who Charlie Kirk was.

But of course, our enemies who don't love the word of God will

use the word of God against sweet and innocent Christians

who don't know better because they're still in a chore.

And the enemies will say, your Bible says this.

And angry Christians will go, Oh my goodness, I want to obey my

Bible. All while being manipulated by

the snakes. He tried to use the Scripture

against Jesus too. He probably knows the Scripture

better than you and I, but he's a twister, a manipulator, and a

liar. Ephesians 426 commands us be

angry and do not sin. I feel so angry, Pastor.

That means you have a sense of justice.

Like God who is just. You should be angry.

And now point your anger to righteous action.

Point your anger to holy boldness.

Do not let it rot into unforgiveness.

You don't need to repent of your anger.

You need to repent of doing nothing with your anger.

That would be a problem or doing the wrong thing with your anger.

Surrender to God. And this really can be a turning

point for us and a turning point for our nation.

Prophetically, that's what Charlie's ministry was called.

That's what that organization was called, Turning point.

And by God's grace, this will actually be a turning point for

our nation. Whereas naive Christians like

myself go and I thought I understood things clearly and I

got a whole another level of revelation and understanding on

where we really are and what's really taking place now.

And I want to be even more bold. I want to be even more outspoken

that don't hear bold with offensive, although being bold

will create massive offense because we know that you're at

war with another religion. Even though they that many of

your enemies would say they don't have any religion at all,

they do in every country, every religion.

They're always speech laws and they're always laws to protect

the gods of that country and the gods of that age and the gods of

that day. Our nation is no different.

So that's why they wanted to label truth telling as violence.

They wanted to say that that's sin against our gods.

That's sin against our idols. Idols themselves, the idols of,

of mostly it's just the idol of self of, of what I want, what I

believe is best, what I believe is true.

So they want to silence your speech.

That's why they call it violence.

By the way, it was so important for the enemies of the cross to

say that speech itself is violence.

All the logic, If I can say that your speech is actual violence,

I can now justify my actual violence against you.

And I can say I'm, I'm in self-defense because you did

violence to me with words. But it feels that way because

the word God cuts to the heart. The truth cuts deep.

So I understand. But you can no longer be

gasoline and manipulated by your enemies.

You can no longer be told that you're full of hate speech.

You can no longer be told those sins by people who don't love

and follow Jesus, who try and tell you who Jesus was and what

he was like. That's foolishness to trust your

enemies and to take them up on their offers.

So surrender to God. And this really can't be a

turning point for all of us. So what does surrender look

like? What are we supposed to do now?

We're supposed to walk in to God in all given spheres of our

lives. And that's where we're going to

go with the rest of our message. I'm going to hit the three

different spheres. And what you should do, what

action you should take, the three spheres of authority that

Jesus has established in the earth.

If we had a little diagram, that's three spheres you heard

me talk about many times. That's the household.

That's one sphere of authority. It has particular authorities

that the others do not. The church, that's another

sphere with another particular authority.

It has authorities that the other two spheres do not.

And the government, that is a Jesus given, God assigned to the

earth, spirit authority. And it has particular roles and

assignments that the others do not.

And yet all three speak to one another.

And we're supposed to work under submission of Jesus together for

the flourishing of people and for the establishing of God's

will on the earth, our first sphere of influence.

What are we supposed to do, Pastor?

What are we supposed to do now? I understand more clearly how

much the world hates me. I understand more clearly the

world that the the war that we're a part of.

What do we do with it? Pastor in sphere #1 the

household. The best thing and the right

thing to do is obey God by shepherding your own household.

Well, I cannot overstate this point.

This is where we will gain the most ground.

The other two are also incredibly powerful.

But this is where I should say this way, not where we'll gain

the most ground. This is where you have the most

influence. First of all, personally, right

away, it's yourself. I think this ought to.

I think man, the church needs to this and they needed this.

Well, first of all, you and your own household are the best place

for you to glorify God. It's where you have maximum

authority to make it. So this is your best advertising

as well for the Kingdom. This is the best way to so that

people can look at your life and go like, maybe I do disagree

with everything they say, but I look at the fruits and I go,

that's some good fruit though, and I would like to enjoy some

of that. Your own life is your best

advertising. You shouldn't take financial

advice from a broke person. You shouldn't take fitness

advice from an out of shape person.

You should look the part if you're selling those things.

And if we're selling the gospel, we should look the part.

We should look like, look what the gospel does, look what it

does in a household, look what it does in an individual, look

what it does in my personal life.

We should look the part with richness and with beautiful

fruit. What does that look like?

It looks like a deeply loving and joyful marriage.

Deeply loving and joyful marriage.

It will take work, it will take effort, It will take deliberate

action, but it's a Kingdom manifestation.

It will look like children who are well loved and disciplined,

well loved and disciplined. It will look like joy in your

home. It will look like enjoying the

presence of God, not only the principles of God.

So it's not a household that just says this is the rule, this

is the rule, this is God's rule, this is God's rule.

Well, that's, that's good. But we want to emphasize his

presence. The presence of God will always

lead you to the principles of God, but it's possible to have

the principles of God without having the presence of God.

We want both. And in your personal life, in

your own household, this is what you should be prioritizing.

This is what you should be focusing on.

Double down your efforts to build up your marriage.

Double down your efforts to build up your own personal

devotional life in your own personal world with the Lord.

Double down your efforts to grow and mature in all the ways that

you know the Lord is speaking to you.

Back to that point of surrender. Lord, I need to surrender and

then I need to go to another level and then again I said he's

overlap in the second sphere, the church, what should the

church do? The church should obey God and

by preaching the gospel with urgency.

And when I say the church, I don't mean the Sunday gathering,

I mean also you. So the first one was you, the

second one's you just like the first one was me as a as a man,

a husband and father. The second one is me.

Yes, as a pastor, but that's that's not my primary.

My primary is I'm a Christian. As a Christian, I need to be

preaching the gospel with boldness and clarity and with

love. This is the mission.

To preach the gospel is loving, to preach the gospel is caring.

To preach the gospel is kind. And yes, we understand it's

offensive. You got to tell people you're so

bad that Jesus had to die for it and you deserve eternity and

help. But wait, I wasn't finished.

There's good news, by the way, that's true about me too.

And the grace of God has been extended to us.

We've got to get that whole message on the whole part part A

and Part B, not just Part B, not just God loves you and is a

great plan for your life. Like, cool, thanks God.

I guess I'll continue on with my day.

Hang on a second. All have sinned and fallen short

of the glory of God. You've got to confess your sins

and come to them. Repent, for the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. Is the message that Jesus

preached. I don't know what Mr. Rogers

preached, but I do know what Jesus preached and repentance

was always the primary part of his message.

Go there for and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.

We're to go into all nations. We're to make nations and ethnic

groups and everybody. We're to teach them to obey

Jesus. That's Jesus's command.

We're not to go around and suggest to people, Hey, really

think you ought to consider this.

Hey, really think you ought to now and in your wisdom of your

relationships, that might be a way you actually say, well, hey,

hey friend, I really want to get some pushback.

I really want to get some encouragement.

I really hope you'll consider I I did that in the mall recently.

I was in a store, got talking to the cashier.

We just got chat back and forth. He was a Muslim and he had a lot

to say and he really didn't come up for air.

So he just kind of talked the whole time and I kept waiting

and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.

Eventually I realized, have some wisdom, John Michael.

He's not going to stop. He was friendly, I enjoyed him,

he enjoyed me, but he wasn't going to stop.

So I had to interject because I had to leave.

And I said, hey, hey, can I drop a Pebble in your shoe?

Because he was saying different things about different

religions, all kinds of inaccuracies and false things.

And he's like, Oh yeah, we all serve God.

Not true. So I said, can I put a Pebble in

your shoe? And he goes, sure.

I said, I have to go. So this is that was a winsome

and gracious approach, right? I didn't just say, hey,

everything you said is wrong. You're an idiot, you're going to

hell. Mohammed was a pervert, which

all this those things might be true, but that's not necessarily

the necessary approach, is it? Right.

So I said, can I put a Pebble in your shoe before I go?

And he goes, sure, sure. I said, so you said this and you

said this, the invasive claims about Christ.

I said, well, I would encourage you to go look up the exclusive

claims that Jesus made. I said, because all of these

religions, Islam, here's how you get to heaven, right?

There's a particular way. He goes, yeah, I said Judaism,

there's a particular way they can make it.

Buddhism and you know, I said Christian, there's a particular

way. I said some of those have some

overlap. Christianity overlaps with none

of them. I said Jesus made exclusive

claims about who he was. I said, I said I have to go.

I said, but you have to process that.

I said, you got to chew on that. I had a little bit of rapport.

He liked me. He could reside.

Well, he won't. He, I don't know.

I'm afraid and and I trust and hope that he will.

So don't misunderstand. When we talk about boldness,

we're not talking about deliberate rudeness.

He, he had no way showed teeth. He was a very gracious

conversation. So I didn't have to go, Oh, stop

right there you steak. I didn't have to do any of that.

I was just able to relate to him.

Hey, nice story you got here and so on.

But preaching the gospel is our assignment and we have to preach

Christ crucified. We have to preach Christ risen,

not tomorrow, but today. We have to preach now, not like

you don't need to wait like I need to become a more mature

Christian. Well, we all need to become more

mature Christians. So I love the sentiment there,

but don't think that you're supposed to wait.

Don't think you were going to graduate into I'm ready for

Avenger with some. No, no, no.

That was the invitation. Day one.

Come and follow me. Why, I'll make you fishers of

men. That's why.

That's the invitation from day one.

So if you're in Christ, you are now qualified to make disciples.

You're now qualified to say, hey, I don't know everything.

I got tons of stuff like I can't, I don't have the

intellect of Charlie Kirk. The more I've watched it, I'm

like, dude was brilliant. We have a photographic memory.

Anybody comes up with anything and they're like, so let's talk

about the crime statistics. And he's like, no, actually in

2000, such and such, the statistics, the FBI, I'm like,

bro, what? That's wild.

And he can do it with anything. And then he can talk to Ukraine

and then he can talk theology and then he can talk.

No, the free court actually says on good grief, you're not

Charlie Kirk. OK, there's not going to be

another 1. And I also write, there will be

10 million of us, so don't pressure yourself.

I got to sound like Pastor John Michael.

I got to sound like someone somebody's going to be asking me

a question I don't know the answer to.

And then they'll think that that somehow disposes the whole

Bible. Hey, my, my dear and precious,

saying that is a tactic that the enemy is using against you to

keep you silent. The power of God is the gospel.

The gospel is the power of God. It is the power.

It's not the intellectual argument.

It's not every, it's not all the detail that Charlie was able to

expose because as you saw on many debates, he was able to

point it out. And then they go, I still hate

you. How could you hate him?

He just showed you everything point by point.

How could you hate him? Because the gospel is the power

of God unto salvation. Not FBI, not FBI crime

statistics, not what Putin said, not what Ukraine did, not what

Trump said, not what Trump did, not what Fox or CNN, not any of

the data or the facts of what took place.

It's not the power to change someone's life.

It's not it. I just feel like if I could

reason with people, you can't because it's spiritual.

Stop believing that it's not spiritual.

That is the ball. Then we're believing that it's

not spiritual, and we're still thinking that the gospel is like

some foolish thing and it is foolishness to those who are

perishing. And God says, I wonder if my

Saints will believe me and preach the message of a bloody

cross and the postmodern era where everyone is super educated

and everyone's so smart. Well, my Saints actually go and

say Jesus died on the bloody cross for our sins.

And he really does love you. And he really will rescue you

and give you a new identity and a new life.

And he'll heal like traumatic wounds in your soul and physical

wounds in your body and restoration to your mind and

bring peace to you. That's really all.

My God, I don't know a lot more than that right now.

I'm really doing the Lord, but I know He's done it for me and I

know he'll do it for you. Can will you just submit and

surrender to the Lord Jesus? Will you please let me pray with

you? I've never done it like that.

Well, maybe that's what we're getting, what we're getting

because we've been doing what we've been doing.

Preach the gospel with urgency. That's what we're supposed to do

as the church. And then in our third sphere of

influence, the government. What are we supposed to do?

I'm not the government. Maybe some of you are in public

office. If so, you're part of the

government. Praise God for that, But what

are we supposed to do with our government?

We are supposed to press our government to obey God because

the government was instituted by God and the government should be

in submission to God. Amen.

Amen. We're closing for these next

couple minutes. I'm going to go to Romans again.

Romans 13. Our government quoted it to us

over these past few years, many in our godless government.

Suddenly we're quoting Romans 13, which is quite ironic

because I want to say, oh, do you believe that the Bible is

the authoritative word of God? They don't know.

But you're supposed to do so. Do that.

Do what this verse says. How clever.

If he's Satan. No, I think I'll interpret the

Scripture with the Scripture, and I think I'll apply it

appropriately. Romans 13, verse one.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

That's all CNN gave us a few years ago.

That's it. Obey the government.

For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist

have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the

authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist

will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to

good conduct. So the authorities established

by God are not a terror to good conduct.

To bad conduct. This is the establishment of the

Lord's authority in government to be a terror to bad conduct,

not to be a terror to good conduct.

By the way, the establishment of the household is where husbands

and fathers rule. Households like Jesus so that

everybody wins, so that men wins, so that women win, so that

children win and everybody flourishes.

That's the authority established in the household, the authority

established in the church, the church's responsibility.

What power does the church have in the earth?

Jesus said this. This realm of authority tells

you what the truth is. This realm, the body of Christ,

tells the household and the government which way is up and

which way is down. The church says this is the way.

That's north. We established that last week,

right? That's N.

We established this is north, this is South, this is east,

this is West. So the government doesn't get to

go. Well, we've actually changed the

compass. You don't do that.

You don't have the authority to do that.

Your responsibility is to punish the evil doers and to reward the

righteous. That's what Jesus gave to you.

The church will tell you when you've outstep that

jurisdiction. The church doesn't execute

people, do they? The household doesn't execute

people do that. Jesus didn't give them that

authority. It's not their jurisdiction and

it's not their place. The church can excommunicate

people. As a pastor, I have that

authority. When a believer continues to

live in unrepentant sin, we go to them with compassion and

grace. But eventually, if they continue

to harden their hearts, we say you're an excommunicator because

we love you, because we want you to feel this pain of separation

so that you will repent. We refuse to pretend you are a

part of us because that would be a damnation to your soul, and we

hope that you will genuinely repent and be saved.

And the household establishes care, establishes love.

It's where marriage is established.

It's where children are nurtured and disciple.

Would you like to have No Fear of the one who is in authority?

Then do what is good and you will receive His approval.

This is God's design for government.

This isn't how government always works.

Isn't verse 4 For he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid in the state.

The authority to kill human beings when appropriate and the

state determines appropriate. Would you like to be free?

From fear of the state? Don't.

Break the law. I hope I don't get pulled over

today. Don't speak.

You know, we all have that effect, right?

Drive past the Congo. What do we feel?

Fear. Why?

Because we're breaking the law. He bears not the sword in vain,

though. He is God's servant for your

good. That's why he's going to pull

you over. Hey, that's dangerous.

We've just, we've decided. We've determined this is

dangerous. This isn't good.

That's what he's supposed to do. He doesn't always do it that

way. That's what he's supposed to do.

The household isn't always functioning perfectly, but God's

designed for it's perfect. The church doesn't always

function perfectly, but God's designed for it is perfect if

you do wrong. Be afraid he has a.

Sword. It's not for show, it's a cut

someone's head off. So this should be your great

area of interest when? It comes to your government.

Government is supposed to carry out God's wrath on the

wrongdoer. But your government, our

government, largely fails at doing so.

This is the problem. Where does this show up?

We have open borders and lawless immigration.

This exposes the innocent to danger.

It is immoral. It is immoral.

We protect criminals. Victims are ignored.

The we could go unpunished. Our government allows legally

for the murder of unborn children, human beings made in

the image of God. Our government thought they

could redefine marriage. That was your jurisdiction.

What on earth are you talking about?

Should have said the church. Who on earth do you think you

we're the government? And Christians naively think the

government is the sphere of over everybody.

The government's over the church and the government's over the

family. Well, when it comes to right

doing and wrongdoing and prosecution, sure.

But in another sense, the church is over everybody with the

truth. And in another sense, the

family's over everybody with authority to raise and disciple

their own children. And yet there could be some

overlap in these areas. State can't redefine marriage.

You didn't define marriage. You don't need to redefine

marriage. That's God's creation.

That's the church's institution. We'll handle that.

Get out of it. We'd like to award people for

being married. That's the government.

We recognize that we should reward the righteous, and we see

how this is a social benefit. By all means, go for it.

That makes sense. That's within your jurisdiction

to do so. But you don't get to change and

say what that looks like and who is married and who isn't.

The church will let you know our government has incredibly

ridiculous debts and reckless spending enslaving future

generations because of their stupidity and wickedness and

they have the failure to wield the sword in the state of

Virginia. They have removed the death

penalty entirely. The thing that Jesus has given

to our state in particular. Our state said no Jesus, we know

better than you. We won't be doing that ever

again in the state is what they said.

So murderers live and victims blood cries out for justice.

What are we supposed to do beyond the obvious of voting in

the way that is most righteous? You need to know that Christians

should be political because everything belongs to Jesus.

We're not silent or quiet. We're not only political, but we

are definitely political. We're people who interact with

all areas of life. We care about everything and we

know that God's ways are best, so we want his Kingdom to come

and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And if they call you a Christian nationalist for saying that,

don't worry about it. It's an irrelevant label.

You can just continue to go. All I know is I don't want

people to be able to get on a subway and get their throat

sliced open by someone who's been arrested 14 times and then

released a gun. That's what I know.

Well, none of. Us want that?

Well then. But the way we vote at the

ballot box determines the policies of the people who will

enact. We can miss our righteousness.

So voting does matter. It does matter a lot.

But what else? Don't just stop at voting.

I'm not going to stop at voting. I've been largely ignorant to my

government, it's processes, my legislative leaders and I no

longer will be. I believe it has been in

ignorance, but a simple ignorance on my part.

And I will no longer just sit back and just wait for things to

happen and only vote in elections.

I've even been outspoken leading up to elections.

I'll continue to do so, but I will no longer just sit back and

do that. I will get engaged.

How are you going to do it, pastor?

I'm learning. I'm learning like literally now

about what to do and how to do it, how to make progress.

What would it look like? I don't.

I'm not committing my life to being a political activist, but

I do need to take my appropriate role as a citizen of Middlesex

County, as a citizen of the state of Virginia, as a citizen

of the United States. And I haven't done that to the

strength and degree that I need to.

And I feel responsible to do more stuff.

So as I learn and grow, I'll continue to share news.

If any of you say pass your father along that path of the

help, I'll meet. Clue me in, fill me in, show me

what that looks like. I'm eager to learn.

But that's what repentance looks like.

We've been confronted with the reality of death, of hate, and

of evil. We've seen it on our screens.

We felt it in our own hearts. Where is the hope?

What do we do? Rule well your own household.

Rule well yourself. Preach the gospel.

It is the power of God unto salvation.

And yes, be political. It all belongs to Jesus, and the

outcomes that you want are going to bless everybody.

Even people who hate Jesus are going to be blessed by the

rulership of Jesus on the earth when the Saints rise up in power

and in strength. So where is the hope?

The only answer is in Jesus. Christ.

And what does that mean? He's not an idea.

He's not a philosophy. I'm going to say, oh, just hope

in Jesus. No, there's a mechanism of

salvation. God's grace is.

Given to you when. You put faith in Christ and this

what brings the miracle, the new of the new birth.

He is not a philosophy. He is the living king of the

universe and he's still saving people and making them new.

Romans has multiple passages that walk us through this.

Romans 323 says for all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God. That includes me, that includes

you. Romans 623 for the wages of sin,

there's a payment. The wages of sin is death, but

the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our word.

That was bad news at first. We switched to good news.

Thank you God. Romans 58 But God shows his love

for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for

us. Christ died for us.

John 316 Jesus Himself for God so loved the world that he gave

his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not

perish, but have eternal life. So what do you do?

What must I do? To be saved you.

Repent. You turn from sin, you trust in

Jesus Christ alone to save you, and you confess in this Lord.

When you do that, He does the real work.

You do the surrender. He does the breakthrough.

He makes you a new creation. Old things passed away.

All things become new. He brings new desires.

He brings a new actual life, a recognizable life, a

recognizable difference, with recognizable desires that shift

and change. Romans 10/9 if you confess.

With your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I don't know if Charlie Kirk meant a lot to you or if he

meant. Very little to you if you didn't

know anything about it until this week, but this is the hope

that he lived with and died with.

Yes, that Jesus is Lord. Charlie is secure.

He is conscious right now in the presence of God, with my

grandfather, who I miss, with your loved ones who died in

Christ, secure in the eternal. Presence of God.

We got lots of questions about the beauty and goodness of

heaven, but we know it's incredible.

Don't leave here without Christ. Don't leave here still in your.

Sin, you can really come to Jesus, the crucified is and Lord

and you'll find forgiveness. You will find eternal life.

You will find a fellowship of believers who love you and say

welcome, welcome. We didn't.

Well, we might just be a few steps ahead of you on the

timeline, but that's it. Jesus has done everything else

for us. We all come into the Kingdom the

same way. You'll find the love of God that

no murder, that no hate. That no death.

Can ever take away you can join the eternal Kingdom and His

eternal people and worship the Eternal King.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the love you have shown

us. God, I pray that everyone under

the sound of my voice would trust you, would believe on you,

would confess their sins to you, and be made new by you.

I want to lead you in a prayer church.

Maybe you've prayed this with all your heart before.

If so, you can pray it again with me now.

If you've never prayed it with all your heart and actually

surrender to the Lord, I want to clarify You're not just

repeating after me or repeat after me.

I believe many people have repeated a prayer like this one

to no effect. They've used their vocal cords

as the air moves through their esophagus to no effect.

But if you are surrendering. Your life to the Lord Jesus.

Christ, then you are about to receive the full grace of God.

That is a miracle, that is a gift, and that is a

resurrection. So let's pray like this,

heavenly.