Speaker 1: you.
Speaker 1: The last time that I was with you all, there were only two services.
Speaker 1: And now what have we here?
Speaker 1: Grateful to God for the growth of First Christian Church, and I think you guys ought to give your pastor and staff and volunteers a big hand for following God and going through the ups and downs.
Speaker 1: Because I'm going to tell you right now, as a church consultant, not every church is growing, but this one is.
Speaker 1: That says a lot.
Speaker 1: For churches to be growing in 2024 is way different than a church growing in 1994.
Speaker 1: A lot of different challenges and so but I also want to say this, in addition to Pastor Nate and the staff and those of you service volunteers, a big part of what people are looking for is a place that they can call home.
Speaker 1: People aren't looking for just nice smiles, but genuine acceptance and belonging.
Speaker 1: So that would be you guys.
Speaker 1: So give yourselves a hand for being the kind of church that people are coming to and saying this is a place I feel like I can fit, I feel like I can grow and I feel like I belong.
Speaker 1: So hats off to you for that the last time that you all gathered last Sunday.
Speaker 1: A few things have changed since then.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed, but there's been some news since last Sunday.
Speaker 1: Maybe Fabio paying attention to the news since last Sunday Maybe Fabio paying attention to the news.
Speaker 1: There's with the election results, with President-elect Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: There are friends and family of mine who voted red and are celebrating that, and there are friends and family of mine who voted blue and are grieved at that.
Speaker 1: There are Jesus-loving, jesus-following people who voted red and are hopeful, and there are Jesus-loving, jesus-following people who voted blue and are fearful, who voted blue and are fearful.
Speaker 1: That's the reality we find ourselves in, not just in our country, but in the American church.
Speaker 1: So today I want to talk about how do we become a united church in a divided world.
Speaker 1: How do we become a united church in a divided world?
Speaker 1: Because I want you to know, no matter how you voted in this election or previous elections, it doesn't matter, no matter how you voted Jesus when he comes back, he's not coming back for America, he's coming back for his church.
Speaker 1: Jesus is not coming back for America, he's coming back for his church, and some of his church is in America and some are all around the world.
Speaker 1: Most of them are all around the entire world.
Speaker 1: Jesus is coming back for his church and for his bride.
Speaker 1: That should not have a spot or a wrinkle.
Speaker 1: The word of God says but how do we become a united church in a divided world?
Speaker 1: In John, chapter 17, jesus was praying to his father and he said I'm praying that they, who's they?
Speaker 1: We are the they.
Speaker 1: I'm praying that they would be one as you and I, father, are one.
Speaker 1: Now why would Jesus, the Son of God, have to pray for unity?
Speaker 1: Because it's not natural.
Speaker 1: There's all kinds of challenges that come with that.
Speaker 1: Just among the 12 disciples alone, jesus recruited people who in the natural were arch rivals and enemies.
Speaker 1: If you don't know, tax collectors were not on the popular list, but he recruited one.
Speaker 1: Simon the Zealot was wanting to overthrow the Roman government with violence.
Speaker 1: He recruited him.
Speaker 1: Judas had a problem with keeping his hands to himself and not stealing out of the money bag, but Jesus still made him the treasurer.
Speaker 1: The 12 disciples, don't misunderstand.
Speaker 1: In the natural they were not people who would get along.
Speaker 1: Fishermen, considered dirty and unclean because of how they work, would not connect with a tax collector at all.
Speaker 1: But he brought them all together and he found a way to help them be united in him and his purpose and his cause, so much so that they put aside all those other differences social, economic differences, social norms, ways that they've been taught to view each other different than how Jesus would teach them how to view each other.
Speaker 1: They put all that aside and, for the glory of God, laid down their lives to spread the gospel of Jesus and change the world.
Speaker 1: This same Jesus is the one that you put your faith in, and I put my faith in for salvation.
Speaker 1: We realize that, as we stand before God, none of us have a good enough speech to excuse ourselves.
Speaker 1: Put my faith in for salvation.
Speaker 1: We realize that, as we stand before God, none of us have a good enough speech to excuse ourselves from the sins that we've committed in our lives and to explain ourselves to a holy and just God of why we deserve to be in heaven.
Speaker 1: All of us realize that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and we by our faith in Christ.
Speaker 1: That's what gets us in.
Speaker 1: If we are not given the righteousness of Christ as a gift, none of us get in, and so our faith in Christ causes us to receive that gift and you become saved and I become saved, and you become a child of God and I become a child of God and I become a child of God.
Speaker 1: And all of your sins, thoughts, words, actions, past, present, future are forgiven.
Speaker 1: And all of my sins, past, present, future, all those kind of the private ones and the public ones, all of those sins are forgiven in Christ.
Speaker 1: That is an eternal truth, that gives us an eternal identity.
Speaker 1: That is what unites us now and for eternity.
Speaker 1: In the middle of all that, we have different ideas.
Speaker 1: We have different life experiences that shape our view of reality, that shape our view of how we even understand the scripture.
Speaker 1: We have different things that we're taught, different messages that are coming our way, different opinions, different values.
Speaker 1: All of us in here right now, we come from different families and we still value things differently.
Speaker 1: Even in your own biological family, you can still have a different value than your brother or sister or mom or dad, because God created us to be different.
Speaker 1: He created diversity, he created variety, and the way that the world has looked at that diversity is that they have used it to create power structures.
Speaker 1: They have used the differences to create hate and separation and isolation and labels and division.
Speaker 1: They've used the otherness to isolate and divide us, and the danger that the church finds itself in today is that it is being discipled by the world on how to view people instead of being influenced by the word on how to view people.
Speaker 1: And so anytime that you and I start looking at each other differently because of what the world tells me to how to view you and what the world tells me to how to view you and what the world tells you on how to view me, because of my difference and because of your difference, we are going down a slippery demonic division slope.
Speaker 1: We've gotten away from what the Word of God says.
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough this past Saturday to wake up at 4.30 am so that I could be ready and log on at 5 am to talk with brothers and sisters in Christ in Pakistan, and the title of my talk was the Purpose and the Person of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And as I talk with these brothers and sisters in Pakistan and I'm looking at their faces on the screen and I'm seeing them and they're seeing me we're talking about the person who saved us all, the person who forgave us all, and even though I had a translator that I just have faith that he was translating what I was saying exactly the way I was saying it.
Speaker 1: There was still a unity present through this video chat with only because of what I know to be true about them and what they know to be true about me.
Speaker 1: They don't know anything else about me.
Speaker 1: They don't know what my positions are on different political issues.
Speaker 1: They don't know what my favorite food is.
Speaker 1: They don't know what I like and dislike.
Speaker 1: What they do know is that I'm a brother in Christ, and what I do know about them is that they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and in that moment we were united.
Speaker 1: If we don't agree with anything else, we do agree with who the person and purpose of Jesus Christ is, what his blood does for us and how we become children of God, brothers and sisters that will one day all gather around the throne together, from every nation, tribe tongue and worship the Lamb of God, who has taken all of our sins away.
Speaker 1: That's what the call was about.
Speaker 1: That's what our unity is about.
Speaker 1: All these other things don't matter.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: It is also true that on this call, we did not discuss abortion.
Speaker 1: It is also true that on this call.
Speaker 1: We did not discuss what America should do with the border, who should be allowed in and who should not be allowed in, what laws there should be in and who should not be allowed in, what laws there should be, what laws there should not be.
Speaker 1: We did not discuss what should happen in Middle East or international relationships.
Speaker 1: We did not discuss the right way to deal with what's going on in our country economically.
Speaker 1: All we talked about was Jesus, and the fact of the matter is that in this room today, some of you voted red and some of you voted blue, but that wasn't on your mind when we're singing songs.
Speaker 1: That wasn't on your mind when we're worshiping, because it didn't matter when you're worshiping Jesus.
Speaker 1: That's where the unity the unity in our voices, the unity in our songs, the unity in how we all agree on this eternal truth about the goodness of God, for example, this eternal truth about the goodness of God, for example so there is so much glue for the church to stick together.
Speaker 1: Then how is it that we find ourselves here, where long-time relationships are being breached and destroyed over political discussions?
Speaker 1: How do we find ourselves here when now we're isolating ourselves from other brothers and sisters because of our differences on political views.
Speaker 1: How do we find ourselves here?
Speaker 1: Well, now I look at you more based off how you voted than based off where your faith is.
Speaker 1: How did we end up here?
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you in the next couple hours that I've been afforded to share I'm kidding, but that is my heart though I will tell you part of what I've seen and part of what I've seen that has been revealed by God to me in my own heart, on how and where I also got caught up.
Speaker 1: Y'all want to hear that part.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe if I come back next time I'll share it with you.
Speaker 1: But I'll share it.
Speaker 1: But I want to share this verse first, because this is not new.
Speaker 1: The division in the church, the division in the world, this kind of stuff is not new.
Speaker 1: When the church first started I want you to think about this.
Speaker 1: Just historically, when the church first started, people, before they got saved, were in groups, just like they are now.
Speaker 1: You have the Pharisees and the Sadducees arguing.
Speaker 1: There were Jewish religious groups arguing over oh, is the resurrection of the body possible or not?
Speaker 1: You have the Essenes, which was another religious group, and all of them disagreed with each other.
Speaker 1: You have those who were for the Roman government and those who were opposing the Roman government, those who were okay with the Roman oppression of the government and those who were trying to resist.
Speaker 1: All along.
Speaker 1: You had people in socioeconomic statuses, like I explained, that the tax collectors were really hated by people.
Speaker 1: You had issues with the Jews hating the Gentiles and Gentiles hating the Jews.
Speaker 1: We see some of that come up in Jesus's conversation with the Samaritan woman.
Speaker 1: The Samaritans were a mixed race of people, so you had the Jews over here, gentiles over here, and amongst the Gentiles you had those mixed with Jews and Gentiles, and so people were hating each other, rejecting each other.
Speaker 1: There's all kinds of segregation on a whole lot of different reasons and in a whole lot of different ways.
Speaker 1: And in that culture people were getting saved and as they were getting saved and saying I'm choosing to follow Jesus, christ himself and the apostles had to teach the church.
Speaker 1: We understand how those social issues, religious issues, were dividing you before, but now the church, you leave that foolishness out there.
Speaker 1: Now the church, we're united in Christ.
Speaker 1: Now in the church, paul is not writing letters to the world, he's writing letters to the church.
Speaker 1: People are still wrestling with all their lives believing something about the other group and now that they're saved, they got to change their perspective of the other group.
Speaker 1: And the other group, when they get saved, has to change their perspective of you in the church, not the world.
Speaker 1: The church and we are going to become a united church in a divided world.
Speaker 1: We've got to treat each other differently in the church than how the world treats each other, and we can't let the world teach the church how the church should treat the church.
Speaker 1: We're buying into some foolishness.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: There are some very real issues and very real concerns and very real worries about not just the results of this past most recent election, but elections in the past.
Speaker 1: And guess what?
Speaker 1: The church has made it through.
Speaker 1: God's people have made it through.
Speaker 1: God's people are making it in China, under a very difficult regime.
Speaker 1: God's people are multiplying in Iran, under a Muslim regime.
Speaker 1: God's people are multiplying in Rwanda.
Speaker 1: They're multiplying all around the world, whether the government is for or against them, and they've learned to be united nonetheless.
Speaker 1: So, whether you are celebrating the results of this election, let me tell you be careful how much faith you put in a person, whether you're celebrating the results of this election.
Speaker 1: Let me just tell you he's still a person.
Speaker 1: Things might not be as great as you think they're going to be, and if you're grieving the results of this election, he's still a person.
Speaker 1: Things might not be as bad as you think they're going to be.
Speaker 1: Whatever the case is, let's guard our hearts about what exactly we are expecting for better or for worse.
Speaker 1: Let's guard our hearts and anchor ourselves back into the truth of God's word that tells us that God's plans for us are always good, that he has faithfulness with us to move us forward, no matter what happens in government or in our nation or wherever else.
Speaker 1: Our faith is in God and God can move through this kind of government and that kind of government and that kind of government and this kind of leader and that kind of leader.
Speaker 1: He moves through all of it.
Speaker 1: We cannot lose our faith in God and his sovereignty and his providence, because when we do, we start to get afraid, we start to get angry, and we start to get afraid and angry.
Speaker 1: That's when we start mistreating each other.
Speaker 1: That's when our hearts are vulnerable to being spiteful and condemning of each other.
Speaker 1: That's where our hearts are vulnerable Listen to me to the lies, deception and manipulation of your favorite media group.
Speaker 1: Everybody's been lied to.
Speaker 1: I don't care how much you love your news source, they've been telling you some lies.
Speaker 1: Why half of y'all look shocked.
Speaker 1: Are you for real?
Speaker 1: Don't you understand?
Speaker 1: This is the world.
Speaker 1: This is how they do stuff.
Speaker 1: This is how they gain your trust and your loyalty by saying we are the heroes and they are the villains.
Speaker 1: That's how the world does it.
Speaker 1: And the problem is this that if I'm drinking from the red fountain, the red fountain is telling me that not only is the blue candidate the worst candidate, but the people supporting the blue candidate are the worst kind of people.
Speaker 1: And if I'm drinking from the blue fountain, the blue fountain is also telling me that not only is the blue candidate the best candidate and the red candidate is the worst candidate, but the people supporting the red candidate are horrible people.
Speaker 1: And the problem with that?
Speaker 1: We've got to sit back.
Speaker 1: You've heard it.
Speaker 1: Whatever news source you watch, whatever influence you watch, you've heard them call the other people names, haven't you not?
Speaker 1: You've heard them denigrate those people and dehumanize those people.
Speaker 1: You've heard it.
Speaker 1: And here is my warning to you, brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1: Some of it has entered your heart and you started to agree with it.
Speaker 1: You started to agree with the name calling the world labeled people and in our hearts we agreed with that.
Speaker 1: We can't agree with that because the issue is this If I'm voted red, I got brothers and sisters who voted blue.
Speaker 1: If I voted blue, I got brothers and sisters who voted red, and I can't let the world tell me how to view my other brothers and sisters when the word of God tells me something different.
Speaker 1: So the world's division and divisiveness creeps into the church.
Speaker 1: When the church in the hearts believes what the world is saying About our brothers and sisters on the other aisle.
Speaker 1: That's the mess we got to get out of here.
Speaker 1: You can disagree passionately about your political issues and concerns and perspectives.
Speaker 1: You can disagree passionately, but you can disagree with dignity, you can disagree with honor and respect.
Speaker 1: So the word of God tells us here, as Paul is writing to the Ephesians, he's dealing with people who have deep differences political differences, religious differences, social differences, people who were taught to treat other people negatively.
Speaker 1: They were taught that from the kids to adults and now they're in the same church and Paul says this to them in Ephesians, chapter 4.
Speaker 1: He says therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bear with one another in love, making every effort.
Speaker 1: Somebody say effort, effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
Speaker 1: We have to make an effort, because unity is not passive.
Speaker 1: Unity is always a pursuit.
Speaker 1: Hear me, unity is not passive.
Speaker 1: If we don't fight for unity and pursue unity, it will just be a fantasy.
Speaker 1: It'll just be some unmet expectation.
Speaker 1: You know we're supposed to be united, but we're not fighting for it.
Speaker 1: So we're not Even as members of the body of Christ.
Speaker 1: Unity is something we must fight for, and sometimes that means rejecting media narratives that try to tell me something about you that's not true about you, according to God's word.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't see how a Christian can vote Republican.
Speaker 1: I don't see how a Christian can vote Democrat.
Speaker 1: That's the problem.
Speaker 1: You don't see.
Speaker 1: Hear what you just said.
Speaker 1: You don't see.
Speaker 1: You don't see people's stories.
Speaker 1: You don't see people's experiences.
Speaker 1: You don't see people's histories.
Speaker 1: You don't see their ideas.
Speaker 1: You don't see.
Speaker 1: But what you ought to see is that you're judging people because of what you don't see.
Speaker 1: But what you ought to see is are you judging people because of what you don't see?
Speaker 1: If you supported this, you can't be saved.
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: My salvation is based on Christ, not what I believe about abortion, the border or economics.
Speaker 1: Are y'all hearing me?
Speaker 1: If we're going to make an effort to keep the unity of the Spirit, it's something we have got to fight for Now.
Speaker 1: The way that we do that, we see right there, in the very first part of this verse, paul mentions a few things that are also part of his list of the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: When he was talking to the Galatian church, he says with all humility and gentleness and patience, bear with one another in love, fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: So maybe I need to talk to God about humility, and there are a couple of things about humility that I want to share.
Speaker 1: One side of humility is this I don't know if you noticed or not, but I have a few very strong opinions and convictions, right, and I have a whole lot of things that are my opinions.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about things based on scripture.
Speaker 1: I mean just the way I think about some stuff.
Speaker 1: It's my opinions and I think they're true because they're my opinions.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't be my opinions if I didn't believe that that's what is right.
Speaker 1: But when I come to talk to you about a topic and I share my opinion, humility means I've got to be open to the possibility, small as it might be, but the possibility that I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: Maybe not here.
Speaker 1: Maybe here there's a possibility.
Speaker 1: Have you considered you might be wrong about something?
Speaker 1: Have you considered that you could be wrong?
Speaker 1: Have you considered that?
Speaker 1: What you've been believing about ABC, that you could be wrong?
Speaker 1: Humility is where we come to the conversation, open to the possibility that I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: Humility is where we come to a conversation, open to the possibility that I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: And in order for me to find that out, I've got to listen to you.
Speaker 1: I've got to try to understand you and not try to just berate you with my ideas and my condemnation about how stupid you are because you believe what I don't believe.
Speaker 1: That's not how we do things.
Speaker 1: Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers.
Speaker 1: He didn't say blessed are those who win every argument.
Speaker 1: These are very sensitive issues.
Speaker 1: Our views on abortion that's a very sensitive issue.
Speaker 1: What should happen with immigrants that's a sensitive issue.
Speaker 1: How we should show up in the world stage as a nation?
Speaker 1: That's a sensitive issue.
Speaker 1: How we should show up in the world stage as a nation, that's a sensitive issue.
Speaker 1: This isn't just Mickey Mouse stuff.
Speaker 1: These are really important things, but each one of those issues are also temporary issues.
Speaker 1: Each one of those things are also American issues.
Speaker 1: Each one of those things are also things that should be inferior to our grasp on the eternal truth that, no matter how we might disagree on a political issue, I am united with you in Christ, and I might not understand why you believe what you believe, how you came to that conclusion, how you got the conviction that you have.
Speaker 1: I might not understand it, I might not get it, but I sure don't have the right, through scripture, to judge you, label you and divide myself from you.
Speaker 1: That's not how we do it, not in the kingdom, not in the kingdom.
Speaker 1: We have to work things out a little differently in the kingdom.
Speaker 1: Paul have to work things out a little differently in the kingdom.
Speaker 1: Paul says make every effort.
Speaker 1: And then he says a similar thing to the Romans in chapter 14, verse 19.
Speaker 1: So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.
Speaker 1: Pursue what promotes peace, what our conversations need to be like if we're going to pursue peace.
Speaker 1: Promotes peace.
Speaker 1: What do our conversations need to be like if we're going to pursue peace?
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about modeling what the world is doing.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about being a model for the world.
Speaker 1: We're being too influenced by them instead of them being influenced by us.
Speaker 1: So, no matter what, if you catch yourself drinking from the red fountain or drinking from the blue fountain, I'm going to tell you right now, both of them from the red fountain or drinking from the blue fountain.
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you right now, both of them are the wrong fountain.
Speaker 1: They're the wrong fountain.
Speaker 1: We can have our beliefs about stuff, but the fountain is God's word, it's his spirit, it's his truth.
Speaker 1: I can still honor you.
Speaker 1: Let me show you this when there's a difference between having disagreements and having division, disagreements are okay, division is a problem and division is demonic.
Speaker 1: Here's the disagreement.
Speaker 1: The disagreement happens with our head.
Speaker 1: The division happens in our hearts.
Speaker 1: The disagreement is I think we should paint the church white and you go no, I think we should paint it brown.
Speaker 1: Well, why do you want to paint it white?
Speaker 1: Well, here are all the different benefits of it being painted white.
Speaker 1: Well, and here are all the benefits of it being painted brown.
Speaker 1: I still think we should paint it brown.
Speaker 1: I still think we should paint it white.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, maybe we should just mix it and paint it beige, or let's just take some time to pray about it and come back.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: What if we don't agree?
Speaker 1: What if, after we talk about it and I'm not sold on you wanting to paint it white, you're not sold on me wanting to paint it brown?
Speaker 1: What if we're not, we're not, we don't come to an agreement.
Speaker 1: Right, here's what the world will do.
Speaker 1: The world goes.
Speaker 1: See, they're just dumb, they're fools, they're ignorant.
Speaker 1: They don't care nothing about the church.
Speaker 1: Want to paint it white?
Speaker 1: We got all these kids around here.
Speaker 1: You're going to put the little dirty hands on it.
Speaker 1: Right, they must be idiots.
Speaker 1: Nobody in their right mind wants to paint it white.
Speaker 1: See, now I'm labeling people and judging them based on their right.
Speaker 1: You could do the same thing over here.
Speaker 1: Paint the church brown.
Speaker 1: Who paints the church brown?
Speaker 1: What kind of fools would paint a church brown?
Speaker 1: Fools, now, they're fools because they want to paint it brown.
Speaker 1: See, in our media.
Speaker 1: They're calling each other names, names.
Speaker 1: We don't do that, y'all we don't do that.
Speaker 1: And, if you're honest, some of that stuff has crept into your own heart and it has created this kind of fear or anger or anxiety, especially before the election.
Speaker 1: No one was really celebrating.
Speaker 1: People were like we don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: All this anxiety and fear, anxiety, especially before the election, I know, when we were really celebrating, people were like we don't know what's going to happen and all kind of stuff right.
Speaker 1: All this anxiety and fear, what could happen if this person wins or that person wins, and it creates all these emotions.
Speaker 1: Most of us, we weren't responding to people in our conversations out of our time in prayer.
Speaker 1: We weren't doing that.
Speaker 1: We were reacting.
Speaker 1: We were reacting to different videos and clips that we saw.
Speaker 1: We were reacting to this speech and that speech.
Speaker 1: We were reacting to what this news media said about Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: We were reacting and reacting and reacting and reacting.
Speaker 1: We weren't praying.
Speaker 1: We were expressing our fear.
Speaker 1: If he wins, if she wins, this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: We were expressing our anger.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you're going to support this.
Speaker 1: We're expressing our anger.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you're supporting this.
Speaker 1: We're expressing that.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you right now folks were coming out of the prayer closet with that.
Speaker 1: The faith and anxiety don't work together like that.
Speaker 1: If we are going to have unity, we're going to have to pray for ourselves, our own humility, our own gentleness, our own peace, and then we'll be agents of humility and gentleness and peace.
Speaker 1: And then in our discussions, even if we disagree with logic and the rationale and different opinions from our head, we can still be united.
Speaker 1: I still love you, honor you, respect you, and we're united in our hearts.
Speaker 1: But when I begin to label you as this, this, this, this, this, and I distance myself from you in relationship, that's division and that's in the heart and that's what the word is saying.
Speaker 1: We've got to fight against, we've got to fight against.
Speaker 1: We've got to fight against, we got to fight against.
Speaker 1: I mentioned two things and then I'll think about wrapping up.
Speaker 1: When we take our stand on what we believe is the morally right choice, right, this position is the righteous position, this position is God's position on this issue, and the other person is like no, this position is God's position on this issue.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons why I think we're trying to fight so hard, for that is because we feel like we're right and it's an issue of morality.
Speaker 1: Right, we feel like we are right.
Speaker 1: But here's one thing I want to offer up to you.
Speaker 1: Jesus said they'll know you're my disciples if you have love for one another.
Speaker 1: That means even during election season.
Speaker 1: Right, if you have love for one another.
Speaker 1: How we are treating each other is a witness to the world about our faith in Christ.
Speaker 1: All right, so I'm going to present an idea called spiritual immorality.
Speaker 1: I just made it up on the way down here, so don't try to look it up.
Speaker 1: We're standing on.
Speaker 1: What's morally right about how we treat immigrants?
Speaker 1: What's morally right about how we treat the unborn?
Speaker 1: What's morally right about how we respond to racism and bigotry?
Speaker 1: What's morally right about how we respond to what's happening in the Middle East the Israelis, the Palestinians?
Speaker 1: What's morally right?
Speaker 1: And we are damaging relationships and the way we are fighting as a church.
Speaker 1: It can hinder people from believing in Jesus.
Speaker 1: That fight is not worth it.
Speaker 1: If I convince you to believe my view on immigration, does that have eternal consequences?
Speaker 1: No, if us arguing and fighting dissuades someone from putting their faith in Jesus, does that have eternal consequences?
Speaker 1: Absolutely so.
Speaker 1: While we're trying to fight for morality and doing the right thing, having the right position, we are violating something and committing something that is spiritually immoral by causing somebody to stumble through a bad witness as a Christian.
Speaker 1: That has eternal consequences.
Speaker 1: That has got to be taken into consideration and sometimes we got to take a step back and go.
Speaker 1: You know it's not even worth it.
Speaker 1: If I'm talking to you and I see that the conversation is going south, I need to take a timeout and say this is not even worth it.
Speaker 1: Not because I think you're dumb, but because I love you so much.
Speaker 1: I don't want this to get us into division.
Speaker 1: It's not worth division, trying to get you to see my side.
Speaker 1: It's not worth division.
Speaker 1: And here's the other thing I would say is that if you're so passionate about these particular topics, then how about you get involved in that issue locally, in your neighborhood and in your city?
Speaker 1: Most people are fighting to the death about a topic and arguing on Facebook, but aren't doing squat about that issue locally.
Speaker 1: If you want to make a difference, it's not going to happen in a Facebook news feed.
Speaker 1: It's going to make a difference when you're engaging people's lives in your city, in your church and in your community.
Speaker 1: If you're that concerned about immigration, how is it impacting people in your community?
Speaker 1: Get involved and do something and help people go through whatever process they need to go through, or whatever.
Speaker 1: If you're that concerned about the unborn or this or that, then what are you doing in the city you're in?
Speaker 1: Don't be so passionate on Facebook and you're not doing anything in the city.
Speaker 1: If you're that passionate, get involved and be part of the solution.
Speaker 1: That's what actually brings change, not trying to vent and get something off your chest on social media for the whole world to watch.
Speaker 1: Now we're.
Speaker 1: We have Thanksgiving coming up.
Speaker 1: Some folks aren't going to be there this year, some because they didn't make it, they passed away, and some because of the election.
Speaker 1: Seriously, no, we got to take a step back and go.
Speaker 1: That's not worth it.
Speaker 1: In December of 1914, during World War I World War I the British were entrenched in a deep, muddy trench with barbed wire on one side, and the Germans were entrenched in a deep, muddy trench with barbed wire on another side and in the middle of this area, where they had been charging at each other and shooting and fighting and dying, they called it no man's land.
Speaker 1: No man's land.
Speaker 1: They've been shooting each other for hours, but something happened on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 1: The Germans started singing Christmas songs.
Speaker 1: In the evening, when the fighting had stopped, they started singing Christmas songs, and one of those Christmas songs was Silent Night.
Speaker 1: And even though the British didn't understand German, they understood a tune.
Speaker 1: And they were singing Silent Night on the German side and the British started humming a little bit.
Speaker 1: They started singing a little bit Silent Night and before long, white flags were raised on both sides of the battlefield.
Speaker 1: As they began to come together and talk, as they began to share gifts with each other here are some buttons, or here is some tobacco, here is some chocolate they began to give gifts to each other hours before they were killing each other British trained to kill Germans and Germans trained to kill British.
Speaker 1: But right now, on Christmas Eve, it's not just singing about a random song.
Speaker 1: What are they singing about with Silent Night?
Speaker 1: Come on, those of you who grew up in Christmas plays, you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that?
Speaker 1: Singing Silent Night in the middle of a war?
Speaker 1: And they brought them together.
Speaker 1: They're exchanging gifts, they're helping each other bury the dead from each other's side and right there in the middle of no man's land broke out an impromptu game of soccer, christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and when that whole thing was over and it was time to fight, neither side took a shot and the generals were upset.
Speaker 1: Both sides had to replace their army and bring in armies who didn't connect so that they could fight and continue killing each other.
Speaker 1: Because those who connected, those who met in no man's land, those who got united over singing Silent Night, could no longer shoot each other.
Speaker 1: And I just believe that if people trained to kill each other can learn to be united over the message of Christ, then certainly those who got saved to love each other should be able to do the very same thing.
Speaker 1: So where do you need to repent?
Speaker 1: What's crept in your heart that you need out of your heart?
Speaker 1: What relationship do you need to reconcile?
Speaker 1: Who do you need to apologize to?
Speaker 1: Even if somebody needs to apologize to you, you make the first move and say listen, I'm sorry for what was said, I'm sorry for what I said, how it impacted you.
Speaker 1: I recognize that what I said was mean, it was rude, even though it was right.
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, don't say that part, but I love you more than I love these issues.
Speaker 1: I want to see you at the Thanksgiving table.
Speaker 1: We've been through too much together.
Speaker 1: I babysat your kids, you babysat mine.
Speaker 1: We went to school.
Speaker 1: We're not going to lose over this or over what the media is telling me about you.
Speaker 1: Maybe you need to repent, maybe you need to reconcile, but if for certain, whatever you do for Christ's sake, stop drinking out of those fountains.
Speaker 1: Stop drinking out of those fountains.
Speaker 1: Be careful.
Speaker 1: What you're sharing on social media.
Speaker 1: Is it impacting and endorsing a fountain?
Speaker 1: How is it you share more political views than you do about Jesus?
Speaker 1: How come you're so passionate and outspoken about that?
Speaker 1: No, let's get back right.
Speaker 1: Church Paul would write us a letter and say make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
Speaker 1: Let it not be said that we're arguing over people we ain't even met, that we label each other over things that we disagree on.
Speaker 1: Let it be said that, sure, they voted red and they voted blue, but we love each other no matter what, because that's what Christ has done in our hearts.
Speaker 1: Let that be said.
Speaker 1: Let that be said Amen, amen.
Speaker 1: Well, until next time, we'll see you later.