Weeknights 5 PM CT
on AFR

Oct 7, 2024 · 54 minutes

("Best-of" Edition from 6/24/20) Abe revisits “Dee Dee from Texas’” call from June 23, 2020.

Play episode54:14. Keeps playing while you browse.

Taller bars mean faster talk at that point in the show. Tap any line of the transcript to play from there.

The Hamilton Corner logo above Abraham Hamilton, III on the show's set

Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Romans 12:5-6. As members of the family of God, we are members of one another. 18:00 - 35:00. Abe revisits “Dee Dee from Texas’” call from June 23, 2020. 38:00 - 54:30. We are called to stand! www.afaaction.net/life To donate call : 877-616-2396

Phone lines mentioned

  • 877-616-2396

Share this episode

Transcript

8,597 words, in two-minute parts. Made by machine, so a few words may be off.

0:0054:19

  1. 0:00

    Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite. Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media. And the philosophies of this world. God has called you and me to be his ambassador. Even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment. and now the Hamilton Corner. Good evening. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I'm your host Abraham Hamilton, the third and I am joined by Mr. Jeff Reid who is on my left. Sir Rob Garner is on my right. Marty Sparks, not lighting up the dark, but it's not because he wasn't here. He's here, buddy. I already know the clock is already going to be too disrespectful for today's program. So I am prepared for that to be the case. And I hope you are likewise prepared to get rolling with today's program. We have a lot to get to today. I'm trying to get things situated, having some challenges in some places. But I want to thank you for tuning into the program as is my custom to do because I know for a fact, You could listen to anything else you wanted to listen to you could be anywhere else that you wanted to be But you made the decision to be here with us and I am grateful for you making that decision I also am keenly keenly keenly aware that there are all sorts of things that are happening in the world around us however Let us be intentional Let us be diligent Let us not just participate, but let's give ourselves to the work that God has called us to.

  2. 2:01

    And that work first and foremost, first and foremost requires us to understand that there's a distinction between our part-time jobs and our full-time jobs. You've heard me on many occasions, if you listen to the program for a while, and if you're new to the program, I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying when I say that. Our part-time jobs is what we do outside of our homes generally. Many of us are doing it from home now more than normal. Many of us. But what we do to generate an income is our part-time job. I know in our comorbidacular, we describe our work as our full-time work. But I want to encourage you to recalibrate how you think about these things and to consider what you do to generate an income as your part-time job. Your full-time job, your full-time job, is discharging faithfulness to the King of glory, to the one who ransomed your soul. And in response to what he has done for us, purchasing for us and providing for us the free gift of salvation, that we respond by attending to the first, or should I say a primary context within which the discharge faithfulness, which is our families, let us honor our Lord in how we serve Him in our families. all too often we see additional components. For example, were you trying to get my attention? Oh, okay. You see from the scripture, you read Psalm 127, read Malachi chapter two verse 15, read Ephesians chapter six, how the Bible literally explains that the responsibility for cultivating disciples in the hearts of offspring that are born into Christian families, it's not the job of the youth pastor. I know we have a lot of them, no shade of youth pastors, unless you win a skinny gene. That's a whole other problem. Much shade to you of skinny pants is your portion. I digress. The scripture explains that the responsibility, the weight, the bulk, the heft of the responsibility for discipling the offspring born into Christian families, it falls to the parents.

  3. 4:06

    Primarily to the father, not the mother, to the father. But this isn't an amazing how in most of our understanding and experiences that spiritual enterprise has been the province and domain of our women largely. I would submit for your consideration that that's not just a product of happenstance, but there's a snake in the garden. The Lord explains, the Lord blessed the marital union with the wonderful gift of the One Flesh Union. This is another thing. It is an affront to God that conversations concerning the beauty of the One Flesh Union are normally dominated unbelievers. We should be describing discussing that within the family of God. But often it doesn't happen because we're too busy playing defense instead of playing offense. Malachi 215 explains that the Lord blessed us with the privilege of the One Flesh Union. Why? Because the One God was looking pursuing the establishment of holy seed. Obviously, you know, the Lord knows children are born saved. So when he says holy seed, he's not talking about that they are, you know, immaculately conceived, he's talking about the investment of the family pouring into that offspring to maintain for his glory a multi-generational legacy of witnessing that is faithful to the Lord. The bulk of the multi-generational development of the church should transpire in the family, but as we more and more outsource the family's responsibility, the father and mother specifically outsourced at the external sources, we realize the deficiency in this model because the most fundamental component of disciple making is time. Is time. Jesus taught us in his teachings as well as it by his example that the most effective way to make a disciple is by life on life.

  4. 6:13

    That's why we have accounts of Jesus not only providing sermons on the mount, taking Peter out to the deep to fish, but you also see him going to weddings together. You also see them going to banquers together. You also see them hanging out of people's houses together because disciples must be made from intimate proximity. You can't make disciples from a distance. It is hard to make thorough disciples in large groups. Okay, so amen, just say out. I'm just, I'm just, listen, I'm just laying it because we have operated in such a manner, not realizing that we are investing in models and structures and systems within the Lord's family, that very well may be counterproductive to our objective. And then we wonder, hey, why is it that it seems with each passing generation that even within the church, they become more and more secularized. I'll tell you just like the book of Genesis tells you, everything reproduces after its own time. You wanna know why our children look the way they do? I wanna ask you, where did they spend the majority of their time? It ain't rocket science folks. If the majority of the time is spent being made excellent in a rebellious worldview, guess what's gonna be lived out in the character and in the condo. So I am endeavoring, even if I'm one man crying in the wilderness, that's cool, John the Baptist was there before me, to encourage us to turn our attentions to our homes, not to neglect of other areas, but certainly we cannot afford to sacrifice our homes to address other areas. I'll say one last thing in this and I'll get to the scripture, which today it won't be the only scripture. some of you wonder, hey, when you're gonna get to the word, oh, it's gonna be full of word today. There were a lot of people who panicked when former President Obama issued his edict concerning transgender bathroom.

  5. 8:14

    I know if you listen to this program, you heard me talk about this Boston opinion. And I told you even after President Trump became the 45th president of the United States that these folks weren't going anywhere, I told you that. That issue folks is once again put front and center. What are you going to do? If you send your child to be discipled in the place where the place tells you, there's nothing to think about me on this in female. Now I've explained that this is not only a statement concerning identity and, and, and, and sexuality is actually the anthropological history that underpins the gospel because if the culture can cause your child to question whether not Genesis one and two are authoritative, why wouldn't that same child begin to question? Well, why should Genesis three be authoritative? You see, a full on assault is lost on the gospel when your child is invited to question the authority of Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3. All the way up to 11, quite frankly. Romans chapter 12, this is what we're going to go today. And this is something that, and the Lord has just emblazoned upon my heart. We're endeavoring to live this out fully within our local assembly, within my immediate biological family and my extended family. Let me read the text and I'll explain what I mean. Romans 12 verses 4 and 5 are where I'm going to go today. But this is the exact same chapter where the Spirit of God communicated through the Apostle Paul that we as Christ followers must not be squeezed into the mold of something that we are not. And we must not be conformed to this world, but we must continuously be transformed, the metamorpho process, metamorphosis process. The Greek word for transformed is metamorpho. That's we get our word in English, in English, metamorphosis, that we will continue in the metamorphol process until the Lord comes back or He calls us home. And it's in the same passage that the Lord begins to say that He says this, verse 4, whereas in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function. So we, We, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

  6. 10:46

    I believe one of the great deficiencies of modern Christianity is that we have a deficient theological comprehension of what it means to be members of the body of Christ. I've explained here before that this ecclesiastical membership does not merely connect us to one another. One of the great travesties of our time is that the high and holy gathering of the Lord syncs together for worship. Worshipping together has been reduced to worshiping beside one another. To where though many of us would never put a time limit on an NFL football game, we'll plop in front of the TV for three hours for one game. And if you're like me, they have an amenity instance, is what I've watched more than one. But when you gather with the sites, we're checking the clock. And I'm looking, I'm not checking any about how I like sports. but what I'm saying is why is it that when there are matters that are carnal and a minimum, we can grant it full attention, but when it comes to the things of God and the worshiping together, which I would argue that for many of us it's been reduced to worshiping beside one another, and we put the Lord on the clock. We put him on the clock. One of the great travesties of this deficiency of the body of Christ is that we view fellowship and coin an ear as something ancillary to the gathering of the saints. When if you search the scriptures, you'll find that coin an ear was a part of the worship gathering. How can you obey different portions of scripture that when you have been reduced to worshiping beside one another? For example, know those who labor among you. How can you conduct and develop this intimate knowledge of one another if you reduce to a 45 minute seating in silence beside one another. Quick to rush off the crack of barrel and then on to watch the football game. Listen, I know, I'm just telling ya, I'm just keeping 100 with ya'll. How can we obey those scriptures? How can we bear with one another in love if we don't even know one another?

  7. 12:50

    We have people who are quote unquote, members of our church, you don't even know if they have a spouse. You don't know their children. You've never been to their house, know have they ever been to your house? Some of us are in places. I won't say that. Thank you, Lord. And what I'm talking about is not a rebuke of any particular local assembly. What I am talking about is how we, the loss we suffer when we neglect these portions of what God has given us. And so the Apostle Paul says that we are members of the one body of Christ and individually, members of one another. Do you know what that means, man? When your members of one another, when you stub your big toe, you feel it all the way to the tippy top of your head. If you if you crush your fingertip with the with the hammer, you're gonna feel that all the way down to your pinky toe. You're gonna feel that through and through. It's far easier for us to have no reaction to what the members of our body feel when we are not members of one another. Something that happens to Jeff and his family, man, I feel that. Something happens to Rob and his family, I feel that. I don't have to work myself into a morning with those who mourn because I'm connected. His morning is my morning. That's not something I have to work myself into. And we know this on a natural level because when you hear your own children crying, how do you respond? But when you're disconnected and you hear a child crying, that's just another child crying. What I am saying is that a part of what's needed in our Our time is a robust, revisit and re-establishment of a theological understanding of what it means to be members of the body of Christ.

  8. 14:52

    And as a result, we have been made by his shed blood members of one another. And now your two-minute health and prayers update from the Presidential Prayer Team, a ministry of the Pray First Radio Network. together, we will keep Texas wide open for business. Now I will turn it over to Dr. Heller-Stit. Thank you Governor. Please Texas, let's see the wise guidance that the Governor has laid out. You've heard it many times before. We are at a very crucial point in time. As you can see that the data, the trends are going up in a way that we really need to get control of. We can get control of those by using the kind of guidance that we have laid out before. So the governor gave a great summary of them. It's all about hygiene, if you can, in an area where face covering, that's a really great idea. It helps to stop the spread of COVID-19. Hello, this is Jim Voldhouse, President of the Pray First Radio Network. During these times of uncertainty, we're here for you with current information about the COVID-19 virus, as well as important prayer points to guide you in prayer at a time when our country needs it most. John 1633 reminds us to keep our faith in God's great plan. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. We'd like to invite you right now to join us in prayer. Heavenly Father, give us the encouragement we need and help us to remember this. Although we may not understand everything in the present, We must remain faithful and confident as your mysteries unfold in our daily lives. Help us to remember that we are indeed part of your greater plan. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen.

  9. 16:52

    To access free prayer resources that guide you in prayer and to see updates about the COVID-19 virus, go to PauseToPray.org. Brian Fisher here with today's Life and Liberty Minute. In the darkest days of England's lonely stand against Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill inspired his nation to keep the faith and refuse to surrender to the forces of evil. We are in a moment like that today in America. The satanic forces of evil are throwing everything they have at any man who dares to speak the truth, who dares to confront the malicious destroyers sent against everything noble right and true by the enemy of our souls. It's time to screw our courage to the sticking point and heed Churchill's call on these dark and dangerous times. Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, never. In nothing, great or small, large or petty. Never yield a force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Carry on. Catch Brian Fisher on Focal Point. Week day afternoons at 105 Central on American Family Radio. Shiting light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. Abraham Hamilton the third here. Today's show is going to be a little bit different. If you were listening yesterday, you remember toward the end of the show, we received a call from Didi in Texas. Some of you remember that. I remember even people commenting on the various social media posts saying that, man, yeah, I agree with Didi. I feel just like Didi. I have to tell you, sometimes this happens to me when a call or something will stick with me. And in addition to hearing the words that Dee Dee shared with us, all of us really, here on the live on the air yesterday, her heart, her heart penetrated my soul.

  10. 19:01

    Penetrated my soul. It reminded me of the journey that the Lord has taken me that the Lord has taken me through even before coming to AFA. Because if you talk to my wife, she'll tell you, I'm really not doing anything any different now than I've been doing. I just, the Lord has just saw fit to bless me with a platform to allow me to make your acquaintances. But I have been doing this, and I remember, I remember when I was a younger man after, and I was telling some people at my house this story recently after former president Barack Obama who was then state senator Barack Obama spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Some of y'all may remember that. And I remember watching and listening, I said, who is this guy? And so I began to research him. Then I had no idea he run for the president, the Lord just led me in that direction. And I found all kind of stuff I don't know if this guy, you know, I remember I found this one questionnaire, you know, in some local state races, different organizations sent out questionnaires to allow candidates to fill them out. And this was in the late 90s, I believe, if I remember correctly, I'm doing all this for memory. A questionnaire was sent to all of the candidates for the state senate in Illinois, in this particular district where former president Obama was running. And they asked him whether or not they believed same-sex marriage should be constitutionally protected right. And right then the questionnaire, big and bright bold letters. Barack Hussein Obama, then a candidate for the Illinois State Senate, in writing provided his support for same-sex marriage, in writing. And so I had physical copies of these things in my own possession. And I remember when he finally started running for the president in 2008, People all over saying that oh he opposed the same sex marriage. I'll say what this is a lot now look I'm a journalist if I can find this stuff. I know the news media could find these things Then you start seeing now all our kind of other things and the the Lord moved me Well, I was going around to churches in my area Many of them populated primarily by melanating people saying warning this guy is a snake This guy is a snake and I remember and I won't go into more of the details But I was people said all kind of things about me and I remember thinking Lord You know me. I don't I remember something one person told me that Yeah, I'm just a hater. They are hater. What I say man. Y'all people are partial if this person that I'm saying the same information With you if this person had a different quantity of melanin in the skin You would not be responding to me in this way But putting that aside for a moment, Dee Dee's call reminded me of that.

  11. 22:06

    I remember having a conversation with my pastor in the one with the saying, why do they respond to me this way? These are people supposedly are Christian. My pastor said, Abe is the God of this world who has blinded their eyes. But your call is to be faithful. That's what he's doing. All right, so he kept going. So anyway, I don't want to stay there, but Dee Dee's call reminded me of that. And I want to play the call again, because maybe like me, this call resonated with you, and I know after listening to it, and I even said it on the air yesterday, I know DD represented scores of people all over the country. And there were people, as I said, they said, yeah, I feel the same way. So I want you to listen to DD's calls, just 26 seconds from yesterday. And what I'm going to do in this show, I want to offer some encouragement in a more detailed response to Dee Dee's call from the Word of God. And I hope you're listening, Dee Dee. This may be one you may wanna take notes, you may wanna save this podcast and revisit it. We're just gonna go over some basic things from the Word of God to enable us to respond appropriately. But Rob, would you please play Dee Dee's call? I feel like a small grain of fans on the ocean. And I have no idea how to share this information Did you give us daily with my friends and my family? I feel like a lot of them are lost and they believe everything to hear on mainstream media and I feel very moved but I need to do something. I wanna begin today responding to Deedee and the more thorough man and I answered her but the call was at the end of the program so I wasn't able to go in as in depth as I would like to. But I want to take her call piece by piece and go through just some biblical encouragement concerning her call.

  12. 24:14

    First, what I want to say is when you heard Didi say at the very end of that call that she felt very moved that she needed to do something, very moved that she needed to do something. I want you all listening to me to understand very well that if you are a Christ follower, you have been called to minister. You have been called to ministry every single Christ follower, every single one of us, there are Christ following is not a spectator sport because there is this importation, if you will, of an often secular mindset that's most obviously demonstrated in this celebrity idolatry that happens in our culture. Sometimes in the body of Christ, we develop this mindset where we have champions and we're like, go champion, go, go Jeff, go, go Abe, go. When it's nothing wrong with saying go Jeff, go, go, go Rob, go, go Abe, go. Unless it is only you cheering Jeff, Rob and Abel. See, we encourage one another. Yes, go, Jeff, go. And as Jeff goes, Lord, give me the grace and strength to go to. See, every single one of us are called to respond. You know, Matthew chapter five, verses 13 through 16, Jesus goes through great lengths in the sermon and amount to talk about, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. I've explained before, those you's there are plural. They were directed to the Jesus as immediate audience for the sermon and amount as well as all who would come faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus would all to say, what good is the light if you hide it under a bushel? No, the light has to be put on a lampstand because once it is elevated appropriately, it gives light to all that is in the house. So that movement you felt, Dee Dee, and those who are listening, that you feel the exact same way, I want to tell you that it is the Spirit of God compelling you to engage in your ministerial mandate at a different clip than you have been engaged before. That's what that is. Now having said that, there are specific, there are additional things that are involved here.

  13. 26:46

    All right? Like we have the Great Commission. We know and I want to say this from the beginning. I'm gonna go into more detail later, but I want to make sure where everybody understands that that calling to engage is not limited to a calling of political participation. See, as Christ followers, we are well aware of our rights as American citizens, not solely to maintain our American citizenship, but so that the gospel be not hindered. The Apostle Paul called upon his Roman citizenship, not merely to procure for himself benefits as a Roman, but he uses Roman citizenship to advance the gospel. And I am saying this to encourage us to resist the temptation to lean to the right or to the left. Because anything that is good has the capacity to become an idol for us. Food can become an idol. Sports can become an exercise. Can become an idol. Family can become an idol. We want to make sure that our engagement is Christ-anchored, gospel-centered, biblically guided. All right. So the great commission, which we commonly refer to, I wanna make sure we all understand exactly what that is. Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20, this show was going by too fast. I got a good two hours more worth of content. Let me get on. Matthew 28 verse 16, it says this, Now 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, from all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age."

  14. 28:51

    You see, brothers and sisters, the Great Commission is not a call that is confined to the proclamation of the gospel. The Greek word is Yuan Gellian. That's what we're getting this word evangelical, Evangelism from. Making disciples requires us to proclaim the gospel. But the Lord's commission and totality is that we go into all the world. That is geographically and into demographically redemptive spaces to make disciples of all ethnos. A disciple is a discipline learner. A discipline learner is one who thinks God starts after him. The call to make disciples is to cultivate in a populace the capacity to as it says in verse 20 here obey all that Jesus Christ has commanded us. The commands for Christ are not limited to how you speak to one another. It includes how we engage with friends and family. It includes how we conduct ourselves as citizens. It includes the full scope of life, Man is in finances, leaving in the heiertis for your children's children. And in case you don't know, all things that Jesus has commanded us is not limited to verses in the red. You guys have heard me say this before. This is why I kind of don't rock with the Bibles that have red lettering because when you have red lettering, it's making distinction between the red letters and the black. And it gives the indication that with the Spirit of God pinned through the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3, that all scriptures God breathed is kind of the question, well maybe not. because some are red, some are black. No, from Genesis to Revelation includes what Jesus has commanded us. Then on top of that, we have a specific context. This is something that I think needs to be conveyed more consistently as we discuss the Great Commission because the Lord has given us a specific context in which we are to obey Him in executing His commission in this Acts chapter 17, 2, verses 26 through 28. As the apostle Paul even quoted the Crete and poet Epimenedes, that's another story I gotta keep going because I got a lot to get to and I got a little bit of time.

  15. 31:10

    He says this in verse 26 and Acts 17, and he, God, made from one man or one blood every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him, yet He is actually not far from each one of us brothers and sisters. The mandate to execute the Lord's commission, He has also given us a particular context. So when you stop and consider, man, the 21st century things are going crazy. The Supreme Court issued the Bostock opinion almost five years to the date after the Bergenfeld decision. We got people in office and playing a parent who is still getting half a billion dollars and you have people burning down buildings, you have people using pain of inner city communities to say they want to defund the police, when the people in those communities saying, we don't want to defund the police, we support the police, we know we need the police. It's craziness going on, guess what, congratulations. That is the context that God has ordained for you and for me to execute his commission, to sit in a different way. The Lord is not surprised by this. He so prepared himself for it that he ordained you and me to stand in this moment. You mean in this moment we have hard-headed children and knuckle-headed family members? Yes, indeed. But, Abe, you don't know how hard it is. Listen, yes I do. And this is the moment because what God desires for us to do is to view people the way that he does. See, the Bible tells us that he does not rejoice in the death of the wicked. Just as our Lord, when he was incarnate, the Bible says he saw the crowds harassed and helpless. So I would say he was moved with compassion. He was moved internally. His innermost man drove him with compassion.

  16. 33:12

    That's why we can't afford to see people as if they are our enemies personally. Because they're not. They're not. Don't you know that our wrestling is not with flesh and blood? There are people who have been taken captive by darkness. And then what did Jesus say his work was to do? To liberate the Catholic. The next thing you heard D.D. say, and I just want to remind you about this, I'll try to do this quickly. She said that I feel like a small grain of sand, a small grain of sand on the ocean. Haven't we all felt like that before? I can tell you for a fact that I have. Some of y'all may laugh at me when you hear me say this, but every day before I come on this show, I'm nervous. Every day, every day, I say, Lord, you know how many people listen to this show? I cry out to the Lord for His grace and His strength to serve Him by serving His people well. Every day, y'all, if you had the chance to touch one of my church when I get done, that joy is soaking wet. Because I take this seriously, man. And to consider the way that I know the Lord loves His people, it's a high responsibility. But here's the thing, when God calls us to stand in the midst of this dark and evil day, He doesn't send us out alone. He doesn't send us out alone. He gives us of himself to enable us to obey him. We'll pick up right there on the other side of the break here on the Hamilton Corner. Stay with us. When they got chilly this winter, they issued an alert because the Aquinas are so cold, a frozen iguana might fall on your head. Focal Point with Brian Fisher. I want my listeners to be able to defend the truth and the authority of the Word of God as as it speaks to every area of life, family, culture, and even politics.

  17. 35:20

    We days at 1 p.m. Central on American Family Radio. And we hope to have a little bit of fun along the way. Okay, Brian. Now make me believe it. Ha! We all know George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, and afterwards, its streets were flooded with riots. What you may not know is the area is turning into a place of peace. CDN reports that hundreds of people are gathering on the same street where George was killed to pray and worship together. People are becoming followers of Jesus and getting baptized. That's because Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace and He can break down the walls that divide us if we let Him. I'm Pastor John Miller, visit me at church on the rock nut at ORG. Targeting the family. This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian worldview. According to their website, Black Lives Matter is not just an organization that advocates for black people, but one that aims to disrupt the nuclear family, and promote homosexuality, transgenderism, and feminism. Notice how the God-ordained family is the target for destruction. What they call social justice is really Marxism, an ungodly totalitarian society that raises a clenched fist to God in rebellion and rejection of Him and His will. God's response in Psalm 2, do homage to the Son that He not become angry and you perish in the way. Here in interview about this with my parents who are in their late 80s at TheChristianWorldView.org and then tuning this weekend for another topic that will sharpen your world view. Listen to The Christian World View with David Wheaton, Saturday mornings at 8th Central on American Family Radio. Hello Americans, I'm Todd Starnes with Muse and commentary next. My goal as a teacher is to impart knowledge and then be able then for them to take it and turning into wisdom. As we teach, I think, okay, five years down the road, how will the material that I am teaching them really affect their lives and their careers?

  18. 37:27

    Hi Todd Starns here. Truett offers biblically centered degree programs. Check out Truett.edu slash Starns. Democrats in the mainstream media are pushing back after President Trump promised to defend religious liberty and reopen churches. The president said he would override any governor who refuses to let people get back to the church house. Whether or not the president has the constitutional right to do that is up for debate. Many pastors are wondering why liquor stores at abortion clinics are considered essential, but churches are not. California, for example, released new guidelines limiting the number of people who can congregate inside a church house, a maximum of 100 worshipers. start towing the party line publishing story after story of how shutting down churches could save lives. If blue state governors are going to temporarily suspend or curtail freedom of religion, they should do the same for freedom of the press. If they're going to shut down the churches, they should also shut down the newsrooms. Let's see what Anderson Cooper says about that. I'm Todd Stardes. But he did not. Acts chapter one. Verse six through eight. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria end to the end of the earth.

  19. 39:36

    Before the Lord explained anything concerning his disciples being his witnesses, he said you will be filled with power. Greek word there's doing this. We explained that before, but not filled for merely personal consumption. Explain this before you are filled for what purpose to be my witnesses. Explain me for the Greek word for witness there is Martis where we get our things where it martyred them from. That's why from this passage, I have repeatedly conveyed that the call to be a witness is not a call to a specific action, but a call to a state of being. You see, when you are a witness, you are one when you're on stage and when you're not. You're a witness when you're sitting at home in the dark by yourself and nobody can see what you're doing, except the one who sees and knows all. And you're a witness when you're in front of the masses of people, because being a witness is a state of being. Now, witnesses, evangelize, witnesses make disciples, but witnessing is a state of being. To say it in another way, the Lord has filled his witnesses to execute the Great Commission. He is indwelling you by his spirit, not for consumption, but for function, which is why I have a great deal of concern and caution for those who advocate for a minimized view and understanding of the Holy Spirit, because the fuel for the engine is the Spirit of God, it's not on us anyway. In addition to, and further responding to Dee Dee's statement that she felt like a small grain of sand in the ocean, I want you to remember that I called to effective engagement It is not based on our perception of our own size or impact.

  20. 41:46

    I intended to walk through all of these scriptures, but I'll just mention them so you can go and study them yourself. Do you remember I've talked about this on this program before? First Sammy, chapter 17. When the shepherd boy, he didn't come to fight, he just came to deliver lunch. And when he came to deliver lunch, he heard some, like my dad, you say some somebody selling wolf tickets, talking smack. Davis, I would say, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Say, what now? And then they start telling them, have you heard what the king would do for the person who deals with? David said, wait, what? What's going to happen to the person who slays this Philistine? I made this point and I want to reiterate it here and now throughout the entirety of that account, David never once refers to Goliath as a giant. He never once. Why is that? Because David's mechanism for evaluating that moment of engagement was completely steeped in his view of his God, that God was so big to David that he couldn't even already recognize the life. You understand what I'm saying? And just in case you don't know this, because we as human beings, we have a tendency to read ourselves into scripture as the heroes. When you read this text, you and I ain't David. I know that's news to some of us. No, you're not David. We like to think that, but the real truth is you and I probably would have been among those other people, man, you wanna fight that dude. In this passage, David is a representation of what Christ does for us. So when we are going, we're not going in our own strength. Naturally speaking, David had a stick in five smooth stones, but supernaturally speaking, David engaged with the power of the creator of the heaven and the earth. That's why five smooth songs become things that sink in skulls, and you gather five, but he knew you only needed one.

  21. 43:49

    What I'm saying to you is that what we have to do is resisted temptation to evaluate our commission and the context for our commission solely based on natural understanding. Instead, we live in the place. I know I do it, I do it every day before coming before coming on the air. I say, Lord, I know I'm just a dude from the ninth world in New Orleans. I know that, but Father, if you see fit to use me, if you see fit to minister to your people through me, Lord, have your way, have your way. And Dee Dee, I wanna tell you that though in your own eyes, You may feel like a small grain of sand. Put your small grain of sand in the hands of the one who makes grains of sand. Do I need to remind you that every human being that we see are the product of dirt formation? Do I need to remind you that we serve the God who allows Lazarus' to die though he loves them tremendously? But just so he can let those around them know that I'm not just your homeboy, yes you are son of the carpenter. I am God in the flesh. no one was expending faith on Lazarus's behalf. In fact, the morning party had started, the whaling women had begun. And they even said, yes, you have had you come sooner. We know you could have healed him from sickness. Yes, you would say, show me where you've laid it. Oh, brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, this is an example of how in our weakness, God's strength is perfected because it gives you an opportunity to fully surrender. I can't do it I don't speak well you're right you don't speak well I stutter you're right Lord look at my history you're right all of that is true and I bring it to me that's what God said listen God could use people with perfect backgrounds if you wanted to but he seems to like to use folks that know they need him isn't that amazing because it puts you in a position that when you're offering a gospel center truth you can say listen I am offering to you the very same thing I'm not taking up.

  22. 45:58

    Let me keep going. Goodness gracious. Lastly, on this point about feeling like a small grain of sand in the notion, if you search the scripture, you'll find the Lord very consistently uses a remnant. Gideon, go and deal with these malachites. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, your arm is too big, my man. Slow it down. 30,000, let's make it 20,000. Oh, now let's make it 10,000. All right, Lord, 10,000, that's still too many. Let's make it 300. Then what? So there can be no confusion who is the source of this deliverance? I'm just reminding you, that's in Judges chapter six. Let me go on, she also said, Didi said, quote, I have no idea how to share this information. I wanna remind you of a portion of a portion of description. First Timothy chapter three, I'll buy what you're gonna turn to the R.A. First Timothy chapter three, I'm gonna buy the cooperative. Verses 10 through 14. I want to remind you of what, no, a second Timothy chapter three. Second Timothy chapter three. Your Apostle Paul writes this to Timothy. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecution, and sufferings that happen to be at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lister, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

  23. 48:03

    What I want to point out specifically is that you'll note the Apostle Paul conveys to Timothy that I not only want you to listen to my teaching, all right? He tells Timothy, you have followed my teaching, but in addition to following my teaching, you have also followed my conduct. See, when we engage, we have to make sure that our engagement is the overflow of the life that we're living. You see, we don't want our words to contradict what we're attempting to convey verbally. So we wanna make sure that our words are the overflow of what we live. So that especially when those who do not agree with us, they know that what we're saying is consistent in what we do. Because if we don't have that consistency between talk and walk, what'll often happen is that the response will be that you're living so loud, I cannot give ear to what you're saying. Your life is so loud, I cannot hear what you're saying. Additionally, we wanna make sure we have a clear gospel centered objective. We have to make sure that our objective is to execute the Great Commission and not merely to win a debate or a political argument. Because in the process of making disciples, our goal and our call is to think God's thoughts after him. So we wanna make sure that our thinking lines up with God's thinking as he has revealed it to us in scripture in every arena. So as we line our thinking up with God's thinking, it will definitely impact the way that we engage our civic duties as citizens of this wonderful country, but our goal is to gain a brother, not merely to win an argument. And it's very easy to misconstrue that objective, especially when things get hot. Cause you know, you got somebody saying something that's, that's dribble and you know, you have the right answer. I would encourage you not merely to offer the right answer, but to offer the wise answer to gain a brother or to gain a sister.

  24. 50:12

    It's instructive that even when the Lord gave us the instructions for how to deal with fractions, not fractions, with fissures in the body based on sinfulness, that the purpose of confrontation is to win a brother. It's to gain a brother. To gain a sister. We must keep that first and foremost, because if we're not careful, we can downgrade from our gospel-centered perch, and now we're just winning the argument, winning debates, just sharing information that we have for the purposes of sharing them as opposed to executing our trade as witnesses. All right? Acts up to 28, verses 32, 31, I won't read it because we don't have time. But at the conclusion of the Apostle Paul's life, he discusses living in such a way so that the gospel continues unhindered. That is our call. We want to live in such a way, which means that we must discuss politics life, what the world says are social issues in such a way where the gospel be not hindered. All right? Did he also mention the challenge, the great challenge in ministering with family and friends. We all have that challenge. It's far easier to be a witness before strangers, oftentimes, because our family, they know it. Sometimes I know our history didn't know our other things. And I want to encourage you to resist intimidation to try to defend yourself based on your past. But simply get comfortable with saying, man, everything that you're saying is under the blood. That's why I love Jesus so much so. And regardless of what my history may be, it doesn't nullify the truth of what I'm saying to you and the truth that has transformed me. And we know this that when Jesus, I'm sorry, when Gideon initially responded to God's call before you ever get to fighting the Amalekis, The first thing God called him to do was what? Tear down the altars in his own home. He had to go to Daddy's house and tear down his by all worship station in his ash or a pole.

  25. 52:16

    And the Bible explains that Gideon, he waited till it was nighttime because he was scared. He was scared. Listen, God knows we get scared sometimes, but nevertheless his grace is sufficient for you. I have so much more I wanna say, but let me say this right now. The other thing I wanna make sure to convey is that we cling to scripture, cling to scripture. We're living in a time where people that are attempting to get us to abandon the scripture and engage in philosophing and rhetorical debate and oral gladiator shift void of the scripture. I would encourage you to resist that and develop the capacity to cling to the scripture and to do so whether you're citing chapter inverse or not. For your consideration, compare Paul's engagement with Felix Grippen, Acts chapter 26, with his engagement with the Athenians and the Stoics in Acts 17. The same Paul, the same gospel, but two different methods of approach. With the gripper, he appealed to, he in a gripper's common knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. He said to a gripper, I know you know this. Do you believe the prophets? I know you know the prophets. I know you believe the prophets. But in Athens, in the Mars Hill, Paul didn't quote the scripture. He still conveyed scripture without citing chapter and verse. We have to be able to do that. And finally, in a lot of this circumstance, we have this tension, what do we do? What do we do? Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 40. Love the Lord without our heart, soul, mind, and strength and the second commandment like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor, because God has told us how to respond when there's difficulty, and when there are issues, when there's tension, and the law of love is what we are to engage with. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Pick your platform All Episodes
Latest episode Book Abe