Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. What's. Folks December 10th, we are in Romans 11 through 13, 15 days til Christmas. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And in fact, Um, speaking of Christmas, this coming weekend. So Saturday the 14th, and then Sunday, the 15th, we're going to be doing two things that I want you to plan on being involved in, in one of these time slots. Um, we are going to go out to the neighborhoods around the church and we're going to pass out invitations to our Christmas Eve services. So we're going to go door to door. Now we're not going to be knocking on doors because we want to hit as many houses as we can. And, and there are thousands of houses around our church. Uh, in the neighborhoods and communities. So we're going to go and we're going to leave a, an invite on the door or on the porch somewhere there. Or if you happen to see somebody standing outside, then yeah. Hand them an invite. Say, Hey, we'd love to have you at church, but we're going to do this Saturday, the 14th from nine to 11:00 AM. We're going to meet at the church and branch out from there. Nine to 11:00 AM Saturday, December 14th. And then we're also going to go out, uh, on December 15th, which is that Sunday after the service from one to 3:00 PM. So after the service, after our tear down one to 3:00 PM, uh, if you're not on our tear down team, either stick around and help us tear down or maybe go out and grab some lunch and then you can come back and go with us. But church. Uh, join us for this. This is something that is, is really easy, super low hanging fruit. Um, chances are, you're not going to have to know the four spiritual laws as you're going out here to do this. Although it might not be a bad thing to brush up on something like the umbrella method as you're getting ready to go out on this. But our goal is to just get the invitations out there. We want our community to know that we're there and know what we're doing on Christmas Eve, which in case you're wondering, we're meeting at 4:00 PM at the church, December 24th, Christmas Eve for candlelight service this year. So we hope to fill it up and let us tell you why this is important. You know, you already know, but let's remind you for a second here. There's a type of Christian that will only come to church twice a year. They, we call them sometimes tongue in cheek, of course, CEO, Christians, Christmas and Easter only. So this is one of the most important times of the year for the church. Um, not, and this is a delicate conversation. Let's have an in-house conversation here. Uh, people that attend only twice a year are probably not right with God in some way, shape or form either. If they are Christians, they need to get, get plugged into a church. Uh, and, and it's probably true that many of them are not. So this is a good time for us to say, Hey, let's bring you into our house. Let's let's. Welcome you and show you hospitality, and let's give you some great food and great worship. And, and then let's let you have a, an opportunity to hear the gospel retaught in a clear, compelling, and engaging way so that you have the ability to respond. This is an eternal situation at stake. So we want your help in bringing people into the church doors. Um, and we need your smiling faces. We need your cute kids. We need all the ways that we can leverage your life to bring people into the doors that may otherwise not show up or might go to a different church where the gospel is not going to be as clear. And maybe that's not even the point for us. It is. And so we're asking for your help to do this because of how valuable this season is and how valuable you are and helping us accomplish these goals. I agree a hundred percent on all of that. Yeah. Bring your kids that this is a great thing for them to be a part of. And a great thing for them to see the church doing together. So, yeah, that's right. All right. Romans 11 through 13. So Romans chapter 11, as we talked about yesterday is the tail end of Paul's treatment of God and Israel. And so he says in Romans 11, one, I ask them, has God rejected his people Israel by no means no way Megan, or to no way on earth. This is not happening. God has not rejected Israel. And so as dispensationalist we give that a loud and Hardy amen. Um, These are reasons why amongst others, we believe that God still has a future for his people. And it. Paul goes on and says, God has not rejected his people who me for new now for new there. We went back and Romans eight, when he talks about, for knowledge there it's, it's an individual for knowledge here, it's a corporate full knowledge. He, for knowledge, he knows Israel as a people. And he's going to go on and say, you know, Israel is still God's people though, not all Israel is going to be saved. There's a remnant verse five, and that remnant is a remnant. It's going to be chosen by grace. And that remnant is really going to be realized. We believe during the tribulation period specifically, now God is still saving Jewish people today. Uh, but then this is one of the reasons why, and it's kind of, it's something that's simmering in some branches of, of Christian circles around here, uh, an antisemitism. We have, or we as the church have to outright reject that because God is not done with his people. And he has a, Paul is saying here, I would give up my salvation for the sake of my kinsmen, my brothers, according to the flesh. And so for us to somehow. Take an anti Semitic approach and that's been something that's, that's been percolating in our, in our country amongst some. Uh, some church circles evangelical circles. And it's just something that if you hear. We got to put it down there. There's no place for that. Uh, anywhere in here. Yeah. W and this is not, I'm not suggesting those that are covenant theologians are antisemites. This is a specific group of people that are antisemitic. Uh, that is. Gaining steam on social media platforms and everything. Anyways, I don't know if that's even helpful because you probably didn't even know about that. So there you go. I would wonder how many of our people are actually on the cause that mean Christian Twitter. It's that's a thing. Yeah. Christian X. Yeah. And so there's, there's things that make the rounds that we like to keep on top of it, because it helps us keep a finger on the pulse of what's what's happening out there. Some of it is practical, some of it's academic. Uh, but for most of you who are probably not doing it, we're doing. Um, you should just know that we're, we're, we're watching these things. And consequently, when you hear us talk about themes that you may say, where is that coming from? It's probably that and that, and maybe a little bit of the news. I don't reading the news, keeping on top of things so that we can protect the flock. So that's part of our job. If you hear things like that, just no. Or maybe buffering some of the things that you might encounter. Yep. Yeah. And if you encounter something, you've got questions. Shoot a question to us. Podcast at tx.org. We'd be happy to answer it. Uh, so what has got doing then is kind of where he goes in the rest of chapter 11 will gathered right now is turned to the Gentiles to graph them in. And it's one tree, two people, it's one tree it's, it's the Gentiles and the Jews and the Gentiles are here right now. And that's what God is doing. But there is going to be a future where he's going to turn to Israel again. And that's the end of chapter 11. He says a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. In other words, Once every Gentile is saved in the church has been grafted in fully. Then God is going to go back and he's going to go, come back for his people again, we believe that's the time of Jacob's trouble. That is the tribulation period. And during that period, God is going to come and he is going to redeem his people that he's going to save his people verse 26 in this way, all Israel will be saved now. That's all Israel. Who's true. Israel. And that's why he made that distinction earlier in chapter 11 when he said not all Israel is true. Israel, all Israel whose true Israel will be saved during that, uh, that period. And there'll be saved like anyone else's repentance and faith in Christ. Yup. Zechariah 14. Yeah, that that's, uh, we covered that earlier this year. That's what that's talking about. We have a set. Ben Blakey selling. It's a great song. Yeah. Yeah. And this is where Paul gets to in verse 33. And he's just, you can see he's overwhelmed with the depth of the riches, the wisdom, the knowledge of God, unsearchable, his judgments, inscrutable his ways. This is the heart of Paul here to being moved towards this. Because again, like he said, at the very beginning of chapter nine, I'm in anguish over the state of Israel right now. And so he's looking forward thinking about what God's going to do with the people in the future. And he's saying this at the end, he says, God, you are still amazing. The depth of the riches and the wisdom that you possess. It's kind of Paul in real time here. I think we see this in other places in the Bible, but I think Paul in real-time here is just showing us his heart in, uh, in chapter 11. And then. Well, chapter 12, then he turns back to the Christians that he's been writing to. And he says, Hey, listen, you a, then what should you be doing right now? Well, I want you to, and this is 12 one and two famous verses in the book of Romans. I want you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. And I want you to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I want you to be different. I want you to be growing in Christ's likeness. And he's going to talk about what that looks like in the rest of chapter 12. There's different gifts that we have, which again, notice the emphasis with the gifts is on unity still here, just like it was in first Corinthians. This is about unity. This is not about divisiveness. This is not about individuality. This is about being members of one another together, one body of Christ here. So he's talking about the church, how the church should operate. And then he's talking about from there on, uh, this is what Christianity looks like, love this genuine abhorring, what's evil, holding fast to what's good. Uh, being zeal, uh, not being slothful in zeal. I love that idea. Don't be lazy and being zealous. Those are two words that seem the opposite of each other. And he pairs them together. And I just think it's powerful too. To think about that way. Don't be slothful and you're in your passion and your zeal. Um, So many nuggets here. This is almost like a, uh, a church Proverbs here. Uh, where he goes through and says, Hey, do this, do this, do this. And there's things that you've heard rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who we pick comes from this passage. Right. Live peaceably with everyone, just nuggets here for us at the church. And let me be sure to help you understand here, all of these nuggets that we so love and appreciate. And part of the reason we like them is because, oh, I get that. That's easy. I sh I should do that. But don't forget. He's developed 11 chapters of gospel framework for you to say, oh, this makes sense. In light of all that we've heard, you could say that this whole, I mean, in fact, this is a very natural and clear transition and the, and Paul's thought here's a, between chapters 12 through 15. Um, he's now applying everything that he's, he has recently just founded his information upon. So the gospel unpacked, you know, the, the grace of God, the fallenness of sinners, his choosing of us. And now what we see here is based on that, if that's true of you, if you've been grafted into the vine, this is what your life should look like. So. When, when you preach pastor PJ, you can't afford to spend 11 chapters saying, let's go through the gospel. Let's talk about you're a fall yet. Right? You can't do that. And that's why. In the book of Hebrews. He says let's, let's build on the foundation. Well, it's not relay the foundation guys. Um, w you have to assume that there's a, there's a body of knowledge that undergirds the imperatives that you get from the pulpit, and Paul's doing the same thing here. You're reading chapter 12. I don't know in the middle of your quiet time now you've spent already the last couple of days reading the book of Romans, but don't forget everything that you've read. This all makes sense. In light of the gospel, as Christians who know the gospel, this is why we live this way. If we try to live this way, apart from the gospel, this is going to be exhausting. You won't do it. You'll have to put on a face. You'll have to feel like you're pushing, you're pushing something that isn't there. The gospel radically changes us and makes this make sense. So if you're feeling like man, I'm pushing myself to the brink and I can't do it. Maybe, maybe at a re-examine the first 11 chapters is all I'm saying that's good. Uh, chapter 13, then he shifts to that, the external. And what do we do? How do we maintain our citizenship? Not. In the church, but now in the world, And this is it. It takes on a whole new understanding for us that lived through COVID and all of the restrictions and everything else there. But basically there's messages this in general governing authorities are put in place by God. We would acknowledge that. We agree with that and they bear the sword for him. They are authorities that are for our good by and large. Now, not always. There are circumstances wherein we are not going to obey the governing authority. When the governing authority is calling us to do something or commanding us to do something that transgress the law of God. And that's where all the conversation really was centered. In at least our church during COVID was okay. What has God called us to do, and what is the government asking us to do and how do we, how do we mesh those two things? Um, but generally speaking, when it comes to taxes or other things like that, we obey the governing authorities because God has put them in place and we should live. Peaceably with all, including them even, uh, so far as it depends on us and for the governing authorities that looks like our submission to their authority. Right. And the doctrine of lesser magistrates, you might've heard this idea that the governing authorities are subject to God himself. So I would qualify everything that we hear from them and say, okay, is the good that they're enforcing God's defined good? Or is it a good that the world defines us good. That would determine for me whether or not I'm going to a bay, what they say or. Disobeyed. I don't want to say it differently. Yeah. There's something interesting too, going on right now. Again, I don't like the post-millennial theology that says that the next thing is Jesus coming back to set up the new, new earth and things are going to get gradually better until then. But one thing I do like is they want to do something about the depravity of the world that we find ourselves in. And so I was listening to a guy recently talk about one of the Oklahoma state senators that was just elected. The guy's name is rusty Deavers. He's a pastor, who's a bi-vocational pastor. And basically. He started getting involved in the civic level and, and talking about things and pushing back on some areas and in his church and his elders got together and they said, Hey, look, there's an open state Senate seat. We want you to run for it. And he did and he won, he won election to the state Senate. So here you've got a guy that's an evangelical. Uh, believer faithful, Christian, who's now going to be operating at the Senate level. I think there's we had an interesting conversation on Friday morning with some men about the school systems. And I know that a lot of people in the church I've said, Hey, we're going to pull our kids out of the school systems and put them in homeschool or private school. And I'm not here to tell you what's right. What's wrong. But I will say this. I do think there's room for us as Christians to say, what's the end goal. Um, if we want to see change, take place. Then we need to begin to put ourselves in positions to make some of those changes. And that's what some of these post-meal guys are saying. They're saying you don't like the school system. Okay. Homeschool your kids, but also at the same time, think about running for the school board. So maybe there's some, somebody in our church that you're looking at the current situation with the schools and, and you've got a passion and you're going, I don't like the way this is going. Listen, we can continue to retreat. But if we continue to retreat and pull out completely, then we've waved the white flag of surrender and showed our belly to the world. And things are never going to get better. They're not going to just passively get better. And so I think there's room for us as a church too. Um, and, and this is all coming out of this idea of how do we relate to the government? I think there's room for us as a church to say mint, maybe it's time for some of us. Just step into some roles and positions to try to start making some differences at the grassroots level. Otherwise. We're just going to w w we are kind of pulling out and just waiting for Jesus to come back. Um, and if that's the route that we go, okay. Um, but what is the next, what if he's not coming back for another 200 years, you know, what, if he's not coming back. Like when we pull our kids out and we. We, we remove them from that contract. Eventually they're going to be in that context, we just talked about it on Sunday. Eventually they're going to be in a world that hates them and they're going to have to figure out how to, to be Christians there and how to make change there and how to differentiate there. And again, I'm not against homeschooling. Hear me say that I'm not against it. I'm not against private school. Um, I'm not pro public school across the board. I'm just saying. Maybe it's getting to the place where we, as Christians need to do something about it. So you're clearly against homeschool and private school. That's what I heard you say. I'm just kidding. Um, okay, so the natural pushback. In fact, let me just qualify it. Cause we can continue this conversation maybe longer than what we're aiming for. Uh, let's, let's clarify by saying that if God calls you to be on the school board or to, to pursue some kind of elective role. That's a calling. I think that's a serious calling and that's the kind of calling that. It's not the same as being called to be a pastor, but there's a calling there as well. It's a special position that God sets aside. For instance, I want you to do this. I think you're going to feel that. Moral imperative to pursue it. Um, But make no mistake, uh, pursuing that could. It could be dangerous. I think it's dangerous to be a firefighter or a police officer because of the erratic schedule, which then hinders your ability to be part of the church, hinders your ability to be part of a local gathering of smaller part of the church. We call them community fellowship groups here. It's not it's close. But I, in the same way, being a politician or pursuing the scope, and this is going to take more or even at an HOA. I mean, not that that's a bad thing, but. All these things are going to take time and energy from other things like family, like church involvement. So I would caution it. I would encourage it, but I would also caution and say, man, I pray about that. That's a huge undertaking. And rare is the Christian who can survive. Uh, on an island of his own, his own making by himself or herself as the case may be. So I would say, amen. Pray about that and make sure that you're following the Lord's leading in that. Yeah. And, and this guy rusted, Hebrews even said, you know, he had to have a conversation with. His wife, because his wife was, she was like, they're going to come after you. And they're going to come after our family. And they're going to try to politics, find dirt on all of us. Like, yeah, that's, that's the reality that you would be stepping into, but I do think there's something to that and, and I just have personally. Not been convicted to run for office cause. Uh, convicted to run for the HOA. Yeah, no, I don't think that's, God's calling on my life per se with, with my role as a pastor. But what if all the elders said you should run for president? Well, that would be you and me. Um, so what if I said you should run. Hey. The elders have spoken. There it is. Sorry, you wouldn't run for office. I know. I, I personally wouldn't, but I just, I have been convicted that I do think there's room more and more for Christians to, if we want to see change. Right. That's the thing at the end of the day. And my fear is. I think we're getting really good at. At doing things well and doing things with excellence in a Christian way. But. At the same time, I feel like we're veering off, further and further away from the rest of the institutions in this world. And there's a, there's a, there's a place for that. If, if we're rolling over and showing our belly. Um, And I that's why in an, in, yeah. Respectfully when somebody like Dr. Mohler says you shouldn't have your kids in public school, you need to get your kids out of posts. I disagree. With him. I think if, if we're gonna wave the white flag as Christians, we've got to have, we've got to have what the plan is from there. We've got to have a plan of attack moving forward. We've got to know what's our, what's our end game. Because it can't just be, I want to raise my kids with the classical education. So they know Latin. Like we've got to have a bigger picture and view, what is, what is our end goal and what are we raising our kids to go and do? Otherwise we're just passing the buck to future generations to try to figure out how to be Christians and the institutions are going to be even worse because. We've surrounded them and turn them over completely. You opened the door to so many other questions, I'm sure I did. You know that Texas recently has installed this idea of teaching the Bible at the elementary. I don't love that either. but that's, isn't that exactly what you're talking about. Someone at the school board decided this is what we're going to do as a state. We revered the word of God. We're Christians here in the room, perhaps they're saying that, Hey, where. Let's do something about this. We don't want to have our kids taught under woke ideology or whatever else. Right. You've created something or at least your, your suggestion anyway, opens the door to so many challenging questions it does in and yeah. And they're there. I'm not saying it's not a Pandora's box, but I do think there's a hybrid. There's a, there's a. There's a happy medium out there somewhere. Um, I don't think I don't want. Bible being taught in public school to my kids, because I don't know who's going to be teaching the Bible to them. And I don't know where they're coming from. Maybe they hire pastors. Right. But, but I think there's a difference between, and again, I think there's a movement here where you could say. Hey, can we get on the board and, and bring prayer back into the public school that if a teacher wants to open her class with prayer, they can open their class with prayer and. And she's a Mormon. Do you want her praying? Well, I mean under freedom of religion. If she's a Muslim, do you want her praying? Right. Right. It's a slippery slope. But I do think there's room for us to, to not surrender in retreat because I don't think there's an end game to where we're at right now. I don't think we have an end game. I think we're, we're going to be happy because our kids are going to be okay. But I don't think we're thinking about the bigger picture of what the future is going to look like. And that's, that's where my concern right now as a pastor is, is I don't think we're thinking about anything beyond. Our kids. Sure. No. One's asking anyone to retreat and I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't do something to what you're saying. Uh, I I'm just saying that if we. There's a problem going into it as well. You can't just, it can't just create, I don't know. We're not theonomous. Let's just say that. We're not sure. Sure. We're not saying that the Bible should rule every institution as, as it stands today, but we are saying that there should be a Christian influence at all levels. I think we can both agree with that. The challenge of how you do that is really. It's really difficult to difficult nut to crack. And I think. A strong church, a strong body of believers. Probably at a grassroots level might, might be able to do a lot more good. I mean, we're not Capitol hill Baptist church either. I know mark Devore and his friends. I mean, they live in this world every day. Yeah. I'm dealing with some of those powerful people in, in the nation. So I'd maybe be curious to have him answer some of these questions, but I just think it's, it's a challenge that isn't, we're not ready for it. You're right. Let me just say that we're not ready for it. Yeah, I would agree. Maybe the takeaway is this let's think. Maybe start thinking a little bit more big picture. Um, What are we, what is, what do we hope for, for our kids 20 or 30 years down the road? And how are we going to get there? Uh, because it's gotta be more than just the waving the magic wand and in, you know, Hoping. And in praying God make it so amen. I think there's part of it that says, okay, what are we going to do about that? And how are we going to do this? So again, let me reiterate as your pastor. I'm not against homeschooling. I don't disagree with the move to do that. And my wife and I have had conversations about that with our kids. So we're not against this. I'm not against it at all. I just think. We have to think. Three or four steps down the road from where we're at right now. And my concern is. That I see the church rolling over and waving the white flag and just pray and Jesus come quickly. Well, what if Jesus doesn't come back for 300 years. What are we setting up really for our future generations of kids, grandkids, and so forth. And so on in the church, down the road, as we pull out of some of the institutions that we're pulling out of right now, Yeah, I guess someone who says I have to homeschool, my kids might be weak in faith. Uh, versus someone who says I'm going to send my kids to public school or vice versa, it might be the one who's strong in faith. What should we do about these kinds of corals? Yeah, that's where you have to let each one make the decision for themselves. Um, and that's why you're never going to hear me stand up from the pulpit and say, all of you need to homeschool, or all of you need to go to private school or all of you need to go to public school. I'm not going to do that. I don't think there's blanket statements that are effective that can be made contrary to what some other people have said. I think it has to be a case by case basis. And sometimes within a family, it's going to be a kid by kid situation. You're going to have some kids that you feel like, man, I feel like this kid is strong. He's got convictions, he's thriving in public school and he's doing well in this regard. I'm going to leave them alone. Right? You may have another kid that you're looking at going this kid. He needs to be challenged in ways. He's not being challenged right now. I'm going to pull them out and we're going to do homeschooling with him. You have to. Kid by kid. It case by case situation there. Um, ultimately though you want to do whatever you do because your stewardship is a stewardship of these kids for the glory of God. And they are your responsibility. All I'm saying is they're your responsibility, not just right now in the 18 years that you're going to have them until they graduate and go to college, but you have to be thinking down the road to what impact are they going to make on the world? What's that going to look like? What are they going to be doing? How are you going to be involved in that as well? Let's pray. God, we need wisdom. Uh, if nothing else that that is abundantly clear from a situation like this. And, and we want to be a wise church full of wise parents who, uh, who make these choices in not an emotional capacity, but in a capacity that is well-reasoned and well thought. Um, and we pray for strong future generations of Christians to be brought up in our church. Uh, and who would grow up to love Christ and to serve him and to serve the bride of Christ? Well, I thank you for the families that we do have. I know so many of them do care about this deeply and that's such a good thing, and we want them to continue to make that positive, good, godly impact on their children for future generations to come. So we thank you for them and their impact, and we pray that you'd multiply more and more like them. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right, I'll keep it in your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcasts. You.