So what's going on, everybody?

How's everybody doing today?

Yeah, yeah, it's been cold in southwest Florida.

Yeah, like go home weather from the north, you're drunk and you're not allowed to come vacation down here anymore.

No more vacationing.

This is ridiculous.

Yeah, well, I mean, like, it's not as bad as up north.

So I've been in touch with people, like, I come from Maryland and people up there have been bit cold.

We're talking negative temperatures.

At one point I was like, ah, we might dip into like the 40s overnight.

He's like, our high hasn't even reached the 30s, so.

So it's pretty cold up there and they've gotten a lot of snow and ice, which is the worst end of the deal.

So I guess we can't be complaining too much.

But considering what we're used to, when it dips into the 40s and 30s at night and doesn't get up past 60 during the day, it's chilly down here.

Yeah, it is.

So that's not fun.

And hopefully by the time this podcast that we're recording today comes out, Florida will have returned to its prominent temperature and we can all feel better about ourselves.

I'd be cool with 70s.

Oh, 70s are fine.

70s and 80s are good.

But as soon as it gets below that, people start complaining.

Personally, I'm okay.

Like, I don't mind like hoodie, I.

Just don't want the jumps.

Right.

Like, I like to bundle up, I like to snuggle under blankets, I like to have jackets.

I like all that.

But I get tired of the.

It's 80 one day and 35 the next.

Yeah.

My wife has actually been having fun.

So when we moved down here, we got a house with a wood burning fireplace.

Yeah, she was.

Well, at first when we got here, I was like, will we even use it?

But this winter she's used it a lot already.

And so we finally kicked our heat on last night or this morning or something.

I don't remember.

We kicked it on.

So, I mean, the fireplace doesn't good enough right there.

Yeah.

So.

But no, it's been an interesting winter down here.

So this is week two, week two of be fruitful and multiply.

Why doesn't the church push its congregation to procreate so that other cultures won't overtake us?

Right.

Last week we talked about what does.

It mean to be fruitful and multiply.

Is it a.

Is an order?

Yeah.

Is it a biblical command to us today?

And I think the best way that it was Summed up.

And I think you summed it up pretty well with the if God's calling you to do it and you're following God, then do it.

Right.

That's the big thing.

Yeah.

And I was thinking about it since last week when we recorded that, and I thought to myself, you know, I really.

I brought up the idea that being fruitful and multiplying is like, I honestly do think, you know, we are called to be fruitful and multiply, not just procreation, which I think is the foundation, but, like, we are meant to go and make more disciples, for sure.

Oh, yeah.

So as we're being fruitful with our faith and we're getting fruits of the Spirit and we're able to go out and disciple others who then disciple others.

That is multiplication in itself.

So I think that that's part of it, especially with the New Testament.

I definitely think that's part of it.

Because, you know, as we kind of.

And I know we want to move toward newer subjects today, but as we were talking about last week, we were focused on Paul.

But I want to go beyond Paul.

Like, if it hadn't given an extra bump, not only are we talking about Paul, we're talking about Jesus.

Jesus didn't have kids and Paul didn't have kids or anything like that.

So Jesus wasn't a sinner.

So he can't go against God.

So there must be.

Then what he did do is take and establish something that multiplied and multiplied.

So I'm looking at that.

I'm like, well, I think there's some legs for that to stand on.

But today, yep, today I want to talk about a different part of that question.

And that is the second part.

Right.

Like the congregation.

Why doesn't the congregation.

Why doesn't the church push the congregation to procreate so that other cultures won't overtake us and that other cultures overtaking us mentality.

And I just want to.

I want to just real quick, brief.

What's your initial reaction to the thought of other cultures just overtaking us in general?

My reaction to.

Yeah, what's your thoughts on that?

Quick.

My reaction is that they would be trying to undo what we've done.

Okay, that's it.

That's my first.

I can explain it further if we want do now or after the break.

But yeah, that would be my.

They're trying to undo what we've done.

Okay.

Yeah, that's pretty.

Pretty solid direction to go with that.

So, yeah, I just want to bring up.

We're coming closer and closer to April, I know that we're still a couple of months away, but we've got four tickets taken so far, so we've got four people for sure.

But I have rumors that others are coming, and I know of people coming from other states, so.

Okay.

Some of them parents.

One of them is my mom.

Yeah.

Okay.

But I think that my, My sisters are gonna come too.

Oh, that's cool.

Two of them.

So that's exciting.

It's.

It's just in the potential phase right now, but that would be pretty cool.

I mean, my sisters haven't gotten down here too much, so it'd be fun.

Yeah.

So.

But if you guys haven't gotten your tickets, get them.

They're free.

They're not.

They don't cost anything.

But we are gonna have some, like, giveaways and we're gonna do some of that and some finger foods and stuff.

And some cool stuff we got.

It's gonna be good.

Yeah.

You want to come?

You want to be there?

It's funny because, like, you can have a free sign up and then everybody will just show up at the end oftentimes, so with a lot of things.

But, like, I've noticed that, like, people just don't like signing up anymore for things ahead of time.

Like, they'd rather be like, I want to keep my options open just in case.

And then it gets down to like, oh, yeah, I was totally coming the whole time.

Well, I'm going to say there is limited availability.

Oh, yeah.

Well, you know, it's funny because, like, even with the student trips, like, I swear that, like, students and.

Or parents, or maybe it's parents and.

Or students.

I don't know which one it is.

But we'll wait until the last days and I'll get most of my signups, like, as I'm trying to close signups and I'm like, why, why are you.

Why couldn't you just do it?

Yeah.

You know, anyway, for sure.

We'll probably also have a little bit of merch there that you can buy if you want it.

So that'll be stuff that's cool.

We're going to go through really quickly.

We're going to go through the history of the podcast and bring everybody there and everybody that then watches that up to speed on where this podcast has been and all the way to where it's now and where it's going.

So that should be a really good time.

If you don't have your tickets, sign up at Eventbrite.

The link will be in the district.

Description.

Description.

It'll be in the description.

So today, yes, we are going to talk about cultural overtaking.

Yep.

Today, not appropriating.

No, overtaking.

Overtaking.

Welcome to the truth response, Sam.

I think I'll pray today.

You should pray.

I think it's my turn.

I think it is.

I think I need to take my hat off, though.

I think I do.

There we go.

I don't know.

Your hair is a wreck.

It is a wreck.

It's wonderful.

All right, you're good.

Okay, I'm going to pray.

All right.

Thank you, God, for this day.

Thank you for just.

Just the ability to do all of this, to record this conversation, to share it with the people that you have it in store for.

And I just thank you for the ability to do this freely in this country.

And I thank you for all of the wonderful conversations that have come before this one.

And I just pray that you guide this conversation and just allow the words that we say to be the words that you want someone to hear.

God.

And I pray that whatever is heard, I pray that it's all from you.

Thank you for our families.

I pray for those who are hurting.

I pray for those who are going through struggles, being alone and feeling broken and feeling alone, even though they're not God.

I pray for those people because I know that a lot of our listeners have resonated with that.

And I just pray that you watch over them and let them feel like they're a part of this family and a part of this belonging here with us.

And I just.

I pray that if nothing else, we can just continue to pray for each other.

It's in your precious and holy name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Alrighty.

So I should do like the kids do, like the middle schoolers.

They put their hoods up over their headphones.

I know it looks dumb.

All right, so.

Well, you're not a middle schooler either.

I know, but they think they're funny or they're getting away with it.

I don't know what?

They think it looks dumb when they do it, too.

It does.

It does.

Nor when they.

They have one headphone off and they're acting like, I'm not totally listening to music right now.

I'm totally listening to you.

I actually had to make a rule, no headphones in class because they would do that stuff.

It's ridiculous.

Yeah.

So it feels like we are being overtaken by that culture too.

Overtaken.

Oh, my goodness.

So, yeah.

So, okay, so this.

This idea that we need to make babies in order to not be Overtaken by another culture and, and thinking about that through the lens of the church, I'm going to toss that to you.

I know my feelings on it, but I want to hear what you've got to say first.

Well, okay.

So first, I mean, let's talk about.

As I said earlier, it's like they're trying to take back what we've done.

Christianity didn't grow because we were having babies.

It grew because we were convicted.

And so when we go out into the world and we're spreading the good news, the gospel, we're telling people what can set them free.

We're giving them hope beyond hope.

We're helping them understand the reality of God and everything that comes with it.

That's how the church grew and it spread around the whole world.

In fact, I think I pointed out, I don't know if it was last week or the week before.

That's the thing about Christianity.

You try to oppress it and it grows even the more.

And I'm convinced fully, it's the conviction.

It's the fact that we are so serious about this.

When you look at the disciples, the apostles, including Jesus, Brother James, who later would become a witness to him, and then also Paul, who was at first against the church.

They were willing to be persecuted, suffer and die without recounting a single word.

That's an incredible conviction.

These people lived the truth in a way.

And so that's what took the church and grew it more than anything else.

That was it.

So when you, of course, the Holy Spirit's through all of that, let's not ever discount that.

But, you know, we didn't need to have children to grow it.

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't hurt in some cases, but we.

But that's how it grew.

So the fact that if we talk about like, well, they're.

They're having a lot of kids and, you know, if you look at the statistics, yes, especially from the Muslim religion, you know, they're having a lot of kids and they're counted as Muslims at that point.

So that is showing a tremendous growth within that belief system.

Whereas Christianity, once again, still evangelism, number one.

Yet evangelizing for the Muslims does not even come close to what evangelism does for Christians.

So overtaking us would be they'd have to have so many kids and keep them from believing, which is.

That's problematic for them because, you know, you're saying this at a time where more Muslims are coming to Christ than before, too, because they're having Believe it or not, they're having Jesus dreams and the spirit's interacting with them in a new way.

And, you know, it's like Jesus has been reaching into the Muslim community going, community going, you know, look, I'm legit.

This is legit.

And you need to get right.

And they're doing it.

And so you would have to have so many kids that you'd overtake even that kind of thing.

Now the idea of us having kids just that are Christian is also.

Look, I get the idea, but there's a lot of work that comes in that, and there's no guarantees.

So, you know, even in pastors households, I'm a pastor, I have five kids.

You know, I work with Nick, he's got three kids.

And it doesn't matter.

You can train them up the best you can.

And ultimately it's their decision, number one and two, these other households, they have to take on the responsibility of raising up their kids right as best they can.

And then still it is the child's responsibility.

So it's tricky.

We can't rely on just having babies.

We can't rely on population growth for faith growth.

We need genuine faith and genuine faith.

The only way to get it is for someone to be open to genuine faith.

And so when you think about the idea of procreation overcoming Christianity, it's kind of wild to think about.

It's like, well, the only way that would work is if we stopped evangelizing.

Yeah.

And I think that us procreating so that we're not overtaken is a ridiculous thought.

Just because in order to be a Christian, you have to have a genuine relationship with Jesus.

It's not like a I claim it and I am it.

Although, just for the record, if I see any of you out there and you claim it, I will hold you to it.

But if you claim it, that's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't matter unless you actually have that relationship.

And so, I mean, you can follow the checklist, you can say the words and all of that.

And that's the thing with most other religions, is that that's good enough.

Yeah.

And sometimes that might be good enough in others, but that's all there is in those.

And it's like ours.

There's a genuine relationship that has to be there.

And it's not checklists.

Yeah, you're right.

Because, like, that's the thing.

You know, I think we've talked about this many times, but, like, you know, the difference between Christianity and every other religion, every other Religion says, first off, you have to earn it for yourself.

There's something that you have to do.

There's boxes you have to check.

But yet Christianity is the only one that says, look, yeah, you can't do anything like that because you're just gonna mess it up.

So God did it for you, and you have to accept it.

And that's where the relationship happens, is when we learn to accept that we can't do it on our own and God can, so that we need to go back to relying on God and allowing him to continue to be our God and us not be our God.

So that's really where that starts.

Now, what's interesting about that is I brought up evangelizing, right?

And evangelizing isn't just out there talking it, you know, it's walking it.

It's living it.

You know, that's.

We see people who.

They don't go out there and proclaim God's word on an open forum, but they live in such a way where their life becomes their gospel, but their sharing of the gospel.

I don't want to say that the wrong way.

So to where people are genuinely interested in why they are the way they are, the hope that they have, and it draws people in.

And, you know, living the gospel is just as important as proclaiming the gospel.

People can try to use scripture wrong all the time, but if you not only know how to talk the talk, but walk the walk.

But then once again, it comes down to that full conviction, that full belief that this is it, that I'm not it, that God is it.

Yeah.

I like the example of.

If.

You know the band Anthrax, right?

Not a Christian band.

No, not at all.

But there was a band that used to tour with them that was a Christian band, and they went by the name of Striper.

And actually, they still go by that name because they're still playing, which is crazy.

Still killing it.

They are.

But the lead singer of Anthrax was on, like, VH1 or whatever it was, you know, MTV talking about striper and the fact that.

I mean, they were touring with Anthrax, and it was an Anthrax crowd that was there.

It wasn't a Striper crowd.

They were just like.

They were one of the opening bands kind of a thing.

And he talked about how they would toss Bibles out into the crowd, and the crowd would throw the Bibles back at them and that sort of thing.

And just the fact that all of the things they did backstage and all the things that they did on Tour.

They walked the wal.

It was a genuine faith.

And so even if.

Somebody doesn't find Jesus in the midst of it, they recognize it, that it's genuine, you know, and whether or not.

It'S all planting seeds.

Oh, yeah.

Well, that.

Yeah.

But I'm just saying, people know whether it's genuine or not.

Oh, yeah.

All they have to do is look.

It wasn't an act.

It was living it out and enduring.

Because, I mean, think about it.

They had to.

They walked into some interesting spaces where they had to stand firm.

Yeah.

And that can be hard.

You know, I go.

I enjoy all kinds, pretty much almost every kind of music, and I love going to different music festivals, and I just love going and listening to live music.

That being said, you know, I've been to rock festivals where you, like.

You need to know where you're at before you walk into these things.

And in some ways, I'll be honest, there's times where I take a look around at some of these people, and I'm like, this is why I got to keep going.

This is why I got to keep working in ministry, and I got to keep getting the word out and helping as many as God will let me help for him, because this is such a need.

You look at so many people who are broken and hurting and lost, and yet then there's also the opportunity to be something different there.

You know, last time I went to a festival like that, I wore a hat that said, trust God, bro.

And I wore it around the whole festival.

Or I wear something that says, yeah, you know, I wear a lot of things that are.

I like to call them discussion pieces.

But I became kind of a billboard within a lost sea.

And I thought to myself, you know, if one person looks at that at the right time and starts to consider it, and that's a seed planted that God was able to use me for in a place that nobody was going to expect it.

And it's great, actually, to be able to walk into those places and see the companies.

There's been some really great companies that have come alongside festivals like that.

The last one I went to, there was a company called Demons behind me, and they sell clothing, and it's not for demons.

It's against the demons.

The idea is that we all have a past.

We all have stuff we struggle with, even addictions or anything like that.

And it's about finally being able to put it behind you and move forward.

And it is.

I wouldn't.

I don't think they present themselves necessarily as a Christian Company, but they do have Christian morals and values.

And what was really interesting about this, I got to talk to one of the guys that was running the booth, and he was planted between a witchcraft booth.

Not kidding.

And a BDSM booth.

I mean, some.

I'm not going to explain what that is, but it's messed up stuff either way.

And he's like, I feel like God put us here for a reason.

And it was really interesting because he told me he had a.

The guy from the Wizcraft booth came over and was like, yeah, we're not getting many sales.

I don't know what's going on.

And the guy from.

That was behind me was like.

Or demons behind me was like, yeah, we're doing just fine.

Like, as if, like, he needed confirmation that he was in the right place.

It was just kind of a really cool.

And these are conversations that when you're able to put yourself into these situations and you're willing to talk Jesus, God will often give you times.

There was a time I went to a festival and was able to witness to two of my friends more on dispelling false narratives and pushing in truth so they believed false things about Christianity.

And I was able to go, no, that's not it at all.

It's actually this.

This.

And in the middle of this festival, everything is going on.

And so, like, yeah, you got to be careful.

But like.

But that kind of conviction, staying steady in the.

In the.

In the face of all kind of things in this world is so important.

And it can.

You never know how it's going to impact someone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that's good.

That's.

It's fun.

That there's, you know, the ability, when you put yourself out there, the ability to be used by God in some wild places.

Yeah, wild places.

And I mean, the booth couldn't have been placed any better.

Right.

Like, no, that's.

That's a crazy, crazy thing.

And I think that.

That when.

When you're willing to be used in however God wants you to be used, that.

That you will.

You'll make a genuine impact.

I mean, it's not.

There's.

When you show up wherever God's already working.

Yeah.

You're gonna make a genuine impact because he's the one doing all the work and you're just there.

Right.

Yeah.

So I think that that is the thing that.

That is really important for us to realize about this.

This idea of being overtaken culturally is that, you know, in Jesus day, I mean, the Jews were subjugated.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, they weren't dominant.

And Jesus didn't come to make them dominant.

No, they wanted that.

He didn't come to make Christianity dominant.

He didn't come to do any of that.

He was very sure of who he was, you know, as we should be sure of who we are and who he is.

But he didn't need to worry about that.

He knew who wins in the end, and that's not the focus.

Right.

So I think that whenever we get bogged down on, and I'm not saying it's not a genuine fear at times, but when we get bogged down on the idea that we're going to be overtaken, somebody else's culture is going to overtake the Christian culture of wherever you are.

First off, other people in other parts of the world already feel that they're already there.

That's something that's actively going on currently in this world.

The other thing is the idea that.

Well, yeah, and this country's only been here for 200 years.

I mean, most of you that are listening are in the United States.

And.

I mean, this is the Christian country that we have.

And it doesn't look very Christian most of the time.

Most of my life, it hasn't looked very Christian, to be honest.

So they've already overtaken our culture.

Right.

So our culture is not defined by where we live.

No, by even.

Honestly, even who we associate with, but who we follow and who we act like.

Right.

That's.

That's who our culture is defined by.

And that can't be taken from us.

No.

And it's important for those even, like I said, in the face of how the culture has changed and some of the crazy ways that it has, you know, it.

That's where actually the church becomes really important because we need to stand firm in the face of all this.

But when you have a support system who can come alongside us and encourage one another and guide and maybe even help get back on the right track or go deeper so that you can be better equipped in some ways, you know, as we listen to sermons and go to Bible studies, it's like we're digging our roots further into the dirt, into where the water is, so that no matter what the weather looks like, we're going to be all right.

And, yeah, I mean, it's really important, these things.

I mean, imagine if you will.

I mean, some of us, it really doesn't take much.

It really doesn't take much to think about how bad things have gotten.

Now.

Some people, you know, they are more optimistic in mind and they're like, well look at this and look at that and look at.

And I get it.

There are some things that are great or at least feel really good when it comes to like, hey, you know, we've technologies to some degree has made our life easier and some things are easier to obtain.

And so.

But if you could imagine what it would be like if the church wasn't here.

Now that's a scary thought now.

So, you know, a while back was maybe even a year ago or so, I can't remember how long it was.

A long while back we did a whole series on revelation and just humor me for a second.

I have got revelation on my tab.

So.

Okay, but humor me for a second because you know, there's different ways that you can go about revelation and when it comes to end times events, there's different ways people believe different things.

So many people have at least heard the term, or at least somewhat familiar with the idea, whether they are with it or not, of a rapture happening.

Now I'll tell you, I personally am one who, I'm for it.

But I want to tell you a great thing about it and a scary thing about it.

A great thing about it is if the rapture does happen in the way that a lot of people believe it's going to happen, then the believers, those who are in Christ, would, before the tribulation time where it's supposed to be the worst time ever happens, then we get to go and feast with Jesus and everything's cool.

Basically it's, we get a pass.

There's more to it.

But I'm going to try to keep this from going too deep.

Now what's the scariest thing about that?

Well, it's just thinking about what that then defines.

Because if that's true and Jesus basically told us, I mean it's said multiple times, it's not just New Testament, this is Old Testament, but it's said that this week, this seven year period, just about is going to be the worst time period in Earth's history.

Period.

There's no time that it has ever come close to it.

No time will ever overtake it.

This is the worst of the worst.

I want you to think about this.

If in fact, let's just say if in fact the church is removed, think about how terrible the earth would be if we weren't here anymore.

Because we're told to be the salt of the earth.

We're here to preserve it, we're here to heal it, we're here to, to possibly Give it something that it doesn't have.

You remove that and the flavor is gone, which is what I meant.

The healing is gone.

We're no longer holding back the bad at bay anymore.

And I don't even sometimes want to think about how bad that could get.

I mean, we've seen what happens when a crowd gets.

Buys into the wrong ideology.

You know, we've seen what happens when protests turn to riots and riots turn to killings and murders.

And we've seen what happens in the world when people accept the wrong things in their head and make the wrong moves, and it costs lives and hurts however many people.

And think about the fact that that happened with Christianity here, where there's at least voices trying to help calm the storm and help people sort things out and maybe even comfort people in tragedy.

And if there was none of that.

Well, okay, so at that point, hope is not completely gone yet.

Well, no, not gone completely, but I'm.

Just saying the fact that there's not people walking around holding the lights up.

Right.

Like, is a big deal.

I mean, that's for sure.

It's gonna get a whole lot darker now.

I mean, Revelation does say that during that period of time, there will be some that come to Christ.

Right, that's what I was gonna say.

And they're now the line.

But.

But don't wait.

Yeah, but don't wait whether.

No matter who's right here, there's no time to wait.

For.

Sure.

Yeah, but I mean, that's a scary thought.

If, like, you know, it's like going to a hospital and instead of there being a hospital full of doctors, there's like, one.

Yeah.

This is not gonna go well.

Right?

Yeah.

And where I was gonna go with the Revelation is.

With the book is Revelation 7, 9, when it talks about every tribe, tongue and nation worshiping together.

Like that is going to happen.

The scene where everybody.

That's gonna happen.

You know, all the things that we let divide us.

Yeah.

Aren't gonna be a thing.

Yeah, and that's, that's.

That's the.

I don't know, that's like the craziest part about.

About all of this is that at some point you don't have a choice.

Well, every knee will bow.

That's what I'm saying, you know?

Yeah, exactly.

And you're right.

That's.

I'll tell you what, that's one of the most fascinating scenes to look at in the Bible period is the fact that, you know, as you're living here on the Earth, we can't even Help ourselves.

Sometimes we buy into things that we don't even realize we're buying into.

When it comes to things that separate us from other people, just put it that way.

There's so many things, but, like, that won't.

All that goes away.

And then all.

It's just beloved of God.

It's all creation.

And, you know, every single one of us is going to have to bow before that name, before that man.

And then every single one of us is also going to have to give account of our lives.

But not everybody gets to have Jesus step in and go, I got him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think about Joshua when he's on the road, you know, and he comes across this dude standing in the middle of the road with a drawn sword.

And so he draws his sword and is like, you know, are you for us or them?

And he's like, no, I'm on God's side.

And like, I've got a new song coming out by the way, and in the next two or three weeks, and it's called I'm on His side.

And the.

The end of the chorus says, thank God, I'm on his side.

And it's one of those things that's like, man, just to even think about the fact that you eventually don't have a choice, you will bow.

So as far as cultures go, like, if you're not on his side, and I'm not saying, you know, your side, I'm saying his side, if you're not on his side, your.

Your culture loses.

Yeah.

You know, now let's talk about.

Let's go back and think about when we talked about overtaking when it comes to these families who are having all these children and trying the idea that's the notion that that's going to help them.

Their religion grow, possibly overtaking Christianity as maybe the number one religion.

First off, it wasn't about Christianity being the number one religion.

It's trying to save as many as we can.

Yeah.

So, you know, for us, it's not about being number one.

It is the fact that it's the truth.

And so that's the battle, really.

It's not about the numbers.

It's about the truth.

That being said, how sad then, is it the idea of all these children being born into families who are trying to feed them the wrong information that are doing it for the wrong reasons?

You know what I mean?

That part is heartbreaking when you think about this.

Well, not only that, but, like, look at the cultures that sacrifice their children.

Oh, yeah.

For their religion.

I mean, I'm not saying, I'm saying like the non Christian cultures.

Yeah, yeah.

Abortion.

Yeah, well, that too.

That too.

That counts.

I agree.

I agree.

But that being said, I want to say that it's a reality, but it counts.

It's.

It absolutely counts.

All right.

It's not quite as egregious as like burning your.

Your born baby.

Right?

Like, I don't think.

I agree that it's killing a baby.

Is killing a baby.

That's killing a baby.

It's all wrong.

So.

But there.

You're right.

Like, there is something to be said for you, the manipulation that happens for.

With abortion, right.

To.

To manipulate you into thinking that it's not a child and all that stuff.

Right?

There's something to be said for that versus the.

You can clearly see there is zero question.

And yet, I mean, like, okay, the burning, the burning of babies and to Moloch or whoever and all the.

To bail.

And I mean, like, what's interesting is that that's happening now.

You're right.

And I mean, it's not happening just then.

It's happening now.

What's sad is the fact that the.

And I'm sorry, this is a touchy subject for some, but it is what it is.

It's sad that so many people have been influenced in such incredible ways where they are now killing their children in womb or outside the womb, and they're considering that if it's in womb, that it's okay.

They're accepting these reasons, you know, for those who, you know, struggle, who pray for children.

And there's people that just take the gift for granted.

Not only do they do that, but they're so willing to subscribe to these things.

And people make mistakes.

I get it and I agree with you.

You know, there's such manipulation of people and sometimes that's really hard to navigate, especially if they weren't as close to Jesus at the time or they didn't fully.

There's plenty of ways to which I understand their positions.

You know, it doesn't change what they've done, but at the same time, like, you can at least get to where their head was at there and understand it.

You can have compassion for them.

You can support them.

Not in what they did, but in the fact that they want to.

They're in sorrow of it and they're in pain of it and they don't want to do that again.

But it's when they willingly go or want to accept it, because those who treat it like birth control, who really have made themselves in some ways, their own God and says that I'm more important than any of this.

And so I'm willing to kill that because it's for my life, so that I feel like I'm a succeed.

And it all goes back to the same thing.

You're still sacrificing your children for something that you hope to achieve or obtain from it.

Yeah, and it's wild.

I have a hard time understanding the parents that have a couple kids and then decide when the third one's conceived that they'll abort that one because two was enough.

I'm like, are you.

What?

Look at your kids.

How can you call them a blessing and decide to kill another?

And sometimes they will.

I'm gonna sound a little attacking.

I apologize.

Well, it's okay.

I've got a hot take.

I'm gonna tell you here in just a second.

But I do want to say for those of you who are hurting because you've made that choice.

Yeah, there is plenty of love and forgiveness from me.

At the very least, from those of us here.

Me too.

I know.

I'm talking.

No, I mean, it's a real thing.

And it's really.

It's infuriating that people do it, because most of the time.

I honestly believe most of the time it's manipulation.

I think that it's.

Whether it's.

The world has created this, it's okay because it's not a baby thing or whatever.

Just the naivety of most people that have abortions.

You know, like, I still.

I love you and you're forgiven.

All you gotta do is, you know, just accept Jesus and ask for forgiveness and you're good.

I mean, I love you is what I'm trying to say.

And it doesn't fix the consequences of the action.

But you're not alone.

There's other people who have made that choice and realized that it was the wrong one.

And, yeah, if you're somebody who is out there listening to this and you're the one that's pushing it, well, I hope I don't meet you in a way that is not set up to love on you.

Because, yeah, I'm not trying to hurt people.

I'm just talking about the reality.

I'm not threatening to hurt anybody either.

I'm just saying I don't want to lose my Jesus on somebody.

You know, like, I hope that God goes before me if I ever run into somebody who enjoys manipulating people into aborting their kids.

So with that, I'm gonna shift a little bit, just a Little bit, because you said something that made me think about it.

But here's a hot take for you.

Kind of reset a little bit of this conversation.

And that is contraception.

Yeah.

Is that escaping the.

The curse?

Is that trying to escape the curse like people use, like ladies use it for, you know, to ease their cycle and do all that?

And it's skipping.

Trying to skip the having the kids and all these different things.

Like, isn't that like shucking the curse?

I mean, it's there, there, there is some.

I think there is some Taking things into your own hands for sure.

So that's just a hot take.

You guys can read me over the coals in the comments if you want.

But it's something to think about.

I think that, that like you're changing your body chemistry for the purpose of a.

Making the pain that was put in you.

Women are gonna thereby.

God.

But also to shuck the responsibilities of, you know, well, the responsibilities of how procreation works.

Right.

Well, I think the worst of it is when you want to be able to run around and be promiscuous, not married and just no consequences is what you're looking for, being able to.

But I think dismiss.

I think we forget that it's also just altering your body chemistry.

Right?

Like that pill thing I had.

My sister said something to me a year or two ago and it just dumbfounded me.

I just couldn't believe that anybody would think this.

And she said that it's dangerous to have a kid today.

And I thought, what.

I mean, with our medical technology and everything that we have today, it's like safer than ever to have a child.

And something I hadn't thought about because she brought up the whole miscarriages and I thought, oh, I hadn't thought about that.

There's a lot of miscarriages.

Then I got to thinking about it a little more.

And this is why I think that contraception is bad.

And that is because it's changing your body chemistry to immediately attack anything that.

That could look like, you know, a baby, growing the zygote or whatever.

However that actually works, right?

It's.

It's the whole idea of like, fight it off, get rid of it.

And the longer you go, it's just like, it's just like getting fat, right?

Like I'm fat.

I'm not going to work out one day and lose it.

All, right?

Like you, you're.

When you're ready to have a baby all of a sudden, and then like, you're like, oh, I'm Just gonna stop taking it and it's fine.

Like, your body is still used to trying to get rid of it.

You've.

You've retrained your body into this.

This idea that, that, like, oh, I'm gonna flush everything when you know that that's.

That's not how things are supposed to work.

And so, like, I think that that has led to the.

The vast number of misconceptions.

Misconceptions, Ms. Whatever.

Just miscarriages.

Thank you.

My brain just gone.

So I don't know.

That's a hot take for you guys to think over.

At least ream me over the coals if you must.

I'm cool with it.

But.

But also, you know, that's that whole, like, be fruitful, multiply, throw it out the window.

Yeah.

I mean, we, without the responsibility, we.

Want to be careful to preserve what God creates, especially when it is a living soul and, you know, not.

Not join in and do the work of our enemy who would want to destroy it.

That's a good segue for my next question.

What's your next question?

And that is, are we more concerned with preserving Christian culture than forming Christian disciples?

Oh, that's a good one.

I like that one.

And I think I am one who.

I am more concerned with disciples than Christian culture.

I actually push back against traditions and culture that I think has no place or I think is unnecessary.

Sure.

You know, for instance, if any.

It doesn't matter.

Christian denomination.

Church is like, well, this is how we do things.

And I'm like, but there's no reason I can look in the Bible and like, there's nothing that backs this up.

And you're requiring this of people, then.

No, then you're no better than the person that said, yeah, it's the gospel that Paul preached.

Plus, yeah, that's the same thing.

Yeah.

When it comes to that.

No, I would rather.

I, you know, I'm not for.

I mean, scripture needs to be the scripture.

Like, that's what it needs to be.

Like, we're not changing that.

We're not changing what Jesus said.

We're not manipulating anything of that.

But, you know, there's certain things that is said and there's things that aren't.

And I'm not going to focus on the aren't.

I'm going to focus on the is.

And so, you know, if people are like, well, what does Jesus say?

I will tell them, this is what Jesus says.

It's in the Bible.

You know what I mean?

And I'd rather back it up.

That Way and go look.

But if you're like, well, the church says to do this or that.

Well, there's some times where scripture kind of goes against that, and then there's times where.

Yeah, I don't know why they say that, because there's really no foundation for it.

This is something that came through tradition, and it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Sometimes it's not necessarily something that's, you know, in its form or function, negative.

But.

But when it's something that you.

You're gonna choose to die on that hill.

Yeah, that's too far.

It's problematic.

So, yeah, I'm definitely.

No, I would much rather go for more disciples.

Yeah, we're.

We're talking Matthew 28:19.

Right.

Go and make.

Go and make more disciples.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Yeah, disciples.

Actually, before that, making disciples who make disciples.

Well, actually, before that was really important is that he says, has been given to me.

And then he says in his authority, therefore, go, meaning that he's giving us the authority.

He is putting the task to us to make disciples.

This is important.

Not just make disciples, but make disciple makers.

I think that's even more important to realize is that the idea is that not just that we're called to bring people to Jesus, but we're called to teach people.

Each and every one of us that are followers of Christ are called to teach people.

To teach people.

To teach people how to live for Christ.

Right.

Like, it's deeper.

It's teaching people how to make.

Be.

Be disciple makers.

Right.

And so.

Well, I mean, that's how it went from about 513 witnesses to today.

Yeah, right, right.

You know, because we think about the apostles, the 11 plus, you can add in if we just went to 11, Paul and James, if you just went with them and then know that 500 people at a time saw it, then estimate about 513 people that saw the risen Christ.

They went from that number to all over the world.

Second hot take of the day.

Evangelism is not disciple making.

Oh, interesting.

I think it's part of it, but it's not all of it.

For sure.

Right.

There's a lot of people who.

And I agree with that.

There's a lot of people who are very much like, oh, I'm just going to tell people about Jesus.

And then, okay, good.

It's like, okay, that's great.

But disciple making is telling them, teaching them, walking alongside them, helping them to learn how to do the exact same thing.

And it's an ongoing thing.

It's not a, hey, Jesus loves you and he died for you.

Oh, you said a prayer.

Good.

All right, now we're done.

So that's like those crazy people of ancient cultures that if they had a kid with a defect, they'd leave it out in the cold for the wolves or the cold to get to them because it was better to die than to tend to grow up with their malformity.

It's like, oh, you've made an infant and now you're leaving it to itself.

Except for the ones who have to figure out how to deal with the malformity or whatever is.

They generally end up being stronger in their overcoming.

Right, but that's.

I mean, I used it for a point.

Like, we, yes, evangelize.

Yes, we want to help people grab onto Christianity and plant those seeds and help them come to Jesus.

That's an amazing and incredibly important part of the process.

But there has to be continued encouragement and guidance and accountability.

All the things that come with it.

Help them continue to go deeper.

You know, we're charged with helping them to make disciples, which includes discipling, bringing them up in the ways that they need to go and in the things they need to know to help them learn how to read the Bible better and deeper and understand it and apply it to their lives.

And if they have questions, we help them find answers.

And all the things, I mean, sounds like the church, but it's what all of us do.

And we all are the church.

Not just pastors, not just elders, not just anyone that just happens to volunteer on a Sunday.

I'm talking anyone who is a Christian follower, a Christ follower is to be helping people as much as we can, especially and to look for those opportunities.

It's not everyone's forte to go out and proclaim the gospel in a loud voice, but it is an opportunity to still show them, to help come alongside them and maybe even help lead them to those who do have.

Have those voices.

Yeah, for sure.

So, okay, here's a question, right?

And this is for anybody out there.

Like, just.

Just think about this for just a second before we.

Before we answer anything.

I think the answer should be obvious, but it's not a lot of times.

Does anxiety about demographic change reveal trust in God's kingdom or fear of losing cultural control?

I want you to say it one more time.

Does anxiety about demographic change reveal trust in God's kingdom or fear of losing cultural control?

Well, I think if you.

It could lead to a mistrust, a Trust or mistrust in the kingdom.

It could have that.

I was.

I was gonna say, like, anxiety about demographic change.

Anxiety about, like, being overtaken, you know, culturally.

Culturally, yeah.

I mean, looking at that.

What.

Not like, that does not reveal trust in God's kingdom.

Right?

No.

Or an understanding thereof.

If you are.

I mean.

Yeah.

I mean, if you're trusting that God's gonna.

To.

He's always on the throne.

He's always ultimately in control, then you walk in faith, no matter where he leads you and the people around you.

You know, and so sometimes things get dark, and then sometimes light breaks the darkness.

You know, light's never fully overtaken.

So we have to continue to press forward no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in.

So you just have to have that trust and faith in him that no matter where we're at, he'll lead us through and that we can rely on Him.

If you're doing it because you're afraid of losing power or control, that's very prideful.

Well, I think a lot of people that are in the church that have that mentality, though, that is the problem.

I think that is the thing that they.

They're in is that fear of losing cultural control.

I mean, something that's been thrown out there a lot lately is that whole culture or national Christian nationalism.

Okay, right.

So, like, that.

That mentality of, boom, we have to maintain this as a Christian country.

Right.

Or Christian nation.

Like, yeah, that's great.

Like, the desire to make disciples and make the majority of this nation Christian is awesome.

But when you get to that extreme, there's a fear that you're building things upon of losing cultural control and your shift, your focus has left God's kingdom, I think, and obviously that no universal.

Right.

But.

Yeah.

So when it comes to.

Okay, we're gonna touch on politics here.

Yep.

But, like, I think one of the dangers of politics when it comes to being a Christian is when we agree or we think to ourselves that a party has our best interests.

That.

Or try to align ourselves with a given party.

And the thing about that is we have no business doing any of that.

Sure.

None of us whatsoever.

You.

We follow Jesus.

We don't follow politicians.

We don't follow a party.

Could you be a member of it?

So if you want to be a Democrat, Republican or whatever, are you.

Yeah, sure.

Can we support certain politicians?

Yeah, sure.

We know one of the things we do want to do when it comes to politics is we do want to try to help raise up leaders who do hold to the right.

Ideals who are willing to represent us well and defend the interests at heart.

Right.

To help us to preserve the things that need to be preserved and heal the things that need to be healed.

You know, those are the things that we want, you know, and in doing those things, that's a noble cause, you know, but we got to be careful that we don't blanket statement things.

We don't go.

Okay, so there are some Christians who are like, well, the Republican Party, that's really like the Christian party.

Don't ever say that again.

The idea that that's not the thing.

Plenty of them.

Sure.

Some of them proclaim Jesus, some of them don't.

Some of them do hold to some of our ideals, and some of them could care less.

You can't go and do that.

You have to look at the individual.

Is the individual actual disciple of Jesus who is living their life in that way and is looking to defend the interests that Christ would want us to defend?

Sure, great.

Get behind him.

Try to get them elected.

They're not God.

Yeah, they're not all powerful, but, you know, but we want to stand behind those who are trying to do the right things.

You know, around election time.

This is where it gets really funky is when you.

Especially around the presidential elections and stuff like that, when people are like, well, you know, who do you vote for?

And I love it when people say, well, I feel like it's, you know, it's either one evil or another, or I'm trying to pick the best of two evils or something like that.

And it's like, okay, so honestly, honestly, no matter what you're looking at, when you look, if you're.

If you're trying to.

If you were going to vote and you're looking at politicians, you're looking at people who have been put up there to represent us.

Then to me, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, but I'll tell you what to look for.

Look into your candidates.

And this is for every level, from just a little council member all the way to the top or president.

We'll say, look for Christian values.

Look for people who are going to represent Jesus in the best ways that are going to try to hold back things we know are evil and try to preserve things that we know are good and try to fix things we know are wrong.

If you can see those people and they're going to do the most amount of that good, then those are the ones you can get behind.

None of them are perfect.

None of them.

Let me say that Again, not a single one of them is perfect.

They're not our God.

They're just those people that we're trying to find the best people to represent ourselves and our interests.

That's the whole idea of a democratic or even republic in government, where we're trying to put the right people in place.

You know, does that mean that sometimes you'll represent.

Somebody will be representing us, and we voted for them, and sometimes they're going to do something that we don't like can absolutely happen every day of the week.

Does that mean you have to be crushed in your decision or made to feel bad about it?

I mean, if you want to, but that's not really going to be helpful.

The best thing to do is to continue to move forward with the same mission.

And the mission has always been the same.

To take Christ's word and move it forward, to take the things that he stands for, that he wills and that he tells us to do and help them continue to happen and move forward.

And so however you participate in cup politics, no matter from A to Z up to the bottom to the top, that is the.

Is what you need to focus on, not any of this other garbage that's being thrown at you every day.

You know, where you're supposed to stand.

So take your stand.

That's good.

That's good stuff, man.

And you know me, I never.

I don't talk about politics.

Yeah, no, I mean, you don't.

You don't like to get into those.

Those weeds.

I don't.

Especially with some.

I like getting ridiculous weeds.

Yeah, but at the same time, like, I think it's important on occasion to actually get into it.

So.

Yeah, no, that's.

That's a good.

That's a good take on.

On what it is.

I mean, news flash.

You're not perfect, and we're not perfect either.

So why would we expect our leaders to be perfect if we're all the same, right?

We're all humans, the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and none of us are worthy of it.

Yeah, man, that's some good stuff.

So the whole being overtaken, I think that idea is kind of crazy.

I really do.

I think that we need to shed that thought process.

Now.

Things that do overtake us that we can fight against a little bit is sin, right?

Sin overtakes.

And what's funny is that scripture says that nothing has overtaken us except for that which is common to man, but that God is faithful and just, and he will give us a way out in the midst of that, which is awesome as well.

So he provides the way out for any kind of being overtaken.

Now sometimes we're called to be in the midst of a cultural situation.

That's not great.

Sometimes we're called to be there and there's a time in which we need to be there.

Right.

You may be called for such a time as that.

You don't know what God is building you up into.

There's plenty of people who have been imprisoned and thought, I didn't even deserve to be here throughout scripture.

And yet God wanted them there so that they could be in the right place at the right time for, for what he had had going on.

So don't be afraid of that.

Joseph is a prime example of that.

And Paul, oh yeah, falsely accused, thrown in jail, but for reasons beyond their known.

And two decades, bro, he was, he was in prison or he went through, not, he wasn't in prison for two decades, but he, he went through a nightmare of being separated from his family for two decades.

It was thing after thing after thing after thing.

And then to be able to save.

The nation, you know, you intended for evil.

Yeah.

God used for good.

Right.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

So, you know, if you're in a situation where the culture around you is, is not Christian at all, love people, love people there and just show them who Jesus is.

If you're in a culture where it's kind of hush hush and you're not supposed to talk about that or else you'll get in trouble, like, okay, love people and show them Jesus.

Right.

Like your culture is a Christian culture because you are the one who is pushing that on.

So your identity is in Christ.

We talk about that a lot.

It's important.

But man, the culture around you is going to be impacted by what you do, whether that is getting further from Christ or getting closer to him.

And go ahead.

I thought about one more thing.

When it comes to the whole idea of Christian nationalism, as if we can claim the whole country for Christianity, you know, how dangerous that actually is in practice is.

The idea is that if you look at history, when Christians claim victory, that's when they get defeated.

Because what ends up happening is complacency, which leads to falling away and which leads to problems.

And so I mean, that's, we've seen it on display before.

You know, it's not about conquering the nation.

It's not about having control and saying, no, no, no, this is this.

It's about continuing to stick to the most important thing, which is who Jesus is.

And what he says, sometimes that's best seen with some darkness around it.

One of the things that in this culture that we're seeing is people needing.

I wondered to myself, the example I gave earlier about the tent, that was about putting the demons behind me as a sea of lost people and they're making more sales.

It's because it's showing you how people are looking for something.

You know what I mean?

Sometimes in a sea of darkness, someone's looking for a way out.

Yeah.

And sometimes in the culture we're looking at with these kids, man, they're being bombarded with so much information and they're looking for something real and something that, that they can really stand on.

And, you know, there's something to that.

You know, do I invite the terrible things to happen?

No, but you know what?

With them, they can be used to God's glory to help those who are willing to go, this is bad, and then show them what is not.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Well, one last thing before we, before we land this plane, I think that we need to tie it back into.

To be fruitful and multiply.

We talked about disciple making, but I wanted just to read Galatians 5, 22 and 23.

Sure.

And that is.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

Against such things, there is no law.

Yeah.

So guys, like, seriously, Ladies, guys, people.

Yo.

Truth responders.

Truth responders.

I don't know.

I don't mind that one.

It might stick, it might not.

I don't know.

But dude, if there's any question to how you should act in any situation, just run through those.

Love.

Is it, you know, am I showing love?

Joy?

Am I showing joy?

Joy is not happiness.

Different, different, different, different.

Are you bringing in peace into it?

Are you being patient?

Are you being kind?

Is it good?

Like, are you being good to people?

Are you being good in the situation?

Are you being faithful to what God has called you to?

Being gentle?

Gentle is big.

You can say something that's, that, that is very critical in a gentle way, and people receive it.

And man, something that so many people need is self control.

If you're, if you're doing those things, man, there is, there's no law against anything that you're.

You're doing.

If those, those are all being done, you know, and if your life is shining those things, that is just one, one step closer to, you know, that sanctification process that we're all going through.

So any, any last thoughts?

Last thought I would say, you know, to be fruitful and multiply whether you're having kids or not.

Think about those fruits that he was just saying.

Think about how we need to make sure that our faith is strong, our mask is on so that we can help others put theirs on.

We need to be able to represent well so that we can guide well.

That's good.

That's good.

Got anything coming up you want to plug real quick?

Oh, plugs.

Let's see.

Remember, it's got to be after this weekend.

Well, I tell you what, I got some things going on.

So if you're looking, if you have students or if you're looking to sponsor a student, we have big trips coming up for student ministry this year.

Biggest one is probably the high school move trip.

It is the trip for student ministry.

It is life changing for everyone who goes, even my team, even myself.

But these students don't come back the same, really.

No one does.

It's incredibly impactful.

There's a lot of fun they have with it, too.

It's a little bit of a pricey ticket, but if you're looking to maybe help a kid get there, or if you have a student between 8th grade right now and a senior in high school right now, then it is that that's where they want to go.

I would love to take 40 students this year.

I think it's just going to be amazing.

Outside of that, we also have.

Middle schoolers are going to have a middle school treat this year.

So if your heart is with that age group, you can do the same things a little easier.

Endorsement maybe, but it's going to be great.

We take them up to a.

We take them off campus to a house up in the Kissimmee area and we just pour into them for a couple days and we try to solidify the new group that's going to be carrying into the next school year.

And it's going to be pretty great in itself.

And of course, be on the lookout because with our trips, we usually have different fundraisers that come out and some of them are fun and interactive, including an adult dance that's going to be coming in March.

We're gonna have.

It's called Ball it Bell.

So there'll be an adult dance with food available that day.

Any questions, please reach out to me.

But yeah, so that's what's going on.

A lot of stuff.

Student ministry is just gonna be busy, busy, busy until the end of July.

Really?

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

And of course, you know, I've got Music coming out.

It's under breath and bone.

You know, I thought about you and your music.

I was listening to Dry Bones and I was thinking about it like, man, this is like right there.

This is the idea.

This is what you get.

This is it.

So yeah, yeah, so there's that.

And then Strider Design llc, if you need anything laser engraved, I want to make your mark permanent.

So that's cool.

You know, that was cool.

I like that.

Let's make your mark permanent.

That's cool.

Okay, so hopefully we didn't lose anybody in the midst of all of the, the crazy talks, the hot takes, but.

I got kind of feisty, I think.

Look, pushing love, man.

Like that's, that's the big thing.

If you are called to have babies, have babies.

If you're called to be celibate, be celibate.

If you're called to, to adopt, adopt.

If you can't have babies, pray for them for one.

Because look, 98 year old women have had babies because they prayed for it, actually laughed at God for it, but you know, you don't.

She did both.

But I'm just saying, like, but then also there's, there's adoption too and people that, that are maybe not able to take care of a kid.

You know, there's plenty of kids out there that just want a home and, and so they want to be loved.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I don't know, check it out.

But whether you are meant to have kids or not, you are meant to make disciples.

You are all of us, Every one of us is called to make disciple makers.

So what does that look like for you?

What is your next step in that?

We'd like to hear.

You can subscribe, comment, do both, do both, share, share.

Sign up for our event.

Yeah, and don't forget Patreon is out there.

You can help support this podcast and.

And get a five day devotional.

Yeah, that goes with our thing.

Yeah.

So we're also going to be looking at other things that we can offer for subscribers under that Patreon banner.

If you guys have ideas, we'd love to hear them.

And as always, if there's anything that you guys need, prayer, any of it, you can email us attheTruth responsemil.com or you can comment and I read every single message.

So yeah, do that.

And we would love to especially pray for you.

So thanks for joining us today.

You guys mean so much to us.

God bless.

Hey, thanks for joining us.

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Thanks for joining us this week and God bless.