The Great Reset: From Independence to Dependency

good morning it's good to see you here this morning at North Lake it's good to have you join our family today whether you're here in person or virtually with us at home we're so glad that you have taken time out of your schedule to be a part of our service today I do want to just draw your attention to a couple of quick announcements as we begin our service time first of all we try to communicate with as many of our members as we can electronically and so I want to encourage you if you are not already on our in on our North Lake a prayer list then you need to be sure and get yourself added so you can contact the church office for that or if you were on it at one time and you have dropped yourself from the list in some shape form or fashion accidentally we'll leave it there I won't see anybody move their name off the list purposely but if you did remove yourself accidentally or however contact the office again and get yourself at it back because that's going to be our main form of communication to our members throughout the week and it's that's important as we head to year end and so our church fiscal year starts on September 1 and we have a lot of things to do to wrap up this current fiscal year and to move into the next year from budgets to new officers and deacons and a lot of that communication and voting will happen to our members electronically and so in order for you to get the information that you need so that you can be a part of our membership body here at North Lake you need to get added to that prayer list just so that you're up to date with that information so contact the church office if you would give them your name and they can make a validate that you're on the list or add you to the list so that you can get those pieces of information just as a reminder too we have started doing Wednesday night services and so that will continue this week at 6:30 we thank everybody for their faithfulness in their tithes and offerings each week and as a reminder our budget finance team wants to remind all of those folks who are heading up committees etc that your budgets are due by July 29th oh don't postpone and wait until the 28th to put that together go ahead and work on that and have that to them by July 29th so they can begin to prepare the budget all right well we have a lot of good things planned today for our service and so I'm going to pray and then we're gonna stand together and we're gonna begin our service time this morning in singing and honoring our Lord so let's pray together father thank you for the day we thank you for the opportunity that you've given us to gather here in this building but we know that it's just that it is just a building it's the people that are in this building the body of believers that are here that make up the body of Christ that are the representative of Christ wherever they go and so father today as we have gathered here together may this be an opportunity for us to recharge may it be an opportunity for us to renew and be an opportunity may be for us to re-engage in our relationship with you Father whatever has brought us here today father we pray that your spirit would be felt among us as thing as we pray as we open your word and stead Great Lord above all that you would be honored and all that we do father we ask these things in your holy and precious praiseworthy name amen and together well we're going to worship together daren't bit for our visitors this our men's ensemble we're hark we think the gathering help lead worship periodically we've got a great day of music and to celebrate the fourth of July together today and we're going to sing those sing and praise God but you know beyond being proud to be an American we're proud that we're redeemed by the blood of lamb are you proud of that and you praise God for that today we're gonna sing that song today and it takes me and leading worship let's sing together [Music] really by the blood of the Lamb Reidy Reidy redeemed I'm so happy in Jesus the language my rapture can't I know that the light of his such with me doesn't it [Music] it's out and forever I am I think of my blessed reading I think of him all the day long I see that is the theme of my soul I am ridi ridi ridi [Music] it's Charlie forever I know I shall see here's Lottie lies who lovingly guarded my footsteps and give these songs in the night I am ready [Music] is chopping at course I am ridi ridi ridi by the blood Reidy Reidy this [Music] pay me and praise God this morning thank you you may be seated and I also welcome to house the Lord so good to see you here today if you have your bulletins handy we'll look at our prayer list on the back page we note from Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7 the Lord says my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations and of course today we honor our own nation as we celebrate our nation's 240 4th birthday yesterday and so we're to continue to celebrate that to do we do praise the Lord for you being here with us today and by joining us online as well again we want to continue to pray about who's your one the one that the Lord's laid on your heart who does not yet know Jesus Christ as our Savior and the Lord is using you in order to bring that person to faith so continue to pray and minister to that one also you see on our church family their number names on the list we wanted to highlight this week Jarrell hunter who will be having hip surgery this coming Tuesday so being prayer for him we also want to continue to pray for extended families and friend or extended congregation long-term care and also want to pray for our missionaries who serve around the world today through the North American Mission Board the International Mission Board and we also want to go ahead and be praying for our West Virginia mission trip that's coming up on July the 18th to the 24th you see the insert and your bulletin and you also see the names of the folks who'll be going so begin to pray for them even now we do continue to pray for our nation for a present for those in armed forces for our first responders for those who continue to work on this pandemic situation we have going on we do pray that the Lord might give us a spirit of revival in this land we do want to pray for our members who are grieving the Jack Hoffman family the Jack Lavelle family and also Polly Mooney and betty Hudgens brother-in-law Howell Loggins passed away yesterday so remember them in your prayers as well as we go to the Lord in prayer father we do thank you for this day that you blessed us with a beautiful day together we're their brothers and sisters in Christ and worship you in the true and living God we do thank you Lord for this nation because Lord you blessed us so much in the past forgive us Lord for taking your blessing for granted Lord turn our heart back towards you so that we can be revived we pray Lord if there's a person in you under the sound of my voice today that does not yet know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord that today is a day that they would make that eternity changing decision Lord for those on our prayer lists that need a special touch from you today Lord we trusting you to minister that according to your good will and purpose Lord we do thank you for the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ and we celebrate that today in worship Lord bless us as we continue to worship you for we pray this in Jesus name [Music] [Applause] amen our God is marching on I hope you believe that and I hope that you realize it reminds me hearing that of the eternalness of God the omnipresence of God God is everywhere at all times God is all-knowing and he's all-powerful he's omniscient omnipotent and so that song reminds me of the fact that no matter where we are what we're doing that our God is in and among us and he is marching on and our own personal will will not get in the way of his plan the the way the politicians everybody else want this world to go will not Ford God's ultimate plan it also gives me pause for thought of where is my eternity I hope this morning you will pause and think about where will you spend eternity today well you get a chance to because you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior you've realized that you're a sinner and you've turned and repented from those sins and asked the Lord to come and live in your heart and you'll be able to spend eternity with him in heaven or have you rejected him and in that rejection you've never accepted him as your Lord and Savior which basically means you're gonna spend an eternity in hell this morning I want you to think about those things and I want you to do it's amazing all you can get from a song about dr. Joe and this Amy through that but when you hear that you think about the Eternity of God it is both refreshing it's encouraging but it's also very sobering for those folks who have never turned their life over to him we're very lucky currently in this country today that we live in a country where we can talk about those things and we can be free currently to recognize who God is and publicly very openly admit that Jesus Christ has saved me a sinner from my sins and I will spend eternity with him in heaven we live in a country today a great country that was founded by men 240 years ago 40-something years ago to say you know what we're gonna basically step away from what the world says and we're gonna found this nation on principles or our one true Lord God so I want us to stand together this morning and I wants to sing about this great country that we live in that our God used men and women all throughout to found this country on those Christian principles wants to sing about that this morning as we sing America this morning oh Beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain Oh [Music] Oh [Music] God shed His grace on me brother from sea to shining sea for Heroes proved in liberating strife who more than self their country loved [Music] [Applause] Rica may God thy glory far dear Lord success be nobleness and every gain divine Oh beautiful for Patriot dream that sees beyond the years thine alabaster cities [Music] God shed His grace on me I'm ground I go with Brotherhood from sea to shining sea Rica God shed His grace on thee and Crown thy good with Brotherhood from sea to shining sea my country tis of thee sweet land all [Music] by name I my ribs my heart throb to thrills [Music] there's got to be we see long may our land be bright with freedoms Holy Light Rose ha ha my god [Music] [Music] [Music] what this dying world could use is a willing man of God prepares to go against the grain works without a paw [Music] man whose word issues God doesn't need an orator knows just what to say because I need a for a tease reason here my way to guarantee away he just needs a few good man [Music] goodbye [Music] ha men who face eternity a heart afraid to die and honor once again he just needs a few he calls the broken derelict his life has been renewed because the one who has the strength to stand up for the truth enlistment lines are open and he wants you to come in he just needs a fear and ball of men who face eternity an art appraiser [Music] a new breed [Music] and honor once again [Music] needs us needs up [Music] [Music] five for free once again [Music] laughs [Music] men will fight for freedom [Music] these are speeds up [Music] these are [Music] [Applause] will aid me in thank you heart for sharing with us this morning and the Lord does need some faithful men and women to carry out his work in this world and that's what we're gonna talk about a little bit this morning as we think about the Independence Day yesterday let's have your Bibles please open to chapter 12 of Romans Romans chapter 12 and if you'll leave them open we'll catch up back with the scripture in a few minutes the introduction will be a little long but labels open I guarantee you we'll be back there in a minute Romans chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 I beseech you I beg you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and where do we find that perfect will of God and the Word of God and that's how he explains what he expects of us in this world the following quote is attributed to a Scottish history professor named Alex Alexander Tyler in 1787 he said the average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about two hundred years during those two hundred years these nations always progress through the following sequence they went from bondage to spiritual faith from spiritual faith to courage from courage to Liberty from liberty to abundance and then from abundance to complacency from complacency to apathy from apathy to dependency and from dependency back to bondage there's some debate over whether he actually wrote that but there's a very similar regression in judges chapter 2 if you'd rather go there at some point but you'll see the same cycle in the history of Nations I thought this morning after we celebrate the 4th of July yesterday the 240 fourth birthday of the United States of America that we as American Christians should get an update on the state of our nation as we slide down the slippery slope from Independence to dependency while we were hunkered down for the past four months sheltering in place making masks social distancing wiping down surfaces with Lysol and daily watching the Koba night team death stats on TV it turns out the globalist were very busy they've been working on their new world their One World Order during the first week of June while we weren't paying any attention to it the World Economic Forum made up of three thousand millionaires and billionaires met in a virtual meeting and unveiled an elaborate website featuring something called the great reset if you want to look that up hopefully after the sermon is over it's at WWWE forum org slash great reset anyway on June the 3rd 2020 in Geneva Switzerland a guy named Klaus Schwab founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum and also His Royal Highness Charles Prince of Wales announced that the global health crisis has laid bare the unsustainability of our old system in terms of social cohesion and the in the lack of equal opportunity and inclusiveness and the lack of care for our planet this great reset is commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of an economic and social system for a more fair sustainable and resilient future this great reset will be the theme of the January 2021 meeting when thousands of young people they say in more than 400 cities around the world will be interconnected with a powerful virtual hub network to connect with these rich leaders in Davos to help implement the United Nations Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals so while they keep referring to the COBIT 19 pandemic as a crisis they also keep calling it an opportunity to remake a better world it's kind of odd I didn't know that they could see it coming but apparently they could and they're so we're using this as an opportunity to remake a better world a more unified world they say when you face global problems like global pandemics worldwide economic depression nations going trillions of dollars in debt systemic racism trade imbalances inequalities and education healthcare Communications and income and of course global climate change there is no way that any single nation no not even the United States of America can fix these problems no we need global solutions we don't need to make America great again we need to make the planet great again and by uniting together under the governance of the United Nations we can save our planet and we can transform our world now again if you'll go that website and look up great reset you'll see very sophisticated plans for how they plan to fix all the problems of the world these solutions to the world's problems are presented in a circular diagram and around the circle there are 53 major transformations as I call them that the World Economic Forum has planned and if you click on any one of those 53 don't labels there appears another circle with dozens of plans needed to fix each one of these problems yeah I thought I'd familiarize you we don't have time to do all 53 but I'll give you a few just to give you an idea of where we're headed with this one as digital currency it means cash is soon to go away we're gonna be a digital currency all around the planet and of course the digital currency will be connected by something called blockchain there's anybody here familiar with blockchains and blockchain technology we'll be able to track and save every transaction of every person in the world yes the United Nations will know whether you pick Pepsi or coke but they'll be able to keep up with all your purchases there will be artificial intelligence the Internet of Things for every electronic appliance in your home will be transmitting data to Big Brother at United Nations it's already happening now in a lot of cases in their homes that we're not aware of but soon with the advent of 5g which is just around the corner they will enhance this data collection they have a tab for urbanization or moving everybody out of the country to smart grid cities they have a tab for international travel and tourism also known as immigration and a world without borders they have digital IG where everybody I mean Digital identification where everybody on the planet will be identified using some form of biometrics that they have not unveiled yet there will be of course universal health care and vaccinations for everyone so get your arms ready climate change they're talking about the decarbonization of energy no longer will there be any gas or all it's going to all be new modern environmentally friendly energy they also have a tab for control of the Environment and Natural Resources they plan to regulate air land yes indeed water they will be regulating had a tab called the future of food let me give you a hint about the future of food no meat it will look like me but it's not meat their plan to fix systemic racism and also to go mainstream with the lgbtq+ agenda they even had an article on their website that explains they said scientifically how cities that embrace LGBTQ lifestyles recover more quickly from kovat than anybody else apparently we've changed what the scientific method is when I was in school 40 years ago because I looked at and I couldn't see the scientific basis for it but nevertheless there it is and of course did I mention taxation yes they have a tab called taxation to pay for all these plans there will be lots of taxation now again if you're going to go to that website be sure in set-aside hours because there are hours of content on what they have prepared for us earthlings is they implement these plans now how many of you believe that these global elitist did all this in the four months that we were down no apparently they've been working on this one for a while and again as you look at each one of them you see the plan is to fulfill the UN Agenda 2030 which incidentally I preached on June the 3rd while they were making their announcements I was preaching on UN Agenda 2030 here and they didn't call me for advice or anything but anyway if you go the website the website is overwhelming but to simplify these elaborate plans for those of you who don't have a long attention span they developed a World Economic Forum great reset one and a half minute video that's called simply that you can find it out there on YouTube on your computer and it shows all the problems of the world it's a quick video clip that buzzes through Koba 19 pandemic racial demonstrations and riots in the streets of America terrorism pollution disease fires and hurricanes caused by global climate change and then some Davos billionaire reaches over and hits the great reset button and the world goes back to beautiful natural pristine state where the whole world is in harmony thanks to the brilliant leadership in innovation of the World Economic Forum but simplified further I want to refer you back to my April the 19th Sermon on the coronavirus in the end of the world where we talked about the Hegelian dialectic remember it was a three-step movement problem reaction solution the World Economic Forum has been very involved in the problem as we noted in that sermon back in April there's lots of circumstantial evidence that the World Economic Forum the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Michael Bloomberg School of Public Health and dr. Anthony Fauci National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases were very involved in the origins of this current virus problem it also goes without saying that the billionaire bankers of the World Economic Forum and International Monetary Fund are very involved in the problem of financed and the trillions of dollars in debt that nations are spending to fight this virus right now the national debt of the United States of America is 26 trillion dollars and climbing wonder who's going to pay that off it even appears that the World Economic Forum I'd be involved in the racial problems we're experiencing in the United States and around the world take for example one of the organizations at the forefront the racial unrest in America is black lives matter one of the black life matters co-founder patrisse cullors admitted that the group is lit as led by trained Marxist she says in their own words I think the first thing is we do have an ideological frame myself and Alicia Garza who is one of our co-founders in particular are trained organizers she explained this during an interview with the real news now she said we are trained Marxists we are super versed on ideological theories just so you know black lives matter is also bigger than racism if you'll go to their website black lives matter comm and you'll see that they also advocate for the lgbtq+ agenda and for the end of Western civilization in general and Christianity in particular but that begs some questions in my mind that is where did they get this Marxist training well I looked up Patrice and turns out she's not an oppressed black woman from the streets she's actually a Fulbright Scholar trained at the University of California Los Angeles UCLA in Marxist theory another question is who is funding this movement which has been advertised to us in the media as being a grassroots movement of oppressed black people but if you go to black lives matter dot-com you will see that they are now calling themselves the black lives matter global network well how does grassroots all of a sudden have the money to go global where do they get the money to travel to large cities around the globe and live on the streets for days or weeks where do they how do they pay for food and shelter and t-shirts and posters and bricks to break windows and Molotov cocktails to burn buildings where they get all that well it turns out there's a list of major companies giving hundreds of millions of dollars to support black lives matters and other social justice organizations matter of fact you find that by going to the World Economic Forum did I mention a few minutes ago I scanned down the list some of these you're probably familiar with PepsiCo PayPal Apple ginkgo buy works Lego yes the toys Lego hewlett-packard Verizon uber visa Cisco Merc Nike cargo but that by far and away the top donor was Bank of America pledged 1 billion dollars to these these organizations oh no brothers and sisters a lot of bricks you buy with a billion dollars we didn't have they are heavily financed so there are your problems but as the World Economic Forum says we do not see the pandemic dent and racial strife as problems we see them as opportunities for a great global reset to build a better world order a greener smarter fairer world of course what we say happens after the problem reaction there's got to be a reaction and they got their anticipated reaction from us when we look out and we see the kovat 19 and we see this systemic racism in America and we see the mountain of debt and of course our reaction is fear oh no we're all going to die somebody do something and do it quick Long John June the 3rd they unveiled their solution and it's the great reset but June the 3rd was only the intro the big rollout is gonna come at the Davos annual meeting it normally happens in Switzerland in January of each year January 2021 they're going to unveil this whole program and so stay tuned for that of course the long and short of this plan is that every nation will give up their independence their liberty and their sovereignty in order to be a participant in this one-world government and they intend for all this to happen in 2030 which is how far away ten years so I guess some things they're gonna have to start happening pretty quickly the question I keep hearing though from my emails and the blogs that are coming in and phone calls and also in person is well brother Danny what can we do what can we do as Christians what can we do as Americans to stop all this I'm even getting some mail saying that we need to start a second American Revolution they asked me if I would be the general so I thought we'd think about that this morning they keep telling me that we the people ought to take up arms and pitchforks like the founding fathers did and march on Washington and throw out the globalist and take our country back how many of you in favor of that yeah all right well let's think about it I told you leave your Bibles open then the turn to Romans across the page from 12 let's look at 13 for a few verses and then we'll go back to 12 let every soul be subject to the governing authorities or the government but there is no authority except from God underline that and the authorities that exist are appointed by God therefore whoever resists the authority and resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves for rulers are not terrors to good works but to evil but you want to be unafraid of the authority do what is good and you will have price and the same for he is God's minister you for good but if you do evil be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain you may want to underline that one too for he is God's minister and Avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil therefore you must be subject not because of wrath but also for your conscience sake for because of this you also pay taxes for their gods ministers attending continually to this very thing render therefore to all their due taxes to in taxes do you custom some custom do you fear to whom fear honor to whom honor look back to verse one there's a reminder that no matter how chaotic our world is God is in control can I get any men and history is in fact his story and it will end the way that God has planned for it to end and I know that we got kings and presidents and prime ministers of birth who think they're in control but God is already there in the future and he knows how all this is going to go by the way as I read through this passage in Romans I've tried to think about Paul as he was writing this and I was wondering why did Paul say take up arms against Rome and make Israel great again I mean after all wasn't it Rome a crucified our Lord wasn't it Rome who was occupying and taxing the Holy Land wasn't it Rome who would ultimately behead the Apostle Paul in Paul's letter to the Romans fighting fighting Paul call for a revolution against Rome well there's a couple of reasons now turn back to Romans chapter 12 first and foremost in chapter 12 verse 2 Christians are not to conform to the propaganda of this world but we're to have our minds renewed by studying the teachings of Jesus Christ and what did he teach Luke chapter 9 verse 54 remembered Jesus James and John were out on a mission trip over in Samaria and they went through a town and the Samaritans rejected Jesus and of course James and John they wanted fireworks Lord do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just like Elijah did but Jesus what rebuked them and said you do not know what manner of spirit you are of for the man that for the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save men's lives so the Church of Jesus Christ the age of grace is supposed to be focused on saving people instead of killing people love should be our first response war should always be the last resort for a Christian you might be some well now Danny what about our founding fathers our founding fathers took up arms yes but as I understood stood history unless of course history is changing a lot here of late but anyway as I understood history back in the day our founding fathers on multiple occasions tried to negotiate a peaceful solution with King George the third if you don't think that's right go and reread the Declaration of Independence and you'll find 27 different opportunities that they had to try to talk King George into being reasonable with them and he refused also the battlefield was a little bit different back then while the British had the most powerful Navy in the world at the time back in 1776 it took them too much to cross the Atlantic and when they got across the Atlantic they were landing soldiers on foreign soil that they run familiar with and so with a combination of God answering prayers and guerrilla tactics by the Americans the British finally gave up and let us be an independent nation that was then well what's their situation today well before you start a second American Revolution you need to think about it long and hard now while the riding in our streets may look like America no longer has any power to stop it you must remember that the rioting in the streets has been orchestrated by liberal organizations who are subsidized by powerful moneyed interests both inside and outside of our government I think if conservatives begin rioting I think they would the US government has 16 intelligence agencies inside the intelligence community that we know of and by the time conservative Christians could organize a movement our organization would be infiltrated by spies from all these federal intelligence agencies but let's say you got past that hurdle and you did find some great leader who could manage to organize an offensive on Washington the Department of Defense using Special Operations satellites and drones would put a missile through his window and it would be reported in tomorrow's news as great conservative leader died in house fire a little bit different battlefield situation than we had in 1776 it was a similar situation in Paul's day even though the Roman government was led by a psychopath named Nero and the Roman government was in the early stages of decline the Roman military was still very strong and an armed confrontation would have ended the Christian Church before it ever got started when it comes to armed insurrection you must remember Romans 13:4 that we read a few minutes ago the government does not bear the sword in vain the government has weapons and they will use them to preserve their power our founding fathers understood this that's why many of our founding fathers spent many days in prayer and scripture reading and soul-searching because they knew that they were going to need divine providence also known as God if they were to win their independence they also knew the risks if you remember the last line of the Declaration of Independence reads like this and for the support of this declaration and with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence we mutually pledge to each other Our Lives our Fortunes and our sacred honor and you know what that's what it cost for most of them five signers were captured by the British as traitors tortured and then killed twelve had their homes ransacked and burned two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army another had two sons captured nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds and hardships in the Revolutionary War and that was what it costs to win could you imagine what it would cost if they lost Ben Franklin you know he was always good with words and he kind of summarizes for us what would have happened if we had lost he talked to his fellow brothers there at the Continental Congress and said we must indeed all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately so he knew what it was going to cost to mount a revolution as Jesus said in Luke chapter 14 before you start a revolution sit down first and count the cost what king going to make war against no King does not sit down first and consider whether he will be able with ten thousand to meet him coming at him with twenty thousand or else while the other still a long way off he sends a delegation and works out the terms of peace so likewise whoever you does not forsake all did he have cannot be my disciple what's Jesus saying if you want to be a disciple if you want to be a follower of Christ you want to be a Christian then you got to count the cost you may be sent on our Danny if it sounds to me like you don't think Christians could be successful with a second revolution what's a Christian then supposed to do let me just sit here on our hands and wait on the inevitable into this thing well no let's go back to Romans chapter 12 I told you to leave your Bibles open we'll get there in a minute go back to Romans chapter 12 and see what the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul about how Christians are supposed to live in troubled times Romans 12:2 do not be conformed to this world be careful how much you depend on the propaganda of this world always remember that the news media where you get your news whether you read it in the paper or watch it on TV or listening to conservative radio or see it on Twitter or Facebook or some other social media all of our media is controlled and owned by about six corporations all of their top leadership are globalist bilderberg's or members of the World Economic Forum or all of the above remember the news is not really to inform you the news is designed to overwhelm you with things that you have little to no control over which will leave you so depressed and hopeless that you don't have the will to do the things that you do have control over so that's why we need to be careful how we process things look at verse three I say to you through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith verse 16 do not be wise in your own opinion and see that's the problem with our 24-hour 7-day news cycles how many of you ever listened to breaking news all day the top of every half-hour breaking news I don't know if it's breaking news I already heard it four times earlier today so I guess it's really not breaking but he now gives you the idea that you are in the loop you've got the latest things going on out there and the problem with that is we begin to feel more highly than we ought to think as Paul says and we start thinking that we are very informed and if only I was present the United States I could fix all these problems but the truth is most of us can't fix the problems in our own little world we can't fix ourselves our family our church or job there's nothing wrong with hearing the headlines on a daily basis just to try to keep yourself informed but listening to the constant propaganda and I don't care whether you're listening to Fox CNN MSNBC whichever propaganda station you want to turn to they will quench your spirit they'll get you to the point where you feel like it's all out of control and we can accomplish nothing verse three think soberly maybe think like the Serenity Prayer everybody ever heard the Serenity Prayer yes by a liberal theologian named Reinhold Niebuhr just goes to prove a stopwatch can be right twice a day but anyway god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference that's a great prayer to pray romans 12:2 do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God well how do you renew your mind well the way you renew your mind is not by watching TV radio or Facebook instead of listening to the world's propaganda till you develop a worldly worldview the Christian is exhorted by the Lord to get into the scriptures the task of the screen of the Christian is to develop the mind of Christ what is the mind of Christ Philippians 2:5 so let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation he took on the form of a bondservant he came in the likeness of men being found in their parents of man he humbled himself and became obedient to God the Father even to the point of the death of the cross that's how beaten he was well what does the mind of Christ look like in everyday life glad you asked stay in Romans chapter 12 and look at first four and five renew your mind by reminding yourself that no Christian is an island to themselves there to be no theological lone Ranger's though we're individuals we are still functioning as members of the body of Christ which means that you and I need fellowship with other believers and while we're in the covert 19 thing it means it may have to talk with each other by phone or by email or something but we need to stay connected one with another we need to worship together and study together and serve together and check on one another and edify build one another up in Christ's likeness look at verses 6 & 8 be good stewards managers of the gift that God gives us course there you see the list of spiritual gifts but God gives us more than just spiritual gifts it gives us manifold gifts each and every day one of the great gifts that we have as Americans our right to vote billions of people in the world don't have that right today and billions of people in the past did not have that right so we are blessed to at least have a little bit of say on what goes in our country but the question is how many of us use that gift 40% of Christians don't even vote in presidential elections the stats are worse in other elections in February merican who names the name of Christ would get out and vote against this Democrat socialist agenda which is incompatible with the gospel of Christ there would be your bloodless second revolution right there you said I member how many of you are registered to vote and how many of you're planning on voting and now you just need to vote together the problem is don't help us for go out there and split to vote o for gay folks so we have to not look at our political parties as football teams and you know I'm a Georgia Tech er and I'm a Georgia and forget all that get into the Word of God see where these people stand and if they're not for the Word of God boat against them and the other ones ain't worth much but if we're at least pretending like they're going to vote Christian values and we support them you know best of the worst verse 9 don't be a hypocrite about love don't say I love people because you know that's what Christians are supposed to say well you secretly harbor hate in your heart against brother sister neighbor co-worker leaders strangers enemies the love of God means to unselfishly do good for others whether or not they return the favor verse nine be discerning study the Word of God so you can be able to tell the difference between good and evil we especially need that today because as I was the other prophet say we live in a day where they're calling evil good and good evil we need to be in the Word of God so we can discern that verses 10:13 instead of competing with one another complement one another help one another as we make our way down the narrow road to the kingdom of heaven verse 11 don't be lazy be excited about serving the Lord notice is this fervent and spirit that means on fire with the Holy Spirit and tend your fire don't let the fire go out begin each day Lord empty me or myself and my selfish agendas and fill me with your holy spirit so I can be the man of God or woman of God that you've called me to be verse 12 rejoice in our Blessed hope that this life is not the end and see that's kind of what cast out fear among Christian people we shouldn't be scared to death of death why yeah we got something better on the other side so we ought to be able to stand for our convictions as our Christian forefathers and mothers have done down through the centuries for it's the Lord who gives us a blessed hope in the future start your day praying in that hope which helps you be patient during your daily struggles verse 14 bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse how easy is that if these global elitists are successful we're going to face persecution like you've never seen before but even in the midst of that we're called to be a blessing blessing do not curse verses 15 and 16 empathize with people put yourself in their shoes especially in this racial turmoil that we're finding ourselves in feel with those folks who have been mistreated because of their color or their culture but look on to verse 17 care enough about them to tell them that this Marxist covetousness and revenge will not work it just builds another generation of bitterness instead share the gospel of Christ the god of forgiveness God's kind of forgiveness does not mean that everything that happened to you is okay God's kind of bruh giveness in verse 19 and 20 means that the Lord is a righteous judge and he will ultimately fix the wrongs and he will ultimately reward the right how many of you believe that say Amen we know we're supposed to say you mean how many of you know that's true that any grudge that you're carrying against somebody else you can take it and you can lay it on this altar today and say Lord I'm trusting you to be the righteous judge and take care of this thing and I'm not going to carry it anymore that's what forgiveness is verse eighteen if it is possible as much as depends on you live peacefully with all men and brothers and sisters that's how the Lord has called us to live as Christians even in difficult times no not take up arms but live as Christians in our own little world bright in the corner where you are bloom where you're planted you can say now Danny that's a pretty tall order I mean that's that's really hard to do no it's impossible to do you cannot live this way without the Holy Spirit within you and no how do you get him within you you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and according to Romans chapter 5 he comes in dwells your heart and he what pours His Holy Spirit gives you the love of God and that's what enables you to live this way you know I tried to think of a good biblical example of a person who tried to live this way and of course the Lord Jesus but he is the son of God and how many y'all can live up to that standard that's hard to do that so I was thinking of Old Testament guy prophet Daniel he came to mind Daniel chapter 5 verse 12 it says he had an excellent spirit the only one that said that about in the Old Testament said Daniel had an excellent spirit you remember the story of Daniel Daniel lived in a very difficult time he was being stepped on by super power called Babylon which pretty much controlled all the known world at the time they came and destroyed Daniel's hometown of Jerusalem and they also took Daniel a thousand miles away to Babylon when he was only a teenager yanked away from mom and dad put in and they didn't ride on trains back then he marched about thousand miles to his new home since it turns out he was tested and I found out he was an intelligent child the Babylonians decided to enroll him and a bunch of other teenagers who scored high on the SAT just checking to see if anybody's with me out there this morning I don't know if had si they tell you way back then but they took the smart boys and they sent them the University of Babylon to learn Babylonian philosophy he cooperated by born by going to school so he cooperated with the government there then he was chosen to be one of the Kings eunuchs you may know what it means to be a eunuch it means I took his manhood away I don't know about y'all but I would call that persecution he complied with that I don't think he had any choice I think it was either that or die so he allowed that to happen to him if you'll read he does not have wife or children then the government expected him to eat the king's meat and drink the king's wine which must y'all said last sounds like some pretty good rations except that before you eat those things they'd already been sacrificed to the idols of Babylon and Daniel and good conscience and Shadrach Meshach Abednego his buddies couldn't in good conscience do that so if you remember they asked permission to drink water and eat vegetables the superior was afraid to do it because if y'all end up looking bad then I end up getting killed and I said well just test us for a week or two and see if we look any worse if you remember the Lord blessed them and they looked healthier than everybody else so that part worked out if you remember he was super smart and the Lord revealed things to him in dreams and so he was promoted to high government office which lasted all the way through to the end of babylon babylon had some one things need to remember bout superpowers superpowers don't last forever babylon was finally trampled by the persians and so they became the new world superpower and they kept daniel kept him in the government so he was worked with the government and for the government until they passed a law they passed a law that said he could no longer pray to the god back in face toward jerusalem but that he had to pray toward the king because they had made the king god and daniel couldn't in good conscience do that only this time they didn't make room for him because basically they were setting him up anyway and they said if you won't worship this new king then you're going to the lion's den do you remember how that story turned out all right so anyhow he made good friends with the lines while he was there last night and they did not eat him and the Lord delivered him and it was a wonderful miraculous story but what if the Lord had chosen not to delivery you know sometimes that happens it happens to Christians we don't know what God's plan is and sometimes he rescues us and sometimes he doesn't well Daniel and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego had already talked about that have you done that I wonder if you ever thought about what your limit is I'll cooperate with the government this far but I'm not gonna go any further than that I'll obey the government be submissive just like it says in Romans 13 until they asked me to do something that God says I should not do and I'm gonna draw the line in the sand well apparently Daniel Shadrach and meshach them into goat already decided that and if you remember the three boys said um Shadrach Meshach and Abednego we're fixing to be thrown into the fiery furnace because they were not going to worship the idol that Nebuchadnezzar had set up and so he said look if y'all don't do that you're gonna get thrown in the fire remember what they said the God who we serve is able to deliver us from this burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand King but if not if not know this we will not bow down we will not worship we will not serve your gods have you already drawn that line have you put your line the sin says you know right now I don't have a whole lot of control over what's going on this world what these big rich billionaires have got planned for us but I do know what I'm gonna do that's what it boils down to hebrews chapter 11 hall of fame of faith you've mentioned strong people of faith like Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego it goes on described it says who stopped the mouths of lions who quenched the violence of the fire others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trials and mockings and scourgings yes chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two according to Jewish tradition that was actually the prophet Isaiah that was sawn in two they were tempted and they slain with a sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins I think that means they went off the grid they were destitute they were afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves throughout the earth all these having obtained a good testimony of faith did not receive the promise on this earth but according to Hebrews chapter 12 they did in the kingdom of heaven remember what Jesus says count the cost of discipleship it's not easy being a Christian one thing I keep hearing from Christians as we starting our study through the book of Revelation and as we see the signs of the fulfillment already starting to happen in our world is people are saying brother Danny you keep talking about troubles and tribulation and problems and persecution I've always all going to be raptured up into heaven before any bad thing can happen to us you know what my answer is quit listening to prosperity preachers on TV and open the Word of God and realize it many people are end up being persecuted many people go through troubles and trials many people go through tribulation before the great tribulation that we read about in the book of Revelation what did Jesus say in John 15 20 a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me guess what they will persecute you again as I concluded the message back in April 19th the question for our time is not what can we do as though there's some political solution to the problems that you and I are going to be facing the question is the same as it was for Jesus and Paul and Daniel and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and that is what will I do what will you do if you already purposed it in your heart I'm gonna serve the Lord even if it costs I don't recommend wait until that day for that to happen I think you got to go ahead and purpose it in your heart now before the hard times come I'm gonna try to live for the Lord in the good times it's hard enough to do that how many y'all give in to peer pressure at work in school there where else why just so you can fit in the time is coming when Christians don't need to be fitting in we need to be standing out and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ so what are you going to do we accept the easy road will you take the temporary pleasures and conference of this life and follow a way that ultimately leads to a place called hell or will you take that hard narrow road and deny yourself the conference of this world take up your cross answer God's calling on your life and follow Jesus wherever he leads because the old song says the way of the Cross leads home way of the cross is the way to heaven as we come the closest service our altars open if you want to come pray today I'll be here to speak with you during this time if you've never trusted Jesus Christ your Savior and you want to be saved I'd love to pray with you about that maybe you've been saved but you never been baptized and join the church I love to talk with you about that maybe just want to come and rededicate your life to the Lord that's what this altars for as we go into a time of prayer if you happen to be watching online again our telephone numbers there and we got some folks that will be answering the phones so go ahead and start making your calls right now as we go to the Lord in prayer father we thank you for your word we thank you Lord that we see that regardless of what happens in this world regardless of what the billionaire's think the solutions are that you are still on the throne and history is your story and it's going to end and the way that you said it's going to end that in the book of Revelation you're not guessing but you know what people are going to do and you know what you were going to do lord help us to trust you and all the instance that we face in life especially if we see your day the day of your son coming Lord approach you speak to people's hearts today those here in the building pray that they won't leave here with questions in their mind but they will do business with you during this holy time called invitation and for those who are watching from outside the building Lord we pray that they would be responsive to you and listen to your spirit as you speak to them even now bless us Lord draws closer to you for we pray in Jesus name Amen now is the time of invitation if you'll please stand altars open if you need to come in pray and a soliciting

Channel: Northlake Baptist Church

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Length: 67min 46sec (4066 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020