they need a program in your hands all right you got all the sermon uh... notes and you've got the scripture there so if you want to open your bibles tax chapter seventeen first twenty six that's where we'll be this morning acts the seventeenth chapter first twenty six so i think it's always good to open up your bible if uh... you still have one and uh... but your uh... sermon outline right in that place because i will ask you this morning and you'd be thinking about you're gonna make a little trip to the right uh... we're gonna look at colossians this morning john when uh... bob bob's gonna play a video in a minute so all those have to go back off in just a second but for right now that's good it'll be it should be just a minute before we watch the video clip so what is the role of the church in this time of opportunity. What does the scripture say? Well, I can tell you, we're watching history play out before us. And I told you last week, whoever thought you'd live through what we've lived through since March, amen? Well, can you imagine that some generation is going to live through the Antichrist being revealed? Some generation is going to live through Christ coming again. I mean, there's going to actually be people here when that happens. Well, why not us? Okay, we don't deserve to see something like that, but what if it was us? So, last week we began to look at Acts 17, 26, which says, we are of one blood. Now look, if you haven't figured it out yet, everything that's happening in America is happening to divide us. Where's my mask? Okay. That was put in place to divide us, get us to the place that we had the social distance and separate ourselves from one another. That's just a product of being divided. We are being intentionally divided by having the virus or not having the virus, by wearing a mask or not wearing a mask. We are being divided. But we as Christians should not be part of that being divided. We should be reasonable. We should do all we can not to transmit nor to catch the virus. But somewhere we've got to know we've got to stop this division. And you're going to hear a man from a different culture talk to you about the significance of stopping this division. It is serious. it's going on so we are one blood that mean we all got the same daddy listen if you're a Christian we've all got the same brother and that brother is the Lord Jesus Christ it's what unites us Acts 17 26 and he made from one man Adam every nation of mankind. King James says He made from one blood every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. Now look, you want to talk about the sovereignty of God? Look at that next phrase. Having determined allotted periods. You know who determined the day you'd be dorn and the day you'd die? It wasn't your grandparents. It wasn't your mom and dad. It was God Almighty decided you'd live when you do. You want to go a little further? Guess who decided where you were going to live out your life? Look at the last part. Having determined allotted periods and boundaries of your dwelling place. You know why you weren't born in Sudan? Because God determined for you to be born in America. Why are you here today? Well, before the foundation of the earth, I want you to look around this room. I want you to look around where you're from, El Salvador, Mexico, the west coast, the east coast. People have never been here. Before the foundation of the earth, God decided from the foundation of the earth who would attend this service today, that Charles and Janice and Don and Terry would be in Alabama, Tom and Margaret would be in San Antonio or Houston. Theodos and Sander would be at a funeral in Little Rock, Arkansas. God is sovereign and He is working all of this virus and tribal tension and political upheaval, He's working it like a drum for His honor and glory. So, in light of this scripture, what are we to make of what's going on? Listen to me. Bob prayed a prayer this morning. It's one thing to be a Christian. Russ talked about it this morning. In what he said, listen to me, not only should you be a Christian, not only should you read God's Word, but you need to be discerning about the times we live in. You can't go around with your head buried in the sand. You've got to look at the scripture and by God's Spirit, see what's happening. That's what you're about to hear from somebody else. Matter of fact, he happens to be my age. He's 69 years old. You think he's been raised different than me? Absolutely. But you know what? We are one blood. Not only that, I believe we've been both washed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe we have both the Spirit of God living in us. Listen, this is a guy that I don't personally know, but this is a guy that my seven grandkids and my daughter and son-in-law, they have sat under his teaching. This is a man that one of Jimmy's friends and one of my friends, a preacher here in Nashville, he says, I know the man, this man is a great man, but he has a different perspective. You're gonna get to see that. So let me ask you this morning, how uncomfortable are we willing to be to overcome all of this tribal and political and social upheaval in America? How uncomfortable are you willing to be? How uncomfortable am I willing to be? How uncomfortable is Charles willing to be? How uncomfortable is Pedro and Caesar and Pablo and all the rest of you guys? How uncomfortable are you willing to be to get to the root of the issues? Philippians 2, 3 through 5, it's in your notes. This should define us. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. But in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Others. That can be like your neighbors. Your neighbors that don't look like you. They don't talk like you. They don't have the same culture that you have. You ask the little boy, who's my neighbor? All my fellow men, the catechism says, are my neighbors. Consider others better than yourself, verse 4. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest of others. So I'm getting a little counsel on what to do with these people that haven't been back to church. Hey, listen, there's a church in Little Rock that I preached, the last conference I preached, one of their elders was on the podium. It's a church in Little Rock. 40% of their members have not come back since the virus. They don't expect them to come back. So I was talking to another pastor at another church and he told me some crazy things. He said, he preaches, He preaches at one church, his daddy goes to one church, his mom goes to another church in the same town. He told me, he said, I've got family that have said, I am not coming back to church as long as the virus is around. Now here's what he said. He said, let's be patient. Let's be a little long suffering with people, right? But listen, while we're being patient and long-suffering with people, we've got to be truthful with people. This is a dangerous time. This is a dangerous time for you to be separated from your church body. That's the bottom line. And as elders, what are we to tell you when you're in danger? What would you do if you knew the thief was coming during the night? You stay up and watch for him, right? It's our place to look out for your spiritual well-being, but being long-suffering and bearing with one another. So each of you should look not only your own interest, but also the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. That should divine us. Well, trying to live that way, you know what it leaves a whole lot of room for? Repentance. You know what? I mean, if you're trying to live that way, we don't live that way, so we're always what? Repenting. Because we fail. But there's the mark. What do you do when you miss the mark? Repent. Confess. Micah 6.8. He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. Okay, so some of you will be able to see the screen up here better. For you guys here, you might want to look back there, okay? This is about 10 minutes. You're about to see something that's very powerful. Bob. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to question the patriotism or the integrity of any of my colleagues who have spoken before me. That's not for me to do, just as it is not for them to do. We find ourselves doing it quite a bit in this body, and that's unfortunate. because folks sent us here not to accuse each other of anything but to do the job that they sent us to do. And I rise not to go against or support this legislation. I rise because I continue to hear references to what I saw in growing up in this country and growing up in the state of Tennessee as I walked with my father and work work with my father. here in the state of Tennessee and Memphis, Tennessee and across this state and across this country, in the middle of what has been referenced to on several occasions, the civil rights movement. And, you know, people continue to refer to this, but I saw it. I saw men and women stand with courage and integrity and class and they changed the world. They changed the world because what the world could see in them was the lie that was being told about them. I am one of those individuals who walked in back doors because the law said I had to. I'm one of those individuals who rode on the back of the bus on the back seats that were not cushioned because the law said I had to. I went to the water and drank colored water because the law said I had to. I went to a school where everybody looked like me and the country was divided and segregated because the law said that I had to. So all of these things we continue to refer to are the things that me and my generation lived. We saw it for ourselves. We're not reading it in the history books, but we lived it. I went with my father when he and our neighbor got one of those I am a man signs and went downtown Memphis and watched him stand there proudly with Dr. King and other men and women, black and white, who had enough courage to stand up against what was wrong. And the way they did it, they had on their suits, their shirts, their ties, hats. And if it was cold, their overcoats, they locked arms and they marched peacefully. And Dr. King stood for that which was peaceful. Because the world took a look at what was happening in Memphis, in Chicago, in Detroit, in Washington, DC, and all over this country. We changed the entire world. And we changed it because those men and women had enough guts, integrity, enough citizenship and love of country because my father was a Korean War era soldier as many of those other men and women were. They didn't beg for anything. They didn't beg for citizenship, they demanded it. Because they were American citizens who paid taxes, who raised children, who paid house notes and rent, and did everything they were supposed to do so that they could demand from this country and its constitution those things that they were supposed to have. How did they do it? They did it by standing like men and women of integrity and class and common sense and values. When the riots started and folks started burning stuff down, that's when my father took my arm and we left. We left because that was not what we were there for. That was not what Dr. King was there for. That was not what others who are famous in the civil rights days were there for. This was not peaceful. It was not part of our movement. And it only hurt everything. That man lay in a pool of blood. I stood there and watched him make a speech. The building wasn't really full, it was crowded because that was a terrible storm that night. But my daddy was intended and most certainly he wanted to hear that speech and wanted me to be there. I gave my seat to a lady who came in ringing wet and stood over, not because there weren't any other seats, but because I could stand against the wall and be closer as he spoke. I watched that man shiver. I watched his voice shake. I watched him tremble because he knew, something he knew, that he probably wasn't going to leave Memphis. I don't know what providence God had given to make him prepare for this when he said he'd been to the mountaintop. I don't know what he was thinking when he said I may not get there with you. But something told that good man on that terrible stormy night that something bad was getting ready to happen. Whenever we use the opportunity to do wrong, that policeman that put his foot on that man's neck was wrong. And every one of us in this room did cry it. Every one of us in this room condemned it. We say it was wrong. And in America, we have a system of justice, a system of justice that's going to bring the full impact of the law down upon him. And I think every one of us in this room will support that. And we know We know that man lay there in a pool of blood. This man didn't die surrounded by his children and his wife. He died in a pool of blood from a coward's bullet. And he died on that day. And I remember as we went back to Memphis, And all of the riots broke loose. Everything he stood for, everything he stood for was all of a sudden being torn down until calmer voices, calmer voices came and said, Dr. King was against this. He was against this. He was against this. My family raised money and sent my dad to Washington for that march. But that man stood there and said that he wanted his children judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. And all we do in America right now is talk about color. Every issue, every issue is about race, it's about color, instead of us sitting down at the table like men and women of common sense and common justice and understanding that our enemies are looking with a greedy vigilance upon us as we tear ourselves apart eternally. They have been watching us for 50 years, preparing step by step by step by step for us to kill ourselves. And I may not be back here next year. And I'm sure everything I say is going to be misconstrued and misquoted and used against me in November. Fine. Fine, because I stand for my father's legacy. I stand for the men and women who acted like they had some sense and some courage and changed this country by being men and women who stood for something. If we don't start standing for something, Don't you know that the people who are looking at what's happening in Washington, in Detroit, in Portland, in Seattle, they're getting emboldened because we act like a bunch of punks. Too frightened to stand up and protect our own stuff. You tell me that somebody got the right to tear down property that Tennessee taxpayers paid for? That American taxpayers paid for? And somebody has the right to destroy it, deface it, and tear it down? What kind of people have we become? That we can't protect our own stuff. And when the heroes are those who violate the law, our police chief in Memphis, Tennessee, when they shut the bridge down between Memphis and Arkansas, our police chief walked up there because it was a peaceful protest, even though they had shut down that bridge. He walked up there, he talked to the protesters. He let them know that they had a right to protest. And after a while, he walked them all off the bridge. Because they conducted themselves properly, he conducted himself properly. And there was no one harmed on that evening. Peaceful protests ends peacefully. Anarchy ends in chaos. And what we see happening right now, any of us with any common sense, any common sense whatsoever, know that what we see is not peaceful. So we can continue to fool ourselves and mix with words and use rhetoric and public relations in order to frost this stuff over and put a nice picture on what we see that is frightening. Frightening? I have a nephew who was a policeman who talked about getting attacked the other night. You're telling me that somebody has the right to throw feces and urine in the face of those that we as taxpayers pay to protect us and that's okay? What has happened to us? If we don't get this right right now, I've got grandchildren. I don't want to see the country. We're going to have 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. If we don't start acting like we got some guts right now, brethren, sister and friends, colleagues right now. Well, I'd tell you that you were gonna get it from a different culture and a different perspective. And you did. From a man that I don't know, but I do personally, I don't know personally, but I do know people that know him personally. You heard the truth. I'll tell you again, You do not have the privilege to not know the truth. You're to look for the truth. And I told you before, and listen to me again, because some of you don't hear very well. If you're only listening to the major networks, if you only listen to the networks that, quote, you like, you're not getting the truth. It is your responsibility to be informed about what's really going on. And let me tell you what's really going on. He mentioned in it about 50 years ago. At least 50 years ago, there was a plan put in place to overthrow the American government. And they are emboldened to the place now they think they can do that. That's what's going on. And if you like America well enough to come here, you're not going to like it when it becomes what it is where you came from. Because that's where they want to take us. Socialism, Marxism, sounds good, but it's never worked. And it never will. So, why are we here? We're here to try to figure out how to live through this for God's glory, right? Right here in Nashville, Arkansas, in your house, at your workplace, at your school. To figure out how to move forward, listen to me carefully. During this time of manufactured division, purpose division, A word you need to learn is intersectionality. And let me tell you where they start with intersectionality. They start with, quote, racism. Because it's obvious that people are of one skin tone or the other. It's obvious that America, listen to me, has a racist past. So that's where they get people on board to begin to think that people have been and are continuing to be oppressed. Alright? Then intersectionally. Then the next place we go is that women are being, quote, oppressed because we don't think in the conservative evangelical church that they should preach to men. So because of that, they are an oppressed group. Then we go to people who think that being married to the same sex is okay and because we don't approve of that and we don't allow those people to do what they want to do they are oppressed. You see how this all comes together? Like this. So what are we doing? We are continuing to develop oppressed people groups And they're being oppressed because we want to hold them down. Then we can go to all the trans-injured deal, right? We can go to the place, I think I ought to be a woman. I think I ought to be a man if you're a woman. And because we want a proof of their going down that sinful lifestyle, they are being oppressed. See what's happening? They're just bringing in more and more and more divisions and groups who are being oppressed. Listen, everything I've said, everything I've said with the exception of racism, okay? Racism is a sin. being prejudiced, hateful, unfair towards other people is a sin. But all of these other things that I'm telling you, even a woman standing in the pulpit and preaching to a group of men is oppressive. Listen to me. And same-sex marriage is oppressive. And transgenderism is oppressive because it's sin. Listen, there's always been oppression by people. There will always be people who are oppressive in nature. There will always be those that are oppressed. It will always happen. But we are not to allow people to think that they are being oppressed because we preach the truth of God's Word and we preach the truth of God's Word and tell them that sin is what really oppresses you. You know why most people in America are on prescription drugs for anxiety and all of that kind of stuff? It's not because they've got a gene out of balance or anything going on. It's because they are living under the guilt of sin. So, you gotta see what's going on. We're here to see if God might heal some hurts. It's going to get really uncomfortable this morning for most of us. We're trying to see if we can heal some hurts that will allow us to go forward together as godly people. Listen, in one of the songs, as a Christian, actually living like a Christian, Christians that live by this word and not ashamed to speak this word in the workplace You're gonna get a lot of things that are not warm fuzzies Because every time you speak the truth of God's Word they feel what oppressed When in reality what's really oppressing them is their sinful lifestyle So I want you to know everything that's going on All the burning and all of that stuff, it's to silence — are y'all listening? — the truth. I've told you before, I love the First Amendment right of freedom of speech. I want people to be able to speak what they're thinking because I'd rather know what they're thinking about what they said than wonder. Listen, even the rebel flag, I know that's offensive to many people, but listen, people have got the right to show their ignorance. Did you hear me? You have a right. And it's a wonderful time to tell your kids, you lighter-skinned people, how to our darker-skinned brothers and sisters, that flag could be offensive. You have a teaching opportunity. If we take that rebel flag away, hey, our kids won't have a clue what the past was. That's exactly what we're doing. Listen, just because you think, quote, you're canceling the past, you're not changing the past. And if you don't remember the past, you'll repeat the past. So working together to advance God's kingdom. Y'all listen to me carefully. Some of you have never heard this before. Some of you are going to say, I'm sick and tired of hearing that. I don't understand. That guy is 69 years old. He's a Church of Christ preacher. He used to be a Democrat. But because he voted against abortion and against same-sex marriage and against all of this liberal stuff, they said, You're not going to run as a Democrat again. Kicked him out of his party that he had been a lifelong member of. He's having to run as an independent. He's running in a predominantly black neighborhood that predominantly votes Democratic. He may get beat. You heard him say, I may not be here next year. I don't understand. I don't understand him going to those rallies and going to those protests. I don't understand not being able to sit where I wanted to on the bus or drink out of but one water fountain. I don't understand all that. Well, listen to me. We need to know, you need to know that me and Russ and Billy, all of us, we don't understand some things. Come on now. Just understand that. I don't understand how it is growing up knowing that my ancestors were slaves. I don't know that. I don't know how it was growing up knowing that your grandfather who fought in a war came back and had to drink out of fountains that were marked for colored people. I don't understand that. I don't know how it is to live immersed in a culture in which you don't understand the language. I don't understand how it is for you to operate all the time. And Tammy, we know when they're talking about us, they get real quiet, right? But, you know, our Latino, our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters, you know, they have to sometimes think, they're probably talking about me, but I don't know that. I don't understand that. And we got to know that we don't understand the other cultures and what's going on. I don't know what it's like living in a country in which you live under quote, listen to me, the perceived threat of deportation. Listen to me. Let me tell you something. If you are a law-abiding citizen that's providing for your family, you are not going to get sent out of America. It's not going to happen. That's just the kind of people that America was formed upon. Listen, and you want to know, you're being extended grace. Why are you being extended grace? Because you came here illegally. It's not going to happen. Legally, it could happen. It's not going to happen. And I have a hard time understanding how what happened in the past could have so much influence today. It's hard for me to understand that. But it does. You know, Coach Ian and I were talking about this morning, in different culture, what we know is going on. But listen to me, I think I'm working to understand better. And I think you're willing to understand better. Amen? So here's what I do know. We are one blood. If you're Christians, we are covered by one blood, the blood of Jesus. And if you're a Christian, we all have the one Spirit, the Spirit of Almighty God living in us. That's what I know. Turn in your Bibles to Colossians, that third chapter. Here's what I know. Colossians the third chapter. Here's what I know. Here's what it says. I want you to look at verse 13. Let's go back to 12. We've already read the Philippian scripture. Look at the Colossians. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. That's what it ought to look like. As difficult as it is, that's what it ought to look like. Look at the next part. Bearing with one another, extending grace, being patient and long-suffering with those that haven't come back, being patient and long-suffering that don't think like we think. don't believe what we believe because I'll tell you and we'll probably look at this over the next few weeks we were all one time dead in our trespasses and sin we all at one time had no discernment okay Look at verse 13, bearing with one another if one has a complaint against another. Listen to me, somewhere down the road, I don't care what tone, skin, color you are, I don't care what country you came from or how you think you may have been oppressed, somewhere down the road, we got to forgive one another. and move on. That's what I know. Look at Revelation 7-9, after this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. Listen, I am so sorry some of our founding fathers were slave owners. Let me just tell you a little history. It was in your program a few weeks ago. When America was founded, 90-something countries at that time, slavery was legal in every country. America was the first country that began the process of overturning slavery officially. It was the fourth country that actually did it. Today, are you listening? In 94 countries, and China and the NBA and all of them are in the same bed together, China is one of 94 countries in which slavery is still legal. Today. I'm sorry it took some 80 years for our country to begin to officially eradicate the terrible institution of slavery. But listen to me, I am not going to put up with somebody telling me that we were complicit to slavery for 400 years before we did anything about it. Everybody that came over with Columbus, everybody that came over with all the first immigrants, all of those people came over. Slavery was part of the culture they came from. Slavery, despite what a former vice presidential candidate and senator says, he said this, that slavery was invented in America. If you believe that kind of mess, you're not listening to the right people. A senator said that for the truth. And guess what? Those networks I'm talking about, and your favorite network, haven't yet to call them out on it. I told you, all of us are going to get a little uncomfortable today. But let me ask you, should we not celebrate that these, quote, white, slave-owning founders gave us a Constitution that led to what? The freedom of all men. You hear what the state representative from the great state of Tennessee said? You remember what he said? He said, all we did as black American citizens was claim what the Constitution said our rights were. But let me tell you what's been happening in America for the last 100 years. Just turn on, just turn on, well don't turn on the major networks, you won't see the destruction and the fires and all that stuff. Just watch your video from some other group and let you see what's happening in America. He talked about it, okay? You know where all that's coming from? For the last 100 years in government schooling, Your children have been taught that America is an evil nation. They get indoctrinated, indoctrinated, indoctrinated. They believe it. Watch TV. Can we not celebrate that it was white folks who voted to allow black people to have citizenship and to vote? I'm so sorry that some of your grandparents had to use separate bathrooms. Listen, I'm so sorry some cops are lost or evil. And evil. Listen to me. You know why? Because we can't discriminate against people being a cop because they're not a Christian. Now listen, we can discriminate them about being a senator and they can't be a senator because they are a Christian. Come on now. It's fixing to play out before your very eyes. Catholic or Christian or Jew, practicing Jew, you can't be a citizen. Well, you can be a citizen. You can't be a senator in some people's eyes. Listen, we have laws that says if a man applies for a job, we don't ask him where they go to church. It's not a litmus test about their religion. Listen, if we hired only born-again, regenerate Christian people to be cops, we wouldn't have any bad cops. Listen to me carefully now. If you think we've had bad cops, you know whose cops are right now? 19 and 20 year old young men. What kind of decisions do you think they're going to make? I'm so sorry that prejudice and hatred in between people groups is alive and well. I'm so sorry, but I know wiping out hatred and prejudice is not... Listen to me. Look at this sentence. I'm so sorry, but I know wiping out hatred and prejudice is not going to happen in a culture that moves further and further away from God and His Word. All it's going to do is get worse. This was the basics of our Constitution. It will not work without this. Yet we stood by and let them take it out of school along with prayer. I want to be a part of overcoming, best we can, the division. Listen to me, but I will not embrace ungodliness to have peace. I will not embrace Ungodliness and sin for the sake of being united. So, what lines of separation are still grown? You know the most segregated hour in America? We're in it right now. We work together, we go to school together, we play together, we're on sports teams together, we all go to church at different places. Walls of fellowship. Who do you fellowship with? People who are like you. We're more comfortable that way. Every packet or every pocket of society, there's still segregation. Neighborhoods, businesses, schools. So what lines are coming down? Well, neighborhoods are looking more and more like the demographics. White flight has subsided. Redlining is being addressed. You know what redlining is? You ought to know what that is. It's an intentional ploy to put certain people groups in certain areas. I know it to be a fact. I know when Charles Marshall moved here in 1993, guess what? All the houses he was shown, guess where they were? Tell me where they were. They were in black neighborhoods. That's changing. Now, would we like for the change to be more rapid? Absolutely. That's the fact of the matter. School choice has helped. We can go to a better school. Some churches look somewhat like their demographics. So what can we do? He's told you old man what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with God. That's what we got to do. Listen to me, I'm not talking about the church, I'm talking about me and you. James 2, 1 through 4, my brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man in filthy clothes comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, here's a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, you stand there or sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? I'm so sorry, Pedro. I just realized how fast I was reading that scripture, and he's got to translate it. We have got to get to the place, whether we're black, Latino, white, whoever we are, that we do not show favoritism, listen to me, even for our people group, nor do we put up with favoritism. We call it out, and I can tell you it goes both ways. We have got to esteem others more important than ourselves. But listen, only saved and radically converted lives, changed lives, and a changed nation will completely remove these lines of segregation. Hey, you can get every program in the world. You can pour as much money as you want to in this situation, but until hearts and lives and minds are changed by God Almighty, we're not going to fix it. Because to be prejudiced, to hate, to show favoritism is a part of a lost person's DNA. We were born with those traits. Guess what? One blood. I don't care what skin tone you have. I don't care what culture you came from or still in. The only thing that can change who we are and make us those people who esteem others better than themselves is God Almighty. So how uncomfortable am I willing to be to get there? How uncomfortable are you and I willing to be with each other to get there? It will take the grace of God to get us out of our comfort zones that we might live for God's glory and might work together to advance His kingdom. Just look at who's not here. We have again been divided. I would say we have been, again, intentionally divided. Listen to what happens after anarchy. There will be somebody that stands up to stop the anarchy, an individual. And he will become a king, or a dictator, or a ruler. And guess what? All the rest of us will be then oppressed. Because a civilization cannot survive on anarchy. Listen to me. It will take the white evangelical church saying we are not there yet and we could have done more. We could have. How do I know that? Well, I was a part of, quote, a white evangelical church except for the last 27 years. How do I know they could do more? We could have done more. It will take the black evangelical church saying we're not there yet, but we're making progress. Listen to me carefully now. We're making progress. And we want to be a part of making further progress. And we're being committed to not continue to be a part of the division. Every time a black pastor stands in a church and talks about guys like this with gray hair and is in a, quote, white evangelical church and talks about me being a racist, that is not promoting unity. It's continuing to promote division, and that happens. It's got to stop. To say that I'm a racist because I'm 69 years old and have gray hair and have had the life that I have is just, as a matter of fact, and listen, not only that, but here's what else I'm being told and your kids are being told. I'm racist and I can't do anything about it. I'm telling you. I've heard it from the testimony of a 15-year-old in this church. That is contrary to all Scripture. I love that Scripture. That's who I was. Not who I am anymore. I'm not saying I was ever racist. Was I raised to be prejudiced? Absolutely. But by the grace of God, I'm not that anymore. How comfortable can you be with admitting your own faults? Listen to me carefully and stop blaming others for where we're at. You remember Adam and Eve? It was all a blame game. And as long as it's somebody else's fault, I don't have to deal with who. Do you know who the minority kids in public school, you know what they're being told about their situation that they're in? White American men are the problem. We are the oppressors. What did I tell you about Colossians chapter 3 verse 13, 14? Remember this? Listen to this. Here's what I know. We, I'm talking about those that are quote the oppressors. I said quote the oppressors. Bearing with one another. We've got to be gracious and bearing with others that are different than us to make progress. But let me tell you what the others have got to do. Stop blaming me and forgive me. It's not an option as a Christian. Forgiving one another. It's not an option. You'll never move forward unless you forgive others. That whether they have sinned against you or not, maybe it's perceived they've sinned, you still got to forgive them. Three things. I told you the first. We gotta be patient with one another, we gotta forgive one another. First, I would propose that we do away with using the term race when discussing different people groups of the world. Now, if you've ever heard this before, you hear it lots from Ken Ham. The word race is used four times in the King James Bible. Every time it's in reference to running a race. It is never in reference to a people group. It is a manufactured word that came out of Darwinism and evolution. We are all homo sapiens. We all have one ancestor. We have different cultures and different people groups. But we're all of one blood. You know how hard that is to take it out of my vocabulary? I'm going to talk about people groups. I may use the word racism in referring to what is happening, but I will not use the term race to describe a person or people. I will use people groups. Second, we need to be reprogrammed to know — are y'all listening? — that we are — and I'm about through — we've got to know that we are sinful and likely to be sinful. Mark 7, 20-23, He went on, What comes out of a person is what defiles them, for it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these come from the inside and defile a person. Listen, it's not my circumstances out here that makes me a sinner. It's what I got from that booger Adam. And I could add, greed, pride, and prejudice. We will be all of that if we don't overcome it by God, by the Spirit. We must judge people by the fruit of the Spirit and not the pigmentation of their skin. What did that guy say? What did Pastor, that would be not a proper term, Preacher DeBerry say? Just judge me by my character. I could get off on a tangent and describe some of that, but I won't. We need to expect lost people to act like lost people. And we need to expect saved people to act like saved people. And when people who you go to church with, I don't care if it's on Facebook or somewhere else, show themselves to be ignorant or not acting like a Christian, don't call me and tell me. You go take them something to eat. You go visit with them and call them out. It's time to take action. Time to act like Christians. We need to look for and aggressively seek justice. Now, I can speak with some authority on this. Until I was told I couldn't go back to the jail till after the virus, I've been going to jail for 25 or 26 years. I know something about people being treated justly. And I will tell you this, from my experience, it's not a skin tone that causes people not to get justice, it's the have and the have-nots. It's the ones that have an advocate and ones that don't have an advocate. But we need to be looking for justice. When somebody gets one sentence for a sex offense and somebody else gets another sentence, we ought to be asking the prosecuting attorney, why? And he's one of my friends. And sometimes he'll answer my phone calls, and sometimes he'll answer my texts, and sometimes he won't. You know what I do then? I just load myself up and go to his office. They'd rather me be what? They'd rather me be what? Quiet. We need to esteem others more important than ourselves. So what I suggest we do as a church? Well, I'd quote one of ours that haven't been back since the fire. We just need to keep on doing what we've been doing. Trying to figure this out as a bunch of ethnically and language challenged people. That's what we are. We're trying to make three or four different cultures work and trying to make two languages work. How much fun is it? Sometimes it's work, isn't it? What blessings come with it? We've got a good start. Listen carefully. We worship and study together. We need to learn to break bread together. I'm not talking about the Lord's Supper. You need to have somebody at your house from a different culture. How much of that's going on? Not much. You know why? We're not comfortable with other people. Well, shame on us. We're one blood. We've got the same blood of Jesus covering us. He's our brother. God Almighty is our father. We need to get over our little trivial differences. We must, listen to me carefully now. I told you this is going to be hard. We must not allow America to become a two-language country. Because we can't understand one another unless we can speak and understand one another. We need to dialogue and discuss how we can look for and aggressively seek justice. We need to challenge each other in our thinking. And we need to sit down at the table in prayer and with our Bibles open to find out what the Scripture and the Lord would have us to do. Listen to me. I know this is way too serious for some of you guys. It's way too real. But listen to me. That man said it on the video. If we don't open our eyes and get this right, there will not be a nation. So what can the church do? Well, we can prayer walk. You know what that means? It means all skin tones and all languages lock arms and walk to all the neighborhoods, not just the urban neighborhood or not just the hood or not just up behind the hospital. We walk through all neighborhoods prayer walking. People can see us out walking, marching and praying. That's one thought. You know what? We'll need somebody to hit that up, by the way. Maybe that's you. We need to have representatives from church in court on Wednesdays and Thursdays sitting right up on the second row paying attention to what's going on. Listen to me. Charles and I, Pablo and I, Caesar and I, Joe and I, Brandon and I, we need to begin to have — y'all with me? — real dialogue. Not talking about football, nor fishing, nor the weather, but talking about these things in our culture — did y'all hear me say that? — these things in our different culture that need to be fixed. y'all been very patient and I love you so much let me tell you this I'm not mad at anybody except the devil I'm excited about what God is doing I'm excited about being the pastor of this church let me tell you I don't have it all figured out But you will see, surely you'll see that surely since March and well before, way, way before, I've had to think about this stuff. You know what? We go to an all-black church, all-Latino church, all-white church, we don't have to think. Come on now, that's the truth. We just hear what we're comfortable hearing and go back home and call it good, right? Yeah. We're blessed people. We're different. We're all of one blood. And we're trying to figure this out what? Together. Man, I looked around and I just saw that we have five ethnicities in the church. Isn't that great? Let's pray together. Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus. that you would do with us as a people and as a country what you see fit to do. Lord, we love you, we praise you, and it's in your son's precious name that we pray. Amen.