Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. Amen. Thank you, Torreses, for the offertory and for the special. By the way, for your information, we do have three other rooms on campus that you can avail yourself of if you want to socially distance even more. We have A1 over here with closed-circuit TV over there. We have the youth room. Most of the young people are over there. And we have B5. They're in there eating Portos right now, so I'm not sure what their motives are if they're even watching the service, but we do have all of that going on if you want to avail yourself of that in future weeks. Don't run over and get Portos right now, if you want to. So 2 Samuel chapter 15 this morning. Be reading verses 1 through 11. 2 Samuel chapter 15. 2 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 1. And it came to pass after this that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him. And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him and said, of what city art thou? And he said, thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, O, that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. It was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him. And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. It came to pass after 40 years that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron. For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, if the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord. The Lord said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem that were called, and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not. Title of the message this morning, All Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. Let's pray. Father, we need you this morning. We pray that you would work in hearts and lives. You've blessed us so abundantly. We thank you and praise you for it. And I pray now, in these next few moments, as we look at your word, that you would speak to our hearts, that you would use this message to glorify yourself. In Jesus' precious name, amen. All lives matter. 2 Samuel 15 records for us the beginning of a nation being divided, a country being torn apart. Before this insurrection is over, and before this revolution is put down, there will be betrayal by officials. There will be lying, cursing, assault, murder, rape, fear, unrest, and grief throughout the nation. Suicide, families divided, and over 20,000 people will be killed. We see the seeds of this attempted coup sown early in chapter 15. In verse 2, Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate. where they would come to see the king. He's going to intercept everybody that comes. And it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, Absalom was going to intercede. Absalom called on him and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right. But there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said, moreover, oh, that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice. We hear a lot about justice these days. No justice, no peace, we're told. In verse five, it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and kissed him. And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. As we see this tragedy unfold in the nation, it becomes obvious that all of the destruction, all of the bloodshed, all of the loss of life was needless. A nation was divided because of emotions and not facts. A nation was divided because of lies and not truth. A nation was divided because an opportunist told some gullible people that they were being denied justice. A nation was divided because people were told that their cause was right. A nation was divided because somebody stirred up their discontent. A nation was divided because its leader was slandered. A nation was divided because the people were told that no one would listen to them. We face some similar circumstances in America today. It's vitally important that in the midst of all of the chaos, the truth be proclaimed. It's been said that the first casualty in every war is the truth. We're fighting today a war for the heart and soul of America. If you do not understand that, you're not paying close enough attention. John 8 32 says ye shall know the truth the truth shall make you free in our text we see how this revolution gained strength and and really got going in verse 11 it says and with Absalom went 200 men out of Jerusalem that were called and they went in their simplicity and they knew not anything They did not understand the issue, they did not understand what was going on and in their ignorance they were useful pawns for Absalom to manipulate. In our day we see our nation being torn apart for many of the same reasons. God wants us to know the truth. Those that are born again children of God, we of all people are to know and to stand for the truth. Proverbs 28 5 says, evil men understand not judgment. They never have, they never will. But they that seek the Lord understand all things. Proverbs 14 6 says, knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. It's by the word of God we gain understanding. Those were times in Israel's history. She had gotten away from God. As a result of these times when Israel would get away from God, the nation began to wholeheartedly embrace lies. Isaiah chapter 59 and verse 3, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath uttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. Therefore, is judgment far from us. Neither doth justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. For brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind. And we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the night, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off. For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey, makes himself vulnerable. The land of Judah, we read in Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 3, they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. But they're not valiant for the truth upon the earth. They proceed from evil to evil and they know not me, saith the Lord. In verse 5 of chapter 9, they will deceive everyone his neighbor and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity. In Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 28, says truth is perished. The truth is dead. The Black Lives Matter movement wants you to think that they care about black lives. They do not, and it's not that hard to prove that. Every Christian who's right with God cares far more about black lives than Black Lives Matter does. We care about black lives before the baby's even born. We care about black babies getting aborted. several hundred every single day. Even when churches were shut down, Planned Parenthood clinics were allowed to be open. Black babies are aborted three times the national average of other ethnic groups. Three times as often, Planned Parenthood clinics are in the inner cities, 79% of the time, within walking distance of the black and Hispanic communities. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a racist. Spoke at KKK meetings. In 1939, in her letter to Clarence Gable, she said, we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. Of all the blacks that are killed, those that do not die a natural death, here's how they die. If you could see the slide. You see the little bar? 5% of blacks that their lives end tragically, mostly between the ages of 18 and 35, but 95% of those that are killed are aborted. They never get to breathe their first breath, never get to see the light of day. So of all of the blacks that are killed, 95% of them are killed before they're ever born. You'll never see a march on their behalf by Black Lives Matter. We care that the public schools have completely failed the black community. Public schools are a disaster all over our country, but they're even more so in the inner city. There are schools where there is literally not one single student that's up to grade level in reading. Not one! There are schools where there's not one single student that's up to grade level in math. Not one student! What hope is there for children like that that are going to grow up functionally illiterate, unable to contribute to society? You see, we support vouchers. We'd like them to have a choice and get out of those terribly failing public schools that are just gonna breed crime and corruption year after year, generation after generation. Black Lives Matter won't support that. We care that Democratic governors ordered nursing homes to take in COVID-19 patients who were contagious, killing off a disproportionate number of elderly black people. We care about that. We care that blacks have lost their jobs, their businesses, their lives in the riots. We care that retired police captain David Dorn was shot and killed during the riots in St. Louis. He was a 77-year-old black man. Black Lives Matter doesn't march for David Dorn. You see, he was killed by another black man, so his life It doesn't really matter. You don't hear his name much. We care that David Patrick Underwood was shot during the rioting in Oakland. He was also a black police officer, killed while protecting the courthouse. By the way, you want to see who shoots who, if we can see that slide. White police officers, black males, who shoots who? There's the slide. Six times as often, black males shoot police. And every time that happens, it's unjustified. In this little bar over here, most of the time, they're resisting arrest. There's some kind of problem. They're shooting a suspect. But that's who shoots who. Who's marching for them on the right? Black Lives Matter doesn't care about the thousands of blacks murdered every year by other blacks. No marches, no speeches, no protests. Somehow their lives don't matter very much. If George Floyd had been murdered by a black man, you wouldn't even know his name today. And there wouldn't be multiple funeral services and memorials. The inner cities of our country are a war zone. Here's an article, 18 murders in 24 hours. Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago. 18 murders in one day in one city in this country. 85 people were shot and 24 were killed last weekend, the most in modern history in Chicago. A hard-working father killed just before 1 a.m. A West Side high school student murdered two hours later. A man killed amid South Side looting at a cell phone store at 12.30 p.m. A college freshman who hoped to become a correctional officer gunned down at 4.25 p.m. While Chicago was roiled by another day of protests and looting in the wake of George Floyd's murder, 18 people were killed Sunday, May 31st, making it the single most violent day in Chicago's history. From 7 p.m. Friday, May 29th, through 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31st, a total of 25 people were killed in the city, with another 85 wounded by gunfire, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times. Those are just the victims of gun violence. It was the most violent weekend in Chicago's modern history, stretching police resources that were already thin because of protests and looting. Most homicide victims in Chicago are young black men, and the suspects are too. The Reverend Michael Flieger, a longtime crusader against gun violence who leads St. Sabina Church, said it was open season last weekend in his neighborhood. On Saturday, and particularly Sunday, I heard people all over saying, hey, there's no police anywhere. Police ain't doing nothing, Flieger said. I sat and watched the store looted for over an hour. No police came. I got in my car and drove around to some other places getting looted. Didn't see police anywhere. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on May 31st alone, Chicago's 911 emergency center received 65,000 calls. One city in one day. 65,000 calls, 50,000 more than on a usual day. For Tana Lofton, last Sunday started on a high note. The 18-year-old recently finished her senior year. Her family was doing a socially distanced graduation parade. The day started off perfect, but a trip to the gas station a half mile south of St. Sabina later that day quickly turned into the most harrowing experience of her young life. As she waited in line, an SUV pulled up and someone opened fire. As she was struck by one of the bullets, she tried repeatedly to call 911 for help. When I needed help to call the police and stuff, nobody responded, nobody answered, she said. My mom had to come from home. We had to get to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, she peered out her mother's car window and saw the madness that was unfolding outside. It was just people jumping out of their cars into stores and stealing and looting. Police was letting them do whatever they wanted. She said they did not care. Loftin added, nobody cared. And don't hold your breath waiting for any Black Lives Matter protests. There won't be any for any of that. Because it was mainly just blacks being killed by other blacks. You see the next slide. Here's who's killing black people. Do you see the little bar on the left? That's blacks killed by whites. That's about an average for an average year. Somewhere around 5%, 4%, 6%, somewhere in there. And then there'll be two or three more percent killed by Hispanic or Asians or various other races. The middle bar is blacks killed by blacks. 92% 93% sometimes as high as 94% The bar on the right you might not be able to see it. It's unarmed blacks killed by white police officers Less than two-tenths of one percent. It's actually closer to one-tenth of one percent We gave it two-tenths trying to get the bar to even show up. It doesn't even make the grid and most of those We're, as we said, resisting arrest. And they say unarmed. Let me tell you, when the news media says unarmed, do you understand that oftentimes that suspect has an airsoft gun? Or he brandishes his cell phone like it's a gun? Or he reaches for his waistband? Or he's trying to take the officer's gun? Or he has rocks that he's throwing at the officer? Or he's in a car and he's trying to run down an officer, and the news media says he's unarmed? What folly. Folly, but that is exactly what black lives matter is protesting right there Something that doesn't even show up on the graph the 7,000 blacks that are killed by blacks They don't care Wait a minute if black lives matter Why no protest why no speeches? Why no parades? Why no voices raised? for those 7,000 plus lives that are lost day after day, year after year, and have been for generations. Black Lives Matter don't care about black people. They have an agenda. And you, as a child of God, you need to understand that. We believe that all lives matter. All people are important to God. If you get nothing else out of this message, I hope you at least remember this graph when you watch the news and people are claiming, they're out protesting about all the injustices to these poor black people. And every black person that dies needlessly is a tragedy. I get that. But where are the protests for the middle bar? I hope you remember that. John 3 16 says for God so loved the world doesn't matter the color it doesn't matter the race it doesn't matter the ethnic group in fact when you go to Revelation of those that are saved from every tribe every kindred every country in the world lifting their voices in praise to Almighty God because when Jesus died on the cross he didn't just die for white people or Hispanic or black or Asians he died for the world Romans chapter 10, verse 12, there's no difference. There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You see, when you get past our skin color, we all have an eternal soul. We all have a heart that's bent to evil, law-breaking, and wickedness. And Jesus died for that wicked heart. so that you could be forgiven and I could be forgiven and we could live with Him forever. It doesn't matter what our skin color is. It's not the black race or the brown race or the white race. It's a human race. There are unfortunately many people who want there to be racial unrest in this country. They want to use that to their own ends and so they fan the flames. Here's a recent headline. Listen to this headline. Getting killed by police is a leading cause of death for young black men. Wow. Is that true? No. It's a lie. It's 100% a lie. But people will believe it because they see it in print. Goes on to say the early 20s are a particularly dangerous time for young men, the researchers found. Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist at the New York University School of Medicine, said the most striking result for him was the mortality risk for black men and boys, which he called pretty staggering. That's quite meaningful, said Feldman, who was not involved in the study. If it's not you being killed by the police, it's someone you know or someone in your community. That's not true. Actually, young, even young black men are more than four times as likely to die from heart disease. They're more likely to die from HIV, from cancer. They're over 15 times as likely to die from accidents. They're over five times as likely to commit suicide. They're almost 28 times as likely to die from an assault. Almost always at the hands of another young black man. So the headline is a blatant lie. But who cares about the truth anymore? Truth has fallen in the streets. Truth is perished. Buried in the article is this. Overall, women's risk of being killed by police was roughly 20 times lower than the risk to men. Among Asians and Pacific Islanders, both men and women were less than half as likely as their white peers to be killed by police. Why is that? Because women don't generally assault police officers, or point guns at them, or try to take the police officer's guns away. They go, oh, they're just prejudiced. They're not just driving through neighborhoods shooting people. If so, women will be getting killed as often as men. Whites get killed by police more than Asians and Pacific Islanders because Asians and Pacific Islanders are less likely to resist arrest or try to take the officer's gun. If police officers were all prejudiced, whites wouldn't be getting killed. It would just be Asians and Pacific Islanders and Hispanics and blacks. It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with behavior. We also care that young black boys are growing up in fatherless homes. The fatherless homes are aided and abetted by a welfare system that encourages that. Black boys without a father in the home are 68% more likely to be incarcerated. Did you know that a black boy who grows up with a mom and a dad Goes to church almost never ends up in prison That's a formula you can take to the bank mom plus dad plus church equals no jail You want to solve the problems in the black community? They don't need more money They need the fathers in the home and they need to raise their kids in church. I And yet our society still has in place more restrictions on going to church than rioting in the streets. We've gone completely mad. Here's an article from CNN that sounds like it's from the Twilight Zone. Here's the article. Over 1,000 health professionals sign a letter saying don't shut down protests using coronavirus concerns as an excuse. I'm worked up today, you might be able to tell. A group of health and medical colleagues has penned an open letter to express their concern that protests around the United States could be shut down under the guise of coronavirus health concerns. Kind of like churches were. We created the letter in response to emerging narratives that seemed to malign demonstrations as risky for the public health because of COVID-19, according to the letter writers, many of whom are part of the University of Washington's Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Instead, we wanted to present a narrative that prioritizes opposition to racism as vital to the public health. Including the epidemic response we believe that the way forward is not to suppress protests in the name of public health But to respond to protesters demands in the name of public health So the answer isn't to try to stop the riots and the protests the answer is to give the protesters what they want and We support the application of these public health best practices during demonstrations that call attention to the pervasive, lethal force of white supremacy, the letter says. However, as public health advocates, we do not condemn these gatherings as risky for COVID-19 transmission. We support them. The same people that were so worried how contagious this would be, we've got to shut down churches all over the country. We support them as vital to the national public health and to the threatened health specifically of black people in the United States. We can show that support by facilitating safest protesting practices without detracting from demonstrators' ability to gather and demand change. Listen to this. This should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-at-home orders. Remarkable, amazing, you know what they're saying? Listen, we condone and endorse all of the violent protests in our cities, but don't you dare go out of your home to protest having to stay at home. You understand going to church adds eight years to a person's life? That's the healthiest thing you can do, is be active in church. Adds eight years to your life. But just keep those people home, let the others. And by the way, if you protest staying at home, listen to this, those actions, protesting, staying at home, not only oppose public health interventions, you're a bad person, but are also rooted in white nationalism. What if a Mexican wants out of his house? run contrary to respect for black lives. So if you want to loot and burn stuff and all of that, great. If you want to march and say, hey we went out of our homes, you're a bigot, you're a racist, and you're disrespecting black people. Protests against systemic racism, which fosters the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on black communities, also perpetuates police violence, those protests must be supported. Therefore, we propose the following guidance to support public health. Demand that law enforcement officials also respect infection prevention recommendations by maintaining distance from protesters and wearing masks. even though they're not respecting anybody's distance. And if they're wearing masks, it's just to hide their identity. But the police officers, we demand they wear masks and stay six feet away. Kind of hard to arrest somebody six feet away, in case you hadn't figured that out. Do not disband protests under the guise of maintaining public health for COVID-19 restrictions. The letter writer said they are concerned about health implications of protests, including how tear gas or smoke might cause people to cough. If you don't want smoke, quit burning stuff. That's not hard to figure out. The coughing can spread the coronavirus and the people may be spending a lot of time together not able to stay six feet apart. Tragedy. Prepare they want society to prepare for an increased number of infections in the days following a protest the letter says Provide increased access to testing and care for people in the affected communities Especially when they or their family members put themselves at risk by attending protests What about all the others they put at greater risks I What about the thousands and thousands across this country that have been injured in these protests? What about the 750 police officers that have been injured in a week and a half's time? What about them? What about the 20 people that have been murdered in the protests? Hussein not insane an infectious disease fellow at the University of Washington noted that for black Americans This was truly a life-or-death matter and that protesters weren't taking actions lightly Well, everyone is concerned about the risk of Kovac. There are risks with just being black in this country There's risk with just being alive in this country, did you know that and eventually it gets you you are going to die and There's risks in life. But they want to say, oh, there's more risk with being black that almost outweigh that sometimes. And the sad part is the group that is protesting for their rights are the same people who are already disproportionately affected by the disease, Hussein told CNN. It's something they're doing because if they don't fight for this now, they may never be able to fight for it in the future. Because while COVID is right now, we don't know how long it's going to last. White supremacy and opposition and oppression has been a long way longer. And we can guarantee that it's going to continue if people don't do something about it now. Infectious disease and public health narratives adjacent to demonstrations against racism must be consciously anti-racist. So all of the medical community must get involved in this cause. And infectious disease experts must be clear and consistent in prioritizing an anti-racist message. That's not their business. They're supposed to talk about infectious diseases and health and medicine. COVID-19 among black patients is yet another lethal manifestation of white supremacy. Did you know that before you came in here today? In fact, if you're white, you're pretty much to blame for anything and everything. But COVID-19 is somehow your fault. In addressing demonstrations against white supremacy, our first statement must be one of unwavering support for those who would dismantle, uproot, or reform racist institutions. Don't miss that. The medical community wants to give unwavering support for those who would dismantle uproot or reform racist institutions In other words defund the police Overthrow government don't miss what this movement's about You understand they hold up signs that say white silence is violence if you don't support the black lives matter movement You're a racist. They want to dismantle, uproot, or reform racist institutions. Well, guess what? Lighthouse Baptist Church doesn't support the Black Lives Matter movement. That makes this a racist institution according to them. And the medical community is supposed to dismantle or uproot or reform. They're supposed to support that. Understand the issue. We continue to support demonstrators who are tackling the paramount public health problems of pervasive racism. We express solidarity and gratitude toward demonstrators. How stupid is that? Who have already taken on enormous personal risk to advocate for their own health, the health of their communities, and the public health of the United States. We pledge our services as allies who share this goal. This letter is signed by 1,288 public health professionals, infectious disease professionals, and community stakeholders. You know, as Christians, we care enough about black lives to speak the truth. We do. What happened to George Floyd was inexcusable. It was horrible. I couldn't bear to watch the whole video. It made me sick to my stomach. There's no excusing that. But Black Lives Matter reaction will only cause untold more death and suffering, and have already. In fact, since its founding seven years ago, Black Lives Matter has contributed to more deaths in the black community than the KKK has caused in 155 years. Let me say that again. Since its founding seven years ago, Black Lives Matter has contributed to more deaths in the black community than the KKK has caused in 155 years. Police have been reactive, not proactive in the inner cities because of Black Lives Matter. Who can blame them? You're driving through the inner city, There's a young man on the corner that looks suspicious. Looks like he's up to no good. Used to be a police officer pull over and just check him out, make sure he's not up to mischief. And if it seems there's cause, they might even frisk him, make sure he doesn't have a weapon or make sure he doesn't have drugs on him or whatever it might be. Now if a police officer pulls over in the inner city to question that man, pretty soon a whole crowd is formed. And people are shouting insults and throwing things at the officer and everybody's got their cell phone cameras out and they're taunting and baiting and maybe even attacking him. And so you know what the police officer does as he's going through the inner city and he sees the man standing on the corner that looks suspicious? He drives on by. Who can blame him? As a result, black homicides have gone up. Increase of 2,700 deaths in just the first two years after black lives matter got going 2,700 black lives lost and Black lives. I assure you will go up this year again. You can count on it Black lives lost will go up again Chicago is just one example of The KKK, an evil organization, has been responsible for the killings of some 3,500 of 4,500. The numbers aren't real clear. But they're responsible somewhere around 4,000 blacks over a period of 155 years. And Black Lives Matter has caused more deaths in just seven years. And yet Mitt Romney and some other spineless, foolish, pandering politicians March with black lives matter shame on them We care enough about blacks to condemn racism and bigotry and violence and murder wherever it's found Proverbs chapter 28 in verse 4 says they that forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law Contend with them. It's our responsibility Proverbs 29 7 an unjust man is an abomination to the just and And he that is upright in the way is the abomination of the wicked. That's just the way it works. Proverbs 17, 15, God says, He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. Every once in a while, there's a refreshing voice of reason. Here's an article by Heather McDonald, a brilliant lady. The myth of systemic police racism. She says, hold officers accountable who use excessive force, but there's no evidence of widespread racial bias. This charge of systemic police bias was wrong during the Obama years and remains so today. However sickening the video of Floyd's arrest, it isn't representative of the 375 million annual contacts that police officers have with civilians. 375 million contacts. Every once in a while one of those goes wrong and and yes, there's there's a bad cop every once in a while in 375 contacts 375 million contacts obviously There's gonna be some problems somewhere She says a solid body of evidence that finds no structural bias in the criminal justice system with regard to arrest, prosecution, or sentencing. Crime and suspect behavior, not race, determine most police actions. And yet Joe Biden, I've mentioned his name twice in two weeks here, huh? He released a video in which he asserted that all African Americans fear for their safety from bad police. What a horrendously egregious thing to say That's a terrible lie fanning the flames of racism all African Americans fear from their safety from bad police and black children must be instructed to tolerate police abuse Just so they can make it home. That's a lie It's a lie. He's running for president of the United States, but he's a liar. I That's a lie. He's defaming the police officers across this nation. That echoed a claim Mr. Obama made after the ambush murder of five Dallas police officers in July 2016. During their memorial service, during their memorial service, the president had the nerve, President Obama, to say African American parents were right to fear that their children may be killed by police officers whenever they go outside. What a horrible thing to say. And if the media was honest, They would have pounced on that and demanded a retraction. At a memorial service, he has the nerve to say that, and the media gives him coverage. Candace Owens, a black lady, says that white supremacist groups are not even in the top 100 list of the black community's real problems. Not even in the top 100 list. She's also a brilliant lady. Larry Elder, a black man, writes, in Baltimore, where in 2015, a black man named Freddie Gray died in police custody. How could one with a straight face argue that resident blacks suffer from institutional racism? The mayor was a black female. The top two officials in the police department were black. The city council was majority black. The state attorney who brought the charges against six officers was black. Three of the six charged officers were black. The judge before two officers tried their cases was black. The U.S. Attorney General was black, as was the President of the United States. Institutional racism, he asks? How crazy. By the way, Black Lives Matter doesn't represent all black people. They don't even represent or speak for most black people. They represent thugs and hoodlums and radical activists and people who go along in their simplicity. They know not anything. That's who they represent. Ilan Omar, sitting US representative from Minnesota, called police officers a cancer. There are people who want to tear this country apart. You need to understand that. And Christians need to have discernment. And Christians can get caught up in stupid movements if they're not in their Bible. The problems in the inner city do not stem from either poverty. Hey, come back some other week if you're a visitor. I'm nicer some weeks, okay? The problems in the inner city do not stem from either poverty or racism. In the 1940s, when racism was much higher, or black poverty was much higher than today, and racism was legal, to our shame, the crime rate was much lower. The Great Depression should have produced a crime wave. It did not. Psalm 12.8 says, the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. That's our problem. That's one of our problems. And so you have rap stars and thugs and drug dealers and gangsters and some athletes that should know better. live in vile lives, and so the wicked walk on every side. Zephaniah 3, 5 says, the unjust knoweth no shame. That's the problem. Instead of condemning sin, we've glorified it. And when I see all of the problems in our society and know that the Bible has the answer for every single one of them, and yet society, for the most part, will not even consider the Bible, my heart is saddened. The Bible has the answer for every problem known to man. Every problem known to man. Revolutions are birthed in chaos and upheaval. And there are an awful lot of people who have no idea that their actions are being manipulated by people who do not really care about them. Again, 2 Samuel 1511, they went in their simplicity and they knew not anything. As Christians, we care about the tens of millions of good, honest, caring black people whose reputations are now called into question because of the lawless actions of thugs and hoodlums and thieves who've used the tragedy of George Floyd to loot and assault and vandalize and kill. Race relations have not been improved in America because thousands of blacks have destroyed businesses. burnt police cars and attacked innocent people, quite the contrary. There's more distrust today. There's more anger today, there's more fear today. Black Lives Matter knows that, they don't care. They don't care. They don't care about the average black citizen who will suffer as a result of their riotous behavior. By the way, in the Witzer study 2010, they found 88% of blacks favor more police surveillance of high crime areas. 88%! Say let the police come in, we need more police cars coming through our neighborhoods. So make no mistake about it, the Black Lives Matter movement doesn't really care about black people, they don't. But Christians should, and Christians do. We care about all people, skin color doesn't matter. Before we close this morning, I feel there's so much more that should be said. LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I could go on a while, we won't. But I want to read you a letter and ask you to sign on to it. Members, visitors, anybody, any age. If you're watching via live stream, contact our church. Come in this week, we'll bring it to you. But I think it's time for us to say, hey, we support police. We support our local police. So here's a letter to our police department. Dear Chief of Police Nick Paz and the men and women of the Luverne Police Department, in a day in which the motives and actions of law enforcement personnel across this country are scrutinized, called into question, and condemned like never before, we, the undersigned from Lighthouse Baptist Church of Luverne, wish to convey to you our wholehearted support and gratitude. We do not believe the liberal media. We do not stand with politicians, athletes, entertainers, and others who wish to curtail your authority, impugn your character, and question your dedication and professionalism. We support you. We commit to pray for you. Just as we know that we can call on you and you will be there for us, please know that likewise you can call on us and we will be there for you in any way that we can. Thank you for your excellent service, especially in the face of undeserved hostility and opposition by many who should know better. We are ever grateful for all that you do to make Laverne such a great place to live, work, and have church. May God richly bless you. Sincerely, Pastor Brian Dunlap and Lighthouse Baptist Church." And so we want to send that to them. And we'll have Clipboards that have signed sheets on there. You can just sign if you agree to that And husbands and wives and kids and just sign that go all the way down. Let's fill those sheets and we'll get those to them And so here's the invitation before we close the service I want to give an invitation those that have never trusted Christ. I realize there's been anything but a gospel message It's been a Bible message, but hasn't been a gospel message. But for those watching online those here we want to close give you an opportunity to trust Christ and The reason we have the problems we do in society is because the nature of man is evil. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, the Bible tells us. The heart of man is evil. And so we're lawbreakers by nature. The Lord Jesus Christ came 2,000 years ago not to die for his own sins, he didn't have any. He came to die for your sins, he came to die for mine. He shed his blood, paid with his life, was buried in a borrowed tomb, three days later arose, triumphant over sin and over death. And He offers to you and to me the opportunity to have our sins forgiven. Forgiven and expunged from our record if we'll come to Him. Two things necessary for salvation. Repentance and faith. Repentance is the turning from our sin. Faith is turning to Christ and placing our faith, our trust in Him, calling upon Him for salvation. Romans 10, 9 and 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth under righteousness. With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. As we believe in our heart, we trust Him, not trusting the religion, not trusting the church, not trusting a rabbi, not trusting a preacher, not trusting the pope, not trusting sacraments, baptism, catechism, anything. Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Turning from our sin and trusting in Him. Calling upon Him. Again, Romans 10, 12, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. Slaying the Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So here's the invitation. In just a moment, we'll stand to our feet. Piano player, come. The altar workers will come. If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, you wanna talk with somebody, you wanna pray with somebody, you have some questions we'd love to answer from the Bible, whatever your need might be, we're gonna invite you to come. And then at the end of the service, we'll close the service, and then we'll have clipboards here, clipboards in the back, invite you to sign just a letter, say, hey, Luverne PD, we support you. We stand with you. We're going to pray for you. All right, let's pray. Father, we pray that you would bless this invitation time now, that you'd work in hearts and lives. In Jesus' name, amen.