Well, we're in our series on worldview conflict. This is our second lesson. This lesson right now continues the worldview conflict series that I began two weeks ago. I intend to show the evidence of worldview conflict in our culture through our series. Also, the cause of worldview conflict. What is that actual cause? And the solution to worldview conflict. And there's a lot to talk about in this subject. And these are coming from lectures that I do up in Washington DC with our Leadership Training Institute of America. And I'm expanding on those lessons. We're pretty well time constrained to eight core lectures that I give for our kickoff during the LTIA program. But I don't have that same sort of constraint or time constraint here, so I'm developing these ideas a little more. The evidence, as I mentioned in the previous lesson, the evidence and the trends are alarming. But that's not the intent of delivering these sorts of messages. That's just a natural. It's shocking. I remember we had John Whitehead here who spoke at our discipleship conference, gave us a State of the Union address. And I was walking with him out around the corner. I said, well, there are two things I had to say to him. Number one, John, you look absolutely fatigued. I'm concerned about your health. You're going to fall apart. He said, the world is run by tired people. The other thing is, I asked him, what can be done? Because you're presenting a lot of problems and information around here that alarms us, but there's no solutions. And he said, well, there are solutions, but he wasn't giving them at the time. As Christians, we don't have to be fearful or fretful or disheartened by what's going on around us. Because Christ thrives regardless of what goes on in the world. And if Christ thrives, then his followers thrive as well. Even if they're burned at the stake. I mean, there's nothing more thriving than a martyr burned at the stake who is praying and praising God or saying, Father, forgive them. What strength! What amazing courage! That's just phenomenal. It's miraculous. It's supernatural. Yes, it is. Now we might say, I could never do that. Yeah, you couldn't do it now because that's not your ministry right now. But when God calls you to do something, you can do it. You don't have to worry about it right now. It may never come. So why bother? Why fret about it now? Oh, I'm gonna be burned at the stake. Well, maybe, but maybe not. So don't worry about it. Wait until that time comes. and then you'll find great courage and strength and resolve. What we need is to be informed. We need to be equipped and we need to be committed to persist into our future regardless of what might come. Now, a statement that I've made quite a bit around here and elsewhere, decisions are only as good as the information that we have. So being informed and educated is absolutely essential to the health of both for ourselves, but for our ministry here, for our church, and for others, especially when we counsel. The Spirit of God has been guiding us and educating us and informing us by a variety of means. The most important question raised by our experience in conflicts and in our challenges that we face as a church is whether we're listening to the Spirit of God. That's the big question. I mean, we ought to all be asking that question. Am I listening to the Spirit of God? I pray that almost every day. Lord, help me listen to you, follow you, be where you are. That's all that matters. I just want to be where God is. And I ask him for that, just, Lord, make sure I'm there, because I want to be wherever the activity is. And the evidence is that, yes, we are listening more than not. Yeah, we're listening. God's in control. To introduce this series of messages about worldview conflict, I presented the first lesson, which was titled Preparing for the Future. And I spoke about preparing for the future as described by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 and 2. I explained the phenomenon of the slowly cooked frog in the pot, unaware that he's being cooked to death, which applies to Christians slipping away, unbeknownst to them, unaware that they're being cooked I described the agenda in that message of Satan, also known as the God of this world, due to so many people accepting his ways rather than God's ways, which ultimately comes down to accepting our own ways, doing things our way rather than God's way. And I explained the bright side of all this creeping crud and increasing darkness due to the light always appearing lighter and brighter when things are darker. The title of this message this evening is The Cause of Worldview Conflict is Depravity. Oh, we're not going to blame Satan for this. It's our own depravity. I showed a graph last week published by the Barna Group showing the trend of Christianity in the United States. The chart showed the gradual decline that's been taking place. And then in 2009, phew, it took a sudden, sharp, significant decline. That was 2009. That was the year that we voted for and installed a new president who was basically an atheistic Muslim. That's like an atheistic Christian. I mean, how does that work? Because he said whatever was needful, politically expedient. And even the church, the Reverend Wright preached at the church that he attended, that was just a social platform. That had nothing to do with Christianity at all. The decline continued until 2018. which showed about 25% of those claim to be practicing Christians, which persisted under 2020, which brought us right up to COVID. And I'm waiting for the results for this year and next year. Now you might wonder, why are you skipping 2021? Because I already know what 2021 is gonna say. A lot of the churches were closed, or if not closed, churches were saying, hey, be safe and be careful. And so, yeah, what are the polls going to show? Decline in church attendance. Oh, man, major crisis. No, not a major crisis. It's just predictable. When you shut the doors to a church, nobody can attend. What do you expect the survey to show? I don't go to church. OK, fine. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the 2022 at the end of this year in 2023, because that will show the rebound. What have people done after the closure? It's premature and presumptuous to think that we might really know. And the reason why I say that is because typically 9-11 and other crises that takes place in America, what do people do when there's a crisis? Suddenly there's a spike in looking for God and going to church. They couldn't do that this time around because churches weren't holding services. But what I anticipate is the same thing that's always happened. People are going to go look for God. So that's what I anticipate will happen because that's what's always happened here in America. Now, I'm not saying that they're coming to the true God. I'm just saying they're looking for God and people start getting religious and praying more. If anything else, the survey will probably say, man, the prayers in the population took a big spike during that 2021. Anyway, I'm curious to see if more people indicate that they prayed, even though they didn't attend church. Surveys of the US churches are interesting, and they give us some great insight into the big picture of things. Interpreting surveys often raise questions that might not otherwise be asked or thought of. And so one of the benefits of looking at surveys and trends is, I wonder why this? And then it raises a question, what about that? And another question that oftentimes go under unobserved or overlooked. That's the word I'm looking for. Overlooked because we're not looking at these interesting stats. Generalized stats and surveys are beneficial to us for generalities. They serve as a benchmark. They don't represent individual churches. It's like going to the doctor and you see statistics on how many cancer survivors or a number of just the surveys of how people recover or don't recover. This is a benchmark. It has nothing to do with you individually. You compare yourself with, oh, here's the overall average and here's how well I am doing. But you can't make decisions for yourself individually or for our church based on what's going on in the world in general. No, you got to listen to the Spirit of God. He's going to guide us and direct us as he has been. So we need to evaluate our experiences personally as we're seeking the Lord, but also with the benefit of the context of our population. And that's the benefit of looking at surveys. Information about population context helps churches more accurately understand what's going on in their own personal experiences to determine what they ought to do. And I've mentioned what they ought to do. Just the very phrase brings out First Chronicles chapter 12, verse 32. It says, and the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, They understand their times. They heard the prophets. They heard the teachings of Moses. They understood the word of God. But you know what else they understood? They understood their times. They understood the politics of the day. And it says, to know what Israel ought to do. And the heads of them were 200. Only 200 out of thousands. But there's only two of them mentioned. 200 mentioned. to do. Were they the only ones who had understanding of their times? Or are they just being singled out among many that understood? It doesn't tell us. But undoubtedly, they were enlightened by God in addition to their knowledge of the politics of the day. And they understood the politics and the factions between Saul and David. And they knew what side they needed to be on. They knew what the right side was and not the wrong side. So let me take a moment here to discuss and define and clarify what is meant by politics. because it's a dirty word oftentimes. And I want to take a moment just to explain politics due to that sort of confusion that causes people to recoil at among Christians to recoil at that word and to use it as a disparaging term. And there is good reason to use it disparagingly, but that's not what politics is all about. Politics refers to the social and governmental actions, the activities within a community. How are things going to be run around here? Let's set up some rules, some laws, and this is how things are going to be run. That's called politics. You can look it up in the dictionary. Politics are unavoidable. Unavoidable. Why? Because wherever there's people, wherever there's two or more, you got politics. How are things going to be done around here? And so that's where we're at. That's just a plain generic meaning of politics. Now, when everyone agrees with how things ought to be done around here, the decision about how things ought to be done is of little concern. Everybody agrees. There's no politics involved. Oh, that adds another dimension to the word politics. There's no politics involved. Well, technically there is, but what is meant is there's no disagreement. And that's how politics is usually defined. And this is where it gets interesting to think about. Inevitably, at some time, there's always disagreement about how things ought to be done. It doesn't matter how many people are involved as long as... I don't know if somebody even disagrees with himself. I guess you could disagree with yourself. Exactly, I'm thinking, I've done some counseling situations where people just disagree with what they did. At least they say they do, but they go on ahead and do it anyway. Then they beat themselves up for doing it. I guess you call that personal politics. But wherever there's people, you can expect different opinions, disagreeing about how things ought to be done. And really, that's normal. Disagreement is normal. Everyone's got an opinion, a thought, a perspective to bring into how things ought to be done. Now, in a healthy political system, disagreements are resolved or accepted one way or another. America used to be that way. And that's one of the trademarks of American government in transition from president to president. You didn't have a president being ousted by military force and executions. We had peaceful transition of power. It's getting less peaceful, isn't it? A healthy political system means that individuals in the community respect God and others. That's a healthy political system. They engage in healthy, honest debate and accept the final decision as, okay, that's how it's going to be. But healthy, honest debate requires a respect for God and it requires a respect for others. in a world governed by carnal Christians and lost people, healthy, honest debate will not happen. Not gonna happen. This brings us to how most people use the word politics. We generally don't use the word politics to describe the healthy activities in disagreement in government of groups unless But we use it for disagreement. That's politics. And not surprisingly, where there are people, there are problems. Now, that's exactly what the Bible told us to expect. Psalm 116, verse 11, David wrote, I said in my haste, all men are liars. Well, right there. People are sinners and influenced by unethical inclinations. Hey, that's Bible. You see, that's a very important concept or principle to let sink into our minds and our hearts when we evaluate and determine with an understanding of our times. We have to have certain biblical concepts firmly established to understand why things are happening in our world. In our world of carnal Christians and lost leaders, Differences are more often than not contested without integrity, without honesty. Arguments are made dishonestly, and this gives politics a bad connotation. Disagreements are not the problem in politics. The problem in politics is the lack of integrity. to honestly debate disagreements. Because we see healthy politics happen in various organizations, in various communities. Problems occur when there is a lack of integrity. Healthy politics is the ability to govern with respect for God and fellow citizens. Without respect for God, without respect for citizens, Politics becomes a contest for control by any means. And there we begin to see the serpent raise his ugly head. In other words, the end justifies the means. This results in agenda-driven tactics without regard for honesty and moral values. You see, this is what Bob Ballinger is experiencing right now in his campaign. because he has an opponent that wants to win at any cost and the end is his agenda to win office. That's an agenda driven strategy without regard for truth or honesty or integrity. And so we see that even among ourselves that we have this sort of worldview conflict. I've described it as going into a boxing ring and one guy, you got rules for the boxers. And one guy goes into the ring and he's going to fight by the rules and the other guy, there's no rules. Who's gonna win that race? Well, we got a call on God for his protection and his strategy and for the confounding of the enemy. That's what we have to resort to. I mean, we don't resort to the tactics of evil so that feeling justified, well, they're doing it wrong. Well, I can do it wrong because the end justifies the means. Man, now we're no better than any other carnal Christian or lost person. We can't do that. We have to have our values and do things right as the Spirit of God guides and directs us. Agenda-driven politics is where we are today. The lying, the cheating, the deception, the disinformation campaigns, the censorship, the power grabs going on to control opponents are all characteristics of a very unhealthy political system. Now, remember, as I mentioned in Romans 13, the Bible describes healthy politics. and that God created government. Government is good. It's the people running it that ruin everything, as they always do. Due to the ever-present depravity in humanity, politics cannot exist in health. That's where we are. We have to accept that. That's an important principle to have tucked away. I mean, we're in a world of depravity, surrounded by depraved people. Politics of humanity is doomed to be in a constant state of unhealth due to a lack of integrity that comes from disrespect for God and disrespect for others. Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London spoke something very interesting in his sermon called the, he referred to them as the seven social sins. And it's his last point that really is interesting, but I'll read all seven, cause you'll find that interesting too. Wealth, oh, the seven social sins are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle. With the insight that politics refers to the activities of governing a community of people, that politics is unavoidable, or two or more gathered, and that human depravity corrupts politics like it corrupts everything else, we can see there is a desperate, desperate need for godly Christians to provide leadership in our politics today. I like saying that. I like putting those words together because it aggravates so many people who think otherwise. Politics is a dirty word. That's how I started out. For many people, politics is a dirty word. That's because they don't understand what politics is and they don't have understanding of their times or people. They're failing to understand the times and what God has set up. You have to understand Romans 13 to really appreciate God created government. Government is good. Disagreements occur, but where there is depravity, man, those disagreements are not going to be resolved in a healthy way. And that's where we get our problems. We need people who understand our times. We need people who will rise and lead us as civil servants. Isn't it interesting how God doesn't call everyone to be a preacher? Does that bother you? Isn't it interesting how God doesn't call every Christian to go do the same thing, give them the same talent or the same skill? No, we're different. We need people like the children of Issachar who know what to do in times such as these. We need civil leaders such as David and Solomon. We need judges in the land like Samuel. We need prophets like Jeremiah and Elijah who all understood their times without trying to force everyone else to be like them or they're ungodly. But recognizing how God uses everyone, we've got to have everybody in motion, everyone engaged in ministry, everywhere we are with all our differences and talents. We need leaders who understand the practical and relevant application of scriptures to all areas of life, individually and socially, spiritually and civilly. We need leaders who comprehend that God does not want compartmentalized lives. And then ignore some of the compartments that there are unimportant, which takes us back to an interesting practice of Gnosticism. That was characteristic of those fellows. Rather, what God wants us to do is everything for him. everything for Him. He wants us to live a whole and continuous life for Him. If you're not doing, if you've got something in your life that is not for God, get it out of your life. All right, I'll say that again. If you're doing anything in your life that is not for God, you need to get it out of your life. It doesn't belong there. If you have to compartmentalize your life because, well, that's not spiritual, well, get it out. Now, that'll challenge you if you're not thinking biblically. Now, think right about things, because here's what will happen. Yeah, but my job at McDonald's flipping hamburgers is not spiritual. I have to quit my job now. I can't flip out. It's not spiritual. I have to quit. Uh-oh. I have to go find another job. Oh, wait, that's not spiritual. Oh. Oh, no. Now I'm between a rock and a hard spot because those who do not provide for their own family is worse than an infidel. Oh, no. Now what am I gonna do? I can't be spiritual working because it's not church work. But if I'm not providing for my family and taking care of myself responsibly with finances, then I'm in sin. But I can't go work and take care of myself because that's sin, because it's not spiritual. You see the hypocrisy, the irony, the catch-22 and all that? Now you're stuck. because you don't understand. That's right. A lack of understanding. We can't compartmentalize our lives. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 says, whether therefore you eat or drink or Whatsoever ye do, it doesn't matter what it is, do all to the glory of God. Now that's why you can't sin to the glory of God. He's talking about whatever you do in your life. If it's not for the glory of God, get it out. It doesn't belong there. There you're bringing unity in your life, a whole life brought under control for God's glory. That's why I like to describe the priority circle, not the priority list. It's not God, church, family, et cetera, et cetera. No, that doesn't work. Never has. Always causes conflict. That's an artificial creation of man. God has one priority list. The priority circle. God. Priority number two, God. Priority number three, God. That's the only priority you need, and everything else, anything and everything else you do is for God. You don't have to worry about any other priority, because as soon as you have a priority in spot number two, it's competing for spot number one. And God doesn't want competitors. So you keep that priority list clear and there's only one priority, God. And you don't have, that's right, you won't have to worry about competing gods for that spot. Colossians chapter 3 verse 17 says, and whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Colossians 3, 23 says, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. Do everything for God. That's how we ought to be living our lives, and when we do everything for God, everything is brought into spiritual harmony. God created government, and he created government for godly people to get in there and do their job. God created the economic structure, and he created it so people would have businesses and get busy about doing their business for God. God has designed and is responsible for everything in our lives. And it's not up to us to disparage people. Well, you're not doing it the way I'm doing it. So you're out, you're out to lunch. Hey, we've all got our positions. We've got teachers here and we've got salesmen here. We have an archaeologist, anthropologist by degree, quality control people. We've got housewives. We've got all kinds of folks here. And we need everybody to be engaged right where we are doing what we do. As Paul said, be content with whatever state you're found in. Now you can see, you can change. It doesn't mean you're stuck. But be content until change comes up. An opportunity, great, take it. But... Be content. What does that mean? If you were saved as a salesman, if you were saved as a housewife, if you were saved as a servant, as an employer, or whatever it might be, be content and do your job for God right where you are. And I'll tell you what, we will be blessed in our deed because we do it all for God. And that's what he wants. He wants us to do everything for him. Amen. We're glad you joined us for our services here at Mission Boulevard Baptist Church. If this program has helped you and you would like to have more information about trusting Christ as your Lord and Savior, or if you would like to have resources to help you in your spiritual walk and growth, please email us at the address on your screen. We look forward to having you join us again online, but you are always welcome to personally attend any of our services at the Mission Boulevard Baptist Church here in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hi, this is Dr. Patrick Briney. I hope and pray this important lesson has improved your life. For more life-changing lessons, and to get your free book that I've written for you, visit my website at patrickbriney.com. And please share this valuable lesson with at least three of your friends to enrich their lives in our Lord Jesus Christ. I'll upload my next lesson for you soon. God Bless.