2020 2.0: Week 2 | May 31, 2020

#IStandUpForYou | Pastor David Hughes

Welcome and thank you for joining us for the Church by the Glades podcast. If you would like
more information about church by the Glades, including service, times and directions, visit CB
glades dot com Way. Hope you enjoyed today's message. What's up Chur
ch by the Glades
Thank you. Thank you so much. You're logging on today. I'm David Hughes, one of the pastors.
A church by the Glades. We started a new Siri's last week called 2022.0, because of any year
needed a reboot. It is this year, if any year, need t
o do over things. Year has been so strange to
guess what? Happy New Year. I know it's the last couple days of May. Maybe on wait till
Monday on the first to start your new 2020. But I propose we start a new 2020 at least in our
hearts. So how do we, uh, em
erge? How do we leave quarantine and begin life again? How do
we navigate this thing called the new Normal. So I'm glad you're with us. I think it'd be very
helpful conversation. We're gonna take apart a powerful passage in Ephesians, Chapter six. So if
yo
u have your Bible or your mobile device Couldn't find Ephesians, Chapter six. If you don't
wanna do that up with the verses on the screen as you watch. Thank you for logging on today.
Being part of this, um, in fact, I was thinking about this idea. Hollywo
od, Hollywood. You
watching a lot of movies right now. A lot of Netflix right now catching up on movies You missed.
Alright. Hollywood has a long standing tradition of using. Ah, stunt double. Ah, stunt double.
Now, back when it started, they didn't back i
n the olden days before, like sound and and before
there was audio and movies. The most famous stars of like the twenties did their own stunts.
Buster Keaton and even Charlie Chaplin. Uh, incredible athletes would choreograph these really
risky moves, but
Hollywood quickly discovered as budgets got bigger, they couldn't afford the
luxury of having a star get hurt or injured. Stop production cost, you know, hundreds of
thousands or millions of dollars. So now even the most athletic stars have a stunt double.
For
instance, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, who doesn't love the rock South Florida product, you
know, former pro wrestler played for the U back and they highly athletic. Yet he has a stunt.
Double name is double. Is Timoney read. So he does all the heavy lift
ing. The rock doesn't but
other stars uh, Mark Ruffalo. Mark Rough the Hawk. The Hawk has a stunt double. His name is
Anthony Molinari. And so when the Hawke needs a stunt double down that same train Chris
Hemsworth Chris Hemsworth always the actor and he'
s ripped. He's in great shape. He's Thor,
for goodness sake. He uses a stunt double. The double's name is Bobby Hanson. How about
Johnny Depp? Johnny? Captain Jack. Captain Jack used to stunt double. His name was Tony and
Gelati. Who else? Who else? Jackie
Chan. Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan has a stunt double his name.
Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan is awesome. For years, he's done all his own stunts. He
choreographs. He's amazing. He's athletic. Oh, my gosh. Courses, Martial arts ability. Jackie
Chan is
an original. An amazing, amazing actor does his own stunts. Now, when it comes to
navigating this life right now, don't you wish you had a stunt double man? We have concerns
and confusion and risk we've never experienced before. not just the medical risk
or the physical
risk, but economic. And oh, I wish I had a stunt double for life. But guess what, Christian? You're
Jackie Chan. You're Jackie Chan. Turn your neighbor and say you're Jackie Chan. But in the chat
right now, your Jackie chan God has called y
ou to do your own stunts in life. I don't mean take
unnecessary or foolish risks. But we step out into this world, this broken world sometimes this
dangerous world without the benefit of a stunt double. But God has prepared you. God has
armed you. God has
given you a ah, hazmat suit, if you will. It's called the full Armor of God. It's
described in vivid detail in Ephesians, Chapter six. I hope you found it by now. And so we're
gonna dive right into us. Thank you for logging on. And by the way, you're not a
lone. Let's





welcome Right now are virtual. Amen corner. What's up? Amen. Corner. Good to see you guys.
Good to see everybody out there. Oh, I see Brooke from Arizona. I see. Marguerite. Margaret,
How are things in Ohio? Oh, gosh. We've got people from all
over the country and the world
watching right now. Thank you for logging on. And by the way, share, there's someone even
right now. We just started church. You can share this message with right now in real time. So
click that button or click that little li
ttle paper airplane on instagram and share. Right now, uh,
this is too good to keep yourself so jump right into Ephesians, Chapter six. We began the
conversation last week cause we kicked off 2022 0. If you didn't watch that, watch it sometime.
This week's
on our archive on our on our website and on YouTube. I belief. Check that out. And
I dealt with one of the elements called the, uh, The Shield of Faith. The Shield of Faith. I'll read
the whole thing. Let's jump back to verse 13. Therefore, put on the ful
l armor of God. So the
day of evil comes. You may be able to stand your ground, and after you've done everything to
stand firm Verse 14 stand firm them with the belt of truth buckled around your waist with the
breastplate of righteousness in place and as s
hoes. The readiness to announce the good news
of peace. In addition, toe all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the
flaming arrows of the evil one. Finally, Verse 17. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit, wh
ich is the word of God. Oh, it's a good text. Is good text all we're doing Simple
Bible study thinking about these different phrases, state mentioned. The Apostle Paul is being
highly creative. We love creativity. Church by the glades. You use now, if you
will, a verbal visual
aid, if that's even a thing. A Roman soldier, he's in prison as he writes Ephesians, just like
Philippians. And he's on. He's being guarded by a Roman soldier, and he's using the
components of the armor. Different items of his gear, i
f you will, As this analogy of the
spiritually protection that God gives us and a Roman soldier be highly recognizable to the
Ephesians. It was part of the Roman Empire, so he's sharing something they recognized. Can the
item by item. Last week we talked a
bout the shield of faith. Check that out. It's a large
rectangular shield. Looks kind of like a door. Very important talk. Last week Let's go and move
through some other items. Try to cover three or four today. If time allows. I love the one that
mentions
Verse 17. The helmet of salvation, The helmet of salvation. Huge idea helmet of
salvation. To me, it means Is that salvation? Being right with God being forgiven, being
accepted by God qualified for heaven? Helmet, helmet, the helmet guards What? Your brai
n,
your mind, your thought Life. So salvation has a clear, cerebral components. Now the church
we think about emotions. We even used language like I gave my heart to Christ, and that's a
very appropriate thing to say. But being a Christian or finding faith
is way more than just
emotional. I think it's volitional. I think it's a clear decision you make. Faith is a choice. Let me
show you something, Jesus said. You stay in Ephesians if you want Thio. But in Mark's Gospel
Chapter 12, Verse 30 Jesus, you know w
hat God is looking for, what the father is after. I love
this. It's on the screen right now, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.
That's the emotional part of who you are. The feelings and with all your soul and get ready and
with all
your mind. Jesus said. Hey, when it comes to God, use your brain, you need tohave. Ah,
smart faith. Some people the idea that intelligence and faith are polar opposites, opposites that
that that Christianity and in common sense could never commingle. No, n
o, Jesus said, Bring
your intellect. Bring your questions. Bring your mind A church by the Glades. The last thing I
want our people to do is to park their brains in the lobby and come in this room and believe
anything I say. But ask our people to be overly
critical or skeptical, but use your mind So





salvation has a mental component, by the way, for those you right now who are investigating
the Christian faith I've told you in recent weeks. Brilliant. I can't think of a better time to be
asking your God ques
tions. And you should, by the way, from the comfort and anonymity of
your home, check us out. Go to our website, go to our YouTube page, look at past teaching, see
if it resonates is true. In fact, faith, I think faith can be an intellectual, smart faith.
I think faith is
simply this ill defined faith. Faith is doing all your research on God, doing all your homework on
Jesus and then taking the next logical tiny baby step. That's all the faith is we don't believe in
stupid faith or blind faith. No, we want
a smart faith in church by the Glades because Jesus,
what my father wants love him with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength. So
it's clearly a volitional component to to salvation the helmet of salvation. Guard your thoughts,
guard, Guar
d your mind. But also, I think this idea of intelligence and faith we should know that
we're saved the helmet of salvation. We should have an intellectual clarity and confidence that
were saved. Meaning this you're out there right now. I'm going. Wow. You
know, I hope I'm a
Christian. I really hope David, at the end of my life, hopefully many, many decades from now,
when I stand before God or ST Peter the pearly gates or something, I'm really hoping I'm hoping
that I have been good enough for faithful enoug
h for religious enough or did the right religious
stuff that somehow, when I stand before? God, I'm hoping I'm hoping. I really wished that I get
the thumbs up, not the thumbs down. I take the up escalator, not the down escalator. I don't
think you're gonn
a Really No, I mean, you can't know. Can't You can't know you're saved. You
can't know or have confidence You're going to heaven. In fact, if you think you know, isn't that
kind of arrogance and pride to sin? Maybe you're not safe. Do you think? Okay. On i
ssues like
this, when you're confused, go to the Bible. Amen. Corner. You go to the Bible, right? Our
church is about two things. Jesus and his word. Give me the amen corner again. Give me the
amen corner. Put him up there. Guys, make sure we're clear. Can
you all do this? Jesus And his
word, right? All about the Bible being the answer toe all lives. Great questions. All right, So can I
know, Helmet of salvation. Can I know with certainty I'm saved. Go to Scripture. Uh, right down
this reference. First John
, Chapter five, first John, Chapter five. I will get a running start. Verse
13 is the key. Versatile back up to verse 11, John says says simply this on the screen right now
and the witnesses, this God has given us eternal life and that life is in his son.
Now it's very clear
He who has the son Jesus has the life he does not have. The sun does not have the life. Alright,
so very clear. If you have this relationship with Jesus, you got life not just life here on Earth, but
I believe life forever. If you don't
have Jesus yet, choose Jesus A decision today, then it lands
with verse 13. Check out the seismic statement of truth from God's word on the screen. These
things I have written to you who believe on the name of the son of God in order that you may
that you
may know that you have eternal life e believe that verse up for a moment with the
linger for a moment evidently if you're wondering Hey, can I know for certain I'm safe? Can I
have confidence that even like a possibility? Don't you just kind of hope for t
he best of the end
of your life? There are people just like you back in the first century and John here in the fifth
and final chapter of this brief letter says, I've written this entire thing to people like you who
believe in Jesus, who have a relationshi
p who've made that choice to pass through the door
salvation. I'm writing this to people like you that that you can know that you can be absolutely,
completely holistically confident that you're saved and when you know you have heaven nail
down. You walk t
hrough this life with spirituals. Swag. You really Do you have a confidence that
God Fidan Since if you know this for certain. All right, look, let me share my story if I may So I





mentioned last week If you watched last week how I passed through the door o
f Salvation John
10 9 and, uh, I gave my heart to Christ, Gave my Life to Christ made my choice of faith when I
was a nine year old kid Attic. Thank you, Heather. Thank you. Heather, at a Christian camp was
called are a camp and I went because I want to go
camping and and fishing. I love to fish and
they had archery and BB guns and I think I told you the story briefly. How The BB Gun
Instructor's name. I don't know till this day. By the way, I can't wait to meet him in heaven. I'm
not saying that many big d
eal, but God has used me in some small way to help many people
come to Christ. But all he did was help a punk kid choose Jesus. What if he has any idea that
some of things God has done in my life since I'm very grateful to the anonymous BB gun
instructor?
But again, watch. Last week he led me to faith in Christ. I prayed a Salvation prayer
after he explained the gospel to me. I just repeated pray after him. He said, Dear Jesus, I said,
Dear Jesus. And he said, I believe in the son of God Upright, I believe
in the son of God and kind
of prey through Romans 10 9 Salvation Prayer. At the end of the prayer, he said, in Jesus name.
Amen, I said in Jesus name, Amen. And hey patted me on the back and said, Welcome to the
family of God. And then he left. We stopped
fishing, he just walked away and I'm sitting there.
And truth be told, this was my salvation moment. I expected to feel something, you know, I was
hoping for, like, the angels singing or seeing a light or something And feeling the Holy Spirit,
right? I was
expecting it feels. But for me, it was just a a logical decision. I was raised in the
church, already believed in the reality of Christ. It was just my moment to step through the
door. And so for me, it was really a volitional thing. I made this choice to
give my heart to Christ
and emotionally, nothing. Nothing. He left me. I'm by myself. I'm like, Okay, I I guess I just got
saved. I love how God gets all up in your stuff. I love how God will set the table for you
sometimes. So here I am on this little ki
d. I'm walking back in the camp and there's literally
hundreds of people this camp, other kids and counselors and pastors. The first person where
the odds are ran into was my home Pastor, Pastor Billingsley. We call it past ability. Pastor B,
here's passed
to be the first person of all these hundreds of people I I could run into. So I think
God set that up. And so I'm a little kid. I'm a little kid and just gave my heart to cry So I marched
up to pastor buildings that he'll dig this. He's a preacher, right?
Hell, I marked the pastor
buildings. I guess what I just did. I just asked Jesus Christ to come into my life and to save me.
I'm waiting for the handshake. I'm waiting for the pat on the back. I went, You know, Atta boy.
I'll never forget what he did. He
said, David, you asked Jesus Christ to come to your life and save
you. How do you know he did? Oh, yeah. I had no idea what to say. I didn't know his great he
asked me is great. He asked me. I'll tell you why I'm up. I had no idea. Never heard the
statemen
t. No, Christians aren't perfect. Just forgiven. I wasn't saved 10 minutes until I send. I
lied through my teeth to my pastor. I didn't I didn't know what to say. I would've lying, Kitty,
that I just know. How do I know? I say doesn't past pastor. I feel d
ifferent. I feel different. I feel
like the Holy Spirit now lives in me. I feel like I feel I didn't feel different. All I didn't know what
to say. I feel different in the ways of you. Guys are laughing. He just chuckled to David is not an
issue of your fe
elings. So tomorrow you'll wake up in the morning, you'll feel tired. You go
home, you'll get no argument. Your big sister and you'll feel angry doesn't mean that God has
left here. You're no longer a Christian. No. And he held up his old Bible and he said
, Hey, David,
this Bible, Is this the word of God? I said yesterday. ISS, he said, Does God make you promises in
this book? I said, Yes, sir, he does, David, Does God ever break a promise? No, sir. In this book,
he promised, If you confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God





raised from the dead, you will be saved. And then he asked me if I knew what a contract was. I
had a beyond vague idea of a contract, he said, This is your contract with God, and this morning
with the BB gun
guy. You asked. Christ, come into your life. And he did not. Based on your
emotion or your feelings, you made a choice. You trusted God's promised and you were saved.
I've had confidence ever since I've had that First John 5. 13. These things I've written
to you
who believe in name of some you may know that you have eternal life. You need that. So if you
pray that with me last week, if you have old paper Bible, go find it right now. All right? So if you
prayed that prayer with me last week that John 10 9 J
esus passing through the door that
Romans 10 9 Prayer asking Jesus Christ, your lord, your savior. And guess what? That was your
spiritual birthday. So if you have an old school paper Bible, find it, find it. Find that inside flap
And the date Last Sunday
was May 24th. So write down your spiritually birthday. You're born
again. May 24th, 2022 point. Oh, right down. I prayed to receive Christ with Pastor David. And
according to promise of God's word, I was saved. Hey, you can bank on it because God keeps
his
promises every single time. I could pick up the pace right here because I want to cover two
of the items of the armor of God quickly. How about verse 15? Verse 15? I love it. It says having
your feet shot in the preparation of the gospel of peace. Are you
r feet shot in the preparation
of the gospel? You're like, What in the world does that even mean? Okay, that's actually a great
translation of very specific clear Translation is a little dated. Let me let me jump. Whatever you
find a verse like that that d
oesn't make sense in your language, find a different translation. So if
you have you version, you just go ahead and scroll and find one. So this one there you talk
about easy translation. This was literally called the easy translation, and it says in the e
asy
translation same verse. Be prepared to tell people the good news about the peace of God. So
that will be like shoes on your feet. Do you have gospel shoes? You have gospel shoes. So again
he's using analogy. You could have your feet, you know, covered
or shot in the preparation of
the Gospel of Peace. Now again, the imagery here embedded is a Roman soldier may break this
down. Historically, I love history. All know that So a Roman soldier sometimes wear sandals, but
in combat, they wear shoes or boots.
And what gave them an advantage? The Romans were
always looking for an edge they would have built into their boots, cleats or spikes. You play
baseball into the spikes the players wear. OK, why would they do that? Well, when you envision
a battle in the an
cient world, maybe in your mind you see or a movie you've seen, like one army
on one side of a green, lush, grassy valley and the other arm in the other side. Okay, that valley
didn't stay lush and green very long, with thousands of soldiers and thousands
of boots and
horses and wagons. They become mud really quickly, and the Romans realized if they had these
cleats or spikes on their boots, they wouldn't slip in the mud. They had an advantage. They had
stability. What? The gospel is a spiritual stability i
n your life. The scripture talks so much about
the foundation we have in Christ, he is the rock of our salvation. So once I know I'm saved, I
have peace because I have my feet shod or my feet covered with these cleats that dig in deep
when life gets muddy
and 2020 has been a muddy season. So the first idea I get from this is
imagery is I have spirituals. Stability. Then how many issues you're wearing right now? Not a
trick question. Yes. I hope you're worrying too. If you're wearing shoes right now, you got
to
shoes. Everybody here in the room has I'm looking at two shoes. Right, brother Small Got
excellent shoe game going right. Christians should have great spirituals, shoe game all the time.
My son's a sneaker head. Christians should be spirituals. Sneaker
heads. All right, You have
hopefully to shoes. Two shoes. Why? To shoes? Well, there's two ideas to the gospel. Two sides





of the gospel Good news story, right? The gospels, That word. You see time and time in the
New Testament That means a relationship wi
th God forgiven, Freed when you embrace by faith
the gospel Alright to ideas. There's good news and bad news in the gospel. There's two
components Good news and bad news. So what do you want? First, the good news of the bad
news. Me too. I always want the
bad news first. Oh, I wanna land with the good news, right? I
want the bad news to be the appetizer, But the good news to be my dessert. All right, So here's
the bad news because the Bible tells you the whole truth and truth is always your friend. Wait
til
l next week. The bad news is this. We all fall short versus, like, Romans 3 23 on the screen.
Right now, if you'll read or they're in the chat, put down this very important small word. It says
four for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Si
mply translate. This verse means
none of us are good enough. I mean, you're probably way kinder, more generous, more moral
than may. But we all fall short. The standards God's own holy perfection. Meaning this. So no
one is good enough for moral enough for
unselfish enough were kind enough to get to heaven.
We all fall short. We're all sinners. We're all in the same sin. Boat is is spiritually rebellion
against God. Wow, David, that that's so depressing. We're all sinners. What's what's The
endgame of sent?
Gets worse in Romans. Chapter six, it says the wages or the fair pay of sin is
death, not just physical death but eternal death. Okay, now I'm really depressed. I'm depressed.
Can you give me some good news? Yeah, make sure the other shoe, if you will, of
the gospel I
love versus Like I'll stay in the same book. Romans, Chapter five, Verse eight. This is but God
demonstrates his own love for us in this While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Wow, it's
the only one lived to the standard. Only one w
as wholly and perfect. That was Jesus. But Jesus
transfers his goodness. Tow us. That's what he died for us. A single sufficient substitutiary
sacrifice their two components to the gospel. There's good news, and there's bad news. But the
bad news is just t
o put the good news in its fullest perspective. The good news is the best news
the human families ever heard. And speaking of that of that quickly before I let these ideas of
gospel shoes or gospel boots go on shoes are designed to travel. Shoes are design
ed to move
right. You're watching online right now. You're probably your socks. No shoes. Why could you?
On your couch, right? You're there, barefoot in your bed that that's fine. But when you go
outside, you wear shoes. Now notice. It's not the gospel hou
se Shoes or slippers is not that
Jesus Flip flops. It's the Roman boots. And those Romans took those boots and marched all over
the ancient world. They were not just satisfied to keep their dogma and ideology to themselves.
In Italy, they took it all over
North Africa, all over Europe, as far up to the British Isles through
the near East. They built an empire, by the way, out of hatred and oppression. But they took
their geopolitical point of view everywhere. They marched with those boots now, as Christians
were not building an empire. But we have a king and a kingdom, and he's commissioners to
take this gospel of peace and to go to travel with it. They have it along like a like a great
comfortable pair of shoes. I got my favorite shoes on my Air Force one t
oday, man. They they're
nice and white, but they move, they travel and we want to share that good news with people
everywhere you go. Are you prepared? Like the Bible says to share the gospel of peace. By the
way you know it, Z never been easier than right
now. This is such an easy time. People are
asking Hey, David, when will we open our physical buildings? I wanna answer it this way. We
never closed down the church. Not for a moment. The doors are locked, were praying about
when and how to reopen. Right n
ow I covet your prayers on that. But I'd argue some our best,
most productive days of ministry. But over the last three months and you're reaching more





people than ever before. In fact, if you're part of the church by the Glades family, I wanna ask
you som
ething. As your brother and as your pastor. We talked about connecting and sharing all
the time. The message I did last week based on the same idea. The shield of faith. Salvation
talk. Maybe the clearest salvation talk. I've been in 20 years passing throu
gh the door of
salvation. I want you to share that with somebody I want you to be If you If you love our
church, get outside your comfort zone. Do what the Bible says here, your feet taking the gospel
to people. And I want you to share that. The easiest mi
ght be Facebook. Go to the church by
the Glades Facebook page. The message is right there. Click on the message, then click the
share button. And if you know anyone that you love and you're not certain ensure they know
how to give their life to Christ. Thi
s is your moment. Share it, share it with everybody. Let's
make this talk viral. I'm not trying to get myself out there, but I want this truth of the beauty
and simplicity of given your life to Christ to be something so accessible for people. We are
comman
ded to share the gospel of peace. So if you're part of our church, sure. Please go to
other formats. If you want Thio. Yes. Come on. You guys can do this. We're all going to share
this powerful truth and quickly have a few minutes left. One more piece of a
rmor I love this one
describes the breastplate of righteousness. So the Roman soldier would have this covering for
his torso. It be made of metal or sometimes heavy, heavy, dense leather. But it would protect
what his heart and his vital organs now righteo
usness is our protection. Righteousness is
defined two ways in the Bible. To dynamics to righteousness. One is declared righteous. Now
stay with me. A little theology right now. One of the benefits that happens the moment you're
saved. In spite of your pas
t, in spite of our failures and sent, God declares us righteous. Yeah, I
know it makes no sense, but it's very, very biblical. Look at second Corinthians, Chapter five,
Verse 21. This happens the nanosecond. You pass through the door of salvation. It says
he
made him God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sent on our behalf. Look at this so that we
might become the yes. We might become the righteousness of God in him that somehow at the
cross when Jesus bore our sins, God transferred his goodness, his righteo
usness to me. Wow! I
don't deserve it. You didn't earn it, But God did it. When you are saved, God sees you now with
righteousness of Jesus. It shows up other places say Right. In Ephesians, Chapter one, Paul
described the efficient believers as holy and b
lameless Onley Christian in the world who never
sinned. They were blameless. No, he's talking about the declaration made at the moment of
their salvation. So you have declared righteousness. But there's a second way we see rights is
defined in the Bible. T
here's experiential righteousness that not just being satisfied. To know
God sees me now is righteous. I wanna live up to the way God sees me. I wanna live up to that
declaration. I wanna live, Ah, life with the breastplate of righteousness covering me. Wh
y?
Because it protects me. So what is righteousness? Well, is not legalism is surely not self
righteousness. That's terrible. If that's you, stop that right now. That's all. Putting self righteous
people spiritually religious, arrogant people. No, I think
what righteousness is is humbly trying
to align my life, my choices, my relationships, my priorities to align all those with the word of
God. The more I do that, I walk humbly in righteousness. And again, why should I do that? Well
pleases God first and fo
remost, but secondly, it benefits me because it protects me like a
breastplate. It protects the heart. It protects who you are. So the more I walk in integrity and
righteousness in truth, in freedom, injustice, it protects me. So if you'll practice righteo
usness
and justice, it protects the individual. ELISA. If you and I practice righteousness and justice in
our marriage, it protects our relationship. You have a family if you walk in integrity and





righteousness and justice that protects your family righteo
usness and justice protects
ministries. It protects churches, righteousness and justice, protects cultures and righteousness
and justice protects nations and nations who lack righteousness and justice eventually fall.
Example. I love history. I love histor
y. Um, the Roman Empire. You could argue from a historical
point of view, the most powerful empire in the history of humanity. Their reach was vast. Their
military was so well organized, their military technology so superior they dominated all the
Western
ancient world from again North Africa throughout all of Europe to the near East. It ran
for several 100 years. But though it was highly organized and powerful and networked, it was
not a righteous empire. It was a ruthless empire, and it eventually fell. T
here's a Roman Empire
anymore. Why? Most historians would say it was not the attacks from without, not the external
enemies they decayed from within. Why no righteousness or justice? And if you know your
history, Um, the ancient world was a violent world.
The Roman world was a racist world. In fact,
it was so racist. Everybody in the ancient world was okay with being a racist. It was something
frowned upon. It looked down on by anybody. Romans looked down upon non Romans. And
there's all kinds of animosity
between Gentile and Jew and and women were treated like
second class citizens. Then, of course, in the Roman world, the few rich, oppressed, the great,
many poor. And there were slaves. Some scholars think as many as half of the population of
Rome slaves.
It was a great empire that decayed. Why unrighteous? Unjust? If you're watching
in some place, uh, some some nation that's not America, all of our campuses or in the U. S. I
was born in this nation. I love America. There's so much that is awesome and good
about
America. But lately we've seen some glaring examples of injustice in America of things so far
from righteous so egregious. So if you allow me the liberty of speaking, but in the wake of the
death of Briana Taylor of George Floyd of a MoD are very it
is time for Americans and I e. And I
know this this This is a black issue, first and foremost, but it's also a humanity issue, and we
cannot afford the luxury of being silent. I don't care the color of your skin or the culture you
celebrate or where you co
me from or what language you speak. We must stand as a people.
And the church and the Church of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ cannot afford the
comfort zone of being quiet or just praying or just sympathizing. It's our time to stand up as a
p
eople and say enough things must change. And by the way, that is our history as well. Because
in that very broken, very hateful, very racist Roman world, there was one place where the walls
and barriers of racism fell. It was the first place if you'll chec
k out your history in the history of
anywhere in the human family. That place was the fledgling, persecuted new Church of Jesus
Christ marginalized. The church was the first place where the Apostle Paul, who says something
right now that seems so story bac
k in his day. Sociologically, it was. It was a bomb going off, we
said. In the church Galatians Chapter three, There is no longer any Jew or gentile. There is no
slave nor free. There is no male or female. But he pronounced that we're now one in Christ
Jes
us, faster. And this little small, poor, marginalized fledgling church had to meet at night,
didn't have beautiful buildings or structures. They met in the homes they met in small public
facilities. They they met in the woods that they had to. Why? Threat
of persecution. Also, they
met at night. Why? Because ah, great number of the members. These churches were slaves and
what Paul preached, they practice. It was the first place we saw slave and slave master
worshiping together and Jew and gentile worship to
gether and male and female working
together. It's the first place when those walls and barriers of racism came down to you might
theoretically have a slave who was the pastor and the slave master who was the church





member. That's our history as a church. H
istorically, we've made a lot of noise in moments like
this. We've led at the forefront at moments like this. So forgive me. I hope not. Toe over speak.
You probably noticed I'm white. Probably first three seconds. You figured I'm white. I've been
white al
l my life. Mhm. But I have the great honor and privilege of pastoring a ah, wonderfully
diverse church. And someday, when you come to a campus of physical campus of church by the
Glades, you're gonna look around in these seats and you're gonna see in most
of our services
that most are camps. There's not a clear racial majority. I mean, if you won't walk in and say,
Hey, there's a black church or a white church or a Latin church But you will see a beautiful
biblical blend of people and cultures. You will see
all this incredible diversity. And I know there's
a place if you want to be part of a church where everyone kind of looks like you and has your
same heritage and background, I I get it. But I think churches like this we get a glimpse of
heaven as we do li
fe and ministry, powerful and intimately together. On we demystify the
mythology and one another white. Because you have hard conversations. Yes, at times. But
mainly we're just in the business a spiritual and cultural life transformation. So I know maybe
I'm out of place to speak, but I want my things I love most about a church is its diversity. And I
want to stand with and grieve with my black American brothers and sisters in this church and
beyond. I hate what has happened. If you allow me humbly that ho
nor, I will stand with you in
faras, the African American members of our church. I just wanna thank you for the great
privilege of being your pastor. It's an honor. And I don't want to claim I understand fully, but I'm
trying to understand, and I stand wit
h you and I want to thank you for what you bring to our
church. I wanna thank you for the passion, the understanding that this tournament, the
wisdom, the leadership, there is something that you bring. And by the way, I'm not speaking
out of turn here. I c
an back this up Statistically, Do you know that black Americans percentage
wise mawr Black Americans attend church on a regular basis. Believe in the authority of the
Bible. Believe in the divinity of Jesus Mawr. Black Americans believe that Jesus Christ i
s their
personal savior and Lord by percentage than any other racial group in America by far. When
you think about the way black Americans historically were introduced to Christianity, it makes
that all the more remarkable because it wasn't nice white miss
ionaries going to the largest
continent and sharing the love of Jesus. It was, as they were trafficked as slaves to America,
brutalized, beaten and murdered that somehow they had the wisdom and discernment, though
the hatred hypocrisy of the slave master a
s he had a Bible in one hand and a lashing the other,
they saw a glimpse of the truth. That was Jesus Christ, a great, liberating king. It's an amazing
spiritually dynamic. So of course I'm honored to stand with you toe. Lend my small voice to
your voice b
ecause guess what? Some stuff has to change in America, and the church cannot be
quiet about it. This summer sadly marks the 4
\
/100 anniversary of the first African slave coming
to North America Yeah, things have gotten better and we've made progress. Gues
s what?
We've had four centuries. It's time to fix this thing. It's time to recognize that all forms of
racism, our sin, all forms of racism are wicked. All forms of racism are evil. All forms of racism
cannot be tolerated until we really practice for just
ice for all. There's no justice for anybody. So
here this, in this moment I pray a prayer, righteousness and justice for our nation. And if you
allow me the privilege to grieve with you, to pray with you, to speak with you and to stand for
you.