To reach out to the gentile people and we do have an example of him going to the Gentiles we have an explicit example of this found in the Scriptures that is described as the healing of the Gadarene or the gear as saying depending upon the translation that you use there are different names for these people I'm going to refer to them as the Gadarene so ever just in order to make it simple Jesus went to go to the Gadarene Xin when he went there we have evidence to show that they definitely were Gentiles that they were not Jews or at least they were not living like Jews because they were pig herders there and if there are pigs herders there then that means that they were eating pigs in the local community that gives us a good indication that these were the Gentiles now before he went to go and speak with the gatherings and provide a healing for the people there before he did that he was officially rejected by the nation of Israel this was described in Matthew Chapter 12 and I explained this official rejection in the 1st message that I did in this series accounting for the 3 days and 3 nights it was in this series in the 1st program that I explained this official rejection of the Nation of Israel it was after he had performed the miracle of healing the man who was both blind and mute he could not hear he could not speak and he could not see that there was no way to communicate with him he was possessed by a demon and the Lord Jesus cast this demon out of him when he cast the demon out of this man the people officially rejected Him by declaring that he had performed this miracle by the power of the Prince of demons and because of that he said that no more signs would be given to the nation of Israel in order to assert his messianic claim in order to assert his claim that he was the Messiah he would no longer perform any miracles for that purpose except one more miracle and that was the miracle of being in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights and then he would raise from the dead this with. Describe to Matthew Chapter 12 between verses 22 and verse 50 the end of the chapter and verse 40 the Lord Jesus said For just as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the Sea Monster so will the Son of Man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth Now the significance of the miracle that he had performed in verse 20 that is Matthew Chapter 12 verse 20 was that it was a miracle that the fairest seas claimed only the Messiah could perform according to the beliefs of the fairest sees only the Messiah could have cast the demon out of a man who could not hear speak or see the reason why was because their procedure to cast out a demon was a simple procedure the procedure was that you had to 1st establish communication with the demon identify the demons name and then through using the demons name you could declare and demand that the demon leave depart from the individual that was the fairest seas procedure to cast out a demon if a person cannot see Speaker here then there was no way to establish communication with the demon through the individual to be able to identify his name and then demand that he leave there was no way that could be accomplished according to their theology and so they made the claim that only the Messiah would be able to cast this demon out that was what I was explaining in the 1st program in the series on the 3 days and 3 nights but in this program I would like to take it a step further beyond this event and show you what happens after Jesus performed that miracle and made the claim that he would no longer perform any miracles to assert his messianic identity now the chronology in the scriptures can be very difficult to follow without the harmony of the gospels but if you were to look at the harmony of the gospels you would know that the next event after this was the event of Jesus crossing the Galilee and going to the region of the gatherings also known as the region of the gear is seen as he goes to these people immediately after he prophesied that he would be in. The grave for 3 days and 3 nights and that that would be the last sign shown so immediately after the official rejection of the Nation of Israel as a people immediately after that he goes to the Gentiles Now this is a very important foreshadowing and that is that the nation of Israel would not receive the Messiah the nation of Israel for the most part would not receive the Messiah of course some people who were in the nation of Israel did receive the Messiah for who he is and they were saved and they began the process of spreading the gospel out into the Gentile world that certainly happened however this is a foreshadowing to show that the nation as a whole would reject the Gospel even after Jesus died and rose from the dead but the Gospel message would still go out to the Gentiles to the rest of the people because again Jesus did not come just to save Israel he came to save the entire world and so when Jesus leaves Israel and goes out into the Gentile world this to me is a foreshadowing of the things that would come in the future he goes across the Galilee and when he goes across the Galilee he speaks with the gear of scenes and I'm going to read from the Gospel of Luke the Gospel of Luke beginning in Chapter 8 verse 26 This is Luke 826 where it says then they sailed to the country of the gear as Sainz which is opposite Galilee and when he came out on to the land he was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons and who had not put on any clothing for a long time and was not living in a house but in the Tombs seen Jesus he cried out and fell before him and said in a loud voice What business do we have with each other Jesus son of the most high God I beg you do not torment me for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man for it had seized him. Many times and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert Ok So Jesus goes and the demon identifies him for who he is because Jesus demanded that he depart from within the man from within the gentile man now in the other accounts that we have in Mark and also in Matthew we also know that the demon claimed that Jesus was going to cast him out before an appointed time the demon made the claim that Jesus had no business being there and he also made the claim that Jesus was going to cast him out or he was going to torment him before an appointed time now what was this a point in time that he was talking about well he didn't say and so we don't know for certain I personally believe the appointed time can be only one of 2 possibilities the 1st possibility is the end of time when the final judgment is given and the demons are cast into the lake of fire that is one possibility the other possibility is that the demons knew that the Lord Jesus was coming to provide salvation and yet salvation had not yet been accomplished for the world the demons would know if the Messiah was coming to provide for salvation that eventually the message of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit would go out into the Gentile world and through the power of the Holy Spirit the people would cast out demons who were tormenting other people and so the demon could be referring to the time right after the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah he could have been referring to that time and not necessarily the time of the end when the final judgment would take place in the earth would be destroyed the demons would be cast into hell that kind of final judgment however it is my personal opinion that the demon is referring to the time after the resurrection not the final judgment that's just my personal opinion but either way it's important to recognize that Jesus was the. There he was there and he was going to cast out this demon at a time when the demons did not expect the Messiah to do so and so regardless of what the demon thinks about the appointed time regardless of what the demons believe it doesn't matter because the Living God can intervene and do things like this whenever he wants so that's why I don't want to spend a whole lot of time speculating on when this appointed time might be because it doesn't matter obviously doesn't matter right here and so because of that I don't think that we should be preoccupied with that particular issue or concern now the Lord Jesus did not follow the fairy cicle model of casting out a demon when he was on the other side of the Galilee in the Jewish world however when he crosses the Galilean goes with the Gentile world here we have an example of him following the procedure now doesn't mean that he needed to follow the procedure that's important for you to understand he did not need to follow the procedure even though the demons refused to leave right away and he asked them what their name was even though he did that and then he followed up the request for their name by casting the demons out even though it appears that he is following the rabbinical model for casting out a demon that doesn't mean it would be required we have to be careful with this 1st of all we have the evidence to show in Matthew Chapter 12 that he did not need to follow the rabbinical procedure however we also have the evidence found in Luke Chapter 8 in this example where he does follow the procedure beginning in verse 30 it says in Jesus asked him What is your name and he said Legion for many demons had entered him they were imploring him not to command them to go away into the abyss Now there was a herd of swine feeding there on the mountain and the demons implored him to permit them to enter the swine and he gave them permission and then I'll continue in verse 33 in just a moment but before I do that I would like to show you that certainly. Jesus did apparently follow the rabbinical model for casting out a demon but I don't think that that was necessary also the demons knew and expected that there would be a time when the Messiah would come and cast them out and considering that I think they couldn't dissipate that his believers through the power of the Holy Spirit would also cast them out that these are a couple of points that I wanted to mention concerning this circumstance but there are a few other things that are important about this miracle and what Jesus did that I would really like to explain the 1st thing is that there is a claim concerning his messianic identity now he just declared on the other side of the Galilee that he was no longer going to perform miracles in order to assert his messianic claim we know that but then he goes across the Galilee and goes into the Gentile world and he is now going to perform this miracle the demons are not cast out until there is a clear understanding that Jesus is asserting himself as the messiah now there is a serious problem with this and that is that Jesus claimed earlier that he would no longer perform miracles in order to assert his messianic identity in fact I did a program on the healing of the Canaanite which happened shortly after this where the Lord Jesus was in a situation where the Canaanite woman had asked him to heal her daughter by casting out a demon from within her and she made this request on the basis of him being the Messiah he refused to perform that miracle on the basis of him being the Messiah he did perform the miracle when she asked him to do so just out of her personal desire out of her personal need to have her daughter healed and then he performed the miracle in this case there is recognition that he is the Messiah and so why would he follow through with this miracle why would he cast out this demon when it would be obvious that he would be doing so on the. Of him being the Messiah this is a very important point and I wanted to bring this out because in the context of him refusing to perform any more miracles to assert his messianic claim why is he now performing a miracle that is going to assert his messianic claim Well you could make it simple and say that he's doing this in the Gentile world not in the nation of Israel that's a simple way of looking at it I personally don't like that I would prefer to mention that this is a demon that is identifying him as the Messiah and because this is a demon who is identifying him as the Messiah I don't think that they were included in the context of him no longer performing a miracle to assert his messianic claim that of course the demons are going to know who he is there is no way to avoid that does this mean I mean would this mean that if a demon acknowledged that he is the Messiah then he can no longer perform the miracle because it would serve his messianic identity that's the point is that Jesus followed through with casting out the demons even though the demons recognized him as the Messiah because if he did not do this then the demons could claim that they had power over the messiah to prevent him from casting demons out of people because if he did so then he would reveal that he was the Messiah or he would be asserting his messianic identity he would be validating his messianic claim and so I personally do not believe that he is violating what he said in Matthew Chapter 12 when he spoke to the nation of Israel and told them that he would no longer perform any miracles to show them that he is the Messiah I personally do not believe he is violating that only because the demons already knew accepted and acknowledged that he was the Messiah and he did not want to give them the power and authority to prevent him from casting them out of peace. Well because of the concern that he might violate what he said in Matthew Chapter 12 so this is why I believe this Miracle is important not just because it shows the foreshadowing that he would reach out to the Gentiles as he reached out to the Jews that he would be willing to heal the Gentile as well as the Jews that he did not come just to minister to the Jews alone but that he could very well minister to the Gentiles if he wanted to this certainly is a very important part of this miracle but the other part of this Miracle is an opportunity to show that he did not give the demons power over him because of his claim in Matthew Chapter 12 that he would no longer perform any miracles to assert his messianic claim this to me is of great significance when you consider this miracle and what happened it's of great significance because it shows to me that he is going to proceed with the purpose for which he came and he's not going to be put in a situation he's not going to allow himself to be put in a situation where he is not going to perform any miracles for anyone that he's not going to heal anyone he is going to ensure that whatever he wants to do he will be able to do it even in the midst of the restrictions that he puts upon himself when he returned to Israel he still performed many miracles he still healed many people but the circumstances of those healings were very different they were done for the purpose of meeting the personal needs of individuals they were not directly done in order to validate his claim to be the Messiah then continuing in Luke Chapter 8 verse $33.00 it says and the demons came out of the man and entered the swine and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned when the herdsman saw what had happened they ran away and reported it in this city and out in the country now as a. Really interesting to me is to see that this is not just an example of devil Ham there is a lot more here than just drowning a bunch of pigs what this shows me is that the animals can have more sense than people I mean think about it for just a minute there was this man who was possessed and tormented by these demons he has no idea if he's ever going to be set free from these demons and I'm not suggesting that it would be in his interest to commit suicide by saying that the pigs committed suicide and they had more sense than people I'm only saying this in the context that the pigs recognized how horrible it was to be possessed by demons and decided that they did not even want to consider living that way that they just decided to commit suicide now I don't think that the demons wanted to go into the pigs for the purpose of killing the pigs I don't think that was their intent I just believe that the evidence shows that this was a side effect of them going into the animals that the animals were so unwilling to be possessed by demons that they would rather commit suicide now again I'm not saying that in order to encourage people to commit suicide if they think they've been possessed by a demon or even if they have been we have no need for that we have the Holy Spirit we have the living God who will provide us with freedom and liberty we have a God who has provided us with himself he has provided us with salvation with the opportunity to be healed of things like this to be set free from the bondage that demons can perpetrate on individuals and so there's no need for suicide I don't want to give that impression I'm only saying this to show that the animals did not tolerate the possession at all continuing in Luke Chapter 8 verse 35 it says that the people went out to see what had happened and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting down at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind and they became frightened those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was deemed. Possessed had been made well and all the people of the country of the Giro Sainz and the surrounding district asked him to leave them for they were gripped with great fear and he got into a boat and returned but the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging him that he might accompany him but he sent him away saying return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you so he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him now think about this for a minute they knew about the miracle that had been performed they knew that the presence of the Living God was there Jesus showed up he presented himself he healed a man who they knew only the living God could do only the divine could set him free from the bondage that he was in they knew that a miracle had occurred but instead of asking him to stay there and perhaps heal others perhaps set them free from their fear instead of that they asked him to leave they said hey we don't want you here we would rather be in bondage rooted rather our people be in bondage and be enslaved to demons then to have you here setting us free especially when it's going to cost us something like all these big so they were more interested in their pigs than they were in the people imagine that they were more interested in their pigs than they were the people and so this tells you something about some people not all people not all Gentiles for example and certainly not all Jews either this was just an isolated circumstance in order to show the reality that not everyone is going to be interested in the Lord Jesus the Jews rejected Jesus he went to the Gentiles the Gentiles rejected Jesus everyone rejected Him This was a wonderful opportunity to show him to demonstrate that the world in general. I was not interested in a messiah that that was not what they wanted but it didn't matter you understand it did not matter even though the people of Israel as a whole rejected Jesus and even though the Gentiles who he reached out to for the most part rejected Jesus with the exception of a few Of course this man who was healed he went out into his city and he told about all the great things that Jesus had done for him some people embrace him but the vast majority of people rejected him but even though the people rejected Jesus for who he was he still reached out to people he still healed people he came for a purpose and he accomplished the purpose for which he came he has provided salvation to everyone and even to this day the world as a whole rejects Jesus the world as a whole has no interest in the freedom that he has come to provide but in the midst of that rejection there will still be some who will turn to Him for who he is and those who do will have the opportunity to know him in a deep personal way he will show himself to those who want to know him and to those who do not want to know him they can live their lives but at the appointed time at the appointed time there will be an appointed time there will be a final judgment and it will be over the living God will no longer allow the people in this world to enjoy the world that he has created he will take that away he will say I'm finished I'm done we are now done with this a final judgment will be executed and the people who rejected Him will experience the same punishment as the demons who rejected him as well and then of course there will be a new beginning with those who have embraced their God for who he is but I want you to understand this I want you to. That is that back then the whole world rejected Jesus with the exception of a few and today the whole world may reject Jesus with the exception of a few but that will not stop him from reaching out to those few who do really want to know the living God And for those who want to know Him He will reveal Himself to them and we who are willing to surrender to Him Who is we will have a personal relationship with the Living God of this universe who will break any chains that might bind us and he will provide us with a freedom that the world will never know the man who was possessed by the demons may have had the power may have had the strength to be able to break any chains that people would have wrapped him with to try to bind him and control him and keep him from being destructive the people may have known him that way and may have looked at the bondage that he was in and they certainly were not that afraid of him they were afraid of him yes but they were not so afraid of him that they were willing to have him said free if it meant that it would cost them if it cost them something then they did not want him to be set free that they would rather live in the fear they would rather live in the fear of him who could have been destructive then to live in the fear of what Jesus might have done by setting someone else free but the bondage the chains that he breaks that Jesus breaks are changes that bind people in such a way that they cannot know their God they cannot know the purpose for which he created them they cannot have an understanding of the world they are part of the deepest needs that they have in their being will never be met and because of these things everyone lives in bondage everyone lives in chains but the power of our God Through the Gift of the midst. Saya is such that anyone who receives him will have these chains broken as we turn to Him for who he is and he sets as all free from the inside from the inside of our very bein this is the good news turn to Him for who he is and he will say you free. You've been listening to the broadcast out of reach of Living God ministries you can hear all of our programs for free through our radio archive at Living God Ministries dot net that is living God Ministries dot net do help us develop new radio programs and continue broadcasting on this and other radio stations send your contributions to living God ministries p.o. Box 38353 Colorado Springs Colorado 80937 or use the donation link on our website living God Ministries dot net that is living God Ministries dot net. The preceding program is sponsored by living God ministries morning noon and night we're broadcasting God's word on the mighty 670 Gail t.t. 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We it calle tt's 670 am feel so encouraged every time we hear from you one of our loyal listeners Denise recently contacted the station through our Facebook page she says I've been listening for years I don't know what I would do without. I wake up with Cayle t.t. And Barbara Carr Mack go to sleep the listening to Bob do go and listen when the day gets rough I was blessed to meet Mike the station manager and love Mr Crawford's commentaries everyone should listen at least once Thank you Denise for reaching out to us and we encourage you to share your thoughts through our Facebook page search for calle t.t. 670 am on Facebook dot com. Welcome to fit positive confident with Dr Gordon Anik the purpose of this research based program is to help you improve your whole person health physical mental and spiritual You can Join us weekdays on 670 k. O. t t Monday through Friday at 9 30 pm And for more information listen to all of our shows on w.w.w. Dot been positive confident t.v. Or follow pastor candidate on Twitter and let's join pastor Anik. All right this is very positive confident during the her death in. Through the show's best of words and here with up Esther Gary Beasley a buddy of mine and we are going to pack a little bit through James today yes the book of James a remarkable book we call the book actually a letter written to Christians by a man named James who was the half brother of Jesus now maybe you don't know that but Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary so his father was cod that's why we call him the Son of God but after he was born Joseph unmarried did what married couples often do and had other children and among them was James probably the next to brother in birth order maybe 2 years maybe you're younger than Jesus and what's interesting is that James while Jesus was alive did not believe that his older brother was older half brother was the Son of God Now I understand that because sibling rivalry of the heart that would be Plus I was thing growing up if he probably heard the words you why can't you be more like your brother. And that tormented him but one of the great evidences of the resurrection is that after Jesus died and came back to life again appeared to his brother James James believe it and that's about what it would take for you to believe your brother was the son of to see him back from the grave and he did it James went on to become the 1st pastor in Jerusalem and he wrote this amazing letter and we're working through this that cry St fellowship on Sundays and we've come to chapter 2 verse one and that's where I want to launch off today and you and I can be discussing this because I know this is on your heart James as my brothers and sisters believers in our. Glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Not show favoritism James is a practical guy always is practical to be practical as potato salad to say. Believers must not show favoritism back in the time in the culture of course you always show favoritism because of some of these status or money or who they are in the society maybe there's some kind of an official yes and of example he gives has to do with favoritism over money but a rich man in a poor man coming into the church but as I was thinking about it favoritism exists in so many forms to day in and out of the church and there's no place for it I thought of nepotism which is a form of favoritism course it's where you if you have power you choose your family whether they're qualified or not now they're qualified that's different but whether they're qualified or not you choose your family given the positions of. Influence power that kind of thing we see it happen in the world it happens in churches where people let their family in the places they would let other people that another type of it would be cronyism where you pick your friends only your friends and they get to have all the perks the positions the places that's favoritism you are my back all rob your yes and in church Here's how that shows up sometimes is that our friends maybe do some kind of bad behavior and we look the other way somebody else does that kind of bad behavior we go have a talking with them we you know if friends can others can't it's cronyism if it happens in just about every society every happens in every. Police department serious in. I mean they can sometimes get away with stuff that they would not let somebody else get away. Who was just the regular citizen you know exactly and that's why James says that believers in Jesus need to be different we need to not be doing what we see people doing all around us now we can have favorites and then we all do it's impossible human nature not to enjoy one person's company over another or or that kind of thing but having favorites and showing favoritism is different. Some people that you just like. More naturally because they're nice and they treat you good and and you don't mind doing them a favor and you have people who treat you bad and they're always saying really mean and you don't necessarily shrug or favors all the time because they just rub you the wrong way they do so you can have favorites but James is saying you don't play favorites I don't I don't treat the one child who is not my favorite different than I treat the other I don't I don't treat people different than other people I thought of racism when I thought of favoritism and maybe we can talk about that for a little bit because that's the it's a big issue in America but it's not new to America. When the the New Testament church got started there were 2 groups of people. There were Jews over that yes and then there were Gentiles and the word gentile means anybody who was not a Jew So so that's a large group of non jews you and I are Gentiles and probably most of those listening to I got a little bit Jewish do you yeah well they go well my grandmother's was a little bit Jewish Ok so you are a Samaritan. A mixed race person I'm still not the proof. So this thing the church there were Jews who have been enemies of Gentiles for thousands of years hate each other wars hate each other so much of such prejudice racially No they all join the same thing yes but it wasn't easy because a Jew so hated Gentile that he wouldn't go in his house he wouldn't eat with him he wouldn't shake hands shake hands they call the Gentiles dogs and. So all this Jesus died he comes back to life again Jews believe and then Gentiles believe and if they're going to be in one church of they're going to have to deal with this racist at the attitude and history. And break down that barrier and one of the ways he did it was with ways God did it was he dealt with a guy named Peter and it's a fascinating story Peter's a good Jewish boy he was nothing he goes by the book goes by the book nothing to do with Gentiles dogs stay away from them and God uses a dream it would like to talk about that a little bit it's a fascinating dream I think it was more of a nightmare. Let's hear about it because God had to shake him up in order to shake the people he was leading up right in Jewish people they they follow dietary laws. Live at the casino level and they have clean unclean food so the Jewish people will not eat by the way so when they haven't as we do the same thing we follow. Leviticus 11 so we're not going to eat pork and we're not going to eat rabbit or horse or a camel or you know seafood other than fish to his scales you know we follow that Jewish people follow that even more strictly you see so he had this dream slash nightmare where he was shown this table of of all kinds of foods a lot of on clean foods there who knows what was on the table pork and horse and everything else the Jewish people would just a poor enough he would want to touch and much less eat and then he was told to give up any. You know and he just couldn't handle that he never did it you know finally it was shown to him that it wasn't really about food it was about how he should treat people who are not of his race or his religious persuasion or his blood relations and the dream happened 3 times the nightmare you say 3 times I think and as he gets out of the dream the last part of his. Guy knocking at the door he had a dream about unclean food and there's an unclean main man and a Gentile at the door inviting him and inviting him to go to a home of another unclean Gentile and tell them about Jesus so God does this supernaturally to Peter listen this prejudice you had were to break it down he goes to this Gentiles home and what happens there he starts talking about Jesus and the Holy Spirit falls on these Gentiles they start speaking in tongues Now the reason that's significant is because when Peter 1st experience the Holy Spirit he's spoken tongues so he sees a way that what's happening with these guys happened to me this dream I had the Gentile at the door you know God wants me to do stop being prejudiced against people of a different race and in the this was not easy for him to do it was not easy he called flak he went back to the leadership and in Jerusalem they had to have a big council about it and they said what are you doing going into the house of a gentile so he took the leadership and then the regular people just to keep at this thing till they broke it down well and you also had a religious Jewish religious establishment that it never I mean they never accepted Jesus but they also never approved of this mixing over Jews and Gentiles you know they did not and that's why they actually started persecuting them a lot yes they did yes they did. Any time you want to bring the mauled you'll get in trouble. 2 steps ahead you're a leader 3 steps ahead you're a martyr so it has to people see you doing that you can get in a lot of trouble if you want to be different because people are only comfortable with so much with only so much and that Jesus blew their mind so fast forward to today. If it took back then supernatural move of God to get rid of the favoritism showing itself in the form of racism what is it going to take today in America in the church in Christians to really change longstanding a racist feelings and tendencies in our country it's a huge problem reclean and they still today's day they say to the churches is the most segregated place in America would say going to take to change it you know just a really difficult question to answer. I mean I think. The preachers who are. Talking about it openly and not shying away from you know we have this this problem in America where preachers are only talking about. Stuff that their followers are comfortable with exactly what you just saw what we just saw with Peter you know if 2 steps ahead you're a leader 3 steps ahead well you know if I really want to follow that guy he's taking it too far you know so we have now a culture where people you know in churches they preach about money they preach about you know all of the social issues about all of the self-help issues all the stuff of this not tough to talk about. You know it's not tough to talk about it it's up to a couple to everybody you know you come to church or how to manage your money because we have a good seminar for you but we don't talk about difficult issues Well James sure did he said You must not show favoritism and I've been thinking about it I think we can do 3 things and maybe help me here thing I think is we can believe correctly. And we have to teach correctly for people to believe correctly we have to teach what the Scripture says about mankind all descended from Adam and Eve how God does not show favoritism how. God has broken down all the barriers in Christ we have to teach that and then we have to speak it and I think whenever we have an opportunity online with friends you know and we hear something that's that smacks of racism it's a great chance to speak up and say you know that's not something that I'm comfortable with them that you know God loves you know if we don't speak up you can just by your being quiet give tacit approval to things people say I'm going to Indonesia in 2 weeks largest Muslim country in the world you know and the purpose of my thrip is to preach the gospel I'm going to spend 2 weeks preaching the gospel every night you know to a group of nonbelievers Muslims and otherwise. And it really bothers me a great deal to hear preachers in this country talk negative about Islam and Muslims and everybody else and there are enemies and we go you know rid of the middle of this stuff I'm going over there you know my life on the line to preach to these people and they have this impression that their reality in America has them you know and as an American I'm coming over there to talk to them and talk to them about Jesus and I'm thinking to myself all you guys back home you know helping any you know why not create an ethic and the narrative where what you just said we are all children of God and some people have a different understanding and different culture in their front upbringing but if we label them right away as enemies that we're never going to reach them we are descended back into the same error that the church made. The Middle Ages. Go back of them where you convert by the sword it's that same kind of error going back into it. We are fundamentally the kind of people who play favorites James says don't do it don't do it it's wrong don't treat people differently it's wrong. And we have to overcome it historically because we are on this planet we are different from each other yet there's no different cultures you've got different customs you've got things that we do not to prove you know in this country because of our upbringing and to overcome all of that this is not simple and it's not you know you and I are not saying here all this is easy just you know you know it's it's not easy Come on let's be honest about you know if it's very very difficult the church has wrestled with it and will wrestle with it but I think we can speak up I think we can also pray I think would be wonderful if Christians and churches would pray that this scourge of racism would would be taken away that we make that a real mark of prayer Lord in my life and hearts local churches life and in our world we can put it in the prayer I think should be learned just help me to understand these people. In spite of my prejudices you know any help me to put those aside for a moment and just see if I can understand where they're coming from that's that's all it takes for that is so excellent and if we love people we can model this weekend love people we can make relationships with people of a different race make friendships. And then model what it is to love one another you know models examples speak stronger than anything else you know we talk about it but do we have any friends of a different ethnic group and reach across and love those folks and you know I've been in Muslim countries where people came to the meetings and they gave their life to Jesus and became Christians in not necessarily because the theology was so phenomenal that they just accepted but because what we did there is we showed love and we showed compassion and reshow that you know hilt to people who are in need and they would say to me you know nobody else cared for us this way you know and that's why we want to do this let's. Follow Jesus while you know so I mean there is a way to do this and there is a way not to do this yes yes there is if there's any other type of favoritism that exists that we have to overcome I was thinking of what other types we've talked about. Racism we've talked about cronyism we talked about nepotism. There is I think something that goes on in churches that's really insidious and kind of hidden and that's what some people call age ism. Where we were one of 4 generations basically as Americans there are people of that what's called the silent generation born. Before 1945 the greatest generation they're also called the traditionalists and they were raised with certain things around them that have shaped who they are I admired them greatly they lived through World War 2 either they or their parents lived through the Depression amazing people and then there's this other generation called The Baby Boomers and they are defined by be anon by the sixty's they have their own unique experience and culture really. Then there is the Gen x. People who were the 1st generation raised to really going to childcare 1st generation raised where both parents worked and they were put in child care during the day they have a different way of looking at life than other folks do and then there was the Millennial. And as if from a different place they were raised with 911 and terrorism and school shootings and have a totally different perspective only in perspective based on gentleman but based on based on their experiences so I go to churches where these 4 groups you don't see them represented I've seen some churches where it's the most lineal church you know and it's all geared for millennial from the state to the smoke there's the other extreme I've gone to them where they're all just the traditional Samuels suits and ties just a few of them are going to use it just a few of them left I've gone to church is where the baby boomers the dominate all the leadership they don't open it up for young millennial stab a place to to leave because you know they know they haven't been around long enough I want to see modeled in America a church that crosses the favoritism lines of generations and their. Politics also influences this through a little bit you know people kind of thread together with somebody who is also. On their political spectrum and sometimes that's it crosses generations but it tends to be in general it is to be in generations to be there to Michele everybody together bring them under the same roof How hard was it to get Jews and Gentiles to Catherine and sure exactly how it was I see it was harder much harder for them that it is for us today and then not only that it was one other thing I want to mention real quick when we talk about gentiles we're not talking about one homogeneous group we're talking about Greeks and Arabs and where you. All kinds of different nationalities that also did not like each other and also had their own prejudices against each other and have been a war with each other of course generations yes so they're all coming under the same roof they're all coming and they're told love one another as I have loved you in the Holy Spirit is falling out all falls on all and the Holy Spirit and I'm glad you said it's the Holy Spirit who breaks down these walls of favoritism has to be the Holy Spirit who can who can make us one group that loves one another so I look around my church and when I see millennial I'm so excited when I see those of the greatest generation I'm so excited. I love baby boomers I'm one of them and when I see Gen x. I'm so excited each offer so much in a church. And each has a place in a church and that would reflect the kingdom of God. The church is supposed to be supposed to be supposed to get together study the Word of God go out there and to do some help so like James would say you know make your own vision practical. It seems that James around today he would say he would say some very practical things you told me a story last time we were talking and maybe you can make this real cryptics nobody knows where the story comes from but. Maybe was I pathetically story about somebody wanting to have another seminar on another subject. And you saying to him Why don't we do something practical. Right how many seminars there were really how many seminars do we really need let's go out and feed the poor. Let's go love one another Let's break down barriers. Of racism nepotism generational ism all that kind of think let's model to the world how we can be one in Christ I think James was really trying to bring people back to the original. To doing the original ministry of Jesus as his brother he would have known. How much of practical ministry Jesus had healings in feelings and just taking care of people and I think he was trying to say hey you know it's good to study the good all of this grace everything understanding the theology but remember what Jesus actually did when he was here you know he spent 90 percent of his time doing. And then he didn't preach but he had mostly the the good deeds and good works I think our message sometimes gets confused to our message sometimes is believe in Jesus and you should. But I think a more appropriate message is follow Jesus. Because following him includes believing all right but it includes a whole lot more at the things you're talking about are for following Jesus what did he do let's do it to follow him yeah religion without works is that I'm sure you're going to get to that point that's if you more we are serious a few more weeks we'll go there when we talk about St Pete before we wrap this journey today you and I and our churches and some other churches. Are involved in trying to do what James said do live out our faith and we're the way we're doing a one of the ways doing it is we're helping to help the homeless I'm in Denver and this time of the year you and eyes are taping this it's snowing outside this time of the year is a time when they desperately need help warm clothes. So I want to. Find him a job as we speak today after we're done with this recording and I got to another one the thought I'm looking for housing for him yeah what can our listeners do to help us get warm clothes in the hands of men who don't have a home to live will they can donate clothes you can call 888-278-5082 or you can go to a church dot com and context us through there and we'll take closed it's in good condition you know and especially now that the when 3 is coming and this time of the year it's socks warm socks gloves and hats and coats those are important that's right and jeans heavy jeans very heavy jeans so let's do it it's not just read it and talk about it let's do it let's make a difference in people's lives and we can do that simply by donating some old clothes that are good condition that can help men who don't have a home to live in I want I want you to be the 1st one to know know our audience is going to know that when they're in church he's about to plant another congregation in downtown 5 blocks away from where we work with the homeless people Wow Tell us about it so it's coming I mean it's in the works we're going to make it happen my assistant is going to be a point man on that he's going to be in charge of starting that and getting it organized so if people want to get in that new congregation they can again go to a church dot com and e-mail me through their you'll find my e-mail phone number call us if you want to be a part of something like that praise God. Well thank you so much for our time together pastor Gordon. Of course Lord we pray for everyone listening to they. Face the challenges of putting. Their beliefs. Their faith. Fit positive company right here on the nation's most powerful Christian Voice 67. To preceding program is sponsored by Inner Peace ministries your to get am 670 calle teach e-commerce City Denver k o t t h d and streaming worldwide at 670 calle t.t. Dot com We don't often hear an honest review of what's happening today that's about to change as Crawford broadcasting launches our national Crawford roundtable podcast you'll hear about current events hard news stories cultural ideas and other pertinent topics the without the smoke and mirrors of. National. And broadcasting. Listen to the national. Friday mornings at 9 and Saturday nights at 730 and hear full podcast at the said pattern website 678 k l t t v dot com. The fig tree for. In decades is now here does it affect your ministry your church. Legal alert Here's attorney David Gibbs to the g.o.p. Tax bill has passed bringing about sweeping changes for corporations and individuals does that affect your church No not directly at this time no aspect of the new tax bill specifically benefits churches or other non-profits However all nonprofit organization should be aware that there may be a decline in giving over the next couple of years as the significant increase in the standard deduction will mean fewer people will be itemizing their deductions that's how people give to ministries unless a taxpayer itemizes There is essential a no tax benefit to donate to charitable organizations including churches however churches will be impacted less as giving should be linked to sprint Traill tithing instead of tax benefits be sure to tell your people they're giving now must be done not itemized on their tax returns as it has always been in the past the legal or the attorney gave the Gives Jr is a presentation of this station and the Christian law associates. Infusing your evening with the light of God's word. To am 678 k l t t k o t t h d come or sit in and streaming more than one and 670 calle t.t. Rogers reminds us of some clear instruction on this from God's word Thanks for.
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