Aug. 22, 2025
Faith Beyond Ritual
Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here. What happens when ritual replaces relationship? When a nation embraces death as a solution? When God is removed from governance? These profound questions drive our latest conversation about faith, culture, and the sanctity of life. We begin by examining how easily Christians can fall into the trap of treating Scripture as a good-luck charm rather than a life-changing relationship. From soldiers reciting Psalm 91 b...
Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here.
What happens when ritual replaces relationship? When a nation embraces death as a solution? When God is removed from governance? These profound questions drive our latest conversation about faith, culture, and the sanctity of life.
We begin by examining how easily Christians can fall into the trap of treating Scripture as a good-luck charm rather than a life-changing relationship. From soldiers reciting Psalm 91 before combat missions to nostalgic traditions that actually hinder authentic faith, we explore what it means to truly "hold fast" to Jesus rather than empty religious practices.
Ready to join the conversation? Send your questions to 737-231-0605!
Like, share, and subscribe! We love seeing and responding to your reviews and comments.
Support the show: https://wbcc.churchcenter.com/giving
00:05 - Recap of Hebrews 3 Sermon
03:50 - Ritual vs Relationship with Jesus
08:05 - Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying
14:40 - Morality in Law and Governance
18:30 - Christian Nations vs Secular States
24:40 - Kingdom of God and Earthly Governance
28:00 - Closing Thoughts on Faith and Governance
WEBVTT
00:00:05.809 --> 00:00:07.911
and welcome back to pastor plex podcast.
00:00:07.911 --> 00:00:20.963
I'm your host, pastor plec, along with pastor holland hi and also john milton joining us in his full six foot nine frame hello, that's me all right, so we're talking a little quick recap.
00:00:20.963 --> 00:00:24.812
Uh, you were there for the sermon here at Wells Branch Community Church on Sunday.
00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:30.748
Thoughts, definitely yes Thoughts when it comes to Hebrews 3,.
00:00:30.748 --> 00:00:35.902
It's reminding Israelites, reminding Jews in this case.
00:00:35.902 --> 00:00:39.731
Right, moses is a great prophet, moses is not good enough.
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:47.094
Right, hold up Jesus over Moses and then hold off hardening your heart toward the Holy Spirit.
00:00:47.094 --> 00:00:52.107
And then I think the last part was what did I say?
00:00:52.107 --> 00:00:57.325
Oh yeah, hold firm to believe in Jesus, or hold fast to believe in Jesus, all right.
00:00:57.325 --> 00:01:01.046
And I think the first thing I opened up with when I was in Iraq, I had one of my tanks.
00:01:01.046 --> 00:01:11.667
They go out in a sector and all of them would read Psalm 91 together and there was no real evidence of their lives being Christian other than that they read Psalm 91.
00:01:11.667 --> 00:01:13.768
Got it, which was great.
00:01:13.768 --> 00:01:15.689
I mean, I love the fact they read Psalm 91.
00:01:15.689 --> 00:01:16.030
Way to go.
00:01:16.030 --> 00:01:18.871
But that wasn't the thing that made them safe.
00:01:18.871 --> 00:01:26.177
In fact, they read it as tradition or ritual, so that they wouldn't get hurt in combat.
00:01:26.177 --> 00:01:33.609
Now, to be fair, they didn't get hurt in combat, praise God.
00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:37.581
Is that causation or correlation?
00:01:37.581 --> 00:01:40.245
God only knows, god only knows, all right.
00:01:40.245 --> 00:01:44.730
So I can pretty say for sure that that isn't what saves you, that's not what protects you.
00:01:44.730 --> 00:01:46.894
There is no magic words in the Bible, can?
00:01:46.914 --> 00:01:47.474
you attest to that.
00:01:47.495 --> 00:01:48.075
I attest All right.
00:01:48.075 --> 00:01:50.117
So I can pretty say for sure that that isn't what saves you, that's not what protects you.
00:01:50.117 --> 00:01:50.899
There is no magic words in the Bible.
00:01:50.899 --> 00:01:51.540
Can you attest to that?
00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:53.021
I attest All right.
00:01:53.021 --> 00:01:54.743
So I think that's how a lot of Christians are.
00:01:54.743 --> 00:01:56.186
We kind of create our own sort of things.
00:01:56.186 --> 00:02:04.522
I hold on to that are Christian things that may not necessarily be a relationship with Jesus, may not necessarily be a relationship with Jesus.
00:02:04.522 --> 00:02:15.832
And you know, like doing things a certain way, the way you've done it, in sort of tradition, not bad, but that's not what saves you, not what draws you into deeper relationship with Jesus.
00:02:15.832 --> 00:02:21.338
All right, so that's what we talked about throughout the whole thing, anything that stood out to you.
00:02:21.739 --> 00:02:28.151
Yeah, the part that I like to hammer home is always like hey, like Jews, welcome to the family we're all in.
00:02:28.151 --> 00:02:32.311
We all believe Jesus is going to die, did in fact die to cover all his sins.
00:02:32.311 --> 00:02:42.281
Your rituals that you have are nice if they draw you together and draw you near God, but they do not save you, Right, right, they do not save you.
00:02:42.301 --> 00:02:50.146
Right, right, yeah, and and there could sometimes nostalgic things, if you sort of lean into them too much, they become actually hindrance.
00:02:50.146 --> 00:03:04.522
And I, and I pointed out, like this is where I was, I actually did a couple ditties on Sunday you may not approve I sang the 1983 song from the police, which was every breath you take.
00:03:04.943 --> 00:03:19.817
Classic and a classic song and it's one of those songs that, if you grew up 80s, 90s every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you.
00:03:19.817 --> 00:03:21.983
There's that reality.
00:03:21.983 --> 00:03:24.971
We sang a song that was basically about stalking someone.
00:03:24.971 --> 00:03:26.580
So how did this tie in?
00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:29.123
Like there's that reality, like we sang a song that was basically about stalking someone, so how did this tie in?
00:03:29.123 --> 00:03:35.689
It's like, if no one thinks about the words, you just think about the nostalgic feeling back in the past, if you really analyze the words.
00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:38.092
You're like do you really want to be a person that's singing that to somebody?
00:03:38.092 --> 00:03:47.948
No, or Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye, blind, oh man, classic.
00:03:47.948 --> 00:03:56.622
And then like the lines went like this I want something else to get me through this Semi-charmed kind of life, baby, baby.
00:03:56.622 --> 00:03:58.990
And everyone was able to sing that part, which is I don't know if that's encouraging.
00:03:58.990 --> 00:04:02.426
But the next lines are like doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break.
00:04:02.426 --> 00:04:04.852
It won't stop, I won't stop.
00:04:04.852 --> 00:04:07.568
I keep stock, a tick, tock rhythm, a bump for the drop.
00:04:07.568 --> 00:04:11.862
Then I bumped up, then I took the hit that I was given, then I bumped again.
00:04:11.862 --> 00:04:12.724
Then I bumped again.
00:04:12.724 --> 00:04:24.867
I said, uh, yeah, it's wild when you look at the words and you're like I sang that yeah, or at least I was like bop my head, do it and I'd do the oh yeah, and probably like fifth grade or something for me.
00:04:24.906 --> 00:04:25.528
I can't remember exactly.
00:04:25.567 --> 00:04:37.607
I was like you know yeah, this song's awesome, 20 or whatever but it was wild to sort of see that reality of like how crazy it was for that to be so in my head and then that's nostalgic.
00:04:37.607 --> 00:04:47.949
But if I were to sort of like speak that now it would be completely antithetical to my faith and I think that's how some people are with parts of their past which the Jews were.
00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:51.281
That leads them astray or away from Jesus, not towards him.
00:04:51.661 --> 00:04:54.430
The song came out in 97, so I was 10 years old, so that was about right.
00:04:54.430 --> 00:04:56.646
I was about fourth grade, fifth grade for me, yeah yeah, I was 20.
00:04:56.646 --> 00:05:12.886
It was a great song that was hilarious, Dark and wicked of course, so you connected this with the Hebrewians who still are doing their kind of old jewish rituals, the temple stuff and they're like get circumcised yeah, and they're like not wearing.
00:05:13.326 --> 00:05:14.310
They won't wear polyester.
00:05:14.310 --> 00:05:16.884
They will not enjoy some good old-fashioned, cheap clothing.
00:05:16.884 --> 00:05:19.610
Um and or whatever.
00:05:19.629 --> 00:05:24.591
Their issue is just holding on to nostalgia instead of really um letting the covenant go.
00:05:24.591 --> 00:05:25.817
Embracing the new covenant, that's right.
00:05:25.939 --> 00:05:27.487
It's about the law, guys, yeah.
00:05:29.380 --> 00:05:29.521
Yeah.
00:05:29.521 --> 00:05:32.209
And then the last was holding firm to faith in Jesus.
00:05:32.209 --> 00:05:37.252
I had this cool moment for Paxton's second day of school.
00:05:37.252 --> 00:05:43.992
You know, they gave him a little bag and we prayed with him a couple times to receive Jesus.
00:05:43.992 --> 00:05:46.809
And you know, how do you get to heaven?
00:05:46.809 --> 00:05:49.865
You have to believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.
00:05:49.865 --> 00:05:51.048
And we went through the whole thing.
00:05:51.048 --> 00:05:59.305
And so it was like okay, if you're a Christian on your show and tell here's a little rock with a cross on it, I want you to tell everyone that you believe in Jesus.
00:05:59.305 --> 00:06:10.326
And he's like okay, so he had a turtle, he had a cross and he had like a wristband or something that we got from some vacation I think it was at Port Aransas.
00:06:10.326 --> 00:06:11.350
Okay, so those are three.
00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:15.031
I like to go to the beach, and we went to the vacation at a beach this year.
00:06:15.031 --> 00:06:17.747
And then so he does that and he holds up the turtle.
00:06:17.747 --> 00:06:18.589
He's like I love the turtle.
00:06:18.589 --> 00:06:28.394
And then he holds up the rock and he has the cross facing him and the rock facing out and he goes I like rocks, that's awesome.
00:06:28.394 --> 00:06:31.790
And then the first thing he does when he gets out of school, he runs to Adrian.
00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:32.862
He's like I didn't do it.
00:06:32.901 --> 00:06:33.783
I didn't do it.
00:06:35.267 --> 00:06:38.081
I told him I like rocks and Adrian has no idea what he's talking about.
00:06:38.081 --> 00:06:39.843
And then finally he explains.
00:06:39.843 --> 00:06:40.345
That was the story.
00:06:40.345 --> 00:06:41.807
But it was kind of wild.
00:06:41.807 --> 00:06:47.264
It was fun to kind of see the conviction but as a six-year-old it's hard to hold firm to faith in Jesus.
00:06:47.264 --> 00:06:56.870
But over and over again you're going to be challenged by that and so starting young to be able to say I'm going to stand on my faith in a public environment is something that we'll be doing for the rest of our life.
00:06:57.982 --> 00:06:58.843
Yeah, I was reluctant.
00:06:59.846 --> 00:07:06.684
After a second man's retreat, though, I'm like, yes, let's do it second man's retreat, though I'm like, yes, let's do it, I love it, I love it all right.
00:07:06.684 --> 00:07:11.800
So I wanted to shift from holding first, holding first, holding firm in our faith in jesus, holding fast our faith in jesus.
00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:25.526
I want to talk about, um, something that's going on that came out in, uh, an article in the atlantic I don't know if anyone reads the atlantic, it's not a christian article place at all um, but they have really long articles.
00:07:25.526 --> 00:07:28.269
If you read them you're like it's almost like reading a novella.
00:07:28.269 --> 00:07:47.081
But on August 11th of 25, they came out with this article, written completely from a secular person, called Canada is Killing Itself, and they brought up the fact that it's I think it's called, uh, medical assistance in dying program made, which is kind of funny.
00:07:47.742 --> 00:07:49.384
Let's call it like the maid, the.
00:07:49.384 --> 00:08:01.007
The death maid is here the death um and one in 20 deaths across canada come from made gosh.
00:08:01.007 --> 00:08:05.494
Medical assistance and dying account for 1 in 20 deaths.
00:08:05.494 --> 00:08:06.975
5%, 5%.
00:08:06.975 --> 00:08:10.826
So like I'm thinking that this is going to go.
00:08:10.826 --> 00:08:13.271
It might be 10 in 20 pretty soon.
00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:15.535
I mean that's wild 5 in 20.
00:08:15.535 --> 00:08:16.992
That's a big number.
00:08:16.992 --> 00:08:17.839
Sorry, 1 in 20.
00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:31.778
But I could see it going from 1 to 5, 5 to 10 real quickly, a higher rate than any other nation with with longer experiencing, longer experience legalizing euthanasia, and I think it's because what it says.
00:08:31.778 --> 00:08:34.403
They created the ethos of autonomy.
00:08:34.403 --> 00:08:40.721
The law prioritizes patient autonomy over mandatory exhaustion of other treatments.
00:08:40.721 --> 00:08:47.471
A contrast models like nether Netherlands, where patients and physicians must agree that no viable treatment options remain.
00:08:47.471 --> 00:08:54.265
So, for example, if a doctor doesn't sign off on it, then you can't get medically assisted death.
00:08:54.265 --> 00:09:17.086
However, in Canada, you are autonomous, and so if you think in your non-medical training non-medical whatever that that there is no hope for you, you're allowed to say it is better for me to be dead, and then they, they're like, they kill them off uh so is this a service you pay for?
00:09:17.106 --> 00:09:20.373
I, I guess or you imagine you would have to pay for it.
00:09:20.373 --> 00:09:23.548
Yeah, you have to pay for I mean it's part of the job, like so, like you know they have.
00:09:23.570 --> 00:09:28.624
You know like there's christian conferences where you show up, there's a thousand people, they do like raffles and it's like a fun experience.
00:09:28.683 --> 00:09:42.254
And they have death conferences where you go and you network there and you hang out with other killers, I guess, or, like you know, medically assisting doctors, and some people have killed up to 500 people.
00:09:42.254 --> 00:09:51.254
It's like a thing, it's like you know you go kill somebody, you head off to Starbucks, pick up your coffee head home, take the kids to the game and then you knock out another death the next day.
00:09:51.254 --> 00:09:53.187
I mean it's wild to think about.
00:09:54.761 --> 00:09:55.586
So I just looked this up.
00:09:55.586 --> 00:10:00.548
It says financial costs related to medical assistance and dying are relatively inexpensive.
00:10:00.548 --> 00:10:10.489
Physicians' fees have not yet been determined, but an interim document lists the cost at 440 dollars for a general practitioner, 519 dollars for a specialist.
00:10:10.489 --> 00:10:18.664
Uh, that's so you're just paying hundreds of dollars for someone to kill you.
00:10:18.965 --> 00:10:29.340
Yes, that is very dark very dark, very dark catching on so what's wild is like just, I mean, let's just be real.
00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:33.511
I mean like I think of the last 20 people I know who have died, they all died from like.
00:10:33.511 --> 00:10:46.852
I know two that died from covid, uh, several from cancer, uh, like, but then out of that there'd be at least one out of those 20 that died from going to the doctor and then signing up for it.
00:10:46.852 --> 00:10:52.644
And this is wild to me, that this is a thing, and it's sort of like this gets into.
00:10:52.644 --> 00:11:14.962
The government has said human beings are completely autonomous of themselves, and I think it's really the first time you're seeing that, that this value of autonomy, of like there is no one who can tell me what to do, and I think that gets to a place where then we decide what is good, what is evil.
00:11:14.962 --> 00:11:15.947
We don't have.
00:11:15.947 --> 00:11:18.878
There is no God, there is no like government.
00:11:18.878 --> 00:11:25.432
It's like even that they can't tell me that my life is worth living either, which is sort of wild to think about.
00:11:25.432 --> 00:11:46.471
And what's interesting is, like this, the thing of you know, back in 20 or 2002, belgium legalized this and the Netherlands legalized it, and I think there's some cases that look in the past that just go, wow, it's sort of wild that in 2010, there was this lady 38 years old.
00:11:46.471 --> 00:11:48.553
She had a borderline personality disorder.
00:11:48.553 --> 00:11:54.504
She was euthanized and she was 38.
00:11:54.504 --> 00:12:04.405
Her family their claim that the procedures weren't followed correctly, but all three doctors were acquitted and it was wild.
00:12:04.821 --> 00:12:05.825
Here's a woman she didn't want.
00:12:05.825 --> 00:12:08.424
At some point she goes I'm not ready to do this.
00:12:08.424 --> 00:12:13.006
And they are like no, we're doing this and she has to die.
00:12:13.006 --> 00:12:30.052
It's kind of this crazy spot where it creates the slippery slope of like, if you don't explicitly request it, it can be like hey, for an extra $500, we'll just make this problem go away fully.
00:12:30.052 --> 00:12:31.931
And how many people are in their right mind?
00:12:31.931 --> 00:12:33.115
Yeah, right.
00:12:33.115 --> 00:12:43.565
And then we're talking about teenagers, or children are apt to be like hey, at what age are we making it appropriate for someone to say my life isn't worth living anymore?
00:12:43.565 --> 00:12:45.267
And then we let them go.
00:12:45.267 --> 00:12:47.989
And if it's 18 plus, I think that's where they're at right now.
00:12:47.989 --> 00:12:53.495
But for a 19-year-old to go, hey, I think I'm ready to end my life and there's so much life to live.
00:12:53.495 --> 00:13:00.142
Maybe they're depressed, maybe they have a bad, whatever, but they can say I feel like my life is unlivable.
00:13:05.245 --> 00:13:06.897
And I think that gets into this culture of death that becomes really scary.
00:13:06.897 --> 00:13:10.914
Well, yeah, it speaks to this assumption that we've all had the blues.
00:13:10.914 --> 00:13:12.972
A lot of us have been depressed.
00:13:12.972 --> 00:13:18.212
I don't want to live in a world where I had that option before today.
00:13:18.212 --> 00:13:22.390
Right, because it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
00:13:22.851 --> 00:13:23.306
Right, okay.
00:13:23.306 --> 00:13:29.765
So then this gets to the question is should there be morals involved in law?
00:13:29.765 --> 00:13:33.052
I mean, because what you're, what?
00:13:33.052 --> 00:13:41.135
What the moral that canada has now is that your life does not have value outside of, I guess, your opinion.
00:13:41.135 --> 00:13:48.556
Your opinion, which is wild, yeah, and you didn't bring yourself into this world, but you now have the authority to take yourself out.
00:13:48.556 --> 00:13:55.837
And I think that it implies there is no God who has a saying over your life.
00:13:55.837 --> 00:13:59.936
And so it is saying to all of Canada don't worry about God.
00:13:59.936 --> 00:14:02.533
If you want to die, you can die.
00:14:02.533 --> 00:14:07.975
Your life is your own, whereas the inherently Christian thing is your life is not your own.
00:14:07.975 --> 00:14:16.259
You are God's and you are made in the image of God and so therefore have value and worth, even if you don't recognize it.
00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:18.894
So that bothers me.
00:14:20.285 --> 00:14:39.745
Here's what's so crazy is you have so many people today, so many Christians today, many people today, so many Christians today, who are, you know, vehemently opposed to the idea of a Christian nation or, um, you know, intentionally prioritizing Christianity in America and things like that.
00:14:39.745 --> 00:14:52.875
You know, it's like, uh, we see that as like, for some reason, we see that as a bad thing, um, due to a lot of you know, failure of pastors to teach what the word says about nation's government politics.
00:14:53.437 --> 00:15:00.698
A lot of people just kind of not really knowing and listening to snippets they hear on social media instead of really studying the word and how this has been taught.
00:15:00.698 --> 00:15:06.451
But what happens, though, is you go okay, if you're not going to have a Christian nation, you're going to have a something nation.
00:15:06.451 --> 00:15:08.674
You're going to have a.
00:15:08.674 --> 00:15:11.239
Laws are inherently moral.
00:15:11.239 --> 00:15:13.648
Like you brought up before you know, should laws be moral?
00:15:13.648 --> 00:15:18.929
Of course laws are about what is right and wrong, what will be accepted or what will be penalized.
00:15:18.929 --> 00:15:24.549
You know what types of things will land you in jail and what types of things will be celebrated socially.
00:15:24.549 --> 00:15:39.927
Laws are inherently moral, and so whose morality are you going to have If it's not going to be the Lord's morality, biblical morality, the 10 commandments, god's view of righteousness and justice, and right and wrong, good and evil.
00:15:39.927 --> 00:15:56.918
You're going to have someone's view, and you know who it's going to be People who think you should just end your own life if you're not happy People who think you should destroy monogamy and celebrate homosexuality and kill your babies.
00:15:56.957 --> 00:15:57.840
Have abortions.
00:15:57.840 --> 00:15:59.873
If you're suffering, just take your life.
00:15:59.873 --> 00:16:03.855
It is the total opposite of what the opening pages of the Bible say.
00:16:03.855 --> 00:16:05.751
Be fruitful and multiply.
00:16:05.751 --> 00:16:08.846
Enjoy this good earth that I've given you.
00:16:08.846 --> 00:16:12.876
Jesus said I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
00:16:12.876 --> 00:16:19.989
Like you, will either have a culture of life that comes from Christ and his word or you will have a culture of death.
00:16:19.989 --> 00:16:22.797
Take your pick.
00:16:23.664 --> 00:16:26.552
So okay, so let's do this.
00:16:26.552 --> 00:16:27.835
This is john.
00:16:27.835 --> 00:16:31.373
I would love this to hear your perspective like do you think it's okay?
00:16:31.373 --> 00:16:42.969
Or maybe it may be a better way to put this clearly secular world say, especially left-leaning people, would say it is not only okay, it is great that there are muslim nations that have sharia law.
00:16:44.451 --> 00:16:45.594
Sure, I do hear, do hear that.
00:16:45.754 --> 00:16:45.914
Right.
00:16:45.914 --> 00:16:49.009
I mean, no one is sitting there going like man down with Sharia law.
00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:52.075
They're waving Pakistani flags.
00:16:52.075 --> 00:17:05.931
I'm not saying that murder on any level is right, but people are very quick to affirm like Sharia law, great, we need to enforce that, or they need to be able to enforce that.
00:17:05.931 --> 00:17:09.615
However, when it comes to Christian law, nobody's on board with that.
00:17:09.976 --> 00:17:21.894
Yeah, or like okay, currently, currently, for you know many, many, many centuries, this is how the Bible was taught, but currently it is not okay to want a Christian nation.
00:17:22.035 --> 00:17:30.393
Right, okay, and then also like the Jewish state Israel, like I don't think any Christian is opposed to them using like the law of Moses.
00:17:30.393 --> 00:17:34.037
Probably they would say, like okay, let's not stone people.
00:17:34.037 --> 00:17:36.699
I'm not sure how they do the temple sacrifices.
00:17:36.699 --> 00:17:38.721
There'd be a lot there that they'd have to like work through.
00:17:38.721 --> 00:17:39.422
Yeah.
00:17:49.585 --> 00:17:50.951
But I think for the most part, they're down for at least Sabbath law.
00:17:50.951 --> 00:18:05.256
Like you can't, yeah, you don't hear anyone complaining online about the idea of a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation or a Hindu or a Shintoist nation or a Buddhist nation All of those exist, by the way, yeah but what you do hear people complaining about is the idea of a Christian nation, you know, a nation that worships the one who is actually king.
00:18:05.256 --> 00:18:08.974
So, like a lot of it, I think, is people confused on.
00:18:08.974 --> 00:18:18.096
They've never thought about what it means to be a Muslim nation or a Jewish nation or whatever, and how religion and politics intersect.
00:18:18.096 --> 00:18:28.896
What you know, what it means for the institution of the church or the state to be submitted to God and yet still not encroach on each other's territories Right, what about?
00:18:28.916 --> 00:18:29.057
this.
00:18:29.057 --> 00:18:32.432
Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world.
00:18:32.432 --> 00:18:35.453
Yeah, so that's kind of a common.
00:18:35.453 --> 00:18:37.332
I'm going to quote that scripture.
00:18:37.332 --> 00:18:40.875
So therefore we should keep Christians out of politics.
00:18:40.875 --> 00:18:43.790
What do you think?
00:18:44.884 --> 00:18:58.877
Well, if this remember, the Anglican church was brought here and it was part of the foundational tool of the United States to practice liberty, with the freedom to worship the Christian God.
00:18:58.877 --> 00:19:08.365
Right, I'm trying to disentangle that and quote separation of church and state and I get confused quickly.
00:19:08.505 --> 00:19:09.509
All right, yeah, so remember.
00:19:09.509 --> 00:19:10.653
Okay, let's go back to that.
00:19:10.653 --> 00:19:14.073
So, first off, where was it?
00:19:14.073 --> 00:19:16.832
I can't remember what my question was, oh, yeah, my kingdom is not this world.
00:19:16.832 --> 00:19:23.657
Jesus is saying the origin of the kingdom of God is not earth, it's heaven.
00:19:23.657 --> 00:19:29.154
Right, so he's bringing kingdom wherever he goes, and so, therefore, his followers should represent heaven on earth.
00:19:29.154 --> 00:19:35.804
And so, therefore, whatever laws we make, we want them to reflect heaven and not earth.
00:19:35.845 --> 00:19:39.065
Yeah, the origin of his kingdom is not this world.
00:19:39.065 --> 00:19:42.075
The nature of his kingdom is not this world.
00:19:42.075 --> 00:19:50.680
It is based not on worldly principles of right and wrong, but on divine principles of God's moral law.
00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:53.250
But we're taught to pray.
00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:57.924
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
00:19:57.924 --> 00:20:11.761
We want to see the spiritual rule and reign of God in heaven manifest itself on the earth, in our lives, which involves our personal walk with Jesus.
00:20:11.761 --> 00:20:13.010
It involves our families.
00:20:13.010 --> 00:20:19.778
It involves the institution of the family, the institution of the church, the institution of the state, the government nations.
00:20:19.778 --> 00:20:24.874
We want to see everything in creation submitted to Jesus Christ.
00:20:24.874 --> 00:20:25.455
Yeah.
00:20:25.695 --> 00:20:27.038
And that's the ultimate goal, and it should be.
00:20:27.038 --> 00:20:35.118
If we really believe that God has the best way and his design is for us, then we want a Christian culture.
00:20:35.118 --> 00:20:40.037
Now, that doesn't mean we can convert any hearts with religion.
00:20:40.037 --> 00:20:44.401
Nobody can convert anybody's heart with religious things.
00:20:44.401 --> 00:20:47.054
However, it is a way bigger win.
00:20:48.547 --> 00:20:51.055
In the same way, there's probably cultural Judaism.
00:20:51.055 --> 00:20:53.854
In fact, we'd say there's probably a lot of that.
00:20:53.854 --> 00:21:00.957
How many are actually legit Jews who are following the Torah by the book?
00:21:00.957 --> 00:21:01.878
Probably not many.
00:21:01.878 --> 00:21:03.651
However, what about?
00:21:03.651 --> 00:21:07.065
There's probably secular, cultural Muslims.
00:21:07.065 --> 00:21:09.373
I mean, I ran into those people all the time.
00:21:09.373 --> 00:21:16.788
They appreciated they would even do the prayers, but they would also get drunk and hire prostitutes, would even do the prayers, but they would also get get drunk and hire prostitutes.
00:21:16.788 --> 00:21:17.209
They would like.
00:00:05.809 --> 00:00:07.911
00:00:07.911 --> 00:00:20.963
00:00:20.963 --> 00:00:24.812
00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:30.748
00:00:30.748 --> 00:00:35.902
00:00:35.902 --> 00:00:39.731
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:47.094
00:00:47.094 --> 00:00:52.107
00:00:52.107 --> 00:00:57.325
00:00:57.325 --> 00:01:01.046
00:01:01.046 --> 00:01:11.667
00:01:11.667 --> 00:01:13.768
00:01:13.768 --> 00:01:15.689
00:01:15.689 --> 00:01:16.030
00:01:16.030 --> 00:01:18.871
00:01:18.871 --> 00:01:26.177
00:01:26.177 --> 00:01:33.609
00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:37.581
00:01:37.581 --> 00:01:40.245
00:01:40.245 --> 00:01:44.730
00:01:44.730 --> 00:01:46.894
00:01:46.914 --> 00:01:47.474
00:01:47.495 --> 00:01:48.075
00:01:48.075 --> 00:01:50.117
00:01:50.117 --> 00:01:50.899
00:01:50.899 --> 00:01:51.540
00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:53.021
00:01:53.021 --> 00:01:54.743
00:01:54.743 --> 00:01:56.186
00:01:56.186 --> 00:02:04.522
00:02:04.522 --> 00:02:15.832
00:02:15.832 --> 00:02:21.338
00:02:21.739 --> 00:02:28.151
00:02:28.151 --> 00:02:32.311
00:02:32.311 --> 00:02:42.281
00:02:42.301 --> 00:02:50.146
00:02:50.146 --> 00:03:04.522
00:03:04.943 --> 00:03:19.817
00:03:19.817 --> 00:03:21.983
00:03:21.983 --> 00:03:24.971
00:03:24.971 --> 00:03:26.580
00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:29.123
00:03:29.123 --> 00:03:35.689
00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:38.092
00:03:38.092 --> 00:03:47.948
00:03:47.948 --> 00:03:56.622
00:03:56.622 --> 00:03:58.990
00:03:58.990 --> 00:04:02.426
00:04:02.426 --> 00:04:04.852
00:04:04.852 --> 00:04:07.568
00:04:07.568 --> 00:04:11.862
00:04:11.862 --> 00:04:12.724
00:04:12.724 --> 00:04:24.867
00:04:24.906 --> 00:04:25.528
00:04:25.567 --> 00:04:37.607
00:04:37.607 --> 00:04:47.949
00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:51.281
00:04:51.661 --> 00:04:54.430
00:04:54.430 --> 00:04:56.646
00:04:56.646 --> 00:05:12.886
00:05:13.326 --> 00:05:14.310
00:05:14.310 --> 00:05:16.884
00:05:16.884 --> 00:05:19.610
00:05:19.629 --> 00:05:24.591
00:05:24.591 --> 00:05:25.817
00:05:25.939 --> 00:05:27.487
00:05:29.380 --> 00:05:29.521
00:05:29.521 --> 00:05:32.209
00:05:32.209 --> 00:05:37.252
00:05:37.252 --> 00:05:43.992
00:05:43.992 --> 00:05:46.809
00:05:46.809 --> 00:05:49.865
00:05:49.865 --> 00:05:51.048
00:05:51.048 --> 00:05:59.305
00:05:59.305 --> 00:06:10.326
00:06:10.326 --> 00:06:11.350
00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:15.031
00:06:15.031 --> 00:06:17.747
00:06:17.747 --> 00:06:18.589
00:06:18.589 --> 00:06:28.394
00:06:28.394 --> 00:06:31.790
00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:32.862
00:06:32.901 --> 00:06:33.783
00:06:35.267 --> 00:06:38.081
00:06:38.081 --> 00:06:39.843
00:06:39.843 --> 00:06:40.345
00:06:40.345 --> 00:06:41.807
00:06:41.807 --> 00:06:47.264
00:06:47.264 --> 00:06:56.870
00:06:57.982 --> 00:06:58.843
00:06:59.846 --> 00:07:06.684
00:07:06.684 --> 00:07:11.800
00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:25.526
00:07:25.526 --> 00:07:28.269
00:07:28.269 --> 00:07:47.081
00:07:47.742 --> 00:07:49.384
00:07:49.384 --> 00:08:01.007
00:08:01.007 --> 00:08:05.494
00:08:05.494 --> 00:08:06.975
00:08:06.975 --> 00:08:10.826
00:08:10.826 --> 00:08:13.271
00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:15.535
00:08:15.535 --> 00:08:16.992
00:08:16.992 --> 00:08:17.839
00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:31.778
00:08:31.778 --> 00:08:34.403
00:08:34.403 --> 00:08:40.721
00:08:40.721 --> 00:08:47.471
00:08:47.471 --> 00:08:54.265
00:08:54.265 --> 00:09:17.086
00:09:17.106 --> 00:09:20.373
00:09:20.373 --> 00:09:23.548
00:09:23.570 --> 00:09:28.624
00:09:28.683 --> 00:09:42.254
00:09:42.254 --> 00:09:51.254
00:09:51.254 --> 00:09:53.187
00:09:54.761 --> 00:09:55.586
00:09:55.586 --> 00:10:00.548
00:10:00.548 --> 00:10:10.489
00:10:10.489 --> 00:10:18.664
00:10:18.965 --> 00:10:29.340
00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:33.511
00:10:33.511 --> 00:10:46.852
00:10:46.852 --> 00:10:52.644
00:10:52.644 --> 00:11:14.962
00:11:14.962 --> 00:11:15.947
00:11:15.947 --> 00:11:18.878
00:11:18.878 --> 00:11:25.432
00:11:25.432 --> 00:11:46.471
00:11:46.471 --> 00:11:48.553
00:11:48.553 --> 00:11:54.504
00:11:54.504 --> 00:12:04.405
00:12:04.821 --> 00:12:05.825
00:12:05.825 --> 00:12:08.424
00:12:08.424 --> 00:12:13.006
00:12:13.006 --> 00:12:30.052
00:12:30.052 --> 00:12:31.931
00:12:31.931 --> 00:12:33.115
00:12:33.115 --> 00:12:43.565
00:12:43.565 --> 00:12:45.267
00:12:45.267 --> 00:12:47.989
00:12:47.989 --> 00:12:53.495
00:12:53.495 --> 00:13:00.142
00:13:05.245 --> 00:13:06.897
00:13:06.897 --> 00:13:10.914
00:13:10.914 --> 00:13:12.972
00:13:12.972 --> 00:13:18.212
00:13:18.212 --> 00:13:22.390
00:13:22.851 --> 00:13:23.306
00:13:23.306 --> 00:13:29.765
00:13:29.765 --> 00:13:33.052
00:13:33.052 --> 00:13:41.135
00:13:41.135 --> 00:13:48.556
00:13:48.556 --> 00:13:55.837
00:13:55.837 --> 00:13:59.936
00:13:59.936 --> 00:14:02.533
00:14:02.533 --> 00:14:07.975
00:14:07.975 --> 00:14:16.259
00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:18.894
00:14:20.285 --> 00:14:39.745
00:14:39.745 --> 00:14:52.875
00:14:53.437 --> 00:15:00.698
00:15:00.698 --> 00:15:06.451
00:15:06.451 --> 00:15:08.674
00:15:08.674 --> 00:15:11.239
00:15:11.239 --> 00:15:13.648
00:15:13.648 --> 00:15:18.929
00:15:18.929 --> 00:15:24.549
00:15:24.549 --> 00:15:39.927
00:15:39.927 --> 00:15:56.918
00:15:56.957 --> 00:15:57.840
00:15:57.840 --> 00:15:59.873
00:15:59.873 --> 00:16:03.855
00:16:03.855 --> 00:16:05.751
00:16:05.751 --> 00:16:08.846
00:16:08.846 --> 00:16:12.876
00:16:12.876 --> 00:16:19.989
00:16:19.989 --> 00:16:22.797
00:16:23.664 --> 00:16:26.552
00:16:26.552 --> 00:16:27.835
00:16:27.835 --> 00:16:31.373
00:16:31.373 --> 00:16:42.969
00:16:44.451 --> 00:16:45.594
00:16:45.754 --> 00:16:45.914
00:16:45.914 --> 00:16:49.009
00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:52.075
00:16:52.075 --> 00:17:05.931
00:17:05.931 --> 00:17:09.615
00:17:09.976 --> 00:17:21.894
00:17:22.035 --> 00:17:30.393
00:17:30.393 --> 00:17:34.037
00:17:34.037 --> 00:17:36.699
00:17:36.699 --> 00:17:38.721
00:17:38.721 --> 00:17:39.422
00:17:49.585 --> 00:17:50.951
00:17:50.951 --> 00:18:05.256
00:18:05.256 --> 00:18:08.974
00:18:08.974 --> 00:18:18.096
00:18:18.096 --> 00:18:28.896
00:18:28.916 --> 00:18:29.057
00:18:29.057 --> 00:18:32.432
00:18:32.432 --> 00:18:35.453
00:18:35.453 --> 00:18:37.332
00:18:37.332 --> 00:18:40.875
00:18:40.875 --> 00:18:43.790
00:18:44.884 --> 00:18:58.877
00:18:58.877 --> 00:19:08.365
00:19:08.505 --> 00:19:09.509
00:19:09.509 --> 00:19:10.653
00:19:10.653 --> 00:19:14.073
00:19:14.073 --> 00:19:16.832
00:19:16.832 --> 00:19:23.657
00:19:23.657 --> 00:19:29.154
00:19:29.154 --> 00:19:35.804
00:19:35.845 --> 00:19:39.065
00:19:39.065 --> 00:19:42.075
00:19:42.075 --> 00:19:50.680
00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:53.250
00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:57.924
00:19:57.924 --> 00:20:11.761
00:20:11.761 --> 00:20:13.010
00:20:13.010 --> 00:20:19.778
00:20:19.778 --> 00:20:24.874
00:20:24.874 --> 00:20:25.455
00:20:25.695 --> 00:20:27.038
00:20:27.038 --> 00:20:35.118
00:20:35.118 --> 00:20:40.037
00:20:40.037 --> 00:20:44.401
00:20:44.401 --> 00:20:47.054
00:20:48.547 --> 00:20:51.055
00:20:51.055 --> 00:20:53.854
00:20:53.854 --> 00:21:00.957
00:21:00.957 --> 00:21:01.878
00:21:01.878 --> 00:21:03.651
00:21:03.651 --> 00:21:07.065
00:21:07.065 --> 00:21:09.373
00:21:09.373 --> 00:21:16.788
00:21:16.788 --> 00:21:17.209