SPEAKER_01
0:27 Paul says, Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. 0:46 This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. 0:53 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. 1:01 Verse 30, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now here, that I still have. 1:08 Let me ask this are you engaged in the same conflict that Paul was engaged in? 1:15 Now, I'm not just saying are you engaged in conflict. 1:18 Some of you are engaged in dumb conflicts, man. 1:21 That you're fighting with people online, that's dumb. 1:24 That you're in a fight with your HOA, that may be justified. 1:27 That you're in a fight with the school administration, that's not the kind of conflict that Paul was engaged in. 1:33 Paul was engaged in a conflict against the devil and his evil schemes, against the principalities of darkness. 1:41 That's what he was engaged in. 1:43 He was pushing back darkness in virtually every verse of the Bible that you see. 1:50 He was fighting against heresies that began to creep into the church, that he was correcting ridiculous behavior right there in the church. 1:59 He was actively fighting spiritual warfare because he understood that his battle was not against flesh and blood, is not against other people. 2:08 His primary battle was against the devil of hell himself. 2:11 That he was encouraging the church, that he was making disciples, see Timothy and Titus. 2:16 And the primary engagement that Paul was engaged in in order to push back darkness was this. 2:23 He did not start a political party. 2:25 He did not run for office. 2:27 Now I am pro-Christians running for office. 2:29 There's no doubt about it. 2:30 And I think the way that we vote is vitally important. 2:33 Because if Christians check out of the political scene, then the godless people will run our society. 2:39 That's not what I'm saying. 2:41 But his primary engagement was this: spreading the gospel. 2:45 That's what Paul did is Paul took the gospel wherever he went and he established churches. 2:51 And the reason that he established churches is because the local church is God's plan A to spread the gospel for the sake of the Great Commission unto the glory of God. 3:01 So let me give you an example. 3:03 This is a question that I have been asked a lot, and I get it, I understand it, and I think the question is right. 3:10 I'm just not sure we're engaging in the same conflict that Paul was engaged in. 3:15 The question is this I was at a church event uh this week, and a guy comes up to me and he says, Hey man, I'm really concerned about Islam and the spread of Islam. 3:22 What should I do? 3:24 And I ask him, Well, what are you doing? 3:25 He goes, Well, you know, I'm listening to podcasts and I'm watching people talk about it. 3:30 And I get it. 3:30 I get it. 3:31 Listen, it is a demonic religion. 3:33 Make no bones about it, okay? 3:35 That Muhammad encountered a demon. 3:38 Later he was convinced that it was an angel. 3:40 He basically made up some stuff that he attributed to Allah. 3:44 It is a false demonic religion and so many things about it or nothing but antichrist. 3:51 There's no doubt about it. 3:52 And then he was a pedophile, he was a warlord, he sent his people to take over the world by aggression. 3:59 You can already see it happening in, especially in the UK right now and a whole bunch of other places, and these folks are playing the long game as instructed by who they call their prophet. 4:10 Now here's the question: should we engage against Islam? 4:15 Well, the answer is yes, but the real question is how are we to engage? 4:20 Well, you got to be smart about this. 4:22 You can simultaneously understand that Islam is evil, and you can simultaneously understand that we are to love Muslims. 4:32 So the real question that I would ask you, especially, because you're with all of the things that you're following right now, you're gonna get all hyped about this. 4:41 But when is the last time you shared the gospel with your Muslim neighbor, your Muslim coworker? 4:47 When is the last time you shared the gospel, the answer to what is happening, even in our country and all the things? 4:53 Of course you should vote rightly. 4:55 There's no doubt about it. 4:57 Of course you should vote rightly. 4:58 But the primary engagement is with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 5:05 So when is the last time you, instead of just sitting on your couch and getting mad at your computer screen as you watch a podcast about the evils of Islam around the world, both historically and today, and didn't do anything about it except feel feelings, when is the last time that you mobilized and engaged like the Apostle 5:24 Paul and you took the good news of the gospel to your lost neighbor, your lost friend, your Muslim co-worker and said, I want to talk to you about Jesus, which means you better be equipped in the kind of language that would communicate with that. 5:39 Because if every single believer that is concerned about this, as we should be, if every single believer, instead of just feeling a thing when you see a segment on the news about it, and instead we did something compelled by the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's how we take kingdom ground. 5:59 May you be engaged in the same conflict that you read about, Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul has, and may you take his primary tactic of spreading the gospel.