Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1242 | Christians, Rise Up. This Is the Moment

Starting point is 00:00:00 Peace through strength, clarity, courage. That's what the world needs right now. That's what the church understands right now. Thankfully, J.D. Vance understands that. We will hear from him today. And I've got a message for you from the word of God that I hope encourages you. They're not my words. They're not my thoughts. They are God's thoughts. And they give us so much boldness for today. And so I hope this gives you the bravery that you need. This episode is, brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use Code Alley and check out this Good Ranchers.com. Code Alley. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Vice President J.D. Vance guest hosted Charlie Kirk's show yesterday.

Starting point is 00:00:57 And he had some words for the country and especially for those who are celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk. Here's that one. There is no unity with people who scream. children over their parents' politics. There is no unity with someone who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in order to excuse his murder. There is no unity with someone who harasses an innocent family the day after the father of that family lost a dear friend. There is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk's assassination. And there is no unity with the people who fund these articles, who pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathizers, who argue that Charlie Kirk a loving husband and father deserved a shot to the neck because he spoke words with which they disagree.

Starting point is 00:01:48 He's absolutely right. Look, as Christians, we are called to try to make peace with everyone. But making peace with people does not mean being weak. It doesn't mean being a dormant. It means sometimes that we have to restrain evil and punish wickedness on behalf of the most vulnerable. People get very confused sometimes about Jesus's commands to turn the other cheek and to forgive and to pray for our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. All of those things are commands for the Christian and they are countercultural. They are definitely against any kind of spirit of anger and bitterness and vengeance when it comes to our personal relationships. People apply that wrongly to how the government is supposed to act. when we say, well, we need to punish crime, or we need to use the death penalty to punish those

Starting point is 00:02:41 who commit this kind of murder, people will say, well, Jesus said to turn the other cheek. And I just want to take you through that logic for a second. If you're saying that Jesus' commands apply to the government, then you would be saying that we should not punish crime at all. Because if we should turn the other cheek, when people commit these heinous crimes of rape or assault or murder. That would mean that we also shouldn't put them in jail. And surely, I haven't met anyone yet who believes that.

Starting point is 00:03:12 So I think we have to think a little bit more deeply about what it means to make peace and what it means to turn the other cheek. What it actually means in these passages is to conduct ourselves in our interpersonal communication in our relationships with grace and forgiveness and foregoing all hypocrisy and and the kind of resentment that builds up between people, understanding that God and Christ has forgiven us so much. And so there is grace. There is a possibility for repentance and for salvation.

Starting point is 00:03:45 And for spiritual mercy for this person who killed Charlie Kirk. And I pray that. I pray that the Holy Spirit would enter his heart, that he would change, that he would see the gravity of what he did and the state of his sinful self apart from Christ bound for hell. I pray that for him. but that does not negate earthly justice.

Starting point is 00:04:04 Because what we see, specifically in Romans 13, that the state, the government does not bear the sword in vain. That is not an analogy. That is not a metaphor. The sword there is a symbol of execution. And when we're talking specifically about this particular person that committed this crime against Charlie Kirk and committed this murder. we go all the way back to Genesis 9 in the Noahic covenant before the establishment of Israel,

Starting point is 00:04:37 before the establishment of any civilization. When God says that if you commit murder, then you should be executed. If you shed another's blood, if you shed the blood of an innocent person, then your blood will be shed. Why? It's not from any circumstantial reason. It wasn't for some cultural reason. It's for a reason that is still true today because, man, is made in God's image. So I just want you to understand that yes, as Christians, we should be

Starting point is 00:05:09 peacemakers and we should seek to forgive. That does not mean that we do not have the responsibility to compel and advocate to our government to exact earthly justice. We've talked many times, especially in 2020. What does biblical justice look like? It's not social justice. It's not collectively maligning one group because of their socioeconomic status or race and alleviating all guilt from another group. It's not an oppressed versus oppressor dichotomy. It's not taking away the wealth and the privilege from one group and trying to redistribute it to another group. That's not what justice looks like. We can look at God's law giving to Israel and his character throughout scripture to look at what justice should look like. If we are going to abide by

Starting point is 00:05:56 the creator's rules that the founders abided by. God's definition of justice is proportional, it is impartial, it is truthful, and it is direct. Proportional, impartial, truthful, and direct. People are very confused about what justice needs to look like today. And even though J.D. Vance right there, he's not talking about the death penalty. I don't think I know his personal stance on the death penalty, particularly as a Catholic. Many Catholics are against it. But I do hear him crying out for justice.

Starting point is 00:06:30 I do hear him emphasizing the government's job to restrain evil, to do everything we can to root out evil. That's the same thing I heard Stephen Miller say in the clip that we played on Monday. So I appreciate this kind of strength. This is not the time for kumbaya. It's not the time for kumbaya. I'm not saying that we should be trying to stoke division because ultimately this is not left versus right. It's not. It's good versus evil. That's what it is. And after George Floyd died, what did we see? We saw arson. We saw looting. We saw destruction. We saw violence. We saw people

Starting point is 00:07:08 scared to leave their homes. We saw businesses boarding up their windows. We saw people of all races be murdered by these rioters. Never forget. St. Louis police officer, former police officer David Dorn. He was a black man who was killed by rioters. Never forget, Sequoria Turner. She was a little eight-year-old girl who was killed by BLM rioters in Atlanta, Georgia a few years ago. Has that happened in the wake of the death of one of the rights heroes? George Floyd wasn't even a hero for the left. He wasn't even someone that people knew. He was just kind of a symbol of something that people on the left think is systemic, and it's actually not. But Charlie Kirk, he was someone that millions and millions of people on our side

Starting point is 00:07:55 around the world admired. Have we seen anyone scared to leave their homes? Have we seen any business bored up their windows? Our police officer is scared for their lives right now. Do we see violence in the streets? Do we see plans of vengeance coming to fruition? No. It is good versus evil. And it's about time that we see that. And I love this kind of clear language from J.D. Vance. To have this kind of moral clarity in the White House is so incredibly important. It is so meaningful for a country. And what I can pray is that justice, true biblical, proportionate, impartial justice manifests itself. And that this administration, if it accomplishes, if it accomplish it accomplish its godly responsibility,

Starting point is 00:08:49 it's God-given obligation to restrain evil on behalf of the most vulnerable. I've always said that one way to love your neighbor, one way to love your neighbor is to fight crime. One way to show compassion for the most vulnerable, to stand up for the truly marginalized, the truly defenseless is to do everything you can to stop violence in the streets and to protect them from those who give no regard to their well-being. And so this is the righteous obligation of the government to do what they can to put a stop to evil. Okay, we've got a lot more to say about J.D. Vance's comments on Charlie Kirk's podcast.

Starting point is 00:09:33 But let me go ahead and remind you, share the errors is coming up, y'all. It's coming up on October 11th. That is, wow, it is going to be here so soon. And we are expecting 5,000 Christian women from across the country to be there. are singing in unison, is he worthy? This is my father's world in Christ alone, just to give you a little bit of a taste of what the worship will look like. And I can tell you from being there last year, this is such a special conference. It is by the grace of God, Holy Spirit, inspired. And I've talked to every one of the speakers, they are fired up. Last year it was right before the election.

Starting point is 00:10:10 So we were fired up. We were all coming together. We didn't know what was going to happen. we were nervous. We needed to remind ourselves that God is on his throne, that he is sovereign, that we've got each other's backs, that we are standing up for one another, we are linking arms with each other, we had fellowship, we had worship, we had teaching. I had no idea that we were going to be in such a similar but even more monumental moment this year, that I think we need it more this year than we did last year. And if you're thinking that too, if you feel that fire burning, you don't know what to do with it or if you feel alone. If you feel afraid, please come to share the arrows. I'm just inviting you to come because I want you there. So go to share the arrows.com. You can use my code

Starting point is 00:10:49 Allie 20 when you check out and you'll get 20% off. It's actually if you press the unlock button on Ticketmaster, that's where you'll get that 20% off. We've got a Lisa Childers. I mean, she is awesome. Y'all are going to love her so much. We've got Katie Faust. I just picked the like most fiery people I can find Francesca Battistelli. We've got a biblical health panel. We've got an awesome motherhood panel. We've got Ginger Dugger Volo. This year, Share the Arrows is brought to you by our friends at Carly Jean, Los Angeles. So go to ShareTheirows.com, use Alley 20 at that unlock button. And come join us on October 11th in Dallas.

Starting point is 00:11:24 I cannot wait. And before we get back into this conversation, I want to tell you guys about Cozy Earth. I love Cozy Earth. We love their bedding. I love their towels. And I actually need to get more of all of this because I just, I hate running out of my cozy earth stuff, whether it's my pajamas or my loungewear or any of the other products that they have, it's just so top-notch. And it's luxurious and it's breathable

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Starting point is 00:12:33 So when you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out in hell, call their employer. We don't believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility. And there is no civility in the celebration of political assassination. It's what I said yesterday. It's what a lot of people have been saying, that there are consequences for celebrating someone's assassination. It's not cancel culture. It's not your political opinion.

Starting point is 00:13:01 No, you've got a character problem. Like, you're probably possessed by a demon. And if you're possessed by a demon, I don't want you to be a pediatric nurse. Call me crazy. Like, I don't want you to be a therapist. I don't want you working at the old folks home. I don't want you to be a kindergarten teacher.

Starting point is 00:13:15 I don't want you to be a professor. or shaping the minds of future leaders and voters. No, thank you. No, thank you. It's a character problem. It's a liability for everyone involved. So yes, you should be calling the employer of people who are out and out celebrating or excusing Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Starting point is 00:13:34 There has to be social ostracization for those people. As Stephen Miller said yesterday, we will not live in fear, but you will live in exile. That is what the justice system is. for when people are actually committing crimes. I'm not talking about punishing people legally for their speech. But when people are actually committing crimes, these cells of violence and radicalization that we're seeing across the country, our justice system is supposed to go after those. And when it comes to people who are celebrating this assassination, there are social consequences for that. Overton window is shifting, baby. And if you didn't want that to happen, shouldn't

Starting point is 00:14:13 to kill the nicest guy on the right. All right, he's got more to say. Here's top five. St. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians to put on the full armor of God. Let all of us put on that armor and commit ourselves to that cause for which Charlie gave his life to rebuild a united states of America and to do it by telling the truth. Yep. Speaking the truth in love, love, don't partner with darkness, but instead expose it. That's what the book of Ephesians tells us to do. There's so much wisdom in the book of Ephesians. My friend and I, I feel like I've probably told you this before, but I can't remember. My friend and I, when we were in college, we decided to memorize the whole book of Ephesians, which I don't think there's another book

Starting point is 00:15:04 that I've memorized in full. I've memorized lots of bits and pieces of the Bible over time, but we decided to memorize and recite to each other just for fun. the entire book of Ephesians. And y'all, I am so thankful that I did that. I really encourage you to challenge yourself in that way because you have heard me do it. You've heard me and just tell you Ephesians too and I keep going and going because like 13 years ago, my friend and I decided to memorize it and recite it. And it really does hide the word in your heart. And you're just reminded of the gospel all the time. You're reminded of these verses all of the time because you have it locked away in your head. So wow, what a gift it is to hide God's word in your heart

Starting point is 00:15:47 and how amazing it is that it is living and active, that every time something happens, it bubbles up. And God is so good that he has given us his will in his word so that we don't have to wonder what he thinks or wonder what to do next. But this ancient text that is always applicable to us in every single moment is ministering to our hearts when we read scripture and when we memorize scripture. And you know what? Because I forgot this, I want to tell you on that note, something really amazing. Crossway and I are partnering together to give away 500 of the concise ESV study Bibles. So it's really amazing that they are willing to do this. We reached out to them and we said, what can we do? We want people to be reading the Bible. We don't want them to have

Starting point is 00:16:34 to pay for it. So all you have to do is click the link in this description. We'll put it at the top of the description, whether you're listening or you're watching, and it will be totally for free. You don't have to pay for shipping. You don't have to pay anything. If you want to read the Bible, then get this study Bible and start in the book of John. We would love for you to get one of these Bibles and to dig into it. Maybe you could even start in the book of Ephesion since I was just talking about that. But it's so important to know and understand true. right now. There's this other clip from J.D. Vance, where he basically recites the Nicene Creed, and the Nicene Creed in general is what unites kind of Catholics and Protestants that generally

Starting point is 00:17:17 we agree on the principles here. So I thought that this was really good. I mean, this is so much of the gospel that is being publicized in Charlie's name to millions of people. So praise God for that, Sot, six. Now, the most important truth Charlie told is this, that long ago, go a man, begotten, not made, came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate and suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day. Charlie believed, as I do, that all the truth he told flowed from that fundamental principle. Yes, and amen.

Starting point is 00:18:05 So I just thought that was a beautiful tribute. I thought that it balanced strength and faith and hope and peace really well. Again, a muscular piece, not a dormant piece. And that is what we need right now. We need peace through strength, not just externally, but internally as well. As I've said before when, you know, before Charlie, like, We all thought on the right we were bringing words. We were bringing beliefs, but they were bringing weapons and they were bringing bullets. And this is a very different battle than the one that we thought.

Starting point is 00:18:40 And we still want peace. We still want civility. We don't want a civil war here. But again, in order to do that, we have to root out evil. Now on Monday, we talked about all of the revival, the awakening that we are seeing across the country, these so many people who have reached out to me personally, people that I've known in life, also just followers and fans, sending me messages saying, I'm going to church, I'm reading my Bible, I'm praying, I dreamed about Charlie, this shook me. I was talking to my makeup artist this morning and she was so deeply affected by Charlie's death. And of course, she didn't know him personally. But it is comforting to me when I talk to so many people who feel because Charlie was murdered that they lost

Starting point is 00:19:28 something. And it's sad, of course, but the reason that it is assuring is because I know that this has changed everything. It's changed everything ultimately, I think, in a way that God will bring glory to himself and that will lead to change. That will be good for the country. Now, would I have chosen, would anyone have chosen for it to go this way? No, absolutely not. I hate that Charlie was an impetus for anything. I wish that there could have been a revival and reawakening without this. And I do think that that had already kind of been started. But again, God is in the business of redemption. He is in the business of making beauty out of ashes and thwarting Satan's schemes. And when Satan thinks he's winning, when he thinks that he's taken someone out of the fight, God does something good.

Starting point is 00:20:22 God does something incredible by bringing glory to himself. I've got more on that in a second. Let me pause. Tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Constitution wealth. Constitution wealth is a business that you need to be working with. When it comes to your money, you need to know who is handling it. Like you need to know where you're investing.

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Starting point is 00:21:48 A lot of people are saying that they lost followers, they lost friends, they had to block people because they said something about Charlie Kirk. And, you know, Forrest, as I've talked about, we did a segment, Charlie and I did, on Fox and Friends on the rise in Christian music. And I said that there is genuinely good music now that is glorifying God. And I talked about going to a Forrest Frank concert. And Charlie had talked about Forrest Frank before. And so Forrest just did this kind of like dedication video to Charlie.

Starting point is 00:22:21 He didn't make a political statement or anything like that. And I guess he got backlash. Well, after he got backlash, this is what Forrest had to say. 30,000 people unfollowed me because I posted about Charlie Kirk and I said that Jesus Christ is Lord. Good. I don't want you to follow me. I don't want you to track my music. I don't want you to come to my shows.

Starting point is 00:22:43 I don't want you to do any of that if you don't do this one thing. And that is follow Jesus Christ, the king of all kings, the Lord of all Lords, the one who is the who is to come. He's coming back real soon. So if you have not gotten your heart right with him and drop down on your knees and repented to him, today is the day. The hour is at hand. I don't know if you can feel it too. There's a heaviness. Something shifted. And I don't care. I don't care anymore. I just want you to know that Jesus Christ is here and he loves you. Okay. Like that's just, I just want y'all to know out there, especially y'all who just maybe aren't plugged into our side of things. That's the vibe. Okay. Like that's the shift. That's

Starting point is 00:23:21 what's happening. And the fact that he said that he repents for not being bolder in his platform, someone that I think very unapologetically shares the gospel, but maybe he feels like he's been reticent to say some things that are true for fear of backlash. Like that is really big. And I just appreciate that so much. Elisa Childers, she's going to be speaking to share the arrows. She's an apologist. She's amazing. She posted on X a confession that a few years ago she was asked to speak at a conference with Charlie, but she believed some of the progressive lies about Charlie, that he was divisive or alt-right or whatever it was, and she said no. And you know what she did? She did the only thing that we can ever do when we mess up, when we make a mistake,

Starting point is 00:24:03 when we believe things that aren't true. She apologized. And she said, this was to her shame and that she was wrong about Charlie and that she watched all this footage of Charlie and realized that he was a minister of the gospel, that he wanted people to be saved, and to put. And to people are waking up and I'm not just talking about non-Christians waking up. I am talking about Christians. I am talking about Christians who have been shaken because of this. They've been shaken out of their stupor. They've been shaken out of their cowardice. And I feel like I have been even more reinvigorated. I mean, at first, my reaction, of course, was fear and anxiety. And there is a part of that because I'm human. But gosh, this has so firmly established

Starting point is 00:24:49 the importance of bold truth tellers. And this has awakened, I think, this just spirit of courage and courage is a contagion. And when it hits one person, that torch is passed to the next and the next. And I've been thinking about this quote that I heard from my friend Seth Gruber. He has an organization, a pro-life organization called the White Rose Resistance. And he got this name from the white rose resistance of Christians in Germany who fought against the Nazis at the time. And Hans and Sophie Scholl were these young 22 and 24-year-old brother and sister pair who were advocates against the Nazis. And they were beheaded for their advocacy for fighting against Nazism and fighting on behalf of their fellow image bears of God in Germany. They were

Starting point is 00:25:40 V-Henaded in 1943. At the age of 22, Sophie Scholl wrote a letter to her mother, explaining what the real problem is. She said that the real problem weren't the evil doers, but the cowards. She wrote, the real damage is done by those millions who just want to survive, the honest men who just want to be left in peace, those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves, those with no size and no causes, those who won't take measure of their own strength for fear of antagonizing their own weakness, those who don't like to make waves or enemies, those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. If you don't make any noise, the boogeyman won't find you, but it's all an illusion

Starting point is 00:26:31 because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe, safe? From what? Life is always on the edge of death. Narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. Sophie's bravery, her death helped fan the flame of Nazi opposition throughout the world. And I just want to remind you, Christian, that your heritage is not one of cowardice. It is not one of ambiguity. Your heritage is one of courage. It's one of boldness. It's one of bravery. I think a lot of people can look out at the chaos of our world and say it's never been worse than this. Things are accelerating. They're getting darker than they've ever been before and

Starting point is 00:27:27 it's harder to share the gospel than ever. It's harder to live like a Christian than ever. And you just can't overcome this fear. Let me remind you that Christians used to be fed to lions. Let me remind you that Christians used to be beheaded and their heads placed on top of stakes and lit on fire to light a country. Let me remind you that Christians have been tortured, that they've been butchered, that they have been betrayed, that they have been bruised and battered for their faith. Let me remind you of the fate of our Lord, who was full of grace and truth, who only shared truth, who healed the sick, who helped the poor, who touched the untouchable. He was the kindest and most loving individual that ever lived, that ever walked the earth,

Starting point is 00:28:17 and yet he was crucified. And I also want to go to Acts 7 and 8. I've been thinking a lot over the past few days about Stephen. Stephen, who is described as being full of grace in power. Acts 6, 8 through 15. Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and others, paraphrasing that part, rose up and disputed with Stephen,

Starting point is 00:28:53 but they cannot withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, We have not heard him speak blasphemous words. We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God, which of course was not true. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes. And they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. And they set up false witnesses who said,

Starting point is 00:29:16 This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place in the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. And gazing at him, All who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. And then Stephen took this opportunity to share the gospel. He laid it all out. He said, this is what the prophet said.

Starting point is 00:29:41 This is the road through the Old Testament from the very beginning until our Messiah, this Jesus arrived and you rejected him. Versus 51 through 53, you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your faith. fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered who you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. So Stephen, out of love for these people, out of a love for God, out of the desire for these people to know truth and accept

Starting point is 00:30:24 Jesus as the Messiah, he hurt their feelings. So they falsely accused him. They called him a blasphemer. Maybe in our day they would have called him a bigot. And what happened to him? This person, Stephen, who had a face like an angel who was so peaceful, so calm and full of grace and power, wouldn't all of us want to be described that way as full of grace and power? He was stone to death. They were so angry that they executed him. Jesus, full of grace and truth. Again, what a description was crucified. Over and over again, we see that no matter how kind Christians are, no matter how nice we are, no matter how perfect our tone is, no matter how much we plead with people, there will be people because they don't understand the truth, because they don't know the truth,

Starting point is 00:31:11 because they are depraved in mind who will want to kill us. That is the pattern for Christianity. So anyone out there who would like to say, well, Charlie was killed because of how he spoke, because he was divisive, because of his politics. No, Charlie was killed because he was a forthtelling prophet and because the prophet in so many different eras has been murdered, has been executed. I'm not claiming that he was a foretelling prophet that he could see the future, but a forth telling prophet through the power of the Holy Spirit, he was able to give such prescient and precise language to describe the evil spirit of the age and to call people to repentance. And because of that, he made people very angry. And that is why I believe he was killed.

Starting point is 00:32:03 And that is the history of Christianity. But the history of Christianity doesn't stop with someone being killed. The history of Christianity starts with not Jesus' crucifixion, but his resurrection. And because of that, we see the manifestation of the resurrection throughout the past 2,000 years of Christian history that when Christians are killed, Christians are multiplied. Christians tell the truth. Christians are killed. And then Christians are multiplied. That's the pattern. That's the pattern that we are seeing right now. We are living through the same cycle that Christians have lived through for years. And what a blessed privilege that we get to be vessels of courage of sharing that same gospel. and making sure that God's purpose of multiplication happens. Wow. What a terrifying age, but what a privileged moment that we get to live in. Let us not fail.

Starting point is 00:32:58 Let us not falter. Let us not shrink back. Let us not cower in fear. Let us meet this moment with the fullness of strength of the power of the Holy Spirit that God has placed in all of us, that God is placed in every single believer for the past 2,000. years. From Nero to Newsome, Jesus reigns. From Herod to Harris, the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the lives of believers. All right, I've got more encouragement for us in just a second. Let me go

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Starting point is 00:34:14 help with the rest crowd health members have already saved over 40 million dollars simply by refusing to overpay wow you can too this open enrollment take your power back join crowd health to get started today for $99 for your first three months if you use my code alley at join crowdhealth.com that's join crowdhealth.com code alley crowd health is not insurance opt out take your power back this is how we win join crowdhealth.com. I just want to remind you that God's eternal plan of redemption is going off without a hitch. Again, he's not surprised. He's not taken aback. He's not thrown off. He's not looking down and wondering what is going to happen next. When it seems like God is doing one thing, he's actually doing a million things. And through the unseen and unsung daily mundane work of believers,

Starting point is 00:35:08 he is accomplishing his purposes. And let us remember this, that what God's says out to do, he does. The will he wants to accomplish he accomplishes. Christ will win. Christ will claim what is his. He will bring the entirety of his flock to himself. He will make all things new. He will set all things right. One day through Christ we win. One day through Christ, we inherit the earth. One day this dark night will be over. And we will wake up in a new heaven and a new earth where there's no more sin and there's no more sadness and there's no more sorrow and there's no more murder or assassination or abortion or depravity or injustice or oppression everything will be made perfect because jesus wins jesus wins that is our hope that is

Starting point is 00:36:05 what we cling to one day we will stand shoulder to shoulder with charlie with the christians who have gone before us with all of these giants of the faith that we've lost this year. Gosh, John MacArthur and James Dobson and Phil Robertson and we will stand with the butchered and the betrayed and the bruised and the battered for their faith. And we will sing in unison for all of eternity. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Now we are in the life. lion's in, but then we will be with the lion of Judah. That's our hope. We're not there yet. Jesus is not back. God has not chosen yet to take you or I home. And so we have work to do. We have truth to tell. We have good to do to our neighbor. We have evil to restrain.

Starting point is 00:37:11 We have to stand up for the most vulnerable, even when it's hard, even when they threaten us. I was reading Hebrews 11. Actually, right before I went on Fox and Friends on Sunday to talk about this revival of faith that we're seeing in the wake of Charlie's assassination. I was sitting there waiting and reading Hebrews 11 on my phone. It just reminded me so much of the moment that we're in, and it reminded me in a lot of ways of Charlie's ministry. We're talking about faith and maybe you're new to Christianity, maybe you're new to the Bible and you just don't even know. What is it? What is, what is faith? What is meant by that? Hebrews 11 is a really good place to start because it defines it. I love the Bible so much for so many reasons. But one of the reasons I love it is because it defines things for us. And defining our terms is so important.

Starting point is 00:38:01 Here's Hebrews 11, 1 through 3. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. for by it the people of old received their commendation by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of god so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible oh my gosh i just want to read that again like there's so much there that we could unpack now faith is the assurance of things hoped for okay the down payment the guarantee of the things that we are hoping for the conviction the knowledge the firm belief of things that we cannot see for by it the people of old received their commendation. Okay, this is really important. You can cross-text this with cross-reference this with Romans 9. You see that it has always been by faith, even in the Old Testament,

Starting point is 00:38:47 by faith in Christ even, in the Messiah that people have been saved. By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. Okay? So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Wow, you could even cross-reference this with Colossians 1. You could also cross-reference this with first Corinthians one that God shames the wisdom of the wise. There's so much here. There's so much here. And I love the Bible so much. And if you just ordered your Bible for the first time, you are in for so much fun. Versus 8 through 10, this is just amazing. When we read what it looks like to have faith and how the heroes of old applied faith to their lives. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place

Starting point is 00:39:35 that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Starting point is 00:39:52 So his eyes, his heart, his vision, was set on things that were not yet seen. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac, shall your offspring be named? So Abraham had this son, Isaac, in his very old age, which was crazy anyway. And God had told him, look up at the stars. This is going to be your offspring one day. And Abraham is like, well, I'm really old. My wife is really old. I don't have any kids. How is this going to happen? We learned that he is going to have this offspring through Isaac. And then God is like, yeah, you're going to sacrifice. You're going to kill Isaac.

Starting point is 00:40:34 And Abraham, because he trusts God so much, he goes forth. It says that Abraham considered that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead if he wanted to, from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back. And of course, God provided another way. He provided a sacrifice. He provided the ram and the thicket. And there's so much there too. We even read in verses 24 through 27 that by faith, Moses considered the reproach of Christ.

Starting point is 00:41:01 Okay. Moses, this is before Jesus, but he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seen him who is invisible. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians when they attempted to do this same were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. And then I think this is so powerful, too. It was like I was reading Hebrews 11 for the first time.

Starting point is 00:41:34 Versus 32 through 38, and what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jeff Taff, of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice. Through faith, wow, obtained promises, stop the mouths of lions, quench the power of the fire, escape the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women received back their dead, from by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even change in imprisonment. They were stoned. They were

Starting point is 00:42:14 sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. Wow. That is our heritage Christians. By faith, Christians accomplished amazing things. And by faith, they endured suffering and death and persecution and martyrdom. By faith in whom and Jesus Christ who defeated death. And because of that, we have faith.

Starting point is 00:42:49 We have hope not only in the cleansing of our sins, but that we will enjoy a resurrection, that we will live again, that we will live forever with Christ. That is our motivation. and that is why we are fearless. It's not primarily because of what happened with Charlie that might have invigorated something. It's because of the gospel. It's because of the hope that we have in Jesus.

Starting point is 00:43:09 I've got more on this in just a second. Let me go ahead and tell you about our next sponsor. It's Concerned Women for America. A lot of people are asking, how do you get involved? There's a lot of ways to get involved. Concerned women for America, though, they've been there for decades. They've been fighting on behalf of your children's education,

Starting point is 00:43:24 your freedom, the values that you and I hold dear, the sanctity of human life, the family. So if you are a woman, you want to get involved on the policy level, on the grassroots level, make sure that the policies that are going forth protect your family and your values. Go to concernedwomen.org slash alley. Their CEO, she's great, Penny Nance. She wrote a book called A Woman's Guide, seven rules for success in business and in life. You can get it totally for free.

Starting point is 00:43:50 If you just go to concernedwomen.org slash alley, check them out, see how you can get involved. Go to concernedwomen. org slash alley. Okay, so we go to chapter 12 of Hebrews. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right

Starting point is 00:44:26 hand of the throne of God. consider him who endures from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted how amazing is that that we get to look to the courage the strength the fortitude of jesus and we get to look forward to a better home a better way a better place where there will be peace there will be no more need to take up our cross and to deny ourselves. But right now, our courage and our boldness, our self-denial, our strong peacemaking is a testimony to a chaotic world. Our clarity is a testimony to a confused world. I love the people that I've seen who have said, the people pleasing has left my body. I love the people who have said, oh, yeah,

Starting point is 00:45:19 I'm going to go to college campuses now. I'm going to evangelize even harder now. And, oh, no, I'm not canceling my speaking engagement. I'm going to go out there and share the truth. I love what the Holy Spirit is doing in people. And, Lord, please, let this be momentous. Let this have a snowball effect. And, Lord, bring us to you and ensure that our motivation is not out of an unrighteous sense of vengeance, but that our motivation is truly holy, that is truly righteous, that is truly righteous, that

Starting point is 00:45:55 is truly a desire to see you glorified. Another prayer that I have in the midst of this is for discernment for all of us. I didn't know whether I was going to even talk about this at all. I'm not really going to get into it. But there's a lot of theories right now. There's a lot of conspiracies. Not all the questions that people are asking are wrong. I'm not saying that.

Starting point is 00:46:18 Again, I'm not saying that we should just accept whatever the government tells us and that's fine and move on. I'm not saying that. but there's a lot of theories and i don't know that it is healthy or productive for you christian to go down every rabbit hole i just don't i don't think it's healthy for your heart and for your spirit i don't know if it's productive i don't know if it's honoring to charlie and his wife and his children um here's what i would say here's here's a good question okay when people are throwing out what about this what about that think about this i know this who knows this

Starting point is 00:46:53 ask yourself, where's your evidence? Where's your evidence? For the people who are just asking questions out there, back it up. Give us some proof. Give us some concrete evidence of the things that you're saying. I see a lot of people calling for transparency who also claim that they know more than the people in charge. Tell us. Please, let's not play games. Like if you've got the truth, if you've got evidence of something that is going on, a true conspiracy, true collusion. then the world needs to know. Let's not play games. Okay. So I want you, Christian, to ask yourself, where's the evidence? Where's the truth? Okay. And a rabbit hole is not a helpful place to go. Asking questions that follow a logical line of reasoning and taking it to people that can actually

Starting point is 00:47:43 influence those in charge who are seeking justice, I think that is healthy. But getting all worked up in every single theory that is out there without someone offering in return some substantive evidence for their questions and accusations, that's going to be a no from me. And I'm not going to be the place that y'all are going to be able to go to explore all those theories. There are some other people out there, probably people that can do it in a healthy way. And you can watch them, you can listen to them. I'm not here to tell you what to do in that.

Starting point is 00:48:16 I'm just saying, I'm not going to be that person. Okay. As truth is revealed, which I pray to God that it is, as justice is sought and I pray to God that it is and that justice is satisfied, then I will reveal the facts that I know. But I feel a responsibility to you guys to not take you down every trail because I'm not here to cause anxiety. I am here to infuse courage into your life, in clarity into your life. I have not been perfect on that, by the way, my entire history. Like there have been times where I look back and I'm like, ugh, I probably just induced anxiety there. That wasn't helpful. That wasn't productive. And I pray for grace to cover me and to help me

Starting point is 00:48:57 and give me wisdom. But be careful. Just be careful out there, okay? Have discernment. I'm not saying that you should only listen to me. Please, no. Seek truth. But there's a difference in truth seeking and anxiety inducing conspiracy theories. Ask for evidence. All right. I want to end on the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And again, if you're dusting off your Bible or you're buying that Bible, then you can read Daniel 3. It's pretty incredible. Just the courage that we see there. The courage that we see throughout Scripture. That's really a pattern that we see. We see these like failing, finite, fallible people who just mess up over and over again, who just like completely reject what God just. stole them. But the people who are held up as our examples are not perfect people, they're faithful people, they're obedient people, they're courageous people who just trusted that God was going to do what he said that he was going to do. And we see that in Daniel 3. Let me go ahead and tell you our last sponsor for the day and then we'll get into that. And this is pre-born.

Starting point is 00:50:10 Pre-born is such a special sponsor because they save lives. They serve moms and dads who are in need. They serve pregnant moms in crisis and they save the babies inside their womb by providing pregnancy centers with the tools they need to serve these women, to ensure that they can get an ultrasound for free, that they get prenatal vitamins, they get all the care and the true choices, life-affirming choices that they need to make sure that they are protecting the child inside their womb. You can partner with them and you can help supply and resource all of these pregnancy centers that are saving lives by going to preborn.com slash alley. You can donate now. Donate $28.

Starting point is 00:50:46 That is the cost of a life-saving ultrasounds, but whatever you can donate. Maybe it's $2.80. Maybe it's $28,000. Whatever your best and most faithful gift is, and donate that today. Go to preborn.com slash alley. Make your donation. That's preborn.com slash alley. You know, I just got this in.

Starting point is 00:51:09 And by the time this is coming out, this will be old news. But I just got the headline from CNBC that said that the prosecutor in Charlie Kirk's case will seek the death. And we already covered the death penalty earlier in this episode. It's right. It is just. The only unjust thing about the death penalty in this country, at least in principle, is that it is delayed for years and years and years. Even after due process, even after we have DNA evidence that someone committed a murder, it's, you know, we wait so long to execute the person. And then also it just seems so arbitrary. We just don't consistently apply it. And that is the cruel part of it. And that is the cruel part of it. And of it. It's not the execution because you're executing someone by lethal injection. You're actually giving them so much more mercy and more comfort than they gave the victims of their murder. And so it's actually a great mercy. It's not only a mercy to the heinous murderer, but it is also a great mercy to society when you take out people inflicting that kind of violence and evil.

Starting point is 00:52:12 But I just want to remind you of a couple things. But Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abandigo, answered the king when the king said you've got to bow down to me look at this awesome golden statue of myself you got to bow down to this idol they said oh nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter if this be so our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand oh king because nebuchadnezzar had said hey if you don't bow down to me you're going in this furnace i'm going to kill you and they said well even if you do if god wants to, he can deliver us from that. It reminds me of what we just read in Hebrews 11 that Abraham knew that even if he sacrificed Isaac as God told him to do, that he even believed that God could

Starting point is 00:52:58 raise him from the dead. So it was actually faith in the resurrection, even in the Old Testament. That was the saving faith. In verse 18 of Daniel 3, but if not, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed and go say, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. So again, they had faith in not what they saw. They had faith not in some material resource that God had promised them or even faith that God was going to save them physically. They said, even if not, we're not going to bow down to you. We will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. So against idolatry they were. So in love with God they were that they said, you can burn us up. We do not care. We trust in God. So Nebuchadnezzar threw

Starting point is 00:53:45 them in the fiery furnace. He ordered his people to turn it up seven times hotter than what it typically was. But when Nebuchadnezzar and his people looked into the furnace, they saw not just three people, but four. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O king. First 25, he answered and said, but I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire. And they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. So we see there, God with him. We see the presence of God there saving them. And they had faith that he would, that they walked into the fiery furnace. And they would have rather done that than bow down to

Starting point is 00:54:33 an idol and disobey God. It's the same thing with Daniel. When Daniel was ordered not to pray to God, he opened the windows and he prayed to God. And he was thrown into a den of lions. And what did God do? the mouth of the lions. And because of their faith, because of their boldness, God was able to spread faith of him and knowledge of his power throughout the land. And we are not guaranteed that we will be saved from every physical malady or physical threat here on earth. Obviously, God chose not to spare Charlie Kirk from his assassination. But we know, again, that God uses our faith, that he uses our boldness, he uses our obedience for his glory and our good. And I'll end just asking you.

Starting point is 00:55:22 I know I've asked this a couple times in the past few weeks, and sometimes I even just feel bad asking this. But I know that you guys love to do it and will do it. But in addition to praying so much for so many people that need prayer, Charlie's family, especially, I just ask that over the next few days, if you'll think of me, and my family and pray for us. There's several things that are coming up that I need strength for. As you can tell, I'm under the weather. I have not gotten good sleep at all. I've barely gotten sleep over the past two weeks for a variety of reasons. And I got a lot coming up that I need energy

Starting point is 00:55:59 for, that I need strength for, that I need clarity and sound and a sound mind for. And I need the Holy Spirit to help me. I need protection and I need strength, not just for me, but also for Chief or Ladybro for our family. And so I just ask that you could offer that. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. That's James 5. And I trust that and believe that. And I'm just thankful for you guys and how you share the arrows with me. And I share the arrows with you too. And so just thank you for being here and committing to praying for all of us. All right. It's all we've got time for today. We will be back on Friday with a super, super, super encouraging conversation with Maddie Pruitt. I'll see you guys back here then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1242 | Christians, Rise Up. This Is the Moment

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